A Ce/Nd isotope study of crustal contamination processes affecting Palaeocene magmas in Skye,Northwest Scotland

Twelve¹³⁸Ce/¹³⁶Ce isotope determinations, 31 Nd isotope analyses, and 31 REE profiles are presented for Tertiary basic to intermediate igneous rocks from the Isle of Skye, NW Scotland. The aim of this work is to precisely identify the contamination mechanisms of basic magmas emplaced through old crust, and to test the effectiveness of Ce isotope analysis as a petrogenetic tool.Combined Ce/Nd isotope analysis enables the modelling of the light REE profiles of the mantle-derived precursors to contaminated lavas, using different crustal end-members, in order to compare these with the magmatic lineage of uncontaminated Skye lavas. The geochemical data support a contamination mechanism involving a granitic melt, produced either by large degree melting of Scourian granulitefacies acid sheets, or (possibly) by melting of intermediate gneiss out of isotopic equilibrium.Basaltic lavas showing strong isotopic contamination effects yield calculated degrees of crustal contamination by large degree granitic melts of ca. 8 or 9% based on Ce and Nd isotopic data respectively. However, for lavas with liquidus temperatures of over 1250° C, the temperature dependence of the degree of contamination is weak.The combination of this evidence with new and published Pb isotope data suggests that the bulk of crustal contamination of the Skye lavas occurred in sill complexes at distinct levels in the crust, rather than during the actual ascent of magma through the crust in dykes. It is suggested on the basis of published fluid dynamic and field evidence that the assimilation of large degree melts of acid gneiss by turbulently flowing magma is more likely than assimilation of small degree disequilibrium melts from more refractory intermediate gneisses.It is concluded that Ce isotope analysis is a viable and useful adjunct to Nd isotope data in petrogenetic studies of continental igneous rocks emplaced through old basement.     

Stream Restoration Performance and Its Contribution to the Chesapeake Bay TMDL: Challenges Posed by Climate Change in Urban Areas

In large part driven by total maximum daily load (TMDL) mandates, the restoration community in the Chesapeake Bay region has been implementing novel best management practices (BMPs) and stream restoration designs in urban areas, such as regenerative stream/stormwater conveyance (RSC) structures and stream-wetland complexes (SWCs). However, the nutrient and sediment reduction efficiencies of these novel designs are virtually unknown, and the possibility of increasing riverine flow in the Chesapeake Bay watershed associated with climate change this century necessitates an evaluation of their performance to develop and utilize those that optimize reductions in nutrient and sediment fluxes. We compare pre- and post-construction loads (total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total suspended solids (TSS)) from RSCs (i.e., upland BMPs) and a SWC (i.e., stream restoration) constructed at the outflow of a highly developed watershed in the Coastal Plain physiographic province of Maryland. The largest of the two RSCs performed best in relation to expected nutrient and sediment reductions because of superior water retention capability. By the length of river reach restored, the SWC attained from 79 to 88% of its N reduction TMDL goal, but only 19 to 23 and 2.7 to 3.1% for TP and TSS, respectively; by watershed area, % attainments of TMDL goals were much lower. Results indicate that SWCs have the potential to curtail N loading from developed catchments, but additional water quality benefits may be limited. Climate change projections indicate that there will be an increased frequency of larger-volume storms that will result in an increase in stormflow runoff from urban areas, and increased pollutant loads will likely curtail potential gains made by efforts to achieve TMDL goals. Given the large-scale implementation of BMPs currently underway to accommodate the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, the restoration community needs to adopt a concerted strategy of building climate resilience into many types of urban BMPs to help attain and maintain loads at TMDL levels in anticipation of a progressively wetter climate throughout this century.     

Contributions of terrestrial and GRACE data to the study of the secular geoid changes in North America

This paper tests and discusses different statistical methods for modelling secular rates of change of the geoid in North America. In particular, we use the method of principal component/empirical orthogonal functions (PC/EOF) analysis to model the geoid rates from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data. As demonstrated, the PC/EOF analysis is useful for studying the contributions from different signals (mainly residual hydrology signals and leakage effects) to the GRACE-derived geoid rates. The PC/EOF analysis leads to smaller geoid rates compared to the conventional least-squares fitting of a trend and annual and semi-annual cycles to the time series of the spherical harmonic coefficients. This is because we filter out particular spatiotemporal modes of the regional geoid changes.We apply the method of least-squares collocation with parameters to combine terrestrial data (GPS vertical velocities from the Canadian Base Network and terrestrial gravity rates from the Canadian Gravity Standardization Net) with the GRACE-derived vertical motion to obtain again the geoid rates. The combined model has a peak geoid rate of 1.4 mm/year in the southeastern area of Hudson Bay contrary to the GRACE-derived geoid rates that show a large peak of 1.6–1.7 mm/year west of Hudson Bay. We demonstrate that the terrestrial data, which have a longer time span than the GRACE data, are important for constraining the GRACE-derived secular signal in the areas that are well sampled by the data.     

CLEAN: project overview on CO2 large-scale enhanced gas recovery in the Altmark natural gas field (Germany)

The joint research project CLEAN was conducted in the years 2008?C2011 by a German research and development (R&D) alliance of 16 partners from science and industry. The project was set-up as pilot project to investigate the processes relevant to enhanced gas recovery (EGR) by the injection of CO₂ into a subfield of the almost depleted Altmark natural gas field. Despite the setback that permission for active injection was not issued by the mining authority during the period of the project, important results fostering the understanding of processes linked with EGR were achieved. Work carried out led to a comprehensive evaluation of the EGR potential of the Altmark field and the Altensalzwedel subfield in particular. The calculated safety margins emphasize that technical well integrity of the 12 examined boreholes is given for EGR without a need for any further intervention. The laboratory and field tests confirm that the Altensalzwedel subfield is suitable for the injection of 100,000?t of CO₂. Numerical simulations provide sound predictions for the efficiency and safety of the EGR technology based on the CO₂ injection. The development and testing of different monitoring techniques facilitate an improved surveying of CO₂ storage sites in general. The CLEAN results provide the technological, logistic and conceptual prerequisites for implementing a CO₂-based EGR project in the Altmark and provide a benchmark for similar projects in the world.     

A study of intergranular and fissure permeability in Chalk and Permian aquifers,using double-packer injection testing

Double-packer injection tests have been carried out in a borehole in the Chalk of Hampshire and a borehole in the Permian Penrith Sandstone of Cumbria, England. The tests have been supplemented by borehole logging and television inspections and by laboratory measurements on cores. A new mathematical treatment has enabled results to be calculated for injection test intervals containing fissures. In both formations, transmissivity immediately around the borehole is dominated by a few major fissures. In the Penrith Sandstone there is good agreement between intergranular hydraulic conductivity measurements and packer-test results in the portions of the borehole which do not contain major fissures. In the Chalk, the packer-test values are always higher than the intergranular measurements, suggesting that some degree of fissuring is present throughout.     

Depositional features of a late Weichselian outwash fan; central East Jylland,Denmark

Four major sedimentary facies are present in coarse-grained, ice-marginal deposits from central East Jylland, Denmark. Facies A and B are matrix-supported gravels deposited by subaerial sediment gravity flows as mudflows (facies A) and debris flows (facies B). Facies C consists of clast-supported, water-laid gravels and facies D are cross-bedded sand and granules. The facies can be grouped into three facies associations related to the supraglacial and proglacial environments: (1) the flow-till association is made up of alternating beds of remobilized glacial mixton (facies A) and well-sorted cross-bedded sand (facies D); (2) the outwash apron association resembles the sediments of alluvial fans in containing coarse-grained debris-flow deposits (facies B), water-laid gravel deposited by sheet floods (facies C) and cross-bedded sand and granules (facies D) from braided distributaries; (3) the valley sandur association comprises water-laid gravel (facies C) interpreted as sheet bars and longitudinal bars interbedded with cross-bedded sand and granules (facies D) deposited in channels between bars in a braided environment.The general coarsening-upward trend of the sedimentary sequences caused by the transition of bars and channel-dominated facies to debris-flow-dominated facies indicate an increasing proximality of the outwash deposits, picturing the advance and still stand of a large continental lowland ice-sheet. The depositional properties suggest that sedimentation was caused by melting along a relatively steep, active glacier margin as a first step towards the final vanishing of the Late Weichselian icesheet (the East Jylland ice) covering eastern Denmark.     

High‐temperature gold‐copper extraction with chloride flux in lava tubes of Tolbachik volcano (Kamchatka)

Subvolcanic environments in supra‐subduction zones are renowned for hosting epithermal deposits that often contain electrum and native gold, including bonanza examples. This study examined mineral assemblages and processes occurring in shallow‐crust volcanic settings using recent eruption (2012–2013) of the basaltic Tolbachik volcano in the Kamchatka arc. The Tolbachik eruptive system is characterized by an extensive system of lava tubes. After cessation of magma input, the tubes maintained the flow of hot oxidized gases that episodically interacted with the lava surfaces and sulphate‐chloride precipitates from volcanic gases on these surfaces. The gas‐rock interaction had strong pyrometamorphic effects that resulted in the formation of molten salt, oxidized (tenorite, hematite, Cu‐rich magnesioferrite) and skarn‐like silicate mineral assemblages. By analogy with experimental studies, we propose that a combination of these processes was responsible for extraction of metals from the basaltic wall rocks and deposition of Cu‐, Fe‐ and Cu‐Fe‐oxides and native gold.     

Late Cretaceous rift-related upwelling and melting of the Trindade starting mantle plume head beneath western Brazil

High mantle potential temperatures and local extension, associated with the Late-Cretaceous impact of the Trindade mantle plume, produced substantial widespread and voluminous magmatism around the northern half of the Paraná sedimentary basin. Our previous studies have shown that, above the central and eastern portions of the postulated impact zone where lithosphere extension is minimal, heat conducted by the plume caused large-scale melting of the more fusible parts of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath the margin of the São Francisco craton and the surrounding Brasilía mobile belt. Here we combine geochemical data and field evidence from the Poxoreu Igneous Province, western Brazil to show how more intense lithospheric extension above the western margin of the postulated impact zone permitted greater upwelling and melting of the Trindade plume than further east. Laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age determinations indicate that rift-related basaltic magmas of the Poxoreu Igneous Province were emplaced at ? 84 Ma. Our detailed geochemical study of the mafic magmas shows that the parental melts underwent polybaric crystal fractionation within the crust prior to final emplacement. Furthermore, some magmas (quartz-normative) appear to have assimilated upper crust whereas others (nepheline- and hypersthene-normative) appear to have been unaffected by open-system crustal magma chamber processes. Incompatible trace element ratios (e.g. chondrite-normalised La/Nb?=?1) and isotopic ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr?=?0.704 and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd?=?0.51274) of the Hy-normative basalts resemble those of oceanic islands (OIB). We therefore propose that these “OIB-like” magmas were predominantly derived from convecting-mantle-source melts (i.e. Trindade mantle plume). Inverse modelling of rare-earth element (REE) abundances suggests that the initial melts were predominantly generated within the depth range of ?80–100 km, in mantle with a potential temperature of ?1500 °C.     

A New Wavelet Method for Identification of Eddies and Assessment of Incidents on Islands of the Eastern Caribbean

Using two dimensional continuous wavelet transforms, a novel method for identification of mesoscale eddies is presented to facilitate extraction of characteristics for area, amplitude, type, and location from maps of sea level anomalies. In comparison with the previously established growing method for eddy identification, it is found that the wavelet method identifies more than twice the number of eddies and is particularly better at resolving small eddies down to the 0.25 degree resolution of the data. Such research into eddy identification and tracking is significant to the assessment of eddies with potential to impact on coastlines of small islands. The method is applied to the identification of eddies on tracks towards islands of the Eastern Caribbean over 23?years. Spatial and temporal variation in rate of occurrence and magnitude is established. For Barbados there is an average of 9 anticyclonic incidents a year with maximum amplitude of typically 0.22?m in the dry seasons and 0.16?m in the wet seasons. Seasonal variation is reversed for the other islands with twice the number of anticyclonic incidents having maximum amplitudes of about 0.20?m annually.