Simulation of rock failure modes in thermal spallation drilling

Acta Geotechnica - Thermal spallation drilling is a contact-less means of borehole excavation that works by exposing a rock surface to a high-temperature jet flame. In this study, we investigate...     

Neoproterozoic to Lower Palaeozoic successions of the Tandilia System in Argentina: implication for the palaeotectonic framework of southwest Gondwana

The Cryogenian to Uppermost Ediacaran successions of the Tandilia System (Sierras Bayas Group and Cerro Negro Formation) in central-eastern Argentina is exceptional because of its unmetamorphosed and nearly undeformed character, its sediment provenance trend and the absence of any identified glacial deposit and the deposition of warm water carbonates. We decipher a dramatic change in the basin evolution from small-scale depositional areas during the Neoproterozoic to a larger basin related to an active continental margin throughout the Uppermost Ediacaran. The base of the succession is represented by immature detritus of alkaline composition (Villa Mónica Formation), but towards the top of this formation, the material is sorted and reworked, nonetheless still reflecting in its detritus the local rocks. The clastic deposition is interrupted by diagenetic overprinted dolomites. The unconformable overlying quartz-arenitic Ediacaran Cerro Largo Formation reworked the Cryogenian Villa Mónica Formation and contains mainly felsic granitic and metamorphic basement material of slightly wider variety, while the dominant alkaline geochemical signature in rocks of the Villa Mónica Formation disappears. Based on diagenetic, petrographic and sedimentological data, we can interpret the unconformity representing a longer time of erosion. The Cerro Largo Formation shows a transition to mudstones and the heterolithic facies of the Olavarría Formation. The top of the Sierras Bayas Group is represented by limestones (Loma Negra Formation), which are discordantly overlain by the Uppermost Ediacaran Cerro Negro Formation. The latter displays detrital material derived from a continental arc, mafic and felsic sources. Several arc-related geochemical proxies (Th/Sc?<?0.8; Zr/Sc?<?10; La/Sc?<?2; Ti/Zr?>?20) are recorded in the sediment detritus, as are syn-depositional pyroclastites. The absence of volcanic material in the underlying rocks allows proposing that the Cerro Negro Formation is related to an active continental margin fringing Gondwana (??Terra Australis Orogen??) as a retro-arc or retro-arc foreland basin.     

Plio‐Pleistocene increase of erosion rates in mountain belts in response to climate change

Here, we review an ensemble of observations that point towards a global increase of erosion rates in regions of elevated mountain belts, or otherwise high relief, since the onset of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation about 2–3 Ma. During that period of Earth's history, atmospheric CO₂ concentrations may have dropped, and global climate cooled and evolved towards high‐amplitude oscillating conditions that are associated with the waxing and waning of continental ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. We argue for a correlation between climate change and increased erosion rates and relief production, which we attribute to some combination of the observed cooling, onset of glaciation, and climatic oscillation at orbital timescales. In our view, glacial erosion played a major role and is driven by the global cooling. Furthermore, analyses of the sedimentary fluxes of many mountain belts show peaks of erosion during the transitions between glacial and inter‐glacial periods, suggesting that the variable climatic conditions have also played a role.     

The effect of adsorbed lipid on pyrite oxidation under biotic conditions

The chemolithoautotrophic bacterium, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, commonly occurs in acid mine drainage (AMD) environments where it is responsible for catalyzing the oxidation of pyrite and concomitant development of acidic conditions. This investigation reports on the growth of this bacterial species on the pyrite surface and in the aqueous phase at a pH close to 2 as well as the role of adsorbed lipid in preventing pyrite dissolution. Both acid washed pyrite and acid-washed pyrite coated with lipids were used as substrates in the studies. The choice of lipid, 1,2-bis(10,12-tricosadiynoyl)-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine lipid (23:2 Diyne PC), a phosphocholine lipid, was based on earlier work that showed that this lipid inhibits the abiotic oxidation rate of pyrite. Atomic force microscopy showed that under the experimental conditions used in this study, the lipid formed ~4–20 nm layers on the mineral surface. Surface-bound lipid greatly suppresses the oxidation process catalyzed by A. ferrooxidans. This suppression continued for the duration of the experiments (25 days maximum). Analysis of the bacterial population on the pyrite surface and in solution over the course of the experiments suggested that the pyrite oxidation was dependent in large part on the fraction of bacteria bound to the pyrite surface.     

A Late Jurassic fossil assemblage in Gondwana: Biostratigraphy and correlations of the Tacuarembó Formation, Parana Basin, Uruguay

The Tacuarembó Formation has yielded a fossil assemblage that includes the best known body fossils, consisting of isolated scales, teeth, spines, and molds of bones, recovered from thin and patchy bonebeds, from the Botucatu Desert, Parana Basin, South America. The remains are preserved in the sandstones widespread around the city of Tacuarembó. We propose a new formalized nomenclature for the Tacuarembó Formation, naming its “Lower” and “Upper” members as the Batoví (new name) and Rivera (new rank) members, respectively. An assemblage zone is defined for the Batoví Member (fluviolacustrine and aeolian deposits). In this unit, the freshwater hybodontid shark Priohybodus arambourgi D’Erasmo is well represented. This species was previously recorded in Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous units of the Sahara and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Globally considered, the fossil assemblage of this member (P. arambourgi, dipnoan fishes, Ceratosaurus-like theropods, and conchostracans) is indicative of a Kimmeridgian–Tithonian age, which in combination with the stratigraphic relationships of the Tacuarembó Formation with the overlying basalts of the Arapey Formation (132 My average absolute age) implies that the latter was deposited during the Kimmeridgian–Hauterivian interval.     

The stability of hercynite at high pressures and temperatures

The stability of hercynite (FeAl₂O₄) has been investigated experimentally between 7 and 24 GPa and 900 and 1,700°C. Hercynite breaks down to its constituent oxides at 7–8.5 GPa and temperatures >1,000°C. The incorporation of a small magnetite component in the hercynite necessitated a small correction to fix the location of the endmember reaction: FeAl₂O₄  = Al₂O₃ + FeO in P–T space. After making this correction, the position of the phase boundary was used to evaluate thermodynamic data for hercynite. Our results support a relatively large S ₂₉₈^° for hercynite, on the order of 115 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹. Experiments up to 24 GPa and 1,400°C failed to detect any high-pressure polymorph of FeAl₂O₄; only corundum + wüstite were detected. This behaviour contrasts with that observed for the analogous MgAl₂O₄ system where the constituent oxides recombine at high pressure to produce “post-spinel” phases with CaFe₂O₄-type and CaTi₂O₄-type structures.     

Metathesis in the generation of low-temperature gas in marine shales

The recent report of low-temperature catalytic gas from marine shales took on additional significance with the subsequent disclosure of natural gas and low-temperature gas at or near thermodynamic equilibrium in methane, ethane, and propane. It is important because thermal cracking, the presumed source of natural gas, cannot generate these hydrocarbons at equilibrium nor can it bring them to equilibrium over geologic time. The source of equilibrium and the source of natural gas are either the same (generation under equilibrium control) or closely associated. Here we report the catalytic interconversion of hydrocarbons (metathesis) as the source of equilibrium in experiments with Cretaceous Mowry shale at 100°C. Focus was on two metathetic equilibria: methane, ethane, and propane, reported earlier, Q (K = [(C₁)*(C₃)]/[(C₂)²]), and between these hydrocarbons and n-butane, Q* (K = [(C₁)*(n-C₄)]/[(C₂)*(C₃)]), reported here for the first time. Two observations stand out. Initial hydrocarbon products are near equilibrium and have maximum average molecular weights (AMW). Over time, products fall from equilibrium and AMW in concert. It is consistent with metathesis splitting olefin intermediates [C_n] to smaller intermediates (fission) as gas generation creates open catalytic sites ([ ]): [C_n] + [ ] → [C_n-m] + [C_m]. Fission rates increasing exponentially with olefin molecular weight could contribute to these effects. AMW would fall over time, and selective fission of [C₃] and [n-C₄] would draw Q and Q* from equilibrium. The results support metathesis as the source of thermodynamic equilibrium in natural gas.     

A sediment chronology of the eutrophication of Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay sediments were examined for biogeochemical evidence of eutrophication trends using two mesohaline sediment cores. Measurements of ²¹⁰Pb geochronology and sediment profiles of organic carbon, nitrogen, organic phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus, and biogenis silica (BSi) were used used to develop temporal concentration trends. Recent sediments have 2–3 times as much organic carbon and nitrogen as sediments from 80 to 100 yr ago, but the increases result from both changes in organic matter deposition and time-dependent changes in organic matter decomposition rates. Despite increases in phosphorus loading, no major changes in phosphorus concentration were noted throughout most of the century; anthropogenic phosphorus deposition, though not evident in sulfidic mid-bay sediments, must occur in more oxidizing sediment environments in both the northern and southern bays. Temporal trends in BSi concentrations are much less evident and the lack of substantial increases in this century suggest that BSi inputs may be capped by late spring-summer Si limitation.