Origins of subcalcic garnets and their relation to diamond forming fluids—Case studies from Ekati (NWT-Canada) and Murowa (Zimbabwe)

Subcalcic, high-Cr (G10) garnets are found as inclusions within diamonds and in peridotitic xenoliths. The strong spatial associations between G10 garnets and diamond make them an important tool in the investigation of diamond genesis. We present an integrated study of the major and trace element composition and oxygen-Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic ratios of eight G10 garnets from the Ekati mine (NWT-Canada) and four from the Murowa mine (Zimbabwe) in an attempt to determine their petrogenetic evolution and to further examine a possible relationship between the metasomatic agents responsible for G10 garnet signatures and diamond forming fluids.All garnets display sinusoidal to mildly sinusoidal REE patterns and have negative Ti, Sr and positive U anomalies. They have variably radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.703261-0.731191) and non-radiogenic ε_Nd values (−8.1 to −27.1), except for one sample from Murowa that has a positive ε_Nd of 2.5. One Ekati sample has an extremely low ε_Hf value of −61.6. The Ekati garnets we have studied all appear to come from a single depth in the Slave lithospheric mantle. On the base of Cr-Ca relations they have crystallized at 4.9 GPa and display dunitic Ca intercept values. Their δ¹⁸O values range between +5.23‰ and +5.42‰.The Ekati G10 garnets record a complex, multi-stage metasomatic history involving the interaction of several components during their genesis. One metasomatic agent was enriched in HFSE, LREE, Sr, and depleted in Nb. This agent had the least radiogenic Sr. Another metasomatic agent had highly radiogenic Sr, and was enriched in LREE, Sr, Nb, Th and U.The G10 garnets have very low ε_Nd and ε_Hf values combined with radiogenic Sr, thus, they require an early lithospheric mantle enrichment event at some stage during their genesis or during the evolution of any precursor material that they formed from. The only Hf isotope composition measurable from the Ekati suite is so unradiogenic (ε_Hf = −61) that it yields a Lu/Hf model age of 3521 Ma. This indicates that the lithospheric enrichment event seen by the Ekati garnets or their precursors may have occurred in the early stages of the craton stabilization, during the diamond forming event [Westerlund K., Shirey S., Richardson S., Carlson R., Gurney J. and Harris J. (2006) A subduction wedge origin for Paleoarchean peridotitic diamonds and harzburgites from the Panda kimberlite, Slave craton: evidence from Re-Os isotope systematics. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol.152(3), 275-294]. Although our data cannot unequivocally discriminate between a variety of models for the genesis of subcalcic garnets it is clear that the host peridotite originated via melting at shallow depths followed by subduction and that the observed geochemical fingerprint of the garnets is strongly influenced by diamond forming fluids. Diamond forming fluids sampled from fibrous diamonds, have steep REE patterns, negative Ti and Sr anomalies and very low Sm/Nd ratios that are very similar to G10 garnet characteristics. These diamond forming fluids have been recently shown to have extreme Sr and Nd isotopic compositions [Klein-BenDavid O., Pearson D. G., Nowell G. M. and Cantigny P. (2008) Origins of diamond forming fluids—constraints from a coupled Sr-Nd isotope and trace element approach. Extended abstracts to the 9th International Kimberlite Conference, Frankfurt, Germany, 9IKC-A-00118.] that are closely concordant with G10 garnets. The fluids are also rich in LREE, P, K and water, sharing these features with mica-rich metasomes. These similarities suggest that ancient lithospheric metasomes could either provide a source region for, or be a product of diamond forming fluids. Diamond forming fluids appear to be intimately involved in the evolution of G10 garnets in the lithospheric mantle, either acting as a metasomatic agent, or being integral to triggering or enhancing garnet growth in a Cr-rich protolith. Such a link explains the strong association between G10 garnets and diamonds.     

Evidence for ocean acidification in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia

Geochemical records preserved in the long-lived carbonate skeleton of corals provide one of the few means to reconstruct changes in seawater pH since the commencement of the industrial era. This information is important in not only determining the response of the surface oceans to ocean acidification from enhanced uptake of CO₂, but also to better understand the effects of ocean acidification on carbonate secreting organisms such as corals, whose ability to calcify is highly pH dependent. Here we report an ∼200 year δ¹¹B isotopic record, extracted from a long-lived Porites coral from the central Great Barrier Reef of Australia. This record covering the period from 1800 to 2004 was sampled at yearly increments from 1940 to the present and 5-year increments prior to 1940. The δ¹¹B isotopic compositions reflect variations in seawater pH, and the δ¹³C changes in the carbon composition of surface water due to fossil fuel burning over this period. In addition complementary Ba/Ca, δ¹⁸O and Mg/Ca data was obtained providing proxies for terrestrial runoff, salinity and temperature changes over the past 200 years in this region. Positive thermal ionization mass spectrometry (PTIMS) method was utilized in order to enable the highest precision and most accurate measurements of δ¹¹B values. The internal precision and reproducibility for δ¹¹B of our measurements are better than ±0.2‰ (2σ), which translates to a precision of better than ±0.02 pH units. Our results indicate that the long-term pre-industrial variation of seawater pH in this region is partially related to the decadal-interdecadal variability of atmospheric and oceanic anomalies in the Pacific. In the periods around 1940 and 1998 there are also rapid oscillations in δ¹¹B compositions equivalent changes in pH of almost 0.5 U. The 1998 oscillation is co-incident with a major coral bleaching event indicating the sensitivity of skeletal δ¹¹B compositions to loss of zooxanthellate symbionts. Importantly, from the 1940s to the present-day, there is a general overall trend of ocean acidification with pH decreasing by about 0.2-0.3 U, the range being dependent on the value assumed for the fractionation factor α_(B3-B4) of the boric acid and borate species in seawater. Correlations of δ¹¹B with δ¹³C during this interval indicate that the increasing trend towards ocean acidification over the past 60 years in this region is the result of enhanced dissolution of CO₂ in surface waters from the rapidly increasing levels of atmospheric CO₂, mainly from fossil fuel burning. This suggests that the increased levels of anthropogenic CO₂ in atmosphere has already caused a significant trend towards acidification in the oceans during the past decades. Observations of surprisingly large decreases in pH across important carbonate producing regions, such as the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, raise serious concerns about the impact of Greenhouse gas emissions on coral calcification.     

The sediment infill of subglacial meltwater channels on the West Antarctic continental shelf

Subglacial meltwater plays a significant yet poorly understood role in the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheets. Here we present new swath bathymetry from the western Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, showing meltwater channels eroded into acoustic basement. Their morphological characteristics and size are consistent with incision by subglacial meltwater. To understand how and when these channels formed we have investigated the infill of three channels. Diamictons deposited beneath or proximal to an expanded grounded West Antarctic Ice Sheet are present in two of the channels and these are overlain by glaciomarine sediments deposited after deglaciation. The sediment core from the third channel recovered a turbidite sequence also deposited after the last deglaciation. The presence of deformation till at one core site and the absence of typical meltwater deposits (e.g., sorted sands and gravels) in all three cores suggest that channel incision pre-dates overriding by fast flowing grounded ice during the last glacial period. Given the overall scale of the channels and their incision into bedrock, it is likely that the channels formed over multiple glaciations, possibly since the Miocene, and have been reoccupied on several occasions. This also implies that the channels have survived numerous advances and retreats of grounded ice.     

THE MACHINGA,MALAWI, METEORITE: A RECENT L6 FALL

The Machinga meteorite fell in the Southern Province of Malawi on January 22, 1981, at approximately 1000 hours local time. The fall site is about 7.5 km SW of Machinga and has the co-ordinates 15° 12′44″ S., 35°14′32″ E. A single crusted mass weighing 93.2 kg was recovered. The Machinga meteorite is an L6 chondrite with olivine Fa_24.5 and orthopyroxene Fs_21.1. The silicates have a granular texture and the stone has been shocked.     

Resource discovery with the VO registry

This article describes the VO registry concept and how it can be used to find resources – data sets, services and infrastructure – to support followup activities. It also discusses how VOEvent infrastructure components can be incorporated. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Automated probabilistic classification of transients and variables

There is an increasing number of large, digital, synoptic sky surveys, in which repeated observations are obtained over large areas of the sky in multiple epochs. Likewise, there is a growth in the number of (often automated or robotic) follow‐up facilities with varied capabilities in terms of instruments, depth, cadence, wavelengths, etc., most of which are geared toward some specific astrophysical phenomenon. As the number of detected transient events grows, an automated, probabilistic classification of the detected variables and transients becomes increasingly important, so that an optimal use can be made of follow‐up facilities, without unnecessary duplication of effort. We describe a methodology now under development for a prototype event classification system; it involves Bayesian and Machine Learning classifiers, automated incorporation of feedback from follow‐up observations, and discriminated or directed follow‐up requests. This type of methodology may be essential for the massive synoptic sky surveys in the future. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

High-frequency Faraday rotation observations of the solar corona

This thesis, presented on January 31, 2007 under the supervision of Professor Christopher T. Russell, discusses the solar coronal magnetic field observations that can be obtained using the phenomenon of Faraday rotation. It was defended in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (595 Charles E. Young, Dr. East, Los Angeles, CA 90095). A resume can be found at http://acs-consulting.com/.     

A limit on the number density of bright z≈ 7 galaxies

We present a survey of bright optical dropout sources in two deep, multiwavelength surveys comprising 11 widely separated fields, aimed at constraining the galaxy luminosity function at   z ≈ 7  for sources at  5–10  L * ( z = 6)  . Our combined survey area is 225 arcmin² to a depth of   J _AB= 24.2  (3σ) and 135 arcmin² to   J = 25.3  (4σ). We find that infrared data longwards of 2 μm are essential for classifying optical dropout sources, and in particular for identifying cool Galactic star contaminants. Our limits on the number density of high-redshift sources are consistent with current estimates of the Lyman break galaxy luminosity function at   z = 6  .     

Nonlinear Force-Free Modeling of Coronal Magnetic Fields. II. Modeling a Filament Arcade and Simulated Chromospheric and Photospheric Vector Fields

We compare a variety of nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation algorithms, including optimization, magneto-frictional, and Grad – Rubin-like codes, applied to a solar-like reference model. The model used to test the algorithms includes realistic photospheric Lorentz forces and a complex field including a weakly twisted, right helical flux bundle. The codes were applied to both forced “photospheric” and more force-free “chromospheric” vector magnetic field boundary data derived from the model. When applied to the chromospheric boundary data, the codes are able to recover the presence of the flux bundle and the field’s free energy, though some details of the field connectivity are lost. When the codes are applied to the forced photospheric boundary data, the reference model field is not well recovered, indicating that the combination of Lorentz forces and small spatial scale structure at the photosphere severely impact the extrapolation of the field. Preprocessing of the forced photospheric boundary does improve the extrapolations considerably for the layers above the chromosphere, but the extrapolations are sensitive to the details of the numerical codes and neither the field connectivity nor the free magnetic energy in the full volume are well recovered. The magnetic virial theorem gives a rapid measure of the total magnetic energy without extrapolation though, like the NLFFF codes, it is sensitive to the Lorentz forces in the coronal volume. Both the magnetic virial theorem and the Wiegelmann extrapolation, when applied to the preprocessed photospheric boundary, give a magnetic energy which is nearly equivalent to the value derived from the chromospheric boundary, but both underestimate the free energy above the photosphere by at least a factor of two. We discuss the interpretation of the preprocessed field in this context. When applying the NLFFF codes to solar data, the problems associated with Lorentz forces present in the low solar atmosphere must be recognized: the various codes will not necessarily converge to the correct, or even the same, solution. On 07/07/2007, the NLFFF team was saddened by the news that Tom Metcalf had died as the result of an accident. We remain grateful for having had the opportunity to benefit from his unwavering dedication to the problems encountered in attempting to understand the Sun’s magnetic field; Tom had completed this paper several months before his death, leading the team through the many steps described above.