Mg2+ removal in the system Mg2+—amorphous SiO2—H2O by adsorption and Mg-hydroxysilicate precipitation

Two chemical processes can remove Mg²⁺ from suspensions containing amorphous silica (am-SiO₂) at low temperatures: adsorption and precipitation of a Mg-hydroxysilicate resembling sepiolite. Mg²⁺ removal from am-SiO₂ suspensions was investigated, and the relative role of the two removal processes evaluated, as a function of: pH, ionic strength, Mg²⁺ concentration, and temperature.The extent of Mg²⁺ adsorption onto am-SiO₂ decreases with increasing NaCl concentration due to displacement of Mg²⁺ by Na⁺. At NaCl concentrations of 0.05 M and above, adsorption occurs only at pH values above 8.5, where rapid dissolution of am-SiO₂ gives rise to high concentrations of dissolved silica, resulting in supersaturation with respect to sepiolite. Removal of Mg²⁺, at concentrations of 40 to 650 μM, from am-SiO₂ suspensions in 0.70 M NaCl at 25 °C occurs at pH 9.0 and above. Experiments show that under these conditions adsorption and Mg-hydroxysilicate precipitation remove Mg²⁺ at similar rates. For 0.05 M Mg²⁺, at 0.70 M ionic strength and 25 °C, measurable Mg²⁺ removal occurs down to ca. pH 7.5 but is primarily due to Mg-hydroxysilicate precipitation. For the same solution conditions at 5°C, Mg²⁺ removal occurs above pH 8.0 and is primarily due to adsorption.Assuming that increasing pressure does not greatly enhance adsorption, Mg²⁺ adsorption onto am-SiO₂ is an insignificant process in sea water. The surface charge of pristine am-SiO₂ in sea water is primarily controlled by interactions with Na⁺. The principal reaction between Mg²⁺ and am-SiO₂ in marine sediments is sepiolite precipitation.The age distribution of sepiolite in siliceous pelagic sediments is influenced by temperatures of bottom waters and by geothermal gradients.     

Studies of compaction and subsidence in the Orinoco Oil Belt

To control vertical movements in the Orinoco Oil Belt, a high-precision levelling network was installed in an area of about 100 km². Links to the National Geodetic Network were established.

A total of 190 BMs with deep pile foundations is already installed and the first measurement campaign was concluded. The accuracies obtained are those of first-order levelling works.     

A ∼6100 14C yr record of El Niño activity from the Galápagos Islands

Lithostratigrahic and mineralogic analyses of sediments from hypersaline Bainbridge Crater Lake, Galápagos Islands, provide evidence of past El Niño frequency and intensity. Laminated sediments indicate that at least 435 moderate to very strong El Niño events have occurred since 6100 ¹⁴C yr BP (7130 cal yr BP), and that frequency and intensity of events increased at about 3000 ¹⁴C yr BP (3100 cal yr BP). El Niño activity was present between 6100 and 4000 ¹⁴C yr BP (4600 cal yr BP) but infrequent. The Bainbridge record indicates that there has been considerable millennial-scale variability in El Niño since the mid-Holocene.     

Diatoms on earth,comets, europa and in interstellar space

There exists a close correspondence between the measured infrared properties of diatoms and the infrared spectrum of interstellar dust as observed in the Trapezium nebula and toward the galactic center source GC-IRS 7. Diatoms and bacteria also exhibit an absorbance peak near 2200 », which is found to agree with the observed ultraviolet absorbance properties of interstellar grains. We review the observational data and consider the known properties of diatoms and bacteria. It is suggested that these characteristics are consistent with the concept of a cosmic microbiological system in which these or similar microorganisms might exist on comets, Europa and in interstellar space.     

WSO and the winds of massive stars: the gate to the metal-poor Local Universe

The spectrographs on-board the World Space Observatory (WSO) will provide access to the 1020–1800 Å wavelength range with unprecedented sensitivity. Previous observatories operating in the 1150–2000 Å range (such as IUE and HST-STIS) have proved extremely useful to study the winds of OB type stars, which leave their most prominent imprints in the far ultraviolet range. The addition of the λ < 1200 Å wavelengths is critical as it contains important diagnostic lines for mass loss and shocks in the wind, as found by FUSE-based analyses.WSO will enable quantitative spectroscopic analyses of blue massive stars in the Local Group beyond the Magellanic Clouds. The results will lead to the characterization of their winds as a function of metallicity, and shed new light on current urging questions regarding radiation driven winds.     

Mercury surface composition: Integrating petrologic modeling and remote sensing data to place constraints on FeO abundance

A significant opaque component in Mercury’s crust is inferred based on albedo and spectral observations. Previous workers have favored iron-titanium bearing oxide minerals as the spectrally neutral opaque. A consequence of this hypothesis is that Mercury’s surface would have a high FeO content. An array of remote sensing techniques have not provided definitive constraints on the FeO content of Mercury’s surface. However, spectral observations have not detected a diagnostic 1 μm absorption band and have thus limited the FeO in coexisting silicates to <2 wt.% FeO. In this paper, we assess equilibrium among oxide and silicate minerals to constrain the distribution of iron between opaque oxides and silicates under a variety of environmental conditions. Equilibrium modeling is favored here because the geologic process that produced Mercury’s low-albedo intermediate terrain must have occurred globally, which favors a common widespread igneous process. Based on our modeling, we find that iron-rich ilmenite cannot occur with silicates that do not display a 1 μm absorption feature unless plagioclase abundances are high. However, such high plagioclase abundances are precluded by Mercury’s low albedo. Incorporating equilibrium crystallization modeling with spectral and albedo constraints we find the iron abundance of Mercury’s intermediate terrain is ?10 wt.% FeO. This intermediate iron composition matches constraints provided by visible albedo and total neutron absorption observed by MESSENGER. In fact, the total neutron absorption of mixtures of oxide, plagioclase, olivine and pyroxene for the oxide abundances estimated for Mercury, favor Mg-rich members of the ilmenite-geikielite solid-solution series. This work offers compositional constraints for Fe, Ti, and Mg that will be testable by various MESSENGER instrument data sets after it begins its orbital mission.     

Micro-XCT chondrule classification for subsequent isotope analysis

Chondrules are microscopic, recrystallized melt droplets found in chondritic meteorites. High-resolution isotope analyses of minor elements require large enough element quantities which are obtained by dissolving entire chondrules. This work emphasizes the importance of X-ray computed tomography (XCT) to detect features that can significantly affect the bulk chondrule isotope composition. It thereby expands on other works by looking into chondrules from a wide range of chondrites including CR, CV, CB, CM, L, and EL samples before turning toward complex and time-consuming chemical processing. The features considered are metal and igneous rims, compound chondrules, matrix remnants, and metal contents. In addition to the identification of these features, computed tomography prevents the inclusion of non-chondrule samples (pure matrix or metal) as well as samples where two different chondrule fragments with potentially different isotope compositions are held together by matrix. Matrix surrounding chondrules is also easily detected and the affected chondrules can be omitted or reprocessed. The results strongly encourage to perform XCT before dissolution of chondrules for isotope analysis as a non-invasive method.