A geochronological and petrological study of anatectic paragneiss and associated granite dykes from the Day Nui Con Voi metamorphic core complex,North Vietnam: constraints on the timing of metamorphism within the Red River shear zone

The Red River shear zone (RRSZ) is a major left‐lateral strike‐slip shear zone, containing a ductilely deformed metamorphic core bounded by brittle strike‐slip and normal faults, which stretches for >1000 km from Tibet through Yunnan and North Vietnam to the South China Sea. The RRSZ exposes four high‐grade metamorphic core complexes along its length. Various lithologies from the southernmost core complex, the Day Nui Con Voi (DNCV), North Vietnam, provide new constraints on the tectonic and metamorphic evolution of this region prior to and following the initial India–Asia collision. Analysis of a weakly deformed anatectic paragneiss using P–T pseudosections constructed in the MnO–Na₂O–CaO–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–TiO₂–O (MnNCKFMASHTO) system provides prograde, peak and retrograde metamorphic conditions, and in situ U–Th–Pb geochronology of metamorphic monazite yields texturally controlled age constraints. Tertiary metamorphism and deformation, overprinting earlier Triassic metamorphism associated with the Indosinian orogeny and possible Cretaceous metamorphism, are characterized by peak metamorphic conditions of ~805 °C and ~8.5 kbar between c. 38 and 34 Ma. Exhumation occurred along a steep retrograde P–T path with final melt crystallizing at the solidus at ≥~5.5 kbar at ~790 °C. Further exhumation at ~640–700 °C and ~4–5 kbar at c. 31 Ma occurred at subsolidus conditions. U–Pb geochronological analysis of monazite from a strongly deformed pre‐kinematic granite dyke from the flank of the DNCV provides further evidence for exhumation at this time. Magmatic grains suggest initial emplacement at 66.0 ± 1.0 Ma prior to the India–Asia collision, whereas grains with metamorphic characteristics indicate later growth at 30.6 ± 0.4 Ma. Monazite grains from a cross‐cutting post‐kinematic dyke within the core of the DNCV antiform provide a minimum age constraint of 25.2 ± 1.4 Ma for the termination of fabric development. A separate and significant episode of monazite growth at c. 83–69 Ma is suggested to be the result of fluid‐assisted recrystallization following the emplacement of magmatic units.     

Computational methods for fitting statistical distribution models of multi-site binding equilibria

Statistical distribution models of multi-site binding equilibria have potential applicability in the study of acid-base and metal complexation chemistry of humic substances in soils, sediments, and natural waters. A mathematical derivation is presented for the general continuous model for the case of proton binding; computational methods are described for fitting numerically the parameters in such models. Among models considered are those based on nontruncated, truncated, and bimodal (mixed) distributions. Specific emphasis is placed on Gaussian distribution models.     

U–Pb isotopic constraints on diachronous metamorphism in the northern Monashee complex, southern Canadian Cordillera

U–Pb isotopic data from the northern Monashee complex, one of the deepest structural exposures in the southern Canadian Cordillera, indicate that the age of metamorphism varies according to structural position in a 6 km thick section. This metamorphism resulted in an unusual sequence in which rocks with the lowest-grade mineral assemblage (kyanite–sillimanite–staurolite–muscovite) are underlain and overlain by higher-grade rocks. Xenotime and monazite U–Pb dates vary progressively from 64 Ma in the structurally highest rocks to 49 Ma in the deepest rocks. Discordant U–Pb ages from Proterozoic and Cretaceous monazite and titanite are used to interpret the thermal significance of the early Tertiary dates. The discordant analyses define linear arrays with lower intercepts that broadly overlap with early Tertiary, and the amount of discordance varies with structural level; it is least in the deeper rocks and greatest in higher rocks. Electron microprobe work showed that the monazite discordance in the deeper rocks resulted from Tertiary mineral overgrowth and recrystallization rather than Pb diffusion. We use previous studies of Pb diffusion and the fact that Proterozoic monazite and titanite suffered only negligible to moderate amounts of diffusive Pb loss to contend that elevated temperatures (c. 600–650 °C are inferred from pelitic mineral assemblages) existed in the deeper rocks for a short duration, perhaps a few million years. The downwards younging 64–49 Ma U–Pb dates are interpreted as closely reflecting xenotime and monazite growth ages rather than cooling ages or substantially reset ages based on the lack of Pb diffusion in monazite and the previously obtained ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data which suggest that rapid cooling occurred immediately after the U–Pb dates. In addition, growth ages are interpreted as thermal peak ages based on U–Pb dates from coeval kyanite-bearing leucosomes, the consistent nature of the U–Pb dates throughout the study area, and petrographic relationships which suggest that monazite grew before or during development of the syn-metamorphic foliation. These interpretations lead us to conclude that metamorphism was diachronous according to structural level, with higher rocks attaining peak temperatures and cooling rapidly while deeper rocks were heating towards a thermal peak that was attained a few million years later. This thermal scenario requires that higher rocks cannot have been the heat source for the deeper metamorphism, as was previously proposed.     

Simulation of the Magnetothermal Instability

In many magnetized, dilute astrophysical plasmas, thermal conduction occurs almost exclusively parallel to magnetic field lines. In this case, the usual stability criterion for convective stability, the Schwarzschild criterion, which depends on entropy gradients, is modified. In the magnetized long mean free path regime, instability occurs for small wavenumbers when (∂ P/∂z) (∂ ln T/∂ z) > 0, which we refer to as the Balbus criterion. We refer to the convective-type instability that results as the magnetothermal instability (MTI). We use the equations of MHD with anisotropic electron heat conduction to numerically simulate the linear growth and nonlinear saturation of the MTI in plane-parallel atmospheres that are unstable according to the Balbus criterion. The linear growth rates measured from the simulations are in excellent agreement with the weak field dispersion relation. The addition of isotropic conduction, e.g. radiation, or strong magnetic fields can damp the growth of the MTI and affect the nonlinear regime. The instability saturates when the atmosphere becomes isothermal as the source of free energy is exhausted. By maintaining a fixed temperature difference between the top and bottom boundaries of the simulation domain, sustained convective turbulence can be driven. MTI-stable layers introduced by isotropic conduction are used to prevent the formation of unresolved, thermal boundary layers. We find that the largest component of the time-averaged heat flux is due to advective motions as opposed to the actual thermal conduction itself. Finally, we explore the implications of this instability for a variety of astrophysical systems, such as neutron stars, the hot intracluster medium of galaxy clusters, and the structure of radiatively inefficient accretion flows. J. M. Stone: Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544     

Influences of Salinity and Light Availability on Abundance and Distribution of Tidal Freshwater and Oligohaline Submersed Aquatic Vegetation

Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) communities have undergone declines worldwide, exposing them to invasions from non-native species. Over the past decade, the invasive species Hydrilla verticillata has been documented in several tributaries of the lower Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. We used annual aerial mapping surveys from 1998 to 2007, integrated with spatial analyses of water quality data, to analyze the patterns and rates of change of a H. verticillata-dominated SAV community and relate them to varying salinity and light conditions. Periods of declining SAV coverage corresponded to periods where salinities exceeded 7 and early growing season (April to May) Secchi depths were <0.4 m. Increases were driven by the expansion of H. verticillata along with several other species into the upper estuary, where some areas experienced an 80% increase in cover. Field investigations revealed H. verticillata dominance to be limited to the upper estuary where total suspended solid concentrations during the early growing season were <15 mg l⁻¹ and salinity remained <3. The effect of poor early growing season water clarity on annual SAV growth highlights the importance of water quality during this critical life stage. Periods of low clarity combined with periodic salinity intrusions may limit the dominance of H. verticillata in these types of estuarine systems. This study shows the importance of the use of these types of biologically relevant episodic events to supplement seasonal habitat requirements and also provides evidence for the potential important role of invasive species in SAV community recovery.     

Sedimentary recycling in arc magmas: geochemical and U–Pb–Hf–O constraints on the Mesoproterozoic Suldal Arc, SW Norway

The Hardangervidda-Rogaland Block within southwest Norway is host to ~1.52 to 1.48 Ga continental building and variable reworking during the ~1.1 to 0.9 Ga Sveconorwegian orogeny. Due to the lack of geochronological and geochemical data, the timing and tectonic setting of early Mesoproterozoic magmatism has long been ambiguous. This paper presents zircon U–Pb–Hf–O isotope data combined with whole-rock geochemistry to address the age and petrogenesis of basement units within the Suldal region, located in the centre of the Hardangervidda-Rogaland Block. The basement comprises variably deformed grey gneisses and granitoids that petrologically and geochemically resemble mature volcanic arc lithologies. U–Pb ages confirm that magmatism occurred from ~1,521 to 1,485 Ma, and conspicuously lack any xenocrystic inheritance of distinctly older crust. Hafnium isotope data range from εHf_(initial) +1 to +11, suggesting a rather juvenile magmatic source, but with possible involvement of late Palaeoproterozoic crust. Oxygen isotope data range from mantle-like (δ¹⁸O ~5 ‰) to elevated (~10 ‰) suggesting involvement of low-temperature altered material (e.g., supracrustal rocks) in the magma source. The Hf–O isotope array is compatible with mixing between mantle-derived material with young low-temperature altered material (oceanic crust/sediments) and older low-temperature altered material (continent-derived sediments). This, combined with a lack of xenoliths and xenocrysts, exposed older crust, AFC trends and S-type geochemistry, all point to mixing within a deep-crustal magma-generation zone. A proposed model comprises accretion of altered oceanic crust and the overlying sediments to a pre-existing continental margin, underthrusting to the magma-generation zone and remobilisation during arc magmatism. The geodynamic setting for this arc magmatism is comparable with that seen in the Phanerozoic (e.g., the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range batholiths), with compositions in the Suldal Sector reaching those of average upper continental crust. As within these younger examples, factors that drive magmatism towards the composition of the average continental crust include the addition of sedimentary material to magma source regions, and delamination of cumulate material. Underthrusting of sedimentary materials and their subsequent involvement in arc magmatism is perhaps a more widespread mechanism involved in continental growth than is currently recognised. Finally, the Suldal Arc magmatism represents a significant juvenile crustal addition to SW Fennoscandia.     

A study of ozone in the Colorado mountains

The seasonal and diurnal variations of ozone mixing ratios have been observed at Niwot Ridge. Colorado. The ozone mixing ratios have been correlated with the NO _x (NO+NO₂) mixing ratios measured concurrently at the site. The seasonal and diurnal variations in O₃ can be reasonably well understood by considering photochemistry and transport. In the winter there is no apparent systematic diurnal variation in the O₃ mixing ratio because there is little diurnal change of transport and a slow photochemistry. In the summer, the O₃ levels at the site are suppressed at night due to the presence of a nocturnal inversion layer that isolated ozone near the surface, where it is destroyed. Ozone is observed to increase in the summer during the day. The increases in ozone correlate with increasing NO _x levels, as well as with the levels of other compounds of anthropogenic origin. We interpret this correlation as in-situ or in-transit photochemical production of ozone from these precursors that are transported to our site. The levels of ozone recorded approach 100 ppbv at NO _x mixing ratios of approximately 3 ppbv. Calculations made using a simple clean tropospheric chemical model are consistent with the NO _x -related trend observed for the daytime ozone mixing ratio. However, the chemistry, which does not include nonmethane hydrocarbon photochemistry, underestimates the observed O₃ production.     

Zircon U/Pb and Pb/Pb geochronology of the Rastenberg granodiorite,South Bohemian Massif,Austria

Summary A combined zircon typology, zircon Pb-Pb evaporation, and conventional U-Pb study of the late- to post-tectonic Rastenberg granodiorite yields the following results: Typological investigations show two distinguishable zircon populations. Type l: subtype S24 ofPupin, colourless to slightly pink, clear to turbid, often with cores, few to abundant inclusions, long prismatic; type 2: subtype S4 ofPupin, colourless to reddish or slightly pink, clear to slightly turbid, no visible cores, abundant inclusions, tabular habit, short prismatic.At least 4 different zircon-forming events can be distinguished: Inherited cores with ages around 623±22Ma and single ages > 1206Ma from type 1 zircons imply the reworking of rocks derived from Cadomian and Proterozoic to Archean crust. Ages around 353±9Ma from type 1 zircons are interpreted as timing a first magma formation or the onset of a long-lasting magma-generating event during the Variscan plutonism in the South Bohemian pluton. The actual intrusion of the granodioritic magma into the middle crust took place around 338±2Ma (type 2 and rims of type 1 zircons).Only type 1 zircons are found as inclusions in large K-feldspar phenocrysts providing evidence that these phenocrysts have grown before the 338Ma event and may be as old as 353 Ma.[]

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Zirkon U/Pb und Pb/Pb Geochronologie des Rastenberger Granodiorits, südliche Böhmische Masse, Österreich

Zusammenfassung Zirkon-typologische Untersuchungen, Einzelzirkon Pb-Pb-Evaporations- und konventionelle U-Pb-Altersbestimmungen an Gesteinen des spät- bis postkinematischen Rastenberger Granodiorits geben folgende Resultate: Typologisch lassen sich zwei Zirkonpopulationen unterscheiden: Typ 1: S24 Subtyp vonPupin, farblos bis leicht rosa, klar bis getrübt, häufig mit Kernen, wenige bis viele Einschlüsse, lang prismatisch; Typ 2: S4 Subtyp vonPupin, farblos bis rötlich oder leicht rosa, klar bis leicht getrübt, keine sichtbaren Kerne, viele Einschlüsse, flachtafeliger Habitus, kurzprismatisch.Mindestens 4 unterschiedliche Altersgruppen lassen sich unterscheiden: Ererbte Kerne von Typ 1 Zirkonen mit Altern um 623±22Ma und einzelnen Altern > 1206Ma sprechen für die Aufarbeitung von Gesteinen, die von cadomischen und proterozoischen bis archaischen Gesteinen im Krustenbereich des Südböhmischen Plutons abstammen könnten. Alter um 353±9Ma von Typ 1 Zirkonen werden einer ersten magmatischen Phase oder dem Beginn der Krustenaufschmelzung im Zuge der Bildung der variszischen Plutonite zugeordnet. Die eigentliche Intrusion des Granodiorits um 338±2Ma wird mit Typ 2 und mit Randpartien von Typ 1 Zirkonen erfaßt.In den großen K-Feldspat-Phänokristallen finden sich nur Zirkone vom Typ 1. Dies deutet darauf hin, daß die Phänokristalle vor dem 338Ma Ereignis gebildet wurden, eventuell also bis 353Ma alt sein können.

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With 6 Figures