Combining shock barometry with numerical modeling: Insights into complex crater formation—The example of the Siljan impact structure (Sweden)

Siljan, central Sweden, is the largest known impact structure in Europe. It was formed at about 380 Ma, in the late Devonian period. The structure has been heavily eroded to a level originally located underneath the crater floor, and to date, important questions about the original size and morphology of Siljan remain unanswered. Here we present the results of a shock barometry study of quartz‐bearing surface and drill core samples combined with numerical modeling using iSALE. The investigated 13 bedrock granitoid samples show that the recorded shock pressure decreases with increasing depth from 15 to 20 GPa near the (present) surface, to 10–15 GPa at 600 m depth. A best‐fit model that is consistent with observational constraints relating to the present size of the structure, the location of the downfaulted sediments, and the observed surface and vertical shock barometry profiles is presented. The best‐fit model results in a final crater (rim‐to‐rim) diameter of ~65 km. According to our simulations, the original Siljan impact structure would have been a peak‐ring crater. Siljan was formed in a mixed target of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks overlaying crystalline basement. Our modeling suggests that, at the time of impact, the sedimentary sequence was approximately 3 km thick. Since then, there has been around 4 km of erosion of the structure.     

Impact of subsurface rock fragments on runoff and interrill soil loss from cultivated soils

Field and laboratory studies have indicated that rock fragments in the topsoil may have a large impact on soil properties, soil quality, hydraulic, hydrological and erosion processes. In most studies, the rock fragments investigated still remain visible at the soil surface and only properties of these visible rock fragments are used for predicting runoff and soil loss. However, there are indications that rock fragments completely incorporated in the topsoil could also significantly influence the percolation and water distribution in stony soils and therefore, also infiltration, runoff and soil loss rates. Therefore, in this study interrill laboratory experiments with simulated rainfall for 60 min were conducted to assess the influence of subsurface rock fragments incorporated in a disturbed silt loam soil at different depths below the soil surface (i.e. 0.001, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 m), on infiltration, surface runoff and interrill erosion processes for small and large rock fragment sizes (i.e. mean diameter 0.04 and 0.20 m, respectively). Although only small differences in infiltration rate and runoff volume are observed between the soil without rock fragments (control) and the one with subsurface rock fragments, considerable differences in total interrill soil loss are observed between the control treatment and both contrasting rock fragments sizes. This is explained by a rapid increase in soil moisture in the areas above the rock fragments and therefore a decrease in topsoil cohesion compared with the control soil profile. The observed differences in runoff volume and interrill soil loss between the control plots and those with subsurface rock fragments is largest after a cumulative rainfall (P_cum) of 11 mm and progressively decreases with increasing P_cum. The results highlight the impacts and complexity of subsurface rock fragments on the production of runoff volume and soil loss and requires their inclusion in process‐based runoff and erosion models. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pembrokeshire,South Wales

Unravelling the geology of Pembrokeshire (southwest Wales) has been a rite of passage for British undergraduate students for generations. A favourite destination for an Easter fieldtrip, this complex region contains diverse geology of late Precambrian to Carboniferous age. In the course of a five‐day excursion, a student can uncover evidence for two plate tectonic cycles: the birth of the early Palaeozoic Iapetus Ocean and its death in the Caledonian Orogen, and the reworking of the late Palaeozoic Rheic back‐arc basins on the northern margins of the Variscides. In doing so, there is an opportunity to examine highly variable palaeoenvironments including the deposits of alluvial fans, flood plains, deltas, estuaries, carbonate shelves and deeper marine settings, as well as developing fundamental field skills in geological mapping, structural analysis and sedimentary logging. In this article, I introduce the fascinating story of the geological evolution of Pembrokeshire and describe some of the classic localities useful for basic geological training.     

Phase equilibria modelling and LASS monazite petrochronology: P–T–t constraints on the evolution of the Priest River core complex,northern Idaho

Phase equilibria modelling, laser‐ablation split‐stream (LASS)‐ICP‐MS petrochronology and garnet trace‐element geochemistry are integrated to constrain the P–T–t history of the footwall of the Priest River metamorphic core complex, northern Idaho. Metapelitic, migmatitic gneisses of the Hauser Lake Gneiss contain the peak assemblage garnet + sillimanite + biotite ± muscovite + plagioclase + K‐feldspar ± rutile ± ilmenite + quartz. Interpreted P–T paths predict maximum pressures and peak metamorphic temperatures of ~9.6–10.3 kbar and ~785–790 °C. Monazite and xenotime ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th dates from porphyroblast inclusions indicate that metamorphism occurred at c. 74–54 Ma. Dates from HREE‐depleted monazite formed during prograde growth constrain peak metamorphism at c. 64 Ma near the centre of the complex, while dates from HREE‐enriched monazite constrain the timing of garnet breakdown during near‐isothermal decompression at c. 60–57 Ma. Near‐isothermal decompression to ~5.0–4.4 kbar was followed by cooling and further decompression. The youngest, HREE‐enriched monazite records leucosome crystallization at mid‐crustal levels c. 54–44 Ma. The northernmost sample records regional metamorphism during the emplacement of the Selkirk igneous complex (c. 94–81 Ma), Cretaceous–Tertiary metamorphism and limited Eocene exhumation. Similarities between the Priest River complex and other complexes of the northern North American Cordillera suggest shared regional metamorphic and exhumation histories; however, in contrast to complexes to the north, the Priest River contains less partial melt and no evidence for diapiric exhumation. Improved constraints on metamorphism, deformation, anatexis and exhumation provide greater insight into the initiation and evolution of metamorphic core complexes in the northern Cordillera, and in similar tectonic settings elsewhere.     

Fracture mechanics analysis of multiple cracks in anisotropic media

This paper presents a single‐domain boundary element method (BEM) for linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis in the two‐dimensional anisotropic material. In this formulation, the displacement integral equation is collocated on the un‐cracked boundary only, and the traction integral equation is collocated on one side of the crack surface only. A special crack‐tip element was introduced to capture exactly the crack‐tip behavior. A computer program with the FORTRAN language has been developed to effectively calculate the stress intensity factors of an anisotropic material. This BEM program has been verified having a good accuracy with the previous researches. Furthermore, by analyzing the different anisotropic degree cracks in a finite plate, we found that the stress intensity factors of crack tips had apparent influence by the geometry forms of cracks and media with different anisotropic degrees. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fossil wood

Plants have been making wood (secondary xylem) for more than 370 million years. This familiar material is one of the keys to their massive success. Wood allows plants to attain breathtaking heights and maximize the capture of sunlight for growth. By creating complex, multi‐layered forests, the evolution of wood, has done more to shape life on land than almost any other innovation. Wood is one of the most common terrestrial fossils encountered in the geological record. Whether preserved as huge petrified logs or as minute chunks of charcoal, fossil wood is abundant in rocks of Late Devonian age and younger. It is of enormous scientific importance, shedding light on the identity and stature of ancient trees. As a record of growth over a sustained period, it also tells us much about the climates and environments in which those trees lived. In this article, I explain some aspects of the origin, evolution, preservation, and identification of fossil wood, and emphasise its great significance for geology.     

The lateglacial Quercus expansion in the southern European Alps: rapid vegetation response to a late Allerød climate warming?

A pollen‐inferred vegetation shift, from pioneer birch–pine woodland to mixed pine–summergreen oak forests, in the southern Alpine forelands, is commonly attributed to a centennial‐scale warming that occurred between the Gerzensee Oscillation (GO) and the Younger Dryas. Two microtephra layers bracketing the Younger Dryas onset (the Laacher See Tephra and the Vedde Ash) improve the chronology at Lago Piccolo di Avigliana (northern Italy) and allowed accurate correlation with Central European records where the GO is clearly detected. We used pollen percentages, pollen accumulation rates (PARs) and plant macrofossils to assess the population dynamics of Quercus, and leaf‐cuticle analysis for a better taxonomic identification of Quercus. Our results indicate that the species that was locally present was probably Quercus robur. PARs suggest that the population expansion started as early as the Bølling and followed an exponential increase through time. We attribute this gradual shift to increasing summer temperatures and longer growing seasons which contrast with a gradually decreasing temperature trend as recorded in Greenland ice cores and in Central Europe. Breaks or set‐backs in the PAR record may indicate the biotic response to minor Lateglacial cooling events of different life‐history stages in the Quercus population. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Midge‐inferred Holocene effective moisture fluctuations in a subarctic lake,northern Lapland

Luoto, T. P. & Sarmaja‐Korjonen, K. 2011: Midge‐inferred Holocene effective moisture fluctuations in a subarctic lake, northern Lapland. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2011.00217.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. We examined fossil midge (Diptera: Chironomidae) assemblages from Lake Várddoaijávri, northern Finland to track Holocene effective moisture variability. Application of a midge‐based water‐depth calibration model showed that the early Holocene was characterized by a high water level compared with the Holocene average, but the inferred values decreased at c. 8000 cal. a BP and increased again towards c. 6000 cal. a BP. The inferred water level decreased at c. 5500 cal. a BP, but increased again towards c. 4000 cal. a BP. Between 4000 and 3000 cal. a BP the lake experienced two rapid events of lower water level. A relatively high water level detected at c. 3000 cal. a BP was followed by a lowering towards c. 2000 cal. a BP. The time period from c. 2000 cal. a BP onwards was characterized by a general rise in lake level towards the present. Overall, the present reconstruction shows a close correspondence in its trends to previous lake‐level records in the region. Two common core taxa, Paratanytarsus and Corynocera ambigua, did not correlate significantly with water depth in the calibration data, creating a potential error source for the present lake‐level reconstruction. However, statistical analysis showed a clear community response to long‐term lake‐level changes, and therefore the major trends in Holocene effective moisture patterns were revealed. The present palaeoclimatic information can also serve as valuable background data when assessing the effects of the present climate change.     

Oxygen‐18 dynamics in precipitation and streamflow in a semi‐arid agricultural watershed,Eastern Washington,USA

Understanding flow pathways and mechanisms that generate streamflow is important to understanding agrochemical contamination in surface waters in agricultural watersheds. Two environmental tracers, δ¹⁸O and electrical conductivity (EC), were monitored in tile drainage (draining 12 ha) and stream water (draining nested catchments of 6‐5700 ha) from 2000 to 2008 in the semi‐arid agricultural Missouri Flat Creek (MFC) watershed, near Pullman Washington, USA. Tile drainage and streamflow generated in the watershed were found to have baseline δ¹⁸O value of ?14·7‰ (VSMOW) year round. Winter precipitation accounted for 67% of total annual precipitation and was found to dominate streamflow, tile drainage, and groundwater recharge. ‘Old’ and ‘new’ water partitioning in streamflow were not identifiable using δ¹⁸O, but seasonal shifts of nitrate‐corrected EC suggest that deep soil pathways primarily generated summer streamflow (mean EC 250 µS/cm) while shallow soil pathways dominated streamflow generation during winter (EC declining as low as 100 µS/cm). Using summer isotopic and EC excursions from tile drainage in larger catchment (4700‐5700 ha) stream waters, summer in‐stream evaporation fractions were estimated to be from 20% to 40%, with the greatest evaporation occurring from August to October. Seasonal watershed and environmental tracer dynamics in the MFC watershed appeared to be similar to those at larger watershed scales in the Palouse River basin. A 0·9‰ enrichment, in shallow groundwater drained to streams (tile drainage and soil seepage), of δ¹⁸O values from 2000 to 2008 may be evidence of altered precipitation conditions due to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) in the Inland Northwest. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Weichselian interstadials at Riipiharju,northern Sweden – interpretation of vegetation and climate from fossil and modern pollen records

Hättestrand, M. & Robertsson, A.‐M. 2010: Weichselian interstadials at Riipiharju, northern Sweden – interpretation of vegetation and climate from fossil and modern pollen records. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2009.00129.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The most complete records of Weichselian ice‐free conditions in northern Sweden have been retrieved from kettleholes in the Riipiharju esker. In an earlier study, the Riipiharju I core was described as containing two Weichselian interstadials and Riipiharju was chosen as type site for the second Weichselian interstadial in northern Sweden. Here, we present a palynological investigation of two new sediment cores (Riipiharju II and III) retrieved from Riipiharju. Together, the new cores comprise a late cold part of the first Weichselian interstadial recorded in northeastern Sweden (Tärendö I, earlier correlated with Peräpohjola in Finland) as well as a long sequence of the second Weichselian interstadial (Tärendö II, earlier named Tärendö). The results indicate that the climate during deposition of the Tärendö II sequence was more variable than earlier suggested. According to the present interpretation it was relatively warm in the early part of Tärendö II; thereafter a long cold phase persisted, and finally the climate was warmer again in the late part of Tärendö II. The warm phases are characterized by Betula‐dominant pollen assemblages, while the cold phase is characterized by high percentages of Artemisia and Gramineae pollen. Since there is still no firm chronology established of the interstadials in northeastern Sweden, two possible correlations are discussed; either Tärendö I and II are correlated with Brörup (MIS 5c) and Odderade (MIS 5a), or, perhaps more likely, they are correlated with Odderade and early Middle Weichselian (MIS 3) time.