Sierra Leone’s illicit diamonds: the challenges and the way forward     

Sigismond A. Wilson 《GeoJournal》2011,76(3):191-212

Although the Kimberley Process Certificate Scheme has considerably reduced the flow of conflict diamonds from 4% to less than 1%, other forms of illicit diamonds are estimated at 20% of global production. While scholars and policy makers have given considerable attention to illicit mining and smuggling (with some success), illicit exploitation still hinders revenue generation that is needed for economic growth and development in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries heavily reliant on alluvial minerals. Based on surveys of 240 households in four diamondiferous chiefdoms in Kono District in Sierra Leone, key informant interviews, focus groups and secondary data, and drawing from the actor-oriented approach and Le Billon (Fuelling war: natural resources and armed conflict. London, International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2005) conceptualization of the political geography of the resource, this paper examines the problem of illicit diamond exploitation in post-conflict Sierra Leone. It investigates: (1) the causes of illicit diamond mining and smuggling; (2) the spatial and temporal aspects of illicit mining and smuggling, and (3) possible solutions to illicit diamond exploitation. The paper argues that the ineffectiveness of national mining laws/policies has created conditions that are exploited by local and international actors in the diamond industry. This is further exacerbated by the political geography of the resource. Study findings reveal that while better mining regulation could reduce illicit exploitation, bringing buyers closers to miners and offering them better prices for rough diamonds will minimize smuggling and thus increase government’s mineral revenue base.  相似文献   

Vibrational and thermodynamic properties of Ni<Subscript>3</Subscript>S<Subscript>2</Subscript> polymorphs from first-principles calculations     

Yonggang G. Yu  Nancy L. Ross 《Physics and Chemistry of Minerals》2011,38(3):241-249

We have calculated the compressional, vibrational, and thermodynamic properties of Ni₃S₂ heazlewoodite and the high-pressure orthorhombic phase (with Cmcm symmetry) using the generalized gradient approximation to the density functional theory in conjunction with the quasi-harmonic approximation. The predicted Raman frequencies of heazlewoodite are in good agreement with room-temperature measurements. The calculated thermodynamic properties of heazlewoodite at room conditions agree very well with experiments, but at high temperatures (especially above 500 K) the heat capacity data from experiments are significantly larger than the quasi-harmonic results, indicating that heazlewoodite is anharmonic. On the other hand, the obtained vibrational density of states of the orthorhombic phase at 20 GPa reveals a group of low-frequency vibrational modes which are absent in heazlewoodite. These low-frequency modes contribute substantially to thermal expansivity, heat capacity, entropy, and Grüneisen parameter of the orthorhombic phase. The calculated phase boundary between heazlewoodite and the orthorhombic phase is consistent with high-pressure experiments; the predicted transition pressure is 17.9 GPa at 300 K with a negative Clapeyron slope of −8.5 MPa/K.  相似文献   

Behavior of epidote at high pressure and high temperature: a powder diffraction study up to 10 GPa and 1,200 K   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

G. Diego Gatta  Marco Merlini  Yongjae Lee  Stefano Poli 《Physics and Chemistry of Minerals》2011,38(6):419-428

The thermo-elastic behavior of a natural epidote [Ca_1.925 Fe_0.745Al_2.265Ti_0.004Si_3.037O₁₂(OH)] has been investigated up to 1,200 K (at 0.0001 GPa) and 10 GPa (at 298 K) by means of in situ synchrotron powder diffraction. No phase transition has been observed within the temperature and pressure range investigated. P–V data fitted with a third-order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state (BM-EoS) give V ₀ = 458.8(1)ų, K _T0 = 111(3) GPa, and K′ = 7.6(7). The confidence ellipse from the variance–covariance matrix of K _T0 and K′ from the least-square procedure is strongly elongated with negative slope. The evolution of the “Eulerian finite strain” vs “normalized stress” yields Fe(0) = 114(1) GPa as intercept values, and the slope of the regression line gives K′ = 7.0(4). The evolution of the lattice parameters with pressure is slightly anisotropic. The elastic parameters calculated with a linearized BM-EoS are: a ₀ = 8.8877(7) Å, K _T0(a) = 117(2) GPa, and K′(a) = 3.7(4) for the a-axis; b ₀ = 5.6271(7) Å, K _T0(b) = 126(3) GPa, and K′(b) = 12(1) for the b-axis; and c ₀ = 10.1527(7) Å, K _T0(c) = 90(1) GPa, and K’(c) = 8.1(4) for the c-axis [K _T0(a):K _T0(b):K _T0(c) = 1.30:1.40:1]. The β angle decreases with pressure, β_P(°) = β_P0 −0.0286(9)P +0.00134(9)P ² (P in GPa). The evolution of axial and volume thermal expansion coefficient, α, with T was described by the polynomial function: α(T) = α₀ + α₁ T ^−1/2. The refined parameters for epidote are: α₀ = 5.1(2) × 10⁻⁵ K⁻¹ and α₁ = −5.1(6) × 10⁻⁴ K^1/2 for the unit-cell volume, α₀(a) = 1.21(7) × 10⁻⁵ K⁻¹ and α₁(a) = −1.2(2) × 10⁻⁴ K^1/2 for the a-axis, α₀(b) = 1.88(7) × 10⁻⁵ K⁻¹ and α₁(b) = −1.7(2) × 10⁻⁴ K^1/2 for the b-axis, and α₀(c) = 2.14(9) × 10⁻⁵ K⁻¹ and α₁(c) = −2.0(2) × 10⁻⁴ K^1/2 for the c-axis. The thermo-elastic anisotropy can be described, at a first approximation, by α₀(a): α₀(b): α₀(c) = 1 : 1.55 : 1.77. The β angle increases continuously with T, with β_T(°) = β_T0 + 2.5(1) × 10⁻⁴ T + 1.3(7) × 10⁻⁸ T ². A comparison between the thermo-elastic parameters of epidote and clinozoisite is carried out.  相似文献   

Hydroxyl stretching in phyllosilicates at high pressures and temperatures: an infrared spectroscopic study     

Alison R. Pawley  Raymond L. Jones 《Physics and Chemistry of Minerals》2011,38(10):753-765

The hydroxyl stretching frequencies of four phyllosilicates have been measured at high pressures and temperatures using an externally heated diamond-anvil cell and synchrotron infrared spectroscopy. Spectra were measured up to 26, 31, 21 and 8 GPa at room temperature for samples of talc, pyrophyllite, muscovite and 10-Å phase, respectively. Spectra were also measured in the range 273–500 K at ambient pressure for all samples and at 8–9 GPa for talc and pyrophyllite. The frequency of the Mg₃OH band in talc increases with pressure due to the absence of hydrogen bonding. The different orientation of the hydroxyl group in pyrophyllite and muscovite leads to hydrogen bonding and a decrease in the frequency of the Al₂OH band with pressure. 10-Å phase is approximately equivalent to talc with the addition of interlayer H₂O. In a spectrum of a sample synthesised for 143 h, two hydroxyl stretching bands are clearly resolved on compression. One is the same as the Mg₃OH band in talc, indicating the presence of intra-layer hydroxyl in a talc-like environment with no hydrogen bonding. The other, which separates from the talc-like band at 1 GPa, is associated with intra-layer hydroxyl that is hydrogen bonded to interlayer H₂O. There are equivalent bands in high-pressure spectra of a sample of deuterated 10-Å phase, synthesised for 400 h. This sample shows a greater extent of hydrogen bonding at ambient pressure than the 143 h sample. For all of the phases studied, increasing temperature leads to a decrease in frequency for every hydroxyl stretching vibration, both at low and high pressures. The shifts in frequency with temperature are an order of magnitude greater than the shifts with pressure when normalised to previously measured structural parameters.  相似文献   

New insights into the high-pressure polymorphism of SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> cristobalite     

Przemyslaw Dera  John D. Lazarz  Vitali B. Prakapenka  Madison Barkley  Robert T. Downs 《Physics and Chemistry of Minerals》2011,38(7):517-529

Single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments with SiO₂ α-cristobalite reveal that the well-known reversible displacive phase transition to cristobalite-II, which occurs at approximately 1.8 GPa, can be suppressed by rapid pressure increase, leading to an overpressurized metastable state, persisting to pressure as high as 10 GPa. In another, slow pressure increase experiment, the monoclinic high-pressure phase-II was observed to form at ~1.8 GPa, in agreement with earlier in situ studies, and its crystal structure has been unambiguously determined. Single-crystal data have been used to refine the structure models of both phases over the range of pressure up to the threshold of formation of cristobalite X-I at ~12 GPa, providing important constraints on the feasibility of the two competing silica densification models proposed in the literature, based on quantum mechanical calculations. Preliminary diffraction data obtained for cristobalite X-I reveal a monoclinic unit cell that contradicts the currently assumed model.  相似文献   

Effects of Mg and Si ions on the symmetry of δ-AlOOH     

K. Komatsu  A. Sano-Furukawa  H. Kagi 《Physics and Chemistry of Minerals》2011,38(9):727-733

We conducted powder neutron diffraction for δ-AlOOH samples with and without Mg and Si ions under ambient conditions in order to investigate the long-standing problem of the symmetry of this phase. The observed reflection conditions clearly show that the space group of pure δ-AlOOH is P2₁ nm with ordered hydrogen bonds, whereas that of δ-(Al_0.86Mg_0.07Si_0.07)OOH is Pnnm or Pnn2 with disordered hydrogen bonds. It is more likely that the space group of δ-(Al_0.86Mg_0.07Si_0.07)OOH is Pnnm, because cation or hydrogen ordering that breaks the mirror plane perpendicular to c axis in the Pnnm structure would not occur. The previously reported inconsistency for the space group of this phase was caused by the substitution of Mg and Si ions to Al site, i.e., the disordered cations with different valences may fluctuate hydrogen positions, and the disordered hydrogen causes the symmetry change.  相似文献   

Ordovician eclogites from the Chinese Beishan: implications for the tectonic evolution of the southern Altaids   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

J. F. QU  W. J. XIAO  B. F. WINDLEY  C. M. HAN  Q. G. MAO  S. J. AO  J. E. ZHANG 《Journal of Metamorphic Geology》2011,29(8):803-820

Numerous lenses of eclogite occur in a belt of augen orthogneisses in the Gubaoquan area in the southern Beishan orogen, an eastern extension of the Tianshan orogen. With detailed petrological data and phase relations, modelled in the system NCFMASHTO with thermocalc , a quantitative P–T path was estimated and defined a clockwise P–T path that showed a near isothermal decompression from eclogite facies (>15.5 kbar, 700–800 °C, omphacite + garnet) to high‐pressure granulite facies (12–14 kbar, 700–750 °C, clinopyroxene + sodic plagioclase symplectitic intergrowths around omphacite), low‐pressure granulite facies (8–9.5 kbar, ～700 °C, orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + plagioclase symplectites and coronas surrounding garnet) and amphibolite facies (5–7 kbar, 600–700 °C, hornblende + plagioclase symplectites). The major and trace elements and Sm–Nd isotopic data suggest that most of the Beishan eclogite samples had a protolith of oceanic crust with geochemical characteristics of an enriched or normal mid‐ocean ridge basalt. The U–Pb dating of the Beishan eclogites indicates an Ordovician age of c. 467 Ma for the eclogite facies metamorphism. An ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar age of c. 430 Ma for biotite from the augen gneiss corresponds to the time of retrograde metamorphism. The combined data from geological setting, bulk composition, clockwise P–T path and geochronology support a model in which the Beishan eclogites started as oceanic crust in the Palaeoasian Ocean, which was subducted to eclogite depths in the Ordovician and exhumed in the Silurian. The eclogite‐bearing gneiss belt marks the position of a high‐pressure Ordovician suture zone, and the calculated clockwise P–T path defines the progression from subduction to exhumation.  相似文献   

Upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian planktonic foraminifers and biostratigraphy of the Moni Formation,southern Cyprus     

O. A. Korchagin 《Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation》2011,19(5):526-544

The first data on the taxonomic composition and stratigraphic range of the late Campanian planktonic foraminifers encountered in the middle and upper parts of the Moni Formation, southern Cyprus, are reported. Finds of planktonic foraminifers are associated with the bentonitic clay that composes the matrix of the Moni Formation. The planktonic foraminiferal assemblages revealed are very similar to those from the Kannaviou Formation, western Cyprus, but they are more diverse and yield several key species missing in the Kannaviou sediments. The planktonic foraminiferal assemblages discussed are referred to the Globotruncana aegyptiaca Zone and to the lowermost Gansserina gansseri Zone of the upper upper Campanian of the standard scale. The intraregional correlation of the Moni sections, depth of erosion of the upper part of the formation, and its relationship with the Kannaviou Formation have been refined. When subdividing the upper Campanian sediments based on planktonic foraminifers it is suggested that additional datum planes are used, such as the FADs of Globotruncanella citae and Trinitella scotti. For tracing the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary (GSSP), attention should be paid to the LADs of Globotruncana bulloides and Contusotruncana fornicata and the potential use of Globotruncanita (Elevatotruncana) eolita sp. nov. should be assessed. It is shown that subfamily Archaeoglobigerininae Salaj, 1987, emend. O. Korchagin is the older synonym of subfamily Archaeoglobigerininae Georgescu, 2005. Two poorly known and three new planktonic foraminiferal species are described.  相似文献   

Provenance of the Sumian basal schists and age of the Lopian metavolcanic rocks at the Archean-Proterozoic boundary in the Kukasozero structure,North-Karelian zone of the Karelides,Baltic Shield     

V. V. Balagansky  N. L. Alexejev  H. Huhma  P. Ya. Azimov  L. K. Levsky  L. O. Pin’kova 《Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation》2011,19(4):369-384

This paper presents the results of a study of the Paleoproterozoic basal garnet-kyanite-staurolite-two-mica paraschists from the Kukasozero structure of the Karelides of Northern Karelia, Baltic Shield, underlying Neoarchean acid metavolcanic rocks, and schists with quartz, phengite, kyanite, staurolite, garnet, and tschermakite located in the Paleoproterozoic rocks and considered to be metasomatic in origin. It was established that the sedimentary protolith of the Paleoproterozoic paraschists contains detritus of Neoarchean igneous rocks as follows from detrital 2737 ± 11 Ma zircons with oscillatory magmatic zoning. Metavolcanic 2757 ± 13 Ma rocks, close in age and composition, are known directly in the framework of the Kukasozero structure and are considered to be the most likely source of the sedimentary schist protolith. The coincidence of the Nd-model ages of paraschists (t _DM is 2.73–2.76 Ga) with the age of detrital zircons indicates no contribution of older rocks to the protolith composition. The age of magmatic crystallization of metavolcanic rocks directly underlying the Paleoproterozoic paraschists is 2681 ± 18 Ma and coincides with the age of porphyry granites in the western framework of the structure (2680.3 ± 3.6 Ma). No detrital zircons of similar age were found in basal paraschists, but the restricted amount of dated zircons does not allow us to draw a final conclusion about the absence of detritus of the underlying metavolcanic rocks in the paraschist protolith. It was confirmed that phengite-bearing schists are the products of acid metasomatism of the Paleoproterozoic amphibolites and amphibole schists (metavolcanic rocks). The metasomatic features were revealed in garnet-kyanite-staurolite-two-mica paraschists, so the strict identification of their sedimentary protolith is impossible. The paraschists do not represent metamorphosed weathering crust, because acid metasomatism gives a false impression of the greater maturity of the primary sedimentary rocks.  相似文献   

Stratigraphy and isotopic age of the Lopian complex in the Lekhta structure of northern Karelia     

V. A. Matrenichev  N. A. Alfimova  O. A. Levchenkov  V. M. Savatenkov  B. V. Belyatskii  M. M. Astaf’eva  A. F. Makeev  S. Z. Yakovleva 《Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation》2011,19(6):579-599

New data on the stratigraphy and isotopic age of supracrustal rocks from the lower part of the section constituting the northeastern limb of the Lekhta structure (northern Karelia) and their relationships with the basement are considered. Geological-petrographic, lithological-geochemical, and isotopic data are used to define three formations united into the Okhta Group. Immediate relationships between volcanics of the greenstone belt and granitoids of the basement represented by the oldest (for the Baltic Shield: 2.8 Ga) continental weathering crust after granites, are discussed. Isotopic age of volcanics and granite gneisses of the basement indicates that the Lopian supracrustal complex of the Lekhta structure was deposited in a period lasting 16 myr with duration of periods corresponding to formation of the Okhta and Pebozero groups being as long as 8 and 11 myr, respectively. In the regional stratigraphic scale, the entire Archean part of the supracrustal section in the Lekhta structure should be attributed to the Middle Lopian.  相似文献