Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems最新文献

Variations in speleothem calcium isotope ratios (δ⁴⁴Ca) are thought to be uniquely controlled by prior carbonate precipitation (PCP) above a drip site and, when calibrated with modern data, show promise as a semi-quantitative proxy for paleorainfall. However, few monitoring studies have focused on δ⁴⁴Ca in modern cave systems. We present a multi-year comparative study of δ⁴⁴Ca, carbon isotopes (δ¹³C), and trace elemental ratios from cave drip waters, modern calcite, and host rocks from two cave systems in California—White Moon Cave (WMC) and Lake Shasta Caverns (LSC). Drip water and calcite δ⁴⁴Ca from both caves indicate PCP-driven enrichment, and we used a simple Rayleigh fractionation model to quantify PCP variability over the monitoring period. Modern calcite trace element and δ⁴⁴Ca data positively correlate at WMC, but not at LSC, indicating a shared PCP control on these proxies at WMC but not at LSC. At both WMC and LSC, we observe an inverse relationship between PCP and rainfall amounts, though this relationship is variable across individual drip sites. Our modeled data suggest that WMC experiences ∼20% more PCP than LSC, consistent with the fact that WMC receives less annual rainfall. This work supports speleothem δ⁴⁴Ca as an independent constraint on PCP that can aid in the interpretation of other hydrologically sensitive proxies and provide quantitative estimates of paleorainfall. Additional, long-term monitoring studies from a variety of climate settings will be key for understanding δ⁴⁴Ca variability in cave systems more fully and better constraining the relationship between PCP and rainfall.

Previous geophysical studies in the New England Appalachians identified a ∼15 km offset in crustal thickness near the surface boundary between Laurentia and the accreted terranes. Here, we investigate crustal structure using data from a denser array: New England Seismic Transects experiment, which deployed stations spaced ∼10 km apart across the Laurentia-Moretown terrane suture in northwestern Massachusetts. We used receiver function (RF) analysis to detect P to SV converted waves and identified multiple interfaces beneath the transect. We also implemented a harmonic decomposition analysis to identify features at or near the Moho with dipping and/or anisotropic character. Beneath the Laurentian margin, the Ps converted phase from the Moho arrives almost 5.5 s after the initial P wave, whereas beneath the Appalachian terranes, the pulse arrives at 3.5 s, corresponding to ∼48 and ∼31 km depth, respectively. The character of the RF traces beneath stations in the middle of our array suggests a complex transitional zone with dipping and/or anisotropic boundaries extending at least ∼30 km. This extension is measured in our profiles and perpendicular to the suture. We propose one possible crustal geometry model that is consistent with our observations and results from previous studies.

Ocean anoxia is considered a key driver of the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME). However, it is much debated whether there was an ocean reoxygenation phase during, and in the aftermath, of the EPME. Evidence for ocean reoxygenation is often inferred from the absence of framboidal pyrite in some boundary marine sediments (termed the “framboid gap”). To reconstruct ocean redox evolution across the EPME, we investigated the carbon isotopic, sedimentological, and redox records of the Ruichang and Ehtan sections in South China. These documents two negative δ¹³C_carb excursions and the development of anoxia associated with deepening leading up to the Permian-Triassic boundary. Above the level at which most siliceous organisms became extinct, pyrite framboid and iron proxies indicate that water column redox conditions were predominantly oxygenated but sporadically anoxic/ferruginous [non-sulfidic, free Fe(II) in the water] at Ruichang, while ferruginous conditions were more widely developed at Ehtan. These contrasting redox states are characteristic of a dynamic ocean redox landscape in the extinction interval. The “framboid gap” is seen in strata deposited under both oxic and ferruginous conditions, suggesting that the availability of decomposable organic matter for sulfate reduction additionally controlled framboid genesis. Our data confirm that oxygenated conditions were developed in some deep water basins during the EPME.

A causal mechanism for the Volgian Isotopic Carbon Excursion (VOICE) remains enigmatic. Elemental geochemical profiles of the Deer Bay Formation, Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada that record the VOICE and contemporaneous strata are herein examined to provide insight into depositional environments during Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous time. Silver (Ag) and Cadmium (Cd) are enriched across the VOICE at localities on Axel Heiberg Island, and in Tithonian (∼Volgian) strata of Ellef Ringnes Island. Other redox-sensitive trace elements do not exhibit spatially or temporally consistent patterns and indicate oxic conditions. A lack of relationship across the VOICE between Ag and the quality, quantity, and isotopic composition of organic matter suggests that the negative isotope excursion and interval of Ag enrichment are not merely functions of changes in organic matter source or amount, while a lack of spatially consistent change in geochemical indices of weathering similarly excludes climate change and/or sediment provenance as a driver. Therefore, in a ventilated setting and without marked changes in organic matter content, Ag enrichment may be due to hydrothermal activity. Contemporaneous Ag enrichment in strata from Svalbard suggests that a source of hot fluid sufficient to produce Ag-rich seawater may have been related to rifting in the adjacent proto-Amerasia Basin. Hydrothermal activity may also have been a widespread source of isotopically depleted carbon. This work develops new geochemical fingerprints that may be used to trace the spatial extent of hydrothermal events that do not leave an extinction pattern but may nonetheless have a far-reaching influence on biogeochemical systems.

Oriented rutile needles (ORNs) forming a triangular network on the cross sections of garnet crystals have been widely used together with omphacite inclusions as evidence for exsolution from a majoritic garnet and exhumation of the host rocks from great depths (>200 km) in the Earth. A coronitic eclogite at Yangkou in the Chinese Su-Lu high-pressure metamorphic belt contains ORNs that are only found in the reddish cores of garnet porphyroblasts. The texture formed by the ORNs is not restricted to garnet but extends into the coexisting other minerals, which together form pseudomorphs after augite. Therefore, the ORNs are not specifically related to the host garnet and cannot be exsolutions therefrom. The outer zones of the garnet porphyroblasts in contact with plagioclase pseudomorphs are pale and rutile-free but contain minute inclusions of omphacite, quartz, kyanite, phengite, and K-feldspar, typical of coronitic garnet between augite and plagioclase. Electron backscatter diffraction reveals no optimum matching of the low index crystallographic directions of rutile and garnet as required by an exsolution mechanism. On the other hand, the ORNs resemble the amorphous lamellae in quartz and zircon in meteorite and seismic shocked rocks, and are inferred to have crystallized earlier in seismic shocked augite and were then overgrown by the host minerals. By contrast, the rutile particles in garnet cataclasites in a nearby eclogite breccia display deformed and explosive patterns and random crystallographic orientations. All these observations are best explained by the seismic shock compression and rarefaction scenario proposed earlier.

Speleothems are mineral deposits capable of recording detrital and/or chemical remanent magnetization at annual timescales. They can offer high-resolution paleomagnetic records of short-term variations in Earth's magnetic field, crucial for understanding the evolution of the dynamo. Owing to limitations on the magnetic moment sensitivity of commercial cryogenic rock magnetometers (∼10⁻¹¹ Am²), paleomagnetic studies of speleothems have been limited to samples with volumes of several hundreds of mm³, averaging tens to hundreds of years of magnetic variation. Nonetheless, smaller samples (∼1–10 mm³) can be measured using superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscopy, with a sensitivity better than ∼10⁻¹⁵ Am². To determine the application of SQUID microscopy for obtaining robust high-resolution records from small-volume speleothem samples, we analyzed three different stalagmites collected from Lapa dos Morcegos Cave (Portugal), Pau d'Alho Cave (Brazil), and Crevice Cave (United States). These stalagmites are representative of a range of magnetic properties and have been previously studied with conventional rock magnetometers. We show that by using SQUID microscopy we can achieve a five-fold improvement in temporal resolution for samples with higher abundances of magnetic carriers (e.g., Pau d'Alho Cave and Lapa dos Morcegos Cave). In contrast, speleothems with low abundances of magnetic carriers (e.g., Crevice Cave) do not benefit from higher resolution analysis and are best analyzed using conventional rock magnetometers. Overall, by targeting speleothem samples with high concentrations of magnetic carriers we can increase the temporal resolution of magnetic records, setting the stage for resolving geomagnetic variations at short time scales.

Magma fragmentation is an essential process driving explosive volcanic eruptions, generating a distribution of pyroclasts with characteristic shape and grain size. These characteristics are often used to inform on the energetics of magma fragmentation and the associated eruption style and intensity. However, a portion of these pyroclasts, droplets when still in the molten state, are likely to be generated through impact mechanisms (i.e., collisions), and subsequent secondary fragmentation (i.e., splashing). Here, we successfully apply and dynamically scale concepts and findings of liquid droplet impacts in engineering to magma fragmentation processes in volcanology. We compile and model physical data for two mafic melt compositions (kimberlite and basalt) and use specific eruption examples from Igwisi Hills, Kīlauea and Stromboli volcanoes to define composition-specific impact dynamics. Pyroclast impact dynamics have a direct control on in-conduit processes, eruption dynamics, and ash dispersal. For low viscosity mafic melts such as kimberlite and basalt, pyroclast impacts can lead to both splash and deposition on the conduit wall, resulting either in conduit clearing or conduit narrowing, respectively. In both cases, shifting the impact regime toward surface deposition will lead to an inexorable decay in explosiveness, potentially switching the eruption style to effusive behavior. This has direct consequences for the transport of volcanic ash at the surface and inferring magma fragmentation processes (e.g., energies) from the depositional record.

Marine fallout ash beds can provide continuous, time-precise records of highly explosive arc volcanism that can be linked with the climate record. An evaluation of revised Plio-Pleistocene (0–4 Myr) tephrostratigraphies from Ocean Drilling Program Sites 881, 882, and 884 confirms cyclicity of the Kamchatka-Kurile arc volcanism and a marked increase just after the intensification of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation at 2.73 Ma. The compositional constancy of the Kamchatka-Kurile volcano-magma systems through time points to external modulation of volcanic cyclicity and frequency. The stacked tephra record reveals periodic peaks in arc volcanicity at ∼0.3, ∼1.0, ∼1.6, ∼2.5, and ∼3.8 Myr that coincide with maxima of the global ice volume variability that have been linked with the amplitude modulation of the precession (0.3, 1.0 Myr) and obliquity (1.6, 2.5 and 3.8 Myr) bands. A simple model of a decreasing obliquity variance across the mid-Pleistocene Transition at constant precession variance produces an excellent correlation of ash bed cycles with the variability of global benthic δ¹⁸O (r² = 0.75), which implies that climate, and not direct orbital forcing, modulates Kamchatka-Kurile arc volcanism. The rising influence of precession variance in the Kamchatka-Kurile ash bed record after the mid-Pleistocene Transition contrasts with the dominant 100 kyr signal in the benthic δ¹⁸O global ice volume variability, which may either reflect limitations of the ash bed record or an regional rather than global influence of ice volume variability. Our results indicate that climate influences the Kamchatka-Kurile arc volcanism, which may influence climate only by feedback.

The present continental crust is characterized by a felsic upper crust and a mafic lower crust, resulting from significant geochemical differentiation over geological time. While various processes have been proposed to explain this differentiation, subduction zones remain pivotal regions for understanding the compositional evolution of continental crust. This study focuses on the South Altyn (SA) continental subduction-collision belt in western China, a unique setting that experienced ultra-deep (>300 km) continental subduction followed by multi-stage exhumation. We present a comprehensive study of four granitoid suites from Tatelekebulake (TTLK) area in SA: biotite granite (BG), monzogranite (MG), K-feldspar granite (KG), and leucogranite (LG). Comprehensive studies on petrology, geochemistry and zircon U-Pb dating show that these granitoids formed at 494, 451, 414, and 418 Ma, respectively, and originated from protoliths with affinity to the subducted continental crust in SA. Phase equilibrium modeling suggests that BG formed at ∼800°C and 0.6 GPa, while the MG, KG, and LG formed by differentiation crystallization of the BG magma under progressively decreasing temperature and pressure conditions (750°C, 0.5 GPa; 740–700°C, 0.2 GPa; and 700–640°C, 0.1 GPa, respectively). These results, combined with previous studies, allow us to reconstruct the tectonic processes of continental exhumation and subsequent orogenic collapse in SA during the Early Paleozoic. Importantly, our findings reveal that magmatism derived from partial melting of subducted continental crust can promote the geochemical evolution of continental crust toward more felsic compositions, even in the absence of significant crustal growth or mantle-derived magmatism. This study provides a valuable case for understanding the compositional evolution of continental crust in deep subduction zones and challenges conventional models that rely heavily on arc magmatism for crustal differentiation. Moreover, our results contribute to a broader understanding of crustal evolution processes in collisional orogens worldwide and highlight the importance of recycling and differentiation of subducted continental material in shaping crustal compositions.