Thermodynamic controls on element partitioning between titanomagnetite and andesitic–dacitic silicate melts

Titanomagnetite–melt partitioning of Mg, Mn, Al, Ti, Sc, V, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf and Ta was investigated experimentally as a function of oxygen fugacity (fO₂) and temperature (T) in an andesitic–dacitic bulk-chemical compositional range. In these bulk systems, at constant T, there are strong increases in the titanomagnetite–melt partitioning of the divalent cations (Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺) and Cu²⁺/Cu⁺ with increasing fO₂ between 0.2 and 3.7 log units above the fayalite–magnetite–quartz buffer. This is attributed to a coupling between magnetite crystallisation and melt composition. Although melt structure has been invoked to explain the patterns of mineral–melt partitioning of divalent cations, a more rigorous justification of magnetite–melt partitioning can be derived from thermodynamic principles, which accounts for much of the supposed influence ascribed to melt structure. The presence of magnetite-rich spinel in equilibrium with melt over a range of fO₂ implies a reciprocal relationship between a(Fe²⁺O) and a(Fe³⁺O_1.5) in the melt. We show that this relationship accounts for the observed dependence of titanomagnetite–melt partitioning of divalent cations with fO₂ in magnetite-rich spinel. As a result of this, titanomagnetite–melt partitioning of divalent cations is indirectly sensitive to changes in fO₂ in silicic, but less so in mafic bulk systems.     

水下收缩裂隙形成过程及裂缝充填模式研究

通过野外实地考察测试,对水下收缩裂隙整体形成过程、裂隙内充填物沉积模式、影响因素等进行了详细讨论,并且建立了相应的地质理论模型。水下收缩裂隙的形成共分4个阶段,依次为:泥水混合物进入低洼地带的初始混浊状态;沉积压实稳定阶段;水位线下降,盐度增大,裂隙形成阶段;沉积裂隙充填阶段。其中“异常高压作用”,对于初始裂隙的形成、沉积物孔隙水的有效排出以及主要渗流通道的发育起到了重要作用。单一泥质地层裂隙内充填物沉积模式与沙泥互层的多旋回地层略有差异,主要表现为沙层的润滑作用以及对早期裂隙内充填物类型的影响。上述两种地层裂隙内充填物沉积特征均与后期充注期次相对应,表现出很好的韵律性。裂隙纵剖面中生物发育层的出现,对裂隙内充填物的物理、化学性质将产生重要影响。     

Changing poverty distribution in Bolivia: the role of rural–urban migration and urban services

Bolivia is a country with high levels of poverty and inequality among its peoples and regions. For the nation and its urban and rural areas, trends in the social and spatial distribution of poverty (and extreme poverty) are identified from 1976 to 2003 using UBN data with minor support where appropriate from poverty lines. The main survey between 1992 and 2001 uses composite and selected UBN to track detailed poverty change for the country’s nine departments, its ten largest cities and a selection of other smaller urban and rural municipalities. Because of rising background increases in population in the various surveyed administrative units, many instances of relative reductions in poverty are accompanied by rising absolute increases. Marked spatial variations in poverty and development in the country over the last several decades are identified as the main driver for the country’s quickening pace of rural–urban migration. As a result, the paper concludes by assessing two different but closely related views. One investigation tests the notion that because more poor people have been living in Bolivia’s cities than in its rural areas since the mid to late 1990s, rapid rural–urban migration has simply shifted the locus of poverty from the countryside to the cities in a process called, the ‘urbanisation of poverty.’ A second, more challenging, investigation assesses the view that the flow of poor rural people to the better serviced urban areas of Bolivia has actually acted to alleviate national poverty levels.     

Quaternary sediments in the axial zone of the Brazil Basin

Lithological and micropaleontological studies of sediments were carried out along the meridional profile across the Brazil Basin. Based on nannoplankton and diatom assemblages, the sediments represented by oxidized miopelagic clays, differently reduced hemipelagic clays, and clayey-siliceous (Ethmodiscus) and calcareous (coccolith-foraminiferal) oozes are attributed to the Pleistocene-Holocene. Specific features of sedimentary material indicate its redeposition by Antarctic bottom waters, mudflows, slumps, and rockslides. It is shown that sedimentation in the Brazil Basin corresponds to the incomplete pelagic (miopelagic) type of oceanic lithogenesis transitional to the near-continental one.     

复杂应力路径下流体饱和砂岩本构模型

高孔隙率砂岩在不同围压及被不同流体（水及油）饱和时表现出不同的应力-应变特性及不同的破坏过程。复杂应力路径下油和水饱和砂岩的力学试验表明,存在某一临界围压,随着围压的增加,饱和砂岩从以压剪破坏为主,逐渐转变为以孔隙坍塌破坏为主的破坏机制。通过力学试验结果的分析,以两种破坏理论对油和水饱和砂岩的破坏特征进行了力学解释,并应用经典塑性力学的盖帽模型建立了相应的本构模型,应用非线性有限元法进行了数值验证,研究结果表明,提出的模型与试验资料吻合良好,能较好地模拟复杂应力路径下油和水饱和砂岩的破坏机制及模拟注水采油引起的砂岩附加沉降。     

Climatic change during the last 4000 years in the southern Tarim Basin,Xinjiang, northwest China

In this study, a ca. 4000 cal. yr ancient lacustrine (or wetland) sediment record at the southern margin of Tarim Basin is used to reconstruct the history of climate change. Six radiocarbon dates on organic matter were obtained. δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C of carbonate, pollen and sediment particle size were analysed for climate proxies. The proxies indicate that a drier climate prevailed in the area before ca. 1010 BC and during period 1010 BC–AD 500 climate then changed rapidly and continuously from dry to moist, but after about AD 500 climate generally shows dry condition. Several centennial‐scale climatic events were revealed, with the wettest spell during AD 450–550, and a relatively wetter interval between AD 930–1030. Pollen results show that regional climate may influence human agricultural activities. Spectral analysis of mean grain size (MGS) proxy reveals statistically pronounced cyclic signals, such as ca. 200 yr, ca. 120 yr, ca. 90 yr, ca. 45 yr and ca. 33 or 30 yr, which may be associated with solar activities, implying that solar variability plays an important role in the decadal‐ and centennial‐scale climate variations in the study area. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Zoning of diamonds from the Mir kimberlite pipe: Results of Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy

Plates prepared of diamonds from the Mir kimberlite pipe were examined with FTIR spectroscopy. It is shown that B1 defects were formed by annealing during crystal growth, whereas B2 centers arose after growth cessation. The development of B2 centers in a natural diamond is the secondary process with respect to the aggregation of the nitrogen admixture. The kinetics of this process is related to the breakdown of an oversaturated solid solution. The results obtained make it possible to estimate the temperature and duration of natural diamond growth.     

Principal stages in evolution of Precambrian organic world: Communication 1. Archean and Early Proterozoic

Expounded in this work are the results of critical consideration of published and original data on biologic nature and appearance chronology of different groups of Archean and Lower Proterozoic (3.5–1.65 Ga) paleontological remains known from geological record. Conclusions are substantiated by morphological analysis of structurally preserved microfossils, their facies distribution, and by inferable genesis and principal evolutionary trends of Archean stromatolites. A special attention is paid to variations of organic and carbonate carbon isotope composition in sedimentary successions with paleontological remains and to recent information about discovered, most ancient biomarkers of large groups of organic world. As a result of this approach, a detailed model of Precambrian organic world evolution is suggested.