Silica enrichment of Group II xenoliths by evolved alkali basalt from Jeju Island, South Korea: implication for modification of intraplate deep-seated rocks

Group II xenoliths, corresponding to the lithology of dunite, wehrlite to olivine clinopyroxenite and olivine websterite to websterite, occur in Pleisto-Holocene alkali basalts from Jeju Island, South Korea. The large grain size (up to 5?mm), moderate mg# [=100?×?Mg/(Mg?+?Fe_total) atomic ratio] of olivine (79–82) and pyroxenes (77–83), and absence of metamorphic textural features indicate that they are cumulates of igneous origin. Based on textural features, mineral equilibria and major and trace element variations, it can be inferred that the studied xenoliths were crystallized from basaltic melts enriched in incompatible trace elements and belong to the Jeju Pleisto-Holocene magma system. They appear to have been emplaced near the present Moho, an estimated 5–8?kbars beneath Jeju Island. Consolidation of cumulates was followed by infiltration of silica-enriched metasomatic melt, producing secondary orthopyroxenes at the expense of olivine. The metasomatic agent appears to have been a silica-enriched residual melt evolved from an initially slightly silica-undersaturated alkali basalt to silica-saturated compositions by fractional crystallization under relatively high pressure conditions. The result of this study indicates that relatively young olivine-bearing cumulates could have been metasomatized by a silica-enriched melt within underplates, suggesting that silica enrichment can occur in intraplate Moho-related rocks as well as in the upper mantle of the subarc area.     

Origin of wehrlite cumulates in the Moho transition zone of the Neoproterozoic Ras Salatit ophiolite,Central Eastern Desert,Egypt: crustal wehrlites with typical mantle characteristics

Ultramafic cumulates, mainly crustal true wehrlites, were discovered and described in the mantle–crust transition zone (MTZ) and the extremely lower layered gabbro sequence of the Ras Salatit ophiolite, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt. They form either boudinaged lensoidal tabular bodies or interdigitated layers often concordant with the planolinear fabrics of the Ras Salatit ophiolite rocks. The contact between wehrlites and the host MTZ dunite or layered gabbro is razor sharp, lobate and/or sinuous, without chilled margins or any visible deformations. The Ras Salatit wehrlites are orthopyroxene-free and composed mainly of olivine and clinopyroxene. They are texturally equilibrated and show a characteristic poikilitic texture. Crystallization order of the Ras Salatit wehrlites is olivine/spinel followed by clinopyroxene with the absence of plagioclase. Olivine and clinopyroxene of the Ras Salatit wehrlites are compositionally uniform and conspicuously high in Mg#, mostly around 0.93 and 0.92, respectively. Moreover, the clinopyroxene shows low Ti and Al contents coupled with marked depletion in LILE. The calculated melt in equilibrium with clinopyroxene from the Ras Salatit wehrlites is largely similar to lavas from the Izu-Bonin forearc. Given the above characteristics, the Ras Salatit wehrlites were produced by crystal accumulation from a hydrous depleted basaltic/tholeiitic melt corresponding to temperatures between 1,000 and 1,100°C at the oceanic crustal pressure (~2 kbar). The involved hydrous tholeiitic melt has been probably formed by fluid-assisted partial melting of a refractory mantle source (similar to the underlying harzburgites) in a somewhat shallow sub-arc environment.     

Structural changes of synthetic opal by heat treatment

The structural changes of synthetic opal by heat treatment up to 1,400 °C were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopies. The results indicate that the dehydration and condensation of silanol in opal are very important factors in the structural evolution of heat-treated synthetic opal. Synthetic opal releases water molecules and silanols by heat treatment up to 400 °C, where the dehydration of silanol may lead to the condensation of a new Si–O–Si network comprising a four-membered ring structure of SiO₄ tetrahedra, even at 400 °C. Above 600 °C, water molecules are lost and the opal surface and internal silanol molecules are completely dehydrated by heat effect, and the medium-temperature range structure of opal may begin to thermally reconstruct to six-membered rings of SiO₄ tetrahedra. Above 1,000 °C, the opal structure almost approaches that of silica glass with an average structure of six-membered rings. Above 1,200 °C, the opal changes to low-cristobalite; however, minor evidence of low-tridymite stacking was evident after heat treatment at 1,400 °C.     

Summer monsoon rainfall scenario over Bangladesh using a high-resolution AGCM

Summer monsoon rainfall was simulated by a global 20 km-mesh atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), focusing on the changes in the summer monsoon rainfall of Bangladesh. Calibration and validation of AGCM were performed over Bangladesh for generating summer monsoon rainfall scenarios. The model-produced summer monsoon rainfall was calibrated with a ground-based observational data in Bangladesh during the period 1979–2003. The TRMM 3B43 V6 data are also used for understanding the model performance. The AGCM output obtained through validation process made it confident to be used for near future and future summer monsoon rainfall projection in Bangladesh. In the present-day (1979–2003) climate simulations, the high-resolution AGCM produces the summer monsoon rainfall better as a spatial distribution over SAARC region in comparison with TRMM but magnitude may be different. Summer monsoon rainfall projection for Bangladesh was experimentally obtained for near future and future during the period 2015–2034 and 2075–2099, respectively. This work reveals that summer monsoon rainfall simulated by a high-resolution AGCM is not directly applicable to application purpose. However, acceptable performance was obtained in estimating summer monsoon rainfall over Bangladesh after calibration and validation. This study predicts that in near future, summer monsoon rainfall on an average may decrease about ?0.5 % during the period 2015–2034 and future summer monsoon rainfall may increase about 0.4 % during the period 2075–2099.     

Ordovician backarc‐basin metadolerite and metabasalt of the South Kitakami Terrane,Northeast Japan

Basement rocks that occur along the northern margin of the South Kitakami Terrane in Japan consist of Ordovician ultramafic rocks (Hayachine ultramafic complex), gneissose amphibolite (Kuromoriyama amphibolite), and mafic rocks (Kagura igneous rocks, KIR). The KIR are composed of metagabbro, metadolerite, metabasalt, and minor felsic–intermediate dikes. Although the KIR contain green hornblende due to metamorphism of greenschist to epidote–amphibolite facies, they rarely retain primary brown hornblende. Approximately 30% of the metabasalt shows porphyritic textures, with phenocrysts of saussuritized plagioclase and/or altered mafic minerals. The geochemistry of the common metadolerite and metabasalt of the KIR shows a tholeiite trend, a low TiO₂ content, and high Th/Nb and Ti/V ratios. The KIR are therefore indicative of a supra‐subduction zone tectonic setting, which implies a backarc origin (as also indicated by discrimination diagrams). Trace element patterns of the KIR resemble those of the backarc‐basin basalt of the Japan and Yamato basins in the Japan Sea. We propose that the KIR formed during backarc spreading from the Ordovician to Early Silurian. This view is supported by the geochemical data, the tectonic setting of the Hayachine ultramafic rocks, and the provenance of clastics within Silurian sedimentary rocks.     

Possible variation in methane flux caused by gas hydrate formation on the northeastern continental slope off Sakhalin Island, Russia

The Sakhalin Slope Gas Hydrate Project (SSGH) is an international collaborative effort by scientists from Japan, Korea, and Russia to investigate natural gas hydrates (GHs) that have accumulated on the continental slope off Sakhalin Island, Okhotsk Sea. From 2009 to 2011, field operations of the SSGH-09, -10, and -11 projects were conducted. GH-bearing and -free sediment cores were retrieved using steel hydro- and gravity corers. The concentrations of sulfate ions in sediment pore waters were measured to investigate sulfate concentration–depth profiles. Seventeen cores showed linear depth profiles of sulfate concentrations. In contrast, eight cores and two cores showed concave-up and -down profiles plausibly explained by sudden increase and decrease in methane flux from below, respectively, presumably caused by the formation of gas hydrate adjacent to the core sampling sites.     

Case study of the transformation of swells propagating into Sendai Bay

A high-resolution two-dimensional map of swell wavelength and propagating direction was retrieved from a phased array type L-band synthetic aperture radar scene observed on 24 September 2006 over Sendai Bay in the Tohoku region of Japan. Features of the wavelength map were compared with a wavelength map calculated from in situ measurements of the swell period using infinitesimal amplitude surface wave theory. The maps corresponded well in most areas, although large differences appeared in the near-shore area (area I) and an area of complicated bottom topography (area II). Because the spatial resolution of swell parameters was too coarse to investigate the surface waves in area I, wavelet transform (WT) was applied along a swell ray to improve the spatial resolution. In the resulting WT wavelength map, the large difference in area I disappeared. For area II, perturbation theory was introduced for surface waves propagating obliquely on a gentle slope. The large wavelength difference in area II was well explained by the second-order solution of perturbation theory.     

Chromitite and peridotite from Rayat, northeastern Iraq, as fragments of a Tethyan ophiolite

Ophiolitic rocks (chromitites and serpentinized peridotites) were petrologically examined in detail for the first time from Rayat, in the Iraqi part of the Zagros thrust zone, an ophiolitic belt. Almost all the primary silicates have been altered out, but chromian spinel has survived from alteration and gives information about the primary petrological characteristics. The protolith of the serpentinite was clinopyroxene-free harzburgite with chromian spinel of intermediate Cr# (= Cr/[Cr + Al] atomic ratio) of 0.5 to 0.6. The harzburgite with that signature is the most common in the mantle section of the Tethyan ophiolites such as the Oman ophiolite, and is the most suitable host for chromitite genesis. Except for one sample, which has Cr# = 0.6 for spinel, the Cr# of spinel is high, around 0.7, in chromitite. The variation in Cr# of spinel in chromitite observed here has been also reported in the Oman ophiolite. The peridotite with chromitite pods exposed at Rayat was derived from an ophiolite similar in petrological character to the Oman ophiolite, one of the typical Tethyan ophiolites (fragments of Tethyan oceanic lithosphere). This result is consistent with the previous interpretation based on geological analysis.     

Structure and dynamics of water on muscovite mica surfaces

The structure and dynamics of water on muscovite mica (0 0 1) surfaces have been investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. X-ray reflectivity profiles highly reflecting the interfacial structure are directly calculated and compared with those of experiments. The direct comparison has validated the usefulness of MD simulations to understand the real interfacial structure of the mica−water system. We observed five distinguished peaks in the density profile of oxygen present in water, and these peaks are attributable to the water molecules directly adsorbed on mica, hydrated to the K⁺ ions on the mica surface, and ordered due to hydrogen bonds between hydrated K⁺ ions. The hydrated K⁺ ions make an inner-sphere complex and have an explicit first hydration shell with a radius of 3.6 Å and a hydration number of 2.9. The change of the viscosity of water located above 1 nm apart from the mica surface was not observed. This feature is in good agreement with a recent experimental study in which the shear measurement was conducted using a surface forces apparatus. The increase of the viscosity by a factor of ca. 2-3 relative to that of the bulk water was observed at water located within 1 nm from the isolated mica surface.