Intercrystalline cation partitioning between minerals of the triplite-zwieselite-magniotriplite and the triphylite-lithiophilite series in granitic pegmatites

Minerals of the triphylite-lithiophilite, Li(Fe, Mn)PO₄, and the triplite-zwieselite-magniotriplite series, (Mn, Fe, Mg)₂PO₄F, occur in the late stage period of pegmatite evolution. Unfortunately, neither are the genetic relationships between these phosphates fully understood nor are thermodynamic data known. Consequently, phosphate associations and assemblages from 8 granitic pegmatites — Clementine II, Rubicon II and III, and Tsaobismund (Namibia); Hagendorf-Süd and Rabenstein (Germany); Valmy (France); Viitaniemi (Finland) — have been tested for compositional zoning and intercrystalline partitioning of main elements by electron microprobe techniques. Although the selected pegmatites display varying degrees of fractionation, and the intergrowth textures indicate different genetic relationships between the phosphates, the plots of mole fractions X _Fe=Fe/(Fe+Mn+Mg+Ca), X _Mn=Mn/(Fe+Mn+Mg+Ca), and X _Mg=Mg/(Fe+Mn+Mg+Ca) can be fitted relatively well with smooth curves in Roozeboom diagrams. Their deviations from symmetrical distribution curves are mainly dependent upon X _Mg or X _Ca, and upon non-ideal solutions. Surprisingly small differences between the partition coefficients were detected for intergrowths of different origin. However, the partitioning of shared components among coexisting phases is clearly dependent upon the conditions of formation. Compositional zoning is observed only when both Fe–Mn phosphates are intergrown mutually or with other Fe–Mn–Mg mineral solid-solutios. Thus, the zoning does not seem to be due to continuous crystallization, but to later diffusion processes. The triplite structure has preference for Mn, Mg, and Ca, while Fe prefers minerals of the triphylite series. A quantification of main element fractionation between minerals of the triphylite and the triplite series is possible in the cases where diffusion can be excluded. For the Fe/(Fe+Mn) ratios of core compositions an equation with a high correlation coefficient (R=0.988) was determined: Fe/(Fe+Mn)_Tr=[Fe/(Fe+Mn)_Li]/{2.737-(1.737)[Fe/(Fe+Mn)_Li]} (Tr=triplite series, Li=triphylite series). Consequently, the Fe/(Fe+Mn) ratio of the triplite series can now also be used in the interpretation of pegmatite evolution, just like that of the triphylite series which has been successfully applied in the past.     

Age and origin of early Proterozoic dolerite dykes in South-West Greenland

Samples of three dolerite dykes from South-West Greenland give a pooled weighted mean Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron age of 2,130±65 Ma. Initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios are 0.70155±0.00018 for one of the dykes (Naujat) and 0.70277±0.00012 for the other two (Torssut and Akinaq). A fourth dyke (Qaqarssuaq) did not yield an isochron. Torssut samples have significantly lower initial ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios than samples from the Naujat dyke, indicating that the Torssut dyke has been affected by crustal contamination. Samples of the dykes vary widely in chemical composition because of an uneven distribution of different primocryst phases throughout the dykes, and because of variable degrees of fractionation of the magma. For two of the dykes some constraints on the composition of the parent magma have been inferred from trace element data. Higher concentrations of K, Rb, Ba, Sr, Ce and perhaps Nb (at comparable levels of magmatic fractionation) in the dykes with higher Sr_i are probably related to crustal contamination of their parent magmas. Two of the dykes probably intruded from zoned magma chambers. The marginal zones of these dykes crystallised from a strongly fractionated magma, whereas the centres of the dykes consist of more primitive material with large proportions of olivine and plagioclase primocrysts. The central part of Torssut is less strongly contaminated with crustal Pb than the border zones. A more detailed analysis of the Pb-isotopic composition in the Torssut dyke shows that contaminant lead must have been derived from rocks in the deeper crust considerably older than the late Archaean gneisses which occur at the surface.     

Recruitment of Mytilus edulis L. in the Thames estuary,with evidence for differences in the time of maximal settling along the Connecticut shore

In the Thames Estuary at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, most mussels achieve maximal gonadal development during the summer and larval settlement occurs primarily during the fall. The timing of reproductive events is several months later than has been reported for other populations of mussels in Long Island Sound but corresponds to that of mussels inhabiting the south shore of Long Island. The data support the growing body of evidence which indicates that temperature is not a major factor determining the reproductive period of this bivalve.     

An evaluation of rate equations for calcite precipitation kinetics at pCO2 less than 0.01 atm and pH greater than 8

We used a reproducible seeded growth technique with a pH-stat to study the kinetics of calcite precipitation at 25°C. We performed different experiments at initial Ca²⁺ and HCO₃^? concentrations ranging from 0.7–2 and 4–7 mmol L^?1, pH values ranging from 8.25 to 8.70, $\text{pCO}{}_2$ values ranging from 0.0006 to 0.01 atm, and ionic strengths ranging from 0.015 to 0.10 mol L^?1. With this experimental data set, we used initial rate measurements and integral methods to test several precipitation rate equations. Rate equations that possess a disequilibrium functional dependence, such as the BURTON et al. (1951) dislocation model, forms of the Davies and Jones (1955) model, and the model used by Reddy and Nancollas (1973), did not adequately describe the kinetics of calcite precipitation at pH greater than 8 and $\text{pCO}{}_2$ less than 0.01 atm. Rate equations that describe independent dissolution and precipitation mechanisms with elementary reactions, such as the equation presented by Plummeret al. (1978), and nancollas and Reddy (1971) were more successful. However, Plummer's model did not adequately describe the rate of all experiments due to the presence of an OH^? surface term in the precipitation rate equation. The elementary reaction of the Nancollas and Reddy model is written in terms of bulk Ca²⁺ and CO₃^? concentrations, and appears to be the most successful model which describes calcite precipitation at pH > 8 and $\text{pCO}{}_2\text{< 0.01}$ atm. The Nancollas and Reddy model, altered to account for varying ionic strengths, adequately described the rate of all experiments and yielded a precipitation rate constant of $\text{118.2 ± 13.9}$ dm⁶ mol^?1 m^?2 s^?1, with an apparent Arrhenius activation energy of 48.1 kJ mol^?1.     

Nature and culture in social science: the demarcation of domains of being in eighteenth century and modern discourses

Modern social science is concerned with policing the ‘boundary’ between nature and culture, with limiting and excluding phenomena which threaten to challenge its account of the social determination of the attributes of human beings. The paper argues that this boundary defence is an unusually touchy and difficult matter because social science has inherited an Enlightenment conception of man as ‘unique’. Human culture is regarded as different in quality from any possible form of animal association or attainment. At the same time as supporting this ontology it supposes the ‘boundary’ is in some sense a matter of empirical science, capable of specification by reference to evidence. We try to show the confusions these two contradictory circumstances produce by considering two debates: those concerning the possibility of ‘feral’ children and those concerning the uniqueness of language to human beings. It is demonstrated that the modern debates develop theories, issues and lines of dispute which appeared in the eighteenth century.     

Cathodoluminescence petrography of syntectonic quartz fibres

The cathodoluminescence of low grade metamorphic quartz is reported in the literature to be uniformly brown. This study describes an investigation of syntectonic quartz fibres from veins and pressure shadows contained in different carbonate units of the Helvetic Alps, Switzerland, and of Anglesey, U.K., with the Scanning Electron Microscope in the cathodoluminescence mode. The cathodoluminescence spectra measured show systematic variations between older and younger parts of the same fibre, and between fibres from different tectonic units. These variations can be related first to variations in the temperature of formation of the quartz fibres, and second to deformation-induced differences in the microstructure of the earlier formed parts of fibres during later imposed strains.     

Thermal regime of the continental lithosphere

Thermally, the lithosphere may be defined as that outer portion of the earth in which heat is transferred primarily by conduction. It generally includes the crust and part of the mantle. The thermal regime of continental lithosphere is determined by many factors including heat flow from the asthenosphere, the vertical and lateral variation of both thermal conductivity and radiogenic heat production, tectonic history, and such superficial processes as climatic history and the shallow hydrothermal regime. From studies of the global heat flow data set, two generalizations regarding continental lithosphere have arisen, namely that: 1) there is a negative correlation between heat flow and tectonic age of continental lithosphere; and 2) the thermal evolution of continental lithosphere is similar to that of ocean basins with the result that the “stable geotherm” is similar in both environments. When continental heat-flow data are studied from a regional rather than a global point of view, considerable doubt arises as to the general applicability of either statement. R. U. M. Rao and his associates have demonstrated that while Precambrian terranes do have demonstrably lower heat flows than, say, Tertiary terranes, the data are not normally distributed and it is not possible to establish a negative correlation between heat flow and age in any rigorous statistical way. The scatter in the relation may be explained in terms of the variations in the duration, intensity and even the sign of continental thermotectonic events in contrast to the simple situation (creation of new oceanic lithosphere at mid-ocean ridges) which prevails in the oceans. The scatter also is partially attributable to the large and laterally variable radiogenic component of heat flow on continents. For a province for which a heat flow-heat production relation has been established, much of the scatter in surface heat flow due to crustal radiogenic heat production versus age is eliminated by determining reduced heat flow (surface heat flow minus radiogenic component) as a function of tectonic age, but much scatter remains, and it is still not possible to establish a heat flux-age relation in a rigorous way. Primarily because of the spatial variability in radiogenic heat production, no single geotherm can be used to characterize the thermal regime of a stable continental terrane. Thus, while some sites on stable continental blocks may have a geotherm fortuitously similar to that for old ocean basins, there is no reason to expect that this will be true generally, and many stable continental terranes will be characterized by geotherms markedly different from the geotherm for old ocean basins.