Adsorption of Congo red and crystal violet dyes onto cellulose extracted from Egyptian water hyacinth

Natural Hazards - The present investigation has highlighted the utility of floating aquatic Egyptian hyacinth, which is considered as a significant reason for environmental problems in Nile River,...     

Three-Dimensional Petrophysical Modelling and Volumetric Analysis to Model the Reservoir Potential of the Kupe Field,Taranaki Basin,New Zealand

Natural Resources Research - This study addresses the three-dimensional (3D) petrophysical modelling and volumetric analysis of the Farewell Reservoir in the Kupe Field in the southern Taranaki...     

Geochemistry and petrogenesis of Sikait leucogranite, Egypt: an example of S-type granite in a metapelitic sequence

 The Sikait leucogranite (SLG) is a body of porphyritic garnet granite intruded a metapelitic sequence and interlayered orthogneisses. Multiple deformation and low- to medium-grade metamorphism of the sequence was closely associated with pluton emplacement. Textural features of the SLG indicate that subsolidus plastic deformation was induced during the extensive thrusting. The granite is strongly peraluminous, alkali-rich and HFS (high field-strength) elements-depleted with low contents of REE, all facts that substantiate the geochemical characteristics of S-type granites. The geologic and geochemical features are consistent with a dehydration melting model of the hosted metapelites to generate the peraluminous SLG. However, geochemical modelling of trace elements and REEs suggest that the anatectic partial melt was subsequently affected by fractional crystallization of feldspars. This could explain much of the chemical attributes of SLG. Received: 20 September 1994 / Accepted: 2 August 1996     

Coeval potassic and sodic calc-alkaline series in the post-collisional Hercynian Tanncherfi intrusive complex, northeastern Morocco: geochemical, isotopic and geochronological evidence

The post-collisional late Hercynian Tanncherfi intrusive complex (TIC) is part of a widespread intrusive episode in the Moroccan Meseta. The complex contains a wide range of rock types, from monzogabbros to monzogranites. Two distinct magmatic series are recognized: (1) a potassic (shoshonitic) series consisting of monzogabbros, quartz monzonites and monzogranites; and (2) a sodic (granodioritic) series represented by quartz monzodiorites and granodiorites. All the Tanncherfi plutonic rocks display similar spider-diagram profiles, with LILE and LREE enrichment and Nb, Ta, Ti depletion, which are typical of subduction-related magmas. Combined major, trace element compositions and Sr, Nd isotopic results indicate that the two series have been derived from a LILE- and LREE-enriched continental lithospheric mantle source, under different partial melting and/or depth conditions. Intrusion of the Tanncherfi rocks was not temporally related to subduction and the enrichment of their source is likely to be linked to preceding subduction events. The two series evolved by fractional crystallization, of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, hornblende, biotite, K-feldspar and accessories (Fe–Ti oxide minerals, titanite, apatite and zircon) for the potassic series while the sodic series combined fractional crystallization with assimilation of felsic magmas with lower Sr isotopic ratio than the more mafic term of the series, the quartz monzodiorite. The intrusion of the potassic magmas (344±6 Ma) marks a major change in the tectonic regime of eastern Meseta. These magmas intruded during post-thickening uplift and extension, both probably favored by convective thinning of the lithosphere. This model provides a reasonable mechanism for the genesis of other Hercynian intrusive complexes in Morocco.     

Mapping coastal erosion at the Nile Delta western promontory using Landsat imagery

A set of six Landsat satellite images with 5–9 years apart was used in a post-classification analysis to map changes occurred at Rosetta promontory between 1973 and 2008 due to coastal erosion. Spectral information were extracted from two multi-spectral scanner (MSS) images (1973 and 1978), three thematic mapper (TM) images (1984, 1990, and 1999), and one enhanced thematic mapper plus (ETM+) image (2008). To estimate the quantity of land loss in terms of coastal erosion, a supervised classification scheme was applied to each image to highlight only two classes: seawater and land. The area of each class was then estimated from the number of pixels pertaining to this class in every image. In addition, the shoreline position was digitized to address retreat/advance pattern throughout the study period. Results showed that Rosetta promontory had lost 12.29 km² of land between 1973 and 2008 and the shoreline withdrew southward about 3.5 km due to coastal erosion. Most land loss and shoreline retreat occurred between 1973 and 1978 (0.55 km²/year and 132 m/year, respectively). Coastal protection structures were constructed successively at the promontory. These structures have considerably contributed to reduce coastal erosion; however, they promoted downdrift erosion.     

Seismic sequence stratigraphy of Miocene deposits related to eustatic,tectonic and climatic events,Cap Bon Peninsula,northeastern Tunisia

The Cap Bon Peninsula, belonging to northeastern Tunisia, is located in the Maghrebian Alpine foreland and in the North of the Pelagian block. By its paleoposition, during the Cenozoic, in the edge of the southern Tethyan margin, this peninsula constitutes a geological entity that fossilized the eustatic, tectonic and climatic interactions. Surface and subsurface study carried out in the Cap Bon onshore area and surrounding offshore of Hammamet interests the Miocene deposits from the Langhian-to-Messinian interval time. Related to the basin and the platform positions, sequence and seismic stratigraphy studies have been conducted to identify seven third-order seismic sequences in subsurface (SM1-SM7), six depositional sequences on the Zinnia-1 petroleum well (SDM1-SDM6), and five depositional sequences on the El Oudiane section of the Jebel Abderrahmane (SDM1–SDM5). Each sequence shows a succession of high-frequency systems tract and parasequences. These sequences are separated by remarkable sequence boundaries and maximum flooding surfaces (SB and MFS) that have been correlated to the eustatic cycles and supercycles of the Global Sea Level Chart of Haq et al. (1987). The sequences have been also correlated with Sequence Chronostratigraphic Chart of Hardenbol et al. (1998), related to European basins, allows us to arise some major differences in number and in size. The major discontinuities, which limit the sequences resulted from the interplay between tectonic and climatic phenomena. It thus appears very judicious to bring back these chronological surfaces to eustatic and/or local tectonic activity and global eustatic and climatic controls.     

A new record and a new ichnospecies of Arachnostega from the Middle Miocene of Egypt

The ichnogenus Arachnostega Bertling, 1992 is recorded for the first time from a bioeroded, coral-rich, Middle Miocene limestone bed in the middle Siwa Escarpment Member (Marmarica Formation) at Siwa Oasis, northern Western Desert of Egypt. These burrowing traces are preserved on the surface of a few internal moulds of bivalves and gastropods. Until now, the ichnogenus Arachnostega included a single ichnospecies, A. gastrochaenae Bertling, 1992. In the material studied herein, two ichnospecies are identified, described, illustrated and compared with other, similar traces. One of these is a new ichnospecies of Arachnostega; this is here named A. siwaensis ichnosp. nov. It is distinguished from A. gastrochaenae in the possession of tunnels that usually branch in a V-pattern; intervals of ramification are longest in the main branch and decrease in second- and third-order branches. Arachnostega traces were produced in a warm, low-energy, shallow-marine (<10?m water depth) environment. Polychaetes are the most likely producers of marine Arachnostega, which are commonly occurred in the same studied bed. This new occurrence is significant in extending the known stratigraphical and geographical ranges of Arachnostega into the Middle Miocene of Egypt.     

Petrology and geochemistry of prograde deserpentinized peridotites from Happo-O’ne, Japan: Evidence of element mobility during deserpentinization

The prograde deserpentinized peridotites from the talc zone in the Happo-O’ne complex, central Japan, show differences in their field relation and mineral assemblage with the high-P retrograde peridotites of the other part of the complex. They show a mineral assemblage, olivine + talc + antigorite ± prograde tremolite ± chlorite, formed by thermal metamorphism around the granitic intrusion at T, 500-650 °C and P < 7 kbar. The olivine has numerous opaque inclusions and high Fo (91.5-96.5) relative to the retrograde olivine, reflecting its formation by deserpentinization. The prograde tremolite, which is low in Al₂O₃ (<1.0 wt.%), Cr₂O₃ (<0.35 wt.%), and Na₂O (<0.6 wt.%) but high in Mg# (up to 0.98) and SiO₂ (up to 59.9 wt.%), is different in size, shape and chemistry from the retrograde tremolite. The prograde peridotites display a U-shaped REE pattern (0.02-0.5 times PM), similar to diopside-zone retrograde metaperidotites, possible protoliths. They are enriched in LILE (e.g., Cs, Pb, Sr, Rb) relative to HFSE (e.g., Ta, Hf, Zr, Nb), like their protoliths, because of their local re-equilibration with the fluid released during dehydration of the protoliths. They have high contents of REE and some trace elements (e.g., Cs, Th, U, Ta) relative to their protoliths because of an external-element addition from the granitic magma. In-situ analyses of peridotitic silicates confirmed that the prograde tremolite and talc display a spoon-shaped primitive mantle (PM)-normalized REE pattern (0.1-3 times PM) in which LREE are higher than HREE contents. The prograde tremolite is depleted in Al, Na, Cr, Sc, V, Ti, B, HREE and Li, but is enriched in Si, Cs, U, Th, HFSE (Hf, Zr, Nb, Ta), Rb and Ba relative to the retrograde tremolite; the immobile-element depletion in this tremolite is inherited from its source (antigorite + secondary diopside), whereas the depletion of mobile elements (e.g., Li, B, Na, Al) is ascribed to their mobility during the deserpentinization and/or the depleted character of the source of tremolite. The enrichment of HFSE and LILE in the prograde tremolite is related to an external addition of these elements from fluid/melt of the surrounding granitic magma and/or in situ equilibrium with LILE-bearing fluid released during dehydration of serpentinized retrograde metaperidotites and olivine-bearing serpentinites (protoliths). The prograde olivine is higher in REE and most trace-element contents than the retrograde one due to the external addition of these elements; it is enriched in B, Co and Ni, but depleted in Li that was liberated during deserpentinization by prograde metamorphism.