Evolution of Mafic Alkaline Melts Crystallized in the Uppermost Lithospheric Mantle: a Melt Inclusion Study of Olivine-Clinopyroxenite Xenoliths, Northern Hungary

Olivine-clinopyroxenite xenoliths exhumed in alkali basalts(sensu lato) in the Nógrád–GömörVolcanic Field (NGVF), northern Hungary, contain abundant silicatemelt inclusions. Geothermobarometric calculations indicate thatthese xenoliths crystallized as cumulates in the upper mantlenear the Moho. These cumulate xenoliths are considered to representa period of Moho underplating by mafic alkaline magmas priorto the onset of Late Tertiary alkaline volcanism in the Carpathian–Pannonianregion. The major and trace element compositions of silicatemelt inclusions in olivine display an evolutionary trend characterizedby a strong decrease in CaO/Al₂O₃. The parental melt of thecumulates was a basanite formed by low-degree ( 2%) partialmelting of a garnet peridotite source. The compositional trendof the silicate melt inclusions, textural features, and modellingwith pMELTS show that the parental melt evolved by major clinopyroxeneand minor olivine crystallization followed by the appearanceof amphibole simultaneously with significant resorption of theearlier clinopyroxene and olivine. The resulting residual meltwas highly enriched in Al₂O₃, alkalis and most incompatibletrace elements. This type of melt is likely to infiltrate andreact with surrounding mantle peridotite as a metasomatic agent.It might also form high-pressure pegmatite-like bodies in themantle that might be the source of the amphibole and sanidinemegacrysts also found in the alkali basalts of the NGVF. Preferentialremelting of the later-formed (i.e. lower temperature) mineralassemblage (amphibole, sanidine, residual glass) might havesignificantly contaminated the host alkaline mafic lavas, increasingtheir Al₂O₃ and total alkali contents and, therefore, reducingtheir MgO, FeO and CaO content. KEY WORDS: silicate melt inclusions; geochemistry; petrogenesis; Nógrád–Gömör Volcanic Field; Pannonian Basin     

Application of a novel cascade-routing and reinfiltration concept with a Voronoi unstructured grid in MODFLOW 6, for an assessment of surface-water/groundwater interactions in a hard-rock catchment (Sardon,Spain)

Hydrogeology Journal - Integrated hydrological modelling (IHM) can reliably characterize surface-water/groundwater interactions in complex hydrological systems such as hard-rock systems (HRS),...     

New 40Ar/39Ar alunite ages from the Colquijirca district, Peru: evidence of a long period of magmatic SO2 degassing during formation of epithermal Au–Ag and Cordilleran polymetallic ores

We present ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data acquired by infra-red (CO₂) laser step-heating of alunite crystals from the large Miocene Colquijirca district in central Peru. Combined with previously published data, our results show that a long (at least 1.3 My) and complex period of magmatic-hydrothermal activity associated with epithermal Au–(Ag) mineralization and base metal, Cordilleran ores took place at Colquijirca. The new data indicate that incursion of magmatic SO₂-bearing vapor into the Colquijirca epithermal system began at least as early as ∼11.9 Ma and lasted until ∼10.6 Ma. Four alunite samples associated with high-sulfidation epithermal Au–(Ag) ore gave ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages between ∼11.9 and ∼11.1 Ma (compared to the previously documented ∼11.6 to ∼11.3 Ma). By combining individually these new ages with crosscutting relationships, the duration of the Au–(Ag) deposition period can be estimated to at least 0.4 My. Three new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages on alunite associated with the base-metal Cordilleran ores are consistent with previously obtained ages, all of them between 10.83 ± 0.06 and 10.56 ± 0.06 Ma, suggesting that most of the sulfide-rich polymetallic deposits of Smelter and Colquijirca formed during this short period. The recognition of consecutive alunite-bearing and alunite-free mineral assemblages within both the Au–(Ag) and the base-metal Cordilleran ores may suggest that SO₂-bearing magmatic vapor entered the epithermal environment as multiple discontinuous pulses, a number of which was not necessarily associated in time with ore fluids. It is likely that a period of SO₂-bearing vapor degassing longer than 11.9 to 10.6 Ma may be recognized with further more detailed work. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Partition of Forecast Error into Positional and Structural Components

Weather manifests in spatiotemporally coherent structures. Weather forecasts hence are affected by both positional and structural or amplitude errors. This has been long recognized by practicing forecasters(cf., e.g.,Tropical Cyclone track and intensity errors). Despite the emergence in recent decades of various objective methods for the diagnosis of positional forecast errors, most routine verification or statistical post-processing methods implicitly assume that forecasts have no positional error.The Forecast Error Decomposition(FED) method proposed in this study uses the Field Alignment technique which aligns a gridded forecast with its verifying analysis field. The total error is then partitioned into three orthogonal components:(a) large scale positional,(b) large scale structural, and(c) small scale error variance.The use of FED is demonstrated over a month-long MSLP data set. As expected, positional errors are often characterized by dipole patterns related to the displacement of features, while structural errors appear with single extrema, indicative of magnitude problems. The most important result of this study is that over the test period, more than 50% of the total mean sea level pressure forecast error variance is associated with large scale positional error. The importance of positional error in forecasts of other variables and over different time periods remain to be explored.     

The Electrostatic Lunar Dust Analyzer (ELDA) for the detection and trajectory measurement of slow-moving dust particles from the lunar surface

Micron and submicron-sized dust particles can be lifted from the lunar surface due to continual micrometeoroid bombardment and electrostatic charging. The characteristics of these dust populations are of scientific interest and engineering importance for the design of future equipment to operate on the lunar surface. The mobilized grains are expected to have a low velocity, which makes their detection difficult by traditional methods that are based on momentum transfer or impact energy. We describe a newly developed instrument concept, the Electrostatic Lunar Dust Analyzer (ELDA), which utilizes the charge on the dust for detection and analysis. ELDA consists of an array of wire electrodes combined with an electrostatic deflection field region, and measures the mass, charge, and velocity vector of individual dust grains. The first basic prototype of the ELDA instrument has been constructed, tested and characterized in the laboratory. The instrument is set up to measure over a velocity range 1–100 m/s and is sensitive to particles from an approximate mass range from 2×10⁻¹⁶ to 10⁻¹¹ kg, depending on the charge state and velocity.     

Compositional mapping of planetary moons by mass spectrometry of dust ejecta

Classical methods to analyze the surface composition of atmosphereless planetary objects from an orbiter are IR and gamma ray spectroscopy and neutron backscatter measurements. The idea to analyze surface properties with an in-situ instrument has been proposed by Johnson et al. (1998). There, it was suggested to analyze Europa's thin atmosphere with an ion and neutral gas spectrometer. Since the atmospheric components are released by sputtering of the moon's surface, they provide a link to surface composition. Here we present an improved, complementary method to analyze rocky or icy dust particles as samples of planetary objects from which they were ejected. Such particles, generated by the ambient meteoroid bombardment that erodes the surface, are naturally present on all atmosphereless moons and planets. The planetary bodies are enshrouded in clouds of ballistic dust particles, which are characteristic samples of their surfaces. In situ mass spectroscopic analysis of these dust particles impacting onto a detector of an orbiting spacecraft reveals their composition. Recent instrumental developments and tests allow the chemical characterization of ice and dust particles encountered at speeds as low as 1 km/s and an accurate reconstruction of their trajectories. Depending on the sampling altitude, a dust trajectory sensor can trace back the origin of each analyzed grain with about 10 km accuracy at the surface. Since the detection rates are of the order of thousand per orbit, a spatially resolved mapping of the surface composition can be achieved. Certain bodies (e.g., Europa) with particularly dense dust clouds, could provide impact statistics that allow for compositional mapping even on single flybys. Dust impact velocities are in general sufficiently high at orbiters about planetary objects with a radius >1000 km and with only a thin or no atmosphere. In this work we focus on the scientific benefit of a dust spectrometer on a spacecraft orbiting Earth's Moon as well as Jupiter's Galilean satellites. This ‘dust spectrometer' approach provides key chemical and isotopic constraints for varying provinces or geological formations on the surfaces, leading to better understanding of the body's geological evolution.     

The lunar dust environment

Each year the Moon is bombarded by about 10⁶ kg of interplanetary micrometeoroids of cometary and asteroidal origin. Most of these projectiles range from 10 nm to about 1 mm in size and impact the Moon at 10–72 km/s speed. They excavate lunar soil about 1000 times their own mass. These impacts leave a crater record on the surface from which the micrometeoroid size distribution has been deciphered. Much of the excavated mass returns to the lunar surface and blankets the lunar crust with a highly pulverized and “impact gardened” regolith of about 10 m thickness. Micron and sub-micron sized secondary particles that are ejected at speeds up to the escape speed of 2300 m/s form a perpetual dust cloud around the Moon and, upon re-impact, leave a record in the microcrater distribution. Such tenuous clouds have been observed by the Galileo spacecraft around all lunar-sized Galilean satellites at Jupiter. The highly sensitive Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) onboard the LADEE mission will shed new light on the lunar dust environment. LADEE is expected to be launched in early 2013.Another dust related phenomenon is the possible electrostatic mobilization of lunar dust. Images taken by the television cameras on Surveyors 5, 6, and 7 showed a distinct glow just above the lunar horizon referred to as horizon glow (HG). This light was interpreted to be forward-scattered sunlight from a cloud of dust particles above the surface near the terminator. A photometer onboard the Lunokhod-2 rover also reported excess brightness, most likely due to HG. From the lunar orbit during sunrise the Apollo astronauts reported bright streamers high above the lunar surface, which were interpreted as dust phenomena. The Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites (LEAM) Experiment was deployed on the lunar surface by the Apollo 17 astronauts in order to characterize the lunar dust environment. Instead of the expected low impact rate from interplanetary and interstellar dust, LEAM registered hundreds of signals associated with the passage of the terminator, which swamped any signature of primary impactors of interplanetary origin. It was suggested that the LEAM events are consistent with the sunrise/sunset-triggered levitation and transport of charged lunar dust particles. Currently no theoretical model explains the formation of a dust cloud above the lunar surface but recent laboratory experiments indicate that the interaction of dust on the lunar surface with solar UV and plasma is more complex than previously thought.