Experimental modelling of shallow magma emplacement: Application to saucer-shaped intrusions

Saucer-shaped dolerite and sandstone intrusions are common in sedimentary basins world-wide. We have conducted a series of scaled experiments simulating the process of magma emplacement in sedimentary basins, with particular attention on the formation of saucer-shaped sills. The model materials were (1) cohesive fine-grained silica flour, representing brittle crust; and (2) molten low-viscosity oil, representing magma. The experiments were performed in both homogeneous and layered models. In all the experiments, oil injection resulted in doming of the surface. In the homogeneous models, the injected oil formed cone sheets and sub-vertical dykes. Cone sheets formed for shallow injection (1–3 cm), and vertical dykes formed for deeper injection (4–5 cm). In layered models, the injected oil always formed saucer-shaped intrusions. Our experimental results show that (1) sill intrusion results in the formation of a dome, with melt erupting at the rim; (2) layering controls the formation of sills and saucer-shaped sills; (3) saucer-shaped sills are fed from the bottom and the fluid flows upward and outward; and (4) the diameter of saucer-shaped sills increase with increasing emplacement depth. The systematic relation between domes and sills and the depth-dependence of sill diameters show that saucer-shaped intrusions result from the interaction between a growing flat-lying shallow sill and doming of the free surface. We conclude that saucer-shaped intrusions represent fundamental geometries formed by shallow magma intrusion in stratified basins.     

Wave barrier of lime–cement columns against train-induced ground-borne vibrations

This paper presents a comparison between measured train-induced ground vibrations in the free-field before and after countermeasures had been taken at Kåhög near Gothenburg in Sweden. A wave barrier of lime–cement columns was constructed parallel to the railway in order to reduce the ground-borne vibrations inside nearby buildings. On top of the barrier an embankment was built to reduce air-borne vibrations. Due to the wave barrier design, part of the energy content of the waves was expected to be reflected by the screen and transmitted energy was expected to be partly scattered. Contribution from the noise-embankment was not thought likely but could not be ruled out due to its fairly large mass and its close proximity to the railway. The effect of the mitigating measures resulted in a 67% reduction of the maximum particle velocity at 30 m and 41% at 60 m from the railway. A simple two-dimensional finite element model has been used to study the relative importance of the wave barrier and the noise-embankment as contributors to the mitigation recorded of the ground vibrations in the field. It is concluded with respect to ground vibrations that both the barrier and the embankment had a mitigating effect but that the contribution from the barrier dominated. Furthermore, it is seen from the field results as well as the simulation that the effect of the mitigating action is reduced with increasing distance from the railway.     

Impact of repository depth on residence times for leaking radionuclides in land-based surface water

The multiple scales of landscape topography produce a wide distribution of groundwater circulation cells that control the hydro-geological environments surrounding geological repositories for nuclear waste. The largest circulation cells tend to discharge water into major river reaches, large freshwater systems or the nearby Baltic Sea. We investigated numerically the release of radionuclides from repositories placed in bedrock with depths between 100 to 2000 meters in a Swedish coastal area and found that leakage from the deeper positions emerges primarily in the major aquatic systems. In effect, radionuclides from the deeper repositories are more rapidly transported towards the Sea by the stream system compared to leakage from more shallow repositories. The release from the shallower repositories is significantly retained in the initial stage of the transport in the (superficial) landscape because the discharge occurs in or near low-order streams with high retention characteristics. This retention and residence time for radioactivity in the landscape control radiological doses to biota and can, thus, be expected to constitute an essential part of an associated risk evaluation.     

PCBs and chlorinated pesticides in the atmosphere and aquatic organisms of Ross Island, Antarctica

PCBs, p,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE and lindane (γ-hexachlorocyclohexane) were monitored in the lower atmosphere of Ross Island, in Antarctica for 2 yr. Geometrical means were 15.2 pg m⁻³ for PCBs, 2.0 pg m⁻³ for p,p′-DDT, 1.0 pg m⁻³ for p,p′-DDE and 25.8 pg m⁻³ for lindane. Atmospheric levels of lindane were positively correlated with temperature, and a significant difference was found between spring-summer and summer-winter concentrations. No season related differences were found for the other chlorinated hydrocarbons, possibly owing to their lower vapour pressure and the cold climate. Periods with increased atmospheric levels of PCBs and DDT compounds were recorded. Lindane, p,p′-DDE and PCBs were present in fish and zooplankton sampled close to Ross Island. Pollutant levels in the zooplankton (on an extractable fat basis) were highest during the Antarctic spring and autumn and were inversely correlated to their fat content.     

An Early Pleistocene interglacial deposit at Pingorsuit,North-West Greenland

At the Pingorsuit Glacier in North-West Greenland, an organic-rich deposit that had recently emerged from the retreating ice cap was discovered at an elevation of 480 m above sea level. This paper reports on macrofossil analyses of a coarse detritus gyttja and peaty soil, which occurred beneath a thin cover of till and glacifluvial deposits. The sediments contained remains of vascular plants, mosses, beetles, caddisflies, midges, bryozoans, sponges and other invertebrates. The flora includes black spruce, tree birch, boreal shrubs and wetland and aquatic taxa, which shows that mires, lakes and ponds were present in the area. We describe a new extinct waterwort species Elatine odgaardii. The fossils were deposited in a boreal environment with a mean July air temperature that was at least 9 °C higher than at present. The fossil assemblages show strong similarities with others from Greenland that have been assigned an Early Pleistocene age, and we suggest a similar age for the sediments found at the margin of the Pingorsuit Glacier. At the Pingorsuit Glacier in North-West Greenland, an organic-rich deposit was discovered at an elevation of 480 m above sea level. The sediments contained remains of vascular plants, mosses, beetles, caddisflies, midges, bryozoans, sponges and other invertebrates. The fossils were deposited in a boreal environment with a mean July air temperature that was at least 9 °C higher than at present.     

Seismic investigations in the Weddell Sea Embayment

Seismic multi-channel data collected during Norwegian Antarctic Research Expeditions in 1976–1977 and 1978–1979 outline aspects of the Cenozoic depositional environment in the Weddell Sea Embayment. Acoustic basement, probably representing the East Antarctic craton, is exposed in a 50–100 km wide swath along the ice barrier between 78°S–75.5°S on the eastern side of the Crary Trough. The shelf prograded westward and northward from the craton into a subsiding basin colinear with the Transantarctic Mountain Range. Measured sediment thicknesses exceed 5 km. During middle and late Tertiary times a submarine fan complex—the Crary Fan—developed on the southeastern margin of the Weddell Sea Embayment. The glacially eroded Crary Trough is located at the contact between the craton and a sedimentary basin to the west. The entire sedimentary section is undisturbed by faulting or folding, which indicates that any movements related to Cenozoic uplift of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains and/or relative motion of East Antarctica had little effect in the area north of the Filchner Ice Shelf east of 41°W.     

The Greenland Ice Core Chronology 2005, 15–42 ka. Part 2: comparison to other records

A new Greenland Ice Core Chronology (GICC05) based on multi-parameter counting of annual layers has been obtained for the last 42 ka. Here we compare the glacial part of the new time scale, which is based entirely on records from the NorthGRIP ice core, to existing time scales and reference horizons covering the same period. These include the GRIP and NorthGRIP modelled time scales, the Meese-Sowers GISP2 counted time scale, the Shackleton–Fairbanks GRIP time scale (SFCP04) based on ¹⁴C calibration of a marine core, the Hulu Cave record, three volcanic reference horizons, and the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion event occurring around Greenland Interstadial 10. GICC05 is generally in good long-term agreement with the existing Greenland ice core chronologies and with the Hulu Cave record, but on shorter time scales there are significant discrepancies. Around the Last Glacial Maximum there is a more than 1 ka age difference between GICC05 and SFCP04 and a more than 0.5 ka discrepancy in the same direction between GICC05 and the age of a recently identified tephra layer in the NorthGRIP ice core. Both SFCP04 and the tephra age are based on ¹⁴C-dated marine cores and fixed marine reservoir ages. For the Laschamp event, GICC05 agrees with a recent independent dating within the uncertainties.     

Grain boundary energy as a clue to mineral segregations — A preliminary study

Dihedral angles between two grains of quartz and one of pyrrhotite, sphalerite resp. hematite are measured at triple junctions. An approach to equilibrium is noted. The sulphides have dihedral angles greater than 120 ° and the oxide less than 120 °. No significant influence of sphalerite composition on dihedral angle can be proved. It is concluded that the average grain boundary energy between two grains of quartz is smaller than that between quartz and a sulphide but greater than that between quartz and hematite. Sulphide — biotite interfaces are found to be parallel to the biotite cleavage. Parallelism is concluded to meet a requirement of minimum grain boundary energy. Assuming random distribution of grains, the interfacial area between sulphides and transparent minerals is found to be too small in comparison with that between sulphides. The sulphide clustering, observed and inferred, is suggested to depend on a combination of grain boundary energy and epitaxial growth, but may to some extent be inherited from the ore-generation stage.