CO2 sequestration and extreme Mg depletion in serpentinized peridotite clasts from the Devonian Solund basin, SW-Norway

The conglomerates of the Solund Devonian basin of SW-Norway contain numerous (locally up to 20 vol.%) peridotitic clasts with concentric mm- to 10-cm thick zones of varying red to black color. The peridotite clasts show a clear, alteration-related textural evolution. The least-altered rocks are partly serpentinized peridotites, showing a typical mesh texture with veins of serpentine, magnesite and Ni-rich magnetite surrounding olivine (Fo₉₁) relicts and its Mg-depleted, clay-like alteration product (deweylite assemblage). In the more advanced ophicarbonate stage, the mesh cells contain calcite, silica and are surrounded by talc. In the final stage, quartz, calcite, and hematite dominate the mineralogy and occur together with minor amounts of chromite, talc, Cr-chlorite, and Cr-hydroandradite. In tandem with this textural evolution is a decrease in MgO from 40 to 2.5 wt% and a CaO increase from 1 to 35 wt%. All peridotite clasts are characterized by high Cr and Ni concentrations. The chemistry and the textural evolution show that the clasts formed by an extreme Mg-mobilization from the peridotite, with development of secondary porosity and subsequent precipitation of calcite. MgO removed from the clasts after burial is in part consumed by replacement reactions in the sediment matrix around the clasts where Mg-free minerals (e.g., almandine) are replaced by Mg-bearing minerals (e.g., talc). Calculated apparent ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the clasts at 385 Ma (0.7124-0.7139), corresponding to the inferred age of sediment deposition and incipient clast alteration, indicate interaction with diagenetic basinal fluids. We explain the reaction history as a three stage process involving (a) partial serpentinization of olivine in an oceanic environment (b) breakdown of olivine relicts to the deweylite assemblage resulting in mobilization of MgO under (near-) surface conditions in a tropical Devonian climate and (c) further Mg-mobilization and replacement of the deweylite assemblage by calcite and quartz after diagenesis. Sedimentary basins with abundant weathered peridotite represent potential sites for a permanent CO₂ storage by formation of calcite in a low-temperature environment.     

Beginning of melting and composition of first melts in the system Qz-Ab-Or-H2O-CO2

Solidus temperatures have been determined for minimum melt compositions in the system Qz(SiO₂)-Ab(NaAlSi₃O₈)-Or(KAlSi₃O₈) at P(fluid)=2,5 and 10 kbar and at various water activities. The dry solidus was investigated in a dry argon environment. Water activities (aH₂O) between 0.0 and 1.0 were obtained by using H₂O-CO₂ mixtures. The Or/Ab+Or ratio of first melts increases considerably with decreasing water activity. At 10 kbar it is 0.28 in the water-saturated system and 0.56 at water activity 0.1. The Qz-content does not change with changing water activities. The Ab-content of minimum melts formed at high pressures and low aH₂O may remain almost constant in ascending magmas that are cooling and crystallizing. Qz-content increases at the expense of the Or-component. Solidus temperatures decrease considerably when aH₂O increases slightly from zero. At 10 kbar, the temperature difference between dry melting and the solidus for aH₂O=0.1 is 120°C. The influence of pure CO₂ on the solidus is very limited in the investigated P-T range. The solidus is approximatively 760°C at aH₂O=0.5 between 2 and 10 kbar and approximatively 830°C at aH₂O=0.3. This means that melting of quartz-feldspar assemblages may induce dehydration reactions at P-T conditions of the granulite facies.     

Local galactic evolution

The evolution of the Solar neighbourhood is followed using a unique, magnitude complete and kinematically unbiased sample of 14,000 F, G, and K dwarfs. Metallicity, age, space motion and galactic orbits have been determined for all stars. The result is a detailed view of the complex evolution of the local Milky Way, which must be matched by any model for the chemical and dynamical evolution of the Galactic disk. E.g., such models must explain the shape and large scatter in the age-metallity relation as well as the overall metallicity distribution; the evolution of stellar kinematics with age; the distribution of stars in velocity space; and the contributions from the thick and thin disks to all these relations. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A new method to estimate ice age temperatures

On glacial time scales, the waxing and waning of the Eurasian and North American ice sheets depend largely on variations in atmospheric temperature. As global sea level is primarily determined by the volume of these ice sheets, there is a direct (yet complex) relation between global sea level and the northern hemispheric (NH) temperature. This relation is essentially represented by a model of the NH ice sheets. We use a thermomechanical ice-sheet–ice shelf–bedrock model in conjunction with an inverse method to deduce a time series of NH temperature (from 120 kyr BP until present) that is consistent with the observed global sea level record. The advantage of this method is that it provides the annual mean surface air temperature averaged over the NH continents north of 40°N. The results reveal that ice age temperatures were 4–10°C lower than today, which agrees with other temperature reconstructions. However, reconstructed temperatures are comparitively low during the early stages of the glacial, a feature that is consistent with the rapid growth of the ice sheets. The sensitivity of the results for uncertainties in precipitation rate, in observed sea level and in some other model parameters is examined to quantify the error in reconstructed temperature. During the glacial period (120–15 kyr BP), surface air temperatures in the NH (north of 40°N) were 7.2±1.5°C lower than todays (interglacial) temperatures.     

Edward Sabine,ein großer Geophysiker des 19. Jahrhunderts

Zusammenfassung Das soeben beendete dritte Internationale Geophysikalische Jahr, bisheriger Höhepunkt in der Erforschung der uns zugänglichen Hydro- und Atmosphäre der Erde, führt notwendigerweise zu der Frage nach der Vorgeschichte unserer heutigen geophysikalischen Erkenntnisse und Arbeitsmethoden. Als repräsentativ für die erste Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts dürfen wir den englischen Forscher Sir Edward Sabine ansehen, der als erster moderner All-round-Geophysiker gravimetrisch in den Tropen und in der Arktis tätig war, besonders hochgeschätzt von A. v. Humboldt, dessen erdmagnetisches Werk er ausbaute; auch durch wertvolle ozeanographische und meteorologische Untersuchungen rühmlich bekannt.

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Edward Sabine, a great geophysicist of the nineteenth century

Summary The past third International Geophysical Year, up to now culminating point in the research for the hydrosphere and the atmosphere of the earth, makes us, necessarily, desirous to learn something about the early development of to-day's geophysical knowledge and working methods. As representative of the first half of the nineteenth century we may regard the English explorer and scientist Sir Edward Sabine, who as the first all-round geophysicist in the modern sense of the word carried out gravimetric measurements in the tropics and in the arctic regions. Alexander von Humboldt whose geomagnetic work he has been developing, held him in high esteem; besides, he is famous for his research work in the oceanographic and meteorological fields.

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Edward Sabine, grand géophysicien au dix-neuvième siècle

Résumé La troisième Année géophysique internationale écoulée, jusqu'ici point culminant des recherches sur l'hydrosphère et l'atmosphère de la terre, fait nécessairement naître en nous le désir d'étendre nos connaissances du développement primaire de la science et des méthodes de travail de la géophysique actuelle. Nous sommes tenus de considérer l'explorateur et le savant anglais Sir Edward Sabine comme le représentant de la première moitié du dix-neuvième siècle. Il fut le premier à effectuer des mesures gravimétriques dans les tropiques et dans les zones arctiques en qualité de géophysicien universel au sens moderne de ce mot. Il jouissait de l'estime profond d'Alexander von Humboldt, dont il a développé l'uvre géomagnétique. De plus, Sabine est fameux pour ses études dans les domaines de l'océanographie et de la météorologie.

     

Diffusion versus recrystallization processes in Rb-Sr geochronology: Isotopic relics in eclogite facies rocks, Western Gneiss Region, Norway

Rb-Sr and U-Pb isotopic data for granulite facies rocks, forming textural relics with respect to eclogite facies metamorphism in the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway, highlight the importance of textures and mineral reaction kinetics for the interpretation of geochronological data. Studied rocks from Bårdsholmen, southern WGR, were subjected to granulite facies metamorphism at 955 ± 3 Ma (U-Pb, zircon). Later on, they experienced a subduction-related, kinetically stranded eclogitization (T > 650 °C at ∼20 kbar) at 404 ± 2 Ma (Rb-Sr multimineral internal isochron data), followed by exhumation through amphibolite facies conditions. Full conversion of granulite to eclogite was restricted to zones of fluid infiltration and deformation. Despite the fact that metamorphic temperatures vastly exceeded the commonly assumed ‘closure temperature’ for Rb-Sr in submillimeter-sized biotite for several Ma during eclogite facies overprint, Sr-isotopic signatures of relic biotite have not been fully reset. Large biotite crystals nearly record their Sveconorwegian (Grenvillian) crystallization age. Sr signatures of other granulite facies phases (feldspar, pyroxenes, amphibole) remained unchanged, with the exception of apatite. The results imply that isotopic signatures much closer correspond to the P, T conditions of formation recorded by a dated phase and its paragenesis, than to a temperature history. In texturally well-equilibrated high-grade rocks which experienced no mineral reactions and remained devoid of free fluids during exhumation, like granulites or eclogites, isotopic resetting during cooling is either kinetically locked, or restricted to sluggish intermineral diffusion which demonstrably does not lead to full isotopic homogenization. In texturally unequilibrated rocks, textural relics are likely to represent isotopic relics. It is shown that for both high-grade rocks and for rocks with textural disequilibria, geologically meaningful isotopic ages based on isochron methods can only be derived from sub-assemblages in isotopic equilibrium, which have to be defined by analysis of all rock-forming minerals. Conventional two-point ‘mica ages’ for such rocks are a priori geochronologically uninterpretable, and valid multimineral isochron ages a priori do not record cooling but instead date recrystallization-inducing processes like fluid-rock interaction.     

Co-use of existing scenario sets to extend and quantify the shared socioeconomic pathways

More often than not, assessments of future climate risks are based on future climatic conditions superimposed on current socioeconomic conditions only. The new IPCC-guided alternative global development trends, the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), have the potential to enhance the integration of future socioeconomic conditions—in the form of socioeconomic scenarios—within assessments of future climate risks. Being global development pathways, the SSPs lack regional and sectoral details. To increase their suitability in sectoral and/or regional studies and their relevance for local stakeholders, the SSPs have to be extended. We propose here a new method to extend the SSPs that makes use of existing scenario studies, the (re)use of which has been underestimated so far. Our approach lies in a systematic matching of multiple scenario sets that facilitates enrichment of the global SSPs with regional and sectoral information, in terms of both storylines and quantitative projections. We apply this method to develop extended SSPs of human vulnerability in Europe and to quantify them for a number of key indicators at the sub-national level up to 2050, based on the co-use of the matched scenarios’ quantitative outputs. Results show that such a method leads to internally consistent extended SSPs with detailed and highly quantified narratives that are tightly linked to global contexts. This method also provides multiple entry points where the relevance of scenarios to local stakeholders can be tested and strengthened. The extended SSPs can be readily employed to explore future populations’ vulnerability to climate hazards under varying levels of socioeconomic development.     

Behavior of planetary dynamos under the influence of external magnetic fields: Application to Mercury and Ganymede

For planets with strong intrinsic magnetic fields such as Earth and Jupiter, an external magnetic field is unlikely to affect the internal dynamo, but for bodies with weak intrinsic fields in appropriate environments, such as Mercury and Ganymede, the interaction with nearby field sources may determine the internal dynamics and overall behavior of their liquid iron cores. On the basis of simulations of such interactions using numerical models for fluid flow and dynamo generation, the parameter regimes for stable dipolar and multipolar reversing dynamo magnetic fields established for isolated systems can be substantially changed by the action of external sources. Relatively weak external background fields (as low as 2% of the averaged undisturbed field at the core-mantle boundary) may change the energy balance and alter the regime over which natural isolated dynamos operate.     

The Surface Albedo Of The Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland: A Comparison Between Satellite-Derived And Ground-Based Measurements

The temporal and spatial variations in the surface albedo of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, are investigated. A time series of the surface albedo is composed for the summer of 1996 using satellite radiance measurements from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). This time series is compared with ground measurements carried out during a glacio-meteorological experiment during the same summer on the ice cap. The AVHRR is able to reproduce the development in time of the surface albedo fairly well. The large systematic differences found for some of the stations on the ice are attributed to sub-pixel-scale variations in the albedo. An attempt is made to confirm this hypothesis using satellite radiance measurements carried out by the Thematic Mapper (TM) and measurements made with a portable albedometer. The TM has a pixel size of 30 × 30 m whereas the pixel size of the AVHRR is 1 × 1 km. Although the TM measurements show greater variability in the albedo than do the AVHRR measurements, the large systematic difference remains. Measurements with the portable albedometer show a large spread in the albedo at sites with large systematic differences. This implies that the scale of the albedo variations is smaller than the scale of the AVHRR and TM pixels.     

Nitrogen cycling in the German Bight (SE North Sea) — Clues from modelling stable nitrogen isotopes

Nitrogen isotope values (δ¹⁵N) of surface sediments in the German Bight of the North Sea exhibit a significant gradient from values of 5–6‰ of the open shelf sea to values above 11‰ in the German Bight. This signal has been attributed to high reactive N (N_r) loading enriched in ¹⁵N from rivers and the atmosphere. To better understand the processes that determine the intensity and spatial distribution of δ¹⁵N anomalies in surface sediments, and to explore their usefulness for reconstructions of pristine N-input from rivers, we modeled the cycling of the stable isotopes ¹⁴N and ¹⁵N in reactive nitrogen through the ecosystem of the central and southern North Sea (50.9–57.3°N, 3.4°W−9.2°E) for the year 1995. The 3D-ecosystem model ECOHAM amended with an isotope-tracking module was validated by δ¹⁵N data of surface sediments within the model domain. A typical marine value (δ¹⁵N_nitrate=5‰) was prescribed for nitrate advected into the model domain at the seaside boundaries, whereas δ¹⁵N_nitrate of river inputs were those measured bi-monthly over 1 year; δ¹⁵N values of atmospheric deposition were set to 6‰ and 7‰ for NO_x and NH_y, respectively. The simulated δ¹⁵N values of different nitrogen compounds in the German Bight strongly depend on the mass transfers in the ecosystem. These fluxes, summarized in a nitrogen budget for 1995, give an estimate of the impacts of hydrodynamical and hydrological boundary conditions, and internal biogeochemical transformations on the nitrogen budget of the bight.