Lead isotopes in sulfides from the Stillwater Complex, Montana: evidence for subsolidus remobilization

Isotopic ratios of Pb in sulfide minerals (primarily pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and pentlandite) from a suite of samples from the platiniferous J-M Reef of the Stillwater Complex were measured to elucidate the temporal and genetic relationship between sulfides and host silicate minerals. Results indicate that sulfides and coexisting plagioclases are generally not in isotopic equilibrium, that both sulfides and feldspars record highly radiogenic initial ratios at 2.7 Ga, and that a component of “post-emplacement” radiogenic Pb has mixed with common Pb in the sulfides. A model involving introduction of radiogenic Pb carried by fluids derived from sources external to the complex is favored. Analyses of the lead isotopic composition of sulfides in veins which cut the complex indicate that a significant fraction of the radiogenic lead which was added to the sulfides was externally derived during an extensive hydrothermal episode, associated with Proterozoic regional metamorphism around 1.7 Ga. The possibility that some fractions of the radiogenic Pb may have been derived from primary minerals altered during the low-grade metamorphism cannot be discounted. The amount of radiogenic lead added is variable and in some cases negligible. There is a good correlation between the lead isotope composition and the nature of the secondary mineral assemblage. Sulfides and plagioclases in samples that show little or no alteration of the primary minerals are generally in isotopic equilibrium and preserve isotope ratios consistent with magmatic crystallization at 2.7 Ga. Samples with the most radiogenic sulfides contain abundant secondary minerals (serpentine, talc, actinolite, chlorite and zoisite) associated with greenschist facies metamorphism. Some of the radiogenic Pb in the sulfides can be removed by progressive stepwise leaching. However, in most samples recrystallization of sulfides during metamorphism has mixed common Pb and radiogenic Pb throughout the crystal structure such that, in these samples, stepwise leaching does not recover initial Pb isotopic ratios. Plagioclases are much more resistant to low temperature recrystallization and in almost all cases, stepwise leaching reveals the initial lead isotopic composition. The reactivity of sulfides over a wide temperature range enhances their utility in understanding not only the processes involved in their formation at the time of magmatic emplacement but also postmagmatic processes which were important in the redistribution and enrichment of platinum group elements (PGE) within the ore zone. Received: 30 December 1998 / Accepted: 16 June 1999     

A Snapshot of the Sun Near Solar Minimum: The Whole Heliosphere Interval

We present an overview of the data and models collected for the Whole Heliosphere Interval, an international campaign to study the three-dimensional solar?Cheliospheric?Cplanetary connected system near solar minimum. The data and models correspond to solar Carrington Rotation 2068 (20 March??C?16 April 2008) extending from below the solar photosphere, through interplanetary space, and down to Earth??s mesosphere. Nearly 200 people participated in aspects of WHI studies, analyzing and interpreting data from nearly 100 instruments and models in order to elucidate the physics of fundamental heliophysical processes. The solar and inner heliospheric data showed structure consistent with the declining phase of the solar cycle. A closely spaced cluster of low-latitude active regions was responsible for an increased level of magnetic activity, while a highly warped current sheet dominated heliospheric structure. The geospace data revealed an unusually high level of activity, driven primarily by the periodic impingement of high-speed streams. The WHI studies traced the solar activity and structure into the heliosphere and geospace, and provided new insight into the nature of the interconnected heliophysical system near solar minimum.     

The radio structure of 45 quasars atz < 1.5

Radio maps at 5 GHz with an angular resolution of 1 to 2 arcsec and a dynamic range ≳ 200:1 are presented for a sample of 45 radio quasars at redshifts between 0.2 and 1.5. The sources were imaged from observations made with the Very Large Array with the aim of investigating the epoch dependence of misalignments and asymmetries in their extended radio structure. Maps of some of the larger radio sources are presented also at a frequency of 1.5 GHz with a typical angular resolution of ≈ 4 arcsec. The radio structure of most of the quasars reported here has been delineated in considerably greater detail than available in the literature.     

Satellite beacon measurements of protonospheric fluxes

The ionospheric and protonospheric regions of the plasmasphere, which are dominated by the O⁺ and H⁺ ionic species, respectively, interact by means of proton fluxes within tubes of magnetic force. The present study is concerned with the determination of these fluxes by the beacon satellite technique as used in the ATS-6 experiment in relation to three observing sites: Boulder, Colorado; Lancaster, U.K.; and Fairbanks, Alaska. From plasmasphere models based on solutions of the time dependent O⁺ and H⁺ momentum and continuity equations, it is shown that the time differential of the “residual content” as measured at Lancaster, provides a good estimate of the protonospheric flux at 4000km altitude in the L = 1.8 magnetic shell under quite geomagnetic conditions. The effect of the neutral thermospheric wind on the protonospheric flux is also investigated. Fluxes determined by the beacon technique for the period from September 1975 to July 1976 are shown, and these are compared with typical results derived from other techniques.     

Phytoplankton dynamics in Lake Biwa during the 20th century: complex responses to climate variation and changes in nutrient status

We examined algal remains and fossil pigments in ²¹⁰Pb-dated sediment cores from Lake Biwa to explore historical changes in the phytoplankton community of the lake over the past 100 years and to identify environmental factors that caused those changes. Fluxes of fossil pigments and algal remains were very low before the 1960s, but increased through the 1960s and 1970s, indicating that the lake had eutrophied in the 20 years since 1960. After 1980, however, fluxes of all fossil pigments and algal remains decreased or stabilized. Redundancy analysis with meteorological and limnological variables explained more than 70% of the variation of these fluxes and showed that the decrease in fluxes of most algal taxa that occurred in the 1980s was related to changes in meteorological variables such as wind velocity, rather than changes in the lake’s trophic state. Sedimentary records of algal remains also revealed that Aulacoseira nipponica, an endemic diatom species that grows in winter, decreased dramatically after 1980, while Fragilaria crotonensis, a cosmopolitan spring diatom species, became dominant. Replacement of one dominant diatom species by another could not be explained simply by changes in the lake trophic state, but was reasonably strongly related with an increase in winter water temperature. These results suggest that the phytoplankton community in Lake Biwa was influenced by changes in local environmental conditions (nutrient loading) through the 1960s and 1970s, but more so by regional (meteorological) and global (climate warming) factors since 1980.     

Viscous model of plate tectonics for the Black Sea region (in relation to the problem of the late Cenozoic evolution of the Black Sea basins)

A numerical model of the Black Sea region (Northeastern Mediterranean) is presented in which it is regarded as a part of the mosaic plate ensemble consisting of the fixed East European platform; the active Arabian, Adriatic, and Pannonian plates; and passive East and West Black Sea and Mysian microplates, which are embedded in a plastically deformable regional orogenic matrix. The fields of displacements, stresses, and deformations in the region are calculated by means of the finite element method within the framework of a linear-viscous rheology approach to a system with nonhomogeneous viscosities. The velocity field obtained is in good agreement with published data of direct observations of plate displacements in the region. In the pressure field, areas of low pressure and decompression are established in the western part of Black Sea and in the south of the Mysian microplate. The poles of rotation of the East and West Black Sea microplates and of the Mysian microplate are computed. For the latter two microplates, significant rotational components are suggested. The East Black Sea microplate acts mostly as indenter, which transmits the collisional motion from the Arabian plate to the southern edge of the East European platform including the Crimea. According to the geodynamical model, the rates of the Cenozoic sedimentation in the Black Sea depression at the collision stage (Oligocene-Pliocene) result from the greater compression of the East Black Sea microplate as compared to the West Black Sea microplate, which, probably, experienced a kind of extension.     

Modelling detrital cooling-age populations: insights from two Himalayan catchments

The distribution of detrital mineral cooling ages in river sediment provides a proxy record for the erosional history of mountain ranges. We have developed a numerical model that predicts detrital mineral age distributions for individual catchments in which particle paths move vertically toward the surface. Despite a restrictive set of assumptions, the model permits theoretical exploration of the effects of thermal structure, erosion rate, and topography on cooling ages. Hypsometry of the source‐area catchment is shown to exert a fundamental control on the frequency distribution of bedrock and detrital ages. We illustrate this approach by generating synthetic ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar muscovite age distributions for two catchments with contrasting erosion rates in central Nepal and then by comparing actual measured cooling‐age distributions with the synthetic ones. Monte Carlo sampling is used to assess the mismatch between observed and synthetic age distributions and to explore the dependence of that mismatch on the complexity of the synthetic age signal and on the number of grains analysed. Observed detrital cooling ages are well matched by predicted ages for a more slowly eroding Himalayan catchment. A poorer match for a rapidly eroding catchment may result from some combination of large analytical uncertainties in the detrital ages and inhomogeneous erosion rates within the basin. Such mismatches emphasize the need for more accurate thermal and kinematic models and for sampling strategies that are adapted to catchment‐specific geologic and geomorphic conditions.