ESR dating of palaeolithic calcite: A comparison between powder and monocrystal spectra with thermal annealing

Evolution of ESR spectra with thermal annealing at different temperatures is studied for a monocrystal calcite taken in the Orgnac III site. Up to 20 ESR lines are recognized from the angular dependence of these lines. These lines are compared with the ESR lines observed for powder and rotating monocrystal calcites.The h1 line (g = 2.0057) and h3 line (g = 2.0007) are isotropic or nearly isotropic and are due to the electrons trapped in the amorphous region formed by fission tracks or alpha-ray recoil nuclei. The h2 line (g = 2.0021) is a composite of several different lines.     

Reservoir Description with Integrated Multiwell Data Using Two-Dimensional Wavelets

Inferring reservoir data from dynamic production data has long been done through matching the production history. However, proper integration of available production history has always been a challenge. Different production history data such as well pressure and water cut often occur at different scales making their joint inversion difficult. Furthermore, production data obtained from the same well or even the same reservoir are often correlated making a significant portion of the dataset redundant. Thirdly, the massiveness of the data recorded from wells in a large reservoir over a long period of time makes the nonlinear inversion of such data computational demanding. In this paper, we propose the integration of multiwell production data using wavelet transform. The method involves the use of a two-dimensional wavelet transformation of the data space in order to integrate multiple production data and reduce the correlation between multiwell data. Multiple datasets from different wells, representing different production responses (pressure, water cut, etc.), were treated as a single matrix of data rather than separate vectors that assume no correlation amongst datasets. This enabled us to transform the multiwell production data into a two-dimensional wavelet domain and subsequently select the most important wavelets for history match. By minimizing the square of the Frobenius norm of the residual matrix we were able to match the calculated response to the observed response. We derived the relationship that allows us to replace a conventional minimization of the sum of squares of the l ₂ norms of multi-objective functions with the minimization of the square of the Frobenius norm of the integrated data. The usefulness of the approach is demonstrated using two examples. The approach proved very effective at reducing correlation between multiwell data. In addition, the method helped to reduce the cost of computing sensitivity coefficients. However, the method gave poor prediction of water cut when the datasets were not scaled before inverse modeling.     

Radionuclides produits par le rayonnement cosmique dans la météorite Saint-Séverin

]The activities of 18 radionuclides in 4 samples from the Saint-Séverin meteorite have been measured after chemical separation. The results show that the DI sample from the D piece has been less irradiated than the samples B₂, B₃ and B₄ from the B piece. This is based on activities of isotopes produced both by spallation as ²⁶Al, ⁵³Mn, ⁵⁴Mn, ⁵⁵Fe, ⁵⁷Co and by thermal neutron capture as ⁵⁹Ni and ⁶⁰Co.Comparison of experimental values to calculated production rates suggests that the D piece was connected to the main body of the meteorite by a small surface, and that the DI sample in this piece was opposite to the main body of the meteorite.     

The potential use of OH-defects in enstatite as geobarometer

In this study, single crystals of pure enstatite (Mg₂Si₂O₆) were synthesised under water-saturated conditions at 4 and 8 GPa and 1,150°C with variable silica activity, leading to phase assemblages enstatite + forsterite, enstatite or enstatite + coesite. Run products were investigated using an FTIR spectrometer equipped with a focal plane array detector enabling IR imaging with a lateral pixel resolution of 2.7 μm. IR spectra within the OH-absorption region show two different groups of absorption bands: group 1 (wavenumbers at 3,592 and 3,687 cm^?1) shows strongest absorptions for E||n _β, whereas group 2 (wavenumbers at 3,067 and 3,362 cm^?1) shows strongest absorptions for E||n _γ. The groups are related to different defect types, group 1 to tetrahedral defects (T-site vacancies) and group 2 to octahedral defects (M-site vacancies). The intensity ratio of the bands within one group (i.e. A ₃₀₆₇/A ₃₃₆₂ and A ₃₅₉₂/A ₃₆₈₇) and the intensity ratio of E||n _γ and E||n _α in group 2 bands remain constant within error. In contrast, the intensity ratio of group 2 to group 1 absorption bands [e.g. (A ₃₃₆₂)/(A ₃₆₈₇)] is sensitive to the SiO₂ activity and pressure. On the basis of the results of this and previous studies, a barometer for pure orthoenstatite coexisting with forsterite can be formulated:\( P\,[{\text{GPa}}] = 1.056 + \sqrt {{\frac{{1.025 - A_{{\left( {3362} \right)/\left[ {(3362) + (3687)} \right]}} }}{0.009}}} , \) where A ₍₃₃₆₂₎ and A ₍₃₆₈₇₎ are the integral absorbances of the component E||n _γ of the absorption bands at 3,362 cm^?1 and the component E||n _β of the absorption band at 3,687 cm^?1, respectively.     

Hydrothermal Hgbomite Associated with Vanadiferous-Titaniferous(V-Ti) Bearing Magnetite Bands in Bhakatarhalli Chromite Mine,Nuggihalli Greenstone Belt,Western Dharwar Craton,Karnataka, India

Hgbomite, a rare exotic mineral, is found to be associated with the vanadiferous–titaniferous(V-Ti) bearing magnetite bands at Bhakatarhalli, Nuggihalli greenstone belt, western Dharwar Craton, India. We report on a second occurrence of hgbomite from the Dharwar craton in Karnataka, which is the sixth documented occurrence of this mineral from India. We evaluate the chemical characteristics of hgbomite and associated Fe-Ti-minerals in an attempt to identify its formation as a primary hydrothermal mineral in a metamorphosed magnetite layer.We report here the presence of hgbomite as a complex oxide of Fe, Mg, Al and Ti with accessory of Zn, V and Sn. Petrographic studies suggest the(V–Ti) bearing magnetite(Mt) contain spinel, hgbomite, chlorite, martite, ilmenite(Il) and minor amounts of diaspore. The hgbomite displays euhedral to subhedral textures, and is up to 250 μm along the grain boundaries of magnetite and ilmenite. In the samples studied, hgbomite is prismatic, irregular and elongated in shape. The genesis of hgbomite in veins between magnetite and ilmenite implies its precipitation from fluids without involving complicated reactions. Several models were proposed for the formation of hgbomite; however, the subject is still debatable.     

Electrical conductivity of H-bearing orthopyroxene single crystals measured with impedance spectroscopy

In this study, the electrical conductivity of synthetic and natural orthopyroxene single crystals containing various amounts of hydrogen and cation impurities (i.e., Al, Fe) was investigated using impedance spectroscopy. A new cell was developed to measure conductivities of submillimeter-sized oriented single crystals with impedances up to 10¹⁰?Ohm. In contrast to previous studies on olivine and orthopyroxene, results from this study do not show a simple correlation of the concentration of protons and the electrical conductivity. Instead, the electrical conductivity appears to be a complex function of iron content, hydrogen content, crystal orientation and concentration of other impurity cations and shows similar activation energies to hydrogen diffusion. Model calculations considering proton conduction rather exclude than suggest orthopyroxene as responsible phase for high-conductivity regions in the Earth’s upper mantle.     

Early Triassic potassic volcanism in the Afyon Zone of the Anatolides/Turkey: implications for the rifting of the Neo-Tethys

Afyon Zone, which was derived from the Anatolide–Tauride platform during closure of the Neo-Tethys, is made up of pre-Mesozoic basement and unconformably overlying Triassic–Early Tertiary cover series. The Afyon Zone contains widespread metavolcanic rocks, which are dominated by rhyolite, dacite, and trachyandesite. They form a distinct volcanic succession, which is separated from the underlying Silurian–Lower Carboniferous metacarbonates and meta-siliciclastics by a regional unconformity. Trachyandesitic metavolcanics are made up of massive lava flows, pyroclastics and epiclastics, less frequently, domes and dikes, which were developed on a deeply eroded subaerial landmass. U/Pb and Pb/Pb zircon geochronology yielded Lower Triassic (~250 Ma) ages, which are interpreted as extrusion age of trachyandesitic volcanics. Based on the stratigraphic, geochronological, and geochemical data, we suggest that these Lower Triassic magmatic rocks represent an extensional tectonic setting on the northern active margin of the Gondwana, which led to the development of the northern branch of the Neo-Tethys.     

The physical state of pore water of na smectite used as barrier component

The molecules constituting the first hydrate layers on montmorillonite crystal platelets appear to be characterized by preferred orientation and, depending on the exchangeable cation, by an ice-like configuration. Such organized interlamellar water is concluded to contribute to the high swelling pressure and shear resistance, as well as to the very low hydraulic conductivity at high clay bulk densities. At low densities the parallel arrangement of the lamellae alters to edge-to-face associations and the fraction of free water increases. However, even at very low densities the homogeneity of the clay gel still offers very tortuous passages to flowing water, which is manifested by a very low hydraulic conductivity.