Stratigraphic modelling of platform architecture and carbonate production: a Messinian case study (Sorbas Basin,SE Spain)

The late Messinian mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic platforms of the Sorbas Basin, known as the Terminal Carbonate Complex, record significant changes in carbonate production and geometry. Their facies and stratigraphic architecture result from complex interactions between base‐level fluctuations, evaporite deformation/dissolution and detrital inputs. A 3D quantitative approach (with DIONISOS software) is used to explore the basin‐scale platform architecture and to quantify the carbonate production of the Terminal Carbonate Complex. The modelling strategy consists in integrating detailed 2D field‐based transects and modern carbonate system parameters (e.g. carbonate production rates, bathymetric and hydrodynamic ranges of production). This approach limits user impact and so provides more objective output results. Tests are carried out on carbonate production rates, subsidence and evaporite deformation/dissolution. Numerical modelling provides accurate predictions of geometries, facies distributions and depositional sequence thicknesses, validated by field data. Comparative statistical testing of the field transects and of the various model outputs are used to discern the relative contribution of the parameters tested to the evolution of basin filling. The 3D visualization and quantification of the main carbonate producers (ooids and microbialites) are discussed in terms of changes in base‐level and detrital supply. This study demonstrates that base‐level fluctuations have the greatest impact on the carbonate budget. Evaporite deformation/dissolution affects the type and amount of carbonate production, inducing a transition from an ooid‐ to microbialite‐dominated system and also has a major effect on stratigraphic architecture by inducing the migration of depocentres. The numerical modelling results obtained using modern carbonate system parameters could also be applied to subsurface ooid‐microbialite reservoirs, and the Terminal Carbonate Complex is a good analogue for such systems.     

Access routes to high mountain huts facing climate-induced environmental changes and adaptive strategies in the Western Alps since the 1990s

ABSTRACT

In the European Alps, high mountain environments are subject to major impacts resulting from climate change, which strongly affect human activities such as mountaineering. The purpose of the study was to examine changes in access routes to 30 high mountain huts in the Western Alps since the 1990s. Data were derived from the use of two different methods, geo-historical studies and a questionnaire, and were used to identify both the climate-related processes affecting the climbing routes and the strategies implemented by public entities, Alpine clubs, guide companies, and hut keepers to maintain acceptable safety and technical conditions. The case studies revealed issues affecting three access routes and the results from the questionnaire showed that the main processes affecting access routes were loss of ice thickness and retreat from the front of the glaciated areas. Commonly, in situ equipment was installed to facilitate access for mountaineers and/or a part of a route was relocated to a safer area. The authors conclude that in most cases, the measures were effective but they were limited by financial, ethical and legal issues, especially in protected or classified areas that could jeopardise their durability and effectiveness.     

Prediction of the calcium carbonate budget in a sedimentary basin: A “source-to-sink” approach applied to Great Salt Lake,Utah, USA

Most source-to-sink studies typically focus on the dynamics of clastic sediments and consider erosion, transport and deposition of sediment particles as the sole contributors. Although often neglected, dissolved solids produced by weathering processes contribute significantly in the sedimentary dynamics of basins, supporting chemical and/or biological precipitation. Calcium ions are usually a major dissolved constituent of water drained through the watershed and may facilitate the precipitation of calcium carbonate when supersaturating conditions are reached. The high mobility of Ca²⁺ ions may cause outflow from an open system and consequently loss. In contrast, in closed basins, all dissolved (i.e. non-volatile) inputs converge at the lowest point of the basin. The endoreic Great Salt Lake basin constitutes an excellent natural laboratory to study the dynamics of calcium on a basin scale, from the erosion and transport through the watershed to the sink, including sedimentation in lake's waterbody. The current investigation focused on the Holocene epoch. Despite successive lake level fluctuations (amplitude around 10 m), the average water level seems to have not been affected by any significant long-term change (i.e. no increasing or decreasing trend, but fairly stable across the Holocene). Weathering of calcium-rich minerals in the watershed mobilizes Ca²⁺ ions that are transported by surface streams and subsurface flow to the Great Salt Lake (GSL). Monitoring data of these flows was corrected for recent anthropogenic activity (river management) and combined with direct precipitation (i.e. rain and snow) and atmospheric dust income into the lake, allowing estimating the amount of calcium delivered to the GSL. These values were then extrapolated through the Holocene period and compared to the estimated amount of calcium stored in GSL water column, porewater and sediments (using hydrochemical, mapping, coring and petrophysical estimates). The similar estimate of calcium delivered (4.88 Gt) and calcium stored (3.94 Gt) is consistent with the premise of the source-to-sink approach: a mass balance between eroded and transported compounds and the sinks. The amount of calcium deposited in the basin can therefore be predicted indirectly from the different inputs, which can be assessed with more confidence. When monitoring is unavailable (e.g. in the fossil record), the geodynamic context, the average lithology of the watershed and the bioclimatic classification of an endoreic basin are alternative properties that may be used to estimate the inputs. We show that this approach is sufficiently accurate to predict the amount of calcium captured in a basin and can be extended to the whole fossil record and inform on the storage of calcium.     

A western boundary current east of New Caledonia: Observed characteristics

Waters from the South Equatorial Current (SEC), the northern branch of the South Pacific subtropical gyre, are a major supply of heat to the equatorial warm pool, and have an important contribution to climate variability and ENSO which motivated the Southwest Pacific Ocean and Climate Experiment (SPICE, CLIVAR/WCRP). Initially a broad westward current extending from the equator to 30°S, the SEC splits upon arriving at the major islands and archipelagoes of Fiji (18°S, 180°E), Vanuatu (16°S, 168°E), and New Caledonia (22°S, 165°E), resulting in a complex system of western boundary currents and zonal jets that feed the Coral and Solomon Seas. We focus here on the formation of one specific jet feeding the Coral Sea, the North Caledonian Jet (NCJ). Using a combination of recent oceanographic cruises, we describe the ocean circulation to the northeast of New Caledonia, where the SEC forms a western boundary current that ultimately becomes the NCJ. This current, which we document for the first time and propose to refer to as the East Caledonian Current (ECC), has its core located 10-100 km off the east coast of New Caledonia, and extends vertically to at least 1000 m depth. Water mass properties show continuous westward transports through the ECC, from the SEC to the NCJ in both the South Pacific Tropical Waters in the thermocline and Antarctic Intermediate Waters near 700 m depth. The ECC extends about 100 km horizontally; its average 0-1000 m transport was estimated at 14.5±3 Sv off the north tip of the New Caledonian reef, with a maximum of 20 Sv in May 2010. South of that the upstream branch of the ECC east of the Loyalty is close to 8 Sv suggesting an important additional contribution from central Pacific waters carried by the SEC at 16°S and diverted to our region through the western boundary current system east of Vanuatu.     

Mid-Holocene emergence of southern Tunisian coasts

We present new sea-level data from the coasts of southern Tunisia, between the Gulf of Gabès and the Libyan border. The work tests, previously, published evidence on Holocene shorelines, and confirmed that a distinct emergence has occurred in this area during this time. The emergence peak lies at least 186 ± 11 cm above present and is inferred from: (1) AMS radiocarbon dates of subtidal vermetids and boring shells collected in growth position, and (2) careful assessment of tidal heights. Maximum emergence took place between about 6000 and 5000 ¹⁴C years BP; it cannot be ascribed to tectonics and is probably related to post-glacial hydro-isostatic effects. It challenges the inference of a 3-m global sea-level rise since 6000 years BP due to residual Antarctic melting.     

Spectroscopic anatomy of a meteor trail cross section with the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope

Abstract— A meteor spectrum was recorded serendipitously at the European Southern Obrervatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) during a long exposure in long‐slit spectroscopic mode with FORS1. The ?8 magnitude fireball crossed the narrow 1Î × 7î slit during the observation of a high z supernova in normal service mode operation on May 12, 2002. The spectrum covered the range of 637–1050 nm, where the meteor's air plasma emissions from N₂, N, and O dominate. Carbon atom emission was not detected in the relatively unexplored wavelength range above 900 nm, but the observed upper limit was only 3 sigma less than expected from the dissociation of atmospheric CO₂. The meteor trail was resolved along the slit, and the emission had a Gaussian distribution with a dimension of FWHM = 7.0 (±0.4) * sin(α) * H (km)/90 m, where α is the unknown angle between the orientation of the meteor path and slit and H the assumed altitude of the meteor in km. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of a spatially resolved spectrum across a meteor trail. Unlike model predictions, the plasma excitation temperature varied only from about 4,300 to 4,365 K across the trail, based on the ratio of atomic and molecular nitrogen emissions. Unfortunately, we conclude that this was because the meteor at 100 km altitude was out of focus.     

Dahmani,a highly oxidised LL6 chondrite bearing Ni-rich taenite

Abstract Dahmani is a shocked LL6 fragmental breccia. According to the composition of the silicates (olivine Fa_30,32.6, orthopyroxene Fs_24.5–26.3) and of the metal (a 60% Ni taenite) it is one of the most oxidised known.     

THE WASHOUGAL METEORITE

The Washougal, Washington, U.S.A., howardite fell in 1939. We studied its mineralogy optically and determined the ranges of composition of plagioclase and pyroxenes from measurements of densities and indices of refraction. Notable among many unique xenoliths are a round object whose morphology is that of an armored chondrule; a stratified fragment; and a centimeter-sized dunite xenolith (olivine Fa_12.8). The abundances of 27 elements, including all major elements and 15 trace elements (Sc, V, Co, Ni, Cu, Ga, Sr, Y, Ba, La, Sm, Eu, Yb, Lu and Hf) are reported. To a first approximation, the composition of Washougal corresponds to a mixture of 51 weight percent of eucritic material and 49 percent of a diogenitic component, but excesses of some elements suggest a minor component of chondritic composition     

Identification of a new outflow channel on Mars in Syrtis Major Planum using HRSC/MEx data

Syrtis Major Planum is a volcanic plain dominated by lava flows. High resolution stereo camera (HRSC) images of the northern Syrtis Major region display erosional features such as grooves, teardrop-shaped islands and valleys. These landforms are characteristics of outflow channels seen on Mars, therefore implying that a flood event took place in this region. The flow of 100 km long and a few kilometer wide followed the local slopes in most locations. Maximum flood discharges estimated from images and topography vary from about 0.3×10⁶ to 8×10⁶ m³/s, and therefore are in the range of terrestrial mega-floods in the Scablands or Lake Bonneville. In North Syrtis Major, the relationships with surrounding lava flows and the timing of the flood coeval to Syrtis Major volcanic activity suggest that it could be related to the subsurface water discharge mobilized by the volcanic activity. The proximity of Noachian age basement rocks 20 km away from the flood and below lava flows might have played a role in its formation and water presence.