A geochemical approach to constraining the formation of glassy fallout debris from nuclear tests

Glassy nuclear fallout debris from near-surface nuclear tests is fundamentally reprocessed earth material. A geochemical approach to analysis of glassy fallout is uniquely suited to determine the means of reprocessing and shed light on the mechanisms of fallout formation. An improved understanding of fallout formation is of interest both for its potential to guide post-detonation nuclear forensic investigations and in the context of possible affinities between glassy debris and other glasses generated by high-energy natural events, such as meteorite impacts and lightning strikes. This study presents a large major-element compositional dataset for glasses within aerodynamic fallout from the Trinity nuclear test (“trinitite”) and a geochemically based analysis of the glass compositional trends. Silica-rich and alkali-rich trinitite glasses show compositions and textures consistent with formation through melting of individual mineral grains—quartz and alkali feldspar, respectively—from the test-site sediment. The volumetrically dominant glass phase—called the CaMgFe glass—shows extreme major-element compositional variability. Compositional trends in the CaMgFe glass are most consistent with formation through volatility-controlled condensation from compositionally heterogeneous plasma. Radioactivity occurs only in CaMgFe glass, indicating that co-condensation of evaporated bulk ground material and trace device material was the main mechanism of radioisotope incorporation into trinitite. CaMgFe trinitite glasses overlap compositionally with basalts, rhyolites, fulgurites, tektites, and microtektites but display greater compositional diversity than all of these naturally formed glasses. Indeed, the most refractory CaMgFe glasses compositionally resemble early solar system condensates—specifically, CAIs.     

CrystalMom: a new model for the evolution of crystal size distributions in magmas with the quadrature-based method of moments

Nucleation and growth of crystals, and the resulting crystal size distribution, play a fundamental role in controlling the physical properties of magmas and consequently the dynamics of the eruptions. In the past decades, laboratory experiments demonstrated that size and shape of crystals strongly control the physical properties of magma and lava. Additionally, natural and experimental samples are usually characterized in terms of their crystal size distribution to link it with physical processes that are not directly observable, such as cooling or decompression mechanisms. In this paper, we present CrystalMoM, a new predictive model, based on the quadrature-based method of moments, developed for studying the kinetic of crystallization in volcanic systems. The quadrature-based method of moments, well established in the field of chemical engineering, represents a mesoscale modelling approach that rigorously simulates the space–time evolution of a distribution of particles, by considering its moments. The method is applied here, for the first time, for studying the equilibrium/disequilibrium crystallization in magma, modelling the temporal evolution of the moments of a crystal size distribution. The model, verified against numerical and experimental data, represents a valuable tool to infer the cooling and decompression rates from the crystal size distribution observed in natural samples.     

Discussion: “Xenoliths in ultrapotassic volcanic rocks in the Lhasa block: direct evidence for crust–mantle mixing and metamorphism in the deep crust” by Wang et al. 2016 (Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology) 171:62

Wang et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol 171:62, 2016a) present data on composition of xenolith from Southern Tibet and conclude that ulrapotassic melts from the region formed by melting mantle, and complex interaction with a crustal component. In this discussion we demonstrate that numerous observations presented by Wang et al. (2016a) can be explained by partial melting of crust followed by interaction between that melt and the mantle. We show that this model can explain the variability of magmas in such suits without evoking occurrence of coincidental, unrelated events. Moreover we demonstrate that our model of a crustal origin of the proto-shoshonite melts is now supported by independent lines of evidence such as geochemistry of restites after high- and ultrahigh- pressure melting and melt inclusion studies.     

Intermittent generation of mafic enclaves in the 1991–1995 dacite of Unzen Volcano recorded in mineral chemistry

Mafic enclaves in the 1991–1995 dacite of Unzen volcano show chemical and textural variability, such as bulk SiO₂ contents ranging from 52 to 62 wt% and fine- to coarse-grained microlite textures. In this paper, we investigated the mineral chemistry of plagioclase and hornblende microlites and distinguished three enclave types. Type-I mafic enclaves contain high-Mg plagioclase and low-Cl hornblende as microlites, whereas type-III enclaves include low-Mg plagioclase and high-Cl hornblende. Type-II enclaves have an intermediate mineral chemistry. Type-I mafic enclaves tend to show a finer-grained matrix, have slightly higher bulk rock SiO₂ contents (56–60 wt%) when compared with the type-III mafic enclaves (SiO₂?=?53–59 wt%), but the overall bulk enclave compositions are within the trend of the basalt–dacite eruptive products of Quaternary monogenetic volcanoes around Unzen volcano. The origin of the variation of mineral chemistry in mafic enclaves is interpreted to reflect different degree of diffusion-controlled re-equilibration of minerals in a low-temperature mushy dacitic magma reservoir. Mafic enclaves with a long residence time in the dacitic magma reservoir, whose constituent minerals were annealed at low-temperature to be in equililbrium with the rhyolitic melt, represent type-III enclaves. In contrast, type-I mafic enclaves result from recent mafic injections with a mineral assemblage that still retains the high-temperature mineral chemistry. Taking temperature, Ca/(Ca?+?Na) ratio of plagioclase, and water activity of the hydrous Unzen magma into account, the Mg contents of plagioclase indicate that plagioclase microlites in type-III enclaves initially crystallized at high temperature and were subsequently re-equilibrated at low-temperature conditions. Compositional profiles of Mg in plagioclase suggest that older mafic enclaves (Type-III) had a residence time of ~100 years at 800 °C in a stagnant magma reservoir before their incorporation into the mixed dacite of the 1991–1995 Unzen eruption. Presence of different types of mafic enclaves suggests that the 1991–1995 dacite of Unzen volcano tapped mushy magma reservoir intermittently replenished by high-temperature mafic magmas.     

Stability of phlogopite in ultrapotassic kimberlite-like systems at 5.5–7.5 GPa

Hydrous K-rich kimberlite-like systems are studied experimentally at 5.5–7.5 GPa and 1200–1450?°C in terms of phase relations and conditions for formation and stability of phlogopite. The starting samples are phlogopite–carbonatite–phlogopite sandwiches and harzburgite–carbonatite mixtures consisting of Ol?+?Grt?+?Cpx?+?L (±Opx), according to the previous experimental results obtained at the same P–T parameters but in water-free systems. Carbonatite is represented by a K- and Ca-rich composition that may form at the top of a slab. In the presence of carbonatitic melt, phlogopite can partly melt in a peritectic reaction at 5.5 GPa and 1200–1350?°C, as well as at 6.3–7.0 GPa and 1200?°C: 2Phl?+?CaCO₃ (L)?Cpx?+?Ol?+?Grt?+?K₂CO₃ (L)?+?2H₂O (L). Synthesis of phlogopite at 5.5 GPa and 1200–1350?°C, with an initial mixture of H₂O-bearing harzburgite and carbonatite, demonstrates experimentally that equilibrium in this reaction can be shifted from right to left. Therefore, phlogopite can equilibrate with ultrapotassic carbonate–silicate melts in a?≥?150?°C region between 1200 and 1350?°C at 5.5 GPa. On the other hand, it can exist but cannot nucleate spontaneously and crystallize in the presence of such melts in quite a large pressure range in experiments at 6.3–7.0 GPa and 1200?°C. Thus, phlogopite can result from metasomatism of peridotite at the base of continental lithospheric mantle (CLM) by ultrapotassic carbonatite agents at depths shallower than 180–195 km, which creates a mechanism of water retaining in CLM. Kimberlite formation can begin at 5.5 GPa and 1350?°C in a phlogopite-bearing peridotite source generating a hydrous carbonate–silicate melt with 10–15 wt% SiO₂, Ca# from 45 to 60, and high K enrichment. Upon further heating to 1450?°C due to the effect of a mantle plume at the CLM base, phlogopite disappears and a kimberlite-like melt forms with SiO₂ to 20 wt% and Ca#?=?35–40.     

Iron isotope fractionation in subduction-related high-pressure metabasites (Ile de Groix,France)

Characterisation of mass transfer during subduction is fundamental to understand the origin of compositional heterogeneities in the upper mantle. Fe isotopes were measured in high-pressure/low-temperature metabasites (blueschists, eclogites and retrograde greenschists) from the Ile de Groix (France), a Variscan high-pressure terrane, to determine if the subducted oceanic crust contributes to mantle Fe isotope heterogeneities. The metabasites have δ⁵⁶Fe values of +0.16 to +0.33‰, which are heavier than typical values of MORB and OIB, indicating that their basaltic protolith derives from a heavy-Fe mantle source. The δ⁵⁶Fe correlates well with Y/Nb and (La/Sm)_PM ratios, which commonly fractionate during magmatic processes, highlighting variations in the magmatic protolith composition. In addition, the shift of δ⁵⁶Fe by +0.06 to 0.10‰ compared to basalts may reflect hydrothermal alteration prior to subduction. The δ⁵⁶Fe decrease from blueschists (+0.19 ± 0.03 to +0.33 ± 0.01‰) to eclogites (+0.16 ± 0.02 to +0.18 ± 0.03‰) reflects small variations in the protolith composition, rather than Fe fractionation during metamorphism: newly-formed Fe-rich minerals allowed preserving bulk rock Fe compositions during metamorphic reactions and hampered any Fe isotope fractionation. Greenschists have δ⁵⁶Fe values (+0.17 ± 0.01 to +0.27 ± 0.02‰) similar to high-pressure rocks. Hence, metasomatism related to fluids derived from the subducted hydrothermally altered metabasites might only have a limited effect on mantle Fe isotope composition under subsolidus conditions, owing to the large stability of Fe-rich minerals and low mobility of Fe. Subsequent melting of the heavy-Fe metabasites at deeper levels is expected to generate mantle Fe isotope heterogeneities.     

A subsidiary fast-diffusing substitution mechanism of Al in forsterite investigated using diffusion experiments under controlled thermodynamic conditions

Diffusion of Al in synthetic forsterite was studied at atmospheric pressure from 1100 to 1500 °C in air along [100] with activities of SiO₂, MgO and Al₂O₃ (a_SiO2, a_MgO and a_Al2O3) buffered. At low a_SiO2, the buffer was forsterite + spinel + periclase (fo + sp + per) at all temperatures, while at high a_SiO2 and subsolidus conditions a variety of three-phase assemblages containing forsterite and two other phases from spinel, cordierite, protoenstatite or sapphirine were used at 1100–1350 °C. Experiments at high a_SiO2 and 1400 °C used forsterite + protoenstatite + melt (fo + en + melt), and at 1500 °C, fo + melt. The resulting diffusion profiles were analysed by LA–ICP–MS in scanning mode. Diffusion profiles in the high a_SiO2 experiments were generally several hundred microns in length, but diffusion at low a_SiO2 was three orders of magnitude slower than in high a_SiO2 experiments carried out at the same temperature, producing short profiles only a few microns in length and close to the spatial resolution of the analytical method. Interface concentrations of Al in the forsterite, obtained by extrapolating the diffusion profiles to the crystal/buffer interface, were only a fraction of those expected at equilibrium, and varied among the differing buffer assemblages according to (a_Al2O3)^1/2 and (a_SiO2)^3/4, pointing to the substitution of Al in forsterite by an octahedral-site, vacancy-coupled (OSVC) component with the stoichiometry Al _4/3 ³⁺ vac_2/3SiO₄, whereas the main substitution expected from previous equilibrium studies would be the coupled substitution of 2 Al for Mg + Si, giving the stoichiometry MgAl₂O₄. It is proposed that this latter substitution is not seen on the length scales of the present experiments because it requires replacement of Si by Al on tetrahedral sites, and is accordingly rate-limited by the slow diffusivity of Si. Instead, diffusion of Al by the OSVC mechanism is relatively fast, and at high a_SiO2, even faster than Fe–Mg interdiffusion.     

Monazite trumps zircon: applying SHRIMP U–Pb geochronology to systematically evaluate emplacement ages of leucocratic,low-temperature granites in a complex Precambrian orogen

Although zircon is the most widely used geochronometer to determine the crystallisation ages of granites, it can be unreliable for low-temperature melts because they may not crystallise new zircon. For leucocratic granites U–Pb zircon dates, therefore, may reflect the ages of the source rocks rather than the igneous crystallisation age. In the Proterozoic Capricorn Orogen of Western Australia, leucocratic granites are associated with several pulses of intracontinental magmatism spanning ~800 million years. In several instances, SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating of these leucocratic granites either yielded ages that were inconclusive (e.g., multiple concordant ages) or incompatible with other geochronological data. To overcome this we used SHRIMP U–Th–Pb monazite geochronology to obtain igneous crystallisation ages that are consistent with the geological and geochronological framework of the orogen. The U–Th–Pb monazite geochronology has resolved the time interval over which two granitic supersuites were emplaced; a Paleoproterozoic supersuite thought to span ~80 million years was emplaced in less than half that time (1688–1659 Ma) and a small Meso- to Neoproterozoic supersuite considered to have been intruded over ~70 million years was instead assembled over ~130 million years and outlasted associated regional metamorphism by ~100 million years. Both findings have consequences for the duration of associated orogenic events and any estimates for magma generation rates. The monazite geochronology has contributed to a more reliable tectonic history for a complex, long-lived orogen. Our results emphasise the benefit of monazite as a geochronometer for leucocratic granites derived by low-temperature crustal melting and are relevant to other orogens worldwide.     

湖南梅城—寒婆坳地区煤田显微构造成因

从显微尺度分析了湖南梅城-寒婆坳地区岩石中出现较多的显微构造现象,并结合区域构造背景,从宏观和微观角度分析了研究区煤田构造成因。结果表明,研究区以低温脆性变形为主,多组裂隙的交错发育表明了应力场的多期次性,应用缝合线反演得出研究区印支期第Ⅰ期NW-SE向为最大主压应力场,第Ⅱ期NE-SW向挤压应力场次之;平均差应力为50~70 MPa,表明印支期以来煤田构造变形过程中,岩石经历了中等偏低强度的构造应力作用。梅城-寒婆坳地区煤田构造是在脆性-脆韧性变形为主的多期次中等偏低强度的复杂构造运动条件下形成的。