Oxygen isotopic compositions of Central Andean plutonic and volcanic rocks,latitudes 26°–29° south

Oxygen isotope data are reported for 27 igneous rocks of Mesozoic to Quaternary age from the Central Andes. 26–29°S. The plutonic rocks, and most of the volcanics, have δ¹⁸O values between 6.2 and 8.3‰.The whole-rock δ¹⁸O values show a weak correlation with initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data. This O-Sr array differs from documented trends for calc-alkaline plutonic suites from California, Scotland and northern Italy, but overlaps with data for volcanic and plutonic rocks from Ecuador, northern Chile and southern Perú.The oxygen isotope results indicate that the magmas evolved without significant contamination from supracrustal rocks (e.g., rocks that experienced¹⁸O enrichment during surficial weathering). The available O, Sr and Pb isotopic data for these rocks are best explained by magma generation in the upper mantle or lower crust. From the Late Mesozoic on, the⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values were modified at depth by isotopic exchange between the magma and a continually thickening crust of plutonic rocks of Late Precambrian to early Mesozoic age.     

A strontium, oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of brines, Michigan and appalachian basins, Ontario and Michigan

⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of brine from samples from the Michigan and Appalachian Basins, in Ontario and Michigan, covering the stratigraphic interval from the Cambrian to Mississippian, vary from 0.708 to 0.711. With the exception of the salt units of the Salina Formation (Silurian), most values are greater than seawater for the time in question, indicating water-rock interaction. The sources of the radiogenic Sr has not been identified. All samples plot below the GMWL in δ¹⁸O−δ²H space, with the Cambrian and Ordovician samples closest to the line. Mixing of brines meteoric and glacial (Pleistocene) water is indicated in some cases. The more concentrated brines from each stratigraphic unit show a very narrow spread in values. All the Ordovician brines show a narrow range over a 200 km area for Sr, O and H isotopes, indicating extensive lateral migration of the fluids.Strontium in the brine has not equilibrated isotopically with its host rock. In some cases the late-stage minerals saddle dolomite, calcite and anhydrite have the same ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios as the brine, indicating that they precipitated from the brine in isotopic equilibrium.     

Eruption characteristics and cycles at Pavlof Volcano, Alaska, and their relation to regional earthquake activity

Pavlof Volcano (55° 25′N, 161° 54′W) exhibits two eruption styles: magmatic eruptions of one-to-two-days duration, and phreatic-phreatomagmatic activity lasting several days to two months. Thirty-four eruptions have occurred in historic times; of these the largest are Volcano Explosivity Index=3. Nine magmatic and 13 phreatomagmatic eruptions occurred between 1973–1983. All the magmatic eruptions occurred in the fall, between Sept. 9–Nov. 20. Four magmatic eruptions occurred during November 11–15, but in four different years. A 3-year-long period of eruptive activity between 1973–1976 bears striking resemblance to a period of activity between 1980–1983. No locatable shallow earthquakes (<50 km) have occurred within 30 km of Pavlof since 1973, which is quite unusual for an active island-arc volcano. Shallow events in the adjacent are segments have focal mechanisms with P-axes perpendicular to the arc (and parallel to plate convergence). Deep earthquakes (> 100 km) are clustered beneath Pavlof and several other volcanoes. Their T-axes show downdip tension within the slab. Deep teleseisms (> 160 km) mostly occurred between 1977–1979 when the volcano was not erupting. Catalogued volcanic activity throughout the Alaska/Aleutian arc shows a weak tendency to increase around the time of great (M > 7.8) earthquakes.     

Strontium isotopic composition of some brines from the Precambrian Shield of Canada

Twenty-four groundwater samples from seven operating mines at Sudbury, Yellow-knife and Thompson (Ontario, North West Territories and Manitoba, resp.), all from depths greater than 1 km and ranging in total dissolved solids (TDS) from 1900 to 250,000 mg l^?1, were measured for their ${}^{87}\text{Sr}{}^{86}\text{Ar}$ values. Each geographic location gives a limited range in values and each location is distinct from the others. This is interpreted as the result of extensive water-rock interaction on a local scale. For most of the time, these brines were isolated and only recently have been exposed to surface water as a result of the mining operations. The extent of the isolation is shown by the contrasting isotopic values of two “pockets” of water (0.711 vs. 0.716) located on opposite sides of the same fault system on the North Range at Sudbury. The exchange at all sites probably has continued until the present, as indicated by the close agreement between water and present-day${}^{87}\text{Sr}{}^{86}\text{Sr}$ whole-rock values. If so, it suggests that there is no single age for such brines, but it may be possible to date stages in the water's evolution by determining the age of secondary minerals that equilibrated with the water.     

Water-rock interaction and chemistry of groundwaters from the Canadian Shield

The chemical and isotopic compositions of groundwaters in the crystalline rocks of the Canadian Shield reflect different degrees of rock-water interactions. The chemistry of the shallow, geochemically immature groundwaters and especially of the major cations is controlled by local rock compositions, whereby dissolution reactions dominate. Conservative constituents, such as chloride and bromide, however, are not entirely a result of such reactions but appear to be readily added from leachable salts during the initial stages of the geochemical evolution of these waters. Their concentration changes little as major cations increase, until concentrations of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) reach 3000 to 5000 mg 1^?1. The isotopic composition of these shallow waters reflects local, present day precipitations.In contrast to the shallow groundwaters, the isotopic and chemical compositions of the deep, saline waters and brines are determined by extensive, low-temperature rock-water interactions. This is documented in major ion chemistries, ¹⁸O contents and strontium isotopic compositions. These data indicate that the deep brines have been contained in hydrologically isolated “pockets”. The almost total loss of primary compositions make discussions on the origin of these brines very speculative. However, all brines from across the Canadian Shield have a very similar chemical composition, which probably reflects a common geochemical history. The concentrations of some major and most minor elements in these fluids appear to be governed by reactions with secondary mineral assemblages.     

Three distinct regimes of volcanic tremor associated with the eruption of Shishaldin Volcano, Alaska 1999

Tremor signals associated with the eruption of Shishaldin Volcano on 19 and 23 April 1999 were the strongest recorded anywhere in the Aleutian Arc by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) in its 10-year history. Reduced displacements (D_R) reached 23 cm² on 19 April and 43 cm² on 23 April. During the activity, D_R and spectral data with a frequency resolution of 0.1 Hz were computed and put on the World Wide Web every 10 min. These data are analyzed here. The general temporal patterns of seismicity of these eruption events were similar, but the eruptions and their effects quite different. The 19 April event is known to have culminated in a sub-Plinian phase, which ejected ash to an altitude of 16 km. Despite higher amplitudes and the largest hotspot from satellite data, the 23 April event produced little ash reaching only 6 km altitude. For several hours prior to the sub-Plinian phase on 19 April, tremor with a peak frequency of 1.3 Hz intensified. During the sub-Plinian phase the peak frequency increased to 4-8 Hz. However, in 15 h after the eruption, three episodes of stronger tremor occurred with a lower 1.0-Hz peak, alternating with weaker tremor with a 1.3-Hz peak. These transitions correspond to D_R=~8 cm². Although these strong tremor episodes produced higher D_R levels than the sub-Plinian phase, data from a pressure sensor show that only strong Strombolian explosions occurred. The suite of observations suggests three distinct tremor regimes that may correspond to slug flow, bubbly flow, and sustained strong eruptions, or a cyclic change in source parameters (e.g., geometry, sound speed, or ascent rate). This behavior occurred at Shishaldin only during the April 1999 sequence, and we are not aware of similar behavior at other volcanoes.     

Seismo-acoustic signals associated with degassing explosions recorded at Shishaldin Volcano,Alaska, 2003–2004

In summer 2003, a Chaparral Model 2 microphone was deployed at Shishaldin Volcano, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The pressure sensor was co-located with a short-period seismometer on the volcano’s north flank at a distance of 6.62 km from the active summit vent. The seismo-acoustic data exhibit a correlation between impulsive acoustic signals (1–2 Pa) and long-period (LP, 1–2 Hz) earthquakes. Since it last erupted in 1999, Shishaldin has been characterized by sustained seismicity consisting of many hundreds to two thousand LP events per day. The activity is accompanied by up to ∼200 m high discrete gas puffs exiting the small summit vent, but no significant eruptive activity has been confirmed. The acoustic waveforms possess similarity throughout the data set (July 2003–November 2004) indicating a repetitive source mechanism. The simplicity of the acoustic waveforms, the impulsive onsets with relatively short (∼10–20 s) gradually decaying codas and the waveform similarities suggest that the acoustic pulses are generated at the fluid–air interface within an open-vent system. SO₂ measurements have revealed a low SO₂ flux, suggesting a hydrothermal system with magmatic gases leaking through. This hypothesis is supported by the steady-state nature of Shishaldin’s volcanic system since 1999. Time delays between the seismic LP and infrasound onsets were acquired from a representative day of seismo-acoustic data. A simple model was used to estimate source depths. The short seismo-acoustic delay times have revealed that the seismic and acoustic sources are co-located at a depth of 240±200 m below the crater rim. This shallow depth is confirmed by resonance of the upper portion of the open conduit, which produces standing waves with f=0.3 Hz in the acoustic waveform codas. The infrasound data has allowed us to relate Shishaldin’s LP earthquakes to degassing explosions, created by gas volume ruptures from a fluid–air interface.     

Observations of volcanic tremor during the January–February 2005 eruption of Mt. Veniaminof,Alaska

Mt. Veniaminof, Alaska Peninsula, is a stratovolcano with a summit ice-filled caldera containing a small intracaldera cone and active vent. From January 2 to February 21, 2005, Mt. Veniaminof erupted. The eruption was characterized by numerous small ash emissions (VEI 0 to 1) and accompanied by low-frequency earthquake activity and volcanic tremor. We have performed spectral analyses of the seismic signals in order to characterize them and to constrain their source. Continuous tremor has durations of minutes to hours with dominant energy in the band 0.5–4.0 Hz, and spectra characterized by narrow peaks either irregularly (non-harmonic tremor) or regularly spaced (harmonic tremor). The spectra of non-harmonic tremor resemble those of low-frequency events recorded simultaneously with surface ash explosions, suggesting that the source mechanisms might be similar or related. We propose that non-harmonic tremor at Mt. Veniaminof results from the coalescence of gas bubbles while low-frequency events are related to the disruption of large gas pockets within the conduit. Harmonic tremor, characterized by regular and quasi-sinusoidal waveforms, has duration of hours. Spectra containing up to five harmonics suggest the presence of a resonating source volume that vibrates in a longitudinal acoustic mode. An interesting feature of harmonic tremor is that frequency is observed to change over time; spectral lines move towards higher or lower values while the harmonic nature of the spectra is maintained. Factors controlling the variable characteristics of harmonic tremor include changes in acoustic velocity at the source and variations of the effective size of the resonator.     

The MESSENGER mission to Mercury: scientific objectives and implementation

Mercury holds answers to several critical questions regarding the formation and evolution of the terrestrial planets. These questions include the origin of Mercury's anomalously high ratio of metal to silicate and its implications for planetary accretion processes, the nature of Mercury's geological evolution and interior cooling history, the mechanism of global magnetic field generation, the state of Mercury's core, and the processes controlling volatile species in Mercury's polar deposits, exosphere, and magnetosphere. The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission has been designed to fly by and orbit Mercury to address all of these key questions. After launch by a Delta 2925H-9.5, two flybys of Venus, and two flybys of Mercury, orbit insertion is accomplished at the third Mercury encounter. The instrument payload includes a dual imaging system for wide and narrow fields-of-view, monochrome and color imaging, and stereo; X-ray and combined gamma-ray and neutron spectrometers for surface chemical mapping; a magnetometer; a laser altimeter; a combined ultraviolet–visible and visible-near-infrared spectrometer to survey both exospheric species and surface mineralogy; and an energetic particle and plasma spectrometer to sample charged species in the magnetosphere. During the flybys of Mercury, regions unexplored by Mariner 10 will be seen for the first time, and new data will be gathered on Mercury's exosphere, magnetosphere, and surface composition. During the orbital phase of the mission, one Earth year in duration, MESSENGER will complete global mapping and the detailed characterization of the exosphere, magnetosphere, surface, and interior.