Helium isotope composition of the early Iceland mantle plume inferred from the Tertiary picrites of West Greenland

Picrites from the 61 million year old Vaigat Formation of the Nuussuaq Peninsula in West Greenland have ³He/⁴He ratios trapped in olivine phenocrysts which range up to 30 times the atmospheric ratio. These high values, measured during gas extraction by crushing in vacuum, are similar to the highest magmatic ³He/⁴He ratios found in young terrestrial volcanic rocks. By analogy with young basalts, in which crushing selectively extracts magmatic helium, any significant cosmogenic ³He appears to be absent in these picrites. Additional evidence for the absence of cosmogenic helium is provided by fusion results on the crushed olivine powders and by a single stepwise crushing experiment, in which only magmatic and radiogenic helium components are resolvable. The West Greenland picrites have Pb, Nd and Sr isotope compositions which overlap those found in picrites from Iceland and in basalts from Loihi Seamount, localities which today also have high ³He/⁴He ratios. Isotopic variations in He, Pb, Nd and Sr for the West Greenland picrites are interpreted to largely result from interaction of the early Iceland mantle plume with the upper mantle during plume ascent and dispersion beneath the continental lithosphere. The presence of high ³He/⁴He ratios in West Greenland, and the onset of magmatism across the North Atlantic Volcanic Province near 62 Ma, supports the hypothesis for very rapid dispersion (>1 m/year) of mantle plume head material during the earliest stages of plume impact, as predicted in recent numerical simulations of plume behavior during thermal mantle convection with non-Newtonian rheology.     

Edge-driven convection

We consider a series of simple calculations with a step-function change in thickness of the lithosphere and imposed, far-field boundary conditions to illustrate the influence of the lithosphere on mantle flow. We consider the effect of aspect ratio and far-field boundary conditions on the small-scale flow driven by a discontinuity in the thickness of the lithosphere. In an isothermal mantle, with no other outside influences, the basic small-scale flow aligns with the lithosphere such that there is a downwelling at the lithospheric discontinuity (edge-driven flow); however, the pattern of the small-scale flow is strongly dependent on the large-scale thermal structure of a much broader area of the upper mantle. Long-wavelength temperature anomalies in the upper mantle can overwhelm edge-driven flow on a short timescale; however, convective motions work to homogenize these anomalies on the order of 100 million years while cratonic roots can remain stable for longer time periods. A systematic study of the effect of the boundary conditions and aspect ratio of the domain shows that small-scale, and large-scale flows are driven by the lithosphere. Edge-driven flow produces velocities on the order of 20 mm/yr. This is comparable to calculations by others and we can expect an increase in this rate as the mantle viscosity is decreased.     

Detection of marine aerosols with IRS P4-Ocean Colour Monitor

The atmospheric correction bands 7 and 8 (765nm and 865nm respectively) of the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite IRS P4-0CM (Ocean Colour Monitor) can be used for deriving aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the oceans. A retrieval algorithm has been developed which computes the AOD using band 7 data by treating the ocean surface as a dark background after removing the Rayleigh path radiance in the sensor-detected radiances. This algorithm has been used to detect marine aerosol distributions at different coastal and offshore locations around India. A comparison between OCM derived AOD and the NOAA operational AOD shows a correlation ∼0.92 while that between OCM derived AOD and the ground-based sun photometer measurements near the coast of Trivandrum shows a correlation of ∼0.90.     

地幔柱构造、大火成岩省及其地质效应

地幔柱是源于核幔边界或上下地幔边界的热异常物质 ,其隐含的巨大能量导致地幔的大规模熔融和大火成岩省的形成。不同时代的科马提岩和苦橄岩的地球化学性质表明地幔柱源区经历了由太古宙时的亏损源区向现代OIB型源区演化的历程 ,可能与壳幔再循环强度的不断增加有关。地幔柱活动和大火成岩事件与大陆裂解 ,全球气候变迁 ,生物灭绝事件 ,磁极倒转和一些大型矿产资源的形成均有密切的联系。文中还介绍了中国开展地幔柱和大火成岩省研究的概况。     

精确测量的地幔体波走时及地幔非均匀性的强度

用波形相关法精确地测定了在世界各地发生的87个6级以上地震的P波, PP波和Pdiff波的503个走时数据。记录这些地震波形的是新建于西太平洋地区的海洋半球地震观测网。我们利用这些高精度的走时数据研究了地幔体波的走时残差的范围及地幔非均匀性的强度。结果表明,P波、PP波和Pdiff波的走时残差最大分别为9 s ,11 s和15 s ,这为地幔层析成像反演中应该使用的体波走时残差数据的范围提供了重要信息。超出这一范围的走时残差数据不应该用于反演中,以免歪曲成像结果。我们发现,当震中距小于40°时,P波走时残差的范围为-6到+9 s。而对于40°到99°之间的震中距,P波走时残差的范围为-3到+5s。由于震中距越大,P波穿透地幔越深,我们这一结果提供了直接和确凿的证据,表明上地幔和地幔转换带中的横向非均匀性的强度要远胜于下地幔。我们精确测量的Pdiff波的走时数据表明,在地幔底部存在显著的低速异常,可能与地幔热柱或者超级地幔柱有关。我们使用了一个最新的三维全球层析成像模型来解释这些体波走时数据的空间变化。     

Stormwater plume detection by MODIS imagery in the southern California coastal ocean

Stormwater plumes in the southern California coastal ocean were detected by MODIS-Aqua satellite imagery and compared to ship-based data on surface salinity and fecal indicator bacterial (FIB) counts collected during the Bight'03 Regional Water Quality Program surveys in February–March of 2004 and 2005. MODIS imagery was processed using a combined near-infrared/shortwave-infrared (NIR-SWIR) atmospheric correction method, which substantially improved normalized water-leaving radiation (nLw) optical spectra in coastal waters with high turbidity. Plumes were detected using a minimum-distance supervised classification method based on nLw spectra averaged within the training areas, defined as circular zones of 1.5–5.0-km radii around field stations with a surface salinity of S < 32.0 (“plume”) and S > 33.0 (“ocean”). The plume optical signatures (i.e., the nLw differences between “plume” and “ocean”) were most evident during the first 2 days after the rainstorms. To assess the accuracy of plume detection, stations were classified into “plume” and “ocean” using two criteria: (1) “plume” included the stations with salinity below a certain threshold estimated from the maximum accuracy of plume detection; and (2) FIB counts in “plume” exceeded the California State Water Board standards. The salinity threshold between “plume” and “ocean” was estimated as 32.2. The total accuracy of plume detection in terms of surface salinity was not high (68% on average), seemingly because of imperfect correlation between plume salinity and ocean color. The accuracy of plume detection in terms of FIB exceedances was even lower (64% on average), resulting from low correlation between ocean color and bacterial contamination. Nevertheless, satellite imagery was shown to be a useful tool for the estimation of the extent of potentially polluted plumes, which was hardly achievable by direct sampling methods (in particular, because the grids of ship-based stations covered only small parts of the plumes detected via synoptic MODIS imagery). In most southern California coastal areas, the zones of bacterial contamination were much smaller than the areas of turbid plumes; an exception was the plume of the Tijuana River, where the zone of bacterial contamination was comparable with the zone of plume detected by ocean color.     

Seasonal observations of surface waters in two Gulf of Maine estuary-plume systems: Relationships between watershed attributes,optical measurements and surface pCO2

The partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) in estuary-plume systems is related to the internal processes of net organic metabolism and physical mixing, but is also strongly influenced by biogeochemical inputs from the land and ocean. Surface layer pCO₂, stimulated fluorescence of chlorophyll (f-chl) and colored organic matter (f-com), and beam attenuation at 660 nm (c-660) were measured during three seasonal surveys of the Kennebec (ME) and Merrimack (MA) estuary-plume systems. These estuaries are both supplied by large New England Rivers and separated by less than 150 km, but significant differences were often observed in the distributions of surface pCO₂ and optical variables. High pCO₂ concentrations were generally associated with high f-com, while lower pCO₂ concentrations were associated with high f-chl and c-660. Using simple regression models, optical measurements were used to estimate chlorophyll and total organic carbon concentrations. Results suggest that labile riverine carbon is responsible for sustaining supersaturated pCO₂ conditions and that phytoplankton productivity, likely driven by inputs of riverine dissolved inorganic nitrogen, is responsible for pCO₂ undersaturation. Although optical variables are often related to surface pCO₂, the results suggest that efforts to retrieve pCO₂ in complex waters using optical data may be enhanced using a site-specific, multivariate approach.     

0-D-Modelling of Carbonaceous Aerosols over Greater Paris Focusing on the Organic Particle Formation

To improve our understanding of aerosol formation and ageing in urban atmospheres, we have tested the ORISAM 0-D aerosol module (ORganic and Inorganic Spectral Aerosol Model). This module accounts for both types of primary carbonaceous particles (black carbon BC and primary organic carbon OC_p) and also simulates the formation of secondary inorganic and organic particles (sulfates, nitrates, ammonium, water and secondary organic carbon particles OC_sec) by attachment of gas precursors to pre-existing carbonaceous particles. Simulations were performed for surface aerosols over Greater Paris area during the ESQUIF summer 1998 and winter 2000 experiments. Results show that OC_sec formation is highly dependent on temperature and insolation with more intense secondary formation in summer than in winter. Moreover in Summer, when atmospheric conditions shift from warm and humid to hot and dry, the model indicates a decreasing formation of secondary organic aerosols OC_sec as shown by an increase of the OC_p/(OC_p+OC_sec) ratio from 42 to 56%. These results satisfactorily compare with the few experimental available data for BC/(OC_p+OC_sec) ratios increasing from 24 to 37% against modelled values in the range 21–32%. ORISAM module sensitivity to initial size distributions, background concentrations and emissions of gases and primary carbonaceous particles was documented too. One main result is that the formation of secondary organic particles with ORISAM is very sensitive to the concentrations of gaseous precursors. At the present stage of ORISAM development, OC_sec build up appears to be however less sensitive to particulate background concentrations.     

Fate of three major rivers in the Bohai Sea: A model study

Huanghe (Yellow River), Haihe and Liaohe are three major rivers flowing into the Bohai Sea and account for more than 80% of the freshwater and land-drained material inputs annually. The fate of three rivers in the seawaters correlates with the transport and distribution of the riverine sediments and nutrients, and further exerts a profound influence on the local marine ecosystem dynamics. Therefore, the evolution of the river plumes under the influence of the freshwater buoyancy, the tidal forcing and the wind stress are examined using a three-dimensional primitive equation ocean circulation model, independently and jointly. It is found that both tide and wind stirring can deteriorate the stabilization of the water column caused by the freshwater buoyancy; however, the processes are different. The tide stirring originates from the seafloor due to the bottom friction as the tidal wave propagates into the shallow waters, and then the turbulent kinetic energy dissipates upward. On the other hand, the wind stirring proceeds in the up-down direction. The influences of different winds on the evolution of the river plumes are also examined. Since the situation of each river mouth is different, the wind influence is also distinct. At last, the fate of three major rivers driven by the combined tidal forcing and climatology winds is reproduced, and the simulated salinity distribution shows a reasonable agreement with that observed, meaning that the river plume evolution plays a crucial role in shaping the salinity distribution in BS.