Loss of water from Mars:: Implications for the oxidation of the soil

The evolution of the martian atmosphere with regard to its H₂O inventory is influenced by thermal loss processes of H, H₂, nonthermal atmospheric loss processes of H⁺, H₂⁺, O, O⁺, CO₂, and O₂⁺ into space, as well as by chemical weathering of the surface soil. The evolution of thermal and nonthermal escape processes depend on the history of the intensity of the solar XUV radiation and the solar wind density. Thus, we use actual data from the observation of solar proxies with different ages from the Sun in Time program for reconstructing the Sun's radiation and particle environment from the present to 3.5 Gyr ago. The correlation between mass loss and X-ray surface flux of solar proxies follows a power law relationship, which indicates a solar wind density up to 1000 times higher at the beginning of the Sun's main sequence lifetime. For the study of various atmospheric escape processes we used a gas dynamic test particle model for the estimation of the pick up ion loss rates and considered pick up ion sputtering, as well as dissociative recombination. The loss of H₂O from Mars over the last 3.5 Gyr was estimated to be equivalent to a global martian H₂O ocean with a depth of about 12 m, which is smaller than the values reported by previous studies. If ion momentum transport, a process studied in detail by Mars Express is significant on Mars, the water loss may be enhanced by a factor of about 2. In our investigation we found that the sum of thermal and nonthermal atmospheric loss rates of H and all nonthermal escape processes of O to space are not compatible with a ratio of 2:1, and is currently close to about 20:1. Escape to space cannot therefore be the only sink for oxygen on Mars. Our results suggest that the missing oxygen (needed for the validation of the 2:1 ratio between H and O) can be explained by the incorporation into the martian surface by chemical weathering processes since the onset of intense oxidation about 2 Gyr ago. Based on the evolution of the atmosphere-surface-interaction on Mars, an overall global surface sink of about 2×10⁴² oxygen particles in the regolith can be expected. Because of the intense oxidation of inorganic matter, this process may have led to the formation of considerable amounts of sulfates and ferric oxides on Mars. To model this effect we consider several factors: (1) the amount of incorporated oxygen, (2) the inorganic composition of the martian soil and (3) meteoritic gardening. We show that the oxygen incorporation has also implications for the oxidant extinction depth, which is an important parameter to determine required sampling depths on Mars aimed at finding putative organic material. We found that the oxidant extinction depth is expected to lie in a range between 2 and 5 m for global mean values.     

Fluid entrapment and reequilibration during subduction and exhumation: A case study from the high-grade Nestos shear zone, Central Rhodope, Greece

A fluid inclusion study on metamorphic minerals of successive growth stages was performed on highly deformed paragneisses from the Nestos Shear Zone at Xanthi (Central Rhodope), in which microdiamonds provide unequivocal evidence for ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism. The correlation of fluid inclusion density isochores and fluid inclusion reequilibration textures with geothermobarometric data and the relative chronology of micro- and macro-scale deformation stages allow a better understanding of both the fluid and metamorphic evolution along the P–T–d path. Textural evidence for subduction towards the NE is recorded by the orientation of intragranular NE-oriented fluid inclusion planes and the presence of single, annular fluid inclusion decrepitation textures. These textures occur within quartz “foam” structures enclosed in an earlier generation of garnets with prolate geometries and rarely within recrystallized matrix quartz, and reequilibrated both in composition and density during later stages of exhumation. No fluid inclusions pertaining to the postulated ultrahigh-pressure stage for microdiamond-bearing garnet–kyanite–gneisses have yet been found. The prolate shape of garnets developed during the earliest stages of exhumation that is recorded structurally by (L  S) tectonites, which subsequently accommodated progressive ductile SW shearing and folding up to shallow crustal levels. The majority of matrix kyanite and a later generation of garnet were formed during SW-directed shear under plane-strain conditions. Fluid inclusions entrapped in quartz during this stage of deformation underwent density loss and transformed to almost pure CO₂ inclusions by preferential loss of H₂O. Those inclusions armoured within garnet retained their primary 3-phase H₂O–CO₂ compositions. Reequilibration of fluid inclusions in quartz aggregates is most likely the result of recrystallization along with stress-induced, preferential H₂O leakage along dislocations and planar lattice defects which results in the predominance of CO₂ inclusions with supercritical densities. Carbonic fluid inclusions from adjacent kyanite–corundum-bearing pegmatoids and, the presence of shear-plane-parallel fluid inclusion planes within late quartz boudin structures consisting of pure CO₂-fluid inclusions with negative crystal shapes, bear witness of the latest stage of deformation by NE-directed extensional shear.This study shows that the textures of early fluid inclusions that formed already during the prograde metamorphic path can be preserved and used to derive information about the kinematics of subduction that is difficult to obtain from other sources. The textures of early inclusions, together with later generations of unaltered primary and secondary inclusions in metamorphic index minerals that can be linked to specific deformation stages and even P–T conditions, are a welcome supplement for the reconstruction of a rather detailed P–T–d path.     

渤、黄、东海内潮的数值模拟

在全球的海洋中,中国东海和临近海域是最显著的内潮生成地之一。本文采用NODC(Levitus) World Ocean Atlas 1998提供的季平均温、盐资料,计算海水的密度,并计算垂向密度梯度的最大值点,得到一个较符合海水实际的密度分层。使用三维非线性数值模型(将海洋分为2层)研究了潮汐(M2,S2,K1,O1分潮)作用下渤黄东海的内潮,揭示了整个海区内潮起伏的空间分布,结果发现大振幅的波动均发生在台湾东北(冲绳海槽)海域和中国近海地形突变之处,其中前者更显著。对于各分潮模拟得到的表面潮与TOPEX/Poseidon高度计资料基本一致。研究结果表明上层海水的深度和厚度的梯度对内潮有一定的影响;冬季分布区域比夏季小,强度比夏季大。     

辽宁北票早白垩世义县组松柏类金钱松属（Pseudolarix）的发现及其起源与演化意义

报导辽宁北票下白垩统义县组尖山沟层松柏类金钱松属一新种Pseudolarix gaoi sp. nov. 和一个新联合种Pseudolarix chilitica (Sun et Zheng) Zheng, comb. nov.,前者是一个保存较好的带叶小枝,具长枝和短枝,长枝又可分为主枝和侧枝, 侧枝长短不一,其上着生有许多呈螺旋状排列的桶状短枝;叶在短枝上簇生,线形或披针状线形,扁平,上表面中脉不隆起,下表面沿隆起的中脉有两条气孔带;气孔为单唇式,极副卫细胞为伸长的长方形.后者是以分散保存的Schizolepis式的雌球果和果鳞、Pityospermum 式的翅籽、着生于短枝末端上的雄球果以及 Pityocladus 式的带叶小枝为代表.上述两种松柏类化石可能代表仅幸存于中国南方现生金钱松属单型种Pseudolarix amabilis (Nelson) Rehd. 的先驱分子.有一部分Schizolepis式的雌球果可能与金钱松属的起源与演化有关.     

GM(1,1)最佳维数建模法在露天矿边坡变形预测中的应用

露天矿边坡变形是一个复杂的系统,许多影响边坡变形的因素具有灰色信息性质,因此应用灰色模型对边坡变形进行预测是一种很好的研究手段。在灰色模型预测实践中,发现建模数据的维数对模型预测精度有较大影响。从变形预测精度研究入手,提出最佳维数建模法。通过实例应用证明,该法具有较高的预测精度和可信度。     

云南兰坪-思茅盆地生物地球化学找钾技术方法研究初探

在生物地球化学和“深穿透”理论的指导下,在兰坪-思茅盆地勐野井钾盐矿区及周边开展了生物地球化学找钾技术方法的探索性研究。沿江城县勐野井钾盐矿区及周边一线,对乔木类植物叶子进行了取样,分析,数据处理,特征指标筛选,获得了研究区植物样品主量和微量组分含量背景值,初步圈定了异常区,与以往圈定的找钾远景区较吻合。该区生物地球化学找钾技术取得较好的效果,今后还需扩大采样区域,获得更多样本数据,将找钾特征指标及其异常值的阈值进一步补充完善。     

Petrology of ultramafic and mafic xenoliths in picrite of Kahoolawe Island,Hawaii

A picrite lava (22 wt% MgO; 35 vol.% ol) along the western shore of the1.3–1.4 Ma Kahoolawe tholeiitic shield, Hawaii, contains small xenoliths of harzburgite, lherzolite, norite, and wehrlite. The various rock types have textures where either orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, or plagioclase is in a poikilitic relationship with olivine. The Mg#s of the olivine, orthopyroxene, and clinopyroxene in this xenolith suite range between 86 and 82; spinel Mg#s range from 60 to 49, and plagioclase is An_75–80. A ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio for one ol-norite xenolith is 0.70444. In comparison, the host picrite has olivine phenocrysts with an average Mg# of 86.2 (range 87.5–84.5), and a whole-rock ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.70426. Textural and isotopic information together with mineral compositions indicate that the xenoliths are related to Kahoolawe tholeiitic magmatism, but are not crystallization products of the magma represented by their host picrite. Rather, the xenoliths are crystalline products of earlier primitive liquids (FeO/MgO ranging 1 to 1.3) at 5–9 kbar in the cumulate environment of a magma reservoir or conduit system. The presence of ultramafic xenoliths in picrite but not in typical Kahoolawe tholeiitic lava (6–9 wt% MgO) is consistent with replenishment of reservoirs by dense Mg-rich magma emplaced beneath resident, less dense tholeiitic magma. Mg-rich magmas have proximity to reservoir cumulate zones and are therefore more likely than fractionated residual liquids to entrain fragments of cumulate rock.     

Présence d'une mangrove à Avicennia au Miocène moyen dans la région de Digne (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence,France) : implications stratigraphiques et paléoclimatiques

Avicennia pollen grains have been discovered in marine facies from the Middle Miocene deltaic series of Châteauredon (southeastern France). Based on the local stratigraphy, an age between 15.8 and 16.5 Ma is proposed for these grains. The age and the transgressive context of the Avicennia bearing-levels are in agreement with the maximum extension of the mangrove known in the western Mediterranean during interval N8–NN4 pro parte, in relation with the Langhian highstand. This mangrove occurrence at 42°N latitude during Middle Miocene is a more northern witness of the mangrove sites known in Languedoc and Provence areas. It also implies a lower climatic gradient than today. To cite this article: J.-J. Châteauneuf et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).