Groundwater recharge of carbonate aquifers of the Silesian-Cracow Triassic (southern Poland) under human impact

A Triassic carbonate unit has been intensively drained by zinc and lead ore mines and numerous borehole fields since the nineteenth century. Its groundwater recharge has increased due to: pumping of water from boreholes, mining activity, and urbanization. An approach to determine the amounts of the recharge at a variety of spatial scales is presented in the paper. Different methods were used to identify and quantify recharge components on a regional and local scale: mathematical modelling was performed for four aquifers included in an aquifer system, an analytical estimation based on the assumption that an average recharge is equal to the average discharge of the hydrogeological system—for six man-made drainage centres, and the method of water level fluctuation (WLF) was applied in one observation borehole. Results of modelling have been supplemented by observation of environmental tracers (δ¹⁸O, δ²H, ³H), noble gases temperatures, and ⁴He_exc in groundwater. The regional aquifer’s current recharge according to estimations performed by means of modelling varies from 39 to 101 mm/year on average. Depending on the aquifer site the average precipitation ranges from 779 to 864 mm/year. In the confined part of the aquifer average recharge ranges from 26 to 61 mm/year. Within outcrops average recharge varies from 96 to 370 mm/year. Current recharge estimated by the analytical method for man-made drainage centres varies from 158 up to 440 mm/year. High values are caused by different recharge sources like precipitation, induced leakage from shallow aquifers, and water losses from streams, water mains and sewer systems. Pumping of water, mining and municipal activities constitute additional factors accounting for the intensified recharge.     

Diamond formation in sulfide pyrrhotite-carbon melts: Experiments at 6.0–7.1 GPa and application to natural conditions

Experiments at 6.0–7.1 GPa and 1500–1700°C were carried out to explore the boundary conditions of diamond nucleation and growth in pyrrhotite-carbon melt-solutions. Pyrrhotite is one of the main sulfide minerals of the pyrrhotite-pentlandite-chalcopyrite assemblage of mantle rocks and primary inclusions in diamond. Solutions of carbon in sulfide melts oversaturated with respect to diamond at the expense of the dissolution of starting graphite (thermodynamically unstable phase) are formed owing to the difference between the solubilities of graphite and diamond, which increases under the influence of temperature gradients in experimental samples. We determined the fields of carbon solutions in pyrrhotite melt showing labile and metastable oversaturation with respect to diamond, which correspond to the spontaneous nucleation of the diamond phase and diamond growth on seeds, respectively. The linear growth rate of diamond in sulfide-carbon melts is rather high (on average, 10 μ/min during the first 1–2 min from the onset of spontaneous crystallization). The nucleation density is estimated as 180 grains per cubic centimeter. Diamonds crystallized from sulfide melts show octahedral and spinel twin shapes. Diamond polycrystals were synthesized for the first time from a sulfide medium as intergrowths of skeletal (edge) or “cryptocrystalline” microdiamonds, from 1 to 100 μm in size, their spinel twins and, occasionally, polysynthetic (star-shaped) twins. During diamond growth from sulfidecarbon melts on smooth faces of cuboctahedral diamond seeds synthesized in metal systems, smooth-faced layer-by-layer step-like growth was observed on their octahedral (111) faces, whereas growth on the (100) cubic faces produced rough-surfaced layers of intergrown micropyramids, whose axes were oriented normal to the (100) face. The obtained experimental results were applied to the problem of diamond genesis under the conditions of the Earth’s mantle in the framework of the model of carbonate-silicate parental melts with blebs of immiscible sulfide melts.     

Saturation of groundwaters with respect to minerals of the host rocks

Calculations of the saturation of groundwaters with respect to minerals of the rocks hosting these waters indicate that most of the analyzed groundwaters were saturates with respect to calcite, dolomite, and quartz. Brines of chloride-calcic composition were determined to be saturated with respect to calcite, whereas brines of chloride-sodic composition are saturated with respect to dolomite and quartz. The solution was simultaneously saturated with respect to six minerals for the association ankerite-calcite-dolomite-pyrite-quartz-strontianite. An increase in the number of minerals with respect to which solution is saturated is correlated with an increase in the diversity of types of groundwaters and an increase in the runoff rate. The paper proposes possible avenues for searches for relations between hydrogeological and geochemical parameters that make it possible to adapt the thermodynamic models to real geological-hydrogeological conditions. The research was centered on the testing of groundwaters for their saturation with respect to minerals of the rocks hosting these waters. This parameter plays a significant part in forming the geochemical type of natural waters because it reflects the crystallization of a mineral from a solution and, consequently, the removal of an element from the aqueous solution.     

Metamorphic rocks of the Murmansk domain (Kola Peninsula) as compared with the oldest rock associations of the northeastern Baltic shield,Canada, and Greenland

Rock associations characterized by heterogeneous sets of petrogeochemical parameters were compared by quantifying the degree of their similarity-dissimilarity and searching for discrimination trends between them. Using procedures specially developed for this purpose, it was demonstrated for the first time that the lithotectonic complexes of the Murmansk domain are fundamentally different from those of typical granulite-gneiss terrains and resemble the granite-greenstone terrains of the Baltic shield, Greenland, and Canada. Based on the whole data set, the Murmansk domain can be considered as a deeply eroded Archean granite-greenstone terrain retaining only the tonalite-trondhjemite-gneiss basement with abundant supracrustal enclaves. A trend of the compositional difference between the older and younger rock associations is similar to that between the tholeiitic and boninitic volcanic series. It was suggested that the petrogeochemical “age” trend reflects the initial stage of the compositional evolution of the metamagmatic rocks of the region from metamorphic rocks similar to tholeiites at the early stages to the Paleoproterozoic boninite-like rocks, which are believed to be linked to the unique PGE-bearing province of the northeastern Baltic shield. This implies that the specific metallogenic features of the region emerged already in the Archean, which supported the suggestion on the long duration of geological processes in the Early Precambrian.     

Li-Sr-Nd isotope signatures of the plume and cratonic lithospheric mantle beneath the margin of the rifted Tanzanian craton (Labait)

Lithium concentrations and isotopic compositions of olivine and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd of coexisting clinopyroxene from peridotite xenoliths from the Quaternary Labait volcano, Tanzania, document the influence of rift-related metasomatism on the ancient cratonic mantle. Olivines show negative correlations between Fo content and both δ⁷Li and Li concentrations. Olivines in iron-rich peridotites (Fo_85–87) have high Li concentrations (3.2–4.8 ppm) and heavy δ⁷Li (+5.2 to +6.6). In contrast, olivines in ancient, refractory peridotites have lower Li concentrations (∼2 ppm) and relatively light δ⁷Li (+2.6 to +3.5). This reflects mixing between ancient, refractory cratonic lithosphere and asthenosphere-derived rift magmas. A uniquely fertile, deformed, high-temperature garnet lherzolite, interpreted to be from the base of the lithosphere, has a ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of 0.7029 and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd of 0.51286, similar to HIMU oceanic basalts. It provides the best estimate of the Sr–Nd isotope composition of the upwelling mantle (i.e., plume, sensu lato) underlying this portion of the East African Rift, and is slightly less radiogenic compared to previous estimates of the plume that were based on rift basalts. Although elevated δ⁷Li are not exclusive to HIMU source regions, the data collectively indicate that the plume beneath Labait has HIMU characteristics in Sr, Nd and Li isotope composition. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

THERIA_G: a software program to numerically model prograde garnet growth

We present the software program THERIA_G, which allows for numerical simulation of garnet growth in a given volume of rock along any pressure–temperature–time (P–T–t) path. THERIA_G assumes thermodynamic equilibrium between the garnet rim and the rock matrix during growth and accounts for component fractionation associated with garnet formation as well as for intracrystalline diffusion within garnet. In addition, THERIA_G keeps track of changes in the equilibrium phase relations, which occur during garnet growth along the specified P–T–t trajectory. This is accomplished by the combination of two major modules: a Gibbs free energy minimization routine is used to calculate equilibrium phase relations including the volume and composition of successive garnet growth increments as P and T and the effective bulk rock composition change. With the second module intragranular multi-component diffusion is modelled for spherical garnet geometry. THERIA_G allows to simulate the formation of an entire garnet population, the nucleation and growth history of which is specified via the garnet crystal size frequency distribution. Garnet growth simulations with THERIA_G produce compositional profiles for the garnet porphyroblasts of each size class of a population and full information on equilibrium phase assemblages for any point along the specified P–T–t trajectory. The results of garnet growth simulation can be used to infer the P–T–t path of metamorphism from the chemical zoning of garnet porphyroblasts. With a hypothetical example of garnet growth in a pelitic rock we demonstrate that it is essential for the interpretation of the chemical zoning of garnet to account for the combined effects of the thermodynamic conditions of garnet growth, the nucleation history and intracrystalline diffusion. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.