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.     

3D shear-wave velocity structure of the Eifel plume, Germany

The Quaternary Eifel volcanic fields, situated on the Rhenish Massif in Germany, are the focus of a major interdisciplinary project. The aim is a detailed study of the crustal and mantle structure of the intraplate volcanic fields and their deep origin. Recent results from a teleseismic P-wave tomography study reveal a deep low-velocity structure which we infer to be a plume in the upper mantle underneath the volcanic area [J.R.R. Ritter et al., Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 186 (2001) 7-14]. Here we present a travel-time investigation of 5038 teleseismic shear-wave arrivals in the same region. First, the transverse (T) and radial (R) component travel-time residuals are treated separately to identify possible effects of seismic anisotropy. A comparison of 2044 T- and 2994 R-component residuals demonstrates that anisotropy does not cause any first-order travel-time effects. The data sets reveal a deep-seated low-velocity anomaly beneath the volcanic region, causing a delay for teleseismic shear waves of about 3 s. Using 3773 combined R- and T-component residuals, an isotropic non-linear inversion is calculated. The tomographic images reveal a prominent S-wave velocity reduction in the upper mantle underneath the Eifel region. The anomaly extends down to at least 400 km depth. The velocity contrast to the surrounding mantle is depth-dependent (from −5% at 31-100 km depth to at least −1% at 400 km depth). At about 170-240 km depth the anomaly is nearly absent. The resolution of the data is sufficient to recover the described features, however the anomaly in the lower asthenosphere is underestimated due to smearing and damping. The main anomaly is similar to the P-wave model except the latter lacks the ‘hole’ near 200 km depth, and both are consistent with an upper mantle plume structure. For plausible anhydrous plume material in the uppermost 100 km of the mantle, an excess temperature as great as 200-300 K is estimated from the seismic anomaly. However, 1% partial melt reduces the required temperature anomaly to about 100 K. The temperature anomaly associated with the deeper part of the plume (250 to about 450 km depth) is at least 70 K. However, this estimate is quite uncertain, because the amplitude of the shear-wave anomaly may be larger than the modelled one. Another possibility is water in the upwelling material. The gap at 170-240 km depth could arise from an increase of the shear modulus caused by dehydration processes which would not affect P-wave velocities as much. An interaction of temperature and compositional variations, including melt and possibly water, makes it difficult to differentiate quantitatively between the causes of the deep-seated low-velocity anomaly.     

The BEAM-project: prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities in the aquatic environment

Freshwater and marine ecosystems are exposed to various multi-component mixtures of pollutants. Nevertheless, most ecotoxicological research and chemicals regulation focus on hazard and exposure assessment of individual substances only, the problem of chemical mixtures in the environment is ignored to a large extent. In contrast, the assessment of combination effects has a long tradition in pharmacology, where mixtures of chemicals are specifically designed to develop new products, e.g. human and veterinary drugs or agricultural and non-agricultural pesticides. In this area, two concepts are frequently used and are thought to describe fundamental relationships between single substance and mixture effects: Independent Action (Response Addition) and Concentration Addition. The question, to what extent these concepts may also be applied in an ecotoxicological and regulatory context may be considered a research topic of major importance, as the concepts would allow to make use of already existing single substance toxicity data for the predictive assessment of mixture toxicities. Two critical knowledge gaps are identified: (a) There is a lack of environmental realism, as a huge part of our current knowledge about the applicability of the concepts is restricted to artificial situations with respect to mixture composition or biological effect assessment. (b) The knowledge on what exactly is needed for using the concepts as tools for the predictive mixture toxicity assessment is insufficient. Both gaps seriously hamper the necessary, scientifically sound consideration of mixture toxicities in a regulatory context.In this paper, the two concepts will be briefly introduced, the necessity of considering the toxicities of chemical mixtures in the environment will be demonstrated and the applicability of Independent Action and Concentration Addition as tools for the prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities will be discussed. An overview of the specific aims and approaches of the BEAM project to fill in the identified knowledge gaps is given and first results are outlined.     

Microbial Degradation of Tar Oil Compounds under Different Redox Conditions

The microbial transformation of typical tar oil compounds such as acridine, benzo(b)thiophene, dibenzofuran, indane, and indene under different redox conditions was investigated in microcosm studies. Under aerobic conditions the inherent contamination in polluted soil as well as the added N‐, S‐, O‐ heterocyclic and homocyclic compounds were transformed predominantly apart from thiophene. 1‐Indanone was detected by RP‐HPLC‐DAD and GC‐MS as an intermediate metabolite from indane and indene. Under nitrate and sulfate reducing conditions indane, benzo(b)thiophene, and dibenzofuran were transformed in assays with the polluted soil samples from well B 65 and B 66 within 426 days, whereas they were persistent in assays with the highly polluted soil B 67. All heterocyclic and homocyclic compounds added to the non‐contaminated soil from well B 85 were not degraded under nitrate and sulfate reducing conditions, too. The results indicate that for the decision, wether natural attenuation can be implemented in the remediation of contaminated site, in addition to BTEX and PAHs especially the fate of further tar oil compounds in anoxic aquifers has to be considered.     

Pleistocene/Holocene climate change, re-establishment of fluvial drainage network and increase in relief in the Swiss Alps

ABSTRACT Data are presented about modern sediment discharge of the Swiss rivers and related to the size of catchments. The information reveals that the Central Alps have experienced denudation rates of ≈0.15 mm yr⁻¹ in the foreland, and ≈0.5 mm yr⁻¹ in the Alpine core. Mapping, however, indicates that modern erosion only affects 30–50% of the Alpine surface, and that fluvial and associated hillslope processes have focused erosion in 50–200-m-deep valleys. These valleys are incised into the glacial surface. If this limited spatial extent of erosion is considered, then effective erosion rates are significantly higher than average denudation rates. These effective rates equal or locally exceed modern rates of rock uplift. This implies that the modification of erosional processes related to the Pleistocene/Holocene climate change has resulted in an increase in the relief at a local scale. At a drainage basin scale, however, the relief appears not to change at present.     

Groundwater acidification in Triassic sandstones: prediction with MAGIC modelling

 Acidification of groundwater lags behind acid deposition due to the relatively long water residence time in conjunction with various buffering processes in the soil zone and deeper aquifer (chemical weathering, cation exchange, sulfate sorption, and N uptake by the biomass). Extensive field data from eight forested catchments in the Bunter Sandstone of the Black Forest, including results from water budget studies and hydrochemical analysis of stream and spring waters, were used to simulate the future evolution of ground-water acidification with the MAGIC model. The present acid deposition exceeds the “critical load” (here meaning buffering due to chemical weathering and protonation of organic acids) in six of eight catchments. Two catchments are well buffered because they contain carbonate-bearing layers in the Upper Bunter sandstone. Transient buffering (i.e., cation exchange, N uptake, the sulfate sorption) thus far prevents worse acidification, but this effect will decline in the future. For one of the poorly buffered catchments (Seebach), a two-layer simulation was carried out, based on extensive data from 10 years of measurements. Validation of the long-term simulations by hydrochemical and soil data was hampered by strong annual variations but generally supported by paleolimnological studies. In the future, reductions in the S deposition by 20% and the N deposition by 10% up to the year 2030 are assumed as the most probable scenario. N uptake through soil and vegetation will come to an end as suggested by decreasing C/N ratios of the organic matter. This process is arbitrarily included in the simulations. In the periglacial soil layer, acidification will decrease until the year 2030 and then approach a steady-state condition. In the fractured aquifer, acidification will also proceed at a decreasing rate; however, sulfate desorption up to the year 2130, the end of simulated period, will prevent earlier remediation. Despite a significant reduction in S deposition since the mid-1980s, further efforts are necessary to reduce the emission of acidifying substances. Liming in the recharge area is partially effective to ameliorate “shallow” groundwater but largely fails to ameliorate “deeper” groundwater in the sandstone aquifer. Received: 30 July 1996/Accepted: 23 January 1997     

Performance of superconducting gravimeters from long-period seismology to tides

The first phase (1997–2003) of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) has now been completed. Data from superconducting gravimeters (SGs) within GGP have shown great capabilities in a wide spectrum of geophysical applications from the tidal studies to the long-period seismology. Here, we compare the noise levels of the different contributing stations over the whole spectrum. We use three different processing procedures to evaluate the combined instrument-plus-site noise in the long-period seismic band (200–600 s), in the sub-seismic band (1–6 h) and in the tidal bands (12–24 h). The analysis in the seismic band has demonstrated that SGs are particularly well suited for the studies of the long-period normal modes and thus are complementary to long-period seismometers. In the sub-seismic band, the power spectral densities, computed over a period of 15 continuous days for every GGP station, cross the New Low Noise Model of Peterson from T = 16 min to T = 4.6 h. SG data are therefore appropriate for studying long-period seismic and sub-seismic modes. In the tidal bands, the noise comparison is realised by a least-squares fit to tides, local air pressure and instrumental drift, leading to gravity residuals where we estimate a standard deviation and average noise levels in different tidal frequency bands. Tidal gravity observations using SGs have also shown to be an independent validation tool of ocean tidal models, and they are therefore complementary to tide gauge and altimetric data sets. Knowledge of the noise levels at each station is important in a number of studies that combine the data to determine global Earth parameters. We illustrate it with the stacking of the data in the search for the gravity variations associated with the sub-seismic translational motions of the inner core, the so-called Slichter triplet.     

Correlation of seismic activity and fumarole temperature at the Mt. Merapi volcano (Indonesia) in 2000

In this paper we present densely sampled fumarole temperature data, recorded continuously at a high-temperature fumarole of Mt. Merapi volcano (Indonesia). These temperature time series are correlated with continuous records of rainfall and seismic waveform data collected at the Indonesian–German multi-parameter monitoring network. The correlation analysis of fumarole temperature and precipitation data shows a clear influence of tropical rain events on fumarole temperature. In addition, there is some evidence that rainfall may influence seismicity rates, indicating interaction of meteoric water with the volcanic system. Knowledge about such interactions is important, as lava dome instabilities caused by heavy-precipitation events may result in pyroclastic flows. Apart from the strong external influences on fumarole temperature and seismicity rate, which may conceal smaller signals caused by volcanic degassing processes, the analysis of fumarole temperature and seismic data indicates a statistically significant correlation between a certain type of seismic activity and an increase in fumarole temperature. This certain type of seismic activity consists of a seismic cluster of several high-frequency transients and an ultra-long-period signal (<0.002 Hz), which are best observed using a broadband seismometer deployed at a distance of 600 m from the active lava dome. The corresponding change in fumarole temperature starts a few minutes after the ultra-long-period signal and simultaneously with the high-frequency seismic cluster. The change in fumarole temperature, an increase of 5 °C on average, resembles a smoothed step. Fifty-four occurrences of simultaneous high-frequency seismic cluster, ultra-long period signal and increase of fumarole temperature have been identified in the data set from August 2000 to January 2001. The observed signals appear to correspond to degassing processes in the summit region of Mt. Merapi.