1,721,074 research outputs found

    Non-traditional isotope tracers (238U/235U and 98Mo/95Mo) of subduction processes in the Central-Mediterranean magmatism.

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    Non-traditional isotope systems such as Mo and 238U/235U are notably fractionated by redox-related processes on the Earth’s surface. Such distinctive signatures may be carried into the mantle wedge via subduction and provide valuable tracers of components involved in magma genesis. Thus we measured Mo isotopes and 238U/235U on a suite of central-western Mediterranean calc-alkaline to ultra-potassic rocks (both silica-oversaturated and under-saturated). The studied rocks are associated with destructive plate margins, showing strong depletions in Nb and Ta, highly radiogenic Sr isotopes and most notably extreme enrichment in incompatible trace elements with respect to other volcanic arcs. These features have been long related to recycling of sedimentary material of different compositions into their mantle sources, making these rocks particularly suitable to investigate the role and nature of recycled sediments in subduction related magmatism. The data show an extremely wide spread of 98Mo/95Mo values, especially for the silica under-saturated products, that is significantly larger than any volcanic rocks suites reported so far. Smaller variations have been measured for 238U/235U. We discuss the isotope compo sition of the studied volcanic rocks and possible sedimentary end- members with the aim of constraining the lithology of the recycled sediments as well the mechanism of element transport from the slab to the mantle (i.e. fluids vs. melts)

    Combining biodiversity and geodiversity on landscape scale: A novel approach using rare earth elements and spatial distribution models in an agricultural Mediterranean landscape

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    Landform diversity influences and interacts with both biodiversity and geodiversity and thus, they are key factors in the assessment of landscape resilience. However, research on the spatial relationships between landscape geodiversity and biodiversity is challenging because we are still lacking methods to link abiotic with biotic factors. The goal of this study is to explore and quantitatively assess the spatial relationship between geomorphometric factors and the relative distribution of rare earth elements (REEs) in soils and organism. Therefore, we selected a representative Mediterranean landscape characterized by ancient olive grove cultivations. The results show for different landforms and lithotypes a positive linear correlation in the lanthanum/samarium vs. lanthanum/ytterbium (La/Sm vs. La/Yb) signature between the bioavailable fraction of topsoil and olive drupe. Results of La/Yb vs. La/Sm reported as power function for olive drupes and topsoil follow comparable scaling ranges showing a power law of 0.83 and 0.71 respectively with an R2 0.96 vs. 0.71. A different scaling range behavior from topsoil to the related olive drupe was found for each parent rock material. Results of the Machine Learning (ML) modelling framework showed that the LaN/SmN in topsoil, were substantiality correlated to channel network base level, topographic wetness index, NDWI and valley depth. Under the physiographic environmental variables of the study area, the spatial distribution of LaN/YbN was mainly related to the lithological characteristics. Furthermore, NDVI was the most important variable to predict the fractionation ratio of LaN/YbN in olive drupe and the topographic channel network distance for LaN/SmN in olive drupe. Our findings provide new insights in the spatial distribution of REEs allowing an assessment of bio- and geodiversity of olive groves taking into account biophysical factors. Our research represents a starting point for future applications and modelling techniques to analyze at the catchment-scale the REEs biophysical fluxes and food traceability

    The Fate of High-Angle Dipping Slabs in the Subduction Factory: an Integrated Trace Element and Radiogenic Isotope (U, Th, Sr, Nd, Pb) Study of Stromboli Volcano, Aeolian Arc, Italy

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    The subaerial part of the Stromboli stratovolcano was built up in the last 100 kyr through six periods of activity; the erupted magmas record the largest compositional variation of all the Aeolian arc volcanoes (calc-alkaline, shoshonitic, and potassic alkaline magma series). The trace element characteristics of the less evolved magmas of each period of activity are coherently correlated with their radiogenic isotope (Sr, Nd, Pb) composition, and are typical of volcanic arc rocks. In terms of U-series isotopes, samples from the different magma series have both U-238 and Th-230 excesses, and this distinctive feature provides additional constraints on source enrichment processes within the mantle wedge and on the mechanism of partial melting. Overall the complete set of data demonstrates that the genesis of the different magma series at Stromboli can be accommodated in a mantle source that experienced two distinct enrichment processes by different parts of the subducting oceanic crust of the Ionian slab. The first was caused by supercritical liquids originating from the basaltic and sedimentary parts of the subducting slab at >5 GPa and similar to 900 degrees C. The second was induced by aqueous fluids, again originating from the basaltic and sedimentary parts of the slab, released from a shallower part of the subducted Ionian slab (435 ka, whereas the second event (Stage II: aqueous fluids) occurred at similar to 100 ka. The high-angle dip of the Ionian slab (similar to 70 degrees) caused the superimposition of the metasomatizing agents of the two enrichment processes in the same volume of the mantle wedge, explaining the occurrence of such different magma series in a single volcanic edifice. The U-Th disequilibria provide evidence for dynamic melting of the metasomatized mantle wedge combined with an ageing effect resulting from the restoration of secular equilibrium after the perturbation caused by the U-rich aqueous fluids of Stage II. The trace element and radiogenic isotope (U, Th, Sr, Nd, Pb) signature of the mantle source of the magmas at Stromboli is thus dependent upon the amount of supercritical liquids and aqueous fluids released by the two components of the subducted slab, whereas the distinctive U-238 and Th-230 excesses of the magmas result from a combination of mantle ageing and time-dependent dynamic melting. The geochemical and radiogenic isotope signature of the mantle source beneath Stromboli places important constraints on the isotopic polarity from Southern Latium to the Aeolian arc attributed to the effect of a HIMU mantle component following either lateral inflow of foreland mantle material or upwelling of a mantle plume in the centre of the Tyrrhenian basin. Our geochemical model demonstrates that the high Pb-206/Pb-204 of the putative 'HIMU' mantle component could be equally formed during metasomatism of the pre-existing mantle wedge by either the supercritical liquid (Stage I) or aqueous fluid (Stage II) released by the subducted altered basalt of the Ionian plate

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Critical assessment of pressure estimates in volcanic plumbing systems: The case study of Popocatépetl volcano, Mexico

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    Most geobarometers use chemical compositions of minerals and their host melt to estimate crystallization pressures. Crystal structural parameters such as cell and site volumes are not usually considered despite their known sensitivity to pressure. Here, we compare two clinopyroxene geobarometers based upon electron microprobe analysis alone and coupled with single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The case study is the plumbing system of Popocatépetl volcano (Mexico), which consists of three distinct magma reservoirs in upper, middle and lower crustal depths, represented by three compositionally and texturally distinct clinopyroxene populations (T1, Mg# core 82, and low-Ca with a lower wollastonite component). These clinopyroxenes are augites of limited compositional variability, although yielding a significant increase in cell (V cell) and M1 site (V M1) volumes from low-Ca and T2 core clinopyroxenes to T1 (core and rim) and T2 (rim) clinopyroxenes. This variation is not due to chemical or temperature effects but is linked to their depth of crystallization. The application of the geobarometer based on chemical composition alone is unable to distinguish the three different reservoirs postulated on volcanological and petrological grounds. In contrast, the application of the geobarometer based on both structural parameters and chemical composition yields a remarkable correlation between the calculated cell volume and the estimated depth of crystallization of the different clinopyroxenes, including core to rim differences. These results have twofold implications. First, the determination of the structural parameters of clinopyroxenes is the only method to resolve the actual distribution of Mg, Fe2+, Fe3+ in the M1 and M2 structural sites and, given the sensitivity of cell and site volumes to pressure, permits to improve geobarometric estimates in volcanic plumbing systems. Second, the quantitative determination of the crystallization depth of the different clinopyroxenes has permitted to rescale the depth of the three different reservoirs in the plumbing system of the Popocatépetl Volcanic Complex located from ~30 km b.s.l. (low-Ca clinopyroxene) to ~18 km b.s.l. (T2 clinopyroxene core) and ~10–0 km b.s.l. (T1 clinopyroxene core and rim, T2 clinopyroxene rim) within the crustal structure of the Morelos platform. This provides further support to the complex plumbing system of the Popocatépetl Volcanic Complex consisting of polybaric storage layers of variable interconnected and interacting transient magma reservoirs

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods
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