Bromine cycle in subduction zones through in situ Br monitoring in diamond anvil cells

The geochemical partitioning of bromine between hydrous haplogranitic melts, initially enriched with respect to Br and aqueous fluids, has been continuously monitored in situ during decompression. Experiments were carried out in diamond anvil cells from 890 °C to room temperature and from 1.7 GPa to room pressure, typically from high P, T conditions corresponding to total miscibility (presence of a supercritical fluid). Br contents were measured in aqueous fluids, hydrous melts and supercritical fluids. Partition coefficients of bromine were characterized at pressure and temperature between fluids, hydrous melts and/or glasses, as appropriate: D^Br_fluid/melt = (Br)_fluid/(Br)_melt, ranges from 2.18 to 9.2 ± 0.5 for conditions within the ranges 0.66-1.7 GPa, 590-890 °C; and D^Br_fluid/glass = (Br)_fluid/(Br)_glass ranges from 60 to 375 at room conditions. The results suggest that because high pressure melts and fluids are capable of accepting high concentrations of bromine, this element may be efficiently removed from the slab to the mantle source of arc magmas. We show that Br may be highly concentrated in subduction zone magmas and strongly enriched in subduction-related volcanic gases, because its mobility is strongly correlated with that of water during magma degassing. Furthermore, our experimental results suggest that a non negligible part of Br present in the subducted slab may remain in the down-going slab, being transported toward the transition zone. This indicates that the Br cycle in subduction zones is in fact divided in two related but independent parts: (1) a shallower one where recycled Br may leave the slab with a water and silica-bearing “fluid” leading to enriched arc magmas that return Br to the atmosphere. (2) A deeper cycle where Br may be recycled back to the mantle maybe to the transition zone, where it may be present in high pressure water-rich metasomatic fluids.     

Middle Carboniferous crustal melting in the Variscan Belt: New insights from U–Th–Pbtot. monazite and U–Pb zircon ages of the Montagne Noire Axial Zone (southern French Massif Central)

In France, the Devonian–Carboniferous Variscan orogeny developed at the expense of continental crust belonging to the northern margin of Gondwana. A Visean–Serpukhovian crustal melting has been recently documented in several massifs. However, in the Montagne Noire of the Variscan French Massif Central, which is the largest area involved in this partial melting episode, the age of migmatization was not clearly settled. Eleven U–Th–Pb_tot. ages on monazite and three U–Pb ages on associated zircon are reported from migmatites (La Salvetat, Ourtigas), anatectic granitoids (Laouzas, Montalet) and post-migmatitic granites (Anglès, Vialais, Soulié) from the Montagne Noire Axial Zone are presented here for the first time. Migmatization and emplacement of anatectic granitoids took place around 333–326 Ma (Visean) and late granitoids emplaced around 325–318 Ma (Serpukhovian). Inherited zircons and monazite date the orthogneiss source rock of the Late Visean melts between 560 Ma and 480 Ma. In migmatites and anatectic granites, inherited crystals dominate the zircon populations. The migmatitization is the middle crust expression of a pervasive Visean crustal melting event also represented by the “Tufs anthracifères” volcanism in the northern Massif Central. This crustal melting is widespread in the French Variscan belt, though it is restricted to the upper plate of the collision belt. A mantle input appears as a likely mechanism to release the heat necessary to trigger the melting of the Variscan middle crust at a continental scale.     

HydroCube: an entity-relationship hydrogeological data model

Managing, handling and accessing hydrogeological information depends heavily on the applied hydrogeological data models, which differ between institutions and countries. The effective dissemination of hydrogeological information requires the convergence of such models to make hydrogeological information accessible to multiple users such as universities, water suppliers, and administration and research organisations. Furthermore, because hydrogeological studies are complex, they require a wide variety of high-quality hydrogeological data with appropriate metadata in clearly designed and coherent structures. A need exists, therefore, to develop and implement hydrogeological data models that cover, as much as possible, the full hydrogeological domain. A new data model, called HydroCube, was developed for the Walloon Region in Belgium in 2005. The HydroCube model presents an innovative holistic project-based approach which covers a full set of hydrogeological concepts and features, allowing for effective hydrogeological project management. The model stores data relating to the project locality, hydrogeological equipment, and related observations and measurements. In particular, it focuses on specialized hydrogeological field experiments such as pumping and tracer tests. This logical data model uses entity-relationship diagrams and it has been implemented in the Microsoft Access environment. It has been enriched with a fully functional user interface.     

The Decline and Restoration of a Coastal Lagoon (Lake Veere) in the Dutch Delta

The former tidal inlet Lake Veere was turned into a stagnant brackish lake in 1961. Ever since, the system has shown a continuous degradation. The current study shows the monitoring results for the macrozoobenthic communities and the abiotic conditions for the period 1990–2008. This includes the first step to remediation, the restoration of the exchange between the tidal marine Eastern Scheldt and Lake Veere in 2004. A continuous decline in water clearance co-occurring with decreasing macrofauna densities and richness was observed till 2004. Water quality (e.g., secchi depth, nutrient levels, and oxygen conditions) improved significantly after the measure at a higher salinity level with less variation. But the macrofauna densities, biomass, and diversity did not improve yet. First indications of changes in the benthic communities by arrival of new and returning species are however observed and show that restoration at macrofauna level follows the improved abiotic conditions with a delay of several years.     

Geophysical exploration of an active pockmark field in the Bay of Concarneau,southern Brittany,and implications for resident suspension feeders

About a decade ago, a large field of pockmarks (individual features up to 30 m in diameter and <2 m deep) was discovered in water depths of 15–40 m in the Bay of Concarneau in southern Brittany along the French Atlantic coast, covering an overall area of 36 km² and characterised by unusually high pockmark densities in places reaching 2,500 per square kilometre. As revealed by geophysical swath and subbottom profile data ground-truthed by sediment cores collected during two campaigns in 2005 and 2009, the confines of the pockmark field show a spectacular spatial association with those of a vast expanse of tube mats formed by a benthic community of the suspension-feeding amphipod Haploops nirae. The present study complements those findings with subbottom chirp profiles, seabed sonar imagery and ultrasonic backscatter data from the water column acquired in April 2011. Results show that pockmark distribution is influenced by the thickness of Holocene deposits covering an Oligocene palaeo-valley system. Two groups of pockmarks were identified: (1) a group of large (>10 m diameter), more widely scattered pockmarks deeply rooted (up to 8 ms two-way travel time, TWTT) in the Holocene palaeo-valley infills, and (2) a group of smaller, more densely spaced pockmarks shallowly rooted (up to 2 ms TWTT) in interfluve deposits. Pockmark pore water analyses revealed high methane concentrations peaking at ca. 400 μl/l at 22 and 30 cm core depth in silty sediments immediately above Haploops-bearing layers. Water column data indicate acoustic plumes above pockmarks, implying ongoing pockmark activity. Pockmark gas and/or fluid expulsion resulting in increased turbidity (resuspension of, amongst others, freshly settled phytoplankton) could at least partly account for the strong spatial association with the phytoplankton-feeding H. nirae in the Bay of Concarneau, exacerbating impacts of anthropogenically induced eutrophication and growing offshore trawling activities. Tidally driven hydraulic pumping in gas-charged pockmarks represents a good candidate as large-scale short-term triggering mechanism of pockmark activation, in addition to episodic regional seismic activity.     

The challenge of dating early pleistocene fossil teeth by the combined uranium series–electron spin resonance method: the Venta Micena palaeontological site (Orce,Spain)

The palaeontological site of Venta Micena (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) lies in the eastern sector of the Guadix–Baza basin, one of the best documented areas in Europe for Plio‐Pleistocene biostratigraphy. The combination of biochronological and palaeomagnetic results, combined with the radiometric data obtained for Atapuerca Sima del Elefante, indicated that the Venta Micena stratum was formed between the Jaramillo and Olduvai palaeomagnetic events, most likely between 1.22 and 1.77 Ma. Five fossil teeth from two outcrops (sites A and B) were selected to assess the potential of combined uranium series–electron spin resonance (US‐ESR) dating of Early Pleistocene sites. Although the US‐ESR results of the first outcrop showed a large scatter between the three teeth, the mean age of 1.37 ± 0.24 Ma can be considered a reasonable age estimate for Venta Micena. The mean ESR age of 0.62 ± 0.03 Ma obtained for site B seems to be a severe underestimation when compared with the independent age control. This underestimation is attributed to a relative recent U‐mobilization event that led to some U‐leaching. The results show that any ESR age calculations of old samples are extremely sensitive to variations in the measured ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U ratios in dental tissues. Although the results demonstrate that ESR can in principle be applied to Early Pleistocene sites, they also reveal the complexity of dating such old teeth. It is necessary to continue research in several directions, such as study of the behaviour of ESR signals in old teeth and understanding recent U‐mobilization processes, to improve the reliability of the combined US‐ESR dating method applied to Early Pleistocene times, a period for which the number of available numerical dating techniques is very limited. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factors and processes of permanent gully evolution in a Mediterranean marly environment (Cape Bon,Tunisia)

Abstract

Gully erosion is considered to be one of the most important soil erosion processes in Mediterranean marly environments, but its actual contribution to total soil loss is still under discussion. The objectives of this paper are: (a) to acquire the distributed value of erosion rate in a permanent gully developed on a marly substratum in a Mediterranean environment; and (b) to quantify the key factors responsible for the spatial and temporal differences in erosion rates observed within the gully. A permanent gully located in Cap Bon (northeastern Tunisia) has been intensively and regularly monitored over a 7-year period with electronic survey equipment (total station) to give five field topographic surveys, as well as hydrological measurements at the gully outlet. The net soil loss for the 7-year period comprised a denudation of 51 m³ of sediment on the gully bank slopes, which corresponds to a mean soil loss of 61 m³ ha^?1 year^?1 or 6.1 mm year^?1. Denudation was observed on bed units with a slope gradient greater than 20%, while the remainder showed deposition. By confirming the factors involved in gully evolution, and by refining the statistical link between factors and erosion rates within the gully, the results provide important information to predict gully erosion rates in Mediterranean marly environments.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor G. Mahé

Citation El Khalili, A., Raclot, D., Habaieb, H., and Lamachère, J.M., 2013. Factors and processes of permanent gully evolution in a Mediterranean marly environment (Cape Bon, Tunisia). Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (7), 1519–1531.     

A 20cm 2 CCD mosaic camera for a dark matter search part II : Electronics,data acquisition and performance

Conclusion To summarize, the readout and the control system of the CCD mosaic camera are running since December 1991 at the La Silla Observatory (ESO). The overall performance of the camera has been good. About 12000 pictures (data and flat-fields) have been successfully registered up to now. We will report in the near future preliminary scientific results of the EROS experiment.     

Surfaces of section in the Miranda-Umbriel 3:1 inclination problem

The recent numerical simulations of Tittemore and Wisdom (1988, 1989, 1990) and Dermottet al. (1988), Malhotra and Dermott (1990) concerning the tidal evolution through resonances of some pairs of Uranian satellites have revealed interesting dynamical phenomena related to the interactions between close-by resonances. These interactions produce chaotic layers and strong secondary resonances. The slow evolution of the satellite orbits in this dynamical landscape is responsible for temporary capture into resonance, enhancement of eccentricity or inclination and subsequent escape from resonance. The present contribution aims at developing analytical tools for predicting the location and size of chaotic layers and secondary resonances. The problem of the 3:1 inclination resonance between Miranda and Umbriel is analysed.