detection and monitoring of water filled voids using transient electromagnetic method a case study in shanxi china shanxi province is a major coal base for the rapid development in china but heavy production of coal resources has left abundant water filled voids creating significant geologic hazards around coal mines it is necessary to quickly investigate the position and distribution of voids with effective geophysical methods the feasibility of transient electromagnetic tem method in detecting and monitoring water filled voids is analyzed using 3d finite element numerical simulation results as well as a case study in this paper the case study was mainly to analyze and monitor the conditions around the site of a power transfer station under construction in the west of shanxi province where many water filled mined out voids existed central loop tem sounding was carried out three times from january 2010 to april 2011 around the building footprint the low resistivity abnormal area had been repeatedly located and the survey results showed that the area of voids increased with time which indicated that the ground at the site was in an unstable and dangerous state the surveys provided more detailed geological information to the government for further safety arrangement and building re design

effect of calcite precipitation on stable strontium isotopic compositions insights from riverine and pool waters in a karst cave abstract radiogenic and stable sr isotope ratios 87 sr 86 sr 88 86 sr serve as potential tracers for evaluation of weathering sources and associated physicochemical processes in terrestrial environments despite carbonate weathering sourcing two thirds of the total continental sr flux to the ocean however few attempts have been aimed at studying stable sr isotope fractionation in carbonate dominated aquifers here we present a monthly resolved monitoring dataset of major ion concentrations and sr isotope ratios for karst riverine and pool waters at the luofang cave in the central china to understand the potential controls responsible for water 88 86 sr compositions under various climatic conditions with the exception of some pool waters in the dry period significantly heavier 88 86 sr were detected in the riverine and pool waters 0 20 to 0 42 compared to bedrock 88 86 sr 0 24 to 0 28 which can t be interpreted solely by lithology a sequential leaching experiment of the local soils suggests limited stable sr isotope fractionation during incongruent silicate mineral dissolution local plant utilization and biological activity in the soil overlying the cave are possible processes for causing the observed heavier 88 86 sr in cave water however air partial pressure of co 2 in cave monitoring water ph and sr isotopic mass balance calculations suggest that plant utilization is unlikely to be the primary control on the heavier water 88 86 sr on the other hand significant stable sr isotope fractionation was found between the cave dripping waters and calcite precipitates and the 88 86 sr car aq was estimated to be 0 15 0 07 2sd precipitation of secondary calcites might be a potential process responsible for the heavier 88 86 sr in the waters the negative correlation between 88 86 sr and sr na ratios in the cave waters is consistent with a scenario of preferential incorporation of the light sr isotope by solid phase furthermore by combining the calcite saturation states and water ph our results suggest that calcite precipitation is the most likely process controlling 88 86 sr compositions in cave water we demonstrate that secondary calcite precipitation in carbonate dominated catchments could be important in controlling the riverine water 88 86 sr compositions

seasonal diurnal and storm scale hydrochemical variations of typical epikarst springs in subtropical karst areas of sw china soil co2 and dilution effects summary two year continuous ph conductivity temperature and water stage of the two typical epikarst springs nongla spring and maolan spring about 200 km apart in subtropical karst areas of sw china were presented our primary study objective was to understand how karst systems respond hydrochemically to recharge at different time scales and what the biogeochemical processes and controlling factors in the sw china epikarst environment are a thermodynamic model was used to link the continuous data to monthly water quality data allowing the calculation of co 2 partial pressures and calcite dolomite saturation levels on a continuous basis marked seasonal diurnal and storm scale variations were observed for ph conductivity co 2 partial pressures and calcite dolomite saturation indexes of the springs indicating that both springs are dynamic and variable systems however the coefficients of variation of these hydrogeochemical features tends to be in the order of seasonal storm scale diurnal the seasonal and diurnal variations of these features higher conductivity and lower ph in summer and at daytime lower conductivity and higher ph in winter and at nighttime tend to co vary with temperature which influences the production of co 2 in soils thus being the driving force for the variations soil co 2 effect the storm scale fluctuations occur during the spring summer rainy days due to the storm events depending on the rainfall intensities however there are differences in magnitudes and direction of the variations of these features at very high rainfall intensity the dilution effect dominates the variations characterized by the decrease in both conductivity and calcite dolomite saturation of the springs while soil co 2 effect determines the variations at lower rainfall intensity characterized by increase in co 2 partial pressure and conductivity but decrease in ph and calcite dolomite saturation in a word the hydrodynamic aspects together with hydrobiogeochemical characteristics need to be taken into account to correctly explain the hydrochemical variations of the epikarst springs results from the study demonstrate the need to redesign hydrogeochemical sampling strategies for epikarst springs in karst areas with monsoon climate like sw china i e with remarkable seasonal matching fluctuations in temperature rainfall and vegetation

radiogenic and stable sr isotope ratios 87 sr 86 sr δ 88 86 sr as tracers of riverine cation sources and biogeochemical cycling in the milford sound region of fiordland new zealand this study reports radiogenic sr isotope ratios 87sr 86sr stable sr isotope ratios 88 86sr and major ion concentrations for river rock sediment soil and plant samples collected from the cleddau and hollyford catchments in the milford sound region of fiordland new zealand the catchments primarily drain gabbro but some tributaries access limestone and volcanogenic sediments the goal of the study was to understand controls on riverine 88 86sr values in a landscape with multiple factors that may influence chemical weathering including dense vegetation high rainfall and abundant freshly eroded holocene fluvio glacial and landslide debris rivers draining gabbro have higher 88 86sr values than bedrock by as much as 0 14 and the 88 86sr values strongly correlate with molar ca sr ratios r2 0 69 leaching of rocks and sediment reveals no evidence for the preferential dissolution of minerals having high 88 86sr values and ca sr ratios in stream sr isotope fractionation seems unlikely because comparison against 87sr 86sr and ca sr ratios demonstrates that riverine 88 86sr values conservatively trace water mass mixing the riverine data are best explained by the input of soil water which is distinct from potential bedrock end members i e silicates and carbonates based on 88 86sr but indistinguishable in terms of ca sr and 87sr 86sr while strontium isotope fractionation during secondary mineral formation and pedogenesis is possible clay mineral formation is minor and most soils are poorly developed instead soil water 88 86sr values more likely reflect plant uptake plant samples yielded a wide range of 88 86sr values but on average they are lower than those for bedrock consistent with the expectation that plants preferentially incorporate lighter sr isotopes mass balance constraints together with 87sr 86sr ratios indicate that soil water 88 86sr values are 0 30 higher than bedrock 88 86sr values and mixing calculations show that the plant fractionated soil water pool contributes 27 of the riverine sr for tributaries accessing limestone and volcanogenic sediments ca sr and 87sr 86sr ratios appear consistent with two component mixing between silicate and carbonate weathering but 88 86sr values reveal a third contribution from soil water inputs similar to gabbro catchments the results of this study suggest that sr isotopes behave conservatively during water mass mixing and stream transport but non conservatively in soil where plant uptake can elevate soil water 88 86sr values relative to bedrock plant uptake or related biogeochemical processes such as ion exchange on organic matter surfaces also appear to modify soil water ca sr ratios many studies use 87sr 86sr and ca sr ratios to apportion riverine solutes between silicate and carbonate weathering but ca sr ratios may be non conservative in densely vegetated areas the stable sr isotope tracer shows promise for resolving riverine cation sources as well as effects from biological cycling

stable sr isotope sr ca mg ca li ca and mg li ratios in the scleractinian cold water coral lophelia pertusa the aragonitic skeletons of scleractinian cold water corals can serve as valuable archives in paleoceanographic studies the potential of 88 86sr sr ca mg ca li ca and mg li ratios of the cold water coral lophelia pertusa to record intermediate water mass properties has been investigated here we used samples from several locations along the european continental margin spanning a large temperature range from 6 to 14 c stable strontium isotope measurements were carried out with the recently developed double spike tims technique and our results differ from those obtained with less precise methods in contrast to the strong positive relationship with temperature of previous studies our results suggest that 88 86sr measured in scleractinian cold water corals is not controlled by seawater temperature but reflects the sr isotopic composition of seawater with an offset of 88 86sr 0 196 as found in previous studies the elemental ratios sr ca li ca and mg li measured in corals are significantly related to water temperature and do not correlate with salinity moreover sr ca ratios in l pertusa display the expected inverse correlation with temperature however the variance in the sr ca data severely limits the accuracy of paleotemperature estimates the li ca and mg ca ratios reveal other influences besides temperature such as ph and or growth or calcification rate however corresponding mg li ratios in l pertusa are more tightly related to temperature as they remove these secondary effects in particular the mg li ratio in l pertusa may serve as a new promising paleotemperature proxy for intermediate water masses our dataset represents the most extensive geochemical examination of l pertusa to date revealing a temperature sensitivity of 0 015 mol mmol c for mg li however using this temperature dependence and the precision of 5 3 2sd only temperature variations larger than 1 5 c can be resolved with 95 confidence

morphometric analysis of magmatic enclaves a tool for understanding magma vesiculation and ascent abstract the extent of deformation of magmatic enclaves that occur in different portions of the khaggiar endogenous lava dome island of pantelleria italy has been quantified using two morphometric techniques thin plate splines and fractals deformation of enclaves decreases from the outer portions of the dome to the more internal portions defining two exponential trends the amount and distribution of vesicles have also been quantified using image analysis of digital images obtained by a scanning electron microscope the variation of deformation of enclaves correlates with the variation of their vesicle content suggesting that deformation and vesiculation are related we envisaged a continuous feedback system between vesiculation of enclaves and radial forces exerted by the surrounding host magma during the growth of the dome these relationships are used as dynamic markers to infer the eruptive style of the endogenous dome in particular it is suggested that the variation of vesicularity of enclaves is related to the pressure exerted by magma on the extrusion vent this resulted in enclaves being more vesicular and more deformed in the outer portions of the dome that emplaced first and at lower pressure and less vesicular and less deformed in the more internal portions that emplaced later and at higher pressure we interpret the occurrence of the two trends in the variation of deformation and porosity as related to two main eruptive pulses of dome growth

characterising the stable δ88 86sr and radiogenic 87sr 86sr isotopic composition of strontium in rainwater rainwater plays a major role in determining the transfer of elements and pollutants to soils and hydrological catchments with compositional variations reflecting the extent of mixing between marine sea salt terrestrial dust and vegetation and anthropogenic aerosols while the radiogenic strontium isotope system 87sr 86sr is often used to help constrain the different sources of atmospheric sr the degree of variability in the stable strontium isotope system 88 86sr remains unresolved in order to determine how atmospheric sr affects the 88 86sr composition of water entering the hydrological cycle this study analysed a suite of rainwater samples collected over the course of a year in central paris rainwater 88 86sr compositions were found to range from 0 13 to 0 32 with 87sr 86sr ratios varying between 0 70796 and 0 71093 no seasonality was observed in 88 86sr whereas 87sr 86sr ratios were observed to be generally more radiogenic in the summer and less radiogenic in the winter strontium enrichment factors significantly above seawater implied a predominantly terrestrial non sea salt origin of sr in rainwater with the 88 86sr and 87sr 86sr composition of this terrestrial fraction consistent with a mixture of sr derived from carbonate dust and agricultural fertiliser evidence for a 0 1 decrease in the 88 86sr composition of the river seine as it passes through paris suggests that anthropogenic pollutants may contribute to significant regional variations in the composition of sr in the hydrological cycle together these results demonstrate that there is significant potential for both temporal and spatial variations in the 88 86sr and 87sr 86sr composition of rainwater that need to be taken into consideration when studying 88 86sr variations in localised catchments

the late neogene 87sr 86sr record of lowland himalayan rivers fossil shells and paleosol carbonate from ancestral himalayan river deposits provide a 87 sr 86 sr record of lowland himalayan river water during the late neogene reconstructed 87 sr 86 sr river values increased sharply in the late miocene probably marking the beginning of exhumation of high 87 sr 86 sr metalimestones more in the central than in the western himalayas these results imply that the marine 87 sr 86 sr record may not be a proxy for silicate weathering or consumption of atmospheric co 2 resulting from that weathering

riverine evidence for a fractionated reservoir of ca and mg on the continents implications for the oceanic ca cycle analysis of river water rock travertine and soil from the high altitude negligible vegetation setting of the southern tibetan plateau demonstrates that ca and mg isotope ratios are fractionated during weathering dissolved ca in the two rivers studied is derived primarily by limestone dissolution 44 42ca in the rivers averages 0 43 and is statistically distinct from limestone at 0 31 the range in 44 42ca in these small rivers is 0 43 equivalent to the entire range in 44 42ca recorded in marine carbonate over the last 80 ma precipitation of isotopically light travertine with a 44 42ca of 0 21 enriches solute ca in heavy isotopes the mg isotope composition of the rivers is intermediate between limestone and silicate rock averaging 1 5 silicate soil has a 26mg of 0 03 heavier than silicate rock by 0 5 these fractionations in the soil create a companion groundwater reservoir of heavy ca and light mg seasonal variations in ca and mg isotope ratios in the dissolved load are small but define an array which can be modelled as a mixture between a fractionated groundwater reservoir and surface runoff reflecting the isotopic composition of the lithology fractionation of ca during the weathering of the continents is of importance to the global cycle of ca the riverine input of ca to the oceans dominated by carbonate weathering is controlled not only by the composition of the primary continental crust but also by the size and composition of a fractionated reservoir on the continents the impact on the oceanic cycle of ca depends on the relative residence times of dissolved ca in the ocean and the storage time of fractionated ca

using fractal analysis to quantitatively characterize the shapes of volcanic particles 1 the shapes of volcanic particles reflect numerous eruptive parameters e g magma viscosity volatile content and degree of interaction with water and are useful for understanding fragmentation and transport processes associated with volcanic eruptions however quantitative analysis of volcanic particle shapes has proven difficult because of their morphological complexity and variability here a newly developed procedure for shape analysis based on fractal geometry is described and tested although volcanic particle shapes are not truly fractal their complexity can be effectively characterized in terms of fractal values pseudofractal dimensions reflecting morphological invariance over discrete ranges of scale using fractal data produced by dilation of a particle s two dimensional boundary a spectrum of fractal dimensions is calculated for each particle by taking the first derivative of the dilation data compared with fractal methods that express shape in terms of only one or two fractal dimensions typically derived from the slope of data on a richardson plot this technique results in better discrimination between samples in addition use of multiple fractal values allows incorporation of multivariate statistical analysis further strengthening the differentiating power of the technique this fractal spectrum technique yields promising results for samples of sideromelane shards from iceland and is likely to be effective at characterizing other kinds of volcanic particle shapes

single borehole and cross borehole resistivity anomalies of thin ellipsoids and spheroids hole to hole resistivity measurement is a useful method of detecting deeply buried fractures and ore deposits in the subsurface with drilling costs continually rising there is a growing need for developing methods of borehole geophysics such as this in this study we present theoretical results relating to detection of thin oblate spheroids and ellipsoids with arbitrary attitude if we assume that individual fractures within a fracture zone are connected to each other and are of finite lateral and vertical extent then we can model the fracture zone as a thin conductive oblate ellipsoid or spheroid with arbitrary orientation of the major axis detection of such deeply buried fracture zones is the object of this study here the effects of the surface of the earth are neglected and the body is assumed to be enclosed within an infinite homogeneous mass the surface of the body is divided into a series of subsurfaces and a numerical solution of the fredholm integral equation is applied once a solution fo

88sr 86sr fractionation in inorganic aragonite and in corals conflicting results have been reported for the stable sr isotope fractionation specifically with respect to the influence of temperature in an experimental study we have investigated the stable sr isotope systematics for inorganically precipitated and biogenic coral aragonite natural and laboratory cultured inorganic aragonite precipitation experiments were performed from natural seawater using the co2 diffusion technique the experiments were performed at different temperatures and different carbonate ion concentrations 88sr 86sr of the inorganic aragonite precipitated in the experiments are 0 2 lighter than seawater but showed no correlation to the water temperature or to co32 concentration similar observations are made in different coral species cladocora caespitosa porites sp and acropora sp with identical fractionation from the bulk solution and no correlation to temperature or co32 concentration the lack of 88sr 86sr variability in corals at different environmental parameters and the similarity to the 88sr 86sr fractionation in inorganic aragonite may indicate a similar sr incorporation mechanism in corals skeleton and inorganic aragonite and therefore the previously proposed rayleigh based multi element model gaetani et al 2011 cannot explain the process of sr incorporation in the coral skeletal material it is proposed that the relatively constant 88sr 86sr fractionation in aragonite can be used for paleo reconstruction of seawater 88sr 86sr composition the seawater 88sr 86sr ratio reconstruction can be further used in calcite samples to reconstruct paleo precipitation rates

stable strontium isotopes δ88 86sr in cold water corals a new proxy for reconstruction of intermediate ocean water temperatures abstract zooxanthellate scleractinian corals are known as archives for temporal variations of climate variables such as sea surface temperature salinity or productivity the use of azooxanthellate cold water corals as potential archives for intermediate water mass properties and climate variability was tested recently however the correlation of established proxies such as 18o and 13c with temperature is difficult since there is no direct temperature equation applicable as in shallow water corals other temperature proxies such as sr ca mg ca and u ca are influenced by the complex microstructure of the aragonite skeleton the rate of calcification and other vital effects observed for coral species for the first time we show that the stable strontium isotope ratio 88 86sr incorporated in the skeletons of the cold water coral species lophelia pertusa portrays the ambient seawater temperature the temperature sensitivity from live samples collected along the european continental margin covering a temperature range from 6 to 10 c is 0 026 0 003 c 2 standard error which is a sensitivity similar to the tropical shallow water coral record of pavona clavata this indicates a similar fractionation process of strontium for both zooxanthellate and azooxanthellate corals for coral aragonite the 88 86sr ratio may serve as a new paleo temperature proxy and introduces new perspectives in paleoceanography with respect to intermediate water dynamics

evidence for stable sr isotope fractionation by silicate weathering in a small sedimentary watershed in southwestern taiwan abstract radiogenic sr isotopes 87 sr 86 sr are robust for provenance identification in hydrology affected mainly by the age of background lithologies and the degree of chemical weathering however there is limited knowledge concerning the fractionation mechanism of stable sr isotopes 88 sr 86 sr in rivers in this study river water was collected on a weekly to monthly basis throughout dry and wet seasons furthermore to study the variations of radiogenic and stable sr isotopes during intense weathering a major flooding event 2000 mm precipitation in three days typhoon morakot water was captured within a small drainage catchment system 161 km 2 along the hou ku river in southwestern taiwan for a better constraint on the end member compositions bedload sediments suspended particles and several host rocks were sampled for a systematic investigation the carbonate and silicate phases of these solids were chemically separated dissolved major elements indicate that the watersheds were predominated by silicate weathering stable sr isotopes show no significant variation 88 sr 0 24 0 31 temporally and spatially with an average of 0 28 additionally all solids showed lower 88 sr values than the river water while the host rocks had higher 88 sr values 88 sr 0 20 0 26 than the residual weathering products 88 sr 0 08 0 22 indicating preferential leaching of heavy sr into the hydrosphere and leaving light sr in the residual solids results of laboratory acid leaching experiments reveal that dissolution of high 88 sr value minerals occurred at an early stage of weathering the variation of weathering intensity does not alter stable sr isotopes in silicate weathering dominated river water which contains higher stable sr isotopes than the associated sediments the silicatic sedimentary rocks preferentially released higher stable sr isotopes into the hydrosphere during chemical weathering thus leaving lower stable sr isotopes in the residual solids

the origin and migration of mud volcano fluids in taiwan evidence from hydrogen oxygen and strontium isotopic compositions abstract mud volcanoes are important gateways for deep fluids to migrate upward and provide windows for studying fluid sediment interaction at depth fluids emitted from 40 terrestrial mud volcanoes were collected in southern and eastern taiwan to study their chemical compositions including h o and sr isotopes 87sr 86sr and 88 86sr relative to seawater the mud volcano fluids are depleted in cl mg so42 and d and are elevated in b ba li and 18o possibly due to water rock interaction and clay dehydration mainly smectite to illite transformation in the source region the distribution of sr in mud volcano fluids shows patterns associated with their localities and geological settings most fluids have higher 87sr 86s than seawater indicating water rock interaction at depth the low na 87sr 86s and high ca fluids emitted from eastern taiwan imply intense interaction with igneous basement most fluids have higher sr cl and lower 88sr than seawater except mud volcanoes in the northern chu kou fault which emit low sr cl and extremely high 88sr up to 0 82 fluids we performed laboratory carbonate precipitation experiments that indicate that these high sr isotope ratios are caused by co precipitation of carbonates from high alkalinity fluids mud volcano fluids in taiwan originate at depth and their chemical compositions are controlled by the host rock degrees of water rock interaction and clay dehydration but also are masked by retrograde progresses such as carbonate precipitation during migration our results show that an approach combining water isotopes d and 18o and strontium isotopes 87sr 86sr and 88 86sr provides a robust tool for tracing fluid sources and migration pathways in accretionary prisms

three fragmentation mechanisms for highly viscous magma under rapid decompression abstract analysis of the behavior of viscous magma under short term tensile stresses demonstrates that the strain rates anticipated in the eruptive stages of collapse related events may be high enough under certain circumstances to provide fragmentation of the melt by brittle failure mechanisms of fragmentation of a highly viscous vesicular magma by the propagation of an unloading wave by layer by layer vesicle bursting fragmentation wave propagation and by rapid filtration gas flow are outlined fragmentation scenarios involving possible combinations of the three fragmentation mechanisms are evaluated for two models of magma with isolated and with connected pores experimental results for magma fragmentation under high decompression rates appear to support such mechanisms these mechanisms of highly viscous magma fragmentation by rapid decompression probably have their greatest application in cases of explosive disintegration of lava domes and cryptodomes caused by collapse events

strontium isotopes as indicators of mineral weathering in catchments determination of the 87sr 86sr ratio in rain water stream water soils and rocks in two scottish catchments has provided useful information on mineral weathering over a period of 26 months the 87sr 86sr ratio in rain water had mean values of 0 7095 and 0 7098 n 12 whereas stream water had mean values of 0 7080 n 16 in catchment in devonian andesites with strontium isotope ratios of 0 7117 0 7232 in the rocks and soils and 0 7184 n 16 in catchment of cambrian metamorphic rocks with strontium isotope ratios of 0 7360 0 8218 in the rocks and soils respectively the mineralogy consists predominantly of varying proportions of quartz plagioclase feldspar and k feldspar with some mica and chlorite the fact that the 87sr 86sr ratios in the stream in the andesitic catchment are lower than for the rain water probably indicates preferential weathering of plagioclase feldspar releasing 86sr rather than k feldspar and mica which contain greater amounts of 87sr the 87sr 86sr ratio acts as a tracer for the origin of the solutes in the stream water long term monitoring of the strontium isotope ratio in stream water could be a potential means of detecting relative changes in soil weathering rates due to environmental change

calcium and magnesium isotope systematics in rivers draining the himalaya tibetan plateau region lithological or fractionation control abstract in rivers draining the himalaya tibetan plateau region the 26mg 24mg ratio has a range of 2 and the 44ca 42ca ratio has a range of 0 6 the average 26 mg values of tributaries from each of the main lithotectonic units tethyan sedimentary series tss high himalayan crystalline series hhcs and lesser himalayan series lhs are within 2 standard deviation analytical uncertainty 0 14 the consistency of average riverine 26 mg values is in contrast to the main rock types limestone dolostone and silicate which range in their average 26 mg values by more than 2 tributaries draining the dolostones of the lhs differ in their 44 42 ca values compared to tributaries from the tss and hhcs the chemistry of these river waters is strongly influenced by dolostone solute mg ca close to unity and both 26 mg 1 31 and 44 42 ca 0 64 values are within analytical uncertainty of the lhs dolostone these are the most elevated 44 42 ca values in rivers and rock reported so far demonstrating that both riverine and bedrock 44 42 ca values may show greater variability than previously thought although rivers draining tss limestone have the lowest 26 mg and 44 42 ca values at 1 41 and 0 42 respectively both are offset to higher values compared to bedrock tss limestone the average 26 mg value of rivers draining mainly silicate rock of the hhcs is 1 25 lower by 0 63 than the average silicate rock these differences are consistent with a fractionation of 26 mg values during silicate weathering given that the proportion of mg exported from the himalaya as solute mg is small the difference in 26mg 24mg ratios between silicate rock and solute mg reflects the 26mg 24mg isotopic fractionation factor silicate dissolved mg between silicate and dissolved mg during incongruent silicate weathering the value of silicate dissolved mg of 0 99937 implies that in the tss solute mg is primarily derived from silicate weathering whereas the source of ca is overwhelmingly derived from carbonate weathering the average 44 42 ca value in hhcs rivers is within uncertainty of silicate rock at 0 39 the widespread hot springs of the high himalaya have an average 26 mg value of 0 46 and an average 44 42 ca value of 0 5 distinct from riverine values for 26 mg but similar to riverine 44 42 ca values although rivers draining each major rock type have 44 42 ca and 26 mg values in part inherited from bedrock there is no correlation with proxies for carbonate or silicate lithology such as na ca ratios suggesting that ca and mg are in part recycled however in spite of the vast contrast in vegetation density between the arid tibetan plateau and the tropical lesser himalaya the isotopic fractionation factor for ca and mg between solute and rocks are not systematically different suggesting that vegetation may only recycle a small amount of ca and mg in these catchments the discrepancy between solute and solid ca and mg isotope ratios in these rivers from diverse weathering environments highlight our lack of understanding concerning the origin and subsequent path of ca and mg bound as minerals in rock and released as cations in rivers the fractionation of ca and mg isotope ratios may prove useful for tracing mechanisms of chemical alteration ca isotope ratios of solute riverine ca show a greater variability than previously acknowledged the variability of ca isotope ratios in modern rivers will need to be better quantified and accounted for in future models of global ca cycling if past variations in oceanic ca isotope ratios are to be of use in constraining the past carbon cycle

non linear deformation and break up of enclaves in a rhyolitic magma a case study from lipari island southern italy 1 a dome from lipari island southern italy consists of 12 vol of circular elongated and folded latitic enclaves hosted in a rhyolitic matrix the dm to cm scale enclaves are more deformed than the mm scale blobs the critical value of the ratio between the viscous forces which allow deformation and eventually break up blobs of latitic magma and the interfacial tension forces is larger than 0 29 the reynolds number is 5 3 the equivalent radius and the axial ratio of the enclaves follow power law distributions this feature suggests that the break up and stretching of magmas are non linear scale invariant probably cyclic processes the coexistence of enclaves of different shape and the self similar size distributions suggest that chaotic advection plays a major role in the formation of mingled magmas caution must be used when measuring the finite strain from enclave shapes because they may break apart during the deformation

fractal features of soil particle size distribution in layered sediments behind two check dams implications for the loess plateau china abstract the layered sediment deposited behind a check dam can provide useful information about soil erosion processes in the dam controlled area this study aims to evaluate the possible fractal nature of layered sediments behind check dams assessing whether fractal dimension can serve as a feasible index for evaluating the impact of land use types on the area controlled by the check dam fractal dimension measurement was employed to analyze the features of soil particle size distribution psd for different layered sediments of the shipanmao and zhangshan check dams in the dalihe river basin of the loess plateau china results show that the predominant soil particle sizes of the sediment layers behind the shipanmao and zhangshan dams are silt clay cv for the coarse sand fraction is highest followed by the fine sand and the silt clay size fractions larger soil particle sizes coincide with larger cv values the fractal dimension d m of the psd ranges from 2 111 to 2 219 and 2 144 to 2 447 for shipanmao and zhangshan respectively the d m values tend to increase and decrease for the layered sediments from top to bottom with some turning points the turning points of d m are related to the trends of the soil psds in the adjacent sediment layers although d m has significant positive and negative correlations with the silt clay and the fine sand size fractions respectively no correlation with the coarse sand fraction was observed soil psd is a more dominant factor affecting d m than the time lag between soil erosion and sediment deposition overall d m decreased for shipanmao during the deposition period 1972 1979 the total increment of the c factor in the universal soil loss equation and the soil erosion amount per rainfall erosivity were applied to analyze land use changes between 1972 and 1979 for the dam controlled area of the shipanmao dam the total increment of c during 1972 1979 was 0 021 and the soil erosion amount per rainfall erosivity was smaller in 1972 than in 1979 indicating desertification in the dam controlled area in addition the land use types prevalent in 1979 were more prone to soil loss than those in 1972 d m is a useful parameter to assess land use types and soil degradation processes in dam controlled areas of the loess plateau

hole to surface resistivity measurements hole to surface resistivity measurements over a layered volcanic tuff sequence illustrate procedures for gathering reducing and interpreting hole to surface resistivity data the magnitude and direction of the total surface electric field resulting from a buried current source is calculated from orthogonal potential difference measurements for a grid of closely spaced stations a contour map of these data provides a detailed map of the distribution of the electric field away from the drill hole resistivity anomalies can be enhanced by calculating the difference between apparent resistivities calculated from the total surface electric field and apparent resistivities for a layered earth model lateral discontinutities in the geoelectric section are verified by repeating the surface field measurments for current sources in several drill holes a qualitative interpretation of the anomalous bodies within a layered earth can be made by using a three dimensional 3 d resistivity model in a homogeneous half

subsidence breccias in kimberlite pipes an application of fractal analysis abstract a particular variety of volcanogenic country rock breccia is described a contact breccia that has been identified at venetia river ranch and wimbledon kimberlite pipes the contact breccia is clast supported with no juvenile kimberlite component has tightly packed angular fragments with occasional rounding of smaller particles and has a shear fabric dipping towards the center of each kimberlite pipe or volcanic event clasts have preferred orientations parallel to the fabric photographs of the breccia in the open pit face and measured data from drill core are analyzed specifically to quantify the clast size distributions and clast shapes by means of fractal analysis the fractal dimension is one means of characterizing the breccia because the dimension can be specific to a fragmentation mechanism clast size distribution fractal dimensions in the coarser particles greater than circa 3 cm range from greater than 3 for nonsheared breccia down to circa 2 3 for the sheared breccia breccia characterization based on this fractal analysis suggests that fragmentation occurred initially from confined high energy explosions followed by collapse and abrasion by subsequently gravity induced rockmass subsidence all studied contact breccias produced a distinctive fractal signature in the finer particles

determination of temperature dependent stable strontium isotope 88sr 86sr fractionation via bracketing standard mc icp ms stable strontium isotopes here 88sr 86sr are introduced as a new member of the nontraditional stable isotopes we have developed a bracketing standard method for the determination of 88 86sr using an axiom mc icp ms and normalizing to strontium srm nbs987 for individual measurements the external reproducibility is better than about 25 ppm 1 rsd for the iapso seawater standard a 88 86sr value of 0 381 0 010 2sem was determined for the first time a temperature dependent strontium isotope fractionation during calcium carbonate precipitation could be shown aragonite samples inorganically precipitated under temperature control between 10 and 50 c revealed a 88 86sr temperature dependency of 0 0054 5 c r2 0 987 in contrast for natural coral samples pavona clavus from a proxy calibration study 23 to 27 c we did determine 0 033 5 c r2 0 955 the processes causing this sixfold stronger temperature dependency for the natural coral samples have to be studied in more detail in future studies in a first approach the different slopes can be interpreted as effects of kinetic fractionation of strontium ions with or without a hydrate shell of 22 to 29 water molecules

marine electrical resistivity tomography for shipwreck detection in very shallow water a case study from agropoli salerno southern italy abstract a marine electric resistivity survey was carried out over a submerged beach along the agropoli shore salerno italy to detect buried objects of archaeological interest below the sandy seabed we found a shipwreck a military vessel that probably sunk during the salerno landing operations of the allied forces in the second world war resistivity data provide information on the vertical and horizontal extension of the shipwreck which is characterized by very low calculated resistivity values about 2 5 ohm m such values differ significantly from the sand and the bedrock values 5 40 ohm m although the presence of the shipwreck is clearly visible from geoelectric data the joint application of electric magnetic and multibeam bathymetric techniques reduces the ambiguities inherent in each method as shown in the electrical resistivity tomography ert and confirmed by the digital elevation model obtained from the processing of bathymetric data the shipwreck extends more than 30 m in ne sw direction and it is about 13 m wide the global extension of the relic is consistent with the magnetic data that are characterized by a magnetic anomaly with an amplitude of about 1800 nt and similar dimension as inferred from the estimation of source boundaries obtained from the computation of the analytic signal the results of our survey encourage the use of marine geoelectrical methods for the detection of buried archaeological targets particularly in locations where the use of seismic prospecting is not effective e g very shallow water with sandy sea bottoms the integration of different geophysical methods allows to better define the extension depth and thickness of buried objects suggesting that such an approach is the most effective for underwater archaeological investigations

granite residual soil properties in collapsing gullies of south china spatial variations and effects on collapsing gully erosion abstract collapsing gully erosion a special erosion phenomenon in the hilly granitic regions is an important factor responsible for the deterioration of the ecological environment in southern china the granite residual soil properties tend to vary with soil depth and their spatial variations have an important impact on the formation and development of collapsing gullies here two typical granitic soil profiles in the north boundary of collapsing gully erosion in south china were selected to investigated the spatial variations of soil physicochemical hydraulic and mechanical properties along the profile and their influences on collapsing gully erosion the upper two soil layers surface soil layer and red soil layer were significantly different from the lower two soil layers sandy soil layer and detritus layer in the investigated properties the soil texture performed a large variation along the profile which might be a positive factor for the formation of secondary vertical joints faults and weak structural planes meanwhile the lower soil layers had a lower value of pl ll organic matter and iron aluminum oxides demonstrating their poor structure and vulnerability to erosion under rainfall conditions additionally the upper soil layers had a higher water holding capacity but a lower decreasing rate in the unsaturated coefficient of permeability leading to the overburdening of the lower soil layers under rainfall conditions and the low soil layers had a low shear strength which could also lead to the sliding of the gully head and sidewall especially under saturated conditions collectively the special geological structure of the granite residual soil layers plays an important role in the occurrence and development of collapsing gully erosion the data reported in this paper may facilitate a better understanding of soil mass failure on the gully head and the collapsing gullies

three dimensional model results for an electrical hole to surface method application to the interpretation of a field survey an important objective of borehole geophysics is to maximize information about inhomogeneities in the vicinity of existing boreholes three dimensional models parallelepipedic inhomogeneities in a homogeneous half space are used here to characterize the responses of an electrical hole to surface method elecent electrode enterree where conductive or resistive inhomogeneities orebodies occur in the vicinity of a borehole two types of surface measurements are carried out simultaneously at each station electrical potential v as in mise a la masse and associated electrical field e these two measured parameters give rise to three other parameters two apparent resistivities one for each v and e case and another parameter quantifying the orientation of the e field the influence of various geometrical and electrical parameters such as the horizontal and vertical distances between the current source the stations and the inhomogeneity and the size and resistivity of the inhomogeneity on the five

88 sr 86 sr fractionation and calcite accumulation rate in the sea of galilee abstract this study used the sea of galilee lake kinneret northern israel as a natural laboratory to investigate the fractionation of the stable sr isotope ratio 88 sr 86 sr during precipitation of inorganic primary calcite from the lake s water it was found that the absolute value of the 88 sr 86 sr fractionation factor 88 86 sr increases as a function of calcite accumulation rate 88 86 sr 0 05 to 0 042 log r mol m 2 d 1 where r is the accumulation rate furthermore the 87 sr 86 sr and 88 sr 86 sr ratios in the freshwater and brines that enter the lake were used to calculate the contributions of these sources to the lake sr budget the 87 sr 86 sr and 88 sr 86 sr ratios were measured in primary calcite aragonite shells of live melanopsis lake water and various water sources to the lake while the lake s 87 sr 86 sr ratios are determined by the mixture of freshwater of the jordan river and saline springs the 88 sr 86 sr ratios of the lake reflect a more complex mass balance that includes the effect of isotopic fractionation associated with the precipitation of primary calcite data analysis suggests that long term accumulation of inorganic calcite depleted in the heavy isotope 88 sr results in an increase of the 88 86 sr value of the lake water by 0 05 in contrast to the primary inorganic calcite biogenic aragonite of the melanopsis shells show a rather constant 88 sr 86 sr water caco 3 fractionation of 88 86 sr 0 21 similar 88 86 sr values were reported for the precipitation of coralline and inorganic aragonite from seawater and the precipitation of inorganic calcite from various continental waters the 88 86 sr value of inorganic calcite is modulated by the rate of carbonate precipitation as noted above and shown by precipitation experiments massive precipitation of primary calcite with a wide spread of accumulation rates occurs during the spring phytoplankton bloom in lake kinneret the bloom dictates the degree of calcite saturation in the lake and hence the stable sr isotopic composition of the precipitating calcite the correlation between 88 sr 86 sr and the calcite accumulation rate can be therefore used as a tool to reconstruct environmental and ecological variations in the historical lake by analyzing the 88 sr 86 sr ratio in the primary caco 3 recovered from the lake s sedimentary archives

dust impure calcite and phytoliths modeled alternative sources of chemical weathering solutes in shallow groundwater abstract in highly reactive carbonate terrains that constitute more than one fifth of critical zone landscapes quantifying bedrock weathering processes may require understanding the realities of carbonate mineral impurity on solubility biotically produced minerals as an integral part of leaky biogeochemical cycles and dust deposited minerals as important high surface area first contact solute sources the potential impact of these processes has not been thoroughly investigated as groundwater solutes are mostly thought to be sourced from chemical reactions with soil and bedrock although dust is often viewed as an important delivery mechanism of nutrients to other ecosystems including those in mountain and tropical settings we present results of computer and hand calculated manual inverse modeling of two years of stream water chemistry spanning a dry and a wet year for a groundwater fed headwater stream at the konza tallgrass prairie long term ecological research site in northeastern kansas weathering of the limestone and shale bedrock at the site provide a possible source of solutes to the groundwater fed stream but our modeling suggests an alternate source considering the pathway of groundwater recharge likely encounters highly reactive phases before encountering bedrock we used the mineralogy and geochemistry of local dust collected previously estimates of a possible chemical composition of phytolith containing potassium and an impure calcite representing measured limestone bedrock chemistry to show that chemical reactions with the current dust flux are adequate to account for the groundwater chemistry average annual amounts were about 1 380 kg ha 1 yr 1 dust dissolved 2 80 kg ha 1 yr 1 bedrock carbonate dissolved and 3 320 kg ha 1 yr 1 phytoliths precipitated small amounts of cation exchange were also required to balance the models there were only small differences between the computer and manual inverse models both methods resulted in up to 4 6 times more mass of dust dissolved than bedrock we suggest that dust weathering may be a process that occurs widely considering the ubiquitous dust flux in continental regions significance of research solutes in groundwater and in streams fed by groundwater are thought to be mostly derived from aquifer bedrock and soil water recharging the aquifer this paradigm may fail for landscapes that have been subaerially exposed for 10 s to 100 s of millions of years in terrains where relatively rapid dissolution of minerals dominates such as carbonate mineral dominated rocks like limestone here we test whether dust having high surface area and being the first inorganic solid encountered by meteoric precipitation could provide enough solutes water to reduce the amount of bedrock that dissolves extending the timeframe of landscape evolution we found through inverse modeling with phreeqc that dust can provide 4 6 times as much mass to stream water in merokarst than calcite and that the mass of dust dissolved was the same order of magnitude as local dust deposition these results give permissive evidence that dust is important to understanding groundwater chemistry

analysis and application of a non conventional underwater geoelectrical method in lake geneva switzerland the electrical method presented is used for determining the resistivity of lake bottom sediments and is based on the d c electrical sounding principles the electrode array called the fishing rod fr is of pole pole type and is orientated vertically on a line perpendicular to the surface of the water the technique is used for mapping resistivity anomalies located deep underwater this paper presents an analysis of the resolution capabilities of the fr method and the results of a case study carried out in lake geneva where measurements were interpreted using a one dimensional 1d multilayer earth model the analysis of the uncertainty in the model parameters of a 1d multilayer earth model is carried out using the covariance matrix of the linearized inversion problem the results of the analyses show that when the thickness and resistivity of the water layer is known the resistivity of the sediment layer is well determined under most circumstances the thickness of the sediment layer is well determined when resistivity contrasts are not too low in lake geneva the fr method has been used to study an old depression with a resistive channel this application shows the efficiency of the method compared with conventional electrical methods where water depth becomes a limiting factor the use of an automated iterative inversion scheme in this particular case is advantageous as a joint interpretation of the three different data sets measured with the fr method can be carried out finally the result of the inversion is compared with the trial and error interpretations of a previous study

response of epikarst hydrochemical changes to soil co2 and weather conditions at chenqi puding sw china summary karst processes related carbon cycle as a result of the water carbonate rock co 2 gas aquatic organism interaction significantly affects global carbon budget in karst areas soil co 2 is a major chemical driving force for the karst processes and has significant impact on the geochemical processes of the water rock gas organism system currently there have been many studies mainly focusing on the hydrochemical responses of the epikarst water system to weather conditions however few studies examine the direct correlation between the hydrochemical parameters in epikarst systems and soil co 2 we chose an epikarst spring system at chenqi puding sw china to monitor both the concentration of soil co 2 and hydrochemical parameters at high resolution every 15 min during july 2010 december 2011 covering a complete hydrologic year and to investigate the response of hydrochemical changes to soil co 2 and weather conditions it was found that both soil co 2 and rainfall are the major driving forces for the epikarst hydrochemical variations the soil co 2 effect on hydrochemical variations was reflected in all seasonal diurnal and storm scales there was an increase in pco 2 and electrical conductivity ec but a decrease in ph caused by the increase in soil co 2 in spring summer growing season while a decrease in pco 2 and ec but an increase in ph caused by the decrease in soil co 2 happened in autumn winter dormant season similar variations were also found on diurnal scales but with a time lag of a few hours between hydrochemical changes and soil co 2 change during dry season showing effect of the groundwater recharge mode as well as the complexity of the supply path quick flow by conduit or slow flow by fracture during rainy seasons however hydrochemical changes in epikarst groundwater were regulated by both dilution and soil co 2 effects under high intensity rainfall the dilution effect was dominant indicated by a quick decrease in ec ph and calcite saturation sic but a quick increase in pco 2 in contrast under low intensity rainfall the soil co 2 effect was dominant indicated by an increase in ec and pco 2 but a decrease in ph and sic to sum up this study has shown the high sensitivity and variability of epikarst processes to the environmental change implying that the role of karst processes in the global carbon cycle needs to be reappraised based on high resolution monitoring strategy

hydrochemical and pco2 variations of a cave stream in a subtropical karst area chongqing sw china piston effects dilution effects soil co2 and buffer effects the role of co2 in karst has been of interest for decades and emphasized by igcp 379 international geoscience programme unesco started in 1995 there are still open questions about the dynamics of carbon in karst systems particularly the flux of carbon between the surface and subsurface and between different components in the karst subsurface this research report focuses on the variations of hydrochemistry and pco2 partial pressures of carbon dioxide in subtropical karst groundwater using high resolution auto monitoring hydrochemical data 15 min intervals the aim of this study was to understand how hydrochemistry and pco2 in karst systems respond to recharge over different time scales and what the controlling factors are an auto monitoring hydrochemistry station was installed about 300 m upstream from the exit in the active stream channel of xueyu cave a typical subtropical karst cave four years of high resolution continuous ph specific conductivity spc temperature and water level data were collected a thermodynamic model was used to link the continuous data to monthly water quality data allowing the calculation of co2 partial pressures and calcite saturation sic levels on a continuous basis seasonal diurnal and storm scale variations were captured in the hydrochemistry and calculated pco2 records indicating that the cave stream is a dynamic and variable system seasonal features higher specific conductivity and lower ph in summer lower specific conductivity and higher ph in winter tend to covary with temperature which influences the production of co2 in soils thus being the driving force for the variations the soil co2 effect due to the buffer effect of a thick vadose zone and large void cave space diurnal variations are not obvious compared with epikarst springs in sw china storm scale fluctuations due to storm events occur during the summer rainy season piston flow effects dilution and soil co2 effects determine the variations in different storm events at the beginning of the rains the piston effect drives the variations characterized by increase in spc sic and ph in the cave stream and decrease in pco2 with heavy rainfall decrease in spc shows control by the dilution effect while decrease in sic and ph and increase in pco2 indicates the greater influence of soil co2 these results imply that the soil and cave voids are important factors influencing the hydrochemical evolution of karst groundwater future works need to use such high resolution technology widely for tracing the pco2 and hydrochemical variations in different karst aquifers

high precision radiogenic strontium isotope measurements of the modern and glacial ocean limits on glacial interglacial variations in continental weathering existing strontium radiogenic isotope 87sr 86sr measurements for foraminifera over quaternary glacial interglacial climate cycles provide no evidence for variations in the isotope composition of seawater at the 9 13 ppm level of precision however modelling suggests that even within this level of uncertainty significant up to 30 variations in chemical weathering of the continents are permitted accounting for the longer term rise in 87sr 86sr over the quaternary and the apparent imbalance of sr in the oceans at the present day this study presents very high precision 87sr 86sr isotope data for modern seawater from each of the major oceans and a glacial interglacial seawater record preserved by planktic foraminifera from ocean drilling program odp site 758 in the north east indian ocean strontium isotope 87sr 86sr measurements for modern seawater from the atlantic pacific and indian oceans are indistinguishable from one another 87sr 86sr 0 7091792 0 0000021 n 17 at the level of precision obtained in this study 4 9 ppm 2 this observation is consistent with the very long residence time of sr in seawater and underpins the utility of this element for high precision isotope stratigraphy the 87sr 86sr seawater record preserved by planktic foraminifera shows no resolvable glacial interglacial variation 87sr 86sr 0 7091784 0 0000035 n 10 and limits the response of seawater to variations in the chemical weathering flux and or composition to 4 9 ppm or less calculations suggest that a variation of 12 around the steady state weathering flux can be accommodated by the uncertainties obtained here the new data cannot accommodate a short term weathering pulse during de glaciation although a more a diffuse weathering pulse accompanying protracted ice retreat is permissible however these results still indicate that modern weathering fluxes are potentially higher than average over the quaternary and such variations through glacial cycles can also account for the longer term rise in 87sr 86sr over this time interval the very high precision measurements made for the marine 87sr 86sr record in this study place clear limits on the magnitude and timing of changes in the chemical weathering flux during glacial interglacial cycles further constraints must be sought from even higher precision measurement or elements with shorter residence times in the ocean such as osmium os that have the capacity to respond to short term variations in input

the phanerozoic δ88 86sr record of seawater new constraints on past changes in oceanic carbonate fluxes the isotopic composition of phanerozoic marine sediments provides important information about changes in seawater chemistry in particular the radiogenic strontium isotope 87sr 86sr system is a powerful tool for constraining plate tectonic processes and their influence on atmospheric co2 concentrations however the 87sr 86sr isotope ratio of seawater is not sensitive to temporal changes in the marine strontium sr output flux which is primarily controlled by the burial of calcium carbonate caco3 at the ocean floor the sr budget of the phanerozoic ocean including the associated changes in the amount of caco3 burial is therefore only poorly constrained here we present the first stable isotope record of sr for phanerozoic skeletal carbonates and by inference for phanerozoic seawater 88 86srsw which we find to be sensitive to imbalances in the sr input and output fluxes this 88 86srsw record varies from 0 25 to 0 60 vs srm987 with a mean of 0 37 the fractionation factor between modern seawater and skeletal calcite 88 86srcc sw based on the analysis of 13 modern brachiopods mean 88 86sr of 0 176 0 016 2 standard deviations s d is 0 21 and was found to be independent of species water temperature and habitat location overall the phanerozoic 88 86srsw record is positively correlated with the ca isotope record 44 40casw but not with the radiogenic sr isotope record 87sr 86sr sw a new numerical modeling approach which considers both 88 86srsw and 87sr 86sr sw yields improved estimates for phanerozoic fluxes and concentrations for seawater sr the oceanic net carbonate flux of sr f sr carb varied between an output of 4 7x1010mol myr and an input of 2 3x1010mol myr with a mean of 1 6x1010mol myr on time scales in excess of 100myrs the f sr carb is proposed to have been controlled by the relative importance of calcium carbonate precipitates during the aragonite and calcite sea episodes on time scales less than 20myrs the f sr carb seems to be controlled by variable combinations of carbonate burial rate shelf carbonate weathering and recrystallization ocean acidification and ocean anoxia in particular the permian triassic transition is marked by a prominent positive 88 86srsw peak that reflects a significantly enhanced burial flux of sr and carbonate likely driven by bacterial sulfate reduction bsr and the related alkalinity production in deeper anoxic waters we also argue that the residence time of sr in the phanerozoic ocean ranged from 1myrs to 20myrs

characterizing nutrient pathways in quebec canada vineyards insight from stable and radiogenic strontium isotopes abstract soils are a crucial interface of earth s critical zone responsible for the biogeochemical cycling of mineral nutrients while the sources of essential nutrients such as ca and sr in plants have been widely studied the processes by which these nutrients are transferred from the soil to the plants is less clear we present new evidence for systematic nutrient fractionation between soils grapes and wines from five vineyards from the quebec terroir canada using the novel stable sr 88 86sr isotope system we coupled this approach with traditional radiogenic 87sr 86sr measurements on the same samples bulk soils labile fraction of these soils whole grapes and wines from five vineyards from the quebec terroir canada to ensure that variations in 88 86sr values were provoked by processes involved in sr transfer instead of mixing between different sources the 88 86sr values generally decrease from the bulk to the labile fractions of the soils to the grapes a decrease in the difference between the soil fractions 88 86srbulk labile with increasing 88 86sr values in the labile fraction is interpreted to reflect increasing pedogenic mineral precipitation and higher soil fertility the depleted 88 86sr values of the grapes are consistent with a preferential uptake of lighter isotopes by plants this effect is magnified in soils showing higher secondary mineral precipitation an increase in the 88 86sr values from the grapes to the wines reflects the separation of the skin seeds and the juice pulp enriched in 88sr in the winemaking process this mixing relationship is supported by a correlation between the sr concentrations and the 88 86sr values of the wines and grapes these findings suggest promising new applications of stable sr isotopes values for studying soil fertility and the impact of nutrient availability for plant growth in agricultural ecosystems as well as the impact of the maceration processes in the production of wine the overall similarity of 87sr 86sr ratios of the labile soil fractions grapes and wines from the same vineyard support the hypothesis of a same sr source from the soil solution to its transfer to the grape and wine and confirm the potential of the 87sr 86sr ratios as a proxy for geographic provenance of wine however slightly lower 87sr 86sr ratios in the grape pulps by 0 00040 on average compared to the skins and seeds suggest that the sources of nutrients available for plant uptake vary during the vegetative cycle the grape seeds and skins formed in the early growth cycle are characterized by rapid growth due to enhanced rhizosphere activity enhanced mineral dissolution providing higher nutrient levels the enhanced mineral solubility results in higher 87sr 86sr ratios in the skin and seeds derived from enhanced dissolution of 87sr enriched silicate minerals in contrast the pulp develops later in the growth cycle when rhizosphere activity and mineral solubility is reduced resulting in a lesser contribution from silicate minerals and thus reflect a higher proportion of dissolved carbonate contributing to the lower 87sr 86sr ratios of the pulps

strontium stable isotopes fractionate in the soil environments abstract this study shows that the stable isotopic composition of strontium the 88sr 86sr ratio expressed as 88 86sr value relative to the nbs987 standard varies significantly in sedimentary terrestrial environments the abundances of 86sr 88sr isotopes were analyzed by mc icp ms nu plasma all studied rocks and waters show 88 86sr values that are distinctly different from the measured nbs987 standard yielding 0 01 0 05 all errors are reported as 2 modern corals from the northern gulf of aqaba red sea yielded significantly different value than seawater 88 86sr 0 22 0 07 compared to 0 35 0 06 respectively in an excellent correlation with the 88 86sr analyses reported by fietzke and eisenhauer fietzke j eisenhauer a 2006 determination of temperature dependent stable strontium isotopes 88sr 86sr fractionation via bracketing standard mc icp ms geochm geophys geosyst 7 no 8 on other coral samples all carbonate samples that originated in the marine environment corals porites and acropora from the northern gulf of aqaba cretaceous limestone and runoff from the judea mountains as well as lacustrine evaporitic aragonite dead sea and red sea and atlantic seawater yield an average 88 86sr value of 0 26 0 1 on the other hand secondary materials products of chemical weathering from the terrestrial environment of the judea mountain such as terra rossa soil and speleothem calcite that derives its sr from the above lying soil yielded significantly lower 88 86sr value of 0 17 0 06 this indicates that strontium isotopes fractionate in the soil environment calling for a possible development of strontium isotopes as a tracer for processes of chemical weathering and pedogenesis

controls over the strontium isotope composition of river water abstract strontium concentrations and isotope ratios have been measured in river and ground waters from the ganges orinoco and amazon river basins when compared with major element concentrations the data set has allowed a detailed examination of the controls over the strontium isotope systematics of riverine input to the oceans in the following environments 1 1 typical drainage basins containing limestones evaporites shales and alumino silicate metamorphic and igneous rocks 2 2 shield terrains containing no chemical or biogenic sediments and 3 3 the floodplains that constitute the largest areas of many large rivers the strontium concentration and isotope composition of river waters are largely defined by mixing of strontium derived from limestones and evaporites with strontium derived from silicate rocks the strontium isotope composition of the limestone endmember generally lies within the phanerozoic seawater range which buffers the 87 sr 86 sr ratios of major rivers a major exception is provided by the rivers draining the himalayas where widescale regional metamorphism appears to have led to an enrichment in limestones of radiogenic strontium derived from coexisting silicate rocks the strontium isotope systematics of rivers draining shield areas are controlled by the intense transportlimited nature of the weathering reactions and thereby limits variations in the strontium flux from these terrains floodplains are only a minor source of dissolved strontium to river waters and precipitation of soil salts in some floodplains can reduce the riverine flux of dissolved strontium to the oceans the most effective mechanisms for altering the isotope ratio and flux of riverine strontium to the oceans are increased glaciation and large scale regional metamorphism of the type produced during continental collision both mechanisms provide a means for increasing the 87 sr 86 sr ratio of the global riverine flux

a new method for geoelectrical investigations underwater1 a new electrical method is proposed for determining the apparent resistivity of multi earth layers located underwater the method is based on direct current geoelectric sounding principles a layered earth model is used to simulate the stratigraphic target the measurement array is of pole pole type it is located underwater and is orientated vertically this particular electrode configuration is very useful when conventional electrical methods cannot be used especially if the water depth becomes very important the calculated apparent resistivity shows a substantial quality increase in the measured signal caused by the underwater targets from which little or no response is measured using conventional surface electrode methods in practice however different factors such as water stratification underwater streams or meteorological conditions complicate the interpretation of the field results a case study is presented where field surveys carried out on lake geneva were interpreted using the calculated apparent resistivity master curves

chemical weathering of a soil chronosequence on granitoid alluvium ii mineralogic and isotopic constraints on the behavior of strontium the use of strontium isotopes to evaluate mineral weathering and identify sources of base cations in catchment waters requires an understanding of the behavior of sr in the soil environment as a function of time our approach is to model the temporal evolution of 87sr 86sr of the cation exchange pool in a soil chronosequence developed on alluvium derived from central sierra nevada granitoids during the past 3 ma with increasing soil age 87sr 86sr of ammonium acetate extractable sr initially decreases from values typical of k feldspar to those of plagioclase and hornblende and then remains constant even though plagioclase and hornblende are absent from the soils after approximately 1 ma of weathering the temporal variation of 87sr 86sr of exchangeable sr is modeled by progressively equilibrating sr derived from mineral weathering and atmospheric deposition with sr on exchange sites as waters infiltrate a soil column observed decreases in quartz normalized modal abundances of plagioclase hornblende and k feldspar with time and the distinct87sr 86sr values of these minerals can be used to calculate sr flux from weathering reactions hydrobiotites in the soils have nearly constant modal abundances chemistry and 87sr 86sr over the chronosequence and provide negligible sr input to weathering solutions the model requires time and soil horizon dependent changes in the amount of exchangeable sr and the efficiency of sr exchange as well as a biologic cycling term the model predicts that exchangeable sr initially has 87sr 86sr identical to that of k feldspar and thus could be dominated by sr leached from k feldspar following deposition of the alluvium the maximum value of 87sr 86sr observed in dilute stream waters associated with granitoids of the yosemite region is likewise similar to that of the k feldspars suggesting that k feldspar and not biotite may be the dominant source of radiogenic sr in the streams this study reveals that when attempting to use strontium isotopes to identify sources of base cations in catchment waters and biomass both preferential leaching of sr from minerals during incipient soil development and changing sr exchange efficiency must be considered along with chemical contributions due to mineral dissolution

strontium isotopic composition of the po river dissolved load insights into rock weathering in northern italy abstract strontium isotopic composition 87sr 86sr of river water provides insight on the nature of rocks involved in the weathering processes and important constraints for reconstructing silicate versus carbonate weathering in large scale basins new data presented in the context of a geochemical map of the po river basin highlight that the po river water evolves from the upper part of the catchment where 87sr 86sr approaching 0 7097 relates to the weathering of igneous and metamorphic silicate rocks to the middle part where less radiogenic compositions 87sr 86sr 0 7089 are driven by the confluence of the tributaries draining mesozoic carbonate rocks of the south alpine domain and from inflow of apennine streams characterized by less radiogenic sr signatures due to weathering of marly sediments and mafic magmatic rocks down flow the sr isotopic compositions of po river water rises at 0 7091 either by the confluence of the last apennine tributary panaro 87sr 86sr 0 7095 and or by the possible contribution from hyporheic exchanges po river isotopic signatures reveal slightly more radiogenic 87sr 86sr in comparison to other important alpine river systems e g danube rhine and rhone likely suggesting that silicate rocks are comparatively contributing more weathering byproducts in the po basin

seasonal sensitivity of weathering processes hints from magnesium isotopes in a glacial stream seasonal changes in river chemistry offer the potential to assess how weathering processes respond to changing meteorological parameters and ultimately how chemical weathering might respond to climatic parameters systematic seasonal variations in magnesium isotope ratios the 26mg 24mg ratio expressed as 26mg in per mil units are reported in stream waters from a mono lithological granitic weathering limited first order catchment from the swiss alps damma glacier rain ground and pore waters in addition to plants rocks mineral separates and soil are also reported the concentration response of the river waters is attenuated compared to the large changes in discharge however the systematic trends in the isotope data imply that either the source of the mg changes in a systematic manner or that the process by which mg is released into solution changes as a function of discharge the two first order observations in the data that need to be explained are 1 the systematic enrichment in 24mg in the stream waters compared to the granitic rocks they drain and 2 a systematic increase in 26mg in the waters during the summer melt season both observations which are similar to many other rivers draining silicate rock can either be accounted for by 1 conservative mixing between at least two different sources of mg in addition to precipitation inputs or 2 process related fractionation if the stream water compositions can be rationalised by multi component mixing there is at least one unidentified component with a 26mg 1 2 this is considered unlikely multiple physicochemical processes could fractionate mg isotope ratios such as 1 preferential leaching of 24mg 2 exchange of mg onto or from mineral surfaces and into interlayer sites of clays 3 uptake by plants and 4 26mg could be preferentially retained during the formation of secondary phases such as clays amorphous phases or oxides these processes are not mutually exclusive and distinguishing between them at a field scale is not trivial but significant biological uptake is improbable at this site unless there is a non identified external input of mg 26mg must be accumulating in solid phase residues in the catchment because of at least one physicochemical process such processes are likely well described at least in the first order by a rayleigh distillation model simple calculations illustrate how much 26mg would accumulate in the catchment per unit time in the first order the isotopic enrichments in the solids are so small that they would not be detectable for the time scales that are relevant to this field site in spite of the marked impact on the water chemistry the seasonal signal detected by mg isotope ratios is promising for using them with a better understanding of fractionation mechanisms to quantify how specific weathering processes impact upon both export fluxes and retention of elements within catchments

himalayan tectonics weathering processes and the strontium isotope record in marine limestones the time evolution of the isotopic composition of seawater strontium the ratio of strontium 87 to strontium 86 over the last 500 million years has the form of an asymmetric trough the values are highest in the cambrian and recent 0 7091 and lowest in the jurassic 0 7067 superimposed on this trend are a number of smaller oscillations consideration of the geochemical cycle of strontium and the dynamics of weathering shows that only himalayan style continental collisions can influence the isotope ratio on the scale observed the contemporary himalayan orogeny is by far the largest since the late precambrian pan african event that produced the high in the cambrian

explosive energy during volcanic eruptions from fractal analysis of pyroclasts abstract despite recent advances by means of experiments and high resolution surveys and the growing understanding of the physical processes before and during volcanic eruptions duration and type of eruptive activity still remain highly unpredictable this uncertainty hinders appropriate hazard and associated risk assessment tremendously in an effort to counter this problem experimentally generated pyroclasts have been studied by fractal statistics with the aim of evaluating possible relationships between eruption energy and fragmentation efficiency rapid decompression experiments have been performed on three differently porous sample sets of the 1990 1995 eruption of unzen volcano japan at 850 c and at initial pressure values above the respective fragmentation threshold u kueppers b scheu o spieler d b dingwell fragmentation efficiency of explosive volcanic eruptions a study of experimentally generated pyroclasts j volcanol geotherm res 153 2006 125 135 o spieler b kennedy u kueppers d b dingwell b scheu j taddeucci the fragmentation threshold of pyroclastic rocks epsl 226 2004 139 148 the size distribution of generated pyroclasts has been studied by fractal fragmentation theory and the fractal dimension of fragmentation df a value quantifying the intensity of fragmentation has been measured for each sample results show that size distribution of pyroclastic fragments follows a fractal law i e power law in the investigated range of fragment sizes indicating that fragmentation of experimental samples reflects a scale invariant mechanism in addition df is correlated positively with the potential energy for fragmentation pef while showing a strong influence of the open porosity of the samples results obtained in this work indicate that fractal fragmentation theory may allow for quantifying fragmentation processes during explosive volcanic eruptions by calculating the fractal dimension of the size distribution of pyroclasts it emerges from this study that fractal dimension may be utilised as a proxy for estimating the explosivity of volcanic eruptions by analysing their natural pyroclastic deposits

radiogenic and stable strontium isotopes in provenance studies a review and first results on archaeological wood from shipwrecks abstract different approaches are used to study wood provenance but most of them are based on tracers in wood that are generally controlled by climatic factors the strontium isotopic ratio 87 sr 86 sr in trees and soils is related to the signature of the local bedrock despite being used in diverse archaeological studies sr isotopes have rarely been used to trace the provenance of archaeological wood and especially wood from shipwrecks in addition recent analytical advances have allowed the detection of mass dependent fractionation of sr isotopes during biogeochemical processes as reflected in the variation of 88 86 sr values between different environmental materials the 88 86 sr values could be used in conjunction with the 87 sr 86 sr isotope ratio to improve constraints on the sources of sr in the archaeological materials being studied this paper discusses the potential and limitations of using both of these sr isotope ratios to trace the provenance of wood from shipwrecks we review the 87 sr 86 sr and 88 86 sr variations in rocks waters soils plants and other living organisms and discuss how to determine the local sr isotopic signature of potential sites we also compile a list of known wood post mortem modifications in seawater possible implications in terms of the modification of the original sr isotope ratios of wood during storage in seawater are illustrated through preliminary observations this paper points out some limitations and perspectives for using sr isotopes in provenancing wood from shipwrecks and suggests future research to test and apply this approach for tracing the origin of archaeological wood

radiogenic isotopes systematics and applications to earth surface processes and chemical stratigraphy radiogenic isotopes have wide application to chemical stratigraphy geochronology provenance studies and studies of temporal changes in earth surface processes this paper briefly reviews the principles of radiogenic isotope geochemistry and the distribution of a number of elements of interest in the environment and then uses this information to explore the range of applications to chemical stratigraphy and other fundamental subjects of sedimentary geology many of these applications center on the reconstruction of secular variations in paleoseawater isotope signals these seawater isotope curves can be used for stratigraphic correlation and to assess changes through earth history in processes such as tectonic uplift climate change biogeochemical cycling ocean circulation crustal growth and surface water evolution understanding the modern biogeochemical cycle of the element isotope system of interest is essential for gaining the maximum information regarding the operation of ancient cycles the main sources of uncertainty for reconstructing seawater isotope curves involve diagenetic alteration sample impurities and errors in age assignments rigorous sample selection criteria and pretreatment methods are keys to reconstructing the most accurate seawater isotope curves applications are discussed for the rb sr sm nd la ce lu hf re os u th pb k ar and cosmogenic isotope systems d 2003 elsevier b v all rights reserved

the role of trace minerals in chemical weathering in a high elevation granitic watershed estibere france chemical and mineralogical evidence we investigated chemical weathering in a high elevation granitic environment in three selected watersheds located in the pyrenees france the sites were located on glacial deposits derived from similar hercynian 300 ma granites characterized by the occurrence of zoned plagioclases and trace calcic phases epidote prehnite sphene apatite the surface waters at those sites show high ca na molar ratios 1 which could not be explained by the dissolution of the major plagioclase oligoclase present in the rocks the coupled approach of investigating stream water chemistry and the mineralogy and chemistry of rocks and soils allowed us to explore the role of the weathering of trace calcic minerals in calcium export at the watershed scale the weathering of the trace calcic minerals which represent 1 of the total rock volume are responsible for more than 90 of the calcium export at the sites annual cationic fluxes 23 104 eq km2 yr calculated for the estibere watershed are among the highest reported for high elevation systems draining granitic rocks and 80 of this annual cationic flux can be attributed to the weathering of trace calcic phases calculations based on isotopic values 87sr 86sr go in the same direction except apatite the trace calcic phases appear to be mainly silicates thus the type of chemical weathering observed in the estibere watershed may have an influence on atmospheric co2 consumption by granite weathering however comparison with other watersheds draining granitic environments worldwide and with the two other sites in the pyrenees indicate that the role of trace calcic phases is important in most young environments exposed to chemical weathering e g high elevation catchments on glacial deposits other factors such as the date of glacial retreat the physical denudation rate the hydrological functioning of the watershed and the nature and structure of the soil cover are also important

reassessing the stable δ88 86sr and radiogenic 87sr 86sr strontium isotopic composition of marine inputs the stable strontium isotope system 88 86sr has recently been suggested to be a suitable proxy for determining variations in the strength of the marine carbonate system the principal output flux of oceanic sr however in order to be able to interpret carbonate driven variations in 88 86srseawater a robust understanding of 88 86srinput is required surprisingly only a limited amount of 88 86sr data currently exists for rivers and hydrothermal fluids thus this study assesses the variability of 88 86sr and 87sr 86sr in global rivers hydrothermal fluids and porewaters as well as minor marine sr sources such as continental dust rainwater and glacial ice our analyses broadly confirm the findings of krabbenhoft et al 2010 and reveal flux weighted 88 86srriverine and 87sr 86srriverine compositions of 0 32 and 0 71299 respectively the hydrothermal fluids analysed in this study are consistent with an end member 88 86srhydrothermal composition that is the same as the oceanic crust at 0 24 although three samples that display 88 86sr compositions offset from the seawater hydrothermal mixing trend suggest that the precipitation of alteration phases such as anhydrite may drive 88 86srhydrothermal to higher values porewater fluids obtained from sediment cores in the atlantic and pacific oceans have 88 86sr compositions within error of seawater 0 39 implying that the diagenetic flux of sr may not significantly affect the 88 86sr composition of seawater continental loess samples have 88 86sr compositions that are consistently lighter than or equal to terrestrial silicates with their tendency to lower values thought to reflect the preferential removal of heavier sr isotopes into solution during weathering finally rainwater and glacial ice samples have 88 86sr compositions that are also isotopically lighter than their associated water sources a factor that may be attributed to interaction with isotopically light loess and additional sr contributions from the bedrock together the principal marine inputs define flux weighted oceanic 88 86srinput and 87sr 86srinput compositions of 0 32 and 0 71161 these values are consistent with an elevated supply of riverine sr to the oceans due to increased post glacial weathering but require the enhanced weathering of exposed carbonate shelves during glacial periods or significant changes in the rate of carbonate burial to match observed changes in the 87sr 86sr ratio of seawater our results confirm that providing a diagenetically robust proxy can be found the 88 86sr and 87sr 86sr isotope systems should provide a useful proxy for investigating changes in the marine carbonate system through time

evaluating the shear strength of a natural heterogeneous soil using reconstituted mixtures this work originates from the need to provide the geotechnical characterisation of a natural heterogeneous soil outcropping along a landslide prone hillside the soil geologically identified as highly tectonised phyllite results from the large tectonic strain deformation of the original weak rock which produced a melange of grain particles enclosed in a fine matrix this study investigates the possibility of estimating the shear strength using the framework established for binary mixtures to overcome the difficulties of undisturbed sampling two main problems were tackled the identification of the matrix fraction in well graded mixtures and the effect of variation in the grading of the granular fraction

δ44ca evolution in a carbonate aquifer and its bearing on the equilibrium isotope fractionation factor for calcite abstract to improve understanding of ca isotope transport during water rock interaction on the continents we measured dissolved 44 ca values along a 236 km flow path in the madison aquifer south dakota where fluids have chemically evolved according to dolomite and anhydrite dissolution calcite precipitation and ca for na ion exchange over a timescale spanning 15 kyr we used a reactive transport model employing rate data constrained from major ion mass balances to evaluate the extent to which calcite precipitation and ion exchange fractionate ca isotopes elevated 44 ca values during the initial and final stages of water transport possibly result from calcite precipitation under supersaturated conditions and ca for na ion exchange respectively however for the bulk of the flow path 44 ca values evolve by mixing between anhydrite and dolomite dissolution with no fractionation during calcite precipitation under saturated conditions we attribute the absence of ca isotope fractionation to the long timescale of water rock interaction and slow rate of calcite precipitation which have enabled fluids to chemically and isotopically equilibrate with calcite we therefore conclude that the equilibrium ca isotope fractionation factor between calcite and water cal w is very close to zero to the extent that the madison aquifer typifies other groundwater systems where calcite slowly precipitates from solutions at or near chemical equilibrium this study suggests that groundwater contributions to 44 ca variability on the continents can be modeled according to simple mixing theory without invoking isotope discrimination

particle size distributions of some soils from the umbria region italy fractal analysis and numerical modelling abstract application of principles of fractal geometry has had a strong influence on the understanding of many geological processes one of the research fields which has benefited of the development of fractal methods is soil science in this field fractal geometry techniques mainly applied to the study of particle size distributions psd contributed to shed new light on the complex dynamics involved in soil forming processes in this contribution we present new data of psd of a number of soil samples from the umbria region italy particle size distributions are analysed by applying fractal geometry methods and results indicate that they display a fractal behaviour in addition two fractal scaling domains are identified characterizing different ranges of particle sizes to understand the basic mechanisms responsible for the production of fractal features observed in studied soil samples numerical models based on computer automata are presented it is shown that the numerical simulations are in good conceptual agreement with natural data and give the opportunity to explain the basic features observed in the psd of studied soil samples

incorporation of trace metals into microcodium as novel proxies for paleo precipitation abstract trace element compositions of microcodium are applied for the first time as possible paleo proxies based on a case study on the chinese loess plateau clp the mg ca and sr ca ratios of the microcodium picked from the holocene paleosol across the clp show distinct positive correlation over large range of nearly one order of magnitude higher mg ca and sr ca ratios of microcodium are recorded in the sites on the northwestern clp where less monsoonal rainfall is received similar large variation of the positively correlated mg ca and sr ca ratios has also been observed for the stream water on the clp with the same spatial pattern the mg ca and sr ca ratios of the microcodium seem to be largely controlled by the composition of soil solution as reflected by stream water rather than partition coefficient rayleigh distillation and thus evolving composition of soil solution as a result of progressive precipitation of secondary calcite is responsible for the large variation and positive correlation of the mg ca and sr ca ratios for both the microcodium and stream water we propose that the bio remains in chinese loess may become inactive when the soil water is extracted to a degree and then be calcified into microcodium by the infiltration of freshwater that is mixed with the highly evolved soil solutes thus the mg ca and sr ca ratios of microcodium may record the paleo precipitation amount by reflecting the mixing ratio between the highly evolved soil solutes with higher mg ca and sr ca ratios and the fresh soil water with lower mg ca and sr ca ratios

strontium isotope fractionation of planktic foraminifera and inorganic calcite we have investigated the strontium isotope fractionation 88 86srcarb aq between inorganic calcite and aqueous sr2 ions by precipitation experiments at a constant temperature of 25 c and precipitation rates r ranging from 102 3 to 104 2 mol m2 h strontium isotope ratios were measured using the 87sr 84sr double spike technique it was found that strontium isotope fractionation in these calcites is strongly dependent on the precipitation rate view the mathml source the measured 88 86sr values are significantly correlated with previously measured 44 40ca and sr ca values of the same calcite samples 88 86srcarb aq 0 18 44 40cacarb aq 0 01 view the mathml source the slope of 88sr 86sr versus 44ca 40ca fractionation is 0 18 0 04 and compatible with a kinetic fractionation during dehydration of the strontium and calcium ions but not with isotope fractionation in a diffusive boundary layer using published equilibrium 44 40cacarb aq and view the mathml source values we estimate the equilibrium isotope fractionation of strontium to be very close to zero 88 86sreq carb aq 0 01 0 06 this estimate is confirmed by strontium isotope values of natural inorganic calcites that precipitated very slowly in basalts of the ocean crust the results from the inorganic calcites are used to explain strontium isotope fractionation of planktic foraminifera specimens of two warm water species globigerinoides ruber and globigerinoides sacculifer were picked from the holocene section of a caribbean sediment core we found no significant difference in 88 86sr between the two species in addition g ruber specimens from marine isotope stage 2 in the same core show 88 86sr values identical to the holocene specimens the strontium isotopes of both foraminifera species are strongly fractionated 88 86srcarb aq 0 248 0 005 when compared to published data of other major marine calcifiers applying the results from the inorganic precipitation experiments we find that the strong foraminiferal strontium isotope fractionation can be explained by calcification in a largely open system at high precipitation rates comparable in magnitude to rates known from scleractinian reef corals this interpretation is in good agreement with the kinetic calcification model for planktic foraminifera by kisakurek et al 2011 which was based on calcium isotopes and elemental sr ca ratios

87sr 86sr and sr ca in speleothems for paleoclimate reconstruction in central china between 70 and 280 kyr ago limestone cave deposits speleothems provide archives for past changes in regional climates over a range of timescales while 18o and 13c in speleothem calcite have been commonly used for reconstruction of paleoclimates we report here further efforts in the use of 87sr 86sr and sr ca signals in speleothem calcite to deduce paleomonsoon variability near the loess plateau of central china a two end member mass balance model of concentration and isotopic composition of strontium in a cave system is used to estimate variation of the 87sr 86sr ratio in sediments overlying a limestone cave we show that this ratio reflects climate driven variations in the provenance and the extent of chemical weathering of the epikarstic sediments the measurements of 87sr 86sr made on a well dated stalagmite sfl from buddha cave 33o40n 109o05 e show ratios of 0 71092 to 0 71133 0 00001 as 2 during relatively cold periods e g marine isotope stage mis 5b 5d and 8 lower than ratios of 0 71133 to 0 71194 during relatively warm periods e g mis 5a 5c 5e and 7 as changes in the sr ca ratio may affect speleothem 87sr 86sr we show that the direct use of speleothem 87sr 86sr is less ideal than our modeled 87sr 86sr for the exogenic sr source above the cave as a paleomonsoon proxy using the 18o 13c sr ca and 87sr 86sr records of the stalagmite we reconstruct the variability of the east asian monsoon for the time period between 70 and 280 kyr ago the results show that summer monsoons were more intense during interglacial periods than during glacial periods

constraining the marine strontium budget with natural strontium isotope fractionations 87sr 86sr δ88 86sr of carbonates hydrothermal solutions and river waters we present strontium sr isotope ratios that unlike traditional 87sr 86sr data are not normalized to a fixed 88sr 86sr ratio of 8 375209 defined as 88 86sr 0 relative to nist srm 987 instead we correct for isotope fractionation during mass spectrometry with a 87sr 84sr double spike this technique yields two independent ratios for 87sr 86sr and 88sr 86sr that are reported as 87sr 86sr and 88 86sr respectively the difference between the traditional radiogenic 87sr 86sr normalized to 88sr 86sr 8 375209 and the new 87sr 86sr values reflect natural mass dependent isotope fractionation in order to constrain glacial interglacial changes in the marine sr budget we compare the isotope composition of modern seawater 87sr 86sr 88 86sr seawater and modern marine biogenic carbonates 87sr 86sr 88 86sr carbonates with the corresponding values of river waters 87sr 86sr 88 86sr river and hydrothermal solutions 87sr 86sr 88 86sr hydend in a triple isotope plot the measured 87sr 86sr 88 86sr river values of selected rivers that together account for not vert similar18 of the global sr discharge yield a sr flux weighted mean of 0 7114 8 0 315 8 the average 87sr 86sr 88 86sr hydend values for hydrothermal solutions from the atlantic ocean are 0 7045 5 0 27 3 in contrast the 87sr 86sr 88 86sr carbonates values representing the marine sr output are 0 70926 2 0 21 2 we estimate the modern sr isotope composition of the sources at 0 7106 8 0 310 8 the difference between the estimated 87sr 86sr 88 86sr input and 87sr 86sr 88 86sr output values reflects isotope disequilibrium with respect to sr inputs and outputs in contrast to the modern ocean isotope equilibrium between inputs and outputs during the last glacial maximum 10 30 ka before present can be explained by invoking three times higher sr inputs from a uniquely glacial source weathering of shelf carbonates exposed at low sea levels our data are also consistent with the weathering peak hypothesis that invokes enhanced sr inputs resulting from weathering of post glacial exposure of abundant fine grained material

particle size density relationships in pyroclastic deposits inferences for emplacement processes in moving pyroclastic systems particles are sorted as a function of their sizes densities and shapes the analysis of the distribution of these characteristics in particle populations of pyroclastic deposits is a major tool in evaluating properties and regimes of parent transport systems this paper reports a study of size density relationships of component subpopulations from selected quaternary pyroclastic deposits of the latera volcanic complex vulsini italy by means of integrated field and laboratory investigations including grain size and component analyses density measurements and sem crystal morphoscopy three kinds of particle size density relationships characterize the studied deposits as follows 1 a significant correlation of decreasing sizes with increasing component densities exists for direct suspension sedimentation products including plinian fall and pyroclastic surge deposits 2 a wide data dispersion with poor correlation normally occurs for the main zones of deposits from high concentration pyroclastic flows and 3 component subpopulations occur in a narrow size range irrespective of density in granular systems dominated by grain collisions such as traction zones beneath low concentration pyroclastic surges and sheared basal layers of pyroclastic flows the regression coefficients of size density relationships appear as a comparative measure of particle concentration in the parent systems consistent with that inferred from the degree of sorting and abrasion of crystal subpopulations from sequential fragmentation transport analysis of grain size data and quantitative morphoscopy the crystal component becomes less sorted and more abraded as the fit to the size density relationship decreases from plinian fall to pyroclastic surge to pyroclastic flow consistent with increasing particle concentration in the transporting current

reconciling the elemental and sr isotope composition of himalayan weathering fluxes insights from the carbonate geochemistry of stream waters determining the relative proportions of silicate vs carbonate weathering in the himalaya is important for understanding atmospheric co2 consumption rates and the temporal evolution of seawater sr however recent studies have shown that major element mass balance equations attribute less co2 consumption to silicate weathering than methods utilizing ca sr and 87sr 86sr mixing equations to investigate this problem we compiled literature data providing elemental and 87sr 86sr analyses for stream waters and bedrock from tributary watersheds throughout the himalaya mountains in addition carbonate system parameters pco2 mineral saturation states were evaluated for a selected suite of stream waters the apparent discrepancy between the dominant weathering source of dissolved major elements vs sr can be reconciled in terms of carbonate mineral equilibria himalayan streams are predominantly ca2 mg2 hco3 waters derived from calcite and dolomite dissolution and mass balance calculations demonstrate that carbonate weathering contributes 87 and 76 of the dissolved ca2 and sr2 respectively however calculated ca sr ratios for the carbonate weathering flux are much lower than values observed in carbonate bedrock suggesting that these divalent cations do not behave conservatively during stream mixing over large temperature and pco2 gradients in the himalaya the state of calcite and dolomite saturation was evaluated across these gradients and the data show that upon descending through the himalaya 50 of the streams evaluated become highly supersaturated with respect to calcite as waters warm and degas co2 stream water ca mg and ca sr ratios decrease as the degree of supersaturation with respect to calcite increases and mg2 ca2 and hco3 mass balances support interpretations of preferential ca2 removal by calcite precipitation on the basis of patterns of saturation state and pco2 changes calcite precipitation was estimated to remove up to 70 of the ca2 originally derived from carbonate weathering accounting for the nonconservative behavior of ca2 during riverine transport brings the ca sr and 87sr 86sr composition of the carbonate weathering flux into agreement with the composition of carbonate bedrock thereby permitting consistency between elemental and sr isotope approaches to partitioning stream water solute sources these results resolve the dissolved sr2 budget and suggest that the conventional application of two component ca sr and 87sr 86sr mixing equations has overestimated silicate derived sr2 and hco3 fluxes from the himalaya in addition these findings demonstrate that integrating stream water carbonate mineral equilibria divalent cation compositional trends and sr isotope inventories provides a powerful approach for examining weathering fluxes

controls on stable strontium isotope fractionation in coccolithophores with implications for the marine sr cycle abstract the controls on stable sr isotope fractionation into the calcite produced by the coccolithophore species emiliania huxleyi coccolithus pelagicus spp braarudii and gephyrocapsa oceanica are investigated each species has been cultured under controlled laboratory conditions at a range of temperatures 10 25 c to test the potential of 88 86 sr as a proxy for growth rate and or sea surface temperature coccolithophores are one of the most abundant pelagic calcifiers since sr substitutes to some degree for ca in their calcite coccoliths coccolithophores represent a significant output of sr from seawater potentially influencing the 88 86 sr mass balance in the modern oceans the coccoliths are investigated for their 88 86 sr sr ca and 18 o measured as function of temperature as temperature is increased all species show a negative stable sr isotopic fractionation related to a temperature controlled growth rate we infer the shift of 88 86 sr to lighter values as indicative of a kinetic control on the isotope fractionation revealing the potential of 88 86 sr as a proxy for growth rate which in these experiments is primarily dictated by temperature the results from these experiments indicate that coccolithophore calcite incorporates sr with a very light 88 86 sr isotope composition as low as 0

the eastern mediterranean paleoclimate as a reflection of regional events soreq cave israel the climate of the eastern mediterranean region of the last 60 ky was determined by a high resolution study of the oxygen and carbon isotopic composition 1500 measurement pairs of speleothems from the soreq cave israel with chronology provided by 53 precise 230 th 234 u tims ages the high precision of the speleothem tims ages permits us to determine the timing of regional climatic events in the eastern mediterranean region and to see if they correlate with global events during the period from 60 to 17 ky the 18 o and 13 c values were generally 2 2 5 higher than during the period from 17 ky to present this is consistent with the climatic transition from glacial to interglacial within the 60 to 17 ky period the soreq cave stable isotope profile includes four cold peaks at 46 35 25 and 19 ky and 2 warm peaks at 54 and 36 ky in addition the period 17 ky has two more cold peaks at 16 5 and from 13 2 to 11 4 ky the ages of four of the six cold peaks correlate well with the ages of three heinrich events h1 h2 h5 and with the age of the younger dryas however the other two heinrich events are not reflected in the soreq cave record several other isotope peaks which appear during the last 7 ky are contemporaneous with regional climatic events in the middle east and north africa in addition to the drop in 18 o and 13 c observed between the last glacial and the holocene sharp simultaneous drops in 234 u 238 u 0 ratios sr concentrations and in 87 sr 86 sr are also observed suggesting that the latter are climate related these variations are interpreted in terms of major changes in the temperature the mean annual rainfall and its isotopic composition the isotopic composition of the mediterranean vapor source the soil moisture conditions and in the mixing proportions of sources with different 87 sr 86 sr ratios sea spray dust particles and dolomitic host rock

evidence for mass dependent isotopic fractionation of strontium in a glaciated granitic watershed abstract the stable isotope composition of strontium expressed as 88 86sr may provide important constraints on the global exogenic strontium cycle here we present 88 86sr values and 87sr 86sr ratios for granitoid rocks a 150 yr soil chronosequence formed from these rocks surface waters and plants in a small glaciated watershed in the central swiss alps incipient chemical weathering in this young system whether of inorganic or biological origin has no resolvable effect on the 87sr 86sr ratios and 88 86sr values of bulk soils which remain indistinguishable from bedrock in terms of sr isotopic composition although due in part to the chemical heterogeneity of the forefield the lack of a resolvable difference between soil and bedrock isotopic composition indicates that these soils have thus far witnessed minimal net loss of sr a low degree of chemical weathering is also implied by bulk soil chemistry the isotopic composition of sr in streamwater is more radiogenic than median soil reflecting the preferential weathering of biotite in the catchment streamwater 88 86sr values however are indistinguishable from bulk soil 88 86sr values implying that no resolvable fractionation of sr isotopes takes place during release to the weathering flux in the damma forefield analyses of plant tissue reveal that plants rhododendron and vaccinium preferentially assimilate the lighter isotopes of sr such that their 88 86sr values are significantly lower than those of the soils in which they grow additionally 88 86sr values of foliar and floral tissues are lower than those of roots contrary to observations for ca for which sr is often used as an analogue in weathering studies we suggest that processes that discriminate against sr in favour of ca due to the different nutritional requirement of plants for these two elements are responsible for the observed contrast

seasonal changes in the radiogenic and stable strontium isotopic composition of xijiang river water implications for chemical weathering seasonal changes in strontium sr isotopic systematics in large rivers can effectively track temporal variations in regional chemical weathering and help to better constrain the sr isotopic budget of global oceans however such records are scarce here we present a year long time series of both radiogenic and stable sr isotope measurements 87sr 86sr and 88sr from river water at guiping in the middle reaches of the xijiang river south china temporal changes in chemical weathering in the drainage basin were investigated by recording seasonal changes in the composition of both sr isotopes and major ions in the river water river water 87sr 86sr values range from 0 708487 to 0 710336 with most values being 0 7092 are generally accompanied by high rb sr ratios and low ph and 13c of dissolved inorganic carbo dic and occur during periods of large river flux this indicates that the contribution to the chemistry of river water from the weathering of silicate rocks is enhanced during rainy seasons seasonal variation in river water 88sr is large from 0 147 to 0 661 with higher 88sr values generally corresponding to higher 87sr 86sr values again low 88sr values 0 3 suggest a dominant contribution from the weathering of carbonate rocks whereas the high 88sr values may represent a contribution from intensive weathering of silicate rocks using the time series data we estimated the flux weighted averages of sr concentration 87sr 86sr and 88sr for the xijiang river to be 1 00 mol l 0 70960 and 0 38 respectively the sr concentration and 87sr 86sr results are close to previous estimates while the 88sr value is amongst the highest recorded for the large rivers of the world and is close to that of seawater our results indicate that large rivers draining through tropical sub tropical regions could play an important role in regulating the stable sr isotopic budget of global oceans

volcanic dilemma flow or blow volcanic eruptions can be either slow outpourings of lava or explosive ejections of fragmented rock in his perspective dingwell discusses the physical and chemical properties of magma that lead to these two styles of eruption new experiments and computer simulations are pointing to the involvement of solidlike behavior of liquid magma when it makes a transition to a glass

sinkhole risk assessment by ert the case study of sirino lake basilicata italy abstract the presence of natural or artificial lakes and reservoirs that can drain because of natural phenomena can generate catastrophic events affecting urban and agricultural areas next to the source area therefore geophysical prospecting techniques have been applied in the study of sirino lake which during the last century was affected by the sudden opening of small sinkholes resulting in the almost total draining of the lake and in the sudden increase of water flow rates of distal springs two electrical resistivity tomographies erts were carried out across the lake using electrode arrays located on land and across the water body self potential sp data were acquired around the lake shore and the surrounding area the geophysical prospecting contributed significant data toward explaining the unique hydrogeological characteristics of the lake integration of geophysical geological hydrogeological and geomorphological data allowed us to estimate the thickness of the lacustrine deposits beneath the lake to describe the main patterns of the subsurface fluid flows in the area and to identify possible water escape routes causing the piping phenomena

variations in 87sr 86sr ratios of calcites in chinese loess a proxy for chemical weathering associated with the east asian summer monsoon abstract 87sr 86sr ratios of loess paleosol calcites of luochuan in china over the past 130 ka display a regular change with increasing trend of 87sr 86sr ratios in the following order loess calcite weakly pedogenetic paleosol calcite paleosol calcite pure secondary calcite the observed variations in the 87sr 86sr record of loess paleosol calcites correlate closely with the records of the magnetic susceptibility coarse grain fraction content in the same profile an et al chin sci bull 39 1994 182 184 and the specmap stacked 18o record of global ice volume imbrie et al in berger et al eds milankovitch and climate part i reidel boston 1984 pp 269 305 strata from the last glacial consist mostly of loesses and weakly developed paleosols and have lower 87sr 86sr ratios averaging 0 71079 paleosols which developed during the last interglacial have higher 87sr 86sr ratios averaging 0 71131 the four periods ca 125 110 98 90 80 75 and 9 5 ka b p of increased summer monsoonal rainfall coincide with the four peaks in 87sr 86sr values a series of 87sr 86sr high frequency high amplitude fluctuations is superimposed on the last glacial interglacial cycle over the past 130 ka occurring on millennium timescales with an average time span of about 3 ka during the last glacial the fluctuations of the 87sr 86sr ratios of the luochuan loess paleosol calcites lie in the range 0 71036 0 71176 for the past 130 ka the study shows that the sr isotopic system in loess paleosol calcites may therefore be an excellent proxy of chemical weathering on continents associated with the east asian summer monsoon

an experimental facility for the investigation of magma fragmentation by rapid decompression a special experimental facility has been developed to investigate the fragmentation of vesicular magma undergoing rapid decompression the facility operates in a regime similar to that of shock tubes and at temperatures up to 950 c and pressures up to 200 bar cylindrical samples diameter ca 17 mm length ca 50 mm undergo rapid decompression in a high temperature high pressure section of the facility following the disruption of a diaphragm separating that section from a low pressure low temperature section actual vesicular magma samples have been experimentally fragmented at elevated temperatures and pressures corresponding to those observed during explosive volcanic eruptions and the resulting pyroclastics have been photographically resolved in flight and collected for physical characterization the results of these experiments show that the rapid decompression of highly viscous vesicular magma can generate pyroclastic ejecta via rapid and complete fragmentation of magma at high temperature this new fragmentation facility is presented as a tool for experimental volcanology under well constrained conditions

behaviour of li isotopes during continental weathering the bidar laterite profile india weathering of large basaltic provinces is a major sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide and is also an important part of the geochemical cycle of many other elements this study aims to improve our understanding of basaltic weathering by analysis of trace elements and li isotopes in a lateritic profile developed upon the deccan traps flood basalt at its base the profile consists of unaltered basalt that has a li concentration and 7li value of 5 ppm and 2 5 respectively which is upwards progressively altered to a highly weathered laterite iron rich residuum at the surface high concentrations of fe2o3 85 wt at 11 m depth indicate the presence of a palaeowatertable the transition metals the rare earth elements rees and u are also strongly enriched in this horizon whereas fluid mobile elements such as li and rb are depleted relative to the precursor basalt and the bulk 7li value is very low 5 5 a high proportion of leachable li is found in this horizon and this is enriched in 6li relative to the bulk we suggest that leaching extracts the labile weathering products and these have high 6li as 7li has been preferentially mobilised during basalt weathering throughout the rest of the profile li concentrations and li isotope values are best explained by two component mixing between the precursor basalt and aeolian material with high li and low 7li mass balance calculations show that at least 50 of the li present in the profile could have been supplied by a mineral aerosol that has a 7li value between 0 and 1 3 the depth integrated 7li value of the profile is 0 6 which suggests that 7li has been preferentially leached from the aerosol after its deposition the source of this aeolian material is most likely to be ancient continental crust it is possibly derived from archaen proterozoic terrain to the south and southeast of the deccan and or material from central asia similar to that which forms chinese loess and which is supplied to the north pacific basin

lithium isotope fractionation during continental weathering processes a comprehensive understanding of lithium isotope fractionation during terrestrial weathering is necessary in order to use lithium isotopes to trace chemical cycles climatic changes and igneous processes this study investigates lithium isotope fractionation in two laboratory experiments and by analyses of natural basalt weathering products partial dissolution of basalts in the laboratory does not result in fractionation of lithium isotopes but similar dissolution of a granite sample causes significant fractionation this may reflect dissolution of secondary minerals from the granite or differences in the li isotope composition of primary minerals in this more evolved igneous rock significant li isotope fractionation was also observed during sorption onto mineral surfaces in the laboratory although this was highly dependent on sample mineralogy no fractionation accompanies the outer sphere physisorption of li to smectite surfaces some fractionation accompanies sorption onto ferrihydrite and significant fractionation with 0 986 is seen during inner sphere chemisorption to gibbsite surfaces repeat experiments with varying amounts of sorption demonstrate that li remains in an exchangeable site on the gibbsite surface the extent of fractionation onto gibbsite observed in this study 13 is about half that required in order for clay surface removal to balance the ocean li isotope budget isotopic fractionation of li was found to occur on a 300 yr timescale in both cold and warm natural environments a minimally altered rock surface from iceland was found to be two lighter in 7li than the sample interior probably due to the preferential incorporation of 6li in clay or oxide rich alteration products on the sample surface soil samples from hawaii also demonstrate li fractionation during weathering in this environment rainwater 7li 10 contributes a significant flux of isotopically heavy li to the developing soil despite this soils have similar li isotope compositions to the primary basalt 7li 4 indicating that 6li is preferentially retained during weathering this conclusion is supported by isotopically heavy river water on hawaii 7li 22 and by the correlation between li concentration and 7li in the soil the lab and field based measurements of this study clearly demonstrate that lithium fractionates during weathering potentially providing information about the weathering environment now and in the past