Geological evolution of the Antongil Craton,NE Madagascar

The Antongil Craton, along with the Masora and Antananarivo cratons, make up the fundamental Archaean building blocks of the island of Madagascar. They were juxtaposed during the late-Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic assembly of Gondwana. In this paper we give a synthesis of the geology of the Antongil Craton and present previously published and new geochemical and U–Pb zircon analyses to provide an event history for its evolution.     

High-temperature deformation during continental-margin subduction & exhumation: The ultrahigh-pressure Western Gneiss Region of Norway

A new dataset for the high-pressure to ultrahigh-pressure Western Gneiss Region allows the definition of distinct structural and petrological domains. Much of the study area is an E-dipping homocline with E-plunging lineations that exposes progressively deeper, more strongly deformed, more eclogite-rich structural levels westward. Although eclogites crop out across the WGR, Scandian deformation is weak and earlier structures are well preserved in the southeastern half of the study area. The Scandian reworking increases westward, culminating in strong Scandian fabrics with only isolated pockets of older structures; the dominant Scandian deformation was coaxial E–W stretching. The sinistrally sheared Møre–Trøndelag Fault Complex and Nordfjord Mylonitic Shear Zone bound these rocks to the north and south. There was moderate top-E, amphibolite-facies deformation associated with translation of the allochthons over the basement along its eastern edge, and the Nordfjord–Sogn Detachment Zone underwent strong lower amphibolite-facies to greenschist-facies top-W shearing. A northwestward increase in exhumation-related melting is indicated by leucosomes with hornblende, plagioclase, and Scandian sphene. In the western 2/3 of the study area, exhumation-related, amphibolite-facies symplectite formation in quartzofeldspathic gneiss postdated most Scandian deformation; further deformation was restricted to slip along biotite-rich foliation planes and minor local folding. That the Western Gneiss Region quartzofeldspathic gneiss exhibits a strong gradient in degree of deformation, implies that continental crust in general need not undergo pervasive deformation during subduction.     

Multi-channel surface NMR instrumentation and software for 1D/2D groundwater investigations

Multi-channel surface nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instrumentation and software, developed in the United States, has been applied to investigate 1D and 2D hydrology at various locations in the Western US. The GeoMRI instrument offers several practical improvements over the previous state of the art in surface NMR instrumentation, including a multi-channel transmit/receive capability, a significantly shorter measurement dead-time of 10 ms, and an ultra-low receiver input noise density of less than 0.4 nV/sqrt (Hz). Two multi-channel NMR processing techniques, reference coil-based noise cancellation and integrated FID imaging, are shown to increase effective signal to noise ratios by an order of magnitude or more. These effective SNR gains enable multi-coil surface NMR to produce useful and reliable images when the post-averaged SNR is less than 1. We also suggest an alternate approach to imaging, in which NMR signals are initially isolated in the space domain, and then NMR parameter estimation is applied in the time domain. Experimental results are presented for recent surface NMR groundwater investigations conducted in Nebraska and Texas, USA.     

Water balance of the Salado–Juramento river basin (Argentina)

A lumped water balance model was used to derive a monthly water storage series in the Salado–Juramento southern basin, for the period 1954–1986. The evapotranspiration term was estimated using the Bouchet's complementary relationship. Different evapotranspiration formulas following the concepts of potential evapotranspiration and wet environmental evapotranspiration were used. The regional average groundwater levels and the specific yield were used to tune Bouchet's equation. The extrapolation of the water storage series to a secular period (1901–2002) was achieved using a synthetic annual discharge series. The water storage was deficient for most of the century, i.e. more than 60 years; nevertheless in the last 30 years, the system recovers half of the water previously lost. The singular spectral analysis showed that a significant low‐frequency signal is present in the water storage and precipitation series. The main cause of water storage variability would be given by precipitation, in spite of the vast anthropogenic changes on the basin. Anthropogenic effects would be reflected in the river discharges, where no significant signal is detected before 1970; however, an annual signal is insinuated after that year. The conclusions of this work could be different if we only looked at the 1954–1986 period. The results of that period suggest that the basin is primarily accumulating water instead of being mainly in deficit. Thus, here we demonstrated the importance of the secular analysis to illustrate the complete basin behaviour. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long-term observations for monitoring of the cryosphere

Variations of the cryosphere over decadal-to-century timescales are assessed by a survey of data on sea ice, snow cover, glaciers and ice sheets, permafrost and lake ice. The recent variations are generally consistent across the different cryospheric variables, especially when placed into the context of variations of temperature and precipitation. The recent warming over northern land areas has been accompanied by a decrease of snow cover, particularly during spring; the retreat of mountain glaciers is, in an aggregate sense, compatible with the observed warming; permafrost extent and lake ice duration show similar variations in areas for which data are available. Corresponding trends are not apparent, however, in data for some regions such as eastern Canada, nor in hemispheric sea ice data, especially for winter. The data also suggest an increase of snowfall over high latitudes, including the Antarctic ice sheet.Estimates of both the climatic and the statistical significance of the recent variations are hampered by data inhomogeneities, the shortness of the records of many variables and the absence of central archives for data on several variables. The potential of monitoring by satellite remote sensing has been realized with several variables (extent of sea ice, snow cover). Other cryospheric variables (snow depth, ice sheet elevation, lake ice, mountain glaciers) may be amenable to routine monitoring by satellites pending advances in instrumentation, modifications of satellite orbit, and further developments in signal detection algorithms. The survey of recent variations leads to recommendations concerning the use of historical data,in situ measurements, and remote sensing applications in the monitoring of the cryosphere.     

Scale Dependencies of Vegetation and Topography in a Mountainous Environment of Montana

This research examines the effects of spatial scale on estimating the relationship between vegetation biomass and topography within a portion of Glacier National Park, Montana. The Reflectance/Absorptance vegetation index, developed from processed Landsat Thematic Mapper digital data, is related to three topographic variables obtained through processed Digital Elevation Models: elevation, slope angle, and slope aspect. R² values between the vegetation index and the topographic variables are obtained from regression analyses at a series of aggregated spatial scales. The effective range of spatial scales within which the two sets of variables are spatially dependent and the degree of the spatial dependencies are characterized through semivariance and fractal analyses.     

Fluxes of metals to a manganese nodule radiochemical,chemical, structural,and mineralogical studies

Fluxes of metals to the top and bottom surfaces of a manganese nodule were determined by combining radiochemical (²³⁰Th,²³¹Pa,²³²Th,²³⁸U,²³⁴U) and detailed chemical data. The top of the nodule had been growing in its collected orientation at 4.7 mm Myr^?1 for at least 0.5 Myr and accreting Mn at 200 μg cm^?2 kyr^?1. The bottom of the nodule had been growing in its collected orientation at about 12 mm Myr^?1 for at least 0.3 Myr and accreting Mn at about 700 μg cm^?2 yr^?1. Although the top of the nodule was enriched in iron relative to the bottom, the nodule had been accreting Fe 50% faster on the bottom.²³²Th was also accumulating more rapidly in the bottom despite a 20-fold enrichment of²³⁰Th on the top.The distribution of alpha-emitting nuclides calculated from detailed radiochemical measurements matched closely the pattern revealed by 109-day exposures of alpha-sensitive film to the nodule. However, the shape and slope of the total alpha profile with depth into the nodule was affected strongly by²²⁶Ra and²²²Rn migrations making the alpha-track technique alone an inadequate method of measuring nodule growth rates.Diffusion of radium in the nodule may have been affected by diagenetic reactions which produce barite, phillipsite and todorokite within 1 mm of the nodule surface; however, our sampling interval was too broad to document the effect. We have not been able to resolve the importance of nodule diagenesis on the gross chemistry of the nodule.     

Post-depositional metal enrichment processes inside manganese nodules from the north equatorial Pacific

Interiors of manganese nodules from siliceous ooze beneath the Pacific equatorial high-productivity region, when examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron microprobe, display post-depositional recrystallization textures and metalliferous oxide bands (diameter 1–10 μm, 30–40 wt.% Mn, 4–5% Ni, 3–4% Cu). SEM has revealed biogenic siliceous matter in all stages of degradation and dissolution within nodule interiors, creating cavities and voids. Often these miniature vugs contain authigenic phillipsite crystallites which are coated with delicate clusters of crystalline Mn-Fe oxides (todorokite) containing significant amounts of Ni and Cu. We postulate the following diagenetic processes and mechanism of uptake of transition metals inside manganese nodules: (1) palagonite + biogenic silica + pelagic clay → phillipsite + montmorillonite; (2) biogenic matter + amorphous FeOOH or δ-MnO₂ → Fe_aq²⁺ and/or Mn^IIMn^IV oxide (todorokite); (3) aerated seawater or δ-MnO₂ + Fe_aq²⁺ → FeOOH and/or todorokite (deposited on phillipsite); (4) (Ni^II and Cu^II) organic chelates (adsorbed on clays, etc.) + amorphous FeOOH or δ-MnO₂ → Ni-Cu-todorokite + phillipsite, etc.This mechanism explains the well-known positive Mn-Ni-Cu and negative Fe-Ni, Fe-Cu correlations in nodules. By analogy with terrestrial todorokites, which require about 8 wt.% Mn to be in the divalent state to stabilize the crystal structure, as much as 8 wt.% (Ni + Cu) could be accommodated in todorokite-bearing deep-sea manganese nodules. However, although such nodules beneficiate Ni and Cu with respect to marine sediments and seawater, they remain undersaturated in these divalent cations.     

Clinoform mechanics in the Gulf of Papua, New Guinea

The largest islands of the Indo-Pacific Archipelago are estimated to account for 20–25% of the global sediment discharge to the ocean, and much (>50%) of this sediment is supplied to wide (>150 km) continental shelves. These conditions are conducive to creation of large-scale morphologic features known as clinoforms—sigmoidal-shaped deposits on the continental shelf. The Gulf of Papua (GOP) receives 3.84 ×10⁸ tons of sediment annually from three principal sediment suppliers, the Fly, Kikori and Purari Rivers, and its prograding clinoform is the focus of this study. During three research cruises, 80 cores and 37 CTD/optical backscatter casts were collected, and an instrumented tripod was deployed twice. Sedimentological and radiochemical results indicate that the GOP clinoform has characteristics similar to those seaward of other major rivers (e.g., Amazon, Ganges–Brahmaputra), specifically sand/mud interbedding on the topset, rapidly accumulating muds on the foreset, and siliciclastic mud mixed with carbonate sand on the bottomset.Using core data and field observations, the mechanics of clinoform progradation are examined. Discrete, large sedimentation events are identified as processes building the clinoform feature. X-radiographs from foreset cores reveal thick beds (>5 cm) between bioturbated sections. Detailed ²¹⁰Pb and grain-size data indicate that low activities and increased clay contents are associated with these beds. They are hypothesized to be formed by fluid–mud deposition in response to periods of large wave-tide bed shear stresses, more likely during the SE-tradewind season, and their regular occurrence produces high rates of mean accumulation (4 cm/y). Bed preservation is determined by the rates of sediment accumulation and bioturbation.To assess the influence of physical oceanographic factors on clinoform shape, bottom shear stresses from tides and surface waves were calculated using available wave and tripod data. This effort reveals that the depth range (25–40 m) of the clinoform rollover point (seaward edge of the topset region) is roughly consistent with the sediment-transport regime. Furthermore, calculations corroborate the core data that suggest possible seasonal sediment storage in the inner topset region (<15-m water depth, during the NW-monsoon winds) with subsequent transfer to foreset beds (more probable during SE-tradewind conditions).A 100-yr sediment budget created with accumulation rate data suggests approximately 20% of the total sediment supplied to the GOP accumulates on the clinoform (creating the clinoform morphology). Less than 5% is believed to escape to the adjacent slope, and much of the remaining 75% is likely trapped on the inner-topset region (<20 m water depth) and within the mangrove forests and flood/delta plains of the northern GOP.