The evolution of zircon during low‐P partial melting of metapelitic rocks: theoretical predictions and a case study from Mt Stafford,central Australia

Palaeoproterozoic metasedimentary migmatite reflects the highest temperature parts of a regional aureole at Mt Stafford, central Australia, comprising rocks that experienced 500–800 °C at ≈3 kbar. Whole‐rock major element concentrations are correlated with Zr content, psammitic compositions having nearly twice the Zr content of pelitic compositions. Zirconium is concentrated in mesosome compared with leucosome. Zircon is largely detrital, mostly lacking any overgrowth contemporary with migmatite formation. Comparatively small proportions of micro‐zircon (<10 μm) in sub‐solidus rocks are mostly hosted by quartz and plagioclase. Much higher proportions (three to five times) of micro‐zircon in migmatite are hosted by prograde K‐feldspar, cordierite and biotite. T–X and P–T NCKFMASHTZr pseudosections constructed using thermocalc model the distribution of Zr between solid and silicate liquid phases. Half of the detrital zircon (~100 ppm Zr) is predicted to be dissolved into silicate liquid at ≈800 °C and all dissolved by 850 °C, if all zircon is involved in the equilibration volume. Melt segregation at relatively low temperature is predicted to enrich the residuum in Zr, consistent with the observed distribution of Zr between mesosome and leucosome. The limited development of metamorphic zircon rims or overgrowths at Mt Stafford is explained by three concurrent processes: (i) Zr liberated during prograde metamorphism formed micro‐zircon, rather than following the prediction that Zr will partition into silicate liquid; (ii) some detrital zircon was probably armoured by other rock‐forming minerals, reducing Zr content in the effective bulk rock composition; and (iii) small proportions of melt loss during migmatization removed Zr that otherwise would have been available to form metamorphic rims.     

Optimizing GPS-guidance transit route for cable crane collision avoidance using artificial immune algorithm

GPS Solutions - A cable crane collision accident usually causes serious damage to workers, equipment and materials. Owing to the emergence of global position system (GPS), some new collision...     

Modeling the environmental susceptibility of landfill sites in California

??The proper management of solid waste (SW) is a global environmental challenge. A major issue is the proper disposal of SW while balancing a wide range of criteria and working with different spatial data. In this study, we used geographic information system as a tool to perform multi-criteria decision analysis with an analytical hierarchy process to develop an environmental impact susceptibility model (EISM) for landfills. The model was applied to the state of California, USA and results are presented herein. In particular, the EISM considers factors such as geology, pedology, geomorphology, water resources, and climate as represented by 13 associated environmental indicators. The results of the EISM indicate that more than 75% of California’s territory is situated in areas with very low, low, and medium environmental impact susceptibility categories. However, in the remaining 25% of the state’s land, 61 landfills are located in the high and very high categories. These results are alarming because during the period from 2000 to 2015, these 61 landfills received approximately 308 million tons of SW, which corresponds to more than 57% of all SW disposed in California. The model results can be used toward mitigating the environmental impacts of these facilities.     

A theory for some pyroxene crystallization trends

Changes in solid solution limits, which must occur as crystallization proceeds, are used to interpret crystallization trends of pyroxenes from the Bushveld Intrusion, from oxidised and reduced basaltic lavas, and from lunar lavas.     

Estimating external magnetic field differences at high geomagnetic latitudes from a single station

Providing an accurate estimate of the magnetic field on the Earth's surface at a location distant from an observatory has useful scientific and commercial applications, such as in repeat station data reduction, space weather nowcasting or aeromagnetic surveying. While the correlation of measurements between nearby magnetic observatories at low and mid‐latitudes is good, at high geomagnetic latitudes () the external field differences between observatories increase rapidly with distance, even during relatively low magnetic activity. Thus, it is of interest to describe how the differences (or errors) in external magnetic field extrapolation from a single observatory grow with distance from its location. These differences are modulated by local time, seasonal and solar cycle variations, as well as geomagnetic activity, giving a complex temporal and spatial relationship. A straightforward way to describe the differences are via confidence intervals for the extrapolated values with respect to distance. To compute the confidence intervals associated with extrapolation of the external field at varying distances from an observatory, we used 695 station‐years of overlapping minute‐mean data from 37 observatories and variometers at high latitudes from which we removed the main and crustal fields to isolate unmodelled signals. From this data set, the pairwise differences were analysed to quantify the variation during a range of time epochs and separation distances. We estimate the 68.3%, 95.4% and 99.7% confidence levels (equivalent to the 1σ, 2σ and 3σ Gaussian error bounds) from these differences for all components. We find that there is always a small non‐zero bias that we ascribe to instrumentation and local crustal field induction effects. The computed confidence intervals are typically twice as large in the north–south direction compared to the east‐west direction and smaller during the solstice months compared to the equinoxes.     

Particle‐size evidence of barrier estuary regime as a new proxy for ENSO climate variability

We investigate a new proxy for ENSO climate variability based on particle‐size data from long‐term, coastal sediment records preserved in a barrier estuary setting. Corresponding ~4–8 year periodicities identified from Wavelet analysis of particle‐size data from Pescadero Marsh in Central Coast California and rainfall data from San Francisco reflect established ENSO periodicity, as further evidenced in the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI), and thus confirms an important ENSO control on both precipitation and barrier regime variability. Despite the fact that barrier estuary mean particle size is influenced by coastal erosion, precipitation and streamflow, balanced against barrier morphology and volume, it is encouraging that considerable correspondence can also be observed in the time series of MEI, regional rainfall and site‐based mean particle size over the period 1871–2008. This correspondence is, however, weakened after c.1970 by temporal variation in sedimentation rate and event‐based deposition. These confounding effects are more likely when: (i) accommodation space may be a limiting factor; and (ii) particularly strong El Niños, e.g. 1982/1983 and 1997/1998, deposit discrete >cm‐thick units during winter storms. The efficacy of the sediment record of climate variability appears not to be compromised by location within the back‐barrier setting, but it is limited to those El Niños that lead to barrier breakdown. For wider application of this particle size index of ENSO variability, it is important to establish a well‐resolved chronology and to sample the record at the appropriate interval to characterize deposition at a sub‐annual scale. Further, the sample site must be selected to limit the influence of decreasing accommodation space through time (infilling) and event‐based deposition. It is concluded that particle‐size data from back‐barrier sediment records have proven potential for preserving evidence of sub‐decadal climate variability, allowing researchers to explore temporal and spatial patterns in phenomena such as ENSO. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long‐term sediment yield from a small catchment in southern Brazil affected by land use and soil management changes

Sediments produced from eroding cultivated land can cause on‐site and off‐site effects that cause considerable economic and social impacts. Despite the importance of soil conservation practices (SCP) for the control of soil erosion and improvements in soil hydrological functions, limited information is available regarding the effects of SCP on sediment yield (SY) at the catchment scale. This study aimed to investigate the long‐term relationships between SY and land use, soil management, and rainfall in a small catchment. To determine the effects of anthropogenic and climatic factors on SY, rainfall, streamflow, and suspended sediment concentration were monitored at 10‐min intervals for 14 years (2002–2016), and the land use and soil management changes were surveyed annually. Using a statistical procedure to separate the SY effects of climate, land use, and soil management, we observed pronounced temporal effects of land use and soil management changes on SY. During the first 2 years (2002–2004), the land was predominantly cultivated with tobacco under a traditional tillage system (no cover crops and ploughed soil) using animal traction. In that period, the SY reached approximately 400 t·km^?2·year^?1. From 2005 to 2009, a soil conservation programme introduced conservation tillage and winter cover crops in the catchment area, which lowered the SY to 50 t·km^?2·year^?1. In the final period (2010–2016), the SCP were partially abandoned by farmers, and reforested areas increased, resulting in an SY of 150 t·km^?2·year^?1. This study also discusses the factors associated with the failure to continue using SCP, including structural support and farmer attitudes.     

What controls submarine channel development and the morphology of deltas entering deep-water fjords?

River deltas and associated turbidity current systems produce some of the largest and most rapid sediment accumulations on our planet. These systems bury globally significant volumes of organic carbon and determine the runout distance of potentially hazardous sediment flows and the shape of their deposits. Here we seek to understand the main factors that determine the morphology of turbidity current systems linked to deltas in fjords, and why some locations have well developed submarine channels while others do not. Deltas and associated turbidity current systems are analysed initially in five fjord systems from British Columbia in Canada, and then more widely. This provides the basis for a general classification of delta and turbidity current system types, where rivers enter relatively deep (>200 m) water. Fjord-delta area is found to be strongly bimodal. Avalanching of coarse-grained bedload delivered by steep mountainous rivers produces small Gilbert-type fan deltas, whose steep gradient (11°–25°) approaches the sediment's angle of repose. Bigger fjord-head deltas are associated with much larger and finer-grained rivers. These deltas have much lower gradients (1.5°–10°) that decrease offshore in a near exponential fashion. The lengths of turbidity current channels are highly variable, even in settings fed by rivers with similar discharges. This may be due to resetting of channel systems by delta-top channel avulsions or major offshore landslides, as well as the amount and rate of sediment supplied to the delta front by rivers. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil creep: problems raised by a 23 year study in Australia

In October 1965 and February 1966, 55 Young-pits were installed in tropical Northern Territory (NT) and temperate New South Wales (NSW). Pits were monitored in 1968, 1971 and 1974; also, for the NT only, in 1988. In each region, half of the pits are on weathered granite, and half on sandstone. Local relief is 30m or less, and slopes are up to 20°. Annual rainfall is evenly distributed in the NSW sites (800 mm a⁻¹), but is confined to the five to six month wet season in NT (1200 mm a⁻¹). Six pits suffered external disturbance and so were not analysed. Analysis of 160 rods in 49 undisturbed pits shows: (1) vectorial movement generally not downslope parallel to the ground surface, but dominated by a vertically downward component; (2) significant uphill and vertically upward components of movement for many rods; (3) a weak correlation between total movement and sine of slope; (4) rapid movement during 1965-68, and slow movement thereafter; (5) significantly higher creep rates on the NT granites than on all other sites, perhaps because mound-building termites are especially active there. We conclude that our data do not support soil creep models which assume that all movement is downslope and slope-parallel. Repeated long-term measurements are essential to distinguish long-term creep rates from the short-term effects of disturbance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.