Relics of eclogite facies assemblages in the Ceará Central Domain, NW Borborema Province, NE Brazil: Implications for the assembly of West Gondwana

The Borborema Province, in the NE of Brazil, is a rather complex piece in the Brazil–Africa puzzle as it represents the junction of the Dahomeyide/Pharusian, Central African, Araçuai and Brasilia fold belts located between the West-African/São Luis, Congo/São Francisco and Amazonas craton. The correlation between the Dahomeyides from W-Africa (Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Mali) and the Borborema Province involves the Médio Coreaú and Central Ceará domains. The inferred continuation of the main oceanic suture zone exposed in the Dahomeyides of W Africa is buried beneath the Phanerozoic Parnaíba Basin in Brazil (northwest of the Médio Coreaú domain) where some high density gravity anomalies may represent hidden remnants of an oceanic suture. In addition to this major suture a narrow, nearly continuous strip composed of mainly mafic pods containing relics of eclogite-facies assemblages associated with partially migmatized granulite-facies metapelitic gneisses has been found further east in the NW Borborema Province. These high pressure mafic rocks, interpreted as retrograded eclogites, are located between the Transbrasiliano Lineament and the Santa Quitéria continental arc and comprise primitive to evolved arc-related rocks with either arc- or MORB-type imprints that can indicate either deep subduction of oceanic lithosphere or roots of continental and oceanic magmatic arcs. Average peak P–T conditions under eclogite-facies metamorphism (T = 770 °C and P = 17.3 kbar) were estimated using garnet–clinopyroxene thermometry and Jd content in clinopyroxene. Transition to granulite-facies conditions, as well as later widespread re-equilibration under amphibolite facies, were registered both in the basic and the metapelitic rocks and suggest a clockwise P–T path characterized by an increase in temperature followed by strong decompression. A phenomenon possibly related to the exhumation of a highly thickened crust associated with the suturing of the Médio Coreaú and Central Ceará domains, two distinct crustal blocks separated by the Transbrasiliano Lineament.     

Das System KFeSi3O8−KAlSi3O8−H2O mit Untersuchungen über die Mikroklin-Sanidin-Beziehungen

Zusammenfassung Im System KFeSi₃O₈–KAlSi₃O₈ wird eine Mischungslücke gefunden, welche den Bereich von 10–60 Mol. % K-Fe-Feldspat umfaßt. Die Mischkristalle links und rechts der Mischungslücke verhalten sich ähnlich wie ihre benachbarten Endglieder. Das Fehlen von intermediären Phasen auf der Eisenseite und die Mischungslücke machen es wahrscheinlich, daß das Verhalten des K-Fe-Feldspates nicht auf das Verhalten des K-Al-Feldspates extrapoliert werden darf.

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Summary In the system KFeSi₃O₈–KAlSi₃O₈ a miscibility-gap is found from 10 to 60 Mol.% K-Fe-felspar. The mixed crystals on the right and left side of the miscibility-gap show a behaviour similar to the corresponding end-members. The lack of intermediate phases on the iron-side and the miscibility-gap make probable that one cannot extrapolate the behaviour of the K-Fe-felspar to the behaviour of the K-Al-felspar.

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Mit 3 Textabbildungen

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Herrn Professor Dr.F. Machatschki zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Uranium determination in natural water by the fissiontrack technique

The fission track technique, utilizing the neutron-induced fission of uranium-235, provides a versatile analytical method for the routine analysis of uranium in liquid samples of natural water. A detector is immersed in the sample and both are irradiated. The fission track density observed in the detector is directly proportional to the uranium concentration. The specific advantages of this technique are: (1) only a small quantity of sample, typically 0.1–1 ml, is needed; (2) no sample concentration is necessary; (3) it is capable of providing analyses with a lower reporting limit of 1 μg per liter; and (4) the actual time spent on an analysis can be only a few minutes. This paper discusses and describes the method.     

Rise and fall of road salt contamination of water-supply springs

A storage pile of de-icing agent consisting principally of sodium chloride was placed in the recharge area of two springs, and remained there for 2 years. Water flow is through fractures in rocks with low matrix permeability, along a hydraulic gradient developed along fracture zones. Salt contamination in the springs was noticed about 1 year after the salt was placed. When the salt was removed 1 year later, chloride concentrations in the springs exceeded 500 mg/L. Monitoring for the following 5 years showed salt contamination rising for the first year, but receding to normal background after 5 years. Chloride to sodium ratios of the spring waters indicated that some sodium was initially sequestered, probably by ion exchange on clay minerals, in the early part of the monitoring period, and released during the latter part; thereby extending the period of contamination.Richard S. diPretoro: deceased     

Influence of particle and surface quality on the vitrinite reflectance of dispersed organic matter: Comparative exercise using data from the qualifying system for reflectance analysis working group of ICCP

The development of a qualifying system for reflectance analysis has been the scope of a working group within the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP) since 1999, when J. Koch presented a system to qualify vitrinite particles according to their size, proximity to bright components and homogeneity of the surface. After some years of work aimed at improving the classification system using photomicrographs, it was decided to run a round robin exercise on microscopy samples. The classification system tested consists of three qualifiers ranging from excellent to low quality vitrinites with an additional option for unsuitable vitrinites. This paper reports on the results obtained by 22 analysts who were asked to measure random reflectance readings on vitrinite particles assigning to each reading a qualifier. Four samples containing different organic matter types and a variety of vitrinite occurrences have been analysed. Results indicated that the reflectance of particles classified as excellent, good or poor compared to the total average reflectance did not show trends to be systematically lower or higher for the four samples analysed. The differences in reflectance between the qualifiers for any given sample were lower than the scatter of vitrinite reflectance among participants. Overall, satisfactory results were obtained in determining the reflectance of vitrinite in the four samples analysed. This was so for samples having abundant and easy to identify vitrinites (higher plant-derived organic matter) as well as for samples with scarce and difficult to identify particles (samples with dominant marine-derived organic matter). The highest discrepancies were found for the organic-rich oil shales where the selection of the vitrinite population to measure proved to be particularly difficult. Special instructions should be provided for the analysis of this sort of samples. The certainty of identification of the vitrinite associated with the vitrinite reflectance values reported has been assessed through a reliability index which takes into account the number of readings and the coefficient of variation. The same statistical approach as that followed in the ICCP vitrinite reflectance accreditation program for single seam coals has been used for data evaluation. The results indicated low to medium dispersion for 17 out of 22 participants. This, combined with data from other sets of comparative analyses over a long period, is considered an encouraging result for the establishment of an accreditation program on vitrinite reflectance measurements in dispersed organic matter.     

Earthquake early warning for transport lines

This paper analyzes the potential of earthquake early-warning systems for transport lines. The interdisciplinary work focuses on rapidly producing an alert map during an ongoing earthquake as well as providing a damage map immediately after the strong-motion phase that visualizes potential damages to the railway infrastructure. In order to meet these application requirements, a service-oriented architecture based on geospatial standards is specified. This ensures the portability of the system architecture to different geographic regions as well as a potential transfer to other natural disasters and infrastructure systems. The first part of the paper describes the standard-based services of the system architecture together with design principles that are useful for the realization of early-warning systems. In the second part of the paper, an online demonstrator for the exemplary test area in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is presented. The system architecture of the demonstrator includes an earthquake early-warning methodology based on artificial neural networks and an infrastructure-specific damage assessment. The third part of the paper analyzes the potential of implementing low-cost sensors in the track, which would provide a dense network directly at the railway infrastructure.     

Morphology and geology of the continental shelf and upper slope of southern Central Chile (33°S–43°S)

The continental shelf and slope of southern Central Chile have been subject to a number of international as well as Chilean research campaigns over the last 30 years. This work summarizes the geologic setting of the southern Central Chilean Continental shelf (33°S–43°S) using recently published geophysical, seismological, sedimentological and bio-geochemical data. Additionally, unpublished data such as reflection seismic profiles, swath bathymetry and observations on biota that allow further insights into the evolution of this continental platform are integrated. The outcome is an overview of the current knowledge about the geology of the southern Central Chilean shelf and upper slope. We observe both patches of reduced as well as high recent sedimentation on the shelf and upper slope, due to local redistribution of fluvial input, mainly governed by bottom currents and submarine canyons and highly productive upwelling zones. Shelf basins show highly variable thickness of Oligocene-Quaternary sedimentary units that are dissected by the marine continuations of upper plate faults known from land. Seismic velocity studies indicate that a paleo-accretionary complex that is sandwiched between the present, relatively small active accretionary prism and the continental crust forms the bulk of the continental margin of southern Central Chile.