Search results for "Crust"

Delamination and recycling of Archaean crust caused by gravitational instabilities

2013

The volume of Archaean crust preserved at Earth’s surface today is low. Thermodynamic calculations and geodynamic modelling show that the thick, primary crust that would have formed on a much hotter Archaean Earth was denser than the underlying mantle, and would have therefore been recycled back into the mantle as drips.

Variations of vitamin D-like reactivity in the crustacean Orchestia cavimana during the molt cycle

1991

An investigation into vitamin D-like molecules has been performed on whole extracts of the terrestrial amphipod Orchestia cavimana, using a sensitive nonequilibrium assay employing 1,25-(OH)2 D receptor from calf thymus. Relatively large amounts of these secosteroid-like molecules were observed and they varied in concentration according to the stages of the molt cycle. The amplitude of these variations reaches a ratio of about 40 from the minimum in premolt to the intermolt sharp peak.

The Permocarboniferous Basin and Range Province of Europe. An Application op Plate Tectonics

1976

Distribution and development of European late Hercynian intermontane troughs and associated volcanicity are related to an upper mantle diapir which formed above two subduction zones during the Hercynian cycle of orogenesis. Lateral spreading of the diapir caused regional extension of the previously folded crust and enabled tholeiitic magmas from the upper mantle and rhyolitic magmas from the lower crust to reach the surface.

Gas emissions and crustal deformation from the Krýsuvík high temperature geothermal system, Iceland

2020

Abstract The Krýsuvik volcanic system is located on the oblique spreading Reykjanes Peninsula, SW Iceland. Since early 2009 the region has been undergoing episodes of localized ground uplift and subsidence. From April–November 2013, we operated near-real time monitoring of gas emissions in Krýsuvik, using a Multi-component Gas Analyzer System (Multi-GAS), collecting data on gas composition from a fumarole (H2O, CO2, SO2, H2S). The dataset in this study, comprises a near-continuous gas composition time series, the quantification of diffuse CO2 gas flux, analytical results for direct samples of dry gas, seismic records, and GPS data. Gas emissions from the Krýsuvik geothermal system were exam…

Influence of soil surface sealing and hydrophobicity on water infiltration

Nella tesi viene affrontato lo studio dell’impatto dei fenomeni di sealing superficiale e di idrofobicità sui processi di infiltrazione dell’acqua nel suolo. A tal fine vengono utilizzati diversi tipi di esperimenti infiltrometrici che consentono di determinare le modificazioni delle proprietà idrauliche del suolo indotte da questi due fenomeni permettendo di valutare così le loro ripercussioni negative sui processi idrologici. The thesis aims at investigating the effects of soil sealing and hydrophobicity on the water infiltration process. Different field infiltrometric techniques are applied at this end due to their ability to characterize modifications of soil hydraulic properties that d…

Using Beerkan experiments to estimate hydraulic conductivity of a crusted loamy soil in a Mediterranean vineyard

2019

Abstract In bare soils of semi-arid areas, surface crusting is a rather common phenomenon due to the impact of raindrops. Water infiltration measurements under ponding conditions are becoming largely applied techniques for an approximate characterization of crusted soils. In this study, the impact of crusting on soil hydraulic conductivity was assessed in a Mediterranean vineyard (western Sicily, Italy) under conventional tillage. The BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) algorithm was applied to the infiltration data to obtain the hydraulic conductivity of crusted and uncrusted soils. Soil hydraulic conductivity was found to vary during the year and also spatially (i.e., ro…

CHLORITE/SMECTITE - ALKALI FELDSPAR METASOMATIC XENOLITHS FROM HYBLEAN MIOCENIC DIATREMES (SICILY, ITALY): EVIDENCE FOR EARLY INTERACTION BETWEEN HYD…

2006

Upper-Miocene tuff-breccia pipes from the Hyblean area (south-eastern Sicily) bear a number of ultramafic and mafic xenoliths (spinel-peridotites, pyroxenites, gabbroic rocks) whose study has led to conclude that the Meso-Caenozoic carbonatic and volcanic succession stands upon a fossil oceanic core-complex, probably connected with the adjacent Ionian crust. Evidence for hydrothermal metasomatism is common in the Hyblean ultramafic and mafic xenoliths. In some cases, extreme metasomatic transformation and shearing have deleted original mineralogy and textures yielding unusual rocks, hereafter called “metasomatites”. These rocks generally exhibit cataclastic texture, their hydrothermal miner…

Zircon ages of high-grade gneisses in the Eastern Erzgebirge (Central European Variscides)—constraints on origin of the rocks and Precambrian to Ordo…

2001

Abstract This study is an attempt to unravel the tectono-metamorphic history of high-grade metamorphic rocks in the Eastern Erzgebirge region. Metamorphism has strongly disturbed the primary petrological genetic characteristics of the rocks. We compare geological, geochemical, and petrological data, and zircon populations as well as isotope and geochronological data for the major gneiss units of the Eastern Erzgebirge; (1) coarse- to medium-grained “Inner Grey Gneiss”, (2) fine-grained “Outer Grey Gneiss”, and (3) “Red Gneiss”. The Inner and Outer Grey Gneiss units (MP–MT overprinted) have very similar geochemical and mineralogical compositions, but they contain different zircon populations…

Recycling in the subduction factory: Archaean to Permian zircons in the oceanic Cretaceous Caribbean island-arc (Hispaniola)

2018

Abstract Little mineralogical evidence is left of the recycling of continental and oceanic crust into the mantle at subduction zones. Zircon, because of its exceptional robustness, is probably the only surviving phase and the best mineral tracer of this global-scale process. This article combines new in-situ U-Pb dating and O and Hf isotope analyses on Cretaceous (co-magmatic) and pre-Cretaceous (inherited) zircons separated from Albian-Aptian arc-related igneous rocks from the Dominican Republic. The O and Hf systematics of Cretaceous zircons reflect derivation from predominantly juvenile sources and variable mixing with evolved melts, as expected for an oceanic island-arc. Inherited zirco…

Cold plumes trigger contamination of oceanic mantle wedges with continental crust-derived sediments: Evidence from chromitite zircon grains of easter…

2018

The origin of zircon grains, and other exotic minerals of typical crustal origin, in mantle-hosted ophiolitic chromitites are hotly debated.We report a population of zircon grains with ages ranging from Cretaceous (99 Ma) to Neoarchean (2750 Ma), separated from massive chromitite bodies hosted in the mantle section of the supra-subduction (SSZ)-type Mayarí-Baracoa Ophiolitic Belt in eastern Cuba. Most analyzed zircon grains (n = 20, 287 +/- 3 Ma to 2750 +/- 60 Ma) are older than the early Cretaceous age of the ophiolite body, show negative εHf(t) (+/-26 to +/-0.6) and occasional inclusions of quartz, K-feldspar, biotite, and apatite that indicate derivation from a granitic continental crust…