Morphological evolution of a barchan dune migrating past an offshore wind farm foundation

As the number of manmade structures installed on the seafloor is increasing rapidly, we seek to understand the impact of these immobile obstacles on marine geomorphological processes, such as the evolution of bedforms. A 5.8 m diameter monopile foundation was installed at the case study offshore windfarm approximately 30 m ahead of an approaching barchan (crescent-shaped) dune. The impact of the monopile on the dune's evolution was analysed using six multibeam bathymetry surveys spanning 20 years. To substantiate this analysis, coupled three-dimensional numerical modelling of flows and sediment was conducted in which the scour inducing bed shear stresses were calculated from the modelled turbulent kinetic energy. Following the installation of the monopile, the mid-section of the dune accelerated and stretched in the direction of the wake of the monopile. Four years after the monopile's installation the rest of the dune had caught up, flattening out the slip face within half the dune's length downstream of the monopile. Due to the modified flow field, the dune was scoured deeply at the base of the monopile to a depth of 6.8 m (supported by the model results that predicted a scour depth exceeding 2 m over a period of just a few days). The surveyed volume of material scoured amounted to 8% of the total dune volume. Whilst the process of scouring occurs at a timescale of days to weeks, the dune migrated on average by 25 m/yr. The difference in the timescale of the two processes allowed the scouring to occur through the full thickness of the dune. The scoured dune profile recovered rapidly once the dune migrated downstream of the monopile. This article demonstrates how large geomorphological features can intercept and migrate past a monopile foundation without long-lasting impacts on the integrity of the feature or the foundation. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Re-interpretation of zircon date in a carbonatite dyke at the Bayan Obo giant REE-Fe-Nb deposit,China

Recent ce-valuation of the dating of the carbonatite dykes associated with the REE-Re-Nb giant deposit at Bayan Obo has     

Hercynian, Pan-African, Proterozoic and Archean ion-microprobe zircon ages for a Betic-Rif core complex, Alpine belt, W Mediterranean – consequences for its P-T-t path

Ion-microprobe analysis of zircons from an andalusite-bearing orthogneiss within the major Alpujárride nappe complex in the central part of the Betic Cordilleras has yielded a Hercynian age of 285?±?5 (2σ) Ma for euhedral rims, interpreted as the magmatic age of the andalusite-bearing biotite granite parent rock for the gneisses. Zircon age zoning systematics suggest a Paleozoic sedimentation age for the parent material for the anatectic source rock. Zircon cores represent several groups of ages: (1) Archean, c. 2.7?Ga; (2) Early Proterozoic, 2.2–2.0?Ga; (3) Middle Proterozoic, 1.1–0.9?Ga; (4) Pan-African, 0.8–0.5?Ga; including a well-defined event at 612?±?13 (2σ) Ma. Paragenetic and textural relations indicate that gneissification took place during a high-P (12–13?kbar) low-T (450–500?°C) collisional event during which the primary Alpine nappe pile was produced. The second and final Alpine tectono-metamorphic event led to reorganization of the primary nappe pile by extensional tetonics with coeval very fast rock uplift and cooling (from c. 8? to c. 1?kbar and c. 600 to 100?°C within the period 19.5–18.5?Ma). The fast uplift/cooling stage was triggered by slab break-off which is thought to have induced diapiric underplating by high-T asthenospheric material. This may have heated the collisional wedge, causing thermal weakening which might have advanced the late stage fast uplift/cooling. The Alpine events did not leave a zircon crystallization record. The inherited, Archean–Pan-African zircon age pattern corresponds to that established for the Hercynian basement in central and southern Europe which is considered as reworked Gondwana crust. Deeper levels of core complexes within the Betic-Rif belt thus belong to the pre-Triassic basement of the Tethyan realm (Betic-Ligurian lithosphere) and represent reworked material ultimately derived from Archean and Proterozoic rock complexes from the Gondwana crustal domain. This study implies that thermobarometry of rock complexes which went through several phases of tectono-metamorphic reworking may render ambiguous results if based upon field observations and petrography alone. Zircon ion-microprobe dating may provide additional constraints required to arrive at a feasible tectono-metamorphic history, that is P-T-t trajectory, for such rock complexes.     

Variability and predictability of Antarctic krill swarm structure

Swarming is a fundamental part of the life of Euphausia superba, yet we still know very little about what drives the considerable variability in swarm shape, size and biomass. We examined swarms across the Scotia Sea in January and February 2003 using a Simrad EK60 (38 and 120 kHz) echosounder, concurrent with net sampling. The acoustic data were analysed through applying a swarm-identification algorithm and then filtering out all non-krill targets. The area, length, height, depth, packing-concentration and inter-swarm distance of 4525 swarms was derived by this method. Hierarchical clustering revealed 2 principal swarm types, which differed in both their dimensions and packing-concentrations. Type 1 swarms were generally small (<50 m long) and were not very tightly packed (<10 ind. m⁻³), whereas type 2 swarms were an order of magnitude larger and had packing concentrations up to 10 times greater. Further sub-divisions of these types identified small and standard swarms within the type 1 group and large and superswarms within the type 2 group. A minor group (swarm type 3) was also found, containing swarms that were isolated (>100 km away from the next swarm). The distribution of swarm types over the survey grid was examined with respect to a number of potential explanatory variables describing both the environment and the internal-state of krill (namely maturity, body length, body condition). Most variables were spatially averaged over scales of 100 km and so mainly had a mesoscale perspective. The exception was the level of light (photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)) for which measurements were specific to each swarm. A binary logistic model was constructed from four variables found to have significant explanatory power (P<0.05): surface fluorescence, PAR, krill maturity and krill body length. Larger (type 2) swarms were more commonly found during nighttime or when it was overcast during the day, when surface fluorescence was low, and when the krill were small and immature. A strong pattern of diel vertical migration was not observed although the larger and denser swarms tended to occur more often at night than during the day. The vast majority of krill were contained within a minor fraction of the total number of swarms. These krill-rich swarms were more common in areas dominated by small and immature krill. We propose that, at the mesoscale level, the structure of swarms switches from being predominantly large and tightly packed to smaller and more diffuse as krill grow and mature. This pattern is further modulated according to feeding conditions and then level of light.     

Micro‐scale silicon isotope heterogeneity observed in hydrothermal quartz precipitates from the >3.7 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt,SW Greenland

Pillow basalt and chert form integral lithologies comprising many Archean greenstone belt packages. To investigate details of these lithologies in the >3.7 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt, SW Greenland, we measured silicon isotope compositions of quartz crystals, by secondary ion mass spectrometry, from a quartz‐cemented, quartz‐amygdaloidal basaltic pillow breccia, recrystallized chert and chert clasts thought to represent silica precipitation under hydrothermal conditions. The recrystallized chert, chert clasts and quartz cement have overlapping δ³⁰Si values, while the δ³⁰Si values of the quartz amygdules span nearly the entire range of previously published values for quartz precipitates of any age, despite amphibolite facies metamorphism. We suggest that the heterogeneity is derived from kinetic isotope fractionation during quartz precipitation under disequilibrium conditions in a hydrothermal setting, consistent with the pillow breccia origin. On the basis of the present data, we conclude that the geological context of each sample must be carefully evaluated when interpreting δ³⁰Si values of quartz.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114001583

Detrital zircons from modern sediments display an episodic temporal distribution of U-Pb crystallization ages forming a series of 'peaks' and 'troughs'.The peaks are interpreted to represent either periods of enhanced generation of granitic magma perhaps associated with mantle overturn and superplume events,or preferential preservation of continental crust during global collisional orogenesis.The close association of those peaks with the assembly of supercontinents implies a causal relationship between collisional orogenesis and the presence of zircon age peaks.Here these two end-member models(episodic periodicity of increased magmatism versus selective preservation during collisional orogenesis) are assessed using U-Pb,Hf,and O analysis of detrital zircons from sedimentary successions deposited during the ~ 1.3-1.1Ca accretionary.~1.1-0.9 Ga collisional,and 0.9 Ga extensional collapse phases of the Grenville orogenic cycle in Labrador and Scotland.The pre-collisional,accretionary stage provides a baseline of continental crust present prior to orogenesis and is dominated by Archean and Paleoproterozoic age peaks associated with pre-1300 Ma Laurentian geology.Strata deposited during the Grenville Orogeny display similar Archean and Paleoproterozoic detrital populations along with a series of broad muted peaks from~ 1500 to 1100 Ma.However,post-collisional sedimentary successions display a dominant age peak between 1085 and 985 Ma,similar to that observed in modern North American river sediments.Zircons within the post-orogenic sedimentary successions have progressively lower εHf and higherδ~(18)O values from ~ 1800 to ~ 1200 Ma whereupon they have higher εHf and δ~(18) within the dominant1085-985 Ma age peak.Furthermore,the Lu-Hf isotopic profile of the Grenville-related age peak is consistent with significant assimilation and contamination by older crustal material.The timing of this dominant age peak coincides with the peak of metamorphism and magmatism associated with the Crenville Orogeny,which is a typical collisional orogenic belt.The change from broad muted age peaks in the syn-orogenic strata to a single peak in the post-orogenic sedimentary successions and in the modern river sediments implies a significant shift in provenance following continental collision.This temporal change in provenance highlights that the source(s),from which detrital zircons within syn-orogenic strata were derived,was no longer available during the later stages of the accretionary and collisional stages of the orogenic cycle.This may reflect some combination of tectonic burial,erosion,or possibly recycling into the mantle by tectonic erosion of the source(s).During continental collision,the incorporated continental crust is isolated from crustal recycling processes operative at subduction margins.This tectonic isolation combined with sedimentaiy recycling likely controls the presence of the isotopic signature associated with the Grenville Orogeny in the modern Mississippi and Appalachian river sediments.These results imply that zircon age peaks,which developed in conjunction with supercontinents,are the product of selective crustal preservation resulting from collisional orogenesis.     

The nature of scour development and scour protection at offshore windfarm foundations

Analysis and interpretation of monitoring data for the seabed bathymetry local to offshore windfarm foundations has shown how the scour develops in time and highlighted variations between sites with different seabed sediment characteristics, i.e. sands and clays. Results from European offshore windfarms have generated a unique dataset for comparison with previously published data. Where surficial sediment is underlain by a marine clay the scour (to date) has been limited, whilst those with unconstrained depths of sandy sediments show scour as deep as 1.38 times the monopile diameter. Scour protection has been installed at some sites for structural stability of the foundation or for cable protection. The flow interaction with the protection causes edge scour or secondary scour in the seabed around the protection. In some cases this scour is deeper than the unprotected case. The analysis has resulted in an improved evidence base for scour in the marine environment.     

Microbial water quality of the Georgian coastal zone of the Black Sea

From 2006 to 2008, microbial water quality was monitored along the Georgian coast of the Black Sea. Temperature, pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen were measured, along with a variety of aquatic microbial parameters, including heterotrophic plate count (HPC), total culturable bacterial count (TCBC), and chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentration. Total and fecal coliforms and total enterococci counts were recorded as indicators of fecal pollution. Vibrio bacteria, and Escherichia coli- and Vibrio-specific bacteriophages were isolated and enumerated to determine their relationships to standard marine pollution indicators.Persistent microbial pollution was observed, particularly in the summer months, with a higher rate of contamination in estuaries. Microbial indicators generally showed seasonal dependence, suggesting that temperature may influence bacterial dynamics in this environment. No correlation was apparent between fecal pollution indicators and physical-chemical and aquatic microbial parameters, although there were significant relationships amongst the indicators themselves, as well as with the prevalence of Vibrio bacteria and phage.     

U‐Pb Detrital Zircon Analysis – Results of an Inter‐laboratory Comparison

Inter‐laboratory comparison of laser ablation ICP‐MS and SIMS U‐Pb dating of synthetic detrital zircon samples provides an insight into the state‐of‐the art of sedimentary provenance studies. Here, we report results obtained from ten laboratories that routinely perform this type of work. The achieved level of bias was mostly within ± 2% relative to the ID‐TIMS U‐Pb ages of zircons in the detrital sample, and the variation is likely to be attributed to variable Pb/U elemental fractionation due to zircon matrix differences between the samples and the reference materials used for standardisation. It has been determined that ~ 5% age difference between adjacent age peaks is currently at the limit of what can be routinely resolved by the in situ dating of detrital zircon samples. Precision of individual zircon age determination mostly reflects the data reduction and procedures of measurement uncertainty propagation, and it is largely independent of the instrumentation, analytical technique and reference samples used for standardisation. All laboratories showed a bias towards selection of larger zircon grains for analysis. The experiment confirms the previously published estimates of the minimum number of grains that have to be analysed in order to detect minor zircon age populations in detrital samples.