Kohala revisited

We present new isotopic data for Sr and Nd in basalts and alkalic volcanics from Kohala volcano, Hawaii, which had previously been described by Feigenson et al. (1983). These data complement our own isotopic data presented in that paper and those given in the companion paper by Lanphere and Frey (1986). We show that in spite of appearances to the contrary, there is no significant analytical bias in our previously published analyses. Accidental sampling bias and one erroneous value prevented us from recognizing the isotopic heterogeneity in our previously published data. The new data both confirm the Sr-isotopic distinction between Pololu and Hawi volcanics discovered by Lanphere and Frey and narrow the gap between them significantly. The two data sets agree for the Hawi samples, but the mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.703651±13 for our Pololu basalts is significantly lower than the mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr= 0.703748±18 found by Lanphere and Frey. The Ndisotopic ratios are also heterogeneous, but they overlap for the two formations. We agree with the assessment of Lanphere and Frey that some of our samples originally classified as belonging to the Hawi Formation are actually derived from the uppermost Pololu Formation, but with some stratigraphic ambiguities remaining.We believe that our previous results of inverse modelling are valid for the tholeiitic and moderately alkalic Pololu Formation despite the isotopic heterogeneity because this heterogeneity does not correlate with the trace element chemistry of the Pololu samples.The severe depletion of Sc, which correlates with decreasing CaO/Al₂O₃ ratios and increasing Yb concentrations, confirms the importance of clinopyroxene fractionation in the evolved lavas of the Hawi Formation. In addition, apatite precipitation did fractionate the P/Ce ratios in the more evolved Hawi lavas, but its effect on the REE abundances is still uncertain and may not be significant.The MgO — P₂O₅ plot of Lanphere and Frey does not provide compelling evidence against a simple genetic relationship between Pololu and Hawi lavas. The internal consistency of the (fractionation corrected) trace element ratios such as Ba/Ce indicates that Ba is depleted in both the Hawi and the Pololu sources and that these sources do have similar chemistry.Finally, we show that contrary to the conclusions of Lanphere and Frey the REE patterns of Kohala volcanics can be generated from sources with only slightly negatively sloping REE patterns without involvement of garnet, as was indicated by the formal inversion analysis. Models which include garnet yield more highly anomalous source abundance patterns and calculated bulk-source partition coefficients which are inconsistent with the presence of garnet. The persistence of residual garnet is also inconsistent with the absence of significant heavy-REE fractionation among the Pololu basalts.     

Regression revisited

One traditional method of estimating ore reserves is to allocate the arithmetic mean of local samples to each block or stope within the deposit. Thirty years ago, Krige showed that this method produced a “bias” in the estimates, in that high values were commonly overestimated and low values underestimated. This bias became known as the “regression effect” because it could usually be corrected by an empirical regression relationship derived from previously mined areas. This paper shows how the regression effect can be reconciled with the geostatistical method of kriging and how a simple regression line may be derived before any areas are mined out. The method is similar to kriging with known mean, but acknowledges that the overall mean of the deposit may not be known precisely.     

旧供水井化学处理方法介绍--以加德满都市旧供水井修复为例

本文以加德满都市旧供水井修复项目为例,针对因滤水管缝隙被化学物质堵塞,导致井出水量逐年减少的旧供水井。通过井下电视摄像系统检查,采用六偏磷酸钠、氨基黄酸等有机酸,结合刷洗、高压喷射等机械方法进行处理,使旧供水井出水量得到明显提高。     

Apollo 12 revisited

We present compositional data for 358 lithic fragments (2-4-mm size range) and 15 soils (<1-mm fines) from regolith samples collected at the Apollo 12 site. The regolith is dominated by mare basalt, KREEP impact-melt breccias (crystalline and glassy), and regolith breccias. Minor components include alkali anorthosite, alkali norite, granite, quartz monzogabbro, and anorthositic rocks from the feldspathic highlands. The typical KREEP impact-melt breccia of Apollo 12 (mean Th: 16 μg/g) is similar to that of the Apollo 14 site (16 μg/g), 180 km away. Both contain a minor component (0.3% at Apollo 12, 0.6% at Apollo 14) of FeNi metal that is dissimilar to metal in ordinary chondrites but is similar to metal found in Apollo 16 impact-melt breccias. The Apollo 12 regolith contains another variety of KREEP impact-melt breccia that differs from any type of breccia described from the Apollo sites in being substantially richer in Th (30 μg/g) but with only moderate concentrations of K. It is, however, similar in composition to the melt breccia lithology in lunar meteorite Sayh al Uhaymir 169. The average composition of typical mature soil corresponds to a mixture of 65% mare basalt, 20% typical KREEP impact-melt breccia, 7% high-Th impact-melt breccia, 6% feldspathic material, 2.6% alkali noritic anorthosite, and 0.9% CM chondrite. Thus, although the site was resurfaced by basaltic volcanism 3.1-3.3 Ga ago, a third of the material in the present regolith is of nonmare origin, mainly in the form of KREEP impact-melt breccias and glass. These materials occur in the Apollo 12 regolith mainly as a result of moderate-sized impacts into surrounding Fra Mauro and Alpes Formations that formed craters Copernicus (93 km diameter, 406 km distance), Reinhold (48 km diameter, 196 km distance), and possibly Lansberg (39 km diameter, 108 km distance), aided by excavation of basalt interlayers and mixing of regolith by small, local impacts. Anomalous immature soil samples 12024, 12032, and 12033 contain a lesser proportion of mare basalt and a correspondingly greater proportion of KREEP lithologies. These samples consist mainly of fossil or paleoregolith, likely ejecta from Copernicus, that was buried beneath the mixing zone of micrometeorite gardening, and then brought to the near surface by local craters such as Head, Bench, and Sharp Craters.     

Bayesian updating revisited

Bayesian updating methods provide an alternate philosophy to the characterization of the input variables of a stochastic mathematical model. Here, a priori values of statistical parameters are assumed on subjective grounds or by analysis of a data base from a geologically similar area. As measurements become available during site investigations, updated estimates of parameters characterizing spatial variability are generated. However, in solving the traditional updating equations, an updated covariance matrix may be generated that is not positive-definite, particularly when observed data errors are small. In addition, measurements may indicate that initial estimates of the statistical parameters are poor. The traditional procedure does not have a facility to revise the parameter estimates before the update is carried out. alternatively, Bayesian updating can be viewed as a linear inverse problem that minimizes a weighted combination of solution simplicity and data misfit. Depending on the weight given to the a priori information, a different solution is generated. A Bayesian updating procedure for log-conductivity interpolation that uses a singular value decomposition (SVD) is presented. An efficient and stable algorithm is outlined that computes the updated log-conductivity field and the a posteriori covariance of the estimated values (estimation errors). In addition, an information density matrix is constructed that indicates how well predicted data match observations. Analysis of this matrix indicates the relative importance of the observed data. The SVD updating procedure is used to interpolate the log-conductivity fields of a series of hypothetical aquifers to demonstrate pitfalls and possibilities of the method.     

Bayesian updating revisited

Bayesian updating methods provide an alternate philosophy to the characterization of the input variables of a stochastic mathematical model. Here, a priori values of statistical parameters are assumed on subjective grounds or by analysis of a data base from a geologically similar area. As measurements become available during site investigations, updated estimates of parameters characterizing spatial variability are generated. However, in solving the traditional updating equations, an updated covariance matrix may be generated that is not positive-definite, particularly when observed data errors are small. In addition, measurements may indicate that initial estimates of the statistical parameters are poor. The traditional procedure does not have a facility to revise the parameter estimates before the update is carried out. alternatively, Bayesian updating can be viewed as a linear inverse problem that minimizes a weighted combination of solution simplicity and data misfit. Depending on the weight given to the a priori information, a different solution is generated. A Bayesian updating procedure for log-conductivity interpolation that uses a singular value decomposition (SVD) is presented. An efficient and stable algorithm is outlined that computes the updated log-conductivity field and the a posteriori covariance of the estimated values (estimation errors). In addition, an information density matrix is constructed that indicates how well predicted data match observations. Analysis of this matrix indicates the relative importance of the observed data. The SVD updating procedure is used to interpolate the log-conductivity fields of a series of hypothetical aquifers to demonstrate pitfalls and possibilities of the method.     

The Finnmarkian Orogeny revisited: An isotopic investigation in eastern Finnmark, Arctic Norway

The Scandinavian Caledonides have been viewed as resulting from either a single Silurian (i.e. Scandian) event or from polycyclic orogenies involving several collisions on the margin of Baltica. Early studies of the Kalak Nappe Complex (KNC) in Finnmark, Arctic Norway, led to the hypothesis of an Early Cambrian-Early Ordovician (520-480 Ma) Finnmarkian Orogeny, though the nature of this tectonic event remains enigmatic. In this contribution we have employed in situ UV laser ablation Ar-Ar dating of fine-grained phyllite and schist from the eastern Caledonides of Arctic Norway to investigate the presence of pre-Scandian tectonometamorphic events. U-Th-Pb detrital zircon and whole rock Sm-Nd analyses have been used to test the regional stratigraphic correlations of these metasedimentary rocks. These results indicate that the Berlevåg Formation within the Tanafjord Nappe, previously assumed to be part of the KNC, was deposited after 1872 Ma and prior to a low temperature hydrothermal event at 555 ± 15 Ma. It has a likely provenance on the Baltica continent, lacks any Grenville-Sveconorwegian detrital zircons, and thus cannot be part of the KNC which contains abundant detritus in this age range. Instead the Berlevåg Formation is interpreted as part of the Laksefjord Nappe Complex, which structurally underlies the KNC. Laser-ablation argon-argon dating also shows that late Caledonian (i.e. Scandian) tectonometamorphism affected both the KNC and its immediate footwall at c. 425 ± 15 Ma. This is corroborated by a step-heating argon-argon muscovite age of 424 ± 3 Ma which is interpreted as dating cooling. However, within two samples from the KNC, an earlier (Middle-Late Cambrian) metamorphic event is also recorded. A biotite-grade schist yielded an Ar-Ar inverse isochron age of 506 ± 17 Ma from whole rock surfaces, in which the mineral domains are too fine-grained to date individually. An early generation of muscovite from a coarser-grained amphibolite-facies sample yielded an inverse isochron of 498 ± 13 Ma. Both isochron ages have atmospheric argon intercept values. Previous studies have documented similar Cambrian ages in the Caledonian nappes below the KNC. These results suggest correlative tectonometamorphic events in the eastern KNC and its footwall at c. 500 Ma. This Cambrian event may reflect the arrival of the Kalak Nappe Complex as a previously constructed exotic mobile belt onto the margin of Baltica. Combined with recent studies from the western Kalak Nappe Complex, the results do not support the traditional constraint on the Finnmarkian Orogeny sensu stricto. However they vindicate classic tectonic models involving a Cambrian accretion event.     

The system Fe-FeO revisited

The results of a reconnaissance investigation of melting relationships in the system Fe-FeO at 16 GPa were recently described by Kato and Ringwood (1989). The principal sources of uncertainties in those experiments were caused by loss of FeO to sample capsules during runs and the estimation of sample temperatures by an indirect method, based upon a prior calibration of the relationship between power input and temperature. A further set of 24 runs at 16 GPa has been carried out using improved experimental techniques. The melting temperatures of iron and wüstite at 16 GPa are found to be 1945±20° C and 1875±25° C respectively. (Quoted errors do not include possible effects of pressure on thermocouple emf). The Fe-FeO eutectic is now located at 10±2 wt% FeO and 1670±20° C (previously 15.5±3 wt% FeO and 1700±25° C). The new determination of the depression of the melting point of iron by solution of FeO is 27.5° C/wt% FeO as compared to the previous value of 23° C/wt% FeO. The present results show that the contraction of the liquid immiscibility field in the system at high pressure is somewhat larger than was estimated previously. This study confirms the general topology of high pressure phase relationships in the Fe-FeO system obtained by Kato and Ringwood (1989) and has similar implications for the process of core formation within the Earth.     

Oxygen isotope cosmothermometer revisited

A previously published estimate of the oxygen isotopic composition of the gas of the early solar nebula must be revised in light of the discovery of non-chemical isotope effects in carbonaceous chondrites. The solids which accreted to form the Earth, Moon and ordinary chondrites probably did not equilibrate isotopically with the gas below 1000 K.     

Models in geography revisited

Agent based models (ABMs) have many applications, and illustrate a rapidly developing field of enquiry, spanning both the physical-mathematical and human-social sciences. ABMs are seen as most appropriate in situations where decisions or actions are distributed around particular locations, and in which structure is viewed as emergent from the interaction between individuals. ABMs may be used either as representational devices, to reproduce the patterns observed or desired in the system of interest, or as foundational tools contributing to the development of social or economic theory. The role and status of models and modelling is itself an instantiation of a wider debate concerning representation and explanation. Today, a case can be made that the nature of explanation and the use of scientific interpretation reflect much less definite and exclusive positions and permit more diverse approaches than hitherto. The underlying proposition of this commentary is, therefore, that the time is right for a positive application of ABMs within the discipline of geography, and for a rediscovery and reappraisal of the richness and depth of insight in the model-building enterprise more generally. First, the context for ABM development and application is set with reference to the agency-structure debate. Second, some aspects of the heritage of models in geography is presented, based upon reviews of two benchmark publications bearing that title. Next, some of the most significant characteristics, uses, potentials and limitations of ABMs, are reviewed. Finally, some constructive ways forward are suggested, as informed by theory and method from the interpretative social sciences.     

Vanished evaporites: revisited

Detrital particles were found as a sand-silt layer in a deep-sea Messinian Stage (Upper Miocene) salt deposit in the Mediterranean Basin (Balearic Sea). These particles include worn and limonite-coated quartz, feldspar, glauconite, volcanic glass, reworked Messinian foraminifera and some lutecites. The lutecites are not original to the salt and taken in their association with the other detritus, especially the foraminifera, suggest syndepositional reworking of exposed Messinian evaporites.     

In memory of a scientist,colleague, and friend

Chronicle

In memory of a scientist, colleague, and friend     

The Eotvos force revisited

The Eotvos acceleration, too low to be the principal driving force in Wegener's theory of continental drift, where the decoupling surface was placed between crust and mantle, must be re-evaluated in the context of Plate Tectonics, where the same surface is localized at the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary. In this note, taking into account the departure from spherical symmetry of the Earths internal gravitational potential, a value for the Eotvos acceleration is obtained that is one order of magnitude larger than pre-Plate Tectonics estimates and almost two times greater than more recent results. This force was higher in the geological past because the Earths angular velocity and flattening were greater than today, and thus may be considered in the large-scale reconstruction of continental displacements.     

Decline curve analyses revisited

Empiricaldecline curve forecasts of future production rates and cumulative production to be expected from certain classes of petroleum reservoirs has been a methodology practiced and relied on by petroleum geologists for many years. New ways to consider the subject are described in this paper. Thereby it is seen that these forecasts sometimes can be made even when some of the record of the past performance history is sparse (say, because it has been lost, or never recorded).SI Units D, D _i initial reference production rate,s ^–1 - n dimensionless constant [cf. Eq. (1)] - N cumulative production, m³ - Q, Q _i production rate att and initially, m³/s - R dimensionless time variable [cf. Eq. (9)] - t time, s     

Maximum depositional age estimation revisited

In a recent review published in this journal,Coutts et al.(2019)compared nine different ways to estimate the maximum depositional age(MDA)of siliclastic rocks by means of detrital geochronology.Their results show that among these methods three are positively and six negatively biased.This paper investigates the cause of these biases and proposes a solution to it.A simple toy example shows that it is theoretically impossible for the reviewed methods to find the correct depositional age in even a best case scenario:the MDA estimates drift to ever smaller values with increasing sample size.The issue can be solved using a maximum likelihood model that was originally developed for fission track thermochronology by Galbraith and Laslett(1993).This approach parameterises the MDA estimation problem with a binary mixture of discrete and continuous distributions.The‘Maximum Likelihood Age’(MLA)algorithm converges to a unique MDA value,unlike the ad hoc methods reviewed by Coutts et al.(2019).It successfully recovers the depositional age for the toy example,and produces sensible results for realistic distributions.This is illustrated with an application to a published dataset of 13 sandstone samples that were analysed by both LA-ICPMS and CA-TIMS U–Pb geochronology.The ad hoc algorithms produce unrealistic MDA estimates that are systematically younger for the LA-ICPMS data than for the CA-TIMS data.The MLA algorithm does not suffer from this negative bias.The MLA method is a purely statistical approach to MDA estimation.Like the ad hoc methods,it does not readily accommodate geological complications such as post-depositional Pb-loss,or analytical issues causing erroneously young outliers.The best approach in such complex cases is to re-analyse the youngest grains using more accurate dating techniques.The results of the MLA method are best visualised on radial plots.Both the model and the plots have applications outside detrital geochronology,for example to determine volcanic eruption ages.     

The Palaeozoic Variscan oceans revisited

Geological evidence, supported by biogeographical data and in accord with palaeomagnetic constraints, indicates that “one ocean” models for the Variscides should be discarded, and confirms, instead, the existence of three Gondwana-derived microcontinents which were involved in the Variscan collision: Avalonia, North Armorica (Franconia and Thuringia subdivided by a failed Vesser Rift), and South Armorica (Central Iberia/Armorica/Bohemia), all divided by small oceans. In addition, parts of south-eastern Europe, including Adria and Apulia, are combined here under the new name of Palaeo-Adria, which was also Peri-Gondwanan in the Early Palaeozoic. Oceanic separations were formed by the break-up of the northern Gondwana margin from the Late Cambrian onwards. Most of the oceans or seaways remained narrow, but – much like the Alpine Cenozoic oceans – gave birth to orogenic belts with HP-UHP metamorphism and extensive allochthons: the Saxo-Thuringian Ocean between North and South Armorica and the Galicia-Moldanubian Ocean between South Armorica and Palaeo-Adria. Only the Rheic Ocean between Avalonia and peri-Gondwana was wide enough to be unambiguously recorded by biogeography and palaeomagnetism, and its north-western arm closed before or during the Emsian in Europe. Ridge subduction under the northernmost part of Armorica in the Emsian created the narrow and short-lived Rheno-Hercynian Ocean. It is that ocean (and not the Rheic) whose opening and closure controlled the evolution of the Rheno-Hercynian foldbelt in south-west Iberia, south-west England, Germany, and Moravia (Czech Republic). Devonian magmatism and sedimentation set within belts of Early Variscan deformation and metamorphism are probably strike-slip-related. The first arrival of flysch on the forelands and/or the age of deformation of foreland sequences constrains the sequential closure of the Variscan seaways (Galicia-Moldanubian in the Givetian; Saxo-Thuringian in the Early Famennian; Rheno-Hercynian in the Tournaisian). Additional Mid- to Late Devonian and (partly) Early Carboniferous magmatism and extension in the Rheno-Hercynian, Saxo-Thuringian and Galicia-Moldanubian basins overlapped with Variscan geodynamics as strictly defined. The Early Carboniferous episode was the start of episodic anorogenic heating which lasted until the Permian and probably relates to Tethys rifting.