Oxygen isotope heterogeneity of the mantle beneath the Canary Islands: a discussion of the paper of Gurenko et al.

Gurenko et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol 162:349–363, 2011) report laser-assisted fluorination (LF) and secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS) ¹⁸O/¹⁶O datasets for olivine grains from the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. As with prior studies of oxygen isotopes in Canary Island lavas (e.g. Thirlwall et al. Chem Geol 135:233–262, 1997; Day et al. Geology 37:555–558, 2009, Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74:6565–6589, 2010), these authors find variations in δ¹⁸O_ol (~4.6–6.0 ‰) beyond that measured for mantle peridotite olivine (Mattey et al. Earth Planet Sci Lett 128:231–241, 1994) and interpret this variation to reflect contributions from pyroxenite-peridotite mantle sources. Furthermore, Gurenko et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol 162:349–363, 2011) speculate that δ¹⁸O_ol values for La Palma olivine grains measured by LF (Day et al. Geology 37:555–558, 2009, Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74:6565–6589, 2010) may be biased to low values due to the presence of altered silicate, possibly serpentine. The range in δ¹⁸O_ol values for Canary Island lavas are of importance for constraining their origin. Gurenko et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol 162:349–363, 2011) took a subset (39 SIMS analyses from 13 grains from a single El Hierro lava; EH4) of a more extensive dataset (321 SIMS analyses from 110 grains from 16 Canary Island lavas) to suggest that δ¹⁸O_ol is weakly correlated (R ² = 0.291) with the parameter used by Gurenko et al. (Earth Planet Sci Lett 277:514–524, 2009) to describe the estimated weight fraction of pyroxenite-derived melt (Xpx). With this relationship, end-member δ¹⁸O values for HIMU-peridotite (δ¹⁸O = 5.3 ± 0.3 ‰) and depleted pyroxenite (δ¹⁸O = 5.9 ± 0.3 ‰) were defined. Although the model proposed by Gurenko et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol 162:349–363, 2011) implicates similar pyroxenite-peridotite mantle sources to those proposed by Day et al. (Geology 37:555–558, 2009, Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74:6565–6589, 2010) and Day and Hilton (Earth Planet Sci Lett 305:226–234, 2011), there are significant differences in the predicted δ¹⁸O values of end member components in the two models. In particular, Day et al. (Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74:6565–6589, 2010) proposed a mantle source for La Palma lavas with low-δ¹⁸O (<5 ‰), rather than higher-δ¹⁸O (c.f. the HIMU-peridotite composition of Gurenko et al. in Contrib Mineral Petrol 162:349–363, 2011). Here we question the approach of using weakly correlated variations in δ¹⁸O_ol and the Xpx parameter to define mantle source oxygen isotope compositions, and provide examples of why this approach appears flawed. We also provide reasons why the LF datasets previously published for Canary Island lavas remain robust and discuss why LF and SIMS data may provide complementary information on oxygen isotope variations in ocean island basalts (OIB), despite unresolved small-scale uncertainties associated with both techniques.     

Submicron scale imaging of soil organic matter dynamics using NanoSIMS - From single particles to intact aggregates

The specific features of the nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) technology with the simultaneous analysis of up to seven ion species with high mass and lateral resolution enables us to perform multi-element and stable isotope measurements at the submicron scale. To elucidate the power of this technique, we performed an incubation experiment with soil particles of the fine silt and clay fractions (from an Albic Luvisol), with occluded particulate organic material and intact soil aggregates (from a Haplic Chernozem), using a ¹³C and ¹⁵N labelled amino acid mixture as tracer. Before and during 6-day incubation after the addition of the label, samples were consecutively prepared for NanoSIMS analysis. For this purpose, two different sample preparation techniques were developed: (i) wet deposition and (ii) the sectioning of epoxy resin embedded samples. Single soil particles (fine silt/clay fraction) showed an enrichment of ¹³C and ¹⁵N after label addition that decreased over time. On aggregates of particulate organic matter, re-aggregated during the 6-day incubation experiment, we could show a spatially heterogeneous enrichment of ¹³C and ¹⁵N on the particle surface. The enrichment in ¹⁵N demonstrated the diffusion of dissolved organic matter into intact soil aggregate interiors. The prospects of NanoSIMS for three dimensional studies of stable C and N isotopes in organo-mineral associations is demonstrated by the recorded depth profiles of the organic matter distribution on mineral particles.     

Noble metals in the insoluble carbonaceous substance of black shales and ores: Direct atomic emission data

The way of extraction of insoluble carbonaceous substance (ICS) from black shales and technique of determination of noble metals (NM) in it by direct arc atomic emission analysis (AEA) were developed. The first results are reported on the determination of mineral-bound noble metals in ICS concentrates, which were extracted from the rocks and ores of the Sukhoi Log, Vernyi, Vasil’evskoe, Kuranakh, Daugyztau, Bakyrchik, Kamennoe, El’dorado, and other deposits.     

Irrigation-induced loess flow failure in Heifangtai Platform,North-West China

Because the construction of dams and hydro-electric power stations of Liujiaxia and Yanguoxia across the Yellow River in West Gansu Province, North-West China, inhabitants in the reservoir areas were resettled in Heifangtai Loess Platform. Irrigation thus started in 1968. Perched water table was significantly raised and resulted in many loess flow failures in the past 30 years. This type of landslide was often featured by long runout distance, high speed and recurrence. Laboratory tests along ICU and CSD stress paths were performed. It is shown that the loess has a strong strain-softening behavior and instability can occur in drained condition before undrained liquefaction. The failure mechanism of loess flow can be interpreted as the following process: with increasing perched water table, collapse in loess was first triggered in drained condition and led to undrained loading to adjacent soil in the lower saturated part of the loess platform. Under gravity loading applied by upper dry loess, undrained flow failure mobilized, eventually.     

The formation age of ores from the Pebble Cu-Au-Mo giant deposit (Alaska,United States)

Zircons from the porphyry-like quartz-diorite boss of the Pebble Cu-Au-Mo deposit (southwest Alaska) have been examined. By their appearance and internal structure (cathode luminescence and electron probing), the zircons have been subdivided into four genetic groups: (1) xenogenic detrital (mainly rounded); (2) magmatogene (protolith crystal in the center and growth zone at the edge); (3) hydrothermally altered (with new-formed regeneration edges in growth zones); (4) metamict-altered (unconsolidated center of the crystal and sectoring in growth zones). Based on SHRIMP U-Pb dating for the principal heterogeneous elements in every group, the following stages of ore formation have been identified for the Pebble deposit: (a) crystallization of quartz diorite-porphyry bosses (95–92 Ma, the concordant age is 94.7 ± 1.5 Ma); (b) late magmatic metasomatic alterations with copper-molybdenum mineralization (92–85 Ma, the concordant age is 90.15 ± 0.78 Ma); (c) postmagmatic argillization with epithermal gold-sulfide mineralization (82–80 Ma, the concordant age is 82.9 ± 2.7 Ma).     

Vulnerability and risk: comparing assessment approaches

The concepts vulnerability and risk are of great importance in the fields of climate change and natural hazards. Confusion is asserted in the terminology used by the respective communities, and a large conceptual literature has not solved this problem. This affects the communication within and between the two communities and the comparison of results from vulnerability and risk assessments. This paper argues that the main difference between methods to assess vulnerability and risk in the climate and the disaster communities is not a conceptual one, but rather different terminologies are used. This point is made using a formal framework of vulnerability to climate change that makes the structure of vulnerability and risk assessments explicit. The framework distinguishes three assessment approaches in the field of vulnerability to climate change, which recur—under different labels—in the risk assessment approaches analysed. While within each community, the same terms are ambiguously used to refer to more than one assessment approach, the confusion is enhanced between the two communities by using different labels for very similar approaches. As an application of the results, similarities and differences between two assessment tools are analysed: the Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment model (DIVA) for the case of vulnerability to climate change and the CATastrophe SIMulation model (CatSim) for risk of natural hazards.     

Estimation of radon concentration in dwellings in and around Guwahati

It has been established that radon and its airborne decay products can present serious radiation hazards. A long term exposure to high concentration of radon causes lung cancer. Besides, it is also known that out of the total radiation dose received from natural and man-made sources, 60% of the dose is due to radon and its progeny. Taking this into account, an attempt has been made to estimate radon concentration in dwellings in and around Guwahati using aluminium dosimeter cups with CR-39 plastic detectors. Results of preliminary investigation presented in this paper show that the mean concentration is 21.31 Bq m^− 3.     

Granulite facies metamorphism and metasomatism in the gabbro-anorthosites of the Kolvitsa massif,Kola Peninsula

The investigation of the Kolvitsa gabbro-anorthosite massif showed that its melanocratic layers conformable with metamorphic banding are mafic differentiates transformed into eclogite-like rocks during prograde metamorphism. During the peak and retrograde stage of the Svecofennian metamorphism in the White Sea region at t = 910–750°C and P = 14-7 kbar, the infiltration of Fe-, CO₂-, Si-, and Na-bearing fluids with X_{H2 O} < 0.4X_{H_2 O} < 0.4 resulted in metasomatic alterations of the melanocratic gabbro-anorthosite interlayers, dissolution of a number of elements, and their reprecipitation with the formation of cross-cutting zoned metasomatic veins with abundant magnetite and ilmenite. The high content of hematite in the ilmenite suggests that the veins were formed at an increase in oxygen fugacity from logf_O2 = - 14.5\log f_{O_2 } = - 14.5 to logf_O2 = - 11\log f_{O_2 } = - 11, which caused the Fe²⁺ → Fe³⁺ transition and iron precipitation. The increase in at the conditions corresponding to the metamorphic peak was probably related to the neutralization of solutions during their infiltration through the gabbro-anorthosites. The reprecipitation of components and the formation of cross-cutting veins occurred owing to interaction between the melanocratic layers in the gabbro-anorthosites and a fluid phase and, contrary to previous models, did not involve the fluid transport of components from the zones of charnockite formation and granitization located far away from the sites of reprecipitation. This is demonstrated by the similarity of mineral compositions and major component contents in the melanocratic gabbro-anorthosite layers and cross-cutting metasomatic veins and regular distribution of trace elements.     

The legacy of crystal-plastic deformation in olivine: high-diffusivity pathways during serpentinization

Crystal-plastic olivine deformation to produce subgrain boundaries composed of edge dislocations is an inevitable consequence of asthenospheric mantle flow. Although crystal-plastic deformation and serpentinization are spatio-temporally decoupled, we identified compositional readjustments expressed on the micrometric level as a striped Fe-enriched ( [`(X)]<sub>\textFe</sub> \bar{X}_{\text{Fe}}  = 0.24 ± 0.02 (zones); 0.12 ± 0.02 (bulk)) or Fe-depleted ( [`(X)]_\textFe \bar{X}_{\text{Fe}}  = 0.10 ± 0.01 (zones); 0.13 ± 0.01 (bulk)) zoning in partly serpentinized olivine grains from two upper mantle sections in Norway. Focused ion beam sample preparation combined with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and aberration-corrected scanning TEM, enabling atomic-level resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopic line profiling, reveals that every zone is immediately associated with a subgrain boundary. We infer that the zonings are a result of the environmental Fe²⁺Mg₋₁ exchange potential during antigorite serpentinization of olivine and the drive toward element exchange equilibrium. This is facilitated by enhanced solid-state diffusion along subgrain boundaries in a system, which otherwise re-equilibrates via dissolution-reprecipitation. Fe enrichment or depletion is controlled by the silica activity imposed on the system by the local olivine/orthopyroxene mass ratio, temperature and the effect of magnetite stability. The Fe-Mg exchange coefficients K_\textD^{\textAtg/\textOl} K_{\text{D}}^{{{\text{Atg}}/{\text{Ol}}}} between both types of zoning and antigorite display coalescence toward exchange equilibrium. With both types of zoning, Mn is enriched and Ni depleted compared with the unaffected bulk composition. Nanometer-sized, heterogeneously distributed antigorite precipitates along olivine subgrain boundaries suggest that water was able to ingress along them. Crystallographic orientation relationships gained via electron backscatter diffraction between olivine grain domains and different serpentine vein generations support the hypothesis that serpentinization was initiated along olivine subgrain boundaries.