A decrease in temperature (ΔT up to 45.5 °C) and chloride concentration (ΔCl up to 4.65 mol/l) characterises the brine–seawater boundary in the Atlantis-II, Discovery, and Kebrit Deeps of the Red Sea, where redox conditions change from anoxic to oxic over a boundary layer several meters thick. High-resolution (100 cm) profiles of the methane concentration, stable carbon isotope ratio of methane, and redox-sensitive tracers (O2, Mn4+/Mn2+, Fe3+/Fe2+, and SO42−) were measured across the brine–seawater boundary layer to investigate methane fluxes and secondary methane oxidation processes.
Substantial amounts of thermogenic hydrocarbons are found in the deep brines (mostly methane, with a maximum concentration up to 4.8×105 nmol/l), and steep methane concentration gradients mainly controlled by diffusive flow characterize the brine–seawater boundary (maximum of 2×105 nmol/l/m in Kebrit Deep). However, locally the actual methane concentration profiles deviate from theoretical diffusion-controlled concentration profiles and extremely positive δ13C–CH4 values can be found (up to +49‰ PDB in the Discovery Deep). Both, the actual CH4 concentration profiles and the carbon-13 enrichment in the residual CH4 of the Atlantis-II and Discovery Deeps indicate consumption (oxidation) of 12C-rich CH4 under suboxic conditions (probably utilizing readily available—up to 2000 μmol/l—Mn(IV)-oxihydroxides as electron acceptor). Thus, a combined diffusion–oxidation model was used to calculate methane fluxes of 0.3–393 kg/year across the brine–seawater boundary layer. Assuming steady-state conditions, this slow loss of methane from the brines into the Red Sea bottom water reflects a low thermogenic hydrocarbon input into the deep brines. 相似文献
Microinclusions analyzed in a coated diamond from the Diavik mine in Canada comprise peridotitic minerals and fluids. The fluids span a wide compositional range between a carbonatitic melt and brine. The diamond is concentrically zoned. The brine microinclusions reside in an inner growth zone and their endmember composition is K19Na25Ca5Mg8Fe3Ba2Si4Cl32 (mol%). The carbonatitic melt is found in an outer layer and its endmember composition is K11Na21Ca11Mg26Fe7Ba2Si10Al3P2Cl5. The transition in inclusion chemistry is accompanied by a change in the carbon isotopic composition of the diamond from −8.5‰ in the inner zone to −12.1‰ in the outer zone. We suggest that this transition reflects mixing between already evolved brine and a freshly introduced carbonatitic melt of different isotopic composition.
The compositional range found in diamond ON-DVK-294 is the widest ever recorded in a single diamond. It closes the gap between brine found in cloudy octahedral diamonds from South Africa and carbonatitic melt analyzed in cubic diamonds from Zaire and Botswana. Thus, all microinclusions analyzed to date fall along two arrays connecting the carbonatitic melt composition to either a hydrous-silicic endmember or to a brine endmember. This connection suggests that many diamonds are formed from fluids derived form a mantle source not significantly influenced by local heterogeneities. 相似文献
