Radiation-induced paramagnetic defects in natural kaolinites: Alpha dosimetry with ion beam irradiation

Three types of paramagnetic radiation-induced defects (RID), namely A, A′ (Si-O^?-centers) and B (Al-O^?-Al center), had been identified in natural kaolinites by means of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The A-center, stable at the scale of geological periods, was thought to be of particular relevance to quantify past transits of radionuclides in the geosphere. Alpha radiation being likely the main source of RID in kaolinite, the objective of this paper is to define the role of α-particles on the creation of RID and to test the use of A-centers for an α-dosimetry. Three kaolinites with different crystalline order and containing other clays as impurities were irradiated with He⁺ ion beams. The radiation dose range (0–750 MGy) was consistent with natural radioactivity in environments from the Earth's surface. Irradiation drastically enhanced the original signals due to RID. An important increase of concentration of the unstable B-center, partly due to unrealistic dose rate provided by accelerator ion beam, was observed from the lower doses. The most stable defects remained of the Atype all along experimental irradiations. The contribution of ancillary phyllosilicates to EPR spectra was negligible. The concentration of the three types of RID was related to radiation doses up to 30 MGy. Dosimetry growth curves for the A-centers exhibited variable efficiencies and saturation levels that were related to the structural order and the chemical purity of the kaolinites: the more ordered and purer the kaolinite, the higher the efficiency and the lower the saturation plateau. Moreover, these results are of geochemical significance: dosimetry based on A-centers could be directly used to quantify past migrations of radioelements in the geosphere, by determination of the naturally-cumulated doses (paleodose) of kaolinites.     

Routes of plutonium uptake and their relation to biomagnification in starfish

The distribution of ^{239 + 240}Pu and ²³⁸Pu in environmental samples of starfish tissues is identical to the tissue distribution observed in experimental animals following uptake of plutonium directly from water. Plutonium in sea water has a strong affinity for the mucus-rich epidermal layer of starfish which contributes substantially to the relatively high levels of this transuranium nuclide measured in these invertebrates. Transfer of plutonium to starfish via food also occurs; however, the resultant tissue distribution is not consistent with that found in the natural environment where plutonium is available from both contaminated food and water. These data suggest that food chain biomagnification of plutonium by starfish does not occur in nature as has been previously hypothesized.     

An iron-rich deposit from the Northeast Pacific

An iron-rich deposit dredged from the upper flank of Dellwood Seamount in the Northeast Pacific has been analyzed for major and trace elements, rare-earth contents and uranium isotopic composition. In terms of mineralogy and overall chemical composition, the deposit resembles other iron-rich deposits variously attributed to volcanic hydrothermal activity. Both the relative concentrations of the rare-earth elements and the isotopic composition of uranium rule out seawater as the sole source of elements in this deposit. The rare-earth element pattern indicates that these elements were derived from the underlying basalt. The²³⁴U/²³⁸U ratio is significantly higher than in seawater and can best be explained by preferential leaching of²³⁴U generated by decay from its parent²³⁸U in the underlying rock and subsequent redeposition of the excess²³⁴U together with the Fe and minor metals. These data are consistent with a model for the origin of submarine metal-rich solutions involving mobilization of elements from the interior of slowly cooling basalts by circulating seawater.     

The recent fault scarps of the Western Alps (France): Tectonic surface ruptures or gravitational sackung scarps? A combined mapping, geomorphic, levelling, and Be dating approach

In the Western Alps, some recent scarps were previously interpreted as surface ruptures of tectonic reverse and normal faults that agree with microseismicity and GPS measurements. Our analysis shows that in fact there are hundreds of recent scarps, up to 30 m high and 2.1 km long, with only pure normal motions. They share the same characteristics as typical sackung scarps. The scarps are mainly uphill facing, parallel to the ridge crests and the contour lines. They are relatively short (less than 2.1 km) with respect to tectonic fault ruptures, and organized in swarms. They cut screes and relict rock glaciers with a slow (commonly 1 mm/year) average slip rate. In the Aiguilles Grives massif these sackung scarps clearly express the gravitational toppling of sub-vertical bedding planes in hard rocks. In contrast, the Belledonne Outer Crystalline Massif exhibits scarps that stem from the gravitational reactivation of conjugate tectonic faults. The recent faults extend to about 1600 m beneath the Rognier ridge crest, but are always above the valley floor. The main scarp swarm is 9.2 km long and constitutes the largest sackung ever described in the Western Alps. ¹⁰Be dating of a scarp and offset surfaces shows that > 4 m slip may have occurred rapidly (in less than 3800 years) sometimes between the end of the glaciation and 8800 ± 1900 years ago. This dating, together with the location of some faults far from the deep glacial valleys, suggests that sagging might have been triggered by strong earthquakes during a post-glacial period of probably enhanced seismicity. The Belledonne and Synclinal Median faults (just beneath the Rognier sackung) could have been the sources of this seismicity.     

Marine-derived C calibration and activity record for the past 50,000 years updated from the Cariaco Basin

An expanded Cariaco Basin ¹⁴C chronology is tied to ²³⁰Th-dated Hulu Cave speleothem records in order to provide detailed marine-based ¹⁴C calibration for the past 50,000 years. The revised, high-resolution Cariaco ¹⁴C calibration record agrees well with data from ²³⁰Th-dated fossil corals back to 33 ka, with continued agreement despite increased scatter back to 50 ka, suggesting that the record provides accurate calibration back to the limits of radiocarbon dating. The calibration data document highly elevated Δ¹⁴C during the Glacial period. Carbon cycle box model simulations show that the majority of observed Δ¹⁴C change can be explained by increased ¹⁴C production. However, from 45 to 15 ka, Δ¹⁴C remains anomalously high, indicating that the distribution of radiocarbon between surface and deep ocean reservoirs was different than it is today. Additional observations of the magnitude, spatial extent and timing of deep ocean Δ¹⁴C shifts are critical for a complete understanding of observed Glacial Δ¹⁴C variability.     

Stress, failure and fluid flow deduced from earthquakes accompanying eruptions at Piton de la Fournaise volcano

In the present episode of eruptive activity, evidence from seismicity for sustained magma inflow from depth into the edifice of Piton de la Fournaise is lacking. Pre-eruptive main deformation and shallow seismicity help to identify very small volumes of magma that are in motion beneath the rim of the Dolomieu summit crater, and oriented along the azimuth of the future vents. Small magma pockets may reside in the cone above sea level, or may be expelled repeatedly, due to crystallisation in a small, low-velocity, aseismic region below sea level under the high-velocity central plug of the cone in which pre-eruptive earthquake swarms are located. In cross-section the hypocentres define two steep sheets diverging from the aseismic zone at sea level towards 1.5 km above sea level (or 1 km beneath the 2632 m high cone). However, failure induced by increased pressure in the suggested chamber does not account for the observed focal mechanisms.The occurrence and timing of magma transport are attested by eruption, and seismic activity may be related to magma transport. Focal mechanisms document strike-slip, not normal faulting or tensile failure. Vertical propagation of the edge of a feeder dike may enhance strike-slip motion above the edge, in a region where effective normal stress is decreased by thermally induced groundwater flow. The strike-slip mechanisms could also be caused by a tensile-shear widening of the horizontal section of vertical conduits.Fournaise strike-slip earthquakes occur in two orientations, with P axes orthogonal between them, within a single pre-eruptive event. Earthquakes are distributed in the same volume but mechanisms switch from one to another type systematically with time, indicating a reversal of stress conditions. The orientations of P axes with respect to the epicentral trend suggest that in the later parts of events leading to eruptions, a compression of the medium occurs after a dilation in the first part. The activated zone might respond successively to the arrival and the departure of the magma on its way from the reservoir at depth to the vent, radial to the cone.     

Massive sulfides in a sedimented rift valley, northern Juan de Fuca Ridge

A number of mounds each several hundred meters across and up to sixty meters high have been observed with SeaMARC II acoustic imagery and Seabeam bathymetry in the sediment-filled axial valley at the northern end of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The mounds are located a few kilometers west of the eastern valley-bounding normal fault scarp where the local sediment fill is approximately 300 m thick. All of the mounds are believed to be of hydrothermal origin, and one is associated with anomalously high heat flow in excess of 1 W m⁻². A piston core collected from that mound comprises coarse clastic sulfide units interbedded with sulfidic muds. Hydrothermal minerals present in the 2.3 m section include pyrrhotite, pyrite, marcasite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, iss (intermediate solid solution in the CuFeZnS system), chalcopyrrhotite, galena, talc, barite, and amorphous silica. Mineral fabrics of the clasts indicate that the material was precipitated at or near the sea floor by mixing of hot hydrothermal fluids with cold seawater. Low concentrations of Zn, Cu, Cd, and Ag relative to those found in unsedimented ridge hydrothermal deposits, and the presence of pyrrhotite as an early phase mineral indicates that the vent fluids have been modified by reaction with sediments beneath the mound. Rapid sedimentation in a rift valley is clearly conducive to the formation of large hydrothermal mineral deposits like those believed to be present within and beneath these mounds. The relatively impermeable sediment cover insulates the crust, inhibits groundwater recharge, promotes long-lived discharge at a restricted number of sites, provides a substrate for the efficient subsurface precipitation of minerals, and through continued sedimentation, protects surficial deposits from the corrosive effects of seawater. No reliable estimate of the bulk composition of the mounds can be made with existing data, but their size is comparable to major hydrothermal mineral deposits found on land; ancient settings in which many land deposits formed are in many ways similar to the one in which the features described here are currently forming.     

The last interglacial ocean

The final effort of the CLIMAP project was a study of the last interglaciation, a time of minimum ice volume some 122,000 yr ago coincident with the Substage 5e oxygen isotopic minimum. Based on detailed oxygen isotope analyses and biotic census counts in 52 cores across the world ocean, last interglacial sea-surface temperatures (SST) were compared with those today. There are small SST departures in the mid-latitude North Atlantic (warmer) and the Gulf of Mexico (cooler). The eastern boundary currents of the South Atlantic and Pacific oceans are marked by large SST anomalies in individual cores, but their interpretations are precluded by no-analog problems and by discordancies among estimates from different biotic groups. In general, the last interglacial ocean was not significantly different from the modern ocean. The relative sequencing of ice decay versus oceanic warming on the Stage 6/5 oxygen isotopic transition and of ice growth versus oceanic cooling on the Stage 5e/5d transition was also studied. In most of the Southern Hemisphere, the oceanic response marked by the biotic census counts preceded (led) the global ice-volume response marked by the oxygen-isotope signal by several thousand years. The reverse pattern is evident in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, where the oceanic response lagged that of global ice volume by several thousand years. As a result, the very warm temperatures associated with the last interglaciation were regionally diachronous by several thousand years. These regional lead-lag relationships agree with those observed on other transitions and in long-term phase relationships; they cannot be explained simply as artifacts of bioturbational translations of the original signals.     

Dual-porosity elastoplastic analyses of non-isothermal one-dimensional consolidation

A numerical solution, using the finite difference method, and based on a porothermo-elasto-plastic formulation for dual-porosity one-dimensional consolidation has been presented. The model is fully coupled to ensure the interactive behavior of fluid flow, heat flow and solid deformations in the conservation of momentum, mass and energy equations. A bi-linear stress-strain relationship is used to accommodate elastoplastic deformation behavior. A double effective stress law, proposed by Elsworth and Bai (1992), is applied to describe constitutive relationships among the stresses, pressures and temperatures. In order to examine the dual-porosity and thermal effects on the soil consolidation individually, isothermal and non-isothermal consolidations for a dual-porosity column are analyzed. In comparison to the single porosity approach, the present study shows that the pore pressure dissipation is faster and Mandel's effect (Mandel, 1953) is more pronounced at early times of the source disturbance for dual-porosity consolidation. One of the significant parameters affecting the dual-porosity consolidation is the fracture spacing (fracture density); the smaller the fracture spacing, the faster the column drainage.