Transport of water in frozen soil: I: Experimental determination of soil-water diffusivity under isothermal conditions

A new experimental method for measuring the soil-water diffusivity of frozen soil under isothermal conditions is introduced. The theoretical justification of the method is presented and the feasibility of the method is demonstrated by experiments conducted using marine deposited clay. The measured values of the soil-water diffusivity are found comparable to reported experimental data.     

Total nitrogen content of deep sea basalts

Various models have been suggested concerning the origin and evolution of the earth's atmosphere. An estimate of the nitrogen content of the mantle could further constrain atmospheric models. Total nitrogen content was determined by thermal neutron activation analysis via ¹⁴N(n,p)¹⁴C. The ¹⁴C was converted to carbon dioxide and counted in miniature low level proportional counters. The total nitrogen content of U.S.G.S. standards BCR-1 and G-2 as determined by different laboratories is variable, probably due to atmospheric adsorption by the finely ground samples. Total nitrogen content was determined in deep sea basalt glasses from three regions: East Pacific Rise ($\text{15 ± 4, 18 ± 4}$, and $\text{7 ±}\text{ppm}\text{2 N}$), Mid-Atlantic Rift (FAMOUS Region:$\text{22 ± 5, 18 ± 3}$, and $\text{10 ± 2}\text{ppm}\text{N}$) and the Juan de Fuca Ridge ($\text{17 ± 4}\text{ppm}\text{N}$). Matrix material from the same samples as the glasses was available from the East Pacific Rise ($\text{37 ± 6, 26 ± 4}$, and $\text{34 ± 6}\text{ppm}\text{N}$) and the Mid-Atlantic Rift ($\text{39 ± 4}\text{ppm}\text{N}$) which are about 50 to 100% greater than the associated glasses. The increased matrix abundance may be due to incorporation of chemically bound nitrogen from sea water rather than dissolved molecular nitrogen. The nitrogen content of the FAMOUS samples are inconsistent with the model of Langmuir et al. (1977) for petrogenesis based on trace element data. Factors which can affect the observed nitrogen content in the basalts and the interpretation in terms of the mantle nitrogen abundance are discussed (e.g. partial melting and degassing of the basalts). A lower limit of about 2 ppm N in the mantle can be estimated.     

Chemical studies of L chondrites—II. Shock-induced trace element mobilization

Previous studies of chondrites heated in the laboratory for extended periods under conditions approximating those in shock-heated collisional debris indicate that Au, Co, Se, Ga, Rb, Cs, Te, Bi, In, Ag, Zn, Tl and Cd progress in mobility. We report data for these 13 trace elements in 14 L4–6 chondrites of established shock history and discuss these and 13 additional chondrites studied earlier. Trace element contents vary with petrologic type, $\text{S}\text{Fe}$ sub-group and shock history, the last dominating strongly. Absolute abundances and interelement relationships for the 6 or 7 most mobile elements vary with degree of shock-loading (i.e. residual temperatures) established from mineralogic/petrologic study. A tertiary process, shock-heating, previously known to have affected radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar and/or ⁴He in meteorites but not other elements, apparently was at least as effective as other open-system processes (secondary [parent body] and primary [nebular and/or accretionary] episodes) in establishing mobile trace element contents of L chondrites and probably others. If conditions during early genetic episodes are to be deduced from compositional information, shocked meteorites should be avoided or effects of later processes should be compensated for.     

Late Pleistocene paleo-oceanography of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea: Benthic foraminiferal evidence

Fluctuations in benthic foraminiferal faunas over the last 130,000 yr in four piston cores from the Norwegian Sea are correlated with the standard worldwide oxygen-isotope stratigraphy. One species, Cibicides wuellerstorfi, dominates in the Holocene section of each core, but alternates downcore with Oridorsalis tener, a species dominant today only in the deepest part of the basin. O. tener is the most abundant species throughout the entire basin during periods of particularly cold climate when the Norwegian Sea presumably was ice covered year round and surface productivity lowered. Portions of isotope Stages 6, 3, and 2 are barren of benthic foraminifera; this is probably due to lowered benthic productivity, perhaps combined with dilution by ice-rafted sediment; there is no evidence that the Norwegian Sea became azoic. The Holocene and Substage 5e (the last interglacial) are similar faunally. This similarity, combined with other evidence, supports the presumption that the Norwegian Sea was a source of dense overflows into the North Atlantic during Substage 5e as it is today. Oxygen-isotope analyses of benthic foraminifera indicate that Norwegian Sea bottom waters warmer than they are today from Substage 5d to Stage 2, with the possible exception of Substage 5a. These data show that the glacial Norwegian Sea was not a sink for dense surface water, as it is now, and thus it was not a source of deep-water overflows. The benthic foraminiferal populations of the deep Norwegian Sea seem at least as responsive to near-surface conditions, such as sea-ice cover, as they are to fluctuations in the hydrography of the deep water. Benthic foraminiferal evidence from the Norwegian Sea is insufficient in itself to establish whether or not the basin was a source of overflows into the North Atlantic at any time between the Substage 5e/5d boundary at 115,000 yr B.P. and the Holocene.     

Magma mixing in the acidic-basic complex of Ardnamurchan: Implications on the evolution of shallow magma chambers

The Ardnamurchan net-veined complex consists of three rock types: a porphyritic mafic rock, an aphyric intermediate rock and a silicic rock. Pillows of mafic and intermediate rock are included in the silicic rock and contain crenulated and some chilled margins. Liquid-liquid relationships are inferred for these three magmas. The trace element data, using ratio-ratio plots, are consistent with magma mixing being the dominant process and are inconsistent with any process that is dominated by crystal fractionation or melting. The major element data, using multiple linear regression techniques, are consistent with magma mixing of high-silica silicic magma and primitive mafic magma, along with about 35 percent crystal fractionation to form the intermediate rock type. All of the data taken together are consistent with a magma mixing model with some fractionation to produce the variation observed. The simplest model is that a fractionating basaltic magma comes into contact with a silicic magma and limited mixing produces the intermediate magma.This net-veined complex may be the only evidence available for interaction of mafic and silicic melts that occurred in the Ardnamurchan high-level magma chamber before the silicic magma was lost to eruptive and surface processes. In general the chemical and field relationships are consistent with Smith's model for the evolution of high-level, magma chambers.     

Normal faulting and flexure in an elastic-perfectly plastic plate

An elastic-perfectly plastic plate model has been developed to analyze the flexure associated with normal faulting. The model consists of a thin layer, which is completely cut by a normal fault, overlying a fluid substratum. For a given applied bending moment at the fault, the relationship between the amount of displacement on the fault and the extent of the failure zone can be calculated. The model is applied to the Wasatch Front region in the eastern Basin and Range Province, USA to determine the correlation of its parameters with geological and geophysical data in the vicinity of a major normal fault, the Wasatch fault, along which there has been 3–4 km of Late Cenozoic uplift. In this region, most seismic activity occurs away from the Wasatch fault in a zone 30 km wide, roughly centered 30 km east of the fault. This activity occurs at depths of 15 km or less. In order to match the observations, the lithospheric layer must have a flexural rigidity of 0.5 to 1.1 · 10²² n-m and a yield stress of 1–2 kb and must have zero applied bending moment at the fault. The effective mechanical thickness of the lithosphere in this region is 20–25 km. These results indicate that the lithosphere in long-term mechanical studies in the eastern Basin and Range is thin and weak. Evaluating these results as compared to the seismic lithospheric thickness and temperature regime of the region produces some interesting correlations with studies in oceanic regions.