Evolution of depositional settings in the Torrey area during the Smithian (Early Triassic,Utah, USA) and their significance for the biotic recovery

This work focuses on well‐exposed Lower Triassic sedimentary rocks in the area of Torrey (south‐central Utah, USA). The studied Smithian 8 deposits record a large‐scale third‐order sea‐level cycle, which permits a detailed reconstruction of the evolution of depositional settings. During the middle Smithian, peritidal microbial limestones associated with a rather low‐diversity benthic fauna were deposited seaward of the tidal flat siliciclastic red beds. Associated with siliceous sponges, microbial limestones formed small m‐scale patch reefs. During the late middle to late Smithian interval, the sedimentary system is characterized by tidal flat dolostones of an interior platform, ooid‐bioclastic deposits of a tide‐dominated shoal complex, and mid‐shelf bioclastic limestones. Microbial deposits, corresponding to sparse stromatolites formed in the interior platform, are contemporaneous with a well‐diversified marine fauna living in a seaward shoal complex and mid‐shelf area. The nature and distribution of these Smithian microbial deposits are not related to any particular deleterious environmental condition, highlighting that observed patterns of biotic recovery after the end‐Permian mass extinction were directly influenced by depositional settings. Facies evolution and stratal stacking patterns allow us to identify large, medium and small‐scale, as well as elementary depositional sequences. Large‐ and medium‐scale sequences are consistent with sea‐level changes, whereas small‐scale and elementary sequences are better explained by autocyclic processes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ion Implants as Matrix‐Appropriate Calibrators for Geochemical Ion Probe Analyses

Ion microprobe elemental and isotopic determinations can be precise but difficult to quantify. Error is introduced when the reference material and the sample to be analysed have different compositions. Mitigation of such ‘matrix effects’ is possible using ion implants. If a compositionally homogeneous reference material is available which is ‘matrix‐appropriate’ (i.e., close in major element composition to the sample to be analysed, but having an unknown concentration of the element, E, to be determined) then ion implantation can be used to introduce a known amount of an E isotope, calibrating the E concentration and producing a matrix‐appropriate calibrator. Nominal implant fluences (ions cm^?2) are inaccurate by amounts up to approximately 30%. However, ion implantation gives uniform fluences over large areas; thus, it is possible to ‘co‐implant’ an additional reference material of any bulk composition having known amounts of E, independently calibrating the implant fluence. Isotope ratio measurement standards can be produced by implanting two different isotopes, but permil level precision requires postimplant calibration of the implant isotopic ratio. Examples discussed include (a) standardising Li in melilite; (b) calibrating a ²⁵Mg implant fluence using NIST SRM 617 glass and (c) using Si co‐implanted with ²⁵Mg alongside NIST SRM 617 to produce a calibrated measurement of Mg in Si.     

The Abiotic Nitrite Oxidation by Ligand-Bound Manganese (III): The Chemical Mechanism

Aquatic Geochemistry - Given their environmental abundances, it has been long hypothesized that geochemical interactions between reactive forms of manganese and nitrogen may play important roles in...     

Lower Carboniferous peritidal carbonates and associated evaporites adjacent to the Leinster Massif,southeast Irish Midlands

Analysis of a 275 m‐thick section in the Milford Borehole, GSI‐91‐25, from County Carlow, Ireland, has revealed an unusual sequence of shallow subtidal, peritidal and sabkha facies in rocks of mid?‐late Chadian to late Holkerian (Viséan, Lower Carboniferous) age. Sedimentation occurred on an inner ramp setting, adjacent to the Leinster Massif. The lower part of the sequence (late Chadian age) above the basal subtidal bioclastic unit is dominated by oolite sand facies associations. These include a lower regressive dolomitized, oolitic peloidal mobile shoal, and an upper, probably transgressive, backshoal oolite sand. A 68 m‐thick, well‐developed peritidal sequence is present between the oolitic intervals. These rocks consist of alternating stromatolitic fenestral mudstone, dolomite and organic shale, with evaporite pseudomorphs and subaerial exposure horizons containing pedogenic features. In the succeeding Arundian–Holkerian strata, transgressive–regressive carbonate units are recognized. These comprise high‐energy, backshoal subtidal cycles of argillaceous skeletal packstones, bioclastic grainstones with minor oolites and algal wackestones to grainstones and infrequent algal stromatolite horizons. The study recognizes for the first time the peritidal and sabkha deposits in Chadian rocks adjacent to the Leinster Massif in the eastern Irish Midlands. These strata appear to be coeval with similar evaporite‐bearing rocks in County Wexford that are developed on the southern margin of this landmass, and similar depositional facies exist further to the east in the South Wales Platform, south of St. George's Land, and in Belgium, south of the Brabant Massif. The presence of evaporites in the peritidal facies suggests that dense brines may have formed adjacent to the Leinster Massif. These fluids may have been involved in regional dolomitization of Chadian and possibly underlying Courceyan strata. They may also have been a source of high salinity fluids associated with nearby base‐metal sulphide deposits. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in the Probability of Heavy Precipitation: Important Indicators of Climatic Change

A simple statistical model of daily precipitation based on the gamma distribution is applied to summer (JJA in Northern Hemisphere, DJF in Southern Hemisphere) data from eight countries: Canada, the United States, Mexico, the former Soviet Union, China, Australia, Norway, and Poland. These constitute more than 40% of the global land mass, and more than 80% of the extratropical land area. It is shown that the shape parameter of this distribution remains relatively stable, while the scale parameter is most variable spatially and temporally. This implies that the changes in mean monthly precipitation totals tend to have the most influence on the heavy precipitation rates in these countries. Observations show that in each country under consideration (except China), mean summer precipitation has increased by at least 5% in the past century. In the USA, Norway, and Australia the frequency of summer precipitation events has also increased, but there is little evidence of such increases in any of the countries considered during the past fifty years. A scenario is considered, whereby mean summer precipitation increases by 5% with no change in the number of days with precipitation or the shape parameter. When applied in the statistical model, the probability of daily precipitation exceeding 25.4 mm (1 inch) in northern countries (Canada, Norway, Russia, and Poland) or 50.8 mm (2 inches) in mid-latitude countries (the USA, Mexico, China, and Australia) increases by about 20% (nearly four times the increase in mean). The contribution of heavy rains (above these thresholds) to the total 5% increase of precipitation is disproportionally high (up to 50%), while heavy rain usually constitutes a significantly smaller fraction of the precipitation events and totals in extratropical regions (but up to 40% in the tropics, e.g., in southern Mexico). Scenarios with moderate changes in the number of days with precipitation coupled with changes in the scale parameter were also investigated and found to produce smaller increases in heavy rainfall but still support the above conclusions. These scenarios give changes in heavy rainfall which are comparable to those observed and are consistent with the greenhouse-gas-induced increases in heavy precipitation simulated by some climate models for the next century. In regions with adequate data coverage such as the eastern two-thirds of contiguous United States, Norway, eastern Australia, and the European part of the former USSR, the statistical model helps to explain the disproportionate high changes in heavy precipitation which have been observed.     

Hydrothermal sediments associated with a relict back-arc spreading center in the Shikoku Basin, recovered from the Nankai accretionary prism, Japan

The hemipelagic mudrocks of the Nankai accretionary prism, Japan, contain hydrothermal deposits associated with a relict spreading center in the Shikoku Basin. Initial work on core samples from Ocean Drilling Program site 808 found several samples with elevated concentrations of calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese, at depths of between 1060 and 1111 m below sea floor. However, the origin of these sediments was uncertain, due to a lack of data. There was no recorded evidence of whether these elevated concentrations were present throughout this interval of core, or if they were present as discrete layers with the background hemipelagic mudrocks in between. In the present study the core was resampled, and the sediments with anomalous chemical compositions were found to be present in discrete layers. This fact, along with a detailed interpretation of their geochemistry, has allowed them to be identified as hydrothermal sediments, associated with the relict spreading center in the Shikoku Basin. The lower (older) two layers display a chemical composition typical of umbers, while the upper (younger) two layers are metalliferous mudrocks typical of deposits found further from the spreading center.     

Source Parameters for 1999 North Anatolian Fault Zone Aftershocks

We develop a data set of aftershock recordings of the 1999, M = 7.4 Izmit and M = 7.2 Duzce (Turkey) earthquakes to study their source parameters. We combined seismograms from 44 stations maintained by several sources (organizations) to obtain a unified data set of events (2.1 ≤ M_w ≤ 5.5). We calculate source parameters of these small earthquakes by two methods that use different techniques to address the difficulty in obtaining source spectra for small earthquakes subject to interference from site response. One method (program NetMoment (NM), Hutchings, 2004) uses spectra of direct S waves in a simultaneous inversion of local high-frequency network data to estimate seismic moment, source corner frequency (f_c), site attenuation (k) and whole-path Q. This approach takes advantage of the source commonality in all recordings for a particular earthquake by fitting a common Brune source spectrum to the data with a and individual k. The second approach (Mayeda et al., 2003) uses the coda method (CM) to obtain “nonmodel-based” source spectra and moment estimates from selected broadband recording sites. We found that both methods do well for events that allow the comparison with seismic moment estimates derived from waveform modeling. Also, source spectra obtained from the two methods are very closely matched for most of the events they have in common. We use an F test to examine the trade-off between k and f_c picks identified by the direct S-wave method. About half of the events could be constrained to have less than a 50% average uncertainty in f_c and k. We used these source spectra solutions to calculate energy and apparent stress and compare these to estimates from the selected “good quality” source spectra from CM. Both studies have values mutually consistent and show a similar increase in apparent stress with increasing moment. This result has added merit due to the independent approaches to calculate apparent stress. We conclude that both methods are at least partially validated by our study, and they both have usefulness for different circumstances of recording local small earthquakes. CM would work well in studies for which there is a broad magnitude range of events and NM works well for local events recorded by band-limited recorders.