Sr isotopic evidence for a multi-source origin of the potassic magmas in the neapolitan area (S. Italy)

New Sr isotopic data on lavas and xenoliths from Somma-Vesuvius and other nearby volcanic areas (Phlegrean Fields and Ischia) are presented. Chemical and isotopic evidences show that not all the Phlegrean Fields rocks belong to the low K series, but some of them may be interpreted as low pressure differentiates of Somma magmas, i.e. as a part of the high K series. Two rock groups are defined in the Ischia low K series, which are well identified both in time and in chemical and isotopic features, and cannot be derived from the same magma source. The low K series in the studied area generally has lower Sr isotopic values than the high K series.Historical Vesuvian lavas show two distinct linear trends with negative slopes when⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios are plotted against their ages of eruption. Such trends are interpreted to result from mixing of magmas in two separate reservoirs. Evidence from the Vesuvian ejecta shows that Somma-Vesuvius magmas underwent high or low pressure fractionation, in connection with different events of the Vesuvian activity. Distinct magma reservoirs developed episodically at different depths. Isotopic and geochemical evidences do not favour large scale assimilation of crustal materials by Somma-Vesuvius magmas, but instead appear to reflect mantle characteristics.A minimum of three different (inhomogeneous) source regions is necessary to account for the isotopic features of the studied rocks.     

Destructive effects of oxygen starvation and ash falls on benthic life: A pilot study

A quantitative study on faunal density and faunal diversity was carried out on benthic foraminifers from 15 samples of two eastern Mediterranean deep-sea cores. Samples were taken beneath, within, and above three distinctive levels well correlatable for over 1000 km: (a) Sapropel S-5, late Pleistocene in age, correlative with marine isotopic stage 5e and with the Tyrrhenian transgression, with an interpolated age of ～ 125,000 yr: (b) the “Ischia” tephra Y-5, the most widespread ash layer of the eastern Mediterranean, correlative with the transition from isotopic stages 3 to 2 and having an interpolated age of ～ 35,000 yr; and (c) Sapropel S-1, Holocene in age, correlative with the Flandrian transgression, radiometrically dated at ～8000 yr B.P. The most severe effects on benthic life were induced by stagnation (a). Deglaciation corresponding to Termination II was so rapid that the benthic assemblages could not adapt themselves to the too-rapidly decreasing oxygen levels and were entirely destroyed. More than 1000 yr after the termination of stagnant conditions no recolonization had yet started. The lesser disturbance was induced in the benthic community by the ash fall (b). The faunal destruction was ephemeral in duration and the colonizing population did not differ from that predating the ash fall. A progressive faunal change, with increasing abundance of taxa tolerant to low oxygen levels, was recorded beneath Sapropel S-1 (c). The recolonizing assemblage differs from the previously existing one, and is more similar to those recorded from the floor of the Mediterranean.     

The evolution of the mantle source beneath Mt. Etna (Sicily,Italy): from the 600 ka tholeiites to the recent trachybasaltic magmas

ABSTRACT

The spatial/temporal proximity of Mt. Etna to the Hyblean Plateau and the Aeolian slab makes the discussion on the nature of its mantle source/s extremely controversial. In this study, a detailed geochemical overview of the entire Mt. Etna evolutionary sequence and a comparison with the magmatism of the Hyblean Plateau was proposed to: (i) simulate the composition of Mt. Etna tholeiitic to alkaline primitive magmas in equilibrium with a fertile mantle source; (ii) model the nature, composition and evolution of the mantle source from the tholeiitic stage (600 ka) to present magmatism. According to our simulations, two amphibole + phlogopite-bearing spinel lherzolite sources are able to explain the wide range of Etnean primary magmas. The enrichment in LILE, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, Rb and H₂O of the magmas emitted after 1971 (but also discontinuously generated in both historic and prehistoric times) are caused by different melting proportions of amphibole and phlogopite in a modally and compositionally homogeneous mantle domain, with melting degrees analogous to those required to produce magmas erupted prior to 1971. The behaviour of the hydrous phases during melting could be ascribed to a variable H₂O/CO₂ activity in the mantle source, in turn related to the heat/fluxes supply from the asthenospheric upwelling beneath Mt. Etna. All these considerations, strengthened by numerical models, are then merged to review the complex Pliocene/Lower Pleistocene to present day’s geodynamic evolution of eastern Sicily.     

On the evolution of the cosmic supernova rates

The Galactic radio-emitting X-ray binary Cygnus X-3 is known to be a source of large-scale radio jets associated with periods of intense radio flaring. These jets have been found to have an expansion velocity of ∼0.3 c and are believed (on kinematic grounds) to lie close to the plane of the sky. We present new observations of Cygnus X-3 using the VLBA at 15 GHz. These observations, which included the detection of two small flares, show an additional kind of behaviour with apparent superluminal expansion along both major and minor axes. Evidence for superluminal activity has been found in a number of X-ray binary systems such as GRS 1915+105 and GRO J1655−40 with their superluminal radio jets. Apparently similar morphologies of the Galactic and extragalactic jet sources have led to the X-ray binaries being described as 'micro-quasars'. The superluminal expansion seen in our results appears to be different in nature from these other two sources, and a number of mechanisms are presented and discussed.     

Early Cretaceous »events« in the evolution of the eastern and western North Atlantic continental margins

At many North Atlantic continental margins, the early Neocomian is characterized by a major stratigraphic turning point from Late Jurassic-Berriasian carbonate bank/pelagic carbonate deposition to Valanginian-Barremian hemipelagic sedimentation with thick Wealden-type deltaic to deep-sea fan sequences. The stratigraphy and structure of the very old, starved passive margin of the Mazagan Plateau and adjacent steep escarpment off Morocco was studied during the French-German CYAMAZ deep diving campaign. The drowning of the Late Jurassic-early Berriasian carbonate platform was strongly influenced by a global late Berriasian sea level fall which was followed by a rapid late Valanginian sea level rise and/or by a major regional blockfaul ting event with accelerated subsidence rates. Upper Berriasian to (?) Hauterivian quartz-bearing bioclastic wackestones document the transition from the carbonate platform to the hemipelagic deposition on the drowned platform margin. Seawards, these deposits are correlated with a deep sea fan sequence. We discuss also an example from the Tarfaya Basin-Fuerteventura area further south. A 300 m thick succession of organic-rich claystone and sandstone turbidites (including m-thick debris flow units) of Hauterivian to Barremian age was an unexpected discovery at DSDP Site 603 off North Carolina (Leg 93). We discuss a tectonically confined fan model with laterally migrating channels, influenced by sea level fluctuations and varying terrigenous supply. During the Valanginian to Barremian time of high-standing (or rising) sea level, shelf construction (Wealden-type deltas) coincided with subdued, resedimentation-starved turbiditic system on the continental rise. Extensive unconsolidated sands, however, reflect sudden input of shelfal material into the basin during a mid-Aptian sea level lowstand (shelf destruction). The following global late Aptian transgression terminated the clastic fan deposition, raised the CCD and started the deposition of organic-rich shales.     

Kinematical properties of early-type galaxies

Summary In the last decade, our understanding of early-type galaxies has greatly changed: from rather uninteresting oblate spheroids flattened by rotation to multicomponent stellar systems whose structure, formation mechanisms, and evolution, are far from being understood. This new scenario is mainly the consequence of the huge growth, in quantity and in quality, of kinematical data obtained from high signal to noise spectral data. Rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles extending out to almost 2 effective radii are now available, together with line asymmetry measurements, for the stellar components of a fairly large sample of galaxies. For a few galaxies, outer halo tracers such as globular clusters and/or planetary nebulae allow to explore the kinematics out at 4 6r _e. In this article we focus on these data giving particular emphasis on the most recent results. Reference is given to other review articles complementing the approach presented here.     

Re–Os and Pb–Pb geochronology of the Archean Salobo iron oxide copper–gold deposit, Carajás mineral province, northern Brazil

Rhenium–osmium ages were determined for two molybdenite samples and a Pb–Pb age was derived from bornite–chalcopyrite–magnetite at the Salobo iron oxide copper–gold deposit to determine the timing of mineralization and its relation to the nearby Old Salobo Granite. Rhenium–osmium dating of molybdenite spatially associated with copper sulfide minerals yields ages with weighted means of 2576±8 and 2562±8 Ma. Removing the error multiplier introduced by the decay constant uncertainty, appropriate for comparing ages from the same isotopic system, these data convincingly argue for two temporally separated pulses of molybdenite deposition at 2576.1±1.4 Ma (n=2) and 2561.7±3.1 Ma (n=3). The 2576±8 Ma age coincides with a previously published U–Pb age of 2573±2 Ma for the Old Salobo Granite, suggesting that main stage ore formation may have been contemporaneous with granite magmatism. The slightly younger 2562 Ma age most likely represents new molybdenite precipitation associated with the development or reactivation of local shear zones. Lead–lead stepwise leaching of copper sulfide minerals yields a less precise isochron age of 2579±71 Ma, and supports an Archean age for the Salobo ores. This is the first documentation of an Archean iron oxide copper–gold deposit, and the Re–Os and Pb–Pb geochronology herein support 2580–2550 Ma estimates for basement reactivation and regional granite magmatism associated with the development of brittle–ductile shear zones.     

Seasonal variations of exposure biomarkers, oxidative stress responses and cell damage in the clams, Tapes philippinarum, and mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, from Adriatic sea

This work investigated the natural variability of several biomarkers in Tapes philippinarum and Mytilus galloprovincialis, sampled from Northern Adriatic where these organisms are important sentinel species for future environmental impact assessment. Levels of metallothioneins, peroxisomal enzymes and acetylcholinesterase, showed a significant seasonality and marked differences between clams and mussels. Among antioxidant enzymes, catalase and GST decreased during the warmer period, the latter enzyme activity resulting particularly high in clams. The total oxyradical scavenging capacity toward peroxyl radicals decreased in mussels from winter to summer, indicating a prooxidant challenge due to higher seawater temperature and intensity of light irradiance. Lysosomal membrane stability did not exhibit significant seasonal variations, while some variations were observed for DNA damages. Overall results indicated a significant influence of seasonal variability on several biomarkers and species-specific differences which should be considered to discriminate the appearance of anthropogenic disturbance.     

Buoyancy-controlled eruption of magmas at Mt Etna

Buoyancy controls the ability of magma to rise, its ascent rate and the style of the eruptions. Geophysical, geological and petrological data have been integrated to evaluate the buoyancy of magmas at Mt Etna. The density difference between host rocks and magmas is mainly related to the amount of H₂O dissolved in the magma and to the bubble‐liquid separation processes. In the depth interval 22–2 km b.s.l. highly hydrated (H₂O ～ 3%) basaltic magmas or mixtures of bubbles + liquid have positive buoyancy and rise rapidly. Conversely, bubble‐depleted liquids, with an intermediate H₂O content (～ 1.5%), having neutral buoyancy, will spread out and form magmatic reservoirs at different depths until cooling/crystallization further modify composition and density. These different processes account for the magma compositions, location of magmatic reservoirs as determined by geophysical methods, and the complex eruptive cycles (slow effusions, fire fountains and Plinian eruptions) that have been observed in the history of the volcano.