Rutile exsolution in orthopyroxene

Rutile has been identified as an exsolution product in orthopyroxenes from Gosse Pile, Giles Complex, Central Australia. It is suggested that this is a high pressure phenomenon, occurring only in igneous orthopyroxenes which crystallized at depth.     

Base surge in recent volcanic eruptions

A base surge, first identified at the Bikini thermonuclear undersea explosion, is a ring-shaped basal cloud that sweeps outward as a density flow from the base of a vertical explosion column. Base surges are also common in shallow underground test explosions and are formed by expanding gases which first vent vertically and then with continued expansion rush over the crater lip (represented by a large solitary wave in an underwater explosion), tear ejecta from it, and feed a gas-charged density flow, which is the surge cloud. This horizontally moving cloud commonly has an initial velocity of more than 50 meters per second and can carry clastic material many kilometers. Base surges are a common feature of many recent shallow, submarine and phreatic volcanic eruptions. They transport ash, mud, lapilli, and blocks with great velocity and commonly sandblast and knock down trees and houses, coat the blast side with mud, and deposit ejecta at distances beyond the limits of throw-out trajectories. Close to the eruption center, the base surge can erode radial channels and deposit material with dune-type bedding.     

The September 28–30, 1965 eruption of Taal Volcano,Philippines

A moderately violent phreatomagmatic explosive eruption of Taal Volcano, Philippines, occurred from 28 to 30 September, 1965. The main phreatic explosions, which were preceded by ejection of basaltic spatter, opened a new crater 1.5 km long and 0.3 km wide on the southwest side of Volcano Island in Lake Taal. The eruption covered an area of about 60 square kilometers with a blanket of ash more than 25 cm thick and killed approximately 200 persons. The clouds that formed during the explosive eruption rose to heights of 15 to 20 km and deposited fine ash as far as 80 km west of the vent. At the base of the main explosion column, flat, turbulent clouds spread radially, with hurricane velocity, transporting ash, mud, lapilli and blocks. The horizontally moving, debris-laden clouds, sandblasted trees, coated the blast side of trees and houses with mud, and deposited coarse ejecta with dune-type bedding in a zone roughly 4 km in all directions from the explosion crater.     

Crystallization of tholeiitic basalt in Alae Lava Lake,Hawaii

The eruption of Kilauea Volcano August 21–23, 1963, left 600,000 cubic meters of basaltic lava in a lava lake as much as 15 meters deep in Alae pit crater. Field studies of the lake began August 27 and include repeated core drilling, measurements of temperature in the crust and melt, and precise level surveys of the lake surface. The last interstitial melt in the lake solidified late in September 1964; by mid August 1965 the maximum temperature was 690°C at a depth of 11.5 meters. Pumice air-quenched from about 1140°C contains only 5 percent crystals — clinopyroxene, cuhedral olivine (Fo ₈₀), and a trace of plagioclase, (An ₇₀). Drill cores taken from the zone of crystallization in the lake show that olivine continued crystallizing to about 1070°C; below that it reacts with the melt, becoming corroded and mantled by pyroxene and plagioclase. Below 1070°C, pyroxene and plagioclase crystallized at a constant ratio. Ilmenite first appeared at about 1070°C and was joined by magnetite at about 1050°C; both increased rapidly in abundance to 1000°C. Apatite first appeared as minute needles in interstitial glass at 1000°C. Both the abundance and index of refraction of glass quenched from melt decreased nearly linearly with falling temperature. At 1070°C the quenched lava contains about 65 percent dark-brown glass with an index of 1.61; at 980°C it contains about 8 percent colorless glass with an index of 1.49. Below 980°C, the percentage of glass remained constant. Progressive crystallization forced exsolution of gases from the melt fraction; these formed vesicles and angular pores, causing expansion of the crystallizing lava and lifting the surface of the central part of the lake an average of 19.5 cm. The solidified basalt underwent pneumatolitic alteration, including deposition of cristobalite at 800°C, reddish alteration of olivine at 700°C, tarnishing of ilmenite at 550°C, deposition of anhydrite at 250°C, and deposition of native sulfur at 100°C. Ferric-ferrous ratios suggest that oxidation with maximum intensity between 550°C and 610°C moved downward in the crust as it cooled; this was followed by reduction at a temperature of about 100°C. The crystallized basalt is a homogeneous fine-grained rock containing on the average 48.3 percent by volume intergranular pyroxene (augite > pigeonite), 34.2 percent plagioclase laths (An_{60 70}), 7.9 percent interstitial glass, 6.9 percent opaques (ilmenite > magnetite), 2.7 percent olivine (Fo_{70 80}), and a trace of apatite. Chemical analyses of 18 samples, ranging from initially quenched pumice to lava cored more than a year after the eruption from the center and from near the base of the lake, show little variation from silica-saturated tholeiitic basalt containing 50.4 percent SiO₂, 2.4 percent Na₂O, and 0.54 percent K₂O. Apparently there was no significant crystal settling and no appreciable vapor-phase transport of these components during the year of crystallization. However, seven samples of interstitial liquid that had been filter-pressed into gash fractures and drill holes from partly crystalline mush near the base of the crust show large differences from the bulk composition of the solidified crust—lower MgO, CaO, and Al₂O₃; and higher total iron, TiO₂, Na₂O, K₂O, P₂O₅, and F, and, in most samples, SiO₂. The minor elements Ba, Ga, Li, Y, and Yb and possibly Cu tend to be enriched in the filter-pressed liquids, and Cr and possibly Ni tend to be depleted.     

Rheological modelling of measuring systems of quartz gravity meters

Summary Some phenomena, recorded during pressure tests of quartz gravity meters, are studied theoretically using a model of the visco-elastic continuum. Expressions, describing the response of the measuring system as a function of the time variation of pressure disturbances, are derived by solving the appropriate rheological equations.

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n ¶rt;u n uu u¶rt; u, uu uu unu ¶rt;u u. u u uu u ¶rt; u nuu u uu u uuu ¶rt; u ¶rt;u.

     

Thorium adsorption in the ocean: reversibility and distribution amongst particle sizes

Experiments have been carried out to determine whether the adsorption of Th by marine suspended particles is a reversible process. The results indicate reversibility on a time scale of hours. The distribution of Th between the ‘dissolved’ state (<0.22 μm particle size) and various particle size fractions has been compared with predictions based on a hyperbolic size distribution of marine particles assuming spherical geometry and surface adsorption. Thorium is present in small particles to a much smaller degree than such a model would predict, so that the use of 1 μm pore size filters to separate ‘dissolved’ and ‘particulate’ Th does not introduce serious errors. The implications of these results on the reversible exchange model of Bacon and Anderson (1982) and on the settling model of Tsunogai and Minagawa (1978) are discussed.     

The effect of the magnetic field on the accuracy of measurements with Worden and Sharpe gravity meters

Summary The effect of an additional homogeneous magnetic field with an intensity of 0–4.5 Oe on the Worden quartz gravity meter No. 961 and on Sharpe quartz gravity meters Nos 173 and 174 was tested. Whereas no effect was observed with the Worden gravity meter, the magnetic field had a measurable effect on both the Sharpe gravity meters. The largest deviation of the reading beam is caused by the horizontal component of the magnetic field which acts in the plane of oscillation of the gravity-meter arm. The Sharpe gravity meter No. 173 is considerably sensitive; a field of 0.2 Oe intensity, corresponding to the magnitude of the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field in mid-latitudes, causes an error in the measurement of gravity of as much as 0.08 mGal. With a view to the different behaviours of the individual quartz gravity meters of the same type in a magnetic field, it should prove expedient to carry out check measurements with all gravity meters and, with regard to the sensitivity of the gravity meter to the magnetic field and the required accuracy of the gravity determination, take into account this perturbing factor in field measurements, as well as laboratory tests of gravity meters.     

Variations of the geomagnetic field along the dss profile no. VI in Czechoslovakia

Summary The ratios of the amplitudes of bay-type variations of the geomagnetic field along the DSS profile VI to the amplitudes of the same phenomena recorded at permanent geomagnetic observatories at Prhonice and Budkov were studied. The relative variations of the values of the horizontal component, declination and, particularly, the vertical component of the geomagnetic field indicate deep fault zones.