REE-bearing minerals in a Ti-rich vein from the Adamello contact aureole (Italy)

Zirconolite, aeschynite-(Ce), titanite and apatite have been found as minor or accessory minerals in a Ti-rich (TiO₂=2.1–4.5 wt.%) hydrothermal vein occurring in dolomite marbles at the contact with a tonalite intrusion of the Tertiary Adamello batholith (northern Italy). The vein consists of four distinct mineral zones, comprising from margin to center: (1) forsterite+calcite, (2) pargasite+calcite+titanite+sulfides, (3) phlogopite +calcite+titanite+sulfides, and (4) titanian clinohumite +spinel+calcite+sulfides. Zirconolite occurs in two vein zones only: in the phlogopite zone it is invariably anhedral, often corroded, and exhibits complex chemical zonation patterns. In the titanian clinohumite zone zirconolite is idiomorphic and characterized by a pronounced discontinous chemical zoning, but shows no evidence of corrosion. The considerable compositional variation observed for zirconolite (in wt.%: (REE₂O₃)=0.74–16.8, UO₂=0.59–24.0, ThO₂=0.67–17.1) is due to the zoning, and may be attributed to four major substitutions described by the exchange vectors:

The coupling of optimal economic growth and climate dynamics

In this paper, we study optimal economic growth programs coupled with climate change dynamics. The study is based on models derived from MERGE, a well established integrated assessment model (IAM). We discuss first the introduction in MERGE of a set of “tolerable window” constraints which limit both the temperature change and the rate of temperature change. These constraints, obtained from ensemble simulations performed with the Bern 2.5-D climate model, allow us to identity a domain intended to preserve the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Next, we report on experiments where a two-way coupling is realized between the economic module of MERGE and an intermediate complexity “3-D-” climate model (C-GOLDSTEIN) which computes the changes in climate and mean temperature. The coupling is achieved through the implementation of an advanced “oracle based optimization technique” which permits the integration of information coming from the climate model during the search for the optimal economic growth path. Both cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis modes are explored with this combined “meta-model” which we refer to as GOLDMERGE. Some perspectives on future implementations of these approaches in the context of “collaborative” or “community” integrated assessment modules are derived from the comparison of the different approaches.     

Simulated changes in vegetation distribution, land carbon storage, and atmospheric CO2 in response to a collapse of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation

It is investigated how abrupt changes in the North Atlantic (NA) thermohaline circulation (THC) affect the terrestrial carbon cycle. The Lund–Potsdam–Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model is forced with climate perturbations from glacial freshwater experiments with the ECBILT-CLIO ocean–atmosphere–sea ice model. A reorganisation of the marine carbon cycle is not addressed. Modelled NA THC collapses and recovers after about a millennium in response to prescribed freshwater forcing. The initial cooling of several Kelvin over Eurasia causes a reduction of extant boreal and temperate forests and a decrease in carbon storage in high northern latitudes, whereas improved growing conditions and slower soil decomposition rates lead to enhanced storage in mid-latitudes. The magnitude and evolution of global terrestrial carbon storage in response to abrupt THC changes depends sensitively on the initial climate conditions. These were varied using results from time slice simulations with the Hadley Centre model HadSM3 for different periods over the past 21 kyr. Changes in terrestrial storage vary between −67 and +50 PgC for the range of experiments with different initial conditions. Simulated peak-to-peak differences in atmospheric CO₂ are 6 and 13 ppmv for glacial and late Holocene conditions. Simulated changes in δ¹³C are between 0.15 and 0.25‰. These simulated carbon storage anomalies during a NA THC collapse depend on their magnitude on the CO₂ fertilisation feedback mechanism. The CO₂ changes simulated for glacial conditions are compatible with available evidence from marine studies and the ice core CO₂ record. The latter shows multi-millennial CO₂ variations of up to 20 ppmv broadly in parallel with the Antarctic warm events A1 to A4 in the South and cooling in the North.     

Titanian clinohumite and geikielite in marbles from the Bergell contact aureole

The assemblage titanian clinohumite+forsterite +spinel+calcite is widespread in marbles from the eastern Bergell contact aureole (Switzerland/Italy). The Bergell titanian clinohumites vary considerably in composition (TiO₂: 0.19 to 2.05 wt%, F: 2.2 to 3.4 wt%). Electron microprobe analyses show that the titanian clinohumites contain less than detectable amounts of Co, Cu, Ni, Zn, Al, Cr and Cl. No trace of ferric iron could be detected by Moessbauer spectroscopy. Moreover, the Moessbauer spectra indicate that Fe²⁺ occurs only in one of the five octahedral positions in the crystal structure of the studied titanian clinohumite. Under the conditions of the contact metamorphism (600–650° C, 3 kb total pressure) the compositional variation along the exchange vector TiO₂M_–1 (OH,F)_–2 takes place at constantx _OH which is fixed by the pore fluid. Titanian clinohumite sometimes contains geikielite inclusions which strongly fractionate Fe and Mn relative to titanian clinohumite. The geikielites from the Bergell marbles are poor in Cr₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and MnO, and thus different from those found in carbonatites, kimberlites and serpentinized ultramafic rocks.     

Petrography and chemistry of tungsten-rich oxycalciobetafite in hydrothermal veins of the Adamello contact aureole,northern Italy

Mineralogy and Petrology - Tungsten-rich oxycalciobetafite occurs in complex Ti-rich hydrothermal veins emplaced within dolomite marble in the contact aureole of the Adamello batholith, northern...