Proterozoic metavolcanics from western Sierras Pampeanas terrane, Argentina

A series of medium grade metamorphic rocks of the western sector of the Sierras Pampeanas Terrane in central western Argentina are represented by amphibolites, gneisses and schists derived from sedimentary as well as from igneous rocks. The metavolcanics consist of amphibolites, quartz-K-feldspar-muscovite schists, and hornblende-biotite and biotite-epidote-plagioclase schists. Based on petrographic and geochemical data they are interpreted as originating as basaltic tholeiites, rhyolites and mesosilicic volcanics. The distribution and geochemical behavior are similar to present day western Pacific lavas, mainly those developed on island arcs or heavily attenuated continental crust. Based on these characteristics, an accretionary tectonic model involving a series of island-arc collisions is proposed for the Proterozoic. The complex Proterozoic tectonic history of the western Sierras Pampeanas has been partially obliterated by the emplacement of the Early Paleozoic magmatic arc rocks.     

Copper(II) carbonate complexation in seawater

Cupric carbonate and cupric bicarbonate complexation constants were determined in natural seawater and in a variety of synthetic media. The formation constants of CuHCO₃⁺, CuCO₃⁰ and Cu(CO₃)₂^2? at 25°C and zero ionic strength are: log β_H⁰ = 1.8, log β₁⁰ = 6.82 and log β⁰₂ = 10.6. Formation constants of these species appropriate to 0.7 molar ionic strength and 25°C are log β_H ～- 1, log β₁ = 5.73, log β₂ = 9.3. Our results indicate that the inorganic speciation scheme of Cu(II) in seawater is dominated by CuCO₃⁰ and that the ternary species, CuCO₃OH^?, is of substantial importance.     

Distribution of forms of sulfur in peats from saline environments in the Florida Everglades

Although there is published information on the mechanism of sedimentary pyrite formation resulting from bacterial reduction of sulfate, little is known about the distribution of forms of sulfur, including organic, in peats. In order to increase understanding of the geochemistry of sulfur in coals, we have determined distributions of forms of sulfur in five cores of saline peat and one of brackish peat, all from areas near the Shark River and Whitewater Bay in the coastal swamps of south Florida. All concentrations vary widely with depth. Total sulfur concentrations range up to 6% of dry solids. Minor amounts of sulfur are present as H₂S, S⁰, SO₄²⁻, and acid-soluble sulfide, but the principal forms are usually pyritic and organic. The ratio, organic/pyritic, is highly variable, but at a majority of levels in a profile is considerably greater than unity. It is inferred that topochemical factors are important in determining the distribution of sulfur forms in any element of volume.     

Aminostratigraphy of European marine interglacial deposits

Molluscan fossils collected from shallow water marine sediment across NW Europe and nearby Arctic regions have been analysed for the extent of isoleucine epimerization ( ratio) in indigenous protein residues. The ratios confirm that essentially all ‘classical’ Eemian sites from NW Europe are of the same age, and are correlative with the type locality near Amersfoort in the Netherlands; shells from interglacial marine sediment beneath the type Weichselian till in Poland also correlate with the type Eemian site. ratios in Holsteinian marine shells (0.29) are substantially higher than in their Eemian counterparts (0.17); ‘Late Cromerian’ shells yield even higher ratios (0.46). ratios in late glacial shells (0.06) and Middle Weichselian shells (0.09) permit differentiation from modern (0.01) and last interglacial material. Based on the position of the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary and the differences in ratios, the Eemian must correlate with isotope substage 5e, whereas the Holsteinian is most likely substage 7c, possibly stage 9 but certainly younger than stage 11. Intra-Saalian warm periods may be terrestrial equivalents of the younger substages of stage 7. Extensive pre-Eemian marine sediments along the SW coast of Denmark previously correlated with the Holsteinian are shown to be of ‘Late Cromerian’ age. The underlying till there is the first widespread evidence of a pre-Elsterian till in NW Europe. ratios in molluscs from last interglacial sites along the Arctic coast of the USSR, the Arctic Islands and eastern Greenland are substantially lower than in their European counterparts due to their low thermal histories. The combined mid- and high-latitude data are used to develop a predictive model for the expected ratio in any of several moderate epimerization-rate taxa for last interglacial sites with mean temperatures between −20 and +15°C.Not all sites could be unambiguously assigned to an established interglacial. The Fjøsanger (Norway) and Margareteberg (Sweden) sites previously thought to be Eemian, yield ratios higher than in secure nearby Eemian material. It is yet unresolved whether these are aberrant sites or if they predate the last interglacial. In situ shoreline deposits encountered in borings in SW Belgium and in exposures on the Belgium coastal plain contain molluscs that yield ratios intermediate between secure Eemian and Late Weichselian ratios, raising the possibility that a late stage 5 high-sea-level event attained near-modern levels in the southern North Sea basin. Resolution of these uncertainties is the focus of future work.     

Anisotropy in the Ironton and Galesville Sandstones Near a Thermal-Energy-Storage Well, St. Paul, Minnesota

The U.S. Geological Survey is studying the potential for storage of heated water in a sandstone aquifer in St. Paul, Minnesota. The efficiency of the aquifer to store thermal energy is related, in part, to the hydrogeologic characteristics of the aquifer. The movement of heat away from the injection well is directly related to the anisotropy. Aquifer tests were conducted to determine the anisotropy near the heated-water injection well. The maximum and minimum values of transmissivity along the principal directions of the hydraulic conductivity tensors of the Ironton and Galesville Sandstones in St. Paul, Minnesota are approximately 1,090 and 480 feet squared per day. The storage coefficient is 4.5 × 10⁻⁵. These values represent the average of four determinations of nonsteady flow to a well in an idealized infinite anisotropic aquifer. Analysis of the values of transmissivity and storage coefficient for hypothetical changes in location of two of the monitoring wells where depth-deviation surveys were not available indicates that computed transmissivities vary less than 5 percent and storage coefficients vary less than ±6 percent.     

Isothermal compression of low-cordierite to 30 kbar (25° C)

The compression of cordierite (Mg, Fe)₂Al₄Si₅O₁₈·n (H₂O, CO₂; Na⁺, K⁺) has been studied up to 30 kbar (25° C) by volumetric measurements with a piston cylinder apparatus and by X-ray measurements with a diamond-anvil cell. Natural cordierite of intermediate Mg-Fe composition and synthetic Mg-cordierite served as samples. Two discontinuities at 2.2±0.3 and 9.0±0.6 kbar which are correlated with very small volume changes (0.3?0.05%) have been found. The X-ray data indicate, however, no symmetry change of the crystal structure. The two discontinuities are interpreted as phase transitions. The two discontinuities establish three pressure dependent phases referred to as low-pressure (LP)-, first high-pressure (HP1)- and second high-pressure (HP2)-phase. The gross compressibility of cordierite decreases from 1.1 Mbar^?1 at low pressure to 0.7 Mbar^?1 at 30 kbar for the intermediate Mg-Fe cordierite, and to 0.4 Mbar^?1 for Mg-cordierite. Depending on the pressure transmitting medium used in the two different compression techniques, two kinds of compression behavior are observed for cordierite. The measurements with the piston cylinder apparatus where lead is used as quasihydrostatic pressure medium indicate normal compression properties. The X-ray data, however, obtained with the diamond anvil cell where a methanol-ethanol mixture provides hydrostatic pressure conditions yield, e.g. for the HP1-phase a dramatic decrease in compressibility to almost zero. IR-spectra from samples of augmenting experiments with methanol, deuteromethanol and D₂O as pressure media indicate that pressure media of which the molecule size is comparable with the dimensions of the cordierite channels may be incorporated in the structure. This suggests that under such hydrostatic conditions the compression of cordierite is modified by a structure internal component which is acting via the channel system.     

Das Relief des Mars' Versuch einer zusammenfassenden Übersicht

The analysis of the martian relief leads to the conclusion that some of the most important relief elements are either concentrically or radially arranged with respect to a central structure and hence form aureoles. In this paper four different types of aureoles are identified and described:

1. impact aureoles (as result of extradynamics),
2. volcanic aureoeles (as result of lava flow through vents),
3. tectonic aureoles (as result of isostatic adjustment and/or settlement),
4. permafrost-related aureoles and mega-aureoles (as result of migration above thawing permafrost in areas with high relief).

The spatial distribution of these different types of aureoles indicates the predominant type of relief-forming dynamics in the area of their distribution (impact-related aureoles occur predominantly in the area of the Southern Uplands; volcanic, tectonic and permafrost-related aureoles in the area of large-scale updomings-TaNoVa, Elysiumand their volcanic provinces).     

High latitude river runoff in a doubled CO2 climate

A global atmospheric model is used to calculate the monthly river flow for nine of the world's major high latitude rivers for the present climate and for a doubled CO₂ climate. The model has a horizontal resolution of 4° × 5°, but the model's runoff from each grid box is quartered and added to the appropriate river drainage basin on a 2° × 2.5° resolution. A routing scheme is used to move runoff from a grid box to its neighboring downstream grid box and ultimately to the mouth of the river. In a model simulation in which atmospheric carbon dioxide is doubled, mean annual precipitation and river flow increase for all of these rivers, increased outflow at the river mouths begins earlier in the spring, and the maximum outflow occurs approximately one month sooner due to an earlier snow melt season. In the doubled CO₂ climate, snow mass decreases for the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers in North America and for rivers in northwestern Asia, but snow mass increases for rivers in northeastern Asia.