Interactive effects of the type of milling media and CuSO4 addition on the flotation performance of sulphide minerals from Merensky ore Part II: Froth stability

The limitations of pulp chemistry measurements in the flotation of a platinum group mineral (PGM) bearing Merensky ore were demonstrated in Part 1 of this article. In this paper the importance of the contribution of the froth structure due to changing froth stability is analysed using the batch flotation data. The effects of mild steel (MS) and stainless steel (SS) milling media and the addition of copper sulphate on the flotation performance of the sulphide minerals in Merensky ore have been evaluated in relation to the changes in stability of the froth phase. The effects of pulp chemistry and froth stability on the flotation of sulphide minerals were distinguished by using two different rate constants (k_t and k_w). The rate constant (k_w) calculated as a function of cumulative water recovery was used to describe characteristics of froth phase and k_t was calculated as a function of flotation time. The results revealed that the type of grinding media and copper sulphate addition had an interactive effect on the froth stability. While mild steel (MS) milling increased the froth stability due to the presence of hydrophilic iron hydroxides and colloidal metallic iron, the addition of copper sulphate reduced the stability, especially with stainless steel (SS) milling. Copper sulphate addition had a dual role in the flotation of Merensky ore in that it caused destabilisation of the froth zone as well as activation of selected sulphide minerals. The dominant effect was found to depend on the type of milling media and floatability of the mineral in question and this work has demonstrated the importance of using a combination of measurements to evaluate flotation performance holistically.     

Propagation of MHD body and surface waves in magnetically structured regions of the solar atmosphere

The fact that magnetically structured regions exist in the solar atmosphere has been known for a number of years. It has been suggested that different kinds of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves can be efficiently damped in these regions and that the dissipated wave energy may be responsible for the observed enhancement in radiative losses. From a theoretical point of view, an important task would be to investigate the propagation and dissipation of MHD waves in these highly structured regions of the solar atmosphere. In this paper, we study the behavior of MHD body and surface waves in a medium with either a single or double (slab) magnetic interface by use of a nonlinear, two-dimensional, time-dependent, ideal MHD numerical model constructed on the basis of a Lagrangean grid and semi-implicit scheme. The processes of wave confinement and wave energy leakage are discussed in detail. It is shown that the obtained results depend strongly on the type of perturbations imposed on the interface or slab and on the plasma parameter, . The relevance of the obtained results to the heating problem of the upper parts of the solar atmosphere is also discussed.     

Pedogenic factors affecting magnetic susceptibility of the last interglacial palaeosol S1 in the Chinese Loess Plateau

The magnetic susceptibility has been used as a quantitative or semi‐quantitative proxy for reconstructing the summer monsoon intensity in the Chinese Loess Plateau based on extensive studies on climatic or/and environmental mechanisms producing the magnetic susceptibility signatures. However, the precise nature of the link between past climates and the susceptibility signatures has remained uncertain primarily due to lack of our understanding in the ?nalizing and preserving processes of the signatures. This paper attempts to examine the reliability or acceptability of this summer monsoon proxy from non‐magnetic perspectives of soil‐forming processes. We chose nine sections along two transects: one across the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau and another across the eastern part. Several conclusions can be drawn from our analytical data. First, clay translocation within the S1 palaeosol pro?les, as indicated by ?eld‐observed clay coatings on ped faces in Bt and Bk horizons and demonstrated by laboratory‐analysed clay contents, must have moved some of the magnetic minerals downward so that the susceptibility re?ects only the post‐translocation distribution of the magnetic‐susceptibility‐producing minerals. Second, the best‐developed palaeosol S1S3 at most of the sections studied is not expressed by the magnetic susceptibility because this palaeosol developed in underlying coarse loess (L2) and coarse textures tend to lower the susceptibility. Third, carbonate concentration is normally negatively correlated with the magnetic susceptibility or simply suppresses the magnetic susceptibility peak when the susceptibility enhancement exceeds the carbonate dilution effect. To conclude, extreme caution must be observed when using magnetic susceptibility signatures to retrieve high‐resolution records of the last interglacial palaeoclimate in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Element mobility during continental collision: insights from polymineralic metamorphic vein within UHP eclogite in the Dabie orogen

Metamorphic dehydration and partial melting are two important processes during continental collision. They have significant bearing on element transport at the slab interface under subduction‐zone P–T conditions. Petrological and geochemical insights into the two processes are provided by a comprehensive study of leucocratic veins in ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks. This is exemplified by this study of a polymineralic vein within phengite‐bearing UHP eclogite in the Dabie orogen. The vein is primarily composed of quartz, kyanite, epidote and phengite, with minor accessory minerals such as garnet, rutile and zircon. Primary multiphase solid inclusions occur in garnet and epidote from the both vein and host eclogite. They are composed of quartz ± K‐feldspar ± plagioclase ± K‐bearing glass and exhibit irregular to negative crystal shapes that are surrounded by weak radial cracks. This suggests their precipitation from solute‐rich metamorphic fluid/melt that involved the reaction of phengite breakdown. Zircon U–Pb dating for the vein gave two groups of concordant ages at 217 ± 2 and 210 ± 2 Ma, indicating two episodes of zircon growth in the Late Triassic. The same minerals from the two rocks give consistent δ¹⁸O and δD values, suggesting that the vein‐forming fluid was directly derived from the host UHP eclogite. The vein is much richer in phengite and epidote than the host eclogite, suggesting that the fluid is associated with remarkable concentration of such water‐soluble elements as LILE and LREE migration. Garnet and rutile in the vein exhibit much higher contents of HREE (2.2–5.7 times) and Nb–Ta (1.8–2.0 times) than those in the eclogite, indicating that these normally water‐insoluble elements became mobile and then were sunken in the vein minerals. Thus, the vein‐forming agent would be primarily composed of the UHP aqueous fluid with minor amounts of the hydrous melt, which may even become a supercritical fluid to have a capacity to transport not only LILE and LREE but also HREE and HFSE at subduction‐zone metamorphic conditions. Taken together, significant amounts of trace elements were transported by the vein‐forming fluid due to the phengite breakdown inside the UHP eclogite during exhumation of the deeply subducted continental crust.     

GGM02 – An improved Earth gravity field model from GRACE

A new generation of Earth gravity field models called GGM02 are derived using approximately 14 months of data spanning from April 2002 to December 2003 from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE). Relative to the preceding generation, GGM01, there have been improvements to the data products, the gravity estimation methods and the background models. Based on the calibrated covariances, GGM02 (both the GRACE-only model GGM02S and the combination model GGM02C) represents an improvement greater than a factor of two over the previous GGM01 models. Error estimates indicate a cumulative error less than 1 cm geoid height to spherical harmonic degree 70, which can be said to have met the GRACE minimum mission goals. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at     

Comparative analysis of marine paleogene sections and biota from West Siberia and the Arctic Region

The analysis of the main biospheric events that took place in West Siberia and the Arctic region during the Early Paleogene revealed the paleogeographic and paleobiogeographic unity of marine sedimentation basins and close biogeographic relations between their separate parts. Most biotic and abiotic events of the first half of the Paleogene in the Arctic region and West Siberia were synchronous, unidirectional, and interrelated. Shelf settings, sedimentation breaks, and microfaunal assemblages characteristic of these basins during the Paleogene are compared. The comparative analysis primarily concerned events of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and beds with Azolla (aquatic fern). The formation of the Eocene Azolla Beds in the Arctic region and West Siberia was asynchronous, although it proceeded in line with a common scenario related to the development of a system of estuarine-type currents in a sea basin partly isolated from the World Ocean.     

3D Coronal Density Reconstruction and Retrieving the Magnetic Field Structure during Solar Minimum

Measurement of the coronal magnetic field is a crucial ingredient in understanding the nature of solar coronal phenomena at all scales. We employed STEREO/COR1 data obtained during a deep minimum of solar activity in February 2008 (Carrington Rotation CR 2066) to retrieve and analyze the three-dimensional (3D) coronal electron density in the range of heights from 1.5 to 4 R_⊙ using a tomography method. With this, we qualitatively deduced structures of the coronal magnetic field. The 3D electron-density analysis is complemented by the 3D STEREO/EUVI emissivity in the 195 Å band obtained by tomography for the same CR. A global 3D MHD model of the solar corona was used to relate the reconstructed 3D density and emissivity to open/closed magnetic-field structures. We show that the density-maximum locations can serve as an indicator of current-sheet position, while the locations of the density-gradient maximum can be a reliable indicator of coronal-hole boundaries. We find that the magnetic-field configuration during CR 2066 has a tendency to become radially open at heliocentric distances greater than 2.5 R_⊙. We also find that the potential-field model with a fixed source surface is inconsistent with the boundaries between the regions with open and closed magnetic-field structures. This indicates that the assumption of the potential nature of the coronal global magnetic field is not satisfied even during the deep solar minimum. Results of our 3D density reconstruction will help to constrain solar coronal-field models and test the accuracy of the magnetic-field approximations for coronal modeling.     

Distribution of suspended particulate matter in the northern Bohai Bay in summer and its relation with thermocline

Field observations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the Bohai Bay, China have not been widely reported. The aim of this paper is to describe the horizontal and vertical distribution of mass and volume concentrations of SPM, respectively, based on observed data at 312 stations in the northern Bohai Bay during summer of 2006. A numerical model ECOMSED coupled with a sediment transport module was also established to further discuss the mechanism of the thermocline effect on the vertical distribution of SPM. The mass concentrations of SPM exhibited high inshore values and low offshore values in the horizontal distribution; while in the vertical direction, characteristics of the volume concentration of SPM can be divided into two types: one with a sharp peak at depth of 10–15 m and another without. The peak value at the depth of the thermocline was resulted from concentrated phytoplankton. A numerical experiment further displayed that the thermocline can also prevent particles from being resuspended upward.