Possible refugia for reefs in times of environmental stress

This paper investigates the refuge potential of (1) upwelling areas, (2) coral areas at medium depth, and (3) offshore bank and island reefs in a scenario of increased global warming, and thus increased sea surface temperature (SST) and increased solar UV radiation. (1) Observations on coral health and water temperature in the subtropical Atlantic (Eleuthera and Cat Island, Bahamas) and Indian Ocean (Sodwana Bay, South Africa) suggest a link between cool water delivered by upwelling and coral health. After the 1998 bleaching event, caused by strong SST anomalies, coral health and recovery from the previous year's bleaching was significantly better on the narrow southern Cat Island shelf (70% of corals healthy) where the presence of cold water was observed, which was attributed to small-scale upwelling, than on the wide northern Eleuthera shelf (44% of corals healthy), where downwelling of hot bank waters was believed to have damaged corals. In South Africa, regular, short-term upwelling events in five summers reduced SST to well below bleaching level. (2) In the northern Red Sea (Safaga Bay) and in South Africa (Sodwana Bay), wide areas with either coral frameworks or non-framework communities exist. Calculations show that if the top 10 m (20 m) of the ocean became inhospitable to corals, still 50.4% (17.5%) of the coral area would remain intact in the Red Sea and 99% (40%) in South Africa. (3) Offshore bank and island reefs investigated in the Turks, Caicos, and Mouchoir Banks and Grand and Little Cayman showed high rates of mortality and coral diseases. The most remote sites (Mouchoir Bank) were not the healthiest. Refuge areas appear to exist in (1) and (2), but in (3) only if vigorous water-circulation is encountered.     

Geochemistry of Lavas from the Emperor Seamounts, and the Geochemical Evolution of Hawaiian Magmatism from 85 to 42 Ma

The Hawaiian–Emperor Seamount Chain (ESC), in the northernPacific Ocean, was produced during the passage of the PacificPlate over the Hawaiian hotspot. Major and trace element concentrationsand Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic compositions of shield andpost-shield lavas from nine of the Emperor Seamounts providea 43 Myr record of the chemistry of the oldest preserved Hawaiianmagmatism during the Late Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic (from85 to 42 Ma). These data demonstrate that there were large variationsin the composition of Hawaiian magmatism over this period. Tholeiiticbasalts from Meiji Seamount (85 Ma), at the northernmost endof the ESC, have low concentrations of incompatible trace elements,and unradiogenic Sr isotopic compositions, compared with youngerlavas from the volcanoes of the Hawaiian Chain (<43 Ma).Lavas from Detroit Seamount (81 Ma) have highly depleted incompatibletrace element and Sr–Nd isotopic compositions, which aresimilar to those of Pacific mid-ocean ridge basalts. Lavas fromthe younger Emperor Seamounts (62–42 Ma) have trace elementcompositions similar to those of lavas from the Hawaiian Islands,but initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios extend to lower values. From 81to 42 Ma there was a systematic increase in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of boththoleiitic and alkalic lavas. The age of the oceanic lithosphereat the time of seamount formation decreases northwards alongthe Emperor Seamount Chain, and the oldest Emperor Seamountswere built upon young, thin lithosphere close to a former spreadingcentre. However, the inferred distance of the Hawaiian plumefrom a former spreading centre, and the isotopic compositionsof the oldest Emperor lavas appear to rule out plume–ridgeinteraction as an explanation for their depleted compositions.We suggest that the observed temporal chemical and isotopicvariations may instead be due to variations in the degree ofmelting of a heterogeneous mantle, resulting from differencesin the thickness of the oceanic lithosphere upon which the EmperorSeamounts were constructed. During the Cretaceous, when theHawaiian plume was situated beneath young, thin lithosphere,the degree of melting within the plume was greater, and incompatibletrace element depleted, refractory mantle components contributedmore to melting. KEY WORDS: Emperor Seamounts; Hawaiian plume; lava geochemistry; lithosphere thickness; mantle heterogeneity     

Tectonometamorphic Evolution of the Eastern Tibet Plateau: Evidence from the Central Songpan-Garze Orogenic Belt, Western China

The Songpan–Garzê Orogenic Belt (northeastern TibetPlateau) experienced polyphase deformation and metamorphismthat is best developed in the Danba Domal Metamorphic Terrane(DDMT), in which three tectonometamorphic events can be identified.The first event (D₁–M₁) is characterized by prograde sericite-to kyanite-grade Barrovian metamorphism during late Indosinian(     

Sediment Phosphorus Chemistry and Microbial Biomass along a Lowland New Zealand Stream

An evaluation of the distribution of P concentrations in streamflow, P fractions andthe microbial biomass P pool was made of bed and bank sediments along a lowlandstream in New Zealand. Agricultural intensification increased downstream. However,most P fractions decreased downstream (total P decreased from c. 400 to 250 mg kg^-1) in bed sediments, while P in streamflow remained relatively constant (generally < 0.005 mg l^-1) and sediment microbial P increased from 2 to 8 mg kg^-1. An investigation of P release from dried and rewetted sediments showed that solution P (CaCl2-P) increased, on average > 300%, and proportional to the size of the microbial biomass P pool before drying, except in sediments with much organic carbon (OC). When supplied with a P source (1 mg l^-1) and then simultaneously with a C source (glucose, 100 mg l^-1), all sediment behaved similarly and biotic sorption accounted for, on average, 27 and 34% of the total sediment uptake, respectively (maximum of 58%). The quantity of P taken up was related to the initial size of the microbial biomass P pool, and the availability of P as influenced by organic P complexes and OC. The sediment microbial biomass represents a transient, but small store of P could be useful to indicate bioavailable P inputs.     

Compositional Geometry and Mass Conservation

A geometrical structure is imposed on compositional data by physical and chemical laws, principally mass conservation. Therefore, statistical or mathematical investigation of possible relations between data values and such laws must be consistent with this structure. This demands that geometrical concepts, such as points that specify both mass and composition in linear space, and lines in projective space that specify composition only, be clearly defined and consistent with mass conservation. Mass thus becomes the norm in composition space in place of the Euclidean norm of ordinary space. Coordinate transformations inconsistent with this geometry are accordingly unnatural and misleading. They are also unnecessary because correlation arising from the constant mass presents no unusual difficulty in the analysis of the underlying quadratic form.     

The response of subaqueous dunes to floods in sand and gravel bed reaches of the Dutch Rhine

Abstract The branches of the River Rhine in the Netherlands, characterized by a sand–gravel bed in the upstream part and a sand bed in the downstream part of the river system, show migrating dunes, especially during floods. In the last 20 years, these dunes have been studied extensively. High-resolution echo-sounding measurements of these dunes, made with single and multibeam equipment, were analysed for three different sections of the Rhine river system during several floods. This analysis was done to quantify the growth, decay and migration rates of the dunes during floods. In addition, the migrating dunes were used to calculate bedload transport rates with dune tracking. The results of dune growth and decay and migration rate are shown to be very different for the various sections during the various floods, and these differences are related to differences in grain size of the bed and to differences in the distribution of discharge over the main channel and the floodplain. The relations are used to show that the growth and migration rate of dunes, and the calculated bedload transport rates during the rising stage of a flood wave can be predicted from the mobility of the bed material with simple power relations.     

A mineral equilibria study of the hydrothermal alteration in mafic greenschist facies rocks at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

The influx of a H₂O–CO₂‐dominated fluid into actinolite‐bearing metabasic rocks during greenschist facies metamorphism in the Kalgoorlie area of Western Australia resulted in a zoned alteration halo around inferred fluid conduits that contain gold mineralisation. The alteration halo is divided into two outer zones, the chlorite zone and the carbonate zone, and an inner pyrite zone adjacent to the inferred fluid conduits. Reaction between the fluid and the protolith resulted in the breakdown of actinolite and the development of chlorite, dolomite, calcite and siderite. In addition, rocks in the pyrite zone developed muscovite‐bearing assemblages as a consequence of the introduction of potassium by the fluid. Mineral equilibria calculations undertaken using the computer software thermocalc in the model system Na₂O–CaO–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–CO₂ show that mineral assemblages in the outer zones of the alteration halo are consistent with equilibrium of the protoliths with a fluid of composition X_CO2 = CO₂/(CO₂ + H₂O) = 0.1–0.25 for temperatures of 315–320 °C. The inner zone of the alteration halo reflect equilibrium with a fluid of composition X_CO2≈ 0.25. Fluid‐rock buffering calculations show that the alteration halo is consistent with interaction with a single fluid composition and that the zoned structure of the halo reflects the volume of this fluid with which the rocks reacted. This fluid is likely to have also been the one responsible for the gold mineralisation at Kalgoorlie.