Age and tectonomagmatic setting of the Eocene Çöpler–Kabataş magmatic complex and porphyry-epithermal Au deposit, East Central Anatolia, Turkey

The Çöpler epithermal Au deposit and related subeconomic porphyry Cu–Au deposit is hosted by the middle Eocene Çöpler–Kabata? magmatic complex in central eastern Anatolia. The intrusive rocks of the complex were emplaced into Late Paleozoic–Mesozoic metamorphosed sedimentary basement rocks near the northeastern margin of the Tauride-Anatolide Block. Igneous biotite from two samples of the magmatic complex yielded ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 43.75?±?0.26 Ma and 44.19?±?0.23, whereas igneous hornblende from a third sample yielded a plateau age of 44.13?±?0.38. These ages closely overlap with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of hydrothermal sericite (44.44?±?0.28 Ma) and biotite (43.84?±?0.26 Ma), and Re–Os ages from two molybdenite samples (44.6?±?0.2 and 43.9?±?0.2 Ma) suggesting a short-lived (<1 my) magmatic and hydrothermal history at Çöpler. No suitable minerals were found that could be used to date the epithermal system, but it is inferred to be close in age to the precursor porphyry system. The Çöpler–Kabata? intrusive rocks show I-type calc-alkaline affinities. Their normalized trace element patterns show enrichments in large ion lithophile and light rare earth elements and relative depletions in middle and heavy rare earth elements, resembling magmas generated in convergent margins. However, given its distance from the coeval Eocene Maden–Helete volcanic arc, the complex is interpreted to be formed in a back-arc setting, in response to Paleocene slab roll-back and upper-plate extension. The tectonomagmatic environment of porphyry-epithermal mineralization at Çöpler is comparable to some other isolated back-arc porphyry systems such as Bajo de la Alumbrera (Argentina) or Bingham Canyon (USA).     

Ecosystem Responses of the Subtropical Kaneohe Bay,Hawaii, to Climate Change: A Nitrogen Cycle Modeling Approach

The global coastal zone is characterized by high biological productivity and serves as an important channel through which materials are transferred from land to the open ocean, yet little is known how it will be affected by climate change. Here, we use Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, a semi-enclosed subtropical embayment partially surrounded by a mountainous watershed and fed by river runoff as an example to explore the potential impact of climate change on the pelagic and benthic cycling of nitrogen. We employ a nine-compartment nitrogen cycle biogeochemical box model and perturb it with a set of four idealized climate scenarios. We find that hydrological changes play a dominant role in determining the ecosystem structure, while temperature changes are more important for the trophic state and stability of the ecosystem. The ecosystem stability against storm events does not significantly change under any scenario. The system remains autotrophic in the future; however, it becomes significantly less autotrophic under drier climate, while it turns slightly more autotrophic under wetter climate. These findings may have implications for other high island watershed and coastal ecosystems in the tropics and subtropics.     

Seismic model of the lithosphere of the East European Platform beneath the Baltic Sea-Black Sea profile

This paper presents the results of seismic measurements along the Baltic Sea-Black Sea profile. The basic wave groups recorded up to distances of 900 km are characterized. The main elements of a lithospheric model of the southwestern part of the Precambrian East European Platform are given. The thickness of the Earth's crust is about 45 km and the mean velocity of the crust is about 6.3 km/s. At a depth of 65 km, the velocity increases from 8.2 to 8.5 km/s. In the depth interval 110 to 135 km, there is a series of layers with low and high velocities. The lower boundary of the lithosphere is probably defined by the boundary at a depth of 110 km.     

Sulfur isotope study of a modern intertidal environment,and the interpretation of ancient sulfides

Extensive sulfur isotope distribution data for sulfides precipitated in an intertidal environment show no distinctive features when compared with isotope values for other marine, sedimentary sulfides. The fractionation ranges from α = 1.030 to α = 1.048. The pattern is characteristic for a system essentially open to sulfate, and isotope analyses of interstitial sulfates are corroborative. A population of sulfate-reducing bacteria of the order of 10⁹ organisms per cc of interstitial water is indicated. Seasonal variation of the isotope distribution reflects a transient sulfide composition and a bacterial population in which the fractionation effect is indirectly controlled by temperature. The data presented for this modern shallow water environment are at variance with an earlier assessment of isotopic distributions in ancient sulfides which linked shallow water environments with limited fractionation (α ? 1.025) in a closed system.     

Heat island and oasis effects of vegetative canopies: Micro-meteorological field-measurements

Dry-bulb temperature, dew-point, wind speed, and wind direction were measured in and around an isolated vegetative canopy in Davis CA from 12 to 25 October 1986. These meteorological variables were measured 1.5 m above ground along a transect of 7 weather stations set up across the canopy and the upwind/downwind open fields. These variables were averaged every 15 minutes for a period of two weeks so we could analyze their diurnal cycles as well as their spatial variability. The results indicate significant nocturnal heat islands and daytime oases within the vegetation stand, especially in clear weather. Inside the canopy within 5 m of its upwind edge, daytime temperature fell by as much as 4.5 °C, whereas the nighttime temperature rose by 1 °C. Deeper into the canopy and downwind, the daytime drop in temperature reached 6 °C, and the nighttime increase reached 2 °C. Wind speed was reduced by ~ 2 ms^–1 in mild conditions and by as much as 6.7 ms^–1 during cyclonic weather when open-field wind speed was in the neighborhood of 8 ms^–1. Data from this project were used to construct correlations between temperature and wind speed within the canopy and their corresponding ambient, open-field values.With 10 Figures     

The stability of road cut cliff face along SH-121: a case study

Rockfall is one of the major concerns along highways, settlements and forests around the globe. Amboli road cut hill is one such region which is highly vulnerable and suffers from recurrent rockfall mostly in the rainy season, which blocks the State Highway 121 for considerable period of time. The steep and highly jointed slope along the road makes the zone prone to failure due to rainwater action. This road experiences heavy traffic throughout the year as it is the only road connecting Goa to Satara and Kolhapur via Sawantwadi in Maharashtra State, India. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this study to understand the stability of the cliff face. A combination of field study and 2D computer simulation was performed to assess surface characteristics of the cliff face. Bounce height, translational kinetic energy, translational velocity and factor of safety for saturated condition have been estimated. The result of this study shows that the rock face is highly unstable taking into consideration the environmental condition and daily traffic. Proper preventive measures have also been suggested to arrest the movement of falling rocks before reaching the roads or valleys. It is a belief that if proper care is taken, then further uncertain rockfall hazards can be prevented.     

Receiver function imaging in strongly laterally heterogeneous crust: Synthetic modeling of BOLIVAR data

We resolve a large (~20 km) discrepancy in Moho depth determined from PdS receiver functions (RFs) and from active source seismic profiling in the complex Caribbean-South American plate boundary zone in eastern Venezuela. As part of the BOLIVAR experiment 20 broadband stations were deployed along an active source profile to record teleseisms. Using the extremely heterogeneous crustal model obtained from active source data, we generated 2D finite-difference elastic wave synthetics and from them calculated receiver functions and CCP stacks. We compare the observations with synthetic sections that have been spatially sampled at 0.25 km to 40 km. The densely sampled synthetics show that several events in the field data that were originally interpreted as the Moho are multiple reflections within sedimentary basins. Where the Moho has the steepest dip under the plate boundary the CCP stacks fail to image the Moho well, regardless of the density of spatial sampling. A suitable spatial sampling criterion for clearly imaging the lower crust and Moho is to overlap Fresnel zones by 50% at Moho depth, which for the 1 Hz receiver functions examined here, requires an instrument spacing of 15–20 km, with the actual field data density ranging from 20 km to 100 km.