Character and origin of variably deformed granitoids in central southern Sweden: implications from geochemistry and Nd isotopes

We present major and trace element data for eighteen 1.71–1.66 Ga granitoid samples, and Sm–Nd whole‐rock isotope data for eleven of these samples, in a transect across the border between the Transscandinavian Igneous Belt (TIB) and the Eastern Segment in central southern Sweden. The geochemistry of the granitoids varies from alkalic to alkali‐calcic and peraluminous in the east to predominantly calc‐alkaline and metaluminous in the west. Rocks in the west also have lower SiO₂ contents. Trace element signatures favour formation in an active continental margin setting. Nd isotope data are completely overlapping along the transect and initial ε_Nd values are mildly depleted in the range +0.3 to +2.6. The combined data suggest that the magmas were derived mainly from juvenile, pre‐existing crust, increasingly mafic and less alkaline towards the west. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The geographic distribution of strontium isotopes in Danish surface waters - A base for provenance studies in archaeology, hydrology and agriculture

In this paper Sr isotope signatures are reported for 192 surface water (lakes/ponds and rivers/creeks) samples from within Denmark and an isotope distribution map is presented that may serve as a base for provenance applications, including archaeological migration studies, ground water - surface water - seawater interaction/contamination monitoring, and potentially for agricultural applications, including cases of authenticity proof for particular food products. The Sr isotopic compositions of surface waters range from ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7078 to 0.7125 (average 0.7096 ± 0.0016; 2σ). This average value lies above the range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values between 0.7078 and 0.7082 expected from Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary (Oligocene) limestones which form the dominant bedrock type in a NW-SE trending belt in Denmark. The elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures >∼0.7095 are explained by additions to the surface waters of radiogenic Sr predominantly derived from the near-surface weathering and wash-out of Quarternary glaciogenic tills and soils deposited and formed during and after the last two ice age stages (Saale and Weichsel). The Sr isotopic compositions and concentrations of the surface waters can, therefore, best be modeled by a two-component mixing involving carbonaceous bedrock and glaciogenic cover sediments as the two predominant Sr sources. A feasibility study for using Sr isotopic compositions of surface waters as a proxy for bio-available Sr signatures was conducted in a representative test area on Zealand (Land of Legends, Lejre) where there is no use and application of commercial fertilizers. It is demonstrated that the Sr isotopic signatures of lake waters from within this area are slightly higher (but statistically still indistinguishable) from the average value defined by snail shells and soil leachates considered to characterize the true bio-available Sr. In combination with results from other studies, this is interpreted to reflect the wash-out of Sr with a higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signature released by weathering in the topsoils into the saturated water tables, a component which is consequently not readily transferred into the shallow-rooting plants and into small herbivores feeding on them. Since drinking water is a likely important source of Sr uptake of humans and larger animals, the contention is that a surface water isotopic composition can potentially characterize the bio-available component relevant for human and carnivorous large animals. Spline functions and ordinary linear kriging were used for modeling the geographic distribution of bio-available Sr isotopes over territorial Denmark. As expected, based on the two-source mixing scenario, the water ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio contour maps (with some notable exceptions) neither mirror the pre-Quarternary bedrock geology nor a (Pleistocene) soil-type distribution map of Denmark.As a conservative suggestion, the use of the average ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.7096 ± 0.0015 (2σ) is recommended as an average for bio-available Sr from within Denmark (Bornholm excluded) for human and larger animals and as a confidence band for distinguishing “local” from “non-local” signatures in archaeological provenance studies. The study also reveals that the average ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of ∼0.7088 defined from soil extracts and small herbivores lies approximately 0.15% lower than that defined by the surface waters. The authors recommend using this lower value as a “local”-“non-local” discriminator for food and plant authenticity control in agricultural applications.     

Groundwater ‐ the disregarded component in lake water and nutrient budgets. Part 1: effects of groundwater on hydrology

Lake eutrophication is a large and growing problem in many parts of the world, commonly due to anthropogenic sources of nutrients. Improved quantification of nutrient inputs is required to address this problem, including better determination of exchanges between groundwater and lakes. This first of a two‐part review provides a brief history of the evolution of the study of groundwater exchange with lakes, followed by a listing of the most commonly used methods for quantifying this exchange. Rates of exchange between lakes and groundwater compiled from the literature are statistically summarized for both exfiltration (flow from groundwater to a lake) and infiltration (flow from a lake to groundwater), including per cent contribution of groundwater to lake‐water budgets. Reported rates of exchange between groundwater and lakes span more than five orders of magnitude. Median exfiltration is 0.74 cm/day, and median infiltration is 0.60 cm/day. Exfiltration ranges from near 0% to 94% of input terms in lake‐water budgets, and infiltration ranges from near 0% to 91% of loss terms. Median values for exfiltration and infiltration as percentages of input and loss terms of lake‐water budgets are 25% and 35%, respectively. Quantification of the groundwater term is somewhat method dependent, indicating that calculating the groundwater component with multiple methods can provide a better understanding of the accuracy of estimates. The importance of exfiltration to a lake budget ranges widely for lakes less than about 100 ha in area but generally decreases with increasing lake area, particularly for lakes that exceed 100 ha in area. No such relation is evident for lakes where infiltration occurs, perhaps because of the smaller sample size. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preservation of high‐P rocks coupled to rock composition and the absence of metamorphic fluids

Eclogites, blueschists and greenschists are found in close proximity to one another along a 1‐km coastal section where the Cyclades Blueschist Unit (CBU) is exposed on SE Syros, Greece. Here, we show that the eclogites and blueschists experienced the same metamorphic history: prograde lawsonite blueschist facies metamorphism at 1.2–1.9 GPa and 410–530°C followed, at 43–38 Ma, by peak blueschist/eclogite facies metamorphism at 1.5–2.1 GPa and 520–580°C. We explain co‐existence of eclogites and blueschists by compositional variation probably reflecting original compositional layering. It is also shown that the greenschists record retrogression at 0.34 ± 0.21 GPa and T = 456 ± 68°C. This was spatially associated with a shear zone on a scales of 10–100‐m and veins on a scale of 1–10‐cm. Greenschist facies metamorphism ended at (or shortly after) 27 Ma. We thus infer a period of metamorphic quiescence after eclogite/blueschist facies metamorphism and before greenschist facies retrogression which lasted up to 11–16 million years. We suggest that this reflects an absence of metamorphic fluid flow at that time and conclude that greenschist facies retrogression only occurred when and where metamorphic fluids were present. From a tectonic perspective, our findings are consistent with studies showing that the CBU is (a) a high‐P nappe stack consisting of belts in which high‐P metamorphism and exhumation occurred at different times and (b) affected by greenschist facies metamorphism during the Oligocene, prior to the onset of regional tectonic extension.     

Using Lead Isotopes to Determine Pottery Provenance in Cyprus: Clay Source Signatures and Comparison with Late Bronze Age Cypriote Pottery

This paper presents the lead isotopic composition of potential clay sources for pottery production, collected in the four major geological zones of Cyprus (Troodos Ophiolite, Circum Troodos Sedimentary Succession, Mamonia Terrane, Kyrenia Terrane) and evaluates its usefulness in Cypriote pottery provenance studies. The clay isotopic signatures from the four zones are compared to each other and to the isotopic composition of various utilitarian pottery wares from three Late Bronze Age sites, respectively located in southern Cyprus (Alassa‐Pano Mandilaris), east Cyprus (Enkomi), and southeast Cyprus (Hala Sultan Tekke). It also explores the potential of this method to better discriminate between potential raw materials used for the production of Base‐ring ware, one of the most characteristic fine pottery of Late Bronze Age Cyprus, which was widely spread in the Eastern Mediterranean (Courtois, 1981; Vaughan, 1991, 1994). Results show that three main lead isotopic fields can be distinguished among the Cypriote clay sources and the comparison of Plain sherds with the clay sources allows discrimination between local products and imports. They also clearly indicate that all the Base‐ring sherds analyzed in this study were made of the clays from the Kathikas Formation that crops out in only limited parts of southwest Cyprus.     

Quick clay—A case study of chemical perspective in Southwest Sweden

Quick clay, a soil that changes from normal firm ground to a liquid mass when it is disturbed, has been involved in most of the large and serious clay slides in Sweden, Norway and Canada. The location, time of occurrence and size of quick clay slides are difficult to predict and large slides may cause great devastation. Some geochemical studies of Swedish quick clay were done in the 1960s and early 1970s, but no systematic studies of the interrelationships of pore water chemistry, mineralogy, geotechnical properties and other parameters on quick clays in Sweden have been published. Such studies are of national and general interest because of the many combinations of rock flour source areas and sedimentation conditions that occurred across central Sweden and into the Baltic Sea area during deglaciation. In this study, geotechnical properties related to the in situ chemistry at one quick clay site were extensively studied, and spot sampling was conducted at two other locations in Southwest Sweden. In this area the clay minerals mainly are non-expanding phyllosilicate minerals (illite) and primary minerals (quartz, feldspar), which is consistent with previous studies of quick clay mineralogy. Extensive leaching has occurred at all three locations. At the extensively studied site, Surte, the lowest salinity was found at the greatest depth, inferring that the leaching by fresh water was accomplished by water movement upward and laterally through the sediment from the underlying bedrock. This is consistent with the local setting where bedrock hills rise sharply to over 100 m above the marine sediment surface. An artesian pressure would also be anticipated at this location. There is a correlation (negative) between sensitivity and salinity but there is an indication that the maximum salinity or electrical conductivity consistent with the quick clay behaviour is higher than reported elsewhere. However, for high sensitivities the salinity is about the same as reported elsewhere. In the deepest part of the borehole, there is a higher content of Fe and Al in the pore water, indicating reduced state. Further work is needed to confirm the difference in salinity and to investigate the possible interplay of salinity and potential dispersing agents such as the role of anoxic conditions, in this region. Further work is especially needed in the locations where the sediment accumulation occurred under lower salinity conditions. At all three locations, high remoulded shear strength and low sensitivity have been seen near the surface together with a decrease in pore water cation concentrations.     

Gas hydrate and free gas indications within the Cenozoic succession of the Bjørnøya Basin, western Barents Sea

Multichannel seismic data, containing high-amplitude reflections from Cenozoic sediments of the Bjørnøya Basin, southwestern Barents Sea, have been studied, inferring the existence of gas hydrate and free gas. The Cenozoic succession comprises Late Palaeocene and Early Eocene claystones and siltstones and locally also some sandstones overlain by Late Pleistocene glaciogenic sediments. The inferred gas hydrate and free gas accumulations are mainly located in the vicinity of larger faults which can be followed up to base Tertiary level, and which seem to have controlled the geographical distribution of the accumulations. Free gas accumulations are inferred to occur most frequently within the Late Palaeocene strata that occur below the gas hydrate stability zone, and indicate that relatively small gas leakages from deeper accumulations have dominated. Larger gas leakages have probably led to gas migration up into the gas hydrate stability zone and, together with the increasing thickness of the hydrate stability zone towards the north, control the distribution of the suspected gas hydrates. The inferred gas leakages are closely related to the Cenozoic evolution of the Barents Sea, and are probably caused by gas expansion due to the removal of up to 1 km of sediments from the Barents Sea shelf and/or reservoir tilting during the Late Cenozoic glaciations which affected this area.     

Warming at 18,000 yr B.P. in the Tropical Andes

Palynological, paleopedological, and glacial geomorphological evidence from the area of the high plain of Bogotá in the Colombian Eastern Cordillera indicates a significant climatic warming around 18,000¹⁴C yr B.P. Comparison of dated vegetation changes, pedogenic episodes, and glacier fluctuations provides the basis for defining the so-called “La Laguna Interstadial” that lasted from 19,500 to 17,000 yr B.P. During this interstadial period, mean annual temperatures in the tropical Andes were up to 4°C higher than during the preceding and following stadial periods, when full-glacial conditions prevailed and temperatures were up to 8°C colder than at present.     

Circular moraine features on the Varanger Peninsula, northern Norway, and their possible relation to polythermal ice sheet coverage

This paper introduces a new hypothesis about the formation of circular moraine features (CMFs) on felsenmeer-covered plateaux of the Varanger Peninsula, northern Norway. CMFs and glacial lineations in the northwestern part of the Varanger Peninsula were mapped from aerial photographs. In two CMF-rich areas, Base œrro-Plateau and Båtsfjordfjellet, the CMFs were investigated during fieldwork. The aim was to investigate possible entrainment, transport and deposition mechanisms of the CMFs in connection to ice sheet properties.The CMFs were deposited in connection with a polythermal ice cover. During glaciations, the ice sheet was cold-based on the boulder field plateaux and warm-based in valleys, especially in ice drainage pathways towards fjords. The CMF material was probably entrained en masse, on the Varanger Peninsula, in transition zones between warm- and cold-based ice. The debris transport took place close to the ice base. During deglaciation, the debris formed dirt cones, slowing down the melting of underlying dead-ice blocks. As material slid down the margins of the cones, the typical CMF shape was formed.