Stratigraphic record of continental breakup,offshore NW Australia—Discussion

Reeve et al. (2022) address the stratigraphic record of continental breakup by focusing on a set of stratigraphic unconformities from a proximal sector of the NW Australian continental margin, inboard from the Exmouth Plateau. They suggest that such unconformities can potentially document a well-defined three-stage process: end of the syn-rift phase, formation of a wide continent-ocean transition zone (COTZ) and generation of ‘true’ Penrose-type oceanic crust. We counterargue that continental breakup is a protracted event that can only be understood via seismic- and chronostratigraphic correlations of strata, and their composing sequences, across and along rifted margins. Tying proximal stratigraphic unconformities to magnetic anomalies outboard from the study area in Reeve et al. (2022) is open to question. In parallel, we suggest that age resolutions of ca. 1 Ma are not achievable using the micropaleontological data presented in Reeve et al. (2022), with an important reworking of microfossil assemblages potentially occurring during the erosional process forming local and regional unconformities. Our discussion addresses these points in more detail.     

The signature of dark energy on the local Hubble flow

Using N -body simulations of flat, dark energy-dominated cosmologies, we show that galaxies around simulated binary systems resembling the Local Group (LG) have low peculiar velocities, in good agreement with observational data. We have compared results for LG-like systems selected from large, high-resolution simulations of three cosmologies: a ΛCDM model, a ΛWDM model with a 2-keV warm dark matter candidate, and a quintessence (QCDM) model with an equation-of-state parameter   w =−0.6  . The Hubble flow is significantly colder around LGs selected in a flat, Λ-dominated cosmology than around LGs in open or critical models, showing that a dark energy component manifests itself on the scales of nearby galaxies, cooling galaxy peculiar motions. Flows in the ΛWDM and QCDM models are marginally colder than in the ΛCDM one.
The results of our simulations have been compared to existing data and to a new data set of 28 nearby galaxies with robust distance measures (Cepheids and surface brightness fluctuations). The measured line-of-sight velocity dispersion is given by  σ_H= (88 ± 20  km s⁻¹) × ( R /7 Mpc)  . The best agreement with observations is found for LGs selected in the ΛCDM cosmology in environments with  −0.1 < δρ/ρ < 0.6  on scales of 7 Mpc, in agreement with existing observational estimates on the local matter density. These results provide new, independent evidence for the presence of dark energy on scales of a few megaparsecs, corroborating the evidence gathered from observations of distant objects and the early Universe.     

Staging the Local: rethinking scale in farmers' markets

Local food has become a significant focus of food studies analysis in recent years with much of this work identifying the potential environmental, social and economic benefits of food localisation. However, a growing body of literature destabilises these assumed benefits with research now questioning the utility of scale in assessing food system outcomes. This paper explores this destabilisation by examining how concepts associated with the ‘local’ have been deployed by the Capital Region Farmers Market (CRFM) in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). This leads to two key conclusions: firstly, the practical case study confirms theoretical insights highlighting the instability of the local, identifying how it is animated in multiple and sometimes contradictory ways often in response to conventional market forces; and secondly, we argue that the role of farmers' markets may not be best understood through the lens of the local but, rather, through their role in facilitating citizen engagement with the food system via the direct consumer–producer relationship at markets and the characteristics of the food purchased there (i.e. freshness and quality). In these ways, farmers' markets can disrupt conventional forms of engagement with the food system, creating a space that enhances social embeddedness and which may promote new forms of consumer understanding of food systems.     

Extension and magmatism in the Cerocahui basin,northern Sierra Madre Occidental,western Chihuahua,Mexico

The Sierra Madre Occidental of northwestern Mexico is the biggest silicic large igneous province of the Cenozoic, yet very little is known about its geology due to difficulties of access to much of this region. This study presents geologic maps and two new U-Pb zircon laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ages from the Cerocahui basin, a previously unmapped and undated ~25 km-long by ~12 km-wide half-graben along the western edge of the relatively unextended core of the northern Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province. Five stratigraphic units are defined in the study area: (1) undated welded to non-welded silicic ignimbrites that underlie the rocks of the Cerocahui basin, likely correlative to Oligocene-age ignimbrites to the east and west; (2) the ca. 27.5–26 Ma Bahuichivo volcanics, comprising mafic-intermediate lavas and subvolcanic intrusions in the Cerocahui basin; (3) alluvial fan deposits and interbedded distal non-welded silicic ignimbrites of the Cerocahui clastic unit; (4) basalt lavas erupted into the Cerocahui basin following alluvial deposition; and (5) silicic hypabyssal intrusions emplaced along the eastern margin of the basin and to a lesser degree within the basin deposits.

The main geologic structures in the Cerocahui basin and surrounding region are NNW-trending normal faults, with the basin bounded on the east by the syndepositional W-dipping Bahuichivo–Bachamichi and Pañales faults. Evidence of syndepositional extension in the half-graben (e.g. fanning dips, unconformities, coarsening of clastic deposits toward basin-bounding faults) indicates that normal faulting was active during deposition in the Cerocahui basin (Bahuichivo volcanics, Cerocahui clastic unit, and basalt lavas), and may have been active earlier based on regional correlations.

The rocks in the Cerocahui basin and adjacent areas record: (1) the eruption of silicic outflow ignimbrite sheets, likely erupted from caldera sources to the east during the early Oligocene pulse of the mid-Cenozoic ignimbrite flare-up, mostly prior to synextensional deposition in the Cerocahui basin (pre-27.5 Ma); (2) synextensional late Oligocene mafic-intermediate composition magmatism and alluvial fan sedimentation (ca. 27.5–24.5 Ma), which occurred during the lull between the Early Oligocene and early Miocene pulses of the ignimbrite flare-up; and (3) post-extensional emplacement of silicic hypabyssal intrusions along pre-existing normal faults, likely during the early Miocene pulse of the ignimbrite flare-up (younger than ca. 24.5 Ma). The timing of extensional faulting and magmatism in the Cerocahui basin and surrounding area generally coincides with previous models of regional-scale middle Eocene to early Miocene southwestward migration of active volcanism and crustal extension in the northern Sierra Madre Occidental controlled by post-late Eocene (ca. 40 Ma) rollback/fallback of the subducted Farallon slab.     

Last glacial–interglacial environments in the southern Rocky Mountains,USA and implications for Younger Dryas-age human occupation

The last glacial-interglacial transition (LGIT; 19–9 ka) was characterized by rapid climate changes and significant ecosystem reorganizations worldwide. In western Colorado, one of the coldest locations in the continental US today, mountain environments during the late-glacial period are poorly known. Yet, archaeological evidence from the Mountaineer site (2625 m elev.) indicates that Folsom-age Paleoindians were over-wintering in the Gunnison Basin during the Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC; 12.9–11.7 ka). To determine the vegetation and fire history during the LGIT, and possible explanations for occupation during a period thought to be harsher than today, a 17-ka-old sediment core from Lily Pond (3208 m elev.) was analyzed for pollen and charcoal and compared with other high-resolution records from the southern Rocky Mountains. Widespread tundra and Picea parkland and low fire activity in the cold wet late-glacial period transitioned to open subalpine forest and increased fire activity in the Bølling–Allerød period as conditions became warmer and drier. During the YDC, greater winter snowpack than today and prolonged wet springs likely expanded subalpine forest to lower elevations than today, providing construction material and fuel for the early inhabitants. In the early to middle Holocene, arid conditions resulted in xerophytic vegetation and frequent fire.     

Use of the SHMAK clarity tube for measuring water clarity: Comparison with the black disk method

A metre‐long transparent tube for measuring visual water clarity was developed as part of the New Zealand Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kit (SHMAK) for use by non‐scientists. Water clarity measured using the tube (the horizontal sighting range of a black target) was compared with that measured using the standard “black disk” method (in which a black target is viewed horizontally underwater) to determine the feasibility of estimating black disk clarities from clarity tube readings. Readings using the two methods showed good agreement for waters with clarity <c. 50 cm. In clearer waters the slope of the relationship depends on the reflectivity of the background material used in the clarity tube. With a reflective background (white, reflectance c. 75%; or grey, reflectance c. 55%), the clarity tube readings are directly proportional and approximately equal to the black disk readings. With a black background (reflectance c. 5.5%), clarity tube readings >c. 50 cm are lower than the black disk visibility and follow a logarithmic relationship with visibility, which enables useful readings to be made in clearer water. Independent testing of the relationship showed that black disk visibilities may be predicted with reasonable confidence in waters that contain very low concentrations of dissolved humic materials (yellow substance). In waters that are noticeably brown‐coloured, the relationship is less consistent especially at black disk visibilities of more than 1.5 m. Recommendations are given for the use of the clarity tube.     

The missing half of the subduction factory: shipboard results from the Izu rear arc,IODP Expedition 350

IODP Expedition 350 was the first to be drilled in the rear part of the Izu-Bonin, although several sites had been drilled in the arc axis to fore-arc region; the scientific objective was to understand the evolution of the Izu rear arc, by drilling a deep-water volcaniclastic section with a long temporal record (Site U1437). The Izu rear arc is dominated by a series of basaltic to dacitic seamount chains up to ~100-km long roughly perpendicular to the arc front. Dredge samples from these are geochemically distinct from arc front rocks, and drilling was undertaken to understand this arc asymmetry. Site U1437 lies in an ~20-km-wide basin between two rear arc seamount chains, ~90-km west of the arc front, and was drilled to 1804 m below the sea floor (mbsf) with excellent recovery. We expected to drill a volcaniclastic apron, but the section is much more mud-rich than expected (~60%), and the remaining fraction of the section is much finer-grained than predicted from its position within the Izu arc, composed half of ashes/tuffs, and half of lapilli tuffs of fine grain size (clasts <3 cm). Volcanic blocks (>6.4 cm) are only sparsely scattered through the lowermost 25% of the section, and only one igneous unit was encountered, a rhyolite peperite intrusion at ~1390 mbsf. The lowest biostratigaphic datum is at 867 mbsf (~6.5 Ma), the lowest palaeomagnetic datum is at ~1300 mbsf (~9 Ma), and the rhyolite peperite at ~1390 mbsf has yielded a U–Pb zircon concordia intercept age of (13.6 + 1.6/?1.7) Ma. Both arc front and rear arc sources contributed to the fine-grained (distal) tephras of the upper 1320 m, but the coarse-grained (proximal) volcaniclastics in the lowest 25% of the section are geochemically similar to the arc front, suggesting arc asymmetry is not recorded in rocks older than ~13 Ma.     

Lipid Partitioning in the Hydrothermal Vent Shrimp Rimicaris exoculata

Abstract. This study examines the composition and partitioning of lipids in the alvinocarid shrimp Rimicaris exoculata from Mid-Atlantic hydrothermal vents. Juveniles and adults at different stages of reproductive development were dissected into abdomen, branchial and ovary/hepatopancreas tissues. Each of these tissues was analysed for total lipid and lipid class composition, and fatty acids and fatty alcohols were identified using GC and GC-MS. Adult and juvenile shrimp differ in the partitioning of lipids between tissues. Juveniles store lipids in the abdomen as wax ester droplets and may use phosphatidyl choline as an additional reserve. Adult shrimp use triglycerides as an energy store, and triglycerides and polar lipids accumulate in ovary and hepatopancreas tissue during reproductive development. The wax ester storage droplets of juvenile shrimp contain high concentrations of n-3 fatty acids, which are photosynthetically-derived and thought to be important for reproductive development in crustaceans. These n-3 fatty acids are concentrated in the ovary and hepatopancreas of adults compared to other tissues. The n-3 fatty acid content of these adult tissues is well within that estimated for whole juvenile shrimp, supporting the hypothesis that the n-3 fatty acids putatively required for adult reproduction are stored from the juvenile stage.     

Burial dolomitization driven by modified seawater and basal aquifer‐sourced brines: Insights from the Middle and Upper Devonian of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

Dolomitization in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin has been extensively researched, producing vast geochemical datasets. This provides a unique opportunity to assess the regional sources and flux of dolomitizing fluids on a larger scale than previous studies. A meta‐analysis was conducted on stable isotope, strontium isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr), fluid inclusion and lithium‐rich formation water data published over 30 years, with new petrographic, X‐ray diffraction, stable isotope and rare‐earth element (REE+Y) data. The Middle to Upper Devonian Swan Hills Formation, Leduc Formation and Wabamun Group contain replacement dolomite (RD) cross‐cut by stylolites, suggesting replacement dolomitization occurred during shallow burial. Stable isotope, REE+Y and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data indicate RD formed from Devonian seawater, then recrystallized during burial. Apart from the Wabamun Group of the Peace River Arch (PRA), saddle dolomite cement (SDC) is more δ¹⁸O_(PDB) depleted than RD, and cross‐cuts stylolites, suggesting precipitation during deep burial. SDC ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data indicate contributions from ⁸⁷Sr‐rich basinal brines in the West Shale Basin (WSB) and PRA, and authigenic quartz/albite suggests basinal brines interacted with underlying clastic aquifers before ascending faults into carbonate strata. The absence of quartz/albite within dolomites of the East Shale Basin (ESB) suggests dolomitizing fluids only interacted with carbonate strata. We conclude that replacement dolomitization resulted from connate Devonian seawater circulating through aquifers and faults during shallow burial. SDC precipitated during deep burial from basinal brines sourced from basal carbonates (ESB) and clastic aquifers (WSB, PRA). Lithium‐rich formation waters suggest basinal brines originated as residual evapo‐concentrated Middle Devonian seawater that interacted with basal aquifers and ascended faults during the Antler and Laramide Orogenies. These results corroborate those of previous studies but are verified by new integrated analysis of multiple datasets. New insights emphasize the importance of basal aquifers and residual evapo‐concentrated seawater in dolomitization, which is potentially applicable to other regionally dolomitized basins.