Showing papers by "Geological Survey of Sweden published in 2012"

Reactive monazite and robust zircon growth in diatexites and leucogranites from a hot, slowly cooled orogen: implications for the Palaeoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the central Fennoscandian Shield, Sweden

Abstract: Monazite in melt-producing, poly-metamorphic terranes can grow, dissolve or reprecipitate at different stages during orogenic evolution particularly in hot, slowly cooling orogens such as the Svecofennian. Owing to the high heat flow in such orogens, small variations in pressure, temperature or deformation intensity may promote a mineral reaction. Monazite in diatexites and leucogranites from two Svecofennian domains yields older, coeval and younger U–Pb SIMS and EMP ages than zircon from the same rock. As zircon precipitated during the melt-bearing stage, its U–Pb ages reflect the timing of peak metamorphism, which is associated with partial melting and leucogranite formation. In one of the domains, the Granite and Diatexite Belt, zircon ages range between 1.87 and 1.86 Ga, whereas monazite yields two distinct double peaks at 1.87–1.86 and 1.82–1.80 Ga. The younger double peak is related to monazite growth or reprecipitation during subsolidus conditions associated with deformation along late-orogenic shear zones. Magmatic monazite in leucogranite records systematic variations in composition and age during growth that can be directly linked to Th/U ratios and preferential growth sites of zircon, reflecting the transition from melt to melt crystallisation of the magma. In the adjacent Ljusdal Domain, peak metamorphism in amphibolite facies occurred at 1.83–1.82 Ga as given by both zircon and monazite chronology. Pre-partial melting, 1.85 Ga contact metamorphic monazite is preserved, in spite of the high-grade overprint. By combining structural analysis, petrography and monazite and zircon geochronology, a metamorphic terrane boundary has been identified. It is concluded that the boundary formed by crustal shortening accommodated by major thrusting.

Floating stones off El Hierro, Canary Islands: xenoliths of pre-island sedimentary origin in the early products of the October 2011 eruption

Abstract: . A submarine eruption started off the south coast of El Hierro, Canary Islands, on 10 October 2011 and continues at the time of this writing (February 2012). In the first days of the event, peculiar eruption products were found floating on the sea surface, drifting for long distances from the eruption site. These specimens, which have in the meantime been termed "restingolites" (after the close-by village of La Restinga), appeared as black volcanic "bombs" that exhibit cores of white and porous pumice-like material. Since their brief appearance, the nature and origin of these "floating stones" has been vigorously debated among researchers, with important implications for the interpretation of the hazard potential of the ongoing eruption. The "restingolites" have been proposed to be either (i) juvenile high-silica magma (e.g. rhyolite), (ii) remelted magmatic material (trachyte), (iii) altered volcanic rock, or (iv) reheated hyaloclastites or zeolite from the submarine slopes of El Hierro. Here, we provide evidence that supports yet a different conclusion. We have analysed the textures and compositions of representative "restingolites" and compared the results to previous work on similar rocks found in the Canary Islands. Based on their high-silica content, the lack of igneous trace element signatures, the presence of remnant quartz crystals, jasper fragments and carbonate as well as wollastonite (derived from thermal overprint of carbonate) and their relatively high oxygen isotope values, we conclude that "restingolites" are in fact xenoliths from pre-island sedimentary layers that were picked up and heated by the ascending magma, causing them to partially melt and vesiculate. As they are closely resembling pumice in appearance, but are xenolithic in origin, we refer to these rocks as "xeno-pumice". The El Hierro xeno-pumices hence represent messengers from depth that help us to understand the interaction between ascending magma and crustal lithologies beneath the Canary Islands as well as in similar Atlantic islands that rest on sediment-covered ocean crust (e.g. Cape Verdes, Azores). The occurrence of "restingolites" indicates that crustal recycling is a relevant process in ocean islands, too, but does not herald the arrival of potentially explosive high-silica magma in the active plumbing system beneath El Hierro.

The sequestration sink of soot black carbon in the Northern European Shelf sediments

Abstract: [1] To test the hypothesis that ocean margin sediments are a key final repository in the large-scale biogeospheric cycling of soot black carbon (soot-BC), an extensive survey was conducted along the ∼2,000 km stretch of the Swedish Continental Shelf (SCS). The soot-BC content in the 120 spatially distributed SCS sediments was 0.180.130.26% dw (median with interquartile ranges), corresponding to ∼5% of total organic carbon. Using side-scan sonar constraints to estimate the areal fraction of postglacial clay sediments that are accumulation bottoms (15% of SCS), the soot-BC inventory in the SCS mixed surface sediment was estimated at ∼4,000 Gg. Combining this with radiochronological constraints on sediment mass accumulation fluxes, the soot-BC sink on the SCS was ∼300 Gg/yr, which yielded an area-extrapolated estimate for the Northern European Shelf (NES) of ∼1,100 Gg/yr. This sediment soot-BC sink is ∼50 times larger than the river discharge fluxes of soot-BC to these coastal waters, however, of similar magnitude as estimates of atmospheric soot-BC emission from the upwind European continent. While large uncertainties remain regarding the large-scale to global BC cycle, this study combines with two previous investigations to suggest that continental shelf sediments are a major final repository of atmospheric soot-BC. Future progress on the soot-BC cycle and how it interacts with the full carbon cycle is likely to benefit from14C determinations of the sedimentary soot-BC and similar extensive studies of coastal sediment in complementary regimes such as off heavily soot-BC-producing areas in S and E Asia and on the large pan-Arctic shelf.

3D seismic survey at the Millennium uranium deposit, Saskatchewan, Canada: Mapping depth to basement and imaging post-Athabasca structure near the orebody

Abstract: Three-dimensional seismic reflection measurements have been used to assist mine planning at the Millennium uranium deposit, Canada. The deposit is located within the crystalline basement, separated ...

The sequestration sink of soot black carbon in the Northern European Shelf sediments

Abstract: [1] To test the hypothesis that ocean margin sediments are a key final repository in the large-scale biogeospheric cycling of soot black carbon (soot-BC), an extensive survey was conducted along the ∼2,000 km stretch of the Swedish Continental Shelf (SCS). The soot-BC content in the 120 spatially distributed SCS sediments was 0.180.130.26% dw (median with interquartile ranges), corresponding to ∼5% of total organic carbon. Using side-scan sonar constraints to estimate the areal fraction of postglacial clay sediments that are accumulation bottoms (15% of SCS), the soot-BC inventory in the SCS mixed surface sediment was estimated at ∼4,000 Gg. Combining this with radiochronological constraints on sediment mass accumulation fluxes, the soot-BC sink on the SCS was ∼300 Gg/yr, which yielded an area-extrapolated estimate for the Northern European Shelf (NES) of ∼1,100 Gg/yr. This sediment soot-BC sink is ∼50 times larger than the river discharge fluxes of soot-BC to these coastal waters, however, of similar magnitude as estimates of atmospheric soot-BC emission from the upwind European continent. While large uncertainties remain regarding the large-scale to global BC cycle, this study combines with two previous investigations to suggest that continental shelf sediments are a major final repository of atmospheric soot-BC. Future progress on the soot-BC cycle and how it interacts with the full carbon cycle is likely to benefit from14C determinations of the sedimentary soot-BC and similar extensive studies of coastal sediment in complementary regimes such as off heavily soot-BC-producing areas in S and E Asia and on the large pan-Arctic shelf.

Zoned Ree Enriched Dravite from a Granitic Pegmatite in Forshammar Bergslagen Province, Sweden an Empa Xrd and La–Icp-Ms Study

Abstract: Green to grayish green tourmaline crystals (up to 10 cm across), with distinct optical zoning, occurs with quartz, blocky albite and muscovite in the Forshammar granitic pegmatite, central Bergslagen province, Sweden. Tourmaline contains inclusions of zircon and xenotime-(Y), and it is cut by veinlets of muscovite and hydroxylbastnasite-(Ce). Microanalytical and structural data (from the rim) indicate that the tourmaline can be classified as a dravite with moderate Al-Mg disorder at the Y and Z sites. Tourmaline displays chemical zoning that reflects the distribution of Fe, Mg, Al, Ca and Na. The Mg/(Mg+Fe) value is high; it decreases from core (similar to 0.85) to intermediate zone (0.76-0.79), but increases in the rim and vein dravite (0.93). The core has the highest proportion of X-site vacancy and Al content, whereas the intermediate zone is the most enriched in Fe and Na. The rim is slightly depleted in Al and has the highest Na compared to inner zones. Tourmaline veins crosscut the pre-existing tourmaline and are relatively more enriched in Na and Ca. The main compositional variations are driven by Al-X square Mg-1Na-1 and AlOMg-1(OH)(-1) substitutions. The Forshammar dravite shows the highest known concentrations of REE from pegmatite tourmaline, <= 1200 ppm REE, <= 210 ppm La, <= 670 ppm Ce; the chondrite-normalized patterns reveal high La-N/Yb-N (32 to 464) values and strongly negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.005 to 0.05). The contents of Ti, Mn, Y and REE generally increase at the boundary of the intermediate zone and rim, whereas the contents of Zn, Ga and Sn decrease from the core to the rim.

Spatial and Temporal Variability of Benthic Respiration in a Scottish Sea Loch Impacted by Fish Farming: A Combination of In Situ Techniques

Abstract: The effects of fish farm activities on sediment biogeochemistry were investigated in Loch Creran (Western Scotland) from March to October 2006. Sediment oxygen uptake rates (SOU) were estimated along an organic matter gradient generated from an Atlantic salmon farm using a combination of in situ techniques: microelectrodes, planar optode and benthic chamber incubations. Sulphide (H2S) and pH distributions in sediment porewater were also measured using in situ microelectrodes, and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fluxes were measured in situ using benthic chambers. Relationships between benthic fluxes, vertical distribution of oxidants and reduced compounds in the sediment were examined as well as bacterial abundance and biomass. Seasonal variations in SOU were relatively low and mainly driven by seasonal temperature variations. The effect of the fish farm on sediment oxygen uptake rate was clearly identified by higher total and diffusive oxygen uptake rates (TOU and DOU, respectively) on impacted stations (TOU: 70 ± 25 mmol O2 m−2 day−1; DOU: 70 ± 32 mmol O2 m−2 day−1 recalculated at the summer temperature), compared with the reference station (TOU: 28.3 ± 5.5 mmol O2 m−2 day−1; DOU: 21.5 ± 4.5 mmol O2 m−2 day−1). At the impacted stations, planar optode images displayed high centimetre scale heterogeneity in oxygen distribution underlining the control of oxygen dynamics by small-scale processes. The organic carbon enrichment led to enhanced sulphate reduction as demonstrated by large vertical H2S concentration gradients in the porewater (from 0 to 1,000 μM in the top 3 cm) at the most impacted site. The impact on ecosystem functions such as bioirrigation was evidenced by a decreasing TOU/DOU ratio, from 1.7 in the non-impacted sediments to 1 in the impacted zone. This trend was related to a shift in the macrofaunal assemblage and an increase in sediment bacterial population. The turnover time of the organic load of the sediment was estimated to be over 6 years.

Geochemical variations within the mid-Silurian Grotlingbo Bentonite (Gotland, Sweden): discriminating between magmatic composition, ash transport fractionation and diagenetic effects

Abstract: This paper reports on the geochemistry of the mid-Silurian Grotlingbo Bentonite, a ca. 0.1–0.4-m-thick and regionally important bentonite bed in Sweden and the East Baltic area. A series of eight samples, spaced by 5 cm, were taken from the Hunninge-1 drillcore in Gotland, Sweden, and were analysed in order to establish the vertical element composition and variation in the bentonite. The results show that the Gotlingbo Bentonite originates from one source magma and from one single eruption. The lowermost 0.1–0.15 m of the bentonite (compacted) was deposited from air-transport fall-out, whereas the upper portions have been reworked in a shallow-marine environment and re-deposited. Vertical differences in Ti and Zr within the Grotlingbo Bentonite mean that regional correlation of the bed may need several samples at each locality to be reliable.

3D reflection seismic investigation over a quick-clay landslide scar in Lilla Edet, south-western Sweden

Abstract: This project is part of a multidisciplinary research projectsponsored by the Society of Exploration Geophysiciststhrough the Geoscientists Without Borders (GWB)program. The 3D P-wave seismic data were acquired over alandslide scar close to Lilla Edet in south-west Sweden.The survey area is located on the shoreline of a major riverthat follows a 4 km wide fault zone. The area is known forhosting unstable quick-clays that could potentially causelandslides. The main objective of the 3D seismic was todefine the bedrock topography and layering within the clayformation. The 3D seismic data will form a base model thatwill assist the interpretations of the other geophysical data,which were collected at the same location. The quality ofthe data is good and the top of the crystalline bedrock and acoarse layer within the clay formation were detected. Thedepth to the coarse layer could be correlated using existinggeotechnical boreholes. A similar north-northeast extendingridge shaped structure was found in the coarser layer and inthe bedrock topography. The top of the bedrock is,however, dipping about 15° towards north while the coarselayer in the clay formation is fairly flat. The coarse layer islocated approximately 20 m below the surface and the topof the bedrock reaches a maximum depth of about 120 m.The geometry of the coarse layer may be important for thedirection of fresh water flow, which can leach salt from theclays, creating unstable quick-clays, at the location of thelandslide area.