Nests of intermediate depth (70–160 km) earthquakes adjacent to active volcanoes during 1963–1982

Uniform maps of circumpacific convergence zones constructed by the same projection and scale reveal three main associations between intermediate depth seismicity and contemporaneous volcanic activity. First, in areas of high seismicity there are usually few active volcanoes. Second, in areas of low to moderate seismicity aseismic domains can often be recognized beneath the active volcanoes. Third, adjacent to the aseismic domains there are nests of seismicity located a few 10's of km away from the active volcanoes usually in the direction of the trench. More than 40 such nests are identified in the circumpacific and Indonesian arcs. These three associations may be related to melting near the upper surface of the underthrust slab. A fluid phase, either silicate melt or a hydrous fluid released by dehydration of the slab, would lower the strength of the slab and create aseismic zones beneath the active volcanoes. Nests of earthquakes can develop by stress concentration at the margins of the weak zones. Areas not volcanically active have little or no fluid phase and a higher level of seismicity.     

Trace metals in a tidal Mediterranean embayment

The Euvoikos gulf, and the strait of Euripos therein, is a restricted embayment on the eastern coast of Greece having a significant, unusual tidal phenomenon and receiving some domestic, trade and industrial wastes from the town of Chalkis and several coastal industries. The purpose of the present work was to study the influence of the tidal current and the anthropogenic inputs on the distributions of several trace elements (namely, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Fe, Mn and Ni) in the seawaters (as dissolved and particulate species) and the sea-bottom sediments. Thorough mixing, resuspension and transport of fine particles and direct discharges are the major mechanisms affecting the distribution patterns.     

A world model of soil carbon dioxide

Mean growing season soil PCO₂ data were obtained for 19 regions of the world in nine countries. Bivariate and multiple linear regression analysis with soil log(PCO₂) as the dependent variable and TEMP, PRECIP, log(AET), and log(PET) as the four climatic independent variables demonstrated that AET was the best independent predictor of soil PCO₂. An improved soil PCO₂-AET model was developed by assuming (1) that as AET approaches zero, soil PCO₂ approaches the atmospheric value and (2) that there is an upper limit to soil PCO₂ at very high AET. This model has the form log(PCO₂) = ?3·47 + 2·09 (1 ?e^{?0·0172 AET}) where AET is in mm. It explains 67 per cent of the initial variation in the soil PCO₂ data, predicts a soil log(PCO₂) of ? 3·47 at AET = 0, and an upper limit of 3·5 per cent (log(PCO₂) = ? 1·45) for mean growing season soil PCO₂ at AET values of 2000 mm and above. The results of this study suggest that soil PCO₂ levels in tropical areas are, on average, higher than those in temperate, alpine, and arctic regions.     

Experimental investigations of trace element fractionation in iron meteorites,II: The influence of sulfur

We have investigated the partitioning of Ir. Ge, Ga, W, Cr, Au, P, and Ni between solid metal and metallic liquid as a function of temperature and S-concentration of the metallic liquid. Partition coefficients for siderophile elements such as Ir, W, Ga and Ge increase by factors of 10–100 as the Sconcentration of the metallic liquid increases from 0–30 wt%. Partition coefficients for other siderophile elements such as Ni, Au and P increase by only factors of 2–3. In contrast, partition coefficients for the more chalcophile element Cr decrease. These experimentally-determined partition coefficients have been used in conjunction with a fractional crystallization model to reproduce the geochemical behavior of Ni, P, Au and Ir during the magmatic evolution of groups IIAB, IIIAB, IVA and IVB iron meteorites. The mean S-concentration for each group increases in the order IVB, IVA, IIIAB, IIAB, in accord with cosmochemical prediction. However, we are unable to reproduce the geochemical behavior of Ge, Ga, W and Cr in an internally consistent way. We conclude that the magmatic histories of these iron meteorite groups are more complex than has been generally assumed.     

Size distribution of iron and manganese species in freshwaters

A recently established technique for size fractionation of particulate matter in freshwaters, based on low volume filtration through Nuclepore filters in the field, has been applied to the study of Fe and Mn species in 3 freshwater lakes and a stream feeding one of the lakes. The technique has also been used in a series of laboratory experiments to provide further insight into the process of particle formation. The results are complemented with scanning electron microscope examination of the particles.The raw data are transformed into mass size distributions, which are generally unimodal, with the major part of the mass confined to a single log unit size range. These size distributions are compared and contrasted with a theoretical model of particle behaviour in a lake. The results suggest that particulate Fe and Mn behave according to particle theory. The observed size distributions represent a balance between hydraulic input/output, aggregation, and gravitational settling, as well as chemical precipitation and dissolution processes. Overall particle aggregation is shown to be a slow process in the waters examined, with a time constant of the order of days. There is evidence for a fairly stable particle regime in the 0.05–0.4 μm size range.Deviations from the unimodal distribution in the epilimnion of the lakes indicate the association of Fe, but not Mn, with phytoplankton. In the waters examined Mn was most frequently found in solution, while Fe was predominantly particulate. These findings are interpreted in terms of the differing redox behaviour of the metals.     

Cumberland Falls chondritic inclusions—II. Trace element contents of forsterite chondrites and meteorites of similar redox state

Mineralogic study of black inclusions in the Cumberland Falls enstatite achondrite revealed that they constitute a highly unequilibrated chondritic suite distinct from other chondrite groups. This highly shocked suite, the forsterite (F) chondrites, exhibits mineralogic trends apparently produced during primary nebular condensation and accretion over a broad redox range. We analyzed these samples and possibly related meteorites for Ag, As, Au, Bi, Cd, Co, Cs, Ga, In, Rb, Sb, Se, Te, Tl, U and Zn, trace elements known to yield important genetic information. The results demonstrate the compositional coherence and distinctiveness of the F chondrite suite relative to other chondrites. The Antarctic aubrite, ALH A78113, may include more F chondrite material. Trace element contents do not vary with mineral compositions hence do not reflect redox variations during formation of F chondrite parental matter. Trace element mobilization—during secondary heating episodes in the F chondrite parent or during its disruptive collision with the enstatite meteorite parent body—is not detectable. Chemical trends in F chondrites apparently reflect primary nebular processes. Cosmochemical fractionation of lithophiles from siderophiles and chalcophiles occurred at moderately high temperatures, certainly higher than those existing during formation of primitive carbonaceous, enstatite and ordinary chondrites of petrologic type ≤3.     

β-FeOOH · Cln (akaganéite) and Fe1-xO (wüstite) in hot brine from the Atlantis II Deep (Red Sea) and the uptake of amino acids by synthetic β-FeOOH · Cln

A yellowish brown precipitate in samples of Red Sea hot brine has been identified as β-FeOOH · Cl_n (akaganéite) by Guinier-Hägg X-ray diffraction techniques, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction and electron excited X-ray fluorescence. Microcrystals of Fe_1-xO (wüstite) were also identified by electron diffraction. Synthetic β-FeOOH · Cl_n characterized by the same techniques was identical with the brine precipitate.Bonding between β-FeOOH · Cl_n and ¹⁴C labeled amino acids is pH dependent: between pH 3 and pH 7.6 amino acids were bound to the extent of 40 to 60% or 0.6 to 0.9 mmol per kg of iron oxide hydroxide. Some selectivity in affinity for different amino acids was observed, however, the effect is insufficient to explain the unusual distribution in the Atlantis II Deep brine reported in the literature.     

Depositional features of a late Weichselian outwash fan; central East Jylland,Denmark

Four major sedimentary facies are present in coarse-grained, ice-marginal deposits from central East Jylland, Denmark. Facies A and B are matrix-supported gravels deposited by subaerial sediment gravity flows as mudflows (facies A) and debris flows (facies B). Facies C consists of clast-supported, water-laid gravels and facies D are cross-bedded sand and granules. The facies can be grouped into three facies associations related to the supraglacial and proglacial environments: (1) the flow-till association is made up of alternating beds of remobilized glacial mixton (facies A) and well-sorted cross-bedded sand (facies D); (2) the outwash apron association resembles the sediments of alluvial fans in containing coarse-grained debris-flow deposits (facies B), water-laid gravel deposited by sheet floods (facies C) and cross-bedded sand and granules (facies D) from braided distributaries; (3) the valley sandur association comprises water-laid gravel (facies C) interpreted as sheet bars and longitudinal bars interbedded with cross-bedded sand and granules (facies D) deposited in channels between bars in a braided environment.The general coarsening-upward trend of the sedimentary sequences caused by the transition of bars and channel-dominated facies to debris-flow-dominated facies indicate an increasing proximality of the outwash deposits, picturing the advance and still stand of a large continental lowland ice-sheet. The depositional properties suggest that sedimentation was caused by melting along a relatively steep, active glacier margin as a first step towards the final vanishing of the Late Weichselian icesheet (the East Jylland ice) covering eastern Denmark.