Hydrothermal pyrite chimneys from the Ballynoe baryte deposit,Silvermines, County Tipperary,Ireland

We report the discovery of pyrite tubes 0.1 to 20mm in diameter in the Ballynoe sedimentary baryte deposit. Well developed tubes comprise concentric layers of pyrite of contrasting crystal sizes 0.05 to 1 mm thick. An outer rim of crystalline baryte 10mm thick commonly coats the tubes where these are not touching. The central canals contain myriad pyrite framboids. These tubes have characteristics in common with the chimney spires found on the East Pacific Rise at 21°N from which metal bearing solutions issue at temperatures of up to 380±30°C. Their presence carries the implication that the baryte deposit was not a distal facies of the Silvermines sedimentary pyritic zinc and lead ore, but was produced from local hydrothermal exhalations, though in a shallower part of the basin than the coeval sulphide deposits which had their own feeders. Some epigenetic mineralization may be awaiting discovery beneath the feeder sites at Ballynoe.     

Structural analysis of sheath folds with horizontal X-axes,northeast Canada

Early Proterozoic supracrustal rocks occur below a thick nappe of Archaean basement gneiss in the Melville Peninsula where sheath folds are exposed in a wide zone of middle Proterozoic dynamothermal metamorphism. Outcrop patterns of truncated isoclinal sheath folds resemble cylindrical folds except in relatively small areas around the paraboloidal caps. Bulk extension axes are parallel to strike in the belt as shown by isoclinal sheath folds with horizontal central axes (X-axes), as well as similarly aligned mullion structure and rotated scapolite prisms. Extension axes converge from northeast to southwest in the apparent flow direction.     

Control of BTEX Migration Using a Biologically Enhanced Permeable Barrier

A permeable barrier system. consisting of a line of closely spaced wclls. was installed perpendicular to ground water flow to control the migration of a dissolved hydrocarhon plume. The wells were charged wiih concrete briquets that release oxygen and nitrate at a controlled rate. enhancing aerobic bio-degradation in the downgradient aquifer.
Laboratory batch reactor experiments were conducted to identify concrete mixtures that slowly released oxygcn over an extended time period. Concretes prepared with urea hydrogen peroxide were unsatisfactory, while concretes prepared with calcium peroxide and a proprietary formalation of magnesium peroxide (ORC®) gradually released oxygen at a steadily declining rate. The 21 percent MgO₂ conerete cylinders and briquets released oxygen at measurable rates for up to 300 days, while the 14 percent CaO₂ briquets were exhausted by 100 days.
A full-scale permeable barrier system using ORC was constructed at a gasoline-spill site. During the first 242 days of operation. total BTFX decreased from 17 to 3.4 mg/L. and dissolved oxygen increased from 0.4 to 1.8 mg/L. during transport through the barrier. Over time, BTEX treatment efficiencies declined. indicating the barrier system had becomc less effective in releasing oxygen and nutrients to the highly contaminated portion of the aquifer. Point dilution tests and sediment analyses performed at the conclusion of the project indicated that ihc aquifer in the vicinity of the remediation wells had been clogged by precipitation with iron minerals. This clogging is believed to result from high pH from the concrete and oxygen released by ihc ORC. Oxygen-releasing permeable barriers and other aerobic bioremediation processes should be used with caution in aquifers with high levels of dissolved iron.     

Controls on englacial sediment deposition during the November 1996 jökulhlaup,Skeiđarárjökull,Iceland

This paper presents sedimentary evidence for rapid englacial debris entrainment during jökulhlaups. Previous studies of jökulhlaup sedimentology have focused predominantly on proglacial impact, rather than depositional processes within glaciers. However, observations of supraglacial floodwater outbursts suggest that englacial sediment emplacement is possible during jökulhlaups. The November 1996 jökulhlaup from Skei?arárjökull, Iceland presented one of the first opportunities to examine englacial flood deposits in relation to former supraglacial outlets. Using observations from Skei?arárjökull, this paper identifies and explains controls on the deposition of englacial flood sediments and presents a qualitative model for englacial jökulhlaup deposition. Englacial jökulhlaup deposits were contained within complex networks of upglacier‐dipping fractures. Simultaneous englacial deposition of fines and boulder‐sized sediment demonstrates that englacial fracture discharge had a high transport capacity. Fracture geometry was an important control on the architecture of englacial jökulhlaup deposits. The occurrence of pervasively frozen flood deposits within Skei?arárjökull is attributed to freeze‐on by glaciohydraulic supercooling. Floodwater, flowing subglacially or through upglacier‐dipping fractures, would have supercooled as it was raised to the surface faster than its pressure‐melting point could increase as glaciostatic pressure decreased. Evidence for floodwater contact with the glacier bed is supported by the ubiquitous occurrence of sheared diamict rip‐ups and intra‐clasts of basal ice within jökulhlaup fractures, deposited englacially some 200–350 m above the bed of Skei?arárjökull. Evidence for fluidal supercooled sediment accretion is apparent within stratified sands, deposited englacially at exceptionally high angles of rest in the absence of post‐depositional disturbance. Such primary sediment structures cannot be explained unless sediment is progressively accreted to opposing fracture walls. Ice retreat from areas of former supraglacial outbursts revealed distinct ridges characterized by localized upwellings of sediment‐rich floodwater. These deposits are an important addition to current models of englacial sedimentation and demonstrate the potential for post‐jökulhlaup landform development. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evidence for Non-Conservative Behaviour of Chlorine in Humid Tropical Environments

The knowledge of the biogeochemical cycle of chlorine (Cl)is important since this element is used as a tracer of geochemical and hydrological processes in oceanic or continental environments. More specifically, Cl can be used to correct surface water composition from atmospheric contribution in order to calculate precise chemical weathering rates in watersheds. Beyond the problem of potential Cl sources in a given watershed, which is directly related to the lithology, vegetation, and industrial activities, the Cl normalization is based on the assumption that this element behaves conservatively during surface processes (e.g., chemical weathering, adsorption/desorption processes).The purpose of the present study is to forecast the geochemical behavior of Cl in a forested ecosystem located under humid tropical environment.For this reason, we have analyzed the Cl (and also Ca and Na) concentrations ofsurface waters (rainwater, groundwater, river water) over a two-year period in the Nsimi–Zoetele watershed (Cameroon).The Cl mass balance for the watershed appears to be equilibrated over the studied period (1995–1996) but Cl behavior in Mengong River draining the watershed suggests a non-conservative behavior. Indeed, Cl concentrationsin the Mengong River are low during dry seasons and high during wet seasons, which is the reverse tendency to what is usually observed taking into account dilution and evaporation processes. As Cl concentrations in the Mengong River are lower than those measured in all the feeding reservoirs, Cl should be adsorbed onto the soils of the watershed. However, as the Cl mass balance is equilibrated over the whole-year, Cl should be adsorbed and releasedat a seasonal scale. The results we obtained for this small watershed were not generalized for a larger studied basin (i.e., Nyong River basin). Even if these results should be followed by further investigations, this study suggests that Cl normalization should be used with caution to avoid under- or over-estimation of chemical weathering rates.     

Human population growth and over-utilization of the biotic resources of the Murray — Darling River system, Australia

Imbalances in aquatic ecosystems of the Murray-Darling Basin reflect 180 years of inappropriate land use practices. Regulation of most rivers in the Basin has reduced frequency or duration of inundation of floodplains, with profound effects on a species-rich, highly specialized aquatic biota. Exotic introductions (e.g. trout, carp) have further modified aquatic ecosystems. Floodplain billabongs (= ox-bow lakes) are critical to maintenance of floodplain biodiversity, yet with isolation of floodplains from the parent rivers, billabongs are being lost or severely degraded. Consideration is given to the apparent carrying-capacity of the Basin, the present over-commitment of its most valuable resource, water, and the prospects for amelioration in view of present conflicting land use and water abstraction requirements.     

The emergence of life from iron monosulphide bubbles at a submarine hydrothermal redox and pH front

Here we argue that life emerged on Earth from a redox and pH front at c. 4.2 Ga. This front occurred where hot (c. 150 degrees C), extremely reduced, alkaline, bisulphide-bearing, submarine seepage waters interfaced with the acid, warm (c. 90 degrees C), iron-hearing Hadean ocean. The low pH of the ocean was imparted by the ten bars of CO2 considered to dominate the Hadean atmosphere/hydrosphere. Disequilibrium between the two solutions was maintained by the spontaneous precipitation of a colloidal FeS membrane. Iron monosulphide bubbles comprising this membrane were inflated by the hydrothermal solution upon sulphide mounds at the seepage sites. Our hypothesis is that the FeS membrane, laced with nickel, acted as a semipermeable catalytic boundary between the two fluids, encouraging synthesis of organic anions by hydrogenation and carboxylation of hydrothermal organic primers. The ocean provided carbonate, phosphate, iron, nickel and protons; the hydrothermal solution was the source of ammonia, acetate, HS-, H2 and tungsten, as well as minor concentrations of organic sulphides and perhaps cyanide and acetaldehyde. The mean redox potential (delta Eh) across the membrane, with the energy to drive synthesis, would have approximated to 300 millivolts. The generation of organic anions would have led to an increase in osmotic pressure within the FeS bubbles. Thus osmotic pressure could take over from hydraulic pressure as the driving force for distension, budding and reproduction of the bubbles. Condensation of the organic molecules to polymers, particularly organic sulphides, was driven by pyrophosphate hydrolysis. Regeneration of pyrophosphate from the monophosphate in the membrane was facilitated by protons contributed from the Hadean ocean. This was the first use by a metabolizing system of protonmotive force (driven by natural delta pH) which also would have amounted to c. 300 millivolts. Protonmotive force is the universal energy transduction mechanism of life. Taken together with the redox potential across the membrane, the total electrochemical and chemical energy available for protometabolism amounted to a continuous supply at more than half a volt. The role of the iron sulphide membrane in keeping the two solutions separated was appropriated by the newly synthesized organic sulphide polymers. This organic take-over of the membrane material led to the miniaturization of the metabolizing system. Information systems to govern replication could have developed penecontemporaneously in this same milieu. But iron, sulphur and phosphate, inorganic components of earliest life, continued to be involved in metabolism.