Mapping upper mantle anisotropy beneath SE France by SKS splitting indicates Neogene asthenospheric flow induced by Apenninic slab roll-back and deflected by the deep Alpine roots

The presence of two regional seismic networks in southeastern France provides us high-quality data to investigate upper mantle flow by measuring the splitting of teleseismic shear waves induced by seismic anisotropy. The 10 three-component and broadband stations installed in Corsica, Provence, and western Alps efficiently complete the geographic coverage of anisotropy measurements performed in southern France using temporary experiments deployed on geodynamic targets such as the Pyrenees and the Massif Central. Teleseismic shear waves (mainly SKS and SKKS) are used to determine the splitting parameters: the fast polarization direction and the delay time. Delay times ranging between 1.0 and 1.5 s have been observed at most sites, but some larger delay times, above 2.0 s, have been observed at some stations, such as in northern Alps or Corsica, suggesting the presence of high strain zones in the upper mantle. The azimuths of the fast split shear waves define a simple and smooth pattern, trending homogeneously WNW–ESE in the Nice area and progressively rotating to NW–SE and to NS for stations located further North in the Alps. This pattern is in continuity with the measurements performed in the southern Massif Central and could be related to a large asthenospheric flow induced by the rotation of the Corsica–Sardinia lithospheric block and the retreat of the Apenninic slab. We show that seismic anisotropy nicely maps the route of the slab from the initial rifting phase along the Gulf of Lion (30–22 Ma) to the drifting of the Corsica–Sardinia lithospheric block accompanied by the creation of new oceanic lithosphere in the Liguro–Provençal basin (22–17 Ma). In the external and internal Alps, the pattern of the azimuth of the fast split waves follows the bend of the alpine arc. We propose that the mantle flow beneath this area could be influenced or perhaps controlled by the Alpine deep penetrative structures and that the Alpine lithospheric roots may have deflected part of the horizontal asthenospheric flow around its southernmost tip.     

Estimating historical in-lake alkalinity generation from sulfate reduction and its relationship to lake chemistry as inferred from algal microfossils

Sediment cores were used to estimate in-lake alkalinity generation resulting from sulfate reduction relative to inferred changes in lakewater pH and trophic status over the last century in three Connecticut lakes. Despite being situated in geological settings with crystalline bedrock and thin, poorly buffered soils, and being impacted with high rates of acidic precipitation, none of the study lakes have declined in inferred pH based on scaled chrysophyte and diatom remains. In fact, the pH of one of the lakes, Coventry Lake, has significantly increased over the last century. Over the last 44 to 69 years the amount of sulfur stored in the sediments from each lake increased from ~two to three times resulting in mean rates of alkalinity generation ranging from 78 to 145 meq m^–2 yr^–1, significantly higher than the 45 to 48 meq m^–2 yr^–1 of hydrogen ions falling directly on the lake surfaces. In-lake alkalinity generation resulting from sulfate reduction has been sufficient to neutralize all of the acid falling directly onto the lake surfaces, as well as between 9% and 25% of the acid deposited onto the surrounding watersheds. Despite the increased importance of in-lake alkalinity generation, our findings support the hypothesis that significant amounts of alkalinity are also being generated in the catchments of the study lakes. The bulk of the increases in stored sulfur in all three lakes were as Fe sulfides and not in the form of organic sulfur, suggesting that the increases were the result of dissimilatory bacterial reduction of sulfate. As a result of the large increases in storage of Fe sulfides the ratio of total iron to chromium reducible sulfur (Fe:CRS) has declined in all cores over time. Despite the overall decline in Fe:CRS in recent sediments, values are still largely above 3 in more recent sediments of two of the lakes. However, values of Fe:CRS have dropped below 1 in surface sediments of Uncas Lake, suggesting that in-lake loading of phosphorus may be responsible for a recent shift in the algal flora towards a slightly more eutrophic condition.     

Petrogenesis of olivine-phyric shergottites Sayh al Uhaymir 005 and Elephant Moraine A79001 lithology A

Martian meteorites Sayh al Uhaymir (SaU) 005 and lithology A of EETA79001 (EET-A) belong to a newly emerging group of olivine-phyric shergottites. Previous models for the origin of such shergottites have focused on mixing between basaltic shergottite-like magmas and lherzolitic shergottite-like material. Results of this work, however, suggest that SaU 005 and EET-A formed from olivine-saturated magmas that may have been parental to basaltic shergottites.SaU 005 and EET-A have porphyritic textures of large (up to ∼3 mm) olivine crystals (∼25% in SaU 005; ∼13% in EET-A) in finer-grained groundmasses consisting principally of pigeonite (∼50% in SaU 005; ∼60% in EET-A), plagioclase (maskelynite) and < 7% augite. Low-Ti chromite occurs as inclusions in the more magnesian olivine, and with chromian ulvöspinel rims in the more ferroan olivine and the groundmass. Crystallization histories for both rocks were determined from petrographic features (textures, crystal shapes and size distributions, phase associations, and modal abundances), mineral compositions, and melt compositions reconstructed from magmatic inclusions in olivine and chromite. The following observations indicate that the chromite and most magnesian olivine (Fo 74-70 in SaU 005; Fo 81-77 in EET-A) and pyroxenes (low-Ca pyroxene [Wo 4-6] of mg 77-74 and augite of mg 78 in SaU 005; orthopyroxene [Wo 3-5] of mg 84-80 in EET-A) in these rocks are xenocrystic. (1) Olivine crystal size distribution (CSD) functions show excesses of the largest crystals (whose cores comprise the most magnesian compositions), indicating addition of phenocrysts or xenocrysts. (2) The most magnesian low-Ca pyroxenes show near-vertical trends of mg vs. Al₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃, which suggest reaction with a magma. (3) In SaU 005, there is a gap in augite composition between mg 78 and 73. (4) Chromite cores of composite spinel grains are riddled with cracks, indicating that they experienced some physical stress before being overgrown with ulvöspinel. (5) Magmatic inclusions are absent in the most magnesian olivine, but abundant in the more ferroan, indicating slower growth rates for the former. (6) The predicted early crystallization sequence of the melt trapped in chromite (the earliest phase) in each rock produces its most magnesian olivine-pyroxene assemblage. However, in neither case is the total crystallization sequence of this melt consistent with the overall crystallization history of the rock or its bulk modal mineralogy.Further, the following observations indicate that in both SaU 005 and EET-A the fraction of solid xenocrystic or xenolithic material is small (in contrast to previous models for EET-A), and most of the material in the rock formed by continuous crystallization of a single magma (possibly mixed). (1) CSD functions and correlations of crystal size with composition show that most of the olivine (Fo 69-62 in SaU 005; Fo 76-53 in EET-A) formed by continuous nucleation and growth. (2) Groundmass pigeonites are in equilibrium with this olivine, and show continuous compositional trends that are typical for basalts. (3) The CSD function for groundmass pigeonite in EET-A indicates continuous nucleation and growth (Lentz and McSween, 2000). (4) The melt trapped in olivine of Fo 76 to 67 in EET-A has a predicted crystallization sequence similar to that inferred for most of the rock and produces an assemblage similar to its modal mineralogy. (5) Melt trapped in late olivine (Fo ∼ 64) in SaU 005 has a composition consistent with the inferred late crystallization history of the rock.The conclusion that only a small fraction of either SaU 005 or EET-A is xenocrystic or xenolithic implies that both rocks lost fractionated liquids in the late stages of crystallization. This is supported by: (1) high pigeonite/plagioclase ratios; (2) low augite contents; and (3) olivine CSD functions, which show a drop in nucleation rate at high degrees of crystallization, consistent with loss of liquid. For EET-A, this fractionated liquid may be represented by EET-B.     

Simulation of digital earthquake accelerograms using the inverse discrete Fourier transform

Acceleration time histories of horizontal earthquake ground motion are obtained by inverting the discrete Fourier transform, which is defined by modelling the probability distribution of the Fourier phase differences conditional on the Fourier amplitude. The Fourier amplitude spectrum is modelled as a scaled, lognormal probability density function. Three parameters are necessary to define the Fourier amplitude spectrum. They are the total energy of the accelerogram, the central frequency, and the spectral bandwidth. The Fourier phase differences are simulated conditional on the Fourier amplitudes. The amplitudes are classified into three categories: small, intermediate and large. For each amplitude category, a beta distribution or a combination of a beta distribution and a uniform distribution are defined for the phase differences. Seven parameters are needed to completely define the phase difference distributions: two for each of the three beta distributions, and the weight of the uniform distribution for phase differences corresponding to small Fourier amplitudes. Approximately 300 uniformly processed horizontal ground motion records from recent California earthquakes are used to develop prediction formulas for the model parameters, as well as to validate the simulation model. The moment magnitude of the earthquakes ranges from 5.8 to 7.3. The source to site distance for all the records is less than 100 km. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamo macrodynamics in rotating stratified fluids

The linear solvability conditions are found for any field of force leading to steady motion in a stratified rotating medium. A general solution for such motion is determined. For the Lorentz force, it is shown that a unique relation between all axisymmetric poloidal and toroidal magnetic fields is specified. A path to solutions for the non-linear -dynamo stability problem compatible with these constraints is outlined.     

The fossil Coleoptera of the Two Creeks forest bed,Wisconsin

A 21-kg sample of plant detritus from the Two Creeks forest bed at the junction of Kewaunee and Manitowoc Counties, Wisconsin, has produced a small, but well-preserved fauna of Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera. Among the Coleoptera the majority of Carabidae (ground beetles) indicate moderately moist to fairly dry, open ground conditions with a sparsely vegetated substrate. Another significant beetle group is represented by the Scolytidae (bark beetles) nearly all of which inhabit spruce. The restricted number of Coleoptera species (21) is believed to represent an in situ assemblage and is part of about 50 taxa. Most of the Coleoptera identified to the species level have a transcontinental distribution, with the exception of two carabids which are extreme western forms, and nearly all reside within the boreal forest. The beetles indicate that the mean July temperature at Two Creeks approximately 11,850 yr B.P. was 14° to 16°C.     

Internal gravity waves in a stably stratified boundary layer

Often, a combination of waves and turbulence is present in the stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer. The presence of waves manifest itself in the vertical profiles of variances of fluctuations and in low-frequency contributions to the power spectra. In this paper we study internal waves by means of a linear stability analysis of the mean profiles in a stably stratified boundary layer and compare the results with observed vertical variance profiles of fluctuating wind and temperature along a 200 m mast. The linear stability analysis shows that the observed mean flow is unstable for disturbances in a certain frequency and wavenumber domain. These disturbances are expected to the detectable in the measurements. It is shown that indeed the calculated unstable frequencies are present in the observed spectra. Furthermore, the shape of the measured vertical variance profiles, which increase with height, is explained well by the calculated vertical structure of the amplitude of unstable Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, confirming the contribution of waves to the variances. Because turbulence and waves have quite distinct transport properties, estimates of diffusion from measurements of variances would strongly overestimate this diffusion. Therefore it is important to distinguish between them.     

A model for the irradiative coloration of smoky feldspar and the inhibiting influence of water

Radiation-induced smoky color and associatedelectron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signals develop only in potassium feldspar (KAlSi₃O₈) free of structurally bound molecular water. Fluid inclusion water does not influence coloration. The integrated intensity of each of the four bands (11,600, 16,200, 19,100, and 27,200 cm^?1) in the optical absorption spectra are linearly correlated with the doubly-integrated intensity of a broad, asymmetric first derivative atg _eff=2.027 in EPR spectra. In microcline, the EPR pattern is resolved into an asymmetric six-line pattern atg _eff=2.024 and a single derivative atg _eff=2.009 which, based on analogy to alkali-silicate glass, are due respectively to [SiO₄/K⁺]²⁺ and a hole shared between two nonbonding oxygens on Si. We propose that structural water inhibits formation of smoky centers in feldspar by releasing atomic hydrogen during irradiation which destroys centers while diffusing towards a stable site.     

Changes in late Quaternary vegetation and insect communities in southwestern Ontario

The Gage Street site in Kitchener, Ontario, is a peat/marl sequence representing continuous lacustrine sedimentation from the time of deglaciation (ca. 13,000 yr B.P.) through 6900 yr B.P. Insect, pollen, and plant macrofossil remains isolated from the sediments indicate that from ca. 13,000 to 12,500 yr B.P. the region was characterized by parkland-tundra vegetation existing within thermal conditions more analogous to those today of the midboreal forest. The transition from parkland to coniferous forest at ca. 12,500 yr B.P. occurred within a climate that was only gradually warming. By the time of the spruce/pine transition at 10,500 yr B.P., an insect fauna had become established that is typical of southwestern Ontario today. The replacement of this fauna at ca. 8400 yr B.P. by one characteristic of the lowlands of the east-central United States represents the beginning of Hypsithermal conditions in southern Ontario. Vegetation and insects indicate that the climate continued to gradually warm through the mid-Holocene.