hydrochemical processes in the lower jordan valley and in the dead sea area abstract changes in the concentrations of major some minor and trace elements occurring in both surface and groundwater of the lower jordan river dead sea drainage basin have been investigated in order to identify the characteristics of the regional aquifers and their recharge areas spider patterns of elements and rare earth distribution patterns pinpoint the characteristic chemical features of groundwater as compared to seawater the high br cl ratios in groundwater are caused either by high br cl ratios in precipitation by leaching of br from bituminous matter or by mixing with brines beyond the epsomite stage the locations of groundwater samples with enhanced b contents coincide with the distribution of gypsum in the beds of the lisan formation which produces water with nearly constant b so 4 2 molar ratios aeolian distribution of the unconsolidated lisan sediments influences the b so 4 ratio in the area of lake tiberias and in the jordan highlands the high gd anomaly in the dead sea water is of geologic origin whereas that in the jordan river and in nahal stream qidron is largely anthropogenic the anthropogenic gd input to the dead sea is insignificant compared to the actual amount in the water of the dead sea hot saline water encountered along the western shores of the dead sea with high gd anomalies indicate that they contain large amounts of ancient dead sea water that mix as hot ascending brines with fresh water the recharge area of groundwater in the lower jordan valley extends largely over limestone and dolomite outcrops of the upper cretaceous judea group weathering of locally underlying lower cretaceous volcanics in the area of pezael beqaot and argaman yield groundwater with 34 s so 4 2 values ranging from 2 to 4 the presence of sulphide bearing bodies in this area is attested to magnetic anomalies detected at depths of several kilometres 34 s so 4 2 indicates very deep groundwater circulation high 34 s so 4 2 15 is typical for marine sulphates from the judea and avedat group limestone the springs located along the northwestern shore of the dead sea discharge water replenished on the eastern judea mountains the increase in the salinity of this water is due to brines flushed from sediments and from adjacent sedimentary rocks which host entrapped brines from the precursors of the dead sea formed during the late stages of lake lisan fresher water flushes out these residual brines as a result of falling sea level salinity increase in groundwater is also affected by the ascent of deep seated hot brines from pre sedom periods along the rift faults calculations of mixing between fresh and highly saline end members show that leaching of anhydrite from sediments precipitation of calcite formation of dolomite albitization of plagioclase and ion exchange with abundant clay minerals control the major element composition of the saline groundwater

episodic graben formation and extensional neotectonic regime in west central anatolia and the isparta angle a case study in the aksehir afyon graben turkey

the dead sea transform fault system abstract a new map showing the major features of the dead sea transform fault system based on seismicity satellite imagery geological maps and bathymetric charts is presented special attention is given to the possible northward continuation of the transform system beneath the mediterranean sea near ed damur south of beirut the map shows the dead sea transform system to be a series of offset overlapping left lateral transform faults with a rhombochasm between each pair the system has similarities with the equatorial fracture zones in the atlantic ocean throughout the dead sea transform system is considered in its regional setting i e as extending from the red sea spreading centre in the south to the eurasian collision zone in the north it is suggested that it may intersect the latter somewhere east of cyprus making that area the northernmost termination of the dead sea transform system

comparison of geodetic and glaciological mass balance techniques gulkana glacier alaska u s a the net mass balance on gulkana glacier alaska u s a has been measured since 1966 by the glaciological method in which seasonal balances are measured at three index sites and extrapolated over large areas of the glacier systematic errors can accumulate linearly with time in this method therefore the geodetic balance in which errors are less time dependent was calculated for comparison with the glaciological method digital elevation models of the glacier in 1974 1993 and 1999 were prepared using aerial photographs and geodetic balances were computed giving 6 0 0 7 m w e from 1974 to 1993 and 11 8 0 7 m w e from 1974 to 1999 these balances are compared with the glaciological balances over the same intervals which were 5 8 0 9 and 11 2 1 0 m w e respectively both balances show that the thinning rate tripled in the 1990s these cumulative balances differ by 6 for this close agreement the glaciologically measured mass balance of gulkana glacier must be largely free of systematic errors and be based on a time variable area altitude distribution and the photography used in the geodetic method must have enough contrast to enable accurate photogrammetry

earthquake induced clastic dikes detected by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility clastic dikes form either by passive deposition of clastic material into preexisting fissures or by fracturing and injection of clastic material during seismic shaking or passive overpressure because of their similar final geometry the origin of clastic dikes is commonly ambiguous we studied the mechanisms of clastic dike formation within the seismically active dead sea basin where hundreds of clastic dikes crosscut soft rock of the late pleistocene lacustrine lisan formation we analyzed the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams of clastic dikes of known origin and defined characteristic ams signatures of depositional or injection filling we discovered that passively filled dikes which contain brownish silt resembling local surface sediments are characterized by an oblate ams ellipsoid and vertical minimum susceptibility axis v3 dikes that contain green clayey sediment connected to a mineralogically identical detrital layer of the lisan formation are characterized by a triaxial ams ellipsoid well grouped subhorizontal and parallel to the dike walls maximum susceptibility axis v1 and subvertical intermediate susceptibility axis v2 field evidence and ams analysis indicate that most of these dikes were emplaced by injection inferred to be due to seismically triggered fluidization this novel application of the ams provides a petrofabric tool for distinguishing passively filled dikes from injection dikes and where appropriate for identifying the latter as seismites

seismotectonic considerations on the nature of the turkish african plate boudary the nature of the assumed turkish african plate boundary is investigated in the light of new seismological and geologic tectonical data which are condensed in a seismotectonic map from the observed relationship between extensional compressional and strikeslip deformation it is concluded that the turkish african convergence results in a sort of complex crustal welding within a broad and diffuse zone rather than in active consumption of african lithosphere beneath the cypriot tauride arc

instruments and methods glaciological and volumetric mass balance measurements error analysis over 51 years for glacier de sarennes french alps the mass balance of glacier de sarennes french alps has been measured since 1949 using the glaciological method based on core and ablation stake data and area extrapolations to find the overall glacier balance the cumulative balance obtained in this way is very dependent on systematic errors that can increase linearly with the number n of measurement years whereas random errors rise with the volumetric balance method based on aerial photogrammetry provides results whose errors do not depend on the number of years this method was used to test field measurements for the period 1952 2003 and gives a mass balance of 32 30 1 04 m w e compared to 34 89 1 15 m w e based on field data the discrepancy between the two methods is discussed on the basis of a careful error analysis moreover the possibility of using the volumetric method to detect biases in field measurements is evaluated in terms of two types of errors the number and locations of measurement sites required to account for all the spatial and temporal variabilities of the mass balance is discussed by variance analysis methodological implications and recommendations are presented to provide mass balance measurements of the best possible accuracy

glacier dynamics in the southern part of east siberia russia from the final part of the lgm to the present based on from biogeochemical proxies from bottom sediments of proglacial lakes abstract in the present study we have reconstructed glacier dynamics based on the high 1 0 5 mm resolution x ray fluorescence spectrometry scanning the fourier transform infrared technique and 14c dating used in the analyses of the lake bottom sediments fluvioglacial deposits and a peat bog situated on east siberian mountains east sayan baikal barguzin and kodar ridges between 51 723 n 100 601 e and 56 885 n 117 580 e we have found what the largest glacier deposits on the baikal shoreline so called tompuda end moraine formed in two stages the first stage occurred until ca 12 cal ka bp then there was a short pause the second stage ended by 9 5 cal ka bp azarova glacier kodar ridge retreated upwards the kodar ridge by ca 11 cal ka bp it may indicate that the bolling allerod warming was very evident and it was a trigger for these deglacial events in east siberia it is most likely that remains of the late pleistocene glaciers were cardinally shrunk or fully disappeared during the holocene thermal optimum in the southern part of east siberia climate conditions were suitable for glacier formation after 3 cal ka bp however if there were new glaciers in the middle holocene their sizes were likely to be less than 1 km2 for this reason these glaciers should have completely melted during the roman and medieval warm periods it is most likely small glaciers observed at present in the south of east siberia were mainly formed during the little ice age

heavy carbon travertine related to methane generation a case study of the big tarkhan cold spring kerch peninsula crimea abstract the big tarkhan cold spring is located within the bulganak zone of mud volcanism in the northern kerch peninsula crimea the spring waters mainly have cl hco 3 na ca chemistry and temperatures from 18 to 23 c active travertine deposition at the site produces abundant calcite and minor amounts of siderite halite tincalconite trona gaylussite northupite and amorphous iron hydroxides calcite contains the impurities of 0 26 2 16 wt mgo up to 0 87 wt feo 0 15 0 73 wt sro 0 28 0 98 bao up to 0 43 wt mno and 0 09 0 60 na 2 o active travertines are depleted in ree ree 2 6 4 8 ppm compared to the inactive ones the kerch travertine calcite shows unusual carbon and oxygen isotope compositions 8 1 12 5 vpdb 13 c and 10 1 12 9 vpdb 18 o their isotopic and trace element signatures including ree patterns suggest their relation to basinal waters and origin from the organic rich clayey maikop fm which is the principal source rock of the area the big tarkhan travertine deposits are associated with thermogenic methane production

mountain glaciers of southeast siberia current state and changes since the little ice age contemporary glaciers of southeast siberia are located on three high mountain ridges east sayan baikalsky and kodar in this study we present an updated glacier inventory based on high to middle resolution satellite imagery and field investigations the inventory includes 51 glaciers with a total area of 15 km2 areas of individual glaciers vary from 0 06 to 1 33 km2 lengths from 130 to 2010 m and elevations from 1796 to 3490 m the recent ice maximum extents little ice age have been delineated from terminal moraines on average debris free surface area shrunk by 59 between 1850 and 2006 11 0 37 a 1 by 44 between 1850 and 2001 02 0 29 a 1 and by 27 between 2001 02 and 2006 11 3 39 a 1 the kodar glaciers have experienced the largest area shrinkage while the area loss on baikalsky ridge was more moderate glacier changes are mainly related to regional summer temperature increase by 1 7 2 6c from 1970 to 2010 there are some differences in glacier response due to different spatial patterns of snow accumulation local topography e g glacier elevation slope and geological activity the studied glaciers especially of kodar ridge are the most sensitive in siberia to climate change since the late 20th century

reconstruction of the little ice age glaciers and equilibrium line altitudes in the kodar range southeast siberia abstract little ice age lia a time of global cooling widely manifested in the 14th 19th centuries was characterized by worldwide expansion of mountain glaciers unfortunately little is known about the lia glacier changes in remote areas of continental siberia in this work we studied the evolution of the glaciers of the kodar range southeast siberia these glaciers are mainly of small size

formation of immature asphalt from organic rich carbonate rocks i geochemical correlation abstract the formation of low maturity asphaltic oils immature asphalts from carbonate source rocks was investigated the senonian bituminous rocks sbr in israel are organic rich carbonate rocks that were deposited in a high productivity environment and they are part of a sedimentary sequence that also contains cherts and phosphorites the sbr were studied in different basins and the samples are from outcrops and three deep drillholes the bitumen contents of the rocks are exceptionally high up to 700 mg g c org and immature asphalts are found to be associated with them geochemical analysis indicates that the bitumens are indigenous to the host sbr and the associated asphalts are bitumens that have migrated a short distance with negligible chemical fractionation the high heteroatom content of the kerogens up to 30 in the sbr is suggested as a possible cause of the generation of asphaltic oils in an early stage of maturation

present day seismicity and seismotectonics of the cilician basin eastern mediterranean region of turkey the nature of the interaction between the anatolian arabian and af rican plates is an important problem of northeastern mediterranean tectonics the dead sea fault and east anatolian fault zone are the most prominent structural elements in this region the cilician basin which is located at the junction of these faults is known to have a very active seismic history however instrumental obser vations have been insufficient because of the lack of an adequate local seismic net work to monitor ongoing seismic activity and to analyze the seismotectonics of the cilician region 36 to 38 n 34 to 38 e a digital seismic network of 18 stations with velocity transducers has been operated by the earth and marine sciences re search institute emsri of the scientific and technical research council of turkey tubitak since 1993 no previous studies have been carried out in this region for crustal structure an optimum 1d velocity model was obtained by using the velest algorithm for reliable determination of earthquake hypocenter locations approxi mately 2500 earthquakes detected between 1993 and 2002 with local magnitude greater than 1 5 have been located by using this optimum velocity model the most notable feature of the epicentral distribution is the presence of dense clusters of activity along local fault trends the majority of hypocentral depths of the events range between 5 and 35 km single fault plane solutions of reliable events were calculated in order to analyze the seismotectonic characteristics of the region results show that the cilicia region constitutes a wide left lateral shearing zone that indicates a diffuse plate boundary between the african arabian and anatolian plates

cementation of kerogen rich marls by alkaline fluids released during weathering of thermally metamorphosed marly sediments part i isotopic c o study of the khushaym matruk natural analogue central jordan abstract the khushaym matruk site in central jordan may represent a natural analogue depicting the interaction of alkaline solutions with a clayey sedimentary formation or with clay rich confining barriers at the interface with concrete structures in waste disposal sites in this locality past spontaneous combustion of organic matter in a clayey biomicritic formation produced a ca 60 m thick layer of cement marble containing some of the high temperature phases usually found in industrial cements e g spurrite brucite and ca aluminate a vertical cross section of the underlying sediments was used in order to study the interaction between cement marbles and neighbouring clayey limestones under weathering conditions a thermodynamic approach of the alteration parageneses calcite jennite afwillite brucite and csh phases in the cement marbles constrains the interacting solutions to have had ph values between 10 5 and 12 over 3 m the sediments located beneath the metamorphic unit were compacted and underwent carbonation they display large c and o isotopic variations with respect to pristine sediments from the bottom of the section low 13c values down to 31 4 pdb show the contribution of co2 derived from the oxidization of organic matter and from the atmosphere to the intense carbonation process affecting that particular sedimentary level the size of the c isotopic anomalies their geometrical extent and their coincidence with the variations of other markers like the zn content the structure of organic matter the mineralogical composition all argue that the carbonation process was induced by the percolation of high ph solutions which derived from the alteration of cement marbles the temperature of the carbonation process remains conjectural and some post formation o isotopic reequilibration likely affected the newly formed carbonate carbonation induced a considerable porosity reduction both in fractures and matrixes the khushaym matruk site may have some bearing to the early life of a repository site when water saturation of the geological formations hosting the concrete structures is incomplete enabling simultaneous diffusion of alkaline waters and gaseous co2 in the near field

oil bearing inclusions in vein quartz and calcite and bitumens in veins testament to multiple phases of hydrocarbon migration in the barrandian basin lower palaeozoic czech republic abstract the petroleum charge history of the barrandian basin was investigated by analysing quartz and calcite and organic phases that occur in veins and fractures cutting dolerite sills within the lite formation silurian the geochemical characteristics of fluid inclusions trapped in vein quartz and calcite vein bitumens and adjacent potential source rocks when combined with burial and thermal history data reflect the presence of at least three separate hydrocarbon charge episodes solid highly reflecting rmax 0 92 1 49 bitumen provides information on the first and oldest episode of oil migration the precursor oil was probably derived relatively early during diagenesis from nearby organic rich sediments and was subsequently thermally altered to form the solid bitumen the liquid oil preserved within the fluid inclusions in vein quartz and calcite cements represents a second hydrocarbon charge that migrated after the cooling of the sill at diagenetic temperatures between 73 and 150 c this migration event probably occurred during the peak burial of the strata during or after the variscan orogeny the inclusion oil is moderately matured non biodegraded and most likely derived from lower palaeozoic source rocks such as the enclosing lite formation and or directly overlying kopanina and p idoli formations the presence of low salinity 0 2 3 2 eq wt nacl aqueous inclusions coexisting with oil inclusions indicates that the hydrocarbon flow had a substantial aqueous component brightly yellow fluorescing low reflecting rr 0 25 wax forming thin coatings on vein minerals herald the third and most recent pulse of hydrocarbons that migrated significantly after the peak heating of the strata indirect evidence suggests that this late stage event may have been associated with the post palaeogene alpine uplift of the basin that stimulated circulation of waxy oils and acid waters through the reactivated fractures

origin of the extreme polymetallic enrichment cd cr mo ni u v zn of the late cretaceous early tertiary belqa group central jordan abstract the sedimentary formations of the late cretaceous to early tertiary belqa group correspond to pure to slightly clayey limestones and minor black shales characterized by a remarkable enrichment in phosphorous and various redox sensitive elements cd cr mo ni u v zn phosphorous enrichment is related to the great phosphorite deposition event that has occurred at the southern margin of the tethys ocean during this period the very low organic matter contents in the limestones despite their strong enrichment in redox sensitive elements is attributed to a deposition in anoxic water but under shallow water conditions permitting the bacterial degradation of a large part of the organic matter most of the elements constituting the belqa group sediments have been deposited from the sea water either directly by chemical precipitation most ca and redox sensitive elements or indirectly through biogenic activity p part of ca and u except for the minor detritial contribution presents in some limestones and more significantly in the shales such an origin is also supported by the ree patterns of the limestones which are similar to that of the present sea water the anomalously high concentrations of some redox sensitive trace metals cr ni and probably cd compared to worldwide black shales is explained by an exogenic metal flux corresponding to the leaching of the huge amounts of ophiolites obducted during the collision between the african arabian and eurasian plates at the same time as the deposition of the belqa group sediments uranium is substituted for calcium in biogenic apatite in the limestones but was also directly precipitated from sea water in the black shales in relation with the suboxic environment with the periodic anoxia developed during their deposition in restricted deeper basins the pyrometamorphism resulting from the burning of organic rich levels in clayey limestones has created a further enrichment of redox sensitive elements in the resulting marbles by a volume loss resulting from decarbonatation reactions and the combustion of the organic matter

rare earths and yttrium hydrostratigraphy along the lake kinneret dead sea arava transform fault israel and adjoining territories rare earth elements and y rey have been analysed in 49 groundwaters from localities in the areas of lake kinneret and the jordan and arava valleys these waters originate from various aquifers and the rey abundances are expected to be controlled by the aquifer rocks the rey pattern allow one to distinguish interaction of waters with basalts basalt limestone interaction zones silicified limestones limestones from the judea and avdat groups upper cretaceous and eocene respectively and sandstones of the lower cretaceous kurnub group groundwater from the quaternary alluvial fill dead sea group are either controlled by judea group limestone or kurnub group sandstone the rey patterns show characteristic features for each group in hydrogeological systems the rocks of natural replenishment areas are usually not the same as rock units from which the waters are collected this becomes evident by comparing the lithostratigraphic groups from which the waters were collected and the hydrochemical grouping according to rey patterns with their characteristic trends and anomalies in many cases there is a correspondence between the lithostratigraphic and the hydrochemical grouping in other cases the 2 groupings disagree this disagreement proves inter aquifer flow of groundwater in some cases the geologically derived aquifers rocks of origin differ from those indicated by rey patterns thus applying the rey grouping new fundamental information for hydrological models can be given and sources of salinisation can be elucidated

late 20th century changes in glacier extent in the caucasus mountains russia georgia glaciers occupy an area of 1600 km2 in the caucasus mountains there is widespread evidence of retreat since the little ice age but an up to date regional assessment of glacier change is lacking in this paper satellite imagery landsat thematic mapper and enhanced thematic mapper plus is used to obtain the terminus position of 113 glaciers in the central caucasus in 1985 and 2000 using a manual delineation process based on a false colour composite bands 5 4 3 measurements reveal that 94 of the glaciers have retreated 4 exhibited no overall change and 2 advanced the mean retreat rate equates to 8 m a 1 and maximum retreat rates approach 38 m a 1 the largest 10 km2 glaciers retreated twice as much 12 m a 1 as the smallest 1 km2 glaciers 6 m a 1 and glaciers at lower elevations generally retreated greater distances supraglacial debris cover has increased in association with glacier retreat and the surface area of bare ice has reduced by 10 between 1985 and 2000 results are compared to declassified corona imagery from the 1960s and 1970s and detailed field measurements and mass balance data for djankuat glacier central caucasus it is concluded that the decrease in glacier area appears to be primarily driven by increasing temperatures since the 1970s and especially since the mid 1990s continued retreat could lead to considerable changes in glacier runoff with implications for regional water resources

rare earth elements in seep carbonates as tracers of variable redox conditions at ancient hydrocarbon seeps marine hydrocarbon seeps are dynamic systems which are typically reflected in complex lithologies of limestones forming at these sites in order to test if seep limestones with their multiple generations of carbonate phases reflect variable redox conditions the rare earth element ree patterns of limestones from five ancient hydrocarbon seep localities hollard mound middle devonian iberg mississippian beauvoisin oxfordian canyon and satsop river oligocene and marmorito miocene have been investigated the total ree contents vary widely 0 3 43 7 p p m early microcrystalline phases tend to show higher contents than spatially associated later phases microspar sparite and blocky cement the shale normalized ree patterns of the carbonates show both negative and positive ce anomalies even for individual deposits suggesting that the redox conditions varied significantly it is apparent that in addition to anoxic conditions oxic conditions were common in some ancient seep environments intermittent oxygenation is presumed to have resulted from abrupt changes in fluid flow

asphalts oils and bituminous rocks from the dead sea area a geochemical correlation study oils and asphalts gilsonite from the dead sea area israel were characterized by bulk composition specific c15 hydrocarbons n alkanes isoprenoids steranes triterpanes and aromatics including sulfur compounds and light hydrocarbons c2 to c8 molecular range these indicators complemented by literature data sulfur content sulfur isotope composition and distribution of petroporphyrins define the oils and asphalts as belonging to a single geochemical province the geochemical characteristics suggest a source material of bacterially reworked algae and a source rock poor in clay minerals probably a calcareous rock calcareous bituminous rocks of the campanian maestrichtian ghareb formation are exposed on the margin of the dead sea graben on downwarped blocks and they probably extend under the thick graben fill the agreement of the geochemical indicators suggests that these bituminous rocks are a potential source of the asphalts and oils in the dead sea area differences between the various types of hydrocarbon occurrences are due to a combination of several effects such as variations in source material the thermal history of the different downwarped blocks water washing and biodegradation the distribution characteristics of hydrocarbons c6 to c35 and c2 to c8 is sensitive to biodegradation and or water washing the aromatic fractions except very soluble compounds like benzene toluene etc are less affected by these processes and record the variability due to source and possibly thermal history the interpretation of the triterpane and sterane distribution corroborates that of other hydrocarbons with respect to maturation and type of source rock differences in maturation are pronounced the bituminous rocks and asphalts are immature and the oils are derived from source rocks in an initial stage of petroleum generation

geochemical assessment of hydrocarbon migration phenomena case studies from the south western margin of the dead sea basin abstract calcite veins with fluid and solid bitumen inclusions have been discovered in the south western shoulder of the dead sea rift within the masada zohar block where hydrocarbons exist in small commercial gas fields and non commercial fields of heavy and light oils the gas liquid inclusions in calcite are dominated either by methane or co2 and aqueous inclusions sometimes bear minor dissolved hydrocarbons the enclosed flake like solid bitumen matter is a residue of degraded oil which may be interpreted as dead carbon about 2 3 of this matter is soot like amorphous carbon and 1 3 consists of n c8 c18 carboxylic acids and traces of n alkanes light dicarboxylic acids and higher molecular weight c20 branched and or cyclic carboxylic acids both bitumen and the host calcites show genetic relationship with mature maastrichtian chalky source rocks mcsrs evident in isotopic compositions 13c 34s and 18o and in ree y patterns the bitumen precursor may have been heavy sulfur rich oil which was generated during the burial compaction of the mcsr strata within the subsided blocks of the dead sea graben the 18o and 13c values and ree y signatures in calcites indicate mixing of deep buried fluids equilibrated with post mature sediments and meteoric waters the temperatures of fluid generation according to mg li geothermometer data range from 55 to 90 corresponding to the 2 5 4 0 km depths and largely overlap with the oil window range 60 90 in the dead sea rift hunt 1996 gvirtzman and stanislavsky 2000 buryakovsky et al 2005 the bitumen rich vein calcites originated in the course of late cenozoic rifting and related deformation when tectonic stress triggers damaged small hydrocarbon reservoirs in the area produced pathways and caused hydrocarbon bearing fluids to rise to the subsurface the fluids filled open fractures and crystallized to calcite with entrapped bitumen the reported results are in good agreement with the existing views of maturation migration and accumulation of hydrocarbons as well as basin fluid transport processes in the dead sea area

mass balance of glaciers and ice caps consensus estimates for 1961 2004 1 working with comprehensive collections of directly measured data on the annual mass balance of glaciers other than the two ice sheets we combine independent analyses to show that there is broad agreement on the evolution of global mass balance since 1960 mass balance was slightly below zero around 1970 and has been growing more negative since then excluding peripheral ice bodies in greenland and antarctica global average specific balance for 1961 1990 was 219 112 kg m 2 a 1 representing 0 33 0 17 mm sle sea level equivalent a 1 for 2001 2004 the figures are 510 101 kg m 2 a 1 and 0 77 0 15 mm sle a 1 including the smaller greenland and antarctic glaciers global total balance becomes 0 38 0 19 mm sle a 1 for 1961 1990 and 0 98 0 19 mm sle a 1 for 2001 2004 for 1991 2004 the glacier contribution 0 77 0 26 mm sle a 1 is 20 30 of a recent estimate of 3 2 0 4 mm a 1 of total sea level rise for 1993 2005 while our error estimates are not rigorous we believe them to be liberal as far as they go but we also discuss several unquantified biases of which any may prove to be significant

petroleum inclusions in sedimentary basins systematics analytical methods and applications abstract fluid dynamics in sedimentary basins is of tremendous interest both from a scientific and an economic point of view integration between fluid inclusion and present day fluid data provides the time aspect necessary for reconstruction of fluid flow paths and can be used for mapping fluid dynamics both on a regional basin scale or on the more local scale of petroleum reservoirs this paper presents a review of analytical and modelling methods for petroleum in fluid inclusions essentially four types of data for petroleum inclusions can be established through analysis and modelling 1 textures which give indirect information of the time aspect 2 fluid composition 3 fluid properties and 4 pressure temperature of trapping during the last decade development of analytical methods for determination of inclusion fluid compositions has taken place traditional correlation studies for characterisation of maturity and source facies may now therefore include fluid inclusion data the development has also been directed towards an improved understanding of the physical properties of petroleum inclusions although these methods are in their early stages concerning precision and accuracy data necessary for fluid flow modelling such as fluid densities viscosities pressure and temperature can be estimated

a new glacier inventory for the svartisen region norway from landsat etm data challenges and change assessment glaciers are widely recognized as key indicators of climate change and their meltwater plays an important role in hydropower production in norway since the last glacier inventory was compiled in northern norway in the 1970s marked fluctuations in glacier length and mass balance have been reported for individual glaciers and the current overall glacier state is thus not well known within the framework of the global land ice measurements from space glims initiative we have created a new inventory for 489 glaciers in the svartisen region northern norway using a landsat enhanced thematic mapper plus etm satellite scene from 7 september 1999 and automated multispectral glacier mapping thresholded band ratios in addition visual inspection and correction of the generated glacier outlines has been applied adverse snow conditions and uncertain drainage divides made glacier mapping challenging in some regions of the study site glacier outlines from 1968 as digitized from a topographic map were used for a quantitative change assessment for a selection of 300 glaciers the overall area change of this sample from 1968 to 1999 was close to zero but with a strongly increasing scatter towards smaller glaciers large area gains 50 for small glaciers 1 km 2 and an unexpected stronger relative area loss towards the wetter coast the overall size changes are small 1 for the three largest ice masses in the study region vestisen ostisen and blamannsisen

geodetic mass balance of azarova glacier kodar mountains eastern siberia and its links to observed and projected climatic change the kodar mountains in eastern siberia accommodate 30 small cold based glaciers with a combined surface area of about 19 km2 very little is known about these glaciers with the first survey conducted in the late 1950s in this paper we use terrestrial photogrammetry to calculate changes in surface area elevation volume and geodetic mass balance of the azarova glacier between 1979 and 2007 and relate these to meteorological data from nearby chara weather station 1938 2007 the glacier surface area declined by 20 6 9 and surface lowered on average by 20 1 8 m mean thinning 0 71 m a 1 resulting in a strongly negative cumulative and average mass balance of 18 1 6 m w e and 640 60 mm w e a 1 respectively the july august air temperature increased at a rate of 0 036oc a 1 between 1979 and 2007 and the 1980 2007 period was on average around 1oc warmer than 1938 1979 the regional climate projections for a2 and b2 co2 emission scenarios developed using precis regional climate model indicate that summer temperatures will increase in 2071 2100 by 2 6 4 7 c and 4 9 6 2 c respectively in comparison with 1961 1990 the annual total of solid precipitation will increase by 20 under b2 scenario but decline by 3 under a2 scenario the length of the ablation season will extend from july august to june september the azarova glacier exhibits high sensitivity to climatic warming due to its low elevation exposure to comparatively high summer temperatures and the absence of a compensating impact of cold season precipitation further summer warming and decline of solid precipitation projected under the a2 scenario will force azarova to retreat further while impacts of an increase in solid precipitation projected under the b2 scenario require further investigation

landsat based inventory of glaciers in western canada 1985 2005 abstract we report on a glacier inventory for the canadian cordillera south of 60 n across the two western provinces of british columbia and alberta containing 30 000 km2 of glacierized terrain our semi automated method extracted glacier extents from landsat thematic mapper tm scenes for 2005 and 2000 using a band ratio tm3 tm5 we compared these extents with glacier cover for the mid 1980s from high altitude aerial photography for british columbia and from landsat tm imagery for alberta a 25 m digital elevation model dem helped to identify debris covered ice and to split the glaciers into their respective drainage basins the estimated mapping errors are 3 4 and arise primarily from seasonal snow cover glaciers in british columbia and alberta respectively lost 10 8 3 8 and 25 4 4 1 of their area over the period 1985 2005 the region wide annual shrinkage rate of 0 55 a 1 is comparable to rates reported for other mountain ranges in the late twentieth century least glacierized mountain ranges with smaller glaciers lost the largest fraction of ice cover the highest relative ice loss in british columbia 24 0 4 6 occurred in the northern interior ranges while glaciers in the northern coast mountains declined least 7 7 3 4

glacier change 1958 1998 in the north cascades national park complex washington usa the spatial characteristics for all glaciers in the north cascades national park complex usa were estimated in 1958 and again in 1998 the total glacier area in 1958 was 117 3 1 1 km 2 by 1998 the glacier area had decreased to 109 1 1 1 km 2 a reduction of 8 2 0 1 km 2 7 estimated volume loss during the 40 year period was 0 8 0 1 km 3 of ice this volume loss contributes up to 6 of the august september stream flow and equals 16 of the august september precipitation no significant correlations were found between magnitude of glacier shrinkage and topographic characteristics of elevation aspect or slope however the smaller glaciers lost proportionally more area than the larger glaciers and had a greater variability in fractional change than larger glaciers most of the well studied alpine glaciers are much larger than the population median so global estimates of glacier shrinkage based on these well studied glaciers probably underestimate the true magnitude of regional glacier change

tectonically driven organic fluid migration in the dabashan foreland belt evidenced by geochemistry and geothermometry of vein filling fibrous calcite with organic inclusions abstract fibrous calcite veins with organic inclusions have been widely considered as indicators of oil and gas generation and migration under overpressure abundant fibrous calcite veins containing organic bearing inclusions occur in faulted lower paleozoic through triassic hydrocarbon source rocks in the dabashan foreland belt dbf 13cpdb and 18opdb values of the fibrous calcite range from 4 8 to 1 9 and 12 8 to 8 4 respectively which is lighter than that of associated carbonate host rocks ranging from 1 7 to 3 1 and 8 7 to 4 5 a linear relationship between 13cpdb and 18opdb indicates that the calcite veins were precipitated from a mixture of basinal and surface fluids the fibrous calcite contains a variety of inclusions such as solid bitumen methane bearing all liquid inclusions and vapor liquid aqueous inclusions homogenization temperatures of aqueous inclusions range from 140 to 196 c with an average of 179 c salinities of aqueous inclusions average 9 7 wt nacl independent temperatures from bitumen reflectance and inclusion phase relationships of aqueous and methane bearing inclusions were used to determine fluid pressures results indicate high pressures elevated above typical lithostatic confining pressure from 150 to 200 mpa the elevated salinity and high temperature and pressure conditions of the fibrous calcite veins argue against an origin solely from burial overpressure resulting from clay transformation and dehydration reactions instead fluid inclusion p t data and geochemistry results and regional geology indicate abnormally high pressures during fluid migration these findings indicate that tectonic stress generated fracture and fault fluid pathways and caused migration of organic bearing fluids from the dbf during the yanshan orogeny

geodetic and direct mass balance measurements comparison and joint analysis this paper describes a new compilation of both direct and geodetic mass balance measurements develops a procedure to reduce diverse balance measurements over different time spans to common time spans and presents updated estimates of global average balance of small glaciers based on the enlarged compilation although geodetic measurements are fewer than direct measurements they cover four times as many balance years direct and geodetic measurements are unbiased with respect to one another but differences are often substantial the statistical procedure can be understood by imagining that an n year balance measurement is an average of a series of 1 year measurements the series is hypothetical but we can calculate the uncertainty of each of its elements if in addition to its measured average we can also estimate its standard deviation for this claim to be valid the annual series must be stationary and normally distributed with independent roughly uncorrelated elements for which there is reasonable evidence the need to know the standard deviation means that annual direct measurements from a nearby glacier or equally reliable information about variability are indispensable given this information the new methodology results in moderately more negative balances this is probably because tidewater glaciers are better represented in the geodetic data in any case the most recent published estimate of global average balance 0 8 1 0 mm a 1 of sea level equivalent for 2001 04 is now increased substantially to 1 1 1 4 mm a 1 for 2001 05

recent glacier retreat in the caucasus mountains russia and associated increase in supraglacial debris cover and supra proglacial lake development this paper reports changes in supraglacial debris cover and supra proglacial lake development associated with recent glacier retreat 1985 2000 in the central caucasus mountains russia satellite imagery landsat tm and etm was used to map the surface area and supraglacial debris cover on six neighbouring glaciers in the adylsu valley through a process of manual digitizing on a false colour composite of bands 5 4 3 red green blue the distribution and surface area of supraglacial and proglacial lakes was digitized for a larger area which extended to the whole landsat scene we also compare our satellite interpretations to field observations in the adylsu valley supraglacial debris cover ranges from 25 on individual glaciers but glacier retreat between 1985 and 2000 resulted in a 3 6 increase in the proportion of each glacier covered by debris the only exception to this trend was a very small glacier where debris cover did not change significantly and remote mapping proved more difficult the increase in debris cover is characterized by a progressive up glacier migration which we suggest is being driven by focused ablation and therefore glacier thinning at the up glacier limit of the debris cover resulting in the progressive exposure of englacial debris glacier retreat has also been accompanied by an increase in the number of proglacial and supraglacial lakes in our study area from 16 in 1985 to 24 in 2000 representing a 57 increase in their cumulative surface area these lakes appear to be impounded by relatively recently lateral and terminal moraines and by debris deposits on the surface of the glacier the changes in glacier surface characteristics reported here are likely to exert a profound influence on glacier mass balance and their future response to climate change they may also increase the likelihood of glacier related hazards lake outbursts debris slides and future monitoring is recommended

a satellite derived glacier inventory for north asia this study outlines a consistent methodology for identifying glacier surfaces from landsat 5 7 and 8 imagery that is applied to map all mainland north asian glaciers providing the first methodologically consistent and complete glacier inventory for the region 2010 we identify 5065 glaciers covering a planimetric area of 2326 186 km 2 most of which is located in the altai mountain subregion the total glacier count is 15 higher but the total glacier area is 32 11 6 lower than the estimated glacier coverage provided in version 4 0 of the randolph glacier inventory we investigate the distribution of glacier size within north asia and find that the majority of glaciers 82 are smaller than 0 5 km 2 but only account for a third of the total glacier area with the largest 1 60 glaciers 5 km 2 accounting for 28 of the total area we present hypsometric characterizations of north asian glaciers largely substantiating existing findings that glaciers in this region are dominated by cold relatively dry conditions we provide a detailed assessment of errors and determine the uncertainty in our area estimate to be 8 0 with snow cover uncertainty the largest contributing factor based on this assessment the new glacier inventory presented here is more complete and of higher quality than other currently available data sources

post late glacial calcareous tufas from the kurai fault zone southeastern gorny altai russia abstract calcareous tufa deposits have been discovered in the chibitka river valley near lake cheybek kohl at the junction of the kurai and teletsk kurai large active faults in the southeastern gorny altai russia at an altitude of 1800 2000 m fossil tufa is composed of calcite and cements holocene grey colluvium and glacial till deposited by the late glacial chibitka glacier current tufa precipitation has been observed from a low flow spring with cold 10 c hco 3 so 4 ca mg water 6 86 the stable isotope composition of spring water is 5 8 vpdb 13 c of dissolved inorganic carbon and 14 5 vsmow 18 o modern tufa consists of thin laminated mg calcite and sr aragonite crusts with abundant algae and biofilms on their surfaces both modern and fossil tufas are depleted in ree a total of 0 40 16 4 ppm and 0 40 3 80 ppm respectively and share similar paas normalised ree y spectra with hree enrichment and slight progressive lree depletion the modern tufas show positive 13 c values of 0 1 to 0 9 vpdb while the fossil ones have an isotopically lighter composition of 13 c 4 1 to 1 9 vpdb the 18 o range is very narrow 13 0 to 13 8 vpdb both stable isotope and trace element signatures including ree patterns of the tufas indicate precipitation from cold groundwaters subjected to prolonged interaction with a carbonate aquifer the baratal group of limestone and dolostone in a cold continental climate similar to the present conditions tufa deposition in the lake cheybek kohl area began with the onset of post late glacial global warming and permafrost degradation unlike the fossil tufa formation current precipitation of freshwater carbonates has been microbially mediated the discovered tufa deposits provide new palaeoclimatic and active tectonic proxies in the southeastern gorny altai

biological marker characteristics of oils and asphalts from carbonate source rocks in a rapidly subsiding graben dead sea israel abstract a detailed gc ms study of biological marker compounds in the saturated and aromatic hydrocarbon fractions of oils and asphalts from the dead sea area israel provided decisive information to the solution of a long lasting controversy by showing that the asphalts are products of early generation in an immature stage from the same type of carbonate source rock which generated more mature oils the asphalts are not biodegraded residues of the oils oils from six different wells and asphalts from wells outcrops and a floating block from the dead sea all have very similar sterane and triterpane patterns they all lack rearranged steranes diasteranes indicating a carbonate source matrix and compare reasonably well with a sample of upper cretaceous bituminous chalk from nebi musa the main difference between the oils and the asphalts is a significantly higher triaromatic to mono plus triaromatic steroid hydrocarbon ratio in the former this is explained as a result of rapid subsidence and heating of their source rock close to the deep parts of the dead sea graben the oils thus were generated in the more deeply buried source rock blocks under the graben fill whereas the asphalts either originate from an immature source rock section closer to the graben rims or represent an earlier phase of generation and expulsion this study also provides general information on the evolution of biological markers in carbonate source rocks low activation energy processes like isomerisation of steranes appear to occur much faster at low temperatures than in shales the high sulfur content and less cross linking of the biogenic organic matter into a complex kerogen structure are suggested to be responsible for this care should be taken when using only sterane isomerisation to assess the maturity of hydrocarbons from carbonate rocks and of carbonate derived oils

model for the evolution of oxygen isotope ratios in the pore fluids of mudrocks during burial abstract the determination of oxygen isotopic ratios in authigenic silicates and pore fluids provides vital information on the nature of water rock interactions in the subsurface and the origin of porosity occluding phases in reservoir rocks the 18 o values of pore fluids generally increase during burial through water rock interaction the transformation of detrital smectite to illite is thought to have a major influence on the isotopic evolution of pore fluids but previous attempts to model this effect have failed to accurately reproduce the observed water rock isotopic trends with depth a revised model has been developed which incorporates an empirical rate equation for the illitization reaction the input variables include the initial mineral and pore water isotopic compositions time porosity depth functions and geothermal histories and the assumption is made that the isotopic equilibration of the solid phases with pore waters only takes place during reaction the model is tested against the most complete data set available from the texas gulf coast usa and produces a good fit with the available pore fluid and mineral data the sensitivity of the model is tested for variations in the following parameters the illite water fractionation factor the fractionation of oxygen isotopes between the smectitic and illitic components of the detrital illite smectite the oxygen isotope fractionation between pore waters and the interlayer water within the smectite and the porosity depth function the results of the model are shown to be strongly dependent on the porosity depth function the best fit between the model and real data is provided by the dickinson equation for undercompacted shale modified to have a constant porosity below 2600 m to simulate the effects of overpressuring the model is also sensitive to the degree of oxygen isotopic fractionation between the illite and smectite within the sediment at the time of burial but not to the extent of fractionation between interlayer water within smectite and the adjacent pore waters the uncertainty within the illite water fractionation factor has only a minor effect on the results of the model although only incorporating a single mechanism for water rock interaction the model provides a tool for testing the interpretations of subsurface pore fluid evolution trends during sediment diagenesis

an improved method for extracting marine sediment fractions and its application to sr and nd isotopic analysis the radiogenic isotopic composition of both detrital and fe mn fractions in marine sediments can be used in paleoceanography to infer changes of bottom water circulation we have examined various chemical techniques for the analysis of sr and nd isotope ratios in these fractions and present a robust method that can be used to separate both the fe mn oxides and the detrital fraction from a marine sediment sample for isotopic analysis our sequential leaching procedure involves the use of 10 acetic acid followed by 1 m hydroxylamine hydrochloride in 25 acetic acid to remove the carbonate component and the fe mn oxide fraction respectively the applicability of our chemical procedure is illustrated with examples from a marine sediment core raised from the northern cape basin southeast atlantic ocean

raman microspectrometry of fluid inclusions abstract for many kinds of fluid inclusions the coupling of microthermometry and raman microspectrometry is still the only viable option to obtain compositions of single fluid inclusions a review is given on the basis of 16 years of experience and helped with about 120 references of the instrumentation analytical conditions and methodology of the application of raman microspectrometry to gaseous aqueous and hydrocarbon inclusions and their daughter minerals

recent retreat of the elbrus glacier system the glacier system covering europe s highest mountain elbrus has exhibited an accelerated retreat since 1980 some studies have related this retreat to a significant summer temperature increasing trend relief and aspect related parameters for the glacierized area have an important impact on glacier changes in this paper the changes in glacier area are identified quantified and correlated with relief parameters for the period 1985 2007 spatial analysis was performed using the glam cd glacier mapper change detector algorithm the input data for this algorithm were landsat 5 images the aster global digital elevation and the glacier outlines from the glims project global land ice measurements from space regression analyses between glacier area losses and relief related parameters indicate a significant positive relation with the altitude and a significant negative relation with the glacier surface area in this context we used a correlated component regression to model these relations the model explains 50 of the total variation

the incorporation of rare earth elements in modern coral we report measurements of rare earth elements rees which show that these trace elements are being incorporated in modern coral in proportion to their seawater concentrations four bermuda north rock coral species diploria strigosa diploria labyrinthiformis montastrea annularis and porites astreoides and two tarawa atoll samples of the species hydnophora microconos were analyzed by ti idms following cleaning techniques to isolate the lattice bound rees based on the replicate analyses of the same piece of diploria strigosa excellent reproducibility was achieved the ree ca ratios 0 1 3 nmol mol of the bermuda and tarawa corals are similar to those of cd ca the trace metal with the lowest seawater concentration used in coral studies with the exception of ce the distribution coefficients e g dnd nd coral nd seawater ca seawater ca coral between bermuda coral lattice and sargasso seawater have fairly flat patterns across the ree series the values of d range from 1 to 3 like those reported for other trace elements in corals this suggests but does not prove that rees are incorporated in the aragonite lattice of these corals the shale normalized ree patterns of the tarawa corals also have seawater like distributions however no local seawater data are available to calculate values of d two bermuda species d labyrinthiformis and p astreoides have values of d for ce that are high with respect to the d values of la and nd implying that there is preferential uptake of ce into the lattice this may be related to the fact that ce is the only ree with an active redox chemistry in seawater there is considerable interest in using the chemical and isotopic composition of coral as indicators of climatic variations the combination of ree ca ratios and neodymium isotopic composition of coral has the potential to help understand important natural processes a primary application could be directed toward a tracer for river water discharge in tropical regions and by inference a proxy for rainfall climate variation and weathering history this application would exploit the fractionated composition of rees in river water as a terrigenous signature in coastal corals

rapid disintegration of alpine glaciers observed with satellite data analyses of multispectral satellite data indicate accelerated glacier decline around the globe since the 1980s by using digitized glacier outlines inferred from the 1973 inventory and landsat thematic mapper tm satellite data from 1985 to 1999 we obtained area changes of about 930 alpine glaciers the 18 area reduction as observed for the period 1985 to 1999 1 3 a corresponds to a seven times higher loss rate compared to the 1850 1973 decadal mean extrapolation of area change rates and cumulative mass balances to all alpine glaciers yields a corresponding volume loss of about 25 km since 1973 highly individual and non uniform changes in glacier geometry disintegration indicate a massive down wasting rather than a dynamic response to a changed climate our results imply stronger ongoing glacier retreat than assumed so far and a probable further enhancement of glacier disintegration by positive feedbacks

glacierized headwater streams as aquifer recharge corridors subarctic alaska arctic river discharge has increased in recent decades although sources and mechanisms remain debated abundant literature documents permafrost thaw and mountain glacier shrinkage over the past decades here we link glacier runoff to aquifer recharge via a losing headwater stream in subarctic interior alaska field measurements in jarvis creek 634 km2 a subbasin of the tanana and yukon rivers show glacier meltwater runoff as a large component 15 28 of total annual streamflow despite low glacier cover 3 about half of annual headwater streamflow is lost to the aquifer 38 to 56 the estimated long term change in glacier derived aquifer recharge exceeds the observed increase in tanana river base flow our findings suggest a linkage between glacier wastage aquifer recharge along the headwater stream corridor and lowland winter discharge accordingly glacierized headwater streambeds may serve as major aquifer recharge zones in semiarid climates and therefore contributing to year round base flow of lowland rivers

geology seismotectonics and soil liquefaction susceptibility of ilgin west central part of turkey residential area abstract in this study soil liquefaction susceptibility of the ilgin residential area that is located in the first degree earthquake zone in the central part of turkey was investigated safety factors of soil liquefaction were calculated by using standard penetration test spt blow counts which are determined in different levels of 45 boreholes measured groundwater level data and fines content fc of soil which is determined through laboratory tests soil liquefaction safety factors were calculated by using earthquake magnitude ml 6 and different earthquake peak lateral ground accelerations pga such as 0 1 0 2 0 3 and 0 4 g in the soil up to 12 m depth if liquefaction is likely to occur for 0 1 0 2 0 3 or 0 4 g of earthquake lateral peak ground acceleration soil liquefaction susceptibility is classified as very high high medium or low respectively if liquefaction does not occur in the soil for 0 4 g of pga then soil liquefaction susceptibility is classified as very low or non liquefiable soil based on this classification soil liquefaction susceptibility maps of ilgin residential area are prepared for depths of 2 4 6 8 10 and 12 m the cumulative liquefaction susceptibility ratio of soil the number of analyses is determined the total number of analyses below the groundwater table is determined to be 63 87 80 80 64 and 56 for depths of 2 4 6 8 10 and 12 m respectively significant liquefaction can be expected in the soils having the same characteristics in the ilgin residential area and its surroundings in case of an earthquake with magnitude of 6 6 5 much property may happen in case of an earthquake as a result of this soil liquefaction therefore precautions must be taken in order to prevent losses in ilgin and its vicinity

vegetation fire and climate history of the lesser caucasus a new holocene record from zarishat fen armenia vegetation fire and climate history are investigated in the 10 000 year record of zarishat fen located today in the steppe grasslands of armenia near east pollen based climate quantification provides a reconstruction of seasonal parameters the development of in situ water dependant plants and of forests at lower altitude at 8200 cal a bp echoes the shift from an arid and cold annual precipitation pann 452mm mean temperature of the coldest month mtco 11 1uc early holocene to a more humid and warmer pann 721mm mtco 6 8uc mid late holocene this marks the onset of lower seasonality in particular more effective precipitation brought during late spring by the westerlies paralleling the mediterranean precipitation pattern precipitation in the near east and central asia decreased during the mid late holocene in favour of higher seasonality controlled in winter spring by the siberian high fire history and sedge based fen development record drier phases at approximately 6400 5300 4900 3000 2200 1500 and 400 cal a bp which resemble the precipitation pattern of the south western mediterranean and contrast with the holocene pattern in the south central and south eastern mediterranean regions arid phases in armenia are believed to be related to multi centennial scale variation of westerly activity north atlantic oscillation like copyright 2013 john wiley sons ltd

effect of diagenesis on trace element partitioning in shales abstract in order to investigate the partitioning of trace elements in mineral phases of black shales and diagenetic remobilization of trace elements within these phases we isolated major black shale components sulfide carbonate silicate and organic and analyzed the isolated fractions as well as corresponding whole rock for their trace element composition by drc icp ms this study focused on black shales of different grades of thermal maturity from the ordovician utica shale magnafacies of quebec usm immature tmax 20 50 c ro 140 c ro 1 analysis of the isolated rock fractions revealed that the carbonate fraction preserves a sea water like rare earth elements ree abundance pattern with enrichment of the heavy rare earth elements hree dy lu relative to light rare earth lree la sm the sulfide and organic fractions show a slight enrichment in the lree mass balance calculations showed that the organic fraction contains up to about 20 of total trace element content of the whole rock with the sulfide and carbonate fractions each containing less than 10 the partitioning and fractionation of trace elements between different phases may have important implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and provenance studies our data suggest that the whole rock signature may be less representative of source area or depositional environment but rather reflects the diagenetic history this is especially the case in organic rich sediments such as black shales where the organic fraction hosts up to 20 of the trace element content of the whole rock

changes in area and geodetic mass balance of small glaciers polar urals russia 1950 2008 changes in area of 30 small glaciers mostly 1 km2 in the northern polar urals 67 5 68 25 n between 1953 and 2000 were assessed using historic aerial photography from 1953 and 1960 aster and panchromatic landsat etm imagery from 2000 and data from 1981 and 2008 terrestrial surveys changes in volume and geodetic mass balance of igan and obruchev glaciers were calculated using data from terrestrial surveys in 1963 and 2008 in total glacier area declined by 22 3 3 9 in the 1953 60 2000 period the areas of individual glaciers decreased by 4 46 surfaces of obruchev and igan glaciers lowered by 22 5 1 7 m and 14 9 2 1 m over 45 years geodetic mass balances of obruchev and igan glaciers were 20 66 2 91 and 13 54 2 57 m w e respectively glacier shrinkage in the polar urals is related to a summer warming of 1 c between 1953 81 and 1981 2008 and its rates are consistent with other regions of northern asia but are higher than in scandinavia while glacier shrinkage intensified in the 1981 2000 period relative to 1953 81 increasing winter precipitation and shading effects slowed glacier wastage in 2000 08

application of organic petrography in north american shale petroleum systems a review abstract organic petrography via incident light microscopy has broad application to shale petroleum systems including delineation of thermal maturity windows and determination of organo facies incident light microscopy allows practitioners the ability to identify various types of organic components and demonstrates that solid bitumen is the dominant organic matter occurring in shale plays of peak oil and gas window thermal maturity whereas oil prone type i ii kerogens have converted to hydrocarbons and are not present high magnification sem observation of an interconnected organic porosity occurring in the solid bitumen of thermally mature shale reservoirs has enabled major advances in our understanding of hydrocarbon migration and storage in shale but suffers from inability to confirm the type of organic matter present herein we review organic petrography applications in the north american shale plays through discussion of incident light photographic examples in the first part of the manuscript we provide basic practical information on the measurement of organic reflectance and outline fluorescence microscopy and other petrographic approaches to the determination of thermal maturity in the second half of the paper we discuss applications of organic petrography and sem in all of the major shale petroleum systems in north america including tight oil plays such as the bakken eagle ford and niobrara and shale gas and condensate plays including the barnett duvernay haynesville bossier marcellus utica and woodford among others our review suggests systematic research employing correlative high resolution imaging techniques and in situ geochemical probing is needed to better document hydrocarbon storage migration and wettability properties of solid bitumen at the pressure and temperature conditions of shale reservoirs

20th century variations in area of cirque glaciers and glacierets rocky mountain national park rocky mountains colorado usa comparison of historic maps and aerial and ground based photographs for the small cirque glaciers and glacierets of rocky mountain national park in the northern front range of colorado usa indicates modest change during the 20th century the glaciers retreated through the first half of the 20th century advanced slightly from the mid 1940s to the end of the century and have retreated slightly since high interannual variability in area and temporal gaps in data complicate the trends local climate records indicate a lack of systematic change between 1950 and 1975 but significant warming afterwards local topographic effects e g wind redistribution of snow and avalanching are important influences these small glaciers respond to changes in regional climate summer temperature alone is a good predictor of the mass balance of andrews glacier r 0 93 spring snowfall is also an important factor that winter precipitation is not statistically significant supports the notion that these small glaciers gain much snow from wind drift and avalanching making winter snow accumulation almost indifferent to variations in direct snowfall less than expected glacier retreat may be due to increased summer cloudiness

the greek enigma is development of the aegean orogene dominated by forces related to subduction or obduction abstract numerous papers have been published in the past decade which attribute the neogene geodynamic evolution of the aegean to subduction by the african plate or by a platelet of african affinity new data put these hypotheses in doubt the aegean orogene is characterized by 1 narrow and relatively shallow sediment starved trenches 2 a volcanic arc of widely spaced small volume high k calc alkaline complexes with ages decreasing toward the trenches arc tholeiitic and low k calc alkaline suites are absent 3 a highly seismic upper lithosphere which is separated from a non descript benioff zone by an aseismic wedge of asthenolithic material deformation in the upper lithosphere is dominated by n s extension and that in the benioff zone by ne sw compression and 4 extensive magmatism with shoshonitic and high k calc alkaline affinity in the stretched submerged hinterland hinterland volcanism significantly predated that of the volcanic arc and decreases southwestward towards the later trenches the model proposed for the cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the aegean orogene includes subduction in the late cretaceous eocene strike slip deformation and oblique subduction in the oligocene and obduction as a result of the emplacement of a mantle diapir along the paleosubduction zone in the neogene and quaternary this model supports an earlier observation that obduction caused by mantle diapirism may represent the latest process in the geodynamic evolution of a mediterranean type collision zone

response of glaciers in the suntar khayata range eastern siberia to climate change following an international geophysical year project we conducted meteorological observations during 2004 07 around the suntar khayata range in eastern siberia where a strong temperature inversion exists throughout the winter the temperature on the flat plain around oymyakon 700 m a s l was 20 c lower than that in a glaciated area located at 2000 m a s l the inversion remained stable from october to april due to the siberian high snowfall was limited to the beginning and end of winter the stable conditions prevented atmospheric disturbances and inhibited snowfall during midwinter from 1945 to 2003 glaciers in the suntar khayata range retreated with an area reduction of 19 3 to assess this retreat we estimated the response of the glaciers to climate change according to us national centers for environmental prediction ncep data the temperature in this region increased by 1 9 c over 60 years by calculating snow accumulation and ablation the sensitivity of the equilibrium line altitude ela to the temperature shift was evaluated we estimated snow precipitation based on precipitation at 0 c and ablation using the degree day method by these estimates the ela of glacier no 31 assumed 2350 m at present could rise 150 m if temperature rises an average of 1 c furthermore a 1 8 c temperature rise could cause the ela to rise to 2600 m a s l removing the accumulation zone with no accumulation zone the glacier body would decrease roughly halving in volume after 400 years

late holocene variation of the raigorodskogo glacier and climate change in the pamir alai central asia during the late holocene the raigorodskogo glacier in the pamir alai central asia expanded before 3215 after 1545 and at 310 cal years bp as dated by the 14c calibrated ages of wood samples from moraine deposits and terrace exposures the glacier expansions which were accompanied by increased melt water run off over the terrace surface were confined to the proglacial area the terrace deposits with intercalated buried soil layers provide evidence of two obvious warm periods when the glacier abruptly retreated during the late holocene shortly before 1545 cal years bp and again sometime before ca 500 cal years bp fallen juniperus turkestanica broken by moraine deposits suggests that the largest glacial expansion during the little ice age occurred 310 cal years bp the glacier expansion in the little ice age was on roughly the same scale as that which occurred in the cold period after 1545 cal years bp observational records of the glacier terminus and moraine positions indicate that recent glacier advances occurred in the years 1908 1911 sometime in 1911 1934 and in 1960 1977 these advances were small while the glacier recessions were larger in the 1900s with large recessions also sometime in 1911 1934 and in 1977 1998 the glacier recession rate of 27 m year in 1911 1934 was faster than the rates of 13 m year in 1977 1990 and 21 m year in 1990 1998 however the glacier recession rate has been accelerating recently particularly after 1990 this recession reflects recent climate warming in inland asia

glaciers of the levaya sygykta river watershed kodar ridge southeastern siberia russia modern morphology climate conditions and changes over the past decades kodar ridge 57 n 118 e southeastern siberia is a glaciarized mountain area of inner asia here we have studied areal changes of glaciers and mid summer snow cover in the levaya sygykta river watershed area 650 km2 60 of total ice cover we used 1 50 000 1 100 000 topographic maps landsat tm 1995 etm 2001 2002 high resolution cartosat 1 2009 and worldview 2 2013 imagery two digital elevation models dems and field survey data to quantify the areal changes of the glaciers since the end of the little ice age lia to 2013 in 2013 the exposed area of 18 small glaciers from 0 02 to 0 88 km2 in the study area was 3 917 0 064 km2 and volume 255 106 m3 between the lia maximum and 2013 the area has been decreased by 61 with rate of 0 377 a 1 the data available today suggest the areal shrinkage of kodar glaciers from the lia seems to be larger than elsewhere in siberia the rate of area decrease in 1995 2001 was five times greater than in 1850 2013 and in 1850 1995 1 7 times less than in 1850 2013 using regional climatic data we have found that climate conditions obviously stimulated glacier mass loss over the past at least 60 years the increased variability of absolute and relative changes in 1995 2013 was due to influence of local factors on the overall climate driven deglaciation trend comparison of two dems has showed that between 1970 and 2009 ice surfaces of 12 tested glacier tongues have been lowered on average by 29 15 m with a rate of 0 75 m a 1

effect of water washing on crude oil compositions crude oils from venezuela oklahoma and new mexico were water washed in the laboratory at temperatures from room temperature to 80 c and with water salinities from 0 to 300 000 mg l in experiments lasting from 7 to 338 hours the effects of water washing were determined by gas chromatographic and gas chromatography mass spectrometric analysis of the residual oil these experiments show that water washing is particularly effective for the c15 fraction and hydrocarbons are removed in the sequence aromatics then n alkanes then naphthenes in the c15 fraction no loss of pristane phytane steranes or terpanes occurs but some aromatics and sulfur compounds especially dibenzothiophene are depleted although water washing reduces api gravity water washing is unlikely to produce tar layers the effects of water washing were simulated with a numerical model based on the equation of diffusion predicted oil water ratios were in good agreement with the experimental values for the light ends and the model suggests that water washing is very fast in the subsurface comparison of oils that appeared to have been water washed in nature with the equivalent unwashed oils showed the expected compositional trends water washing is probably the dominant process affecting crude oil composition in the subsurface when water flows past oils under conditions where bacterial degradation is precluded by temperature 80 c or by lack of dissolved oxygen and the temperatures are too low for thermal cracking

biogenic and abiogenic low mg calcite blmc and almc evaluation of seawater ree composition water masses and carbonate diagenesis the ree and shale normalized paas reesn values of modern brachiopods biogenic low mg calcite blmc represented by several species from high to low latitudes from shallow to deep waters and from warm and cold water environments define three distinct average seawater trends the warm and cold water brachiopods define two indistinguishable p 0 050 groups that mimic open ocean seawater ree chemistry exhibiting the typical lree enrichment with a slightly positive to negative ce anomaly followed by an otherwise invariant series other recent brachiopods from an essentially siliciclastic seabed environment are distinct in both ree and reesn trends from the previous two populations showing a slight enrichment in the mrees and an increasing trend in the hrees other groups of modern brachiopods are characterized by elevated reesn trends relative to the normal groups as well as by complexity of the series trends the most characteristic feature is the decrease in the hrees in these brachiopods from areas of unusual productivity i e such as upwelling currents fluvial input and aerosol dust deposition preserved brachiopods from the eocene and silurian exhibit reesn trends and ce anomalies similar to that of the open ocean modern brachiopods although their enriched ree concentrations suggest precipitation of blmc influenced by extrinsic environmental conditions preservation of the blmc was tested by comparing the ree and reesn trends of preserved eocene brachiopods to those of oligocene brachiopods that were altered in an open diagenetic system in the presence of phreatic meteoric water the altered blmc is enriched by approximately one order of magnitude in both ree and reesn trends relative to that in blmc of their preserved counterparts similarly the ree and reesn of preserved silurian brachiopod blmc were compared to those of their enclosing altered lime mudstone which exhibits features of partly closed system phreatic meteoric water diagenesis despite these differences in the diagenetic alteration systems and processes the rees and reesn trends of the blmc of altered brachiopods and of originally mixed mineralogy lime mudstones now diagenetic low mg calcite are enriched by about one order of magnitude relative to those observed in the coeval and preserved blmc in contrast to the changes in ree and reesn of carbonates exposed to phreatic meteoric water diagenesis are the ree compositions of late burial calcite cements precipitated in diagenetically open systems from burial fluids the ree and reesn trends of the burial cements mimic those of their host lime mudstone with all showing slight lree enrichment and slight hree depletion exhibiting a chevron pattern of the reesn trends the overall enrichment or depletion of the cement reesn trends relative to that of their respective host rock material reflects not only the openness of the diagenetic system but also strong differences in the elemental and ree compositions of the burial fluids evaluation of the ce ce sn and la pr pr sn anomalies suggests precipitation of the burial calcite cements essentially in equilibrium with their source fluids

holocene glacier chronologies are high resolution global and inter hemispheric comparisons possible in the context of reconstruction of holocene glacier chronologies there has been a clear tendency during the past few decades towards imprecise use of the term high resolution furthermore it seems to be increasingly assumed that recently developed terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating tcnd is replacing earlier dating methods although recent glaciological knowledge clearly reveals the futility of oversimplified global and inter hemispheric correlation on the basis of few key sites such comparisons are widely attempted stimulated by the example of a recently published article relating to the southern alps of new zealand schaefer et al 2009 science 324 622 625 we highlight some related potential problems with the interpretation of holocene glacier chronologies in particular we consider 1 that the term high resolution should be applied only to decadal scale resolution or better and therefore not to tcnd based chronologies 2 that discontinuous moraine chronologies should not be ter

rare earth elements in authigenic methane seep carbonates as tracers for fluid composition during early diagenesis abstract authigenic carbonates forming at an active methane seep on the makran accretionary prism mainly consist of aragonite in the form of microcrystalline cryptocrystalline and botryoidal phases the 13 c carbonate values are very negative 49 0 to 44 0 v pdb agreeing with microbial methane as dominant carbon source the 18 o carbonate values are exclusively positive 3 0 to 4 5 v pdb and indicate precipitation in equilibrium with seawater at bottom water temperatures the content of rare earth elements and yttrium ree y determined by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms and solution icp ms varies for each aragonite variety with early microcrystalline aragonite yielding the highest cryptocrystalline aragonite intermediate and later botryoidal aragonite the lowest ree y concentrations shale normalised ree y patterns of different types of authigenic carbonate reflect distinct pore fluid compositions during precipitation microcrystalline aragonite shows high contents of middle rare earth elements mree reflecting ree patterns ascribed to anoxic pore water cryptocrystalline aragonite exhibits a seawater like ree y pattern at elevated total ree y concentrations indicating higher concentrations of rees in pore waters which were influenced by seawater botryoidal aragonite is characterised by seawater like ree y patterns at initial growth stages followed by an increase of light rare earth elements lree with advancing crystal growth reflecting changing pore fluid composition during precipitation of this cement conventional sample preparation involving micro drilling of carbonate phases and subsequent solution icp ms does not allow to recognise such subtle changes in the ree y composition of individual carbonate phases to be able to reconstruct the evolution of pore water composition during early diagenesis an analytical approach is required that allows to track the changing elemental composition in a paragenetic sequence as well as in individual phases high resolution analysis of seep carbonates from the makran accretionary prism by la icp ms reveals that pore fluid composition not only evolved in the course of the formation of different phases but also changed during the precipitation of individual phases

elevation volume and terminus changes of nine glaciers in north america nine glaciers in alaska and washington u s a originally mapped as part of the international geophysical year igy in 1957 58 were re mapped between 1993 and 1996 eight using airborne surface elevation profiling and the ninth using ground based kinematic global positioning system methods elevation volume and terminus changes were determined for the approximately 38 year period between the igy mapping and the profiling all nine glaciers showed substantial thinning at lower elevations seven of the nine thickened at higher elevations none of the glaciers had a significant net volume increase two had close to zero change and the others had a decrease for the eight glaciers for which we could obtain quantitative information the mean thickness change was 10 m with a large scatter 8 m standard deviation the volume and terminus changes had no clear geographic pattern and no simple relationship between volume change and terminus advance or retreat was identified the largest error in the estimated volume changes is due to map errors

counterclockwise rotation of the anatolian block abstract seismological and other data from the boundaries of anatolia are used to discuss the motion and plate tectonics of this block models which include a rotation of anatolia around a single pole are shown to be inconsistent with much of this data in particular a westward motion of anatolia which is the most commonly used model should be reconsidered models which use a single pole of rotation fail because they assume the north anatolian fault to be an ideal transform fault which describes all of the motion between anatolia and the black sea in effect internal deformation in the form of extension in western anatolia and for the most part strike slip faulting in eastern anatolia are important and account for some of the relative motion thus a more appropriate model for this region is one which not only stresses the dominance of the north anatolian fault but also recognises the importance of internal deformation and the limitation of classic plate tectonic models which this deformation implies the preferred model for the motion of anatolia is a nonuniform tight counterclockwise rotation approximated by the shape of the north anatolian fault as well as by the faults which splay from it to the south such a model is consistent with data from the boundaries of anatolia including the source mechanism of earthquakes and depth of benioff zone along the southern boundary of the block counterclockwise rotation of anatolia is the natural consequence of the collision of arabia with eastern anatolia coupled with subduction in the eastern mediterranean

the 2011 strong fire eruption of shikhzarli mud volcano azerbaijan a case study with implications for methane flux estimation shikhzarli is a typical active mud volcano mv in azerbaijan with extremely high percentages of fire eruptions reaching 74 the strong eruption of shikhzarli mv on 13 march 2011 shamakhi gobustan region central azerbaijan at 40 29 12 5 n 49 02 03 4 e was accompanied by gas ignition with a straight flow vertical gas flare a large 60 m height short living 30 min gas flare and small 1 5 m height gas spouts with longer lifetimes 5 h were simulated in sigmaflow and the model was used to evaluate methane flux and the amount of combusted methane geological and mineralogical data field observations as well as eye witness reports and photographs in mass media were used to choose the boundary conditions for the gas fire simulation this study provides the first quantitative evaluation for methane emission during an mv catastrophic eruption as simulation predicts 14 000 m3 of methane was consumed for the life time 30 min of the main 60 m high flare which is equivalent to nine tons of cold gas at ambient conditions the volume of erupted methane for the 5 h lifetime of a small spout 1 5 m high was 72 6 m3 45 kg of cold ch4 the amount of methane emitted during a single strong flame eruption is commensurate with the annual output of permanently active individual mv vents or may be ten to hundred times as high

cerium a chemical tracer for paleo oceanic redox conditions abstract the ce anomalies found in marine carbonates provide a sensitive indicator for the study of paleo oceanic redox conditions the dependency of cce the observed ce concentration and cepo04 the activity of the cepo4 complex to the po2 ph and pco2 of seawater can be used for deciphering some aspects of the paleo ocean chemistry and is log c ce log cepo 0 4 13 2 0 25 log p o 2 3 0 ph 1 95 0 25 log p o 2 1 50 log p co 2 1 50 log ca the ph which is related to pco2 and po2 are major factors for controlling the ce concentration in seawater therefore ce anomalies ceas ce observed ce interpolated between la and pr or nd serve as indicators for ph or pco2 or po2 changes nearly uniform ce abundances found in pacific 5000 m water columns piepgras and jacobsen 1988 and the ceas in ichthyoliths can be explained using this model a general cea shift in sediments from d s d p holes 525a 530a b 516 516f suggest that the entire south atlantic water redox condition changed from reducing to oxidizing at 56 my in the north atlantic the galicia margin samples show a redox change between 132 148 my indicating active surface currents between the atlantic ocean and the shallow sea off the iberian peninsula the carbonate samples from d s d p hole 316 in the central pacific yielded an average cea of 0 15 0 01 which is 2 3 the ceas observed in deep pacific seawater by piepgras and jacobsen 1988 the relative enrichment of ce in these samples is ascribed to coprecipitation of ce oh 4 onto fe mn o coatings the striking similarities in the trace element profiles of ree sc hf th and ceas and the low u abundances 0 08 ppm in many marine carbonates indicate insignificant ce redox and trace elemental concentration changes for the pacific ocean over the past 95 my no significant ce redox change occurred in the pacific ocean within k t boundary one 240 my china limestone deposited under oxic sedimentary conditions yielded a cea of 0 53 calculations indicate a pco2 of 1 9 present value prevailed over the 240 my tethyan ocean u th ratios and low u concentrations are diagnostic indicators for obtaining reliable ceas in marine carbonates and perhaps for biogenic apatites and conodonts as well

the organic geochemistry of the hasbeya asphalt lebanon comparison with asphalts from the dead sea area and iraq abstract the hasbeya asphalt from lebanon and the mezar 1 asphalt from the golan heights were analyzed using current tools of petroleum geochemistry namely isotopic analyses d 13 c 34 s and molecular sterane and terpane parameters the geochemical properties of these asphalts were compared to several other asphalts from israel floating blocks of the dead sea massada nahal heimar iprg all the asphalts belong to the same genetic family e g high gammacerane and high steroid contents no diasteranes and originate from senonian upper cretaceous organic matter rich carbonate source rocks deposited in an anoxic or dysoxic perhaps hypersaline palaeoenvironment this family of asphalts is well differentiated from another famous asphalt from the near east the hit abu jir asphalt from iraq the hasbeya asphalt is slightly biodegraded whereas the mezar 1 asphalt was affected by more severe biodegradation occurrence of 25 nor hopanes isotopic ratios of asphaltenes were found to be useful in allowing differentiation of asphalts from the same genetic family this study completes the existing knowledge on dead sea asphalts by demonstrating that similar asphalts may be identified within a much larger geographic area including the golan heights and lebanon these results raise the question of whether some of the archaeological asphalts that are found in the southern fertile crescent egypt israel syria etc and which were assumed to be of dead sea origin may actually have come from hasbeya

glaciers in the polar urals russia were not much larger during the last global glacial maximum than today abstract 10 be exposure dates from boulders indicate that the chernov moraines located only 1 km beyond the chernov glacier in the polar urals russia were formed during the time of the last global glacial maximum lgm six samples from large boulders on the moraine yielded a mean age of 21 5 2 3 std error kyr the distinct semicircular usa moraine is located beyond the western flank of the urals boulders in the valley between the chernov and usa moraines yielded some spread in 10 be ages but four out of seven yielded ages 50 60 kyr we conclude that the usa and chernov moraines represent the maximum glacier extent during marine isotope stages mis 4 and 2 respectively the exceptionally small extent of the lgm glacier is explained with a dry lgm climate but also with the fact that present day cirque glaciers in the polar urals are extremely favoured by topographical factors such as leeward accumulation and shadowing mountain walls advantages which decrease when the glaciers grow

asphalt in iron age excavations from the philistine tel miqne ekron city israel origin and trade routes asphalts found as pure lumps or coatings on potsherds were excavated at the philistine site of tel miqne ekron 12th to 7th century bc in the southern inner coastal plain of israel they were studied using the techniques of petroleum geochemistry and were compared to some natural asphalts from the area dead sea floating blocks israel wadi weida a asphalt jordan and hasbeya lebanon tel miqne ekron bitumens show evidence of weathering indicating biodegradation and oxidation they contain less aromatics and more asphaltenes than dead sea asphalt evaporation and biodegradation are recorded at a molecular level especially via the phenanthrenes and dibenzothiophenes however several isotopic and molecular parameters allowed us to correlate the tel miqne ekron asphalt with the dead sea asphalt from the floating blocks the asphalts of hasbeya and wadi weida a do not match the tel miqne ekron asphalt the latter in particular is much more biodegraded based on its steranes the study shows that the dead sea asphalt was imported to tel miqne ekron over a 500 year period this trade posed no problem in the 7th century bc when philistia israel and judah were at peace as part of the pax assyriaca of the assyrian empire however trade during the 12th century bc is puzzling since the asphalt had to be transported across israelite territory that was hostile to the philistines as indicated in the bible e g samson and delilah david and goliath consequently it seems that profitable commerce surpassed ethnic religious and political conflict as can also be observed in the contemporary world

imaging the dead sea transform with scattered seismic waves summary with controlled seismic sources and specifically designed receiver arrays we image a subvertical boundary between two lithological blocks at the arava fault af in the middle east the af is the main strike slip fault of the dead sea transform dst in the segment between the dead sea and the red sea our imaging migration method is based on array beamforming and coherence analysis of p to p scattered seismic phases we use a 1 d background velocity model and the direct p arrival as a reference phase careful resolution testing is necessary because the target volume is irregularly sampled by rays a spread function describing energy dispersion at localized point scatterers and synthetic calculations for large planar structures provides estimates of the resolution of the images we resolve a 7 km long steeply dipping reflector offset roughly 1 km from the surface trace of the af the reflector can be imaged from about 1 km down to 4 km depth previous and ongoing studies in this region have shown a strong contrast across the fault low seismic velocities and electrical resistivities to the west and high velocities and resistivities to the east of it we therefore suggest that the imaged reflector marks the contrast between young sedimentary fill in the west and precambrian rocks in the east if correct the boundary between the two blocks is offset about 1 km east of the current surface trace of the af

topographic influences on recent changes of very small glaciers in the monashee mountains british columbia canada an analysis of the local topographic setting of very small 0 4 km 2 glaciers within a small region of the monashee mountains british columbia was conducted to investigate its influence on recent changes in the extent of these glaciers net changes in glacier extent were determined from a detailed manual comparison of remotely sensed imagery acquired in 1951 2001 and 2004 most of the 86 glaciers included in the study showed no observable net change in area over the study period while six glaciers retreated four disappeared entirely and only one advanced indices derived to characterize elements of the local topographic setting that might affect the local mass balance suggest that most of the glaciers are situated in locations that favor ice preservation by enhancing mass input and or reducing ablation rates glaciers situated in less favorable settings generally either decreased in area or disappeared the results suggest that most of the glaciers studied have retreated as far as they are likely to under the climatic conditions of the late 20th century

the application of fluid inclusions to migration of oil and diagenesis in petroleum reservoirs abstract fluid inclusions can be used to interpret thermal history and petroleum maturation and migration relative to burial history temperature pressure and composition data collected from fluid inclusions are used to determine the environment of diagenesis and the timing of cementation and migration cements in petroleum reservoirs contain both oil and aqueous fluid inclusions fluorescence spectroscopy is used to identify oil inclusions and to determine the maturity of entrapped oil the lifetime of fluorescence induced by a pulsed laser is related to the api gravity of entrapped oil interpretation of fluid inclusion data depends on knowing the origin of fluid inclusions and the probability that they survive in the burial environment those aspects of fluid inclusion study are investigated by synthesizing oil and aqueous inclusions in calcite crystals in laboratory experiments examples of how fluid inclusions are used to determine the physico chemical environments of diagenesis in petroleum reservoirs and the timing of cementation and migration are given for the wealden basin england the mishrif formation dubai the smackover formation gulf coast u s a and jurassic sandstones offshore norway in the wealden basin temperature data from fluid inclusions are used to determine that oil migration occurred in the cretaceous and that the reservoir rocks have been uplifted to varying degrees at a time after migration distribution of oil inclusions indicates that generation and migration of oil was principally in the western part of the basin the geochemistry of oil inclusions in calcite cements from the mishrif formation dubai are used to determine the type and maturity of entrapped oil temperature data from oil and water inclusions are used to relate reservoir diagenesis to burial history and the migration of oil in deep smackover reservoirs oil contains h 2 s the origin of the h 2 s is examined by study of fluid inclusions containing h 2 s in jurassic sandstones offshore norway fluid inclusion studies show that silica cementation is related to burial depth whereas a later calcite cementation originated from invasion of a hot fluid

rapid wastage of alaska glaciers and their contribution to rising sea level we have used airborne laser altimetry to estimate volume changes of 67 glaciers in alaska from the mid 1950s to the mid 1990s the average rate of thickness change of these glaciers was 0 52 m year extrapolation to all glaciers in alaska yields an estimated total annual volume change of 52 15 km 3 year water equivalent equivalent to a rise in sea level sle of 0 14 0 04 mm year repeat measurements of 28 glaciers from the mid 1990s to 2000 2001 suggest an increased average rate of thinning 1 8 m year this leads to an extrapolated annual volume loss from alaska glaciers equal to 96 35 km 3 year or 0 27 0 10 mm year sle during the past decade these recent losses are nearly double the estimated annual loss from the entire greenland ice sheet during the same time period and are much higher than previously published loss estimates for alaska glaciers they form the largest glaciological contribution to rising sea level yet measured

reconstruction of glacier fluctuations in the east sayan baikalsky and kodar ridges east siberia russia during the last 210 years based on high resolution geochemical proxies from proglacial lake bottom sediments we have presented results of study of bottom sediments of the proglacial lakes enriched with meltwater of peretolchin glacier the east sayan ridge chersky glacier the baikalsky ridge and glaciers of the kodar ridge bottom sediments formed from the end of the little ice age to 2013 were investigated with time resolution in year season using x ray fluorescence with synchrotron radiation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry depth age models of the cores were estimated from year laminate layers using 210pb and 137cs chronology intense glacier thawing was calculated from the amount of clastic matter supplied by glacier meltwater into proglacial lakes a high content of some elements was closely associated with clastic material e g rb zr nb y or th in bottom sediments and most likely these elements affected the intensity of glacier melting we have defined three periods in significant increase of glacier flow melting during the last 210 years the first period ca 1800 1890 supply of suspended material by meltwater into lake ekhoy the east sayan ridge and lake preobrazhenskoe the kodar ridge was not intense until 1850 and 1875 respectively however the rate of meltwater supply into lake izumrudnoe the baikalsky ridge was high during the little ice age and it is likely attributed to local moisture from lake baikal the regional glacier water balances were most likely positive during the second period ca 1890 1940 the third period ca 1940 till present was characterised by moderate melting rate of glaciers located on the kodar and baikalsky ridges in contrast to peretolchin glacier that demonstrated the highest rate of melting and changes in outlines during this period

how mineralogy and slope aspect affect ree release and fractionation during shale weathering in the susquehanna shale hills critical zone observatory abstract to understand the factors that control rare earth elements ree release and fractionation during shale weathering we investigate the ree contents in solid bedrock regolith stream sediments and natural waters stream and pore waters from a first order catchment developed entirely on gray shales in central pennsylvania usa up to 65 of the ree relative to parent bedrock is depleted from the weathering profiles in the acidic and organic rich soils due to chemical leaching in addition newly formed fine particles were also lost along with the down slope movement of soil waters weathering profiles on the south facing slope show less depletion of ree than those on the north facing slope 33 vs 45 on average we hypothesize that the different degrees of ree depletion on the two transects reflect a history of different chemical weathering rates and possible different surface erosion rates controlled by contrasting slope aspect induced microclimate conditions in addition weathering profiles natural waters and sequential extractions all show a preferential removal of middle ree up to 22 more relative to light ree and heavy ree during shale weathering due to preferential release of mree from rhabdophane furthermore the long term phosphate mineral dissolution rates e g rhabdophane were estimated at 10 15 to 10 14 mol m 2 s 1 under field conditions based on ree depletion profiles strong positive ce anomalies average ce ce n value 1 79 observed in the regolith stream sediments and regolith extractions point to the fractionation and preferential precipitation of ce as compared to other ree due to the generally oxidizing conditions during release transport and redistribution of ree in the surface and subsurface environments positive eu anomalies average eu eu n value 1 30 observed in the natural waters of the catchment are attributed to weathering of plagioclases in the shale bedrock this study highlights the use of ree as natural tracers for low temperature geochemical processes

glacier change from the early little ice age to 2005 in the torngat mountains northern labrador canada abstract the glaciers of the torngat mountains of northern labrador are the southernmost of the canadian arctic and the easternmost of continental north america currently 195 small mountain glaciers cover an area in excess of 24 km2 confined mostly to small cirques and upland depressions using a combination of field and remote sensing methods this study reconstructs and dates the areal extent of torngat glaciers at their neoglacial maximums enabling the first assessment of regional glacier change over the past several centuries mapped glacier paleomargins n 165 are compared to current 2005 glaciers and ice masses showing a 52 5 reduction in glacier area with at least 11 former glaciers altogether disappearing glacier change is spatially homogenous and independent of most geographic and topographic factors however glacier elevation and glacier size mitigated total change previously established lichen growth stations were revisited and growth rates recalculated based on 30 year long records enabling the construction of locally derived low and high altitude lichen growth curves using growth rates and in situ lichen measurements the retreat from maximum neoglacial moraine extents are suggested to have occurred between a d 1581 and 1673 these findings indicate a similar magnitude of post lia retreat to mountain glaciers elsewhere yet a much earlier timing 200 years of retreat than other glaciers in the eastern canadian arctic though no definitive answer explaining this discrepancy is presented evidence suggests that regional climate dynamics and the importance of solar radiation for torngat glaciers may play an important role in local glacierization

recent changes of two selected glaciers in hami prefecture of eastern xinjiang and their impact on water resources abstract it is important to understand and quantify glacier changes and their impact on water resources in hami prefecture an extremely arid region in the eastern xinjiang of northwestern china yushugou glacier no 6 and miaoergou ice cap in hami prefecture were selected in this study results showed that the thickness of yushugou glacier no 6 decreased by 20 m with a rate of 0 51 m y 1 from 1972 to 2011 and the terminus retreated by 254 m or 6 5 m y 1 for the same period the thickness along the main axis of miaoergou ice cap decreased 0 20 m during 1981 2007 and the terminus retreat rate was less than 3 0 m y 1 in 2013 the melting rate of miaoergou ice cap was smaller than yushugou glacier no 6 which was directly related to the differences of glacier type and elevation the impact of glacier changes on water resources would be different in the various drainage basins of hami prefecture depending on the proportion of glacier coverage

impact of atmospheric deposition biogeochemical cycling and water mineral interaction on ree fractionation in acidic surface soils and soil water the strengbach case leaf litter contains not only important quantities of elements derived from decomposition of organic matter but also atmospheric compounds this is illustrated by sr and nd isotope data from soils of the strengbach catchment which show that soil litter contains more than 50 of atmospheric sr and nd downward migrating soil water becomes strongly acidic during flow through litter and humus layers ph 3 8 4 at 5 10 cm depth causing not only intense mobilization of elements in the underlying acid brown and podzolic soils at depths between 10 and 50 cm but also the downward transfer of some litter derived compounds the sr and nd isotope data allow to quantify that soil water from 10 to 70 cm depth contains 45 to 65 of litter derived nd and sr sequential leaching experiments have been performed on soil samples in order to recover adsorbed trace elements or those fixed in acid soluble mineral phases such as fe mn oxyhydroxides and phosphate minerals the isotope data of these leachates of the uppermost soil horizons point similarly to the presence of important quantities of litter derived sr and nd in the uppermost 30 cm of the soils with the exception of the litter layer the soil profiles are substantially depleted in ca and p down to 50 cm depth which can be related to low apatite and plagioclase contents these minerals have probably been preferentially weathered and ca and p have been removed by percolating soil water and plant uptake leaching of primary granite derived apatite controls rare earth element ree fractionation only below 50 cm depth rhabdophane ree po4 has been observed as secondary replacement mineral of apatite this replacement is reflected by ca p ratios that are low at the surface and which increase regularly with depth implying that some of the apatite derived p has been integrated into newly formed rhabdophane and some of the p and ca have been exported either by soil solutions or plant uptake during downward transport litter derived elements are adsorbed on soil particles and or coprecipitate with authigenic minerals such as fe mn oxyhydroxide or rhabdophane alternatively litter derived elements may remain in solution or like ca be absorbed by vegetation the soil solutions from the uppermost 30 cm of the soil profiles and the corresponding soil leachates show very similar ree distribution patterns and are compared to the waters of the strengbach stream which drains the forested catchment strongly enriched in light rare earth elements lree however soil solutions from 60 to 70 cm depth are compared to litter strongly lree depleted and show stream water like ree distribution patterns it is suggested that this evolution of the ree in the soil solutions is due to the following processes taking place above 50 cm depth 1 precipitation of lree rich phosphate minerals like rhabdophane 2 diminution of the formation of organic dissolved or colloidal phases in association with fe mn and al oxyhydroxides and 3 preferential lree uptake by vegetation below 50 cm the ree distribution patterns are further modified by dissolution precipitation reactions and adsorption the combination of all these fractionation processes finally leads to the ree patterns of the strengbach stream at the catchment outlet

re os geochronology of organic rich sediments an evaluation of organic matter analysis methods rhenium and osmium in organic rich sedimentary rocks are dominantly hydrogenous but any nonhydrogenous component will influence the accuracy and precision of the re os date obtained to minimize the influence of any nonhydrogenous re and os we evaluate analysis of isolated organic matter from the whole rock together with whole rock analysis using a cro3 h2so4 digestion medium instead of inverse aqua regia for a black shale unit of the exshaw formation canada this unit previously returned a whole rock re os date of 358 10 ma model 3 geochim cosmochim acta 2002 using inverse aqua regia dissolution organic matter isolated from the whole rock matrix using the hf bf3 technique org geochem 20 1993 249 yields scattered data and a re os date of 449 220 ma model 3 mswd 616 the organic matter analyses show similar 187os 188os values but significantly lower 187re 188os values in comparison to the whole rock analyses we show that the re os systematics of organic matter are altered during chemical isolation and as such we suggest that the hf bf3 method should not be used for re os analysis of organic matter whole rock re os analysis using a cro3 h2so4 digestion medium yields significantly better regression analysis compared with the inverse aqua regia method and the re os data identify two distinct initial 187os 188os values for the sample set separate regressions of these data yield precise dates 366 1 9 6 mswd 2 2 and 363 4 5 6 ma mswd 1 6 model 3 which are indistinguishable from the age constraints for this formation 363 4 0 4 ma u pb monazite comparison of the re os dates obtained from aqua regia and cro3 h2so4 methods suggests that the former may contain nonhydrogenous re and os whereas the cro3 h2so4 method dominantly liberates hydrogenous re os from organic matter allowing for better stratigraphic age determinations and evaluation of the os isotope composition of seawater

formation of immature asphalt from organic rich carbonate rocks ii correlation of maturation indicators the present study focuses on some discrepancies among maturation indicators of the senonian bituminous rocks sbr in israel these rocks are mainly carbonates that were deposited under reducing conditions and contain heteroatom rich organic matter that has been severely reworked by bacteria in two cases heavy asphaltic oils are associated with the sbr and a genetic relation between them has been established whereas the time temperature index tti 3 and vitrinite reflectance r0 0 3 0 4 indicate early stage maturation the bitumen content up to 700 mg g corg 1 and the asphaltic oils imply an oil generation zone in the sbr other indicators such as isomerization of hopanes and steranes and cpi values indicate even higher maturation levels the discrepancies between these maturation indicators are explained by the different kinetic parameters of the maturation processes in the various constituents of the organic matter