Numerical simulations of microstructures using the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Elle</Emphasis> platform: A modern research and teaching tool

The last 20 years have seen a manifold increase in the application of numerical simulations in the earth sciences. This contribution aims to provide an overview of the possibilities of using numerical techniques, in particular the numerical simulation package Elle, as an aid in the training for microstructural interpretation in rocks. Three sets of experiments are described to illustrate the range of simulations currently possible, investigating the effects of grain growth, polyphase deformation and dynamic recrystallisation. Numerical simulations of static annealing of a pre-deformed natural sample show that Crystallographic Preferred Orientations can still be used for the interpretation of kinematic and deformation conditions, even after substantial postdeformational annealing. However, the grain network characteristics such as grain size, grain size distribution, boundary shapes and aspect ratios are rapidly altered during annealing, especially if the grains possessed highly contrasting internal strain energies.     

Age constraints on faulting and fault reactivation: a multi-chronological approach

Movement within the Earth’s upper crust is commonly accommodated by faults or shear zones, ranging in scale from micro-displacements to regional tectonic lineaments. Since faults are active on different time scales and can be repeatedly reactivated, their displacement chronology is difficult to reconstruct. This study represents a multi-geochronological approach to unravel the evolution of an intracontinental fault zone locality along the Danube Fault, central Europe. At the investigated fault locality, ancient motion has produced a cataclastic deformation zone in which the cataclastic material was subjected to hydrothermal alteration and K-feldspar was almost completely replaced by illite and other phyllosilicates. Five different geochronological techniques (zircon Pb-evaporation, K–Ar and Rb–Sr illite, apatite fission track and fluorite (U-Th)/He) have been applied to explore the temporal fault activity. The upper time limit for initiation of faulting is constrained by the crystallization age of the primary rock type (known as “Kristallgranit”) at 325 ± 7 Ma, whereas the K–Ar and Rb–Sr ages of two illite fractions <2 μm (266–255 Ma) are interpreted to date fluid infiltration events during the final stage of the cataclastic deformation period. During this time, the “Kristallgranit” was already at or near the Earth’s surface as indicated by the sedimentary record and thermal modelling results of apatite fission track data. (U–Th)/He thermochronology of two single fluorite grains from a fluorite–quartz vein within the fault zone yield Cretaceous ages that clearly postdate their Late-Variscan mineralization age. We propose that later reactivation of the fault caused loss of helium in the fluorites. This assertion is supported by geological evidence, i.e. offsets of Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments along the fault and apatite fission track thermal modelling results are consistent with the prevalence of elevated temperatures (50–80°C) in the fault zone during the Cretaceous.     

Experimental determination of coexisting iron–titanium oxides in the systems FeTiAlO, FeTiAlMgO, FeTiAlMnO, and FeTiAlMgMnO at 800 and 900°C, 1–4 kbar, and relatively high oxygen fugacity

A synthetic, low-melting rhyolite composition containing TiO₂ and iron oxide, with further separate additions of MgO, MnO, and MgO + MnO, was used in hydrothermal experiments to crystallize Ilm-Hem and Usp-Mt solid solutions at 800 and 900°C under redox conditions slightly below nickel–nickel oxide (NNO) to $\approx 3\,\log_{10} f_{{{\text{O}}_{2}}}A synthetic, low-melting rhyolite composition containing TiO₂ and iron oxide, with further separate additions of MgO, MnO, and MgO + MnO, was used in hydrothermal experiments to crystallize Ilm-Hem and Usp-Mt solid solutions at 800 and 900°C under redox conditions slightly below nickel–nickel oxide (NNO) to units above the NNO oxygen buffer. These experiments provide calibration of the FeTi-oxide thermometer + oxygen barometer at conditions of temperature and oxygen fugacity poorly covered by previous equilibrium experiments. Isotherms for our data in Roozeboom diagrams of projected %usp vs. %ilm show a change in slope at ≈ 60% ilm, consistent with the second-order transition from FeTi-ordered Ilm to FeTi-disordered Ilm-Hem. This feature of the system accounts for some, but not all, of the differences from earlier thermodynamic calibrations of the thermobarometer. In rhyolite containing 1.0 wt.% MgO, 0.8 wt.% MnO, or MgO + MnO, Usp-Mt crystallized with up to 14% of aluminate components, and Ilm-Hem crystallized with up to 13% geikielite component and 17% pyrophanite component. Relative to the FeTiAlO system, these components displace the ferrite components in Usp-Mt, and the hematite component in Ilm-Hem. As a result, projected contents of ulv?spinel and ilmenite are increased. These changes are attributed to increased non-ideality along joins from end-member hematite and magnetite to their respective Mg- and Mn-bearing titanate and aluminate end-members. The compositional shifts are most pronounced in Ilm-Hem in the range Ilm_50–80, a solvus region where the chemical potentials of the hematite and ilmenite components are nearly independent of composition. The solvus gap widens with addition of Mg and even further with Mn. The Bacon–Hirschmann correlation of Mg/Mn in Usp-Mt and coexisting Ilm-Hem is displaced toward increasing Mg/Mn in ilmenite with passage from ordered ilmenite to disordered hematite. Orthopyroxene and biotite crystallized in experiments with added MgO and MgO + MnO; their X _Fe varies with and T consistent with equilibria among ferrosilite, annite, and ferrite components, and the chemical potentials of SiO₂ and orthoclase in the liquid. Experimental equilibration rates increased in the order: Opx < Bt < Ilm-Hem < Usp-Mag.     

National forest carbon inventories: policy needs and assessment capacity

Previous research has identified the importance of the role of land cover in the global carbon cycle. In particular, forests have been identified as a significant carbon sink that can mitigate the rate of global climate change. Policy makers are faced with complex and difficult challenges in getting timely and useful information in monitoring global forest resources. Recent advances in the tools and methods of forest carbon accounting have produced new, innovative approaches to forest-based carbon inventories. But it is important as new tools are developed that scientists understand the needs of policy makers and that policy makers understand the capabilities and limitations of forest inventory methods. This paper explores four different policy applications that rely, or could benefit from, national carbon inventories. The goal is to help build a bridge between the communities of climate policy makers and scientists specialized in forest carbon inventories. To this end, we pursue three specific objectives: First we provide an overview for policy makers about approaches to forest carbon inventories, paying particular attention to the contributions of remote sensing technologies. Second, we outline the issues particularly relevant to forest inventory scientists who are interested in responding to public policy needs. We then discuss the tradeoffs between information cost, accuracy, precision, transparency and timeliness that need to be balanced in long-term monitoring of forest carbon. Finally, the article concludes with a series of observations and recommendations for the implementation of forest carbon inventories as increasingly central components of global climate change policy.     

Limited fluid-rock interaction at marble-gneiss contacts during Cretaceous granulite-facies metamorphism,Seward Peninsula,Alaska

Stable-isotope profiles show that flat-lying marble units acted as impermeable barriers to upward fluid flow in transitional amphibolite-granulite grade rocks of the Kigluaik Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. The degree of permeability is related to the composition of the marble. The margin of a thick pure dolomite marble chemically reacted with underlying metasyenite (aH₂O=0.2) to form a 2 cm boundary layer of calcite + forsterite by introduction of SiO₂. No fluid penetrated past this reaction front, although the high temperature of metamorphism (800°C) allowed transport of carbon and oxygen isotopes for an additional 2 cm by diffusion through the solid dolomite. A second marble with a higher silica content underwent more decarbonation, which enhanced porosity and lead to a greater extent of isotope transport (2–3 m) in contact with quartzo-feld-spathic gneiss below. An estimate of total fluid flux across the bottom of this marble layer based on the shape of the isotope profile is 1 cm³/cm² directed down, out of the marble. At two other marble-gneiss contacts steep isotopic gradients coincide with lithologic contacts, indicating very little cross-lithology fluid flow. The extent of diffusional transport of isotopes in the marbles is limited and interpreted as indicating the transient presence of a pore fluid, generated by thermally driven devolatilization reactions. No wholesale pervasive advection of C-O-H fluid occurred across the thick, continuous, marble units near the exposed base of the Kigluaik Group section during the entire regional metamorphic cycle. Activities of pore-fluid species were controlled by internal processes. Movement of volatiles and stable-isotopes between contrasting rock-types was dominantly diffusive. Channelized fluid pathways through the marble units developed during uplift and cooling but were not present during peak metamorphism. Heating of the section occurred by conduction, probably from an underlying magma source, and not by advection of a C-O-H fluid.     

(U-Th)/He技术约束下库车盆地北缘构造热演化——以吐孜2井为例

库车前陆盆地蕴藏着丰富的油气资源,然而盆地中新生代的构造热演化史一直缺乏有效的研究,制约了油气的勘探.本文测试了吐孜2井磷灰石、锆石（U-Th）/He年龄数据,建立了He年龄随现今温度/深度变化的关系,确定该区磷灰石（U-Th）/He体系封闭温度为89℃.综合利用（U-Th）/He及镜质体反射率（Ro）数据模拟恢复了库车盆地吐孜2井中新生代热演化史,结果表明库车盆地吐孜洛克背斜形成起始时间约为5 Ma,新生代抬升剥蚀量平均约为670 m,平均抬升剥蚀速率为0.133 mm/a.根据新生代吐孜洛克背斜的构造演化分析确定了气源断裂活动及圈闭形成的时期,揭示了吐孜洛克背斜天然气成藏时间为5 Ma以后,且烃源岩生排烃、断裂活动及圈闭形成的时间具有良好的匹配关系,这是吐孜洛克油气田形成的关键因素之一.本文应用（U-Th）/He技术研究沉积盆地构造热演化史,对库车盆地油气勘探具有重要的意义.     

The CMC15, the last issue of the series “Carlsberg Meridian Catalogue,La Palma”

CMC15 is the last of the series “Carlsberg Meridian Catalogue, La Palma” and comprises all the observations made between March 1999 and March 2011 with the Carlsberg Automatic Meridian Circle in El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma (Spain). The catalogues CMC12, CMC13, and CMC14 are superseded by this one. It contains more than 122 million observations of right ascension, declination, and magnitude of stars in the magnitude range of 9^m < r′ < 17^m and declination range of –40° < δ < +50°. The catalogue internal errors in astrometry are below 30 mas in both coordinates for stars brighter than r′ = 13, reaching 60 mas for r′ = 16. The internal magnitude error is below 0.020 mag for stars brighter than r′ = 13, and about 0.090 mag for r′ = 16. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)