Influence of hydrology on phytoplankton species composition and life strategies in a subtropical coastal lagoon periodically connected with the Atlantic Ocean

A survey was carried out to investigate the relationship of phytoplankton biovolume, structure, and species life strategies with major abiotic factors in a subtropical choked coastal lagoon (34°33′S, 54°22′W) naturally connecting with the Atlantic Ocean several times a year. Marine and limnetic influence areas were sampled on a monthly basis during two periods, one of low rainfall and high conductivity (August 1996 to February 1998) and a second period with the opposite tendency (December 1998 to March 2000). Photosynthetically active radiation availability was high and reached the bottom (>1% of the incident light), while dissolved inorganic nitrogen (0.6–18.4 μM), soluble reactive phosphorus (<0.3–2.7 μM), and reactive silica (5–386 μM) were highly variable. Life strategies were identified in the phytoplankton as a function of morphology. C-strategists, invasive planktonic and epipelic species of small size, and R-strategists, mixing-dependent species of medium size, characterized this permanently mixed system. High frequency of exchange with the ocean prevented high biomass accumulation. Phytoplankton biomass was lower in the second period of high rainfall (2.3 and 1.1 mm³ 1⁻¹ for period 1 and 2 respectively). A canonical correspondence analysis showed that conductivity, nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica were the main environmental variables explaining phytoplankton species composition patterns. During the first period, Bacillariophyceae (mostly pennate species) and the potentially toxicPrococentrum minimum were dominant; during the second period a higher contribution of flagellates (Cryptophyceae, Euglenophyceae, Prasinophyceae, and flagellates <7 μm) was found. Differences of phytoplankton biomass, main taxonomic groups, and strategies were found between periods but not between limnic and marine areas, suggesting that hydrological dynamic is more relevant than seasonal and spatial differences.     

Overprinting porphyry‐type veinlets on the intrusive rocks and phreatomagmatic breccias in the Southwest prospect,southwestern Sto. Tomas II (Philex), Baguio District,Philippines

The Southwest prospect is located at the southwestern periphery of the Sto. Tomas II porphyry copper–gold deposit in the Baguio District, northwestern Luzon, Philippines. The Southwest prospect hosts a copper‐gold mineralization related to a complex of porphyry intrusions, breccia facies, and overlapping porphyry‐type veinlets emplaced within the basement Pugo metavolcanics rocks and conglomerates of the Zigzag Formation. The occurrences of porphyry‐type veinlets and potassic alteration hosted in the complex are thought to be indications of the presence of blind porphyry deposits within the Sto. Tomas II vicinity. The complex is composed of at least four broadly mineralogically similar dioritic intrusive rocks that vary in texture and alteration type and intensity. These intrusions were accompanied with at least five breccia facies that were formed by the explosive brecciation, induced by the magmatic–hydrothermal processes and phreatomagmatic activities during the emplacement of the various intrusions. Hydrothermal alteration assemblages consisting of potassic, chlorite–magnetite, propylitic and sericite–chlorite alteration, and contemporaneous veinlet types were developed on the host rocks. Elevated copper and gold grades correspond to (a) chalcopyrite–bornite assemblage in the potassic alteration in the syn‐mineralization early‐mineralization diorite (EMD) and contemporaneous veinlets and (b) chalcopyrite‐rich mineralization associated with the chalcopyrite–magnetite–chlorite–actinolite±sericite veinlets contemporaneous with the chlorite–magnetite alteration. Erratic remarkable concentrations of gold were also present in the late‐mineralization Late Diorite (LD). High X_Mg of calcic amphiboles (>0.60) in the intrusive rocks indicate that the magmas have been oxidizing since the early stages of crystallization, while a gap in the composition of Al between the rim and the cores of the calcic amphiboles in the EMD and LD indicate decompression at some point during the crystallization of these intrusive rocks. Fluid inclusion microthermometry suggests the trapping of immiscible fluids that formed the potassic alteration, associated ore mineralization, and sheeted quartz veinlets. The corresponding formation conditions of the shallower and deeper quartz veinlets were estimated at pressures of 50 and 30 MPa and temperatures of 554 and 436°C at depths of 1.9 and 1.1 km. Temperature data from the chlorite indicate that the chalcopyrite‐rich mineralization associated with the chlorite–magnetite alteration was formed at a much lower temperature (ca. 290°C) than the potassic alteration. Evidence from the vein offsetting matrix suggests multiple intrusions within the EMD, despite the K‐Ar ages of the potassic alteration in EMD and hornblende in the LD of about the same age at 3.5 ± 0.3 Ma. The K‐Ar age of the potassic alteration was likely to be thermally reset as a result of the overprinting hydrothermal alteration. The constrained K‐Ar ages also indicate earlier formed intrusive rocks in the Southwest prospect, possibly coeval to the earliest “dark diorite” intrusion in the Sto. Tomas II deposit. In addition, the range of δ³⁴S of sulfide minerals from +1.8‰ to +5.1‰ in the Southwest prospect closely overlaps with the rest of the porphyry copper and epithermal deposits in the Sto. Tomas II deposit and its vicinity. This indicates that the sulfides may have formed from a homogeneous source of the porphyry copper deposits and epithermal deposits in the Sto. Tomas II orebody and its vicinity. The evidence presented in this work proves that the porphyry copper‐type veinlets and the adjacent potassic alteration in the Southwest prospect are formed earlier and at a shallower level in contrast with the other porphyry deposits in the Baguio District.     

Petrogenesis of Quebrada de la Mina and Altar North porphyries (Cordillera of San Juan,Argentina): Crustal assimilation and metallogenic implications

We investigate the geology of Altar North (Cu–Au) and Quebrada de la Mina (Au) porphyry deposits located in San Juan Province (Argentina), close to the large Altar porphyry copper deposit (995 Mt, 0.35% Cu, 0.083 g/t Au), to present constraints on the magmatic processes that occurred in the parental magma chambers of these magmatic-hydrothermal systems. Altar North deposit comprises a plagioclase-amphibole-phyric dacite intrusion (Altar North barren porphyry) and a plagioclase-amphibole-biotite-phyric dacite stock (Altar North mineralized porphyry, 11.98 ± 0.19 Ma). In Quebrada de la Mina, a plagioclase-amphibole-biotite-quartz-phyric dacite stock (QDM porphyry, 11.91 ± 0.33 Ma) crops out. High Sr/Y ratios (92–142) and amphibole compositions of Altar North barren and QDM porphyries reflect high magmatic oxidation states (fO₂ = NNO +1.1 to +1.6) and high fH₂O conditions in their magmas. Zones and rims enriched in anorthite (An_37–48), SrO (0.22–0.33 wt.%) and FeO (0.21–0.37 wt.%) in plagioclase phenocrysts are evidences of magmatic recharge processes in the magma chambers. Altar North and Quebrada de la Mina intrusions have relatively homogeneous isotopic compositions (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(t) = 0.70450–0.70466, ε_Nd(t) = +0.2 to +1.2) consistent with mixed mantle and crust contributions in their magmas. Higher Pb isotopes ratios (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.6276–15.6294) of these intrusions compared to other porphyries of the district, reflect an increase in the assimilation of high radiogenic Pb components in the magmas. Ages of zircon xenocrysts (297, 210, 204, 69 Ma) revealed that the magmas have experienced assimilation of Miocene, Cretaceous, Triassic and Carboniferous crustal rocks.Fluids that precipitated sulfides in the Altar deposit may have remobilized Pb from the host rocks, as indicated by the ore minerals being more radiogenic (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.6243–15.6269) than their host intrusions. Au/Cu ratio in Altar porphyries (average Au/Cu ratio of 0.14 × 10^?4 by weight in Altar Central) is higher than in the giant Miocene porphyry deposits located to the south: Los Pelambres, Río Blanco and Los Bronces (Chile) and Pachón (Argentina). We suggest that the increase in Au content in the porphyries of this region could be linked to the assimilation of high radiogenic Pb components in the magmas within these long-lived maturation systems.     

Improving the descendant relationship of cluster galaxies at z < 1

In this work, we study how to improve well-known techniques for detecting progenitors/descendants of galaxies, such as the NDpredict program, when applied to galaxies in clusters. The improvement of this particular method is based on the use of the red sequence of galaxies in those environments. Objects close to the red sequence in the color and magnitude diagram are more likely to belong to the cluster. This defines a probability scale which is then combined with the one generated by NDpredict. This procedure is optimized for the study of galaxies in clusters over different epochs. Our main result is that, for a sample composed of $120$ clusters, with masses greater than ${10}^{13.25}{M}_{\odot }$, selected from the IllustrisTNG simulations (namely, the TNG100 runs). In $99\%$ of the cases (i.e., $119$ systems), we obtain better performance with the red sequence method in comparison to the original NDpredict, and the average gain obtained is $28\%$ in the identification of descendants for this sample of cluster galaxies.