MELIMEX,an experimental heavy metal pollution study: Behaviour of heavy metals in an aquatic food chain

Phytoplankton, periphyton and zooplankton samples, chironomid andSialis sp. larvae, and fry of trout and bream collected from unpolluted and artificially metal-polluted limno-corrals were analyzed for mercury, copper, cadmium, zinc and lead. The results indicate that these metals are not accumulated through the food chain and suggest that increased metal concentrations in the environment favor the growth of phytoplankton organisms with a low metal sorption capacity.     

Tonminerale in normalsedimenten,hydrothermal beeinflu\ten sedimenten und Erzschlämmen des Roten Meeres

From 14 deeps and other regions of the Red Sea totally 226 samples from 28 cores recovered during the VALDIVIA cruises (1971, 1972) were investigated according to their clay mineral content (<2μm resp. < 6.3 μm) after carbonate dissolution. Three facies groups are to distinguish:

1. normal sediments: dominance of chlorite, kaolinite, illite, small amounts of smectite and sepiolite. Two palygorskite types are present only in a few samples.
2. normal sediments with hydrothermal influence: clay mineral paragenesis similar like that of normal sediments; but increase of smectite and presence of goethite in each sample; partly small contents of talc.
3. heavy metal deposits: dominance of iron-bearing smectite, partly with amorphous components resp. pure ore mineral assemblages with authigenic silicates (talc, quartz, opal, chrysotile, sepiolite, palygorskite, chlorite).

Crystallinity of the clay and ore minerals is independent from sedimentary overburden. Sepiolite shows in small amounts a wide distribution; palygorskite₂ (d₁₁₀=11.3 Å) yields locally an increased concentration in the range of pteropod layers cemented by aragonite. The environment of ore deposits is characterized by iron-bearing smectite besides the ore minerals.     

Climate change and the world predicament: A case study for interdisciplinary research

The relationship between climatic change and issues of population, food, resources, environment and the human condition i.e., the world predicament, are explored. It is concluded that society is dangerously vulnerable to natural climatic variability at times of depleted food reserves (such as now) and that massive use of technologies (especially energy) to improve the human condition could well cause significant climatic change as early as the year 2000. Therefore, these problems cannot be addressed in the sole context of disciplinary research, and the obstacles and opportunities for interdisciplinary research at academic institutions are explored. Criteria for interdisciplinary research quality review are suggested, and contrasted to traditional peer review processes.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Reaktionen im alpinotypen Peridotitmassiv von Ronda (Spanien) und seinen partiellen Schmelzprodukten

The alpine type peridotite of Ronda (Spain) essentially is spinel lherzolite plus minor (< 5 vol.-%) amounts of basic layers. Basic layers are thin bands of several cm in thickness with different extent, arranged parallel to the lineation a of the lherzolite. 5 new rock analyses are presented, showing that the basic layers are olivine tholeiitic in composition, supporting their genetic interpretation as partial fusion products from an upper mantle peridotite of nearly pyrolitic chemism. Basic parts are not removed from the lherzolite host but consolidated as garnet pyroxenites, spinel pyroxenites, and olivine gabbros. Microprobe analyses of 6 olivines, 6 orthopyroxenes, 5 clinopyroxenes, 1 garnet, 2 spinels are given, most of them from coexisting minerals of pyroxenites and olivine gabbros.In garnet pyroxenite and in spinel pyroxenite the two pyroxenes are Al-rich pyroxenes, changing continuously by subsolidus reactions to Al-poor pyroxenes+anorthite ± spinel in the gabbro. Subsolidus transformations are marked by exsolution reactions and recrystallizations, favoured by weak deformation. Detailed study of mineral textures combined with chemical data show that spinel pyroxenite was isochemically transformed to spinel bearing olivine gabbro. This transformation mainly was caused by change in the P-T-conditions, related to the further steady uplift of the entire massif. P-T-estimations according to several methods indicate consolidation of garnet pyroxenite bands at 1100 ° C/20 kb. Subsolidus reactions changing spinel pyroxenite (1000-900 ° C/15 kb) to olivine gabbro layers show final re-equilibration in the range of 900–800 ° C at 15–10 kb.

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Gekürzter, spezieller Teil einer vom Naturwiss. FB III der Universität Würzburg 1975 angenommenen Habilitationsschrift

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Die Mikrosondenuntersuchungen wurden an einer CAMECA MS 46 (Leihgabe der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft im Mineralogischen Institut Würzburg) durchgeführt. Für die Bewilligung beantragter Sachmittel und Reisekostenzuschüsse bin ich der DFG zu Dank verpflichtet. Dank schulde ich den Herren Prof. Dr. A. San Miguel, Mineralogisches Institut der Universität Barcelona, sowie Prof. Dr. S. Matthes, Dr. E. Knauer, Dr. P. Richter, Mineralogisches Institut Würzburg für Hilfe und Kritik. Der Comisión Nacional de Geologia, Madrid, danke ich für die offizielle Erlaubnis zu den Geländearbeiten.     

The disproportionation of andalusite (Al2SiO5) to Al2O3 and SiO2 under shock compression

Shock-recovery experiments have been carried out on andalusite single crystals of gem quality in a pressure range from 300 up to 575 kbar. Infrared spectroscopic investigations indicate a progressive shock-induced transformation of andalusite into short-range-ordered Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ phases within a pressure interval from ～360 to ～575 kbar. Exposure to dynamic pressures of about 575 kbar results in andalusite breaking down into incoherently crystallized γ-Al₂O₃, well-crystallized α-Al₂O₃ and X-ray amorphous SiO₂. The shock disproportionation of andalusite is presumed to take place in three separate stages of reaction. The comparison of shock-induced reactions with results from static experiments on kyanite indicates significant differences in the transformation pressures and in the mechanism of the high pressure decomposition.     

A Jurassic-Cretaceous island arc in the Ladakh-Himalayas

The Ladakh Mesozoic ophiolite belt (western Himalaya) contains a pile of volcanic thrust sheets (Dras unit) which differ significantly in structure and composition from the ophiolitic mélange zones. The Dras unit is composed of pillow lavas, doleritic sills, very irregular basaltic (?basaltic andesites) and dacitic flows intercalated with pyroclastics, volcanoclastic sediments and radiolarian cherts. According to fossil evidence, this volcanism must have been active between Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous.The presence of relict primary minerals, such as magnesiochromite, clinopyroxene, hastingsitic hornblende and Ti-magnetite as well as distinctive bulk chemistries, suggests that the volcanics belong to island arc tholeiite and to calc-alkaline rock series, typical of present island arcs in the Caribbean and Pacific.Model calculations incorporating probed phenocryst phases indicate that in addition to olivine, clinopyroxene and plagioclase, amphibole and titanomagnetite are crucial fractionating phases in the development of the dacites from a primitive tholeiitic melt. The latter process must have taken place at about 1000°C and at moderate depth of 5–15 km within or underneath the island arc. Today, hornblende-bearing mafic cumulates appear in the vicinity of Kargil within and close to the Dras volcanics.In a Sr-evolution diagram, the Dras volcanics have yielded a “pseudo-isochron” with a low initial ratio of 0.7035 ± 0.0003, which is in the same range as the mean of modern island arc volcanics. However, a geologically unrealistic age of 263 m.y., is obtained from the slope of this isochron.The upper mantle is regarded as the source material for the island arc tholeiitic magmas. Enrichment in K, Ba, Sr and LREE supports the involvement of components derived from dehydration or incipient melting of subducted Tethyan oceanic crust in the mantle.     

A sediment trap intercomparison study in the Santa Barbara Basin

Four sediment traps of radically different design were deployed in the Santa Barbara Basin for approximately 45 days. The measured fluxes ranged from 370 to 774 g m^?2 yr^?1 for the different designs. These values lie within flux measurements previously determined for the basin. Compared to the 25-year record (920 g m^?2 yr^?1), however, all fluxes determined in this experiment are somewhat low. Because this experiment was conducted during a general period of high storm activity and runoff, measurement of greater than average flux was expected. It is probable that the higher flux recorded by the sediments results from a significant input of detritus into the basin by near bottom transport.The chemical composition of trapped material was nearly identical in all four trap designs. The deep cone design, however, had a significantly lower Mn content. Since this trap was the only one in which reducing conditions were produced in the sample container, reduction and mobilization of manganese after collection is believed to have occurred.In spite of the very different designs tested, the factor of two agreement in flux determination and the compositional similarity of the material collected is encouraging for future attempts to directly measure the flux of particulates in the ocean.