Exhumed hydrocarbon traps in East Greenland: A comment on Andrews et al. (2020)

In a recent study, Andrews et al. (2020) describe “exhumed hydrocarbon traps” in North-East Greenland. The basic premise for their interpretation is that dark-coloured, pyrobitumen-bearing sandstones represent the remnants of once buried petroleum reservoirs. We do not see the necessary field or analytical evidence to support a model that has strong implications for resource evaluations. Andrews et al. (2020) have not considered previous published information on diagenetic and thermal maturity history of the area. A more probable model would include the intrusion of dykes and sills into a sedimentary succession with immature petroleum source rocks and reservoir-quality sandstones. The heating caused rapid generation of petroleum components and local hydrothermal circulation systems in adjacent porous sandstones. Any petroleum was rapidly destroyed leaving essentially only black grain-coatings and minor particles of pyrobitumen—essentially in one short-lived continuous process. The existence of new plays in the North Atlantic as proposed by Andrews et al. (2020) is in our opinion not substantiated as this requires analytical data from unaltered oils from the less mature parts of the sedimentary succession and considerations of thermal maturity and basin evolution. To draw conclusions that have a serious impact on resource evaluations based on the dark colouration of sandstones without comprehensive analytical data is, in our opinion, ill advised.     

Magmatic evolution of the Mantos Blancos copper deposit, Coastal Range of northern Chile: insight from Sr–Nd isotope, geochemical data and silicate melt inclusions

The Mantos Blancos copper deposit (500 Mt at 1.0% Cu) was affected by two superimposed hydrothermal events: (i) phyllic alteration related to a rhyolitic dome emplacement and brecciation at ca 155 Ma; and (ii) potassic, sodic and propylitic alteration at ca 142 Ma, coeval with stocks and sills emplacement of dioritic and granodioritic porphyries, that locally grade upwards into polymictic magmatic hydrothermal breccias. Major hypogene copper sulfide mineralization is related to the second event. A late‐ore mafic dike swarm cross‐cuts all rocks in the deposit. Two types of granodioritic porphyries can be distinguished from petrographic observations and geochemical data: granodiorite porphyry I (GP I) and granodiorite porphyry II (GP II), which resulted from two different trends of magmatic evolution. The concave shape of the rare earth element (REE) distribution pattern together with the weak or absence of negative Eu anomalies in mafic dikes, dioritic and GP I porphyries, suggest hornblende‐dominated fractionation for this magmatic suite. In contrast, distinct negative Eu anomalies and the flat REE patterns suggest plagioclase‐dominated fractionation, at low oxygen fugacity, for the GP II porphyry suite. But shallow mixing and mingling between silicic and dioritic melts are also likely for the formation of the GP II and polymictic breccias, respectively. Sr‐Nd isotopic compositions suggest that the rhyolitic dome rocks were generated from a dominantly crustal source, while the GP I has mantle affinity. The composition of melt inclusions (MI) in quartz crystals from the rhyolitic dome is similar to the bulk composition of their host rock. The MI analyzed in quartz from GP II and in the polymictic magmatic hydrothermal breccia of the deposit are compositionally more evolved than their host rocks. Field, geochemical and petrographic data provided here point to dioritic and siliceous melt interaction as an inducing mechanism for the release of hydrothermal fluids to form the Cu mineralization.     

Chemical Characterisation of NIST Silicate Glass Certified Reference Material SRM 610 by ICP-MS, TIMS, LIMS, SSMS, INAA, AAS and PIXE

National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) silicate glass SRM 610 is widely used as a certified reference material for various micro-analytical techniques such as SIMS or laser ablation ICP-MS. SRM 610 has been nominally doped with sixty one trace elements at the 500 μg g⁻¹ level, but certified concentration data exist for only a few of these elements. This study reports concentration data for fifty nine trace elements obtained by ICP-MS, SSMS, LIMS, TIMS, INAA, AAS, and PIXE analyses of two different SRM 610 wafers. Most elements fall within a 10% band around a median value of about 440 μg g⁻¹. The REE concentrations are shown to be constant to 3% (1 σ), thus emphasizing the value of SRM 610 as a reference material for REE analyses.
Comparison of our values with published data suggests that different SRM 610 wafers are, within errors, chemically identical for most elements. Exceptions to this general rule appear to be restricted to elements which were partly lost during the production of the glass, e.g. Ag and Br. On the basis of six independent determinations of Rb concentrations, which are systematically lower by a few percent than the reported NIST value, we argue that the certified Rb concentration may not be representative for all distributed SRM 610 wafers.     

Improved confidence in climate change projections of precipitation further evaluated using daily statistics from ENSEMBLES models

Probability density functions for daily precipitation data are used as a validation tool comparing station measurements to seven transient regional climate model runs, with a horizontal resolution of 25 km and driven by the SRES A1B scenario forcing, within the ENSEMBLES project. The validation is performed for the control period 1961–1990 for eight predefined European subregions, and a ninth region enclosing all eight subregions, with different climate characteristics. Models that best match the observations are then used for making climate change projections of precipitation distributions during the twenty-first century for each subregion separately. We find, compared to the control period, a distinct decrease in the contribution to the total precipitation for days with moderate precipitation and a distinct increase for days with more intense precipitation. This change in contribution to the total precipitation is found to amplify with time during all of the twenty-first century with an average rate of 1.1% K^?1. Furthermore, the crossover point separating the decreasing from the increasing contributions does not show any significant change with time for any specific subregion. These results are a confirmation and a specification of the results from a previous study using the same station measurements but with a regional climate model ensemble within the PRUDENCE project.     

藏南定日剖面晚白垩世菊石和叠瓦蛤类的首次发现:生物地层和古环境意义(英文)

藏南定日遮普惹山剖面主要是Albian 晚期到古近纪海相沉积, Willems 等( 1996 )对岩石地层和沉积微相进行了详细研究,并通过浮游有孔虫研究建立生物地层格架。在与岗巴地区地层对比基础上,该剖面被认为是整个藏南地区白垩纪—古近纪海相地层的标准剖面。2004 年我们与中国、德国同行一道对该剖面上白垩统地层进行再考察,重点对无脊椎动物化石样品进行采集和研究。与西藏大多数白垩纪剖面一样,尽管沉积环境为陆棚环境,该剖面以前却几乎没有菊石和叠瓦蛤类化石的报道,而同样环境下的世界其他地区剖面含有大量的菊石和叠瓦蛤类化石。藏南定日剖面重新调查后发现了少量的菊石和叠瓦蛤类化石。化石数量少一方面是由于灰泥质灰岩和泥灰质灰岩内化石保存状况差,另一方面采样条件也不理想。还有,当时的环境条件可能不利于大多数无脊椎动物类群的生存,这一点或许从大量存在于岗巴群上部的小个体双壳类碎片可以得到证实。尽管获得的化石分散并且保存差,本次研究仍获得了一些有价值的生物地层数据。岗巴群上部发现的化石Calycoceras?,指示其时代为Cenomanian 晚期,随后出现不能鉴定的desmoceratids类的幼体。之上,菊石Forresteria sp.的发现表明岗巴群顶部地层属于Coniacian下部,这被同一地层内发现的其他化石所支?     

Patterns in the linkage of water quantity and quality during low‐flows

This study investigates 72 catchments across the federal state of Baden‐Wuerttemberg, Germany, for changes in water quality during low‐flow events. Data from the state's water quality monitoring network provided seven water quality parameters (water temperature, electrical conductivity, concentrations of chloride, sodium, sulfate, nitrate, and phosphate), which were statistically related to streamflow variability. Water temperature changes during low‐flow showed seasonal dependence. Nitrate concentrations revealed high spatial heterogeneity with about one third of the stations showing decreasing values during low discharge. For most other parameters, concentrations increased during low‐flow. Despite consistent trend directions, the magnitudes of changes with streamflow differed markedly across the state. Both multiple linear regression and a multiple analysis of variances were applied to explain these differences with the help of catchment characteristics. Results indicated that for sulfate and conductivity, geology of the catchments was the most important control, whereas for chloride, sodium, and nitrate, sewage treatment plants had the largest influence. For phosphate, no clear control could be identified. Independent from the applied method, land use was a less important control on river water quality during low‐flow than geology or inflow from sewage treatment plants. These results show that the effects of diffuse and point sources, as well as those of natural and anthropogenic sources differ for different water quality parameters. Overall, a high diversity of potential water quality deterioration signals needs to be considered when the ecological status of rivers is to be protected during low‐flow events.     

Towards a Validation of Scintillometer Measurements: The LITFASS-2009 Experiment

Scintillometry has been increasingly used over the last decade for the experimental determination of area-averaged turbulent fluxes at a horizontal scale of a few kilometres. Nevertheless, a number of assumptions in the scintillometer data processing and interpretation still call for a thorough evaluation, in particular over heterogeneous terrain. Moreover, a validation of the path-averaged structure parameters derived from scintillometer data (and forming the basis for the flux calculations) by independent measurements is still missing. To achieve this, the LITFASS-2009 field campaign has been performed around the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg ?C Richard-A?mann-Observatory of the German Meteorological Service (DWD) in July 2009. The experiment combined tower-based in-situ turbulence measurements, field-scale laser scintillometers, long-range optical (large-aperture) and microwave scintillometers, and airborne turbulence measurements using an automatically operating unmanned aircraft. The paper describes the project design and strategy, and discusses first results. Daytime near-surface values of the temperature structure parameter, ${C_{T}^{2}}$ , over different types of farmland differ by more than one order of magnitude in their dependence on the type and status of the vegetation. Considerable spatial variability in ${C_{T}^{2}}$ was also found along the flight legs at heights between 50 and 100?m. However, it appeared difficult to separate the effects of heterogeneity from the temporal variability of the turbulence fields. Aircraft measurements and scintillometer data agreed in magnitude with respect to the temporal variation of the path-averaged ${C_{T}^{2}}$ values during the diurnal cycle. The decrease of ${C_{T}^{2}}$ with height found from the scintillometer measurements close to the surface and at 43?m under daytime convective conditions corresponds to free-convection scaling, whereas the aircraft measurements at 54 and 83?m suggest a different behaviour.     

Late Pleistocene spread of (cool-)temperate forests in Northeast China and climate changes synchronous with the North Atlantic region

The results presented here from the annually laminated sedimentary sequence of Sihailongwan lake provide the first comprehensive palaeoecological record covering the Late Pleniglacial to the Early Holocene (16,700–10,600 cal yrs. BP) from Northeast China. High-resolution pollen analyses have enabled the vegetational and climatic changes of the last glacial-interglacial transition to be reconstructed in more detail than has been previously possible. Moreover, a reliable chronology has been provided by both varve counting and 40 calibrated AMS ¹⁴C age determinations.Palaeobotanical evidence indicates predominantly steppe and open taiga-like woodland communities, with abundant Betula, Larix, Alnus fruticosa, Artemisia, grasses and sedges, which are typical of cold and dry conditions between 16,700 and 14,450 cal yrs. BP. The beginning expansion of Ulmus and Fraxinus marks the onset of the Late-glacial climatic amelioration at 14,450 cal yrs. BP. Dense deciduous forests, predominantly consisting of thermophilous broadleaf taxa, become established and widespread during the Early Holocene.Two short-term climatic reversals to colder and/or dryer conditions are recorded in the proxy data between 13,900 and 13,800 cal yrs. BP and 13,100 and 12,900 cal yrs. BP, correlating with the Oldest Dryas/Greenland Interstadial (GI) 1d event and the Gerzensee/Killarney/GI-1b oscillation, respectively. The prominent reappearance of Picea and Larix, coupled with a marked decrease in broadleaved trees, prior to the start of the Holocene, implies a climatic reversal compatible with the Younger Dryas event in the circum-Atlantic region. The evident synchroneity of climate changes in the North Atlantic region and East Asia supports the theory of strong atmospheric coupling between both regions.