application of zn isotopes in environmental impact assessment of zn pb metallurgical industries a mini review abstract zn and pb smelters are the major contributors to zn and pb emissions among all anthropogenic sources thus it is essential to understand zn isotopic variations within the context of metallurgical industries as well as its fractionation in different environments impacted by smelting activities this mini review outlines the current state of knowledge on zn isotopic fractionation during the high temperature roasting process in zn and pb refineries 66 zn values variations in air emissions slags and effluents from the smelters in comparison to the geogenic zn isotopic signature of ores formation and weathering in order to assess the environmental impact of these smelters the available and measured 66 zn values are compiled for smelter impacted natural water bodies groundwater stream and river water sediments lake and reservoir and soils peat bog soil inland soil finally the discussion is extended to the fractionation induced during numerous physicochemical reactions and transformations i e adsorption precipitation as well as both inorganic and organic surface complexation

development of asymmetric shale pull aparts in evaporite shear zones abstract antithetically rotated lozenge shaped shale pull aparts are quite common in the shallow domains of the evaporite shear zones of the jura in northern switzerland the pull aparts are formed by synthetic shear fractures related to a transpressive strain field that also induces the antithetic rotation of the pull aparts immediately after their formation a simple analytical model shows that the acute angle of fracture and the antithetic rotation are determined by structural and rheological parameters and the direction of maximum compressive stress the pull aparts are commonly separated by sulphate veins as the elongation resulting from antithetic rotation does not compensate for the bulk elongation despite this some pull aparts are bordered by synthetic drag zones antithetically rotated pull aparts are indicative either of compression normal to shear zone boundaries in decollement type shear zones or in shear zones deformed by simple shear of an initial obliquity of the dismembered layers relative to the shear zone boundary resemblance of the shale pull aparts to type 1 asymmetric pull aparts and book shelf structures both of which rotate synthetically demonstrates that rotated and asymmetric pull aparts may be ambiguous kinematic indicators

disruption of the geochemical metal cycle during mining multiple isotope studies of lake sediments from schefferville subarctic quebec iron mining in schefferville 1939 1977 in subarctic quebec has left behind large numbers and quantities of tailing deposits the impact of past mining activity on aquatic ecosystems in the schefferville area has been studied using geochemical and isotopic pb zn and fe analyses of lake sediments ore deposits tailings and epiphytic lichens analysis of two sediment cores from lakes dauriat and oksana reveals that the surface geochemical cycle of the schefferville area has been profoundly disturbed by anthropogenic activity such as mining disturbances were particularly abrupt at the transitions from pre mining to mining and mining to post mining periods elemental and isotopic analyses of the lake sediments reveal four different end member contributions to the lake sedimentation with changes in terms of sources and source contribution observed throughout the sedimentation history end members were identified using pb zn and fe isotopes and are consistent for each element lead isotope ratios vary from highly radiogenic 206pb 204pb 27 to less radiogenic 206pb 204pb 17 7 from the bottom to the top of the sediment cores iron isotope compositions vary from 0 2 to 1 the latter value remaining constant throughout the sedimentary history of lake oksana a systematic difference in the zn isotope ratios of the two lakes is also observed and can be explained by local differences in basin lithology in order to identify pollution sources samples from ores and tailings and epiphytic lichens were measured as proxies of mining activity lithology and atmospheric deposition respectively the impact of anthropogenic activity is clearly evident in the sediment records and results from mining activity as well as local urban and industrial activities waste water inputs long range atmospheric deposition also accounts for some of the variations in isotopic composition measured in the sediments the systematic coupling of pb isotopes with zn or fe isotopes allows us to identify and constrain the metal sources that contributed to sediment contamination this study demonstrates that disturbance due to mining activities is very effective in rapidly modifying lake sediment composition though the disturbances remained local in terms of geographic extent the damage to the aquatic ecosystem has been significant and may persist for decades

isotope variations of dissolved zn in the rio grande watershed usa the role of adsorption on zn isotope composition abstract in order to better understand the factors influencing zinc zn isotope composition in hydrological systems we analyzed the 66 zn of dissolved zn in the streams and groundwater of the upper and middle rio grande watershed in colorado and new mexico united states the stream water samples have a wider variation of 66 zn 0 57 to 0 41 relative to the jmc 3 0749 lyon standard than groundwater samples 0 13 to 0 12 and than samples from streams that are in close proximity to abandoned mining sites 0 24 to 0 40 regional changes of bedrock geology from primarily igneous rocks to primarily sedimentary rocks have no resolvable effect on the 66 zn of aqueous samples instead an increase in water ph from 7 5 to 8 5 corresponds to a considerable decrease in the 66 zn of dissolved zn r 2 0 37 p 0 003 n 22 consequently we link the observed zn isotope variations to the process of adsorption of zn onto suspended sediment and bedrock minerals average 66 zn adsorbed dissolved 0 31 our results are in good agreement with previous experimental and empirical studies suggesting that zn adsorption leads to a residual dissolved pool enriched in light zn isotopes given that anthropogenic zn sources can also be responsible for lowering of 66 zn and may overlap with the ph adsorption effect on 66 zn the latter needs to be carefully considered in future studies to differentiate between natural and anthropogenic factors influencing zn isotopes in this and other aquatic systems

syntectonic anatexis and magmatism in a mid crustal transpressional shear zone an example from the hercynian rocks of the eastern pyrenees abstract hercynian metamorphism and magmatism in the cap de creus peninsula eastern pyrenees occurred contemporaneously with non coaxial deformation in a transpressive regime an example of this has been taken from a migmatite complex in the northern coast the studied area is formed by partially melted sillimanite schists together with two different suites of igneous rocks a calc alkaline magmatic sequence consisting of small granitoid bodies and later peraluminous leucogranites and pegmatites all these rocks occur within a ne sw to e w trending sub vertical high strain zone where a first schistosity is tightly folded and transposed the relations between folds and crenulation cleavage in the metasediments and deformational fabrics in the granitoids and migmatites provide good evidence for the penecontemporaneity of deformational processes magmatism and migmatization furthermore the analysis of cross cutting relationships between different granitoids as well as the observation of their different degrees of deformation verifies that magmatism in this area took place as synkinematic consecutive intrusions from the more basic magmas to the peraluminous acid dykes

zinc isotope systematics in snow and ice accretions in central european mountains abstract zinc zn pollution negatively affects human and ecosystem health we quantified atmospheric zn inputs at six remote mountain top locations in the czech republic central europe and used 66 zn isotope ratios to identify zn from different pollution sources the study sites were located at an elevation of approximately 1000 m near the state borders with germany and poland during two winter seasons 2009 2010 over 400 samples of vertical deposition snow and horizontal deposition ice accretions were collected zinc pollution levels were generally low zinc concentrations in snow and ice accretions were less than twice as high in the east compared to the west across the sites over 90 of zn was present in a weak acid soluble form zinc concentrations were 5 times higher in ice accretions which formed from small droplets originating in the basal cloud layer rich in pollutants than in snow in contrast droplets resulting in snow formation were larger and scavenged less pollution due to their smaller surface area 66 zn of pribram sphalerite west and smelter derived fly ash west were low 0 23 and 0 47 respectively olkusz sphalerite east had a higher 66 zn of 0 02 66 zn of snow ranged from 0 60 to 0 68 ice accretions had 66 zn between 0 67 and 0 14 at the three eastern sites 66 zn of ice accretions was lower than 66 zn of snow suggesting the presence of volatilized smelter derived or coal burning derived zn 66 zn of ice accretions at two of the three western sites was higher than 66 zn of snow different 66 zn values of snow and ice accretions from the same site reflected different pollution sources which may have been situated at different distances from the receptor site 66 zn of the soluble zn fraction was higher than 66 zn of the insoluble zn fraction possibly also indicating a different origin of these two zn fractions zinc isotope heterogeneity in the atmosphere of remote areas indicates that 66 zn can be a useful tool in pollution provenance studies

multiscaling of shear zones and the evolution of the brittle to viscous transition in continental crust 1 a new method is introduced for quantifying the scale and the intensity of strain localization from maps of natural shear zones the method employs autocorrelation functions to determine local areal scales of geometric homogeneity these homogenization scales are used to calculate scale dependent localization fractions of deformed rock the strain localization intensity is quantified from measurements of mean relative to maximum shear strain this approach is used to analyze shear zones on different scales from an exposure cap de creus spain of the fossil brittle to viscous transition bvt changes in the scaling characteristics of shear zones are interpreted to reflect a time sequence of localization during the evolution of the continental bvt we show that shear zone scaling is related to inherited anisotropies older schistosity lithological layering pegmatite bodies and to the predominant mode of deformation brittle viscous the length to width ratio of shear zones increases with their length up to the meter scale and decreases for larger length scales as they evolve from isolated shear fractures to interconnected mylonitic shear zones variations in strain localization intensity calculated along a single shear zone indicate that such shear zones weakened from their brittle tips to their mylonitic centers thus driving their propagation and growth to larger scales our results imply that the bvt evolves by network widening a process whereby strain localizes on progressively larger scales until a dense network of weak mylonitic layers tens to hundreds of meters wide and hundreds to thousands of meters long forms subparallel to the regional shearing plane

atmospheric deposition and isotope biogeochemistry of zinc in ombrotrophic peat abstract zinc isotope ratios were measured in the top sections of dated ombrotrophic peat cores in finland to investigate their potential as proxies for atmospheric sources and to constrain post depositional processes affecting the geochemical record the peat deposits were located in hietajarvi a background site well away from any point pollution source and representing background conditions in outokumpu next to a mining site and in harjavalta next to a smelter measured total concentrations calculated excess concentrations and mass balance considerations suggest that zinc is subjected to important biogeochemical cycling within the peat significant isotopic variability was found in all three peat bogs with heavier zinc in the deeper and lighter zinc in the upper sections isotope ratios and concentrations correlated in the two peats located next to dominant point sources i e the smelting and mining site suggesting that zinc isotopes trace pollution sources concentration and isotope peaks were offset from the period of mining and smelting activity supporting migration of zinc down the profile the 66znjmc where 66zn 66zn 64zn sample 66zn 64zn jmc standard 1 103 of the top section sample at the remote hietajarvi site was 0 9 and we suggest this represents the regional background isotope signature of atmospheric zinc the deeper sections of the peat cores show isotopically heavier zinc than any potential atmospheric source indicating that post depositional processes affected the isotopic records the large variations encountered up to 1 05 for 66zn and rayleigh modelling imply that multiple fractionation of zinc during diagenetic alterations occurs and nutrient recycling alone cannot explain the fractionation pattern we propose that zinc isotopes are amenable to identify different atmospheric zinc sources including zinc derived from anthropogenic activities such as mining and smelting but multiple biogeochemical processes seriously affect the record and they need to be evaluated and assessed carefully if zinc isotopes are used in terrestrial paleorecords

magmatic evolution of li f rare metal granites a case study of melt inclusions in the khangilay complex eastern transbaikalia russia abstract we report compositions of homogenized quartz hosted melt inclusions from a layered sequence of li f rich granites in the khangilay complex that document the range of melt evolution from barren biotite granites to ta rich lepidolite amazonite albite granites the melt inclusions are crystalline at room temperature and were homogenized in a rapid quench hydrothermal apparatus at 200 mpa before analysis homogenization runs determined solidus temperatures near 550 c and full homogenization between 650 and 750 c the compositions of inclusions determined by electron microprobe and raman spectroscopy for h 2 o show regular overall trends of increasing differentiation from the least evolved khangilay units to apical units in the orlovka intrusion total volatile contents in the most evolved melts reach over 11 wt h 2 o 8 6 wt f 1 6 wt b 2 o 3 1 5 wt concentrations of rb range from about 1000 to 3600 ppm but other trace elements could not be measured reliably by electron microprobe the resulting trends of melt evolution are similar to those described by the whole rock samples despite petrographic evidence for albite and mica rich segregations previously taken as evidence for post magmatic metasomatism melt variation trends in most samples are consistent with fractional crystallization as the main process of magma evolution and residual melt compositions plot at the granite minimum in the normative qz ab or system however melts trapped in the highly evolved pegmatitic samples from orlovka deviate from the minimum melt composition and show compositional variations in al na and k that requires a different explanation we suggest that unmixing of the late stage residual melt into an aluminosilicate melt and a salt rich dense aqueous fluid hydrosaline melt occurred experimental data show the effectiveness of this process to separate k aluminosilicate melt from na hydrosaline melt and high mobility of the latter due to its low viscosity and relatively low density may explain local zones of albitization in the upper parts of the granite

contrasting isotopic signatures between anthropogenic and geogenic zn and evidence for post depositional fractionation processes in smelter impacted soils from northern france abstract zinc isotopes have been studied along two smelter impacted soil profiles sampled near one of the largest pb and zn processing plants in europe located in northern france about 50 km south of lille mean 66zn values along these two soil profiles range from 0 22 0 17 2 to 0 34 0 17 2 at the lowest horizons and from 0 38 0 45 2 to 0 76 0 14 2 near the surface the 66zn values in the lowest horizons of the soils are interpreted as being representative of the local geochemical background mean value 0 31 0 38 whereas heavier 66zn values near the surface of the two soils are related to anthropogenic zn this anthropogenic zn occurs in the form of franklinite znfe2o4 bearing slag grains originating from processing wastes at the smelter site and exhibiting 66zn values of 0 81 0 20 2 the presence of franklinite is indicated by exafs analysis of the topsoil samples from both soil profiles as well as by micro xanes analysis of the surface horizon of a third smelter impacted soil from a distant site these results indicate that naturally occurring zn and smelter derived zn exhibit significantly different 66zn values which suggests that zinc isotopes can be used to distinguish between geogenic and anthropogenic sources of zn in smelter impacted soils in addition to a possible influence of additional past sources of light zn likely zn sulfides and zn sulfates directly emitted by the smelter the light 66zn values in the surface horizons compared to smelter derived slag materials are interpreted as resulting mainly from fractionation processes associated with biotic and or abiotic pedological processes zn bearing mineral precipitation zn complexation by organic matter and plant uptake of zn this conclusion emphasizes the need for additional zn isotopic studies before being able to use zn isotopes to trace sources and pathways of this element in surface environments

displacement and strain patterns from naturally occurring shear zone terminations abstract strain distribution patterns are described from several naturally occurring ductile shear zone terminations and a two fold classification is suggested type i termination patterns show a symmetrical decrease in strain area and intensity and are associated with very low shear strain values in the main shear zone the more common type ii termination patterns show a symmetrical increase in strain area with decrease in strain intensity some brittle ductile examples of type ii terminations contain secondary shears that resemble splay faults all the available evidence suggests that the deformation near the terminations of these shear zones is not plane strain nor do the observed strain patterns readily fit the existing theoretical models

tracing of anthropogenic zinc sources in coastal environments using stable isotope composition abstract the use of zinc isotopes to trace anthropogenic sources in coastal areas has been tested in this study we determined the stable isotopic composition of zinc in sediment cores suspended particulate matter spm and rocks collected at the sepetiba bay southeastern brazil an estuarine lagoon heavily impacted by metallurgic activities these isotopic signatures were compared with those from willemite ore which represent the main mineral refined by the major industrial source of zinc the aim was to test if this tracer system enables to identify sources and sinks of anthropogenic zinc and to reconstruct the temporal and spatial evolution of zinc contamination the zinc isotopic compositions expressed using the 66zn notation relative to the jmc 3 0749 l solution showed significant variations in the sediment cores the spm and willemite ore minerals ranging between 0 01 and 1 15 spatial and temporal analysis of sediments samples fit well in a model of mixing involving three main end members i terrestrial background 66znjmc 0 28 0 12 2 ii marine detrital material 66znjmc 0 45 0 03 2 and iii a major anthropogenic source associated with electroplating wastes released into the bay 66znjmc 0 86 0 15 2 sediment cores collected in the mud flats showed high correlation between 66zn and zinc enrichment factors suggesting good preservation of the isotopic records of natural and anthropogenic sources the sediment core sampled from a mangrove wetland located in a zone impacted by the metallurgy presented levels of zinc up to 4 sediment dry weight and preserved the isotopic signatures of electroplating wastes despite evidences that post depositional processes slightly changed the isotopic signatures in some layers from this core toward heavier 66znjmc values above 1 0 a two component mixing model suggests contributions of this major anthropogenic zn source up to nearly 80 during periods of electroplating activities our work suggests that zn isotope compositions of sediments are reliable tracers of anthropogenic sources and therefore can be useful to improve environmental monitoring efforts in coastal systems

zn and cu isotopic variability in the alexandrinka volcanic hosted massive sulphide vhms ore deposit urals russia abstract copper and zn isotope ratios of well characterized samples from three ore facies in the devonian alexandrinka volcanic hosted massive sulphide vhms deposit southern urals were measured using multi collector icp ms mc icp ms and show variations linked to depositional environment and mineralogy the samples analysed derived from a hydrothermal metasomatic vein stockwork b a hydrothermal vent chimney and c reworked clastic sulphides as the deposit has not been significantly deformed or metamorphosed after its formation it represents a pristine example of ancient seafloor mineralization variations in 65 cu where 65 cu 65 cu 63 cu sample 65 cu 63 cu standard 1 1000 and 66 zn where 66 zn 66 zn 64 zn sample 66 zn 64 zn standard 1 1000 of 0 63 and 0 66 respectively are significantly greater than analytical uncertainty for both isotope ratios 0 07 2 very limited isotopic fractionation is observed in primary cu minerals from the stockwork and chimney whereas the zn isotopic composition of the stockwork varies significantly with the mineralogy chalcopyrite bearing samples from the stockwork have lighter 66 zn by 0 4 relative to sphalerite dominated samples which may be due to equilibrium partitioning of isotopically light zn into chalcopyrite during its precipitation 66 zn also showed significant variation in the chimney with an enrichment in heavy isotopes toward the chimney rim of 0 26 which may be caused by changing temperature hence fractionation factor or raleigh distillation post depositional seafloor oxidative dissolution and re precipitation in the clastic sediments possibly coupled with leaching led to systematic negative shifts in cu and zn isotope compositions relative to the primary sulphides copper shows the most pronounced fractionation consistent with the reduction of cu ii to cu i during supergene mineralization however the restricted range in 65 cu is unlike modern sulphides at mid oceanic ridges where a large range of cu isotope of up to 3 has been observed rouxel o fouquet y ludden j n 2004 copper isotope systematics of the lucky strike rainbow and logatchev sea floor hydrothermal fields on the mid atlantic ridge econ geol 99 585 600 zhu x k o nions r k guo y belshaw n s rickard d 2000 determination of natural cu isotope variation by plasma source mass spectrometry implications for use as geochemical tracers chem geol 163 139 149

changes in fault displacement populations correlated to linkage between faults in carboniferous strata exposed at the western margin of the southern appalachian u s a fold thrust belt mesoscopic faults accommodated strains as the cumberland plateau thrust sheet moved 1 km wnw on a sub horizontal detachment these faults are confined to a layer 75 m thick above the detachment in the upper part of this 75 m thick layer a laterally persistent coal seam separates two stratigraphic units subjected to different amounts of sub horizontal elongation distinct sets of mesoscopic faults that cut bedding at high angles and have normal offsets accommodate the strains in each unit below the coal seam a sample line 500 m long intersects 504 faults a plot of log n size rank vs log d dip separation in mm for these faults is linear suggesting that a scaling law n ad c holds for this population least squares regression gives c 0 8 and log10 a 3 1 above the coal seam a sample line 250 m long intersects 745 faults a plot of log n vs log d for these faults has two distinct linear trends faults with separations 1 25 m yield a scaling law n ad c with c 0 5 and log10 a 2 9 seventeen faults with separations d 1 25 m define a second linear segment n a d c with c 1 8 and log10 a 6 9 the break in slope at d 1 25 m corresponds to faults with heights of 30 m roughly equal to the thickness of the faulted strata faults here with d 1 25 m and d 1 25 m which exhibit different scaling characteristics are respectively analogous to faults within and those that extend across the brittle crust in regional studies comparing the two displacement populations described here small offset faults make a proportionally smaller contribution to the total strain in the larger strain setting this pattern which is observed elsewhere suggests that fault systems within individual layers exhibit different scaling characteristics at different stages in their history this contribution argues that fault linkage is the key to such changes in fault scaling behavior it is a mesoscopic to macroscopic structural change that alters the subsequent development of faults fault linkage like fault size or sampling dimension should be considered in examinations of fault scaling laws

oxygen isotopes of marine mollusc shells record eocene elevation change in the pyrenees abstract constraining paleoaltimetry of collisional orogens is critical to understand the dynamics of topographic evolution and climate tectonics retroactions here we use oxygen stable isotope record on oyster shells preserved in marine foreland deposits to examine the past elevation of the pyrenees during the eocene our approach is based on the comparison with the paris basin an intracratonic basin not influenced by orogenic growth the finding of a shift of 1 5 between 49 and 41 ma indicating more negative 18oc in the south pyrenean foreland is interpreted to reflect the inflow of river water sourced from higher elevation in the pyrenees to test this and provide paleoelevation estimate we adopt a morphologic hydrological model accounting for the hypsometry of drainage basin our best fitting model shows that the pyrenees rose up to 2000 m this indicates that the pyrenees reached high elevation in the eocene thus providing new critical constraints on their long term orogenic development 18o of marine mollusc shells are proved potentially attractive for paleoelevation studies especially for mountain belts where elevated continental surfaces have not been preserved

zinc isotope variations in deep sea carbonates from the eastern equatorial pacific over the last 175 ka the carbonate fraction of sediment core odp 849 leg 138 located in the eastern equatorial pacific mostly consisting of coccoliths was separated and analyzed for its zn isotopic composition the overall variation in zn isotopic composition as determined by multiple collector magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was found to be on the order of 1 expressed in 66zn where xzn xzn 64zn sample xzn 64zn standard 1 103 and x 66 67 or 68 over the last 175 ka the analytical precision was 0 04 and the overall reproducibility was usually better than 0 07 the zn isotopic composition signal exhibits several marked peaks and a high frequency variability a periodogram of the 66zn signal showed two periodicities of 35 2 and 21 2 ka we suggest that the latter is caused by the precession of the earth s axis of rotation the periodogram exhibits a minimum at 41 1 ka thus showing that the zn isotopic composition is independent of the obliquity in the eastern equatorial pacific the range of 66zn values observed for the carbonate fraction of odp 849 overlaps with the range observed for fe mn nodules in the world s oceans which suggests that seawater carbonate zn isotope fractionation is weak we therefore assume that most of the zn isotope variability is a result of the selective entrainment of the light isotopes by organic matter in the surface ocean the odp 849 66zn record seems to follow the changes in the insolation cycles changes in the late summer fall equatorial insolation modulate the intensity of the equatorial upwelling hence the mixing between deep and surface waters we propose that during decreased summer fall equatorial insolation when a steep thermocline can develop el nino like conditions the surface waters cannot be replenished by deep waters and become depleted in the lighter zn isotopes by biological activity thus resulting in the progressive increase of the 66zn values of the carbonate shells presumably in equilibrium with surface seawater

brittle to ductile transition due to large strains along the white rock thrust wind river mountains wyoming abstract the deformed foreland of the rocky mountain cordilleras is characterized by major reverse faults that bring precambrian basement rocks to the surface the white rock thrust in the wind river mountains of wyoming is one such fault that developed at fairly shallow levels in the crust detailed study of grain size variations and textures within the fault zone provide a framework for discussion of the mechanics of movement along the fault textural criteria are suggested for distinguishing between dominantly brittle and dominantly ductile deformation a transition from brittle fracturing to ductile deformation is seen with increasing strain and resultant decrease in grain size along the fault zone diffusional creep in the final stages of deformation leads to strain softening and may allow large strains to take place along narrow zones at low deviatoric stresses this may be one way of obtaining large displacements along major faults at shallow levels in the crust

abundance of zinc isotopes as a marine biogeochemical tracer 1 the zn isotopic compositions of ferromanganese nodules sediment trap samples sediments and organic reference samples have been analyzed by multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms the range of isotopic variations 1 for 66zn 64zn is significant with respect to the analytical precision 0 04 at the 95 confidence level marine argillaceous sediments show rather constant values consistent with those of continental shales and loess and with the value of a basalt from reunion island we infer that the depletion of the light zn isotopes in marine particles and in ferromanganese nodules presumably equilibrated with seawater results from biological activity in the upper water column the 66zn values of sediment trap samples collected near the upwelling off the coast of mauritania central atlantic show a seasonal isotopic fluctuation consistent with biological pumping during the high productivity period higher values of 66zn in nodules appear to be associated with the amplitude of seasonal variations rather than with the mean values of the biological productivity

lichen monitoring as a potential tool in environmental forensics case study of the cu smelter and former mining town of karabash russia the aim of this paper is to showcase the use of lichens in environmental forensics from an assessment of atmospheric deposition in and around the cu smelter and former mining town of karabash ural mountains of russia hypogymnia physodes was collected on its bark substrate in july 2001 from a reference site c 25 km sw of karabash and transplanted to 10 stations along an approximately 60 km ssw nne transect centred on karabash transplants were collected after 2 and 3 month exposure periods the elemental compositions of hypogymnia and potential sources of particulates in the study area smelter blast furnace and converter dusts wastes tailings road dusts metallurgical slags and top soils were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry icp oes and quadrupole icp mass spectrometry icp ms and the pb isotope compositions of the lichens and smelter dusts by multicollector icp ms particulates on lichen surfaces were analysed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x ray analysis sem edx the method of lichen transplantation combined with multi element and surface particle elemental analysis high precision pb isotope ratio determinations and modelling was shown to be useful for the tracing of the smelter signal and components from different smelter processes for more than 25 km from karabash town the lichen monitoring methodology is discrete and comparatively low cost enabling atmospheric deposition from natural and anthropogenic sources to be determined over short 3 month periods and is therefore a valuable qualitative tool for environmental forensics key aspects of the nature and biology

historical variations in the isotopic composition of atmospheric zinc deposition from a zinc smelter abstract in order to test the usefulness of stable zinc isotopes as an atmospheric source tracer we analyzed the zinc isotopic composition of two sediment cores taken at 1 km distance of the former zinc smelter in lommel belgium the peat bog lake sediments accumulate mainly atmospheric particles have high organic matter contents 12 60 wt are anoxic and highly contaminated with heavy metals up to 4 7 wt zn and 1 1 wt pb with a sulfide mineralogical control on mobility down core variations in 66 zn relative to the jmc 3 0749l standard were small ranging from 0 07 to 0 39 but are nevertheless eight times the external reproducibility of 0 04 good agreement was found between the two cores and despite 30 zn mobilization to deeper layers no evidence of associated diagenetic zn isotope fractionation was found sediments deposited in the early 20th century have 66 zn of 0 30 0 05 2sd n 5 and a shift takes place between 1945 and 1950 to 66 zn values of 0 14 0 09 2sd n 7 in the 2nd half of the century in order to understand this shift in 66 zn we analyzed 32 ore grade sphalerite zns samples from african australian and european origin together with 29 published 66 zn values for ore grade zns we find remarkably homogeneous isotopic compositions which when averaged for mining location gives 66 zn of 0 16 0 20 2sd n 10 mines n 61 analyses early 20th century zn deposition with 66 zn of 0 30 is significantly different p 66 zn of 0 16 we suggest that this reflects the presence of an atmospheric smelting residue slag component enriched in the heavy zn isotopes due to rayleigh type fractionation during zn refining

the zinc stable isotope signature of waste rock drainage in the canadian permafrost region leachate from a well instrumented experimental scale waste rock pile test pile at the diavik diamond mine northwest territories was monitored the well characterized waste rock consists of granite pegmatitic granite and biotite schist with an average total sulfur and carbonate carbon concentration of 0 053 and 0 027 wt respectively the leachate emerging from the southern basal drain of the waste rock pile has been monitored since 2007 the zinc stable isotope footprint was characterized alongside standard monitoring parameters during two field seasons may to november 2011 and 2012 the ph ranged between 4 3 and 6 8 and carbonate alkalinity was low or undetectable 35 mg l 1 caco3 the ph was governed by the oxidation of sulfide minerals and the dissolution of primary carbonate minerals and secondary al and fe oxyhydroxysulfates and hydroxides dissolved al and fe concentrations averaged 6 78 mg l 1 and 175 g l 1 respectively the main processes controlling zn concentrations in the range of 0 4 and 4 7 mg l 1 average 2 2 mg l 1 were the oxidative dissolution of sphalerite zns and the attenuation by secondary fe and al hydroxides zinc isotopes were fractionated mass dependently zinc isotope ratios ranging between 0 16 and 0 18 average 0 05 n 43 were consistent with values reported for sphalerite from other deposits the deviations in isotope ratios 0 36 were significant in comparison to analytical uncertainties 0 06 zinc isotope ratios and concentrations were largely uncorrelated suggesting that the processes affecting zn mobility had little or no impact on the zn isotope signature these data suggest that the zn isotope ratios of the waste rock leachate may be used as a fingerprint to track anthropogenic mine derived zn sources in an environment under fluctuating ph temperature and ionic strength

the isotopic composition of some common forms of anthropogenic zinc abstract anthropogenic sources account for much of the zinc zn in the environment constraining the isotopic composition of anthropogenic zn is therefore essential to understanding the environmental biogeochemical cycling of zn isotopes this study examines the isotopic variability in several different categories of anthropogenic zn pure zn metal and zn dust are the raw materials used in many zn containing products we have measured 66 zn for zn dust purified by thermal distillation electrochemically purified zn metal and us pennies which are made from the most common grade of zn metal special high grade zn in galvanized steel and electroplated hardware was studied because this is a common use of zn and zn in these products may be easily released into the environment through corrosion vitamins were studied because they are more highly purified than typical zn metals and are made from processed chemical compounds such as zn oxide or zn gluconate the isotopic composition of samples measured in this study are as follows reported as 66 zn compared to lyon jmc zn laboratory standards seven samples 9 15 to 0 17 zn metal dust purified by thermal distillation three samples 0 09 to 0 19 zn metal shot purified by electrochemically one sample 0 22 special high grade zn as represented in us pennies six samples 0 14 to 0 31 galvanized steel three samples 0 12 to 0 58 electroplated hardware three samples 0 56 to 0 20 and health products five samples 0 09 to 0 24 based on these results we suggest that the isotopic composition of common anthropogenic zn products ranges from 0 1 to 0 3 all samples studied here had 66 zn values within this range except four laboratory standards all electroplated hardware samples and a single galvanized steel sample the isotopic range for common anthropogenic zn is much smaller than the total 66 zn range found in zn ore field hydrothermal samples demonstrating the effects of zn isotope homogenization during ore processing and purification laboratory standards may have anomalously light 66 zn values because they undergo extra purification steps and zn recovery during these steps is not quantitative electroplated hardware was also isotopically light consistent with previous studies showing that lighter isotopes are electroplated more quickly than heavy isotopes our results suggest that isotopically heavy zn may be incorporated into the waste stream during the electroplating process by defining the range of 66 zn values that is typical for some common zn products and discovering some kinds of products that fall outside this range we will be better able to use zn isotopes to trace different anthropogenic zn sources

are s c structures duplexes and conjugate shear zones different manifestations of the same scale invariant phenomenon abstract by measuring s spacing c spacing and the s c angle in deformed rocks this paper investigates the geometry of previously published examples of s c and s c like structures on a scale range between micrometres and several hundred kilometres the results indicate that common s c fabrics of thin section hand specimen and outcrop scale and conjugate fault mylonite zones of map scale define a simple function c spacing 2 s spacing which depicts a scale invariant geometry over ten orders of magnitude logarithmic plots of cumulative frequency suggest that the s c fractal set d 0 13 is restricted to the scale range between 600 800 m and 1 km where genuine s c structures characterized by antithetic shear on the s planes can be formed below 600 800 m grain scale processes seem to influence the development of s c structures above the upper limit 1 km only s c like structures with duplex kinematics synthetic shear on s planes occur the s c and s c c fractals are envisaged as self similar structures where the foliations work as both s or c planes depending on which scale is considered

zinc isotope variation in hydrothermal systems preliminary evidence from the irish midlands ore field little is known about the range or controls on the zinc isotope composition of terrestrial materials and no systematic studies have been carried out on ore forming systems we have obtained zinc isotope data from 19 sphalerite samples formed over a range of well constrained precipitation conditions from the irish zn pb ore field the results reveal variation in 66zn where 66zn 66zn 64zn sample 66zn 64zn standard 1 1000 from 0 17 to 1 33 per mil relative to the lyon jmc 3 0749l zinc standard this variation is significant compared to the external reproducibility 0 12 2 and the data show very good mass dependency with 67zn and 68zn values thus natural variations in the zinc isotope composition of these ore minerals can be resolved our results span the entire range of 66zn values measured on terrestrial geologic samples to date the data suggest that variations in the primary source rock composition or precipitation temperature are unlikely to be important controls on the zinc isotope composition of sphalerite in the ore field we suggest that the variation is most likely due to a kinetic fractionation involving the preferential incorporation of light zinc isotopes in sphalerite precipitated rapidly under disequilibrium conditions however we cannot rule out the possibility of mixing of zinc derived from two isotopically distinct sources the significant variation in zinc isotope compositions we have observed in the irish ore field confirms that such fractionations can provide new insights into mineralizing processes in the earth s crust

zn isotopes as tracers of anthropogenic pollution from zn ore smelters the riou mort lot river system article i nfo zn values up to 1 49 zn extraction yields for these samples were calculated using presumable conservative elements fe ca mg k na and mn and vary from 95 4 to 99 4 extraction yields are related to the intensity of zn isotopic fractionation different rayleigh isotope fractionation scenarios for zn refining yielded ore tailings ranging from 1 00012 to 1 00062 the 66 zn of the riou mort sediments downstream from

use of isotope ratios to assess sources of pb and zn dispersed in the environment during mining and ore processing within the orlovka spokoinoe mining site russia element concentrations element ratios and pb and zn isotope data are reported for different geologic samples barren and ore bearing granites and host rocks technogenic products ore concentrates and tailings and biologic samples lichens and birch leaves from the orlovka spokoinoe mining district eastern transbaikalia russia with the aim to trace the sources of pb and zn at a local level within the mining site lichens and birch leaves were used as receptors of contamination within the mining site pb zr and zn zr values indicated pb and zn enrichment relative to host rocks zn isotope data of 15 geologic and 11 lichen samples showed different zn isotopic signatures with the total range for the geologic suite of 0 4 to 1 2 and for lichens of 0 4 to 1 4 in 66zn relative to lyon jmc zn standard the source of isotopically heavy zn within the orlovka spokoinoe mining site could be potentially associated with long range atmospheric aerosols that also contributed pb to the studied mining site our results demonstrated that zn isotopes might be used as new tools for zn source assessment

trace element and pb isotope variability during rainy events in the nw mediterranean constraints on anthropogenic and natural sources abstract rain samples collected over the period 1995 1999 on the french mediterranean coast have been analyzed for their trace elements and pb isotopic compositions both in the dissolved and particulate loads our results show that metal enrichment factors ef relative to upper erodable crust are high for cu pb zn and cd and comparable to values reported about 10 years ago for north western mediterranean rains overall unradiogenic pb isotopic compositions indicate the still visible influence of french gasoline lead on both dissolved and particulate loads this influence is also seen on aerosols although more variable the examination of air mass trajectories allows us to distinguih the pb isotopic signatures of main sources in particular marseille north italy north africa rains collected and analyzed sequentially show intra rain variations for metal contents metal ef and pb isotopes which may also be related to the main paths and altitudes of the air masses metal efs and pb isotopic data on rains from southern france in the late 1990s are similar to recent data published on french aerosols or sediments which are interpreted as reflecting the phasing out of leaded gasoline in the atmosphere