A reassessment of models for hydrocarbon generation in the Khibiny nepheline syenite complex, Kola Peninsula, Russia

Although hydrocarbon-bearing fluids have been known from the alkaline igneous rocks of the Khibiny intrusion for many years, their origin remains enigmatic. A recently proposed model of post-magmatic hydrocarbon (HC) generation through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) type reactions suggests the hydration of Fe-bearing phases and release of H₂ which reacts with magmatically derived CO₂ to form CH₄ and higher HCs. However, new petrographic, microthermometric, laser Raman, bulk gas and isotope data are presented and discussed in the context of previously published work in order to reassess models of HC generation. The gas phase is dominated by CH₄ with only minor proportions of higher hydrocarbons. No remnants of the proposed primary CO₂-rich fluid are found in the complex. The majority of the fluid inclusions are of secondary nature and trapped in healed microfractures. This indicates a high fluid flux after magma crystallisation. Entrapment conditions for fluid inclusions are 450–550 °C at 2.8–4.5 kbar. These temperatures are too high for hydrocarbon gas generation through the FT reaction. Chemical analyses of rims of Fe-rich phases suggest that they are not the result of alteration but instead represent changes in magma composition during crystallisation. Furthermore, there is no clear relationship between the presence of Fe-rich minerals and the abundance of fluid inclusion planes (FIPs) as reported elsewhere. δ¹³C values for methane range from − 22.4‰ to − 5.4‰, confirming a largely abiogenic origin for the gas. The presence of primary CH₄-dominated fluid inclusions and melt inclusions, which contain a methane-rich gas phase, indicates a magmatic origin of the HCs. An increase in methane content, together with a decrease in δ¹³C isotope values towards the intrusion margin suggests that magmatically derived abiogenic hydrocarbons may have mixed with biogenic hydrocarbons derived from the surrounding country rocks.     

Abundance and Taxonomic Diversity of Bacteria Inhabiting the Sediment-Water Interface in a Marine Harbor Channel

Ocean Science Journal - The abundance of bacteria inhabiting the sediment-water interface and their taxonomic composition were determined with the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method...     

Onset of scour below pipelines and self-burial

This paper summarizes the results of an experimental study on the onset of scour below and self-burial of pipelines in currents/waves. Pressure was measured on the surface of a slightly buried pipe at two points, one at the upstream side and the other at the downstream side of the pipe, both in the sand bed. The latter enabled the pressure gradient (which drives a seepage flow underneath the pipe) to be calculated. The results indicated that the excessive seepage flow and the resulting piping are the major factor to cause the onset of scour below the pipeline. The onset of scour occurred always locally (but not along the length of the pipeline as a two-dimensional process). The critical condition corresponding to the onset of scour was determined both in the case of currents and in the case of waves. Once the scour breaks out, it will propagate along the length of the pipeline, scour holes being interrupted with stretches of soil (span shoulders) supporting the pipeline. As the span shoulder gets shorter and shorter, more and more weight of the pipeline is exerted on the soil. In this process, a critical point is reached where the bearing capacity of the soil is exceeded (general shear failure). At this point, the pipe begins to sink at the span shoulder (self-burial). It was found that the self-burial depth is governed mainly by the Keulegan–Carpenter number. The time scale of the self-burial process, on the other hand, is governed by the Keulegan–Carpenter number and the Shields parameter. Diagrams are given for the self-burial depth and the time scale of the self-burial process.     

Mercury's integral phase curve: Phase reddening and wavelength dependence of photometric quantities

We present results of a five-filter photometric study of Mercury's integral phase curve in the Johnson-Cousins UBVRI system, performed with the 0.90-m Westerlund Telescope in Uppsala, Sweden. CCD observations were made of the integrated disk for the phase angle range 22-152°, and the study is the first to cover the extended visible spectrum of Mercury. The observations are analyzed with Hapke's semi-empirical radiative transfer-based light-scattering model and photometric quantities are derived. A statistically significant phase reddening effect of is determined for Mercury based on color index observations, which is similar to that of the Moon. Phase coefficients fit to integral absolute magnitude data and Hapke models in combination with color index data provide a phase reddening effect of which does however not provide statistically significant evidence for its presence. Phase coefficients indicate that phase reddening may be decreasing in magnitude with wavelength. As for the case with the Moon, the value of the phase integral increases with wavelength, but at an eight times higher rate. This value is consistent with the difference in the rate of change in the spectral slope-emission angle relation for the two bodies. We attribute these differences with Mercury's redder spectral slope and an increase with wavelength of the backscattering lobe amplitude in the double Henyey-Greenstein particle phase function formulation. The normal albedo of integral Mercury at 1064 nm, pertinent to the return pulse energy of the BepiColombo laser altimeter (BELA), is estimated to 0.23±0.06 with a range of 0.13-0.33 for 99% of the surface.     

The effect of the Mt St Helens eruption on tropospheric and stratospheric ions

Balloon-borne observations of electrical conductivity in the troposphere and stratosphere were performed using conductivity sondes at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany, from June to November, 1980, after the Mt St Helens eruption. A significant decrease of atmospheric ions in the altitudes from the troposphere to lower stratosphere has been detected until several months after the eruption in comparison with the observational results obtained before the eruption. Simulteneous ruby lidar observation a month after the eruption indicates an increased amount of aerosol at nearly the same altitude as that of conductivity decrease. Several months after the eruption it appears that aerosols detected by lidar and those effective in reducing ion concentration have different profiles.     

Rocket-borne and groundbased observations of coincident field-aligned currents,electron beams,and plasma density enhancements in the afternoon auroral oval

Results are reported from a rocket experiment conducted at Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland, on 22 August 1976, at 16.00 M.L.T. A series of plasma, particles, and fields and wave experiments were carried on board the payload, and the venture was supported by data from the AE-C satellite and by groundbased ionosondes and magnetometers at the launch site and at Godhavn. Two regions of field-aligned electron precipitation, electron density and temperature enhancements, and field-aligned upflowing current sheets were intercepted by the rocket. The density enhancements were also observed by groundbased ionosondes. Significant discrepancies were found between the currents carried by the streaming electrons in the 0.15–10 keV range and the upflowing currents seen by the on board magnetometer, suggesting that the upflowing current could not be the primary driver of the electron acceleration mechanism. The E-region was unstable to the combined Gradient-Drift and Farley-Buneman instability, and plasma turbulence was observed in situ, but the absolute density fluctuations were too small to return detectable HF-radar power to the ground.     

Activity-composition relations in FeTiO3-MnTiO3 ilmenite solid solutions from EMF measurements at 1050–1300 K

The activity of FeTiO₃ in the binary ilmenitepyrophanite (FeTiO₃-MnTiO₃) solid solution has been determined for the temperature range 1050–1300 K by displacement of the reaction: 2 FeTiO₃=2 Fe+2 TiO₂+O₂ in T-O₂ space, using an electrochemical technique with calcia- and yttria-stabilized zirconia solid electrolytes. The activities show small positive deviations from ideality, which, although the data are unusually precise, may be perfectly described by the simple regular solution model, with an interaction parameter, W _Fe-Mn ^ilm , of 2.2±0.3 kJ g-atom^–1, which is independent of temperature. This value, together with the experimental data on the partitioning of Fe and Mn between ilmenite and garnet (Pownceby et al. 1987), gives W _Fe-Mn ^gt =1.2±0.5 kJ g-atom^–1 for the almandine-spessartine (Fe₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂-Mn₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂) solid solution.