Fe and O isotope composition of meteorite fusion crusts: Possible natural analogues to chondrule formation?

Meteorite fusion crust formation is a brief event in a high‐temperature (2000–12,000 K) and high‐pressure (2–5 MPa) regime. We studied fusion crusts and bulk samples of 10 ordinary chondrite falls and 10 ordinary chondrite finds. The fusion crusts show a typical layering and most contain vesicles. All fusion crusts are enriched in heavy Fe isotopes, with δ⁵⁶Fe values up to +0.35‰ relative to the solar system mean. On average, the δ⁵⁶Fe of fusion crusts from finds is +0.23‰, which is 0.08‰ higher than the average from falls (+0.15‰). Higher δ⁵⁶Fe in fusion crusts of finds correlate with bulk chondrite enrichments in mobile elements such as Ba and Sr. The δ⁵⁶Fe signature of meteorite fusion crusts was produced by two processes (1) evaporation during atmospheric entry and (2) terrestrial weathering. Fusion crusts have either the same or higher δ¹⁸O (0.9–1.5‰) than their host chondrites, and the same is true for Δ¹⁷O. The differences in bulk chondrite and fusion crust oxygen isotope composition are explained by exchange of oxygen between the molten surface of the meteorites with the atmosphere and weathering. Meteorite fusion crust formation is qualitatively similar to conditions of chondrule formation. Therefore, fusion crusts may, at least to some extent, serve as a natural analogue to chondrule formation processes. Meteorite fusion crust and chondrules exhibit a similar extent of Fe isotope fractionation, supporting the idea that the Fe isotope signature of chondrules was established in a high‐pressure environment that prevented large isotope fractionations. The exchange of O between a chondrule melt and an ¹⁶O‐poor nebula as the cause for the observed nonmass dependent O isotope compositions in chondrules is supported by the same process, although to a much lower extent, in meteorite fusion crusts.     

Deformation and patterns of sedimentation,South San Clemente Basin,California Borderland

Seismic reflection profiling in the South San Clemente Basin and the southern portion of the San Diego Trough has revealed at least six sedimentary units exhibiting varying stages of deformation. Four of the units are interpreted to be marine turbidites supplied by adjacent submarine canyons. Sediments comprising the Descanso Plain and correlative material within the South San Clemente Basin are attributed to a southerly source (Banda Canyon), while the more recent Quaternary turbidites from Coronado Canyon filled the southern San Diego Trough and then spilled over into South San Clemente Basin. The relatively high but intermittent rates of sedimentation, together with shifting sources and areas of deposition, have resulted in sedimentary units that were emplaced in comparatively short episodes but which were subjected to relatively continuous tectonic activity. Consequently, the sedimentary layers of each unit appear uniformly affected by deformation which increases in successively older units.     

Hydrological responses to climatic variability in a cold agricultural region

Extended severe dry and wet periods are frequently observed in the northern continental climate of the Canadian Prairies. Prairie streamflow is mainly driven by spring snowmelt of the winter snowpack, whilst summer rainfall is an important control on evapotranspiration and thus seasonality affects the hydrological response to drought and wet periods in complex ways. A field‐tested physically based model was used to investigate the influences of climatic variability on hydrological processes in this region. The model was set up to resolve agricultural fields and to include key cold regions processes. It was parameterized from local and regional measurements without calibration and run for the South Tobacco Creek basin in southern Manitoba, Canada. The model was tested against snow depth and streamflow observations at multiple scales and performed well enough to explore the impacts of wet and dry periods on hydrological processes governing the basin scale hydrological response. Four hydro‐climatic patterns with distinctive climatic seasonality and runoff responses were identified from differing combinations of wet/dry winter and summer seasons. Water balance analyses of these patterns identified substantive multiyear subsurface soil moisture storage depletion during drought (2001–2005) and recharge during a subsequent wet period (2009–2011). The fractional percentage of heavy rainfall days was a useful metric to explain the contrasting runoff volumes between dry and wet summers. Finally, a comparison of modeling approaches highlights the importance of antecedent fall soil moisture, ice lens formation during the snowmelt period, and peak snow water equivalent in simulating snowmelt runoff.     

Flood seasonality across Scandinavia—Evidence of a shifting hydrograph?

Fluvial flood events have substantial impacts on humans, both socially and economically, as well as on ecosystems (e.g., hydroecology and pollutant transport). Concurrent with climate change, the seasonality of flooding in cold environments is expected to shift from a snowmelt‐dominated to a rainfall‐dominated flow regime. This would have profound impacts on water management strategies, that is, flood risk mitigation, drinking water supply, and hydro power. In addition, cold climate hydrological systems exhibit complex interactions with catchment properties and large‐scale climate fluctuations making the manifestation of changes difficult to detect and predict. Understanding a possible change in flood seasonality and defining related key drivers therefore is essential to mitigate risk and to keep management strategies viable under a changing climate. This study explores changes in flood seasonality across near‐natural catchments in Scandinavia using circular statistics and trend tests. Results indicate strong seasonality in flooding for snowmelt‐dominated catchments with a single peak occurring in spring and early summer (March through June), whereas flood peaks are more equally distributed throughout the year for catchments located close to the Atlantic coast and in the south of the study area. Flood seasonality has changed over the past century seen as decreasing trends in summer maximum daily flows and increasing winter and spring maximum daily flows with 5–35% of the catchments showing significant changes at the 5% significance level. Seasonal mean daily flows corroborate those findings with higher percentages (5–60%) of the catchments showing statistically significant changes. Alterations in annual flood occurrence also point towards a shift in flow regime from snowmelt‐dominated to rainfall‐dominated with consistent changes towards earlier timing of the flood peak (significant for 25% of the catchments). Regionally consistent patterns suggest a first‐order climate control as well as a local second‐order catchment control, which causes inter‐seasonal variability in the streamflow response.     

The multiple chronological techniques applied to the Lake Suigetsu SG06 sediment core,central Japan

The varved sediment of Lake Suigetsu (central Japan) provides a valuable opportunity to obtain high‐resolution, multi‐proxy palaeoenvironmental data across the last glacial/interglacial cycle. In order to maximize the potential of this archive, a well‐constrained chronology is required. This paper outlines the multiple geochronological techniques being applied – namely varve counting, radiocarbon dating, tephrochronology (including argon–argon dating) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) – and the approaches by which these techniques are being integrated to form a single, coherent, robust chronology. Importantly, we also describe here the linkage of the floating Lake Suigetsu (SG06) varve chronology and the absolute (IntCal09 tree‐ring) time scale, as derived using radiocarbon data from the uppermost (non‐varved) portion of the core. This tie‐point, defined as a distinct (flood) marker horizon in SG06 (event layer B‐07–08 at 1397.4 cm composite depth), is thus derived to be 11 255 to 11 222 IntCal09 cal. years BP (68.2% probability range).     

Structure and collapse of three-dimensional magnetic neutral points

Abstract

The structure and collapse of linear three-dimensional magnetic neutral points is studied by varying the four parameters (p, q,j_|,j_⊥ ) that define, in general, the linear field of a neutral point. The effect of these parameters on both the skeleton structure (i.e. the fan and spine) and the actual field line structure of the null is considered. It is found that one current component (j_⊥ ) causes the skeleton structure of the null to fold up from its potential state, whereas the other current component (j _|;) causes the field lines to bend. The two other parameters (p,q) determine the potential structure of the null and cause the null to transform from a three-dimensional null to a two-dimensional null and from a positive (type B) null to a negative (type A) null.

To investigate the collapse of three-dimensional nulls, solutions to the linear, low-β ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations are found. It is found that three-dimensional null points can collapse if the field line foot-points are free and energy can propagate into the system.     

MinIdent: An application to the identification and classification of amphiboles

Summary Amphibole data in the MinIdent database (Smith andLeibovitz, 1986) were initially entered using species names quoted in the original source. The database has been updated by reclassifying these early data using the program AMPHTAB supplied by N. M. S. Rock and by adding supplemental data from the more recent literature, with the species names again checked using AMPHTAB. Associated MinIdent mineral identification software was utilized to determine which minerals in the database most closely resemble a series of unknown specimens chemically, as expressed in the Chemical Matching Index, CM, a relative figure-of-merit. Chemical data fromMogessie and Tessadri (1982) and Hawthorne (1983) were used to check the agreement between MinIdent and AMPHTAB for the classification of 221 unknown amphiboles.With 450 amphibole analyses entered and compiled in MinIdent, the name assigned by AMPHTAB showed the highest value of CM in MinIdent for 127 of the 221 unknown amphiboles (57.5°/x) and the second highest value for another 32 (14.5%). A chemically adjacent amphibole field had the highest value of CM for 59 of the 221 unknowns (26.7%), where chemically adjacent refers to a change in one chemical parameter. The greatest discrepancy between the two programs occurred in the hornblendes, with an agreement of just 20%, although for 58% of the unknowns the species with the highest CM in MinIdent was in a chemical field adjacent to the species name assigned by AMPHTAB. In many cases the disagreement between MinIdent and AMPHTAB could be ascribed to a lack of data in MinIdent.A comparison of the two programs suggests that the assignment of a single name to an unknown amphibole by AMPHTAB with no direct indication of its reliability may be; misleading. Standard analytical errors are frequently sufficient to overlap the arbitrary boundaries between amphibole species fields. In such cases it may be preferable to use a program such as MinIdent which, rather than assigning an arbitrary amphibole name, presents a list of 20 amphiboles with the degree of similarity between them and the unknown amphibole indicated. MinIdent offers the additional benefit of allowing input of other than chemical data and bases the match between unknown and standard data upon all input data. This will become more of an advantage as instruments such as automated refractometers become available for routine use.

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Zusammenfassung Ausgangspunkt war das Amphibol-Datenmaterial (Smith und Leibovitz, 1986) mit den dort verwendeten Artnamen. Diese Basisdaten wurden vervollständigt und erneuert durch Reklassifizierung mittels des AMPHTAB Programms, ergänzt durch N. M. S. Rock, und durch Hinzufügung weiterer Daten aus der neuesten Literatur, deren Speciesnamen wiederum mit AMPHTAB überprüft wurden. Außerdem wurde eine MinIdent Mineralidentifizierungs-Software verwendet, um die Minerale zu bestimmen, die in ihrem Chemismus am ehesten einer Serie von unbekannten Amphibol-Species entsprechen, wie sie im Chemical Matching Index (CM) aufscheinen. Zur Klassifikation von 221 unbekannten Amphibolen wurden chemische Daten von Mogessie und Tessadri (1982) verwendet um die Übereinstimmung zwischen MinIdent und AMPHTAB zu überprüfen.Unter den 450 in MinIdent zusammengestellten und eingegebenen Amphibolanalysen zeigen die bei AMPHTAB angegebenen die höchsten CM Werte, nämlich 127 von 221 unbekannten Amphibolen (57,5%) und weitere 32 (14,5%) die zweithöchsten Werte. Innerhalb eines chemisch benachbarten Amphibolfeldes hatten 59 der 221 unbekannten Amphibole (26,7%) die höchsten CM Werte, wobei unter achemisch benachbart die Änderung eines chemischen Parameters zu verstehen ist. Die größten Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Programmen traten bei den Hornblenden auf. Die Übereinstimmung lag bei nur 20%, obwohl bei 58% der unbekannten Amphibole die Species mit dem höchsten CM Wert in MinIdent in ein chemisches Feld zu liegen kamen, welches zu den bei AMPHTAB angegebenen Speciesnamen eine benachbarte Position einnimmt. Die Unterschiede zwischen MinIdent und AMPHTAB könnten in vielen Fällen auf ein Fehlen von Daten in MinIdent zurükzuführen sein.Ein Vergleich beider Programme deutet an, daß die Angabe eines Einzelnamens für ein unbekanntes Amphibol im AMPHTAB Programm ohne Angaben über die Zuverlässigkeit zu Mißverständnissen führen kann. Normale analytische Fehler können bereits dazu führen, daß die Grenzen zweier willkürlicher Amphibolfelder überlappen. In derartigen Fällen emphiehlt sich die Anwendung des MinIdent Programmes, welches eben nicht einen willkürlichen Amphibolnamen angibt, sondern eine Liste von 20 Amphibolen mit dem Grad ihrer Ähnlichkeit, und einem Hinweis auf den unbekannten Amphibol. MinIdent bietet den zusätzlichen Vorteil, daß man außer chemischen auch andere Daten eingeben kann, und stellt dann sämtliche Daten des unbekannten Amphibols den Standard Daten gegenüber. Dieser Klassifizierungsvorgang wird mit der zunehmenden Routineanwendung von automatischen Refraktometern verstärkte Anwendung finden.

     

Generation of correlated properties in heterogeneous porous media

The spatial distribution of rock properties in porous media, such as permeability and porosity, often is strongly variable. Therefore, these properties usefully may be considered as a random field. However, this variability is correlated frequently on length scales comparable to geological lengths (for example, scales of sand bodies or facies). To solve various engineering problems (for example, in the oil recovery process) numerical models of a porous medium often are used. A need exists then to understand correlated random fields and to generate them over discretized numerical grids. The paper describes the general mathematical methods required to do this, with one particular method (the nearest neighbor model) described in detail. How parameters of the mathematical model may be related to rock property statistics for the nearest neighbor model is shown. The method is described in detail in one, two, and three dimensions. Examples are given of how model parameters may be determined from real data.     

Subduction and back-arc activity at the Hikurangi convergent Margin,New Zealand

The Hikurangi Margin is a region of oblique subduction with northwest-dipping intermediate depth seismicity extending southwest from the Kermadec system to about 42°S. The current episode of subduction is at least 16–20 Ma old. The plate convergence rate varies along the margin from about 60 mm/a at the south end of the Kermadec Trench to about 45 mm/a at 42°S. The age of the Pacific lithosphere adjacent to the Hikurangi Trench is not known.The margin divides at about latitude 39°S into two quite dissimilar parts. The northern part has experienced andesitic volcanism for about 18 Ma, and back-arc extension in the last 4 Ma that has produced a back-arc basin onshore with high heaflow, thin crust and low upper-mantle seismic velocities. The extension appears to have arisen from a seawards migration of the Hikurangi Trench north of 39°S. Here the plate interface is thought to be currently uncoupled, as geodetic data indicate extension of the fore-arc basin, and historic earthquakes have not exceededM _s=7.South of 39°S there is no volcanism and a back-arc basin has been produced by downward flexure of the lithosphere due to strong coupling with the subducting plate. Heatflow in the basin is normal. Evidence for strong coupling comes from historic earthquakes of up to aboutM _s=8 and high rates of uplift on the southeast coast of the North Island.The reason for this division of the margin is not known but may be related to an inferred increase, from northeast to southwest, in the buoyancy of the Pacific lithosphere.     

New field and laboratory evidence for the origin of hyaloclastite flows on seamount summits

New field observations with the submersible ALVIN and photographic evidence from a study of the summits of seamounts near the East Pacific Rise show that hyaloclastite deposits occur commonly. Hyaloclastite outcrops were found on six volcanoes at depths from 1240 to 2500 m. These new observations plus laboratory study of new hyaloclastite specimens extend the results of previous studies. Most of the hyaloclastite samples are of hydrovolcanic eruptive origin, but a few show evidence of a predominantly sedimentary origin. Primarily from morphology, we identify several vent areas from which hyaloclastite presumably erupted. The surface appearance of the hyaloclastite deposits varies with distance to these vents, leading us to propose a facies model for deep-sea hyaloclastites on seamount summits. Hyaloclastites of hydromagmatic origin exhibit weak normal grading and bedding-parallel alignment of platy shards. They consist of blocky, sliver and fluidal basalt glass shards and lithics in a matrix that contains pelagic sediment. The shards themselves are remarkably free of even the tiniest crystals and are usually chemically homogeneous. We propose that the shards form mainly by cooling-contraction granulation, but cannot rule out the possibility of limited steam explosivity. Hyaloclastites are closely associated with submarine pahoehoe and we propose that a very rapid eruption rate, promoting clastic-dominated versus flow-dominated eruptive behavior, is the dominant control on hyaloclastite formation. We propose that shard formation occurs during submarine lava fountaining. Gravitational instability of the resulting slurry of shards, sea water and possibly steam causes gravity flow that carries the shards outward from the vent. Further field and modelling studies are needed to test these ideas and more quantitatively constrain the ascent mechanism, eruption dynamics and deposition of deep-sea hyaloclastites.