Small faults and kink bands in the Nankai accretionary complex: Textural observations from Site 808 of ODP Leg 131

Abstract We present backscattered scanning electron microscope and petrographic microscope observations of deformed sediments from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 808 in order to better understand the dewatering and deformation history of the Nankai accretionary complex. This synthesis of deformation textures has three implications. First, the early structures that dominate the Nankai prism, small faults and kink bands, have very different electron microscope versus optical microscopic expressions. This observation is important to investigations of fine-grained sediment in both stable and active tectonic settings, in part, because these materials have often been studied almost exclusively by electron microscope methods. In sediments of this type, investigators often forego petrographic analysis because of the relative opacity of samples at normal (i.e. 30 pm) thin section thicknesses. Second, the textural observations we have compiled suggest that these deformation structures acted as 'single-event' pathways that contributed to diffusive dewatering of the prism. Third, our observations serve as a reference frame for the early tectonic structures that are important to the dewatering history of a 'sandy' accretionary prism.     

Test of AMS 14C dating of pollen concentrates using tephrochronology

Previous attempts to radiocarbon date sediments >10 kyr from the high rainfall region of Westland, New Zealand, a critical location for investigation of interhemispheric patterns of climate change, have been problematic. This study, building on recent work by Vandergoes and Prior ( 2003 ), shows that AMS ¹⁴C dating of pollen concentrates has potential to provide more reliable ages than other sediment constituents, including plant macrofossils. The method was applied to sediments from three sites containing the 22.6k ¹⁴C yr Kawakawa Tephra, which provided an independent test of the ¹⁴C ages. Although some minor laboratory contamination was detected in tests on background standards, the modelled relationship between sample mass and measured ¹⁴C content permitted an appropriate correction to be determined. Improved pollen concentrations derived by density separation between 1.4 and 1.2 specific gravity and sieving in the range 10–50 μm provided either older ages than other fractions of the same sample or, where in situ contamination was not evident, equivalent ages. Differences in degree of in situ contamination between depositional environments indicated that, in Westland, lake sites may be less susceptible to contamination by younger carbon than peat sites, where this process may be facilitated by root penetration into underlying sediments. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Helium in the Martian atmosphere: Thermal loss considerations

Helium concentrations in the Martian atmosphere are estimated assuming that the helium production on Mars, comparable to its production on Earth, via the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium, is in steady state equilibrium with its thermal escape. Although non-thermal losses would tend to reduce the estimated concentrations, these concentrations are not necessarily an upper limit since higher production rates and/or a possibly lower effective exospheric temperature over the solar activity cycle could increase them to even higher values. The computed helium concentration at the Martian exobase (200 km) is 8 × 10⁶ atoms cm^?3. Through the lower exosphere, the computed helium concentrations are 30–200 times greater than the Mariner-measured atomic hydrogen concentrations. It follows that helium may be the predominant constituent in the Martian lower exosphere and may well control the orbital lifetime of Mars-orbiting spacecraft. The estimated helium mixing ratio is greater at the Martian turbopause than at the terrestrial turbopause, and the helium column density in the lower Martian atmosphere may be comparable to that on Earth.