Search results for "550 - Earth sciences"
showing 10 items of 60 documents
Nanostructure, composition and mechanisms of bivalve shell growth
2008
Abstract Freshwater and marine cultured pearls form via identical processes to the shells of bivalves and can therefore serve as models for the biomineralization of bivalve shells in general. Their nanostructure consists of membrane-coated granules (vesicles) which contain amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) at the beginning of the biomineralization sequence, preceding the crystallization of aragonite and vaterite. In contrast to the commonly accepted view, crystallization of ACC occurs rapidly and within the granular nano-compartments mediated by organic molecules much earlier than platelet formation. The interlamellar organic sheets in nacre that form the platelet structure of nacre themsel…
Scene-based spectral calibration assessment of high spectral resolution imaging spectrometers
2009
An accurate knowledge of the spectral calibration of imaging spectrometers is required for optimum data processing and interpretation. The scene-based spectral characterization of imaging spectrometers is frequently necessary to update or replace the pre-flight laboratory-based spectral characterization supplied by the data provider. An automatic method for the estimation of spectral calibration parameters (channel position and bandwidth) at atmospheric absorption regions from high spectral resolution imaging spectrometers (spectral sampling interval below 5 nm) is presented in this contribution. The method has been tested on two commercial instruments with spectral sampling intervals below…
Incomplete retention of radiation damage in zircon from Sri Lanka
2004
A suite of 18 zircon gemstones from placers in the Highland/Southwestern Complex, Sri Lanka, were subjected to a comprehensive study of their radiation damages and ages. The investigation included X-ray diffraction, Raman and PL spectroscopy, electron microprobe, PIXE and HRTEM analysis, as well as (U-Th)/He and SHRIMP U-Th-Pb age determinations. Zircon samples described in this study are virtually homogeneous. They cover the range from slightly metamict to nearly amorphous. Generally concordant U-Th-Pb ages averaging 555 ± 11 Ma were obtained. Late Ordovician zircon (U-Th)/He ages scattering around 443 ± 9 Ma correspond reasonably well with previously determined biotite Rb-Sr ages for rock…
Eckfeld Maar: Window into an Eocene Terrestrial Habitat in Central Europe
2010
: To mark the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Rheinische Naturforschende Gesellschaft in 2009 and of the centennial of the Mainz Natural History Museum in 2010, we present a short account of our present knowledge of the Eckfeld Maar after 20 years of continuous research. This paper does not attempt to include all of the detailed results on the geology of the Eckfeld site or its biota. To date, nearly 250 papers and books have been published since the start of our project An up-to-date list of these publications can be found at http://www.eckfeldermaar.de.
Tertiary Ultrapotassic Volcanism in Serbia: Constraints on Petrogenesis and Mantle Source Characteristics
2005
The Serbian province of Tertiary ultrapotassic volcanism is related to a post-collisional tectonic regime that followed the closure of the Tethyan Vardar Ocean by Late Cretaceous subduction beneath the southern European continental margin. Rocks of this province form two ultrapotassic groups; one with affinities to lamproites, which is concentrated mostly in the central parts of the Vardar ophiolitic suture zone, and the other with affinities to kamafugites, which crops out in volcanoes restricted to the western part of Serbia. The lamproitic group is characterized by a wide range of Sr/Sri (0 70735–0 71299) and Nd/Ndi (0 51251–0 51216), whereas the kamafugitic group is isotopically more ho…
Evidence from Antarctic mantle peridotite xenoliths for changes in mineralogy, geochemistry and geothermal gradients beneath a developing rift
2006
Abstract Garnet and spinel peridotite xenoliths associated with the Phanerozoic Lambert–Amery Rift in eastern Antarctica contain evidence for several stages in the development of the mantle beneath the rift. Despite the fact that equilibria were only partly attained, a combination of petrography, whole-rock geochemistry, mineral chemistry and thermobarometry can be used to decipher four stages prior to entrainment of the xenoliths in the host magma during the initial stages of the breakup of Antarctica, India and Madagascar. The first chronological stage is represented by harzburgitic protoliths represented by rare occurrences of low-Ca olivines and orthopyroxenes in spinel lherzolites: the…
Between carbonatite and lamproite - Diamondiferous Torngat ultramafic lamprophyres formed by carbonate-fluxed melting of cratonic MARID-type metasomes
2008
Abstract New U–Pb perovskite ages reveal that diamondiferous ultramafic lamprophyre magmas erupted through the Archean crust of northern Labrador and Quebec (eastern Canada) between ca. 610 and 565 Ma, a period of strong rifting activity throughout contiguous Laurentia and Baltica. The observed Torngat carbonate-rich aillikite/carbonatite and carbonate-poor mela-aillikite dyke varieties show a large spread in Sr–Nd–Hf–Pb isotope ratios with pronounced correlations between isotope systems. An isotopically depleted component is identified solely within aillikites (87Sr/86Sri = 0.70323–0.70377; eNdi = +1.2–+1.8; eHfi = +1.4–+3.5; 206Pb/204Pbi = 18.2–18.5), whereas some aillikites and all mela-…
Zircon M257 - a homogeneous natural reference material for the ion microprobe U-Pb analysis of zircon
2008
We introduce and propose zircon M257 as a future reference material for the determination of zircon U-Pb ages by means of secondary ion mass spectrometry. This light brownish, flawless, cut gemstone specimen from Sri Lanka weighed 5.14 g (25.7 carats). Zircon M257 has TIMS-determined, mean isotopic ratios (2s uncertainties) of 0.09100 ± 0.00003 for 206pb/238U and 0.7392 ± 0.0003 for 207pb/235U. Its 206pb/238U age is 561.3 ± 0.3 Ma (unweighted mean, uncertainty quoted at the 95% confidence level); the U-Pb system is concordant within uncertainty of decay constants. Zircon M257 contains ∼ 840 μg g−1 U (Th/U ∼ 0.27). The material exhibits remarkably low heterogeneity, with a virtual absence of…
The nature of radiohaloes in biotite: Experimental studies and modeling
2001
Several micro-techniques (confocal laser-Raman microprobe, optical absorption micro-spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis) were employed in the detailed characterization of radiohaloes in biotites from two Variscan rocks from Germany. The studied biotites are intermediate members of the phlogopite-annite series with Mg/Fe 2+ ratios in the range 1.6–1.0. Radiohaloes in biotite resulted from the impact of 4 He cores (α-particles) emitted from actinide-bearing inclusions. Monte Carlo simulations yielded α ( 238 U, 235 U, and 232 Th series) penetration ranges in biotite between 12.5 and 37.3 μm, which are in reasonable agreement with the ob…
The extensional Messaria shear zone and associated brittle detachment faults, Aegean Sea, Greece
2005
Structural, thermochronological and metamorphic data are used to elucidate the tectonic nature and evolution of the ductile extensional Messaria shear zone and the associated brittle Messaria and Fanari detachment faults, which exhumed their footwall from mid-crustal depths on the island of Ikaria in the Aegean. Thermobarometric data indicate that the Messaria shear zone formed at 350–>400 °C and 3–4 kbar (i.e. at a depth of c . 15 km). Normal faulting was accompanied by the intrusion of two granites, which together with the thermobarometric data indicate a relatively high thermal field gradient of 25–35 °C km −1 . Zircon and apatite fission-track and apatite (U–Th)/He ages demonstrate rapi…