Inverted echo sounder measurement of dynamic height through an ENSOcycle in the central equatorial Pacific

A four-year record from an inverted echo sounder deployed near Palmyra Island at 6°N in the central Pacific Ocean is compared with a simultaneous record of subsurface pressure from this island lagoon. A factor m, converting round-trip acoustic travel time to surface dynamic height relative to a deep pressure level, was estimated from the ratio of the spectra of the two records in the energetic synoptic oscillation band. Year-to-year variation in m was not statistically significant. For the overall record, m was found to be -70±8 dynamic m/s, where the error bounds represent a 90% confidence interval. This is consistent with first-baroclinic-mode excitation     

Diffusion-limited REE uptake by eclogite garnets and its consequences for Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd geochronology

Garnets from the Zermatt-Saas Fee eclogites contain narrow central peaks for Lu + Yb + Tm ± Er and at least one additional small peak towards the rim. The REE Sm + Eu + Gd + Tb ± Dy are depleted in the cores but show one prominent peak close to the rim. These patterns cannot be modeled using Rayleigh fractionation accompanied by mineral breakdown reactions. Instead, the patterns are well explained using a transient matrix diffusion model where REE uptake is limited by diffusion in the matrix surrounding the porphyroblast. Observed profiles are well matched if a roughly linear radius growth rate is used. The secondary peaks in the garnet profiles are interpreted to reflect thermally activated diffusion due to temperature increase during prograde metamorphism. The model predicts anomalously low ¹⁷⁶Lu/¹⁷⁷Hf and ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios in garnets where growth rates are fast compared to diffusion of the REE, and these results have important implications for Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd geochronology using garnet.     

巴东长江公路大桥桥位边坡稳定可靠性研究

以巴东长江公路大桥桥位边坡为例，在前人稳定性评价的基础上，建立了基于剩余推力法和Sarma法的边坡稳定可靠性分析模型，分析表明边坡系统可靠性指标(β，Pf)能更准确地表达边坡稳定性、安全性和工程风险水平。     

Low melting temperature for calcite at 1000 bars on the join CaCO3‐H2O – some geological implications

Melting experiments of calcite were performed on the join CaCO₃‐H₂O at a pressure of 1000 bars. The system evolves to the ternary CaO‐H₂O‐CO₂ system during melting experiments. Our experiments show that partial melting of calcite begins at a low temperature, below 650 °C. Such a low partial melting temperature for carbonates revives the debate about the presence of carbonate melts in the upper crust. More specifically, the conditions for carbonate partial melting are present in carbonate host rocks undergoing contact metamorphism at high temperatures in the presence of water‐rich fluid. The presence of carbonate melts influences physical parameters such as viscosity and permeability in contact aureoles, and, furthermore, decarbonation reactions release massive amounts of CO₂.     

Oxygen isotope speedometry in granulite facies garnet recording fluid/melt–rock interaction (Sør Rondane Mountains,East Antarctica)

In situ analysis of a garnet porphyroblast from a granulite facies gneiss from Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica, reveals discontinuous step‐wise zoning in phosphorus and large δ¹⁸O variations from the phosphorus‐rich core to the phosphorus‐poor rim. The gradually decreasing profile of oxygen isotope from the core (δ¹⁸O = ~15‰) to the rim (δ¹⁸O = ~11‰) suggests that the ¹⁸O/¹⁶O zoning was originally step‐wise, and modified by diffusion after the garnet rim formation at ~800°C and 0.8 GPa. Fitting of the ¹⁸O/¹⁶O data to the diffusion equation constrains a duration of the high‐T event (~800°C) to c. 0.5–40 Ma after the garnet rim formation. The low δ¹⁸O value of the garnet rim, together with the previously reported low δ¹⁸O values in metacarbonates, indicates regional infiltration, probably along a detachment fault, of low δ¹⁸O fluid/melt possibly derived from meta‐mafic to ultramafic rocks.     

A TEM and EELS study of carbon in a melt fragment from the Gardnos impact structure

A carbon‐rich melt fragment from the Gardnos impact structure has been studied for a better understanding of the preservation and structural form(s) of carbon that have been processed by impact melting. The carbon was analyzed in situ in its original petrographic context within the melt fragment, using high‐resolution techniques including focused ion beam‐transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Results show that the carbon is largely uniform and has a nanocrystalline grain size. The Gardnos carbon has a graphitic structure but with a large c/a ratio indicating disorder. The disorder could be a result of rapid heating to high temperatures during impact, followed by rapid cooling, with not enough time to crystallize into highly ordered graphite. However, temperature distribution during impact is extremely heterogenous, and the disordered Gardnos carbon could also represent material that avoided extreme temperatures, and thus, it was preserved. Understanding the structure of carbon during terrestrial impacts is important to help determine if the history of carbon within extraterrestrial samples is impact related. Furthermore, the degree of preservation of carbon during impact is key for locating and detecting organic compounds in extraterrestrial samples. This example from Gardnos, together with previous studies, shows that not all carbon is lost to oxidation during impact but that impact melting can encapsulate and preserve carbon where it is available.     

Study on General Performance of Jack-up Under Elevated Condition

Method of checking for jack-up elevated performance including leg structure strength, fixation system or jacking system bearing capacity, pre-load requirements, spud can bearing capacity and overturning stability is suggested in this paper. As an example, a jack-up with truss legs is analyzed by finite element analysis method. This paper may be helpful to the rig owners, operators and designers.     

Coastal upwelling along the north coast of Papua New Guinea and SST cooling over the pacific warm pool: A case study for the 2002/03 El Niño event

We investigate an overlooked mechanism—coastal upwelling—for sea surface temperature (SST) cooling in the western side of the mean location of the Pacific warm pool (WSWP: 5°S–5°N, 140°E–150°E) prior to El Niño onset. We analyze various observed data such as the TRIangle Trans-Ocean buoy Network (TRITON) moored buoy data, Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) data, satellite data and a hindcast experiment output by a high-resolution ocean general circulation model (OGCM). We focus on the precondition of the 2002/03 El Niño event, for which many datasets are available. Relatively cool water upwelled along the north coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) during December 2001, prior to the onset of the 2002/03 El Niño event, and then spread out over a wider area to the northeast. Simultaneously, strong west-northerly surface winds occur along the north coast. Heat budget analysis of TRITON buoy data in the WSWP reveals that negative zonal heat advection due to eastward current is the main factor for cooling the mixed layer in the WSWP in contrast to the warming effect of the surface heat flux during the period. This cooling requires a source of colder water to the west. Similar analysis of OGCM outputs also suggests that the upwelled relatively cool water along the PNG north coast, and its northeastward extension to the equatorial region, contributes to cooling of the surface water over the WSWP mainly via negative zonal heat advection. Similar mechanisms are confirmed also for the 1982/83 and 1997/98 El Niño events by analyses of OGCM outputs and historical SST data. The low SST in the WSWP generated a positive zonal SST gradient together with high SST east of the WSWP. It may contribute to enhancement of the westerly surface wind in this region, leading to the onset of the 2002/03 El Niño event.     

Protracted storage of CR chondrules in a region of the disk transparent to galactic cosmic rays

Renazzo‐type carbonaceous (CR) chondrites are accretionary breccias that formed last. As such they are ideal samples to study precompaction exposures to cosmic rays. Here, we present noble gas data for 24 chondrules and 3 dark inclusion samples (DIs) from Shi?r 033 (CR2). The meteorite was selected based on the absence of implanted solar wind noble gases and an anomalous oxygen isotopic composition of the DIs; the oxygen isotopes match those in CV3 and CO3 chondrites. Our samples contain variable mixtures of galactic cosmic ray (GCR)‐produced cosmogenic noble gases and trapped noble gases of presolar origin. Remarkably, all chondrules have cosmogenic ³He and ²¹Ne concentrations up to 4.3 and 7.1 times higher than the DIs, respectively. We derived an average ³He‐²¹Ne cosmic ray exposure (CRE) age for Shi?r 033 of 2.03 ± 0.20 Ma (2 SD) and excesses in cosmogenic ³He and ²¹Ne in chondrules (relative to the DIs) in the range (in 10^?8 cm³STP/g) 3.99–7.76 and 0.94–1.71, respectively. Assuming present‐day GCR flux density, the excesses translate into average precompaction ³He‐²¹Ne CRE ages of 3.1–27.3 Ma depending on the exposure geometry. The data can be interpreted assuming a protracted storage of a single chondrule generation prior to the final assembly of the Shi?r 033 parent body in a region of the disk transparent to GCRs.     

Coupling of oceanic and continental crust during Eocene eclogite-facies metamorphism: evidence from the Monte Rosa nappe,western Alps

High precision U–Pb geochronology of rutile from quartz–carbonate–white mica–rutile veins that are hosted within eclogite and schist of the Monte Rosa nappe, western Alps, Italy, indicate that the Monte Rosa nappe was at eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions at 42.6 ± 0.6 Ma. The sample area [Indren glacier, Furgg zone; Dal Piaz (2001) Geology of the Monte Rosa massif: historical review and personal comments. SMPM] consists of eclogite boudins that are exposed inside a south-plunging overturned synform within micaceous schist. Associated with the eclogite and schist are quartz–carbonate–white mica–rutile veins that formed in tension cracks in the eclogite and along the contact between eclogite and surrounding schist. Intrusion of the veins at about 42.6 Ma occurred at eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions (480–570°C, >1.3–1.4 GPa) based on textural relations, oxygen isotope thermometry, and geothermobarometry. The timing of eclogite-facies metamorphism in the Monte Rosa nappe determined in this study is identical to that of the Gran Paradiso nappe [Meffan-Main et al. (2004) J Metamorphic Geol 22:261–281], confirming that these two units have shared the same Alpine metamorphic history. Furthermore, the Gran Paradiso and Monte Rosa nappes underwent eclogite-facies metamorphism within the same time interval as the structurally overlying Zermatt-Saas ophiolite [∼50–40 Ma; e.g., Amato et al. (1999) Earth Planet Sci Lett 171:425–438; Mayer et al. (1999) Eur Union Geosci 10:809 (abstract); Lapen et al. (2003) Earth Planet Sci Lett 215:57–72]. The nearly identical P–T–t histories of the Gran Paradiso, Monte Rosa, and Zermatt-Saas units suggest that these units shared a common Alpine tectonic and metamorphic history. The close spatial and temporal associations between high pressure (HP) ophiolite and continental crust during Alpine orogeny indicates that the HP internal basement nappes in the western Alps may have played a key role in exhumation and preservation of the ophiolitic rocks through buoyancy-driven uplift. Coupling of oceanic and continental crust may therefore be critical in preventing permanent loss of oceanic crust to the mantle.