Sea-Level Changes and δO Record for the Past 34,000 yr from Mayotte Reef, Indian Ocean

New sea-level and δ¹⁸O curves for the past 34,000 yr, based on uranium–thorium chronology, are proposed for the southwestern part of the Indian Ocean. The archives include cores drilled from onshore coral reefs and submersed samples from foreslope corals of Mayotte in the Comoro Islands. The Mayotte sea-level curve shows a lowstand of 145 ± 5 m below the present level during the last glacial maximum dated at 18,400 yr. This lowstand is supported by the maximum¹⁸O enrichment in the coral colonies. The residual signal (Δδ¹⁸O), controlled by sea-surface temperature changes, indicates that surface waters 18,400 yr ago were approximately 5°C cooler than present. The deglacial sea-level rise is clearly recorded, with a mean rate of about 1.7 cm yr⁻¹between 18,400 and 10,000 yr ago. The deglaciation phase is characterized by a strong¹⁸O depletion marked by two pulses related to meltwater discharges into the North Atlantic Ocean but also characterized by responses specific to the tropical Indian Ocean.     

Globular clusters as microlensing targets

We investigate the possibility of using globular clusters as targets for microlensing searches. Such searches will be challenging and require more powerful telescopes than now employed, but are feasible in the near future. Although expected event rates are low, we show that the wide variety of lines of sight to globular clusters greatly enhances the ability to distinguish between halo models using microlensing observations as compared with LMC/SMC observations alone. In particular, the halo core radius and power-law exponent can be determined with good accuracy.     

Origin of Archean lamprophyre dykes,Superior Province,Canada: rare earth element and Nd−Sr isotopic evidence

Hornblende- and clinopyroxene-phyric lamprophyre dykes exposed in the Roaring River Complex, Superior Province are alkaline, nepheline-normative, basaltic compositions (>50 wt% SiO₂), that range from primitive to fractionated [Mg/(Mg + total Fe)=0.66–0.40; Ni=200–35 ppm], and which have high abundances of light rare earth elements (REE) [(Ce/Yb)_n=16–26, Ce_n=60–300; n = chondrite normalized], Sr (870–1,800 ppm), P₂O₅ (0.4–1.3 wt%), and Ba (150–900 ppm). Crystal fractionation of the lamprophyres produced coeval gabbro and clinopyroxenite cumulate bodies. A whole-rock Sm–Nd isochron for lamprophyres and gabbro-pyroxenite yields a crystallization age of 2,667±51 Ma Ma (I=0.50929±0.0004; _Nd = + 2.3 0.7). Whole-rock Sr isotope data are scattered, but suggest an initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.7012, similar to bulk Earth. The elevated levels of light REEs and Sr in the lamprophyres were not due to crustal contamination or mixing with contemporaneous monzodioritic magmas, but a result of partial melting of a mantle source which was enriched in these and other large-ion-lithophile elements (LILEs) shortly before melting. The lamprophyres were contemporaneous with mantle-derived, high-Mg, LILE-enriched monzodiorite to granodiorite of the Archean sanukitoid suite. Both suites have concave-downward light REE profiles, suggesting that depleted mantle was common to their source regions, but the higher light REE abundances, higher Ba/La ratios, and lower _Nd values (+1.3±0.3) of the parental monzodiorites suggest a more enriched source. The lamprophyres and high-Mg monzodiorites were derived from a mineralogically and compositionally heterogeneous, LILE-enriched mantle lithosphere that may have been part of a mantle wedge above a subducting plate in an arc environment.     

Evolution des hydrocarbures,des peuplements bacteriens et microphytiques dans les sediments des marais maritimes de l'iie grande pollues par l'amoco cadiz: 1, evolution des hydrocarbures et des bacteries

The evolution of hydrocarbons in sediments was studied from 1978 to 1980 at eight stations in the Ile Grande marshes (Brittany) polluted by the Amoco Cadiz oil spill. Generally, in 1980 (except for one heavily polluted site) the amounts of hydrocarbons were found to be far less important than in 1978 and sometimes biogenic hydrocarbons were found. In the superficial layer of the sediments biodegradation processes were generally important with the preferential degradation of n-alkanes. On the other hand, aromatic hydrocarbons seem not to have been altered after three years. Degradation of percolated hydrocarbons proceeds more slowly than in the surface layer. The number of degrading bacteria decreases when n-alkanes disappear.     

Comparative toxicity of drilling muds: role of chromium and petroleum hydrocarbons

Samples of used drilling muds collected during the course of a single well drilling operation exhibited different degrees of acute toxicity to sheepshead minnows and grass shrimp. For moulting grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, the 96-h LC₅₀'s were 360 to 14 560 ppm (μl/litre); many of these values were considerably lower than those reported from previous drilling mud assays. However, when some of the muds used in this study were tested on sheepshead minnows, Cyprinodon variegatus, the resulting 96-h LC₅₀'s (6300 to 100 000ppm) were well within the range of previously reported values.Although a number of the drilling mud samples had relatively high amounts of chromium due to the addition of sodium chromate, there was a low correlation between chromium concentration and toxicity. In only three drilling muds could chromium content alone account for the observed toxicities. Furthermore, chemical analyses revealed the presence of No. 2 fuel oil like petroleum hydrocarbons in the mud samples. Based on the results of toxicity tests with No. 2 fuel oil and the concentrations of oil present in the muds, the toxicity of the mud samples to grass shrimp appears to be largely attributable to the petroleum hydrocarbon content.     

Ice-melt collapse pits and associated features in the 1991 lahar deposits of Volcán Hudson,Chile: criteria to distinguish eruption-induced glacier melt

In subaerial volcaniclastic sequences structures formed by ice blocks can provide information about a volcano's history of lahar generation by glacier melt. At Volcán Hudson in Chile, catastrophic lahars were initiated by eruption-induced melting of glacier ice in August and October 1991. They transported large ice blocks 50 km down the Rio de los Huemules valley to the sea. Large current crescents with lee-side lenses were formed where ice blocks were deposited during waning stages of the flood. When stranded blocks of ice melted, they left cone-shaped and ring-shaped heaps of ice-rafted debris on the sediment surface. Several hundred ice blocks were completely buried within the aggrading lahar sediment, and when these melted circular collapse pits formed in the sediment. Collapse types included subsided coherent blocks of sediment bounded by an outward-dipping ring-fracture, trapdoor structures with horseshoe-shaped fractures, downsag pits with centroclinal dips locally up to 60°, pits with peripheral graben and crevasses, piecemeal (highly fragmented) collapse structures and funnel-shaped pits containing disaggregated sediment. A sequence of progressive collapse is inferred in which initial downsag and subsidence on an outward-dipping ring fracture produces a small diameter pit. This is followed by widening of the pit by progressive development of concentric ring fractures and downsag outside the early formed pit, and by collapse of overhanging pit walls to produce vertical to inward-dipping walls and aprons of collapse debris on the pit floor. The various structures have potential for preservation even in regions prone to high rainfall and flooding, and they can be used to indicate that former lahars contained abundant blocks of ice.