Mineralogy of carbonaceous chondrite clasts in HED achondrites and the Moon

Abstract The majority of the carbonaceous chondrite clasts found in howardites, eucrites and diogenites are CM2 material, a lesser proportion is CR2 material, and other rare types are present. A single clast that was found on the Moon and called the Bench Crater meteorite is apparently shocked CM1 material. The CM2 clasts are matrix supported mixtures of olivine-pyroxene-phyllosilicate-sulfide bearing aggregates, loose olivines and pyroxenes, sulfides, carbonates, and sinuous spinel-phyllosilicate-diopside calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs). Magnetite and metal are rare. Some aggregates have fine-grained rims of material resembling matrix. The opaque, fine-grained matrix consists predominantly of serpentine of extremely variable composition and sulfides; tochilinite is occasionally present. The trace element data for one Jodzie clast from this study and the average of similar clasts from Kapoeta support a CM classification; volatiles are depleted relative to CI and enriched relative to CR material. The CR2 clasts are found (in small numbers) in only four howardites: Bholghati, Jodzie, Kapoeta and Y793497. Petrographically, they are matrix-supported mixtures of olivine aggregates (sometimes containing sulfides), loose olivines, pyrrhotite, pentlandite, low-Ca pyroxene (minor), hedenbergite (rare), kamacite (rare and only found within olivine), Ca-carbonates and abundant magnetite framboids and plaquets. Phyllosilicates are fine-grained and largely confined to matrix; they are mixtures of serpentine and saponite. The matrix of CR2 clasts also contains pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chromite and a significant fraction of poorly-crystalline material with the same bulk composition as matrix phyllosilicate. There is evidence of heating in a substantial number of clasts, both CM2 and CR2, including: (1) corrugated serpentine flakes, (2) pseudomorphs of anhydrous ferromagnesian material after flaky phyllosilicates, and (3) hedenbergite rims on calcite. While the timing of the hedenbergite rims is debatable, the destruction of phyllosilicates clearly occurred at a late stage, plausibly during impact onto the HED asteroid(s) and Moon, and required peak heating temperatures on the order of 400 °C. We note that in general, CM2 material was the most common carbonaceous chondrite lithology impacting the HED asteroids (with howardites and eucrites taken together), as it is for the Earth today. A total of 61 out of 75 carbonaceous chondrite clasts from HED meteorites belong to the CM clan, petrologic grade 2. This is also supported by published siderophile and volatile element data on howardites, eucrites and diogenites that are taken to indicate that CM-like materials were the most common impactors on the HED asteroid(s). The ratio of CR/CM clasts in HED asteroids is essentially the same as for modern falls at Earth. This may indicate that the ratio of disaggregated CM2 to CR2 asteroidal material has been approximately constant through the history of the solar system. Finally, our results are also compatible with type-2 carbonaceous chondrites being equivalent to or from the same source as the material that originally accreted to form the HED asteroid.     

Shoreline erosion rates along barrier islands of the north central gulf of Mexico

Rates of shoreline change and overwash penetration distances were calculated for barrier islands along the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coasts with the orthogonal grid mapping system (OGMS). Average rates of shoreline change are exceptionally high in Louisiana, being of the order ?4.7 to ?7.4 m yr^?1. Mississippi and Alabama recession rates are lower and range from ?2.0 to ?3.1 m yr^?1 over the period of record. Erosion rates along the shorelines of these islands have remained relatively constant over the period of study with five exceptions in coastal Louisiana and the Chandeleur-Breton Islands Arc, and two exceptions along the Mississippi-Alabama barrier islands where they have accelerated. Mean overwash penetration is greatest along Dauphin Island, Alabama, and Cat Island, Mississippi: 207.6 and 197.9 m, respectively. The Chandeleur-Brenton Islands Arc range from 88.1 m at the central barrier to 180.4 along the flanks. The Mississippi islands range from 105.2 m on Ship Island to 200.5 m along central Horn Island. Mean overwash penetration along the Louisiana barriers is highly variable: 46.3 to 211.4 m.     

Machine Learning Predictions of pH in the Glacial Aquifer System,Northern USA

A boosted regression tree model was developed to predict pH conditions in three dimensions throughout the glacial aquifer system of the contiguous United States using pH measurements in samples from 18,386 wells and predictor variables that represent aspects of the hydrogeologic setting. Model results indicate that the carbonate content of soils and aquifer materials strongly controls pH and, when coupled with long flowpaths, results in the most alkaline conditions. Conversely, in areas where glacial sediments are thin and carbonate-poor, pH conditions remain acidic. At depths typical of drinking-water supplies, predicted pH >7.5—which is associated with arsenic mobilization—occurs more frequently than predicted pH <6—which is associated with water corrosivity and the mobilization of other trace elements. A novel aspect of this model was the inclusion of numerically based estimates of groundwater flow characteristics (age and flowpath length) as predictor variables. The sensitivity of pH predictions to these variables was consistent with hydrologic understanding of groundwater flow systems and the geochemical evolution of groundwater quality. The model was not developed to provide precise estimates of pH at any given location. Rather, it can be used to more generally identify areas where contaminants may be mobilized into groundwater and where corrosivity issues may be of concern to prioritize areas for future groundwater monitoring.     

An example of trondhjemite genesis by means of alkali metasomatism: Rockford Granite,Alabama Appalachians

A model for trondhjemite genesis is proposed where granite is transformed to trondhjemite via infiltration by a Na-rich metamorphic fluid. The Rockford Granite of the Northern Alabama Piedmont serves as the case example for this process and is characterized as a synmetamorphic, peraluminous trondhjemite-granite suite. The major process operative in the conversion of granite to trondhjemite involves cation exchange of Na for K in the feldspar and mica phases through a volatile fluid medium. Whole-rock ¹⁸O values for the trondhjemites are negatively correlated with atomic proportion K/Na ratio indicating a partial reequilibration of the altered granitoids with a Na- and¹⁸O-rich metamorphically derived fluid. Biotite decomposition to an Al-epidote-paragonitic muscovite-secondary quartz assemblage is also associated with the sodium metasomatism, as are apatite replacement by Al-epidote and secondary zircon crystallization. Rare albitization of primary magmatic plagioclase and discontinuous grossularite reaction rim growth on magmatic garnet are present in the trondhjemites indicating the mobility of Ca during alkali metasomatism. The replacement of magmatic phases by me tasomatic phases exemplifies the chemical changes produced during infiltration metasomatism where the trondhjemites are depleted in P₂O₅, Th, Rb, U, K₂O, V, Sn, F, MgO, Pb, TiO₂, FeO^* and Li and enriched in CaO, Na₂O, Zr and Sr relative to the granites. Other elements, such as Cr, MnO, Cu, Zn, Co, Ba, SiO₂, Ni, Al₂O₃, are shown to be relatively immobile during the metasomatism. The infiltration metasomatism probably occurred during prograde regional metamorphism, when a discrete fluid phase was produced in the surrounding amphibolite-grade metasediments. Foliation planes in the granite apparently served as conduits for fluid flow with reaction-enhanced permeability accompanying the 8% molar volume reduction during Na-for-K exchange in the feldspars. A source for the Na and Sr in the metamorphic fluid may have been paragonitic muscovite in the metasedimentary country rocks. Rubidium and K were probably retained in metasedimentary biotite. The Silent Lake pluton in southeastern Ontario is a possible analogue to the alkali metasomatic processes affecting the Rockford Granite.     

Seasonal air temperature variations retrieved from a Geladaindong ice core, Tibetan Plateau

A 70-year history of precipitation δ18O record has been retrieved using an ice core drilled from a plat portion of the firn area in the Guoqu Glacier (33o34′37.8″ N, 91o10′35.3″ E, 5720 m a.s.l.) on Mt. Geladaindong (the source region of Yangtze River) during October and November, 2005. Based on the seasonality of δ18O records and the significant positive rela-tionships between monsoon/non-monsoon δ18O values and summer/spring air temperature from the nearby meteorological stations, the history of summer and spring air temperature have been reconstructed for the last 70 years. The results show that both summer and spring air temperature variations present similar trends during the last 70 years. Regression analysis indicates that the slope of the temperature-δ18O relationship is 1.3℃/‰ for non-monsoon δ18O values and spring air temperature, and 0.4℃/‰ for monsoon δ18O values and summer air temperature. Variation of air temperature recorded in the ice core is consistent with that in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), however, the warming trend in the Geladaindong region is more intense than that in the NH, reflecting a higher sensitivity to global warming in the high elevation regions. In addition, warming trend is greater in spring than in summer.     

An investigation into the efficiency of particle size separation using Stokes’ Law

The accuracy of gravimetric fractionation as a means of obtaining size fractions from marine sediments has been explored. Analysis of the particle size distribution and sediment properties of fractions obtained using this method was undertaken. This has highlighted the extent to which experimental artefacts rather than variations in sediment characteristics may adversely affect the efficiency of the fractionation process. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.