Magnitude determination based on short-period core waves

Summary PKP-amplitudes of about 400 earthquakes from the SW Pacific Ocean observed at three stations in Central Europe were used to obtain the calibration function q_PKP(D, h) based on the NEIS m_b magnitudes. The calibration function allows us to determine the magnitudes for week earthquakes from the Pacific, for which the magnitudes from the P-waves cannot be derived.     

Sorption of selenite in a multi-component system using the “dialysis membrane” method

⁷⁹Se is a potentially mobile long-lived fission product, which may make a dominant contribution to the long-term radiation exposure resulting from deep geological disposal of radioactive waste. Its mobility is affected by sorption on minerals. Selenium sorption processes have been studied mainly by considering interaction with a single mineral surface. In the case of multi-component systems (e.g. soils), it is difficult to predict the radioelement behaviour only from the mineral constituents. This study contributes to the understanding of multi-component controls of Se concentrations towards predicting Se behaviour in soils after migration from a disposal site. This goal was approached by measuring selenite sorption on mono and multi-phase systems physically separated by dialysis membranes. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, very few studies have used dialysis membranes to study the sorption competition of selenite between several mineral phases. Other workers have used this method to study the sorption of pesticides on montmorillonite in the presence of dissolved organic matter. Indeed, this method allows measurement of individual K_d in a system composed of several mineral phases. Dialysis membranes allowed (i) determination of the competition of two mineral phases for selenite sorption (ii) and determination of the role of humic acids (HAs) on selenite sorption in oxidising conditions. Experimental results at pH 7.0 show an average Se(IV) sorption distribution coefficient (K_d) of approximately 125 and 9410 L kg⁻¹ for bentonite and goethite, respectively. The average K_d for goethite decreases to 613 L kg⁻¹ or 3215 L kg⁻¹ in the presence of bentonite or HA, respectively. For bentonite, the average K_d decreases slightly in the presence of goethite (60 L kg⁻¹) and remains unchanged in the presence of HA. The experimental data were successfully modelled with a surface complexation model using the PHREEQC geochemical code. The drastic decrease in Se(IV) sorption on goethite in a multi-phase system is attributed to competition with dissolved silica released by bentonite. As with Si the HA compete with Se for sorption sites on goethite.     

Whole-grain evaporation for 207Pb/206Pb-age-investigations on single zircons using a double-filament thermal ion source

A technique has been developed and tested to analyse ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb apparent ages by thermal evaporation of radiogenic lead directly from untreated whole zircon grains (0.3 mm). The evaporation analyses are performed in the double-filament arrangement of a thermal ion mass spectrometer (ThIMS). The method is a powerful tool to distinguish between different lead components occurring in the same grain because differing activation energies of the competing lead components cause their sequential evaporation from the zircons. The evaporation of test samples results in ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb apparent ages in good agreement with U/Pb ages known from literature: single zircons from a granite of the Marble Mountains/California yield an age of crystallization of 1,410±30 Ma; Ceylon zircons from heavy-mineral bearing gravels yield 560± 40 Ma as age of crystallization of the pegmatitic gravel sources; individuals from a heterogeneous zircon population of a diatexite from the Southern Schwarzwald/SW-Germany indicate metamorphic zircon formation around 500 Ma and the existence of Middle-Proterozoic relics (1.95±0.05 Ga).The evaporation analyses revealed closed-system U/Pb evolution of the crystalline domains of all investigated zircons irrespective of discordancy-trends documented by U/Pb analyses on related zircon concentrates. Therefore the majority of discordia-lines derived from U/Pb isotope distributions of zircon samples are supposed to be due to phase mixing. Lead components from the crystalline domains are concordant end members of the mixing arrays. Open-system behaviour and U/Pb fractionation should be attributed only to phases with low Pb activation energies eg. metamict zircon domains or intergrown non-zircon minerals.     

Pre-Hercynian mantle lead transfer to basement rocks as indicated by lead isotopes of the Schwarzwald crystalline,SW-Germany

Lead isotopes of K-feldspars from five granites of the SE-Schwarzwald and from metamorphites are positively correlated in 207/204 as well- as 208/204- vs. 206/204-diagrams. The linear alignments may be due to correlated laststage lead isotope evolution (lead-lead isochron) and result in a secondary isochron model age of nearly 3 Ga for the Southern Schwarzwald basement. This calculation implies a long-lasting undisturbed lead isotope evolution in the Schwarzwald basement since the Archaean. This is not supported however by geochronological studies. On the other hand the data together with U/Pb-analyses of whole rock samples from metamorphites are consistent with pre-Hercynian mantle lead addition to the basement. This presumably happened during early Paleozoic polymetamorphism. The interpretation of the lead isotope correlations as mantle-crust mixing lines needs a rather homogeneous pre-Hercynian mantle lead of the MORB-type, delivered to the crust probably in part by ascending volatile phases. Thus geodynamical models are supported which involve subduction of oceanic crust or mantle pluming during the early Paleozoic. In Part I of this report, the trends in Schwarzwald lead isotopes are discussed as secondary isochrons and as mixing lines. Constraints are derived for a pre-Hercynian mantlecrust interaction and for lead redistribution by the Hercynian basement activation.     

Seasonality in the North Sea during the Allerød and Late Medieval Climate Optimum using bivalve sclerochronology

Seasonal temperature patterns may have changed through time in response to current global warming. However, the temporal resolution of available proxy records is not sufficient to quantify paleotemperature seasonality prior to anthropogenic forcing of the climate. In the present study, we reconstructed seasonal and inter-annual temperature patterns of the North Sea during the last 140 years, the Allerød Interglacial and the Late Medieval Climate Optimum using sclerochronological and δ¹⁸O_aragonite data from bivalve shells, Arctica islandica. On average, the climate during 1278–1353 AD was ca. 1.1°C colder and seasonality was ca. 60% less than today. During the Allerød, long-term temperatures remained about 3.2°C below present values, and absolute summer and winter anomalies were ca. ?4 and ?2.7°C, respectively. However, seasonality was statistically indistinguishable from today. Long-term average temperatures compare well with existing data for the Late Medieval and Allerød, but detailed information on seasonality during the studied time intervals has never been presented before. Our data also demonstrated that annual instrumental and δ¹⁸O_aragonite-derived temperatures did not always match. This difference is explained by (1) NAO-driven salinity changes, which influence the temperature estimation from δ¹⁸O_aragonite and (2) food-driven changes in growth rates; portions of the shell that formed more rapidly are overrepresented in carbonate samples. Our study indicated that individual bivalve shells can open discrete, near-century long, ultra-high-resolution windows into the climate past. Such information can be vital for testing and verifying numerical climate models.     

Organic compound tracers of fine soil and sand particles during summer in the metropolitan area of Riyadh,Saudi Arabia

Soil and sand fine particles, which may be resuspended as fine dust in the atmosphere, contain a variety of anthropogenic and natural organic components. Samples of fine soil and sand particles (sieved to <125 μM) were collected from the Riyadh area in the summer of 2003 and extracted with a mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (3:1, v:v). The derivatized total extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in order to characterize the composition and sources of the organic components. Both anthropogenic and natural biogenic inputs were the major sources of the organic compounds in these extracts. Discarded plastics and vehicular emission products were the major anthropogenic sources in the fine particles from populated areas of the city. Their tracers were plasticizers, UCM, n-alkanes, hopanes and traces of steranes. Vegetation was the major natural source of organic compounds in samples from outside Riyadh and included n-alkanols, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanes, methyl alkanoates, sterols and triterpenoids. Carbohydrates had high concentrations (42–54%) in all samples and indicate sources from decomposition of cellulose and/or the presence of viable microbiota such as bacteria and fungi. The results were also compared with the data obtained in winter 2002 and showed that anthropogenic inputs were higher in summer than in winter, whereas the opposite trend was observed for natural inputs.     

The geochemical cycle of boron: Constraints from boron isotope partitioning experiments between mica and fluid

The fractionation of boron isotopes between synthetic boromuscovite and fluid was experimentally determined at 3.0 GPa/500 °C and 3.0 GPa/700 °C. For near-neutral fluids Δ¹¹B_(mica-fluid) = δ¹¹B_(mica) − δ¹¹B_(fluid) is − 10.9 ± 1.3‰ at 500 °C, and − 6.5 ± 0.4‰ at 700 °C. This supports earlier assumptions that the main fractionation effect is due to the change from trigonal coordination of boron in neutral fluids to tetrahedrally coordinated boron in micas, clays and melts. The T-dependence of this effect is approximated by the equation Δ¹¹B_{(mica,clay,melt–neutral fluid)} = − 10.69 · (1000/T [K]) + 3.88; R² = 0.992, valid from 25 °C for fluid–clay up to about 1000 °C for fluid–silicate melt. Experiments at 0.4 GPa that used strongly basic fluids produced significantly lower fractionations with Δ¹¹B_{(mica–fluid)} of − 7.4 ± 1.0‰ at 400 °C, and − 4.8 ± 1.0‰ at 500 °C, showing the reduced fractionation effect when large amounts of boron in basic fluids are tetrahedrally coordinated. Field studies have shown that boron concentrations and ¹¹B/¹⁰B-ratios in volcanic arcs systematically decrease across the arc with increasing distance from the trench, thus reflecting the thermal structure of the subducting slab. Our experiments show that the boron isotopic signature in volcanic arcs probably results from continuous dehydration of micas along a distinct P–T range. Continuous slab dehydration and boron transport via fluid into the mantle wedge is responsible for the boron isotopic signature in volcanic arcs.