Magic angle spinning NMR observation of sodium site exchange in nepheline at 500° C

Dynamics in minerals at time scales from seconds to microseconds are important in understanding mechanisms of displacive phase transitions, diffusion, and conductivity. High resolution, magic-angle-spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy can directly show the rates of exchange among sites, potentially providing less model-dependent information than more traditional NMR relaxation time measurements. Here we use a newly developed high temperature MAS probe (Doty Scientific, Inc.) to observe the exchange of Na⁺ among the alkali sites in a high-Na nepheline at temperatures as high as 500° C. Observed exchange rates are consistent with correlation times derived from cation diffusivity.     

The karst system of the Fontaine de Vaucluse (Southeastern France)

The intake area of the Fontaine de Vauctuse system covers over 1,100 km²; its mean altitude is 870 m. The Lower Cretaceous limestones (1,500 m thick) give the system a very thick (800 m) unsaturated zone.Karstification is very well developed, both on the intake area (four sinkholes are more than 500 m deep) and on the lower part (sunken cave of 300 m depth under the spring). The bottoms of the sinkholes of the plateau do not reach the saturated zone of the karst, as their flows have chemical composition similar to seepage water. The maximum hydraulic gradient between the plateau and the spring is low, only 0.3%. Dye tracings allow assigning the Ventoux-Lure range (including its calcareous northern side with a southward dipping) and the Vaucluse Plateau to the intake area. The moisture balance, calculated for each altitude belt, shows that the effective rainfall strongly increases with altitude: 120 mm below 200 m, 1,300 mm over 1,800 m. The working of the system, studied by means of discharge, physical and chemical content, is one of a well-karstified milieu that reacts with a light inertia upon rainy periods. The system is made up of important reserves, peculiarly within the unsaturated zone, which maintain long decline and depletion episodes. Despite its large average discharge (21 m³·sec^–1), the spring is not harnessed and thus no general protection exists on the intake area. Only local protection is provided by protection areas around some piped little springs of the plateau. A Biosphere Preserve will protect as a whole the higher part of the intake area—Mount Ventoux.     

Les bilans énergétiques en météorologie dynamique

Résumé L'objet de cet article est d'établir les bilans énergétiques dans un référentiel quelconque, animé d'un mouvement variable d'un point à un autre et d'un instant à un autre. Le bilan de l'énergie mécanique se déduit, grâce au théorème des forces vives, des équations du mouvement de l'air par rapport au référentiel mobile. Le bilan qui exprime la conservation de l'énergie totale s'obtient en transposant, dans le référentiel mobile, l'expression du premier principe de la thermodynamique, énoncé dans le référentiel galiléen.

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Summary In this paper, energy equations of balance are established in any type of frame moving with an arbitrary, variable velocity with respect to space aud time. The equation of balance of mechanical energy can be deduced from the eqnations of motion of the air with respect to the moving frame. The equation of balance showing the conservation of total energy will be obtained by transposing in the moving frame, the expression of the first principle of thermodynamics given for the absolute frame.

     

Le facies granulite en Norvege Meridionale II. Les inclusions fluides

Liquid inclusions in quartz found in rocks of amphibolite and of granulite facies were studied. In the former water is predominant, in the latter CO₂ (probably juvenile). Estimates of PT conditions during metamorphism based on the study of inclusions gave values (800°C, 8 kb) comparable to those obtained by the petrological study (7–800 °C, 6–8 kb) presented in part I.     

Evolution of paleostress fields and brittle deformation of the Tornquist Zone in Scania (Sweden) during Permo-Mesozoic and Cenozoic times

The NW-SE oriented Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone (STZ) has been thoroughly studied during the last 25 years, especially by means of well data and seismic profiles. We present the results of a first brittle tectonic analysis based on about 850 dykes, veins and minor fault-slip data measured in the field in Scania, including paleostress reconstruction. We discuss the relationships between normal and strike-slip faulting in Scania since the Permian extension to the Late Cretaceous–Tertiary structural inversions. Our paleostress determinations reveal six successive or coeval main stress states in the evolution of Scania since the Permian. Two stress states correspond to normal faulting with NE-SW and NW-SE extensions, one stress state is mainly of reverse type with NE-SW compression, and three stress states are strike-slip in type with NNW-SSE, WNW-ESE and NNE-SSW directions of compression.The NE-SW extension partly corresponds to the Late Carboniferous–Permian important extensional period, dated by dykes and fault mineralisations. However extension existed along a similar direction during the Mesozoic. It has been locally observed until within the Danian. A perpendicular NW-SE extension reveals the occurrence of stress permutations. The NNW-SSE strike-slip episode is also expected to belong to the Late Carboniferous–Permian episode and is interpreted in terms of right-lateral wrench faulting along STZ-oriented faults. The inversion process has been characterised by reverse and strike-slip faulting related to the NE-SW compressional stress state.This study highlights the importance of extensional tectonics in northwest Europe since the end of the Palaeozoic until the end of the Cretaceous. The importance and role of wrench faulting in the tectonic evolution of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone are discussed.     

Genesis of the Dordogne (France) high-purity silica placers

This article describes the formation of the principal French high-purity silica placer (source for electrometallurgy of silicon and ferrosilicon), the Boudeau deposit in Dordogne, and of one of its subordinate deposits, the Pays Brûlé deposit. Boudeau has always been considered to be a colluvial deposit, formed in a trap produced by extensional tectonism. The present work suggests a new genetic interpretation, based on a combined study of the deposits and their underlying rocks. It shows that the quartz gravel deposits, laid down by stream flow within braided channels, were reworked by karstic progressive sinking, and that the mechanism responsible for the increase in the thickness of the economic formations is cryptokarstic corrosion. This undercovers weathering process, which involves dissolution of karstifiable rocks (oolitic and bioclastic limestones) at their interface with a permeable, non-karstifiable cover composed of chemically pure quartz gravels in a sandy-argillaceous matrix. A typological study of the gravels provides a basis for tackling the problem of their origin and their purity. They seem to be derived mainly from the synmetamorphic quartz mobilisates of the stripped metamorphic units (the lower and upper gneiss units forming the western edge of the Massif Central). Lastly, a dynamic model is suggested for the genesis of the high-purity silica deposits of Dordogne.     

Scientific achievements from the first phase (1997–2003) of the Global Geodynamics Project using a worldwide network of superconducting gravimeters

This paper aims to review the main scientific achievements which were obtained in the first phase (1997–2003) of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) consisting of a worldwide network of superconducting gravimeters (SG) of about 20 instruments. We show that the low noise levels reached by these instruments in various frequency bands allow us either to investigate new signals of very small amplitude or to better determine other signals previously seen. We first report new results in the long-period seismic band with special emphasis on the detection of the ₂S₁ normal mode and the splitting of the fundamental spheroidal mode ₂S₀ after the magnitude 8.4 Peru earthquake in 2001. We also discuss briefly the ‘hum’, which consists of a sequence of fundamental normal modes existing between 2 and 7 mHz even in the lack of any seismic excitation, and was first discovered on the Syowa (in Antarctica) instrument in 1998. We will comment on the search for the Slichter mode ₁S₁ of degree 1 which is associated with a translational motion of the inner core inside the liquid core. Atmospheric effects are reviewed from the local to the global scale and the improvement due to pressure loading computations on residual gravity signals is shown. An interesting study exhibiting the gravity consequence due to sudden rainfall and vertical mass motion in the atmosphere (without ground pressure change) is presented. The precision of the SGs leads to some convincing results in the tidal domain, concerning the fluid core resonance effect (free core nutation (FCN)) on diurnal tides or various loading effects (linear, non-linear) from the oceans. In particular, SGs gravity measurements are shown to be useful validating tools for ocean tides, especially if they are small and/or confined to coastal regions. The low instrumental drift of the SGs also permits to investigate non-tidal effects in time-varying gravity, especially of annual periodicity. Hydrology has also a signature which can be seen in SG measurements as shown by several recent studies. At even lower frequency, there is the Chandler motion of 435-day period which leads to observable gravity changes at the Earth's surface. We finally report on the progress done in the last years in the problem of calibrating/validating space satellite data with SG surface gravity measurements.     

Sismique marine haute résolution 3D : un nouvel outil de reconnaissance à destination de la communauté scientifique

This note presents the first results of the development of 3D high-resolution marine seismic method designed for scientific application. A particular attention was paid to the realisation of an operational system to be in agreement with the expected goals in term of acquisition and processing. To cite this article: Y. Thomas et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

The Liuchiu Hsu island offshore SW Taiwan: tectonic versus diapiric anticline development and comparisons with onshore structures

A structural and microtectonic analysis performed in the Liuchiu Hsu island demonstrates that its Plio-Pleistocene tectonic evolution was dominated by alternating NW–SE shortening and local radial extension caused by mud diapirism. Previous models based on seismic data considering both the formation of the Liuchiu Hsu island and the fold development in SW Taiwan as mainly driven by mud diapirism, fail to account for both the asymmetry of the west vergent thrust-related anticlines onshore and the elongated character of the ridges formed by diapir alignments offshore, which rather argue in favour of a tectonic origin. To cite this article: O. Lacombe et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).