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Confronting Grand Challenges in Environmental Fluid Dynamics
Full text linkEnvironmental fluid dynamics underlies a wealth of natural, industrial and, by extension, societal challenges. In the coming decades, as we strive towards a more sustainable planet, there are a wide range of grand challenge problems that need to be tackled, ranging from fundamental advances in understanding and modeling of stratified turbulence and consequent mixing, to applied studies of pollution transport in the ocean, atmosphere and urban environments. A workshop was organized in the Les Houches School of Physics in France in January 2019 with the objective of gathering leading figures in the field to produce a road map for the scientific community. Five subject areas were addressed: multiphase flow, stratified flow, ocean transport, atmospheric and urban transport, and weather and climate prediction. This article summarizes the discussions and outcomes of the meeting, with the intent of providing a resource for the community going forward
Deciphering the Fate of Plunging Tectonic Plates in Borneo
Full text linkWhat happens when subduction stops? A team of scientists installed a dense seismic network in Borneo to investigate causes and consequences of subduction termination
Origin of Life’s Building Blocks in Carbon- and Nitrogen-Rich Surface Hydrothermal Vents
Full text linkThere are two dominant and contrasting classes of origin of life scenarios: those predicting that life emerged in submarine hydrothermal systems, where chemical disequilibrium can provide an energy source for nascent life; and those predicting that life emerged within subaerial environments, where UV catalysis of reactions may occur to form the building blocks of life. Here, we describe a prebiotically plausible environment that draws on the strengths of both scenarios: surface hydrothermal vents. We show how key feedstock molecules for prebiotic chemistry can be produced in abundance in shallow and surficial hydrothermal systems. We calculate the chemistry of volcanic gases feeding these vents over a range of pressures and basalt C/N/O contents. If ultra-reducing carbon-rich nitrogen-rich gases interact with subsurface water at a volcanic vent they result in 10−3
–1M concentrations of diacetylene (C4H2), acetylene (C2H2), cyanoacetylene (HC3N), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), bisulfite (likely in the form of salts containing HSO3−), hydrogen sulfide (HS−) and soluble iron in vent water. One key feedstock molecule, cyanamide (CH2N2), is not formed in significant quantities within this scenario, suggesting that it may need to be delivered exogenously, or formed from hydrogen cyanide either via organometallic compounds, or by some as yet-unknown chemical synthesis. Given the likely ubiquity of surface hydrothermal vents on young, hot, terrestrial planets, these results identify a prebiotically plausible local geochemical environment, which is also amenable to future lab-based simulation
Controls on the geometry and evolution of thin-skinned fold-thrust belts, and applications to the Makran accretionary prism and Indo-Burman Ranges
No full textThe formation of fold-thrust belts at convergent margins is a dynamic process. Accretion of weak sediments to the front of the overriding plate results in crustal thickening and continued flexural subsidence of the underthrusting plate. Fold-thrust belts are often treated as a Coulomb wedge having self-similar geometries with a critical taper, and either a rigid or isostatically compensated base. In this paper we build upon this work by developing a new dynamic model to investigate both the role of the thickness and material properties of the incoming sediment, and the flexure in the underthrusting plate in controlling the behaviour and evolution of fold-thrust belts. Our analysis shows that the evolution of fold-thrust belts can be dominated by either gravitational spreading or vertical thickening, depending on the relative importance of sediment flux, material properties and flexure. We apply our model to the Makran accretionary prism and the Indo-Burman Ranges, and show that for the Makran flexure must be considered in order to explain the dip of the sediment-basement interface from seismic reflection profiles. In the Indo-Burman Ranges, we show that incoming sediment thickness has a first-order control on the variations in the characteristics of the topography from north to south of the Shillong Plateau
The reactive transport of Li as a monitor of weathering processes in kinetically limited weathering regimes
Full text linkAnalytical solutions to reactive-transport equations describing the evolution of Li concentrations and isotopic ratios are presented for one-dimensional flow paths where reaction stoichiometry is constant along the flow path. These solutions are considered appropriate for chemical weathering in rapidly eroding catchments. The solutions may be described by two dimensionless numbers; 1) a Damkӧhler number describing the product of reaction rate and fluid residence time, and 2) a net partition coefficient which describes the fraction of Li re-precipitated in secondary minerals as the product of a fluid-secondary mineral partition coefficient and the mass fraction of secondary mineral precipitates. In settings where water entering flow paths is dilute, Li concentrations will increase along the flow path until they reach a limiting value determined by the net partition coefficient. Simultaneously, 7Li/6Li isotopic ratios will increase to a limiting value of the source rock ratio minus the secondary mineral-fluid Li-isotopic fractionation factor. Waters with Li-isotopic ratios in excess of this limiting value must have evolved with a change of reaction stoichiometry and/or partition coefficient along the flow path such that at some point net removal of Li to secondary minerals exceeds that supplied by dissolution of primary minerals. The modelling shows that the multiple controls on chemical weathering rates (temperature, rainfall, erosion rate, hydrology) cannot be inferred from Li concentration and isotopic ratio data alone which only provide two independent constraints. Caution should be exercised in interpretation of oceanic Li records in terms of potential climatic variables. The model is illustrated by a set of Li concentration and isotopic ratio measurements on river waters and bed sands in the Alaknanda river basin which forms the headwaters of the Ganges. This illustrates how values of the Damkӧhler number and net partition coefficient can be used to trace weathering processes. Water samples from catchments with similar lithologies and climates scatter along contours of approximately constant net partition coefficient, reflecting similar reaction stoichiometries, but with more variable Damkӧhler numbers reflecting variations in flow path length, fluid flux and/or reaction rate. Samples from the lower, warmer and less rapidly eroding catchments have high 7Li/6Li isotopic ratios with lower Li concentrations and must reflect at least a two-stage weathering process where reaction stoichiometry and/or Li fluid-mineral partition coefficients change along the flow path so that net Li is removed in the later stages
Field-response of magnetic vortices in dusty olivine from the Semarkona chondrite
Full text linkRecent paleomagnetic studies have constrained the strength
and longevity of the magnetic field generated by the solar nebula, which has broad implications for the early evolution of the solar system. Paleomagnetic evidence was recorded by nanoscale iron inclusions in olivine crystals in the
Semarkona LL 3.0 chondrite. These dusty olivines, have been shown to be credible carriers of ancient magnetic remanence. The small scale of the iron inclusions presents several challenges for defining their fundamental magnetic
properties. Here we present the first correlative study of the response of these magnetic structures under applied laboratory fields. Results show that the majority of particles are in a single-vortex state and exhibit stable magnetic behavior in applied fields up to 200 mT. Experimental observations using Lorentz microscopy and magnetic transmission X-ray microscopy are shown to compare well with the results of finite-element micromagnetic simulations derived from 3D models of the particles obtained using electron tomography. This correlative approach may be used to characterize the fundamental magnetic behavior of many terrestrial and extraterrestrial paleomagnetic
carriers in the single- to multi-vortex size range, which represent the vast majority of stable magnetic carriers in rocks and meteorites.
Plain Language Summary:
Some of the first solid materials to form in the solar system have been brought to Earth by meteorites. They contain tiny metallic inclusions which record information about the magnetic fields at the earliest stages of our solar sys-
tem’s history. Understanding these magnetic fields, and how they are recorded by metallic particles, provides very important information for understanding how our solar system formed and evolved. We have studied some of these particles to image their magnetic structure using microscopes which allow us to see structures a billionth of a metre in size. We have developed a new technique using X-rays to image how the magnetic structure in these particles changes when we apply different magnetic fields in the laboratory. We have also been able to reproduce our results using computer simulations of the magnetic behavior of the particles. This is the first study that has imaged the magnetic structure of these particles under applied fields. We find that the particles are very stable; even under magnetic fields thousands of times stronger than Earth’s, the particles still don’t change the magnetic structure they had in the early solar system.
Keypoints:
• We show the first experimental results demonstrating the stability of dusty olivines under applied magnetic fields.
• We use a novel combination of electron and X-ray microscopy techniques combined with micromagnetic simulations.
• We confirm previous results that dusty olivines are capable of recording magnetic fields from the solar nebula
Increased export production during recovery from the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum constrained by sedimentary Ba isotopes
No full textThe Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM; similar to 56 Ma) was a transient global warming event associated with a huge perturbation to the global carbon cycle. Changes in marine biological productivity may have contributed to the rapid recovery from this climate change event, by driving the burial of inorganic and organic carbon. Disagreement between proxy reconstructions, however, makes the response of biological productivity to climatic changes experienced during the PETM uncertain. Accumulation of non-detrital barium (Ba) in marine sediments is a commonly used proxy for export production. This proxy however can be compromised by artifacts resulting from dilution and changes in barite preservation, issues that have been debated for its application to sediments deposited during the PETM. Here we present a new approach to address these limitations, by combining non-detrital Ba accumulation with Ba isotope data for marine PETM sediments. Observed positive correlation between these variables is consistent with their control by local changes in export production. These results help resolve previous discrepancies between productivity reconstructions, and indicate export production at sites in the Southern Ocean and South Atlantic decreased or remained unchanged following the PETM onset, followed by an increase to maximum values in the PETM recovery period. This increase in export production coincides with elevated carbonate accumulation rates, representing an important mode of carbon sequestration. These new constraints therefore support the idea that increased production and export of calcifying nannoplankton, perhaps driven by changes in ocean stratification and/or terrestrial runoff, played an important role in rapid recovery from the PETM. This work also demonstrates the utility of sedimentary Ba isotope compositions for understanding past changes in the marine carbon cycle. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
The Neoarchaean Uyea Gneiss Complex, Shetland: an onshore fragment of the Rae Craton on the European Plate
Full text linkA tract of amphibolite facies granitic gneisses and metagabbros in northern Shetland, U.K., is here named the Uyea Gneiss Complex. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates emplacement of the igneous protoliths of the complex c. 2746–2726 Ma, at a later time than most of the Archaean protoliths of the Lewisian Gneiss Complex of mainland Scotland. Calc-alkaline geochemistry of the Uyea Gneiss Complex indicates arc-affinity and a strong genetic kinship among the mafic and felsic components. Zircon Hf compositions suggest an enriched mantle source and limited interaction with older crust during emplacement. Ductile fabrics developed soon after emplacement, with zircon rims at c. 2710 Ma, but there was little further deformation until Caledonian reworking east of the Uyea Shear Zone. There is no evidence for the Palaeoproterozoic reworking that dominates large tracts of the Lewisian Gneiss Complex and of the Nagssugtoqidian Orogen of East Greenland. The more northerly location of the Uyea Gneiss Complex and extensive offshore basement of similar age implies that, prior to the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean, these rocks were contiguous with the Archaean Rae Craton
Continental collisions and the origin of subcrustal continental earthquakes
No full textThe existence of subcrustal continental earthquakes beneath the Alpine-Himalayan Belt was recog-
nised more than 60 years ago. There is general agreement that most of those beneath the western
part of the belt in the Mediterranean result from the subduction of oceanic lithosphere. There is less
agreement about the origin of those beneath Vrancea in Romania, the Hindu Kush and the Pamir.
Because there is little evidence for the former existence of oceanic lithosphere beneath these regions,
many authors have argued that these seismic zones result from the separation of the mantle part
of the continental lithosphere from the crust before it sinks into the mantle. However, this model
has become steadily less satisfactory. Detailed studies of the depth of earthquakes beneath all stable
regions of continents have shown that substantial subcrustal earthquakes, with magnitudes greater
than 5.5, are rare. We show that this distribution is controlled by temperature, with material hotter
than ∼ 600
◦
C being aseismic. This simple rule accounts for the distribution of almost all earth-
quakes in oceanic and continental lithosphere, including those in subduction zones. We argue that
the subcrustal continental earthquakes must also result from the subduction of oceanic lithosphere.
This proposal is not new, but has generally been dismissed because of the lack of surface geological
evidence that suitable pieces of oceanic lithosphere existed. However, the depth distribution of con-
tinental earthquakes makes it steadily harder to avoid
Implications of Preliminary Subsidence Analyses for the Parnaíba Cratonic Basin
No full textCratonic sedimentary basins are underlain by thick lithosphere and subside over hundreds of millions of years. The driving mechanism for these basins remains enigmatic due to the paucity of crustal-scale constraints. To address this shortcoming, an integrative study of the Parnaíba cratonic basin of NE Brazil is underway. We summarize field observations, well-log information, seismic reflection profiles and subsidence analyses with the objective of shedding light on possible basin-forming mechanisms. Lithological descriptions and borehole logs reveal a stratigraphic succession that consists of interbedded shallow marine and continental deposits. On seismic reflection profiles, this succession is divided into packages of relatively undisturbed reflections bounded by basin-wide disconformities. These disconformities are manifest as bright, rugose reflections that probably represent buried palaeo-landscapes. Backstripped and water-loaded subsidence curves calculated from boreholes distributed throughout the basin show that tectonic subsidence decreases exponentially over c. 350 Ma. A simple model suggests that this subsidence pattern agrees with a thermal time constant of 70–100 Ma, placing a significant constraint on the likely basin-forming mechanism. This background trend is punctuated by minor increases in subsidence that follow basin-wide erosional disconformities. These departures could be indicative of transient epeirogenic uplift events caused by changing patterns of dynamic topography