Plutonism in Pan-African belts and the geologic evolution of northeastern Africa

Plutonic igneous rocks of Pan-African belts (500–600 m.y. age) in Africa can be described in terms of three types of assemblages: (1) migmatites formed largely by remobilization of pre-existing sialic crust during Pan-African time; (2) calcalkaline batholithic suites formed in association with subduction of oceanic crust; and (3) alkali-rich, post-tectonic granites. Many suites cannot be placed precisely in one of these categories, either because of intermediate (gradational) characteristics or because of lack of adequate information. Distinction of rocks formed during Pan-African time from older ones whose radiometric clocks were reset at that time is also difficult.The rock suites are very unevenly distributed geographically. Migmatites formed by ensialic crustal remobilization occur mostly in southern and central Africa. Calcalkaline suites occur in north Africa, particularly the northeast. Alkali-rich granites are virtually restricted to the northeastern portion of the continent, the one major part of Africa not occupied by an Archean shield. Evidence for subduction of oceanic crust is also restricted to northeastern Africa.The geologic history proposed for northeastern Africa is as follows: During, and immediately preceding, Pan-African time an ocean basin of uncertain size and shape occurred between the West African and Nubian-Arabian shields. Subduction zones were active on the margins and within the basin. During, and at the end of, Pan-African time extensive development of alkali-rich granites was associated with cratonization of the basin. Paleozoic sediments were then deposited under platform conditions on the newly formed craton, which showed mild epeirogenic activity throughout the Phanerozoic.     

Data use and information creation: challenges for marine scientists and for managers

In the coastal waters of European countries and in the offshore waters of the north-east Atlantic, there is an increasing need for scientists to meet challenging objectives, such as to identify meaningful measures of 'quality', and to recommend 'indicators' to underpin implementation of directives, conventions, statutes and other more informal national and international initiatives. Those indicators may relate to particular species or habitats, to changes in physical and chemical characteristics, and even to the use to which the system is put. The problems to be overcome are difficult, but new and developing approaches will make a significant contribution. The approaches include: criteria to identify 'sensitivity' and 'importance', structures to organise information and electronic information resources to access data.The real challenge is to make the results of the various scientific initiatives relevant to and understandable by a wide range of customers with similar overlapping requirements, and thus make a genuine contribution to protecting the marine environment. Above and beyond that is the need for scientists to drive the agenda to enable real and lasting progress to be made towards ecosystem-based management of our seas and a proper consideration of what 'sustainability' may mean in the marine environment and how we utilise its resources.     

Development of fluid conduits in the auriferous shear zones of the Hutti Gold Mine, India: evidence for spatially and temporally heterogeneous fluid flow

The gold mineralization of the Hutti Mine is hosted by nine parallel, N–S trending, steeply dipping, 2–10 m wide shear zones, that transect Archaean amphibolites. The shear zones were formed after peak metamorphism during retrograde ductile D₂ shearing in the lower amphibolite facies. They were reactivated in the lower to mid greenschist facies by brittle–ductile D₃ shearing and intense quartz veining. The development of a S₂–S₃ crenulation cleavage facilitates the discrimination between the two deformation events and contemporaneous alteration and gold mineralization. Ductile D₂ shearing is associated with a pervasively developed distal chlorite–sericite alteration assemblage in the outer parts of the shear zones and the proximal biotite–plagioclase alteration in the center of the shear zones. D₃ is characterized by development of the inner chlorite-K-feldspar alteration, which forms a centimeter-scale alteration halo surrounding the laminated quartz veins and replaces earlier biotite along S₃. The average size of the laminated vein systems is 30–50 m along strike as well as down-dip and 2–6 m in width.Mass balance calculations suggest strong metasomatic changes for the proximal biotite–plagioclase alteration yielding mass and volume increase of ca. 16% and 12%, respectively. The calculated mass and volume changes of the distal chlorite–sericite alteration (ca. 11%, ca. 8%) are lower. The decrease in δ¹⁸O values of the whole rock from around 7.5‰ for the host rocks to 6–7‰ for the distal chlorite–sericite and the proximal biotite–plagioclase alteration and around 5‰ for the inner chlorite-K-feldspar alteration suggests hydrothermal alteration during two-stage deformation and fluid flow.The ductile D₂ deformation in the lower amphibolite facies has provided grain scale porosities by microfracturing. The pervasive, steady-state fluid flow resulted in a disseminated style of gold–sulfide mineralization and a penetrative alteration of the host rocks. Alternating ductile and brittle D₃ deformation during lower to mid greenschist facies conditions followed the fault-valve process. Ductile creep in the shear zones resulted in a low permeability environment leading to fluid pressure build-up. Strongly episodic fluid advection and mass transfer was controlled by repeated seismic fracturing during the formation of laminated quartz(-gold) veins. The limitation of quartz veins to the extent of earlier shear zones indicate the importance of pre-existing anisotropies for fault-valve action and economic gold mineralization.     

Thiols in hydrothermal solution: standard partial molal properties and their role in the organic geochemistry of hydrothermal environments

In order to assess the potential role of organic sulfur compounds in hydrothermal systems, we use recent advances in theoretical geochemistry to estimate the standard partial molal thermodynamic properties and parameters for the revised Helgeson-Kirkham-Flowers equation of state for aqueous straight-chain alkyl thiols. Thermodynamic properties are used to determine the potential for thiol formation in both modern and Archean hydrothermal systems. We conclude that organic sulfur compounds may hold the key to the organic chemistry that led to the origin of life in hydrothermal settings. These results may also explain the presence of sulfur in a number of biomolecules present in ancient thermophilic microorganisms.     

Isolating and identifying atmospheric ice-nucleating aerosols: a new technique

Laboratory studies examined two key aspects of the performance of a continuous-flow diffusion chamber (CFD) instrument that detects ice nuclei (IN) concentrations in air samples: separating IN from non-IN, and collecting IN aerosols to determine chemical composition. In the first study, submicron AgI IN particles were mixed in a sample stream with submicron non-IN salt particles, and the sample stream was processed in the CFD at −19°C and 23% supersaturation with respect to ice. Examination of the residual particles from crystals nucleated in the CFD confirmed that only AgI particles served as IN in the mixed stream. The second study applied this technique to separate and analyze IN and non-IN particles in a natural air sample. Energy-dispersive X-ray analyses (EDS) of the elemental composition of selected particles from the IN and non-IN fractions in ambient air showed chemical differences: Si and Ca were present in both, but S, Fe and K were also detected in the non-IN fraction.     

Evaluating flood retarding structures

An empirical relation between volume and peak of runoff (VPR) was utilized to determine peak discharge reduction effectiveness of flood retarding structures. The effectiveness was evaluated by comparing the predam VPR relation with and a pre and post dam channel length frequency distribution (CLFD) for the point of interest. The procedure involved well related hydrologic and geomorphic variables and thus could be a practical prediction tool.     

Response of dry- and liquid-filled porous rocks to static and dynamic loading by variously-shaped projectiles

Summary The present investigation was undertaken to study the response of both dry and liquid-filled porous rocks to static and dynamic loading of penetrators with various tip shapes. Eighteen static and forty-eight dynamic tests were conducted involving 6.35 mm diameter indenters featuring flat, hemispherical and 60° conical tip shapes on three different rocks in the energy range from 1.57 to 5.63 J. Force-penetration data were collected by means of strain gages attached to the penetrators. For all three materials, the magnitude of the resistive forces for a given input energy decreased in the following order: (i) dynamic penetration into a dry sample, (ii) dynamic penetration into a fluid-filled specimen, (iii) static loading of the fluid-filled rock, and (iv) static, loading of the dry rock.An unusual observation for the dynamic force-penetration curves was the temporal disparity between the peak force and maximum deformation, which must be attributed to inertial factors. Based on the experimental data, an analytical rigid-body model was constructed that contained both a static and a dynamic component of the resistive force with the objective of quantifying the effect of dynamic loading and the presence of fluid on the response of the rocks. The dynamic component was portrayed as a viscous resistance proportional to the velocity of the penetrator and the contact surface area which is a function of the indentation. It was found that the model provides a good predictive capability for the dynamic force-indentation relations for prescribed materials and tip geometries upon use of but a single constant for the viscosity.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Corwin O. Rogers.     

Long-term gain changes in mercury-level tiltmeters of the Stacey type

A uniaxial mercury-level short baselength tilt transducer constructed at the University of Alberta is described. The design closely follows the differential capacitance tiltmeter ofStacey et al. (1969), but differs in that aluminum is used for the beam, and how the mercury cups are supported beneath the beam. It also allows gain verification by comparison of the direct capacitances with a known capacitance. It has been found that the gain factor for the instrument changes with time, because of the relaxation of the mercury surfaces. This has been monitored for several years for four instruments at two sites. The gains change rapidly for several months after installation, but more slowly as time progresses. The magnitudes of such changes in instruments of this type may be as large as 3 percent.