The Nature of Heterogeneity of High-Chromium Garnets in Xenolite of Deformed Lherzolite from Udachnaya Kimberlite Pipe (Yakutia)

Doklady Earth Sciences - Significant variations in the composition of garnets, both within individual grains and in the rock, are found in the xenolith of deformed garnet lherzolite from the...     

Type II-P Supernova SN 2018aoq in NGC 4151: Light Curves,Models, and Distance

Astronomy Letters - The results of UBVRIJHK photometry for the type II-P supernova SN 2018aoq in NGC 4151 obtained from April 4, 2018, to January 14, 2019, with several telescopes, including the...     

Geology of the Renard 65 kimberlite pipe,Québec,Canada

Renard 65, a diamondiferous pipe in the Neoproterozoic Renard kimberlite cluster (Québec, Canada), is a steeply-dipping and downward-tapering diatreme comprised of three pipe-filling units: kimb65a, kimb65b, and kimb65d. The pipe is surrounded by a marginal and variably-brecciated country rock aureole and is crosscut by numerous hypabyssal dykes: kimb65c. Extensive petrographic and mineralogical characterization of over 700 m of drill core from four separate drill holes, suggests that Renard 65 is a Group I kimberlite, mineralogically classified as phlogopite kimberlite and serpentine-phlogopite kimberlite. Kimb65a is a massive volcaniclastic kimberlite dominated by lithic clasts, magmaclasts, and discrete olivine macrocrysts, hosted within a fine-grained diopside and serpentine-rich matrix. Kimb65b is massive, macrocrystic, coherent kimberlite with a groundmass assemblage of phlogopite, spinel, perovskite, apatite, calcite, serpentine and rare monticellite. Kimb65c is a massive, macrocrystic, hypabyssal kimberlite with a groundmass assemblage of phlogopite, serpentine, calcite, perovskite, spinel, and apatite. Kimb65d is massive volcaniclastic kimberlite with localized textures that are intermediate between volcaniclastic and coherent, with tightly packed magmaclasts separated by a diopside- and serpentine-rich matrix. Lithic clasts of granite-gneiss in kimb65a are weakly reacted, with partial melting of feldspars and crystallization of richterite and actinolite. Lithic clasts in kimb65b and kimb65d are entirely recrystallized to calcite + serpentine/chlorite + pectolite and display inner coronas of diopside-aegirine and an outer corona of phlogopite. Compositions are reported for all minerals in the groundmass of coherent kimberlites, magmaclasts, interclast matrices, and reacted lithic clasts. The Renard 65 rocks are texturally classified as Kimberley-type pyroclastic kimberlites and display transitional textures. The kimberlite units are interpreted to have formed in three melt batches based on their distinct spinel chemistry: kimb65a, kimb65b and kimb65d. We note a strong correlation between the modal abundances of lithic clasts and the textures of the kimberlites, where increasing modal abundances of granite/gneiss are observed in kimberlites with increasingly fragmental textures.

     

Complex resistivity of mineral rocks in the context of the generalised effective‐medium theory of the induced polarisation effect

This paper develops the generalised effective‐medium theory of induced polarisation for rock models with elliptical grains and applies this theory to studying the complex resistivity of typical mineral rocks. We first demonstrate that the developed generalised effective‐medium theory of induced polarisation model can correctly represent the induced polarisation phenomenon in multiphase artificial rock samples manufactured using pyrite and magnetite particles. We have also collected representative rock samples from the Cu–Au deposit in Mongolia and subjected them to mineralogical analysis using Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy technology. The electrical properties of the same samples were determined using laboratory complex resistivity measurements. As a result, we have established relationships between the mineral composition of the rocks, determined using Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis, and the parameters of the generalised effective‐medium theory of induced polarisation model defined from the laboratory measurements of the electrical properties of the rocks. These relationships open the possibility for remote estimation of types of mineralisation and for mineral discrimination using spectral induced polarization data.     

Flat-Slab Thermal Structure and Evolution Beneath Central Mexico

Recent seismic and magnetotelluric experiments, aimed at better characterizing the shape and state of the subducting slab and continental crust beneath Central Mexico, exposed significant differences with conclusions of previous studies. A new slab geometry is revealed in which the subducting Cocos slab is perfectly flat between 120 to 290?km from the trench, after which it plunges into the asthenosphere at a dip angle of ~65°, in sharp contrast with the previously proposed ~20° dip angle. Seismic tomography studies show negative P-wave velocity anomalies (?2 to ?4%) in the mantle wedge beneath the Mexican Volcanic Belt, and positive anomalies (+2 to +3%) for the subducted Cocos slab. Magnetotelluric experiments exposed a very low-resistivity area (1?C10? ??m) located within the continental crust just below the Mexican Volcanic Arc. Finally, several spots of non-volcanic tremors (NVTs) have been recorded inside the continental crust above the flat-slab segment. While all these experiments provide a better picture of the subduction system beneath Central Mexico, several key processes need further investigation. In this study, we take advantage of these new observations to better constrain the thermal structure beneath Central Mexico. Two different thermal models are computed for a mantle potential temperature (T _p) of 1,350 and 1,450°C, respectively. The new thermal structures are then converted into P-wave velocity anomalies and compared with the observed V _p anomalies. We found that a T _p of 1,450°C produced larger V _p anomalies that do not fit the observations. However, using a T _p of only 1,350°C, our predicted V _p anomalies are positive (+2 to +3%) for the cold slab and negative (?2 to ?4%) in the mantle wedge. These V _p estimates are consistent with the observed seismic tomography from P-wave arrivals, and therefore we conclude that a T _p of 1,350°C is a better estimate for the mantle potential temperature beneath Central Mexico. The new thermal model, in conjunction with phase diagrams for sediments, hydrated basalt and lithospheric mantle, have been used to estimate the amount and location of fluids released from the subducting Cocos slab. Several dehydration pulses have been identified along the slab interface where most of the fluids stored in sediments and oceanic crust are released into the overlying continental crust above the flat-slab. We found a good correlation between the pattern of these dehydration pulses and the location of NVTs, suggesting that slab dehydration is responsible for triggering the tremors. We suggest that NVT bursts localized above the flat slab segment represent the manifestation of ongoing continental crust hydration and weakening, a process that has been going on since 15?Ma ago when the Cocos slab entered into a flat-slab regime. Such continuous weakening would have reduced the suction forces that kept the slab in a flat regime in the last 15?Ma, allowing the slab to easily roll back. The continuous low-resistivity region recorded beneath the volcanic front in Central Mexico might represent the evidence of slab dehydration and crust weakening over time.     

US-Russian Civilian Research and Development Fund Project： An origin of microdiamonds in metamorphic rocks of the Kokchetav Massif, Northern Kazakhstan

The Kokchetav Massif of northern Kazakhstan is a typelocality of occurrence of microdiamonds in ultrahighpressure metamorphic“ rocks. It records continental subduction and exhumation from depths greater than 120 km and provides unparalleled insights into mantle dynamics, global material recycling and the processes responsible for the genesis and destruction of continent. Through the support of a US Civilian Development and Research Fund, a group of Russian, US, Taiwanese and Kazakhstan geologists visited the reconstructed 800-m underground gallery to conduct field survey and sample collections. This gallery provides a useful geologic laboratory for international community to undertake similar geotectonic or different ecological and environmental studies.     

The transformation features of impurity defects in natural diamonds of various habits under high <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis> conditions

The results of the investigations of the transformation of impurity defects in natural diamonds of various habits at the stage of high-temperature annealing at P = 6 GPa and T = 2200°C are presented. The studies conducted allowed us to ascertain that the transformations of Aand B-defects in diamonds of octahedral and cubic habits follow general regularities. This fact shows that most of the diamonds of cubic habit with low degree of aggregation of nitrogen centers were not really annealed over a long-term interval. Unlike octahedral diamonds, those of cubic habit are characterized by a pronounced increase in the peak of H-containing defects (3107 cm^–1) after annealing.     

ASTRONIRCAM—the infrared camera-spectrograph for the 2.5-m telescope of SAI Caucasian observatory

ASTRONIRCAM is a cryogenic-cooled slit camera-spectrograph for the spectral range 1–2.5 μm installed at the Nasmyth focus of the 2.5-meter telescope of the Caucasian observatory of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The instrument is equipped with a HAWAII-2RG 2048×2048 HgCdTe array. Grisms are used as dispersive elements. In the photometric mode ASTRONIRCAM allows for extended astronomical object imaging in a 4.′6 × 4.′6 field of view with a 0.269 arcsec/pixel scale in standard photometric bands J, H, K, and K _s as well as in the narrow-band filters centered on the lines CH₄, [Fe II], H₂ v=1-0 S(1), Br _γ , and CO. In the spectroscopic mode, ASTRONIRCAM takes spectra of extended or point-like sources with a spectral resolution of R = λ/Δλ ≤ 1200. The general design, optical system, detector electronics and readout, amplification and digitization schemes are considered. The GAIN conversion factor measurement results are described as well as its dependence on the accumulated signal (nonlinearity).The full transmission of the atmosphere-to-detector train ranges from 40 to 50% in the wide-band photometry mode. The ASTRONIRCAMsensitivity at the 2.5-m telescope is characterized by the limiting J = 20, K = 19 stellar magnitudes measured with a 10% precision and 15 minute integration for 1″ atmospheric seeing conditions. References to the first results based on ASTRONIRCAM observations are given.