Fluid history of UHP metamorphism in Dabie Shan, China: a fluid inclusion and oxygen isotope study on the coesite-bearing eclogite from Bixiling

This paper characterizes late Holocene basalts and basaltic andesites at Medicine Lake volcano that contain high pre-eruptive H₂O contents inherited from a subduction related hydrous component in the mantle. The basaltic andesite of Paint Pot Crater and the compositionally zoned basaltic to andesitic lavas of the Callahan flow erupted approximately 1000 ¹⁴C years Before Present (¹⁴C years b.p.). Petrologic, geochemical and isotopic evidence indicates that this late Holocene mafic magmatism was characterized by H₂O contents of 3 to 6 wt% H₂O and elevated abundances of large ion lithophile elements (LILE). These hydrous mafic inputs contrast with the preceding episodes of mafic magmatism (from 10,600 to ∼3000 ¹⁴C years b.p.) that was characterized by the eruption of primitive high alumina olivine tholeiite (HAOT) with low H₂O (<0.2 wt%), lower LILE abundance and different isotopic characteristics. Thus, the mantle-derived inputs into the Medicine Lake system have not always been low H₂O, primitive HAOT, but have alternated between HAOT and hydrous subduction related, calc-alkaline basalt. This influx of hydrous mafic magma coincides temporally and spatially with rhyolite eruption at Glass Mountain and Little Glass Mountain. The rhyolites contain quenched magmatic inclusions similar in character to the mafic lavas at Callahan and Paint Pot Crater. The influence of H₂O on fractional crystallization of hydrous mafic magma and melting of pre-existing granite crust beneath the volcano combined to produce the rhyolite. Fractionation under hydrous conditions at upper crustal pressures leads to the early crystallization of Fe-Mg silicates and the suppression of plagioclase as an early crystallizing phase. In addition, H₂O lowers the saturation temperature of Fe and Mg silicates, and brings the temperature of oxide crystallization closer to the liquidus. These combined effects generate SiO₂-enrichment that leads to rhyodacitic differentiated lavas. In contrast, low H₂O HAOT magmas at Medicine Lake differentiate to iron-rich basaltic liquids. When these Fe-enriched basalts mix with melted granitic crust, the result is an andesitic magma. Since mid-Holocene time, mafic volcanism has been dominated primarily by hydrous basaltic andesite and andesite at Medicine Lake Volcano. However, during the late Holocene, H₂O-poor mafic magmas continued to be erupted along with hydrous mafic magmas, although in significantly smaller volumes. Received: 4 January 1999 / Accepted: 30 August 1999     

The Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour); A NASA Discovery Mission

In 1997, the COmet Nucleus TOUR (CONTOUR) was selected byNASA for a new start as part of the Discovery line. In this paper, we review the status of the mission, the mission timeline and the instruments to be flown. Detail is given of the science goals and how they are to be accomplished.     

Influence of melt‐freeze‐cycles on the radionuclide transport in homogeneous laboratory snowpack

Radionuclides released to the environment and deposited with or onto snow can be stored over long time periods if ambient temperature stays low, particularly in glaciated areas or high alpine sites. The radionuclides will be accumulated in the snowpack during the winter unless meltwater runoff at the snow base occurs. They will be released to surface waters within short time during snowmelt in spring. In two experiments under controlled melting conditions of snow in the laboratory, radionuclide migration and runoff during melt‐freeze‐cycles were examined. The distribution of Cs‐134 and Sr‐85 tracers in homogeneous snow columns and their fractionation and potential preferential elution in the first meltwater portions were determined. Transport was associated with the percolation of meltwater at ambient temperatures above 0 °C after the snowpack became ripe. Mean migration velocities in the pack were examined for both nuclides to about 0.5 cm hr^?1 after one diurnal melt‐freeze‐cycle at ambient temperatures of ?2 to 4 °C. Meltwater fluxes were calculated with a median of 1.68 cm hr^?1. Highly contaminated portions of meltwater with concentration factors between 5 and 10 against initial bulk concentrations in the snowpack were released as ionic pulse with the first meltwater. Neither for caesium nor strontium preferential elution was observed. After recurrent simulated day‐night‐cycles (?2 to 4 °C), 80% of both radionuclides was released with the first 20% of snowmelt within 4 days. 50% of Cs‐134 and Sr‐85 were already set free after 24 hr. Snowmelt contained highest specific activities when the melt rate was lowest during the freeze‐cycles due to concentration processes in remaining liquids, enhanced by the melt‐freeze‐cycling. This implies for natural snowpack after significant radionuclide releases, that long‐time accumulation of radionuclides in the snow during frost periods, followed by an onset of steady meltwater runoff at low melt rates, will cause the most pronounced removal of the contaminants from the snow cover. This scenario represents the worst case of impact on water quality and radiation exposure in aquatic environments.     

Fluid/rock interaction and mass transfer in continental subduction zones: constraints from trace elements and isotopes (Li,B, O,Sr, Nd,Pb) in UHP rocks from the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Program,Sulu, East China

In order to better understand the role of fluids during subduction and subsequent exhumation, we have investigated whole-rock and mineral chemistry (major and trace elements) and Li, B as well as O, Sr, Nd, Pb isotopes on selected continuous drill-core profiles through contrasting lithological boundaries from the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Program (CCSD) in Sulu, China. Four carefully selected sample sets have been chosen to investigate geochemical changes as a result of fluid mobilization during dehydration, peak metamorphism, and exhumation of deeply subducted continental crust. Our data reveal that while O and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions remain more or less unchanged, significant Li and/or B isotope fractionations occur between different lithologies that are in close contact during various metamorphic stages. Samples that are supposed to represent prograde dehydration as indicated by veins formed at high pressures (HP) are characterized by element patterns of highly fluid-mobile elements in the veins that are complementary to those of the host eclogite. A second sample set represents a UHP metamorphic crustal eclogite that is separated from a garnet peridotite by a thin transitional interface. Garnet peridotite and eclogite are characterized by a >10% difference in MgO, which, together with the presence of abundant hydroxyl-bearing minerals and compositionally different clinopyroxene grains demonstrate that both rocks have been derived from different sources that have been tectonically juxtaposed during subduction, and that hydrous silicate-rich fluids have been added from the subducting slab to the mantle. Two additional sample sets, comprising retrograde amphibolite and relatively fresh eclogite, demonstrate that besides external fluids, internal fluids can be responsible for the formation of amphibolite. Li and B concentrations and isotopic compositions point to losses and isotopic fractionation during progressive dehydration. On the other hand, fluids with isotopically heavier Li and B are added during retrogression. On a small scale, mantle-derived rocks may be significantly metasomatized by fluids derived from the subducted slab. Our study indicates that during high-grade metamorphism, Li and B may show different patterns of enrichment and of isotopic fractionation.     

Identification of carotane breakdown products in the 1.64 billion year old Barney Creek Formation, McArthur Basin, northern Australia

Some of the oldest, indisputably indigenous, and thermally exceptionally well preserved biomarkers occur in the uppermost sections of the 1.64 billion year old (Ga) Barney Creek Formation (BCF) of the McArthur Basin in northern Australia. These rocks preserve more than 22 different C₄₀ carotenoid derivatives, including the saturated hydrocarbons β-carotane, γ-carotane and lycopane. However, in deeper sections of the BCF, saturated carotenoid derivatives were not detected. To determine whether their absence from the deeper sections is a primary biological phenomenon or the result of degradation, we simulated the catagenesis of β-carotane in the laboratory by way of hydrous pyrolysis. Using breakdown products as elution standards, we were able to confirm the presence of β- or γ-carotane derivatives in the deeper sections, where the C₄₀ parent compounds had been degraded.     

Millimeter-scale concentration gradients of hydrocarbons in Archean shales: Live-oil escape or fingerprint of contamination?

Archean shales from the Pilbara in Western Australia contain biomarkers that have been interpreted as evidence for the existence of cyanobacteria and eukaryotes 2.7 billion years (Ga) ago, with far reaching implications for the evolution of Earth’s early biosphere. To re-evaluate the provenance of the biomarkers, this study determined the spatial distribution of hydrocarbons in the original drill core material. Rock samples were cut into millimeter-thick slices, and the molecular content of each slice was analyzed. In core from the Hamersley Group (∼2.5 Ga), C_<13 alkanes had gradually increasing concentrations from the surfaces to the center of the rock while the abundance of steranes, hopanes and C₁₅₊ alkanes decreased with distance from the outer surfaces. In samples from the Fortescue Group (∼2.7 Ga), hydrocarbons were overwhelmingly concentrated on rock surfaces.Two mechanisms are proposed that may have caused the inhomogeneous distribution: diffusion of petroleum products into the rock (contamination model), and leaching of indigenous hydrocarbons out of host shales driven by pressure release after drilling (‘live-oil’ effect). To test these models, the hydrocarbon distributions in the Archean shales are compared with artificially contaminated rocks as well as younger mudstones where leaching of live-oil had been observed.The results show that chromatographic phenomena associated with live-oil escape and contaminant diffusion have strong effects on molecular ratios and maturity parameters, potentially with broad implications for oil-source rock correlation studies and paleoenvironmental interpretations.For the Archean shales, the live-oil effect is consistent with some of the observed patterns, but only the contamination model fully explains the complex chromatographic fingerprints. Therefore, the biomarkers in the Pilbara samples have an anthropogenic origin, and previous conclusions about the origin of eukaryotes and oxygenic photosynthesis based on these samples are not valid.However, the study also identified indigenous molecules. The spatial distribution of particular aromatic hydrocarbons suggests they are syngenetic. Although devoid of biological information, these aromatics now represent the oldest known clearly-indigenous terrestrial liquid hydrocarbons.     

Interrelationship of TOC,As, Fe,Mn, Al and Si in shallow alluvial aquifers in Chapai-Nawabganj,Northwestern Bangladesh: implication for potential source of organic carbon

Two boreholes and ten piezometers in the Ganges flood plain were drilled and installed for collecting As-rich sediments and groundwater. Groundwater samples from the Ganges flood plain were collected for the analysis of cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, K⁺, Na⁺), anions (Cl⁻, NO₃ ⁻, SO₄ ²⁻), total organic carbon (TOC), and trace elements (As, Mn, Fe, Sr, Se, Ni, Co, Cu, Mo, Sb, Pb). X-ray powder diffraction was performed to characterize the major mineral contents of aquifer sediments and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to analyze the major chemical composition of alluvial sediments. Results of XRF analysis clearly show that fine-grained sediments contain higher amounts of trace element because of their high surface area for adsorption. Relative fluorescence index (15–38 QSU) of humic substance in groundwater was measured using spectrofluorometer, the results revealed that groundwater in the Ganges flood plain contains less organic matter (OM). Arsenic concentration in water ranges from 2.8 to 170 μg/L (mean 50 μg/L) in the Ganges flood plain. Arsenic content in sediments ranges from 2.1 to 14 mg/kg (mean 4.58 mg/kg) in the flood plains. TOC ranges from 0.49 to 3.53 g/kg (mean 1.64 g/kg) in the Ganges flood plain. Arsenic is positively correlated with TOC (R ² = 0.55) in sediments of this plain. Humic substances were extracted from the sediments from the Ganges flood plain. Fourier transform infrared analysis of the sediments revealed that the plain contains less humic substances. The source of organic carbon was assigned from δ¹³C values obtained using elemental analysis-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA-IRMS); the values (−10 to −29.44‰) strongly support the hypothesis that the OM of the Ganges flood plain is of terrestrial origin.     

Proper motion measurements in the HH 46/47 outflow

Proper motion measurements have been carried out for the HH 46/47 outflow system. The results of these measurements and some implications for the physics of the outflow and its modelling are discussed.     

Observations of Jet Diameter, Density and Dynamics

Collimated jets are believed to be an essential ingredient of the star formation process, and we are now able for the first time to test observationally the theories for their formation and propagation. The major advances achieved in recent years are reviewed, regarding the observed morphology, kinematics and excitation properties of jets, from the parsec-scale `giant outflows' down to the `microjets' from T Tauri stars. High angular resolution images and spectra have provided valuable estimates of jet diameter, space velocity, temperature, ionization fraction, electron and total density, both along and across the flow. We can thus calculate key physical quantites, as the shock excitation parameters, or the mass and momentum fluxes in the flow. The results obtained appear to validate the popular magneto-centrifugal models for jet launching, although some important issues are still under debate, as to the cause of knotty structures, observed wind thermal properties, and the dynamical relationship between jets and molecular outflows. Among the most interesting recent findings, we mention the observed indications for jet rotation, with inferred toroidal velocities consistent with the prescribed angular momentum balance between infall and outflow.