Geomagnetic modulation of the 36Cl flux in the GRIP ice core, greenland

Geomagnetic field strength is expected to affect the production rate of cosmogenic isotopes such as beryllium-10, carbon-14, or chlorine-36. Chlorine-36 data from the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core agree well with a production rate calculation based on a paleomagnetic reconstruction for the past 100,000 years over both long- and short-term variations. A chlorine-36 peak at 38,000 years ago previously found in the beryllium-10 record from the Vostok ice core can be explained by a period of low geomagnetic field intensity.     

Ages of prehistoric earthquakes revealed by cosmogenic chlorine-36 in a bedrock fault scarp at hebgen lake

Cosmogenic chlorine-36 reveals dates of the multiple prehistoric earthquakes that have produced a scarp on the Hebgen Lake fault. Apparent chlorine-36 ages are stratigraphically correct, follow a predicted theoretical pattern, and produce geologically reasonable model ages of 24, 20, 7.0, 2.6, 1.7, and 0.4 thousand years ago. This result demonstrates the feasibility of using cosmogenic chlorine-36 to extract paleoearthquake records from bedrock fault scarps.     

High-pressure mechanical instability in rocks

At a confining pressure of a few kilobars, deformation of many sedimentary rocks, altered mafic rocks, porous volcanic rocks, and sand is ductile, in that instabilities leading to audible elastic shocks are absent. At pressures of 7 to 10 kilobars, however, unstable faulting and stick-slip in certain of these rocks was observed. This high pressure-low temperature instability might be responsible for earthquakes in deeply buried sedimentary or volcanic sequences.     

水产养殖尾水初沉区中净化材料的应用对微生物酶活性的影响

通过检测除氮型改性凹凸棒土（Al@TCAP-N）和火山石的内部及周围水体有关氮、磷、有机物分解的酶活性和水质指标，利用高通量测序对材料和水体中的细菌和真菌进行分析，以研究尾水处理系统初沉区中水质净化材料处理尾水营养盐的机制。结果表明，Al@TCAP-N和火山石能增加其周围水体微生物碱性磷酸酶（AKP）、硝酸盐还原酶（Nar）活性；火山石能在早期（0~6 h）提高其内部有机磷水解酶（OPH）、氨单加氧酶（AMO）的活性；Al@TCAP-N能在后期（36~48 h）增加其内部脱氢酶（DHO）的活性；净化材料相互对比发现，火山石内部的酶活性整体高于Al@TCAP-N内部的酶活性；本试验表明水质处理最佳时间为36 h，总氮（TN）、总磷（TP）、高锰酸盐指数（COD_Mn）的去除率分别为22.61%、9.52%和22.16%。在实际应用过程中，可通过Al@TCAP-N的吸附和火山石负载的微生物的双重作用降低水中营养盐的含量。浮霉菌门（Planctomycetes）、变形菌门（Protepbacteria）、拟杆菌门（Bacteroidetes）和壶菌门（Chytridiomycota）分别是材料表面微生物细菌和真菌中的主要门类。火山石能在净化初期促进有机磷化合物分解和硝态氮（NO₃^--N）转化为亚硝态氮（NO₂^--N），Al@TCAP-N在净化后期促进有机物的分解。Al@TCAP-N和火山石能促进水体中含磷化合物的分解和氮的转化。     

High-3He Plume Origin and Temporal-Spatial Evolution of the Siberian Flood Basalts

An olivine nephelinite from the lower part of a thick alkalic ultrabasic and mafic sequence of volcanic rocks of the northeastern part of the Siberian flood basalt province (SFBP) yielded a (40)Ar/(39)Ar plateau age of 253.3 +/- 2.6 million years, distinctly older than the main tholeiitic pulse of the SFBP at 250.0 million years. Olivine phenocrysts of this rock showed (3)He/(4)He ratios up to 12.7 times the atmospheric ratio; these values suggest a lower mantle plume origin. The neodymium and strontium isotopes, rare earth element concentration patterns, and cerium/lead ratios of the associated rocks were also consistent with their derivation from a near-chondritic, primitive plume. Geochemical data from the 250-million-year-old volcanic rocks higher up in the sequence indicate interaction of this high-(3)He SFBP plume with a suboceanic-type upper mantle beneath Siberia.     

Electron-microprobe analyses of phases in lunar samples

In fine (type A) and coarse-grained (type B) Apollo 11 lunar volcanic rocks clinopyroxenes are extremely inhomogeneous. Ferrosilite-rich areas in type B rocks have decomposed to submicron vermicular intergrowths of clinopyroxene-fayalite-cristobalite(?). Plagioclase has normal zoning with K(2)O up to 0.5 percent in rims. Ilmenites are relatively homogeneous with low mgo(0.1 to 2 percent) and high zro(2) (up to 0.26 percent). Metal phase in troilite has <0.02 percent nickel. The breccias (type C) and fines (type D) containing 0.09 to 10.52 percent Ti0(2.) Rare metal fragments with meteorite-like compositions occur in breccias and fines. Gross similarities between euctites and Apollo 11 volcanic rocks indiacate similar evolutionary environments, but detailed mineralogical differences suggest either separate origins or if eucrites are lunar, chemical inhomogeneities on the lunar surface.     

The apollo 16 lunar samples: petrographic and chemical description

The preliminary characterization of the rocks and soils returned from the Apollo 16 site has substantiated the inference that the lunar terra are commonly underlain by plagioclase-rich or anorthositic rocks. No evidence has been found for volcanic rocks underlying the regolith in the Apollo 16 region. In their place, we have found anorthositic rocks that are thoroughly modified by crushing and partial melting. The textural and chemical variations in these rocks provide some evidence for the existence of anorthositic complexes that have differentiated on a scale of tens to hundreds of meters. The occurrence of deep-seated or plutonic rocks in place of volcanic or pyroclastic materials at this site suggests that the inference from physiographic evidence that the latter materials are widespread in terra regions may be incorrect. Several additional, more specific conclusions derived from this preliminary examination are: 1) The combination of data from the Descartes region with data from the orbital x-ray fluorescence experiment indicates that some backside, highland regions are underlain by materials that consist of more than 80 percent plagioclase. 2) The soil or upper regolith between North Ray and South Ray has not been completely homogenized since the time of formation of these craters. 3) The chemistry of the soil indicates that rocks rich in potassium, uranium, and thorium, similar to those that prevail at the Fra Mauro site, are relatively abundant (10 to 20 percent) in the Descartes region. 4) The K/U ratio of the lunar crust is similar to that of the KREEP basalts. 5) The carbon content of the premare lunar crust is even lower than that of the mare volcanic rocks.     

Abnormal p-wave delays in the geysers--clear lake geothermal area, california

Large teleseismic delays, exceeding 1 second, are found near Mount Hannah in the Clear Lake volcanic field and in the steam-production area at The Geysers. The delays are superimposed on a general delay field of about 0.5 second extending over the volcanic rocks and the steam reservoir. It is postulated that a magma chamber under the surface volcanic rocks with a core of severely molten rock beneath Mount Hannah and a highly fractured steam reservoir probably underlain by partially molten rock at The Geysers are responsible for the observed delays. Both zones extend to depths of 20 kilometers or more.     

The age of parana flood volcanism, rifting of gondwanaland, and the jurassic-cretaceous boundary

The Paraná-Etendeka flood volcanic event produced approximately 1.5 x 10(6) cubic kilometers of volcanic rocks, ranging from basalts to rhyolites, before the separation of South America and Africa during the Cretaceous period. New (40)Ar/(39)Ar data combined with earlier paleomagnetic results indicate that Paraná flood volcanism in southern Brazil began at 133 +/- 1 million years ago and lasted less than 1 million years. The implied mean eruption rate on the order of 1.5 cubic kilometers per year is consistent with a mantle plume origin for the event and is comparable to eruption rates determined for other well-documented continental flood volcanic events. Paraná flood volcanism occurred before the initiation of sea floor spreading in the South Atlantic and was probably precipitated by uplift and weakening of the lithosphere by the Tristan da Cunha plume. The Parana event postdates most current estimates for the age of the faunal mass extinction associated with the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary.     

Gas analysis of the lunar surface

The rare gas analysis of the lunar surface has lead to important conclusions concerning the moon. The large amounts of rare gases found in the lunar soil and breccia indicate that the solar atmosphere is trapped in the lunar soil as no other source of such large amounts of gas is known. The cosmogenic products indicate that the exposure ages of the 17 lunar rocks measured vary from 20 to 400 million years with some grouping of the ages. The most striking feature is the old potassium-argon age which for the 14 rocks analyzed varies from 2.5 to 3.8 billion years. It is concluded that Mare Tranquillitatis crystallized about 4 billion years ago from a molten state produced by a large meteorite impact or volcanic flow.     

A neoproterozoic snowball earth

Negative carbon isotope anomalies in carbonate rocks bracketing Neoproterozoic glacial deposits in Namibia, combined with estimates of thermal subsidence history, suggest that biological productivity in the surface ocean collapsed for millions of years. This collapse can be explained by a global glaciation (that is, a snowball Earth), which ended abruptly when subaerial volcanic outgassing raised atmospheric carbon dioxide to about 350 times the modern level. The rapid termination would have resulted in a warming of the snowball Earth to extreme greenhouse conditions. The transfer of atmospheric carbon dioxide to the ocean would result in the rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate in warm surface waters, producing the cap carbonate rocks observed globally.     

Exposure of basement rock on the continental slope of the bering sea

Profiles of repetitive seismnic reflections reveal that the Bering con tinental slope, outer shelf, and rise overlay an acoustically reflective "basement" which extends at least 750 kilometers parallel to the trend of the slope. This acoustic basement is usually covered by several hundred meters of stratified sediments at the top and bottom of the slope; however, it is exposed in sub marine canyons and flanking spurs along the main part of the slope for a distance of at least 550 kilometers northwest of the Pribilof Islands. The lithologic composition and the age of the rocks of the acoustic basement are not known. However, its probable seismic velocity of 3.1 to 3.7 kilometers per second suggests that it is composed of volcanic rocks or lithified sedimentary rocks or both. The regional geology suggests that the acoustic basement is the upper surface of folded late Mesozoic rocks which were locally intruded by granite and serpentine. The structure of the Bering slope, as deduced from the acoustic profiles, suggests that the surface of the basement has been monoclinically flexed and faulted between the shelf edge and the deep Aleutian Basin.     

Episodic rifting of phanerozoic rocks in the victoria land basin, Western ross sea, antarctica

Multichannel seismic-reflection data show that the Victoria Land-basin, unlike other sedimentary basins in the Ross Sea, includes a rift-depression 15 to 25 kilometers wide that parallels the Transantarctic Mountains and contains up to 12 kilometers of possible Paleozoic to Holocene age sedimentary rocks. An unconformity separates the previously identified Cenozoic sedimentary section from the underlying strata of possible Mesozoic and Paleozoic age. Late Cenozoic volcanic rocks intrude into the entire section along the eastern flank of the basin. The Victoria Land basin is probably part of a more extensive rift system that has been active episodically since Paleozoic time. Inferred rifting and basin subsidence during Mesozoic and Cenozoic time may be associated with regional crustal extension and uplift of the nearby Transantarctic Mountains.     

Chlorine-36 dating of saline sediments: preliminary results from searles lake, california

Measurements have been made of the ratios of chlorine-36 to chlorine in five halite samples from Searles Lake sediments, previously dated by carbon-14, thorium-230, and magnetostratigraphic techniques. The ages calculated from the chlorine ratios are generally concordant with those from the other methods, implying the constancy of the chlorine input ratio over the last million years.     

The works of living social insects as pseudofossils and the age of the oldest known metazoa

Living organisms are known to create structures in ancient rocks that are indigenous but not primary and that have been mistaken for fossils. Examination of burrows recently reported as fossils from 10(9)-year-old sedimentary rocks indicates that they are not the same age as the rocks but were probably made by termites working down after water. The burrows are partially filled with material from a modern lateritic surface from which they descend into steeply dipping, decomposed silt-stones of the Zambian Copperbelt. In fact, no authentic record of Metazoa that are demonstrably coeval with rocks older than 680 million years is known.     

Radiogenic Strontium-87 as an Index of Geologic Processes

The abundance of radiogenic Sr(87) relative to Sr(86) at the time of crystallization has been determined for 45 rocks. The total range in the ratio Sr(87)/Sr(86) is less than 2 percent. Ratios for recent lavas range from 0.702 to 0.711. Oceanic basalts are closely grouped at 0.703, whereas ratios for continental volcanic rocks spread from 0.702 to 0.711. Among the volcanic rocks, ranging from basalt to rhyolite, no correlation was found between original ratio and rock type. Older mafic and felsic rocks that include both plutonic and extrusive types also cover this same range in original Sr(87)/Sr(86) ratios; however, there is a definite trend with geologic time. Precambrian rocks give values as low as 0.700. The data indicate that Sr(87)/Sr(86) of the weathering crust has changed 1.1 percent in 3000 million years, while the ratio in the mantle has changed no more than 0.5 percent.     

Stimulation of colonic secretion by lipoxygenase metabolites of arachidonic acid

Both 5-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HPETE) and 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) increased the short-circuit current (Isc) in rabbit colonic mucosa mounted in vitro in Ussing chambers. Measurements of chlorine-36 fluxes indicated that the Isc response to 5-HPETE is due to stimulation of active chlorine secretion. 9-, 11-, and 12-HPETE's and leukotrienes C4 and B4 produced either very small increases in Isc or no increase. In contrast to results in rabbit colon, no HPETE, HETE, or leukotriene was effective in rabbit ileal mucosa. The effects of 5-HPETE in the rabbit colon were unaffected by mepacrine, but could be partially blocked by indomethacin. These results suggest that drugs which block both cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase may be effective antidiarrheals in patients with colitis.     

Solar neutrino production of technetium-97 and technetium-98

It may be possible to determine the boron-8 solar neutrino flux, averaged over the past several million years, from the concentration of technetium-98 in molybdenite. The mass spectrometry of this system is greatly simplified by the absence of stable technetium isotopes, and the presence of the fission product technetium-99 provides a monitor of uiranium-induced backgrounds. This geochemical experiment could provide the first test of nonstandard solar models that suggest a relation between the chlorine-37 solar neutrino puzzle and the recent ice age.     

Rare gas isotopes in hawaiian ultramafic nodules and volcanic rocks: constraint on genetic relationships

Differences in the rare gas isotopic ratios, especially the ratios of helium-3 to helium-4 and of argon-40 to argon-36, in Hawaiian ultramafic nodules and phenocrysts in volcanic rocks indicate that the nodules and phenocrysts were derived from different sources. The isotopic ratios in ultramafic nodules are similar to those in oceanic tholeiites. The phenocrysts seem to have formed in equilibrium with source materials richer in primordial components than those of the oceanic tholeiites. Mixing between the sources is quite likely.     

Potassium-argon ages from the galapagos islands

Potassium-argon ages of eight volcanic rocks from some of the geologically oldest flows exposed in the Galápagos Archipelago indicate that the Galápagos Islands have a probable maximum age of 3 million years. Rocks from six islands were dated; the oldest are from Espa?ola (3.2 +/- 0.2), Sante Fe (2.7 +/- 0.1), and Plazas (4.2 +/- 1.8 million years). The new data suggest that the Galápagos Islands are younger than previously supposed on the basis of marine magnetic anomaly dating, but they are older than most previously dated rocks from the Galápagos.