The age and thermal history of Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia

 Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia, is the world’s largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century for silver, and for tin and zinc during the twentieth century, together with by-product copper and lead. The deposit consists primarily of veins that cut an altered igneous body that we interpret to be a dacitic volcanic dome and its underlying tuff ring and explosion breccia. The deposit is compositionally and thermally zoned, having a core of cassiterite, wolframite, bismuthinite, and arsenopyrite surrounded by a peripheral, lower-temperature mineral assemblage consisting principally of sphalerite, galena, lead sulfosalt, and silver minerals. The low-temperature assemblage also was superimposed on the high-temperature assemblage in response to cooling of the main hydrothermal system. Both the dacite dome and the ore fluids were derived from a larger magmatic/hydrothermal source at depth. The dome was repeatedly fractured by recurrent movement on the fault system that guided its initial emplacement. The dome was extruded at 13.8±0.2 Ma (2σ), based on U-Th-Pb dating of zircon. Mineralization and alteration occurred within about 0.3 my of dome emplacement, as indicated by a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar date of 13.76±0.10 Ma (1σ) for sericite from the pervasive quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration associated with the main-stage, high-temperature, mineralization. The last thermal event able to reset zircon fission tracks occurred no later than 12.5±1.1 Ma (1σ), as indicated by fission-tract dating. Minor sericite, and magmatic-steam alunite veins, were episodically formed around 11 Ma and between 8.3 and 5.7 Ma; the younger episodes occurring at the time of extensional fracturing at Cerro Rico and widespread volcanism in the adjacent Los Frailes volcanic field. None of these younger events appear to be significant thermal/mineralizing events; the exceptionally flat thermal release pattern of ³⁹Ar from sericite and the results of the fission-tract dating of zircon show that none of the younger events was hot enough, and lasted long enough, to cause significant loss of Ar or annealing of zircon fission tracks. U-Th-Pb dating of zircon cores indicates a Precambrian progenitor for some zircons, and REE analyses of dated samples of hydrothermally altered dacite show the presence of a prominent positive Eu anomaly, which constrains interpretations of the origin and evolution of the magmatic/hydrothermal system. Received: 14 October 1995/Accepted: 29 January 1996     

The replacement of anthophyllite by jimthompsonite: a model for hydration reactions in biopyriboles

Anthophyllite crystals found in ultramafic lenses of the Lepontine Alps (Switzerland) contain coherent, submicroscopic intergrowths of ordered and disordered biopyribole polysomes. The chain width distributions of disordered polysomes were analyzed using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Chains wider than triple were interpreted as intermediate products in the transformation of anthophyllite to the triple chain silicate jimthompsonite. The concentration of individual chain types is strongly correlated with the reaction progress. Based on observed zipper terminations and the transformation rules given by Veblen and Buseck (1980) a scheme of possible reaction paths leading from anthophyllite to jimthomp sonite is proposed. The reaction scheme and a simple kinetic model for elementary reactions allow modeling of the observed chain width distributions. The model suggests that the complex reaction paths involving steps with increasing and decreasing chain width are more important in the formation of jimthompsonite than the direct transformation from anthophyllite. The wide chains (>triple) occurring as intermediate products of the multi-step paths are structurally closer to talc than jimthompsonite. The back-transformation of these wide chains to triple chains is, therefore, a strong argument that jimthompsonite is a stable phase and not only a metastable intermediate product in the transformation of anthophyllite to talc. Received: 8 July 1996 / Accepted: 13 December 1996     

Methodical approach to distribution of epilithic and drifting algae communities in a French subalpine river: Inferences on water quality assessment

In a sub-alpine river, the Asse, with an unpredictable discharge regime, chlorophyll, density and taxonomic diversity of both drifting and periphytic communities were studied from a methodical approach. The investigations based on stamping two close cross-sections to know their spatial distributions in a heterogeneous bed substrate showed a heterogeneous pattern of colonization mainly influenced by hydrological variables as the current velocity, the size of the substrata (gravel-pebble-boulder). For the drifting algae, mainly composed with benthic species temporarily unhooked to the substrata, the heterogeneity of the distribution was reduced in fast flow which induced a mixing of the whole mass of water. For the periphyton, some results indicated that the greatest diversity and the highest chlorophyll concentration were found on pebble substratum where the current velocity was moderate. These results have also shown that the classical methods used to day for investigations were inadequate for most Mediterranean rivers. It was really difficult to estimate the water quality from classical index created for use in regular large plain rivers.     

Paleozoic serpentinite-enclosed chromitites from Tehuitzingo (Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico): a petrological and mineralogical study

The serpentinites and associated chromitite bodies in Tehuitzingo (Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico) are in close relationship with eclogitic rocks enclosed within a metasedimentary sequence, suggesting that the serpentinites, chromitites and eclogitic rocks underwent a common metamorphic history.Primary chromites from the chromitite bodies at Tehuitzingo are of refractory-grade (Al-rich) and have a chemical composition similar to that expected to be found in an ophiolitic environment. The chromite grains in chromitites and serpentinites are systematically altered to ‘ferritchromite’. The alteration trend is usually characterized by a decrease in the Al, Mg and Cr contents coupled by an increase in Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺.The Tehutizingo chromitites have low Platinum Group Elements (PGE) contents, ranging from 102 to 303 ppb. The chondrite-normalized PGE patterns are characterized by an enrichment in the Ir-subgroup elements (IPGE=Os, Ir, Ru) relative to the Pd-subgroup elements (PPGE=Rh, Pt, Pd). In addition, all chromitite samples display a negative slope from Ru to Pd [(Os+Ir+Ru)/(Pt+Pd)=4.78−14.13]. These patterns, coupled with absolute PGE abundances, are typical of ophiolitic chromitites elsewhere. Moreover, all the analyzed samples exhibit chondrite-normalized PGE patterns similar to those found for non-metamorphosed ophiolitic chromitites. Thus, the PGE distribution patterns found in the Tehuitzingo chromitites have not been significantly affected by any subsequent Paleozoic high-pressure (eclogite facies) metamorphic event.The chondrite-normalized PGE patterns of the enclosing serpentinites also indicate that the PGE distribution in the residual mantle peridotites exposed in Tehuitzingo was unaffected by high-pressure metamorphism, or subsequent hydrothermal alteration since the serpentinites show a similar pattern to that of partially serpentinized peridotites present in mantle sequences of non-metamorphosed ophiolites.Our main conclusion is that the chromitites and serpentinites from Tehuizingo experienced no significant redistribution (or concentration) of PGE during the serpentinization process or the high-pressure metamorphic path, or during subsequent alteration processes. If any PGE mobilization occurred, it was restricted to individual chromitite bodies without changing the bulk-rock PGE composition.Our data suggest that the Tehuitzingo serpentinites and associated chromitites are a fragment of oceanic lithosphere formed in an arc/back-arc environment, and represent an ophiolitic mantle sequence from a supra-subduction zone, the chemical composition of which remained essentially unchanged during the alteration and metamorphic events that affected the Acatlán Complex.     

Nuclear Waste Disposal Simulations: Couplex Test Cases

We give some results obtained for the Couplex test cases proposed by the ANDRA. In this paper our aim is twofold. Firstly, to compute the release of nuclides out of the repository by concentrating on the 3D near field (Couplex 2). The simulation of the transport phenomena takes into account the dissolution of the glass containers and congruent emissions of the radio-nuclides including filiation chains and some simplified chemistry. Secondly, it is to use the near field computations in order to simulate the nuclide migrations in a 2D far field (Couplex 3). Coupling in between the two simulations takes into consideration the periodicity of the disposal modules and the geometry of the repository described in Couplex 1. The mixed finite element and discontinuous Galerkin methods are used to solve the convection–diffusion equations. In order to handle the nonlinear precipitation/dissolution term, we developed a new iterative technique that combines Picard and Newton–Raphson methods.     

A Finite Volume Scheme for the Transport of Radionucleides in Porous Media

The COUPLEX1 Test case (Bourgeat et al., 2003) is devoted to the comparison of numerical schemes on a convection–diffusion–reaction problem. We first show that the results of the simulation can be mainly predicted by a simple analysis of the data. A finite volume scheme, with three different treatments of the convective term, is then shown to deliver accurate and stable results under a low computational cost.     

Effet du vieillissement des céramiques poreuses sur leur capacité à évaluer la concentration de pesticide en solution

The soil solution sampling by ceramic cups allows pesticide transfer monitoring in the soil during long times. The ageing of material involves a bias in the sampling results. In laboratory, the comparison of two types of ceramic suction cups, new and installed in situ during four years, shows a modification of the hydrodynamic properties and a possible evolution of the adsorption capacity of the matrix. The passage rate, as well qualitative as quantitative, is better for the old material. Recommendations about site management are finally exposed. To cite this article: N. Domange et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Nouvelle interprétation structurale de la « faille Nord- Pyrénéenne » en vallée d'Aspe (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). Remise en question d'un plutonisme ophitique danien dans le secteur de Bedous

In the Aspe Valley (western Pyrenees), the Europe/Iberia boundary corresponds to a complex fracturing zone, called the ‘Bielle–Accous Wrench-Faulting Corridor’, which represents the classical ‘North-Pyrenean Fault’. Located between the High Primary Range and the North-Pyrenean Zone, the BAWC shows different south-verging sheets mainly composed of Triassic materials. The Bedous ophite, associated with Muschelkalk and Keuper sediments, is also Triassic in age and involved in the same Pyrenean thrusting structures. So, contrary to a recent interpretation, this magmatic rock cannot be related to a supposed Danian plutonism inducing metamorphic processes in the surrounding Mesozoic formations. To cite this article: J. Canérot et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).