Automatic Graben Detection in Lunar Images Using Hessian Technique

Lunar surface exploration is increasing rapidly with priority being given to precision of lunar soft landing. Lunar soft landing is achieved when craters and grabens are used as navigational landmarks. Grabens are formed from localized tensional stress fields or from near-surface dike emplacement. These tectonic features tend to have consistently straight or accurate parallel-striking walls bounded by steep, inward-dipping normal faults. Aiming at navigational application, a novel approach for automatic graben detection based on Hessian technique has been implemented on Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of lunar image. The Hessian technique uses gradient change as a key parameter to identify grabens. Adaptive Binarization using Otsu method is used to extract graben features from the Hessian image. Features such as small grabens and craters are removed using morphological operations, resulting in significant appearance of grabens. The experiment is conducted in different DTM images of lunar surface and the results indicate 90 % of the grabens are detected. The statistical results are evaluated based on visual interpretation, for both automatic and manual graben detection. It is observed that the proposed automatic graben detection technique gives better results than the manual detection.     

Geochemistry of calc-alkaline volcanics in northwestern Nigeria,and a possible Pan-African suture zone

Major and trace element characteristics of dacites and rhyolites overlying and intruding basement rocks in northwestern Nigeria most closely resemble those of intracontinental orogenic volcanic associations. REE patterns point to a deep-seated source for the magmas, perhaps involving garnet fractionation at mantle depths and low-pressure plagioclase fractionation. The occurrence of calc-alkaline volcanics, small basic-ultrabasic complexes and major transcurrent faulting, is consistent with the presence of a Pan-African suture zone in northwestern Nigeria.     

The evolution of a silicic magma system: isotopic and chemical evidence from the Woods Mountains volcanic center,eastern California

The isotopic compositions of Nd and Sr and concentrations of major and trace elements were measured in flows and tuffs of the Woods Mountains volcanic center of eastern California to assess the relative roles of mantle versus crustal magma sources and of fractional crystallization in the evolution of silicic magmatic systems. This site was chosen because the contrast in isotopic composition between Precambrian-to-Mesozoic country rocks and the underlying mantle make the isotope ratios sensitive indicators of the proportions of crustal- and mantle-derived magma. The major eruptive unit is the Wild Horse Mesa tuff (15.8 m.y. old), a compositionally zoned rhyolite ignimbrite. Trachyte pumice fragments in the ash-flow deposits provide information on intermediate composition magma types. Crustal xenoliths and younger flows of basalt and andesite (10 m.y. old) provide opportunities to confirm the isotopic compositions of potential mantle and crustal magma sources inferred from regional patterns. The trachyte and rhyolite have _Nd values of -6.2 to -7.5 and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios mostly between 0.7086 and 0.7113. These magmas cannot have been melted directly from the continental basement because the _Nd values are too high. They also cannot have formed by closed system fractional crystallization of basalt because the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios are higher than likely values for parental basalt. Both major and trace element variations indicate that crystal fractionation was an important process. These results require that the silicic magmas are end products of the evolution of mantle-derived basalt that underwent extensive fractional crystallization accompanied by assimilation of crustal rock. The mass fraction of crustal components in the trachyte and rhyolite is estimated to be between 10% and 40%, with the lower end of the range considered more likely. The generation of magmas with SiO₂ contents greater than 60% appears to be dominated by crystal fractionation with minimal assimilation of upper crustal rocks.     

Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analyses of Diamond and Moissanite in Ophiolite

The Cameca 1280-HR large geometry SIMS instrument is a highly versatile analytical tool which can support a broad range of geochemical applications.Research using the Potsdam 1280 instrument focuses primarily on isotope ratio determinations in geomaterials.Optimized measurement protocols have already been established forδ18O determinations in zircon,and we are also working towards routine oxygen isotope determinations for quartz,calcite,mica,apatite and titanite.The primary challenge in developing such measurement systems are the identification and characterization of suitable reference materials(RMs),and this is made particularly challenging due to the matrix dependent ion yields of the SIMS ion source.Here we wish to report our progress towards establishing new analytical protocols for the determination ofδ13C in both diamond and moissanite.In the case of diamond,our facility possesses three natural RMs with which we are able to produce data with a typical analytical repeatability of~0.15‰(1sd).An inter-comparison of our three diamond RMs demonstrates an overall data quality of better than 0.5‰in terms of systematic offset between the various materials characterized using gas source mass spectrometry(Palot et al.,2012).A single suchδ13C determination in diamond requires 80 s of data acquisition and involves a test portion mass of~400 pgof material.In-house diamond reference materials forδ15N calibration allow us to measure this isotopic system to a total analytical uncertainty of±1.6‰(1sd)at nitrogen concentrations reaching down to 250μg/g.Due to the relatively low abundance of nitrogen in diamonds,such isotope ratio determinations require around 9 minutes of data collection.With respect toδ13C determinations in moissanite,we use a kimberlitic Si C as calibrant(Mathez et al.,1995),on which we achieve a repeatability of~0.2‰(1sd)on a~350 pg test portion mass.Total data acquisition time for such measurements is 80 s.We are currently in the process of developing a second moissanite RM based on a synthetic,coarse-grained powder.We will also investigate this new material for itsδ30Si characteristics.     

Genesis of post-hotspot,A-type rhyolite of the Eastern Snake River Plain volcanic field by extreme fractional crystallization of olivine tholeiite

Rhyolites occur as a subordinate component of the basalt-dominated Eastern Snake River Plain volcanic field. The basalt-dominated volcanic field spatially overlaps and post-dates voluminous late Miocene to Pliocene rhyolites of the Yellowstone–Snake River Plain hotspot track. In some areas the basalt lavas are intruded, interlayered or overlain by ~15 km³ of cryptodomes, domes and flows of high-silica rhyolite. These post-hotspot rhyolites have distinctive A-type geochemical signatures including high whole-rock FeO_tot/(FeO_tot+MgO), high Rb/Sr, low Sr (0.5–10 ppm) and are either aphyric, or contain an anhydrous phenocryst assemblage of sodic sanidine ± plagioclase + quartz > fayalite + ferroaugite > magnetite > ilmenite + accessory zircon + apatite + chevkinite. Nd- and Sr-isotopic compositions overlap with coeval olivine tholeiites (ɛ_Nd = −4 to −6; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_i = 0.7080–0.7102) and contrast markedly with isotopically evolved Archean country rocks. In at least two cases, the rhyolite lavas occur as cogenetic parts of compositionally zoned (~55–75% SiO₂) shield volcanoes. Both consist dominantly of intermediate composition lavas and have cumulative volumes of several 10’s of km³ each. They exhibit two distinct, systematic and continuous types of compositional trends: (1) At Cedar Butte (0.4 Ma) the volcanic rocks are characterized by prominent curvilinear patterns of whole-rock chemical covariation. Whole-rock compositions correlate systematically with changes in phenocryst compositions and assemblages. (2) At Unnamed Butte (1.4 Ma) the lavas are dominated by linear patterns of whole-rock chemical covariation, disequilibrium phenocryst assemblages, and magmatic enclaves. Intermediate compositions in this group resulted from variable amounts of mixing and hybridization of olivine tholeiite and rhyolite parent magmas. Interestingly, models of rhyolite genesis that involve large degrees of melting of Archean crust or previously consolidated mafic or silicic Tertiary intrusions do not produce observed ranges of Nd- and Sr-isotopes, extreme depletions in Sr-concentration, and cogenetic spectra of intermediate rock compositions for both groups. Instead, least-squares mass-balance, energy-constrained assimilation and fractional crystallization modeling, and mineral thermobarometry can explain rhyolite production by 77% low-pressure fractional crystallization of a basaltic trachyandesite parent magma (~55% SiO₂), accompanied by minor (0.03–7%) assimilation of Archean upper crust. We present a physical model that links the rhyolites and parental intermediate magmas to primitive olivine tholeiite by fractional crystallization. Assimilation, recharge, mixing and fractional melting occur to limited degrees, but are not essential parts of the rhyolite formation process. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. This paper constitutes part of a special issue dedicated to Bill Bonnichsen on the petrogenesis and volcanology of anorogenic rhyolites.     

Gravity and aeromagnetic constraints on the structure of the Woods Mountains volcanic center, southeastern California

 The Woods Mountain volcanic center is a well-exposed, mildly alkaline volcanic center that formed during the Miocene in southeastern California. Detailed geologic mapping and geochemical studies have distinguished three major volcanic phases: precaldera, caldera forming, and postcaldera. Geologic mapping indicates that caldera formation occurred incrementally during eruptions of three large ignimbrites and continued into a period of voluminous intracaldera lava-flow eruptions. Rhyolitic ignimbrites and lava flows within the caldera are associated with large amplitude, circular gravity, and magnetic minima that are among the most prominent gravity and magnetic anomalies in southeastern California. Analysis of a Bouguer gravity anomaly map, reduced-to-the-pole magnetic intensity map, and three-dimensional gravity and magnetic models indicates that there is a single, funnel- to bowl-shaped caldera approximately 4 km thick and approximately 10 km wide at the surface. This model is consistent with other siliceous, pyroclastic-filled calderas on continental crust, except that most siliceous volcanic centers associated with more than one eruption are characterized by more than one caldera. Received: 20 December 1997 / Accepted: 15 October 1998     

On how thin submarine flows transported large volumes of sand for hundreds of kilometres across a flat basin plain without eroding the sea floor

Submarine gravity currents, especially long run‐out flows that reach the deep ocean, are exceptionally difficult to monitor in action, hence there is a need to reconstruct how these flows behave from their deposits. This study mapped five individual flow deposits (beds) across the Agadir Basin, offshore north‐west Africa. This is the only data set where bed shape, internal distribution of lithofacies, changes in grain size and sea floor gradient, bed volumes, flow thickness and depth of erosion into underlying hemipelagic mud are known for individual beds. Some flows were 30 to 120 m thick. However, flows with the highest fraction of sand were less than 5 to 14 m thick. Sand was most likely to be carried in the lower 5 to 7 m of these flows. Despite being relatively thin, one flow was capable of transporting very large volumes of sediment (ca 200 km³) for large distances across very flat sea floor. These observations show that these relatively thin flows could travel quickly enough on very low gradients (0·02° to 0·05°) to suspend sand several metres to tens of metres above the sea floor, and maintain those speeds for up to 250 km across the basin. Near uniform hemipelagic mud interval thickness between beds, and coccolith assemblages in the mud caps of beds, suggest that the flows did not erode significantly into the underlying sea floor mud. Simple calculations imply that some flows, especially in the proximal part of the basin, were powerful enough to have eroded hemipelagic mud if it was exposed to the flow. This suggests that the flows were depositional from the moment they arrived at a basin plain location, and that deposition shielded the underlying hemipelagic mud from erosion. Reproducing the field observations outlined in this exceptionally detailed field data set is a challenge for future experimental and numerical models.