The age and thermal history of Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia

 Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia, is the world’s largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century for silver, and for tin and zinc during the twentieth century, together with by-product copper and lead. The deposit consists primarily of veins that cut an altered igneous body that we interpret to be a dacitic volcanic dome and its underlying tuff ring and explosion breccia. The deposit is compositionally and thermally zoned, having a core of cassiterite, wolframite, bismuthinite, and arsenopyrite surrounded by a peripheral, lower-temperature mineral assemblage consisting principally of sphalerite, galena, lead sulfosalt, and silver minerals. The low-temperature assemblage also was superimposed on the high-temperature assemblage in response to cooling of the main hydrothermal system. Both the dacite dome and the ore fluids were derived from a larger magmatic/hydrothermal source at depth. The dome was repeatedly fractured by recurrent movement on the fault system that guided its initial emplacement. The dome was extruded at 13.8±0.2 Ma (2σ), based on U-Th-Pb dating of zircon. Mineralization and alteration occurred within about 0.3 my of dome emplacement, as indicated by a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar date of 13.76±0.10 Ma (1σ) for sericite from the pervasive quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration associated with the main-stage, high-temperature, mineralization. The last thermal event able to reset zircon fission tracks occurred no later than 12.5±1.1 Ma (1σ), as indicated by fission-tract dating. Minor sericite, and magmatic-steam alunite veins, were episodically formed around 11 Ma and between 8.3 and 5.7 Ma; the younger episodes occurring at the time of extensional fracturing at Cerro Rico and widespread volcanism in the adjacent Los Frailes volcanic field. None of these younger events appear to be significant thermal/mineralizing events; the exceptionally flat thermal release pattern of ³⁹Ar from sericite and the results of the fission-tract dating of zircon show that none of the younger events was hot enough, and lasted long enough, to cause significant loss of Ar or annealing of zircon fission tracks. U-Th-Pb dating of zircon cores indicates a Precambrian progenitor for some zircons, and REE analyses of dated samples of hydrothermally altered dacite show the presence of a prominent positive Eu anomaly, which constrains interpretations of the origin and evolution of the magmatic/hydrothermal system. Received: 14 October 1995/Accepted: 29 January 1996     

Thermomechanical properties of deep argillaceous formations

A difficulty in the interpretation of mechanical and thermo-mechanical tests on specimens drawn from large argillaceous formations is the strong inhomogeneity of void ratio, clay minerals and carbonates content.

In this paper a relationship is developed to link strength and the maximum preconsolidation stress to the initial void ratio and carbonate content. Compressibility is also correlated to carbonates.

Thermal strains in drained and undrained conditions for a Spanish, a belgian and an Italian natural clay are compared. In the elastic state strains are comparable, while in the plastic range thermal strains are highest for the Belgian clay, lower in the Spanish cemented clay and lowest in the Italian clay, very stiff and cemented.     

The role of gametes of the macroalgae <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ascophyllum nodosum</Emphasis> (L.) Le Jolis and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fucus vesiculosus</Emphasis> L. (Fucales,Phaeophyceae) in summer nanoplankton of the White Sea coastal waters

Studies of macrophytes in the coastal zone of the Artic Seas, including the White Sea, have shown the essential role of these algae in the activity of the coastal half-latitude ecosystems. In summer, during the macrophyte reproduction period, a great number of reproduction products are released into the water. For a short time, this considerably affects the ratio of the nanoplankton in the populations that inhibit the vast and shallow coastal areas. At different coastal sites in Chernorechenskaya Inlet, Kadalaksha Bay, during the period of intensive reproduction of Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus, 42 plankton samples were collected in 2005. During this period the concentration of antherozoids in the water reached 55000 cells/ml (216 mg C/m³). The number of eggs was within the range of 0.05–0.7 cells/ml. The proportion of antherozoids in the total biomass of nanoplankton varied at different coastal sites from 0.37 to 99%, with a mean of 46% for the reproduction period of A. nodosum, and only 7% for the reproduction period of F. vesiculosus. As was shown by counts of F. vesiculosus female gametes in sedimentation traps, 1 m² of the macrophyte bed (assuming 100% coverage) produces 18000–108000 eggs per day (0.33–2 mg C). The calculated flux of the reproductive material from the brown algae beds to the coastal water shows good agreement with the sample counts.     

Distribution of suspended particulate matter in the northern Bohai Bay in summer and its relation with thermocline

Field observations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the Bohai Bay, China have not been widely reported. The aim of this paper is to describe the horizontal and vertical distribution of mass and volume concentrations of SPM, respectively, based on observed data at 312 stations in the northern Bohai Bay during summer of 2006. A numerical model ECOMSED coupled with a sediment transport module was also established to further discuss the mechanism of the thermocline effect on the vertical distribution of SPM. The mass concentrations of SPM exhibited high inshore values and low offshore values in the horizontal distribution; while in the vertical direction, characteristics of the volume concentration of SPM can be divided into two types: one with a sharp peak at depth of 10–15 m and another without. The peak value at the depth of the thermocline was resulted from concentrated phytoplankton. A numerical experiment further displayed that the thermocline can also prevent particles from being resuspended upward.