U–Pb and Hf-isotope analysis of zircons in mafic xenoliths from Fuxian kimberlites: evolution of the lower crust beneath the North China craton

Mafic xenoliths from the Paleozoic Fuxian kimberlites in the North China craton include garnet granulite, and minor pyroxene amphibolite, metagabbro, anorthosite and pyroxenite. The formation conditions of the amphibolites are estimated at 745–820 °C and 7.6–8.8 Kb (25–30 km); the granulites probably are derived from greater depths in the lower crust. LAM-ICPMS U–Pb dating of zircons from four granulites reveals multiple age populations, recording episodes of magmatic intrusion and metamorphic recrystallisation. Concordant ages and upper intercept ages, interpreted as minimum estimates for the time of magmatic crystallisation, range from 2,620 to 2,430 Ma in three granulites, two amphibolites and two metagabbros. Lower intercept ages, represented by near-concordant zircons, are interpreted as reflecting metamorphic recrystallisation, and range from 1,927 to 1,852 Ma. One granulite contains two metamorphic zircon populations, dated at 1,927±55 Ma and 600–700 Ma. Separated minerals from one granulite and one amphibolite yield Sm–Nd isochron ages of 1,619±48 Ma (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd)i=0.51078), and 1,716±120 Ma (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd)i=0.51006), respectively. These ages are interpreted as recording cooling following metamorphic resetting; model ages for both samples are in the range 2.40–2.66 Ga. LAM-MC-ICPMS analyses of zircon show a range in ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf from 0.28116 to 0.28214, corresponding to a range of _Hf from –34 to +12. The relationships between ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb age and _Hf show that: (1) the granulites, amphibolites and metagabbro were derived from a depleted mantle source at 2.6–2.75 Ga; (2) zircons in most samples underwent recrystallisation and Pb loss for 100–200 Ma after magmatic crystallisation, consistent with a residence in the lower crust; (3) metamorphic zircons in several samples represent new zircon growth, incorporating Hf liberated from breakdown of silicates with high Lu/Hf; (4) in other samples metamorphic and magmatic zircons have identical ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf, and the younger ages reflect complete resetting of U–Pb systems in older zircons. The Fuxian mafic xenoliths are interpreted as the products of basaltic underplating, derived from a depleted mantle source in Neoarchean time, an important period of continental growth in the North China craton. Paleoproterozoic metamorphic ages indicate an important tectonic thermal event in the lower crust at 1.8–1.9 Ga, corresponding to the timing of collision between the Eastern and Western Blocks that led to the final assembly of the North China craton. The growth of metamorphic zircon at 600–700 Ma may record an asthenospheric upwelling in Neoproterozoic time, related to uplift and a regional disconformity in the North China craton.     

Wind tunnel simulation experiment and investigation on the electrification of sandstorms

~~Wind tunnel simulation experiment and investigation on the electrification of sandstorms~~     

Intercomparison of multiple statistical downscaling methods: multi-criteria model selection for South Korea

A number of statistical downscaling methodologies have been introduced to bridge the gap in scale between outputs of climate models and climate information needed to assess potential impacts at local and regional scales. Four statistical downscaling methods [bias-correction/spatial disaggregation (BCSD), bias-correction/constructed analogue (BCCA), multivariate adaptive constructed analogs (MACA), and bias-correction/climate imprint (BCCI)] are applied to downscale the latest climate forecast system reanalysis (CFSR) data to stations for precipitation, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature over South Korea. All methods are calibrated with observational station data for 19 years from 1973 to 1991 and validated for the more recent 19-year period from 1992 to 2010. We construct a comprehensive suite of performance metrics to inter-compare methods, which is comprised of five criteria related to time-series, distribution, multi-day persistence, extremes, and spatial structure. Based on the performance metrics, we employ technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and apply 10,000 different weighting combinations to the criteria of performance metrics to identify a robust statistical downscaling method and important criteria. The results show that MACA and BCSD have comparable skill in the time-series related criterion and BCSD outperforms other methods in distribution and extremes related criteria. In addition, MACA and BCCA, which incorporate spatial patterns, show higher skill in the multi-day persistence criterion for temperature, while BCSD shows the highest skill for precipitation. For the spatial structure related criterion, BCCA and MACA outperformed BCSD and BCCI. From the TOPSIS analysis, we found that MACA is the most robust method for all variables in South Korea, and BCCA and BCSD are the second for temperature and precipitation, respectively. We also found that the contribution of the multi-day persistence and spatial structure related criteria are crucial to ranking the skill of statistical downscaling methods.     

Experimental petrology constraints on the recycling of mafic cumulate: a focus on Cr-spinel from the Rum Eastern Layered Intrusion,Scotland

The ¹⁷⁶Lu–¹⁷⁶Hf and ¹⁴⁷Sm–¹⁴³Nd decay systems are routinely used to determine garnet (Grt)–whole-rock (WR) ages; however, the ¹⁷⁶Lu–¹⁷⁶Hf age of garnet is typically older than the ¹⁴⁷Sm–¹⁴³Nd age determined from the same aliquots. Here we present experimental data for Lu³⁺ and Hf⁴⁺ diffusion in garnet as functions of temperature, pressure and oxygen fugacity and show that the diffusivity of Hf⁴⁺ in almandine/spessartine garnet is significantly slower than that of Lu³⁺. The diffusive closure temperature (T _C) of Hf⁴⁺ is significantly higher than that of Nd³⁺, and although this property is partly responsible for the observed ¹⁷⁶Lu–¹⁷⁶Hf and ¹⁴⁷Sm–¹⁴³Nd Grt–WR age discrepancies, the difference between the T _C-s of Lu³⁺ and Hf⁴⁺ could lead to apparent Grt–WR ¹⁷⁶Lu–¹⁷⁶Hf ages that are skewed from the age of Hf⁴⁺ closure in garnet. In addition, the slow diffusivity of Hf⁴⁺ indicates that the bulk of metamorphic garnets retain a substantial fraction of prograde radiogenic ¹⁷⁶Hf throughout peak metamorphic conditions, a phenomenon that further complicates the interpretation of ¹⁷⁶Lu–¹⁷⁶Hf garnet ages and invalidates the use of analytical T _C expressions. We argue that the diffusion of trivalent rare earth elements in garnet becomes much faster when their concentration level falls below a few hundred ppm, as in the experiments of Tirone et al. (Geochim Cosmochim Acta 69: 2385–2398, 2005), and further argue that this low-concentration mechanism is appropriate for modeling the susceptibility of ¹⁴⁷Sm–¹⁴³Nd garnet ages to diffusive resetting.     

Intrinsic groundwater vulnerability determination at the aquifer scale: a methodology coupling travel time estimation and rating methods

Groundwater vulnerability has been subject of much research due to the valuable information it provides concerning groundwater protection and exploitation potential. Up to now, most groundwater vulnerability studies adopt subjective systems of rating the various factors and subsequently, their results are often ambiguous and contradicting. Within the present study a methodology for the estimation of intrinsic groundwater vulnerability at the aquifer scale is presented. The methodology is based on travel time estimation from specified sources of pollution to the aquifer. Besides the deterministic calculation of travel times, the methodology provides a rating system for each pollution source, based on its relative severity and the estimated threat that it poses to the aquifer. Therefore, it can be regarded as a hybrid method that couples the advantages provided by the physically based methods with those of the subjective rating systems. The methodology is applied to the Neon Sidirochorion aquifer, Northeastern Greece, an overexploited aquifer where river waters, sea waters and lake waters interact, causing groundwater quality deterioration to the aquifer. The results indicated that the proposed groundwater vulnerability assessment methodology is well capturing pollution related to saltwater intrusion and agricultural activities, while it is concluded that the conceptual model is significantly affecting the vulnerability assessment results and therefore has to be previously developed.     

断裂带中的流体活动及其作用

大量证据表明活动断裂带中存在大量流体,不仅可以造成断裂带强度的变化,而且可以导致有效正应力减小,进而诱发地震。在野外观察与模拟的基础上,许多模式被用来解释这一现象。本文简要介绍了有关断裂带特征和分类、流体的来源和运动,以及流体对断裂带的影响和对地震的触发作用等方面的研究进展。     

Evaluation of global climate model on performances of precipitation simulation and prediction in the Huaihe River basin

Using climate models with high performance to predict the future climate changes can increase the reliability of results. In this paper, six kinds of global climate models that selected from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) under Representative Concentration Path (RCP) 4.5 scenarios were compared to the measured data during baseline period (1960–2000) and evaluate the simulation performance on precipitation. Since the results of single climate models are often biased and highly uncertain, we examine the back propagation (BP) neural network and arithmetic mean method in assembling the precipitation of multi models. The delta method was used to calibrate the result of single model and multimodel ensembles by arithmetic mean method (MME-AM) during the validation period (2001–2010) and the predicting period (2011–2100). We then use the single models and multimodel ensembles to predict the future precipitation process and spatial distribution. The result shows that BNU-ESM model has the highest simulation effect among all the single models. The multimodel assembled by BP neural network (MME-BP) has a good simulation performance on the annual average precipitation process and the deterministic coefficient during the validation period is 0.814. The simulation capability on spatial distribution of precipitation is: calibrated MME-AM > MME-BP > calibrated BNU-ESM. The future precipitation predicted by all models tends to increase as the time period increases. The order of average increase amplitude of each season is: winter > spring > summer > autumn. These findings can provide useful information for decision makers to make climate-related disaster mitigation plans.     

A Mössbauer study of pseudotachylytes: redox conditions during seismogenic faulting

The redox conditions during frictional melting provide information on the physical and chemical conditions during seismic slip in the crust. Here we examine frictional melts from five localities by analyzing host rocks and corresponding pseudotachylytes using Mössbauer spectroscopy. The faults examined are located at South Mountain, Arizona; Fort Foster, Maine (two localities); Long Ridge fault, North Carolina; and the Homestake shear zone, Colorado. The main iron-bearing phases in the pseudotachylytes are phyllosilicates (biotite, muscovite and clays) and iron oxides (magnetite and hematite) and minor pyrite. The ferrous/ferric ratios of the phyllosilicates in the host rocks are the same as those in the pseudotachylytes, except for the hematite-bearing pseudotachylyte from the Long Ridge fault, which is more oxidized. The magnetites in the host rocks and the corresponding pseudotachylytes have different ferric and ferrous iron distributions, which is attributed to different cation chemistry, rather than redox conditions. With the exception of the South Mountain locality, the ferric/ferrous ratios of the micas are interpreted to record the primary redox state of the pseudotachylyte melt as the calculated oxygen fugacities are consistent with magnetite and hematite equilibria. Pyrite-bearing pseudotachylytes plot ~0–1 log₁₀ units above the fayalite-magnetite-quartz (FMQ) buffer. Magnetite-bearing pseudotachylytes plot ~2–4 log₁₀ units above the FMQ buffer, and hematite-bearing pseudotachylytes plot 3.5 log₁₀ units above the hematite-magnetite (HM) buffer. Hematite-bearing pseudotachylytes, together with previous oxygen isotope data, are inferred to represent melting in the presence of externally derived pressurized water. Other localities are inferred to represent melting under rock-buffered, closed system, conditions. If the localities studied are representative of seismogenic faulting, the calculated oxygen fugacities indicate that, in the system C–O–H–S, H₂O and CO₂ should be the dominant fluid species. This is the first detailed study of the redox state of pseudotachylytes.     

Impacts of the two types of El Niño on Pacific tropical cyclone activity

It is well known that Tropical cyclone(TC) activities over the Pacific are affected by El Nino events. In most studies El Nino phenomena have been separated into east Pacific warming(EPW) and central Pacific warming(CPW) based on the location of maximum SST anomaly. Since these two kinds of El Nino have different impacts on Pacific tropical cyclone activities, this study investigates different features of TC activities and the genesis potential index(GPI) during EPW years and CPW years. Four contrib- uting factors, i.e., the low-level absolute vorticity, the relative humidity, the potential intensity and the vertical wind shear, are exam- ined to determine which factors are most important in causing the anomalous TC activities. Our results show that during EPW years in July–August(JA0), TC activities are more frequent with stronger intensity over the Western North Pacific(WNP) and Eastern North Pacific(ENP). The maximum anomaly center of TC activities then drifts eastward significantly in September–October(SO0). However, centers of anomalous TC activity barely change from JA0 to SO0 during CPW years. In January–February–March(JFM1) of the decaying years of warming events, TC frequency and intensity both have positive anomaly over the South Pacific. The anoma- lies in EPW years have larger amplitude and wider spatial distribution than those in CPW years. These anomalous activities of TC are associated with GPI anomaly and the key factors affecting GPI anomaly for each ocean basin are quite different.     

A remote sensing model for monitoring soil evaporation based on differential thermal inertia and its validation

To develop geosciences quantification and multi-dimensional researches will be an inevitable trend in the 21st century. The interaction between the land surface and the atmosphere not only serves as an important component in geosciences quantification, bu…