Platinum-group minerals from placers related to the Nizhni Tagil (Middle Urals, Russia) Uralian-Alaskan-type ultramafic complex: ore-mineralogy and study of silicate inclusions in (Pt, Fe) alloys

Summary The study of platinum-group minerals (PGM) concentrates from the Nizhni Tagil placers related to the Soloviev Mountain (Gora Solovieva) Uralian-Alaskan-type intrusion revealed a predominance of (Pt, Fe) alloys over Ir-, and Os-bearing alloys. (Pt, Fe) alloys (“isoferroplatinum-type”) are interstitial with respect to chromite and show important variations in their chemical compositions, which are, however, falling within the experimentally determined stability field of isoferroplatinum. Tetraferroplatinum, enriched in Cu and Ni and tulameenite represent low-temperature mineral phases replacing (Pt, Fe) alloys. Alloys belonging to the Os–Ir–Ru ternary system have compositions corresponding to native osmium, iridium and ruthenium, respectively, and to rutheniridosmine. Osmium exsolutions appear in Ir-, and (Pt, Fe) alloys, and iridium exsolutions in (Pt, Fe) alloys. Laurite is a high-temperature phase included in native iridium and (Pt, Fe) alloys. Low-temperature PGM association comprises Ir-bearing sulpharsenides, including a phase (Ir, Os, Fe, Pt, Ru, Ni)₃(As, Sb)_0.85S, and a palladium antimonide Pd₂₀Sb₇. These two phases were previously unknown in nature. Furthermore, native palladium occurs in the studied concentrates. This low-temperature paragenesis indicates an interaction of Pt-, Os-, Ir- and Ru-bearing alloys with late fluids enriched in volatiles, As and Sb. The chromite composition is characterized by the predominance of Cr³⁺ → Fe³⁺ substitution like in other Uralian-Alaskan-type intrusions; that indicates a fO₂ variation during the chromite precipitation. Monomineralic inclusions of euhedral clinopyroxene and chromite crystals in (Pt, Fe) alloys were observed. Furthermore, (Pt, Fe) alloys contain polyphase silicate inclusions, which occupy the alloy negative crystals. Two types of silicate inclusions were recognized: (1) Low-pressure inclusions composed of amphibole, biotite, Jd-poor clinopyroxene, magnetite, apatite and glass; (2) High-pressure inclusions include: omphacitic clinopyroxene (up to 56 mol.% Jd), tremolite, muscovite, apatite, titanite and glass. In this case, the clinopyroxene is strongly zoned, revealing a pressure drop from about 25 to 5 kbar. The chemical composition of glass is corundum-normative and its H₂O content varies from about 12 to 15 wt.%. The composition of magmatic melts, from which the silicate inclusions have originated was estimated using EPMA and image analysis interpreted by stereology. Their compositions are close to those obtained experimentally by hydrous partial melting of upper mantle rocks. The interpretation of analytical data shows that magmatic melts entrapped by (Pt, Fe) alloys crystallized from about 1100 to 700 °C. The (Pt, Fe) alloys formed after the crystallization of chromite, clinopyroxene and albite. Consequently, the precipitation temperature of (Pt, Fe) alloys is estimated at about 900 °C. The significant pressure drop implies a decrease of volatile concentrations in the magmatic melt and the possible formation of a fluid phase, which might have generated, the precipitation of chromite and PGM.     

高铁铁橄榄石的新研究——兼论铁橄榄石的氧化作用

本文综合应用微束分析技术,包括扫描电镜、电子探针、电子显微镜和激光喇曼探针等多种分析技术,对国内外许多学者感兴趣的高铁铁橄榄石进行了系统深入的研究,发现高铁铁橄榄石通常是铁橄榄石和一系列氧化程度不等的氧化铁橄榄石及其他一些氧化产物的总和,并对高铁铁橄榄石和铁橄榄石的氧化作用提出了一些新认识:(1)铁橄榄石在其形成后至少受到两次蚀变;(2)铁橄榄石氧化的最终产物是玻璃;(3)原先关于高铁铁橄榄石的结构分析、反相畴、超结构和假双晶等问题尚待进一步研究;(4)将高铁铁橄榄石看成是新矿物实属疑问。     

Size-resolved characteristics of inorganic ionic species in atmospheric aerosols at a regional background site on the South African Highveld

Aerosols consist of organic and inorganic species, and the composition and concentration of these species depends on their sources, chemical transformation and sinks. In this study an assessment of major inorganic ions determined in three aerosol particle size ranges collected for 1 year at Welgegund in South Africa was conducted. SO₄^2? and ammonium (NH₄⁺) dominated the PM₁ size fraction, while SO₄^2? and nitrate (NO₃) dominated the PM_1–2.5 and PM_2.5–10 size fractions. SO₄^2? had the highest contribution in the two smaller size fractions, while NO₃^? had the highest contribution in the PM_2.5–10 size fraction. SO₄^2? and NO₃^? levels were attributed to the impacts of aged air masses passing over major anthropogenic source regions. Comparison of inorganic ion concentrations to levels thereof within a source region influencing Welgegund, indicated higher levels of most species within the source region. However, the comparative ratio of SO₄^2? was significantly lower due to SO₄^2? being formed distant from SO₂ emissions and submicron SO₄^2? having longer atmospheric residencies. The PM at Welgegund was determined to be acidic, mainly due to high concentrations of SO₄^2?. PM₁ and PM_1–2.5 fractions revealed a seasonal pattern, with higher inorganic ion concentrations measured from May to September. Higher concentrations were attributed to decreased wet removal, more pronounced inversion layers trapping pollutants, and increases in household combustion and wild fires during winter. Back trajectory analysis also revealed higher concentrations of inorganic ionic species corresponding to air mass movements over anthropogenic source regions.     

The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 – a worst case

The heat waves of 2003 in Western Europe and 2010 in Russia, commonly labelled as rare climatic anomalies outside of previous experience, are often taken as harbingers of more frequent extremes in the global warming-influenced future. However, a recent reconstruction of spring–summer temperatures for WE resulted in the likelihood of significantly higher temperatures in 1540. In order to check the plausibility of this result we investigated the severity of the 1540 drought by putting forward the argument of the known soil desiccation-temperature feedback. Based on more than 300 first-hand documentary weather report sources originating from an area of 2 to 3 million km², we show that Europe was affected by an unprecedented 11-month-long Megadrought. The estimated number of precipitation days and precipitation amount for Central and Western Europe in 1540 is significantly lower than the 100-year minima of the instrumental measurement period for spring, summer and autumn. This result is supported by independent documentary evidence about extremely low river flows and Europe-wide wild-, forest- and settlement fires. We found that an event of this severity cannot be simulated by state-of-the-art climate models.     

Strengthening bottom-up and top-down climate governance

Although the UN and EU focus their climate policies on the prevention of a 2 °C global mean temperature rise, it has been estimated that a rise of at least 4?°C is more likely. Given the political climate of inaction, there is a need to instigate a bottom-up approach so as to build domestic support for future climate treaties, empower citizens, and motivate leaders to take action. A review is provided of the predominant top-down cap-and-trade policies in place – the Kyoto Protocol and EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) – with a focus on the grandfathering of emissions entitlements and the possibility of offsetting emissions. These policies are evaluated according to two criteria of justice and it is concluded that they fail to satisfy them. Some suggestions as to how the EU ETS can be improved so as to enable robust climate action are also offered.

Policy relevance

The current supranational climate policy has not been successful and global leaders have postponed the adoption of a meaningful successor to the Kyoto Protocol. In view of this inaction, bottom-up approaches with regard to climate policy should be further developed. It is argued that two of the main top-down policies, grandfathering and offsetting, impede the avowed goals of EU climate policy and pose significant ethical dilemmas with regard to participatory and intergenerational justice. In order to provide a more robust EU climate policy, the EU should inter alia provide a long-term perspective for investors, reduce the volatility of the carbon price, and prepare for the possibility of carbon leakage.     

The Dwarskersbos,South Africa local tsunami of August 27, 1969: field survey and simulation as a meteorological event

We investigate the hitherto unexplained wave which inundated the village of Dwarskersbos, South Africa, in the early hours of August 27, 1969, in the absence of any seismic disturbance or major meteorological storm. A field survey, based on the interview of nine elderly witnesses still residing in the community, documented maximum run-up of 2.9 m, concentrated on an extremely short segment of coastline, less than 2 km in length. These characteristics are incompatible with generation by a seismic source (which, at any rate, should have been felt by the population). A landslide source, located at the only canyon featuring a steep enough ocean floor, is also ruled out since a numerical simulation fails to reproduce the concentration of the wave at Dwarskersbos. By contrast, the wave can be explained as a “meteo-tsunami” resulting from resonance between a meteorological squall propagating at 18 m/s in the azimuth \(\hbox {N101}^{\circ }\hbox {E}\) and a gravity wave propagating in the shallow waters off the eastern shore of St. Helena Bay. This is confirmed by numerical simulation under the formalism of Proudman (Dynamical oceanography. Methuen, London, 1953), which provides a satisfactory model of the distribution of run-up along the beach.     

Flow velocity profiles in the Lower Scheldt estuary

Recent acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP)-measurements in the Scheldt estuary near Antwerp, Belgium, revealed anomalous, i.e. anti-clockwise circulations in a left bend during the major part of the flood period; these circulations were established shortly after the turn of the tide. During ebb, anti-clockwise circulations persisted, as predicted by classical theory. These data were analysed with a 3D and a 1DV-model. The 3D simulations reveal that the anomalous circulations are found when salinity is included in the computations—without salinity “normal” circulations were found. From analytical and 1DV simulations, it is concluded that a longitudinal salinity gradient ${\partial S} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\partial S} {\partial x}}} \right. \kern-0em} {\partial x}$ may induce a near-bed maximum in flow velocity reversing the direction of the secondary currents. The 1DV-model was then used to assess the contribution of various processes one by one. It was found that because of a reduction in vertical mixing, the vertical velocity profile is not at equilibrium during the first phase of accelerating tide, further enhancing the effects of ${\partial S} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\partial S} {\partial x}}} \right. \kern-0em} {\partial x}$ . A small vertical salinity gradient ${\partial S} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\partial S} {\partial z}}} \right. \kern-0em} {\partial z}$ appeared to have a very large effect as the crosscurrents of the secondary circulations induced by ${\partial S} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\partial S} {\partial x}}} \right. \kern-0em} {\partial x}$ became an order of larger magnitude. However, at the site under consideration, the effects of transverse salinity gradients, generated by differential advection in the river bend, were dominant: adverse directions of the secondary circulations were found even when the vertical velocity profile became more regular with a more or less logarithmic shape, i.e. when the effects of ${\partial S} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\partial S} {\partial x}}} \right. \kern-0em} {\partial x}$ and ${\partial S} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\partial S} {\partial z}}} \right. \kern-0em} {\partial z}$ did not play a dominant role anymore. It is argued that data on the secondary velocity structure, which can be measured easily owing to today’s developments in ADCP equipment, may serve as an indicator for the accuracy at which the salinity field is computed with 3D numerical models. Moreover, the large effect of the salinity structure on the velocity field must have a large impact on the morphological development of estuaries, which should therefore be accounted for in morphological modelling studies.     

Sorption of yttrium and rare earth elements by amorphous ferric hydroxide: Influence of solution complexation with carbonate

The influence of solution complexation on the sorption of yttrium and the rare earth elements (YREEs) by amorphous ferric hydroxide was investigated at 25 °C over a range of pH (4.0-7.1) and carbonate concentrations . Distribution coefficients, defined as , where [MS_i]_T is the total concentration of sorbed YREE, M_T is the total YREE concentration in solution, and [S_i] is the concentration of amorphous ferric hydroxide, initially increased in magnitude with increasing carbonate concentration, and then decreased. The initial increase of is due to sorption of YREE carbonate complexes , in addition to sorption of free YREE ions (M³⁺). The subsequent decrease of , which is more extensive for the heavy REEs, is due to the increasing intensity of YREE solution complexation by carbonate ions. The competition for YREEs between solution complexation and surface complexation was modeled via the equation:

     

A mineral and cumulate perspective to magma differentiation at Nisyros volcano,Aegean arc

Lavas and pyroclastic products of Nisyros volcano (Aegean arc, Greece) host a wide variety of phenocryst and cumulate assemblages that offer a unique window into the earliest stages of magma differentiation. This study presents a detailed petrographic study of lavas, enclaves and cumulates spanning the entire volcanic history of Nisyros to elucidate at which levels in the crust magmas stall and differentiate. We present a new division for the volcanic products into two suites based on field occurrence and petrographic features: a low-porphyricity andesite and a high-porphyricity (rhyo)dacite (HPRD) suite. Cumulate fragments are exclusively found in the HPRD suite and are predominantly derived from upper crustal reservoirs where they crystallised under hydrous conditions from melts that underwent prior differentiation. Rarer cumulate fragments range from (amphibole-)wehrlites to plagioclase-hornblendites and these appear to be derived from the lower crust (0.5–0.8 GPa). The suppressed stability of plagioclase and early saturation of amphibole in these cumulates are indicative of high-pressure crystallisation from primitive hydrous melts (≥ 3 wt% H₂O). Clinopyroxene in these cumulates has Al₂O₃ contents up to 9 wt% due to the absence of crystallising plagioclase, and is subsequently consumed in a peritectic reaction to form primitive, Al-rich amphibole (Mg# > 73, 12–15 wt% Al₂O₃). The composition of these peritectic amphiboles is distinct from trace element-enriched interstitial amphibole in shallower cumulates. Phenocryst compositions and assemblages in both suites differ markedly from the cumulates. Phenocrysts, therefore, reflect shallow crystallisation and do not record magma differentiation in the deep arc crust.