The concentration and isotopic composition of carbon in basaltic glasses from the Juan de Fuca Ridge, Pacific Ocean

The abundance and 13C/12C ratios of carbon were analyzed in basaltic glass from twenty locations along the Juan de Fuca Ridge using a 3-step combustion/extraction technique. Carbon released during the first two combustion steps at 400-500 degrees C and 600-650 degrees C is interpreted to be secondary, and only the carbon recovered during a final combustion step at approximately 1200 degrees C is thought to be indigenous to the samples. For carbon released at approximately 1200 degrees C, glasses analyzed as 1-2 mm chips contained 23-146 ppm C with delta 13C values of -4.8 to -9.3%, whereas samples crushed to 38-63 microns or 63-90 microns yielded 56-103 ppm C with delta 13C values of -6.1 to -9.2%. The concentrations and isotopic compositions of the primary carbon dissolved in the glasses and present in the vesicles are similar to those previously reported for other ocean-ridge basalts. The Juan de Fuca basaltic magmas were not in equilibrium with respect to carbon when they erupted and quenched on the sea floor. Evidence of disequilibrium includes (1) a large range of carbon contents among glasses collected at similar depths, (2) a highly variable calculated carbon isotopic fractionation between melt and vapor determined by comparing crushed and uncrushed splits of the same sample, and (3) a lack of correlation between vesicle abundance, carbon concentration, and depth of eruption. Variations in carbon concentration and delta 13C ratios along the ridge do not correlate with major element chemistry. The observed relationship between carbon concentrations and delta 13C values may be explained by late-stage, variable degrees of open-system (Rayleigh-like) degassing.     

The Space That Race Makes

This essay is a revision of a paper prepared for an NSF workshop on race and geography. Participants in the workshop were asked to offer their views on the topic and our suggestions for further research. This contribution explores some aspects of the relationship and relevance of geography to the question of race in North America. It touches on three “places” that constitute the discipline: the place of research, the place of teaching, and the workplace. With respect to research, it suggests some promising lines of inquiry. Among these are studies of the relationship of scale to the politics of identity and studies of “passing” in connection with studies of geographies of experience and geographies of power.     

Earthquakes,catastrophic sediment additions and the response of urban stream communities

Disturbance events can regularly impact stream ecosystems; however, large-scale catastrophic disturbances are rare. From September 2010 to September 2011 Christchurch City experienced over 8500 earthquakes including a magnitude 7.1. One consequence was catastrophic additions of silt and sand into waterways throughout the city. Of 161 km of permanent waterways, 102 km (63%) were affected by earthquake siltation. Benthic invertebrates and fish communities were compared across 16 streams with differing siltation. Invertebrate taxonomic richness decreased significantly (mean 17 taxa reduced to 10 taxa) and EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera) were removed entirely from streams receiving heavy siltation. Fish richness and density decreased significantly, with fish absent from some heavily silted streams. Many of these urban streams are sourced from springs and their stable flows and low gradient limit their ability to flush sediment. We predict that without human intervention there will be a long-term sediment legacy and it may take many years for these streams to recover from this catastrophic disturbance.     

Growth of large sulfide structures on the endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca ridge

Mapping and sampling with DSRV “Alvin” has established that sulfide blocks 0.5 m across, dredged from the axial valley of the Endeavour Segment at 47°57′N, are samples of unusually large sulfide structures. The steep-sided structures, up to 30 m in length, 20 m in height, and 10–15 m across, are localized by venting along normal faults at the base of the western axial valley wall, and are distributed for about 200 m along strike paralleling the 020 trend of the ridge crest. High-temperature fluids (350 to more than 400°C) pass through the massive sulfide structures and enter seawater through small, concentric “nozzle-like” features projecting from the top or the sides of the larger vent structures. Diffuse, low-temperature flow is pervasive in the vicinity of the active sulfide structures, exiting from basalt and sulfide surfaces alike. Evidence of recent volcanic activity is sparse.The two largest samples taken with the dredge would not have been recoverable using the submersible. These samples represent massive, complex portions of the sulfide structures which were not closely associated with rapid high-temperature fluid flow at the time of sampling; they contain textural evidence of sealed hydrothermal fluid exit channels. Mineralogy is dominated by Fe sulfides nnd amorphous silica. Pyrite, marcasite, wurtzite, chalcopyrite, and iss are the most common sulfide phases. Pyrrhotite, galena, and sphalerite are present in trace amounts. Barite, amorphous silica, and chalcedony are the only non-sulfide phases; anhydrite is not observed in any of the dredge samples, although it is common in the chimney-like samples recovered by “Alvin”.Specific mineralogical-textural zones within the dredge samples are anaoogous to individual layers in East Pacific Rise at 21°N and southern Juan de Fuca Ridge samples, with two exceptions: a coarse-grained, highly porous Fe sulfide-rich interior containing sulfidized tubeworm casts, and a 2–5 cm thick zone near the outer margin of the samples dominated by late stage amorphous silica. The porous interior may have formed by dendritic crystal growth from a slowly circulating fluid within a large enclosed chamber. The amorphous silica deposited from a seawater/hydrothermal fluid mixture percolating slowly through the walls of the enclosed chamber; conductive cooling of the fluid as it traversed the walls allowed amorphous silica to precipitate. These silica-rich zones are the densest, most durable portions of the structures and may be responsible for the lasting stability of the large sulfide features.Observations in these samples are consistent with two distinct phases of development. Phase 1 is analogous to chimney growth and construction at 21°N and ends when flow channels become sealed to rapid flow of through-going fluid. The flow is evidently redirected within the structure. Phase 2 includes dissolution of anhydrite and precipitation of amorphous silica during conductive cooling of sluggishly circulating hydrothermal fluid or seawater/hydrothermal fluid mixtures. Evolution of vent structures through phase 2 allows lateral and vertical growth of unusually large structures.     

Pre-stack Kirchhoff depth migration local space-shift imaging condition: synthetic and data examples

Extracting accurate common image angle gathers from pre-stack depth migrations is important in the generation of any incremental uplift to the amplitude versus angle attributes and seismic inversions that can lead to significant impacts in exploration and development success. The commonly used Kirchhoff migration outputs surface common offset image gathers that require a transformation to angle gathers for amplitude versus angle analysis. The accuracy of this transformation is one of the factors that determine the robustness of the amplitude versus angle measurements. Here, we investigate the possibility of implementing an extended imaging condition, focusing on the space-lag condition, for generating subsurface reflection angle gathers within a Kirchhoff migration. The objective is to determine if exploiting the spatial local shift imaging condition can provide any increase in angle gather fidelity relative to the common offset image gathers. The same restrictions with a ray-based approach will apply using the extended imaging condition as both the offset and extended imaging condition method use travel times derived from solutions to an Eikonal equation. The aims are to offer an alternative ray-based method to generate subsurface angle gathers and to understand the impact on the amplitude versus angle response. To this end, the implementation of the space-shift imaging condition is discussed and results of three different data sets are presented. A layered three-dimensional model and a complex two-dimensional model are used to assess the space shift image gathers output from such a migration scheme and to evaluate the seismic attributes relative to the traditional surface offset common image gathers. The synthetic results show that the extended imaging condition clearly provides an uplift in the measured amplitude versus angle over the surface offset migration. The noise profile post-migration is also improved for the space-lag migration due to the double summation inside the migration. Finally, we show an example of a space-lag gather from deep marine data and compare the resultant angle gathers with those generated from an offset migration and a time-shift imaging condition Kirchhoff migration. The comparison of the real data with a well log shows that the space-lag result is a better match to the well compared to the time-lag extended imaging condition and the common offset Kirchhoff migration. Overall, the results from the synthetics and real data show that a Kirchhoff migration with an extended imaging condition is capable of generating subsurface angle gathers with an incremental improvement in amplitude versus angle fidelity and lower noise but comes at a higher computational cost.     

Volume of magma accumulation or withdrawal estimated from surface uplift or subsidence,with application to the 1960 collapse of Kilauea volcano

An elastic point source model proposed by Mogi for magma chamber inflation and deflation has been applied to geodetic data collected at many volcanoes. The volume of ground surface uplift or subsidence estimated from this model is closely related to the volume of magma injection into or withdrawal from the reservoir below. The analytical expressions for these volumes are reviewed for a spherical chamber and it is shown that they differ by the factor 2(1-v), where v is Poisson's ratio of the host rock. For the common estimate v=0.25, as used by Mogi and subsequent workers, the uplift volume is 3/2 the injection volume. For highly fractured rocks, v can be even less and the uplift volume can approach twice the injection volume. Unfortunately, there is no single relation between the inflation of magma reservoirs and the dilation or contraction of host rocks. The inflation of sill-like bodies, for instance, generates no overall change in host rock volume. Inflation of dike-like bodies generates contraction such that, in contrast with Mogi's result, the uplift volume is generally less than the injection volume; for v=0.25, the former is only 3/4 of the latter. Estimates of volumes of magma injection or withdrawal are there-fore greatly dependent on the magma reservoir configuration. Ground surface tilt data collected during the 1960 collapse of Kilauea crater, one of the first events interpreted with Mogi's model and one of the largest collapses measured at Kilauea, is not favored by any one of a variety of deformation models. These models, however, predict substantially different volumes of both magma withdrawal and ground surface subsidence.     

Detection of transient signals in multipath environments

This research examines methods for detecting unknown transient waveforms that are contaminated by noise. The sensitivity of the performance levels of the energy detector and the lack of knowledge about the structure of the transient waveform motivate the examination of other moment- or spectra-based detection techniques. We examine the performance of a bispectral energy detector and show that its performance will degrade if the bispectra is smoothed and that signals with no bispectral content can be detected if the bispectra is not smoothed. Further, it is shown that the performance levels of the bispectral detector are slightly better, and slightly less sensitive, than those of the energy detector for the multipath linear frequency modulated signal. Finally, the performance levels of narrowband implementations of the energy and bispectral energy detectors are compared. It is shown that for a large enough sample, the performance levels of the bispectral detector are nearly as good as those of the optimal energy detector for the single narrowband signal case. However, when the received waveform contains multiple narrowband components, the narrowband bispectral detector performs slightly better than the energy detector     

Mineralogy,petrology, chronology,and exposure history of the Chelyabinsk meteorite and parent body

Three masses of the Chelyabinsk meteorite have been studied with a wide range of analytical techniques to understand the mineralogical variation and thermal history of the Chelyabinsk parent body. The samples exhibit little to no postentry oxidation via Mössbauer and Raman spectroscopy indicating their fresh character, but despite the rapid collection and care of handling some low levels of terrestrial contamination did nonetheless result. Detailed studies show three distinct lithologies, indicative of a genomict breccia. A light‐colored lithology is LL5 material that has experienced thermal metamorphism and subsequent shock at levels near S4. The second lithology is a shock‐darkened LL5 material in which the darkening is caused by melt and metal‐troilite veins along grain boundaries. The third lithology is an impact melt breccia that formed at high temperatures (~1600 °C), and it experienced rapid cooling and degassing of S₂ gas. Portions of light and dark lithologies from Chel‐101, and the impact melt breccias (Chel‐102 and Chel‐103) were prepared and analyzed for Rb‐Sr, Sm‐Nd, and Ar‐Ar dating. When combined with results from other studies and chronometers, at least eight impact events (e.g., ~4.53 Ga, ~4.45 Ga, ~3.73 Ga, ~2.81 Ga, ~1.46 Ga, ~852 Ma, ~312 Ma, and ~27 Ma) are clearly identified for Chelyabinsk, indicating a complex history of impacts and heating events. Finally, noble gases yield young cosmic ray exposure ages, near 1 Ma. These young ages, together with the absence of measurable cosmogenic derived Sm and Cr, indicate that Chelyabinsk may have been derived from a recent breakup event on an NEO of LL chondrite composition.     

Chemistry of micas from kimberlites and xenoliths—II. Primary- and secondary-textured micas from peridotite xenoliths

Micas from coarse granular Iherzolites in S. African kimberlites may be separated into two groups; those showing primary textural relationships with coexisting silicates and those with secondary, alteration relationships with other silicates. Primary-textured micas form a tight cluster with a mean composition from 10 coarse garnet lherzolites of: SiO₂ 41.0, TiO₂ 0.18, Al₂O₃ 13.5, Cr₂O₃ 0.82, total Fe as FeO 2.60, MnO 0.02, MgO 26.0, NiO 0.22, CaO 0.01, BaO 0.29, Na₂O 0.31, K₂O 10.0, Rb₂O 0.028, Cl 0.08, F 0.43 wt%. Primary-textured micas in aggregates with clinopyroxene have higher TiO₂ and four specimens which look similar to the primary group but have textural ambiguities have still higher TiO₂Micas with secondary textures have wide ranges of composition which may be correlated with details of the textural parageneses. Micas from kelyphitic rims around garnets tend to be Cr-rich while those from veinlets are Cr-poor. Both groups tend to have higher FeO and TiO₂ than the primary group. Micas produced by alteration of, or filling veinlets through, orthopyroxene have a wide compositional range which overlaps that of the primary-textured micas, especially for harzburgite specimens.The primary-textured micas show a positive correlation with coexisting pyroxenes for MgO/(MgO + FeO) and TiO₂, but not for Cr₂O₃. Secondary-textured micas do not show correlations with coexisting pyroxenes for any elements.The ‘primary-metasomatic’ micas described by Harte and Gurney (1975) and metasomatic and other micas described by Boettcher et al. (1979) and Boettcher and O'neil (1979) are richer in FeO and TiO₂ than the present primary-textured micas, and are attributed to crystallization from fractionated fluids.     

Adapting to climate change: Public water supply in England and Wales

This paper describes an assessment of the ways in which water supply companies in England and Wales are adapting to climate change, evaluated in the context of a model of the adaptation process. The four components of the model are (i) awareness of and concern about the potential impacts of climate change, (ii) adaptation strategy, (iii) the concept of an adaptation space from which options are selected, and (iv) the notion that three groups of factors influence awareness, strategy and option selection: susceptibility to change, internal characteristics of the organisation, and regulatory and market context.Public water supply in England and Wales is provided by private sector companies, subject to environmental and economic regulation. Hydrological simulations suggest that climate change has the potential to reduce the reliability of supply sources over the next few decades. The industry in December 2004 completed a review of investment requirements over the next five years.Awareness of climate change is high in the water industry, but by developing assessment procedures and incorporating them into the investment review the regulators forced companies to consider explicitly the potential impacts of climate change in a consistent and rigorous manner. These analyses combined climate change with other pressures on water resources, and in practice companies did not attribute specific investment decisions or proposals to climate change or indeed any other individual drivers. The broad strategy adopted by all water supply companies – to maintain standards of service – is determined by regulatory controls and market considerations, but the degree of concern about the impacts of climate change and precise adaptation options necessary to address supply-demand imbalances varied between water supply companies, reflecting local geographic conditions. The water supply companies and regulators have different perspectives on the relative merits of supply-side and demand-side measures, reflecting different organisational priorities.The 2004 investment review determined that no specific actions were necessary to deal with future climate change, but that measures set in place – in terms of methodologies and investment in investigations into specific resource developments – provided a sound foundation for more specific actions in the next investment review in five years time. The paper concludes by summarising the factors assisting and constraining adaptation over the next few decades.