Petrogenesis of main group pallasite meteorites based on relationships among texture,mineralogy, and geochemistry

Main group pallasite meteorites are samples of a single early magmatic planetesimal, dominated by metal and olivine but containing accessory chromite, sulfide, phosphide, phosphates, and rare phosphoran olivine. They represent mixtures of core and mantle materials, but the environment of formation is poorly understood, with a quiescent core–mantle boundary, violent core–mantle mixture, or surface mixture all recently suggested. Here, we review main group pallasite data sets and petrologic characteristics, and present new observations on the low‐MnO pallasite Brahin that contains abundant fragmental olivine, but also rounded and angular olivine and potential evidence of sulfide–phosphide liquid immiscibility. A reassessment of the literature shows that low‐MnO and high‐FeO subgroups preferentially host rounded olivine and low‐temperature P₂O₅‐rich phases such as the Mg‐phosphate farringtonite and phosphoran olivine. These phases form after metal and silicate reservoirs back‐react during decreasing temperature after initial separation, resulting in oxidation of phosphorus and chromium. Farringtonite and phosphoran olivine have not been found in the common subgroup PMG, which are mechanical mixtures of olivine, chromite with moderate Al₂O₃ contents, primitive solid metal, and evolved liquid metal. Lower concentrations of Mn in olivine of the low‐MnO PMG subgroup, and high concentrations of Mn in low‐Al₂O₃ chromites, trace the development and escape of sulfide‐rich melt in pallasites and the partially chalcophile behavior for Mn in this environment. Pallasites with rounded olivine indicate that the core–mantle boundary of their planetesimal may not be a simple interface but rather a volume in which interactions between metal, silicate, and other components occur.     

水下喷发火山碎屑岩储层特征及主控因素:以新西兰Taranaki盆地中新世Kora火山为例

新西兰Taranaki盆地中新世Kora火山是海底喷发形成的碎屑岩型火山,可代表浅埋藏火山岩的储层特征.本文根据5口钻井的孔隙度、渗透率、孔隙孔径和铸体薄片开展Kora火山的储层特征、储集空间组成、缝宽以及原生和次生孔隙之间关系的分析.研究结果如下:(1)储集空间主要为次生孔隙,然后是裂缝和原生孔隙;Kora火山具有高...     

Physiological responses of transplants of the freshwater angiosperm Vallisneria americana along a salinity gradient in the Caloosahatchee Estuary (Southwestern Florida)

Fluctuations in freshwater input may affect the physiology and survival of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) occurring in oligoaline to mesohaline estuarine regions. Controls on the distribution of the freshwater angiosperm Vallisneria americana, were investigated by transplanting ramets. Pots (3.8-1) containing ramets were distributed among four sites (upstream site [least saline], donor site, near downstream site, and far downstream site [most saline]) in the Caloosahatchee Estuary (Southwest Florida) during wet (May–August) and dry (October–February) seasons. During 2–4 mo of each season, physiological indicators were monitored, including photosynthesis, glutamine synthetase activity, and protein content in shoots, and carbohydrates and total nitrogen and carbon in shoot and subterranean tissues. Where the physical environment (light or salinity) was suboptimal, all physiological indices, except photosynthetic rate, showed similar stress responses, which ranged from a slow decline to a rapid drop in physiological function. Levels of soluble carbohydrates decreased in response to unfavorable conditions more rapidly than did insoluble carbohydrates. Shoot protein of V. americana declined prior to transplant death, suggesting that measuring protein content may provide a rapid assessment of physiological health. V. americana transplants at the low-salinity upstream site died during both wet and dry season experiments, likely in response to light limitation and/or partial burial by sediments. At the far downstream site, death occurred within 2–4 wk, and was attributable to elevated salinities (>ca. 15‰). Comparison of physiological responses with salinity and light regimes at the donor and near downstream sites suggest that light may ameliorate salinity stress. This study demonstrates that V. americana, nominally classed as a freshwater macrophyte, is capable of a remarkable degree of halotolerance.     

Powers of engagement: on being engaged, being indifferent; and urban life

Summary This paper explores the dynamics of engagement and disengagement within urban space. It argues that a certain capacity to encounter the world around the self in an active, creative way is central to the self's ability to recognize and care about the places it inhabits and the people encountered within those places. Drawing on the work of Donald Winnicott and Jessica Benjamin, it outlines a framework of self-other psycho-dynamics through which this active, creative encountering may be understood, and examines the violence of indifference that occurs when this everyday creativity is absent.     

Estimating the Time Since Final Stabilization of a Perched Dune Field Along Lake Superior

The Nodaway dune field is perched along Lake Superior in Upper Michigan. This study uses absolute and relative‐age dating methods to test the hypothesis that the dune field finally stabilized after the Nipissing high stand, about 4,000 years ago. Surface soils on snouts of all dunes are moderately developed Spodosols, indicating that dunes stabilized within a few hundred years of each other. One thermoluminescence date provided an age of 8 ka from soil parent material, but is probably overestimated due to residual thermoluminescence. Subsequent optical stimulated luminescence and accelerator mass spectrometry age estimates indicate that the most recent accumulation of sand occurred between ?3.7 and 3.0 ka. This interval suggests one of three possibilities: 1) that the dune field was reactivated during the Algoma high stand and then stabilized; 2) that the dune field stabilized gradually, probably as sand supply diminished after the Nipissing high stand; and 3) that a combination of these two processes occurred.     

Flow balances in St. Andrew Bay revealed through hydrodynamic simulations

The circulation patterns in St. Andrew Bay, Florida are revealed through the application of a well-tested, extensively used three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. A high resolution grid resolving both the horizontal and vertical directions is used with a systematically developed set of forcing functions to simulate conditions over a full year. Water levels at the three open boundaries are deduced from a year-long deployment of pressure gauges, and freshwater loadings are based upon drainage basin characteristics and precipitation measurements. Model validation involves comparisons with hydrographic casts taken at twelve stations distributed throughout the bay at monthly intervals. The relative average error between the observed and model-predicted salinity is 15% for the surface of the water column and 4% for the bottom. The annual net flow balance consists of an influx of water at the two Intracoastal Waterway open boundaries, with that water exiting to the Gulf of Mexico. An average of about 100 m³ s⁻¹ enters from East Bay and about 40 m³ s⁻¹ enters through West Bay. On shorter time scales, the flow balance is quite variable both in terms of magnitude and direction. This study also presents methods to overcome the paucity of data that is usually available for the development of such a model. These include techniques to take bottom pressure data sets with short gaps and create reliable sea surface elevation boundary conditions and to take precipitation data and drainage basin characteristics and produce estimates of freshwater inflows.     

Estuaries of the South Atlantic coast of North America: Their geographical signatures

Estuaries of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain are dominated by shallow meso-tidal bar-built systems interspersed with shallow sounds and both low flow coastal plain and high flow piedmont riverine systems. Three general geographical areas can be discriminated: the sounds of North Carolina; the alternating series of riverine and ocean dominated bar-built systems of South Carolina, Georgia, and northeast Florida, and the subtropical bar-built estuaries of the Florida southeast coast. The regional climate ranges from temperate to subtropical with sea level rise and hurricanes having a major impact on the region's estuaries because of its low and relatively flat geomorphology. Primary production is highest in the central region. Seagrasses are common in the northern and southern most systems, while intertidal salt marshes composed ofSpartina alterniflora reach their greatest extent and productivity in South Carolina and Georgia. Nuisance blooms (cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, and cryptomonads) occur more frequently in the northern and extreme southern parts of the region. Fishery catches are highest in the North Carolina and Florida areas. Human population growth with its associated urbanization reaches a maximum in Florida and it is thought that the long-term sustainability of the Florida coast for human habitation will be lost within the next 25 years. Tidal flushing appears to play an important role in mitigating anthropogenic inputs in systems of moderate to high tidal range, i.e., the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. The most pressing environmental problems for the estuaries of the southeastern Atlantic coast seem to be nutrient loading and poor land use in North Carolina and high human population density and growth in Florida. The future utilization of these estuarine systems and their services will depend on the development of improved management strategies based on improved data quality.