U–Pb SHRIMP data constraints on calc-alkaline granitoids with 1.3–1.6 Ga Nd TDM model ages from the central domain of the Borborema province,NE Brazil

The Tabira, Itapetim and Timbaúba granitoids are intruded into metasedimentary sequences and Cariris Velhos (Tonian) orthogneisses from the Central Domain of the Borborema Province, NE Brazil. They have U–Pb SHRIMP ages of 593 ± 7 Ma; 615 ± 9 Ma and 616 ± 5 Ma respectively. The studied granitoids have zircon cores inherited from the protholith, with a large number of analyses showing ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages ranging from 950 to 1200 Ma. Oscillatory zoning typical of magmatic zircon is common, although it is faint in some inherited cores.The studied granitoids are calc-alkaline and show Nd T_DM model ages ranging from 1.30 to 1.56 Ga and ?Nd (600 Ma) ranging from ?2.40 to ?5.34. These values are similar to those recorded in the country rocks. The lowest values of ?Nd (600 Ma) were recorded in enclaves of dioritic composition. Nd and U–Pb SHRIMP data suggest a significant participation of the metasedimentary rocks in the protholith of these granitoids. The Mesoproterozoic Nd T_DM model ages recorded in the studied granitoids are interpreted as the result of a hybrid source involving melting of metagraywackes, metamafic rocks of Tonian ages and/or biotite – bearing orthogneisses (Cariris Velhos Orthogneisses). The resulted melting was modified by mingling with juvenile Brasiliano melts, diorite in composition.The Timbaúba granitoids intrusions are coeval with high-T metamorphism and flat-lying foliation forming event in an intracontinental setting, during the Brasiliano convergence and contractional deformation. The Itapetim Pluton was emplaced in the convergence - lateral escape setting and the Tabira granitoids were intruded after the flat-lying foliation event, representing sin transcurrent intrusions.Our data show that within the Central Domain of the Borborema Province, granitoids with similar petrographic and geochemical compositions can have distinct ages and be intruded in distinct tectonic regimes.     

Segmentation and kinematics of the North America‐Caribbean plate boundary offshore Hispaniola

We explored the submarine portions of the Enriquillo–Plantain Garden Fault zone (EPGFZ) and the Septentrional–Oriente Fault zone (SOFZ) along the Northern Caribbean plate boundary using high‐resolution multibeam echo‐sounding and shallow seismic reflection. The bathymetric data shed light on poorly documented or previously unknown submarine fault zones running over 200 km between Haiti and Jamaica (EPGFZ) and 300 km between the Dominican Republic and Cuba (SOFZ). The primary plate‐boundary structures are a series of strike‐slip fault segments associated with pressure ridges, restraining bends, step overs and dogleg offsets indicating very active tectonics. Several distinct segments 50–100 km long cut across pre‐existing structures inherited from former tectonic regimes or bypass recent morphologies formed under the current strike‐slip regime. Along the most recent trace of the SOFZ, we measured a strike‐slip offset of 16.5 km, which indicates steady activity for the past ~1.8 Ma if its current GPS‐derived motion of 9.8 ± 2 mm a^?1 has remained stable during the entire Quaternary.     

Throughfall patterns in sugarcane and riparian forest: understanding the effect of sugarcane age and land use conversion

Sugarcane is an annual crop with a dynamic canopy that changes over time mainly because of genetic adaptation. There is uncertainty about the temporal trends of throughfall (TF) in this important commercial crop. In the present paper, we used troughs to measure TF in a third and fourth ratoon and subsequently in a fourth and fifth ratoon. Additional measurements were carried out in an adjacent riparian forest. There were no significant differences between cycles of sugarcane, growth phases and riparian forest. The TF results for ratoon crop and riparian forest in 2011/2012 were 76% and 79.5% of gross rainfall, respectively, while in 2012/2013, they were 79% and 78%, respectively. However, TF was remarkably lower in the riparian forest relative to ratoon from the second half of the culm formation and elongation phase (280 days after harvest) until harvest. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bismuth‐melt trails trapped in cassiterite–quartz veins

Native bismuth in the form of metallic melt has been considered instrumental to the formation of some metallic ore deposits via a mechanism dubbed the “Liquid Bismuth Collector Model.” Here, we provide petrographical documentation of trail‐forming, μm‐sized blebs of native bismuth in cassiterite–quartz veins from the Santa Bárbara greisen Sn deposit in the Rondônia tin province of northern Brazil. These inclusions suggest the trapping of a Bi melt that took place during vein formation, in a mechanism similar to the entrapment of fluid inclusions.     

Importance of mixotrophic nanoplankton in Aysén Fjord (Southern Chile) during austral winter

Mixotrophy, the combination of autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition in the same organism, is widespread in planktonic algae. Several reports from temperate and high-latitude fjords in Scandinavia suggest the occurrence of a niche in late summer and autumn during post-bloom conditions in which mixotrophic algae can become important grazers in pelagic ecosystems, accessing the nutrients bound in their prey to overcome nutrient limitation. Here, we experimentally determined the trophic modes and bacterivory rates for the nanoplankton community (2–20 μm) in Aysén Fjord located in the Chilean Northern Patagonia during two contrasting seasons: winter and spring. While mixotrophic nanoplankton was virtually absent from the system in spring, in winter at occasions it even constituted the dominant trophic group of the nanoplankton with abundances of >900 cells mL^?1. This indicates a second niche for mixotrophs in winter, when mixotrophy allows overcoming light limitation.     

Lake sedimentary processes and vegetation changes over the last 45k cal a bp in the uplands of south-eastern Amazonia

This study addresses paleoclimate influences in a southern Amazonia ecotone based on multiproxy records from lakes of the Carajás region during the last 45k cal a bp. Wet and cool environmental conditions marked the initial deposition in shallow depressions with detrital sediments and high weathering rates until 40k cal a bp. Concomitantly, forest and C3 canga plants, along with cool-adapted taxa, developed; however, short drier episodes enabled expansion of C4 plants and diagenetic formation of siderite. A massive event of siderite formation occurred approximately 30k cal a bp under strong drier conditions. Afterwards, wet and cool environmental conditions returned and persisted until the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The LGM was marked by lake-level lowstands and subaerial exposure. The transition from the LGM to the Holocene is marked by the onset of oscillations in temperature and humidity, with an expansion of forest and canga plants. Cool taxa were present for the last time in the Carajás region ~ 9.5–9k cal a bp. After 10k cal a bp , shallow lakes became upland swamps due to natural infilling processes, but the current vegetation types and structures of the plateaus were acquired only after 3k cal a bp under wetter climatic conditions.     

Autogenic avulsion,channelization and backfilling dynamics of debris‐flow fans

Alluvial fans develop their semi‐conical shape by quasi‐cyclic avulsions of their geomorphologically active sector from a fixed fan apex. On debris‐flow fans, these quasi‐cyclic avulsions are poorly understood, partly because physical scale experiments on the formation of fans have been limited largely to turbidite and fluvial fans and deltas. In this study, debris‐flow fans were experimentally created under constant extrinsic forcing, and autogenic sequences of backfilling, avulsion and channelization were observed. Backfilling, avulsion and channelization were gradual processes that required multiple successive debris‐flow events. Debris flows avulsed along preferential flow paths given by the balance between steepest descent and flow inertia. In the channelization phase, debris flows became progressively longer and narrower because momentum increasingly focused on the flow front as flow narrowed, resulting in longer run‐out and deeper channels. Backfilling commenced when debris flows reached their maximum possible length and channel depth, as defined by channel slope and debris‐flow volume and composition, after which they progressively shortened and widened until the entire channel was filled and avulsion was initiated. The terminus of deposition moved upstream because the frontal lobe deposits of previous debris flows created a low‐gradient zone forcing deposition. Consequently, the next debris flow was shorter which led to more in‐channel sedimentation, causing more overbank flow in the next debris flow and resulting in reduced momentum to the flow front and shorter runout. This topographic feedback is similar to the interaction between flow and mouth bars forcing backfilling and transitions from channelized to sheet flow in turbidite and fluvial fans and deltas. Debris‐flow avulsion cycles are governed by the same large‐scale topographic compensation that drives avulsion cycles on fluvial and turbidite fans, although the detailed processes are unique to debris‐flow fans. This novel result provides a basis for modelling of debris‐flow fans with applications in hazards and stratigraphy.     

Thresholds of intrabed flow and other interactions of turbidity currents with soft muddy substrates

Controlled laboratory experiments reveal that the lower part of turbidity currents has the ability to enter fluid mud substrates, if the bed shear stress is higher than the yield stress of the fluid mud and the density of the turbidity current is higher than the density of the substrate. Upon entering the substrate, the turbidity current either induces mixing between flow‐derived sediment and substrate sediment, or it forms a stable horizontal flow front inside the fluid mud. Such ‘intrabed’ flow is surrounded by plastically deformed mud; otherwise it resembles the front of a ‘bottom‐hugging’ turbidity current. The ‘suprabed’ portion of the turbidity current, i.e. the upper part of the flow that does not enter the substrate, is typically separated from the intrabed flow by a long horizontal layer of mud which originates from the mud that is swept over the top of the intrabed flow and then incorporated into the flow. The intrabed flow and the mixing mechanism are specific types of interaction between turbidity currents and muddy substrates that are part of a larger group of interactions, which also include bypass, deposition, erosion and soft sediment deformation. A classification scheme for these types of interactions is proposed, based on an excess bed shear stress parameter, which includes the difference in the bed shear stress imposed by the flow and the yield stress of the substrate and an excess density parameter, which relies on the density difference between the flow and the substrate. Based on this classification scheme, as well as on the sedimentological properties of the laboratory deposits, an existing facies model for intrabed turbidites is extended to the other types of interaction involving soft muddy substrates. The physical threshold of flow‐substrate mixing versus stable intrabed flow is defined using the gradient Richardson number, and this method is validated successfully with the laboratory data. The gradient Richardson number is also used to verify that stable intrabed flow is possible in natural turbidity currents, and to determine under which conditions intrabed flow is likely to be unstable. It appears that intrabed flow is likely only in natural turbidity currents with flow velocities well below ca 3·5 m s^?1, although a wider range of flows is capable of entering fluid muds. Below this threshold velocity, intrabed flow is stable only at high‐density gradients and low‐velocity gradients across the upper boundary of the turbidity current. Finally, the gradient Richardson number is used as a scaling parameter to set the flow velocity limits of a natural turbidity current that formed an inferred intrabed turbidite in the deep‐marine Aberystwyth Grits Group, West Wales, United Kingdom.