Multi-stage reaction history in different eclogite types from the Pakistan Himalaya and implications for exhumation processes

Metabasites were sampled from rock series of the subducted margin of the Indian Plate, the so-called Higher Himalayan Crystalline, in the Upper Kaghan Valley, Pakistan. These vary from corona dolerites, cropping out around Saif-ul-Muluk in the south, to coesite–eclogite close to the suture zone against rocks of the Kohistan arc in the north. Bulk rock major- and trace- element chemistry reveals essentially a single protolith as the source for five different eclogite types, which differ in fabric, modal mineralogy as well as in mineral chemistry. The study of newly-collected samples reveals coesite (confirmed by in situ Raman spectroscopy) in both garnet and omphacite. All eclogites show growth of amphiboles during exhumation. Within some coesite-bearing eclogites the presence of glaucophane cores to barroisite is noted whereas in most samples porphyroblastic sodic–calcic amphiboles are rimmed by more aluminous calcic amphibole (pargasite, tschermakite, and edenite). Eclogite facies rutile is replaced by ilmenite which itself is commonly surrounded by titanite. In addition, some eclogite bodies show leucocratic segregations containing phengite, quartz, zoisite and/or kyanite. The important implication is that the complex exhumation path shows stages of initial cooling during decompression (formation of glaucophane) followed by reheating: a very similar situation to that reported for the coesite-bearing eclogite series of the Tso Morari massif, India, 450 km to the south-east.     

Zur Theorie der sogenannten Kopfwellen mit unendlich kleinen Amplituden

Zusammenfassung der mathematischen Ergebnisse Die von uns erhaltenen annäherndD' Alembert'schen Lösungsformen der Wellengleichung (1) sind mit den Formeln (11), (14) und (25) dargestellt; die Bedingungen für ihre Existenz sind im Hauptsatz gegeben.

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Summary Case of two reflected waves in Seismology and in general Mechanics. Four types of waves near to a surface. The general properties of the concept «wave». Thermic and geometric extinction of a wave. Conditions a) that an aggregate of waves has the properties of a wave, and b) that the so formed aggregate has no more these properties. A new case of solution near to the type ofD' Alembert; some applications. Interference of two waves and impossibility of such interference of two ensembles of waves, in the general case.

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Resumé Deux ondes réflechies en Séismologie et en Mécanique générale. Quatro types des ondes près d'une surface. Les propriétés générales de la notion d' «onde». Amortissement thermique et géométrique d'une onde. Les conditions où un agrégat des ondes fornie une onde et où cet agrégat n'est pas une onde. Un nouvel cas de la solution de l'équation d'ondes proche à la solution deD' Alembert. Quelques applications. L'interférence de deux ondes et l'impossibilité de l'interference dans le cas général de deux ensembles des ondes.

     

Bubble-induced porewater mixing: A 3-D model for deep porewater irrigation

Porewater data from vent sites of the northeastern shelf off Sakhalin Island, Sea of Okhotsk, exhibit bottom-water concentrations down to a sediment depth of up to 300 cm. Below this depth, solute concentrations rapidly change due to methanogenesis and anaerobic methane oxidation (AMO). The profile shapes suggest an irrigation-like process that mixes on a meter scale. At these sites active gas emanation into the overlying water column and near-surface gas hydrates are commonly observed. We propose that methane gas bubbles rise through the soft surface sediments and cause mixing of the porewater.Mathematically, the bubble-induced irrigation can be described by eddy diffusion enhancing the diffusive transport of solutes by several orders of magnitude. A 3-D numerical transport-reaction model was developed to investigate the parameters defining the mixing process, such as bubble rise velocity, tube size, tube distribution in the sediment, and ebullition frequency.Model consistency with the field data requires eddy diffusivities ?1 × 10⁵ cm²/a, tube densities of >4 tubes/m² (equivalent to a tube spacing of <40 cm), active gas seepage for more than a few weeks or months, and moderate to low diagenetic reaction rates of solutes. The corresponding methane gas fluxes that are predicted from the results of the model realizations range from 1 × 10³-5 × 10⁵ L/(m² a). Due to bubble mixing, solute fluxes in these sediments are increased by a factor of 3 and the maximum AMO rate by a factor of 7.     

IFKIS-Hydro: an early warning and information system for floods and debris flows

IFKIS-Hydro is an information and warning system for hydrological hazards in small- and medium-scale catchments. The system collects data such as weather forecasts, precipitation measurements, water level gauges, discharge simulations and local observations of event-specific phenomena. In addition, IFKIS-Hydro incorporates a web-based information platform, which serves as a central hub for the submission and overview of data. Special emphasis is given to local information. This is accomplished particularly by human observers. In medium-scale catchments, discharge forecast models have an increasing importance in providing valuable information. IFKIS-Hydro was developed in several test regions in Switzerland and the first results of its application are available now. The system is constantly extended to additional regions and may become the standard for warning systems in smaller catchments in Switzerland.     

Eocene-Pliocene time scale and stratigraphy of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) and the Swiss Molasse Basin (SMB)

We present a general stratigraphic synthesis for the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) and the Swiss Molasse Basin (SMB) from Eocene to Pliocene times. The stratigraphic data were compiled both from literature and from research carried out by the authors during the past 6 years ; an index of the stratigraphically most important localitites is provided. We distinguish 14 geographical areas from the Helvetic domain in the South to the Hanau Basin in the North. For each geographical area, we give a synthesis of the biostratigraphy, lithofacies, and chronostratigraphic ranges. The relationships between this stratigraphic record and the global sea-level changes are generally disturbed by the geodynamic (e.g., subsidence) evolution of the basins. However, global sea-level changes probably affected the dynamic of transgression–regression in the URG (e.g., Middle Pechelbronn Beds and Serie Grise corresponding with sea-level rise between Ru1/Ru2 and Ru2/Ru3 sequences, respectively) as well as in the Molasse basin (regression of the UMM corresponding with the sea-level drop at the Ch1 sequence). The URGENT-project (Upper Rhine Graben evolution and neotectonics) provided an unique opportunity to carry out and present this synthesis. Discussions with scientists addressing sedimentology, tectonics, geophysics and geochemistry permitted the comparison of the sedimentary history and stratigraphy of the basin with processes controlling its geodynamic evolution. Data presented here back up the palaeogeographic reconstructions presented in a companion paper by the same authors (see Berger et al. in Int J Earth Sci 2005).     

Fifteen days of continuous activity survey at Stromboli volcano, Italy, in late September 2000: Doppler radar, seismicity, infrared, soil humidity, and mapping of the crater region

The intention of our study was to gain new insight into the complex interplay between different types of eruption of the Stromboli volcano by combining detailed field observation with different geophysical methods. We recorded more than 600 eruptions by use of continuous Doppler radar measurements. We detected the onset of the seismic precursor and the beginning of the visible eruption by use of seismic and infrared data. Two soil samples per day were used to monitor the effect of humidity on the eruptive style. We mapped the crater region as a reference base for the long-term morphological changes of the active region and for the exact positions of our measurement systems. Two distinct types of eruption were distinguished from each other on the basis of seismic and radar data - short, wide-angle Strombolian explosions and pulsating, sharp angle fountain-like eruptions. Data and visual observations imply that weather conditions significantly effect volcanic activity. We also interpret the intensification of eruptive activity during our field study as replenishment of the reservoir with a new batch of magma in late September 2000.     

Late Cretaceous reactivation of major crustal shear zones in northern Namibia: constraints from apatite fission track analysis

Namibia's passive continental margin records a long history of tectonic activity since the Proterozoic. The orogenic belt produced during the collision of the Congo and Kalahari Cratons in the Early Proterozoic led to a zone of crustal weakness, which became the preferred location for tectonism during the Phanerozoic. The Pan-African Damara mobile belt forms this intraplate boundary in Namibia and its tectonostratigraphic zones are defined by ductile shear zones, where the most prominent is described as the Omaruru Lineament–Waterberg Thrust (OML–WT). The prominance of the continental margin escarpment is diminished in the area of the Central and Northern Zone of the Damara belt where the shear zones are located. This area has been targeted with a set of 66 outcrop samples over a 550-km-long, 60-km-broad coast-parallel transect from the top of the escarpment in the south across the Damara sector to the Kamanjab Inlier in the north. Apatite fission track age and length data from all samples reveal a regionally consistent cooling event. Thermal histories derived by forward modelling bracket this phase of accelerated cooling in the Late Cretaceous. Maximum palaeotemperatures immediately prior to the onset of cooling range from ca. 120 to ca. 60 °C with the maximum occurring directly south of the Omaruru Lineament. Because different palaeotemperatures indicate different burial depth at a given time, the amount of denudation can be estimated and used to constrain vertical displacements of the continental crust. We interpret this cooling pattern as the geomorphic response to reactivation of basement structures caused by a change in spreading geometry in the South Atlantic and South West Indian Oceans.