Early solar system processes recorded in the matrices of two highly pristine CR3 carbonaceous chondrites, MET 00426 and QUE 99177

The mineralogy and bulk compositions of the matrices of the CR chondrites MET 00426 and QUE 99177 have been studied using a combination of SEM, EPMA, and TEM techniques. The matrices of these two chondrites are texturally, chemically, and mineralogically similar and are characterized by significant FeO-enrichments with respect to other CR chondrite matrices, nearly flat refractory lithophile patterns, variable volatile element patterns, and a simple mineral assemblage dominated by amorphous silicate material and Fe,Ni sulfides. Fine-grained, crystalline silicate phases such as olivine and pyroxene appear to be extremely rare in the matrices of both meteorites. Instead, the mineralogy of matrices and fine-grained rims of both meteorites consists of abundant amorphous FeO-rich silicate material, containing nanoparticles of Fe,Ni sulfides (troilite, pyrrhotite, and pentlandite). Secondary alteration minerals that are characteristic of other CR chondrites (e.g., Renazzo and Al Rais), such as phyllosilicates, magnetite, and calcite are also rare. The texture and mineralogy of the matrices of MET 00426 and QUE 99177 share many features with matrices in the primitive carbonaceous chondrites ALH A77307 (CO3.0) and Acfer 094 (unique). These observations show that MET 00426 and QUE 99177 are very low petrologic type 3 chondrites that have escaped the effects of aqueous alteration, unlike other CR chondrites, which are typically classified as petrologic type 2. We suggest that these meteorites represent additional samples of highly primitive, but extremely rare carbonaceous chondrites of petrologic type 3.00, according to the classification scheme of Grossman and Brearley (2005). The highly pristine nature of MET 00426 and QUE 99177 provides important additional insights into the origins of fine-grained materials in carbonaceous chondrites. Based on our new observations, we infer that the amorphous silicate material and nanosulfide particles that dominate the matrices of these meteorites formed in the solar nebula by rapid condensation of material following high-temperature events, such as those that formed chondrules.     

Strain localization as a key to reconciling experimentally derived flow-law data with dynamic models of continental collision

Published strength profiles predict strength discontinuities within and/or at the base of continental crust during compression. We use finite element models to investigate the effect of strength discontinuities on continental collision dynamics. The style of deformation in model crust during continued subduction of underlying mantle lithosphere is controlled by: (1) experimental flow-law data; (2) the crustal geotherm; (3) strain localization by erosion; (4) strain-softening and other localization effects. In the absence of erosion and other factors causing strain localization, numerical models with typical geothermal gradients and frictional/ductile rheologies predict diffuse crustal deformation with whole-scale detachment of crust from mantle lithosphere. This prediction is at odds with earlier model studies that only considered frictional crustal rheologies and showed asymmetric, focused crustal deformation. Without localization, model deformation is not consistent with that observed in small collisional orogens such as the Swiss Alps. This suggests that strain localization by a combination of erosion and rheological effects such as strain softening must play a major role in focusing deformation, and that strength profiles derived under constant strain rates and uniform material properties cannot be used to infer crustal strength during collision dynamics.     

Origin of the Nchanga copper–cobalt deposits of the Zambian Copperbelt

The Zambian Copperbelt forms the southeastern part of the 900-km-long Neoproterozoic Lufilian Arc and contains one of the world’s largest accumulations of sediment-hosted stratiform copper mineralization. The Nchanga deposit is one of the most significant ore systems in the Zambian Copperbelt and contains two major economic concentrations of copper and cobalt, hosted within the Lower Roan Group of the Katangan Supergroup. A Lower Orebody (copper only) and Upper Orebody (copper and cobalt) occur towards the top of arkosic units and within the base of overlying shales. The sulfide mineralogy includes pyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite, and chalcocite, although in the Lower Orebody, sulfide phases are partially or completely replaced by malachite and copper oxides. Carrollite is the major cobalt-bearing phase and is restricted to fault-propagation fold zones within a feldspathic arenite. Hydrothermal alteration minerals include dolomite, phlogophite, sericite, rutile, quartz, tourmaline, and chlorite. Quartz veins from the mine sequence show halite-saturated fluid inclusions, ranging from ~31 to 38 wt% equivalent NaCl, with homogenisation temperatures (Th_TOT) ranging between 140 and 180°C. Diagenetic pyrites in the lower orebody show distinct, relatively low δ ³⁴S, ranging from −1 to −17‰ whereas arenite- and shale-hosted copper and cobalt sulfides reveal distinctly different δ ³⁴S from −1 to +12‰ for the Lower Orebody and +5 to +18‰ for the Upper Orebody. There is also a clear distinction between the δ ³⁴S mean of +12.1±3.3‰ (n=65) for the Upper Orebody compared with +5.2±3.6‰ (n=23) for the Lower Orebody. The δ ¹³C of dolomites from units above the Upper Orebody give δ ¹³C values of +1.4 to +2.5‰ consistent with marine carbon. However, dolomite from the shear-zones and the alteration assemblages within the Upper Orebody show more negative δ ¹³C values: −2.9 to −4.0‰ and −5.6 to −8.3‰, respectively. Similarly, shear zone and Upper Orebody dolomites give a δ ¹⁸O of +11.7 to +16.9‰ compared to Lower Roan Dolomites, which show δ ¹⁸O of +22.4 to +23.0‰_. Two distinct structural regimes are recognized in the Nchanga area: a weakly deformed zone consisting of basement and overlying footwall siliciclastics, and a moderate to tightly folded zone of meta-sediments of the Katangan succession. The fold geometry of the Lower Roan package is controlled by internal thrust fault-propagation folds, which detach at the top of the lowermost arkose or within the base of the overlying stratigraphy and show vergence towards the NE. Faulting and folding are considered to be synchronous, as folding predominantly occurred at the tips of propagating thrust faults, with local thrust breakthrough. The data from Nchanga suggests a strong link between ore formation and the development of structures during basin inversion as part of the Lufilian Orogeny. Sulfides tend to be concentrated within arenites or coarser-grained layers within shale units, suggesting that host-rock porosity and possibly permeability played a role in ore formation. However, sulfides are also commonly orientated along, but not deformed by, a tectonic fabric or hosted within small fractures that suggest a significant role for deformation in the development of the mineralization. The ore mineralogy, hydrothermal alteration, and stable isotope data lend support to models consistent with the thermochemical reduction of a sulfate- (and metal) enriched hydrothermal fluid, at the site of mineralization. There is no evidence at Nchanga for a contribution of bacteriogenic sulfide, produced during sedimentation or early diagenesis, to the ores.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users.Editorial handling: H. Frimmel     

Lithogeochemical localisation of disseminated gold in the White River area, Yukon, Canada

Gold mineralisation in the White River area, 80 km south of the highly productive Klondike alluvial goldfield, is hosted in amphibolite facies gneisses in the same Permian metamorphic pile as the basement for the Klondike goldfield. Hydrothermal fluid which introduced the gold was controlled by fracture systems associated with middle Cretaceous to early Tertiary extensional faults. Gold deposition occurred where highly fractured and chemically reactive rocks allowed intense water–rock interaction and hydrothermal alteration, with only minor development of quartz veins. Felsic gneisses were sericitised with recrystallisation of hematite and minor arsenic mobility, and extensively pyritised zones contain gold and minor arsenic (ca 10 ppm). Graphitic quartzites (up to 5 wt.% carbon) caused chemical reduction of mineralising fluids, with associated recrystallisation of metamorphic minerals (graphite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite) in host rocks and veins, and introduction of arsenic (up to 1 wt.%) to form arsenopyrite in veins and disseminated through host rock. Veins have little or no hydrothermal quartz, and up to 19 wt.% carbon as graphite. Late-stage oxidation of arsenopyrite in some graphitic veins has formed pharmacosiderite. Gold is closely associated with disseminated and vein sulphides in these two rock types, with grades of up to 3 ppm on the metre scale. Other rock types in the White River basement rocks, including biotite gneiss, hornblende gneiss, pyroxenite, and serpentinite, have not developed through-going fracture systems because of their individual mineralogical and rheological characteristics, and hence have been little hydrothermally altered themselves, have little hydrothermal gold, and have restricted flow of fluids through the rock mass. Some small post-metamorphic quartz veins (metre scale) have been intensely fractured and contain abundant gold on fractures (up to 40 ppm), but these are volumetrically minor. The style of gold mineralisation in the White River area is younger than, and distinctly different from, that of the Klondike area. Some of the mineralised zones in the White River area resemble, mineralogically and geochemically, nearby coeval igneous-hosted gold deposits, but this resemblance is superficial only. The White River mineralisation is an entirely new style of Yukon gold deposit, in which host rocks control the mineralogy and geochemistry of disseminated gold, without quartz veins.     

Directional permeability of porous media to homogeneous fluids

Summary Investigations have shown that in groundwater- and oil-bearing strata there are preferential directions of flow that are often maintained over wide areas.Johnson & Hughes (1948, see Ref.) analysed a series of oil well cores by cutting them into small horizontal plugs and they obtained directional permeabilities which they plotted in the form of polar graphs. They were not able to give a physical explanation of this phenomenon. On the other hand, there exists a theory of permeability in which the latter is represented as a symmetric tensor. This theory has been developed byFerrandon (1948, see Ref.), but no experimental substantiation of it seems ever to have been attempted.In the present paper, the author undertakes to compare the two sets of findings. FromFerrandon's theory, the directional permeabilities (denoted byk) corresponding to the experiments ofJohnson & Hughes are calculated and it is shown thatk ^–1/2 if plotted as polar graph, should form an ellipse. The data ofJohnson & Hughes are then are drawn. In this manner, a substantiation of the tensor theory ofFerrandon is obtained.

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Zusammenfassung Untersuchungen der Permeabilität von Grundwasser und Erdöl führenden Gesteinsschichten haben gezeigt, dass dieselbe in vielen Fällen richtungsabhängig ist. Hierbei bleibt die Richtung extremaler Permeabilität oft über weite Gebiete konstant.Johnson & Hughes untersuchten eine Reihe von Bohrkernen von Oelquellen auf Richtungsabhängigkeit der Permeabilität. Hierzu schnitten sie aus denselben kleine, waagrechte Stücke, bestimmten deren Permeabilität und stellten das Ergebnis ihrer Messungen in der Form von Permeabilitätspolardiagrammen dar. Sie waren nicht im Stande, eine theoretische Erklärung der erhaltenen Kurven zu geben. Auf der anderen Seite existiert eine Theorie der Permeabilität, wobei die letztere als symmetrischer Tensor behandelt wird. Diese Theorie wurde vonFerrandon vorgeschlagen; es scheint aber, dass keine experimentelle Bestätigung davon je versucht worden ist.In der vorliegenden Arbeit vergleicht der Verfasser die zwei Typen von Untersuchungen. Nach derFerrandon'schen Theorie wird die «gerichtete» Permeabilität (mitk bezeichnet), die den Experimenten vonJohnson & Hughes entspricht, berechnet. Es wird gezeigt, dassk ^–1/2, als Polardiagramm dargestellt, die Gestalt einer Ellipse haben sollte. Die Resultate vonJohnson & Hughes werden dann in die Form vonk ^–1/2 umgerechnet und als entsprechende Polardiagramme dargestellt. In dieser Weise wird eine experimentelle Bestätigung der Tensortheorie vonFerrandon erhalten.

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Published by Permission of Imperial Oil Limited, Calgary, Alberta (Canada).     

Understanding the fate of iron in a modern temperate estuary: Leirárvogur,Iceland

Fluvial dissolved Fe concentrations decrease upon mixing with seawater, resulting in the formation of Fe-floccules. However, a clear understanding of the fate of these floccules has yet to be established. Assessing how tidal processes affect the formation of Fe-colloids in the Leirárvogur estuary, SW Iceland, is an important step in understanding the formation and potential deposition of estuarine Fe-rich minerals within this estuarine system. The Leirárvogur estuary drains predominately Fe-rich basalt, increasing the likelihood of detecting changes in Fe-phases. Fluvial waters and local lake waters that drain into the estuary were compared and the effects of seasonal changes were considered, in an attempt to understand how varying end-members and external factors play a role in Fe-rich mineral formation. Aqueous and colloidal Fe concentrations were found to be greater towards the head of the Leirárvogur estuary, suggesting that potential Fe-rich minerals and complexes are forming at sites of fluvial input. Increasing suspended colloidal Fe towards the estuary mouth suggests that Fe-colloids are readily transported seaward.     

Drained cavity expansions in soils of finite radial extent subjected to two boundary conditions

The problem of drained cavity expansion in soils of finite radial extent is investigated. Cylindrical and spherical cavities expanded from zero radius subjected to either constant stress or zero displacement at the finite boundary are considered. The generalised analytical solution procedure presented enables more advanced constitutive models to be implemented than have been possible in previous studies. Results generated for Sydney quartz sand highlight substantial differences between cavity limit pressures for the two boundary conditions and for boundaries of finite and infinite radial extent. This is of significance in accounting for boundary effects when interpreting cone penetration tests conducted in calibration chambers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do free-ranging domestic goats show ‘landscapes of fear’? Patch use in response to habitat features and predator cues

One factor that influences foraging is predation risk. As a result, herbivores may not use landscapes uniformly due to spatial differences in perceived predation risk. Wild herbivores forage across these ‘landscapes of fear’; however, the extent to which domestic herbivores consider them is generally unknown. Using a grid of artificial food patches and measuring giving up densities (GUDs), we mapped landscapes of fear of free-ranging domestic goats on three substrates. In the first experiment, we related GUDs to landscape variables. Goats preferred feeding in open ground with firm substrate compared to a sandy riverbed or a rocky hillside. We suggest that differences relate to escape potential and the occurrence of ambush sites. Landscape variables that influenced feeding effort were patch visibility and plants next to a patch. In a second experiment, we increased predation risk by adding predator dung and urine into the habitats. In response, feeding effort declined across all three habitats. Furthermore, goats only responded to patch visibility and not plants next to the patches. Better sightlines increase predator detection and allow individuals to see group members. Our results indicate that predation risk influences the extent to which free-ranging domestic herbivores utilise landscapes.