Sulfur diffusion in basaltic melts

We measured the diffusion coefficients of sulfur in two different basaltic melts at reduced conditions (i.e., in the sulfide stability field), temperatures from 1225°C to 1450°C, pressures of 0.5 and 1 GPa, and water concentrations of 0 and 3.5 wt%. Although each melt is characterized by slightly different sulfur diffusion coefficients, the results can be combined to create a general equation for sulfur diffusion in anhydrous basalts:

     

Paleofluid analysis from fracture-fill cements in the Asmari limestones of the Kuh-I-Mond field, SW Zagros, Iran

Kuh-I-Mond field in the Zagros foreland basin is a conventional heavy oil resource and is composed of fractured carbonates whose fractures were filled by calcite, dolomite, and anhydrite cements. Oil inclusions occurred within the fracture-fill cements indicate that fractures were open and played an active role during oil migration and charge. The highest measured values for secondary porosities belong to fractures in Asmari Formation, which is characterized by significant amounts of vug- and fracture-filling cements. Fractures facilitated fluid circulation and subsequently dissolution of allochems and high Mg carbonates. In contrast, fine-grained carbonate facies were less cemented, and thus, porosity enhancement by cement dissolution was insignificant. Temperature profiles of oil inclusions in the dolomite, calcite, and anhydrite minerals characterized by distinct variations in the homogenization temperatures (Th) that are divided into two ranges below 50°C in anhydrites and from 45°C to 125°C in dolomites and calcites. The lower Th ranges for anhydrite suggests that it may have formed at shallower burial depths during early to middle diagenesis. The oil inclusions display trend for increasing temperature downward which conform to Formation geothermal gradient. In other word, the decreasing trend of Th temperatures upward within Asmari Formation that can be observed in Th versus depth plot is consistent with the uplift events at Late Miocene time and later that caused removal of about 1,300 m of the crest of the Kuh-I-Mond anticline. Vitrinite reflectance data from source rock intervals in the field area do not support vertical migration of locally generated hydrocarbons into the Kuh-I-Mond accumulation, and long-distance lateral oil migration and charge from a source kitchen to the southwest is proposed. Vitrinite reflectance data from this dolomite and limestone reservoir suggest low maturation levels corresponding to paleotemperatures less than 50°C. The observed maturation level (<0.5% Ro) does not exceed values for simple burial maturation based on the estimated burial history. Also, homogenization temperatures from fluid inclusion populations in calcite and dolomites show expected good correlation with reflectance-derived temperatures. The Th data represent pore fluids became warmer and more saline during burial. As aqueous fluid inclusions in calcite veins were homogenized between 22°C and 90°C with a decrease in salinity from 22 to 18 eq.?wt.% NaCl. The Th values suggest a change in water composition and that dolomite and calcite cements might have precipitated from petroleum-derived fluids. The hydrocarbon fluid inclusions microthermometry data suggest that the reservoir was being filled by heavy black oils in reservoir during Cenozoic. Aqueous fluid inclusions hosted by calcite equant sparry/fossil cavity fills suggest low cementation temperatures (<45°C) and high salinities (19 eq.?wt.% NaCl), while those in dolostones are characterized by highly variable homogenization temperature (52°C to 125°C) and salinities (6.5 to 20 eq.?wt.% NaCl).     

Some implications of xenolith glasses for the mantle sources of alkaline mafic magmas

The assumption that mafic alkaline magmas are derived from mantle sources with a lherzolite mineralogy has become entrenched in the petrologic literature. Although it is commonly assumed that highly alkaline magmas require metasomatised mantle sources, there is little understanding of the spatial relation of such sources with respect to those of associated more Si-rich transitional magmas. Glasses developed in mantle xenoliths represent natural experiments which may provide some insight on this problem. Highly silica undersaturated glasses developed in the amphibole-garnet clinopyroxenite portion of a composite xenolith from Nunivak Island, Alaska, become quartz normative where they penetrate adjacent spinel lherzolite. A comparison of glass compositions in mantle pyroxenite and lherzolite xenoliths reveals that glasses developed in amphibole pyroxenite xenoliths are in general more silica undersaturated than those in lherzolite xenoliths. This suggests that some highly silica undersaturated magmas such as nephelinites may in fact be derived by the preferential melting of amphibole or amphibole-garnet pyroxenite veins and that the spectrum from nephelinite to transitional alkaline basalt that characterizes many individual alkaline volcanic suites is produced by mixing with melt derived from the host lherzolite as the degree of partial melting increases.     

Formation of lunar basin rings

The origin of the multiple concentric rings that characterize lunar impact basins, and the probable depth and diameter of the transient crater have been widely debated. As an alternative to prevailing “megaterrace” hypotheses, we propose that the outer scarps or mountain rings that delineate the topographic rims of basins—the Cordilleran at Orientale, the Apennine at Imbrium, and the Altai at Nectaris—define the transient cavities, enlarged relatively little by slumping, and thus are analogous to the rim crests of craters like Copernicus; inner rings are uplifted rims of craters nested within the transient cavity. The magnitude of slumping that occurs on all scarps is insufficient to produce major inner rings from the outer. These conclusions are based largely on the observed gradational sequence in lunar central uplifts:. from simple peaks through somewhat annular clusters of peaks, peak and ring combinations and double ring basins, culminating in multiring structures that may also include peaks. In contrast, belts of slump terraces are not gradational with inner rings. Terrestrial analogs suggest two possible mechanisms for producing rings. In some cases, peaks may expand into rings as material is ejected from their cores, as apparently occurred at Gosses Bluff, Australia. A second process, differential excavation of lithologically diverse layers, has produced nested experimental craters and is, we suspect, instrumental in the formation of terrestrial ringed impact craters. Peak expansion could produce double-ring structures in homogeneous materials, but differential excavation is probably required to produce multiring and peak-in-ring configurations in large lunar impact structures. Our interpretation of the representative lunar multiring basin Orientale is consistent with formation of three rings in three layers detected seismically in part of the Moon—the Cordillera (basin-bounding) ring in the upper crust, the composite Montes Rook ring in the underlying, more coherent “heald” crust, and an innermost, 320-km ring at the crust-mantle interface. Depth-diameter ratios of $\text{1}\text{10}\text{to}\text{1}\text{15}$ are consistent with this interpretation and suggest that volumes of transient cavities and hence of basin ejecta may be considerably greater than commonly assumed.     

Xenolith evidence for lithospheric melting above anomalously hot mantle under the northern Canadian Cordillera

A comparison of mantle xenolith suites along the northern Canadian Cordillera reveals that the xenoliths from three suites exhibit bimodal populations whereas the xenoliths from the other four suites display unimodal populations. The bimodal suites contain both fertile lherzolite and refractory harzburgite, while the unimodal suites are dominated by fertile lherzolite xenoliths. The location of the three bimodal xenolith suites correlates with a newly discovered P-wave slowness anomaly in the upper mantle that is 200 km in width and extends to depths of 400–500 km (Frederiksen AW, Bostock MG, Van Decar JC, Cassidy J, submitted to Tectonophysics). This correlation suggests that the bimodal xenolith suites may either contain fragments of the anomalously hot asthenospheric mantle or that the lithospheric upper mantle has been affected by the anomalously hot mantle. The lherzolite xenoliths in the bimodal suites display similar major element compositions and trace element patterns to the lherzolite xenoliths in the unimodal suites, suggesting that the lherzolites represent the regional lithospheric upper mantle. In contrast, the harzburgite xenoliths are highly depleted in terms of major element composition, but their clinopyroxenes [Cpx] have much higher incompatible trace element contents than those in the lherzolite xenoliths. The major element and mildly incompatible trace element systematics of the harzburgite and lherzolite xenoliths indicate that they could be related by a partial melting process. The lack of textural and geochemical evidence for the former existence of garnet argues against the harzburgite xenoliths representing actual fragments of the deeper anomalous asthenospheric mantle. Furthermore, the calculated P-wave velocity difference between harzburgite and lherzolite end-members is only 0.8%, with the harzburgites having higher P-wave velocities. Therefore the 3% P-wave velocity difference detected teleseismically cannot be produced by the compositional difference between the lherzolite and harzburgite xenoliths. If temperature is responsible for the observed 3% P-wave velocity perturbation, the anomalous mantle is likely to be at least 200 °C higher than the surrounding mantle. Taken together these data indicate that the refractory harzburgite xenoliths represent the residue of 20–25% partial melting of a lherzolite lithospheric mantle. The incompatible trace element enrichment of the harzburgites suggests that this melting was accompanied by the ingress of fluids. The association of the bimodal xenolith suites with the mantle anomaly detected teleseismically suggests that anomalously hot asthenospheric mantle provided both the heat and volatiles responsible for the localized melting and enrichment of the lithospheric mantle. Received: 16 May 1997 / Accepted: 25 October 1997     

Inversion of Source Parameters for Moderate Earthquakes Using Short-Period Teleseismic P Waves

In this paper, we introduce a new method for estimating the source parameters of moderate earthquakes (M _w ~5.0) by modeling short-period teleseismic waveforms. This method uses a grid-search algorithm to minimize misfits between observed data and synthetic seismograms in depth, magnitude, and mechanism domain in a relative high-frequency range of 0.8–2.0 Hz, similar to the traditional cut-and-paste method used in regional modeling (Zhu and Helmberger, Bull Sesimol Soc Am 86:1634–1641, 1996). In this frequency range, a significant challenge is determining the initial P-wave polarity because of a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Therefore we first determine source properties for a master earthquake with a relative strong SNR. Both the travel time and amplitude corrections are developed relative to the reference 1D model along each path used in inverting the master event. We then applied these corrections to other earthquakes clustered in the same area to constrain the initial P polarities. Thus the focal mechanisms can be determined reasonably well. We inverted focal mechanisms for a small set of events beneath Qeshm Island in southern Iran and demonstrate the importance of radiation pattern at short periods.     

Speculations on the nature and cause of mantle heterogeneity

Hotspots and hotspot tracks are on, or start on, preexisting lithospheric features such as fracture zones, transform faults, continental sutures, ridges and former plate boundaries. Volcanism is often associated with these features and with regions of lithospheric extension, thinning, and preexisting thin spots. The lithosphere clearly controls the location of volcanism. The nature of the volcanism and the presence of ‘melting anomalies’ or ‘hotspots’, however, reflect the intrinsic chemical and lithologic heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Melting anomalies—shallow regions of ridges, volcanic chains, flood basalts, radial dike swarms—and continental breakup are frequently attributed to the impingement of deep mantle thermal plumes on the base of the lithosphere. The heat required for volcanism in the plume hypothesis is from the core. Alternatively, mantle fertility and melting point, ponding and focusing, and edge effects, i.e., plate tectonic and near-surface phenomena, may control the volumes and rates of magmatism. The heat required is from the mantle, mainly from internal heating and conduction into recycled fragments. The magnitude of magmatism appears to reflect the fertility, not the absolute temperature, of the asthenosphere. I attribute the chemical heterogeneity of the upper mantle to subduction of young plates, aseismic ridges and seamount chains, and to delamination of the lower continental crust. These heterogeneities eventually warm up past the melting point of eclogite and become buoyant low-velocity diapirs that undergo further adiabatic decompression melting as they encounter thin or spreading regions of the lithosphere. The heat required for the melting of cold subducted and delaminated material is extracted from the essentially infinite heat reservoir of the mantle, not the core. Melting in the upper mantle does not requires the instability of a deep thermal boundary layer or high absolute temperatures. Melts from recycled oceanic crust, and seamounts—and possibly even plateaus—pond beneath the lithosphere, particularly beneath basins and suture zones, with locally thin, weak or young lithosphere. The characteristic scale lengths—150 to 600 km—of variations in bathymetry and magma chemistry, and the variable productivity of volcanic chains, may reflect compositional heterogeneity of the asthenosphere, not the scales of mantle convection or the spacing of hot plumes. High-frequency seismic waves, scattering, coda studies and deep reflection profiles are needed to detect the kind of chemical heterogeneity and small-scale layering predicted from the recycling hypothesis.     

Transport and exchange of U-series nuclides between suspended material,dissolved load and colloids in rivers draining basaltic terrains

This study presents uranium and thorium concentrations and activity ratios for all riverine phases (bedload, suspended load, dissolved load and colloids) from basaltic terrains in Iceland and the Azores. Small basaltic islands, such as these, are thought to account for ~ 25% of CO₂ consumed by global silicate weathering, and for ~ 45% of the flux of suspended material to the oceans. These data indicate that [U] and [Th] in the dissolved and colloidal fractions are strongly controlled by pH, and to a much lesser extent by levels of dissolved organic carbon (which are low in these environments). At high pH, basalt glass dissolution is enhanced, and secondary mineral formation (e.g. Fe-oxyhydroxides and allophane) is suppressed, resulting in high dissolved [U], and low colloidal [U] and [Th], indicating a direct chemical weathering control on elemental abundances. When the dissolved (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) activity ratio is >~1.3 (i.e. when physical weathering, groundwater contribution or soil formation are high), there is little isotope exchange between dissolved and colloidal fractions. At lower activity ratios, the dissolved load and colloids have indistinguishable activity ratios, suggesting that when chemical weathering rates are high, secondary clay formation is also high, and colloids rapidly adsorb dissolved U. Many of the suspended sediment samples have (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) activity ratios of > 1, which suggests that uptake of U onto the suspended load is important. Identical (²³⁰Th/²³²Th) in suspended, dissolved and colloidal samples suggests that Th, like U, is exchanged or sorbed rapidly between all riverine phases. This particle-reactivity, combined with poorly constrained contributions from groundwater and hydrothermal water, and short-term variations in input to soils (volcanic and glacial), suggests that U-series nuclides in riverine material from such basaltic terrains are unlikely to reflect steady state erosion processes.     

Sulfur concentration at sulfide saturation (SCSS) in magmatic silicate melts

The sulfur concentration in silicate melts at sulfide saturation (SCSS) was experimentally investigated in a temperature range from 1150 to 1450 °C and a pressure range from 500 MPa to 1 GPa in a piston-cylinder apparatus. The investigated melt compositions varied from rhyolitic to basaltic and water concentrations varied from 0 to ∼9 wt%. All experiments were saturated with FeS melt or pyrrhotite crystals. Temperature was confirmed to have a positive effect on the SCSS. Experimental oxygen fugacities were either near the carbon-carbon monoxide buffer or one log unit above the nickel-nickel oxide buffer, and found to positively affect the SCSS. Combining our results with data from the literature we constructed a model to predict the SCSS in melts ranging in composition from komatiitic to rhyolitic, with water concentrations from 0 to 9 wt%, at pressures from 1 bar to 9 GPa and oxygen fugacities between ∼2 log units below the fayalite-magnetite-quartz buffer to ∼2 log units above it. The coefficients were obtained by multiple linear regression of experimental data and the best model found for the prediction of the SCSS is:

     

Forestal Arauco experimental research catchments; daily rainfall-runoff for 10 catchments with different forest types in Central-Southern Chile

Forestal Arauco (FA), a global manufacturer of forest products, manages more than 1 million ha of forest plantations and oversees the conservation of more than half a million hectares of native forest and vegetation in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In 2008, FA responded to local concerns about the effect of plantations on water resources and commenced streamflow monitoring in catchments in the coastal range of central-southern Chile between 35° and 39° of latitude south. This data note presents an overview of daily streamflow and rainfall records for 10 small catchments (18–112 ha) from 2008 to 2018. The catchments are covered by three different forest types, namely native forest (2), pine plantations of different ages (6) and eucalypt plantations (2). All of these catchments share similar metamorphic geology. A 90° V notch weir was built at each catchment outlet and data collected at 5 min interval using a pressure transducer that was calibrated monthly. The dataset is part of a research programme aiming to improve our understanding about the role of forest plantations on water balance at a stand and catchment level. It also includes the rainfall data from these catchments estimated using a combination of local rain gauges and data from the longer term records of the Chilean Directorate of Water. This dataset can be used in hydrological modelling and in a wide range of research questions and water management issues regarding forest plantations in a Mediterranean climate.