Heat,volume and chemical fluxes from submarine venting: A synthesis of results from the Rainbow hydrothermal field, 36°N MAR

High-temperature hydrothermal activity occurs in all ocean basins and along ridge crests of all spreading rates. While it has long been recognized that the fluxes associated with such venting are large, precise quantification of their impact on ocean biogeochemistry has proved elusive. Here, we report a comprehensive study of heat, fluid and chemical fluxes from a single submarine hydrothermal field. To achieve this, we have exploited the integrating nature of the non-buoyant plume dispersing above the Rainbow hydrothermal field, a long-lived and tectonically hosted high-temperature vent site on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Our calculations yield heat and volume fluxes for high-temperature fluids exiting the seafloor of ～0.5 GW and 450 L s^?1, together with accompanying chemical fluxes, for Fe, Mn and CH₄ of ～10, ～1 and ～1 mol s^?1, respectively. Accompanying fluxes for 25 additional chemical species that are associated with Fe-rich plume particles have also been calculated as they are transported away from the Rainbow vent site before settling to the seabed. High-temperature venting has been found to recur at least once every ～100 km along all slow-spreading ridges investigated to-date, with half of all known sites on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge occurring as long-lived and tectonically hosted systems. If these patterns persist along all slow- and ultraslow-spreading ridges, high-temperature venting of the kind reported here could account for ～50% of the on-axis hydrothermal heat flux along ～30,000 km of the ～55,000 km global ridge crest.     

Neue ZnS-Polytypen (9R, 12R und 21R) in mesozoischen Sedimenten NW-Deutschlands

Summary Argillaceous sediments of jurassic and lower cretaceous age in NW-Germany contain in several localities authigenous ZnS-polytypes. The crystals with a maximum height of 2 mm exhibit hexagonal-pyramidal and trigonal-pyramidal habit.With X-ray rotation and precession technique the following polytypes could be identified: Sphalerite (3 R = 3 C) 211, 411, 6H 9R, 12R, 15R and 21R.The 9 R-, 12 R- and 21 R-polytypes have not until now been described elsewhere.The structures of the new polytypes were determined as 9R=(21), 12R=(13) and 21R=(3112).Oriented intergrowths of R- and H-polytypes were frequently observed. From the intergrowth-phenomena arguments for the environmental conditions of formation can be deducted.[/p]     

In Situ Determination of Au and Cu in Natural Pyrite by Near‐Infrared Femtosecond Laser Ablation‐Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry: No Evidence for Matrix Effects

Gold and copper concentrations were determined in natural pyrite by near‐infrared femtosecond LA‐ICP‐QMS, using both sulfide reference materials (pyrrhotite Po‐726 and in‐house natural chalcopyrite Cpy‐RM) and NIST SRM 610 as external calibrators. Firstly, using NIST SRM 610 as the external calibrator, we calculated the Au concentration in Po‐726 and the Cu concentration in Cpy‐RM. The calculated concentration averages for Au and Cu were similar to the values published for Po‐726 and Cpy‐RM, respectively. Secondly, we calculated Au and Cu concentrations taking NIST SRM 610 as an unknown sample and using Po‐726 and Cpy‐RM as external calibrators. Again, the average values obtained closely reflected the preferred concentrations for NIST SRM 610. Finally, we calculated Au and Cu concentrations in natural pyrite using sulfide and silicate reference materials as external calibrators. In both cases, calculated concentrations were very similar, independent of the external calibrator used. The aforementioned data, plus the fact that we obtained very small differences in relative sensitivity values (percentage differences are between 5% and 17% for ⁵⁷Fe, ⁶³Cu and ¹⁹⁷Au) on analyses of silicate and sulfide RMs, indicate that there were no matrix effects related to the differences in material composition. Thus, it is possible to determine Au and Cu in natural sulfides using NIST silicate glasses as an external calibrator.     

A suspended-particle rosette multi-sampler for discrete biogeochemical sampling in low-particle-density waters

To enable detailed investigations of early stage hydrothermal plume formation and abiotic and biotic plume processes we developed a new oceanographic tool. The Suspended Particulate Rosette sampling system has been designed to collect geochemical and microbial samples from the rising portion of deep-sea hydrothermal plumes. It can be deployed on a remotely operated vehicle for sampling rising plumes, on a wire-deployed water rosette for spatially discrete sampling of non-buoyant hydrothermal plumes, or on a fixed mooring in a hydrothermal vent field for time series sampling. It has performed successfully during both its first mooring deployment at the East Pacific Rise and its first remotely-operated vehicle deployments along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is currently capable of rapidly filtering 24 discrete large-water-volume samples (30–100 L per sample) for suspended particles during a single deployment (e.g. >90 L per sample at 4–7 L per minute through 1 μm pore diameter polycarbonate filters). The Suspended Particulate Rosette sampler has been designed with a long-term goal of seafloor observatory deployments, where it can be used to collect samples in response to tectonic or other events. It is compatible with in situ optical sensors, such as laser Raman or visible reflectance spectroscopy systems, enabling in situ particle analysis immediately after sample collection and before the particles alter or degrade.     

Hydrothermal activity on the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Tectonically- and volcanically-controlled venting at 4–5°S

We report results from an investigation of the geologic processes controlling hydrothermal activity along the previously-unstudied southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (3–7°S). Our study employed the NOC (UK) deep-tow sidescan sonar instrument, TOBI, in concert with the WHOI (USA) autonomous underwater vehicle, ABE, to collect information concerning hydrothermal plume distributions in the water column co-registered with geologic investigations of the underlying seafloor. Two areas of high-temperature hydrothermal venting were identified. The first was situated in a non-transform discontinuity (NTD) between two adjacent second-order ridge-segments near 4°02′S, distant from any neovolcanic activity. This geologic setting is very similar to that of the ultramafic-hosted and tectonically-controlled Rainbow vent-site on the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The second site was located at 4°48′S at the axial-summit centre of a second-order ridge-segment. There, high-temperature venting is hosted in an  18 km² area of young lava flows which in some cases are observed to have flowed over and engulfed pre-existing chemosynthetic vent-fauna. In both appearance and extent, these lava flows are directly reminiscent of those emplaced in Winter 2005−06 at the East Pacific Rise, 9°50′N and reference to global seismic catalogues reveals that a swarm of large (M 4.6−5.6) seismic events was centred on the 5°S segment over a  24 h period in late June 2002, perhaps indicating the precise timing of this volcanic eruptive episode. Temperature measurements at one of the vents found directly adjacent to the fresh lava flows at 5°S MAR (Turtle Pits) have subsequently revealed vent-fluids that are actively phase separating under conditions very close to the Critical Point for seawater, at  3000 m depth and 407 °C: the hottest vent-fluids yet reported from anywhere along the global ridge crest.     

Diurnal Variation of Gravity Wave Activity at Midlatitudes in the Ionospheric F Region

We investigate the short-term fluctuations in the period range from 15 to 180 minutes in the electron density variations of the F region ionosphere. Electron density profiles obtained at the ionospheric stations of Pruhonice (49.9° N, 14.5° E) and Ebro (40.8° N, 0.5° E) at five minute time sampling have been used for this analysis. The diurnal changes of the activity of the acoustic gravity wave fluctuations (AGW) show a clear enhancement during and several hours after sunrise. The periods of such AGW's are about 60 to 75 minutes and these waves propagates vertically through the ionosphere from a source located at an altitude of 180-220 km. The most likely source for these events seems to be passage of the Solar terminator.     

Improving neural network performance on the classification of complex geographic datasets

Neural Networks are now established computational tools used for search minimisation and data classification. They offer some highly desirable features for landuse classification problems since they are able to take in a variety of data types, recorded on different statistical scales, and combine them. As such, neural networks should offer advantages of increased accuracy. However, a barrier to their general acceptance and use by all but `experts' is the difficulty of configuring the network initially.  This paper describes the architectural problems of applying neural networks to landcover classification exercises in geography and details some of the latest developments from an ongoing research project aimed at overcoming these problems. A comprehensive strategy for the configuration of neural networks is presented, whereby the network is automatically constructed by a process involving initial analysis of the training data. By careful study of the functioning of each part of the network it is possible to select the architecture and initial weights on the node connections so the constructed network is `right first time'. Further adaptations are described to control network behaviour, to optimise functioning from the perspective of landcover classification. The entire configuration process is encapsulated by a single application which may be treated by the user as a `black box', allowing the network to the applied in much the same way as a maximum likelihood classifier, with no further effort being required of the user.     

Diffractometric clay mineral analysis of Recent sediments of Lake Constance (Central Europe)

Mica, smectite, and chlorite are the characteristic clay minerals in about 120 Recent sediment samples of Lake Constance as shown by semiquantitative clay mineral analysis. Interstratified clay minerals are practically absent, kandites were not found.The decrease of the smectite/mica ratio from West to East is apparently due to the dominance of the mica-chlorite assemblage of the Rhine river derived from the northern Alps in the eastern part of the lake. With increasing distance from the delta of the Rhine river, the Tertiary Molasse clay minerals (mainly mica and smectite) derived from rocks surrounding the lake become more abundant.

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Zusammenfassung An 120 Sedimentproben aus dem Bodensee wurde der Tonmineralbestand der Fraktion <2 durch die röntgenographische Phasenanalyse halbquantitativ ermittelt.Glimmer, Smectit und Chlorit sind die charakteristischen Tonmineralgruppen in den Sedimenten. Mixed-layer-Minerale treten so gut wie nicht auf, Kandite konnten nicht nachgewiesen werden.Aus der Bestimmung der relativen Häufigkeit von Glimmer und Smectit ergibt sich, daß das Smectit/Glimmer-Verhältnis von Osten (Einmündung des Alpenrheins) nach Westen ständig zunimmt.Diese Verteilung ist durch die Zufuhr von Glimmer und Chlorit durch den Alpenrhein aus den nördlichen Alpen bedingt, die jedoch mit zunehmender Entfernung vom Delta durch die Molasse-Distributiv-Provinz mit vorherrschend Glimmer und Smectit überlagert wird.

     

Sudoit („dioktaedrischer Chlorit“, „Al-Chlorit“) im Cornberger Sandstein von Cornberg/Hessen

Sudoite, muscovite, and quartz are authigenic minerals of the Cornberger Sandstein, the youngest eolian member of the uppermost Lower Permian. The sudoite is to a great extent similar to the material from the Kesselberg area (Black Forest, Germany).

$$\begin{gathered} n_z \approx n_z = 1.572 \pm 0.002 \hfill \\ \underline {{\text{ }}n_x = 1.568 \pm 0.003} \hfill \\ {\text{ }}\Theta \Delta = 0.004 \pm 0.003 \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$