Zircon geochronology reveals polyphase magmatism and crustal anatexis in the Buchan Block,NE Scotland: Implications for the Grampian Orogeny

The type locality for high-temperature,low-pressure regional metamorphism,the Buchan Block in NE Scotland,exhibits profound differences to the rest of the Grampian Terrane.These differences have led some to regard the Buchan Block as an exotic crustal fragment comprising Precambrian basement gneisses and cover rocks thrust into their current position during Grampian orogenesis.Although rocks of the Buchan Block are now generally correlated with Dalradian strata elsewhere,the origin of the gneisses and the cause of the high heat flow and associated magmatism is debated.We report SIMS U-Pb and LA-ICPMS Hf isotopic data in zircon from high-grade rocks from the northeast(Inzie Head Gneiss)and northwest(Portsoy)corners of the Buchan Block.Around Inzie Head,upper amphibolite to granulite facies metasedimentary gneisses coexist with diorite sheets that were emplaced contemporaneously with partial melting of their host rocks,at least locally.U-Pb geochronology indicates a crystallisation age for the diorite of 486±9 Ma.Highly-deformed diorites within the Portsoy Gabbro have a crystallisation age of 493±8 Ma.Ages of ca.490 Ma for magmatism and high-grade metamorphism,which are broadly contemporaneous with ophiolite obduction and the onset of orogenesis,are significantly older than the established peak of Grampian metamorphism(ca.470 Ma).We propose a new model for the Grampian Orogeny involving punctuated tectonothermal activity due to tectonic switching during accretionary orogenesis.Rollback of a NW-dipping subduction zone at ca.490 Ma produced a back-arc environment(the Buchan Block)with associated arc magmatism and high dT/dP metamorphism.Arrival of an outboard arc resulted in shortening(the initial phase of the Grampian Orogeny)at ca.488 Ma.Rollback of a NW-dipping subduction zone to the SE of the ca.488 Ma suture began at 473 Ma and led to lithospheric-scale extension,decompression melting and advective heating of the middle crust,producing the widespread ca.470 Ma Grampian(classic Barrovian and Buchan)regional metamorphism.Resumed hinge advance and the final phase of shortening cut off the heat supply at ca.465 Ma,marking the end of the Grampian Orogeny.     

Neotectonics of the Kharaulakh sector of the Laptev Shelf

Seismotectonic deformation and crustal stress pattern have been studied comprehensively in major seismogenic structures of the Kharaulakh sector of the Verkhoyansk fold system and adjacent parts of the Chersky seismotectonic zone. The study focuses on neotectonic structures, deep structure, and systems of active faults, as well as tectonic stress fields inferred by tectonophysical analysis of Late Cenozoic faults and folds. The results, along with geological and geophysical data, reveal main strain directions and structural patterns of crustal stress and strain in the Arctic segment of the Eurasia-North America plate boundary. The area is a junction of mid-ocean and continental structures evolving in a mixed setting of extension, compression, and their various combinations. The rotation pole of the two plates is presumably located near Buor-Khaya Bay. In this case, extension is expected to act currently upon the neotectonic structures north of the bay and compression to control those in the south and southeast. This inference is consistent with the identified zoning of stress and strain in the Kharaulakh sector.     

Theoretical and measured aeolian sand transport on a barrier island, Louisiana, USA

Over the past 100 years, the Isles Dernieres, a low lying barrier island chain along the coast of central Louisiana, Usa , has undergone more than 1 km of northward beach face retreat with the loss of 70% of its surface area. The erosion results from a long term relative sea level rise coupled with day to day wind and wave action that ultimately favours erosion over deposition. At a site in the central Isles Dernieres, 8 days of wind and beach profile measurements during the passage of one winter cold front documented aeolian erosion and deposition patterns under both onshore and offshore winds. For offshore winds, the theoretical erosion rate, based on wind shear velocity, closely matched the measured erosion rate; for onshore winds, the theoretical rate matched the measured rate only after being corrected by a factor that accounted for beach face morphology. In late February 1989, a strong cold front moved into coastal Louisiana. That cold front stalled over the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in 4 days of strong northerly winds at a study site on the Isles Dernieres. During those 4 days, the wind moved sand from the backshore to the upper beach face. When the cold front finally moved out of the area, the wind shifted to the south and decreased in strength. The onshore wind then restored some of the upper beach face sand to the backshore while increased wave activity moved the rest into the nearshore. The theoretical estimate of 1·28 m³ m^?1 for the rate of sand transport by the northerly wind compares well with the measured backshore erosion rate of 1·26 m³ m^?1, which was determined by comparing beach profiles from the start and end of the period of northerly winds. The theoretical estimate of 0·04 m³ m^?1 for the rate of sand transport by the southerly wind, however, is notably less than the measured rate of 0·45 m³ m^?1. The large discrepancy between the two rates can be explained by a difference in the shear velocity of the wind between the beach face, where the erosion occurred, and the backshore, where the wind stress was measured. Using an empirical relationship for the wind shear drag coefficient as a function of coastal environment, the theoretical estimate for the rate of sand transport by the southerly wind becomes 0·44 m³ m^?1     

Note on rain-triggered earthquakes and their dependence on karst geology

Recently reported rain-triggered seismicity from three separate storms occurred exclusively in karst geology. In this paper, I discuss how the hydrogeology of karst controls rain-triggered seismicity by channeling of the watershed after intense rainfall directly into the karst network. Such channeling results in very large increases in hydraulic head, and more importantly, substantially increases the vertical stress acting on the underlying pore-elastic media. Rapid loading upon a pore-elastic media induces seismicity by increasing pore pressure at depth in a manner similar to that observed from reservoir impounding. Using a simple 1-D model of a pore-elastic medium, it is shown that the instantaneous fluid pressure increase at depth is a substantial fraction of the pressure step applied at the boundary, followed by time-dependent pore pressure increases associated with the typical linear diffusion problem. These results have implications for the change in fluid pressure necessary to trigger earthquakes, and leads to the following hypothesis to be tested: Unambiguous rain-triggered seismicity will only occur in karst regions.     

MARS:A TUTORIAL

This tutorial paper presents a simplified view of one of the more recently published multivariatecalibration methods particularly suited to dealing with non-linear data sets.The method is referred toas MARS and stands for multivariate adaptive regression splines.Simple examples are provided toexplain the workings of the method.     

Atmospheric pollution in North Africa (ecosystems–atmosphere interactions): a case study in the mining basin of El Guettar–M’Dilla (southwestern Tunisia)

Air quality transcends all scales with in the atmosphere from the local to the global with handovers and feedbacks at each scale interaction. Air quality has manifold effects on health, ecosystems, heritage and climate. New insights into the characterisation of both natural and anthropogenic emissions are reviewed looking at both natural (e.g. dust and lightning) as well as plant emissions. In the phosphate mining area (El Guettar–M’Dilla basin: Southwestern Tunisia), several diseases have been known as cancer, respiratory, allergies, cardiovascular, dental fluorosis, stress, etc. These diseases are directly related with the installation of the industrial sector of the CPG (from 1896) and the deforestation and the ecosystem degradation (fauna and flora).     

Stable boundary layers: observations,models and variability part II: Data analysis and averaging effects

As argued in Part I (Derbyshire, 1995), variability is a key issue in stable boundary layers, and differences in variability between observations and idealized models may imply sytematic biases. Here we discuss how data analysis can be geared to allow for variability and thus consistency with models. Instrumental errors, smoothing methods and vertical discretization are considered. We then show how statistical averaging broadly improves the agreement of heterogeneous results in Part I with the Brost-Wyngaard closure. Recommendations are made for the information needed to analyze apparent differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous stable boundary layers.Part of UK Meteorological Office Atmospheric Processes Research Division     

Variations of antioxidant efficiency and presence of endosymbiotic diatoms in the Antarctic porifera Haliclona dancoi

The role of endosymbiotic diatoms as pro-oxidant stressors in porifera has been investigated in the Antarctic sponge Haliclona dancoi in which the presence of diatoms is influenced by marked seasonal variations during the austral summer. Both chlorophaeopigments and frustules were absent in sponge tissues sampled in early November at the beginning of the summer and increased from the mid of December with slightly shifted temporal trends. The efficiency of antioxidant defenses in the sponge showed a marked response to symbionts with clearly enhanced values corresponding to the peak of diatoms.