Marine carbonate systems in the Sarmatian (Middle Miocene) of the Central Paratethys: the Zsámbék Basin of Hungary

The study of eight stratigraphic sections at the margin of the semi-enclosed Zsámbék Basin (Hungary) allows the sedimentary anatomy of oolitic–bioclastic systems in the Sarmatian of the Central Paratethys to be reconstructed. The mollusc, foraminiferal and ostracod associations indicate that the carbonate systems are Latest Badenian to Late Sarmatian in age. The Lower–Upper Sarmatian deposits are organized in superimposed subaqueous dunes prograding towards the basin on a low-angle ramp. During the Late Sarmatian, the ramp underwent subaerial erosion linked to a moderate relative fall in sea-level. Lagoonal deposits were later formed and microbial–nubeculariid–bryozoan–serpulid buildups were emplaced. The 'abnormal' marine conditions of the Sarmatian, conducive to the development of a poorly diversified flora and fauna and dominant non-skeletal grains, are linked to fluctuating salinities, mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions and perhaps high alkalinity.     

Origin of polyhalite deposits in the Zechstein (Upper Permian) Zdrada platform (northern Poland)

Polyhalite deposits in the Zechstein (Upper Permian) of northern Poland occur in the Lower Werra Anhydrite. In the Zdrada Sulphate Platform, the polyhalite appears to be a very early replacement of anhydrite. The replacement was caused by the halite-precipitating brines which contained potassium and magnesium ions. The formation of polyhalite was preceded by the syndepositional anhydritization of the original gypsum deposit which has often preserved its primary textures. This anhydritization on the platform and its slopes was a reaction of the precipitated gypsum in a hydrologically open evaporite basin, with brines of salt basins adjacent to the sulphate platform. These brines, when nearly saturated with respect to halite, and potassium and magnesium rich, reacted with anhydrite to precipitate polyhalite along the slopes of the Zdrada Platform. The oxygen and sulphur isotopic compositions of sulphate evaporites indicate that marine solutions were the only source of sulphate ions supplied to the Zechstein basin, and that anhydrite was transformed to polyhalite by reaction with marine brines more concentrated than those that precipitated precursor calcium sulphate minerals.     

Données isotopiques (8786/Sr) et changements hydrologiques depuis 15 000 ans sur l'Altiplano andin

Abstract

In catchments characterized by spatially varying hydrological processes and responses, the optimal parameter values or regions of attraction in parameter space may differ with location-specific characteristics and dominating processes. This paper evaluates the value of semi-distributed calibration parameters for large-scale streamflow simulation using the spatially distributed LISFLOOD model. We employ the Shuffled Complex Evolution Metropolis (SCEM-UA) global optimization algorithm to infer the calibration parameters using daily discharge observations. The resulting posterior parameter distribution reflects the uncertainty about the model parameters and forms the basis for making probabilistic flow predictions. We assess the value of semi-distributing the calibration parameters by comparing three different calibration strategies. In the first calibration strategy uniform values over the entire area of interest are adopted for the unknown parameters, which are calibrated against discharge observations at the downstream outlet of the catchment. In the second calibration strategy the parameters are also uniformly distributed, but they are calibrated against observed discharges at the catchment outlet and at internal stations. In the third strategy a semi-distributed approach is adopted. Starting from upstream, parameters in each subcatchment are calibrated against the observed discharges at the outlet of the subcatchment. In order not to propagate upstream errors in the calibration process, observed discharges at upstream catchment outlets are used as inflow when calibrating downstream subcatchments. As an illustrative example, we demonstrate the methodology for a part of the Morava catchment, covering an area of approximately 10 000 km². The calibration results reveal that the additional value of the internal discharge stations is limited when applying a lumped parameter approach. Moving from a lumped to a semi-distributed parameter approach: (i) improves the accuracy of the flow predictions, especially in the upstream subcatchments; and (ii) results in a more correct representation of flow prediction uncertainty. The results show the clear need to distribute the calibration parameters, especially in large catchments characterized by spatially varying hydrological processes and responses.     

Experimental Investigation and Optimization of Thermodynamic Properties and Phase Diagrams in the Systems CaO-SiO2, MgO-SiO2, CaMgSi2O6-SiO2 and CaMgSi2O6-Mg2SiO4 to 1{middle dot}0 GPa

Using experimental results at 1·0 GPa for the systemsCaO–SiO₂, MgO–SiO₂, CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂ and CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄,and all the currently available phase equilibria and thermodynamicdata at 1 bar, we have optimized the thermodynamic propertiesof the liquid phase at 1·0 GPa. The new optimized thermodynamicparameters indicate that pressure has little effect on the topologyof the CaO–SiO₂, CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂, and CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄systems but a pronounced one on the MgO–SiO₂ binary. Themost striking change concerns passage of the MgSiO₃ phase fromperitectic melting at 1 bar to eutectic melting at 1·0GPa. This transition is estimated to occur at 0·41 GPa.For the CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂ and CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄ pseudo-binaries,the size of the field clinopyroxene + liquid increases withincreasing pressure. This change is related to the shift ofthe piercing points clinopyroxene + silica + liquid (from 0·375mol fraction SiO₂ at 1 bar to 0·414 at 1·0 GPa)and clinopyroxene + olivine + liquid (from 0·191 molfraction SiO₂ at 1 bar to 0·331 at 1·0 GPa) thatbound the clinopyroxene + liquid field in the CaMgSi₂O₆·SiO₂and CaMgSi₂O₆·Mg₂SiO₄ pseudo-binaries, respectively. KEY WORDS: CaO–SiO₂; CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄; CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂; experiments; MgO–SiO₂     

LIDAR DETERMINATION OF THE ENTRAINMENT ZONE THICKNESS AT THE TOP OF THE UNSTABLE MARINE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER

The thickness of the entrainment zone at the top of the marine atmosphericboundary layer (MABL) has been documented by an airborne lidar on twoconsecutive days during a cold-air outbreak episode over the Mediterranean.In addition to the lidar observations, in situ turbulent flux measurementsat three levels in the MABL were made by a second aircraft. The flights' tracksare broken down in segments 25–30 km long and the data are filtered for theparametrization of turbulent entrainment in the MABL at scales smaller thana few kilometres. The structural parameters of the entrainment zone aredetermined by lidar from the distributions of the instantaneous MABL topheight. The average values Ph0 and Ph2 of the cumulativeprobability distributions are used to define the bottom and top heights of the entrainment zone h0 and h2, respectively. The parameters h0 andh2 are calculated by reference to a linear vertical buoyancy flux profilein the framework of a first-order jump model. The model is constrained by bothlidar and in situ data to determine Ph0 and Ph2 and so h0and h2. In unstable conditions theaverage fraction Ph0 is estimated to be 6.0 ± 1%. It is shown to beslightly sensitive to the presence of cloud at small cloud fractions.The mean value of the ratio of the inversion level buoyancy flux to the surfacebuoyancy flux ARv is found to range from 0.15 to 0.30 depending on the shearin the MABL. The average value is 0.22 ± 0.05. Our resultsare in good agreement with previous analysis at comparable spatial scales.In purely convective conditions, the value of ARv given by theparametrizations fitted to our results is about 0.10–0.12, a value smallerthan the commonly accepted value of 0.2. When compared to previousparametrization results, our proportionality constant for the mechanicalproduction of turbulent kinetic energy is also found to be scaled down, ingood agreement with large-eddy simulation results. It is suggestedthat mesoscale organized motions in the MABL is the source of thisdifference.     

FIXED LOOP SOURCE EM MODELLING RESULTS USING 2D FINITE ELEMENTS1

Among electromagnetic sounding techniques, the Mélos method possesses the specific feature of including an apparent resistivity computation. This acts as a normalizing scheme so that 2D modelling results can be obtained without accounting for a true 3D source. However, in order to get reliable numerical modelling results for a 2D magnetic dipole source, improved algorithms are required in order to apply the standard finite-element technique: quadratic basis functions must be used in place of linear basis functions, and a more sophisticated method than conventional ones is necessary for properly solving the resulting system of linear equations. Such modelling results have been used to study theoretical responses for the Mélos method in the search for conductive bodies in mineral exploration. Two sets of models are presented and discussed. They show that the typical Mélos response to a conductive target is a bipolar anomaly on the apparent resistivity pseudo-section, with a conductive pole at low frequency which is centred above the target.     

Recognition of ancient carbonate wind deposits: lessons from a modern analogue, Chrissi Island, Crete

Carbonate aeolian deposits are common along arid to semiarid, wind-exposed, present-day coastlines bordered by productive carbonate ramps. Lithified carbonate dunes (aeolianites) have been described around the world in marine terraces of Quaternary age, but these deposits have seldom been identified in the Pre-Quaternary record. Several authors have suggested that this scarcity reflects that these deposits form and are preserved only during icehouse periods characterized by high-amplitude sea-level changes. Others [e.g. McKee and Ward Carbonate Depositional Environments (1983) , AAPG Memoirs, Vol. 33, pp. 131–170] suggest that the scarcity of aeolianites in the Pre-Quaternary record could reflect the ‘great difficulty in recognising wind blown carbonate deposits and in differentiating between them [aeolianites] and other carbonate sands of nearshore environments’. It has been considered that carbonate shoreface/foreshore deposits are very difficult to discriminate petrographically from backshore deposits. This petrographic study of recent sediments from the shoreface to backshore along the northern coast of Chrissi Island, Crete, confirms that carbonate aeolian sands can be very easily misinterpreted as shoreface deposits. Textural examination of thin sections by image analysis techniques indicates, however, that grain orientation patterns differ between facies. Shoreface deposits exhibit a unimodal distribution of grain orientation (flat rose diagram), whereas backshore deposits show a tendency towards a bimodal distribution with a significant proportion of vertical grains. This observation has been confirmed in Pleistocene aeolianites from Tunisia and Western Australia. Grain verticality thus seems to be a reliable criterion for discriminating wind-lain carbonate bodies from shoreface deposits. Vertical grains in aeolian carbonate deposits could reflect gravity effects (e.g. reorientation of grains because of meteoric water percolation and air pull-up). Laboratory experiments conducted on carbonate sands under the action of percolating waters confirm this hypothesis. This reorganization process is preferentially developed in recently deposited and loosely packed sands resulting from grainfall and/or grainflow. In addition, this suggests that the presence of vertical grain orientation might be an indicator of the frequency and intensity of rainfalls during deposition.     

Earliest Triassic microbialites in Çürük Dag,southern Turkey: composition,sequences and controls on formation

The Permian–Triassic Boundary sequence at Çürük Dag, near Antalya, Turkey, begins with a major erosion surface interpreted as being the Late Permian lowstand, on which lies ca 0·4 m of grainstone/packstone composed of ooids, peloids and bioclasts. Most ooids are superficial coats on fragments of calcite crystals presumed to be eroded from crystal fans which are no longer present. The erosion surface is smooth and shows no evidence of dissolution; the grainstone/packstone contains intraclasts of the underlying wackestone, proving erosion. Next are 15 m of microbialite comprised of interbedded stromatolites, thrombolites, plus beds of planar limestones with small‐scale erosion. The latter comprise a complex interlayering of stromatolitic, thrombolitic and peloidal fabrics and precipitated crystal fans, which form a hybrid of microbialite and inorganic carbonate, together with bioclastic debris and micrite. The Çürük Dag microbialite sequence is repetitious; the lower part is more complex, with abundant stromatolites and hybrid microbialites. Some of the stromatolites are themselves hybrids composed of peloids and crystal fans. In the upper part of the sequence stromatolites are missing and the rock is composed mostly of recrystallized thrombolites that develop upwards from tabular to domal form. The domes form directly below small breaks in microbialite growth where very thin shelly micrites and grainstones/packstones are deposited. Repetition of facies may be controlled by sea‐level change; a deepening‐up model is consistent with the evidence. Stromatolites (with abundant crystal fans) dominate in shallower water, deepening through hybrid microbialite and interlayered sediments to thrombolite, probably no more than a few tens of metres deep, followed by breaks and renewal of microbialite growth. An interpretation of open marine fully oxygenated waters for microbialite growth is consistent with ongoing parallel work that has identified Bairdioid ostracods in the microbialite, a group known to be open marine. However, other researchers have proposed low oxygen conditions for Permian–Triassic boundary facies globally, so work continues to confirm whether the Çürük Dag microbialite grew in dysoxic or normally oxygenated conditions. The principal stimulus for post‐extinction microbialites is likely to be carbonate supersaturation of the oceans. The microbialite sequence is overlain by a further 25 m of grainstone/packstone (without microbialite), followed by Early Triassic shales. Overall, microbialites form a thin aggradational sequence during an overall relative sea‐level rise, consistent with global eustatic rise following the Late Permian lowstand.