Morphodynamic research challenges for braided river environments: Lessons from the iconic case of New Zealand

Pressures on braided river systems in New Zealand are increasing due to anthropogenic stresses such as demand for irrigation water, braidplain conversion to farmland and invasive vegetation, as well as extreme natural events associated with earthquakes and climate change. These pressures create issues around preserving braided river physical environments and associated ecosystems, and managing hazards such as floods, aggradation and erosion. A need for more robust understanding and quantification of braided river morphodynamic processes underpins many of these issues. Here, we present eight morphodynamic research challenges to service this need. The first four research challenges relate to managing aggradation-related flooding hazards; the last four address issues stem largely from recent dairy expansion, which has created huge pressure to take land and irrigation water from the alp-fed braided rivers and to alter flow regimes at their mouths. Hāpua, the freshwater lagoons found where most braided rivers meet the coast, show complex morphodynamic behaviour in response to the interplay of river and coastal processes, and their special ecosystems are sensitive to river flow and sediment load changes. We discuss how physical laboratory experiments and novel numerical modelling can help to understand the morphological processes braided rivers undergo, and we show how those research advances could inform planning and legal decisions to regulate land rights and irrigation water allocation on New Zealand's braidplains. We illustrate these environmental and engineering issues and research challenges with examples from the Kowhai, Waiho, Waiau, Rangitata and Hurunui Rivers. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemical studies of L chondrites. V: compositional patterns for 49 trace elements in 14 L4-6 and 7 LL4-6 falls

To study compositional trends associated with open-system thermal metamorphism and shock-induced collisional breakup of L4-6 chondrite parent(s), we used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and radiochemical neutron activation analysis to determine 49 trace elements in 62 falls. Trends for the 49 elements, especially of the 14 rare earth elements in 5 members of a putative L/LL group (Bjurböle, Cynthiana, Holbrook, Knyahinya, Sultanpur) and 9 additional L chondrites (Aïr, Aumieres, Bachmut, Forksville, Kandahar, Kiel, Milean, Narellan, Santa Isabel) differed markedly from those in the remaining normal 46 samples. Here, we report the data for the 14 L and putative L/LL chondrites and 7 LL (Appley Bridge, Athens, Bandong, Ensisheim, Mangwendi, Olivenza, Soko-Banja), analyzed to test the affinity of the putative L/LL suite to well-characterized LL chondrites.Compositional trends of the 14 atypical L chondrites (including Aïr’s unique and possibly contaminated signature) and Mangwendi, an LL6 chondrite, indicate that each is compositionally unrepresentative of well-sampled, whole-rock chondrites. Indeed, half of the unrepresentative chondrites were ≤ 2-g samples. Compositionally, members of the putative L/LL chondrites demonstrate no affinities to normal LL chondrite falls. To establish compositional trends accompanying open-system, thermal episodes involving the L chondrite parent(s), we should ignore data for the 14 unrepresentative L chondrites reported here.     

The effect of oxygen vacancies and aluminium substitution on the high-pressure properties of brownmillerite-structured Ca2Fe2?xAlxO5

The structural evolution with pressure and the equations of state of three members of the brownmillerite solid solution, Ca₂(Fe_2−x Al _x )O₅, have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction up to a maximum pressure of 9.73 GPa. The compositions of the samples were x = 0.00 and x = 0.37 (with Pnma symmetry) and x = 0.55 (with I2mb symmetry). No phase transitions were observed in the experiments. The equation of state parameters determined from the pressure-volume data are K _0T = 128.0 (7) GPa, K′₀ = 5.8 (3) for the sample with x = 0.00, K _0T = 131 (2) GPa, K′₀ = 5.5 (4) for x = 0.37, and K _0T = 137.5 (6) GPa, K′₀ = 4 for x = 0.55. The bulk modulus therefore increases with Al content, being 11% higher in the x = 0.55 sample than in the Al-free sample. The unit-cell compression is anisotropic, with the c-axis being stiffer than a or b, and the anisotropy increases with increasing Al content of the structure. The structural response to pressure of all samples is similar. The (Al,Fe)O₄ tetrahedra and the (Al,Fe)O₆ octahedra undergo approximately isotropic compression. There is an increase in the twists of the chains of corner-sharing (Al,Fe)O₄ tetrahedra, and an increase in the tilts of the (Al,Fe)O₆ octahedra, because these framework polyhedra are stiffer than the Ca–O bonds to the extra-framework Ca site. The alignment of the two shortest Ca–O bonds sub-parallel to [001] accounts for the relative stiffness of the c-axis and thus the elastic anisotropy. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

The metamorphic evolution of migmatites from the Ötztal Complex (Tyrol,Austria) and constraints on the timing of the pre-Variscan high-T event in the Eastern Alps

Within the Ötztal Complex (ÖC), migmatites are the only geological evidence of the pre-Variscan metamorphic evolution, which led to the occurrence of partial anatexis in different areas of the complex. We investigated migmatites from three localities in the ÖC, the Winnebach migmatite in the central part and the Verpeil- and Nauderer Gaisloch migmatite in the western part. We determined metamorphic stages using textural relations and electron microprobe analyses. Furthermore, chemical microprobe ages of monazites were obtained in order to associate the inferred stages of mineral growth to metamorphic events. All three migmatites show evidence for a polymetamorphic evolution (pre-Variscan, Variscan) and only the Winnebach migmatite shows evidence for a P-accentuated Eo-Alpine metamorphic overprint in the central ÖC. The P-T data range from 670–750 °C and < 2.8 kbar for the pre-Variscan event, 550–650 °C and 4–7 kbar for the Variscan event and 430–490 °C and ca. 8.5 kbar for the P-accentuated Eo-Alpine metamorphic overprint. U-Th-Pb electron microprobe dating of monazites from the leucosomes from all three migmatites provides an average age of 441 ± 18 Ma, thus indicating a pervasive Ordovician-Silurian metamorphic event in the ÖC.     

Phase relations in the MgO–P2O5–H2O system and the stability of phosphoellenbergerite: petrological implications

The polymorphic relations for Mg₃(PO₄)₂ and Mg₂PO₄OH have been determined by reversed experiments in the temperature-pressure (T-P) range 500–1100 °C, 2–30 kbar. The phase transition between the low-pressure phase farringtonite and Mg₃(PO₄)₂-II, the Mg analogue of sarcopside, is very pressure dependent and was tightly bracketed between 625 °C, 7 kbar and 850 °C, 9 kbar. The high-temperature, high-pressure polymorph, Mg₃(PO₄)₂-III, is stable above 1050 °C at 10 kbar and above 900 °C at 30 kbar. The low-pressure stability of farringtonite is in keeping with its occurrence in meteorites. The presence of iron stabilizes the sarcopside-type phase towards lower P. From the five Mg₂PO₄OH polymorphs only althausite, holtedahlite, β-Mg₂PO₄OH (the hydroxyl analogue of wagnerite) and ɛ-Mg₂PO₄OH were encountered. Relatively speaking, holtedahlite is the low-temperature phase (<600 °C), ɛ-Mg₂PO₄OH the high-temperature, low-pressure phase and β-Mg₂PO₄OH the high-temperature, high-pressure phase, with an intervening stability field for althausite which extends from about 3 kbar at 500 °C to about 12 kbar at 800 °C. Althausite and holtedahlite are to be expected in F-free natural systems under most geological conditions; however, wagnerite is the most common Mg-phosphate mineral, implying that fluorine has a major effect in stabilizing the wagnerite structure. Coexisting althausite and holtedahlite from Modum, S. Norway, show that minor fluorine is strongly partitioned into althausite (K_D ^F/OH≈ 4) and that holtedahlite may incorporate up to 4 wt% SiO₂. Synthetic phosphoellenbergerite has a composition close to (Mg_0.9□_0.1)₂Mg₁₂P₈O₃₈H_8.4. It is a high-pressure phase, which breaks down to Mg₂PO₄OH + Mg₃(PO₄)₂ + H₂O below 8.5 kbar at 650 °C, 22.5 kbar at 900 °C and 30 kbar at 975 °C. The stability field of the phosphate end-member of the ellenbergerite series extends therefore to much lower P and higher T than that of the silicate end-members (stable above 27 kbar and below ca. 725 °C). Thus the Si/P ratio of intermediate members of the series has a great barometric potential, especially in the Si-buffering assemblage with clinochlore + talc + kyanite + rutile + H₂O. Application to zoned ellenbergerite crystals included in the Dora-Maira pyrope megablasts, western Alps, reveals that growth zoning is preserved at T as high as 700–725 °C. However, the record of attainment of the highest T and/or of decreasing P through P-rich rims (1 to 2 Si pfu) is only possible in the presence of an additional phosphate phase (OH-bearing or even OH-dominant wagnerite in these rocks), otherwise the trace amounts of P in the system remain sequestered in the core of Si-rich crystals (5 to 8 Si pfu) and can no longer react. Received: 7 April 1995 / Accepted: 12 November 1997     

Granite-hosted gold mineralization in the Midlands greenstone belt: a new type of low-grade gold deposit in Zimbabwe

In 1992, the Ford gold deposit was rediscovered during field work in the Kwekwe district near the Indarama mine, approximately 200 km southwest of Harare, Zimbabwe. Based on diamond drilling and open pit operations, estimated ore reserves are at least 3 Mt with an average gold content of 2.5 g/t. The gold deposit is located within a porphyritic granite dike with a thickness of 20–50 m, striking 800 m NNW-SSE. It dips 60–70° to the NE and intrudes a volcano-sedimentary sequence of tholeiitic basalts, acid volcanics, and banded iron formations of the Bulawayan Group (2900–2700 Ma). The intrusion of the dike occurred at 2541 ± 17 Ma (Pb/Pb step leaching technique) within a second order structure and is related to displacement along transcrustal deformation zones such as the Sherwood- and Taba-Mali deformation zones. Gold mineralization is confined to the s-shaped part of the dike intrusion. At the present stage of mining, the deposit is characterized by the absence of major veins, the occurrence of disseminated pyrite throughout the orebody, and a distinct alteration pattern comparable to that of porphyry copper deposits. The central zone of the dike shows a typical K-feldspar-albite-sericite-pyrite (±biotite?) alteration, followed by a narrow external propylitic zone. Native gold with an average Ag content of 5 wt.% and a grain size of 5–100 μm is rare and occurs within pyrite and secondary K-feldspar. Sulphide mineral separates of pyrite and minor arsenopyrite probably contain invisible gold (up to 120 ppm) amenable to cyanidation. Anomalously high gold values of ～7 ppm have been found in the transition between the K-feldspar-albite-sericite-pyrite alteration and the propylitic zone, indicating that the mineralizing fluids have experienced major physico-chemical changes in the transition zone. The regional tectonic position of the orebody suggests that the emplacement of the granite and the gold mineralization are structurally controlled. The Pb isotope composition of several leachates of pyrite indicate isotope disequilibrium with magmatic minerals and point to a contamination of the mineralizing fluid by Pb from older (sedimentary?) sources. Stable isotope geochemistry of sulphides and carbonates as well as the metallogeny of the deposit compare to shear-zone hosted gold mineralization in the Kwekwe district, for which a deep crustal origin has been discussed. Although this study documents contrasting evidence for a porphyry-gold versus a shear-zone type of mineralization, it is suggested that gold-bearing fluids were syntectonically introduced into a ductile shear zone within the granite dike either during cooling of the intrusion or later in Archaean or early Proterozoic times.