Residence of trace elements in metasomatized spinel lherzolite xenoliths: a proton-microprobe study

Minerals occurring in dry and modally metasomatized spinel lherzolites from western Victoria have been analysed by proton microprobe for Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Ba, Pb, Br, rare-earth elements (REE), Th and U. Mass-balance calculations demonstrate that these trace elements are contained in specific acceptor minerals and do not occur in significant concentrations at clean grain boundaries. The level of particular trace elements in the rock depends on the presence of specific phases: for example high levels of REE, Sr (and U, Th, Br) require apatite, while Ba, Nb and Ta are strongly concentrated in amphibole±mica. Mantle metasomatism in these spinel lherzolites is inferred to result from an open-system process involving infiltration of fluids released by crystallizing silicate melts. This process produces metasomatic zones with different modal mineralogy and hence greatly different trace-element signatures. The data demonstrate that large-ion-lithophile (LIL) and high-field strength (HFS) elements in metasomatized spinel lherzolites are strongly concentrated in non-refractory phases, which will break down easily in heated volumes such as the walls of magma conduits. The heterogeneity observed in trace-element patterns of intraplate alkali basaltic rocks may not reflect source heterogeneity, but may result largely from contamination by metasomatized mantle wall rock. The K_Ds for most trace elements show little temperature dependence except for K_DSr between orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene where K_D decreases with increasing temperature. The generally uniform K_Ds can be used to test for disequilibrium in such assemblages.     

The trapped fluid phase in upper mantle xenoliths from Victoria,Australia: implications for mantle metasomatism

Mantle-derived xenoliths of spinel lherzolite, spinel pyroxenite, garnet pyroxenite and wehrlite from Bullenmerri and Gnotuk maars, southwestern Victoria, Australia contain up to 3 vol.% of fluids trapped at high pressures. The fluid-filled cavities range in size from fluid inclusions (1–100 m) up to vugs 11/2 cm across, lined with euhedral high-pressure phases. The larger cavities form an integral part of the mosaic microstructure. Microthermometry and Raman laser microprobe analysis show that the fluids are dominantly CO₂. Small isolated inclusions may have densities 1.19 g/cm³, but most inclusions show microstructural evidence of partial decrepitation during eruption, and these have lower fluid densities. Mass-spectrometric analysis of gases released by crushing or heating shows the presence of He, N₂, Ar, H₂S, CO_s and SO₂ in small quantities; these may explain the small freezing-point depressions observed in some inclusions. Petrographic, SEM and microprobe studies show that the trapped fluids have reacted with the cavity walls (in clinopyroxene grains) to produce secondary amphiboles and carbonates. The trapped CO₂ thus represents only a small residual proportion of an original volatile phase, which has undergone at least two stages of modification — first by equilibration with spinel lherzolite to form amphibole (±mica±apatite), then by limited reaction with the walls of the fluid inclusions. The inferred original fluid was a CO₂-H₂O mixture, with significant contents of (at least) Cl and sulfur species. Generation of this fluid phase in the garnet-peridotite stability field, followed by its migration to the spinel peridotite stability field, would provide an efficient mechanism for metasomatic enrichment of the upper mantle in LIL elements. This migration could involve either a volatile flux or transport in small volumes of silicate melt that crystallize in the spinel peridotite field. These observations suggest that some portions of the subcontinental upper mantle contain large reservoirs of free fluid CO₂, which may be liberated during episodes of rifting or magmatism, to induce granulite-facies metamorphism of the lower crust.     

Lithosphere formation in the central Slave Craton (Canada): plume subcretion or lithosphere accretion?

Major-element compositions of minerals in peridotite xenoliths from the Lac de Gras kimberlites provide constraints on the mode of lithosphere formation beneath the central Slave Craton, Canada. Magnesia contents of reconstructed whole rocks correlate positively with NiO and negatively with CaO contents, consistent with variable partial melt extraction. Alumina and Cr₂O₃ contents are broadly positively correlated, suggestive of melt depletion in the absence of a Cr–Al phase. Garnet modes are high at a given Al₂O₃ content (a proxy for melt depletion), falling about a 7 GPa melt depletion model. These observations, combined with high olivine Mg# and major-element relationships of FeO-poor peridotites (<7.5 wt%) indicative of melt loss at pressures >3 GPa (residual FeO content being a sensitive indicator of melt extraction pressure), and similar high pressures of last equilibration (∼4.2 to 5.8 GPa), provide multiple lines of evidence that the mantle beneath the central Slave Craton has originated as a residue from high-pressure melting, possibly during plume subcretion. Apparent low melt depletion pressures for high-FeO peridotites (>7.5 wt%) could suggest formation in an oceanic setting, followed by subduction to their depth of entrainment. However, these rocks, which are characterised by low SiO₂ contents (<43 wt%), are more likely to be the result of post-melting FeO-addition, leading to spuriously low estimates of melt extraction pressures. They may have reacted with a silica-undersaturated melt that dissolved orthopyroxene, or experienced olivine injection by crystallising melts. A secular FeO-enrichment of parts of the deep mantle lithosphere is supported by lower average Mg# in xenolithic olivine (91.7) compared to olivine inclusions in diamond (92.6).     

Topographic monitoring of a middle estuary mudflat, Humber estuary, UK – Anthropogenic impacts and natural variation

Annual topographic surveys were carried out at the Saltend mudflat (Humber estuary, UK) between 1998 and 2006. These surveys formed part of an ongoing monitoring programme to examine the potential effects on the mudflat topography of the construction and operation of a waste water treatment works (WwTW) development by Yorkshire Water. Of particular concern was the potential disruption to the sedimentological regime within the special protection area (SPA) and candidate special area of conservation (cSAC) which could affect the invertebrate communities and ornithological functioning of the site. In addition to the development of the WwTW located to the extreme north-west of the site, a port extension removing 10 ha of the Saltend intertidal mudflat (outside the SPA but immediately south east of the WwTW) also occurred between 1999 and 2006. Minimal change was noted across the site following the construction and operation of the WwTW between 1998 and 2000. However, the construction of the bund in closer proximity to the SPA and cSAC masked any potential impact the WwTW could have had across the site after 2000. Profiles and contour mapping indicate that significant mudflat accretion occurred in the immediate area of the bund, with a general increase recorded across the western section of the site since 2000. In contrast the alternations to channel planform and subsequent rapid accretion of the mudflat to the east of the jetty, being a significant distance from the developments, are attributed to natural cyclical changes.     

青藏高原北羌塘新生代高钾钙碱岩系火山岩角闪石类型有痕量元素地球化学

利用电子探针和激光探针剥蚀系统（LA－ICP－MS）对北羌塘新第三纪高钾钙碱岩系英安岩中角闪石的主元素和微量、角闪石强烈富集Sc、Ti、V、Cr、Co、Ni等不相容亲铁元素，而相对亏损Th、U、Pb、Rb等强不相容的大离子亲石元素。稀土元素丰度高，且无Eu异常，批示北羌塘这套高钾钙碱岩系火山岩可能是青藏高原加厚的相当于榴辉岩相物质组成的下部陆壳脱水熔融的产物。     

Seeds dispersed in dung of insectivores and herbivores in semi-arid southern Africa

We investigated the incidence of endozoochory in the semi-arid South African Karoo shrubland and Kalahari savanna by dissecting and germinating seed from dung samples from a wide range of wild mammals and domestic livestock. Intact seeds occurred at a mean density of 1575 seeds kg⁻¹in livestock air-dried dung and 3613 seeds kg⁻¹in air-dried dung of indigenous animals. Seedlings emerged from dung at an average density of 153 kg⁻¹air-dry dung. Seeds of Aizoaceae, Mesembryanthemaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae were abundant in the dung of wild and domestic herbivores as well as such ant- and termite-eating insectivores as aardvark (Orycteropus afer) and bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis). Seeds of fleshy-fruited shrubs occurred in dung of browsing herbivores and the bat-eared fox. Five non-indigenous weeds were found in the dung samples. Although the floras of the Kalahari and Karoo are considered to be largely wind and water-dispersed, endozoochory is a primary or secondary dispersal mechanism in many plant families and for many plant life-forms. Animals dispersed seeds of many species characteristic of fertile and disturbed habitats. In Mesembryanthemaceae, a family in which seeds are primarily dispersed very short distances by raindrops, endozoochory enables occasional long-distance dispersal.     

Partial melting in the Inzie Head gneisses: the role of water and a petrogenetic grid in KFMASH applicable to anatectic pelitic migmatites

A sequence of prograde isograds is recognized within the Dalradian Inzie Head gneisses where pelitic compositions have undergone variable degrees of partial melting via incongruent melting reactions consuming biotite. Three leucosome types are identified. At the lowest grades, granitic leucosomes containing porphyroblasts of cordierite (CRD‐melt) are abundant. At intermediate grades, CRD‐melt mingles with garnetiferous leucosomes (GT‐melt). At the highest grades, CRD‐melt coexists with orthopyroxene‐bearing leucosomes (OPX‐melt), while garnet is conspicuously absent. The prograde metamorphic field gradient is constrained to pressures of 2–3 kbar below the CRD‐melt isograd, and no greater than 4.5 kbar at the highest grade around Inzie Head. A petrogenetic grid, calculated using thermocalc , is presented for the K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O (KFMASH) system for the phases orthopyroxene, garnet, cordierite, biotite, sillimanite, H₂O and melt with quartz and K‐feldspar in excess. For the implied field gradient, the reaction sequence predicted by the grid is consistent with the successive prograde development of each leucosome type. Compatibility diagrams suggest that, as anatexis proceeded, bulk compositions may have been displaced towards higher MgO content by the removal of (relatively) ferroan granitic leucosome. An isobaric (P = 4 kbar) T–a_H2O diagram shows that premigmatization fluids must have been water‐rich (a_H2O > 0.85) and suggests that, following the formation of small volumes of CRD‐melt, the system became fluid‐absent and melting reactions buffered a_H2O to lower values as temperatures rose. GT‐ and OPX‐melt formed by fluid‐absent melting reactions, but a maximum of 7–11% CRD‐melt fraction can be generated under fluid‐absent conditions, much less than the large volumes observed in the field. There is strong evidence that the CRD‐melt leucosomes could not have been derived by buoyantly aided upwards migration from levels beneath the migmatites. Their formation therefore required a significant influx of H₂O‐rich fluid, but in a quantity insufficient to have exhausted the buffering capacity of the solid assemblage plus melt. Fluid : rock ratios cannot have exceeded 1 : 30. The fluid was channelled through a regionally extensive shear zone network following melt‐induced failure. Such an influx of fluid at such depths has obvious consequences for localized crustal magma production and possibly for cordierite‐bearing granitoids in general.     

The beachwatch pollution monitoring programme: Changing priorities to recognize changed circumstances

Since the commissioning of the three major deepwater outfalls in Sydney, there has been a dramatic improvement in general beach water quality at Sydney's ocean beaches. This has required the NSW Environment Protection Authority's Beachwatch Programme to shift from assessing the impacts of gross sewage pollution due to nearshore outfalls to more diffuse pollution from stormwater and sewer overflows.

The visual indicators of gross sewage pollution originally used by Beachwatch for the daily assessment of bacterial water quality are now of limited value. General linear models (with multiple effects) were constructed to identify the secondary indicators which best describe the levels of bacterial contamination due to stormwater pollution. Data from four representative Sydney beaches were modelled separately due to the site-specific effects of pollution sources and hydrodynamics. Factors which were built into the models and were known on the day of prediction were rain amount, presence of stormwater material, the maximum daily stormwater rating, drain or lagoon flows at the time of sampling, and the drain/lagoon bacterial concentration two days before sampling.

Results indicate that there is a general linear relationship between visual indicators and bacterial density; however, the reliability of the prediction on a daily basis is poor and rainfall alone as a predictor is equivalent to or better than visual assessment alone. The primary source of information for the preparation of Beachwatch daily pollution bulletins now is rainfall reports from a telemetered network of rain gauges along the coast. This is a more cost-effective approach and has allowed the reallocation of resources to address more directly the problem of stormwater pollution at higher risk beaches.     

Fatigue failure characteristics of some models of jointed rock

The time-dependent failure of rock subjected to repeated loading can be explained in terms of the residual strength locus: catastrophic failure occurs when the accumulation of deformation is such that the residual strength locus is intercepted. In a preliminary experimental study of the fatigue characteristics of rock masses, highly idealized models of jointed rock were subjected to a series of cyclic uniaxial compression tests. The results of these experiments show that intact and failed models of jointed rock are extremely susceptible to cyclic fatigue failure, and that in these cases the residual strength locus interpretation of time-dependent failure is correct.     

Multiple exposures and dynamic vulnerability: Evidence from the grape industry in the Okanagan Valley, Canada

This paper assesses the vulnerability of grape growers and winery operators in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia to climate variability and change, in the context of other sources of risk. Through interviews and focus groups, producers identified the climatic and non-climatic risks relevant to them and the strategies employed to manage these risks. The results show that the presence of multiple exposures affects the way in which producers are vulnerable to climate change. Producers are vulnerable to conditions that not only affect crop yield, but also affect their ability to compete in or sell to the market. Their sensitivity to these conditions is influenced in part by institutional factors such as trade liberalization and a “markup-free delivery” policy. Producers’ ability to adapt or cope with these risks varies depending on such factors as the availability of resources and technology, and access to government programmes. Producers will likely face challenges associated with the supply of water for irrigation due to a combination of climatic changes and changing demographics in the Okanagan Valley, which in turn affect their ability to adapt to climatic conditions. Finally, adaptations made by producers can change the nature of the operation and its vulnerability, demonstrating the dynamic nature of vulnerability.