Source enrichment processes responsible for isotopic anomalies in oceanic island basalts

A new method has been developed to separate the compositional variations in ocean island basalts into those that result from variations in source composition and from the melting process itself. The approach depends on correlations between isotope ratios, which can only come from source inhomogeneities, and elemental concentrations. Analysis of three data sets shows that the inhomogeneities beneath Theistareykir, in NE Iceland, Kilauea and Pitcairn can be produced by subduction of oceanic islands and volcanic ridges. The thicknesses of the lithosphere on which such islands were constructed and potential temperatures of the plumes that produced them can be estimated from the geochemical observations. Model ages are harder to determine, though simple assumptions give about 400 Ma for the Theistareykir source and 1.2 Ga for Kilauea. The model may also provide a physical explanation for the commonly used isotopic classification of ocean island basalts, with the isotopic composition changing from HIMU through EMII to EMI as the melt fraction increases. These results have been obtained from a small number of data sets obtained from ocean island basalts erupted in small areas during short time intervals. More such observations are needed to discover whether geochemical observations from other islands are consistent with the same model.     

The Queens' flare: Its structure and development; precursors,pre-flare brightenings,and aftermaths

We continue previous research on the limb flare of 30 April, 1980, 20:20 UT, observed in X-rays by several instruments aboard the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM). It is shown quantitatively that the flare originated in an emerging magnetically confined kernel (diameter ～ 20″) which existed for about ten to fifteen minutes, and from which energetic electrons streamed, in at least two injections, into a previously existing complicated magnetic loop system thus forming a less bright but extended and long-lived tongue. The tongue had a length of ～ 35 000 km and lasted ～ 90 min in X-rays (～ 10 keV); at lower energies (～ 0.7 keV) it was larger (～ 80 000 km) and lasted longer. The total number of energetic electrons (≈ 10³⁷) initially present in the kernel is of the same order as the number present in the tongue after the kernel's decline. This gives evidence that the energetic electrons in the tongue originated mainly in the kernel. The electron number densities in the kernel and tongue at maximum brightness were ～ 4.5 × 10¹¹ and ～ 1 × 10¹¹ cm^#X2212;3, respectively. During the first eight minutes of its existence the tongue was hotter than the kernel, but it cooled off gradually. Its decline in intensity and temperature was exponential; energy was lost by radiation and by conduction through the footpoints of the loop system. These footpoints have a cross-section of only ～ 3 × 10⁶ km². This small value, as well as photographs in a Civ UV emission line, suggests a highly filamentary structure of the system; this is further supported by the finding that the tongue had a ‘filling factor’ of ～ 10^#X2212;2. Several faint X-ray brightenings (? 0.005 of the flare's maximum intensity) were observed at various locations along the solar limb for several hours before and after the flare. At ～ 30 min before the flare's onset a faint (? 0.02) flare precursor occurred, coinciding in place and shape with the flare. First the kernel precursor was brightest but the tongue precursor increased continuously in brightness and was the brightest part of the precursor some 10–15 min after the first visibility of the kernel precursor, until the start of the main flare. This suggests (weak) continuous electron acceleration in the tongue during a period of at least 30 min. The main flare was caused by strong emergence of magnetic field followed by two consecutive field line reconnections and accelerations in a small loop system, causing footpoint heating. Subsequently plasma streamed (convectively) into a pre-existing system of larger loops, forming the tongue.