Beryllium-10 in continental sediments

The concentration of¹⁰Be has been measured in 10 samples taken from a transect of surface sediments beginning in the Atchafalaya River and extending across the Bay 136 km into the Gulf of Mexico. If corrected for a lower retentivity of sand for Be, they have a concentration that is constant within 13%. This concentration is about an order of magnitude smaller than that of deep ocean sediments. For comparison, measurements of¹⁰Be in rainwater, in a sample of soil and in a deep ocean core were made.     

Comparison of the radiometric signatures of ore boats and their wakes at 35 GHz with model calculations

Vertically polarized antenna temperatures of ore boats and their wakes were measured with a 35-GHz radiometer from a helicopter platform. The signatures of the boats appear to be independent of viewing angle at a temperature which is about 40 K cooler than the surrounding water. The signatures of the wakes show a dependence on viewing angle. Models for the antenna temperature are presented which fit the measured data to within the accuracy of the measurement and model parameters. These models are useful in themselves for predicting the antenna temperatures of targets in terms of parameters such as viewing angle, beam fill factor (BFF), antenna main beam efficiency, and target emissivity.     

A Model for the Mechanical Behaviour of Bentheim Sandstone in the Brittle Regime

— The mechanical behaviour of Bentheim sandstone, a homogeneous quartz-rich sandstone with porosity of 22.8%, was investigated by triaxial compression tests conducted on dry samples. At confining pressures up to 35 MPa, the failure mode was characterized by a typical brittle deformation regime, as the samples showed dilatancy and failed by strain softening and brittle faulting. Previous studies have shown that the mechanical behaviour and failure mode of brittle porous granular rocks are governed by the time-dependent growth of microcracks. We analyse this process using the “Pore Crack Model” based on fracture mechanics analysis. It is consistent with the microstructure of porous granular rocks since it considers the growth of axial cracks from cylindrical holes in two dimensions. These cracks grow when their stress intensity factors reach the subcritical crack growth limit. Interaction between neighbouring cracks is introduced by calculating the stress intensity factor as the sum of two terms: a component for an isolated crack and an interaction term computed using the method of successive approximations. It depends on crack length, pore radius, pore density, and applied stresses. The simulation of crack growth from cylindrical holes, associated with a failure criterion based on the coalescence of interacting cracks, is used to compare the theoretical stress at the onset of dilatancy and at macroscopic rupture to the experimental determined values. Our approach gives theoretical results in good agreement with experimental data when microstructural parameters consistent with observations are introduced.     

Comparison of Remotely Measured and Modelled Currents in Coastal Areas of Norway and Spain

Data from two six-week current measurement campaigns at the coasts of Norway and Spain are presented. Spatial coverage of surface currents was obtained by an HF (High Frequency) radar. Subsurface currents were measured by bottom-mounted and ship-borne ADCPs (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler). The HF data were assimilated by a fine gridded model with the aim of predicting currents for about 6 h. The objective of this article is twofold, to investigate the performance of the instruments and the model, and to show the high temporal and spatial variability of currents in the coastal zones under investigation.

Several strong storms occurred during the experiments with significant waveheights exceeding 11 m (Norway) and 8 m (Spain), respectively. High waves affected both the WEllen RAdar (WERA) (reduced ranges) and the ADCP (unreliable near-surface current velocities). The assimilation algorithm of the model worked well. The comparisons of measured and modelled maps of the surface-current velocity, time series and horizontal gradients reveal good agreement.

The analysis of current data shows similar features for both experimental areas. The dominant M2-tidal currents are weak (amplitudes of about 0.15 ms -1 ). The spatial distribution of the vector correlation between surface current and wind is homogeneous, although single current maps contain strong horizontal variabilities. The portion of current variance linearly forced by wind is about 30%.     

Geology and geochemistry of the Caxias gold deposit, and geochronology of the gold-hosting Caxias Microtonalite, São Luís Craton, northern Brazil

The Caxias gold deposit, located in the São Luís Craton, is hosted by a steeply dipping strike-slip shear zone crosscutting schists and a fine-grained, hydrothermally altered tonalite (Caxias Microtonalite). Petrography and whole-rock geochemistry have characterized both pelitic and mafic protoliths for the hosting schists. The Caxias Microtonalite shows major and trace element behavior compatible with modern calc-alkaline, metaluminous, subduction-related granitoids. Geochronological studies on the Caxias Microtonalite have defined a minimum crystallization age of 1985±4 Ma, obtained by single-zircon Pb evaporation, and Sm–Nd crustal residence age (T_DM) of 2.17 Ga, with Nd(T) +0.74, suggesting a juvenile protolith. The exact origin and role of the Caxias Microtonalite remain uncertain. It may be interpreted as representing either a late manifestation of the regionally dominant Tromaí magmatism, or a juvenile episode unrelated to this major magmatism. Rock, quartz veins, and saprolite geochemistry have shown that As, Sb, Ba, Rb, V, Cr, Co, and Ni, as well as Au, are useful elements that can be used in exploration for similar deposits in the region.     

Paleoproterozoic Crustal Evolution of the São Luís Craton, Brazil: Evidence from Zircon Geochronology and Sm-Nd Isotopes

The São Luís Craton, northern Brazil, is composed of a few granitoid suites and a metavolcano-sedimentary succession. New single zircon Pb evaporation ages and Nd isotope data, combined with other available information, show that the metavolcano-sedimentary succession developed from 2240 Ma to approximately 2200-2180 Ma from juvenile protoliths. The subduction-related calc-alkaline suites of granitoids, spatially associated with the metavolcano-sedimentary sequence, formed in an oceanic island arc setting between 2168-2147 Ma. Most of these granitoids are tonalitic and formed from juvenile, mantle- or oceanic plate-derived protoliths, whereas minor true granites are the product of the reworking of the juvenile island arc material. These arc-related successions represent an accretionary event around 2.20±0.05 Ga, which is coincident with one of the main periods of crustal growth in the South American Platform. This accretionary orogen has subsequently been involved in a collision episode, at ca. 2100-2080 Ma, which is mainly recorded in the nearby Gurupi Belt. The rock associations, inferred geological settings, and the crustal evolution detected in the São Luís Craton are similar to what is described in Paleoproterozoic domains of major geotectonic units of the South American Platform, such as part of the São Francisco Craton, southeastern Guyana Shield, and of the West African Craton.     

Ergodicity in Natural Fault Systems

— Attempts to understand the physics of earthquakes over the past decade generally have focused on applying methods and theories developed based upon phase transitions, materials science, and percolation theory to a variety of numerical simulations of extended fault networks. This recent work suggests that fault systems can be interpreted as mean-field threshold systems in metastable equilibrium (Rundle et al., 1995; Klein et al., 1997; Ferguson et al., 1999), and that these results strongly support the view that seismic activity is highly correlated across many space and time scales within large volumes of the earth’s crust (Rundle et al., 2000; Tiampo et al., 2002). In these systems, the time averaged elastic energy of the system fluctuates around a constant value for some period of time and is punctuated by major events that reorder the system before it settles into another metastable energy well. One way to measure the stability of such a system is to check a quantity called the Thirumalai-Mountain (TM) energy metric (Thirumalai and Mountain, 1993; Klein et al., 1996). In particular, using this metric, we show that the actual California fault system is ergodic in space and time for the period in question, punctuated by the occurrence of large earthquakes, and that, for individual events in the system, there are correlated regions that are a subset of the larger fault network.     

Case 23 nomination of precursory seismic quiescence as a significant precursor

Conclusions Several cases of extremely strong quiescences have been investigated in great detail, and it was found that they are statistically highly significant and that they cannot be reasonably explained by catalog heterogeneity. Several additional cases of quantitatively measured quiescence have been documented. The method of measuring quiescence has progressed from using visual means to using a quantitative approach, and the understanding of the noise sources has significantly advanced during the last few years. Therefore I feel that quiescence is a real phenomenon and the method to detect it has matured to a point that is acceptable for the List of Significant Precursors, although considerably more work needs to be done to understand this parameter and its role in the earthquake generation process.     

Hydrothermal fluid evolution and structural control of the Guarim gold mineralisation, Tapajós Province, Amazonian Craton, Brazil

Fluid inclusion and structural studies were carried out at the Guarim gold deposit in the Palaeoproterozoic Tapajós province of the Amazonian craton. Guarim is a fault-hosted gold deposit cutting basement granitoids. It consists of a quartz vein, which is massive in its inner portions, grading laterally either to a massive or to cavity-bearing quartz vein associated with hydrothermal breccias. The wallrock alteration comprises chlorite, carbonate, white mica and sulphide minerals, with free gold occurring within quartz grains and spatially associated with sulphide mineral grains. Petrographic, microthermometric and Laser Raman investigations recognised CO₂-rich, mixed H₂O–CO₂, and H₂O fluid inclusions. The coexisting CO₂ and H₂O–CO₂ inclusions were interpreted as primary immiscible fluids that formed the gold-bearing vein. The H₂O inclusions were considered a product of later infiltration of fluids unrelated to the mineralising episode. The mineralising fluid has CO₂ ranging typically from 5–10 mol%, contains traces of N₂, has salinities of ∼5 wt% NaCl equiv., and densities varying between 0.85 and 0.95 g/cm³. The P–T estimations bracket gold deposition between 270–320 °C and 0.86–2.9 kb; ƒ_O2–ƒ_S2–pH estimates suggest a reduced, near-neutral character for the fluid. Variations in the physico-chemical properties, as demonstrated by the fluid inclusion study, resulted from a combination of fluid immiscibility and pressure fluctuation. This interpretation, combined with textural and structural evidence, suggests the emplacement of the mineralised vein in an active fault and at a rather shallow level (4–7 km). The geological and structural setting, deposit-scale textures and structures, wallrock alteration and physico-chemical fluid properties are compatible with those of epizonal to mesozonal orogenic lode gold deposits. Received: 3 March 2000 / Accepted: 21 October 2000