Effect of Carbon Dioxide on Dehydration Melting Reactions and Melt Compositions in the Lower Crust and the Origin of Alkaline Rocks

Dehydration melting experiments of alkali basalt associatedwith the Kenya Rift were performed at 0·7 and 1·0GPa, 850–1100°C, 3–5 wt % H₂O, and f_O2 nearnickel–nickel oxide. Carbon dioxide [X_CO2 = molar CO₂/(H₂O+ CO₂) = 0·2–0·9] was added to experimentsat 1025 and 1050°C. Dehydration melting in the system alkalibasalt–H₂O produces quartz- and corundum-normative trachyandesite(6–7·5 wt % total alkalis) at 1000 and 1025°Cby the incongruent melting of amphibole (pargasite–magnesiohastingsite).Dehydration melting in the system alkali basalt–H₂O–CO₂produces nepheline-normative tephriphonolite, trachyandesite,and trachyte (10·5–12 wt % total alkalis). In thelatter case, the solidus is raised relative to the hydrous system,less melt is produced, and the incongruent melting reactioninvolves kaersutite. The role of carbon dioxide in alkalinemagma genesis is well documented for mantle systems. This studyshows that carbon dioxide is also important to the petrogenesisof alkaline magmas at the lower pressures of crustal systems.Select suites of continental alkaline rocks, including thosecontaining phonolite, may be derived by low-pressure dehydrationmelting of an alkali basalt–carbon dioxide crustal system. KEY WORDS: alkali basalt; alkaline rocks; carbon dioxide; dehydration melting; phonolite     

Diopside and Magnetite Exsolutions in Olivine from Lower Cr# Dunite in the Dongbo Ophiolite, Southern Tibet

<正>Diopside and magnetite exsolutions occur as oriented intergrowths within olivine of the lower Cr~#dunite in the Dongbo ophiolite,Tibet.The fresh lower Cr~#dunite has a mineral assemblage of olivine,spinel and diopside.The Fo content of its olivine is 90–92,which is lower than that of the higher Cr~#dunite lenses(Fo92-Fo94)without     

Assessment of the soil CO2 gradient method for soil CO2 efflux measurements: comparison of six models in the calculation of the relative gas diffusion coefficient

This paper uses a refined soil gradient method to estimate soil CO₂ efflux. Six different models are used to determine the relative gas diffusion coefficient (ξ). A weighted harmonic averaging is used to estimate the soil CO₂ diffusion coefficient, yielding a better estimate of soil CO₂ efflux. The resulting soil CO₂ efflux results are then compared to the soil CO₂ efflux measured with a soil chamber. Depending on the choice of ξ model used, the estimated soil CO₂ efflux using the gradient method reasonably approximates the efflux obtained using the soil chamber method. In addition, the estimated soil CO₂ efflux obtained by this improved method is well described by an exponential function of soil temperature at a depth of 0.05 m with the temperature sensitivity ( Q ₁₀) of 1.81 and a linear function of soil moisture at a depth of 0.12 m, in general agreement with previous findings. These results suggest that the gradient method is a practical cost-effective means to measure soil CO₂ emissions. Results from the present study suggest that the gradient method can be used successfully to measure soil CO₂ efflux provided that proper attention is paid to the judicious use of the proper diffusion coefficient.     

Lateglacial vegetation and palaeoenvironment in W Norway,with new pollen data from the Sunnmøre region

Krüger, L. C., Paus, A., Svendsen, J. I. & Bjune, A. E. 2011: Lateglacial vegetation and palaeoenvironment in W Norway, with new pollen data from the Sunnmøre region. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2011.00213.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Two sediment sequences from Sunnmøre, northern W Norway, were pollen‐analytically studied to reconstruct the Lateglacial vegetation history and climate. The coastal Dimnamyra was deglaciated around 15.3 ka BP, whereas Løkjingsmyra, further inland, became ice‐free around 14 ka BP. The pioneer vegetation dominated by snow‐bed communities was gradually replaced by grassland and sparse heath vegetation. A pronounced peak in Poaceae around 12.9 ka BP may reflect warmer and/or drier conditions. The Younger Dryas (YD) cooling phase shows increasing snow‐bed vegetation and the local establishment of Artemisia norvegica. A subsequent vegetation closure from grassland to heath signals the Holocene warming. Birch forests were established 500–600 years after the YD–Holocene transition. This development follows the pattern of the Sunnmøre region, which is clearly different from the Empetrum dominance in the Lateglacial interstadial further south in W Norway. The Lateglacial oscillations GI‐1d (Older Dryas) and GI‐1b (Gerzensee) are hardly traceable in the north, in contrast to southern W Norway. The southern vegetation was probably closer to an ecotone and more susceptible to climate changes.     

ESTIMATING RATES OF DENUDATION USING COSMOGENIC ISOTOPE ABUNDANCES IN SEDIMENT

We propose, as a testable hypothesis, a basin-scale approach for interpreting the abundance of in situ produced cosmogenic isotopes, an approach which considers explicitly both the isotope and sediment flux through a drainage basin. Unlike most existing models, which are appropriate for evaluating in situproduced cosmogenic isotope abundance at discrete points on Earth's surface, our model is designed for interpreting isotope abundance in sediment. Because sediment is a mixture of materials, in favourable cases derived from throughout a drainage basin, we suggest that measured isotope abundances may reflect spatially averaged rates of erosion. We investigate the assumptions and behaviour of our model and conclude that it could provide geomorphologists with a relatively simple means by which to constrain the rate of landscape evolution if a basin is in isotopic steady state and if sampled sediments are well mixed.