ALBERT

Description: Alkali-rich igneous fragments in the brecciated LL-chondrites, Krahenberg (LL5) [1], Bhola (LL3-6) [2], Siena (LL5) [3] and Yamato (Y)-74442 (LL4) [4-6], show characteristic fractionation patterns of alkali and alkaline elements [7]. The alkali-rich fragments in Krahenberg, Bhola and Y-74442 are very similar in mineralogy and petrography, suggesting that they could have come from related precursor materials [6]. Recently we reported Rb-Sr isotopic systematics of alkali-rich igneous rock fragments in Y-74442: nine fragments from Y-74442 yield the Rb-Sr age of 4429 plus or minus 54 Ma (2 sigma) for lambda(Rb-87) = 0.01402 Ga(exp -1) [8] with the initial ratio of Sr-87/Sr-86 = 0.7144 plus or minus 0.0094 (2 sigma) [9]. The Rb-Sr age of the alkali-rich fragments of Y-74442 is younger than the primary Rb-Sr age of 4541 plus or minus 14 Ma for LL-chondrite whole-rock samples [10], implying that they formed after accumulation of LL-chondrite parental bodies, although enrichment may have happened earlier. Marshall and DePaolo [11,12] demonstrated that the K-40 - Ca-40 decay system could be an important chronometer as well as a useful radiogenic tracer for studies of terrestrial rocks. Shih et al. [13,14] and more recently Simon et al. [15] determined K-Ca ages of lunar granitic rocks, and showed the application of the K-Ca chronometer for K-rich planetary materials. Since alkali-rich fragments in the LL-chondritic breccias are highly enriched in K, we can expect enhancements of radiogenic Ca-40. Here, we report preliminary results of K-Ca isotopic systematics of alkali-rich fragments in the LL-chondritic breccias, Y-74442 and Bhola.

Description: Alkali-rich igneous fragments were identified in the brecciated LL-chondrites, Kr henberg (LL5)], Bhola (LL3-6) and Yamato (Y)-74442 (LL4), and show characteristic fractionation patterns of alkaline elements. The K-Rb-Cs-rich fragments in Kr henberg, Bhola, and Y-74442 are very similar in mineralogy and petrography (olivine + pyroxene + glass), suggesting that they could have come from related precursor materials. We have undertaken Rb-Sr isotopic studies on alkali-rich fragments in Y-74442 to precisely determine their crystallization ages and the isotopic signatures of their precursor material(s).

Description: We have undertaken Rb.Sr isotopic studies on alkali-rich fragments in Bhola and Y-74442 to precisely deter-mine their crystallization ages and isotopic signatures of their precursor material(s).

Description: The ionosphere response resulting from minimum solar activity during cycle 23/24 was unusual and offered unique opportunities for investigating space weather in the near-Earth environment. We report ultra low frequency electric field signatures related to the ionospheric Alfven resonator detected by the Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite in the equatorial region. These signatures are used to constrain ionospheric empirical models and offer a new approach for monitoring ionosphere dynamics and space weather phenomena, namely aeronomy processes, Alfven wave propagation, and troposphere24 ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling mechanisms.

Description: Geochemical studies of shergottites suggest that their parental magmas reflect mixtures between at least two distinct geochemical source reservoirs, producing correlations between radiogenic isotope compositions, and trace element abundances.. These correlations have been interpreted as indicating the presence of a reduced, incompatible-element- depleted reservoir and an oxidized, incompatible-element-rich reservoir. The former is clearly a depleted mantle source, but there has been a long debate regarding the origin of the enriched reservoir. Two contrasting models have been proposed regarding the location and mixing process of the two geochemical source reservoirs: (1) assimilation of oxidized crust by mantle derived, reduced magmas, or (2) mixing of two distinct mantle reservoirs during melting. The former clearly requires the ancient martian crust to be the enriched source (crustal assimilation), whereas the latter requires a long-lived enriched mantle domain that probably originated from residual melts formed during solidification of a magma ocean (heterogeneous mantle model). This study conducts Pb isotope and U-Th-Pb concentration analyses of the olivine-phyric shergottite Tissint because U-Th-Pb isotope systematics have been intensively used as a powerful radiogenic tracer to characterize old crust/sediment components in mantle- derived, terrestrial oceanic island basalts. The U-Th-Pb analyses are applied to sequential acid leaching fractions obtained from Tissint whole-rock powder in order to search for Pb isotopic source components in Tissint magma. Here we report preliminary results of the U-Th-Pb analyses of acid leachates and a residue, and propose the possibility that Tissint would have experienced minor assimilation of old martian crust.

Description: The Cretaceous to early Paleogene (ca. 140–50 Ma) was characterized by a greenhouse baseline climate, driven by elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Hypotheses for the elevated CO2 concentrations invoke an increase in volcanic CO2 production due to higher oceanic crust production rates, higher frequency of large igneous provinces, or increases in pelagic carbonate deposition, the last leading to enhanced carbonate subduction into the mantle source regions of arc volcanoes. However, these are not the only volcanic sources of CO2 during this time interval. We show here that ocean-continent subduction zones, manifested as a global chain of continental arc volcanoes, were as much as 200% longer in the Cretaceous and early Paleogene than in the late Paleogene to present, when a cooler climate prevailed. In particular, many of these continental arcs, unlike island arcs, intersected ancient continental platform carbonates stored on the continental upper plate. We show that the greater length of Cretaceous–Paleogene continental arcs, specifically carbonate-intersecting arcs, could have increased global production of CO2 by at least 3.7–5.5 times that of the present day. This magmatically driven crustal decarbonation flux of CO2 through continental arcs exceeds that delivered by Cretaceous oceanic crust production, and was sufficient to drive Cretaceous–Paleogene greenhouse conditions. Thus, carbonate-intersecting continental arc volcanoes likely played an important role in driving greenhouse conditions in the Cretaceous–Paleogene. If so, the waning of North American and Eurasian continental arcs in the Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene, followed by a fundamental shift in western Pacific subduction zones ca. 52 Ma to an island arc–dominated regime, would have been manifested as a decline in global volcanic CO2 production, prompting a return to an icehouse baseline in the Neogene. Our analysis leads us to speculate that long-term (〉50 m.y.) greenhouse-icehouse oscillations may be linked to fluctuations between continental- and island arc–dominated states. These tectonic fluctuations may result from large-scale changes in the nature of subduction zones, changes we speculate may be tied to the assembly and dispersal of continents. Specifically, dispersal of continents may drive the leading edge of continents to override subduction zones, resulting in continental arc volcanism, whereas assembly of continents or closing of large ocean basins may be manifested as large-scale slab rollback, resulting in the development of intraoceanic volcanic arcs. We suggest that greenhouse-icehouse oscillations are a natural consequence of plate tectonics operating in the presence of continental masses, serving as a large capacitor of carbonates that can be episodically purged during global flare-ups in continental arcs. Importantly, if the global crustal carbonate reservoir has grown with time, as might be expected because platform carbonates on continents do not generally subduct, the greenhouse-driving potential of continental arcs would have been small during the Archean, but would have increased in the Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic after a significant reservoir of crustal carbonates had formed in response to the evolution of life and the growth of continents.

Description: The Cretaceous to early Paleogene (ca. 140–50 Ma) was characterized by a greenhouse baseline climate, driven by elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Hypotheses for the elevated CO2 concentrations invoke an increase in volcanic CO2 production due to higher oceanic crust production rates, higher frequency of large igneous provinces, or increases in pelagic carbonate deposition, the last leading to enhanced carbonate subduction into the mantle source regions of arc volcanoes. However, these are not the only volcanic sources of CO2 during this time interval. We show here that ocean-continent subduction zones, manifested as a global chain of continental arc volcanoes, were as much as 200% longer in the Cretaceous and early Paleogene than in the late Paleogene to present, when a cooler climate prevailed. In particular, many of these continental arcs, unlike island arcs, intersected ancient continental platform carbonates stored on the continental upper plate. We show that the greater length of Cretaceous–Paleogene continental arcs, specifically carbonate-intersecting arcs, could have increased global production of CO2 by at least 3.7–5.5 times that of the present day. This magmatically driven crustal decarbonation flux of CO2 through continental arcs exceeds that delivered by Cretaceous oceanic crust production, and was sufficient to drive Cretaceous–Paleogene greenhouse conditions. Thus, carbonate-intersecting continental arc volcanoes likely played an important role in driving greenhouse conditions in the Cretaceous–Paleogene. If so, the waning of North American and Eurasian continental arcs in the Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene, followed by a fundamental shift in western Pacific subduction zones ca. 52 Ma to an island arc–dominated regime, would have been manifested as a decline in global volcanic CO2 production, prompting a return to an icehouse baseline in the Neogene. Our analysis leads us to speculate that long-term (〉50 m.y.) greenhouse-icehouse oscillations may be linked to fluctuations between continental- and island arc–dominated states. These tectonic fluctuations may result from large-scale changes in the nature of subduction zones, changes we speculate may be tied to the assembly and dispersal of continents. Specifically, dispersal of continents may drive the leading edge of continents to override subduction zones, resulting in continental arc volcanism, whereas assembly of continents or closing of large ocean basins may be manifested as large-scale slab rollback, resulting in the development of intraoceanic volcanic arcs. We suggest that greenhouse-icehouse oscillations are a natural consequence of plate tectonics operating in the presence of continental masses, serving as a large capacitor of carbonates that can be episodically purged during global flare-ups in continental arcs. Importantly, if the global crustal carbonate reservoir has grown with time, as might be expected because platform carbonates on continents do not generally subduct, the greenhouse-driving potential of continental arcs would have been small during the Archean, but would have increased in the Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic after a significant reservoir of crustal carbonates had formed in response to the evolution of life and the growth of continents.

Description: The Cretaceous to early Paleogene (ca. 140–50 Ma) was characterized by a greenhouse baseline climate, driven by elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Hypotheses for the elevated CO2 concentrations invoke an increase in volcanic CO2 production due to higher oceanic crust production rates, higher frequency of large igneous provinces, or increases in pelagic carbonate deposition, the last leading to enhanced carbonate subduction into the mantle source regions of arc volcanoes. However, these are not the only volcanic sources of CO2 during this time interval. We show here that ocean-continent subduction zones, manifested as a global chain of continental arc volcanoes, were as much as 200% longer in the Cretaceous and early Paleogene than in the late Paleogene to present, when a cooler climate prevailed. In particular, many of these continental arcs, unlike island arcs, intersected ancient continental platform carbonates stored on the continental upper plate. We show that the greater length of Cretaceous–Paleogene continental arcs, specifically carbonate-intersecting arcs, could have increased global production of CO2 by at least 3.7–5.5 times that of the present day. This magmatically driven crustal decarbonation flux of CO2 through continental arcs exceeds that delivered by Cretaceous oceanic crust production, and was sufficient to drive Cretaceous–Paleogene greenhouse conditions. Thus, carbonate-intersecting continental arc volcanoes likely played an important role in driving greenhouse conditions in the Cretaceous–Paleogene. If so, the waning of North American and Eurasian continental arcs in the Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene, followed by a fundamental shift in western Pacific subduction zones ca. 52 Ma to an island arc–dominated regime, would have been manifested as a decline in global volcanic CO2 production, prompting a return to an icehouse baseline in the Neogene. Our analysis leads us to speculate that long-term (〉50 m.y.) greenhouse-icehouse oscillations may be linked to fluctuations between continental- and island arc–dominated states. These tectonic fluctuations may result from large-scale changes in the nature of subduction zones, changes we speculate may be tied to the assembly and dispersal of continents. Specifically, dispersal of continents may drive the leading edge of continents to override subduction zones, resulting in continental arc volcanism, whereas assembly of continents or closing of large ocean basins may be manifested as large-scale slab rollback, resulting in the development of intraoceanic volcanic arcs. We suggest that greenhouse-icehouse oscillations are a natural consequence of plate tectonics operating in the presence of continental masses, serving as a large capacitor of carbonates that can be episodically purged during global flare-ups in continental arcs. Importantly, if the global crustal carbonate reservoir has grown with time, as might be expected because platform carbonates on continents do not generally subduct, the greenhouse-driving potential of continental arcs would have been small during the Archean, but would have increased in the Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic after a significant reservoir of crustal carbonates had formed in response to the evolution of life and the growth of continents.