Prediction of the calcium carbonate budget in a sedimentary basin: A “source-to-sink” approach applied to Great Salt Lake,Utah, USA

Most source-to-sink studies typically focus on the dynamics of clastic sediments and consider erosion, transport and deposition of sediment particles as the sole contributors. Although often neglected, dissolved solids produced by weathering processes contribute significantly in the sedimentary dynamics of basins, supporting chemical and/or biological precipitation. Calcium ions are usually a major dissolved constituent of water drained through the watershed and may facilitate the precipitation of calcium carbonate when supersaturating conditions are reached. The high mobility of Ca²⁺ ions may cause outflow from an open system and consequently loss. In contrast, in closed basins, all dissolved (i.e. non-volatile) inputs converge at the lowest point of the basin. The endoreic Great Salt Lake basin constitutes an excellent natural laboratory to study the dynamics of calcium on a basin scale, from the erosion and transport through the watershed to the sink, including sedimentation in lake's waterbody. The current investigation focused on the Holocene epoch. Despite successive lake level fluctuations (amplitude around 10 m), the average water level seems to have not been affected by any significant long-term change (i.e. no increasing or decreasing trend, but fairly stable across the Holocene). Weathering of calcium-rich minerals in the watershed mobilizes Ca²⁺ ions that are transported by surface streams and subsurface flow to the Great Salt Lake (GSL). Monitoring data of these flows was corrected for recent anthropogenic activity (river management) and combined with direct precipitation (i.e. rain and snow) and atmospheric dust income into the lake, allowing estimating the amount of calcium delivered to the GSL. These values were then extrapolated through the Holocene period and compared to the estimated amount of calcium stored in GSL water column, porewater and sediments (using hydrochemical, mapping, coring and petrophysical estimates). The similar estimate of calcium delivered (4.88 Gt) and calcium stored (3.94 Gt) is consistent with the premise of the source-to-sink approach: a mass balance between eroded and transported compounds and the sinks. The amount of calcium deposited in the basin can therefore be predicted indirectly from the different inputs, which can be assessed with more confidence. When monitoring is unavailable (e.g. in the fossil record), the geodynamic context, the average lithology of the watershed and the bioclimatic classification of an endoreic basin are alternative properties that may be used to estimate the inputs. We show that this approach is sufficiently accurate to predict the amount of calcium captured in a basin and can be extended to the whole fossil record and inform on the storage of calcium.     

New observations on high‐pressure phases in a shock melt vein in the Villalbeto de la Peña meteorite: Insights into the shock behavior of diopside

The petrology and mineralogy of shock melt veins in the L6 ordinary chondrite host of Villalbeto de la Peña, a highly shocked, L chondrite polymict breccia, have been investigated in detail using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and electron probe microanalysis. Entrained olivine, enstatite, diopside, and plagioclase are transformed into ringwoodite, low‐Ca majorite, high‐Ca majorite, and an assemblage of jadeite‐lingunite, respectively, in several shock melt veins and pockets. We have focused on the shock behavior of diopside in a particularly large shock melt vein (10 mm long and up to 4 mm wide) in order to provide additional insights into its high‐pressure polymorphic phase transformation mechanisms. We report the first evidence of diopside undergoing shock‐induced melting, and the occurrence of natural Ca‐majorite formed by solid‐state transformation from diopside. Magnesiowüstite has also been found as veins injected into diopside in the form of nanocrystalline grains that crystallized from a melt and also occurs interstitially between majorite‐pyrope grains in the melt‐vein matrix. In addition, we have observed compositional zoning in majorite‐pyrope grains in the matrix of the shock‐melt vein, which has not been described previously in any shocked meteorite. Collectively, all these different lines of evidence are suggestive of a major shock event with high cooling rates. The minimum peak shock conditions are difficult to constrain, because of the uncertainties in applying experimentally determined high‐pressure phase equilibria to complex natural systems. However, our results suggest that conditions between 16 and 28 GPa and 2000–2200 °C were reached.     

Pilot Point Optimization of Mining Boundaries for Lateritic Metal Deposits: Finding the Trade-off Between Dilution and Ore Loss

Natural Resources Research - Geological contacts in lateritic metal deposits (footwall topographies) often delineate the orebody boundaries. Spatial variations seen in such contacts are frequently...     

Long-term soil moisture content estimation using satellite and climate data in agricultural area of Mongolia

The purpose of this study is to estimate long-term SMC and find its relation with soil moisture (SM) of climate station in different depths and NDVI for the growing season. The study area is located in agricultural regions in the North of Mongolia. The Pearson’s correlation methodology was used in this study. We used MODIS and SPOT satellite data and 14 years data for precipitation, temperature and SMC of 38 climate stations. The estimated SMC from this methodology were compared with SM from climate data and NDVI. The estimated SMC was compared with SM of climate stations at a 10-cm depth (r² = 0.58) and at a 50-cm depth (r² = 0.38), respectively. From the analysis, it can be seen that the previous month’s SMC affects vegetation growth of the following month, especially from May to August. The methodology can be an advantageous indicator for taking further environmental analysis in the region.     

Geographic structure of European anchovy: A nuclear-DNA study

Atlantic–Mediterranean anchovies were genetically characterized at two polymorphic nuclear loci (intron 6 of two creatine-kinase genes) and compared to reference Engraulis albidus and E. encrasicolus samples from the northern Western Mediterranean to provide new insights into their geographic structure. Northeastern Atlantic anchovy, represented by one sample from the Canary archipelago and one sample from the Alboran Sea, were genetically distinct from Mediterranean E. encrasicolus (Weir and Cockerham's ^θ = 0.027–0.311), indicating geographic isolation from either side of the Almería–Oran oceanographic front. Generally smaller genetic differences were evident among anchovy populations from different sub-basins in the Mediterranean (^θ = − 0.019–0.116), the genetic differences between Black Sea and Ionian Sea/Aegean Sea anchovies being the strongest (^θ = 0.002–0.116). There was no evidence of the presence of E. albidus in our samples outside Camargue (northern shore of the Western Mediterranean). However, a sample from the southern Western Mediterranean appeared to be genetically intermediate between E. albidus and Mediterranean E. encrasicolus, indicating possible hybridization. Anchovy from the Benguela current system off southern Africa possessed allele frequencies characteristic of E. albidus at one locus and Northeastern Atlantic anchovy at the other locus, suggesting past introgression.     

Controlling factors on the morphology and spatial distribution of methane-related tubular concretions – Case study of an Early Eocene seep system

Up to 10 m in length and >1 m in diameter tubular, calcite-cemented sandstone concretions are hosted by the faulted Dikilitash unconsolidated sands and sandstones. These structures document shallow subsurface pathways of Early Eocene methane seepage in the Balkan Mountains foreland (NE Bulgaria). Their exceptional exposure allowed a unique study of the factors governing the morphology and spatial distribution of such fossilized fluid conduits. The large dimensions and subvertical, cylindrical shape of the most common tube type primarily reflects the buoyancy-driven, vertical path of an ascending gas-bearing fluid through permeable, mainly unconsolidated sandy host sediments. Tube morphology was also influenced by local stratigraphic anisotropies and might as well document differences in former seepage conditions. Mapping of >800 tubular concretions showed the NNW–NNE elongation and alignment of tube clusters and massive cemented sandstone structures. This suggests that Paleogene fault systems played a major role in directing the movement of fluids. However, within a single tube cluster, tubes are preferentially aligned, over distances up to 50 m along directions at an angle between 10° and 36° with respect to the inferred NNW–NNE, cluster parallel fault traces. In addition, cylindrical tubes of analogue dimensions are aligned over distances >100 m along N15° to N25°-oriented directions. It is hypothesized that this spatial geometry of tubular concretions reflects the complex geometry of deformations structures in fault damage zones along which fluids were preferentially channelled.     

Climate Warming Mitigation from Nationally Determined Contributions

Individual countries are requested to submit nationally determined contributions(NDCs) to alleviate global warming in the Paris Agreement. However, the global climate effects and regional contributions are not explicitly considered in the countries’ decision-making process. In this study, we evaluate the global temperature slowdown of the NDC scenario(?T =0.6°C) and attribute the global temperature slowdown to certain regions of the world with a compact earth system model.Considering reductions ...     

On the co-orbital motion in the planar restricted three-body problem: the quasi-satellite motion revisited

In the framework of the planar and circular restricted three-body problem, we consider an asteroid that orbits the Sun in quasi-satellite motion with a planet. A quasi-satellite trajectory is a heliocentric orbit in co-orbital resonance with the planet, characterized by a nonzero eccentricity and a resonant angle that librates around zero. Likewise, in the rotating frame with the planet, it describes the same trajectory as the one of a retrograde satellite even though the planet acts as a perturbator. In the last few years, the discoveries of asteroids in this type of motion made the term “quasi-satellite” more and more present in the literature. However, some authors rather use the term “retrograde satellite” when referring to this kind of motion in the studies of the restricted problem in the rotating frame. In this paper, we intend to clarify the terminology to use, in order to bridge the gap between the perturbative co-orbital point of view and the more general approach in the rotating frame. Through a numerical exploration of the co-orbital phase space, we describe the quasi-satellite domain and highlight that it is not reachable by low eccentricities by averaging process. We will show that the quasi-satellite domain is effectively included in the domain of the retrograde satellites and neatly defined in terms of frequencies. Eventually, we highlight a remarkable high eccentric quasi-satellite orbit corresponding to a frozen ellipse in the heliocentric frame. We extend this result to the eccentric case (planet on an eccentric motion) and show that two families of frozen ellipses originate from this remarkable orbit.