Evolution of the composition of seawater through geologic time, and its influence on the evolution of life

The redox state of the surface environment of the early Earth is still controversial, and a detailed and quantitative estimate is still lacking. We carried out in-situ analyses of major, trace, and rare-earth elements of carbonate minerals in rocks with primary sedimentary structures in shallow and deep sea-deposits, in order to eliminate secondary carbonate and contamination of detrital materials, and to estimate the redox condition of seawater through time. Based on the Ce content and anomalies of the carbonate minerals at given parameters of atmospheric CO₂ content (pCO₂) and Ca content of seawater, we calculated the oxygen contents of shallow and deep seawater, respectively. The results show that the oxygen content of the deep sea was low and constant until at least 1.9 Ga. The oxygen content of shallow seawater increased after 2.7 Ga, but fluctuated. It became quite high at 2.5 and 2.3 Ga, but eventually increased after the Phanerozoic. In addition, the calculation of a high pCO₂ condition shows that seawater was more oxic even in the Archean than at present, suggesting a relatively low pCO₂ through geologic time.Our detailed calculations from compositions of carbonate minerals in Three Gorge area, south China show a low oxygen content of seawater after the Snowball Earth until the late Ediacaran, an increase in the late Ediacaran, and a significant decrease around the Precambrian–Cambrian and Nemakit/Daldynian–Tommotian boundaries. These variations were possibly caused by global regression and dissolution of methane hydrates.     

Provenance of Cretaceous clastics in the Subhercynian Basin: constraints to exhumation of the Harz Mountains and timing of inversion tectonics in Central Europe

The Harz Mountains and the adjacent Subhercynian Cretaceous Basin figure as the most prominent surface representative for Late Cretaceous inversion structures in Central Europe. Facies, depositional architecture and provenance of the basin fill reflect mechanisms and timing of the exhumation of the Harz. From Hauterivian to Early Santonian there is no evidence for detrital input from the nearby Harz area. Sediments are mature quartzarenites derived from Paleozoic basement rocks and/or recycled Permian to Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. This situation changed drastically in Middle to Late Santonian when freshly exhumed and eroded Mesozoic sedimentary cover rocks of the Harz were delivered into the basin. Feldspar and lithoclasts reflect erosion of Triassic and, in places, Jurassic to Turonian strata. Apatite and garnet in heavy mineral spectra are derived from largely unweathered Lower Triassic Buntsandstein as indicated by apatite and garnet chemistry. In Early Campanian, Paleozoic lithoclasts indicate erosion cutting down into the basement of the Harz. Simultaneous strong decrease of feldspar, garnet and apatite suggest an almost complete removal of the 2–3 km thick Mesozoic cover of the Harz within only 2–4 Myr. This translates into an exhumation rate of approximately 1 mm/a consistent with apatite fission track data from granitoid rocks of the Harz Mountains.     

南极普里兹湾主要碎屑矿物特征及物源分析

基于南极普里兹湾海域33个表层碎屑沉积物样品的碎屑矿物学分析,对该区的沉积环境与物质来源进行了分析。结果表明该区碎屑重矿物共17种,石榴子石、普通角闪石和磁铁矿为优势矿物,紫苏辉石和赤铁矿为特征矿物。根据矿物组合分布特征,普里兹湾可划分为4个矿物区:Ⅰ区为石榴子石含量占绝对优势、重矿物含量较高的弗拉姆浅滩矿物区;Ⅱ区为石榴子石、普通角闪石含量较高,磁铁矿为特征矿物的普里兹水道矿物区;Ⅲ区为紫苏辉石含量较突出的四女士浅滩矿物区;Ⅳ区为普通角闪石含量明显突出,石榴子石显著减少的深水陆坡矿物区。通过电子探针测试研究区石榴子石结果表明:碎屑石榴子石含有较高的Fe、Mg和较低的Ca、Mn,属主要来源于高级麻粒岩相副变质岩的A型石榴子石。普里兹湾海域的碎屑矿物分布特征是物质来源、海流系统以及冰川活动等多重因素综合作用的产物。     

Dissolution kinetics of selected natural minerals relevant to potential CO2-injection sites − Part 1: A review

This publication provides a literature review on experimental studies of dissolution kinetics of mainly carbonates and feldspar group minerals, i.e. most common minerals at potential CO₂-injection and/or storage sites. Geochemical interaction processes between injected CO₂ and coexisting phases, namely reservoir and cap rock minerals and formation fluids close to the CO₂-injection site can be simulated by flow-through or mixed flow reactors, while processes far from the injection site and long-term processes after termination actual CO₂-injection can be mimicked by batch reactors. At sufficient small stirring rates or fluid flow rates as well as low solute concentrations flow-through reactors are also able to simulate processes far from the injection site. The experimental parameter temperature not only intensifies the dissolution process, the dominant dissolution mechanisms are also influenced by temperature. The dissolution mechanisms change from incongruent and surface controlled mechanisms at lower temperatures to congruent and transport controlled mechanisms at higher temperatures. The CO₂ partial pressure has only a second order influence on dissolution behavior compared to the influence of pH-value and ionic strength of the CO₂-bearing brine. Minerals exposed to CO₂-bearing brines at elevated temperatures and pressures are subject of alteration, leading to severe changes of reactive surfaces and potential precipitation of secondary minerals.Computational simulations of mineral reactions at potential CO₂ storage sites have therefore to include not only the time-resolved changes of dissolution behavior and hence kinetics of mineral dissolution, but also the influence of secondary minerals on the interaction of the minerals with CO₂-enriched brines.     

Late Quaternary fluctuations of the Leeuwin Current and palaeoclimates on the adjacent land masses: Clay mineral evidence

Clay minerals eroded from soils by rivers and wind action become entrained in shallow‐ as well as deep‐water masses of the surrounding seas. Their pattern on the sea floor gives clues to their propagation by ocean currents. Clay mineral assemblages in sediment cores can be used as a useful proxy to decipher past changes in the intensity of ocean currents or in the nature of the palaeoclimatic processes on the adjacent landmasses. Three cores taken from beneath the path of the present‐day Leeuwin Current in the Timor Passage, from off the Australian North West Shelf and off the North West Cape of Western Australia are investigated. They provide a Late Quaternary record of environmental changes. Kaolinite and chlorite are transported into the Timor Passage today by the Indonesian Throughflow, while illite is provided locally from Timor. The Leeuwin Current leaves the Timor Passage with a characteristic clay mineral signature acquired in the Indonesian Archipelago (kaolinite, chlorite and illite). Uptake of clay minerals along its way through the Timor Sea, e.g. illite from the Kimberley area, changes this signature. South of North West Cape chlorite, injected by the rivers of the Pilbara region into the path of the Leeuwin Current, is prominent in surface sediments in less than 1000 m water depth and outlines the flow of the current today. During the last glacial period, the volume of the Indonesian Throughflow decreased and less kaolinite and chlorite reached the Timor Passage. Offshore from North West Cape, a reduction in chlorite during the last glacial may indicate a decrease or absence of the Leeuwin Current and/or a reduction in the input of chlorite due to drier conditions on land. A maximum of illite in recent sediments and the Holocene offshore from North West Cape results from the input of material from rivers periodically draining the adjacent hinterland. Again, a reduction in illite points to a drier climate in the area during the last glacial.     

南极半岛西北部海区重矿物及其中稀土、微量元素的统计分析

对南极半岛西北部海区表层沉积物中的重矿及其中稀土、微量元素的定量资料进行了统计分析。Q型因子分析结果得出调查区重矿物组合的因子模式,它们主要受物源和海流的控制。R型群分析把22种元素划分为3群和9个亚群。元素的分群现象显示了元素与岩石在成因上的专属关系,而亚群则反映了元素地球化学习性的差异及元素共生组合或伴生关系。讨论了元素亚与重矿物组合类型的关系。     

新生代酒西盆地沉积特征及其与祁连山隆升关系的研究

酒西盆地普遍缺失上白垩统-始新统,在渐新世晚期开始接受沉积,并形成厚约3．9km的中下第三系一第四系河流相沉积约,不整合覆盖于下白垩统上。渐新统火烧沟组仅在盆地北部出露,往盆地南部尖灭,古流向向南,其物源区应在北部,可能和阿尔金断裂的活动有关。白杨河组全盆均有分布,北祁连山中也有沉积。山中-盆内沉积相由山麓相转变为河湖相,变化明显;古流向大致向北,说明当时祁连山开始隆升,成为白杨河组的物源区。对酒西盆地中、新生界的重矿物进行了系统分析,白杨河组重矿物绝对含量的脉动增加明显,显示白杨河组沉积物源发生变化,原因可能是北祁连山开始隆升,酒西盆地的沉积物源由北转向南侧的祁连山。重矿物的相对含量以及ATi,GZi和ZTR特征值也指示了白杨河组时期矿物成熟度低,构造活动强烈,可能对应着北祁连山的开始隆升。     

吉黑东部花岗岩类中副矿物锆石、磷灰石、榍石的初步研究

吉黑东部花岗岩中副矿物种类繁多,特别是锆石、磷灰石、榍石广泛分布.它们在不同成因类型花岗岩中有些标型特征彼此有别,如锆石的颜色、晶形和群型特征,磷灰石的两种晶形REE分布模式及SrI值和榍石的不同世代、成因等,这些均有助于查明不同成因花岗岩的形成条件.因此,可以利用锆石、磷灰石、榍石的标型特征作为判别和划分花岗岩成因的辅助标志.     

Secondary consolidation of clay as an anomalous diffusion process

Secondary consolidation of clay soil is considered as a result of anomalous diffusion of pore water pressure from the micropores to the macropores. By using simplified pore geometry, a heuristic approach allows us to infer the expression of the associated rate of vertical secondary deformation written as a fractional derivative of the pore pressure. The insertion of this expression into the 1D Terzaghi's theory leads to a particular type of time‐fractional diffusion equation of the pore pressure that is solved semi‐analytically. The advantage of such theoretical approach stems from the concise and compact way of treating the secondary consolidation. Only two additional parameters are needed: the fractional order, ν, and the fractional viscosity factor, θ, both accounting for the physicochemical interactions between pore fluid and clay particles. This theoretical approach is tested on experimental data obtained from the Cubzac‐les‐Ponts clay soil intensively studied for secondary consolidation. This application shows a good agreement between the data and the predicted values confirming the interest of the initial assumption and the use of the fractional derivatives formalism. Moreover, good correlations between the inverted fractional parameters and the empirical secondary consolidation index C_α measured independently are obtained: the fractional order ν, if experimentally calibrated, can be used as a reasonable estimator of the slope of the secondary consolidation portion of consolidation curve. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exhumation of oceanic eclogites: thermodynamic constraints on pressure,temperature, bulk composition and density

The exhumation mechanism of high‐pressure (HP) and ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) eclogites formed by the subduction of oceanic crust (hereafter referred to as oceanic eclogites) is one of the primary uncertainties associated with the subduction factory. The phase relations and densities of eclogites with MORB compositions are modelled using thermodynamic calculations over a P–T range of 1–4 GPa and 400–800 °C, respectively, in the NCKFMASHTO (Na₂O–CaO–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–TiO₂–Fe₂O₃) system. Our modelling suggests that the mineral assemblages, mineral proportions and density of oceanic crust subducted along a cold P–T path are quite different from those of crust subducted along a warm P–T path, and that the density of oceanic eclogites is largely controlled by the stability of low‐density hydrous minerals, such as lawsonite, chlorite, glaucophane and talc. Along a cold subduction P–T path with a geotherm of ~6 °C km^?1, lawsonite is always present at 1.1 to >4.0 GPa, and chlorite, glaucophane and talc can be stable at pressures of up to 2.3, 2.6 and 3.6 GPa respectively. Along such a P–T path, the density of subducted oceanic crust is always lower than that of the surrounding mantle at depths shallower than 110–120 km (< 3.3–3.6 GPa). However, along a warm subduction P–T path with a geotherm of ~10 °C km^?1, the P–T path is outside the stability field of lawsonite, and the hydrous minerals of chlorite, epidote and amphibole break down completely into dry dense minerals at relatively lower pressures of 1.5, 1.85 and 1.9 GPa respectively. Along such a warm subduction P–T path, the subducted oceanic crust becomes denser than the surrounding mantle at depths >60 km (>1.8 GPa). Oceanic eclogites with high H₂O content, oxygen fugacity, bulk‐rock X_Mg [ = MgO/(MgO + FeO)], X_Al [ = Al₂O₃/(Al₂O₃ + MgO + FeO)] and low X_Ca [ = CaO/(CaO + MgO + FeO + Na₂O)] are likely suitable for exhumation, which is consistent with the bulk‐rock compositions of the natural oceanic eclogites on the Earth's surface. On the basis of natural observations and our calculations, it is suggested that beyond depths around 110–120 km oceanic eclogites are not light enough and/or there are no blueschists to compensate the negative buoyancy of the oceanic crust, therefore explaining the lack of oceanic eclogites returned from ultradeep mantle (>120 km) to the Earth's surface. The exhumed light–cold–hydrous oceanic eclogites may have decoupled from the top part of the sinking slab at shallow depths in the forearc region and are exhumed inside the serpentinized subduction channel, whereas the dense–hot–dry eclogites may be retained in the sinking slab and recycled into deeper mantle.