Physical and chemical steady-state compaction in deep-sea sediments: Role of mineral reactions

Marine sediments typically exhibit steep porosity gradients in their uppermost centimeters. Although the decrease in porosity with depth below the sediment-water interface is primarily due to compression arising from the accumulation of overlying sediment, early diagenetic mineral dissolution and precipitation reactions may potentially also affect the porosity gradient. Here, we present a steady state compaction model, based on the mass and momentum conservation of total fluid and solid phases, in order to quantify the relative contributions of mineral reactions and physical compaction on porosity changes. The compaction model is applied to estimate hydraulic conductivity and compressive response coefficients of deep-sea sediments from measured porosity depth profiles. The results suggest an inverse relation between the compressive response coefficient and the lithogenic content of marine sediments. For deep-sea sediments exhibiting high rates of dissolution of siliceous shell fragments, the compaction model ignoring mineral reactions overestimates the hydraulic conductivity and compressive response coefficients. In contrast to non-compacting porous media, mineral dissolution in surficial sediments can lead to lower porosity. However, as illustrated for a deep-sea sediment in the equatorial Atlantic characterized by extensive dissolution of calcareous shell fragments, the effect of mineral dissolution and precipitation reactions on porosity gradients is, in most cases, negligible.     

Collapsing volcanoes: the sleeping giants' threat

Dormant volcanoes are typically thought of as relatively safe environments to live around. However, under certain geological conditions, such volcanoes can be prone to collapse and may generate massive rockslide avalanches reaching tens of kilometres from the volcano.     

Sensitivity of two psychrophilic diatoms to crude oil and fuel oil

Two pure cultures of diatoms, a Nitzschia sp. and a Chaetoceros sp., were grown at 0°C or 10°C in the presence of two crude oils and two fuel oils. The petroleum samples were absorbed onto filter paper discs and added directly to the algal cultures. In all cases the organisms were much more sensitive to the crude oils or fuel oils when growing at 0°C than at 10°C. The rate of photosynthesis measured by an oxygen electrode for Nitzschia sp. grown and tested at 0°C was not affected during 3 hours' incubation with some four times the amount of a crude oil or fuel oil that blocked growth. The experiments lead to the cautious suggestion that psychrophilic algae will prove some fivefold more sensitive than mesophilic algae to petroleum pollution.     

Containment of groundwater pollution (methyl tertiary butyl ether and benzene) to protect a drinking-water production site in Belgium

The subsurface migration of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and benzene towards a drinking-water production site in Belgium was monitored for 9 years. A large gasoline spill at a nearby fuel station had caused a 500-m long and 50-m-wide pollution plume of MTBE (10?30 mg/L) and benzene (2?10 mg/L). In order to prevent any intrusion of pollutants into the drinking-water supply, a conceptual model was used to design a pump-and-treat system that intercepted the gasoline-contaminated groundwater emanating from the spill. The contaminated soil in the spill zone was excavated. A numerical mass transport model was developed to evaluate the ongoing plume containment. The model describes the subsurface MTBE migration and was regularly updated, based on groundwater monitoring data and the measured mass of MTBE extracted with the pump-and-treat system. With continued interception pumping, the MTBE plume can be remediated in 14 years. Without it, MTBE and benzene concentrations up to 600 μg/L could have reached the drinking-water production site and the plume would persist for 9 years longer. Source zone treatment combined with plume interception pumping is a suitable risk-based remediation strategy for the containment of MTBE and benzene groundwater pollution.     

The nature of MIS 3 stadial–interstadial transitions in Europe: New insights from model–data comparisons

15 abrupt warming transitions perturbed glacial climate in Greenland during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3, 60–27 ka BP). One hypothesis states that the 8–16 °C warming between Greenland Stadials (GS) and Interstadials (GI) was caused by enhanced heat transport to the North Atlantic region after a resumption of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) from a weak or shutdown stadial mode. This hypothesis also predicts warming over Europe, a prediction poorly constrained by data due to the paucity of well-dated quantitative temperature records. We therefore use a new evidence from biotic proxies and a climate model simulation to study the characteristics of a GS–GI transition in continental Europe and the link to enhanced AMOC strength. We compare reconstructed climatic and vegetation changes between a stadial and subsequent interstadial – correlated to GS15 and GI14 (～55 ka BP) – with a simulated AMOC resumption using a three-dimensional earth system model setup with early-MIS 3 boundary conditions. Over western Europe (12°W–15°E), we simulate twice the annual precipitation, a 17 °C warmer coldest month, a 8 °C warmer warmest month, 1300 °C-day more growing degree days with baseline 5 °C (GDD5) and potential vegetation allowing tree cover after the transition. However, the combined effect of frequent killing frosts, <20 mm summer precipitation and too few GDD5 after the transition suggest a northern tree limit lying at ～50°N during GI14. With these 3 climatic limiting factors we provide a possible explanation for the absence of forests north of 48°N during MIS 3 interstadials with mild summers. Finally, apart from a large model bias in warmest month surface air temperatures, our simulation is in reasonable agreement with reconstructed climatic and vegetation changes in Europe, thus further supporting the hypothesis.     

Fluid-escape features as a precursor of a large sublacustrine sediment slide in Lake Le Bourget, NW Alps, France

The north‐western corner of Lake Le Bourget is situated along an active fault zone and accommodated a large sediment supply from the Rhone River until the end of the Late Glacial period. On the delta slope, the Holocene sheet drape that covers the largest buried mass wasting deposit (the HDU) shows undulations, small fractures and discontinuities that are attributed to downslope creep. Evidence for episodes of vigorous fluid expulsion is found in association with these discontinuities. All these features are rooted at the top of the HDU and occur along two specific isobaths. These observations indicate a close link between fractures and focused fluid flow. We suggest that focused fluid flow triggered by earthquakes facilitates the formation of small‐scale faults that accommodate part of the downslope movement and eventually link up to form a head‐scarp of a large slide (c. 10⁷ m³).     

Predicting Nocturnal Wind and Temperature Profiles Based on External Forcing Parameters

We introduce a simple, physically consistent method to predict nocturnal wind and temperature profiles from external forcing parameters such as the geostrophic wind. As an indicator of the radiative ??forcing?? the net longwave radiative cooling is used as a proxy. Surface fluxes are expressed in terms of these parameters by coupling an Ekman model to a rudimentary surface energy balance. Additionally the model assumes validity of Monin-Obukhov similarity in order to predict near-surface wind and temperature profiles up to a height equal to the Obukhov length. The predictions are validated against an independent dataset that covers 11-years of observations at Cabauw, The Netherlands. It is shown that the characteristic profiles in response to external forcings are well-captured by the conceptual model. For this period the observational climatology is in close agreement with ECMWF re-analysis data. As such, the conceptual model provides an alternative tool to giving a first-order estimate of the nocturnal wind and temperature profile near the surface in cases when advanced numerical or observational infrastructure is not available.     

The formation of IIE iron meteorites investigated by the chondrule‐bearing Mont Dieu meteorite

A 435 kg piece of the Mont Dieu iron meteorite (MD) contains cm‐sized silicate inclusions. Based on the concentration of Ni, Ga, Ge, and Ir (8.59 ± 0.32 wt%, 25.4 ± 0.9 ppm, 61 ± 2 ppm, 7.1 ± 0.4 ppm, respectively) in the metal host, this piece can be classified as a IIE nonmagmatic iron. The silicate inclusions possess a chondritic mineralogy and relict chondrules occur throughout the inclusions. Major element analysis, oxygen isotopic analysis (Δ¹⁷O = 0.71 ± 0.02‰), and mean Fa and Fs molar contents (Fa_{15.7 ± 0.4} and Fs_{14.4 ± 0.5}) indicate that MD originated as an H chondrite. Because of strong similarities with Netschaëvo IIE, MD can be classified in the most primitive subgroup of the IIE sequence. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 4536 ± 59 Ma and 4494 ± 95 Ma obtained on pyroxene and plagioclase inclusions show that MD belongs to the old (~4.5 Ga) group of IIE iron meteorites and that it has not been perturbed by any subsequent heating event following its formation. The primitive character of MD sheds light on the nature of its formation process, its thermal history, and the evolution of its parent body.     

A search for shocked quartz grains in the Allerød‐Younger Dryas boundary layer

The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis suggests that multiple airbursts or extraterrestrial impacts occurring at the end of the Allerød interstadial resulted in the Younger Dryas cold period. So far, no reproducible, diagnostic evidence has, however, been reported. Quartz grains containing planar deformation features (known as shocked quartz grains), are considered a reliable indicator for the occurrence of an extraterrestrial impact when found in a geological setting. Although alleged shocked quartz grains have been reported at a possible Allerød‐Younger Dryas boundary layer in Venezuela, the identification of shocked quartz in this layer is ambiguous. To test whether shocked quartz is indeed present in the proposed impact layer, we investigated the quartz fraction of multiple Allerød‐Younger Dryas boundary layers from Europe and North America, where proposed impact markers have been reported. Grains were analyzed using a combination of light and electron microscopy techniques. All samples contained a variable amount of quartz grains with (sub)planar microstructures, often tectonic deformation lamellae. A total of one quartz grain containing planar deformation features was found in our samples. This shocked quartz grain comes from the Usselo palaeosol at Geldrop Aalsterhut, the Netherlands. Scanning electron microscopy cathodoluminescence imaging and transmission electron microscopy imaging, however, show that the planar deformation features in this grain are healed and thus likely to be older than the Allerød‐Younger Dryas boundary. We suggest that this grain was possibly eroded from an older crater or distal ejecta layer and later redeposited in the European sandbelt. The single shocked quartz grain at this moment thus cannot be used to support the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis.