Mediterranean outflow through the Strait of Gibraltar since 18,000 Years B.P.: Mineralogical and geochemical arguments

Data obtained from mineralogical and geochemical analyses of piston and gravity cores, recovered from an area off Lisbon (Portugal) to the Alboran Sea (Mediterranean), serve as a basis for better understanding the past 18,000 years of hydrological exchanges at Gibraltar. Tracers used in this study are smectite, kaolinite, Ta, Th, La. One of the primary sources of particles both into and out of the Mediterranean is the Guadalquivir River. These particles are transported back into the Atlantic in the Mediterranean outflow water, and deposited along the Iberian slope. No evidence for reversal of this outflow current was found in those cores, since 18,000 years B.P.     

Catastrophic landslides,glacier behaviour and moraine formation – A view from an active plate margin

The influence of large bedrock landslides (“rock avalanches”) on the behaviour of glaciers is incompletely recognised. Here we present an example from an active tectonic margin in South Island, New Zealand where large earthquakes leave a significant imprint on glacial records. We demonstrate that terminal moraines on the western side of the Southern Alps record both ‘ordinary’ (i.e. climate-driven) and landslide-initiated glacial advances. Following consideration of the processes involved in rock avalanche-initiated moraine construction we suggest ways of determining the nature of the advance that built the terminal moraine. The implications of these observations are important in breaking the conventional linkage of individual terminal moraines with climate forcing.     

Zonal REE + Y profiles in garnet and their genetic implications: A case study of metapelites from the northern Ladoga region

The objective of this study is to provide insights into the REE and Y behavior during garnet porphyroblast formation in staurolite-bearing schists as a constituent of Late Paleoproterozoic metapelites of the Ladoga Complex. The MnNCKFMASH P–T pseudosection for a single sample and Grt–Bt thermometry indicate that the garnet core grew at 520°C and under 7.0–7.2 kbar in the Grt–Bt–Pl–Chl–Ms–Zo field, whereas the garnet rim was equilibrated at 590–600°C and under 3.5–4.0 kbar. The measured zoning profiles are strongly depleted in REE + Y in the garnet core containing high Mn and Ca concentrations. The intermediate zone of garnet is enriched in La, Ce, Pr, and Nd (inner LREE + Nd annulus), as well as in Dy, Er, Yb, Lu, and Y (outer HREE + Y + Dy annulus). According to pseudosection analysis, these peaks were probably produced owing to breakdown of epidote-group minerals (allanite, REE-rich epidote) at T < 535°C and P > 6.5 kbar. Towards the rim, the HREE + Y contents gradually decrease, whereas MREE (Sm, Eu, Gd) display an inverse trend. The rim also exhibits a negative Eu anomaly. The former tendency reflects an increase in temperature during garnet crystallization and partitioning of elements between garnet and monazite. It is thought that the latter is linked to oppositely directed change in garnet-monazite partition coefficients for HREE and MREE with increasing temperature.     

Reconstruction of Holocene Environmental Changes in North-Western Pacific in Relation to Paleorecord from Shikotan Island

Doklady Earth Sciences - Results of a paleolimnological investigation of a well-dated lake sediment section from Shikotan Island (Southern Kurils) showed that from ca 8.0 to 5.8 cal ka BP a warm...     

Stars with discrepant <Emphasis Type="Italic">υ</Emphasis> sin <Emphasis Type="Italic">i</Emphasis> as derived from Ca II 3933 and Mg II 4481 Å lines. II. Multiple star HD 90569

Axial rotation of a star plays an important role in its evolution, physical condition in its atmosphere and appearance of its spectrum. Methods of determinations of υ sin i are based on comparison of the observed profiles of spectral lines with theoretical ones. Their accuracy depends on the kind and quality of spectrograms as well as on the algorithms used. A frequently used method is the simple comparing of one line, e.g. the Ca II at 3933 Å or Mg ii at 4481 Å. This however, may result in a false value of υ sin i if low dispersion spectra are used. In this work we studied contemporary CCD as well as older photographic spectra of the multiple star HD90569. We determined the projected rotational velocity value to be υ sin i = 11 km/s. Besides formerly reported enhancing of lines of Cr, Fe, Mn and Sr, we found also large overabundances of rare earths, gallium and platinum. Helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, aluminium, calcium, scandium and nickel are in deficit. The spectrum of the occultation double was not identified to be of the SB2-type, however, there are some observable evidences that the pair creates a binary with a long orbital period. Despite this there are also observations that leave such interpretation uncertain.     

鄂西走马地区南华纪古城期-南沱早期古气候和古氧相演化：来自细碎屑岩元素地球化学的证据

新元古代后期地球经历了至少两次全球规模的冰川期,分别为Sturtian冰期和Marinoan冰期。鄂西走马地区南华系古城组与南沱组分别属于Sturtian和Marinoan冰期沉积,大塘坡组代表间冰期沉积,同时,大塘坡期是我国重要的成锰时期。本文通过对走马地区ZK702钻孔岩心古城组、大塘坡组、南沱组底部细碎屑岩样品元素地球化学的研究,计算了CIA、CIW、PIA、Al/Ca、Rb/Sr、V/Cr、U/Th等特征值,探讨了该区南华纪冰期至间冰期的古气候和古氧相演化过程,结合岩石学证据认为：古城冰期气候寒冷干燥(CIA值从底部的69. 2过渡至57. 8,均值为62. 2),大塘坡间冰期早期气候依然寒冷(CIA值介于54. 3～62. 7,均值59. 7),大塘坡中晚期气候恢复温暖湿润并趋于稳定(CIA值介于70. 2～81. 1,均值75. 8),南沱冰期气候又转向寒冷干燥(CIA值由78. 6降低至61. 9),CIW、PIA、Rb/Sr值等指标反映的古气候演化过程与CIA值反映一致,Al/Ca值的变化也反映了陆源碎屑输入量随着古气候波动;V/Cr、U/Th、Ni/Co等比值反映出研究区古海洋古城期-南沱早期总体处于氧化环境,其中大塘坡早期处于弱氧化环境,古城期、大塘坡中晚期和南沱早期处于氧化环境;研究区大塘坡锰矿形成于间冰期早期寒冷气候下的弱氧化环境,气候转暖后锰矿停止沉积,锰矿成矿与古气候和古氧相具有耦合关系。     

Revisiting the abandoned shorelines of Lake George,Australia: a refined optical dating framework

Abandoned shorelines are an important archive used to constrain past fluctuations in the hydrological balance of lakes around the globe. Within Australia, the shorelines preserved at Lake George, NSW, form one of the few shoreline archives in the south-east of the continent that record palaeoenvironmental conditions throughout the late Quaternary. Here, we examined and tested the lake-level record for Lake George constructed in the 1970s by dating a well-preserved shoreline sequence at Luckdale, on the lake's eastern shore, using single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Ten stratigraphic units were identified, and these suggest a late Quaternary highstand for Lake George in MIS 3, with fluctuations superimposed upon an overall drying trend throughout MIS 2 and into the present. At Luckdale, the highest four shoreline-associated units were deposited ~13 to 19 m above lake base and date to between 39 ± 2 and 29 ± 1 ka ago. Our study pushes back the timing of maximum lake depth at Lake George to at least MIS 3, rather than MIS 2. The overall drying trend is supported by similar reductions in both Riverine Plain fluvial activity and other associated lake-level records from within the Murray basin.     

Diamond formation and source carbonation: mineral associations in diamonds from Namibia

Mineral inclusions in diamonds from Namibia document a range of mantle sources, including eclogitic, websteritic and peridotitic parageneses. Based on unusual textural features a group of inclusions showing websteritic, peridotitic and transitional chemical features is assigned to an 'undetermined suite' (12% of the studied diamonds). The mutual characteristic of this group is the occurrence of lamellar intergrowths of clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene. In addition, the 'undetermined suite' is associated with a number of uncommon phases: in one diamond MgCO₃ is enclosed by clinopyroxene. Other minerals that form touching inclusions with the pyroxene lamellae are (1) a SiO₂ phase observed in three diamonds, together with CaCO₃ in one of them, (2) phlogopite and a Cr-rich 'titanate' (probably lindsleyite). The inclusions document a metamorphic path of decreasing pressures and temperatures after entrapment in diamond. First, homogeneous low-Ca clinopyroxenes were entrapped at high temperatures. They subsequently exsolved orthopyroxene and probably also SiO₂ (coesite) on cooling along a P,T trajectory that did not allow garnet to be exsolved as well. Phlogopite, carbonates and LIMA phases are the result of overprint of a peridotitic source rock by a carbon-rich agent. The resulting unusual, olivine-free mineral association and the host diamonds are interpreted as products of extensive carbonation of the peridotite.     

南极GRV 99027陨石:火星陨石中的一个新成员

来自南极格罗夫山蓝冰地区的GRV 99027陨石为一无球粒陨石,主要由橄榄石及辉石组成。棕色橄榄石具堆晶结构及镶嵌结构等火成岩浆分异结晶的特征。陨石的矿物模式组成及化学成分显示与SNC族陨石特征相似,特别是与ALHA77005陨石十分接近。后者被确定为二辉橄榄岩质辉玻无球粒陨石类(Lherozolitic-Shergotty,L-S)火星陨石。GRV 99027陨石的矿物化学特征以及FeO/MnO比值也与L-S类相似。可以初步认为GRV 99027陨石为SNC族火星陨石一个新的成员。二辉橄榄岩相当于地球的上地幔成分。陨石来自火星探部,为世界上极为稀有的火星样品,极具研究价值。