Architecture and sedimentary facies evolution of a marine, expanding outer-arc half-graben (Crete, late Miocene)

Vertical trends in architecture and facies of delta systems are preserved in a clastic wedge of an expanding marine half-graben in which tectonics, eustatic sea-level change and climatic change are roughly known from independent evidence. The studied half-graben is situated on Crete (Greece) and part of a larger, E-W-trending extensional domain situated north of the Hellenic subduction zone. The extension seems to be related to the southward migration of the trench (roll-back) in early Late Miocene times. The infill pattern is discussed in the light of theoretical fault-growth models for expanding half-grabens. The geometry of the half-graben fill is typically wedge shaped, with a thickness of nearly 1000 m near the fault scarp thinning to c. 50 m about 20 km away from the scarp. The lower part of the wedge (Stratified Prina Series) contains coarsening-upward units representing progradational, shallow-marine deltas. At the base of the wedge these units are thin and retrogradationally stacked. Upwards in the succession, the units become composite (coarsening-upward subunits), thicker and finer grained. The composite structure, the thickening and the fining trend is related to progressive increase in accommodation space inherent in fault growth. Rapid deepening of the basin from the photic zone (evidenced by intercalated coral and stromatolite beds) up to a depth of 900 m started at the top of the Stratified Prina Series. The deepening continued over some tens of metres of marly sediments of the base of the Kalamavka Formation and may be related to structural collapse of the fault block. After the structural collapse, basin depth remained more or less constant and basin infilling occurred by progradation of deep-water delta systems. These systems are characterized by a muddy delta slope with channelized conglomerates, and by mainly aggradation of prodelta turbidites deposited in small lobes at the base of slope.     

Mobilization of arsenic and iron from Red River floodplain sediments, Vietnam

Sediments from the Red River and from an adjacent floodplain aquifer were investigated with respect to the speciation of Fe and As in the solid phase, to trace the diagenetic changes in the river sediment upon burial into young aquifers, and the related mechanisms of arsenic release to the groundwater. Goethite with subordinate amounts of hematite were, using Mössbauer spectroscopy, identified as the iron oxide minerals present in both types of sediment. The release kinetics of Fe, As, Mn and PO₄ from the sediment were investigated in leaching experiments with HCl and 10 mM ascorbic acid, both at pH 3. From the river sediments, most of the Fe and As was mobilized by reductive dissolution with ascorbic acid while HCl released very little Fe and As. This suggests As to be associated with an Fe-oxide phase. For oxidized aquifer sediment most Fe was mobilized by ascorbic acid but here not much As was released. However, the reduced aquifer sediments contained a large pool of Fe(II) and As that is readily leached by HCl, probably derived from an unidentified authigenic Fe(II)-containing mineral which incorporates As as well. Extraction with ascorbic acid indicates that the river sediments contain both As(V) and As(III), while the reduced aquifer sediment almost exclusively releases As(III). The difference in the amount of Fe(II) leached from river and oxidized aquifer sediments by ascorbic acid and HCl, was attributed to reductive dissolution of Fe(III). The reactivity of this pool of Fe(III) was quantified by a rate law and compared to that of synthetic iron oxides. In the river mud, Fe(III) had a reactivity close to that of ferrihydrite, while the river sand and oxidized aquifer sediment exhibited a reactivity ranging from lepidocrocite or poorly crystalline goethite to hematite. Mineralogy by itself appears to be a poor predictor of the iron oxide reactivity in natural samples using the reactivity of synthetic Fe-oxides as a reference. Sediments were incubated, both unamended and with acetate added, and monitored for up to 2 months. The river mud showed the fastest release of both Fe and As, while the effect of acetate addition was minor. This suggests that the presence of reactive organic carbon is not rate limiting. In the case of the river and aquifer sediments, the release of Fe and As was always stimulated by acetate addition and here reactive organic carbon was clearly the rate limiting factor. The reduced aquifer sediment apparently can sustain slower but prolonged microbially-driven release of As. The highly reactive pools of Fe(III) and As in the river mud could be due to reoxidation of As and Fe contained in the reducing groundwater from the floodplain aquifers that are discharging into the river. Deposition of the suspended mud on the floodplain during high river stages is proposed to be a major flux of As onto the floodplain and into the underlying aquifers.     

First-Order Inconsistencies Caused by Rogue Trajectories

A theoretical requirement of the Interaction by Exchange with the Conditional Mean (IECM) micromixing model is that the mean concentration field produced by it must be consistent with the mean concentration field produced by a traditional Lagrangian stochastic (LS) marked particle model. We examine the violation of this requirement that occurs in a coupled LS–IECM model when unrealistically high particle velocities occur. No successful strategy was found to mitigate the effects of these rogue trajectories. It is our hope that this work will provide renewed impetus for investigation into rogue trajectories and methods to eliminate them from LS models.     

Roll-back controlled vertical movements of outer-arc basins of the Hellenic subduction zone (Crete, Greece)

Crustal thickening north of the Hellenic subduction zone continued in the most external zones (e.g. Crete) probably until the late middle Miocene. The following period of predominant extension has been related by various workers to a number of causes such as: (1) trench retreat (roll back) driven by the pull of the African slab and (2) gravitational body forces associated with the thickened crust, both in combination with NNE motion of the African plate combined with westward extrusion of the Anatolian block along the North Anatolian Fault. To verify these hypotheses an inventory of fault orientations and fault-block kinematics was carried out for central and eastern Crete and adjoining offshore areas by combining satellite imagery, digital terrain models, and structural, seismic, sedimentary and stratigraphical field data, all set up in a GIS. The GIS data set enabled easy visualization and combination of data, which resulted in a relatively objective analysis. The geological results are discussed in the light of a numerical model that investigated the intraplate stresses resulting from the above mentioned forces. Our tectonostratigraphic results for the late Neogene of central and eastern Crete show three episodes of basin extension following a period of approximately N–S compression. In the earliest Tortonian, N130E- to N100E-trending normal faults developed, resulting in a roughly planar, arc-parallel fault system aligning strongly asymmetric half-grabens. The early Tortonian to early Messinian period was characterized by an orthogonal fault system of N100E and N020E faults resulting in rectangular grabens and half-grabens. From the late Tortonian to early Pleistocene, deformation occurred along a pattern of closely spaced, left-lateral oblique N075E faults, orientated parallel to the south Cretan trenches. Deformation phases younger than early Pleistocene are dominated by normal to oblique faulting along WSW–ENE (N050E) faults and dextral, oblique motions along NNW–SSE (N160E) faults. Many faults that were generated during previous deformational episodes appear to be reactivated in later periods. Our tectonostratigraphy points to a three step anticlockwise rotation of active fault systems since the late middle Miocene compressional phase. We suggest here that the rotation is associated with a reorganization of the stress field going from SSW–NNE tension in the early late Miocene to NE–SW left-lateral shear in the Quaternary. The rotation is likely to be a response to arc-normal pull forces combined with a progressive increase of the curvature of the arc. During the Pliocene to Recent period, the SSW-ward retreat of the arc and trench system relative to the African plate was accomplished by transform motions in the eastern (Levantine) segment of the Hellenic Arc, resulting in, respectively, NNW–SSE and NE–SW left-lateral shear on Crete.     

Palaeo-hydrogeological control on groundwater As levels in Red River delta,Vietnam

To study the geological control on groundwater As concentrations in Red River delta, depth-specific groundwater sampling and geophysical logging in 11 monitoring wells was conducted along a 45 km transect across the southern and central part of the delta, and the literature on the Red River delta’s Quaternary geological development was reviewed. The water samples (n = 30) were analyzed for As, major ions, Fe²⁺, H₂S, NH₄, CH₄, δ¹⁸O and δD, and the geophysical log suite included natural gamma-ray, formation and fluid electrical conductivity. The SW part of the transect intersects deposits of grey estuarine clays and deltaic sands in a 15–20 km wide and 50–60 m deep Holocene incised valley. The NE part of the transect consists of 60–120 m of Pleistocene yellowish alluvial deposits underneath 10–30 m of estuarine clay overlain by a 10–20 m veneer of Holocene sediments. The distribution of δ¹⁸O-values (range −12.2‰ to −6.3‰) and hydraulic head in the sample wells indicate that the estuarine clay units divide the flow system into an upper Holocene aquifer and a lower Pleistocene aquifer. The groundwater samples were all anoxic, and contained Fe²⁺ (0.03–2.0 mM), Mn (0.7–320 μM), SO₄ (<2.1 μM–0.75 mM), H₂S (<0.1–7.0 μM), NH₄ (0.03–4.4 mM), and CH₄ (0.08–14.5 mM). Generally, higher concentrations of NH₄ and CH₄ and low concentrations of SO₄ were found in the SW part of the transect, dominated by Holocene deposits, while the opposite was the case for the NE part of the transect. The distribution of the groundwater As concentration (<0.013–11.7 μM; median 0.12 μM (9 μg/L)) is related to the distribution of NH₄, CH₄ and SO₄. Low concentrations of As (?0.32 μM) were found in the Pleistocene aquifer, while the highest As concentrations were found in the Holocene aquifer. PHREEQC-2 speciation calculations indicated that Fe²⁺ and H₂S concentrations are controlled by equilibrium for disordered mackinawite and precipitation of siderite. An elevated groundwater salinity (Cl range 0.19–65.1 mM) was observed in both aquifers, and dominated in the deep aquifer. A negative correlation between aqueous As and an estimate of reduced SO₄ was observed, indicating that Fe sulphide precipitation poses a secondary control on the groundwater As concentration.     

An analysis of the variation in delta architecture

The architecture and sedimentary facies of a delta during its steady-state development varies with the type of distributary system, the basin water depth, and the different ways of sediment diffusion at the delta front. Analysis of these variables has resulted in twelve prototype deltas, which are postulated as sedimentological norms to facilitate comparisons of both modern and ancient delta systems.     

Bioaccumulation and biomarkers in the sea star Asterias rubens (Echinodermata: Asteroidea): a North Sea field study

During two North Sea field trips in March 1995 and September 1996 sea stars, Asterias rubens, were collected at various stations along pollution gradients in order to study the relation between biochemical markers and levels of accumulated contaminants. Biomarkers measured were: cytochrome P450 level, benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylase (BPH) activity, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and DNA integrity. Accumulation levels of heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the pyloric caeca of sea stars indicate different pollution gradients, influenced by rivers in The Netherlands, UK and Germany. For some contaminants, especially PAHs, relatively high levels were found in the central part of the North Sea (Dogger Bank). On the basis of multivariate statistics, stations near the mouth of the Elbe and the Rhine/Meuse were shown to have different patterns of biomarker responses. Sea stars from stations in coastal zones showed relatively high levels of cytochrome P450 and 'P418', another haemoprotein that is present in most marine invertebrates. The station nearest to the Elbe Estuary showed the lowest BPH and AChE activity. DNA integrity was lower especially in stations near the Dutch coast and in a station near the Tees/Tyne estuaries. Using these biomarkers as early warning signals of exposure and/or adverse effects, this type of monitoring can be used also in the future to study the spatial and temporal trends in the quality of coastal waters.     

In-orbit Performance of UVIT and First Results

The performance of the ultraviolet telescope (UVIT) on-board AstroSat is reported. The performance in orbit is also compared with estimates made from the calibrations done on the ground. The sensitivity is found to be within \(\sim \)15% of the estimates, and the spatial resolution in the NUV is found to exceed significantly the design value of \(1.8^{\prime \prime }\) and it is marginally better in the FUV. Images obtained from UVIT are presented to illustrate the details revealed by the high spatial resolution. The potential of multi-band observations in the ultraviolet with high spatial resolution is illustrated by some results.     

Mapping distortion of detectors in UVIT onboard AstroSat observatory

Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) is one of the payloads onboard AstroSat, India’s first multi-wavelength Astronomy mission. UVIT is primarily designed to make high resolution images in wide field, in three wavelength channels simultaneously: FUV (130–180 nm), NUV (200–300 nm) and VIS (320–550 nm). The intensified imagers used in UVIT suffer from distortions, and a correction is necessary for these to achieve good astrometry. In this article we describe the methodology and calculations used to estimate the distortions in ground calibrations.