Combined U-Pb dating and Sm-Nd studies on lower crustal and mantle xenoliths from the Delegate basaltic pipes, southeastern Australia

Mafic rocks dominate the lower crustal and upper mantle xenolith suites within the Jurassic Delegate basaltic diatremes in the Paleozoic Lachlan Fold Belt, SE Australia. Two upper mantle mafic xenoliths from the Delegate pipes, a garnet pyroxenite and a garnet granulite (equilibrated at 1060 and 1140 °C, and 40–50 km), yield garnet-clinopyroxene Sm-Nd ages of 160 ± 4 Ma and 153 ± 10 Ma, respectively. Both ages are indistinguishable from the time of eruption of the diatremes, and are interpreted as showing continuous isotopic equilibrium within the mantle of Sm and Nd between garnet + clinopyroxene at temperatures ≥ 1050 °C. A lower crustal, 2-pyroxene granulite xenolith (equilibrated at 810–850 °C and ca. 25 km) yields a clinopyroxene + plagioclase + whole rock Sm-Nd isochron ages of 283 ± 26 Ma. This age probably reflects partial resetting of the isotopic systems of much older granulite during slow cooling, or after a heating event in the lower crust associated with the Jurassic magmatic activity represented by the basaltic host rock. Metamorphic zircons from the 2-pyroxene granulite xenolith were dated by the U-Pb method at 398±2 and 391 ± 2 Ma. These ages are considered to date granulite facies metamorphic events in the lower crust of the region. The age gap between the granulite facies metamorphism and granitoid plutonism in the region (420–410 Ma) indicates that the dated granulite is unlikely to represent residue after partial melting and magma extraction that generated the regional granitoids. It is suggested that these ages may record a relatively slow cooling following the cessation of mafic magmatic intrusion that formed the xenolith protoliths and that was probably the heat source responsible for granite production. At about 25 km, this thermal relaxation accounts for the change from an olivine + plagioclase + 2-pyroxene gabbroic assemblage into the granulite facies 2-pyroxene + plagioclase + spinel field. Received: 17 May 1995 / Accepted: 24 March 1997     

Characterization of the subsurface architecture and identification of potential groundwater paths in a clay-rich floodplain using multi-electrode resistivity imaging

The interaction between surface water and groundwater in clay-rich fluvial environments can be complex and is generally poorly understood. Airborne electromagnetic surveys are often used for characterizing regional groundwater systems, but they are constrained by the resolution of the method. A resistivity imaging survey has been carried out in the Macquarie Marshes (New South Wales, Australia) in combination with water chemical sampling. The results have enabled the identification of buried palaeochannels and the location of potential recharge points. The data have been compared with previously published airborne electromagnetic data in the same area. Deeper less conductive features suggest that there is a potential connection between the Great Artesian Basin and groundwater contained within the shallow sand aquifer. Even though the chemistry of the groundwater samples does not indicate interaction with the Great Artesian Basin, the observed discontinuity in the saprolite implies potential for this to happen in other locations.     

Efficient reliability analysis of earth dam slope stability using extreme gradient boosting method

Acta Geotechnica - Reliability analysis approach provides a rational means to quantitatively evaluate the safety of geotechnical structures from a probabilistic perspective. However, it suffers...     

Investigations of the bottom current sculpted margin of Hatton Bank, NE Atlantic

The northwest Hatton Bank margin is an ideal locality to demonstrate the interaction between bottom currents and slope configuration in controlling the distribution and morphology of bottom current deposits. The slope area investigated is isolated from any major terrigenous sediment supply and at present is influenced by the Deep Northern Boundary Current (DNBC). Swath bathymetry and high resolution acoustic data allow us to evaluate both local and regional controls on slope sedimentation and the possible mechanisms for bottom-current velocity variability across a slope setting within the NW European continental margin. The slope exhibits sculpting by bottom currents that flow in a predominantly southwest to northeast direction, and is only locally modified by slope failures. Positive relief features such as the Endymion Spur play an important role in constraining and accelerating bottom-current flow and, consequently, in redistributing sediment along the margin. We demonstrate that the size, morphology and distribution of bottom-current deposits along the slope vary as a function of the interaction between bottom currents, regional slope orientation and local seafloor topography.     

Heterogeneities in the Microstructure and Composition of Aircraft Engine Combustor Soot: Impact on the Water Uptake

Size, morphology, microstructure, chemical composition and hygroscopic properties of aircraft engine combustor (AEC) soot particles are studied by using a combination of several methods, namely atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, gravimetry, ionic chromatography analysis and wetting observations. From the microstructure and the composition of soot agglomerates, we find that we can separate AEC soot in two fractions having quite different physico-chemical properties: a main fraction of particles containing essentially amorphous carbon with small amounts of oxygen, sulfur and iron and a fraction of impurities characterized by various structures and a large amount of impurities. These properties of aircraft engine combustor soot are compared to those of soot obtained by burning TC1 aviation kerosene in a laboratory burner. It is shown that TC1 soot can be a good surrogate of the AEC main fraction. Such a finding allows us to perform water uptake measurements and to conclude that the AEC main fraction is rather hydrophobic whereas the AEC fraction of impurities is highly hydrophilic The ability of the two fractions of aircraft engine combustor soot to act as cloud condensation nuclei is discussed with respect to their implication in contrail and cirrus formation.Associated to Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II) and to Université Paul Cézanne (Aix-Marseille III)     

Presence of an iron‐rich nanophase material in the upper layer of the Cretaceous‐Tertiary boundary clay

Abstract— We report new geochemical evidence from ten Cretaceous‐Tertiary (K‐T) boundary sites in North America and Europe, indicating the presence of a material remnant of a large asteroid or comet that struck the Earth at 65.0 Ma. Mössbauer spectroscopic data reveals that a ubiquitous iron‐rich nanophase material exists at the uppermost part of the K‐T boundary layer in the Western Hemisphere and in Europe in marine and continental fine‐grained sedimentary rock. The high surface‐to‐volume ratio of nanophase material suggests that it may be the carrier of the iridium abundance enhancement that marks the K‐T boundary. Even more provocative is the possibility that the discovered nanophase material is, for the most part, composed of the vaporized impactor after the impact‐generated high‐temperature vapor plume rose and cooled above the atmosphere.     

A 1500-year record of temperature and glacial response inferred from varved Iceberg Lake, southcentral Alaska

We present a varve thickness chronology from glacier-dammed Iceberg Lake in the southern Alaska icefields. Radiogenic evidence confirms that laminations are annual and record continuous sediment deposition from A.D. 442 to A.D. 1998. Varve thickness is positively correlated with Northern Hemisphere temperature trends, and more strongly with a local, ∼600 yr long tree ring width chronology. Varve thickness increases in warm summers because of higher melt, runoff, and sediment transport (as expected), but also because shrinkage of the glacier dam allows shoreline regression that concentrates sediment in the smaller lake. Varve thickness provides a sensitive record of relative changes in warm season temperatures. Relative to the entire record, temperatures implied by this chronology were lowest around A.D. 600, warm between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1300, cooler between A.D. 1500 and A.D. 1850, and have increased dramatically since then. Combined with stratigraphic evidence that contemporary jökulhlaups (which began in 1999) are unprecedented since at least A.D. 442, this record suggests that 20th century warming is more intense, and accompanied by more extensive glacier retreat, than the Medieval Warm Period or any other time in the last 1500 yr.     

Comment on the postulate of three plane strain mechanisms

This note discusses the inconsistencies that are inherent in the postulate of three plane strain mechanisms. It is shown that this postulate violates the principle of invariance and one obtains different results depending on the choice of the reference axes. If formulated in the principal stress space, this postulate requires that the principal stress and principal plastic strain increment directions be coaxial. Constitutive models based on this postulate cannot be used for general loading situations involving principal stress rotation where significant non-coaxiality is obtained.