Pressure-induced (Al,Si)[4]-ordering in dioctahedral micas?

Pure, synthetic 2M₁-muscovites (Ms) and 2M₁-paragonites (Pg) prepared at 7, 13.5, and 18 kbar have been subjected to careful X-ray powder diffractometry and IR powder spectrometry. The results of X-ray studies show that the lattice constants of these micas are independent of the pressure employed in synthesizing them. Similarly, the IR powder spectra of Ms and Pg remain unaffected by the synthesis pressure. Neither the Al^[4]-O-Al^[4] vibrations decrease in relative intensity nor do the Si-O-Al^[4] vibrations increase in intensity with increasing pressure of synthesis, as they should, if pressure-induced (Al, Si)^[4] ordering had been operative. Finally, the v _OH bands in Ms and Pg are also found to retain their fine structural details, regardless of the pressures employed in synthesizing these phases. In particular, the half widths of v _OH in these (Al,Si)^[4]-disordered micas remain constant at around 60 cm⁻¹, compared to ∼ 10 cm⁻¹ in (Al,Si)^[4]-ordered mica margarite. In the light of this study, shortening of the b lattice parameter and progressive (Al,Si)^[4] ordering with increasing pressure of synthesis of muscovites reported by Velde (1980) would appear to be anomalous. Consequently, any discussion of the effect of (Al,Si)^[4] ordering on the stability of muscovite is a moot point at present.     

Bifurcation of force-free solar magnetic fields: A numerical approach

Numerical calculations of two-dimensional force-free fields as models of solar active regions are presented. For a given toroidal component of the photospheric magnetic field two branches of solutions are numerically obtained which merge at the critical point of maximum allowed toroidal magnetic field. Depending on boundary conditions magnetic islands may or may not form. The results are discussed with respect to their relevance to the flare process.     

BASIC: Baltic Sea cyanobacteria. An investigation of the structure and dynamics of water blooms of cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea—responses to a changing environment

The blooms of cyanobacteria that develop each summer in the Baltic Sea are composed of two functional groups, namely the small-sized picocyanobacteria (Synechococcus sp.) and the larger, colony-forming, filamentous N₂-fixing cyanobacteria. The former encompassed both red (phycoerythrin-rich) and blue-green (phycocyanin-rich) species. The majority of the picocyanobacteria measured less than 1 μm and this size fraction comprised as much as 80% of the total cyanobacterial biomass and contributed as much as 50% of the total primary production of a cyanobacterial bloom. The picocyanobacteria are incapable of fixing N₂, do not possess gas vesicles and are not toxic. However, a small filamentous Pseudanabaena sp. that could potentially fix N₂ was isolated from the picocyanobacteria fraction. The larger cyanobacteria may form surface scums because they possess gas vesicles that make them buoyant. Although their biomass was less than the picocyanobacteria, they therefore form the more conspicuous and nuisance-forming part of the bloom. The larger cyanobacteria were composed mainly of three different species: Nodularia spumigena, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Anabaena sp. These all belong to the heterocystous, N₂-fixing cyanobacteria. N. spumigena and A. flos-aquae were the dominant species; only N. spumigena was toxic. Although individual Nodularia filaments showed a range of different phenotypes, they all belong to one species as judged from 16S rDNA sequencing. Through determination of the genotypes of many individual Nodularia filaments, it was shown that this population was not clonal and that horizontal exchange of genetic information occurs. N. spumigena and A. flos-aquae were different with respect to their photosynthetic and N₂-fixing potentials. Depending on prevailing environmental conditions, these differences would promote the proliferation of one species over the other and hence would determine overall the toxicity of a bloom. Daily integrals of photon irradiance rather than temperature determined the onset of bloom formation. During a bloom, the diazotrophic cyanobacteria fixed N₂ at a rate that was 10–20% in excess of their own demand for N. Picocyanobacteria assimilated most of this excess N as shown by ¹⁵N incorporation. During bloom conditions, the diazotrophic cyanobacteria met about 50% of the N demand of the total cyanobacterial community. The picocyanobacteria were predominantly N-limited while the diazotrophic cyanobacteria were probably iron limited. These findings allow us to understand the formation of toxic cyanobacterial blooms and also to develop tools to predict bloom formation.     

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.