Spectropolarimetric Observations of Magnetic White Dwarfs with the SAO 6-m Telescope

The results of spectropolarimetric observations of a number of magnetic white dwarfs obtained on the 6-m optical telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory are presented. The observations were carried out using the SCORPIO focal aperture-ratio reducer in a spectropolarimetric regime. Two characteristic dependences of the degree of polarization on the wavelength are observed. For one group of objects, the degree of linear polarization grows with wavelength, suggesting that the alignment of atoms and molecules in Rydberg states in the atmosphere of the white dwarf due to the action of its magnetic field influences scattering processes. The second group of objects displays an increase in the degrees of both linear and circular polarization with wavelength, providing evidence for the presence of protoplanetary disks around these magnetic white dwarfs, in which the alignment of circumstellar grains leads to the observed behavior.     

Paleoearthquakes in the Uimon basin (Gorny Altai)

Paleoseismological studies confirm that the Uimon basin is thrust by its northern mountain border along the active South Terekta fault. The latest motion along the fault in the 7-8th centuries AD induced an earthquake with a magnitude of M_w= 7.4-7.7 and a shaking intensity of I = 9-11 on the MSK-64 scale. The same fault generated another event (M > 7, I = 9-10), possibly, about 16 kyr ago, which triggered gravity sliding. The rockslide dammed the Uimon valley and produced a lake, where lacustrine deposition began about 14 ± 1 kyr ago, and a later M > 7 (I = 9-10) earthquake at ~ 6 ka caused the dam collapse and the lake drainage. Traces of much older earthquakes that occurred within the Uimon basin are detectable from secondary deformation structures (seismites) in soft sediments deposited during the drainage of a Late Pleistocene ice-dammed lake between 100 and 90 ka and in ~ 77 ka alluvium. The magnitude and intensity of these paleoearthquakes were at least M > 5.0-5.5 and I > 6-7.     

Fahlore and Sphalerite from the Darasun Gold Deposit in the Eastern Transbaikal Region,Russia: I. Mineral Assemblages and Intergrowths,Chemical Composition,and Its Evolution

The mineral assemblages, mode of occurrence, and chemical compositions of coexisting fahlore and sphalerite from the Darasun gold deposit have been described. Three generations of fahlore and three generations of sphalerite have been recognized. The FeS content in sphalerite coexisting with fahlore ranges from 0.8 to 9.4 mol %. The complete solid solution series Fe-tetrahedrite–Zn-tetrahedrite–Fe-tennantite–Zn-tennantite reflected in Sb/(Sb + As) and Fe/(Fe + Zn) ratios ranging from 0 to 0.97 and from 0.07 to 1.00, respectively, with a predominant negative relationship between these ratios has been identified for the first time at the deposit. Stepped, oscillatory, and combined stepped-oscillatory growth zonings within fahlore grains and heterogeneous aggregates of fahlore have been found. Fahlore is enriched in As with respect to Sb, and Zn-tetrahedrite is followed by Fe- and Zn-tennantite from early to late generation; Zn-tetrahedrite is followed by Fe-tennantite in zoned grains and overgrown rims; sphalerite crystallized at decreased temperature and sulfur fugacity. The evolution of the chemical composition of fahlores was caused by the evolving temperature, fluid salinity, and conditions of metal migration.     

Early Cretaceous trachybasalt-trachyte-trachyrhyolitic volcanism in the Nyalga basin (Central Mongolia): sources and evolution of continental rift magmas

As shown by geological, mineralogical, and isotope geochemical data, trachybasaltic-trachytic-trachyrhyolitic (TTT) rocks from the Nyalga basin in Central Mongolia result from several eruptions of fractionated magmas within a short time span at about 120 Ma. Their parental basaltic melts formed by partial melting of mantle peridotite which was metasomatized and hydrated during previous subduction events. Basaltic trachyandesites have high TiO₂ and K₂O, relatively high P₂O₅, and low MgO contents, medium ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr(₀) ratios (0.70526-0.70567), and almost zero or slightly negative ε_Nd(T) values. The isotope geochemical signatures of TTT rocks are typical of Late Mesozoic basaltic rocks from rift zones of Mongolia and Transbaikalia. The sources of basaltic magma at volcanic centers of Northern and Central Asia apparently moved from a shallower and more hydrous region to deeper and less hydrated lithospheric mantle (from spinel to garnet-bearing peridotite) between the Late Paleozoic and the latest Mesozoic. The geochemistry and mineralogy of TTT rocks fit the best models implying fractional crystallization of basaltic trachyandesitic, trachytic, and trachyrhyodacitic magmas. Mass balance calculations indicate that trachytic and trachydacitic magmas formed after crystallization of labradorite-andesine, Ti-augite, Sr-apatite, Ti-magnetite, and ilmenite from basaltic trachyandesitic melts. The melts evolved from trachytic to trachyrhyodacitic and trachyrhyolitic compositions as a result of prevalent crystallization of K-Na feldspar, with zircon, chevkinite-Ce, and LREE-enriched apatite involved in fractionation. Trachytic, trachyrhyodacitic, and trachyrhyolitic residual melts were produced by the evolution of compositionally different parental melts (basaltic trachyandesitic, trachytic, and trachyrhyodacitic, respectively), which moved to shallower continental crust and accumulated in isolated chambers. Judging by their isotopic signatures, the melts assimilated some crustal material, according to the assimilation and fractional crystallization (AFC) model.     

Ore-bearing fluids of the Eldorado gold deposit (Yenisei Ridge,Russia)

The Eldorado low-sulfide gold-quartz deposit, with gold reserves of more than 60 tons, is located in the damage zone of the Ishimba Fault in the Yenisei Ridge and is hosted by Riphean epidote-amphibolite metamorphic rocks (Sukhoi Pit Group). Orebodies occur in four roughly parallel heavily fractured zones where rocks were subject to metamorphism under stress and heat impacts. They consist of sulfide-bearing schists with veins of gray or milky-white quartz varieties. Gray quartz predominating in gold-bearing orebodies contains graphite and amorphous carbon identified by Raman spectroscopy; the contents of gold and amorphous carbon are in positive correlation. As inferred from thermobarometry, gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy of fluid inclusions in sulfides, carbonates, and gray and white quartz, gold mineralization formed under the effect of reduced H₂O-CO₂-HC fluids with temperatures of 180 to 490 °C, salinity of 9 to 22 wt.% NaCl equiv, and pressures of 0.1 to 2.3 kbar. Judging by the presence of 11% mantle helium (³He) in fluid inclusions from quartz and the sulfur isotope composition (7.1-17.4‰ δ³⁴S) of sulfides, ore-bearing fluids ascended from a mantle source along shear zones, where they “boiled”. While the fluids were ascending, the metalliferous S- and N-bearing hydrocarbon (HC) compounds they carried broke down to produce crystalline sulfides, gold, and disseminated graphite and amorphous carbon (the latter imparts the gray color to quartz). Barren veins of milky-white quartz formed from oxidized mainly aqueous fluids with a salinity of < 15 wt.% NaCl equiv at 150-350 °C. Chloride brines (> 30 wt.% NaCl equiv) at 150-260 °C impregnated the gold-bearing quartz veins and produced the lower strata of the hydrothermal-granitoid section. The gold mineralization (795-710 Ma) was roughly coeval to local high-temperature stress metamorphism (836-745 Ma) and intrusion of the Kalama multiphase complex (880-752 Ma).     

The Lower Paleogene Biostratigraphic Scale of the Northern Pacific Based on Deep-Water Benthic Foraminifera

Based on the stratigraphic distribution of benthic foraminifera in the lower bathyal–abyssal sediments uncovered by boreholes drilled under the framework of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) in the Northern and Southern Pacific, the Lower Paleogene biostratigraphic zonal scale based on deep-water benthic foraminifera is proposed. The proposed scale includes eight subdivisions: six zones and two subzones. The boundaries of the zonal subdivisions are determined by biotic events (appearance or disappearance (extinction)) of stratigraphically important taxa and are correlated to the zonal scales based on planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nanoplankton. Most of these events are considered to be subglobal.     

Composition,Structure, and Conditions of Formation of Fluorine-Bearing Sodalite: Experimental Evidence

Fluoro-sodalite was synthesized for the first time at temperatures of 400–800°C and H₂O pressures of 1–2 kbar in the Si–Al–Na–H–O–F system. X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopic investigations showed that fluorine is incorporated in the sodalite structure as anionic octahedral groups, [AlF₆]^3–, the number of which can vary from 0 to 1. Correspondingly, the end-members of the F-sodalite series are Na₇(H₂O)₈[Si₅Al₇O₂₄] and Na₈(AlF₆)(H₂O)₄[Si₇Al₅O₂₄]. Depending on the composition of the system, F-sodalite associates at 500–650°C with nepheline, albite, cryolite, and villiaumite, which are joined by analcime below 500°C and aluminosilicate melt above 650°C. Fluorine-bearing sulfate–chlorine-sodalite was found for the first time in a pegmatite sample from the Lovozero massif. The highest fraction of the fluorine end-member in natural sodalite is 0.2. The incorporation of F into the sodalite structure requires much more energy compared with Cl^– and SO ₄ ^2- , because it is accompanied by a structural rearrangement and a transition from tetrahedral Al to octahedral Al.     

Experimental calibration of vanadium partitioning and stable isotope fractionation between hydrous granitic melt and magnetite at 800 °C and 0.5 GPa

Vanadium has multiple oxidation states in silicate melts and minerals, a property that also promotes fractionation of its isotopes. As a result, vanadium isotopes vary during magmatic differentiation, and can be powerful indicators of redox processes at high temperatures if their partitioning behaviour can be determined. To quantify the partitioning and isotope fractionation factor of V between magnetite and melt, piston cylinder experiments were performed in which magnetite and a hydrous, haplogranitic melt were equilibrated at 800 °C and 0.5 GPa over a range of oxygen fugacities (\({f_{{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}}}}}\)), bracketing those of terrestrial magmas. Magnetite is isotopically light with respect to the coexisting melt, a tendency ascribed to the VI-fold V³⁺ and V⁴⁺ in magnetite, and a mixture of IV- and VI-fold V⁵⁺ and V⁴⁺ in the melt. The magnitude of the fractionation factor systematically increases with increasing log\({f_{{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}}}}}\) relative to the Fayalite–Magnetite–Quartz buffer (FMQ), from ?⁵¹V_mag-gl = ? 0.63?±?0.09‰ at FMQ ? 1 to ? 0.92?±?0.11‰ (SD) at ≈?FMQ?+?5, reflecting constant V³⁺/V⁴⁺ in magnetite but increasing V⁵⁺/V⁴⁺ in the melt with increasing log\({f_{{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}}}}}\). These first mineral-melt measurements of V isotope fractionation factors underline the importance of both oxidation state and co-ordination environment in controlling isotopic fractionation. The fractionation factors determined experimentally are in excellent agreement with those needed to explain natural isotope variations in magmatic suites. Furthermore, these experiments provide a useful framework in which to interpret vanadium isotope variations in natural rocks and magnetites, and may be used as a potential fingerprint the redox state of the magma from which they crystallise.     

Upper Jurassic Rock Depositional Settings in the Baidar Valley and Evolution of the Crimean Carbonate Platform

The paper presents results of the lithological study of Upper Jurassic limestones, flyschoids and limestone breccias on the southern side of the Baidar Valley in the Crimean Mountains. Study of the microfacies revealed that the limestones are represented by deposits on lagoons, platform edge shoals, reefs, and forereef aprons on the carbonate platform slope. Flyschoids include deposits in the distributive turbidite channels and hemipelagic sediments in the deep-water part of the basin. Limestone breccias were formed by gravitation flows on the carbonate platform toe-of-slope and slope. The presence of gravitation deposits in the Upper Jurassic carbonate complexes of the Crimean Mountains can testify to the primary clinoform structure of this sedimentary sequence. Comparison of the obtained sedimentological data made it possible to reconstruct the facies model of the Crimean carbonate platform and main episodes of its formation. Development of the carbonate shelf was related to two transgressive-regressive cycles. A dome-shaped reef was formed away from the coast at the initial (Oxfordian) stage. The carbonate platform was formed at the early Kimmeridgian lowstand stage when sediments were deposited in the internal part of the platform adjacent to land. In the late Kimmeridgian and early Tithonian, configuration of the carbonate platform profile resembled a distally steepened ramp, and its active progradation and shelf expansion took place in the course of transgression. Regression in the late Tithonian–early Berriasian led to regressive transformation of the ramp into platform with a flattened shallow-water shelf. Tectonic deformations at the Jurassic/Cretaceous transition promoted the formation of megabreccias on the carbonate platform foreslope. The tectonically reworked rock sequence of the “extinct” carbonate platform was overlapped transgressively by the upper Berriasian or lower Valanginian, relatively deep-water deposits of the Cretaceous platform cover.     

Palynostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene Deposits in the South of Western Siberia by Example of Russkaya Polyana Boreholes,Omsk Trough

The detailed study of Boreholes 8, 10, and 2 in the Russkaya Polyana district (Omsk Trough) made it possible to reveal the complex structure of the Upper Cretaceous sediments formed in unstable conditions of the marginal part of the Western Siberian basin. The Pokur, Kuznetsovo, Ipatovo, Slavgorod, and Gan’kino formations were subjected to palynological analysis and substantiation of their Late Cretaceous age. Eight biostratigraphic units with dinocysts and five units with spores and pollen from the Albian to the Maastrichtian were identified. The joint application of biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic methods made it possible to reveal the stratigraphic breaks in the studied sedimentary stratum and to estimate their scope. The age of the Lower Lyulinvor Subformation was specified in the marginal part of the Omsk Trough. The ingression traces of the Western Siberian basin in the Albian were found for the first time in the considered region.