Rank-Size Statistical Assessments of Undiscovered Gold Endowment in the Bendigo and Stawell Zones (Victoria) and the Mossman Orogen (Queensland), Australia: Comparison with Three-Part Assessment Results

The Bendigo and Stawell zones in Victoria and the Mossman Orogen in north Queensland host numerous orogenic gold deposits and are likely to contain significant undiscovered gold resources. This paper discusses applications of Zipf’s law to estimate the scale of residual gold endowment in each of the regions. Testing various plausible scenarios on whether or not the largest deposit in each region has been discovered and its endowment adequately evaluated provided some measure of uncertainty of assessment results. The Bendigo and Stawell zones are estimated to host 12 undiscovered ore fields with >31 t (1 Moz) of contained gold and another 35 undiscovered ore fields with >10 t (0.32 Moz) of gold, containing in total 1600 t (51 Moz) of gold. The total residual orogenic gold endowment of the Mossman Orogen is estimated to be between 3 and 30 t of gold, contained in extensions of known deposits and up to six significant undiscovered gold ore fields each containing >1 t of gold. These estimates are comparable to results of recent three-part quantitative mineral resource assessments for those areas.     

Fluid Borders: Rethinking Historical Geography and Fixed Map Boundaries in Contested Regions

This article introduces a quantitative methodology for analyzing contested map borders. The article applies the new analytical technique to a data set of thirty maps showing Bulgaria in ca. 800 CE, a disputed state and period in medieval historiography with relevance to modern national politics and territorial claims. Based on the data set, we generate a series of new maps that make explicit the fluid medieval boundaries and general disagreement among geographers and historiographers. Our analysis begins with a simple point-in-polygon procedure to create a majority map that depicts the points included within the borders of the Bulgarian polity in sixteen or more of the maps (>50 percent). The majority map is then combined with percentage maps, confidence interval map boundaries, and cluster maps. The confidence interval maps are created via a spatial bootstrapping procedure and measure the uncertainty in the majority map. The cluster maps are developed via a radial basis function and provide insight into the potential affectivity based on the cartographers' countries of origin. The final map reflects the general modern consensus of the borders of the Bulgarian polity around 800 CE. Besides its quantitative contribution to medieval and modern cartographic, historiographical, and political debates, this article has developed a widely applicable methodology for synthesizing map borders and territories in cases of cartographic disagreement.     

Crustal low-velocity zone south of Shatsky Rise,northwest Pacific Ocean

The detailed seismic refraction investigation of the oceanic crust south of Shatsky Rise in the Northwestern Pacific revealed a low velocity zone (LVZ) with an average compressional wave velocity of 6.3 km/s within layer 3. This conclusion is based on the shadow zone for refractions on the travel time curves in their first arrivals from the M discontinuity. The LVZ may be composed of oceanic plagiogranites because serpentinization of peridotites would probably lead to an increase in crustal block volume with a concomitent decrease in density and thereby thickening and upwelling at the place of now “overdeepened” ocean would be expected.     

Mobilization of metals from riverine suspended matter in seawater

Suspended matter from rivers in the Russian Far East was leached by seawater to assess the extent of Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cu release from the land-derived solids to estuarine and coastal waters. The concentration of solids in the leaching experiments was 0.25 g/l. The suspended matter used varied in metal content from background levels to heavily contaminated.The concentration of Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cu in the leaching solution after 1, 4, 24, 48, and 96 h was determined by anodic stripping voltammetry. Measurable Cd was transferred from river suspended matter to seawater with both background and elevated Cd concentrations, though the amount of Cd released was different. The increase in Zn and Pb in solution was observed only at the enriched concentration of metals in the suspended solids. The Cu transfer into solution was more pronounced from material with elevated Cu concentration, but the amount of degradable organic matter in the solid phase was more important.The losses of metals from the riverine solids varied from 60% to 80% of total concentration for Cd to negligible for Pb, independent of contamination. The Zn loss depended on the initial concentration in the solids and decreased from 11–16% for the heavily contaminated suspended matter to 3–8% for the moderately enriched ones and to negligible for the pristine solids. Cu loss varied from 1% to 30% of total content, with no clear dependence on concentration in the suspended matter.The significance of additional input of dissolved metals to estuarine and coastal waters from remobilization was assessed by comparison with the initial concentration of dissolved metals in river water. Such experiments could be used to assess the water quality impact of atmospheric fallout of contaminated solids and storm drainage from the urbanized areas, in addition to river suspended matter studies.     

Fluid inclusions in granulite-facies metapelites of the Hercynian ancient lower crust of the Serre,Calabria, Southern Italy

Investigations of fluid inclusions in granulitefacies metapelites of southern Calabria enable characterization of the fluid composition of these lower crustal rocks, and constrain the petrologically deduced retrograde P-T path characterized by isothermal uplift prior to isobaric cooling in middle crustal levels. Fluid inclusions in cordierite, garnet and sillimanite have a CO₂-rich composition. Inclusions in cordierite rarely contain minor amounts of N₂ and H₂O, and in garnets some CO₂–CH₄–N₂ inclusions have been analyzed by Raman microprobe. Quartz reveals the most complex fluid melusion compositions (1) CO₂-rich, (2) CO₂–CH₄–N₂, (3) CH₄–N₂, (4) H₂O–MgCl₂–CaCl₂–NaCl, (5) H₂O–NaCl and (6) H₂O–CO₂. The earliest fluid inclusions after peak metamorphism are rich in CO₂ with minor amounts of N₂ and H₂O. An early CO₂–(H₂O–N₂) fluid composition has been confirmed by detection of CO₂, H₂O and N₂ in the channels of the cordierite structure. Most of the early CO₂-rich fluid inclusions were modified during the uplift from the lower to the middle crustal level, resulting in a density decrease with CO₂ still dominant. The subsequent isobaric cooling led to further modifications of the fluid inclusions. High-density inclusions around implosion textures or scattered amongst lower-density ones must have formed during this cooling episode. Aqueous inclusions in quartz are mostly formed late and are consistent with trapping during retrograde rehydration.This project has been supported by the DFG as contribution to the special program Continental Lower Crust     

Models of the wave boundary layer

A general approach to model the structure of the wave boundary layer, based on the nonlinear Reynolds equations in a curvilinear system of coordinates, is described. Both spectral and numerical grid models are used. The energetic interactions between wind and wave in terms of Miles' parameter are studied. For waves outrunning or running against the wind, the range of the inverse flux of energy is found. For waves running slower than the wind, quadratic growth of is established. Vertical profiles of the wave momentum flux for different fetches are given. Following P. Janssen, a one-dimensional analytical model of the wave boundary layer is suggested. The effect of waves on the drag coefficient is analyzed.