Trace-element contents and cathodoluminescence of “trapiche” rubies from Mong Hsu, Myanmar (Burma): geological significance

Summary ?Mong Hsu rubies of the “trapiche” type are sporadically seen in the gem market. However, they have never been described in the field. The study of the nature of solid inclusions, the variation of trace-element contents, as well as the cathodoluminescence behaviour of six “trapiche” rubies permit the conclusion that these rubies crystallised in the same geological environment (marble-type deposit) as the normal rubies from Mong Hsu: (1) Cr and V are the main chromophorous elements in both ruby types; they act, together with Ti, as activators or quenchers for cathodoluminescence; (2) calcite, dolomite, rutile, mica, diaspore, apatite, chlorite, and feldspar are solid inclusions found in both ruby types; (3) the presence of bastn?site in trapiche ruby and fluorite in non-trapiche ruby indicates the circulation of F-bearing fluids during ruby deposition; (4) the distribution of trace-element contents in the crystal is similar for both ruby types. In the Cr₂O₃ vs. Fe₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃ vs. Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ diagrams, the population fields of Mong Hsu “trapiche” and non-“trapiche” rubies overlap. They are distinct from those of rubies and sapphires hosted in basalts from South-east Asia. Received October 30, 2001; revised version accepted March 25, 2002     

THE EUROPEAN MACROSEISMIC SCALE (MSK-92)

A new updated version of the MSK macroseismic intensity scale has been prepared by a Working Group of the European Seismological Commission and has been published in April 1993 (European Macroseismic Scale 1992: updated MSK scale, 1993, ed. by G. Grünthal, Cahiers du Centre Européen de Geodynamique et de Séismologie, no. 7).     

Water vapor adsorption by sodium montmorillonite at −5°C

A large amount of interest has recently been expressed pertaining to the quantity of physically adsorbed water by the Martian regolith. Thermodynamic calculations based on experimentally determined adsorption and desorption isotherms and extrapolated to subzero temperatures indicate that physical adsorption of more than one or two monomolecular layers is highly unlikely under Martian conditions. Any additional water would find ice to be the state of lowest energy and therefore the most stable form. To test the validity of the thermodynamic calculations we have measured adsorption and desorption isotherms of sodium montmorillonite at ?5°C. To a first approximation it was found to be valid.     

Relative timing of deformation and two-stage gold mineralization at the Hutti Mine, Dharwar Craton, India

Gold mineralization at Hutti is confined to a series of nine parallel, N–S to NNW–SSE trending, steeply dipping shear zones. The host rocks are amphibolites and meta-rhyolites metamorphosed at peak conditions of 660±40°C and 4±1 kbar. They are weakly foliated (S₁) and contain barren quartz extension veins. The auriferous shear zones (reefs) are typically characterized by four alteration assemblages and laminated quartz veins, which, in places, occupy the entire reef width of 2–10 m, and contain the bulk of gold mineralization. A <1.5 m wide distal chlorite-sericite (+biotite, calcite, plagioclase) alteration zone can be distinguished from a 3–5 m wide proximal biotite-plagioclase (+quartz, muscovite, calcite) alteration zone. Gold is both spatially and temporally associated with disseminated arsenopyrite and pyrite mineralization. An inner chlorite-K-feldspar (+quartz, calcite, scheelite, tourmaline, sphene, epidote, sericite) alteration halo, which rims the laminated quartz veins, is characterized by a pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, ilmenite, rutile, and gold paragenesis. The distal chlorite-sericite and proximal biotite-plagioclase alteration assemblages are developed in microlithons of the S₂–S₃ crenulation cleavage and are replaced along S₃ by the inner chlorite-K-feldspar alteration, indicating a two-stage evolution for gold mineralization. Ductile D₂ shearing, alteration, and gold mineralization formed the reefs during retrograde evolution and fluid infiltration under upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies conditions (560±60°C, 2±1 kbar). The reefs were reactivated in the D₃ dextral strike-slip to oblique-slip environment by fault-valve behavior at lower greenschist facies conditions (ca. 300–350°C), which formed the auriferous laminated quartz veins. Later D₄ crosscutting veins and D₅ faults overprint the gold mineralization. The alteration mineralogy and the structural control of the deposit clearly points to an orogenic style of gold mineralization, which took place either during isobaric cooling or at different levels of the Archean crust. From overlaps in the tectono-metamorphic history, it is concluded that gold mineralization occurred during two tectonic events, affecting the eastern Dharwar craton in south India between ca. 2550 – 2530 Ma: (1) The assemblage of various terranes of the eastern block, and (2) a tectono-magmatic event, which caused late- to posttectonic plutonism and a thermal perturbation. It differs, however, from the pre-peak metamorphic gold mineralization at Kolar and the single-stage mineralization at Ramagiri. Notably, greenschist facies gold mineralization occurred at Hutti 35–90 million years later than in the western Dharwar craton. Editorial handling: G. Beaudoin     

A unified approach to post-mission processing of intertial data

The outpout of inertial survey systems is available to the user in two basic forms: as Kalman filtered information at updates or as integrated velocity and position information at regular time intervals. In case of the second data type, the post-mission processing starts with the approximation of the velocity error curve. This approximation is either based on a system error model as in Kalman filtering or uses curve fitting techniques. From there on, smoothing or adjustment procedures are used as further steps in the post-mission treatment of both data types. A unified treatment of the various post-mission approaches starts with the formulation of appropriate error models of the system outputs. It is then possible to present all existing methods as intermediate steps of a rigorous adjustment procedure. This unified approach gives insight into the limitations of individual methods and provides a means to detect inconsistencies in post-mission processing strategies. An analysis of existing approaches is made and a new method, spectral decomposition, is treated in detail. Compared to the existing procedures, it has advantages with respect to a rigorous covariance propagation and blunder detection.     

The geodetic requirements for commercial data base management systems

There are many data base management systems now available as commercially marketed software packages. Although most of these packages were initially aimed at bussiness or administrative data processing applications, they may frequently also be the right tool for a scientific data processing task. This becomes more apparent as we notice that scientific computer programmers are spending more and more time on data management requirements rather than the coding of mathematical algorithms. In a scientific environment, a generalized data base management package is best viewed as a tool for programmers, rather than as a tool for direct, independent use by end users or by agency management. To the end user, the most attractive feature of a commerical DBMS is usually the interactive retrieval and update language. To the programmer, the most attractive feature is more likely to be the strong support for various types of keyed access. All of the manipulations necessary to build and maintain indices and other tables can be treated as procedural abstractions. Coupled with a procedural language, a DBMS offers the programmer a higher level (in the sense of more abstract) language. The most important geodetic requirement on a commercial DBMS is therefore that the package contain a strong Data Manipulation Language, with strong support for the algorithmic language used for scientific processing. Presented at International Symposium on Management of Geodetic Data, Copenhagen, August 24–26, 1981.     

Trace element zoning in pyroxenes from ODP Hole 735B gabbros: diffusive exchange or synkinematic crystal fractionation?

Major and trace element profiles of clinopyroxene grains in oceanic gabbros from ODP Hole 735B have been investigated by a combined in situ analytical study with ion probe, and electron microprobe. In contrast to the homogeneous major element compositions, trace elements (REE, Y, Cr, Sr, and Zr) show continuous core to rim zoning profiles. The observed trace element systematics in clinopyroxene cannot be explained by a simple diffusive exchange between melts and gabbros along grain boundaries. A simultaneous modification of the melt composition is required to generate the zoning, although Rayleigh fractional crystallization modelling could mimic the general shape of the profiles. Simultaneous metasomatism between the cumulate crystal and the porous melt during crystal accumulation is the most likely process to explain the zoning. Deformation during solidification of the crystal mush could have caused squeezing out of the incompatible element enriched residual melts (interstitial liquid). Migration of the melt along grain boundaries might carry these melt out of the system. This process named as synkinematic differentiation or differentiation by deformation (Natland and Dick in J Volcanol Geotherm Res 110(3–4):191–233, 2001) may act as an important magma evolution mechanism in the oceanic crust, at least at slow-spreading ridges.     

On the magnitude of upwelling fluxes in shelf-break canyons

A hydrodynamic model is employed to derive the magnitude of on-shelf fluxes through a shelf-break canyon for a wide range of canyon sizes and ambient oceanic conditions. Predicted canyon-upwelling fluxes are of the order of 0.05–0.1 Sv (1 Sv=1 million m³/s), being several orders of magnitude greater than upslope fluxes in the bottom Ekman layer on the ambient continental slope. On the basis of ∼150 simulations conducted, a bulk formula of upwelling flux in a submarine canyon is derived. For typical conditions, the upwelling flux varies quadratically with forcing strength (speed of incident flow), linearly with canyon depth, and is inversely proportional to the buoyancy frequency of the density stratification inside the canyon. Other parameters such as density stratification above shelf-break depth and bottom friction are found to have minor influences on the resultant canyon-upwelling flux.