Production of isotopic variability in continental basalts by cryptic crustal contamination

Regional variations in the Nd, Sr, and Pb isotopic compositions of Neogene basalts from the western United States are commonly interpreted to originate in the subcontinental mantle. In southern California, isotopic variability is restricted to lavas that lack mantle-derived xenoliths; xenolith-bearing basalts have uniform isotopic compositions similar to those of ocean-island basalts (OIBs). Combined with available geochemical data, these observations suggest that isotopic variability at these volcanoes results from subtle crustal contamination, locally by mafic crust, of primitive OIB-like magma. Recognition of such cryptic contamination may help to reconcile local discrepancies between tectonic and isotopic views of the subcontinental mantle.     

Argon-lead isotopic correlation in mid-atlantic ridge basalts

Step-heating analyses for Mid-Atlantic Ridge glass samples show that maximum 40Ar/36Ar values correlate with 206,207,208Pb/204Pb. These correlations hold for the whole Atlantic Ocean and therefore are unlikely to result from shallow-level contamination processes. Instead, they are taken as mixing hyperbolae between the degassed-depleted upper mantle and a recycled component characterized by high 206Pb/204Pb ratios (19 to 21) and low 40Ar/36Ar ratios (300 to 1000). These relations imply that argon may also be a tracer of mantle recycling.     

Volcanic production rates: comparison of oceanic ridges, islands, and the columbia plateau basalts

New potassium-argon age data from the Columbia Plateau suggest a basalt production rate of 108 cubic meters per year during a middle Miocene volcanic episode. This is two to three times the production rate in some oceanic islands, and about four to six times the production rate in spreading mid-oceanic ridge systems.     

High pre-eruptive water contents preserved in lunar melt inclusions

The Moon has long been thought to be highly depleted in volatiles such as water, and indeed published direct measurements of water in lunar volcanic glasses have never exceeded 50 parts per million (ppm). Here, we report in situ measurements of water in lunar melt inclusions; these samples of primitive lunar magma, by virtue of being trapped within olivine crystals before volcanic eruption, did not experience posteruptive degassing. The lunar melt inclusions contain 615 to 1410 ppm water and high correlated amounts of fluorine (50 to 78 ppm), sulfur (612 to 877 ppm), and chlorine (1.5 to 3.0 ppm). These volatile contents are very similar to primitive terrestrial mid-ocean ridge basalts and indicate that some parts of the lunar interior contain as much water as Earth's upper mantle.     

Deep mantle cycling of oceanic crust: evidence from diamonds and their mineral inclusions

A primary consequence of plate tectonics is that basaltic oceanic crust subducts with lithospheric slabs into the mantle. Seismological studies extend this process to the lower mantle, and geochemical observations indicate return of oceanic crust to the upper mantle in plumes. There has been no direct petrologic evidence, however, of the return of subducted oceanic crustal components from the lower mantle. We analyzed superdeep diamonds from Juina-5 kimberlite, Brazil, which host inclusions with compositions comprising the entire phase assemblage expected to crystallize from basalt under lower-mantle conditions. The inclusion mineralogies require exhumation from the lower to upper mantle. Because the diamond hosts have carbon isotope signatures consistent with surface-derived carbon, we conclude that the deep carbon cycle extends into the lower mantle.     

Silicate liquid immiscibility in lunar magmas, evidenced by melt inclusions in lunar rocks

Examination of multiphase melt inclusions in 91 sections of 26 lunar rocks revealed abundant evidence of late-stage immiscibility in all crystalline rock sections and in soil fragments and most breccias. The two individual immiscible silicate melts (now glasses) vary in composition, but are essentially potassic granite and pyroxenite. This immiscibility may be important in the formation of the lunar highlands and tektites. Other inclusions yield the following temperatures at which the several minerals first appear on cooling the original magma: ilmenite (?) liquidus, 1210 degrees C; pyroxene, 1140 degrees C; plagioclase, 1105 degrees C; solidus, 1075 degrees C. The glasses also place some limitations on maximum and minimum cooling rates.     

Ultrafast source-to-surface movement of melt at island arcs from 226Ra-230Th systematics

Island arc lavas have radium-226 excesses that extend to higher values than those observed in mid-ocean ridge or ocean island basalts. The initial ratio of radium-226 to thorium-230 is largest in the most primitive lavas, which also have the highest barium/thorium ratios, and decreases with increasing magmatic differentiation. Therefore, the radium-226 excesses appear to have been introduced into the base of the mantle melting column by fluids released from the subducting plate. Preservation of this signal requires transport to the surface arguably in only a few hundreds of years and directly constrains the average melt velocity to the order of 1000 meters per year. Thus, melt segregation and channel formation can occur rapidly in the mantle.     

Recent variability in the southern oscillation: isotopic results from a tarawa atoll coral

In the western tropical Pacific, the interannual migration of the Indonesian Low convective system causes changes in rainfall that dominate the regional signature of the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) system. A 96-year oxygen isotope record from a Tarawa Atoll coral (1 degrees N, 172 degrees E) reflects regional convective activity through rainfall-induced salinity changes. This monthly resolution record spans twice the length of the local climatological record and provides a history of ENSO variability comparable in quality with those derived from instrumental climate data. Comparison of this coral record with a historical chronology of EI Ni?o events indicates that climate anomalies in coastal South America are occasionally decoupled from Pacific-wide ENSO extremes. Spectral analysis suggests that the distribution of variance in this record has shifted among annual to interannual periods during the present century, concurrent with observed changes in the strength of the Southern Oscillation.     

Argon-40: excess in submarine pillow basalts from kilauea volcano, hawaii

Submarine pillow basalts from Kilauea Volcano contain excess radiogenic argon-40 and give anomalously high potassium-argon ages. Glassy rims of pillows show a systematic increase in radiogenic argon-40 with depth, and a pillow from a depth of 2590 meters shows a decrease in radiogenic argon40 inward from the pillow rim. The data indicate that the amount of excess radiogenic argon-40 is a direct function of both hydrostatic pressure and rate of cooling, and that many submarine basalts are not suitable for potassium-argon dating.     

Potassium in clinopyroxene inclusions from diamonds

Analytical transmission electron microscopy, electron microprobe analyses, and singlecrystal x-ray diffraction data support the conclusion that high potassium contents, up to 1.5 weight percent K(2)O, of some diopside and omphacite inclusions from diamonds represent valid clinopyroxene compositions with K in solid solution. This conclusion contradicts the traditional view of pyroxene crystal chemistry, which holds that K is too large to be incorporated in the pyroxene structure. These diopside and omphacite inclusions have a high degree of crystal perfection and anomalously large unit-cell volumes, and a defect-free structure is observed in K-bearing regions when imaged by transmission electron microscopy. These observations imply that clinopyroxene can be a significant host for K in the mantle and that some clinopyroxene inclusions and their diamond hosts may have grown in a highly K-enriched environment.     

Mantle plume helium in submarine basalts from the galapagos platform

Helium-3/helium-4 ratios in submarine basalt glasses from the Galapagos Archipelago range up to 23 times the atmospheric ratio in the west and southwest. These results indicate the presence of a relatively undegassed mantle plume at the Galápagos hot spot and place Galápagos alongside Hawaii, Iceland, and Samoa as the only localities known to have such high helium-3/helium-4 ratios. Lower ratios across the rest of the Galápagos Archipelago reflect systematic variations in the degree of dilution of the plume by entrainment of depleted material from the asthenosphere. These spatial variations reveal the dynamics of the underlying mantle plume and its interaction with the nearby Galápagos Spreading Center.     

500,000-year stable carbon isotopic record from devils hole, nevada

The record of carbon-13 (delta(13)C) variations in DH-11 vein calcite core from Devils Hole, Nevada, shows four prominent minima near glacial terminations (glacial-interglacial transitions) V to II. The delta(13)C time series is inversely correlated with the DH-11 oxygen isotope ratio time series and leads it by as much as 7000 years. The delta(13)C variations likely record fluctuations in the delta(13)C of dissolved inorganic carbon of water recharging the aquifer. How such variations are transported 80 kilometers to Devils Hole without obliteration by water-rock reaction remains an enigma. The record may reflect (i) global variations in the delta(13)C of atmospheric CO(2) and, hence, the delta(13)C of continental biomass or (ii) variations in extent and density of vegetation in the southern Great Basin. In the latter case, delta(13)C minima at 414, 334, 246, and 133 thousand years ago mark times of maximum vegetation.     

土壤Cd、As、Pb在水稻植株中的吸收分布特征

通过对浙江宁绍水网平原区的银山、鲤鱼山、蓬里3个地点的土壤与水稻植株中As、Cd、Pb含量研究,结果表明,水稻植株对土壤重金属元素的吸收量,随土壤重金属元素含量的增加而明显增加,水稻对As、Cd有较强的吸收性,对Pb的吸收性相对较弱。土壤重金属元素进入水稻植物体后,大约有97%残存于水稻非食用部位,整体表现为由稻根>茎、叶>籽实的富集特征。     

Deposit from a giant wave on the island of lanai, hawaii

Limestone-bearing gravel, the newly named Hulopoe Gravel, blankets the coastal slopes on Lanai. The deposit, which reaches a maximum altitude of 326 meters, formerly was believed to have been deposited along several different ancient marine strandlines, but dated submerged coral reefs and tide-gauge measurements indicate that the southeastern Hawaiian Islands sink so fast that former worldwide high stands of the sea now lie beneath local sea level. Evidence indicates that the Hulopoe Gravel and similar deposits on nearby islands were deposited during the Pleistocene by a giant wave generated by a submarine landslide on a sea scarp south of Lanai.     

浙南沿海养殖贝类重金属Cu、Cd、As、Pb含量研究

于2014年6、8、10和12月采集温州沿海贝类养殖区具有代表性的产品青蛤、缢蛏、泥蚶和牡蛎共4种128份,对金属含量进行污染评价,运用危害商数(THQs)评价食用海产品对人体健康的潜在风险。结果表明,样品中铜、铅、镉、砷的含量范围分别为0.355~2.155、0.028~1.231、0.138~1.282、0.126~1.275mg/kg。金属污染指数评价结果表明,青蛤重金属污染程度最高,污染程度为青蛤缢蛏泥蚶牡蛎。铅、镉、砷的危害商数小于1,说明养殖贝类中这几种重金属对人体健康不具有潜在风险。     

Heat storage in the oceanic upper mixed layer inferred from landsat data

From the spacing of internal wave packets generated by tidal flow over topography, one can determine their propagation speed. The propagation speed depends upon the density anomaly and depth of the upper mixed layer. Attributing the density anomaly to temperature only, one can calculate the heat storage in the upper oceanic layer. On the basis of Landsat images of the New England continental shelf, the heat storage calculated from satellite data has been compared with available in situ observations. The data show that the method may have merit and is deserving of further refinement.     

U-Pb isotopic age of the StW 573 hominid from Sterkfontein, South Africa

Sterkfontein cave, South Africa, has yielded an australopith skeleton, StW 573, whose completeness has excited great interest in paleoanthropology. StW 573, or "Little Foot," was found 25 meters below the surface in the Silberberg Grotto. 238U-206Pb measurements on speleothems immediately above and below the fossil remains, corrected for initial 234U disequilibrium, yield ages of 2.17 +/- 0.17 million years ago (Ma) and 2.24(-0.07)(+0.09) Ma, respectively, indicating an age for StW 573 of close to 2.2 Ma. This age is in contrast to an age of approximately 3.3 Ma suggested by magnetochronology and ages of approximately 4 Ma based on 10Be and 26Al, but it is compatible with a faunal age range of 4 to 2 Ma.     

Layered basic complex in oceanic crust, romanche fracture, equatorial atlantic ocean

A layered, basic igneous intrusion, analogous in mineralogy and texture to certain large, continental layered complexes, is exposed in the Romanche Fracture, equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Crustal intrusion of large masses of basic magmas with their subsequent gravity differentiation is probably one of a number of major processes involved in the formation of new oceanic crust during sea-floor spreading.     

合肥市土壤中Cd、Hg、Pb、As、Cu和Ni元素的剖面分布特征

选择合肥市不同功能区及不同母质上发育的20个水稻土剖面,分析cd、Hg、Pb、As、Cu和Ni等重金属元素的剖面分布特征.结果表明,工业岗(圩)区、农业岗(圩)区水稻土剖面表层土壤Hg、cd元素含量均值有显著差异,cd、Hg、Pb在表层土壤中富集明显,向下迁移能力较差;工业岗(圩)区Cu、Ni元素在表层土壤中略有累积,As、Cu、Ni含量的剖面分布特征在工业岗(圩)区、农业岗(圩)区差异不显著,土壤中TFe2O3含量和地下水位是控制土壤剖面中As、Cu、Ni元素分布的重要因素.     

沸水浴王水提取土壤样品Pb、Cr、Cd、As的探讨

采用沸水浴加热、王水提取法和其他两种处理方法,对3个国家标准土壤样品GBW07404、GBW07405、GBW07310及两个控制参比样品的Pb、Cr、Cd、As进行提取、测定。结果表明,3种方法均适用于土壤样品Pb、Cr、Cd、As的提取,可完全将这些元素提取出来;但采用沸水浴加热、王水提取法,操作更简单,重现性好,精确度较高,所有测定数据均在标准推荐值的范围内,结果较好,可以在一般实验室中推广使用。