Late Cenozoic brittle deformation in the Southern Patagonian Andes: Record of plate coupling/decoupling during variable subduction?

The Andes of southern Patagonia experienced a Miocene shift towards faster and higher angle subduction followed by the approach and collision of the Chile oceanic ridge. We present a kinematic study characterizing palaeostress fields computed from brittle tectonics to better constrain upper crustal deformation during this complex scenario. Although previous studies already suggested variable kinematics, it is striking that in a long‐lasting subduction environment, the computed palaeostress tensors are mostly strike‐slip (55%), while 35% are extensional, and only 10% compressive which are concentrated along a main frontal thrust. Cross‐cutting relationships and synsedimentary deformation indicate that a long‐lived strike‐slip regime was punctuated by a lower Miocene extensional event in the foreland before the main compressional event. The results are discussed in contrasting geodynamic models of plate coupling/decoupling versus direction and rate of convergence of the subducting plate, to explain the main mechanisms that control back‐arc deformation.     

The geochemistry of carbonatites and related rocks from two carbonatite complexes,south Nyanza,Kenya

Carbonatites, metasomatised country rocks, and carbonatitic calcite and magnetite have been analysed from two carbonatite complexes, Homa and Wasaki, W. Kenya.The carbonatites are all greatly Ce-earth enriched, contain abundant ‘carbonatitic’ trace elements (Sr, Ba, Nb and REE), and generally low concentrations of Cr, Co, Ni, Pb, Ga, Ge, Sn, Bi, Li and Mo. At both complexes early søvite is rich in Sr, and impoverished in other trace elements relative to the alvikites. The late-intruded melacarbonatites contain the greatest concentrations of Ba, REE, Fe and Mn.It is concluded that the accumulation of these elements in the later carbonatites is mainly due to fractionation of carbonates from carbonatite magma which was initially rich in ‘carbonatitic’ trace elements.     

Dauphiné twinning in deformed quartzites: Implications of an in situ TEM study of the α-β phase transformation

The occurrence of Dauphiné twinning in deformed quartzites has been investigated by means of hotstage high voltage transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In-situ observations show that Dauphiné twins created during the - phase transition interact strongly with dislocation substructures, with the result that some twins persist at temperatures many degrees below the phase transition temperature, and probably to room temperature. Attempts were made to establish whether Dauphiné twinning was responsible for the differences in preferred orientations between positive and negative rhombs, reported by Tullis and Tullis (1972) in quartzites experimentally loaded below the yield stress at various temperatures. The results were inconclusive. We could not identify any Dauphiné twinning in the samples, even in regions where there were concentrations of dislocations.     

Weak gravitational lensing in the standard cold dark matter model, using an algorithm for three-dimensional shear

We investigate the effects of weak gravitational lensing in the standard cold dark matter cosmology, using an algorithm that evaluates the shear in three dimensions. The algorithm has the advantage of variable softening for the particles, and our method allows the appropriate angular diameter distances to be applied to every evaluation location within each three-dimensional simulation box. We investigate the importance of shear in the distance–redshift relation, and find it to be very small. We also establish clearly defined values for the smoothness parameter in the relation, finding its value to be at least 0.83 at all redshifts in our simulations. From our results, obtained by linking the simulation boxes back to source redshifts of 4, we are able to observe the formation of structure in terms of the computed shear, and also note that the major contributions to the shear come from a very broad range of redshifts. We show the probability distributions for the magnification, source ellipticity and convergence, and also describe the relationships amongst these quantities for a range of source redshifts. We find a broad range of magnifications and ellipticities; for sources at a redshift of 4, 97.5 per cent of all lines of sight show magnifications up to 1.39 and ellipticities up to 0.23. There is clear evidence that the magnification is not linear in the convergence, as might be expected for weak lensing, but contains contributions from higher order terms in both the convergence and the shear. Our results for the one-point distribution functions are generally different from those obtained by other authors using two-dimensional (planar) approaches, and we suggest reasons for the differences. Our magnification distributions for sources at redshifts of 1 and 0.5 are also very different from the results used by other authors to assess the effect on the perceived value of the deceleration parameter, and we briefly address this question.     

General Characteristics of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Over a Flaw Lead Polynya Region in Winter and Spring

A time series of microwave radiometric profiles over Arctic Canada’s Cape Bathurst (70°N, 124.5°W) flaw lead polynya region from 1 January to 30 June, 2008 was examined to determine the general characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer in winter and spring. A surface based or elevated inversion was present on 97% of winter (January–March) days, and on 77% of spring (April–June) days. The inversion was the deepest in the first week of March (≈1100 m), and the shallowest in June (≈250 m). The mean temperature and absolute humidity from the surface to the top of the inversion averaged 250.1 K (−23.1°C), and 0.56 × 10⁻³ kg m⁻³ in winter, and in spring averaged 267.5 K (−5.6°C), and 2.77 × 10⁻³ kg m⁻³. The median winter atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) potential temperature profile provided evidence of a shallow, weakly stable internal boundary layer (surface to 350 m) topped by an inversion (350–1,000 m). The median spring profile showed a shallow, near-neutral internal boundary layer (surface to 350 m) under an elevated inversion (600–800 m). The median ABL absolute humidity profiles were weakly positive in winter and negative in spring. Estimates of the convergence of sensible heat and water vapour from the surface that could have produced the turbulent internal boundary layers of the median profiles were 0.67 MJ m⁻² and 13.1 × 10⁻³ kg m⁻² for the winter season, and 0.66 MJ m⁻² and 33.4 × 10⁻³ kg m⁻² for the spring season. With fetches of 10–100 km, these accumulations may have resulted from a surface sensible heat flux of 15–185 W m⁻², plus a surface moisture flux of 0.001–0.013 mm h⁻¹ (or a latent heat flux of 0.7–8.8 W m⁻²) in winter, and 0.003–0.033 mm h⁻¹ (or a latent heat flux of 2–22 W m⁻²) in spring.     

Hydro‐climatic variability and trends in Washington State for the last 50 years

Historical records of monthly streamflow and precipitation coupled with mean, minimum, and maximum air temperatures for Washington State were used to study the variation and the trend characteristics that occurred over the last 50 years (1952–2002). Results indicate that the 1967 statewide water resource assessment needs to be updated because all of the stations used in that study exhibited a decreasing trend in annual streamflow ranging from ?0·9% to ?49·3%, with an arithmetic mean of ?11·7% and a median value of ?9·8%. Furthermore, a slightly decreasing trend in annual streamflow, although not statistically significant, was detected. The decreasing streamflow magnitude was about ?1·178 mm year^?2, or 4·88 m³ s^?1 year^?1, which caused a decrease in annual streamflow in the state of about 58·9 mm, or 244 m³ s^?1. This magnitude was about 9·6% of the average annual streamflow for the entire state from 1952 to 2002. Contrastingly, the overall annual precipitation in the entire state increased 1·375 mm year^?2. Overall the annual means of daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperature increased by 0·122, 0·048, and 0·185 °C/10 years, respectively, during the study period. Thus the corresponding annual means of daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures increased by 0·61, 0·24, and 0·93 °C, respectively. All of these trends and magnitudes were found to vary considerably from station to station and month to month. The possible reasons resulting in these detected trends include, but are not limited to, human activities, climate variability and changes, and land use and land cover changes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconstructing climate and environmental change in northern England through chironomid and pollen analyses: evidence from Talkin Tarn, Cumbria

Chironomids have been used extensively for reconstructing past temperatures from the late glacial chronozone but far less work has focused on their use as temperature proxies throughout the Holocene, and little work has been undertaken within the UK. Northern England does have many detailed palaeoclimate records, although the majority of these are reconstructions from ombrotrophic peat bogs, which yield a combined temperature and precipitation proxy record. A lake sediment core from Talkin Tarn, dating back 6000 years, was therefore analysed for chironomid remains in an attempt to produce a Holocene temperature reconstruction. Although chironomids have been shown to respond to air temperature by many modern training sets, it is also known that they can respond to other environmental factors. Pollen and loss-on-ignition analyses were therefore undertaken to ascertain whether the lake had been subjected to major environmental changes. Some anthropogenic changes in land use were detected, which may have affected the lake water chemistry and sediments, but they seem to have had little direct impact on the chironomid fauna for the majority of the record. Part of the geology of the catchment is limestone, which suggests that the lake may be buffered against any changes in pH. A chironomid-inferred mean July temperature transfer function from a Norwegian training set was applied to the chironomid data and produced a reconstruction with significant fluctuations throughout the later Holocene, which were associated with cold and warm stenotherms within the assemblages. The uppermost chironomid sample from the lake core (less than 100 years old) has a reconstructed temperature of 14.6 °C (± sample-specific error of 1.18 °C), which compares well with the contemporary mean July average of 14.8 °C. It is therefore concluded that chironomids can be used to reconstruct Holocene temperature, provided the site is well-buffered in relation to pH changes and can be shown not to have been influenced to any great extent by anthropogenic disturbance.     

The Bencubbin stony-iron meteorite breccia: Electron petrography,shock-history and affinities of a “carbonaceous chondrite” clast

Abstract— A “carbonaceous chondrite” clast from Bencubbin was studied by analytical transmission electron microscopy and other electron beam techniques. In section, the clast consists of oval augen, with a preferred orientation, set in fine-grained matrix. The augen comprise olivine microphenocrysts in fine-grained to glassy mesostases. The olivines are heavily deformed, giving rise to mosaicism. Many sub-grains have high densities of dislocations with [001] Burgers vectors. In some regions the dislocation configurations are recovered, causing a reduced dislocation density; recrystallization is rarer. Severe cataclasis is absent; there are few open fractures and little intergranular porosity except where a second phase occurs. Such porosity in olivine mainly occurs as finescale negative crystals, which appear to be healed cracks. Some mesostases consist of small amounts of microporous oxides and feldspathic glass but glassy veins are absent. Pyrhottite and Fe/Ni sulfides are major mesostasis constituents that rarely form tongues between the olivines, which commonly include smaller sulfide blebs. The matrix of the clast has abundant sulfides and fine-grained, poorly crystalline Fe- and Fe/Ni-oxides, with more sparse ferrihydrite. The oxides mostly occur in contact with, or within, aluminous and siliceous glassy material in which crystals of melilite, spinel, Ca-pyroxene, feldspar, and other minor silicate phases have grown. Small patches of fibrous and/or sheet-like Mg/Fe silicates with layer morphologies also occur. They are microporous, poorly crystalline and lack the layer spacings of phyllosilicates, of which they may be relics. Grains of anhydrite and calcite are interlaced with fibrous silicates. There is evidence that one, or more, intense shock-heating event(s) produced local melting. A later shock event(s) involved less severe shock-heating, to about 900 °C. The mineralogy indicates that the clast may have originated from a CM2 precursor or from material like Allan Hills 85085, although it is just possible that terrestrial weathering produced some of the diagnostic minerals.