The role of trace elements in controlling H incorporation in San Carlos olivine

We conducted a series of hydroxylation experiments using mm-sized cuboids cut from six different crystals of San Carlos olivine with a range of trace-element concentrations. The cuboids were pre-annealed and then hydroxylated under identical conditions, ensuring that variation in the amounts of H incorporated depended only on the compositional variables. The pre-anneal was at 1400 °C, atmospheric pressure and an oxygen fugacity equivalent to Δlog FMQ?+?1, with the subsequent hydroxylation at 800 °C and 1.5 GPa, for 3 days. Hydrogen was incorporated into all six crystals by the four main substitution mechanisms [Si], [Mg], [Ti] and [triv], with homogeneous H contents in the cores of the crystals, indicating H diffusion rates faster than 10^??11 m²/s. Total H as H₂O in the homogeneous cores calculated by summing all the infrared absorbance bands ranges from 13 to 27 wt. ppm. The total H₂O in the six pre-annealed crystals is poorly correlated with any measured compositional variable. However, when the H₂O associated with individual infrared bands is compared, clear trends emerge. The intensity of absorption bands at 3572 and 3525 cm^??1 are strongly correlated with Ti concentrations, whose range in the six crystals exceeds an order of magnitude. Bands between 3400 and 3300 cm^??1, correlate negatively with Na⁺, but are positively correlated with the difference between molar Cr³⁺ and Na⁺. This highlights a previously unrecognised role for Na in suppressing H incorporation in natural olivines. The results confirm the important role that the trace constituents of olivine play in H incorporation. Two of these trace elements, Na and Ti, tend to be similarly enriched or depleted by partial melting or metasomatism of the mantle, but have opposite effects on H incorporation, with Ti enhancing it but Na suppressing it. Models estimating the effect of H in olivine on mantle rheology must, therefore, consider carefully the availability of these trace elements.     

Zur Gliederung der Unterkreide-Serien in der Provinz Atacama Chile

Zusammenfassung Die Sedimentfolge der marinen Unterkreide in der Provinz Atacama, Chile, wurde zwischen Copiapó (27° S) und Domeyko (29° S) untersucht. Ammonitenfunde erlaubten eine Gliederung der Folge in einen Hauterive- und einen Barrême-Anteil. Die lithologischen Einheiten der Chañarcillo-Gruppe verlieren südlich des 28°S weitgehend ihre Identität. Lediglich die Schichten der Totoralillo Formation, die eine Crioceratiten-Lucinen Fauna des Hauterive/Barrême enthalten, sind fast im gesamten Untersuchungsgebiet nachweisbar. Im Hauterive geht eine überwiegend vulkanodetritisch beeinflußte Flachwassersedimentation, verbunden mit submarinem Vulkanismus im Süden (29° bis 28°) in eine mächtige Stillwassersedimentation im Norden (28°–27° 30) über. Im Barrême werden sehr variabel zusammengesetzte biodetritisch-vulkanolithische Sedimente abgesetzt, die auf eine fortschreitende Verflachung des Beckens hindeuten. Während sich nördlich 27° 30 die marinen Serien mit terrigen-detritischen Schichten verzahnen und damit gegen eine unmittelbare Fortsetzung des marinen Beckens nach Norden sprechen, ist am Südrand des Untersuchungsgebietes keine derartige Einschränkung zu erkennen.

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Four marine formations (Abundancia, Nantoco, Totoralillo and Pabellón) composing the Chañarcillo-Group of lower Cretaceous age were studied between Copiapó (27° S) and Domeyko (29° S), Province Atacama, Chile. Ammonites allowed to distinguish a lower Hauterivian part from an upper Barremian part. The lithological defined formations of the Chañarcillo-Group lose their identity south of 28° S, except for the Totoralillo-Formation, which can be recognized all over the studied area. The volcanic-volcanolitic basic-series of Hauterivian age in the south (29°–28°) interfinger with potent stillwater carbonat-formations in the north (28°–27° 30). The sediments of Barremian age are very variably composed and illustrate the regression of the lower Cretaceous sea. There is no direct continuation of the marine sediments north of 27° 30, where they interfinger with terrestrial sediments of lower Cretaceous age. No comparable restrictions of marine sedimentary environments are obvious at the southern end of the studied area.

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Resumen Se ha estudiado la secuencia sedimentaria marina del Cretácico Inferior entre Copiapó (27° S) y Domeyko (29° S) en la provincia de Axacama, Chile. El hallazgo de amonites permite asignar ésta secuencia a un lapso Hauteriviano—Barremiano. Las unidades litológicas del Grupo Chañarcillo pierden su identidad hacia el sur de 28° S. Los estratos de la formatión Totoralillo, que contienen una fauna de Crioceratidos yLucina del Hauteriviano/Barremiano, son las únicas referencias que permiten demostrar su presencia en el área investigada. En el Hauteriviano, se presentan principalmente materiales volcánico-detriticos que sugieren una sedimentatión en aguas someras asociada con volcanismo submarino en el sur (29°–28°), cambiando a una potente secuencia depositada en aguas quietas en el norte (28°–27° 30). En el Barremiano se encuentra gran variedad de sedimentos biodetriticos y volcánicos que señalan una pérdida progressiva de profundidad en la cuenca. Más al norte del 27° 30 S, en cambio, los estratos marinos se transforman en series terrígeno-detríticas lo que habla en contra de una continuatión inmediata hacia el norte de la cuenca marina. En el borde sur de la zona estudiada ninguna restrictión similar es conocida.

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New findings concerning the Pleistocene Glaciation of the Leh Basin,Ladakh(34°03'N/77°38'E)

Like for most parts of High Asia,researches concerning the Pleistocene landscape evolution of the Leh Basin(34°03' N/77°38' E) have also left contradictions.To push this topic,three up to now unexplored Ladakh Range tributaries of the Leh Basin(Stagmo-,Arzu-and Nang-Valley) have been investigated.U-shaped profiles,transfluence passes,moraine mantled and glacially rounded peaks and ridges,roches moutonnées,glacial flank polishings and ground moraines document the former glaciation of the study area.The ice fillings of these tributaries reached a minimum thickness up to 540 m.Even at the valley outlets and on the orographic right side of the Leh Basin,the glaciation was more than 350 m thick.Based on these empirically extracted results,theoretical snow line considerations lead to the conclusion that the whole Leh Basin was filled up by a former Indus-Valley glacier.An ice injection limited to the nourishment areas of the Ladakh Range valleys could not have caused the reconstructed ice cover(down to 3236 m a.s.l.),which is proved by extended ground moraine complexes.Only an Indus ice stream network(most likely during the LGP),nourished by inflowing glaciers of the Ladakh-and Stok Range,explains the widespread existence of the glacial sediments at the outlets of the investigated valleys.     

On the possibility of inferring the inter-planetary sector structure from daily variations of geomagnetic ap indices

The linear Bartels ap indices, which by definition should have no average U.T. variations, show in fact two different average U.T. variations if the data is divided into two groups according to the two Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) polarities. These differences are found to be similar for all seasons and activity ranges. Correlating the ap variations of individual days to the average ap variations for days with interplanetary away and toward polarities, a simple but objective precept of calculations is given to infer the IMF sector structure with a success rate of 73% of the days for the years 1963–1973. The same method is employed to infer the IMF sector structure since 1932, and the results are compared to the sector structure inferred from polar cap magnetograms. Some known features of solar sector fields, e.g. the heliographic latitude dependence of the dominant polarity, are also found in the polarity classification based on ap variations, whereas the significant higher geomagnetic activity during intervals of toward polarity before 1963, which was found in the sector structure inferred from polar cap magnetograms, is not observed.     

Partial melting of lower crust at 10–15 kbar: constraints on adakite and TTG formation

The pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions for producing adakite/tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) magmas from lower crust compositions are still open to debate. We have carried out partial melting experiments of mafic lower crust in the piston-cylinder apparatus at 10–15 kbar and 800–1,050 °C to investigate the major and trace elements of melts and residual minerals and further constrain the P–T range appropriate for adakite/TTG formation. The experimental residues include the following: amphibolite (plagioclase + amphibole ± garnet) at 10–15 kbar and 800 °C, garnet granulite (plagioclase + amphibole + garnet + clinopyroxene + orthopyroxene) at 12.5 kbar and 900 °C, two-pyroxene granulite (plagioclase + clinopyroxene + orthopyroxene ± amphibole) at 10 kbar and 900 °C and 10–12.5 kbar and 1,000 °C, garnet pyroxenite (garnet + clinopyroxene ± amphibole) at 13.5–15 kbar and 900–1,000 °C, and pyroxenite (clinopyroxene + orthopyroxene) at 15 kbar and 1,050 °C. The partial melts change from granodiorite to tonalite with increasing melt proportions. Sr enrichment occurs in partial melts in equilibrium with <20 wt% plagioclase, whereas depletions of Ti, Sr, and heavy rare earth elements (HREE) occur relative to the starting material when the amounts of residual amphibole, plagioclase, and garnet are >20 wt%, respectively. Major elements and trace element patterns of partial melts produced by 10–40 wt% melting of lower crust composition at 10–12.5 kbar and 800–900 °C and 15 kbar and 800 °C closely resemble adakite/TTG rocks. TiO₂ contents of the 1,000–1,050 °C melts are higher than that of pristine adakite/TTG. In comparison with natural adakite/TTG, partial melts produced at 10–12.5 kbar and 1,000 °C and 15 kbar and 1,050 °C have elevated HREE, whereas partial melts at 13.5–15 kbar and 900–1,000 °C in equilibrium with >20 wt% garnet have depressed Yb and elevated La/Yb and Gd/Yb. It is suggested that the most appropriate P–T conditions for producing adakite/TTG from mafic lower crust are 800–950 °C and 10–12.5 kbar (corresponding to a depth of 30–40 km), whereas a depth of >45–50 km is unfavorable. Consequently, an overthickened crust and eclogite residue are not necessarily required for producing adakite/TTG from lower crust. The lower crust delamination model, which has been embraced for intra-continental adakite/TTG formation, should be reappraised.     

Environmental history of the Colombian savannas of the Llanos Orientales since the Last Glacial Maximum from lake records El Pinal and Carimagua

Late Quaternary environments have been studied by pollen analysis of lake sediments from the savannas of the Colombian Llanos Orientales at 180 m elevation. The pollen record form Laguna El Pinal (4°08N, 70°23W), dated by 6 AMS radiocarbon dates, starts at 18,290 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The record from Laguna Carimagua (4°04N, 70°14W), also dated by 6 AMS dates, starts at 8270 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Both records show a landscape dominated by grassland savanna with only few woody savanna taxa, such as Curatella and Byrsonima, frequent fires, and little occurrence of forest and/or gallery forest along the rivers. The savanna ecosystem at the studied sites was relatively stable during the last 18,000 yrs, but minor changes in floral composition, and in the proportion of savanna/forest, have been recorded. Very little gallery forest and the non permanent lake conditions of Laguna El Pinal reflect the driest period, interpreted to reflect low rainfall rates and long dry seasons during the Last Glacial Maximum until 10,690 ¹⁴ C yr B.P. During the Late Glacial, Laguna El Pinal was a permanent shallow lake, and changed into a lake with higher water levels during the Holocene, indicating wetter conditions. Expansion of regional gallery forest also started at around 10,690 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Little vegetational change observed in Laguna Carimagua at 5570 ¹⁴ C yr B.P., in combination with a simultaneous decrease of savanna observed in previously studied lakes, suggest a change to regional wetter conditions. Thus, the Holocene before 5500 ¹⁴ C yr B.P. was somewhat drier than the following period until about 3850 ¹⁴C yr B.P. In both records, Late Holocene lake deposits are incomplete. Shore vegetation of Laguna Carimagua always included a minor contribution of the palms Mauritia and Mauritiella. The marked increase of palms during the last c. 3800 yrs points to increased human impact on the vegetation under the wettest Holocene climate regime.     

Created by the Monte Peron rock avalanche: Lago di Vedana (Dolomites,Italy) and its sediment record of landscape evolution after a mass wasting event

The timing of the Monte Peron Landslide is revised to 2890 cal. BP based on a radiocarbon-dated sediment stratigraphy of Lago di Vedana. This age fosters the importance of hydroclimatic triggers in the light of accelerating global warming with a predicted increase of precipitation enhancing the regional predisposition to large landslides. Moreover, a layer enriched in allochthonous organic and minerogenic detritus dating to the same wet period is interpreted as response to a younger and yet unidentified mass wasting event in the catchment of Lago di Vedana. Rock debris of the Monte Peron Landslide impounded the Cordevole River valley and created a landslide-dammed lake. Around AD 1150, eutrophication of this lacustrine ecosystem started with intensified human occupation – a process that ended 150 years later, when the river was diverted back into its original bed. Most likely, this occurred due to artificial opening of the river dam. In consequence, Lago di Vedana was isolated from an open and minerogenic to an endorheic and carbonaceous lacustrine system. After a monastery was established nearby in AD 1457, a second eutrophication process was initiated due to intensified land use linked with deforestation. Only in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, deposition of organic matter decreased coinciding with climatic (Little Ice Age) and cultural changes. Conversational measures are the likely reasons for a trend towards less eutrophic conditions since AD 1950.