Effective Sample Size for Glacier Mass Balance

Correlograms from multiple time series of point mass balance, measured on White Glacier (Axel Heiberg Island, Canada) and Abramov Glacier (Alai Range, Kirgizia), show that the correlation decreases with the difference in elevation between the points. The correlogram is used to calculate an integral spatial scale or effective sample area which, when divided into the area of the glacier, yields an estimate of the number of degrees of freedom in a stake-based estimate of the whole-glacier balance. This number – the 'effective sample size'– is a small fraction of the number of point measurements; indeed, it is independent of the number of measurements. Estimates of average balance for elevation bands are at one remove from raw stake measurements, but they are amenable to a principal component analysis which confirms that the effective sample size is very small. The small effective sample size means that uncertainty in a typical measurement of whole-glacier mass balance cannot be much less than the large value implied by the conservative assumption that stakes are perfectly correlated. One way around this difficulty would be to increase the role of prior physical understanding by seeking to model the spatial variability of mass balance. A successful model would need only a few parameters, and would allow for the joint estimation of both magnitude and uncertainty; the uncertainty in mass balance could be derived objectively from the uncertainty in the parameters. This, however, would require good estimates of the variability of mass balance at the elevation-band scale, which might in turn require that many measurement networks be redesigned.     

Intercomparison of Boron Isotope and Concentration Measurements. Part II: Evaluation of Results

The Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse (IGG), on behalf and with the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), prepared eight geological materials (three natural waters and five rocks and minerals), intended for a blind interlaboratory comparison of measurements of boron isotopic composition and concentration. The materials were distributed to twenty seven laboratories - virtually all those performing geochemical boron isotope analyses in the world -which agreed to participate in the intercomparison exercise. Only fifteen laboratories, however, ultimately submitted the isotopic and/or concentration results they obtained on the intercomparison materials. The results demonstrate that interlaboratory reproducibility is not well reflected by the precision values reported by the individual laboratories and this observation holds true for both boron concentration and isotopic composition. The reasons for the discrepancies include fractionations due to the chemical matrix of materials, relative shift of the zero position on the δ¹¹B scale and a lack of well characterized materials for calibrating absolute boron content measurements. The intercomparison materials are now available at the IAEA (solid materials) and IGG (waters) for future distribution.     

Archaean tectonics

The characteristic structures of granite-greenstone and high-grade gneiss terrains are reviewed, using the Superior Province and the North Atlantic craton as examples, with the object of finding a suitable tectonic model to explain both. The granite-greenstone terrain exhibits a combination of gravity-driven vertical tectonics and regional horizontal compression, while the high-grade gneiss terrain shows dominantly subhorizontal high-strain foliation affected by later refoldings.A uniformitarian plate tectonic model may not be appropriate to the Archaean in the likely absence of eclogite-driven subduction and because of practical problems in explaining the deformation patterns.Various alternative mechanisms are considered to explain the structure of the high-grade gneiss terrains in particular. It is concluded that the most fruitful model is tectonic underplating, whereby the crust is thickened from beneath by the emplacement of crustal slices detached from their mantle lithosphere — itself underplated independantly. Such a process could have operated in the North Atlantic craton coevally with greenstone formation and subsequent diapirism in the Superior Province.Sub-horizontal N-S compression affected both cratons in the late Archaean, after the above processes had taken place, when the crust had become sufficiently rigid to be able to transmit regional stresses.

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Zusammenfassung Die charakteristischen Strukturen von Granit-Grünschiefern und hochgradigen Gneisgebieten werden zusammenfassend betrachtet, wobei die Superior Province und das nordatlantische Kraton als Beispiele benutzt werden. Es wird versucht, ein geeignetes tektonisches Modell zu finden, um beide Gebiete zu erklären. Das Granit-Grünschiefergebiet stellt eine Kombination der von durch Gravitation verursachter vertikaler Tektonik und regionaler horizontaler Kompression dar, während das hochgradige Gneisgebiet eine hauptsächlich durch starke Beanspruchung verursachte subhorizontale Schichtung zeigt, beeinflußt durch spätere Faltungen.Ein uniformitarisches plattentektonisches Modell dürfte nicht für das Archaikum geeignet sein, wenn durch Eklogite verursachte Subduktion höchstwahrscheinlich nicht vorhanden ist und wenn außerdem praktische Probleme bei der Erklärung der Deformationsstrukturen auftauchen.Verschiedene alternative Mechanismen werden insbesondere für die Erklärung der Struktur des hochgradigen Gneisgebietes in Betracht gezogen. Als bestes Modell fanden wir die tektonische Anlagerung von unten, wobei die Kruste von unten her durch den Aufbau von Krustenscheiben, die vom Lithosphären-Mantel abgesplittert werden, verstärkt worden ist — wobei diese wiederum unabhängig davon Anlagerungen von unten aufweist. Solch ein Prozeß könnte im nordatlantischen Kraton stattgefunden haben, zusammen mit der Grünschieferformation und dem folgenden Diapirismus in der Superior Province.Subhorizontale N-S-Kompression beeinflußte beide Kratone im späten Archaikum, nachdem die obigen Prozesse stattgefunden hatten und als die Kruste genügend stark geworden war, um die regionalen Spannungen weiterzuleiten.

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Résumé Les structures caractéristiques des domaines à granites et roches vertes, et à gneiss de haut degré de métamorphisme, sont passées en revue; les exemples utilisés sont ceux de la Province Supérieure et du craton de l'Atlantique nord, et ce, dans l'intention de trouver un modèle tectonique approprié à l'explication des deux. Le domaine à granites et roches vertes témoigne de la combinaison d'une tectonique verticale mue par la pesanteur et d'une compression horizontale régionale, tandis que les formations à gneiss de degré de métamorphisme élevé montrent principalement une foliation subhorizontale sous forte tension, affectée par des replissements ultérieurs.Un modèle de tectonique de plaque basé sur la théorie de l'actualisme ne peut pas être appropriée à l'Archéen, étant donné l'absence probable de subduction actionée par des éclogites et en raison des difficultés pratiques à expliquer les structures de déformation.Plusieurs autres mécanismes sont envisagés pour expliquer la structure des régions à gneiss de degré de métamorphisme elevé. On en arrive à conclure que la modèle le plus efficient est le «sous-placage tectonique» suivant lequel la croûte s'épaissit par la mise en place, par en-dessous, de tranches de croûte détachées de leur »manteau-lithosphère«, elles-mêmes des sous-plaques indépendantes. Un tel processus aurait pu fonctionner dans le craton de l'Atlantique nord à la même époque que la formation de roches vertes et que le diapirisme subséquent dans la Province Supérieure.La compression sub-horizontale nord-sud a agi sur les deux cratons vers la fin de l'Archéen, et après qu'eurent lieu les processus ci-dessus, quand la croûte était devenue assez rigide pour pouvoir transmettre des efforts régionaux.

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Lunar anorthosite 60025, the petrogenesis of lunar anorthosites,and the composition of the Moon

Systematic variations of the mineral chemistry of ferroan anorthosite 60025, which is probably a mixture of closely related materials, suggest that lunar anorthosites formed by strong fractional crystallization and near-perfect adcumulate growth, without trapping liquid. The parent liquid for the most primitive samples was saturated with olivine, plagioclase, pigeonite, and chromite, and evolved to one saturated with plagioclase, pigeonite, high-Ca pyroxene, and ilmenite. The parent liquid also had a very low Na₂O content, and combined with strong fractional crystallization this explains the steep trend of anorthosites on an Mg1 (atomic 100 × Mg/(Mg + Fe)) v. An diagram. The mineral and chemical data for other anorthosites are consistent with such a model. Near-perfect adcumulation can occur if growth takes place at the crystal-liquid interface without the physical accumulation of crystals grown elsewhere, and is encouraged by the shifts in phase boundaries with pressure.Anorthosites are probably the remnants of a crust floating on, and crystallizing at the surface of, a magma ocean originally of bulk Moon composition. Mineralogical and trace element data suggest that the parental liquid for the most primitive anorthosites had previously crystallized no plagioclase and some but perhaps very little pyroxene. Hence the bulk Moon appears to be similar to that proposed by Ringwood (1976) but to have even lower alkalis, a subchondritic $\text{Ca}\text{Al}$ ratio, and REE abundances and patterns close to chondritic. The mare basalt sources are not directly complementary to the feldspathic crust, because experimental and trace element data indicate that they are too magnesian and contain too much high-Ca pyroxene. Other crustal rocks, such as the Mg-suite samples, are not closely related to anorthosites; in addition to their chemical differences they have a different crystallization sequence: ol → plag → px, in contrast with the ol → px → plag inferred for anorthosite parental liquid evolution.     

New Reference Materials,Analytical Procedures and Data Reduction Strategies for Sr Isotope Measurements in Geological Materials by LA-MC-ICP-MS

Laser ablation multi-collector mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) has emerged as the technique of choice for in situ measurements of Sr isotopes in geological minerals. However, the method poses analytical challenges and there is no widely adopted standardised approach to collecting these data or correcting the numerous potential isobaric inferences. Here, we outline practical analytical procedures and data reduction strategies to help establish a consistent framework for collecting and correcting Sr isotope measurements in geological materials by LA-MC-ICP-MS. We characterise a new set of plagioclase reference materials, which are available for distribution to the community, and present a new data reduction scheme for the Iolite software package to correct isobaric interferences for different materials and analytical conditions. Our tests show that a combination of Kr-baseline subtraction, Rb-peak-stripping using βRb derived from a bracketing glass reference material, and a CaCa or CaAr correction for plagioclase and CaCa or CaAr + REE²⁺ correction for rock glasses, yields the most accurate and precise ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr measurements for these materials. Using the analytical and correction procedures outlined herein, spot analyses using a beam diameter of 100 μm or rastering with a 50–65 μm diameter beam can readily achieve < 100 ppm 2SE repeatability ("internal") precision for ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr measurements for materials with < 1000 μg g^-1 Sr.