Subduction metamorphism of serpentinite‐hosted carbonates beyond antigorite‐serpentinite dehydration (Nevado‐Filábride Complex,Spain)

At sub‐arc depths, the release of carbon from subducting slab lithologies is mostly controlled by fluid released by devolatilization reactions such as dehydration of antigorite (Atg‐) serpentinite to prograde peridotite. Here we investigate carbonate–silicate rocks hosted in Atg‐serpentinite and prograde chlorite (Chl‐) harzburgite in the Milagrosa and Almirez ultramafic massifs of the palaeo‐subducted Nevado‐Filábride Complex (NFC, Betic Cordillera, S. Spain). These massifs provide a unique opportunity to study the stability of carbonate during subduction metamorphism at P–T conditions before and after the dehydration of Atg‐serpentinite in a warm subduction setting. In the Milagrosa massif, carbonate–silicate rocks occur as lenses of Ti‐clinohumite–diopside–calcite marbles, diopside–dolomite marbles and antigorite–diopside–dolomite rocks hosted in clinopyroxene‐bearing Atg‐serpentinite. In Almirez, carbonate–silicate rocks are hosted in Chl‐harzburgite and show a high‐grade assemblage composed of olivine, Ti‐clinohumite, diopside, chlorite, dolomite, calcite, Cr‐bearing magnetite, pentlandite and rare aragonite inclusions. These NFC carbonate–silicate rocks have variable CaO and CO₂ contents at nearly constant Mg/Si ratio and high Ni and Cr contents, indicating that their protoliths were variable mixtures of serpentine and Ca‐carbonate (i.e., ophicarbonates). Thermodynamic modelling shows that the carbonate–silicate rocks attained peak metamorphic conditions similar to those of their host serpentinite (Milagrosa massif; 550–600°C and 1.0–1.4 GPa) and Chl‐harzburgite (Almirez massif; 1.7–1.9 GPa and 680°C). Microstructures, mineral chemistry and phase relations indicate that the hybrid carbonate–silicate bulk rock compositions formed before prograde metamorphism, likely during seawater hydrothermal alteration, and subsequently underwent subduction metamorphism. In the CaO–MgO–SiO₂ ternary, these processes resulted in a compositional variability of NFC serpentinite‐hosted carbonate–silicate rocks along the serpentine‐calcite mixing trend, similar to that observed in serpentinite‐hosted carbonate‐rocks in other palaeo‐subducted metamorphic terranes. Thermodynamic modelling using classical models of binary H₂O–CO₂ fluids shows that the compositional variability along this binary determines the temperature of the main devolatilization reactions, the fluid composition and the mineral assemblages of reaction products during prograde subduction metamorphism. Thermodynamic modelling considering electrolytic fluids reveals that H₂O and molecular CO₂ are the main fluid species and charged carbon‐bearing species occur only in minor amounts in equilibrium with carbonate–silicate rocks in warm subduction settings. Consequently, accounting for electrolytic fluids at these conditions slightly increases the solubility of carbon in the fluids compared with predictions by classical binary H₂O–CO₂ fluids, but does not affect the topology of phase relations in serpentinite‐hosted carbonate‐rocks. Phase relations, mineral composition and assemblages of Milagrosa and Almirez (meta)‐serpentinite‐hosted carbonate–silicate rocks are consistent with local equilibrium between an infiltrating fluid and the bulk rock composition and indicate a limited role of infiltration‐driven decarbonation. Our study shows natural evidence for the preservation of carbonates in serpentinite‐hosted carbonate–silicate rocks beyond the Atg‐serpentinite breakdown at sub‐arc depths, demonstrating that carbon can be recycled into the deep mantle.     

A New Ionosphere Monitoring Technology Based on GPS

Although global positioning system (GPS) was originally planned as a satellite-based radio-navigation system for military purposes, civilian users have significantly increased their access to the system for both, commercial and scientific applications. Almost 400 permanent GPS tracking stations have been stablished around the globe with the main purpose of supporting scientific research. In addition, several GPS receivers on board of low Earth orbit satellites fitted with special antennas that focus on Earth's horizon, are tracking the radio signals broadcasted by the high-orbiting GPS satellites, as they rise and set on Earth horizon. The data of these ground and space-born GPS receivers, readily accessible through Internet in a ‘virtual observatory’ managed by the International GPS Service, are extensively used for many researches and might possibly ignite a revolution in Earth remote sensing. By measuring the changes in the time it takes for the GPS signals to arrive at the receiver as they travel through Earth's atmosphere, scientists can derive a surprising amount of information about the Earth's ionosphere, a turbulent shroud of charged particles that, when stimulated by solar flares, can disrupt communications around the world. This contribution presents a methodology to obtain high temporal resolution images of the ionospheric electron content that lead to two-dimensional vertical total electron content maps and three-dimensional electron density distribution. Some exemplifying results are shown at the end of the paper.     

The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff — A large volume multiphase eruption from Campi Flegrei,Southern Italy

the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) (12 ka BP) is considered to be the product of a single eruption. Two different members (A and B) have been identified and can be correlated around the whole of Campi Flegrei. Member A is made up of at least 6 fall units including both ash and lapilli horizons. The basal stratified ash unit (A1) is interpreted to be a phreatoplinian fall deposit, since it shows a widespread dispersal (>1000 km²) and a constant thickness over considerable topography. The absence of many lapilli fall units in proximal and medial areas testifies to the erosive power of the intervening pyroclastic surges. The overlying member B was formed by many pyroclastic flows, radially distributed around Campi Flegrei, that varied widely in their eruptive and emplacement mechanisms. In some of the most proximal exposures coarse scoria and lithic-rich deposits, sometimes welded, have been identified at the base of member B. Isopach and isopleth maps of fall-units, combined with the distribution of the coarse proximal facies, indicate that the eruptive vent was located in the NE area of Campi Flegrei. It is considered that the NYT eruption produced collapse of a caldera approximately 10 km diameter within Campi Flegrei. The caldera rim, located by geological and borehole evidence, is now largely buried by the products of more recent eruptions. Initiation of caldera collapse may have been contemporaneous with the start of the second phase (member B). It is suggested that there was a single vent throughout the eruption rather than the development of multiple or ring vents. Chemical data indicate that different levels of a zoned trachyte-phonolite magma chamber were tapped during the eruption. The minimum volume of the NYT is calculated to be about 50 km³ (DRE), of which 35 km³ (70%) occurs within the caldera.     

Neotectonics and seismic hazard assessment in Hengchun Peninsula,southern Taiwan

Neotectonic data may indicate whether stored elastic energy will be dissipated or released destructively. The Hengchun Peninsula of Taiwan is the southern extremity of the Central Range of Taiwan and thus an emergent part of the accretionary wedge resulting from subduction of Eurasia beneath the Philippine Sea plate at the Manila Trench. Radiocarbon dating of fossil shorelines on the peninsula shows that it has been uplifted at an average rate of 3.8 mm/yr during the Holocene. About $1/3$ of the uplift is due to deformation along the Hengchun reverse fault but, in contrast with the Chelungpu and other low angle reverse faults west of the Central Range, it accommodates strain principally by aseismic creep. To cite this article: C. Vita-Finzi, J.-C. Lin, C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Transformations of Benzene Photoinduced by Nitrate Salts and Iron Oxide

This paper reports the results of a study on the transformation of benzene in the presence of solid nitrate salts (NaNO₃, NH₄NO₃) under irradiation in a gas-solid photoreactor. Sodium and ammonium nitrate have been chosen as representative of the composition of atmospheric particulate, benzene as a model aromatic molecule. The purpose is to simulate the transformations that aromatic compounds undergo on the surface of dispersed particles in the atmosphere. Irradiation of sodium nitrate causes hydroxylation and nitration of benzene, yielding phenol and nitrobenzene. This is most likely due to the generation of ^•OH and ^•NO₂ radicals upon nitrate photolysis, with ^•OH + O₂ leading to the formation of phenol and ^•OH + ^•NO₂ yielding nitrobenzene. The percentage of oxygen in the reaction environment influences the transformation pathways, with phenol formation being favoured and nitrobenzene formation depressed by high O₂ concentration. In the presence of hematite (α-Fe₂O₃, another component of atmospheric particulate) very relevant formation of nitrobenzene takes place even with 21% oxygen (simulated air), indicating that the interaction between hematite and nitrate can lead to the formation of aromatic nitroderivatives on the surface of atmospheric particulate. The effect of hematite is possibly due to protonation of peroxynitrite, formed upon nitrate photoisomerisation, to peroxynitrous acid, a powerful nitrating agent. A similar effect leads to relevant formation of nitrobenzene under atmospheric conditions upon irradiation of the acid salt ammonium nitrate.     

On unstable ship motions resulting from strong non-linear coupling

In this paper, the modelling of strong parametric resonance in head seas is investigated. Non-linear equations of ship motions in waves describing the couplings between heave, roll and pitch are contemplated. A third-order mathematical model is introduced, aimed at describing strong parametric excitation associated with cyclic changes of the ship restoring characteristics. A derivative model is employed to describe the coupled restoring actions up to third order. Non-linear coupling coefficients are analytically derived in terms of hull form characteristics.The main theoretical aspects of the new model are discussed. Numerical simulations obtained from the derived third-order non-linear mathematical model are compared to experimental results, corresponding to excessive motions of the model of a transom stern fishing vessel in head seas. It is shown that this enhanced model gives very realistic results and a much better comparison with the experiments than a second-order model.     

Paleowetlands and regional climate change in the central Atacama Desert, northern Chile

Widespread, organic-rich diatomaceous deposits are evidence for formerly wetter times along the margins of the central Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth today. We mapped and dated these paleowetland deposits at three presently waterless locations near Salar de Punta Negra (24.5°S) on the western slope of the Andes. Elevated groundwater levels supported phreatic discharge into wetlands during two periods: 15,900 to ~ 13,800 and 12,700 to ~ 9700 cal yr BP. Dense concentrations of lithic artifacts testify to the presence of paleoindians around the wetlands late in the second wet phase (11,000?-9700 cal yr BP). Water tables dropped below the surface before 15,900 and since 8100 cal yr BP, and briefly between ~ 13,800 and 12,700 cal yr BP. This temporal pattern is repeated, with some slight differences, in rodent middens from the study area, in both paleowetland and rodent midden deposits north and south of the study area, and in lake level fluctuations on the adjacent Bolivian Altiplano. The regional synchroneity of these changes points to a strengthening of the South American Monsoon — which we term the “Central Andean Pluvial Event” — in two distinct intervals (15,900-13,800 and 12,700-9700 cal yr BP), probably induced by steepened SST gradients across the tropical Pacific (i.e., La Niña-like conditions).     

Subduction polarity reversal at the junction between the Western Alps and the Northern Apennines, Italy

The controversial relationship between the orogenic segments of the Western Alps and the Northern Apennines is here explored integrating recently published 3D tomographic models of subduction with new and re-interpreted geological observations from the eclogitic domain of the Voltri Massif (Ligurian Alps, Italy), where the two belts joint each other. The Voltri Massif is here described as an extensional domain accommodating the opposing outward migration of the Alpine and Apennine thrust fronts, since about 30–35 Ma. Using tomographic images of the upper mantle and paleotectonic reconstructions, we propose that this extensional setting represents the surface manifestation of an along strike change in polarity of the subducted oceanic slab whose polarity changed laterally in space and in time. Our tectonic model suggests that the westward shift of the Alpine thrust front from the Oligocene onward was the consequence of the toroidal asthenospheric flow induced by the retreat of the Apenninic slab.     

Acritarchs of Las Ventanas Formation (Ediacaran, Uruguay): Implications for the timing of coeval rifting and glacial events in western Gondwana

Acritarchs and other organic-walled microfossils occurring in siltstones of the Las Ventanas Formation (Quebrada de Viera and El Perdido members) are systematically described and illustrated. The assemblage includes the following species: Leiosphaeridia tenuissima, Leiosphaeridia minutissima, Lophosphaeridium sp., Soldadophycus bossii, Soldadophycus major, Soldadophycus sp. and Vendotaenia antiqua. The microflora is characterized by low diversity (six species), dominance of L. tenuissima, absence of acanthomorphic acritarchs, and relatively large size of sphaeromorphs, reaching 400 μm in diameter. A number of species are shared with acritarch assemblages preserved in the overlying Arroyo del Soldado Group. Differences between assemblages include the occurrence of abundant Bavlinella faveolata and small size of spheroids in the Arroyo del Soldado Group. The assemblage occurring in Las Ventanas Formation is assigned to the Ediacaran Leiosphere Palynoflora, which spans the interval between the base of the Ediacaran (end of the Marinoan Glaciation, 635 Ma) and the termination of the Gaskiers Glaciation (582 Ma). An early Ediacaran age between 615 and 579 Ma is also supported by available radiometric ages. An extensional setting for Las Ventanas basin is suggested on the basis of the bimodal, synsedimentary volcanism, strong palaeorelief, great thickness of alluvial fan conglomerates and the evolution from continental to open marine environments. Diamictites occurring in the Quebrada de Viera Member are described for the first time, including associated dropstones which suggest a glacial origin. If confirmed, this would be one more example of the association between rifting and glaciation in the Neoproterozoic, coeval with a low-diversity, high-abundance acritarch microflora. A causal relationship between these tectonic, climatic and biologic events is discussed.