Petrology of a xenolith of ferro-aluminous gneiss from the Nain complex

Several gneissic xenoliths occur in granite which has been intruded along the contact between an anorthosite body and gneisses in the Nain complex, Labrador. One of these xenoliths is a ferro-aluminous gneiss with ovoids, 1–3 cm in diameter, consisting of an intimate mixture of fine, granular cordierite-olivine-spinel-orthopyroxene-plagioclase-ilmenite-pyrrhotite enclosed by poikilitic grains of garnet and orthoamphibole. Biotite occurs as both granular and poikilitic grains. The textures indicate a two-stage contact metamorphic history characterized by the simplified reaction: cordierite+olivine+spinel+plagioclase +orthopyroxene→garnet+orthoamphibole Although, on the basis of texture, the reactants represent the early stage assemblage and the products represent the final stage, the distribution coefficient data for Fe-Mg indicate that, except for orthopyroxene, all of the minerals were stable and in equilibrium during the final stage. The coexistence of cordierite and olivine indicates that pressure was less than 3 kbar. The phase relationships agree well with the experimental work of Hsu and Burnham (1969) on the almandine-pyrope join at 2 kbar and indicate a temperature of 800° C for the first stage and 615° C for the second stage of contact metamorphism. This close agreement also suggests that the ovoids at one time may have been garnet porphyroblasts that were decomposed during the first stage. These data correlate well with the field relations: the first-stage, high-temperature effects were likely caused by the intrusion of the anhydrous anorthositic body and the second-stage, low-temperature effects by the invasion of the volatile-rich granite.     

Speciation of boron with Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ in 0.7 M KNO3 and in sea-water

The stability constants, $\text{K}{}^1{}_{\mathrm{MB}}$, for borate complexes with the ions of Cu, Pb, Cd and Zn are determined in this work by DPASV in 0.7 M KNO₃ at metal concentrations of 10^?7 M. The acidity constants of the Cu²⁺ ion are determined by DPASV in the same conditions. The following values for log $\text{K}{}^1{}_{\mathrm{MB}}$ () have been obtained: CuB: 3.48, CuB₂: 6.13, PbB: 2.20, PbB₂: 4.41, ZnB: 0.9, ZnB₂: 3.32, CdB: 1.42, and CdB₂: 2.7, while the values for the acidity constants of Cu are $\text{pK}{}^1{}_{\mathrm{CuOH}}\text{= 7.66}$ and . At the low concentration of boron in 35%. S sea-water complexes with borate represent only about 0.2% Cu, 0.03% Pb, 0.02% Zn and 0.003% Cd.     

On the role of subducting oceanic plateaus in the development of shallow flat subduction

Oceanic plateaus, aseismic ridges or seamount chains all have a thickened crust and their subduction has been proposed as a possible mechanism to explain the occurrence of flat subduction and related absence of arc magmatism below Peru, Central Chile and at the Nankai Trough (Japan). Their extra compositional buoyancy could prohibit the slab from sinking into the mantle. With a numerical thermochemical convection model, we simulated the subduction of an oceanic lithosphere that contains an oceanic crustal plateau of 18-km thickness. With a systematic variation, we examined the required physical parameters to obtain shallow flat subduction. Metastability of the basaltic crust in the eclogite stability field is of crucial importance for the slab to remain buoyant throughout the subduction process. In a 44-Ma-old subducting plate, basalt must be able to survive a temperature of 600–700 °C to keep the plate buoyant sufficiently long to cause a flat-slab segment. We found that the maximum yield stress in the slab must be limited to about 600 MPa to allow for the necessary bending to the horizontal. Young slabs show flat subduction for larger parameter ranges than old slabs, since they are less gravitationally unstable and show less resistance against bending. Hydrous weakening of the mantle wedge area and lowermost continent are required to allow for the necessary deformation of a change in subduction style from steep to flat. The maximum flat slab extent is about 300 km, which is sufficient to explain the observed shallow flat subduction near the Nankai Trough (Japan). However, additional mechanisms, such as active overthrusting by an overriding continental plate, need to be invoked to explain the flat-slab segments up to 500 km long below Peru and Central Chile.     

A map-view restoration of the Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic system for the Early Miocene

A map-view palinspastic restoration of tectonic units in the Alps, Carpathians and Dinarides reveals the plate tectonic configuration before the onset of Miocene to recent deformations. Estimates of shortening and extension from the entire orogenic system allow for a semi-quantitative restoration of translations and rotations of tectonic units during the last 20 Ma. Our restoration yielded the following results: (1) The Balaton Fault and its eastern extension along the northern margin of the Mid-Hungarian Fault Zone align with the Periadriatic Fault, a geometry that allows for the eastward lateral extrusion of the Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian (ALCAPA) Mega-Unit. The Mid-Hungarian Fault Zone accommodated simultaneous strike-perpendicular shortening and strike-slip movements, concomitant with strike-parallel extension. (2) The Mid-Hungarian Fault Zone is also the locus of a former plate boundary transforming opposed subduction polarities between Alps (including Western Carpathians) and Dinarides. (3) The ALCAPA Mega-Unit was affected by 290 km extension and fits into an area W of present-day Budapest in its restored position, while the Tisza-Dacia Mega-Unit was affected by up to 180 km extension during its emplacement into the Carpathian embayment. (4) The external Dinarides experienced Neogene shortening of over 200 km in the south, contemporaneous with dextral wrench movements in the internal Dinarides and the easterly adjacent Carpatho-Balkan orogen. (5) N–S convergence between the European and Adriatic plates amounts to some 200 km at a longitude of 14° E, in line with post-20 Ma subduction of Adriatic lithosphere underneath the Eastern Alps, corroborating the discussion of results based on high-resolution teleseismic tomography.The displacement of the Adriatic Plate indenter led to a change in subduction polarity along a transect through the easternmost Alps and to substantial Neogene shortening in the eastern Southern Alps and external Dinarides. While we confirm that slab-pull and rollback of oceanic lithosphere subducted beneath the Carpathians triggered back-arc extension in the Pannonian Basin and much of the concomitant folding and thrusting in the Carpathians, we propose that the rotational displacement of this indenter provided a second important driving force for the severe Neogene modifications of the Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic orogenic system.     

War landform mapping and classification on the Verdun battlefield (France) using airborne LiDAR and multivariate analysis

Acting as efficient earth-movers, soldiers can be viewed as significant geomorphological drivers of landscape change when replaced in the recent debates on Anthropocene Geomorphology. ‘Polemoforms’, generated by military activities, correspond with a set of human-made landforms of various sizes and geometries. They are particularly common on the World War One battlefield of Verdun (France) which ranks among the largest battles of attrition along the Western Front. The artillery bombardments and building of defensive positions in that battle significantly altered the landscape, resulting in thousands of shell craters, dugouts, and gun positions that have altered both the meso and microtopography. This paper proposes an innovative methodology to make an exhaustive inventory of these small-scale conflict-induced landforms (excluding linear features such as trenches) using a digital terrain model (DTM) acquired by airborne LiDAR on the whole battlefield. Morphometric analysis was conducted using Kohonen's self-organizing maps (SOMs) and hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC) in order to quantify and classify the high number of war landforms. This combined approach allowed for mapping more than one million landforms which can be classified into eight different shapes including shell craters and various soldier-made landforms (i.e. shelters, gun positions, etc.). Detection quality evaluation using field observations revealed the algorithm successfully classified 93% of shell craters and 74% of anthropologically constructed landforms. Finally, the iconographic database and map series produced will help archaeologists and foresters to better manage the historic site of Verdun, today covered by a large forest of ~10 000 ha. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Benthic fluxes of copper,complexing ligands and thiol compounds in shallow lagoon waters

Benthic fluxes of copper, copper complexing ligands and thiol compounds in the shallow waters of Venice Lagoon (Italy) were determined using benthic chambers and compared to porewater concentrations to confirm their origin. Benthic copper fluxes were small due to small concentration differences between the porewaters and the overlying water, and the equilibrium concentration was the same at both sites, suggesting that the sediments acted to buffer the copper concentration. Thiol fluxes were ～10 × greater at 50–60 pmol cm^?2 h^?1, at the two sites. Porewater measurements demonstrated that the sediments were an important source of the thiols to the overlying waters. The overlying waters were found to contain at least two ligands, a strong one, L1 (log K′_CuL1 = 14.2) and a weaker one, L2 (log K′_CuL2 = 12.5). The concentration of L1 remained relatively constant during the incubation and similar to that of copper, whereas that of L2 was in great excess of copper, its concentration balanced by porewater releases and breakdown, probably due to uptake by microorganisms, similar to that of the thiol compounds. Similarity of the thiol and L2 concentrations and similar complex stability with copper suggest that L2 was dominated by the thiols. The free copper concentration ([Cu´]) in the Lagoon waters was lowered by a factor of 10⁵ as a result of the organic complexation.     

Evidence for organic complexation of iron in seawater

Iron occurs at very low concentrations in seawater of oceanic origin and its low abundance is thought to limit primary production in offshore waters (Martin and Fitzwater, 1988). A new electrochemical method, cathodic stripping voltammetry (CSV), is used here to determine the speciation of iron in seawater originating from the Western Mediterranean taking advantage of ligand competition of an added electroactive ligand with the natural organic complexing matter to evaluate whether iron is organically complexed. The measurements indicate that iron occurs 99% (or 99.9% depending on which value is selected for α_Fe′) complexed by organic complexing ligands throughout the water column of the Western Mediterranean and by analogy probably also in other oceanic waters. The composition of the organic complexing ligands is as yet unknown, but the data indicate a major source from microorganisms (bacteria or phytoplankton) in and immediately below the fluorescence maximum in the upper water column. The organic complexes are apparently reversible releasing iron when the competing ligand is added and binding more iron when its concentration is increased. The organic complexing ligands occur at concentrations well above those of iron ensuring full complexation of this biologically essential element, and buffer the free iron concentration at a very low level against fluctuations as a result of removal by primary producers or inputs from atmospheric sources. The new data indicate that a re-evaluation of the concept of the bioavailable fraction of iron is required.