Automated AF-demagnetization on the 2G-Enterprises through-bore,cryogenic magnetometer

Since the early sixties, alternating field demagnetization (AFD) has been a standard laboratory technique for demagnetizing rocks to expose the multicomponent structure of their natural remanent magnetization (NRM). In the majority of AFD implementations, however, the procedure remains as labour-intensive as ever. The implementation that we have developed at the Australian Geological Survey Organisation, automates the procedure for AFD based on the static method, and results in significant productivity and efficiency gains without compromising data quality. A properly formulated procedure for static AFD may be the only method of retrieving higher-coercivity components of natural remanence in samples prone to developing gyroremanence at higher alternating fields (AFs). Our AFD environment comprises: a 2G-Enterprises through-bore, cryogenic magnetometer; 2G AF-coils and control equipment; and personal computer software, developed by us, to control all procedural aspects for a complete AFD of a sample including, importantly, a counteracting procedure to neutralize the effects of gyroremanence build-up at higher AFs. With our system, AFD of 8 samples/day, each of 20+ steps, requires only 20 min of user attention compared with a full day for conventional systems.     

原位磁化X射线粉末衍射法测还原铁粉的微观磁致伸缩系数

首次报导X射线粉末衍射法测量铁粉晶胞的磁致伸缩系数。还原铁粉样品原位磁化后 ,铁立方晶胞产生磁致伸缩效应 ,晶胞参数的变化引起衍射峰位置和晶面间距的变化。实验测得铁晶胞λ1 0 0 为 3 .3 3× 10 - 4,此结果表明铁晶胞的微观磁致伸缩系数比棒状、薄膜或粉末压片的系数大约 16倍。对此现象进行了合理的理论解释 ,指出大块材料中的粉末多晶之间具有较大的空隙 ,从而使得宏观磁致伸缩系数变小     

Magnetic domain structures and stray fields of individual elongated magnetite grains revealed by magnetic force microscopy (MFM)

In order to clarify the relationship between microscopic and macroscopic magnetic features of a rock, we applied magnetic force microscopy (MFM) as a local probe on a sample with an intense natural remanent magnetisation, a norite from Heskestad, Norway. We studied in detail seven magnetite (Fe₃O₄) exsolution lamellae, five of them were about 30 μm long and a few micrometers wide, two were significantly shorter; all were located in their natural host, a grain of clinopyroxene. By combining MFM images of surface magnetisation with information about shape observed with optical microscopy (OM), the internal domain structure was determined for individual grains. In general, the lamellae were pseudo-single-domain grains with open-flux domain magnetisations parallel to their long axes. The domain sizes were, in cross-section, on the order of a micrometer for the longer lamellae and about 300 nm for the short lamellae. By increasing the separation between the MFM probe and the exposed end of the lamellae, information could be obtained about the decrease in stray fields for the individual grains. Close to the lamellae, stray fields were significant even for grains with multiple domains. The largest fields were found above the largest domains. A separation of approximately one domain width was found to be a characteristic distance, where stray fields from adjacent domains begin to cancel one another.     

Geothermobarometry of mafic granulites and metapelite from the Palghat Gap, South India: petrological evidence for isothermal uplift and rapid cooling

The Palghat Gap region is located near the centre of the large southern Indian granulite terrane. at the northern edge of the Kodaikanal charnockite massif. The dominant rock types in the region are hornblende-biotite ± orthopyroxene gneisses and charnockites along with minor amounts of intercalated mafic granulite, metapelite and calc-silicate. The P-T estimates from garnetiferous mafic granulites and metapelite samples are generally in the range 9-10 kbar and 800-900 C using both conventional thermobarometric methods and the TWEEQU thermobarometry program. These P-T estimates, which should be taken as minimum values, are among the highest yet reported for South Indian and Sri Lankan granulites. The occurrence of orthopyroxene + plagioclase symplectites around embayed garnet grains in the mafic granulites and cordierite rims around garnet grains in metapelite suggest an isothermal decompression-type path. Similarly, a core-rim P-T trajectory indicates c. 3 and 7 kbar decompression at high temperature in the mafic granulites and metapelite, respectively. In both rock types, the key to the determination of the retrograde P-T path was the recognition of small amounts of second generation plagioclase with a more anorthitic composition than the matrix plagioclase. The preservation of high garnet-pyroxene temperatures in the mafic granulites (despite small garnet grain size) suggests rapid cooling of the terrane. Calculated minimum cooling rates range from 8 to 80 C Ma^-1. Such cooling rates are more rapid than those associated with normal isostatic processes and suggest that the terrane was tectonically exhumed at high temperature.     

Paleomagnetic studies of the Late Mesozoic deformation stage in the southern Primorye region

The analysis of paleomagnetic data available for the southern Primiorye region revealed that the studied objects were magnetized under regional remagnetization presumably during the Late Mesozoic folding and this magnetization can be interpreted as being synfolding. The interpretation is based on the parameter that characterizes the folding completion degree immediately before regional remagnetization. It is shown that the relaxation of Late Mesozoic horizontal stresses was irregular. The obtained estimates of the degree of folding completion are consistent with the available geological data and Talitskii’s model for tectonic deformations.     

利用扩增vvhA基因的环介导等温扩增技术快速，特异而敏感地检测创伤弧菌

创伤弧菌是一种可感染人类的河口病原菌。建立快速,特异而敏感的检测方法,有助于创伤弧菌感染的早期疾病诊断和及时治疗。本研究设计了针对vvhA基因的一系列引物（包括两对外部引物和两对内部引物）,采用环介导等温扩增技术（LAMP）来检测创伤弧菌。结果显示,本方法的最适扩增温度是63℃,反应仅需35分钟。扩增产物不仅可以用含有DNA ladder的琼脂糖凝胶电泳检出,也可借助钙黄绿素直接肉眼观察。采用45株菌株检测该方法的特异性,其中所有创伤弧菌均被检出而其他菌株检测结果皆为阴性。本方法的敏感性是普通PCR扩增的100倍,同时利用该方法可以准确检测出所有的模拟样品、临床标本及环境样品。与其他已知方法比较,针对vvhA基因的介导等温扩增技术可以快速、简单、敏感及特异地鉴定创伤弧菌。     

Three-dimensional inversion of marine magnetic anomalies: Implications for crustal accretion along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (28°–31°30′ N)

We present magnetic field data collected over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the vicinity of the Atlantis Fracture Zone and extending out to 10 Ma-old lithosphere. We calculated a magnetization distribution which accounts for the observed magnetic field by performing a three-dimensional inversion in the presence of bathymetry. Our results show the well-developed pattern of magnetic reversals over our study area. We observe a sharp decay in magnetization from the axis out to older lithosphere and we attribute this decay to progressive low temperature oxidation of basalt. In crust which is 10 Ma, we observe an abrupt increase in magnetic field intensity which could be due to an increase in the intensity of magnetization or thickness of the magnetic source layer. We demonstrate that because the reversal epoch was of unusually long duration, a two-layer model comprised of a shallow extrusive layer and a deeper intrusive layer with sloping polarity boundaries can account for the increase in the amplitude of anomaly 5. South of the Atlantis Fracture Zone, high magnetization is correlated with bathymethic troughts at segment end points and lower magnetization is associated with bathymetric highs at segment midpoints. This pattern can be explained by a relative thinning of the magnetic source layer toward the midpoint of the segment. Thickening of the source layer at segment endpoints due to alteration of lower oceanic crust could also cause this pattern. Because we do not observe this pattern north of the fracture zone, we suggest it is a result of the nature of crustal formation process where mantle upwelling is focused. South of the fracture zone, reversals along discontinuity traces only continue to crust 2 Ma old. In crust >2 Ma, we observe bands of high, positive magnetization along discontinuity traces. We suggest that within the discontinuity traces, a high, induced component of magnetization is produced by serpentinized lower crust/upper mantle and this masks the contribution of basalts to the magnetic anomaly signal.     

Spatial and temporal variability of crustal magnetization of a slowly spreading ridge: Mid-Atlantic Ridge (20°–24° N)

The results of the two- and three-dimensional magnetic inversions performed on data located between 20°–24° N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge indicate the crustal magnetization has decayed exponentially for the last 10 Ma, and that this decay has been fairly symmetric about the ridge axis. After removal of the mean temporal decay, the residual field is characterized by more positive magnetizations at the second-order discontinuities, regardless of initial magnetization direction. A model that involves the preferential emplacement of serpentinized lithologies near the discontinuities is proposed to explain this correlation. The temporal detrending method also indicates that several ridge-parallel depressions located on the flanks of the ridge axis are regions of more positive magnetizations. These bathymetric depressions may mark the locations of detachment faulting that occurred during amagmatic periods of extension. The general symmetry of the crustal magnetization about the ridge axis does not support the occurrence of continuous detachment faulting proposed to correspond to the inner and outer corners of ridge axis discontinuities.     

A bounding surface elasto‐viscoplastic constitutive model for non‐isothermal cyclic analysis of asphaltic materials

An elasto‐viscoplastic constitutive model for asphaltic materials is presented within the context of bounding surface plasticity theory, taking into account the effects of the stress state, void binder degree of saturation, temperature and strain rate on the material behaviour. A stress state dependent non‐linear elasticity model is introduced to represent time‐independent recoverable portion of the deformation. The consistent visco‐plasticity framework is utilised to capture the rate‐dependent, non‐recoverable strain components. The material parameters introduced in the model are identified, and their determination from conventional laboratory tests is discussed. The capability of the model to reproduce experimentally observed response of asphaltic materials is demonstrated through numerical simulations of several laboratory test data from the literature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.