Response of suspended sediment particle size distributions to changes in water chemistry at an Andean mountain stream confluence receiving arsenic rich acid drainage

Acid drainage is an important water quality issue in Andean watersheds, affecting the sustainability of urban, agricultural, and industrial activities. Mixing zones receiving acid drainage are critical sites where changes in pH and chemical environment promote the formation and dissolution of iron and aluminum oxy/hydroxides. These particles can significantly change the speciation of toxic metals and metalloids throughout drainage networks via sorption, desorption, and settling processes. However, little is known about the behavior of particle size distributions (PSDs) in streams affected by acid drainage and their relationship to metal speciation. This work studied: (a) the PSDs for a wide range of mixing ratios found at a fluvial confluence affected by acid drainage, and (b) the response of PSDs and arsenic speciation to environmental changes found when the particles approach complete mixing conditions. The confluence between the Azufre River (pH ~ 2, high concentration of dissolved metals) and Caracarani River (pH = 8.6, low concentration of dissolved metals) was used as a representative model for study. Field measurements show a bimodal PSD with modal diameters of ~50 and 300 μm. At shorter distances from the junction, the smaller modes with smaller particle volumes were dominant across the stream cross‐sections. A systematic shift towards larger particle sizes and larger particle volumes occurred downstream. The analysis of laboratory PSDs for Azufre/Caracarani mixing ratios between 0.01 and 0.5 (pH from 6.2 to 2.3) showed a bimodal trend with ~15 and 50 μm characteristic diameters; larger particles formed at pH>4. When particle suspensions were transferred in laboratory experiments from very low pH to full mixing conditions (pH ~ 2.8 and mixing ratio ~ 0.25) particle sizes varied, and the dissolved arsenic concentration decreased. The observed reaction kinetics were slow compared to the time scale of advective transport, creating opportunities for engineered controls for arsenic. This work contributes to a better understanding of the chemical‐hydrodynamic interactions in watersheds affected by mining, and identifying opportunities to improve water quality at points of use.     

OSL signal resetting in young deposits determined with a pulsed photon‐stimulated luminescence (PPSL) unit

Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) is a technique that can be used for dating geological materials deposited within the last half‐million years, including sediments transported by air, water or gravity, as well as rocks heated at high temperatures. Recently, several studies have shown that OSL can also provide information on sediment transport. The pulsed photon‐stimulated luminescence (PPSL) unit (also known as a portable OSL reader) developed by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre is an instrument designed to read luminescence signals from bulk (untreated) sediment samples comprising poly‐mineral and poly‐grain fractions. In this contribution, we evaluate the potential of the PPSL unit to assess the degree of OSL signal resetting in 27 young deposits (<2 ka) transported by different geomorphic agents in volcanic, coastal and fluvial depositional settings located in Mexico. Our results are in agreement with previous findings that used the Risø TL/OSL reader, confirming that sediments transported by debrisflows contain the highest inherited luminesce signals. Infrared stimulation (IRSL) values in volcanic ash, lavas, and sand beach and dune deposits exhibit low scatter. However, with blue stimulation (BLSL) these samples reveal a large degree of scattering, attributed to charge transfer in the case of the coastal deposits and to the low sensitivity of quartz in the case of volcanic material. The luminescence signals of fluvial sediments exhibit a highly scattered distribution in both IRSL and BLSL. We conclude that the use of a PPSL unit is a simple approach to assess the degree of OSL signal resetting in deposits sourced from different geological environments. This research contributes to previous studies that have investigated new applications of the PPSL unit to assist in OSL dating of geological materials.     

A contribution to the ore genesis of the magnesite deposit of Eugui,Navarra (Spain)

In the area of the magnesite deposits of Eugui (Navarra, Spain) studies on illite crystallinity, the degree of graphitization of carbonaceous material, measurements of vitrinite reflectivity, and fluid inclusions have been carried out on dolomites, magnesites, schists, and carbonaceous matter. These rocks have suffered metamorphism of very low to low grade.The magnesite appears generally concordant with the Namurian dolomitic rocks showing a typically banded structure. The genetic model proposed involves an early Mg concentration during sedimentation (syndiagenetic dolomitization), lateral circulation of saline solutions, and formation of diagenetically crystallized rhythmites (DCR), and final compaction. The formation of magnesite took place under the conditions of low pressure and temperatures close to 150°C, very similar to all strata-bound ore deposits. Deformation and regional metamorphism only caused minor removal, recrystallization, and transformation of the clay minerals and carbonaceous matter.     

Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics: Some Links with Astronomical Phenomena

A variety of astronomical phenomena appear to not satisfy the ergodic hypothesis in the relevant stationary state, if any. As such, there is no reason for expecting the applicability of Boltzmann–Gibbs (BG) statistical mechanics. Some of these phenomena appear to follow, instead, nonextensive statistical mechanics. In the same manner that the BG formalism is based on the entropy S _BG=?k∑ _i p _i ln p _i, the nonextensive one is based on the form S _q=k(1 ?∑ _i p _i ^q)/(q? 1) (with S ₁=S _BG). The stationary states of the former are characterized by an exponential dependence on the energy, whereas those of the latter are characterized by an (asymptotic) power law. A brief review of this theory is given here, as well as of some of its applications, such as the solar neutrino problem, polytropic self-gravitating systems, galactic peculiar velocities, cosmic rays and some cosmological aspects. In addition to these, an analogy with the Keplerian elliptic orbits versus the Ptolemaic epicycles is developed, where we show that optimizing S _q with a few constraints is equivalent to optimizing S _BG with an infinite number of constraints.     

Syntectonic emplacement of the Middle Jurassic Concón Mafic Dike Swarm, Coastal Range, central Chile (33° S)

The Concón Mafic Dike Swarm (CMDS) consists of basaltic to andesitic dikes emplaced into deformed Late Paleozoic granitoids during the development of the Jurassic arc of central Chile. The dikes are divided into an early group of thick dikes (5–12 m) and a late group of thin dikes (0.5–3 m). Two new amphibole ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates obtained from undeformed and deformed dikes, constrain the age of emplacement and deformation of the CMDS between 163 and 157 Ma. Based on radiometric ages, field observations, AMS studies and petrographic data, we conclude that the emplacement of the CMDS was syntectonic with the Jurassic arc extension and associated with sinistral displacements along the NW-trending structures that host the CMDS. The common occurrence of already deformed and rotated xenoliths in the dikes indicates that deformation in the granitoids started previously.The early thick dikes and country rocks appear to have been remagnetized during the exhumation of deep-seated coastal rocks in the Early Cretaceous (around 100 Ma). The remanent magnetization in late thin dikes is mainly retained by small amounts of low-Ti magnetite at high temperature and pyrrhotite at low temperature. The magnetization in these dikes appears to be primary in origin. Paleomagnetic results from the thin dikes also indicate that the whole area was tilted  23° to the NNW during cooling of the CMDS.The NNW–SSE extension vectors deduced from the paleomagnetic data and internal fabric of dikes are different with respect to extension direction deduced for the Middle–Late Jurassic of northern Chile, pointing to major heterogeneities along the margin of the overriding plate during the Mesozoic or differences in the mechanisms driving extension during such period.     

Geochemistry,chronology and stratigraphy of Neogene tuffs of the Central Andean region

Tuff layers are vital stratigraphic tools that allow correlations to be made between widely dispersed exposures. Despite their widespread occurrence in the central Andes, tuffs from both natural exposures and sedimentary cores extracted from the region's extensive salars (salt pans) are relatively unstudied. Here we lay the foundation for a tephrostratigraphic framework in the central Andes (14–28°S) by chemically and morphologically characterizing ash shards, and in some cases dating 36 Neogene distal tuffs. These tuffs occur in lacustrine and alluvial deposits from the southern Bolivian Altiplano and adjacent Atacama Desert. All tuffs are calc-akaline rhyolites, consistent with their setting in the Central Andean Volcanic Zone. Five of the older tuffs were ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dated and yield an age range of 6.63–0.75 Ma. Organic material associated with tuffs deposited into paleolake sediments, paleowetland deposits, or urine-encrusted rodent middens provide constraints on the age of several Late Pleistocene and Holocene tuffs.These tuffs provide key stratigraphic markers and ages for lake cycles and archeological sites on the Bolivian Altiplano and for assessing rates of surficial processes and archeology in both the Atacama and Altiplano. While modern climate, and consequently questions about geomorphic processes and climate change, differs in the hyperarid Atacama and the semi-arid Altiplano, the most extensive air-fall tuffs covered both regions, placing the Atacama and the Bolivian Altiplano in the same tephrostratigraphic province. For example, the Escara B tuff (～1.85 Ma), can be securely identified in both the Altiplano and Atacama. On the Altiplano, dates from the Escara B and E tuffs securely establish the age of the Escara Formation—representing the oldest expansive lake documented on the Bolivian Altiplano. By contrast, the presence of the Escara B tuff below ～6 m of alluvial sediment at the Blanco Encalado site in the Atacama desert yields information about sedimentation rates in this hyperarid region. Indeed, most tuffs from the Atacama Desert are older than 600,000 years, even though they occur within fluvial terraces immediately adjacent to the alluvial fans that are still active. Most of these geomorphic surfaces in the Atacama also possess well-developed saline soils that, when combined with the radiometric ages of the distal tuffs, suggest slow rates of geomorphic change and exceptional landscape stability for this area during the Quaternary.In contrast, younger tuffs are more abundant in the more recent lake records of the Altiplano. The Chita tuff was deposited at ～15,650 cal yr B.P., during the regressive phase of the region's deepest late Quaternary lake cycle—the “Tauca lake cycle”—which spanned 18.1–14.1 cal yr B.P. Two Holocene tuffs, the Sajsi tuff and the Cruzani Cocha tuff, are widespread. The Sajsi tuff was deposited just before 1700 cal yr B.P., whereas the Cruzani Cocha tuff appears to be mid-Holocene in age and shows some chemical affinities to a Holocene tuff (202B) deposited between 4420 and 5460 cal yr B.P. in a urine-encased rodent midden in the Atacama Desert.     

The influence of shrimp farms organic waste management on chemical water quality

We evaluated the physical–chemical properties and nutrient concentrations in two shrimp ponds under conventional management, intensive (I-P) and semi-intensive (SI-P), and one under organic management (O-P), three days after loading and before stoking. The mean’s total alkalinity concentrations were 2.26 ± 0.04 mM, 2.28 ± 0.01 mM and 2.59 ± 0.01 mM, respectively for I-P, SI-P and O-P. Bicarbonate and carbonate accounted for 62% and 37% in I-P, 64% and 36% in SI-P and 83–17% in O-P, respectively. Aragonite and calcite were oversaturated around Ω = 5. Mean total phosphate (TP) concentrations were 441.37 ± 92.06 μg/L, 449 ± 48 μg/L and 473.64 ± 84.17 μg/L, under I-P SI-P and O-P management respectively. Following this sequence, NO₃⁻ concentration was 2.98 ± 0.7 μg/L, 1.16 ± 0.16 μg/L and 0.32 ± 0.12 μg/L, under I-P, SI-P and O-P management respectively. Thus, the data suggest that different management of farm organic waste leads to different chemical water quality.     

Granite generation and rapid unroofing related to strike-slip faulting, Aysén, Chile

A stock of biotite-muscovite-garnet leucogranite crops out in the lower course of Río Cisnes as an unusual minor lithology within the predominantly dioritic to tonalitic North Patagonian Batholith. Foliated and unfoliated varieties are present—the former are nearer to the main lineament of the Liquin˜e-Ofqui Fault Zone (LOFZ). Two-feldspar thermometry indicates equilibration temperatures above 600°C, for pressures probably not over 3 kbar, as suggested by the Mn-rich garnet composition. A Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron age of 9.6 ± 0.4 Ma (1σ error) probably indicates the time of magma crystallization. ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar ages of 6.6 ± 0.3 Ma on muscovite and 5.5 ± 0.4 Ma on biotite are cooling ages from which a moderate average uplift/denudation rate ( 1 mm/yr) may be calculated. Paucity of occurrence, distribution close to the LOFZ and a near minimum-melt composition all suggest that the leucogranite magma was derived by partial melting of the lower crust, perhaps by decompression melting at a time when uplift/denudation rates were high (4 mm/yr or more are required). Regional evidence for rapid Holocene uplift in the immediate vicinity of the LOFZ substantiates the feasibility of the proposed petrogenetic model, which may be valid in other strike-slip orogenic environments.     

40Ar/39Ar and K–Ar geochronology of magmatic and hydrothermal events in a classic low-suphidation epithermal bonanza deposit: El Peñon, northern Chile

The epithermal El Peñon gold–silver deposit consists of quartz–adularia veins emplaced within a late Upper Paleocene rhyolitic dome complex, located in the Paleocene–Lower Eocene Au–Ag belt of northern Chile. Detailed K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology on volcano–plutonic rocks and hydrothermal minerals were carried out to constrain magmatic and hydrothermal events. The Paleocene to Lower Eocene magmatism in the El Peñon area is confined to a rhomb-shaped basin, which was controlled by N–S trending normal faults and both NE- and NW-trending transtensional fault systems. The earliest products of the basin-filling sequences comprise of Middle to Upper Paleocene (～59–55 Ma) welded rhyolitic ignimbrites and andesitic to dacitic lavas, with occasional dacitic dome complexes. Later, rhyolitic and dacitic dome complexes (～55–52 Ma) represent the waning stages of volcanism during the latest Upper Paleocene and the earliest Eocene. Lower Eocene porphyry intrusives (～48–43 Ma) mark the end of the magmatism in the basin and a change to a compressive tectonomagmatic regime. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of hydrothermal adularia from the El Peñon deposit yields ages between 51.0±0.6 and 53.1±0.5 Ma. These results suggest that mineralization occurred slightly after the emplacement of the El Peñon rhyolitic dome at 54.5±0.6 Ma (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age) and was closely tied to later dacitic–rhyodacitic bodies of 52 to 53 Ma (K–Ar ages), probably as short-lived pulses related to single volcanic events.