H2O Content Measurement in Phengite by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry: A New Set of Reference Materials

Five new natural white mica reference materials (RMs) were developed for in situ H₂O content analyses by secondary ion mass spectrometry at the SwissSIMS laboratory of Lausanne University, Switzerland. The white mica reference materials cover a large part of the natural muscovite–phengite compositional range and are therefore suitable as reference materials for the analysis of natural rocks as well as individual minerals. The independent H₂O content of the reference materials UNIL_WM1 to UNIL_WM5 was obtained by thermal conversion elemental analyser and corresponds to 4.35 ± 0.02, 4.33 ± 0.03, 4.30 ± 0.07, 4.50 ± 0.02 and 4.42 ± 0.11 (% m/m, ± 1s), respectively. SIMS determinations of H₂O content revealed a matrix effect correlated to the FeO content of white mica. The compositional range in FeO of the reference materials that were calibrated for H₂O determination is from 1.13% to 3.67% m/m. No crystallographic orientation dependency was observed at the level of homogeneity of these reference materials. An analytical precision of 0.02% to 0.08% m/m (1SE) is expected for the final uncertainty on measurements of unknown white micas in natural samples.     

Structural Interpretation of Sparse Fault Data Using Graph Theory and Geological Rules

Structural uncertainty exists when associating sparse fault interpretations made from two-dimensional seismic lines or limited outcrop observations. Here, a graph formalism is proposed that describes the problem of associating spatial fault evidence. A combinatorial analysis, relying on this formalism, shows that the number of association scenarios is given by the Bell number, and increases exponentially with the number of pieces of evidence. As a result, the complete exploration of uncertainties is computationally highly challenging. The available prior geological knowledge is expressed by numerical rules to reduce the number of scenarios, and the graph formalism makes structural interpretation easier to reproduce than manual interpretation. The Bron–Kerbosch algorithm, which finds maximal cliques in undirected graphs, is used to detect major possible structures. This framework opens the way to a numerically assisted exploration of uncertainties during structural interpretation.

     

The Planeterrella,a pedagogic experiment in planetology and plasma physics

We present here a plasma physics experiment which makes it possible to simulate, in a naive yet useful way, the formation of polar lights. It involves shooting electrons at a magnetized sphere placed in a vacuum chamber. This experiment, inspired by K. Birkeland’s Terrella, built at the turn of 19th century, allows the visualization of very many geophysical and astrophysical situations. Although delicate, it is feasible at undergraduate level.     

Reconstruction of Channelized Systems Through a Conditioned Reverse Migration Method

Geological heterogeneities directly control underground flow. In channelized sedimentary environments, their determination is often underconstrained: it may be possible to observe the most recent channel path and the abandoned meanders on seismic or satellite images, but smaller-scale structures are generally below image resolution. In this paper, reconstruction of channelized systems is proposed with a stochastic inverse simulation reproducing the reverse migration of the system. Maps of the recent trajectories of the Mississippi river were studied to define appropriate relationships between simulation parameters. Measurements of curvature and migration vectors showed (i) no significant correlation between curvature and migration offset and (ii) correlation trends of downstream and lateral migration offsets versus the curvature at half-meander scale. The proposed reverse migration method uses these trends to build possible paleo-trajectories of the river starting from the last stage of the sequence observed from present-day (satellite or seismic) data. As abandoned meanders provide clues about the paleo-locations of the river, they are integrated time step by time step during the reverse simulation process. We applied the method to a satellite image of a fluvial system. Each of the different resulting geometries of the system honored most of the available observations and presented meandering patterns similar to the observed ones.     

The importance of chemical data for the study of interstellar shocks

Shock waves perturb the chemical state of the interstellar gas. We consider the effects of C-shocks on the composition of molecular clouds, for a range of values of the pre-shock gas density and magnetic induction. The time required to re-establish equilibrium in the post-shock gas depends on the initial conditions and can become very large. The significance of the two known chemical phases of dark clouds and of bistability is considered in this context.     

Quaternary faulting in the Upper Rhine Graben revealed by high-resolution multi-channel reflection seismic

A high-resolution multichannel seismic reflection river profiling campaign was completed in July 2002 in the southern Upper Rhine graben (URG), along the River Rhine. Preliminary results show apparent Quaternary vertical slip rates, on intra-graben faults that are relatively slow, of the order of a few thousandths to a few hundredths of mm/yr. Moreover, kinematical data from the Ludwigshafen area show decreasing vertical slip rates since the Middle Pleistocene and/or a migration of tectonic activity. While still preliminary, these data show inhomogeneous and relatively slow tectonic activity in the URG that could probably not alone have shaped the Quaternary graben morphology. To cite this article: G. Bertrand et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

Aquifer-yield continuum as a guide and typology for science-based groundwater management

Groundwater availability is at the core of hydrogeology as a discipline and, simultaneously, the concept is the source of ambiguity for management and policy. Aquifer yield has undergone multiple definitions resulting in a range of scientific methods to calculate and model availability reflecting the complexity of combined scientific, management, policy, and stakeholder processes. The concept of an aquifer-yield continuum provides an approach to classify groundwater yields along a spectrum, from non-use through permissive sustained, sustainable, maximum sustained, safe, permissive mining to maximum mining yields, that builds on existing literature. Additionally, the aquifer-yield continuum provides a systems view of groundwater availability to integrate physical and social aspects in assessing management options across aquifer settings. Operational yield describes the candidate solutions for operational or technical implementation of policy, often relating to a consensus yield that incorporates human dimensions through participatory or adaptive governance processes. The concepts of operational and consensus yield address both the social and the technical nature of science-based groundwater management and governance.     

Finite Difference Implicit Structural Modeling of Geological Structures

We introduce a new method for implicit structural modeling. The main developments in this paper are the new regularization operators we propose by extending inherent properties of the classic one-dimensional discrete second derivative operator to higher dimensions. The proposed regularization operators discretize naturally on the Cartesian grid using finite differences, owing to the highly symmetric nature of the Cartesian grid. Furthermore, the proposed regularization operators do not require any special treatment on boundary nodes, and their generalization to higher dimensions is straightforward. As a result, the proposed method has the advantage of being simple to implement. Numerical examples show that the proposed method is robust and numerically efficient.

     

Significance of OH,F and Cl content in biotite during metamorphism of the Western Adamello contact aureole

The hydroxyl (O(4)) site composition of biotite can in principle be used to retrieve information about fluid composition during fluid–rock interaction; however, due to low F and Cl content, as well as difficulties involved with analyzing the H₂O content using in situ techniques, measuring these species in biotite has remained an elusive goal. Here we present high-precision secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) OH–F–Cl measurements from biotite within metapelites from the Western Adamello Tonalite (WAT) contact aureole, Northern Italy. Fluorine, chlorine and hydrogen are analyzed on the SIMS sequentially by peak-hopping at the same biotite spot; H₂O, F and Cl content were measured with a precision (1σ) οφ 0.06 ωτ%, 50 ανδ 5 ππµ, ρεσπεχτι?ελψ. The compositions of isolated biotite crystals in andalusite are compared with that of biotite in the matrix, documenting that halogens and H₂O behave refractory in biotite during the time scale of contact metamorphism. The H₂O and halogen contents of biotite are mostly locked in during the prograde to peak formation of biotite, and are not reset during further heating or cooling, unless significant biotite recrystallization occurs. It also appears that both Ti content and X_Mg of the biotite from the Western Adamello contact aureole were not significantly reset during cooling. The concentration of F and Cl does not vary systematically with metamorphic grade, which indicates that these species reflect initial compositions. No significant Rayleigh fractionation behavior was observed for these elements. H₂O variations in the biotite from samples throughout the Western Adamello contact aureole suggest that Al-oxy substitution partially controls the variations in OH content through charge balance of the type R^2+,VI + OH^? = Al^3+,VI + O^2? + H₂, while the Ti-oxy substitution does not seem to influence the O(4) site occupation. The main titanium substitution appears to be the Ti-vacancy (\({\text{2}}{{\text{R}}^{{\text{2}}+}}~=~{\text{T}}{{\text{i}}^{{\text{4}}+}}~+\,{\square ^{{\text{VI}}}}\)) exchange. Variations in H₂O and halogen concentrations in biotite define sub mm-scale areas of localized equilibration, even for biotite recrystallized during dehydration reactions that produced large amounts of fluid (chlorite or muscovite breakdown). Similar systematics were observed for Ti⁴⁺ and Al³⁺. These findings further support the increasing number of observations that kinetics control much of the mineralogical reactions occurring in contact aureoles, and hence care is advised in using equilibrium thermodynamics in this environment.