TRACING BY GRAVITY OF A NARROW BURIED GRABEN STRUCTURE,DETECTED BY SEISMIC REFRACTION,FOR GROUND-WATER INVESTIGATIONS IN NORTH CHILE*

In the Andes mountains of North Chile seismic refraction measurements revealed the existence of a buried graben structure. The special geological environment permitted the deduction, by detailed analyses of diffraction patterns and delayed arrival times, of a low velocity layer underneath a high velocity ignimbritic sheet. The gravity method was chosen as an economic secondary aid to trace the course of the buried structure. This unusual combination of detailed gravity measurements following a general seismic survey was not only successful in detecting and tracing a buried structure, but also provided complementary data about the deeper subsurface conditions.     

Spherular modern dolomite from the Coorong area, South Australia

Scanning electron micrographs show that the youngest and apparently least altered of the Coorong dolomite is in the form of spherular bodies about 0.2–1.0 μm in size which themselves are composed of spherules about 100 nm in diameter. Older and more lithified sediments show sharply defined dolomite crystals suggesting an origin as primary dolomite spherules followed by aggregation and diagenetic alteration to well crystallized dolomites.     

High-resolution stratigraphy of the northernmost concentric raised bog in Europe: Sellevollmyra, Andøya, northern Norway

From the Sellevollmyra bog at Andøya, northern Norway, a 440‐cm long peat core covering the last c. 7000 calendar years was examined for humification, loss‐on‐ignition, microfossils, macrofossils and tephra. The age model was based on a Bayesian wiggle‐match of 35 ¹⁴C dates and two historically anchored tephra layers. Based on changes in lithology and biostratigraphical climate proxies, several climatic changes were identified (periods of the most fundamental changes in italics): 6410–6380, 6230–6050, 5730–5640, 5470–5430, 5340–5310, 5270–5100, 4790–4710, 4890–4820, 4380–4320, 4220–4120, 4000–3810, 3610–3580, 3370–3340 (regionally 2850–2750; in Sellevollmyra a hiatus between 2960–2520), 2330–2220, 1950, 1530–1450, 1150–840, 730? and c. 600? cal. yr BP. Most of these climate changes are known from other investigations of different palaeoclimate proxies in northern and middle Europe. Some volcanic eruptions seemingly coincide with vegetation changes recorded in the peat, e.g. about 5760 cal. yr BP; however, the known climatic deterioration at the time of the Hekla‐4 tephra layer started some decades before the eruption event.     

Mössbauer study of Meridiani Planum,the first iron‐nickel meteorite found on the surface of Mars by the MER Opportunity

Abstract— –Meridiani Planum is the first iron meteorite found on Mars. It was discovered in 2005 by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity (MER‐B). Mössbauer spectra (MS) of the unbrushed and brushed meteorite species were acquired in 10 degrees temperature windows in the range of 210–260 K. Earlier examinations of these MS have led to the conclusion that the meteorite, which contains ～～7 wt% Ni, belongs to the IAB meteorite group. Here, making use of a recently developed calibration/folding procedure for MER MS, we report the results of the MS analyses for the single temperature windows m5 (210–220 K), m6 (220–230 K), m7 (230–240 K), and m89 (240–260 K). All spectra consist of a sextet and a ferric doublet. The hyperfine field of the sextet, extrapolated to room temperature, is ～～34.5 T, which is, based on Mössbauer studies of meteorites found on Earth, indeed consistent with the presence of kamacite. The fractional spectral area of the sextet is ～～0.96 of the total spectrum. The ferric doublet has an average quadrupole splitting of 0.70 mm/s and is not diagnostic of any specific Fe mineral.     

The Monitor project: JW 380 – a 0.26-, 0.15-M⊙, pre-main-sequence eclipsing binary in the Orion nebula cluster

We present a general recipe for constructing N -body realizations of galaxies comprising near spherical and disc components. First, an exact spherical distribution function for the spheroids (halo and bulge) is determined, such that it is in equilibrium with the gravitational monopole of the disc components. Second, an N -body realization of this model is adapted to the full disc potential by growing the latter adiabatically from its monopole. Finally, the disc is sampled with particles drawn from an appropriate distribution function, avoiding local-Maxwellian approximations. We performed test simulations and find that the halo and bulge radial density profile very closely match their target model, while they become slightly oblate due to the added disc gravity. Our findings suggest that vertical thickening of the initially thin disc is caused predominantly by spiral and bar instabilities, which also result in a radial re-distribution of matter, rather than scattering off interloping massive halo particles.     

Controlling factors of volumetrically important marine carbonate cementation in deep slope settings

The controlling parameters of early marine carbonate cementation in shoal water and hemipelagic to pelagic domains are well‐studied. In contrast, the mechanisms driving the precipitation of early marine carbonate cements at deeper slope settings have received less attention, despite the fact that considerable volumes of early marine cement are present at recent and fossil carbonate slopes in water depths of several hundreds of metres. In order to better understand the controlling factors of pervasive early marine cementation at greater water depths, marine carbonate cements observed along time‐parallel platform to basin transects of two intact Pennsylvanian carbonate slopes are compared with those present in the slope deposits of the Permian Capitan Reef and Neogene Mururoa Atoll. In all four settings, significant amounts of marine cements occlude primary pore spaces downslope into thermoclinal water depths, i.e. in a bathymetric range between some tens and several hundreds of metres. Radial, radiaxial and fascicular optic fibrous calcites, and radiaxial prismatic calcites are associated with re‐deposited facies, boundstones and rudstones. Botryoidal (formerly) aragonitic precipitates are common in microbially induced limestones. From these case studies, it is tentatively concluded that sea water circulation in an extensive, near‐sea floor pore system is a first‐order control on carbonate ion supply and marine cementation. Coastal upwelling and internal or tidal currents are the most probable mechanisms driving pore water circulation at these depths. Carbonate cements precipitated under conditions of normal to elevated alkalinity, locally elevated nutrient levels and variable sea water temperatures. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future work are discussed.     

Diagenetic formation of gypsum and dolomite in a cold‐water coral mound in the Porcupine Seabight,off Ireland

Authigenic gypsum was found in a gravity core, retrieved from the top of Mound Perseverance, a giant cold‐water coral mound in the Porcupine Basin, off Ireland. The occurrence of gypsum in such an environment is intriguing, because gypsum, a classic evaporitic mineral, is undersaturated with respect to sea water. Sedimentological, petrographic and isotopic evidence point to diagenetic formation of the gypsum, tied to oxidation of sedimentary sulphide minerals (i.e. pyrite). This oxidation is attributed to a phase of increased bottom currents which caused erosion and enhanced inflow of oxidizing fluids into the mound sediments. The oxidation of pyrite produced acidity, causing carbonate dissolution and subsequently leading to pore‐water oversaturation with respect to gypsum and dolomite. Calculations based on the isotopic compositions of gypsum and pyrite reveal that between 21·6% and 28·6% of the sulphate incorporated into the gypsum derived from pyrite oxidation. The dissolution of carbonate increased the porosity in the affected sediment layer but promoted lithification of the sediments at the sediment‐water interface. Thus, authigenic gypsum can serve as a signature for diagenetic oxidation events in carbonate‐rich sediments. These observations demonstrate that fluid flow, steered by environmental factors, has an important effect on the diagenesis of coral mounds.     

Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the early to middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in western Bavaria (Germany)

A detailed integrated stratigraphic study (biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy) was carried out on five sections from the western part of the Bavarian Upper Freshwater Molasse of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB), greatly improving the chronostratigraphy of these sediments. The sections belong to the lithostratigraphic units Limnische Untere Serie (UL) and Fluviatile Untere Serie (UF) and contain 19 (mostly new) small-mammal bearing levels, significantly refining the local biostratigraphy. Radiometric ages obtained from glass shards from tuff horizons are used together with the biostratigraphic information for constructing and confirming the magnetostratigraphic correlation of the studied sections to the Astronomical Tuned Time Scale (ANTS04; Lourens et al. in Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, 2004). This correlation implies that the UL lithostratigraphic unit corresponds to the latest Ottnangian and the Early Karpatian, whereas the UF corresponds to the Karpatian and the Early Badenian. This indicates that the Brackish- to Freshwater Molasse transition already occurred during the late Ottnangian. The pre-Riesian hiatus occurred in the latest Karpatian and lower Early Badenian in Eastern Bavaria and Bohemia and in the Late Karpatian and earliest Badenian in Western Bavaria. The geochemical and Ar–Ar data of volcanic ashes suggest that highly evolved silicic magmas from a single volcano or volcanic center, characterized by a uniform Nd isotopic composition, erupted repetitively over the course of at least 1.6 Myr. Three phases of eruptive activity were identified at 16.1 ± 0.2 Ma (Zahling-2), 15.6 ± 0.4 Ma (Krumbad), and 14.5 ± 0.2 Ma (Heilsberg, Hegau). The correlation of the local biostratigraphic zonation to the ANTS04 enables further the characterization of both the Ottnangian–Karpatian and Karpatian–Badenian boundaries in the NAFB by small-mammal biostratigraphy. According to these results the Ottnangian–Karpatian boundary is contemporaneous with the first appearance datum of Megacricetodon bavaricus (in the size of the type population) and the first common occurrence of Keramidomys thaleri, whereas Ligerimys florancei, Melissiodon dominans and Prodeinotherium aff. bavaricum have been already disappeared during the late Ottnangian. The Karpatian–Badenian boundary is characterized by a significant size increase of the large Megacricetodon lineage and possibly a (re-)immigration of Prodeinotherium bavaricum.