The evaporitic celestite-barite deposits of Neuquen,Argentina

Celestite-barite occurrences of early Cretaceous age were studied in the Extra-Andean region of Neuquén, West central Argentina. The ores are located in a Subandean Mesozoic belt and show a conspicuous stratabound character related to evaporitic facies. The study of the geologic evolution of the sedimentary sequence allows prediction of the temporal and spatial setting of the evaporitic facies. Stratigraphy is the main geologic control for the celestite-barite ores and their areal distribution depends on the structure of the region. Based on the geometry and texture of the mineralization three types of ores have been recognized: 1) celestite beds syngenetic with the evaporitic facies; 2) epigenetic stratabound ores formed by "in situ" mobilization of celestite with stalactite growth and cavity infilling; 3) epigenetic vein-type ores formed by mobilized barium enriched solutions.Lithofacies and isotopic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr analyses together with the geological evidence confirm an evaporitic origin for the celestite beds.     

Proterozoic seawater — felsic volcanics interaction W. Bergslagen,Sweden. Evidence for high REE mobility and implications for 1.8 Ga seawater compositions

Mg enrichment in diffusely bounded, schistose alteration zones occurring in Proterozoic submarine felsic volcanics NE of Hjulsjö, W. Bergslagen is shown to result from felsic rock-seawater interaction in a sub-seafloor hydrothermal system. The alteration is apparently in two stages, feldspar being altered first to a kaolinite-type clay which is then replaced by Mg-chlorite. Major and trace element data are presented for the schist and sheridanite (chlorite). Relative to the least altered felsic volcanics, and for negligible volume change, the schist shows strong addition of Mg and to a lesser extent Si; K, Al and Rb are apparently conserved, while most other elements are strongly depleted, including the REEs which are removed for ～75%, indicating a high degree of mobility. The chlorite, with its HREE enriched pattern, is considered to have equilibrated with the hydrothermal fluid, which consisted predominantly of seawater. Comparison with modern seawater leads to the tentative conclusion that the Proterozoic seawater HREE composition was not drastically different from that of modern seawater.     

Intraseasonal and submonthly variability over the Eastern Amazon and Northeast Brazil during the autumn rainy season

Summary The precipitation variability over the eastern Amazon (EAM) and northeast Brazil (NEB) during the autumn rainy season (March to May) is diagnosed using raingauge-based weekly data from 1982 to 2001. Since precipitation in this region is remarkably modulated by the combined effects of the Pacific and Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies, two extreme and contrasting large-scale climatic scenarios are considered in this study. The unfavorable (UNFAV) scenario, defined by the simultaneous occurrences of the El Niño and northward SST gradient in the intertropical Atlantic and the favorable (FAV) scenario, by the simultaneous occurrence of the La Niña and southward SST gradient in the intertropical Atlantic. UNFAV (FAV) composites with unfiltered data show remarkable changes in both the Walker and the Hadley cells associated with the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) anomalously weakened (enhanced) thus with deficient (abundant) seasonal rainfall in most of the EAM/NEB. Precipitation variability is identified objectively through EOF analyses performed on the (30–70 day) intraseasonal and submonthly (蠄21 day) filtered weekly precipitation anomalies for 18 autumn seasons (1983 to 2000). The principal components (PC) of the first mode of each analysis show strong oscillations. In particular, the oscillations of the PC series during UNFAV and FAV years reveal that events with anomalously deficient and abundant precipitation over the EAM/NEB occur alternately, even under extreme climatic conditions in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic. Composites based on events with anomalously increased precipitation (objectively selected from the PC series) on intraseasonal and submonthly scales are analyzed separately for the UNFAV and FAV years. These analyses show that for both scenarios the more important rainfall-producing atmospheric mechanism over the EAM/NEB on intraseasonal time scales consists of the establishment of deep convective bands trigged by South Atlantic Convergence Zone events or persistent frontal systems over northeast Brazil. Such a regional pattern is embedded in a large-scale dynamic environment related to the propagation of the Madden-Julian Oscillation over tropical South America. On the other hand, the main rainfall-producing atmospheric mechanism over the EAM/NEB on submonthly time scales is the Atlantic ITCZ during FAV years, whilst weakened Atlantic ITCZ activity may be forced by meridionally elongated mid-latitude wave trains in the upper troposphere during UNFAV years.     

Global high resolution versus Limited Area Model climate change projections over Europe: quantifying confidence level from PRUDENCE results

Four high resolution atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) have been integrated with the standard forcings of the PRUDENCE experiment: IPCC-SRES A2 radiative forcing and Hadley Centre sea surface temperature and sea-ice extent. The response over Europe, calculated as the difference between the 2071–2100 and the 1961–1990 means is compared with the same diagnostic obtained with nine Regional Climate Models (RCM) all driven by the Hadley Centre atmospheric GCM. The seasonal mean response for 2m temperature and precipitation is investigated. For temperature, GCMs and RCMs behave similarly, except that GCMs exhibit a larger spread. However, during summer, the spread of the RCMs—in particular in terms of precipitation—is larger than that of the GCMs. This indicates that the European summer climate is strongly controlled by parameterized physics and/or high-resolution processes. The temperature response is larger than the systematic error. The situation is different for precipitation. The model bias is twice as large as the climate response. The confidence in PRUDENCE results comes from the fact that the models have a similar response to the IPCC-SRES A2 forcing, whereas their systematic errors are more spread. In addition, GCM precipitation response is slightly but significantly different from that of the RCMs.     

Towards evaluating cloud response to climate change using clustering technique identification of cloud regimes

Most of the discrepancies in the climate sensitivity of general circulation models (GCMs) are believed to be due to differences in cloud radiative feedback. Analysis of cloud response to climate change in different ‘regimes’ may offer a more detailed understanding of how the cloud response differs between GCMs. In which case, evaluation of simulated cloud regimes against observations in terms of both their cloud properties and frequency of occurrence will assist in assessing confidence in the cloud response to climate change in a particular GCM. In this study, we use a clustering technique on International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) data and on ISCCP-like diagnostics from two versions of the Hadley Centre GCM to identify cloud regimes over four different geographical regions. The two versions of the model are evaluated against observational data and their cloud response to climate change compared within the cloud regime framework. It is found that cloud clusters produced by the more recent GCM, HadSM4, compare more favourably with observations than HadSM3. In response to climate change, although the net cloud response over particular regions is often different in the two models, in several instances the same basic processes may be seen to be operating. Overall, both changes in the frequency of occurrence of cloud regimes and changes in the properties (optical depth and cloud top height) of the cloud regimes contribute to the cloud response to climate change.     

Coseismic and post-seismic signatures of the Sumatra 2004 December and 2005 March earthquakes in GRACE satellite gravity

The GRACE satellite mission has been measuring the Earth's gravity field and its temporal variations since 2002 April. Although these variations are mainly due to mass transfer within the geofluid envelops, they also result from mass displacements associated with phenomena including glacial isostatic adjustment and earthquakes. However, these last contributions are difficult to isolate because of the presence of noise and of geofluid signals, and because of GRACE's coarse spatial resolution (>400 km half-wavelength). In this paper, we show that a wavelet analysis on the sphere helps to retrieve earthquake signatures from GRACE geoid products. Using a wavelet analysis of GRACE geoids products, we show that the geoid variations caused by the 2004 December ( M _w= 9.2) and 2005 March ( M _w= 8.7) Sumatra earthquakes can be detected. At GRACE resolution, the 2004 December earthquake produced a strong coseismic decrease of the gravity field in the Andaman Sea, followed by relaxation in the area affected by both the Andaman 2004 and the Nias 2005 earthquakes. We find two characteristic timescales for the relaxation, with a fast variation occurring in the vicinity of the Central Andaman ridge. We discuss our coseismic observations in terms of density changes of crustal and upper-mantle rocks, and of the vertical displacements in the Andaman Sea. We interpret the post-seismic signal in terms of the viscoelastic response of the Earth's mantle. The transient component of the relaxation may indicate the presence of hot, viscous material beneath the active Central Andaman Basin.     

Late Quaternary paleoenvironments of an ephemeral wetland in North Dakota,USA: relative interactions of ground-water hydrology and climate change

This study of fossils (pollen, plant macrofossils, stomata and fish) and sediments (lithostratigraphy and geochemistry) from the Wendel site in North Dakota, USA, emphasizes the importance of considering ground-water hydrology when deciphering paleoclimate signals from lakes in postglacial landscapes. The Wendel site was a paleolake from about 11,500 ¹⁴C yr BP to 11,100 ¹⁴C yr BP. Afterwards, the lake-level lowered until it became a prairie marsh by 9,300 ¹⁴C yr BP and finally, at 8,500 ¹⁴C yr BP, an ephemeral wetland as it is today. Meanwhile, the vegetation changed from a white spruce parkland (11,500 to 10,500 ¹⁴C yr BP) to deciduous parkland, followed by grassland at 9,300 ¹⁴C yr BP. The pattern and timing of these aquatic and terrestrial changes are similar to coeval kettle lake records from adjacent uplands, providing a regional aridity signal. However, two local sources of ground water were identified from the fossil and geochemical data, which mediated atmospheric inputs to the Wendel basin. First, the paleolake received water from the melting of stagnant ice buried under local till for about 900 years after glacier recession. Later, Holocene droughts probably caused the lower-elevation Wendel site to capture the ground water of up-gradient lakes.