Distribution of gold and rhenium between nickel-iron and silicate melts: implications for the abundance of siderophile elements on the Earth and Moon

The distribution equilibrium of Au and Re between nickel-iron and basaltic melts was studied at 1400–1600°C, using radioactive tracers. Metal/silicate distribution coefficients were 1–3 orders of magnitude higher than earlier estimates, as follows. Mauna Loa basalt—Fe₁₀Ni₉₀: D_Au = 3.3 × 10⁴, D_Re = (2.4?89) × 10⁴. Gorda Ridge basalt—Fe₁₀Ni₉₀: D_Au = (18?75) × 10⁴. Synthetic lunar basalt—Fe₇₀ Ni₃₀: D_Au≥ 2 × 10⁴, D_Re ≥ 2 × 10³. The experimental ΔG₁₈₀₀^° for the distribution of Au between nickel-iron and Mauna Loa basalt is ?40 kcal/mole, compared to a calculated value of about ?110 kcal/mole for a reaction involving simple Au³⁺ ions. Presumably the difference represents stabilization of Au(III) by complex formation with ligands such as Cl^?, H₂O, etc.Gold abundances in lunar basalts are roughly consistent with the measured D_Au, but those in terrestrial basalts are two orders of magnitude too high. This discrepancy may reflect complexing by volatiles in the Earth's upper lithosphere, as well as oxidative destruction of metal in the final stages of accretion. In the absence of a metal phase, siderophile trace elements would remain trapped in the upper mantle and crust.     

Archean high-Mg monzodiorite–syenite,epidote skarn,and biotite–sericite gold lodes in the Granny Smith–Wallaby district,Australia: U–Pb and Re–Os chronometry of two intrusion-related hydrothermal systems

The Granny Smith (37 t Au production) and Wallaby deposits (38 t out of a 180 t Au resource) are located northeast of Kalgoorlie, in 2.7 Ga greenstones of the Eastern Goldfields Province, the youngest orogenic belt of the Yilgarn craton, Western Australia. At Granny Smith, a zoned monzodiorite–granodiorite stock, dated by a concordant titanite–zircon U–Pb age of 2,665 ± 3 Ma, cuts across east-dipping thrust faults. The stock is fractured but not displaced and sets a minimum age for large-scale (1 km) thrust faulting (D2), regional folding (D1), and dynamothermal metamorphism in the mining district. The local gold–pyrite mineralization, controlled by fractured fault zones, is younger than 2,665 ± 3 Ma. In augite–hornblende monzodiorite, alteration progressed from a hematite-stained alkali feldspar–quartz–calcite assemblage and quartz–molybdenite–pyrite veins to a late reduced sericite–dolomite–albite assemblage. Gold-related monazite and xenotime define a U–Pb age of 2,660 ± 5 Ma, and molybdenite from veins a Re–Os isochron age of 2,661 ± 6 Ma, indicating that mineralization took place shortly after the emplacement of the main stock, perhaps coincident with the intrusion of late alkali granite dikes. At Wallaby, a NE-trending swarm of porphyry dikes comprising augite monzonite, monzodiorite, and minor kersantite intrudes folded and thrust-faulted molasse. The conglomerate and the dikes are overprinted by barren (<0.01 g/t Au) anhydrite-bearing epidote–actinolite–calcite skarn, forming a 600-m-wide and >1,600-m-long replacement pipe, which is intruded by a younger ring dike of syenite porphyry pervasively altered to muscovite + calcite + pyrite. Skarn and syenite are cut by pink biotite–calcite veins, containing magnetite + pyrite and subeconomic gold–silver mineralization (Au/Ag = 0.2). The veins are associated with red biotite–sericite–calcite–albite alteration in adjacent monzonite dikes. Structural relations and the concordant titanite U–Pb age of the skarn constrain intrusion-related mineralization to 2,662 ± 3 Ma. The main-stage gold–pyrite ore (Au/Ag >10) forms hematite-stained sericite–dolomite–albite lodes in stacked D2 reverse faults, which offset skarn, syenite, and the biotite–calcite veins by up to 25 m. The molybdenite Re–Os age (2,661 ± 10 Ma) of the ore suggests a genetic link to intrusive activity but is in apparent conflict with a monazite–xenotime U–Pb age (2,651 ± 6 Ma), which differs from that of the skarn at the 95% confidence level. The time relationships at both gold deposits are inconsistent with orogenic models invoking a principal role for metamorphic fluids released during the main phase of compression in the fold belt. Instead, mineralization is related in space and time to late-orogenic, magnetite-series, high-Mg monzodiorite–syenite intrusions of mantle origin, characterized by Mg/(Mg + Fe_TOTAL) = 0.31–0.57, high Cr (34–96 ppm), Ni (22–63 ppm), Ba (1,056–2,321 ppm), Sr (1,268–2,457 ppm), Th (15–36 ppm), and rare earth elements (total REE: 343–523 ppm). At Wallaby, shared Ca–K–CO₂ metasomatism and Th-REE enrichment (in allanite) link Au–Ag mineralization in biotite–calcite veins to the formation of the giant epidote skarn, implicating a Th + REE-rich syenite pluton at depth as the source of the oxidized hydrothermal fluid. At Granny Smith, lead isotope data and the Rb–Th–U signature of early hematite-bearing wall-rock alteration point to fluid released by the source pluton of the differentiated alkali granite dikes.     

Environmental Factors Contributing to the Development and Demise of a Toxic Dinoflagellate (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Karlodinium veneficum</Emphasis>) Bloom in a Shallow,Eutrophic, Lagoonal Estuary

A dense bloom of the ichthyotoxic dinoflagellate Karlodinium veneficum was discovered in the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, on 19 October 2006 and was associated with four subsequent fish kills. Microscopic, photopigment, DNA, and toxicological techniques confirmed bloom identity and toxicity. High-resolution spatio-temporal data from ship-board and fixed automated sampling stations provided a unique opportunity to investigate the environmental conditions that initiated, maintained, and terminated the K. veneficum bloom. Bloom initiation and growth were favored by high nutrient availability and reduced dispersal during the period of declining riverine discharge after Tropical Storm Ernesto. K. veneficum out-competed other co-occurring dinoflagellates, perhaps because of the production of karlotoxins that are known to act as grazing deterrents and to facilitate mixotrophic feeding. Once the bloom was established, small-scale hydrodynamic processes, coupled with vertical migration, concentrated cells along a frontal convergence to high densities (>200,000 cells per milliliter). By 26 October 2006, wind mixing and possible nutrient stress disrupted the bloom. Release of cell-bound toxins during the bloom collapse likely accounted for the associated fish kill events where fish were reported as exhibiting typical symptoms of karlotoxin poisoning. The dynamics of this bloom underscore the tight control of harmful algal blooms by meteorological forcing, hydrology, and sediment nutrient input in this shallow lagoonal estuary.     

Influence of anthropogenic combustion emissions on the deposition of soluble aerosol iron to the ocean: Empirical estimates for island sites in the North Atlantic

The results of several recent studies challenge the reigning paradigm that continental soil dust provides the only significant atmospheric source of dissolved iron to the surface ocean. This evidence includes correlations between the operational solubility of aerosol iron and atmospheric loadings of black carbon and aluminum-normalized vanadium and nickel, each of which are associated with emissions from the combustion of fossil fuel oil. These observations suggest that the relative solubility of aerosol iron, hence the eolian flux of soluble iron to the surface ocean, may be significantly impacted by anthropogenic oil combustion products. Using recent field data from the Bermuda region, we have developed an empirical method to estimate the solubility of aerosol iron using bulk aerosol concentrations of Fe, V and Al. We apply this method to a large body of published data from the AEROCE program for North Atlantic island sites on Tenerife, Barbados, Bermuda and Ireland, where the relative proportions of anthropogenic aerosols range from minor to major, respectively. Our aerosol iron solubility estimates suggest that anthropogenic emissions contribute approximately 70% and 85% of the annual dry deposition of soluble iron to the surface ocean near Bermuda and Ireland, respectively, implying that human activities have profoundly affected the iron budget of the North Atlantic region. The annual mean dry deposition of soluble iron at Barbados and Izana is dominated by soil dust. The anthropogenic contribution at these two sites ranges from 12% to 30% and is highly dependent on the soil dust solubility of Fe employed in the model. The low end (∼12%) estimate appears to be more representative of these high-dust sites.     

Recent trends in estuarine fisheries: Predictions of fish production and yield

Trends in global and United States fish catches were examined to determine the status of estuarine fisheries yields relative to those from other ecosystems. Potential marine fish production, based upon primary production relationships, was estimated globally and for specific marine ecosystems, including estuaries. While global fish catches increased substantially during the past two decades and continued to increase through 1989, catches of estuarine-dependent species have peaked or stabilized. In the United States, total catches have increased but many estuarine-dependent fisheries have declined, although the declines in catches are no more dramatic than those of heavily-fished continental shelf species. Overfishing probably is the primary cause of declines in estuarine and shelf fisheries. A few estuarine-dependent species of the United States have experienced substantial increases in harvests since 1970, for example, Pacific salmons, menhaden, and penaeid shrimps. The percentage contribution of major estuarine fisheries to the United States commercial catch declined between 1970 and 1990, although the yield of these species increased substantially. Global marine fisheries production at trophic level 2.5 was estimated to be 1,359 million tons. Potential yield was estimated to be 307 million tons, but the 1989 world marine catch was only 86.5 million tons. The major fraction, 196 million tons, of the estimated potential yeild was for the open ocean where technological constraints may prevent its full realization. Of the remaining 111 million tons of the potential, 18.0 million tons (16.2%) may come from estuaries and probably already is fully exploited. The potential catches from shelves, 68.5 million tons (61.6%), and upwelling areas, 24.8 million tons (22.2%), while considerably larger than those from estuaries, are lower in a relative sense (per unit area) than fisheries production and potential catch in estuarine zones. Relationships between fish production, fish harvest, and primary production were examined in specific estuaries. The developing role of aquaculture and its effect on estuarine fisheries are discussed.     

Refractory inclusions in the Murchison meteorite

Mineralogical and petrographic studies of a wide variety of refractory objects from the Murchison C2 chondrite have revealed for the first time melilite-rich and feldspathoid-bearing inclusions in this meteorite, but none of these is identical to any inclusion yet found in Allende. Blue spinel-hibonite spherules have textures indicating that they were once molten, and thus their SiO₂-poor bulk composition requires that they were exposed to higher temperatures (>1550°C) than those deduced so far from any Allende inclusion. Melilite-rich inclusions are similar to Allende compact Type A's, but are more Al-, Ti-rich. One inclusion (MUCH-1) consists of a delicate radial aggregate of hibonite crystals surrounded by alteration products, and probably originated by direct condensation of hibonite from the solar nebular vapor. The sinuous, nodular and layered structures of another group of inclusions, spinel-pyroxene aggregates, suggest that these also originated by direct condensation from the solar nebular gas. Each type of inclusion is characterized by a different suite of alteration products and/or rim layers from all the other types, indicating modification of the inclusions in a wide range of different physico-chemical environments after their primary crystallization. All of these inclusions contain some iron-free rim phases. These could not have formed by reaction of the inclusions with fluids in the Murchison parent body because the latter would presumably have been very rich in oxidized iron. Other rim phases and alteration products could have formed at relatively low temperatures in the parent body, but some inclusions were not in the locations in which they were discovered when this took place. Some of these inclusions are too fragile to have been transported from one region to another in the parent body, indicating that low temperature alteration of these may have occurred in the solar nebula.     

Episodic granite accumulation and extraction from the mid‐crust

The processes of long‐range granitic magma transfer from mid‐ and lower crustal anatectic zones to upper crustal pluton emplacement sites remain controversial in the literature. This is partly because feeder networks that could have accommodated this large‐scale magma transport remain elusive in the field. Existing granite ascent models are based largely on numerical and theoretical studies that seek to demonstrate the viability of fracture‐controlled magma transport through dykes or self‐propagating hydrofractures. In most cases, the models present very little supporting field evidence, such as sufficiently voluminous near‐ or within‐source magma accumulations, to support their basic premises. We document large (deca‐ to hectometre‐scale), steeply dipping and largely homogeneous granite lenses in suprasolidus (~5 kbar, ~750 °C) mid‐crustal rocks in the Damara Belt in Namibia. The lenses are surrounded by and connected to shallowly dipping networks of stromatic leucogranites in the well‐layered gneisses of the deeply incised Husab Gorge. The outcrops define a four‐stage process from (i) the initial formation and growth of large, subvertical magma‐filled lenses as extension fractures developed at high angles to the subhorizontal regional extension in relatively competent wall‐rock layers. This stage is followed by (ii) the simultaneous lateral inflation and (iii) subcritical vertical growth of the lenses to a critical length that (iv) promotes fracture destabilization, buoyancy‐driven upward fracture mobilization and, consequently, vertical magma transport. These field observations are compared with existing numerical models and are used to constrain, by referring to the dimensions of the largest preserved inflated leucogranite lens, an estimate of the minimum fracture length (~100 m) and volume (~2.4 × 10⁵ m³) required to initiate buoyancy‐driven brittle fracture propagation in this particular mid‐crustal section. The critical values and field relationships compare favourably with theoretical models of magma ascent along vertical self‐propagating hydrofractures which close at their tails during propagation. This process leaves behind subtle wake‐like structures and thin leucogranite trails that mark the path of magma ascent. Reutilization of such conduits by repeated inflation and drainage is consistent with the episodic accumulation and removal of magma from the mid‐crust and is reflected in the sheeted nature of many upper crustal granitoid plutons.