Diel Aquatic CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> System Dynamics of a Bermudian Mangrove Environment

Mangrove ecosystems play an important, but understudied, role in the cycling of carbon in tropical and subtropical coastal ocean environments. In the present study, we examined the diel dynamics of seawater carbon dioxide (CO₂) and dissolved oxygen (DO) for a mangrove-dominated marine ecosystem (Mangrove Bay) and an adjacent intracoastal waterway (Ferry Reach) on the island of Bermuda. Spatial and temporal trends in seawater carbonate chemistry and associated variables were assessed from direct measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, and salinity. Diel pCO₂ variability was interpolated across hourly wind speed measurements to determine variability in daily CO₂ fluxes for the month of October 2007 in Bermuda. From these observations, we estimated rates of net sea to air CO₂ exchange for these two coastal ecosystems at 59.8 ± 17.3 in Mangrove Bay and 5.5 ± 1.3 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹ in Ferry Reach. These results highlight the potential for large differences in carbonate system functioning and sea-air CO₂ flux in adjacent coastal environments. In addition, observation of large diel variability in CO₂ system parameters (e.g., mean pCO₂: 390–2,841 μatm; mean pH_T: 8.05–7.34) underscores the need for careful consideration of diel cycles in long-term sampling regimes and flux estimates.     

Scales and causes of heterogeneity in bars in a large multi‐channel river: Río Paraná, Argentina

To date, published studies of alluvial bar architecture in large rivers have been restricted mostly to case studies of individual bars and single locations. Relatively little is known about how the depositional processes and sedimentary architecture of kilometre‐scale bars vary within a multi‐kilometre reach or over several hundreds of kilometres downstream. This study presents Ground Penetrating Radar and core data from 11, kilometre‐scale bars from the Río Paraná, Argentina. The investigated bars are located between 30 km upstream and 540 km downstream of the Río Paraná – Río Paraguay confluence, where a significant volume of fine‐grained suspended sediment is introduced into the network. Bar‐scale cross‐stratified sets, with lengths and widths up to 600 m and thicknesses up to 12 m, enable the distinction of large river deposits from stacked deposits of smaller rivers, but are only present in half the surface area of the bars. Up to 90% of bar‐scale sets are found on top of finer‐grained ripple‐laminated bar‐trough deposits. Bar‐scale sets make up as much as 58% of the volume of the deposits in small, incipient mid‐channel bars, but this proportion decreases significantly with increasing age and size of the bars. Contrary to what might be expected, a significant proportion of the sedimentary structures found in the Río Paraná is similar in scale to those found in much smaller rivers. In other words, large river deposits are not always characterized by big structures that allow a simple interpretation of river scale. However, the large scale of the depositional units in big rivers causes small‐scale structures, such as ripple sets, to be grouped into thicker cosets, which indicate river scale even when no obvious large‐scale sets are present. The results also show that the composition of bars differs between the studied reaches upstream and downstream of the confluence with the Río Paraguay. Relative to other controls on downstream fining, the tributary input of fine‐grained suspended material from the Río Paraguay causes a marked change in the composition of the bar deposits. Compared to the upstream reaches, the sedimentary architecture of the downstream reaches in the top ca 5 m of mid‐channel bars shows: (i) an increase in the abundance and thickness (up to metre‐scale) of laterally extensive (hundreds of metres) fine‐grained layers; (ii) an increase in the percentage of deposits comprised of ripple sets (to >40% in the upper bar deposits); and (iii) an increase in bar‐trough deposits and a corresponding decrease in bar‐scale cross‐strata (<10%). The thalweg deposits of the Río Paraná are composed of dune sets, even directly downstream from the Río Paraguay where the upper channel deposits are dominantly fine‐grained. Thus, the change in sedimentary facies due to a tributary point‐source of fine‐grained sediment is primarily expressed in the composition of the upper bar deposits.     

Towards a volcanic–structural balance: relative importance of volcanism, folding, and remobilisation of nickel sulphides at the Perseverance Ni–Cu–(PGE) deposit, Western Australia

Perseverance is a world-class, komatiite-hosted nickel sulphide deposit situated in the well-endowed Leinster nickel camp of the Agnew–Wiluna greenstone belt, Western Australia. The mine stratigraphy at Perseverance trends north-northwest (NNW), dips steeply to the west, and is overturned. Stratigraphic footwall units lie along the western margin of the Perseverance Ultramafic Complex (PUC). The PUC comprises a basal nickel sulphide-bearing orthocumulate- to mesocumulate-textured komatiite that is overlain by a thicker, nickel sulphide-poor, dunite lens. Hanging wall rocks include rhyodacite that is texturally and compositionally similar to footwall volcanic rocks. These rocks separate the PUC from a second sequence of nickeliferous, E-facing, spinifex-textured komatiite units (i.e. the East Perseverance komatiite). Past workers argue for a conformable stratigraphic contact between the PUC and the East Perseverance komatiite and conclude that the PUC is extrusive. This study, however, clearly demonstrates that these komatiite sequences are discordant, implying that the PUC may have intruded rhyodacite country rock as a sill with subsequent structural juxtaposition against the East Perseverance komatiite. Early N–S shortening associated with the regional D_I deformation event (corresponding to the local D_P1 to D_P3 events at Perseverance) resulted in the heterogeneous partitioning of strain along the margins of the competent dunite. A mylonite developed in the more ductile footwall rocks along the footwall margin of the PUC, while isoclinal F₃ folds, such as the Hanging wall limb and Felsic Nose folds, formed in low-mean stress domains along the fringes of the elongated dunite lens. Strata-bound massive and disseminated nickel sulphides were passively fold thickened in hinge areas of isoclinal folds, whereas basal massive sulphides lubricated fold limbs and promoted thrust movement along shallowly dipping lithological contacts. Massive sulphides were physically remobilised up to 20 m from their primary footwall position into deposit-scale fold hinges to form the 1A and Felsic Nose orebodies. First-order controls on the geometry of the Perseverance deposit include the thermomechanical erosion of footwall rocks and the channelling of the mineralised komatiitic magma. Second- or third-order controls are several postvolcanic deformation events, which resulted in the progressive folding and shearing of the footwall contact, as well as the passive fold thickening of massive and disseminated sulphide orebodies. Massive sulphides were physically remobilised into multiple generations of fold hinges and shear zones. Important implications for near-mine exploration in the Leinster camp include identifying nickeliferous komatiite units, defining their three-dimensional geometry, and targeting fold hinge areas. Fold plunge directions and stretching lineations are indicators of potential plunge directions of massive sulphide orebodies.     

9: Processes of tectonism, magmatism and mineralization: Lessons from Europe

Metallogenic provinces in Europe range in age from the Archaean to the Neogene. Deposit types include porphyry copper and epithermal Cu–Au, volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VMS), orogenic gold, Fe-oxide–Cu–Au, anorthosite Fe–Ti-oxide and sediment-hosted base-metal deposits. Most of them formed during short-lived magmatic events in a wide range of tectonic settings; many can be related to specific tectonic processes such as subduction, hinge retreat, accretion of island arcs, continental collision, lithosphere delamination or slab tear. In contrast, most sediment-hosted deposits in Europe evolved in extensional, continental settings over significant periods of time. In Europe, as elsewhere, ore formation is an integral part of the geodynamic evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle. Many tectonic settings create conditions conducive to the generation of water-rich magma, but the generation of ore deposits appears to be restricted to locations and short periods of change in temperature and stress, imposed by transitory plate motions. Crustal influence is evident in the strong structural controls on the location and morphology of many ore deposits in Europe. Crustal-scale fault–fracture systems, many involving strike-slip elements, have provided the fabric for major plumbing systems. Rapid uplift, as in metamorphic core complexes, and hydraulic fracturing can generate or focus magmatic–hydrothermal fluid flow that may be active for time spans significantly less than a million years. Once a hydrologically stable flow is established, ore formation is strongly dependent on the steep temperature and pressure gradients experienced by the fluid, particularly within the upper crust. In Europe, significant fracture porosity deep in the crystalline basement (1%) is not only important for magmatic–hydrothermal systems, but allows brines to circulate down through sedimentary basins and then episodically upward, expelled seismically to produce sediment-hosted base-metal deposits and Kupferschiefer copper deposits. Emerging research, stimulated by GEODE, can improve the predicting power of numerical simulations of ore-forming processes and help discover the presence of orebodies beneath barren overburden.     

Garnet polycrystals and the significance of clustered crystallization

Polycrystalline garnets are common in metamorphic rocks and may form as a result of close spacing of nuclei (if clustering is early) or impingement of larger grains (if clustering occurs later in the growth history). The timing of clustering relative to garnet growth is relevant to understanding the formation and evolution of porphyroblasts and evaluating the significance (if any) of clustering. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis of garnet-bearing metamorphic rocks reveals the presence of polycrystalline garnet in nine localities examined in this study: the northern Appalachians (Vermont, Maine, New York, USA); North American Cordillera (North Cascades Range, Washington; Snake Range, Nevada, USA); western Rocky Mountains (British Columbia, Canada); southern Menderes Massif (Turkey); Santander Massif (Colombia); and the Sanandaj–Sirjan zone (Hamadan, Iran). In some samples, polycrystals comprise ~20–30% of garnets analyzed, and chemical and textural evidence suggests that early coalescence of garnet polycrystals is common. Some early-coalescing polycrystals exhibit growth zoning that is concentric about the geometric center of the polycrystal. In thin section, these garnets may be undetectable as polycrystals based on morphology or zoning. In some polycrystals, zoning is unrelated to the location of internal grain boundaries; in others, Fe–Mn–Mg zoning has a different pattern than that of Ca; zoning patterns may vary on the scale of a single thin section. In addition, some polycrystals are characterized by high-angle misorientation boundaries that may be in special (non-random) orientations, an observation that indicates that these polycrystals are not random clusters of grains. The presence of internal grain boundaries may affect diffusion pathways and length scales, and may facilitate communication of porphyroblast interiors with matrix phases, thereby influencing reaction history of the rock and the composition/zoning of garnet.     

Upstairs-downstairs: supercontinents and large igneous provinces,are they related?

There is a correlation of global large igneous province (LIP) events with zircon age peaks at 2700, 2500, 2100, 1900, 1750, 1100, and 600 and also probably at 3450, 3000, 2000, and 300 Ma. Power spectral analyses of LIP event distributions suggest important periodicities at 250, 150, 100, 50, and 25 million years with weaker periodicities at 70–80, 45, and 18–20 Ma. The 25 million year periodicity is important only in the last 300 million years. Some LIP events are associated with granite-forming (zircon-producing) events and others are not, and LIP events at 1900 and 600 Ma correlate with peaks in craton collision frequency. LIP age peaks are associated with supercontinent rifting or breakup, but not dispersal, at 2450–2400, 2200, 1380, 1280, 800–750, and ≤200 Ma, and with supercontinent assembly at 1750 and 600 Ma. LIP peaks at 2700 and 2500 Ma and the valley between these peaks span the time of Neoarchaean supercraton assemblies. These observations are consistent with plume generation in the deep mantle operating independently of the supercontinent cycle and being controlled by lower-mantle and core-mantle boundary thermochemical dynamics. Two processes whereby plumes can impact continental assembly and breakup are (1) plumes may rise beneath supercontinents and initiate supercontinent breakup, and (2) plume ascent may increase the frequency of craton collisions and the rate of crustal growth by accelerating subduction.