Biomineralization of Uranium: A Simulated Experiment and Its Significance

A simulated experimental reduction of U^v1 and the synthesis of uraninite by a sulfate-reducing bacteria,Desulfovibrio desulfuricans DSM 642, are first reported. The simulated physicochemical experimental conditions were:35℃, pH=7.0-7.4, corresponding to the environments of formation of the sandstone-hosted interlayer oxidation-zone type uranium deposits in Xinjiang, NW China. Uraninite was formed on the surface of the host bacteria after a one-week‘s incubation. Therefore, sulfate-reducing bacteria, which existed extensively in Jurassic sandstone-producing environments,might have participated in the biomineralization of this uranium deposit. There is an important difference in the orderdisorder of the crystalline structure between the uraninite produced by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and naturally occurring uraninite. Long time and slow precipitation and growth of uraninite in the geological environment might have resulted in larger uraninite crystals, with uraninite nanocrystals arranged in order, whereas the experimentally produced uraninite is composed of unordered uraninite nanocrystals which, in contrast, result from the short time span of formation and rapid precipitation and growth of uraninite. The discovery has important implications for understanding genetic significance in mineralogy, and also indicates that in-situ bioremediation of U-contaminated environments and use of biotechnology in the treatment of radioactive liquid waste is being contemplated.     

The effects of land use on runoff and soil nutrient losses in a gully catchment of the hilly areas： implications for erosion control

1 Introduction Soiland waterlossisoneofthe worldwide environm entalissuesthreatening sustainable land use in semiarid areas.However,soiland water loss is highly variable in space and time,and its variability resultsfrom m any factorsoperating ata wide ran…     

Gas accumulation from oil cracking in the eastern Tarim Basin: A case study of the YN2 gas field

Oil and gas exploration in eastern Tarim Basin, NW China has been successful in recent years, with several commercial gas accumulations being discovered in a thermally mature to over-mature region. The Yingnan2 (YN2) gas field, situated in the Yingnan structure of the Yingjisu Depression, produces gases that are relatively enriched in nitrogen and C₂₊ alkanes. The δ¹³C₁ (−38.6‰ to −36.2‰) and δ¹³C₂ values (−30.9‰ to −34.7‰) of these gases are characteristic of marine sourced gases with relatively high maturity levels. The distributions of biomarkers in the associated condensates suggest close affinities with the Cambrian–Lower Ordovician source rocks which, in the Yingjisu Sag, are currently over-mature (with 3–4%Ro). Burial and thermal maturity modeling results indicate that paleo-temperatures of the Cambrian–Lower Ordovician source rocks had increased from 90 to 210 °C during the late Caledonian orogeny (458–438 Ma), due to rapid subsidence and sediment loading. By the end of Ordovician, hydrocarbon potential in these source rocks had been largely exhausted. The homogenization temperatures of hydrocarbon fluid inclusions identified from the Jurassic reservoirs of the YN2 gas field suggest a hydrocarbon emplacement time as recent as about 10 Ma, when the maturity levels of Middle–Lower Jurassic source rocks in the study area were too low (<0.7%Ro) to form a large quantity of oil and gas. The presence of abundant diamondoid hydrocarbons in the associated condensates and the relatively heavy isotopic values of the oils indicate that the gases were derived from thermal cracking of early-formed oils. Estimation from the stable carbon isotope ratios of gaseous alkanes suggests that the gases may have been formed at temperatures well above 190 °C. Thus, the oil and gas accumulation history in the study area can be reconstructed as follows: (1) during the late Caledonian orogeny, the Cambrian–Lower Ordovician marine source rocks had gone through the peak oil, wet gas and dry gas generation stages, with the generated oil and gas migrating upwards along faults and fractures to form early oil and gas accumulations in the Middle–Upper Ordovician and Silurian sandstone reservoirs; (2) since the late Yanshanian orogeny, the early oil accumulations have been buried deeper and oil has undergone thermal cracking to form gas; (3) during the late Himalayan orogeny, the seals for the deep reservoirs were breached; and the gas and condensates migrated upward and eventually accumulating in the relatively shallow Jurassic reservoirs.     

黄沙坪铅锌银多金属矿床硫铅同位素地球化学特征

对黄沙坪矿床硫化物期矿物进行矿物包裹体温度和成分测定，并进行热力学计算，获得毒砂－闪锌矿阶段成矿温度为300°，logfCO2为0.4～1.4；logfCH4为－2.05～2.07logfH2O为1.67～1.93；logfO2为－32.87～－38.39。对矽卡岩期和硫化物期硫化物进行硫同位素测定，获得矽卡岩期黄铁矿的δ34S为4.1‰～4.6‰； 硫化物期硫化物的δ34S为6.2‰～17.5‰，并具有δ34SSp大于δ34SGn和两组δ34SΣs值。对长石、方铅矿和闪锌矿进行了铅同位素测定，获得长石的206Pb/204Pb比值为18.429～19.305，207Pb/204Pb比值为15.598～15.905；208Pb/204Pb比值为38.647～39.235。方铅矿和闪锌矿的206Pb/204Pb比值为18.00～18.772，207Pb/204Pb比值为15.580～16.045，208Pb/204Pb比值为38.490～41.560，并呈线性排列，显示矿床硫铅是两种以上的物质来源。     

沙坡头没蒿和柠条叶片δ13C 和 N 含量的季节变化特征

通过对腾格里沙漠东南缘沙坡头人工固沙区油蒿和柠条叶片稳定碳同位素分辨率（△）和N 含量的测定，研究了不同种植方式下油蒿和柠条叶片△ 和 N 含量的季节变化及其关系。结果表明：在不同种植方式下，两种植物的△ 与 N 含量在不同月份之间均存在显著差异。油蒿叶片 △ 极显著高于柠条的：在不同种植方式下，油蒿单种下 △ 显著高于混种，柠条则反之。 油蒿叶片 N 含量极显著低于柠条的：不同种植方式下柠条叶片 N 含量无显著差异，而单种油蒿叶片 N 含量则显著低于混种。在 △ 与 N 含量的关系中，柠条叶片 △ 与 N 在两种生境、单种和混种下均极显著正相关，雨明柠条叶片 N 含量可以作为其 △ 与 N 含量的季节变化及其关系在不同微生境有所差异。     

新疆阿尔泰造山带构造作用的锆石裂变径迹分析

在新疆阿尔泰造山带所获得的19个锆石裂变径迹年龄变化于155-243Ma之间，明显地分为2组，分别对应于2个构造活动期，早期为155-189Ma，晚期为189-243Ma。这与磷灰石裂变径迹年龄反映的62-100Ma和100-160Ma两个构造期完全一致。早期和晚期构造活动期持续的时间分别为54-60Ma和34-38Ma，而这两个构造期之间的间隔时间，则从早到晚由83-89Ma变为89-93Ma。同时，锆石裂变径迹年龄与距特斯巴汗断裂和巴寨断裂的距离有关，反映这两条断裂带对区域构造演化的控制作用。     

Did Paleogene North Atlantic rift-related eruptions drive early Eocene climate cooling?

The delivery of volcanogenic sulphur into the upper atmosphere by explosive eruptions is known to cause significant temporary climate cooling. Therefore, phreatomagmatic and phreatoplinian eruptions occurring during the final rifting stages of active flood basalt provinces provide a potent mechanism for triggering climate change.

During the early Eocene, the northeast Atlantic margin was subjected to repeated ashfall for 0.5 m.y. This was the result of extensive phreatomagmatic activity along 3000 km of the opening northeast Atlantic rift. These widespread, predominantly basaltic ashes are now preserved in marine sediments of the Balder Formation and its equivalents, and occur over an area extending from the Faroe Islands to Denmark and southern England. These ash-bearing sediments also contain pollen and spore floras derived from low diversity forests that grew in cooler, drier climates than were experienced either before or after these highly explosive eruptions. In addition, coeval plant macrofossil evidence from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA, also shows a comparable pattern of vegetation change. The coincidence of the ashes and cooler climate pollen and spore floras in northwest Europe identifies volcanism as the primary cause of climate cooling. Estimates show that whilst relatively few phreatomagmatic eruptive centres along the 3000 km opening rift system could readily generate 0.5–1 °C cooling, on an annual basis, only persistent or repeated volcanic phases would have been able to achieve the long-term cooling effect observed in the floral record. We propose that the cumulative effect of repeated Balder Formation eruptions initiated a biodiversity crisis in the northeast Atlantic margin forests. Only the decline of this persistent volcanic activity, and the subsequent climatic warming at the start of the Eocene Thermal Maximum allowed the growth of subtropical forests to develop across the region.     

Continental rift systems and anorogenic magmatism

Precambrian Laurentia and Mesozoic Gondwana both rifted along geometric patterns that closely approximate truncated-icosahedral tessellations of the lithosphere. These large-scale, quasi-hexagonal rift patterns manifest a least-work configuration. For both Laurentia and Gondwana, continental rifting coincided with drift stagnation, and may have been driven by lithospheric extension above an insulated and thermally expanded mantle. Anorogenic magmatism, including flood basalts, dike swarms, anorthosite massifs and granite-rhyolite provinces, originated along the Laurentian and Gondwanan rift tessellations. Long-lived volcanic regions of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, sometimes called hotspots, originated near triple junctions of the Gondwanan tessellation as the supercontinent broke apart. We suggest that some anorogenic magmatism results from decompression melting of asthenosphere beneath opening fractures, rather than from random impingement of hypothetical deep-mantle plumes.     

Compositional variations (major and trace elements) of clinopyroxene and Ti-andradite from pyroxenite, ijolite and nepheline syenite, Alnö Island, Sweden

Clinopyroxenes from pyroxenite, ijolite and nepheline syenite from the main intrusion of the Alnö complex define two sub-parallel compositional trends with respect to Na, Ca and Fe_TOT plotted against alkali-pyroxene fractionation index (Na–Mg). Both trends define a smooth fractionation of increasing Na and Fe_TOT and decreasing Ca with increasing Na–Mg, but one set of samples contain clinopyroxenes that constantly plot at higher Na and lower Fe_TOT and Ca (at similar Na–Mg) than the rest of the samples. Clinopyroxenes with higher Ca and Fe_TOT and lower Na (trend 1) co-exist with substantial amounts of Ti-andradite (up to 70 vol.%), while the sample set defining the more Na-rich trend (trend 2) lack co-existing Ti-andradite. Clinopyroxenes from both trends show fractionated REE patterns with a distinct difference in HREE content, reflecting the content of co-existing Ti-andradite. The rocks of the first Ti-andradite-bearing trend crystallized slightly prior to the rocks of the second trend, probably from a primitive, Ca- and Ti-rich nephelinitic magma. Crystallisation of pyroxenite and melteigite occurred under low aSiO₂ and high aCaO and aTiO₂ as evidenced by the presence of perovskite and sometimes substantial amounts of magnetite. Subsequent increase in aSiO₂ is evidenced in the overgrowth of perovskite by titanite, which in turn is overgrown by Ti-andradite. Nepheline syenitic residuals crystallized under higher aSiO₂ and aNa₂O and lower aCaO and aTiO₂, which reduced Ti-andradite into an accessory phase and produced more Si- and Na-rich clinopyroxenes. Some of these residuals probably also mixed with new primitive magma producing a hybrid magma that crystallised the more Na-rich and Ca- and Fe_TOT-poor clinopyroxenes of trend 2. The complete lack of Ti-andradite in these rocks indicates different crystallisation conditions and also a different magma composition.