华北克拉通南缘中条山-嵩山地区1.78Ga基性岩墙群的地球化学特征及构造环境

幔源岩浆侵位产生的基性岩墙群是地壳伸展裂解的重要标志。华北克拉通南缘中条山-嵩山地区出露有大量的中元古代基性岩墙群,对其研究将有助于深入了解华北克拉通中元古代构造演化特征。其岩石类型以辉绿岩为主,少量辉长辉绿岩和辉绿玢岩;主要造岩矿物为斜长石和单斜辉石,其它矿物包括角闪石、Fe-Ti氧化物、磷灰石、黑云母、碱性长石和石英。锆石SHRIMPU-Pb年龄为1785±18Ma,代表岩墙的结晶年龄。岩石K2O+Na2O含量为3.63%～6.18%,K2O/Na2O比值为0.73～1.38,FeOT含量较高(10.03%～13.59%),属于拉斑玄武岩系列。岩石的稀土元素含量高(142×10-6～381×10-6),亏损Nb、Ta、Zr、Hf等高场强元素,富集Rb、Ba、La等大离子亲石元素,全岩εNd(t)值为-6.2～-8.1。岩墙的固结指数(SI)和MgO含量呈明显的正相关关系,说明幔源岩浆发生过明显的结晶分异作用。地球化学分析表明,研究区基性岩墙属于板内拉斑玄武岩系列,与熊耳群火山岩有相似的地球化学特征;基于两者紧密的产出关系,我们认为该区岩墙可能是熊耳群火山岩的通道岩墙,共同代表了华北克拉通东、西陆块碰撞后伸展事件。     

铜陵狮子山地区中酸性侵入岩锆石SHRIMP U-Pb定年及岩浆作用的深部过程

铜陵狮子山地区中酸性侵入岩锆石SHRIMP U-Pb定年结果表明,白茫山辉石二长闪长岩、鸡冠山和大团山石英二长闪长岩以及胡村花岗闪长岩的年龄分别为:138.21 ±0.82Ma、139.9 ±1.1Ma、139.3 ±1.2Ma和140.9 ±1.2Ma.岩浆侵位顺序为花岗闪长岩→石英二长闪长岩→辉石二长闪长岩.根据锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年龄变化范围,推测该区岩浆活动持续的时间约为15Ma,且岩浆属脉动式多次侵位,后期岩浆侵位的热使早期岩体中已结晶的锆石发生熔解、重结晶,形成新的锆石.地下深部岩浆活动频繁,形成了多级岩浆房,使得本区的莫霍面界线不明显.     

Stable isotope analysis of consumer food webs indicates ecosystem recovery following prolonged drought in a subtropical estuarine lake

Assessing changes in food-web structure provides a useful monitoring tool for gauging the resilience of ecosystems in the face of climatic impacts. We consider the ecological resilience of a large estuarine lake (St Lucia Estuary, South Africa) in the wake of an extreme climatic event (prolonged drought). Using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, food-web structure was assessed at five sites across the estuary during the winter and spring of 2013. Sampling occurred approximately three years after heavy rains flooded the system and returned it to a relatively diluted state following an almost decade-long drought that decimated food webs in the upper parts of the estuary due to hypersalinity effects. Comparisons of niche width and variance of consumer food webs among sites revealed a general homogenisation of food webs across the entire system, contrasting with the spatial differentiation of food webs documented during the drought phase. Our results indicate that the estuary is able to maintain ecological resilience at the whole-system level in the face of an extreme drought. This is likely facilitated by source pools of species residing in the relatively stable lower estuary, which are able to rapidly recolonise areas denuded by drought in the upper estuary.     

Studies of Brazilian meteorites: III. Origin and history of the Angra dos Reis achondrite

The Angra dos Reis meteorite fell in 1869 and is a unique achondrite. It is an ultramafic igneous rock, pyroxenite, with 93% fassaite pyroxene which has 15.7% Ca-Tschermak's molecule, plus calcic olivine (Fo_53.1; 1.3% CaO), green hercynitic spinel, whitlockite (merrillite), metallic Ni-Fe, troilite, as well as magnesian kirschsteinite (Ks_62.3Mo_37.7), within olivine grains, and celsian (Cs_90.2An_7.7Ab_1.7Or_0.4) which are phases reported in a meteorite for the first time, and plagioclase (An_86.0), baddeleyite, titanian magnetite (TiO₂, 21.9%), and terrestrial hydrous iron oxide which are phases reported for the first time in this meteorite. Petrofabric analysis shows that fassaite has a preferred orientation and lineation which is interpreted as being due to cumulus processes, possibly the effect of post-depositional magmatic current flow or laminar flow of a crystalline mush. The mineral chemistry indicates crystallization from a highly silica-undersaturated melt at low pressure. Since the meteorite formed as a cumulate, pyroxene crystals may have gravitationally settled from a melt which crystallized melilite first. Plagioclase would be unstable in such a highly undersaturated melt, and feldspathoids would be rare or absent due to the very low alkali contents of the melt. The presence of rare grains of plagioclase and celsian may be the result of late-stage crystallization of residual liquids in local segregations. Thus, the Eu anomaly in Angra dos Reis may be the result of pyroxene separation from a melt which crystallized melilite earlier, rather than plagioclase as previously suggested.     

Igneous petrology of the new ureilites Nova 001 and Nullarbor 010

Abstract— The Nova 001 [= Nuevo Mercurio (b)] and Nullarbor 010 meteorites are ureilites, both of which contain euhedral graphite crystals. The bulk of the meteorites are olivine (Fo₇₉) and pyroxenes (Wo₉En₇₃Fs₁₈, Wo₃En₇₇Fs₂₀), with a few percent graphite and minor amounts of troilite, Ni-Fe metal, and possibly diamond. The rims of olivine grains are reduced (to Fo₉₁) and contain abundant blebs of Fe metal. Silicate mineral grains are equant, anhedral, up to 2 mm across, and lack obvious preferred orientations. Euhedral graphite crystals (to 1 mm x 0.3 mm) are present at silicate grain boundaries, along boundaries and protruding into the silicates, and entirely within silicate mineral grains. Graphite euhedra are also present as radiating clusters and groups of parallel plates grains embedded in olivine; no other ureilite has comparable graphite textures. Minute lumps within graphite grains are possibly diamond, inferred to be a result of shock. Other shock effects are limited to undulatory extinction and fracturing. Both ureilites have been weathered significantly. Considering their similar mineralogies, identical mineral compositions, and identical unusual textures, Nova 001 and Nullarbor 010 are probably paired. Based on olivine compositions, Nova 001 and Nullarbor 010 are in Group 1 (FeO-rich) of Berkley et al. (1980). Silicate mineral compositions are consistent with those of other known ureilites. The presence of euhedral graphite crystals within the silicate minerals is consistent with an igneous origin, and suggests that large proportions of silicate magma were present locally and crystallized in situ.     

Review of the current distribution of southern elephant seals in the eastern South Pacific

The eastern South Pacific southern elephant seal population was extinguished by extensive hunting and the current presence of this species in this area is not well understood. We reviewed existing records from the 1900s to 2014 in the eastern South Pacific, as well as tagged seals and movement records in order to assess the potential immigration source of these individuals. A total of 409 confirmed sightings were compiled, ranging from the southern tip of South America (Cape Horn Archipelago) as far north as Ecuador, including some oceanic island groups. The evidence shows also that recolonisation of its former Pacific distribution has started, with slow population growth in three incipient pupping sites in southern Chile (south of 51°S). Although the source of all of the individuals in the growing colonies is unknown, evidence from tags and satellite tagging indicates that some seals come from subpopulations on the Peninsula Valdes and the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, although mtDNA analysis showed, preliminarily, a greater genetic relationship only with the Falkland/Malvinas Islands rookery.     

Weathering of Mars: Antarctic analog studies

Terrestrial analog studies of potential Martian weathering processes are reported. Four major weathering environments are identified: (i) hydrothermal alteration of impact melt sheets and impact breccias, (ii) solid-gas and related reactions, (iii) subpermafrost intrusion of lavas involving liquid water, and (iv) subaerial extrusion of lavas in the absence of liquid water. Weathering in environments (i)?(iii) has been discussed by other authors; this report discusses weathering in environment (iv), an analog of which is Antarctica. We conclude that weathering is geologically slow in the absence of liquid water, and that zeolites predominate over clays as secondary minerals. On volumetric grounds it appears that hydrothermal alteration of impact melt sheets should be the most important time-averaged weathering mechanism, provided that H₂O was present as liquid or permafrost. Such hydrothermal alteration should operate predominately on ancient crustal material. Gas-solid reactions and photochemical weathering should also operate primarily on ancient crustal material on a time-averaged basis. Weathering products of younger subpermafrost or subaerially erupted basalts should be subordinate to hydrothermal alteration and gas-solid reactions. It appears that the present Martian regolith as analyzed by the Viking landers contains a major contribution from ancient crust as typified today by the southern cratered highlands, with a lesser contribution from the younger, hemispherically restricted basaltic lavas.     

A strategy for frequency spectra of quaternary climate records

The paleoclimatic variability at frequencies ranging from 10^–4 cycle per year (cpy) to 10^–5 cpy is investigated using a set of four deep-sea cores from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Dominant features are the presence of orbital frequencies corresponding to mean periods of 117.7, 43.6, 24.9 and 19.3 kyr. These are statistically significant according to such advanced spectral tools as Blackman-Tukey, maximum entropy and the highly efficient Thomson technique. However, the main purpose of this paper is methodological, describing the statistical analyses of time series with modern methods in order to stress their relative power, advantages and disadvantages. The more advanced statistical methods confirm the coincidence of the dominant periods in the deep sea cores and those in the astronomical elements, including combination tones. Three frequency bands of high paleoclimatic variability centred at 15.4, 13 and 10.8 kyr are indeed also detected. These two last periods are very close to those predicted by the climatic non-linear model of Ghil and Le Treut and found by Pestiaux et al. and Yiou et al.