Erosion rates of alpine bedrock summit surfaces deduced from in situ Be and Al

We have measured the concentration of in situ produced cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al from bare bedrock surfaces on summit flats in four western U.S. mountain ranges. The maximum mean bare-bedrock erosion rate from these alpine environments is 7.6 ± 3.9 m My⁻¹. Individual measurements vary between 2 and 19 m My⁻¹. These erosion rates are similar to previous cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) erosion rates measured in other environments, except for those from extremely arid regions. This indicates that bare bedrock is not weathered into transportable material more rapidly in alpine environments than in other environments, even though frost weathering should be intense in these areas. Our CRN-deduced point measurements of bedrock erosion are slower than typical basin-averaged denudation rates ( 50 m My⁻¹). If our measured CRN erosion rates are accurate indicators of the rate at which summit flats are lowered by erosion, then relief in the mountain ranges examined here is probably increasing.

We develop a model of outcrop erosion to investigate the magnitude of errors associated with applying the steady-state erosion model to episodically eroding outcrops. Our simulations show that interpreting measurements with the steady-state erosion model can yield erosion rates which are either greater or less than the actual long-term mean erosion rate. While errors resulting from episodic erosion are potentially greater than both measurement and production rate errors for single samples, the mean value of many steady-state erosion rate measurements provides a much better estimate of the long-term erosion rate.     

Privatizing conditions of production: trade agreements as neoliberal environmental governance

Recent multilateral trade agreements are among the major manifestations of neoliberalism. They are also emerging as some of the most important sites of environmental governance in the 21st century. I argue here that these trade agreements, particularly the sweeping new protections they provide for investors, are redefining property rights and environmental governance in fundamental ways. I suggest that in addition to furthering the centuries-long process of the enclosure of nature under capitalism, the neoliberal agenda of NAFTA and similar trade agreements also involves something new: the privatization, or primitive accumulation, of conditions of production as an accumulation strategy. I explore these dynamics through examination of two cases, one in the United States and one in Mexico. I also explore the roles of social movements in these dynamics.     

Barite deposition resulting from phototrophic sulfide-oxidizing bacterial activity

Barite (BaSO₄) deposits generally arise from mixing of soluble barium-containing fluids with sulfate-rich fluids. While the role of biological processes in modulating barium solubility has been shown, no studies have shown that the biological oxidation of sulfide to sulfate leads to barite deposition. Here we present an example of microbially mediated barite deposition in a continental setting. A spring in the Anadarko Basin of southwestern Oklahoma produces water containing abundant barium and sulfide. As emergent water travels down a stream to a nearby creek, sulfate concentration increases from 0.06 mM to 2.2 mM while Ba²⁺ concentration drops from 0.4 mM to less than 7 μM. Stable isotope analysis, microbial activity studies, and in situ experiments provide evidence that as sulfide-rich water flows down the stream, anaerobic, anoxygenic, phototrophic bacteria play a dominant role in oxidizing sulfide to sulfate. Sulfate then precipitates with Ba²⁺ producing barite as travertine, cements, crusts, and accumulations on microbial mats. Our studies suggest that phototrophic sulfide oxidation and concomitant sulfur cycling could prove to be important processes regulating the cycling of barium in continental sulfur-containing systems.     

Asia–Europe–United States: the geoeconomics of uncertainty

This paper examines a key aspect of how the global geometries of finance and trade articulate the euro–dollar relationship. Here, European integration extends into a global financial and trading system replete with contradictions. The paper examines these, drawing upon a literature from international political economy, foregrounding the spatialities that they signal.     

Continental rift systems and anorogenic magmatism

Precambrian Laurentia and Mesozoic Gondwana both rifted along geometric patterns that closely approximate truncated-icosahedral tessellations of the lithosphere. These large-scale, quasi-hexagonal rift patterns manifest a least-work configuration. For both Laurentia and Gondwana, continental rifting coincided with drift stagnation, and may have been driven by lithospheric extension above an insulated and thermally expanded mantle. Anorogenic magmatism, including flood basalts, dike swarms, anorthosite massifs and granite-rhyolite provinces, originated along the Laurentian and Gondwanan rift tessellations. Long-lived volcanic regions of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, sometimes called hotspots, originated near triple junctions of the Gondwanan tessellation as the supercontinent broke apart. We suggest that some anorogenic magmatism results from decompression melting of asthenosphere beneath opening fractures, rather than from random impingement of hypothetical deep-mantle plumes.     

Representing and communicating deep uncertainty in climate-change assessments

IPCC reports provide a synthesis of the state of the science in order to inform the international policy process. This task is made difficult by the presence of deep uncertainty in the climate problem that results from long time scales and complexity. This paper focuses on how deep uncertainty can be effectively communicated. We argue that existing schemes do an inadequate job of communicating deep uncertainty and propose a simple approach that distinguishes between various levels of subjective understanding in a systematic manner. We illustrate our approach with two examples. To cite this article: M. Kandlikar et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

The influence of edge sites on the development of surface charge on goethite nanoparticles: A molecular dynamics investigation

Large-scale molecular simulation of proton accumulations were carried out on (i) (110) and (021) slabs immersed in aqueous solution and (ii) a series of model goethite nanoparticles of dimension 2 to 8 nm with systematically varying acicularity and (110)/(021) surface areas. In the slab systems, the (021) surface exhibits 15% more proton charge per unit area than the (110) surface. In the particulate systems, the acicular particles having the highest (110)/(021) ratio accumulate the most charge, opposite to the trend expected from the slab simulations, indicating that, at length scales on the order of 10 nm, the slab results are not a good indicator of the overall charging behavior of the particles. The primary reason for the discrepancy between the particulate systems and slab systems is the preferential accumulation of protons at acute (110)-(110) intersections. Charge accumulates preferentially in this region because excess proton charge at an asperity is more effectively solvated than at a flat interface.     

The effect of iron on montmorillonite stability. (I) Background and thermodynamic considerations

It is envisaged that high-level nuclear waste (HLW) will be disposed of in underground repositories. Many proposed repository designs include steel waste canisters and bentonite backfill. Natural analogues and experimental data indicate that the montmorillonite component of the backfill could react with steel corrosion products to produce non-swelling Fe-rich phyllosilicates such as chamosite, berthierine, or Fe-rich smectite. In K-bearing systems, the alteration of montmorillonite to illite/glauconite could also be envisaged. If montmorillonite were altered to non-swelling minerals, the swelling capacity and self-healing properties of the bentonite backfill could be reduced, thereby diminishing backfill performance. The main aim of this paper was to investigate Fe-rich phyllosilicate mineral stability at the canister-backfill interface using thermodynamic modelling. Estimates of thermodynamic properties were made for Fe-rich clay minerals in order to construct approximate phase-relations for end-member/simplified mineral compositions in logarithmic activity space. Logarithmic activity diagrams (for the system Al₂O₃-FeO-Fe₂O₃-MgO-Na₂O-SiO₂-H₂O) suggest that if pore waters are supersaturated with respect to magnetite in HLW repositories, Fe(II)-rich saponite is the most likely montmorillonite alteration product (if f_O2(g) values are significantly lower than magnetite-hematite equilibrium). Therefore, the alteration of montmorillonite may not be detrimental to nuclear waste repositories that include Fe, as long as the swelling behaviour of the Fe-rich smectite produced is maintained. If f_O2(g) exceeds magnetite-hematite equilibrium, and solutions are saturated with respect to magnetite in HLW repositories, berthierine is likely to be more stable than smectite minerals. The alteration of montmorillonite to berthierine could be detrimental to the performance of HLW repositories.     

Geochemistry and origin of albite gneisses,northeastern Adirondack Mountains,New York

Albite gneisses containing up to 8.7 percent Na₂O and as little as 0.1% K₂O comprise a significant part of the Proterozoic Lyon Mountain Gneiss in the Ausable Forks Quadrangle of the northeastern Adirondacks, New York State. Two distinct types of albite gneisses are present. One is a trondhjemitic leucogneiss (LAG) consisting principally of albite (Ab95–Ab98) and quartz with minor magnetite and, locally, minor amounts of amphibole or acmiterich pyroxene. LAG probably originated by metamorphism of a rhyolitie or rhyodacitic ash-flow tuff with A-type geochemical affinities, following post-depositional analcitization in a saline or saline-alkaline environment. The other type is a mafic albite gneiss (MAG) containing albite and pyroxene along with 0–45 percent quartz, minor amphibole, and titanite. MAG locally displays pinstripe banding and contains albite (Ab98) megacrysts up to 5 cm across. Its precursor may have been a sediment composed of diagenetic analcite or albite, dolomite, and quartz. Both types of albite gneiss are interlayered with granitic gneisses (LMG) of variable composition derived from less altered tuffs. A potassium-rich (up to 9.7% K₂O) microcline gneiss facies may have had a protolith rich in diagenetic K feldspar. We propose that the albite gneisses and associated granitic gneisses are the granulite-facies metamorphic equivalent of a bimodal, dominantly felsic, volcanic suite with minor intercalated sediments, probably including evaporites. The volcanics were erupted in an anorogenic setting, such as an incipient or failed intracontinental rift. Deposition took place in a closed-basin, playa lake environment, where diagenetic alteration resulted in redistribution of the alkalis and strong oxidation.