Late Ordovician to early Silurian calc-alkaline magmatism in the Xiemisitai Mountains,northern West Junggar: a response to the subduction of the Junggar-Balkhash Ocean

Basement exposed in the Placer de Guadalupe–Plomosas uplift in northern Mexico provides important clues for the geologic evolution of the region. The stratigraphic units form stacked thrust sheets of psammitic and calcareous formations, interlayered with magmatic rock. The eastern calcareous and quartzite formations exhibit structures associated with ductile deformation, whereas the upper stratigraphic units only contain structures formed via younger brittle deformation. Porphyry interlayered in the upper Plomosas Formation has a U-Pb zircon age of 171 ± 1 Ma. This age is consistent with its stratigraphic position, interbedded quartzarenites with a maximum depositional age of ~168 Ma. Granite flakes within the Horquilla Formation are dated at 209 ± 3 Ma, and the La Viñata quartzite exhibits a maximum age of ~193 Ma. The Upper Plomosas Formation correlates well with the arc-related Middle Jurassic Nazas Formation of northeastern Mexico, constituting the first report of a Jurassic continental margin arc outcrop in the ‘Central Mexican Gap zone’. We document Late Norian to Bajocian ages for the stratigraphic units cropping out in the Placer de Guadalupe area. The Jurassic age cluster indicates that the Nazas Arc magmatism in the region occurred during the Late Triassic and ended in the Middle Jurassic times. Permian ages previously assigned to these rocks and the occurrence of a Permo–Triassic deformation event have to be dismissed.     

Production and Certification of a Unique Set of Isotope and Delta Reference Materials for Boron Isotope Determination in Geochemical,Environmental and Industrial Materials

Isotopic reference materials are essential to enable reliable and comparable isotope data. In the case of boron only a very limited number of such materials is available, thus preventing adequate quality control of measurement results and validation of analytical procedures. To address this situation a unique set of two boron isotope reference materials (ERM‐AE102a and ‐AE104a) and three offset δ¹¹B reference materials (ERM‐AE120, ‐AE121 and ‐AE122) were produced and certified. The present article describes the production and certification procedure in detail. The isotopic composition of all the materials was adjusted by mixing boron parent solutions enriched in ¹⁰B or ¹¹B with a boron parent solution having a natural isotopic composition under full gravimetric control. All parent solutions were analysed for their boron concentration as well as their boron isotopic composition by thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) using isotope dilution as the calibration technique. For all five reference materials the isotopic composition obtained on the basis of the gravimetric data agreed very well with the isotopic composition obtained from different TIMS techniques. Stability and homogeneity studies that were performed showed no significant influence on the isotopic composition or on the related uncertainties. The three reference materials ERM‐AE120, ERM‐AE121 and ERM‐AE122 are the first reference materials with natural δ¹¹B values not equal to 0‰. The certified δ¹¹B values are ?20.2‰ for ERM‐AE120, 19.9‰ for ERM‐AE121 and 39.7‰ for ERM‐AE122, each with an expanded uncertainty (k = 2) of 0.6‰. These materials were produced to cover about three‐quarters of the known natural boron isotope variation. The ¹⁰B enriched isotope reference materials ERM‐AE102a and ERM‐AE104a were produced for industrial applications utilising ¹⁰B for neutron shielding purposes. The certified ¹⁰B isotope abundances are 0.29995 for ERM‐AE102a and 0.31488 for ERM‐AE104a with expanded uncertainties (k = 2) of 0.00027 and 0.00028, respectively. Together with the formerly certified ERM‐AE101 and ERM‐AE103 a unique set of four isotope reference materials and three offset δ¹¹B reference materials for boron isotope determination are now available from European Reference Materials.     

A Method for Rapid Determination of Re and Os Isotope Compositions Using ID‐MC‐ICP‐MS Combined with the Sparging Method

A simple, rapid method for the determination of Re and Os concentrations and isotope compositions using isotope dilution multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (ID‐MC‐ICP‐MS) combined with Carius tube digestion and sparging introduction of Os was developed. For Os measurement, four channeltron ion counters to detect different Os isotopes were used simultaneously, which led to a drastic reduction in the measurement time. Rhenium isotopes were measured by means of eight Faraday cups with solution nebulisation and an ultrasonic membrane desolvator. The representative ¹⁸⁸Os count rate of an Os standard solution containing 50 pg of total Os was approximately 110000–120000 cps at the onset of measurement; the Re intensity of our in‐house 10 pg g^?1 standard solution reached 1820 V/μg g^?1 with a sample uptake rate of 95–99 μl min^?1. These values indicate that the sensitivity of the method was sufficient even for samples with low Re and Os concentrations, such as chert. As the temporal variations of the amplification efficiency of the ion counters differed from one another, we adopted a sample‐calibrator bracketing method to correct the measured Re and Os isotope ratios. The Re and Os concentrations via the isotope dilution method and the ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios of two sedimentary rock reference materials (JMS‐2 and JCh‐1) on the basis of the isotope ratios determined by the MC‐ICP‐MS and by negative thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (N‐TIMS) were comparable within their ranges. Based on Os isotope measurement of the IAG reference material [Durham Romil Os (DROsS)], the average difference from the recommended value and precision of Os isotope measurements by the sparging method in combination with multi‐ion‐counters were 0.72% and 0.76% [1RSD (%), n = 29], respectively. The precisions in the ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios [1RSD (%)] of JMS‐2, JCh‐1 and DROsS were 0.35–0.71, 1.56–3.31 and 0.99–1.28%, respectively, which depended on their Os ion intensities. No systematic difference was observed between the Re and Os geochemical compositions of JCh‐1 and JMS‐2 obtained by means of digestion with inverse aqua regia and CrO₃‐H₂SO₄ solutions, suggesting that either acid solution can be used for the sparging method of sedimentary rock samples. As CrO₃‐H₂SO₄ solution is believed to liberate predominantly the hydrogenous Re and Os fraction from organic‐rich sediment, the sparging method combined with CrO₃‐H₂SO₄ digestion and multi‐ion‐counters in the mass spectrometry is expected to be a powerful tool for reconstructing the secular change in marine Os isotope compositions with high sample throughput.     

VizualAge: A Novel Approach to Laser Ablation ICP‐MS U‐Pb Geochronology Data Reduction

VizualAge, a new computer software tool for analysing U‐Pb data obtained by laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry, was developed. It consists of a data reduction scheme (DRS) for Iolite (a general mass spectrometry data analysis tool) as well as visualisation routines. In addition to the U/Pb and Th/Pb ages calculated by Iolite’s U‐Pb geochronology DRS, VizualAge also calculates ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages and common Pb corrections for each time‐slice of raw data. Importantly, VizualAge allows one to display a live concordia diagram for visualising data on such a diagram as an integration interval is being adjusted. This provides instantaneous feedback regarding discordance, uncertainty, error correlation and common Pb. Several zircon data sets were used to illustrate how the live concordia could be used as a powerful inspection tool, revealing a single analysis to consist of zones of concordance, metamict areas, as well as inherited cores or younger overgrowths. VizualAge also constructs histograms, conventional and Tera‐Wasserburg type concordia diagrams, as well as 3D U‐Th‐Pb and total U‐Pb concordia diagrams. The precision and accuracy of data reduced with VizualAge are demonstrated with examples of the Ple?ovice, Temora‐2 and Penglai zircon reference materials. Data for zircon from the Long Lake Batholith (Wyoming craton) were used to illustrate how VizualAge calculated common Pb corrections and helped to expose as yet unexplained difficulties with accurately determining ²⁰⁴Pb.     

Régnauld de Lannoy de Bissy’s Nineteenth Century Map of Africa at a Scale of 1∶2 000 000

Cartographic projects of national importance are often only reported on in local journals which are published in the language of the author or mapping organisation. Owing to this, important maps and map series often stay unknown outside their country of origin. A case in point is the important Carte d’Afrique on a scale of 1∶2?000?000 which, during the last decades of the nineteenth century, was compiled by the French army officer Captain Richard de Régnauld de Lannoy de Bissy. The map made an enormous contribution to the history of cartography of Africa with regard to not only the discovery and exploration of the continent, but also the expansion of colonial control and the political rivalry between European powers. It was an impressive project to be executed by one man and at the time guaranteed a prominent position for the author in geographic and cartographic circles worldwide. Although afterwards superceded by many more accurate maps, Lannoy de Bissy’s map to date remains a lasting witness to the mapping of the ‘dark continent’ and of the fragile, hesitating progress made during the search for geographical knowledge before the advent of aerial photography and satellite imagery.     

Study of Seismic Clusters at Bahía de Banderas Region,Mexico

The coast in the state of Jalisco and south of Nayarit is located within a region of high seismic potential, increasing population, and tourism development. This motivated Civil Defense authorities of Jalisco and the Universidad de Guadalajara to launch in the year 2000 the assessment of the seismic risk of the region. This work focuses in the seismicity study of the area of Bahía de Banderas and northern coast of Jalisco, which is actually a seismic gap. We perform an analysis of available seismograms to characterize active crustal structures, their relationship to surface morphology, and possible extent of these structures into the bay shallow parts. The data consist of waveforms recorded during 2003 when the seismograph network spanned the region. Our method is based on the identification of seismic clusters or families using cross-correlation of waveforms, earthquake relocation and modeling of fault planes. From an initial data set of 404 located earthquakes, 96 earthquakes with M_L < 3.6 are related to 17 potentially active continental structures. We present fault plane model for 11 structures. A subgroup of 7 structures is aligned parallel to the Middle America Trench, as a possible consequence of oblique subduction. The foci of the earthquakes were grouped into clusters corresponding to fault dimensions of hundred of meters, may be considered as asperities or barriers in tectonic structures with lengths between 10 and 30 km. These structures could generate shallow earthquakes with magnitudes between 5.0 and 6.0 and represent an additional seismic threat to the region.     

On the estimation of the maximum depth of investigation of transient electromagnetic soundings: the case of the Vizcaino transect,Mexico

We test an approach proposed in the literature for estimating the maximum depth of investigation (MDI) of in-loop transient electromagnetic soundings (TEM) with data from the Vizcaino transect, a profile of 38 TEM soundings crossing the Baja California peninsula. The validity of this approach is confirmed by comparing the MDI with the deepest interface of 16 stratified models. In these soundings, all located over the Vizcaino basin, the measured data are not affected by induced polarization. The models indicate the presence of a dipping conductor interpreted as a zone of seawater intrusion with a large lateral extension of over 70 km. The remaining 22 soundings, located over igneous and metamorphic rocks, show reversals in the voltage polarity, indicating the presence of induced polarization effects. The layered Cole-Cole models for these soundings suggest a significant decrease in the MDI. This is confirmed by analyzing the depth behavior of the subsurface current densities. We further analyze the noise level of a data set comprising close to 2000 late-time voltages of about 400 TEM sites acquired in northwestern Mexico. No difference was found between the stationary noise levels of winter and summer, presumably because near thunderstorms are practically absent in this part of Mexico.     

Modélisation de l'incertitude sur les séquences futures de débits en rivière

Résumé

Le problème de la gestion du risque en ressources hydriques, tout comme celui de la gestion de réservoirs, est un problème de décision sous incertitudes, dont la qualité des solutions est extrêmement sensible à la façon dont la stochasticité des apports est prise en compte. Cet article propose une méthode pour modéliser l'incertitude sur les apports à court terme en fonction de la période de l'année. Pour cela, un modèle paramétrique markovien à temps continu, basé sur le processus de Poisson filtré, est construit et estimé grâce à des observations régulièrement espacées dans le temps puis validé sur trois stations hydrométriques situées au Québec (Canada). Les points étudiés sont sa capacité à représenter correctement les transitions de débits et ses performances en tant que prédicteur de la valeur à venir du débit. Ce dernier aspect est comparé à celui du modèle ARMA saisonnier. Les résultats montrent un bon comportement du modèle sur chacun de ces deux points.     

四川省芦山MS7.0地震发震构造分析

2013年4月20日的芦山“4·20”MS7.0地震发生在龙门山断裂带西南段,震中地区分布多条NE向断裂,构造较为复杂.这次地震震源机制解显示为逆冲型地震,破裂面为NE走向,与龙门山断裂带的运动性质和走向一致.地表调查只在大川-双石断裂(前山断裂)和新开店断裂(大邑断裂南段)发现局部分布的NE向地表裂缝、沿地表裂缝分布的喷砂冒水和砂土液化,不规则的边坡开裂等地表变形,以及断裂沿线较严重的滑坡崩塌和房屋破坏.野外调查没有发现明显的地震地表破裂.GPS测量结果显示,此次地震的发震断裂位于芦山县城附近或其以东,而芦山西侧的断裂也可能参与了部分活动.根据野外地质调查、GPS观测、震源机制解、震源深度、余震分布等结果综合判定,芦山7.0级地震的主要发震构造是芦山之下、大川-双石断裂和新开店断裂之间的龙门山前缘滑脱带.此滑脱带在该段的运动导致了这次地震的发生,并可能带动了它上面的大川-双石和新开店等断裂的活动.     

Calcul des pluies et débits classés sur le bassin du Bani (Mali): une approche de la vulnérabilité des ouvrages et de la population depuis la sécheresse

Résumé Dans un contexte de changement climatique, les dimensionnements d'ouvrages hydrauliques peuvent avoir un rôle crucial dans une évaluation de la vulnérabilité. Ainsi, on calcule avec les données les plus récentes possibles la pluie journalière maximale annuelle de période de retour donnée (10, 20 et 100 ans) sur 51 stations ainsi que les débits de projet pour six stations sur le bassin versant du Bani au Mali (129 000 km²). Pluies et débits sont calculés avec une méthode utilisant les L-moments et en découpant le bassin en régions climatiques homogènes. Une formule empirique d'évaluation du débit décennal est enfin réévaluée, considérant la baisse importante des débits maximaux depuis 1970. Les valeurs trouvées soulignent l'importance du choix de la période, puisque quelques années peuvent faire varier de façon importante les valeurs classées.