Sn-polymetallic greisen-type deposits associated with late-stage rapakivi granites, Brazil: fluid inclusion and stable isotope characteristics

Tin-polymetallic greisen-type deposits in the Itu Rapakivi Province and Rondônia Tin Province, Brazil are associated with late-stage rapakivi fluorine-rich peraluminous alkali-feldspar granites. These granites contain topaz and/or muscovite or zinnwaldite and have geochemical characteristics comparable to the low-P sub-type topaz-bearing granites. Stockworks and veins are common in Oriente Novo (Rondônia Tin Province) and Correas (Itu Rapakivi Province) deposits, but in the Santa Bárbara deposit (Rondônia Tin Province) a preserved cupola with associated bed-like greisen is predominant. The contrasting mineralization styles reflect different depths of formation, spatial relationship to tin granites, and different wall rock/fluid proportions. The deposits contain a similar rare-metal suite that includes Sn (±W, ±Ta, ±Nb), and base-metal suite (Zn–Cu–Pb) is present only in Correas deposit. The early fluid inclusions of the Correas and Oriente Novo deposits are (1) low to moderate-salinity (0–19 wt.% NaCl eq.) CO₂-bearing aqueous fluids homogenizing at 245–450 °C, and (2) aqueous solutions with low CO₂, low to moderate salinity (0–14 wt.% NaCl eq.), which homogenize between 100 and 340 °C. In the Santa Bárbara deposit, the early inclusions are represented by (1) low-salinity (5–12 wt.% NaCl eq.) aqueous fluids with variable CO₂ contents, homogenizing at 340 to 390 °C, and (2) low-salinity (0–3 wt.% NaCl eq.) aqueous fluid inclusions, which homogenize at 320–380 °C. Cassiterite, wolframite, columbite–tantalite, scheelite, and sulfide assemblages accompany these fluids. The late fluid in the Oriente Novo and Correas deposit was a low-salinity (0–6 wt.% NaCl eq.) CO₂-free aqueous solution, which homogenizes at (100–260 °C) and characterizes the sulfide–fluorite–sericite association in the Correas deposit. The late fluid in the Santa Bárbara deposit has lower salinity (0–3 wt.% NaCl eq.) and characterizes the late-barren-quartz, muscovite and kaolinite veins. Oxygen isotope thermometry coupled with fluid inclusion data suggest hydrothermal activity at 240–450 °C, and 1.0–2.6 kbar fluid pressure at Correas and Oriente Novo. The hydrogen isotope composition of breccia-greisen, stockwork, and vein fluids (δ¹⁸O_quartz from 9.9‰ to 10.9‰, δD_H2O from 4.13‰ to 6.95‰) is consistent with a fluid that was in equilibrium with granite at temperatures from 450 to 240 °C. In the Santa Bárbara deposit, the inferred temperatures for quartz-pods and bed-like greisens are much higher (570 and 500 °C, respectively), and that for the cassiterite-quartz-veins is 415 °C. The oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of greisen and quartz-pods fluids (δ¹⁸O_qtz-H2O=5.5–6.1‰) indicate that the fluid equilibrated with the albite granite, consistent with a magmatic origin. The values for mica (δ¹⁸O_mica-H2O=3.3–9.8‰) suggest mixing with meteoric water. Late muscovite veins (δ¹⁸O_qtz-H2O=−6.4‰) and late quartz (δ¹⁸O_mica-H2O=−3.8‰) indicate involvement of a meteoric fluid. Overall, the stable isotope and fluid inclusion data imply three fluid types: (1) an early orthomagmatic fluid, which equilibrated with granite; (2) a mixed orthomagmatic-meteoric fluid; and (3) a late hydrothermal meteoric fluid. The first two were responsible for cassiterite, wolframite, and minor columbite–tantalite precipitation. Change in the redox conditions related to mixing of magmatic and meteoric fluids favored important sulfide mineralization in the Correas deposit.     

Le genre Culicia (Scléractiniaire): systématique, écologie et biogéographie au Cénozo?que

Resume. Historiquement, le genre Culicia (Anthozoaire Scléractiniaire) n’était connu, jusqu’à Chevalier (1961), qu’à partir du Burdigalien de Basse-Provence (France). L’examen de récoltes récentes en Aquitaine et de diverses collections montre que l’espèce Culicia parasita (MICHELIN 1847) existe en fait dans cette région depuis l’Oligocène (Chattien), ce qui représente une notable extension de l’éventail stratigraphique du genre. Cette espèce est largement illustrée ici, à partir de spécimens de chaque étage où elle a été reconnue, et des données paléoécologiques sont fournies. Par ailleurs, grace à une révision bibliographique la plus complète possible des références concernant le genre Culicia, et à de nouvelles récoltes effectuées dans le Néogène de l’ouest de la France et de Méditerranée, le hiatus stratigraphique existant dans sa répartition entre le Miocène moyen d’Atlantique–Est et le Pliocène–Quaternaire d’Australie est désormais comblé en grande partie. La question des relations phylétiques possibles entre les espèces fossiles et actuelles de Culicia est posée. Une carte de migration biogéographique est proposée, incluant tous les taxons du genre.      

Influence of pH on the interlayer cationic composition and hydration state of Ca-montmorillonite: Analytical chemistry, chemical modelling and XRD profile modelling study

The hydration state of a <2 μm fraction of Ca-saturated SWy-2 montmorillonite was characterised after rapid equilibration (3 hours) under pH-controlled conditions (0.1-12.6 pH range). The solution composition was monitored together with the interlayer composition and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were recorded on oriented preparations. Experimental XRD patterns were then fitted using a trial-and-error procedure to quantify the relative proportions of layers with different hydration states.The montmorillonite is mostly bi-hydrated in basic and near-neutral conditions whereas it is mostly mono-hydrated at low pH. The transition from the bi-hydrated to the mono-hydrated state occurs through very heterogeneous structures. However, the proportion of the different layer types determined from XRD profile modelling and that derived from chemical modelling using Phreeqc2 code strictly coincide. This correlation shows that the hydration modification is induced by a H₃O⁺-for-Ca²⁺ exchange at low pH, the two species being distributed in different interlayers. This layer-by-layer exchange process occurs randomly in the layer stack.Under alkaline conditions, results from XRD profile modelling and from near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (NIR-DRS) clearly demonstrate that there is no CaOH⁺-for-Ca²⁺ exchange at high pH. The apparent increase in Ca sorption in smectite interlayers with increasing pH is thus probably related to the precipitation of Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate (CSH) phases, which also accounts for the decrease in Si concentration under high-pH conditions. This precipitation is thermodynamically favoured.     

Knab Sampling Window for InSAR Data Interpolation

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar processing requires interpolating a slave image onto a master one. Since the signals requiring interpolation are limited in both time and bandwidth, the Knab sampling window provides an almost optimal and viable interpolation kernel. Its performance in terms of coherence preservation and interferometric phase error as a function of the number of retained samples and oversampling factor are shown.     

Low-latitude “dusty events” vs. high-latitude “icy Heinrich events”

It has been proposed that tropical events could have participated in the triggering of the classic, high-latitude, iceberg-discharge Heinrich events (HE). We explore low-latitude Heinrich events equivalents at high resolution, in a piston core recovered from the tropical north-western African margin. They are characterized by an increase of total dust, lacustrine diatoms and fibrous lacustrine clay minerals. Thus, low-latitude events clearly reflect severe aridity events that occurred over Africa at the Saharan latitudes, probably induced by southward shifts of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone. At a first approximation, it seems that there is more likely synchronicity between the high-latitude Heinrich Events (HEs) and low-latitude events (LLE), rather than asynchronous behaviours.     

Thermal re-emission effects on GPS satellites

Highly precise satellite-derived coordinates depend on accurate orbit predictions, which cannot be achieved with purely empirical models. Global positioning system (GPS) satellites undergo several periodic perturbing forces that have to be modeled and understood. In this scenario, small non-gravitational forces can no longer be neglected when the purpose of the orbital analysis is to obtain accurate results (Vilhena de Moraes 1994). Together with solar radiation pressure, thermal re-emission effects due to solar heating and Earth albedo are the two most important non-gravitational effects. While solar radiation pressure is widely understood, our knowledge about thermal re-emission effects on GPS satellites is in its infancy. Few models have been proposed in recent years and despite the interest of the scientific community, there is a lack of detailed results concerning the magnitude and the behavior of such forces. The aim of this work is to provide a thermal re-emission force model for GPS satellites, simple enough to minimize the problem of modeling a satellite of complex shape with several components on its surface, but accurate enough to provide an estimate of the magnitude and the behavior of these forces, as well as to provide some input to the present knowledge about photon thrust on GPS satellites. Some results of this work point to the fact that thermal re-emission effects are good candidates to partially explain the Y-bias for GPS satellites.     

Curie Temperature Analyses of Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Pelagic Limestones

Summary. Magnetic extracts were prepared from samples of Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous pelagic limestones from France and Spain. Thermomagnetic analysis of the magnetic extracts using a microbalance required careful monitoring of base weight changes during heating. Heating in argon gas atmosphere induced production of magnetite during heating while slight oxidation occurred during heating in air. the dominant Curie temperature detected by the thermomagnetic analyses was the 585°C Curie temperature of magnetite. the 680°C Curie temperature of haematite was only detected when isothermal remanent magnetism (IRM) data indicated large concentrations of haematite. Even when IRM data indicated its presence, the thermomagnetic analyses did not detect the Neel temperature of goethite. Although thermomagnetic analyses of magnetic extracts provide more direct identification of the dominant, strongly ferromagnetic minerals, IRM acquisition and subsequent thermal demagnetization is a superior technique in detecting high coercivity, weakly ferromagnetic minerals such as goethite and haematite.     

ON THE POSSIBLE NUMBER AND MASS OF FRAGMENTS FROM PUŁTUSK METEORITE SHOWER, 1868

The earlier efforts to approximate the total number and mass of fragments from Pu?tusk meteorite shower 1868 have been found unsatisfactory With the use of the field data of Samsonowicz and the sorting equation after Frost, differential expressions approximating the mass and number of fragments are derived. These expressions numerically integrated over the elliptical strewnfield area lead to the estimates ～ 1.8 times 10⁵ and ～ 2 times 10⁶ g for the total number and mass of fragments respectively. The meaning of the obtained results is discussed.