Coupled evolution of back-arc and island arc-like mafic crust in the late-Neoproterozoic Agardagh Tes-Chem ophiolite, Central Asia: evidence from trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope data

. We report major-element, trace-element and isotopic data of volcanic rocks from the late-Neoproterozoic (570 Ma) Agardagh Tes-Chem ophiolite in Central Asia, south-west of Lake Baikal (50.5°N, 95°E). The majority of samples are high-alumina basalts and basaltic andesites having island-arc affinities. They were derived from an evolved parental magma (Mg#̾.60, Cr~180 ppm, Ni~95 ppm) by predominantly clinopyroxene fractionation. The parental magma developed from a primary mantle melt by fractionation of about 12% of an olivine+spinel assemblage. The island-arc rocks have high abundances of incompatible trace elements (light rare-earth element abundances up to 100 times chondritic, chondrite-normalised (La/Yb)_n=14.6-5.1) and negative Nb anomalies (Nb/La=0.37-0.62), but low Zr/Nb ratios (7-14). Initial )_Nd values are around +5.5, initial Pb isotopic compositions are ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=17.39-18.45, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=15.49-15.61, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=37.06-38.05. Enrichment of large-ion lithophile elements within this group is significant (Ba/La=11-130). Another group of samples consists of back-arc basin-related volcanic rocks. They are most likely derived from the same depleted mantle source as the island-arc rocks, but underwent higher degrees of melting (8-15%) and are not influenced by slab components. They have lower abundances of incompatible trace elements, flat rare-earth element patterns [(La/Yb)_n=0.6-2.4] and higher )_Nd values (+7.8 to +8.5). Negative Nb anomalies are absent (Nb/La=0.81-1.30), but Zr/Nb is high (21-48). At least three components are necessary to explain the geochemical evolution of the volcanic rocks: (1) an enriched (ocean island-like) component characterised by a high Nb concentration (up to 30 ppm), an absent negative Nb anomaly, a low Zr/Nb ratio (~6.5), a low )_Nd value (around 0), and radiogenic ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb; (2) a back-arc basin component similar to N-MORB with a flat rare-earth element pattern and a high )_Nd value (around +8.5); and (3) an island-arc component from a mantle source which was modified by the downgoing slab. Crystal fractionation superimposed on mixing and source contamination by subducted sediments is suitable to explain the observed geochemical data. The most likely geodynamic environment to produce these characteristics is a young, intra-oceanic island-arc system and an associated back-arc basin.     

Geochemical Investigations of Stratabound Gunga Barite Deposits of Khuzdar (Balochistan), Pakistan

Abstract: The Gunga barite deposits occur in carbonate clastic marine sequence of Jurassic age. These rocks are widely spread in Khuzdar-Lasbela belt which host important stratabound barite and zinc-lead deposits of Pakistan. These rocks are intricately folded and extensively faulted. The Gunga are low temperature hydrothermal deposits occurring as a series of disconnected lenses a few meters thick. Two mineralized horizons are recognized: barite in the upper zone, sphalerite and galena in the lower zone. Four types of barite mineralization occurs in Gunga stratabound replacement associated with 1) fracture filling, 2) open space fillings in solution collapsed breccia, 3) replacement in fault, and 4) veinlets associated with all these three types. The wall rocks of the Gunga deposits have also been altered by silicification, leaching and ferruginization.
The sulfur isotope values of most of the Gunga barite samples range from 23.8 to 27.8 per mil with an average of 26.4 per mil, which is very close to the average of isotopic values of epigenetic carbonate hosted Late Paleozoic Missouri barite deposits. The Gunga like other barite and sulfide deposits of Khuzdar-Lasbela belt are Mississippi Valley type, stratabound and of replacement origin precipitated from connate brines expelled during the incipient rifting of India from Gondwana land in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods. The low content of copper, lead and zinc in the Gunga barite deposits suggests that these deposits were not formed in proximity to an igneous source of the ore solution.
The Gunga deposits are epigenetic and stratabound as their mineralization is structure controlled. There is an evidence of transgressive nature of host rock and wall rock alteration which are absent in stratiform or bedded deposits.     

Seismic reflectivity of detachment faults of the Iberian and Tethyan distal continental margins based on geological and petrophysical data

Low-angle detachment faults are key to our understanding of the tectonic evolution of magma-poor rifted continental margins. In seismic images of present-day rifted margins the identification and interpretation of such features is, however, notoriously difficult and ambiguous. We address this problem by studying the structure and seismic response of such faults through a synoptic interpretation of petrophysical data and geological evidence from the distal segments of the present-day West Iberian and the ancient Tethyan margins. On the basis of the geologically well-constrained remnants of the Tethyan margins, which are spectacularly preserved and exposed in the Alps of Eastern Switzerland, vertical profiles at four key geological settings of a typical magma-poor rifted margin are constructed and their synthetic seismic responses are compared to the observed seismic data from corresponding locations in the present-day Iberian margin. The seismic structure of these profiles is considered as the sum of deterministic large-scale and the stochastic small-scale components. Both components are analyzed for all pertinent lithologies. The large-scale structures are derived from laboratory measurements on samples from both, the West Iberian and Tethyan margins, whereas the small-scale fluctuations are constrained predominantly on the basis of well-log data from the Iberian margin. Different realizations of the simulated stochastic small-scale velocity fluctuations illustrate the potential variability of impedance contrasts and its impact on the seismic response from lithological interfaces and fault structures. Our results indicate that the nature of the seismic response from low-angle detachment faults is largely determined through the fracture-healing behavior of the surrounding rocks. Geological evidence from the exposed fragments of the Tethyan margins indicate that fracture-healing is generally well developed in crustal lithologies, but largely absent in mantle lithologies. It is for this reason that low-angle, intra-crustal detachment faults tend to be seismically undetectable. Conversely, crust–mantle detachments have a complex and variable seismic response, depending on the nature of the damaged zone and on the frequency content of the seismic data. These model-based inferences are consistent with the available evidence from the present-day Iberian passive margin and thus open new perspectives for the interpretation of the corresponding seismic images.     

The S to P convert wave from the bottom of sediment basin in the near-field seismic records

Introduction On October 18 and 19, 1989, a sequence of earthquakes with magnitude MS=5.5, 5.8 and 5.5 occurred in the southeast part of Datong basin, Shanxi Province, China. One year and five months later, on March 26, 1991, another strong earthquake with magnitude MS=5.8 strikes the Datong basin once more. After both October 1989 and March 1991 earthquakes, the Institute of Geophysics, China Seismological Bureau (IGCSB) made near-field observations for aftershocks. 5 DCS-302 digital…     

Short-Term Ozone Forecasting with a Network Model System during Summer 1999

Within the framework of the Tropospheric Research Programme (TFS) four working groups in Germany (University of Stuttgart, University of Cologne, Research Center Karlsruhe, German Weather Service) formed a network developing a model system for chemistry transport calculations on different scales. The network was optimized, based on each module and combined for the different interfaces in order to perform daily preoperational ozone forecasts and its precursors at the German Weather Service in summer 1999 (May through September). The setup of the model system, the interfaces and changes of each module are described. The results of the whole preoperational episode are displayed and discussed. Main efforts were done analyzing the model climate statistics and the verification of the predictions with an extensive data base of observations at stations in Germany. The results of this extensive verification demonstrate the relatively good performance of the entire forecast system.     

Interaction of Aquatic Dissolved Organic Matter(DOM) with Amitrole: The Nature of the Bound Residues

In this study the binding behaviour of the herbicide amitrole with humic substances respectively dissolved organic matter (DOM) is presented. The results of the binding and release experiments using radio actively ¹⁴C-labelled amitrole ledto the conclusion that the binding of amitrole is very low. About 70% of amitrole bound to humic substances was not extractable. The releasable amitrole portion of the purified DOM-amitrolecomplexes led to a harmful effect in the cress test. Solid-state cross polarisation (CP) magic angle spinning (MAS) ¹⁵N-NMR spectroscopy is a powerful spectroscopic method to elucidate the structure of bound xenobiotics. In addition extraction experiments were used resulting in a binding scheme of amitrole to DOM, where above all the covalent bonding occurred via acid amide bonds.     

Ceres’ spectral link to carbonaceous chondrites—Analysis of the dark background materials

Ceres’ surface has commonly been linked with carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) by ground‐based telescopic observations, because of its low albedo, flat to red‐sloped spectra in the visible and near‐infrared (VIS/NIR) wavelength region, and the absence of distinct absorption bands, though no currently known meteorites provide complete spectral matches to Ceres. Spatially resolved data of the Dawn Framing Camera (FC) reveal a generally dark surface covered with bright spots exhibiting reflectance values several times higher than Ceres’ background. In this work, we investigated FC data from High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO) and Ceres eXtended Juling (CXJ) orbit (~140 m/pixel) for global spectral variations. We found that the cerean surface mainly differs by spectral slope over the whole FC wavelength region (0.4–1.0 μm). Areas exhibiting slopes ?1 constitute only ~3% of the cerean surface and mainly occur in the bright material in and around young craters, whereas slopes ≥?10% μm^?1 occur on more than 90% of the cerean surface; the latter being denoted as Ceres’ background material in this work. FC and Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (VIR) spectra of this background material were compared to the suite of CCs spectrally investigated so far regarding their VIS/NIR region and 2.7 μm absorption, as well as their reflectance at 0.653 μm. This resulted in a good match to heated CI Ivuna (heated to 200–300 °C) and a better match for CM1 meteorites, especially Moapa Valley. This possibly indicates that the alteration of CM2 to CM1 took place on Ceres.     

On the exploration of a marine aquifer offshore Israel by long-offset transient electromagnetics

The existence of aquifers extending from land beneath the sea floor up to a distance of several kilometres has been observed and examined all over the world. The coastal aquifer of Israel is a heavily used groundwater reservoir which has to be constantly monitored to ensure the drinking water supply. Former land-based electromagnetic measurements show that it is, in several places, blocked to seawater intrusion and is consequently a candidate for submarine extension. Multicomponent long-offset transient electromagnetic measurements were carried out offshore on the coast of Israel. We deployed a 400-m-long grounded dipole as transmitter and several electric and magnetic receivers on the sea floor up to a distance of 4.8 km from the coast. Altogether, we deployed 8 transmitter positions and received data sets at 14 receiver stations onshore and offshore, with offsets of mostly 400 and 800 m. In this paper, we present the survey and 1D Occam and Marquardt inversions of the offshore horizontal electric components in the broadside and inline configuration. In addition, the vertical magnetic component in the broadside position is also considered. Only single inversions, both single offset and single component, were used to detect the aquifer under sea sediments. We prove the submarine existence of the Israeli coastal aquifer up to a distance to the coast of approximately 3.2 to 3.6 km using all measured long-offset transient electromagnetic components. In addition, we present modelling studies with synthetic data derived from a subsurface model adjusted to our survey area with very shallow water from 10 to 50 m. As part of the planning before the survey, a parameter study of the expected subsurface, the examination of the airwave phenomenon and the justification for our 1D inversion strategy are shown. More detailed eigen parameter analyses are added to explain the measured data.