Primary compositional range and alteration trends of microlite from the yellowknife pegmatite field,Northwest territories,Canada

Summary Microlite occurs as a rare accessory mineral in beryl-columbite, beryl-columbitephosphate, complex spodumene, albite-spodumene and amblygonite type rare-element granitic pegmatites in the Archean Yellowknife pegmatite field of the Canadian Shield. The chemistry of microlite is variable but consistent with the accepted structural formula A_2–mB₂X₆Y_1–n pH₂O, where generally A = Ca,Na; B = Ta,Nb; X = O; Y = O,OH, F; m = 0 - 2; n = 0 - 1 and p = 0 - l. The chemistry of the Yellowknife microlite is dominated by Ca, Na, Ta, and Nb with minor amounts of U, Pb, Fe, Mn, and Ti. The compositions of microlite are interpreted to reflect primary variability and effects of late-stage alteration.Two principal types of microlite can be distinguished by their primary composition and alteration trends. U-poor microlite originated by the metasomatic replacement of pre-existing manganocolumbite, manganotantalite, and ferrotapiolite; with progressive alteration, its composition evolves from early Ca-rich, Fe,Mn-poor members to late Ca,Na-poor, Fe,Mn-enriched members. In contrast, U-bearing microlite formed from U-enriched, moderately fractionated pegmatitec fluids acting upon ferrocolumbite, manganocolumbite, and manganotantalite; with progressive alteration, its composition evolves from U,Ca,Na-enriched members to U,Ca,Na-poor, Fe,Mn-enriched members.

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Primärer zusammensetzungsbereich und umwandlungstrends der mikrolithe aus dem yellowknife pegmatitfeld, Northwest Territories, Kanada

Zusammenfassung Primärer Zusammensetzungsbereich und Umwandlungstrends der Mikrolithe aus dem Yellowknife Pegmatitfeld, Northwest Territories, Kanada Mikrolith kommt in den Beryll-Columbit-, Beryll-Columbit-Phosphat-, komplexen Spodumeri-, Albit-Spodumen- und Amblygonit-Typen der Seltene-Element-Granitpegmatite im archäischen Yellowknife Pegmatitfeld des Kanadischen Schildes als seltenes akzessorisches Mineral vor. Der Chemismus des Mikroliths variiert, ist aber mit der gebräuchlichen Strukturformel A_2–mB₂X_1–mY_1–n·pH₂O verträglich, mit im allgemeinen A = Ca,Na, B = Ta,Nb, X = O, m=0–2, n =O–1 und p=0–1. Der Chemismus des Yellowknife Mikroliths wird durch Ca, Na, Ta und Nb dominiert, U, Pb, Fe, Mn und Ti treten in kleineren Mengen auf. Die Zusammensetzungen des Mikroliths spiegeln die primäre Variabilität sowie die Auswirkungen späterer Umwand lungen wieder.Zwei Haupttypen des Mikroliths können nach ihrer primären Zusammensetzung und den Umwandlungstrends unterschieden werden. U-armer Mikrolith entstand durch metasomatischen Ersatz von früherem Manganocolumbit-Manganotantalit und Ferrotapiolith, mit fortschreitender Umwandlung entwickelt sich seine Zusammensetzung von frühen Ca-reichen, Fe,Mn-armen Gliedern zu späten Ca,Na-armen, Fe,Mn-angereicherten Gliedern. Im Gegensatz dazu bildete sich U-haltiger Mikrolith aus an U angerereicherten, mäßig fraktionierten pegmatitischen Fluiden, die auf Manganocolumbit-Manganotantalit einwirkten, mit fortschreitender Umwandlung entwickelt sich seine Zusammensetzung von U,Ca,Na-angereicherten Gliedern zu U,Ca,Na-armen, Mn,Feangereicherten Gliedern.

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Trace element chemistry of lithium-rich micas from rare-element granitic pegmatites

Summary Granitic pegmatites characterized by advanced accumulation and fractionation of incompatible rare lithophile elements (Li, Rb, Cs, Be, Ta Nb, B, P and F), often contain mineral assemblages which host lithium-rich micas. Lepidolite and lithian muscovite occur in high-pressure spodumene, low-pressure petalite, phosphorus-enriched amblygonite and fluorine-rich lepidolite subtypes of orogenic affiliated complex type granitic pegmatites and rarely in anorogenic affiliated amazonite-bearingTrace element data determined by X-ray fluorescence for lepidolite of various pegmatite subtypes, morphology (book, scaly, fine-grained), position within the pegmatite (primary zones, replacement units, pockets), mineral assemblages and tectonic affinity (orogenic vs anorogenic) show extreme fractionation of Rb and Cs; modest levels of T1, Ga, Nb, Ta, Sn and Zn; and typically low abundances of Ba, Sr, Ni, Pb, Y, V, W and Zr. Extreme fractionation is indicated by low values of K/Rb, K/Cs and Nb/Ta which are lowest in lepidolite from petalite subtype pegmatites.No systematic differences in trace element content is evident among the different lepidolite morphologies or paragenetic position. Lepidolite from spodumene subtype pegmatites are generally slightly less fractionated than those from petalite or lepidolite subtype pegmatites.

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Spurenelement-Chemie von Lithium-reichen Glimmern aus granitischen Pegmatiten

Zusammenfassung Granitische Pegmatite, die durch fortgeschrittene Anreicherung und Fraktionierung von inkompatiblen, seltenen, lithophilen Elementen (Li, Rb, Cs, Be, Ta Nb, B, P und F) charakterisiert sind, enthalten häufig Mineralparagenesen mit Lithium-reichen Glimmern. Lepidolith und Li-Muskowit treten in Hochdruck-Spodumen, in Niedrigdruck-Petalit, in mit Phosphor angereichertem Amblygonit und in Fluor-reichen Lepidolith-Unterarten aus komplexen orogenen granitischen Pegmatiten und selten auch aus anorogenen, Amazonit-führenden Pegmatiten, auf.Spurenelement-Daten aus der Röntgenfluoreszenzanalyse von Lepidolith aus verschiedenen Pegmatit-Untertypen, die Morphologie (tafelig, schuppig, feinkörnig), die Position innerhalb des Pegmatits (primäre Zonen, verdrängte Einheiten, Taschen), Mineralbestände und tektonische Affinität (orogen gegen anorogen) zeigen eine extreme Fraktionierung von Rb und Cs, bescheidene Gehalte an TI, Ga, Nb, Ta, Sn und Zn; und typischerweise geringe Häufigkeiten von Ba, Sr, Ni, Pb, Y, V, W und Zr. Die extreme Fraktionierung wird durch niedrige Werte von K/Rb, K/Cs und Nb/Ta angezeigt, die in Lepidolith von Pegmatiten des Petalit-Subtyps am niedrigsten sind.Aus den verschiedenen Morphologien oder paragenetischen Positionen von Lepidolith sind keine systematischen Unterschiede im Spurenelementgehalt ersichtlich. Lepidolith aus Pegmatiten des Spodumen-Subtyps sind generell etwas weniger fraktioniert als jene von Pegmatiten des Petalit- oder Lepidolith-Subtyps.

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Implications of uncertain future fossil energy resources on bioenergy use and terrestrial carbon emissions

The magnitude and character of the global resource base of fossil fuels is a key determinant of the evolution of the future global energy system and corresponding fossil fuel carbon emissions. What is less well understood is the potential magnitude of impact of the availability of fossil fuels, due to the interaction with biomass energy, on agriculture, land use, ecosystems and therefore carbon emissions from land-use change. This paper explores these links and implications. We show that if oil resources are limited, then the consequently higher price for liquids induces both the use of coal-to-liquids technology deployment, but also enhanced production of bioenergy crops particularly in a business-as-usual scenario. This in turn implies greater pressure to convert unmanaged ecosystems to produce bioenergy, and higher rates of terrestrial carbon emissions from land use.     

Factors affecting the distribution of benthic macrofauna in estuaries contaminated by urban runoff

Contaminants derived from urban runoff have been shown to accumulate in estuarine sediments, reaching concentrations potentially capable of causing biological effects. Demonstration of effects, however, is difficult due to strong natural environmental gradients and the effects of past or present point-sources of contamination. We used multivariate methods to test two hypotheses relating to the effects of urban-derived contaminants on estuarine benthic communities. First, that patterns of distribution and abundance of benthic invertebrates in two urbanised estuaries would be different from those in two non-urbanised estuaries. Second, that the distributions of benthic invertebrates within and among the four estuaries would be related to those of urban-derived contaminants. Concentrations of contaminants were larger in estuaries with urbanised catchments and concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn and DDT in some samples exceeded those at which biological effects may be expected to appear. Tests of differences in composition of benthic communities among estuaries showed that the two urban estuaries were not significantly different, but that they differed from both rural estuaries, which also differed from each other. Distributions of benthic invertebrates were significantly related to those of environmental variables, and were ordinated along axes that correlated with both natural environmental variables (nature of the sediment, position in estuary) and contaminants. Differences in faunas between the urban and non-urban estuaries were not, however, clear-cut and nor were relationships between faunal assemblages and environmental variables (including contaminants) consistent between two times of sampling.     

Triangulating Social Multimedia Content for Event Localization using Flickr and Twitter

The analysis of social media content for the extraction of geospatial information and event‐related knowledge has recently received substantial attention. In this article we present an approach that leverages the complementary nature of social multimedia content by utilizing heterogeneous sources of social media feeds to assess the impact area of a natural disaster. More specifically, we introduce a novel social multimedia triangulation process that uses both Twitter and Flickr content in an integrated two‐step process: Twitter content is used to identify toponym references associated with a disaster; this information is then used to provide approximate orientation for the associated Flickr imagery, allowing us to delineate the impact area as the overlap of multiple view footprints. In this approach, we practically crowdsource approximate orientations from Twitter content and use this information to orient Flickr imagery accordingly and identify the impact area through viewshed analysis and viewpoint integration. This approach enables us to avoid computationally intensive image analysis tasks associated with traditional image orientation, while allowing us to triangulate numerous images by having them pointed towards the crowdsourced toponym location. The article presents our approach and demonstrates its performance using a real‐world wildfire event as a representative application case study.     

Use of regionalized stormflow coefficients with a view to hydroclimatological hazard mapping

Abstract

An attempt was made to compensate for the lack of long hydrological time series and the lack of information on maximum streamflow in the Alzette River basin (Luxembourg) via the regionalization of stormflow coefficients. Streamflow data recorded since 1995 with a very dense streamgauge network allowed the determination of maximum stormflow coefficients in 18 sub-basins of the Alzette. The stormflow coefficients were then regionalized via stepwise multiple regression analysis for 83 different sub-basins of the Alzette. Combined with 10-year daily rainfall heights (statistical estimation), this regionalization allowed the spatial variability of storm runoff in the Alzette basin to be mapped, thus providing a view of hazard and risk-producing areas, as well as of risk-exposed areas. In a basin with little historical hydrological information this technique can help identify areas where storm runoff reducing measures should be applied from the outset.     

Reactions in Amphibolite, Greenschist and Blueschist

Mineral assemblages in which chlorite [CHL], epidote [EPI],clinoamphibole [AMP], plagioclase [PLG] and quartz [QTZ] aremajor phases are characteristic of many low-grade mafic schists.The possible heterogeneous reactions in such an assemblage maybe separated into two types, exchange reactions and net-transferreactions. Only the latter alter significantly the modal proportionsof the minerals. A set of linearly independent reactions defines a reaction spaceof as many dimensions as there are independent reactions. Thespace defined by the net-transfer reactions alone is a sub-spacethat can be portrayed in three dimensions for the above assemblage.A procedure is presented herein that gives a set of independentreactions that may be taken as basis reactions for definingsuch a reaction space. All other reactions that can be writtenfor this assemblage, as well as observed whole-rock reactions,can be portrayed as vectors in these reaction spaces. Thesevectors connect the region (mineral facies) accessible to theabove assemblage. The whole-rock reactions of Laird (1980) relatinggreenschist, blueschist and various low-grade amphibolites fromVermont, provide informative examples, as do the whole-rockexperiments of Liou et al. (1974). Although reaction spaces apply to both equilibrium and disequilibriumassemblages the reactions selected as basis vectors correspondone-for-one to the chemical conditions for equilibrium thatmust obtain in any fully equilibrated assemblage. The set selectedis one that provides maximum sensitivity for geothermometric,geobarometric and geohygrometric purposes.     

Zeolitic basanite from southeastern California

In a belt of Quaternary volcanism within the Mojave Desert, California, lavas of alkali-olivine basalt have been extruded from many centers. Also three small volcanoes erupted alkaline lavas similar to basanite, except that the zeolites phillipsite and chabazite crystallized in the groundmass instead of the usual feldspathoid. These zeolite-bearing lavas, more alkaline than the olivine basalts, brought many peridotitic nodules to the surface. Two of the volcanoes built cones 500 to 600 feet high and extruded several short lava flows. The third volcano is smaller and mostly covered by younger alluvium. All three cones are composed of cinders, bombs and blocks, and lava spatter. The lava spatter strengthened the cones, making it possible for one or two flows to pour over the rims. Short flows also issued from fissures cutting the flanks of the cones. The two larger volcanoes each concluded with a flow that began issuing from a fissure that enlarged until one side of the cone was rafted away. Even these final flows are small. The basanitic lavas have an average composition ofSiO ₂>=44.5;TiO ₂=3.4;Al ₂ O ₃=14.5;Fe ₂ O ₃=5.0;FeO=7.3;MnO=0.2;MgO=7.4;CaO=9.0;Na ₂ O=4.1;K ₂ O=2.3;P ₂ O ₃=1.1;CO ₂=0.1; andH ₂ O=1.0. The lavas are very fine-grained and hypocrystalline with microphenocrysts of olivine (Fo ₈₅). The groundmass consists of olivine (Fo ₇₀), plagioclase (An ₄:), titanaugite, titanmagnetite, ilmenite, glass (less than 10%), and the zeolites-phillipsite and chabazite. The zeolites occur in small irregular patches only in the nearly holocrystalline centers of the flows. The basanites contain abundant peridotitic nodules, xenoliths of partially fused granite, and xenocrysts (possibly cognate) of titanaugite and kaersutite. The minerals in the inclusions, except for olivine and clinopyroxene, have all reacted with the alkaline melt. In several flows the nodule enstatite has been partially replaced by titaniferous clinopyroxene; this reaction drew so much lime and silica from the surrounding melt that zeolite formed a halo around the reaction rim. Three chemical analyses show about 15% normative nepheline, even though there is no modal nepheline. The feldspathoid is represented instead by the undersaturated zeolites phillipsite and chabazite. A high water content in the magma probably accounts for the occurrence of zeolite. The peridotite nodules do not occur in the nearby, less alkaline lavas, and they appear to be cognate. The separation of olivine and enstatite under high pressures can produce the basanite liquid from the same magma that yields the alkali-olivine basalt liquids by olivine crystallization under low pressures.     

Exsolution intergrowths of titanian ferrocolumbite and niobian rutile from the Weinebene Spodumene Pegmatites,Carinthia, Austria

Summary Titanian ferrocolumbite is a rare accessory mineral in the spodumene-bearing pegmatites at Weinebene, Carinthia, Austria. It contains abundant exsolved niobian rutile and scarce inclusions of cassiterite that may be primary. The titanian ferrocolumbite is relatively homogeneous with Mn/(Mn + Fe) 0.24–0.33, Ta/(Ta + Nb) 0.09–0.13 (atomic ratios) and 0.47–0.88 Ti per 12 cations (2.7–5.0 wt.% TiO₂). Natural specimens are considerably disordered but become more ordered on heating. Niobian rutile has Mn/(Mn + Fe) 0.00–0.04 and Ta/(Ta + Nb) 0.26–0.38; it concentrates Fe, Ta, Ti and Sn relative to the Mn- and Nb-enriched ferrocolumbite. The overall scarcity of Nb, Ta-oxide minerals in the spodumene-bearing pegmatites of southern Ostalpen conforms to their general features ranking them with the albite-spodumene type of rare-element pegmatites.With 4 Figures