Potential for offsetting diamond mine carbon emissions through mineral carbonation of processed kimberlite: an assessment of De Beers mine sites in South Africa and Canada

De Beers kimberlite mine operations in South Africa (Venetia and Voorspoed) and Canada (Gahcho Kué, Victor, and Snap Lake) have the potential to sequester carbon dioxide (CO₂) through weathering of kimberlite mine tailings, which can store carbon in secondary carbonate minerals (mineral carbonation). Carbonation of ca. 4.7 to 24.0 wt% (average = 13.8 wt%) of annual processed kimberlite production could offset 100% of each mine site’s carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions. Minerals of particular interest for reactivity with atmospheric or waste CO₂ from energy production include serpentine minerals, olivine (forsterite), brucite, and smectite. The most abundant minerals, such as serpentine polymorphs, provide the bulk of the carbonation potential. However, the detection of minor amounts of highly reactive brucite in tailings from Victor, as well as the likely presence of brucite at Venetia, Gahcho Kué, and Snap Lake, is also important for the mineral carbonation potential of the mine sites.

     

Assimilation of peridotite in zoned calc-alkaline plutonic complexes: evidence from the Big Jim complex,Washington Cascades

The Big Jim complex is a concentrically zoned ultramafic to felsic plutonic complex which intruded the pelitic Chiwaukum schist. Most of the major plutonic rock types (from websterite through hornblendite, gabbronorite, hornblende gabbro and diorite, to granodiorite) enclose harzburgite and metaperidotite xenoliths similar to foliated metaperidotite lenses included in the Chiwaukum schist. The larger xenoliths preserve tectonite fabrics. All have Mg#'s (mole fraction MgO/(MgO+FeO^*)) from 0.90 to 0.89, the same as those of Chiwaukum metaperidotites, and distinctly different from undeformed Big Jim dunite (Mg#'s 0.84 to 0.82) and websterite (0.82 to 0.78). Contact relations indicate widespread, stepwise replacement of harzburgite by pyroxenite, hornblendite, gabbro and diorite. Thermodynamic modelling using an expanded regular solution model for silicate liquids (Ghiorso 1985; Ghiorso and Carmichael 1985) predicts that reaction between olivine (Fo90) and a liquid with the composition of Big Jim diorite +1.5 wt% H₂O, at 1,100° C and 3 kb, would produce websterite (Mg#'s 0.75 to 0.81) and dunite (0.79 to 0.82). This process is exothermic and results in a negative change in volume, since it increases total solid mass. Under conditions of decreasing temperature, modelled crystal fractionation with assimilation of olivine reproduces important features of the chemical variation observed in the Big Jim complex where crystal fractionation alone fails. The Big Jim complex has affinities with other ultramafic to felsic plutonic complexes such as the Bear Mountain complex (Snoke et al. 1981, 1982) and the Emigrant Gap complex (James 1971). The latter have wehrlite and clinopyroxenite, rather than websterite, but both have concentric zoning, with olivine-bearing rock types surrounded by successively more felsic pyroxenite, gabbro and diorite. In general, concentrically zoned complexes of this type may form where magma reacts with mantle-derived wall rock or ultramafic cumulates. Assimilation of peridotite in fractionating magma may be important in subduction-related magmatic arcs.     

Bounding the time delay between high-energy neutrinos and gravitational-wave transients from gamma-ray bursts

We derive a conservative coincidence time window for joint searches of gravitational-wave (GW) transients and high-energy neutrinos (HENs, with energies ?100 GeV), emitted by gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The last are among the most interesting astrophysical sources for coincident detections with current and near-future detectors. We take into account a broad range of emission mechanisms. We take the upper limit of GRB durations as the 95% quantile of the T₉₀’s of GRBs observed by BATSE, obtaining a GRB duration upper limit of ∼150 s. Using published results on high-energy (>100 MeV) photon light curves for 8 GRBs detected by Fermi LAT, we verify that most high-energy photons are expected to be observed within the first ∼150 s of the GRB. Taking into account the breakout-time of the relativistic jet produced by the central engine, we allow GW and HEN emission to begin up to 100 s before the onset of observable gamma photon production. Using published precursor time differences, we calculate a time upper bound for precursor activity, obtaining that 95% of precursors occur within ∼250 s prior to the onset of the GRB. Taking the above different processes into account, we arrive at a time window of t_HEN − t_GW ∈ [−500 s, +500 s]. Considering the above processes, an upper bound can also be determined for the expected time window of GW and/or HEN signals coincident with a detected GRB, t_GW − t_GRB ≈ t_HEN − t_GRB ∈ [−350 s, +150 s]. These upper bounds can be used to limit the coincidence time window in multimessenger searches, as well as aiding the interpretation of the times of arrival of measured signals.     

Spectroscopic study of Hα-emission objects in IC 1396

Spectral observations of 53 H-emission objects of the HII-region IC 1396 were carried out with moderate resolution using the 2.6m telescope of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory. Factor analysis of this observational material indicates that there are two dominant factors. Factor 1 (Fig. 1), which is the more significant factor, resembles the spectrum of a star of spectral type F5 with a strong H line in absorption. Factor 2 (Fig. 2), in contrast, appears as a later-type spectrum with H and H in emission. The result obtained can be explained by the transient nature of the H-emission.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1994.     

Melt viscosity, temperature and transport processes, Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus

The lava section in the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus, is chemically stratified and divided into a shallow lava sequence with low TiO₂ content and a deeper lava sequence with high TiO₂ content. We calculate the viscosity at magmatic temperature based on major element chemistry of lavas in Cyprus Crustal Study Project (CCSP) Holes CY-1 and 1A. We find that typical shallow low-Ti lavas have a magmatic viscosity that is two to three orders of magnitude lower than that of the deeper high-Ti lavas. This implies that, after eruption on-axis, Troodos low-Ti lavas would have been able to flow down the same slope faster and farther than high-Ti lavas. The calculated lava viscosity increases systematically from the lava-sediment interface to the bottom of the composite Hole CY-1/1A. This suggests that an efficient process of lava segregation by viscosity on the upper flanks of the paleo Troodos rise may have been responsible for the chemical stratification in the Troodos lava pile. Calculated magmatic temperature and molar Mg/(Mg+Fe), or Mg#, decrease systematically down-section, while SiO₂ content increases. Correlation of Mg# in the lavas with Mg# in the underlying, lower crustal plutonic rocks sampled by CCSP Hole CY-4 shows that the shallow lavas came from a high-temperature, lower crustal magma reservoir which is now represented by high-Mg# pyroxenite cumulates, while the deeper lavas were erupted from a lower-temperature, mid-crustal reservoir which is now represented by gabbroic cumulates with lower Mg#.