A porosity mapping survey in Hecate Strait using a seafloor electro-magnetic profiling system

A newly developed marine electromagnetic (E-M) system was used to create apparent porosity maps of the uppermost 20 m of sediments on the seafloor. Measurements of electrical conductivity were interpreted to give the porosity of the bottom sediments and underlying units. The data were collected continuously in a surveying mode using two receivers at different spacings to improve the resolution of porosity as a function of depth. The variations in apparent porosity over the area correlate well with information obtained from cores and acoustic profiles.

Acoustic profiles indicated the presence of biogenic gas in the central region of the survey area. The absence of distinct changes in apparent porosity over regions of gas allows us to conclude that the concentration of gas trapped within the Queen Charlotte muds does not exceed about 4% of the sediment by volume if we assume that the gas displaces fluid in the sediment.

A buried, lower porosity layer was detected, its position reflecting changes in the depth to the glaciomarine layer. Mapped variations in apparent porosity are well correlated with features on the acoustic record. This illustrates the system's ability to obtain continuous profiles of apparent porosity over seafloor features. The marine E-M survey provided rapid areal coverage, and, combined with the acoustic profiles, information on the porosity of deeper units.     

An automatic condensation nucleus counter

Summary Samples of air are sucked into a tube, partly lined with damp blotting paper, and become saturated with water vapour. They are then allowed to expand and the cloud which is formed scatters light from a bulb at the side of the tube to a photomultiplier at one end of it. The sampling and expansion are controlled by solenoid valves and the apparatus works continuously, giving readings at intervals of one minute.     

Computer simulated versus observed NO2 and SO2 emitted from elevated point source complex

ISC-AERMOD dispersion model was used to predict air dispersion plumes from an diesel power plant complex. Emissions of NO₂and SO₂from stacks (5 numbers) and a waste oil incinerator were studied to evaluate the pollutant dispersion patterns and the risk of nearby population. Emission source strengths from the individual point sources were also evaluated to determine the sources of significant attribution. Results demonstrated the dispersions of pollutants were influenced by the dominant easterly wind direction with the cumulative maximum ground level concentrations of 589.86 μg/m³ (1 h TWA NO₂) and 479.26 μg/m³ (1 h TWA SO₂). Model performance evaluation by comparing the predicted concentrations with observed values at ten locations for the individual air pollutants using rigorous statistical procedures were found to be in good agreement. Among all the emission sources within the facility complex, SESB-Power (diesel power plant) had been singled out as a significant source of emission that contributed >85% of the total pollutants emitted.     

湘西沃溪钨锑金矿床黄铁矿中发现Au-Sb矿物相

利用扫描电镜和电子探针等方法,对沃溪钨锑金矿床中产于(块状白钨矿-石英脉中的)黄铁矿微裂隙中的自然金和Au-Sb矿物相进行了较详细的观察和研究。结果表明,黄铁矿中Au-Sb矿物相除了有前人已经鉴定出的方锑金矿(AuSb2.13)外,还新发现有锑金矿(Au1.02Sb)矿物相。二者以显微颗粒的形式存在于黄铁矿显微裂隙中。黄铁矿微裂隙中Au-Sb矿物相的存在,指示矿床成矿在黄铁矿形成之后存在Au-Sb混溶的成矿流体。自然金、方锑金矿、锑金矿等矿物的沉淀析出可能是Au-Sb混溶流体从高温(高于350℃)向低温(250℃)演变的结果。此外,Au-Sb矿物相的发现对改进矿石冶炼中Au、Sb的分离技术有参考价值。     

Magnetite solubility and iron transport in magmatic-hydrothermal environments

We have examined the effect of pressure on the apparent equilibrium constant, K′, for magnetite solubility (Fe₃O₄^mt + 6HCl^fluid + H₂^fluid = 3FeCl₂^fluid + 4H₂O^fluid) and the relative iron-carrying capacities of magmatic vapor and brine by conducting experiments in a rhyolite melt-vapor-brine-magnetite system at 800°C, f_O2 = NNO and pressures ranging from 100 to 145 MPa. Iron concentrations in synthetic vapor and brine fluid inclusions were quantified by using laser-ablation inductively-coupled-plasma-mass-spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). Hydrogen chloride (HCl) concentrations in magmatic vapor were inferred by potentiometric measurements of H⁺ in quenched run product fluids. These data yield calculated values for log K′, assuming a_H2O = X_H2O, of 1.7, 4.9, 6.2, 6.8 and 9.1 at 100, 110, 130, 140 and 145 MPa, respectively. The concentration of iron in magmatic vapor increases by an order of magnitude, whereas the concentration of iron in magmatic brine remains constant (within 1σ) with increasing pressure as the 800°C critical pressure is approached along the vapor-brine solvus. The concentrations of iron in vapor and brine fluid inclusions yield calculated partition coefficients (D_Fe^v/b) of 0.05, 0.14, 0.27 and 0.56 at 110, 130, 140 and 145 MPa, respectively. Our data reveal that pressure fluctuations may significantly affect the value of log K′. More importantly, the data demonstrate conclusively that a significant amount of iron can be transported by a low-density aqueous vapor in the magmatic-hydrothermal environment.     

Paleozoic northward drift of the North Tien Shan (Central Asia) as revealed by Ordovician and Carboniferous paleomagnetism

Three new Middle–Late Ordovician and two new Early Carboniferous paleomagnetic poles have been obtained from the North Tien Shan Zone (NTZ) of the Ural–Mongol belt in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Paleolatitudes for the Carboniferous are unambiguously northerly and average 15.5°N, whereas the Ordovician paleolatitudes (6°, 9°, and 9°) are inferred to be southerly, given that a very large (180°) rotation of the NTZ would be necessary during the middle Paleozoic if the other polarity option was chosen. Thus, the NTZ drifted northward during much of the Paleozoic; east–west drift cannot be determined, as is well known, from paleomagnetic data. In addition, detailed thermal demagnetization analysis reveals two overprints, one of recent age and the other of Permian age, which is a time of strong deformation in the NTZ. The paleolatitude of the combined Permian overprint is 30.5+2°N. The paleolatitudes collectively track those predicted for the area by extrapolation from Baltica very well, but are different from those of Siberia for Ordovician times. This finding is compatible with Sengör and Natal'in's [Sengör, A.M.C., Natal'in, B.A., 1996. Paleotectonics of Asia: fragments of a synthesis. In: Yin A., Harrison, M. (Eds.), The Tectonic Evolution of Asia. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp. 486–640] model of tectonic evolution of the Ural–Mongol belt and disagrees with the models of other researchers. Declinations of the Ordovician and Early Carboniferous results range from northwesterly to northeasterly, and are clearly affected by local relative rotations, which seem characteristic for the entire NTZ, because the Permian overprint declinations also show such a spread. Apparently, the important latest Paleozoic–Triassic deformation involved shear zone-related rotations as well as folding and significant granitic intrusions.     

Evaluation of the AMIP soil moisture simulations

The Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) conducted simulations by 30 different atmospheric general circulation models forced by observed sea surface temperatures for the 10-year period, 1979–1988. These models include a variety of different soil moisture parameterizations which influence their simulations of the entire land surface hydrology, including evaporation, soil moisture, and runoff, and their simulations of the energy balance at the surface. Here we compare these parameterizations, and evaluate their simulations of soil moisture by comparing them with actual observations of soil moisture, literally ground truth. We compared model-generated ‘data sets' and simulations of soil moisture with observations from 150 stations in the former Soviet Union for 1979–1985 and Illinois for 1981–1988. The spatial patterns, mean annual cycles, and interannual variations were compared to plant-available soil moisture in the upper 1 m of soil. The model-generated ‘data sets' are quite different from the observations, and from each other in many regions, even though they use the same bucket model calculation method. The AMIP model simulations are also quite different from each other, especially in the tropics. Models with 15-cm field capacities do not capture the observed large high latitude values of soil moisture. In addition, none of the models properly simulate winter soil moisture variations in high latitudes, keeping soil moisture constant, while observations show that soil moisture varies in the winter as much as in other seasons. The observed interannual variations of soil moisture were not captured by any of the AMIP models. Several models have large soil moisture trends during the first year or two of the AMIP simulations, with potentially large impacts on global hydrological cycle trends and on other climate elements. This is because the simulations were begun without spinning up the soil moisture to the model climatology. The length of time it took for each to reach equilibrium depended on the particular parameterization. Although observed temporal autocorrelation time scales are a few months, some models had much longer time scales than that. In particular, the three parameterizations based on the Simple Biosphere model (SiB) had trends in some regions for virtually the entire AMIP simulation period.     

The Marinoan glaciation (Neoproterozoic) in northeast Svalbard

Two separate and distinct diamictite‐rich units occur in the mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic Polarisbreen Group, which comprises the top kilometer of >7 km of Neoproterozoic strata in the northeast of the Svalbard archipelago. The platformal succession accumulated on the windward, tropical to subtropical margin of Laurentia. The older Petrovbreen Member is a thin glacimarine diamictite that lacks a cap carbonate. It contains locally derived clasts and overlies a regional karstic disconformity that was directly preceded by a large (>10‰) negative δ¹³C anomaly in the underlying shallow‐marine carbonates. This anomaly is homologous to anomalies in Australia, Canada and Namibia that precede the Marinoan glaciation. The younger and thicker Wilsonbreen Formation comprises terrestrial ice‐contact deposits. It contains abundant extrabasinal clasts and is draped by a transgressive cap dolostone 3–18 m thick. The cap dolostone is replete with sedimentary features strongly associated with post‐Marinoan caps globally, and its isotopic profile is virtually identical to that of other Marinoan cap dolostones. From the inter‐regional perspective, the two diamictite‐rich units in the Polarisbreen Group should represent the first and final phases of the Marinoan glaciation. Above the Petrovbreen diamictite are ～200 m of finely laminated, dark olive‐coloured rhythmites (MacDonaldryggen Member) interpreted here to represent suspension deposits beneath shorefast, multi‐annual sea ice (sikussak). Above the suspension deposits and below the Wilsonbreen diamictites is a <30‐m‐thick regressive sequence (Slangen Member) composed of dolomite grainstone and evaporitic supratidal microbialaminite. We interpret this sabkha‐like lagoonal sequence as an oasis deposit that precipitated when local marine ice melted away under greenhouse forcing, but while the tropical ocean remained covered due to inflow of sea glaciers from higher latitudes. It appears that the Polarisbreen Group presents an unusually complete record of the Marinoan snowball glaciation.