Late Cretaceous rift-related upwelling and melting of the Trindade starting mantle plume head beneath western Brazil

High mantle potential temperatures and local extension, associated with the Late-Cretaceous impact of the Trindade mantle plume, produced substantial widespread and voluminous magmatism around the northern half of the Paraná sedimentary basin. Our previous studies have shown that, above the central and eastern portions of the postulated impact zone where lithosphere extension is minimal, heat conducted by the plume caused large-scale melting of the more fusible parts of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath the margin of the São Francisco craton and the surrounding Brasilía mobile belt. Here we combine geochemical data and field evidence from the Poxoreu Igneous Province, western Brazil to show how more intense lithospheric extension above the western margin of the postulated impact zone permitted greater upwelling and melting of the Trindade plume than further east. Laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age determinations indicate that rift-related basaltic magmas of the Poxoreu Igneous Province were emplaced at ? 84 Ma. Our detailed geochemical study of the mafic magmas shows that the parental melts underwent polybaric crystal fractionation within the crust prior to final emplacement. Furthermore, some magmas (quartz-normative) appear to have assimilated upper crust whereas others (nepheline- and hypersthene-normative) appear to have been unaffected by open-system crustal magma chamber processes. Incompatible trace element ratios (e.g. chondrite-normalised La/Nb?=?1) and isotopic ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr?=?0.704 and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd?=?0.51274) of the Hy-normative basalts resemble those of oceanic islands (OIB). We therefore propose that these “OIB-like” magmas were predominantly derived from convecting-mantle-source melts (i.e. Trindade mantle plume). Inverse modelling of rare-earth element (REE) abundances suggests that the initial melts were predominantly generated within the depth range of ?80–100 km, in mantle with a potential temperature of ?1500 °C.     

冬小麦遥感冠层温度监测土壤含水量的试验研究

在冬小麦主要生育期(2002年4月初到5月底),对不灌溉的冬小麦测定了冠层温度、地温、气温以及土壤含水量,计算了冠气温差且分析了冠层温度和冠气温差与不同土层厚度的土壤含水量相关关系。结果表明:14:00的冠层温度能较好地反映20cm土层的土壤含水量变化,但与其它各土层相关性有较大的波动性;14:00的冠气温差能较好地反映40cm以上土层的土壤含水量变化,二者的相关性很高,在20cm、40cm土层,两者相关系数R2分别为0.98866、0.99389,这为用区域遥感数据反演主要生育期冬小麦的冠气温差进而监测区域40cm土壤含水量提供了实验性的依据;拔节期和灌浆期,用14:00冠气温差来拟合各土壤层的土壤含水量有较高的精度,从而为用区域遥感数据监测区域土壤含水量提供了经验性的模型。     

Authigenic iron and titanium oxides in triassic red beds: (St. Bees Sandstone), Cumbria,Northern England

Authigenic iron and titanium oxides occur in three main textural varieties in the St. Bees Sandstone, a Triassic red bed succession in Cumbria. These are: (a) overgrowths of haematite, titaniferous haematite, anatase, and rutile which generally occur on detrital host grains of similar compositions. The overgrowths may occur as syntaxial rim cements or rhombohedral and prismatic projections and are always in optical continuity, (b) discrete crystals of anatase (including octahedrite) and haematite 10-40 μm in size occur in pore spaces, and (c) fine grained ( < 1 μm) pigmentary haematite occurs as grain coatings around detrital grains and in the interstitial matrix. The euhedral nature and pore-filling habit clearly indicate the authigenic origin of these iron- and titanium oxides. All three textural varieties are believed to have been precipitated from ground waters containing dissolved ferrous and titanium ions. These ions were derived from the intrastratal solution of detrital iron and titanium bearing grains including ferromagnesian silicates and iron-titanium oxides. The precipitation of iron oxides from migrating ground waters in the manner described here goes some way to explaining how thick, uniformly red successions can be formed.     

Revised identifications in the 5C2 survey

In the present paper revised distances of optical objects from radio sources of the 5C2 survey are given. A statistical investigation of the data is given for blue objects and galaxies by the statistical method of the “first neighbour”. The identification rate on blue plates for both the blue objects and galaxies amounts to about 40% out of the total number of 26 identifications. For every blue object and galaxy which are proposed as an identification the statistical reliability is given.     

Possible Interpretations of B2 and 5C Quasar Candidate Counts and the “Cut off” in Quasar Density

Optical quasar candidate counts in the far reaching radio surveys B₂ and 5C are consistent either with a luminosity function containing a high percentage of low luminosity objects and a cut off in quasar density or, more probably, with a normal number of quasars at high redshifts and a less steep luminosity function. The absence of high redshifted objects in currently available samples is to be expected of q₀ ≈︂ o and if some of the few quasars observed at z>2.2 are exceptionally bright intrinsically and not typical for the bulk.