Compositional variation in Hg-bearing sphalerite from the polymetallic Eskay Creek deposit, British Columbia, Canada

The Eskay Creek, British Columbia, Canada, is a polymetallic, gold- and silver-rich, volcanic-hosted, massive sulfide deposit. The ore in the deposit is divided into subzones distinguished by mineralogy, texture, grade and metallurgical characteristics. This study presents the results of a mineralogical examination of three composite field samples, with emphasis on the chemistry of sphalerite. Sphalerite is associated with variable amounts of Hg-tetrahedrite and cinnabar, and an array of sulfides, sulphosalts and non-opaque minerals. Electron micro probe analyses of sphalerite in the three composite samples reveal wide variations in compositions. The Hg content in sphalerite in the three samples varies between 0.08 and 16.35 wt%, whereas the Fe content ranges from 0.33 to 2.29 wt%. The chemical formula of the sphalerite shows the compositional range (Zn_0.89–0.98Hg_0.01–0.09.Fe_0.005–0.02)S. Sphalerite exhibits an almost perfect substitution of Hg and Zn, as shown by the negative covariance between them. Sphalerite with the highest Hg contents tends to have the lowest Fe concentrations. The highest Hg contents in sphalerite are recorded in the samples with the highest bulk Hg concentrations and with the highest cinnabar contents.

The compositional variations of sphalerite are important because they can be used in mapping ore forming fluids and indicate possible temporal variations. Second, determination of the compositional variation of the sphalerite in the mine has metallurgical implications because the mineral is an important Zn source. The mineralogical data indicate that non-physical processes (e.g. pyrometallurgy) must be used to separate Hg from Zn concentrates, with direct environmental implications, that is, release of metals, such as Hg, into the environment during mining and processing.     

Impacts of Present and Future Climate Variability on Agriculture and Forestry in the Temperate Regions: Europe

Agriculture and forestry will be particularly sensitive to changes in mean climate and climate variability in the northern and southern regions of Europe. Agriculture may be positively affected by climate change in the northern areas through the introduction of new crop species and varieties, higher crop production and expansion of suitable areas for crop cultivation. The disadvantages may be determined by an increase in need for plant protection, risk of nutrient leaching and accelerated breakdown of soil organic matter. In the southern areas the benefits of the projected climate change will be limited, while the disadvantages will be predominant. The increased water use efficiency caused by increasing CO₂ will compensate for some of the negative effects of increasing water limitation and extreme weather events, but lower harvestable yields, higher yield variability and reduction in suitable areas of traditional crops are expected for these areas. Forestry in the Mediterranean region may be mainly affected by increases in drought and forest fires. In northern Europe, the increased precipitation is expected to be large enough to compensate for the increased evapotranspiration. On the other hand, however, increased precipitation, cloudiness and rain days and the reduced duration of snow cover and soil frost may negatively affect forest work and timber logging determining lower profitability of forest production and a decrease in recreational possibilities. Adaptation management strategies should be introduced, as effective tools, to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on agricultural and forestry sectors.     

Argo floats revealing bimodality of large-scale mid-depth circulation in the North Atlantic

Analysis of Argo float trajectories at 1 000 m and temperature at 950 m in the North Atlantic between November 2003 and January 2005 demonstrates the existence of two different circulation modes with fast transition between them. Each mode has a pair of cyclonic - anticyclonic gyres. The difference is the location of the cyclonic gyre. The cyclonic gyre stretches from southeast to northwest in the first mode and from the southwest to the northeast in the second mode. The observed modes strongly affect the heat and salt transport in the North Atlantic. In particular, the second mode slows down the westward transport of the warm and saline water from the Mediterranean Sea.     

东昆仑南缘早三叠世洪水川组的源区特征:来自碎屑组成、重矿物和岩石地球化学的证据

分布于东昆仑南缘的早三叠世洪水川组系一套由砾岩、砂岩、页岩和鲕粒灰岩等浅海相和河流相沉积物构成的弧前盆地沉积组合.砂岩碎屑组成、重矿物组合、岩石地球化学和古水流综合研究结果表明,洪水川组砂岩物源主要来自于北侧的岛弧带,同时南侧的阿尼玛卿蛇绿混杂带也为其形成提供了部分物源;源区主要出露长英质岩石、变质岩和硅质岩.     

Water exchange of the Stockholm archipelago—a cascade framework modelling approach

The Stockholm archipelago spans roughly a semicircular area with a radius of approximately 60 km, traditionally partitioned into three parts: the inner, the middle and the outer archipelago. This subdivision coincides with differing water exchange regimes. The inner and middle archipelagos are characterised by comparatively larger basins which are interconnected by a limited number of straits. This configuration is well suited for a discrete basin (DB-) model approach by partitioning the area into a set of sub-basins that are only resolved vertically. The advantage of this approach over 3D-models is the possibility for enhanced vertical resolution and improved strait exchange formulation, outweighing the disadvantage of neglected horizontal gradients within the basins. In the inner archipelago the dominating exchange process is estuarine circulation, induced by the marked freshwater discharge and the vertical mixing. In the outer and middle archipelagos the density fluctuations due to Ekman pumping along the Baltic boundary interface produce another type of baroclinic process that clearly dominates. Measurements to adequately resolve these density variations do not exist. Missing forcing data are provided by linking the middle archipelago's boundary straits to a 3D-model of the Baltic with a grid resolution of 0.5 nautical miles (n.m.). This fine resolution model (FR-domain) is in turn driven by the atmospheric forcing and the density variation at the rectangular boundary of the FR-domain which acceptably resolves both the interfacial straits and the outer archipelago's complex hypsography. Massive computing resources would be demanded if the FR-domain were extended to comprise the entire Baltic. The FR-domain is thus interfaced with an existing coarse resolution model of the entire Baltic (CR-domain) with a grid size of 5 n.m., the open boundary of which is located in the Kattegat. This 3-fold model set-up has been run for one whole year (1992) with a one-year spin-up time to make up for the lack of initial data. The model concept is at this stage to be regarded as a framework for further development in anticipation of improved formulations, particularly for the strait exchange formulation. Therefore only primary validation experiments and a few sensitivity analyses have been performed.     

Changing seas in the Early–Middle Miocene of Central Europe: a Mediterranean approach to Paratethyan stratigraphy

The Miocene palaeogeographic evolution of the Paratethys Sea is still poorly constrained. Here, we use modern Mediterranean biochronology to provide an up‐to‐date overview of changing seas in Central Europe. Instead of a Paratethys that waxed and waned with fluctuating global sea levels, we show that the development of different seas was mainly controlled by tectonic phases. The Early Miocene “Ottnangian Sea” (~18 Ma) was connected to the Mediterranean via the Rhône valley, while the “Karpatian Sea” (~16.5 Ma) was initiated by a tectonically induced marine transgression through the Trans‐Tethyan gateway. In most Central European basins, the establishment of the “Badenian Sea” (<15.2 Ma), triggered by subduction‐related processes in the Pannonian and Carpathian domain, is significantly younger (by ~1 Myr) than usually estimated. The updated palaeogeographic reconstructions provide a better understanding of the concepts of basin dynamics, land–sea distribution and palaeoenvironmental change in the Miocene of Central Europe.     

Effect of pH and organic ligands on the kinetics of smectite dissolution at 25 °C

Forward dissolution rates of Na-Montmorillonite (Wyoming) SWy-2 smectite (Ca_0.06Na_0.56)[Al_3.08Fe(III)_0.38Mg_0.54] [Si_7.93 Al_0.07]O₂₀(OH)₄ were measured at 25 °C in a mixed-flow reactor equipped with interior dialysis compartment (6-8 kDa membrane) as a function of pH (1-12), dissolved carbonate (0.5-10 mM), phosphate (10⁻⁵ to 0.03 M), and nine organic ligands (acetate, oxalate, citrate, EDTA, alginate, glucuronic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, gluconate, and glucosamine) in the concentration range from 10⁻⁵ to 0.03 M. In organic-free solutions, the Si-based rates decrease with increasing pH at 1 ? pH ? 8 with a slope close to −0.2. At 9 ? pH ? 12, the Si-based rates increase with a slope of ∼0.3. In contrast, non-stoichiometric Mg release weakly depends on pH at 1 ? pH ? 12 and decreases with increasing pH. The empirical expression describing Si-release rates [R, mol/cm²/s] obtained in the present study at 25 °C, I = 0.01 M is given by

     

Endogenic heat from Enceladus' south polar fractures: New observations, and models of conductive surface heating

Linear features dubbed “tiger stripes” in the south polar region of Enceladus have anomalously high heat fluxes and are the apparent source of the observed plume. Several explanations for the observed activity have been proposed, including venting from a subsurface reservoir of liquid water, sublimation of surface ice, dissociation of clathrates, and shear heating. Thermal modeling presented in this work, coupled with observations from the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument, seeks to elucidate the underlying physical mechanism by constraining vent temperatures and thermal emission sources, using a model in which the observed thermal signature results primarily from conductive heating of the surface by warm subsurface fractures. The fractures feed surface vents, which may themselves contribute to the observed thermal emission. Model variables include vent temperature, presence of a surface insulating layer, vent width, time-variable heat input, and heat sources other than the central vent. Results indicate that CIRS spectra are best fitted with a model in which the surface is heated by narrow vents at temperatures as high as 223 K. Although equally good fits can be obtained for vent temperatures in the range of 130 to 155 K if the vents are wider (180 m and 22 m respectively) and dominate the emission spectrum, these models are probably less realistic because vents with these temperatures and widths cannot supply the observed H₂O vapor flux. The lack of emission angle dependence of the thermal emission when July 2005 and November 2006 CIRS observations are compared also argues against thermal emission being dominated by the vents themselves. Thus, results favor high-temperature models, possibly venting from a subsurface liquid water reservoir. However, a fracture filled with liquid water near the surface would produce significantly higher radiances than were detected unless masked by a thermally insulating surface layer. Models that best match the CIRS data are characterized by small fractions of the surface at high temperatures, which strengthens the case for the vents and/or their conductively-heated margins being the primary heat source. Models where the thermal emission is dominated by conductive heating of the surface from below by a laterally-extensive buried heat source cannot reproduce the observed spectrum. Models with a 10 cm thick upper insulating layer produce a poor match to the CIRS spectra, suggesting high thermal inertias near the tiger stripes. Finally, tiger stripe thermal emission measured by CIRS varied by less than 15% over the 16 month period from July 2005 to November 2006.