Molar tooth structures of the Neoarchean Monteville Formation, Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. I: Constraints on microcrystalline CaCO3 precipitation

Molar tooth (MT) structures are enigmatic, contorted millimetre‐ to decimetre‐long veins and spheroids of microcrystalline calcite that formed during very early diagenesis in Precambrian sediments. MT structures in the ca 2·6 Ga Monteville Formation are 600–800 Myr older than previously reported occurrences and establish that conditions necessary for MT genesis were met locally throughout much of the Precambrian. In the Monteville Formation, MT structures were formed shallow subtidally, extending to depths near storm wave base, in shale host sediments intercalated with storm‐generated carbonate sand lenses. They are filled with microcrystalline calcite and rare pyrite. Microcrystalline calcite identical to that in MT structures fills other pore space, including porosity between grains in carbonate sand lenses, moldic porosity in sand grains, sheet cracks in columnar stromatolites, and shallow cracks on sandy bedding planes. Relationships in the Monteville Formation demonstrate that microcrystalline CaCO₃ precipitated in fluid‐filled cracks and pores; microcrystalline calcite characteristics, as well as the paucity of carbonate mud in host rocks, are inconsistent with injection of lime mud as the origin of MT structures. Locally, MT cracks were filled by detrital sediment before or during precipitation. Precipitation occurred in stages, and MT CaCO₃ evolved from granular cores to a rigid mass of cores with overgrowths – allowing both plastic and brittle deformation of MT structures, as well as reworking of eroded MT structures as rigid clasts and lime mud. Crystal size distributions and morphology suggest that cores precipitated through nucleation, Ostwald ripening and size‐dependent crystal growth, whereas overgrowths formed during size‐independent crystal growth.     

Constitutive approach for rate‐sensitive anisotropic structured clays

This paper describes a constitutive approach to model the behavior of rate‐dependent anisotropic structured clay. Rate‐sensitivity is modeled using overstress viscoplasticity. Clay structure is treated as a viscous phenomenon whereby the viscosity of the undisturbed structured clay is initially very high and the viscosity degrades or decreases with plastic straining until the intrinsic or residual viscosity is reached. A microstructure tensor approach is used to make the structured viscosity anisotropic; whereas, the intrinsic viscosity is assumed to be isotropic. The behavior of the constitutive model is compared with the measured response of two clays (Gloucester and St. Vallier clay) from Eastern Canada during triaxial compression tests on specimens trimmed at different orientations to the vertical. The comparisons show that the constitutive framework is able to describe the anisotropic and rate‐sensitive response of both clays. The response of the model is also examined for the more general case of anisotropic consolidated triaxial compression and extension. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Zircon U–Pb age, trace element and Hf isotope composition of Kongling terrane in the Yangtze Craton: refining the timing of Palaeoproterozoic high-grade metamorphism

U–Pb age, trace element and Hf isotope compositions of zircon were analysed for a metasedimentary rock and two amphibolites from the Kongling terrane in the northern part of the Yangtze Craton. The zircon shows distinct morphological and chemical characteristics. Most zircon in an amphibolite shows oscillatory zoning, high Th/U and ¹⁷⁶Lu/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios, high formation temperature, high trace element contents, clear negative Eu anomaly, as well as HREE-enriched patterns, suggesting that it is igneous. The zircon yields a weighted mean ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb age of 2857 ± 8 Ma, representing the age of the magmatic protolith. The zircon in the other two samples is metamorphic. It has low Th/U ratios, low trace element concentrations, variable HREE contents (33.8 ≥ Lu_N≥2213; 14.7 ≤ Lu_N/Sm_N ≤ 354) and ¹⁷⁶Lu/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios (0.000030–0.001168). The data indicate that the zircon formed in the presence of garnet and under upper amphibolite facies conditions. The metamorphic zircon yields a weighted mean ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb age of 2010 ± 13 Ma. These results combined with previously obtained Palaeoproterozoic metamorphic ages suggest a c. 2.0 Ga Palaeoproterozoic collisional event in the Yangtze Craton, which may result from the assembly of the supercontinent Columbia. The zircon in two samples yields weighted mean two-stage Hf model ( T _DM2) ages of 3217 ± 110 and 2943 ± 50 Ma, respectively, indicating that their protoliths were mainly derived from Archean crust.     

Geology of Gjelsvikfjella and western Mühlig-Hofmannfjella, Dronning Maud Land, east Antarctica

As a part of the Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition 1984/85, geological mapping was performed in Gjelsvikfjella and western Mühlig-Hofmannfjella, Dronning Maud Land. The northern part of Gjelsvikfjella is dominated by the Jutulsessen metasupracrustals which have been intruded by a major gabbroic body and several generations of dykes. To the south the metasupracrustals gradually transform into the Risemedet migmatites. In western Mühlig-Hofmannfjella the bedrock is dominated by the large Svarthamaren Charnockite batholith. The batholith is bordered by the Snøtoa metamorphic complex outcropping to the south and west in Mühlig-Hofmannfjella and it is characterized by a high content of partly assimilated country rock inclusions. Mineral paragenesis and geothermometry/geobarometry suggest a two-stage tectonothermal-igneous history with an initial intermediate pressure, upper amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism followed by high temperature transformations related to the charnockite intrusion. The age of the initial tectonothermal event is probably about 1,100 Ma. Geochronological work in the present study (Rb/Sr whole rock) gave an age of 500 ± 24 Ma for the Svarthamaren Charnockite, interpreted to record the age of crystallization. Late brittle faulting and undeformed dolerite dykes outcropping in Jutulsessen are believed to be related to Mesozoic crustal stretching in the Jutulstraumen-Pencksøkket Rift Zone to the west.     

野生二粒小麦 Triticum dicoccoides抗杀锈病基因 YrH52分子定位的初步研究(英文)

主要对以色列野生二粒小麦赫尔蒙种群中分离获得的一个抗条锈病基因进行了分子定位研究 ,将源于赫尔蒙山具抗杀锈病的种系 T.dicoccides H52与普通的栽培种 Langdon进行杂交并创建了 F2 代遗传图。研究发现 H52种系抗条锈病的能力由一种显性基因控制 ,将其暂定名为 Yr H52。从 1 2 0个微卫星标记中 ,已经检测到来自亲本 91 %的多态性 ,而且从其中 56个微卫星分子标记中产生了 79个分离的位点 ,有 9个位点显示出了与 Yr H 52基因连锁 ,其重组率 0 .0 2～ 0 .3 5,遗传距离 2 .0 0～ 4 3 .3 7cm之间 ,L OD值 3 .56～ 54.2 2。由 1 0个微卫星位点和 Yr H52构建的染色体 1 B遗传图 ,其图距全长为 1 0 1 .5cm。Yr H52基因位于 Xgwm2 64 a和 Xgwm2 64 c之间 ,且与 Xgwm2 64 a、Xgwm1 8紧密连锁 ,两侧依次分别与 Xgwm1 3 1 a、Xgwm63 6b、Xgwm2 64 c、Xgwm4 0 3 a、Xgwm1 53、Xgwm550 a和 Xgwm1 2 4连锁。同时 ,Yr H52也与 REL P标记物 N or1紧密连锁 ,图距 1 .4 cm,L OD2 9.62。这显然与野生二粒小麦另一个抗条锈病基因 Yr1 5不同 ,研究证明 Yr1 5与 N or1图距是 1 1 .0 cm。     

Pathogenicity of vibrios in fish: An overview

Bacteria of the genus Vibrio are ubiquitously distributed in the marine environment. Due to the rapid expansion of intensive mariculture and the consequent deterioration of culture conditions, more and more Vibrio spp. have been recognized as pathogenic agents in outbreaks of vibriosis, a serious epizootic disease affecting most wild and farmed fish species worldwide, which has become the most important limiting factor for the development of intensive mariculture industry. Attempts have been made to understand the pathogenicity of vibrios in host fish with the ultimate aim of elucidating the best means for disease control. After an extensive literature survey of the recent advances in the field of fish vibriosis, the pathological changes, virulence factors and associated potential pathogenic mechanisms, transmission routes and related environmental factors involved in outbreak of vibriosis, as well as the controlling strategies are reviewed in the present paper.     

Cosmological implications of BL Lac objects

It has become clear in recent years that relativistic beaming is a good explanation for the BL Lac phenomenon. Of studies based on the relativistic beaming model of BL Lac objects, we note that the orientation of jet's axis to the line-of-sight is very small and, therefore, the observed flux emitted from a rapidly moving source is orders of magnitude higher than the flux in its rest-frame:F _obs = ^{3 +} F _intr, where is the bulk relativistic Doppler factor. Then the observed apparent magnitudem _v must be corrected for this effect. For our 39 samples, the corrected apparent magnitudem _v ^corr and logZ have a good correlation.     

Alteration in CM carbonaceous chondrites inferred from modal and chemical variations in matrix

The modal abundance of matrix in CM chondrites appears to vary from 57–85 vol%. The concentrations of volatile elements that should occur in matrix remain approximately constant despite differences in the proportions of matrix, suggesting that the differing matrix contents may not be real primary variations but are optical effects due to aqueous alteration processes that make other petrologic components unrecognizable. Apparent matrix content can be used as a qualitative measure of the degree of alteration experienced by each CM chondrite. Fe/Si ratios in matrices decrease progressively with increasing alteration due to the formation of new phyllosilicate phases with higher Mg/Fe ratios and optically recognizable opaque minerals that are not counted as matrix. The aqueous alteration process in CM chondrites appears to have been largely isochemical if the bulk meteorites are considered as the reacting systems, although depletion patterns and isotopic anomalies indicate open-system behavior for a few highly mobile components.     

A study on the polarimetric properties of various features using SIR-C data

Spaceborne Imaging Radar (SIR-C) data acquired over Gujarat, India in 1994 were processed and analysed using differnet techniques applicable to polarimetric SAR data such as polarization signatures, polarization index, decomposition of the signal and polarization phase difference and limited groundtruth data. It has been observed that multi-frequency polarimetric data enhances the potential of retrieving geo-physical parameters. The polarization signatures are found to vary with the nature of the target. Target decomposition of the returned signal will be useful for the classification of various features. Polarization Phase Difference (PPD) gives good information about the vegetation parameters.     

Origin of spongy textures in clinopyroxene and spinel from mantle xenoliths, Hessian Depression, Germany

Summary Spongy textures are observed in anhydrous Group 1 mantle xenoliths (harzburgite, lherzolite and wehrlite) hosted in Tertiary alkali basaltic lavas from the Hessian Depression, Germany. These textures are developed only on clinopyroxene and spinel, and occur as rims or cross-cutting veinlets and patches showing optical continuity with the host grain. They are often associated with pools of amorphous glassy material. There is no preferential development of spongy domains against the xenolith-lava contact suggesting that the host magma did not play any significant role in their formation. Spongy clinopyroxene and spinel occur in all rock types, but, are more pervasive in wehrlite. Chemically, spongy domains of clinopyroxene and spinel are more refractory than unaffected areas, which is consistent with their formation through a partial melting event. The associated glassy material shows chemical characteristics which suggest that the melt pools are genetically related to the development of the spongy textures. The partial melting event was probably triggered by the infiltration of a low-density fluid. The fluid may have evolved from a silicate melt responsible for the metasomatic Fe-enrichment recorded in wehrlite. In this context, the more pervasive development of spongy clinopyroxene in wehrlite may be explained by a higher concentration of the evolved fluid phase at proximity to its silicate melt source. Received March 15, 2000; revised version accepted September 6, 2001