Simple models for dynamic melting in an upwelling heterogeneous mantle column: Analytical solutions

Several lines of evidence suggest that the melt generation and segregation regions of the mantle are heterogeneous, consisting of chemically and lithologically distinct domains of variable size and dimension. Partial melting of such heterogeneous mantle source regions gives rise to a diverse range of basaltic magmas. In order to better assess the role of source heterogeneity during mantle melting, we have undertaken a theoretical study of trace element distribution and fractionation during concurrent melting and melt migration in an upwelling, chemically heterogeneous, two-porosity double lithology melting column. Analytical solutions for the abundance of a trace element in the matrix and channel were obtained under the assumptions that the porosity, melt and solid velocities, and solid-melt partition coefficients are constant and uniform. For simplicity, we neglected diffusion and dispersion in the melt. Chemical source heterogeneities of arbitrary size and shape were integrated into the simple melting models by allowing trace element abundance in the source region to vary as a function of time and space. Concurrent melting and melt migration in an upwelling heterogeneous mantle may be approximated as a quasi-steady state problem in which time-dependent concentration patterns produced by melting of heterogeneous source regions are superimposed on a reference steady-state concentration distribution established by melting of the ambient or background mantle. Chromatographic fractionation is especially important for the matrix melt and solid when chemical heterogeneities are involved during melting and melt migration in the mantle, giving rise to significant phase-shift between two incompatible trace elements in the matrix melt and scattered correlations among incompatible trace elements in residual peridotites. Mixing is the chief mass transfer process in the dunite channel where the chromatographic effect is negligible for most of the incompatible trace elements. The lack of chromatographic fractionation among incompatible trace elements and isotopic ratios in MORB suggests either most MORB are channel melts or mixing in magma conduit and chamber is very efficient such that the phase-shift is averaged out during magma transport and storage processes. Advection brings melt produced by smaller-degree of melting in the deeper part of the melting column to the overlying melting region, increasing the incompatible trace element abundance in the matrix and the channel. This advection-induced self-enrichment is especially important when heterogeneous sources are involved and may account for some of the enriched incompatible trace element patterns observed in residual peridotite that were previously interpreted to be a result of mantle metasomatism. Systematic studies of high-resolution spatially correlated mantle samples may help to constrain the melting history and the size and nature of chemical heterogeneities in the mantle.     

Exurbia from the bottom-up: Confronting empirical challenges to characterizing a complex system

We describe empirical results from a multi-disciplinary project that support modeling complex processes of land-use and land-cover change in exurban parts of Southeastern Michigan. Based on two different conceptual models, one describing the evolution of urban form as a consequence of residential preferences and the other describing land-cover changes in an exurban township as a consequence of residential preferences, local policies, and a diversity of development types, we describe a variety of empirical data collected to support the mechanisms that we encoded in computational agent-based models. We used multiple methods, including social surveys, remote sensing, and statistical analysis of spatial data, to collect data that could be used to validate the structure of our models, calibrate their specific parameters, and evaluate their output. The data were used to investigate this system in the context of several themes from complexity science, including have (a) macro-level patterns; (b) autonomous decision making entities (i.e., agents); (c) heterogeneity among those entities; (d) social and spatial interactions that operate across multiple scales and (e) nonlinear feedback mechanisms. The results point to the importance of collecting data on agents and their interactions when producing agent-based models, the general validity of our conceptual models, and some changes that we needed to make to these models following data analysis. The calibrated models have been and are being used to evaluate landscape dynamics and the effects of various policy interventions on urban land-cover patterns.     

Church-based social capital, networks and geographical scale: Katrina evacuation, relocation, and recovery in a New Orleans Vietnamese American community

This research examines the role of social capital and networks to explain the evacuation, relocation, and recovery experiences of a Vietnamese American community in New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As the single largest community institution, the parish church’s complex bonding and bridging social capital and networks proved particularly critical in part because of its historically based ontological security. The process of evacuation, but especially relocation and recovery, was dependent on deploying co-ethnic social capital and networks at a variety of geographical scales. Beyond the local or community scale, extra-local, regional, and national scales of social capital and networks reproduced a spatially redefined Vietnamese American community. Part of the recovery process included constructing discursive place-based collective-action frames to successfully contest a nearby landfill that in turn engendered social capital and networks crossing ethnic boundaries to include the extra-local African American community. Engaging social capital and networks beyond the local geographical scale cultivated a Vietnamese American community with an emergent post-Katrina cultural and political identity.     

Considerations for conducting incubations to study the mechanisms of As release in reducing groundwater aquifers

Microbial Fe reduction is widely believed to be the primary mechanism of As release from aquifer sands in Bangladesh, but alternative explanations have been proposed. Long-term incubation studies using natural aquifer material are one way to address such divergent views. This study addresses two issues related to this approach: (1) the need for suitable abiotic controls and (2) the spatial variability of the composition of aquifer sands. Four sterilization techniques were examined using orange-colored Pleistocene sediment from Bangladesh and artificial groundwater over 8 months. Acetate (10 mM) was added to sacrificial vials before sterilization using either (1) 25 kGy of gamma irradiation, (2) three 1-h autoclave cycles, (3) a single addition of an antibiotic mixture at 1× or (4) 10× the typical dose, and (5) a 10 mM addition of azide. The effectiveness of sterilization was evaluated using two indicators of microbial Fe reduction, changes in diffuse spectral reflectance and leachable Fe(II)/Fe ratios, as well as changes in P-extractable As concentrations in the solid phase. A low dose of antibiotics was ineffective after 70 days, whereas autoclaving significantly altered groundwater composition. Gamma irradiation, a high dose of antibiotics, and azide were effective for the duration of the experiment.     

含硫化物脉状矿床成矿流体的中阶段 δD亏损：实例与原因

很多含硫化物脉状金银矿床的成矿过程可以大致分为3个阶段,从早到晚分别以形成黄铁矿-石英组合、多金属硫化物和碳酸盐网脉为标志.所谓中阶段δD亏损,是指在成矿流体δ18O逐渐降低(或升高)时,中阶段δD同时低于早阶段和晚阶段的δD.列举了一些矿床的氢氧同位素研究结果,例证了这种现象的存在;根据中阶段伴随大量硫化物沉淀的事实,认为硫化物沉淀时流体中H2S或HS-的H 被金属离子置换出来,H 加入到流体系统后导致了流体的中阶段δD亏损.对不同温度H2O-H2S体系1000In ot值的概算显示,在200-650℃温度范围,H2S或HS-的δD低于H2O的δD约211‰～478%‰,H2S或HS-中H 的少量释放即可导致流体水δD的显著降低.因此建议,成矿流体从早到晚δ18O逐渐降低,中阶段δD亏损的规律,可以作为含硫化物脉状矿床氢氧同位素演化的概念性模型.     

Biogeochemical characteristics of the Hetai goldfield, Guangdong Province, China

In the Hetai goldfield, Guangdong Province, China, samples including rocks, soils and leaves of four plants (Pinus massoniana, Rhodomyrms tomenlosa, D. linearis var. dichotoma and Embelia laeta) collected from the gold mineralization zone and the background area were analyzed for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg, As and physiological parameters. The objective of this investigation is to study the geochemical and biogeochemical characteristics of studied plants, aiming at biogeochemical methods in Au exploration. The goldfield region shows geochemical and biogeochemical anomalies. Abundances of Au in rocks, soils, plants and the leaf pigments in the mineralized area are much higher than those in the surrounding region. The plants display unhealthy physiological and ecological characteristics in the Hetai goldfield area. The cell structures of the goldfield plants were anomalous and aberrant, and there were many nano-metal particles diffused in mitochondria and chloroplasts. Macro- and microscopic evidences of the vegetation in the goldfield areas are distinctly different from the background regions. The strongly anomalies in responses to Au are profound in further geochemical and botanic exploration studies.     

渤海湾盆地新生界生油岩系底界面温度分布

依据渤海湾盆地2000余口测温井的地温梯度数据、地层岩性描述、分层数据以及钻井资料,计算了该盆地各生油岩系底界面的温度。统计结果表明:渤海湾盆地沙河街组大部分凹陷区地层底界面温度介于90℃至150℃,目前仍具有大量生油的温度条件,而在隆起或一些凸起地区,该地层组段温度普遍小于90℃,未能达到生油的温度指标。东营组和孔店组地层也仍具有一定的生油温度条件。研究还表明:地层温度与地层界面埋深密切相关,温度随界面埋深的增大而升高,沉积厚度大的凹陷区地层界面温度大于沉积厚度小的凸起区或斜坡地带,说明地层界面埋深是决定地温高低的主要控制因素,而地温梯度对地层界面温度的影响相对较小。     

辽东湾凝析气田超压成因及侧向传递机制初探

位于辽东湾西部低凸起北端的JZ20-2超压凝析气田,离供烃中心较远,压力系数却达到1.56~1.7,这在我国东部裂谷盆地比较少见。经过综合分析,作者认为JZ20-2凝析气田异常高压的形成与其所处的特殊地质背景紧密相关,辽中凹陷沙河街组三段超压凝析油气沿不整合面、砂体输导通道向辽东湾西部低凸起的运移、充注和能量的侧向传递是JZ20-2凝析气田异常高压形成的根本原因,而上覆东营组二段下亚段-东营组三段巨厚的强超压泥岩封盖和辽西3号边界断层侧向遮挡共同构成的优越封闭环境是超压保存的必要条件。本文分析了该气田超压特征及其远距离超压侧向传递的成因机制,不仅有助于揭示辽东湾西部低凸起超压流体运移聚集的规律和成藏作用,而且可能提供了一个超压远距离侧向传递的典型实例。     

Wenchuan Earthquake： Way of thinking is changed

On 12 May, 2008, at 14：28：04 local time, an Ms 8.0 earthquake struck the Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, in southwest China （Figure 1）. This quake left about 70,000 people dead, 18,000 missing and over 370,000 injured. In the 75 days after the main shock, 20,000 aftershocks were recorded, which included 241 with Ms≥4.0, 205 with 4.0≤M≤4.9, 30 with 5.0≤Ms≤5.9, and 6 with Ms≥6.0. The largest aftershock took place 13 days after the main shock, in Qingchuan County, 110 km northeast of the epicenter of the quake （Chen, 2008）. The losses from the quaketriggered geological disasters accounted for over a third of the total quake losses, which is extremely rare in the history of earthquake disasters. Secondary disasters, such as landslides, rockslides, landfalls, debris flows, etc., were widely distributed. Large numbers of buildings collapsed, including ones with steel reinforcing in the area of the epicenter. Infrastructure was badly damaged. In many areas, communications, and power and water supplies were cut off. The earthquake left over 35 large quake-dammed lakes, which threatened further disasters in the catchment areas.