Redistribution of uranium and thorium series isotopes during isovolumetric weathering of granite

Previous studies of the distribution of U and Th in parent versus weathered granites have shown both depletion and enrichment of these elements during weathering. In this study, the distribution of U and Th decay series isotopes was determined in a weathering profile of a granitic saprolite, which showed textural preservation indicating isovolumetric weathering. Two types of dissolution methods were used: a whole-rock dissolution and a sodium-citrate dithionite leach to preferentially attack noncrystalline phases of weathering products. Using volume-based activities, 45–70 percent of the total ²³²Th was gradually removed during weathering. Although the whole-rock ${}^{228}\text{Th}{}^{232}\text{Th}$ activity ratios were in equilibrium, there were large excesses of ²²⁸Th in the leachable fraction of both parent rock (${}^{228}\text{Th}{}^{232}\text{Th}\text{= 2.06}$) and partially weathered saprolite (${}^{228}\text{Th}{}^{232}\text{Th}\text{= 3–6.5}$), due to alpha recoil and release of daughter ²²⁸Th to the weathering rind of the mineral grain. For the most weathered sample, 81 percent of the thorium was in the teachable fraction and ${}^{228}\text{Th}{}^{232}\text{Th}\text{= 1}$, indicating that even the more resistant minerals were attacked.The total U activities showed as much variation in the six parent rock samples as in the weathered profile, and ${}^{234}\text{U}{}^{238}\text{U}$ were in equilibrium in both the whole-rock and leachable fractions. ²³⁰Th was deficient relative to ²³⁴U and ²²⁶Ra in both fractions, suggesting recent addition of U and Ra to the entire profile. The large variation in U was not from absorption onto the intermediate weathering products, because only 11–23 percent of the U was in the leachable fraction.     

The Globalization of a Panethnopolis: Richmond District as the New Chinatown in San Francisco

This paper briefly reviews the sociological literature on the “New” Chinatown phenomenon stressing its structural location vis-à-vis the “Old” Chinatown and the homeland. It defines the New Chinatown as a panethnopolis, that is a global neighborhood with a majority population of Chinese immigrants and of other ethnic groups of mostly Asian descent. It analyzes more particularly the formation, development, and integration of San Francisco’s Richmond District’s New Chinatown into both the city where it is located and the network of transglobal sites to which it belongs. It provides an interpretation of the New Chinatown as a cultural enclave within the context of globalization theory.     

Continental subduction and exhumation of UHP rocks. Structural and geochronological insights from the Dabieshan (East China)

In the Dabieshan, the available models for exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks are poorly constrained by structural data. A comprehensive structural and kinematic map and a general cross-section of the Dabieshan including its foreland fold belt and the Northern Dabieshan Domain (Foziling and Luzenguang groups) are presented here. South Dabieshan consists from bottom to top of stacked allochtons: (1) an amphibolite facies gneissic unit, devoid of UHP rocks, interpreted here as the relative autochton; (2) an UHP allochton; (3) a HP rock unit (Susong group) mostly retrogressed into greenschist facies micaschists; (4) a weakly metamorphosed Proterozoic slate and sandstone unit; and (5) an unmetamorphosed Cambrian to Early Triassic sedimentary sequence unconformably covered by Jurassic sandstone. All these units exhibit a polyphase ductile deformation characterized by (i) a NW–SE lineation with a top-to-the-NW shearing, and (ii) a southward refolding of early ductile fabrics.

The Central Dabieshan is a 100-km scale migmatitic dome. Newly discovered eclogite xenoliths in a Cretaceous granitoid dated at 102 Ma by the U–Pb method on titanite demonstrate that migmatization post-dates HP–UHP metamorphism. Ductile faults formed in the subsolidus state coeval to migmatization allow us to characterize the structural pattern of doming. Along the dome margins, migmatite is gneissified under post-solidus conditions and mylonitic–ultramylonitic fabrics commonly develop. The north and west boundaries of the Central Dabieshan metamorphics, i.e. the Xiaotian–Mozitan and Macheng faults, are ductile normal faults formed before Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. A Cretaceous reworking is recorded by synkinematic plutons.

North of the Xiaotian–Mozitan fault, the North Dabieshan Domain consists of metasediments and orthogneiss (Foziling and Luzenguang groups) metamorphosed under greenschist to amphibolite facies which never experienced UHP metamorphism. A rare N–S-trending lineation with top-to-the-south shearing is dated at 260 Ma by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method on muscovite. This early structure related to compressional tectonics is reworked by top-to-the-north extensional shear bands.

The main deformation of the Dabieshan consists of a NW–SE-stretching lineation which wraps around the migmatitic dome but exhibits a consistently top-to-the-NW sense of shear. The Central Dabieshan is interpreted as an extensional migmatitic dome bounded by an arched, top-to-the-NW, detachment fault. This structure may account for a part of the UHP rock exhumation. However, the abundance of amphibolite restites in the Central Dabieshan migmatites and the scarcity of eclogites (found only in a few places) argue for an early stage of exhumation and retrogression of UHP rocks before migmatization. This event is coeval to the N–S extensional structures described in the North Dabieshan Domain. Recent radiometric dates suggest that early exhumation and subsequent migmatization occurred in Triassic–Liassic times. The main foliation is deformed by north-verging recumbent folds coeval to the south-verging folds of the South Dabieshan Domain. An intense Cretaceous magmatism accounts for thermal resetting of most of the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates.

A lithosphere-scale exhumation model, involving continental subduction, synconvergence extension with inversion of southward thrusts into NW-ward normal faults and crustal melting is presented.     

Spatiotemporal changes in cadmium contamination in the Seine estuary (France)

Cadmium (Cd) is among the major contaminants in the Seine estuary. In the biota, the RNO (Réseau National d’Observation, the French Mussel-Watch) has shown that Cd concentrations in mussels living at the mouth of the estuary are related to changes in inputs to this area of phosphogypsum, a calcium sulphate that is a by-product of the phosphoric acid naturally enriched with Cd. In the water column, Cd concentrations at several key estuary sites show a very marked trend toward decreased contamination in the particles as well as in the dissolved phase. The behavior of Cd in the estuary has been studied between 1991 and 1998 in the framework of the scientific program Seine-Aval. This program has highlighted punctual Cd inputs in the estuarine water column. The partition of Cd between the dissolved and the particulate phase, previously described in various estuaries, is characterized by an intense phenomenon of solubilization in the mixing zone freshwater-seawater, but the colloidal Cd fraction remains low along the whole salinity gradient, about 5% to 10% of the apparent dissolved fraction. Although the decrease of inputs induced a fall of Cd concentrations in the water column, laboratory experiments show that the estuarine particles are far from being exhausted in Cd. Despite continuous efforts to reduce the urban and industrial inputs into the estuarine and coastal waters, the Seine estuary still remains very contaminated by Cd.     

Direct and Indirect pCO2 Measurements in a Wide Range of pCO2 and Salinity Values (The Scheldt Estuary)

Recent improvements in both Infra-red spectroscopy and equilibrator techniqueshave allowed to determine, for the first time, pCO₂using simultaneously and continuously both the direct and indirect methods in an estuary where pCO₂ values range from 500 to 8500 atm and salinity from 0 to 30. Our results show that both methods are in excellent agreement in the wholeestuary (r² = 0.999, n = 1075, p < 0.0001). Thus, the NBS (US National Bureau of Standards) scale, although inadequate for seawater samples, is appropriate for estuarine waters and can be applied with confidence to calculate pCO₂.     

Test of the vibrational modelling for the λ-type transitions: Application to the α-β quartz transition

Vibrational modelling is at the present time the only known way to predict the heat capacities of the Earth's mantle minerals at high-pressure and high-temperature. To test the validity of this method for λ-type transitions, we have applied it to the α-β quartz transition (T ₀=846±1 K). Raman spectra of quartz were recorded up to 900 K. Measured frequency shifts of the α-quartz Raman modes were then used in conjunction with available high-pressure Raman data to calculate intrinsic mode anharmonicity, through the parameter a _i=(?Lnv_i/?T)_v. Vibrational modelling of the heat capacity at constant volume, Cv, and at constant pressure, Cp, including anharmonic corrections deduced from the a _i parameters, are compared to experimental data. Taking into account the soft-mode associated to the α-β quartz transition, the model reproduces the excess of Cp related to the transition. Then, this study confirms that detecting a soft-mode from vibrational data allows one to predict λ-type transitions. However, when modelling the thermodynamic properties, the contribution of a soft-mode cannot be established from spectroscopic data. Therefore, one needs first to determine this contribution in order to predict the heat capacities of Earth's mantle minerals displaying λ-type transitions. In α-quartz, this contribution has been determined as 0.007% of the total number of the optic modes in the model of the density of states.     

Plio-Quaternary geodynamic evolution of a segment of the Peruvian Andean Cordillera located above the change in the subduction geometry: the Cuzco region

The Cuzco region, which is located above a change in subduction geometry, appears to be characterized by a variable Plio-Quaternary tectono-sedimentary evolution essentially located along the major fault system that separates the High Plateaux from the Eastern Cordillera. After the higher surface formation of the High Plateaux, a set of Neogene basins were filled by Miocene “ fluvio-torrential” series and by Plio-Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine deposits. The Neogene series have been affected by compressional tectonic forces attributed to the Late Miocene. This compression is followed by roughly E-W trending syn-sedimentary extensional tectonics attributed to the Pliocene; it is related to reactivation of the pre-existing major faults, basin evolution, and volcanic activity concentrated along the faults. In the Early Pleistocene, fluvio-lacustrine deposits are affected by syn- and post-sedimentary compressional tectonism it is characterized by shortening that trends both N-S and E-W and produces folding and faulting of the sedimentary cover. Extensional tectonism trending roughly N-S has been taking place from the Middle Pleistocene to the Present; it is coeval with shoshonitic volcanic activity, and with sedimentation of fluvio-lacustrine terraces, torrential fans and moraines. Quaternary and active normal faults due to this tectonism, are located in a narrow zone more than 100 km-long between the High Plateaux and the Eastern Cordillera, and two 15 km-long fault sectors in the Eastern Cordillera. Characteristic Pleistocene scarps, 400 m or more high, are due to the cumulative normal offset, and there are also little scarps, with heights ranging between 2 and 20 m, which are related to Holocene fault reactivations. Recent fault reactivation on the Cuzco fault system, during the April 5, 1986 earthquake (m_b = 5.3), is due to the N-S trending extension. This state of stress, located at a mean elevation of roughly 3730 m, is generally homogeneous to different scales. The active Cuzco normal faults may be a consequence of adjustment between the compensated Western Cordillera and the undercompensated Eastern Cordillera, this latter being uplifted higher than its isostatic equilibrium due to compression acting on its eastern edge. The variation of the state of stress, during the Plio-Quaternary is in agreement with the variations of the compressional boundary forces. It may be explained by variation of the convergence rate or by the variation of pull-slab forces.     

Interpretation of cosmogenic nuclides in meteorites on the basis of accelerator experiments and physical model calculations

Cosmogenic nuclides in extraterrestrial matter provide a wealth of information on the exposure and collision histories of small objects in space and on the history of the solar and galactic cosmic radiation. The interpretation of the observed abundances of cosmogenic nuclides requires detailed and accurate knowledge of their production rates. Accelerator experiments provide a quantitative basis and the ground truth for modeling cosmogenic nuclide production by measurements of the relevant cross sections and by realistic simulations of the interaction of galactic protons with meteoroids under completely controlled conditions, respectively. We review the establishment of physical model calculations of cosmogenic nuclide production in extraterrestrial matter on the basis of such accelerator experiments and exemplify this approach by presenting new experimental and theoretical results for the cosmogenic nuclide⁴⁴Ti. The model calculations describe all aspects of cosmogenic nuclide production and allow the determination of long-term solar and galactic cosmic ray spectra and a consistent interpretation of cosmogenic nuclides in extraterrestrial matter.