The composition and crystallinity of the near-surface regions of weathered alkali feldspars

Our ability to identify thin non-stoichiometric and amorphous layers beneath mineral surfaces has been tested by undertaking X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) work on alkali feldspars from pH 1 dissolution experiments. The outcomes of this work were used to help interpret XPS and TEM results from alkali feldspars weathered for <10,000 years in soils overlying the Shap Granite (north-west England). The chemistry of effluent solutions indicates that silica-rich layers a few nanometers in thickness formed during the pH 1 experiments. These layers can be successfully identified by XPS and have lower Al/Si, Na/Si, K/Si and Ca/Si values than the outermost ∼9 nm of unweathered controls. Development of Al-Si non-stoichiometry is coupled with loss of crystal structure to produce amorphous layers that are identifiable by TEM where >∼2.5 nm thick, whereas the crystallinity of albite is retained despite leaching of Na to depths of tens to hundreds on nanometers. Integration of XPS data over the outermost 6-9 nm of naturally weathered Shap feldspars shows that they have stoichiometric Al/Si and K/Si ratios, which is consistent with findings of previous TEM work on the same material that they lack amorphous layers. There is some XPS evidence for loss of K from the outermost couple of nanometers of Shap orthoclase, and the possibility of leaching of Na from albite to greater depths cannot be excluded using the XPS or TEM results. This study demonstrates that the leached layer model, as formulated from laboratory experiments, is inapplicable to the weathering of alkali feldspars within acidic soils, which is an essentially stoichiometric reaction.     

Sailboat propeller drag

All but the smallest classes of modern keelboats are fitted with inboard engines and consequently, when making way under sail, the craft experience parasitic drag due to trailing propellers and associated appendages. The variety of screw configurations used on sailing boats includes fixed-blade, feathering, and folding set-ups, with blades numbering two or three. Although the magnitude of the resultant drag is thought to have a significant influence on sailing performance, the published literature having regard to this problem is sparse. Here, the aim was to evaluate the drag effect of fixed-blade propellers of types commonly used on sailing craft. The results of towing tank tests on full-scale propellers are presented for the locked shaft condition; these are presented along with reconfigured data from the few previously published sources. For the case in which the propeller is allowed to rotate, tests were conducted on a typical screw with a range of braking torques being applied. It was hypothesised that the performance coefficients of the Wageningen B-Screw Series could be used to characterise adequately the types of screw of interest and that these could be extrapolated to enable prediction of the drag of a freewheeling propeller; an assessment of this formed part of the investigation.     

The risk to New Zealand shellfish aquaculture from paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins

New Zealand's reputation as a supplier of high quality food products is vital to the national economy; international consumers are acutely aware of food safety issues and markets are increasingly demanding higher standards. Filter feeding bivalves are particularly sensitive to the nature of the environment in which they are grown, and quality assurance is a major preoccupation of the shellfish aquaculture industry. With the exception of a couple of incidents, most notably the Gymnodinium catenatum blooms in 2000–2003, paralytic shellfish toxin (PST) contamination has, to date, not had an important effect on the economics and sustainability of the industry. However, the dinoflagellate species responsible for producing these toxins are not uncommon in New Zealand coastal phytoplankton communities, and it is important that awareness of the potential risk is maintained. This review summarises what we know about the causes and incidence of PST contamination from research and monitoring over the last 20 years, since it was first identified in New Zealand. It describes the dynamics of major events and their consequences, and evaluates what is likely to happen in the future as aquaculture expands into new areas with known histories of this problem.     

Structural controls on Tertiary orogenic gold mineralization during initiation of a mountain belt, New Zealand

Two types of structurally controlled hydrothermal mineralization have occurred during folding of fissile schist in southern New Zealand: fold-related mineralization and normal fault-related mineralization. Both types have the same mineralogy and textures, and are dominated by quartz–ankerite veins and silicified breccias with ankeritic alteration. Most mineralized zones are thin (centimetre scale), although host schist is commonly impregnated with ankerite up to 20 m away. Thick (up to 5 m wide) mineralized zones are generally gold-bearing and contain pyrite and arsenopyrite with stibnite pods locally. Some of these auriferous zones have been extensively mined historically despite rugged topography and difficult access. Mineralization occurred during regional tectonic compression in the initial stages of development of the Southern Alps mountain belt at the Pacific–Australian plate boundary in the Miocene. Most of the gold-bearing deposits occur in east to south-east, striking normal faults that cut across mesoscopic folds in a belt that coincides with the southern termination of a regional-scale north trending antiform. Mineralized zones have similar structural control and relative timing to a nearby swarm of Miocene lamprophyre dykes and carbonatites. Limited stable isotopic data (C and O) and trace element geochemistry suggest that there was probably no genetic link between the igneous activity and gold mineralization. However, these two types of fluid flow have been controlled by the same tectonically created crustal plumbing system. This Miocene hydrothermal activity and gold deposition demonstrates that orogenic (mesothermal) mineralization can occur during the inception of an orogenic belt, not just in the latter stages as is commonly believed. These Miocene structures have been preserved in the orogen because the locus of uplift has moved northwards, so the early-formed gold deposits have not yet been structurally overprinted or eroded.     

Comparison of flood hazard assessments on desert piedmonts and playas: A case study in Ivanpah Valley, Nevada

Accurate and realistic characterizations of flood hazards on desert piedmonts and playas are increasingly important given the rapid urbanization of arid regions. Flood behavior in arid fluvial systems differs greatly from that of the perennial rivers upon which most conventional flood hazard assessment methods are based. Additionally, hazard assessments may vary widely between studies or even contradict other maps. This study's chief objective was to compare and evaluate landscape interpretation and hazard assessment between types of maps depicting assessments of flood risk in Ivanpah Valley, NV, as a case study. As a secondary goal, we explain likely causes of discrepancy between data sets to ameliorate confusion for map users. Four maps, including three different flood hazard assessments of Ivanpah Valley, NV, were compared: (i) a regulatory map prepared by FEMA, (ii) a soil survey map prepared by NRCS, (iii) a surficial geologic map, and (iv) a flood hazard map derived from the surficial geologic map, both of which were prepared by NBMG. GIS comparisons revealed that only 3.4% (33.9 km²) of Ivanpah Valley was found to lie within a FEMA floodplain, while the geologic flood hazard map indicated that ~ 44% of Ivanpah Valley runs some risk of flooding (Fig. 2D). Due to differences in mapping methodology and scale, NRCS data could not be quantitatively compared, and other comparisons were complicated by differences in flood hazard class criteria and terminology between maps. Owing to its scale and scope of attribute data, the surficial geologic map provides the most useful information on flood hazards for land-use planning. This research has implications for future soil geomorphic mapping and flood risk mitigation on desert piedmonts and playas. The Ivanpah Valley study area also includes the location of a planned new international airport, thus this study has immediate implications for urban development and land-use planning near Las Vegas, NV.     

Lithogeochemical localisation of disseminated gold in the White River area, Yukon, Canada

Gold mineralisation in the White River area, 80 km south of the highly productive Klondike alluvial goldfield, is hosted in amphibolite facies gneisses in the same Permian metamorphic pile as the basement for the Klondike goldfield. Hydrothermal fluid which introduced the gold was controlled by fracture systems associated with middle Cretaceous to early Tertiary extensional faults. Gold deposition occurred where highly fractured and chemically reactive rocks allowed intense water–rock interaction and hydrothermal alteration, with only minor development of quartz veins. Felsic gneisses were sericitised with recrystallisation of hematite and minor arsenic mobility, and extensively pyritised zones contain gold and minor arsenic (ca 10 ppm). Graphitic quartzites (up to 5 wt.% carbon) caused chemical reduction of mineralising fluids, with associated recrystallisation of metamorphic minerals (graphite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite) in host rocks and veins, and introduction of arsenic (up to 1 wt.%) to form arsenopyrite in veins and disseminated through host rock. Veins have little or no hydrothermal quartz, and up to 19 wt.% carbon as graphite. Late-stage oxidation of arsenopyrite in some graphitic veins has formed pharmacosiderite. Gold is closely associated with disseminated and vein sulphides in these two rock types, with grades of up to 3 ppm on the metre scale. Other rock types in the White River basement rocks, including biotite gneiss, hornblende gneiss, pyroxenite, and serpentinite, have not developed through-going fracture systems because of their individual mineralogical and rheological characteristics, and hence have been little hydrothermally altered themselves, have little hydrothermal gold, and have restricted flow of fluids through the rock mass. Some small post-metamorphic quartz veins (metre scale) have been intensely fractured and contain abundant gold on fractures (up to 40 ppm), but these are volumetrically minor. The style of gold mineralisation in the White River area is younger than, and distinctly different from, that of the Klondike area. Some of the mineralised zones in the White River area resemble, mineralogically and geochemically, nearby coeval igneous-hosted gold deposits, but this resemblance is superficial only. The White River mineralisation is an entirely new style of Yukon gold deposit, in which host rocks control the mineralogy and geochemistry of disseminated gold, without quartz veins.     

Magnetization of Jurassic red deep-sea sediments in the Atlantic (DSDP site 105)

Measurement of the remanent magnetization of samples of Jurassic oceanic red sediments recovered in the western Atlantic on Leg 11, site 105 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project yields quite different results, depending on the demagnetization processes used. Both the Jurassic section and the Berriasian-Valanginian part of the Lower Cretaceous were measured, but with less satisfactory results for the Lower Cretaceous. The natural remanent magnetization of the Jurassic section is almost entirely normal, with 44.6° inclinations (standard deviation = 13.9°) and is not changed by 1000 Oe alternating field (AF) demagnetization. Thermal demagnetization to temperatures of 630°C brings the inclination and polarity sequence in line with that expected for Oxfordian through Tithonian time at this site. The average inclination after thermal demagnetization is 22.1°, standard deviation = 12.1°, and the polarity pattern is one of frequently alternating polarity, much more similar to published reversal patterns for this time than the all normal results of AF demagnetization. The polarity pattern is not identical to the published ones as a result of insufficiently detailed sampling. Thermomagnetic and X-ray analyses were ambiguous, but suggest the presence of titanomagnetite, hematite, and possibly titanomaghemite and pyrrhotite. The primary remanence is carried by hematite.     

BIFoR FACE: Water–soil–vegetation–atmosphere data from a temperate deciduous forest catchment,including under elevated CO2

The ecosystem services provided by forests modulate runoff generation processes, nutrient cycling and water and energy exchange between soils, vegetation and atmosphere. Increasing atmospheric CO₂ affects many linked aspects of forest and catchment function in ways we do not adequately understand. Global levels of atmospheric CO₂ will be around 40% higher in 2050 than current levels, yet estimates of how water and solute fluxes in forested catchments will respond to increased CO₂ are highly uncertain. The Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) facility of the University of Birmingham's Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) is the only FACE in mature deciduous forest. The site specializes in fundamental studies of the response of whole ecosystem patches of mature, deciduous, temperate woodland to elevated CO₂ (eCO₂). Here, we describe a dataset of hydrological parameters – seven weather parameters at each of three heights and four locations, shallow soil moisture and temperature, stream hydrology and CO₂ enrichment – retrieved at high frequency from the BIFoR FACE catchment.     

Detecting the near-surface redox front in crystalline bedrock using fracture mineral distribution,geochemistry and U-series disequilibrium

Oxidizing conditions normally prevail in surface waters and near-surface groundwaters, but there is usually a change to reducing conditions in groundwater at greater depth. Dissolved O₂ originally present is consumed through biogenic and inorganic reactions along the flow paths. Fracture minerals participate in these reactions and the fracture mineralogy and geochemistry can be used to trace the redox front. An important task in the safety assessment of a potential repository for the disposal of nuclear waste in crystalline bedrock, at an approximate depth of 500 m in Sweden, is to demonstrate that reducing conditions can be maintained for a long period of time. Oxygen may damage the Cu canisters that host nuclear waste; additionally, in the event of a canister failure, oxidizing conditions may increase the mobility of some radionuclides. The present study of the near-surface redox front is based on mineralogical (redox-sensitive minerals), geochemical (redox-sensitive elements) and U-series disequilibrium investigations of mineral coatings along open fractures. The fractures have been sampled along drill cores from closely spaced, 100 m deep boreholes, which were drilled during the site investigation work in the Laxemar area, south-eastern Sweden, carried out by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB). The distribution of the redox-sensitive minerals pyrite and goethite in open fractures shows that the redox front (switch from mainly goethite to mainly pyrite in the fractures) generally occurs at about 15–20 m depth. Calcite leaching by recharging water is indicated in the upper 20–30 m and positive Ce-anomalies suggest oxidation of Ce down to 20 m depth. The U-series radionuclides show disequilibrium in most of the samples, indicating mobility of U during the last 1 Ma. In the upper 20 m, U is mainly removed (due to oxidation) or has experienced complex removal and/or deposition. At depths of 35–55 m, both deposition and removal of U are indicated. Below 55 m, recent deposition of U is generally indicated which suggests removal of U near surface (oxidation) and deposition of U below the redox front. Scattered goethite occurrences below the general redox front (down to ca 80 m) and signs of U removal at 35–55 m mostly correlate with sections of high transmissivity (and/or high fracture frequencies). This shows that highly transmissive fractures are generally required to allow oxygenated groundwaters at depth greater than ca 30 m. Removal of U (oxidation) below 55 m within the last 300 ka is not observed. Although penetration of glacial waters to great depths has been confirmed in the study area, their potential O₂ load seems to have been reduced near the surface.