Mineral-solution equilibria—I. An experimental study of complexing and thermodynamic properties of aqueous MgCl2 in the system MgO-SiO2-H2O-HCl

Speciation of aqueous magnesium in the system MgO-SiO₂-H₂O-HCl in supercritical aqueous fluids has been investigated using standard rapid-quench hydrothermal techniques and a modification of the Ag + AgCl buffer method (Frantz and Eugster, 1973. Am. J. Sci.267, 268–286). A concentric double-capsule charge was utilized. The outer gold capsule contained the assemblage talc + quartz + Ag + AgCl + H₂O-MgCl₂ fluid; the inner platinum capsule, Ag + AgCl + H₂O-HCl fluid. During the experiments, and thus $\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{HCl}}$ equilibrated between the two capsules. After quenching, measurement of the chloride concentration in the fluid in the inner capsule and total magnesium in the fluid in the outer capsule defines the concentrations of HCl and Mg that coexist with talc + quartz in the outer capsule. Changes in the measured molality of HCl as a function of the total magnesium concentration at constant P and T were used to identify the predominant species of magnesium in the hydrothermal fluid. Experimental results showed that at 2000 bar, MgCl°₂ is the predominant species above 550°C and Mg²⁺, below 400°C. Data at intermediate temperatures when combined with the dissociation constant for HCl were used to obtain the dissociation constant for MgCl°₂. The results of these experiments were combined with results from experiments using Ag + AgCl in conjunction with the oxygen buffer, hematite-magnetite, to obtain the equilibrium constant for the reaction $\text{1}\text{3}\text{Talc + 2HC1° H}{}_2\text{O MgCl°}{}_2\text{+}\text{4}\text{3}\text{Quartz +}\text{4}\text{3}\text{H}{}_2\text{O}$ from which the difference in Gibbs free energy of MgCl°₂ and HC1° was obtained as a function of temperature at 1000, 1500 and 2000 bar pressure, Solubility constants for brucite. forsterite, chrysotile, and talc were calculated.     

Simulation of the development of gypsum maze caves

The development of gypsum maze caves under artesian conditions has been simulated. The numerical model simulations show that the evolution of maze caves in this type of setting requires structural preferences such as laterally extended fissure networks in a horizon of the gypsum layer. Without any structural preferences vertical shafts rather than maze caves are predicted to develop. The most important stage for the development of horizontal caves under artesian conditions is found to be the initial karstification period. During this period the structure of the mature conduit system is established. The solutional enlargement of conduits is spatially extended, total dissolution rates are higher than the later ones.     

中德联合冬给措纳湖地区寒区环境变迁研究进展

青藏高原腹地的内陆湖及其湖相沉积物能够较真实地反映气候变化特征,在高原环境变迁研究中备受中外科学家的关注.2006年8月15日~9月10日,中德联合考察小组对青藏高原东北部的冬给措纳湖一带进行了第四纪冻土、地貌和地质学考察,并对湖岸阶地做了初步的数字高程分析.调查了冬给措纳湖底地形、地貌,采集了湖相沉积物样本.在湖的东岸和西岸发现多年冻土,湖泊西北山谷观察到古冰川活动遗迹.初步推测该湖是由断陷沉降形成.为进一步分析湖区气候和环境变迁,联合小组拟定2007年3月份钻取湖芯.     

Properties of some rocks from the section of the Kola ultradeep borehole as a function of the P-T parameters

Using core samples of the Kola ultradeep borehole (SG-3) and their surface analogues, variations in the density and elastic properties of some crystalline rocks of the Earth’s crust are estimated by modeling of in situ conditions. It is shown that the bulk density and the elastic wave velocities in the rocks have a weak depth gradient. In the SG-3 section under consideration, this gradient is negative. The resulting dependences for estimating the variations in the properties of the crystalline rocks are suitable for the depth range from the surface to 20–30 km. The initial data for the linear approximation of the characteristics can be obtained from the results of tests of surface analogue samples. It is shown that the velocity anisotropy of the metamorphic rocks can vary within wide limits.     

A Fully Depleted pn-Junction CCD for Infrared-, UV- and X- ray detection

This paper describes the performance of the Fully Depleted pn-junction CCD (pn-CCD) system, developed for ESA's XMM-satellite mission for soft x-ray imaging and spectroscopy in the single photon counting mode in the 100 eV to 10 keV photon range. The 58 mm x 60 mm large pn-CCD array, designed and fabricated at the Semiconductor Lab (Halbleiterlabor) of the Max-Planck-Institut, uses pn-junctions for registers and as backside structure. This concept naturally enables full depletion of the detector volume independent of the silicon wafer's resistivity and thickness, and as such make it an efficient detector for the x-ray region and the infrared. For high detection efficiency in the soft x-ray region and UV, an ultrathin pn-CCD backside deadlayer has been realized. Each pn-CCD-channel is equipped with its own on-chip JFET amplifier which, in combination with the CAMEX-amplifier and multiplexing chip, facilitates parallel readout and fast data rate: the cooled pn-CCD system can be read out at a data rate up to 3 MHz with an electronic noise floor of ENC < 5 e-.     

Gold mineralisation throughout about 45 Ma of Archaean orogenesis: protracted flux of gold in the Golden Mile, Yilgarn craton, Western Australia

The Golden Mile deposit was discovered in 1893 and represents today the largest Archaean orogenic lode gold system in the world (50 M oz produced gold). The Golden Mile deposit comprises three major styles of gold mineralisation: Fimiston, Oroya and Charlotte styles. Fimiston-style lodes formed at 250 to 350 °C and 100 to 200 MPa and are controlled by brittle–ductile fault zones, their subsidiary fault zone and vein networks including breccias and open-cavity-infill textures and hydrothermally altered wall rock. Fimiston lodes were formed late D₁, prior to D₂ regional upright folding. Hydrothermal alteration haloes comprise a progression toward the lode of diminishing chlorite, an increase in sericite and in Fe content of carbonates. Lodes contain siderite, pyrite, native gold, 17 different telluride minerals (Au–Ag tellurides contain ~25% of total gold), tourmaline, haematite, sericite and V-rich muscovite. Oroya-style lodes formed at similar P–T conditions as the Fimiston lodes and are controlled by brittle–ductile shear zones, associated dilational jogs that are particularly well developed at the contact between Paringa Basalt and black shale interflow sedimentary rocks and altered wall rock. The orebodies are characterised by micro-breccias and zones of intense shear zone foliation, very high gold grades (up to 100,000 g/t Au) and the common association of tellurides and vanadian mica (green leader). Oroya lodes crosscut Fimiston lodes and are interpreted to have formed slightly later than Fimiston lodes as part of one evolving hydrothermal system spanning D₁ and D₂ deformation (ca. 2,675–2,660 Ma). Charlotte-style lodes, exemplified by the Mt Charlotte deposit, are controlled by a sheeted vein (stockwork) complex of north-dipping quartz veins and hydrothermally altered wall rock. The Mt Charlotte orebody formed at 120 to 440 °C and 150 to 250 MPa during movement along closely spaced D₄ (2,625 Ma) and reactivated D₂ faults with the quartz granophyre in the Golden Mile Dolerite exerting a strong lithological control on gold mineralisation. Veins consist of quartz–carbonate–minor scheelite, and wall-rock alteration comprises chlorite destruction and growth of ferroan carbonate–sericite–pyrite–native gold. Pyrite–pyrrhotite is zoned on the scale of vein haloes and of the entire mine, giving a vertical temperature gradient of 50–100 °C over 1,000 vertical metres. The structural–hydrothermal model proposed consists of four major stages: (1) D₁ thrusting and formation of Fimiston-style lodes, (2) D₂ reverse faulting and formation of Oroya-style lodes, (3) D₃ faulting and dissecting of Fimiston- and Oroya-style lodes, and (4) D₄ faulting and formation of Mt Charlotte-style sheeted quartz vein system. The giant accumulation of gold in the Golden Mile deposit was formed due to protracted gold mineralisation throughout episodes of an Archaean orogeny that spanned about 45 Ma. Fluid conduits formed early in the tectonic history and persisted throughout orogenesis with the plumbing system showing a rare high degree of focussing, efficiency and duration. In addition to the long-lasting fluid plumbing system, the wide variety of transient structural and geochemical traps, multiple fluid sources and precipitation mechanism contributed towards the richest golden mile in the world.Editorial handling: B. Lehmann     

Assessing streams in Germany with benthic invertebrates: development of a practical standardised protocol for macroinvertebrate sampling and sorting

In the past, no single standardised method for sampling and sorting benthic macroinvertebrates has been implemented in Germany. Therefore, we tested the suitability of two common sorting protocols, RIVPACS and AQEM/STAR, by taking samples with each protocol at 44 sampling sites. Our results reveal that different methods deliver slightly different assessment results. Moreover these two methods differ in costs. Although the AQEM/STAR protocol takes longer than the RIVPACS protocol, we favoured the AQEM/STAR protocol because of its higher level of standardisation. In order to limit costs to an acceptable level, a modification of the AQEM/STAR protocol (MAS method) is developed. This method is highly standardised, gives stable assessment results and is relatively inexpensive (€ 224.00 for processing of an average sample). A detailed protocol of the newly developed method is given.     

Phase relations in the CH4-H2O-NaCl system at 2 kbar, 300 to 600°C as determined using synthetic fluid inclusions

Synthesis of fluid inclusions in the CH₄-H₂O-NaCl system was accomplished by subjecting fractured quartz or fluorite, along with known quantities of CH₄, H₂O, and NaCl, to a pressure of 2 kbar and temperatures of 300, 400, 500, or 600°C, in sealed Au capsules. Under the elevated P-T conditions, some of the fractures healed, trapping fluids as inclusions. Microthermometric measurements conducted on the fluid inclusions show that at 2 kbar and 400 to 600°C, there are very broad regions of fluid unmixing in the CH₄-H₂O-NaCl system. For those bulk fluid compositions that lie in the two-phase (i.e., immiscible fluids) field, the high-density phase is enriched in NaCl, whereas the low-density phase is enriched in CH₄. For any given bulk composition, the degree of NaCl enrichment in the high-density phase increases, whereas the degree of CH₄ enrichment in the low-density phase decreases, as temperature increases from 400 to 600°C. Our experimental constraints on the size of the two-phase field are generally consistent with results generated using the equation-of-state GEOFLUIDS (available at http://geotherm.ucsd.edu/geofluids/). However, when comparing the compositions of coexisting immiscible fluids, as determined experimentally vs. calculated using GEOFLUIDS, we find that some relatively small but probably significant differences exist between our experiments and this equation of state.     

Methane in aging hydrothermal plumes

Methane concentration and the stable carbon isotopic composition (δ ¹³C-CH₄) were measured in aging hydrothermal plume waters originating at the Endeavour Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge. CH₄ concentrations decreased systematically from 600 nM at on-axis stations to <11 nM at a distal station 15 km off axis; background CH₄ concentrations are <2 nM. CH₄ behaves nonconservatively in plume waters and does not correlate with conservative parameters such as temperature anomaly (Δθ), but is highly correlated with NH₄⁺ and total dissolvable Mn. δ ¹³C-CH₄ values for plume depth samples varies inversely and significantly (R² = 0.89) with methane concentrations normalized to Δθ. Some δ ¹³C-CH₄ values (+1.8 and +10.9 ‰) measured at the 15 km off-axis station are among the heaviest yet reported from a natural marine environment. Less than 5% of original hydrothermal methane remains in the plume at this station. The data are consistent with extensive microbial methane oxidation. A narrow range of fractionation factors (r_c ≈1.0072 to 1.0077) was calculated for the Endeavour samples. These fractionation factors are less than those reported by Coleman et al. (1981), but fall near the trend line of their r_c versus temperature data when extrapolated to plume water temperature (∼2 °C).