Comparison between naturally consolidated and laboratory consolidated loess

Rendell, H.M., 1988. Comparison between naturally consolidated and laboratory consolidated loess. Eng. Geol., 25: 229–233.

Preliminary results of a comparison between naturally consolidated and laboratory consolidated loess are presented. Mercury intrusion porosimetry was used to compare nominal pore size distributions of loess before and after laboratory consolidation with those for samples that had undergone “natural” compaction. Although changes in density appear to be modelled well by the oedometer tests, the pore size distributions approach, they do not mirror exactly those for naturally consolidated loess.     

The accumulation rate of meteorite falls at the Earth's surface: The view from Roosevelt County,New Mexico

Abstract— The discovery of 154 meteorite fragments within an 11 km² area of wind-excavated basins in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, permits a new calculation of the accumulation rate of meteorite falls at the Earth's surface. Thermoluminescence dating of the coversand unit comprising the prime recovery surface suggests the maximum terrestrial age of the meteorites to be about 16.0 ka. The 68 meteorite fragments subjected to petrological analyses represent a minimum of 49 individual falls. Collection bias has largely excluded carbonaceous chondrites and achondrites, requiring the accumulation rate derived from the recovered samples to be increased by a factor of 1.25. Terrestrial weathering destroying ordinary chondrites can be modelled as a first-order decay process with an estimated half-life of 3.5 ± 1.9 ka on the semiarid American High Plains. Having accounted for the age of the recovery surface, area of field searches, pairing of finds, collection bias and weathering half-life, we calculate an accumulation rate of 9.4 × 10² falls/a per 10⁶ km² for falls > 10 g total mass. This figure exceeds the best-constrained previous estimate by more than an order of magnitude. One possible reason for this disparity may be the extraordinary length of the fall record preserved in the surficial geology of Roosevelt County. The high accumulation rate determined for the past 16 ka may point to the existence of periods when the meteorite fall rate was significantly greater than at present.     

河北承德黑山铁矿床热液成矿特征及流体包裹体研究

黑山大型钒钛磁铁矿矿床产于大庙斜长岩杂岩体中,是承德地区最重要的"大庙式"岩浆型铁矿床。笔者在矿区野外地质观察过程中发现,穿插于斜长岩中的铁磷矿脉、磁铁矿硫化物矿脉有热液成矿作用的显示,表明黑山铁矿床成因除传统认为的岩浆期结晶、熔离、矿浆贯入成矿作用外,还有热液期的成矿作用发生。本文对热液成矿期铁磷矿石中磷灰石和矿化蚀变石英中的流体包裹体进行了显微测温和激光拉曼光谱分析。结果表明,磷灰石中原生包裹体可以分为气液两相包裹体、含子矿物包裹体、含液态CO2三相包裹体、单液相、单气相包裹体5类,均一温度主要集中于180～420℃,盐度主要集中于6.2%～38.9%NaCleq,流体包裹体气相成分主要为CO2、N2和CH4,液相成分主要为H2O,固相成分主要为方解石、石盐、白云石及铁氧化物子矿物。石英中流体包裹体类型和成分与磷灰石中的类似,但固相成分未发现石盐和不透明金属子矿物,均一温度变化于149～422℃,盐度变化于5.7%～22.9%NaCleq。成矿流体为CaCl2-NaCl-H2O-CO2体系,均一温度和盐度呈现正相关连续渐变的特征。铁磷矿石的磷灰石中原生包裹体为流体包裹体,盐度高,子矿物种类复杂,组成中富含CO2和CH4等,这些特征显示成矿流体以岩浆热液为主;成矿机理可能与大气降水对岩浆热液的稀释有关。     

Thermoluminescence spectra of igneous quartz and hydrothermal vein quartz

Variations in thermoluminescence spectra are reported for four types of geological quartz examined with a new spectrometer featuring dual imaging photon detectors that separately and simultaneously detect (1) uv-blue (200–450 nm) and (2) blue to near infrared (400–800 nm) emission. Samples show striking differences which appear to be characteristic of their geological origin. Volcanic quartz phenocrysts from acid volcanics show red thermoluminescence (TL) emission bands centered at 620–630 nm that are 100 times more intense than similar bands in other quartz, while a violet emission at 420–435 nm was observed exclusively in igneous quartz (volcanic and granitic). A broad emission band centered at 560–580 nm was observed only in quartz formed hydrothermally. Massive quartz from Li-rich pegmatite bodies shows narrow, intense 470 nm emission bands at 230° C apparently related to Al and to Ge defects detected with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and emission bands at 330 and 280 nm, possibly related to recombination at oxygen vacancies. The common 380 nm emission band of quartz was observed in both volcanic and granitic quartz, but was not detected in either the pegmatitic or the hydrothermal vein quartz. Observed spectral variation is identified as a potential source of error in luminescence dating.     

The age of the meteorite recovery surfaces of Roosevelt County,New Mexico,USA

Abstract— We have obtained minimum age estimates for the sand units underlying the two largest meteorite deflation surfaces in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, USA, using thermoluminescence dating techniques. The dates obtained ranged from 53.5 (±5.4) to 95.2 (±9.5) ka, and must be considered lower limits for the terrestrial ages of the meteorites found within these specific deflation surfaces. These ages greatly exceed previous measurements from adjacent meteorite-producing deflation basins. We find that Roosevelt County meteorites are probably terrestrial contemporaries of the meteorites found at most accumulation zones in Antarctica. The apparent high meteorite accumulation rate reported for Roosevelt County by Zolensky et al. (1990) is incorrect, as it used an age of 16 ka for all Roosevelt County recovery surfaces. We conclude that the extreme variability of terrestrial ages of the Roosevelt County deflation surfaces effectively precludes their use for calculations of the meteorite accumulation rate at the Earth's surface.     

Late Holocene Mediterranean coastal change along the Tiber Delta and Roman occupation of the Laurentine shore, central Italy

A line of Roman villas once dominated the Mediterranean coastline to the south of the Tiber river mouth near Ostia in central Italy. The Roman remains, which were constructed within a series of dune ridges, now lie up to 900 m from the current shoreline as a result of the continued evolution of the Tiber delta in response to postglacial sea level rise, sediment inputs from the Tiber river catchment and tectonic uplift. Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages of potassium-rich feldspars extracted from dune sands are in good agreement with the independent age control provided by the Roman structures and allow us to hypothesise an increase in aggradation rates of five times since the end of the period of Roman occupation compared with the earlier Holocene.     

Reconstructing riverine paleo-flow regimes using subfossil insects (Coleoptera and Trichoptera): the application of the LIFE methodology to paleochannel sediments

Sub-fossil insect remains have the potential to characterise changing environmental conditions in both lentic and lotic water systems, however, relatively few studies have been undertaken in riverine environments. This paper uses sub-fossil caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera) and aquatic beetles (Coleoptera) to reconstruct river flow conditions for a large paleochannel (from multiple monoliths) using the Lotic invertebrate Index for Flow Evaluation (LIFE). Examination of the larval Trichoptera and Coleoptera remains indicated a marked change in the community and flow environment, as suggested by paleoLIFE scores within the profile of three of the monoliths examined. At the base of the channel the community was characterised by taxa indicative of high energy lotic habitats with predominantly mineral substrates (e.g. Trichoptera: Hydropsyche contubernalis and Brachycentrus subnubilis, Coleoptera: Elmis aenea and Esolus parallelepipedus). Within three of the monoliths there was a change in community composition to one indicative of a low energy backwater/lentic environment with abundant submerged and emergent vegetation (e.g. Trichoptera: Phryganea bipunctata and Limnephilus flavicornis, Coleoptera: Colymbetes fuscus and Hydrobius fuscipes). Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and loss of mass on ignition (LOI) indicated the presence of a strong environmental gradient within the data, associated with river flow. The utilisation of two aquatic insect orders provides clear evidence of temporal changes within the instream community and when combined with knowledge of ecological and habitat associations, allows differences between the two groups to be interpreted more clearly.     

Eelgrass beds and bare substrata – sparid and mugilid composition in contrasting littoral estuarine habitats

Seagrass beds serve as nursery grounds for many fish species and often play an important role in the juvenile stages of economically and recreationally important fishes. The eelgrass Zostera capensis is the dominant submerged macrophyte in permanently open South African estuaries and occupies large intertidal and subtidal areas within the Knysna system. The primary objective of this study was to compare the occurrence of sparids and mugilids in eelgrass and nearby bare sediment areas using sampling with seine nets. The hypothesis that was tested is that mugilids are dominant in unvegetated areas of the Knysna Estuary littoral whereas sparids predominate within eelgrass beds located in the same zone. The results indicate that the family Mugilidae is better represented at unvegetated sites when compared to members of the family Sparidae, with the exception of Lithognathus lithognathus, but that the dominant three sparids and dominant two mugilids were most abundant in sparse eelgrass beds that included both bare and vegetated areas within this habitat type. The main fish species responsible for the separation of fish assemblages associated with unvegetated sites versus those associated with vegetated areas were Rhabdosargus holubi, Liza dumerili, Liza richardsonii, Lithognathus lithognathus, Sarpa salpa and Diplodus capensis, with R. holubi, S. salpa and D. capensis being mainly attracted to eelgrass habitats and L. dumerili, L. richardsonii and L. lithognathus having a stronger affinity for bare areas. This finding confirms a previous estuarine study in the nearby Swartvlei lake littoral, which found that sparids dominated areas where aquatic macrophytes were extensive and that mugilids became more prevalent at those same sites when the macrophytes underwent complete senescence. The length-frequency distributions of some sparid and mugilid species differed considerably between eelgrass and bare sediment areas, whereas those of other species showed little or no difference between these two habitat types.     

Thermoluminescence dating and geochemistry of loessic deposits in southeast England

The results of a thermoluminescence (TL) dating and geochemical survey of loessic deposits in southeast England, involving sampling at 26 localities, demonstrate that the loessic deposits appear to be the product of at least three depositional phases of aeolian silt during the Late Pleistocene, namely 10-25 ka BP, 50–125 ka BP and > 170 ka BP. The majority of localities sampled date to the Late Devensian, but isolated pockets of older material were found throughout the area. The majority of the samples analysed were of decalcified material. The results of geochemical analyses of major oxide and trace element concentrations indicate the uniformity of material and suggest a common provenance.     

The Rate-equation for Biogenic Silica Dissolution in Seawater – New Hypotheses

This paper investigates the kinetics of biogenic silica dissolution in seawater, through batch dissolution, where the reaction is observed as the increase in dissolved silicic acid concentration with time. It utilises new data from dissolution of the marine diatom Cyclotella cryptica, and the freshwater diatom C. meneghiniana, as well as literature results. The sum of exponentials form: , is hypothesised as the most general rate equation, with the single exponential form occurring in a minority of cases. The consistency of this behaviour with a near-exponential decay of surface area with time, an appropriate mathematical integration, and surface heterogeneity, is discussed. (Serious errors in some existing integrations are identified.) The rate of dissolution at constant surface area is shown to decrease non-linearly as the ambient concentration of silicic acid increases. A fractional order with respect to silicic acid in the back reaction, close to 0.5, leads to a mechanism in which an intermediate is formed from the surface and an, as yet, unidentified molecule, probably water. Good preliminary fits are found between the model and literature results found using entirely different methods. A parallel treatment of hydrogen ion dependency is suggested. The likely distortion of full reaction curves from exponential behaviour imposed by the back reaction, is considered in detail.