Fluid salinities obtained by infrared microthermometry of opaque minerals: Implications for ore deposit modeling — A note of caution     

Robert Moritz   《Journal of Geochemical Exploration》2006,89(1-3):284

Infrared microthermometry of opaque minerals has revealed that temperatures of phase changes vary with the infrared light source intensity, resulting in an overestimate of fluid salinities and an underestimate of homogenization temperatures. Failing to recognize this analytical artifact during infrared microthermometry may result in meaningless geological models. A fluid inclusion investigation on enargite from a high-sulfidation epithermal deposit is used as an example to document this. Fluid salinities obtained during an early investigation ranged between 6.3 and 20.4 wt.% NaCl, which were interpreted as intense boiling or as evidence for the involvement of a magmatic brine during ore formation. Fluid inclusion salinities obtained with improved analytical settings, i.e. low light intensities, fall between 1.1 and 1.7 wt.% NaCl and are in better agreement with fluid salinities obtained in quartz from similar deposits, and recent modeling suggesting vapor transport of Au and Cu from deep porphyry-Cu environments to shallower high-sulfidation epithermal deposits.  相似文献   

Seasonal and interannual dynamics of free-living bacterioplankton and microbially labile organic carbon along the salinity gradient of the Potomac River   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Leila J. Hamdan  Robert B. Jonas 《Estuaries and Coasts》2006,29(1):40-53

Samples were collected at stations located in the mesohaline, oligohaline, and tidal fresh regions of the Potomac River, Maryland, between April 1998 and December 1999 to evaluate the seasonal distribution of bacterioplankton and microbially labile organic carbon (MLOC) in relation to hydrodynamic parameters (dissolved oxygen, salinity, and temperature). Bacterioplankton abundance (BA) averaged 13 × 10⁶ cells ml⁻¹ at all stations, a value that is higher than the average observed in many other temperate estuaries around the world, and were almost exclusively free-living. During the summer of 1998, BA often exceeded 30 × 10⁶ cells ml⁻¹ in the mesohaline region during periods of anoxia in subpycnocline waters. Dissolved MLOC typically accounted for 40% of total MLOC and on some occasions during summer and autumn accounted for 80%. A significant positive relationship between dissolved MLOC and BA was evident in the mesohaline Potomac River, the region where anoxia occurs each summer, but the regressions of particulate MLOC and chla on BA were not significant at this location. In the mesohaline Potomac River, BA regressed negatively and significantly on dissolved oxygen (r²=0.50, p<0.001). BA may be an important indicator of ecosystem health in this and other eutrophied estuaries, because of the relationships between BA, dissolved MLOC, and dissolved oxygen in the salinity stratified Potomac River and because free-living BA was elevated along the length of the river.  相似文献   

Correlations in aftershock and seismicity patterns     

Robert Shcherbakov  Jordan Van Aalsburg  John B. Rundle  Donald L. Turcotte   《Tectonophysics》2006,413(1-2):53

Correlations in space and time play a fundamental role in earthquake processes. One direct manifestation of the effects of correlations is the occurrence of aftershocks due to the stress transfer in the vicinity of a main shock. Less obvious and more speculative changes in correlations may occur in the background seismicity before large earthquakes. Using statistical physics it is possible to introduce a measure of spatial correlations through a correlation length. This quantity characterizes how local fluctuations can influence the occurrence of earthquakes over distances comparable with the correlation length. In this work, the physical basis of spatial correlations of earthquakes is discussed in the context of critical phenomena and the percolation problem. The method of two-point correlation function is applied to the seismicity of California. Well defined variations in time of the correlation length are found for aftershock sequences and background seismicity. The scaling properties of our obtained distributions are analyzed with respect to changes in several scaling parameters such as lower magnitude cutoff of earthquakes, the maximum time interval between earthquakes, and the spatial size of the area considered. This scaling behavior can be described in a unified manner by utilizing the multifractal fit. Utilizing the percolation approach the time evolution of clusters of earthquakes is studied with the correlation length defined in terms of the radius of gyration of clusters. This method is applied to the seismicity of California.  相似文献   

Peak discharge of a Pleistocene lava-dam outburst flood in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Cassandra R. Fenton  Robert H. Webb 《Quaternary Research》2006,65(2):324-335

The failure of a lava dam 165,000 yr ago produced the largest known flood on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. The Hyaloclastite Dam was up to 366 m high, and geochemical evidence linked this structure to outburst-flood deposits that occurred for 32 km downstream. Using the Hyaloclastite outburst-flood deposits as paleostage indicators, we used dam-failure and unsteady flow modeling to estimate a peak discharge and flow hydrograph. Failure of the Hyaloclastite Dam released a maximum 11 × 10⁹ m³ of water in 31 h. Peak discharges, estimated from uncertainty in channel geometry, dam height, and hydraulic characteristics, ranged from 2.3 to 5.3 × 10⁵ m³ s⁻¹ for the Hyaloclastite outburst flood. This discharge is an order of magnitude greater than the largest known discharge on the Colorado River (1.4 × 10⁴ m³ s⁻¹) and the largest peak discharge resulting from failure of a constructed dam in the USA (6.5 × 10⁴ m³ s⁻¹). Moreover, the Hyaloclastite outburst flood is the oldest documented Quaternary flood and one of the largest to have occurred in the continental USA. The peak discharge for this flood ranks in the top 30 floods (>10⁵ m³ s⁻¹) known worldwide and in the top ten largest floods in North America.  相似文献   

The distribution of radiogenic heat production as a function of depth in the Sierra Nevada Batholith, California   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

Robert J. Brady  Mihai N. Ducea  Steven B. Kidder  Jason B. Saleeby 《Lithos》2006,86(3-4):229-244

Geochemical analyses and geobarometric determinations have been combined to create a depth vs. radiogenic heat production database for the Sierra Nevada batholith, California. This database shows that mean heat production values first increase, then decrease, with increasing depth. Heat production is 2 μW/m³ within the 3-km-thick volcanic pile at the top of the batholith, below which it increases to an average value of 3.5 μW/m³ at 5.5 km depth, then decreases to 0.5–1 μW/m³ at 15 km depth and remains at these values through the entire crust below 15 km. Below the crust, from depths of 40–125 km, the batholith's root and mantle wedge that coevolved beneath the batholith appears to have an average radiogenic heat production rate of 0.14 μW/m³. This is higher than the rates from most published xenolith studies, but reasonable given the presence of crustal components in the arc root assemblages. The pattern of radiogenic heat production interpreted from the depth vs. heat production database is not consistent with the downward-decreasing exponential distribution predicted from modeling of surface heat flow data. The interpreted distribution predicts a reasonable range of geothermal gradients and shows that essentially all of the present day surface heat flow from the Sierra Nevada could be generated within the 35 km thick crust. This requires a very low heat flux from the mantle, which is consistent with a model of cessation of Sierran magmatism during Laramide flat-slab subduction, followed by conductive cooling of the upper mantle for 70 m.y. The heat production variation with depth is principally due to large variations in uranium and thorium concentration; potassium is less variable in concentration within the Sierran crust, and produces relatively little of the heat in high heat production rocks. Because silica content is relatively constant through the upper 30 km of the Sierran batholith, while U, Th, and K concentrations are highly variable, radiogenic heat production does not vary directly with silica content.  相似文献   

The Mesoproterozoic Midsommersø dolerites and associated high-silica intrusions, North Greenland: crustal melting, contamination and hydrothermal alteration     

Feiko Kalsbeek  Robert Frei 《Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology》2006,152(1):89-110

The Midsommersø dolerites and the flood basalts of the Zig-Zag Dal Basalt Formation, eastern North Greenland, represent a major Mesoproterozoic (∼1,380 Ma) igneous event. The intrusive rocks form large sheets within a succession of feldspathic sandstones which underlie the basalts. The geochemistry of the basalts has recently been re-investigated and reported elsewhere in this Journal; here we present new trace element and Nd-, Sr- and Pb-isotopic data for the intrusive rocks. Unlike the basalts, the intrusions yield evidence of considerable interaction and contamination with upper crustal rocks, especially the sandstones. High-silica rocks (80–90 wt% SiO₂) occur in sheets, up to 60 m thick. They were formed by mobilisation of sandstones, and indicate a very high rate of emplacement of hot basic magma into the sandstones at depth. These mobilised sandstones (‘rheopsammites’) are among the most SiO₂-rich intrusive rocks on earth. Sheets of remobilised granitoid rocks from the crystalline basement (∼70% SiO₂) are also present. Hydrothermal activity, associated with the igneous event, significantly changed the compositions of the silicic rocks as well as that of many dolerites. Sheets of hydrothermally altered (‘red’) dolerites and silicic rocks invariably have borders of dark, fresh dolerite; this is interpreted to be the result of intrusion from zoned magma chambers. Nd isotope data confirm the crustal origin of the silicic rocks as well as the contamination of some dolerites by components derived from crustal sources, while Sr- and Pb-isotopic systems are strongly affected by the hydrothermal alteration, and give little information on the petrogenesis of the rocks. Recent loss of Sr from hydrothermally altered rocks further affected the Sr isotope systems, and earlier age determinations by the Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron method (1,230 Ma) have proved to be in error. The dolerites and the basalts are geochemically very similar, but most dolerites have moderately negative Eu anomalies that are not observed in the basalts. Eu anomalies in the dolerites could be related to contamination by sandstone at depth, but it is not clear why the basalts escaped a similar contamination.  相似文献   

Origin of fluids in iron oxide–copper–gold deposits: constraints from δ 37Cl, 87Sr/86Sri and Cl/Br     

Massimo Chiaradia  Dave Banks  Robert Cliff  Robert Marschik  Antoine de Haller 《Mineralium Deposita》2006,41(6):565-573

The origin of the hypersaline fluids (magmatic or basinal brine?), associated with iron oxide (Cu–U–Au–REE) deposits, is controversial. We report the first chlorine and strontium isotope data combined with Cl/Br ratios of fluid inclusions from selected iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG) deposits (Candelaria, Raúl–Condestable, Sossego), a deposit considered to represent a magmatic end member of the IOCG class of deposit (Gameleira), and a magnetite–apatite deposit (El Romeral) from South America. Our data indicate mixing of a high δ ³⁷Cl magmatic fluid with near 0‰ δ ³⁷Cl basinal brines in the Candelaria, Raúl–Condestable, and Sossego IOCG deposits and leaching of a few weight percent of evaporites by magmatic-hydrothermal (?) fluids at Gameleira and El Romeral. The Sr isotopic composition of the inclusion fluids of Candelaria, Raúl–Condestable, and El Romeral confirms the presence of a non-magmatic fluid component in these deposits. The heavy chlorine isotope signatures of fluids from the IOCG deposits (Candelaria, Raúl–Condestable, Sossego), reflecting the magmatic-hydrothermal component of these fluids, contrast with the near 0‰ δ ³⁷Cl values of porphyry copper fluids known from the literature. The heavy chlorine isotope compositions of fluids of the investigated IOCG deposits may indicate a prevailing mantle Cl component in contrast to porphyry copper fluids, an argument also supported by Os isotopes, or could result from differential Cl isotope fractionation processes (e.g. phase separation) in fluids of IOCG and porphyry Cu deposits.  相似文献   

Flow and form in rehabilitation of large-river ecosystems: An example from the Lower Missouri River   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Robert B. Jacobson  David L. Galat   《Geomorphology》2006,77(3-4):249

On large, intensively engineered rivers like the Lower Missouri, the template of the physical habitat is determined by the nearly independent interaction of channel form and flow regime. We evaluated the interaction between flow and form by modeling four combinations of modern and historical channel form and modern and historical flow regimes. The analysis used shallow, slow water (shallow-water habitat, SWH, defined as depths between 0 and 1.5 m, and current velocities between 0 and 0.75 m/s) as an indicator of habitat that has been lost on many intensively engineered rivers and one that is thought to be especially important in rearing of young fishes. Two-dimensional hydrodynamic models for modern and historical channels of the Lower Missouri River at Hermann, Missouri, indicate substantial differences between the two channels in total availability and spatial characteristics of SWH. In the modern channel, SWH is maximized at extremely low flows and in overbank flows, whereas the historical channel had substantially more SWH at all discharges and SWH increased with increasing discharge. The historical channel form produced 3–7 times the SWH area of the modern channel regardless of flow regime. The effect of flow regime is evident in increased within-year SWH variability with the natural flow regime, including significant seasonal peaks of SWH associated with spring flooding. Comparison with other reaches along the Lower Missouri River indicates that a) channel form is the dominant control of the availability of habitat even in reaches where the hydrograph is more intensively altered, and b) rehabilitation projects that move toward the historical condition can be successful in increasing topographic diversity and thereby decreasing sensitivity of the availability of habitat to flow regime. The relative efficacy of managing flow and form in creating SWH is useful information toward achieving socially acceptable rehabilitation of the ecosystem in large river systems.  相似文献   

The Record of an Extreme Flood in the Sediments of Montane Lillooet Lake, British Columbia: Implications for Paleoenvironmental Assessment     

Robert Gilbert  Sarah Crookshanks  Kyle R. Hodder  John Spagnol  Roland B. Stull 《Journal of Paleolimnology》2006,35(4):737-745

Severe rainfall in mid October, 2003 produced the largest floods in almost a century of record on rivers in the Cordillera of southwestern British Columbia. Sediment deposited in Lillooet Lake as a result of this event is clearly distinguished by stratigraphy, colour, texture, magnetic properties, and organic content. Each of these physical properties is related to the lacustrine processes, especially turbid underflow, that distributed the sediment through the lake. The flood, which lasted less than a week, delivered 8–12 times the amount of sediment that accumulates in most entire years in the deepest, central parts of the lake. Recognition of events of this type in the stratigraphic record offers a means of assessing the changing nature of extreme hydroclimatic events, and their relation to more ubiquitous, lower-energy processes.  相似文献   

The role of friction and secondary flaws on deflection and re-initiation of hydraulic fractures at orthogonal pre-existing fractures   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Xi Zhang  Robert G. Jeffrey 《Geophysical Journal International》2006,166(3):1454-1465

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