The dual isotopes of deep nitrate as a constraint on the cycle and budget of oceanic fixed nitrogen

We compare the output of an 18-box geochemical model of the ocean with measurements to investigate the controls on both the mean values and variation of nitrate δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O in the ocean interior. The δ¹⁸O of nitrate is our focus because it has been explored less in previous work. Denitrification raises the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of mean ocean nitrate by equal amounts above their input values for N₂ fixation (for δ¹⁵N) and nitrification (for δ¹⁸O), generating parallel gradients in the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of deep ocean nitrate. Partial nitrate assimilation in the photic zone also causes equivalent increases in the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of the residual nitrate that can be transported into the interior. However, the regeneration and nitrification of sinking N can be said to decouple the N and O isotopes of deep ocean nitrate, especially when the sinking N is produced in a low latitude region, where nitrate consumption is effectively complete. The δ¹⁵N of the regenerated nitrate is equivalent to that originally consumed, whereas the regeneration replaces nitrate previously elevated in δ¹⁸O due to denitrification or nitrate assimilation with nitrate having the δ¹⁸O of nitrification. This lowers the δ¹⁸O of mean ocean nitrate and weakens nitrate δ¹⁸O gradients in the interior relative to those in δ¹⁵N. This decoupling is characterized and quantified in the box model, and agreement with data shows its clear importance in the real ocean. At the same time, the model appears to generate overly strong gradients in both δ¹⁸O and δ¹⁵N within the ocean interior and a mean ocean nitrate δ¹⁸O that is higher than measured. This may be due to, in the model, too strong an impact of partial nitrate assimilation in the Southern Ocean on the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of preformed nitrate and/or too little cycling of intermediate-depth nitrate through the low latitude photic zone.     

A new series solution of Molodensky's problem

A complete series solution of Molodensky's boundary-value problem is derived using, instead of an integral equation, analytical continuation by means of power series. This solution is shown to be equivalent, term by term, to the Molodensky-Brovar series, but is simpler and practically more convenient.

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Zusammenfassung Eine vollst?ndige Reihenl?sung des Problems von Molodensky wird hergeleitet, wobei anstatt einer Integralgleichung die analytische Fortsetzung mittels Potenzreihen zugrunde gelegt wird. Es zeigt sich, dass diese L?sung gliedweise ?quivalent zur Reihe von Molodensky-Brovar ist, aber sie ist einfacher und praktisch brauchbarer.

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Résumé On déduit une série qui donne une solution complète du problème de Molodensky, en utilisant, au lieu d'une équation intégrale, la continuation analytique par une série de puissances. Il s'ensuit que cette solution est équivalente à la série de Molodensky-Brovar, mais elle est plus simple et plus pratique.

     

Shear-wave velocity estimation using a combination of ambient noise from small aperture array and small-scale active seismic measurements: a case study in the area of the natural gas fields of Northern Germany

In recent years, numerous induced seismic events have occurred in the proximity of the natural gas field in Northern Germany. To monitor the seismicity and to asses the seismic hazard potential, a local monitoring network was installed in the area. Focusing on the seismicity hazard assessment, a major challenge is the characterisation of potential site effects due to local soil characteristics. This is quantitatively performed by estimating the shear-wave velocity (V _s) variation with subsurface layer thickness. Such local effects can only be covered with a coarse spatial resolution due to the limited number of monitoring stations. Profiles were determined at three test sites (Langwedel, Walle and Bomlitz) by using a combined approach of small aperture 2D array ambient noise and small-scale active 1D measurements. The high-resolution frequency-wavenumber (HRFK), spatial autocorrelation (SPAC) and multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) methods were applied to the recorded ambient noise and active seismic data using various array sizes supplemented by the active measurements. This jointly allowed obtaining phase velocity dispersion curves covering a wide frequency range from 2 up to 32 Hz. The inversion of the obtained dispersion curves results in average S-wave velocity profiles down to depths of 70 m, identifying thin near-surface layers of a few meters as well as thicker layers of tens of meters in greater depth. A comparison with available borehole data shows a good correlation with the layering. Additionally, to asses the impact of a seismic event at the test sites, PGV estimations for various seismic events were performed. The final results of the test surveys demonstrate that the combined approach represents a suitable tool for near-surface characterisation, which can be used to improve the seismic hazard assessment in the area of the natural gas fields in Northern Germany.     

Revisiting gateway cities: connecting hubs in global networks to their hinterlands

Gateway cities have received much attention from urban geographers. In spite of outstanding contributions being made, we think that the concept needs to be revisited with regard to regional development implications. Bringing together research on global production networks (GPNs) and world cities, this article shows that gateway cities are critical for development in networks, generating impulses for peripheral locations by engaging them in processes of “strategic coupling.” Yet, gateway cities also concentrate segments of GPNs to the detriment of their hinterlands. We conceptualize gateway cities with the aid of five features: logistics and transport, industrial processing, corporate control, service provision and knowledge generation. Our concept allows for an understanding of cities in global and regional economic processes beyond corporate headquarters, corporate services and governance – that is, beyond the boundaries of existing research. It unsettles traditional understandings of strategic coupling and world cities, filling a lacuna on city–hinterland connections.     

Ellipsoidal density models and hydrostatic equilibrium: Interim report

From the point of view of consistency with the Geodetic Reference System 1967, it would be desirable that the boundary surface of a Standard Earth Model is an exact equipotential ellipsoid. This is incompatible with the requirement that it be a figure of hydrostatic equilibrium. The report investigates the relation between equipotential ellipsoids and equilibrium figures. The principal conclusion is that it is possible to find an ellipsoidal model that has the same distribution of density and flattening (more precisely, of the parameter f′ as defined in the paper) as a hydrostatic model, the deviations being only of second order in the flattening.     

Sr, C and O isotope systematics in the Pucará basin, central Peru

A combined Sr, O and C isotope study has been carried out in the Pucará basin, central Peru, to compare local isotopic trends of the San Vicente and Shalipayco Zn-Pb Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits with regional geochemical patterns of the sedimentary host basin. Gypsum, limestone and regional replacement dolomite yield ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios that fall within or slightly below the published range of seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values for the Lower Jurassic and the Upper Triassic. Our data indicate that the Sr isotopic composition of seawater between the Hettangian and the Toarcian may extend to lower ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios than previously published values. An ⁸⁷Sr-enrichment is noted in (1) carbonate rocks from the lowermost part of the Pucará basin, and (2) different carbonate generations at the MVT deposits. This indicates that host rocks at MVT deposits and in the lower-most part of the carbonate sequence interacted with ⁸⁷Srenriched fluids. The fluids acquired their radiogenic nature by interaction with lithologies underlying the carbonate rocks of the Pucará basin. The San Ramón granite, similar Permo-Triassic intrusions and their clastic derivatives in the Mitu Group are likely sources of radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr. The Brazilian shield and its erosion products are an additional potential source of radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr. Volcanic rocks of the Mitu Group are not a significant source for radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr; however, molasse-type sedimentary rocks and volcaniclastic rocks cannot be ruled out as a possible source of radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr. The marked enrichment in ⁸⁷Sr of carbonates toward the lower part of the Pucará Group is accompanied by only a slight decrease in ¹⁸O values and essentially no change in ¹³C values, whereas replacement dolomite and sparry carbonates at the MVT deposits display a coherent trend of progressive ⁸⁷Sr-enrichment, and ¹⁸O- and ¹³C-depletion. The depletion in ¹⁸O in carbonates from the MVT deposits are likely related to a temperature increase, possibly coupled with a ¹⁸O-enrichment of the ore-forming fluids. Progressively lower ¹³C values throughout the paragenetic sequence at the MVT deposits are interpreted as a gradually more important contribution from organically derived carbon. Quantitative calculations show that a single fluid-rock interaction model satisfactorily reproduces the marked ⁸⁷Sr-enrichment and the slight decrease in ¹⁸O values in carbonate rocks from the lower part of the Pucará Group. By contrast, the isotopic covariation trends of the MVT deposits are better reproduced by a model combining fluid mixing and fluid-rock interaction. The modelled ore-bearing fluids have a range of compositions between a hot, saline, radiogenic brine that had interacted with lithologies underlying the Pucará sequence and cooler, dilute brines possibly representing local fluids within the Pucará sequence. The composition of the local fluids varies according to the nature of the lithologies present in the neighborhood of the different MVT deposits. The proportion of the radiogenic fluid in the modelled fluid mixtures interacting with the carbonate host rocks at the MVT deposits decreases as one moves up in the stratigraphic sequence of the Pucará Group.     

Imaging and regional distribution of basalt flows in the Faeroe-Shetland Basin

We demonstrate that the use of long-offset seismic data allows wide-angle reflections and diving waves to be recorded, and that these can be used in conjunction with prestack depth migrations to constrain and to image the base of the basalt flows and the underlying structure in the Faeroe-Shetland Basin. Crustal velocity models are built first by inverting the traveltimes of the recorded reflections and diving waves using ray-tracing methods. Finer details of the velocity structure can then be refined by analysis of the amplitudes and waveforms of the arrivals. We show that prestack depth migration of selected wide-angle arrivals of known origin, such as the base-basalt reflection, using the crustal velocity model, allows us to build a composite image of the structure down to the pre-rift basement. This has the advantage that the wide-angle first-arriving energy must be primary, and not from one of the many multiples or mode-converted phases that plague near-offset seismic data. This allows us to ‘tag’ these primary arrivals with confidence and then to identify the same arrivals on higher-resolution prestack migrations that include data from all offsets. Examples are drawn from the Faeroe-Shetland Basin, with a series of regional maps of the entire area showing the basalt depths and the thickness of the basalt flows and underlying sediment down to the top of the pre-rift basement. The maps show how the basalts thin to the southeast away from their presumed source west of the present Faeroe Islands, and also show the extent to which the structure of the pre-rift basement controls the considerable variations in sediment thickness between the basement and the cap formed by the overlying basalt flows.     

Late Cretaceous porphyry Cu and epithermal Cu–Au association in the Southern Panagyurishte District,Bulgaria: the paired Vlaykov Vruh and Elshitsa deposits

Vlaykov Vruh–Elshitsa represents the best example of paired porphyry Cu and epithermal Cu–Au deposits within the Late Cretaceous Apuseni–Banat–Timok–Srednogorie magmatic and metallogenic belt of Eastern Europe. The two deposits are part of the NW trending Panagyurishte magmato-tectonic corridor of central Bulgaria. The deposits were formed along the SW flank of the Elshitsa volcano-intrusive complex and are spatially associated with N110-120-trending hypabyssal and subvolcanic bodies of granodioritic composition. At Elshitsa, more than ten lenticular to columnar massive ore bodies are discordant with respect to the host rock and are structurally controlled. A particular feature of the mineralization is the overprinting of an early stage high-sulfidation mineral assemblage (pyrite ± enargite ± covellite ± goldfieldite) by an intermediate-sulfidation paragenesis with a characteristic Cu–Bi–Te–Pb–Zn signature forming the main economic parts of the ore bodies. The two stages of mineralization produced two compositionally different types of ores—massive pyrite and copper–pyrite bodies. Vlaykov Vruh shares features with typical porphyry Cu systems. Their common geological and structural setting, ore-forming processes, and paragenesis, as well as the observed alteration and geochemical lateral and vertical zonation, allow us to interpret the Elshitsa and Vlaykov Vruh deposits as the deep part of a high-sulfidation epithermal system and its spatially and genetically related porphyry Cu counterpart, respectively. The magmatic–hydrothermal system at Vlaykov Vruh–Elshitsa produced much smaller deposits than similar complexes in the northern part of the Panagyurishte district (Chelopech, Elatsite, Assarel). Magma chemistry and isotopic signature are some of the main differences between the northern and southern parts of the district. Major and trace element geochemistry of the Elshitsa magmatic complex are indicative for the medium- to high-K calc-alkaline character of the magmas. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) ratios of igneous rocks in the range of 0.70464 to 0.70612 and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(i) ratios in the range of 0.51241 to 0.51255 indicate mixed crustal–mantle components of the magmas dominated by mantellic signatures. The epsilon Hf composition of magmatic zircons (+6.2 to +9.6) also suggests mixed mantellic–crustal sources of the magmas. However, Pb isotopic signatures of whole rocks (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.13–18.64, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.58–15.64, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 37.69–38.56) along with common inheritance component detected in magmatic zircons also imply assimilation processes of pre-Variscan and Variscan basement at various scales. U–Pb zircon and rutile dating allowed determination of the timing of porphyry ore formation at Vlaykov Vruh (85.6 ± 0.9 Ma), which immediately followed the crystallization of the subvolcanic dacitic bodies at Elshitsa (86.11 ± 0.23 Ma) and the Elshitsa granite (86.62 ± 0.02 Ma). Strontium isotope analyses of hydrothermal sulfates and carbonates (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70581–0.70729) suggest large-scale interaction between mineralizing fluids and basement lithologies at Elshitsa–Vlaykov Vruh. Lead isotope compositions of hydrothermal sulfides (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.432–18.534, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.608–15.647, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 37.497–38.630) allow attribution of ore-formation in the porphyry and epithermal deposits in the Southern Panagyurishte district to a single metallogenic event with a common source of metals.