Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Mandy Zieger-Hofmann, Johannes Zieger, Andreas Gaertner, Katja Mende, Anja Sagawe, Helke Mocke, Kombada Mhojeni, Linda Marko, Richard Albert, Axel Gerdes, Ulf Linnemann
Summary: A conclusive correlation model for Neoproterozoic glacial units of southern Namibia was established through the analysis of multiple methods. The study revealed that the sediments in southern Namibia showed similar detrital zircon features, indicating the continuous recycling of the same material during the Neoproterozoic. Additionally, the analysis of U-Pb isotope ratios in cap carbonates provided valuable age determinations, further confirming the ages of certain formations.
EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Trygvi Bech Arting, Paulo Cesar Boggiani, Claudio Gaucher, Henrique Albuquerque Fernandes, Robert Frei
Summary: Cr isotopes recorded in iron formations have the potential to reflect the isotope signatures in ambient surface seawater. The Fe and Mn deposits in the Urucum district of Brazil are the youngest and largest Neoproterozoic sedimentary deposits of their kind. Geochemical analysis of drillcore samples shows intermittent mixing of freshwater with seawater and varying redox conditions across the Jacadigo Basin. The Cr isotope signatures in the Urucum iron formations suggest stable supply of oxidized Cr from continental sources and insignificant alteration of the authigenic Cr isotope signals by tropical weathering.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Ashley W. Provow, Dennis L. Newell, Carol M. Dehler, Alexis K. Ault, W. Adolph Yonkee, Stuart N. Thomson, Kevin H. Mahan
Summary: The study reveals that the maximum depositional age of the volcanic member of the Brown's Hole Formation in northern Utah, USA, is 613 +/- 12 million years, providing new constraints on the timing and tempo of deposition of underlying and overlying units. The results suggest a reevaluation of the origins of regional unconformities previously attributed to global glaciation events, and inform the timing of rift-related magmatism and sedimentation near the western margin of Laurentia.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Gregory J. Retallack
Summary: Snowball Earth, also known as the Cryogenian Period, refers to a time period from 717 to 635 million years ago when glaciers covered even tropical latitudes. The extreme cooling of the planet has been attributed to increased carbon sequestration by marine life, chemical weathering of volcanic rocks, and advances in life on land. The discovery of pre-Cryogenian paleosols containing a diverse eukaryotic soil microbiome suggests that glacial expansion was driven by increased carbon consumption due to evolutionary advances on land. This transition from low productivity Gypsids to high productivity Calcids, as revealed by paleosol analysis, led to accelerated silicate weathering, carbon consumption, and a decrease in CO2, ultimately resulting in Snowball Earth.
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Geology
Kirsten Kennedy, Nick Eyles
Summary: The Kingston Peak Formation in the Death Valley region of the USA is a geologically significant site, recording key events in the evolution of Neoproterozoic rift basins. Comprised mainly of tectonofacies influenced by local faulting, the formation's sedimentology and stratigraphy are controlled by faulting and earthquake activity rather than global glacial climates.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Qing Tang, Huan Cui, Feifei Zhang
Summary: The Neoproterozoic era witnessed significant changes in the Earth-life system, including geological reconfigurations, extreme climatic events, geochemical perturbations, and the rise of complex multicellular eukaryotes. This special issue presents frontier research on the potential links between geological and biological changes during this period, inspiring interdisciplinary studies for a better understanding of the Neoproterozoic Earth-life system.
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Geology
Biyun Zhang, Deshun Zheng
Summary: During the Neoproterozoic, global climate changed dramatically, leading to the discovery of glacial deposits worldwide. This study focused on investigating the Neoproterozoic Luoquan Formation in the southern margin of the North China Craton, revealing evidence of glacial meltwater deposits eroding nearby strata in a gradually warming environment. Sedimentary characteristics, glacial relics, changes in geochemical values, and the provenance age of detrital zircons all support the conclusion that the NCC deposition process occurred in the late Neoproterozoic with glacier migration from north to south.
INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGY REVIEW
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Liang Qi, Mingcai Hou, Peter A. Cawood, Xianguo Lang, Shengxian Zhu, Mingxuan Zhang
Summary: The Neoproterozoic snowball Earth hypothesis was proposed to explain a significant global climate change. However, the presence of storm deposits in the Huangdongzigou Formation of South China contradicts the idea of a complete frozen Earth during the Cryogenian period. The age of these deposits, based on U-Pb zircon data, indicates that they were formed during the middle Sturtian interval. Sedimentary structures, such as hummocky and swaley cross-stratification, suggest the presence of oscillating ice-free water flow during storm events.
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elizabeth C. Turner
Summary: The discovery of vermiform microstructure in microbial reefs dating to approximately 890 million years ago, resembling the body fossils of Phanerozoic demosponges, may represent the earliest known physical evidence of animals.
Article
Geography, Physical
Yuchong Wang, Hongwei Kuang, Yongqing Liu, Fenghua Zhao, Nan Peng, Xiaoshuai Chen, Kening Qi, Hai Liu, Zhixian Wang, Quan Zhong, Jinxin Chen
Summary: The sedimentary evolution in the northern Yangtze Craton provides important insights into the initiation of snowball Earth and the nature of Cryogenian glaciers, with a provenance from the continental magmatic arc on the South Qinling Belt.
GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Carlos V. A. Ribeiro, Marcos C. C. Sales, Armando L. S. de Oliveira, Ricardo Sallet
Summary: The Serido Belt in the northeast of Brazil is a Neoproterozoic mobile belt related to the Brasiliano/Pan-African Orogeny. The sedimentary provenance of the rocks in the Serido Belt was investigated using geochemistry, isotopes, detrital zircon ages, and trace element analyses. The rocks in the Equador Formation have a cratonic sandstone provenance, while the Jucurutu and Serido formations indicate an increase in intermediate-mafic sources. The geochemical proxies suggest brackish to marine conditions and anoxic to euxinic conditions for the Jucurutu and Serido formations.
GEOSCIENCE FRONTIERS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nassima M. Bouzid, James W. Archie, Roger A. Anderson, Jared A. Grummer, Adam D. Leache
Summary: The study reveals that the population divergence of the western fence lizard shows hierarchical structure geographically with evidence of gene flow, supporting the importance of isolation-expansion model in population history. Despite potential population divergence as they spread northward, there is evidence of gene flow among populations at the northern terminus.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Sing-Mei Tan, Soon-An Ong, Li-Ngee Ho, Yee-Shian Wong, Che Zulzikrami Azner Abidin, Tean-Peng Teoh, Kea-Lee Yap
Summary: This research investigates the effect of biodegradation of binary Acid Orange 7 (AO7) and Reactive Green 19 (RG19) on wastewater treatment and bioelectricity generation using an anti-gravity flow microbial fuel cell (AGF-MFC) system. The study evaluates the influences of initial dye concentration, substrate loading, sulphate concentration, and the application of quinones on the system's performances. The research finds that the decolourization efficiencies of AO7 are higher than RG19 in binary solutions at all tested concentrations. The addition of a higher concentration of RG19 improves the overall performances of the MFC but decreases the power density. Increasing sulphate concentration results in a high decolourization extent but reduces power generation.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Shaomin Liu, Jiating Wu, Ziyan Hu, Mengyu Jiang
Summary: This study investigates the effects of different enzymes on sludge hydrolysis efficiency and microbial community. It finds that lysozyme has the best hydrolysis effect and has the greatest impact on effluent quality. The introduction of enzymes has some influence on the microbial diversity of sludge.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Fuju Jia, Xiangtong Lei, Yongfeng Yan, Yaru Su, Hongjun Zhou, Honglian Wei, Yuan Yuan, Chao Zou, Xianwen Shi, Ceting Yang
Summary: This study investigated the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in the Dachang tin polymetallic ore field. The analysis revealed the presence of SRB fossils in the form of tubular, beaded, and coccoidal bodies comprising FeS2. These fossils were enclosed within a pyrrhotite matrix near micro-hydrothermal vents. The study also demonstrated the feasibility of using combined spectroscopic and isotopic analysis to study microbial-mediated mineral deposition.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Geology
Lola Yesares, Julian F. Menuge, Robert J. Blakeman, John H. Ashton, Adrian J. Boyce, David Coller, Drew A. Drummond, Ian Farrelly
Summary: The study identified four mineral assemblages, indicating that the Zn-Pb deposit at Tara Deep in Ireland was formed during early diagenesis, under oxygen-poor conditions influenced by low-temperature hydrothermal circulation, and was affected by movements of nearby normal faults.
ORE GEOLOGY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
G. P. Pincetti-Zuniga, L. A. Richards, L. Daniele, A. J. Boyce, D. A. Polya
Summary: The study revealed that 72% of collected samples had arsenic levels exceeding the WHO drinking water provisional guideline of 10 µg/L, impacting 44% of the studied waters used for drinking. Elevated salinity (>0.75 mS/cm) affected 80% of sampled waters according to Chilean irrigation guidelines, which were also influenced by high boron (89% > 0.75 mg/L) and arsenic (31% > 50 µg/L).
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Aileen L. Doran, Steven P. Hollis, Julian F. Menuge, Stephen J. Piercey, Adrian J. Boyce, Sean Johnson, John Guven, Oakley Turner
Summary: This study presents the first petrographic, paragenetically constrained sulfur isotope and mineral chemistry study of the Island Pod orebody at the Lisheen deposit. The results reveal distinct characteristics of the early main ore stage and the main ore stage based on sulfur isotope composition and ore textures. The variations in sulfur isotope composition and ore textures are related to the mixing and deposition processes of hydrothermal fluids, which contribute to a better understanding of the ore-forming mechanisms and evolution of Irish-type Zn-Pb deposits.
Article
Biology
Magdalena N. Georgieva, Crispin T. S. Little, Richard J. Herrington, Adrian J. Boyce, Aubrey L. Zerkle, Valeriy V. Maslennikov, Adrian G. Glover
Summary: Symbiotic relationships between animals and microbes involved in sulfur cycling are crucial for animals to thrive in deep-sea hydrothermal vent environments. The study reveals that ancient and recently mineralized vent fossils preserve potential signatures of their metabolisms in sulfur isotopes, indicating the potential for using sulfur isotopes to study fossil vent communities.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
J. Parnell, A. J. Boyce, T. Naeraa
Summary: Marble in the supracrustal rocks of the Lewisian Complex in Tiree contains chlorine-bearing amphiboles, chlorine-rich apatite, sulphur-rich scapolite, albite, and phlogopite, indicating the presence of evaporites in other metamorphosed sequences. The U-Pb ages of titanite point to a late Laxfordian age of approximately 1.6 billion years, ruling out a younger imprint of sodium metasomatism. The presence of anhydrite and isotopically heavy pyrite suggests that the marbles were deposited from seawater. Tourmaline in Lewisian Complex marbles elsewhere in the Hebrides may represent seafloor exhalative deposits. Taken together, the evidence suggests that the supracrustal marbles of the Lewisian Complex formed in an evaporative environment, similar to other Paleoproterozoic successions across the North Atlantic region.
GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Yuji Gonoi, Akira Imai, Kotaro Yonezu, Thomas Tindell, Adrian J. Boyce, Jun-ichiro Ishibashi
Summary: This study examines the hydrothermal alteration zoning of the Sanjin deposit, a major ore zone at the Hishikari gold mine, and finds that the mineralogy and formation temperature of the ore vary within the deposit. This has implications for understanding the thermal structure of epithermal gold systems and exploring for new veins in mature mining districts.
JOURNAL OF GEOCHEMICAL EXPLORATION
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Kamila G. Fernandes, Roberto P. Xavier, Carolina P. N. Moreto, Gustavo H. C. Melo, Adrian J. Boyce
Summary: The Alvo Acai Cu (Au, Mo) skarn deposit is part of poorly explored copper deposits in the western sector of the Carajas province in Brazil. It is characterized by a 2.86 Ga metasyenogranitic basement and a 2.71 Ga quartzite, with a sequence of hydrothermal alteration including calcic-sodic alteration, potassic iron alteration, silicification, prograde and retrograde skarn stages. The main stage of copper mineralization is spatially and temporally related to the retrograde skarn alteration, with various chalcopyrite-bearing mineral assemblages.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Cole A. McCormick, Hilary Corlett, Matthieu Clog, Adrian J. Boyce, Romain Tartese, Matthew Steele-MacInnis, Cathy Hollis
Summary: Structurally controlled dolomitization involves the interaction of high-pressure, high-temperature fluids with the surrounding host rock, resulting in the formation of hydrothermal dolomite bodies with specific textures. These textures are influenced by various sedimentological, tectonic, and metasomatic processes that are spatially and temporally variable. The formation of these textures is associated with dilatational fracturing, brecciation, and precipitation of saddle dolomite, with significant recrystallization occurring later. These textures provide valuable information on fluid flux and carbonate metasomatism under elevated P/T conditions, as they are closely related to faults and carbonate-hosted ore deposits.
Article
Energy & Fuels
David B. Walls, Adrian J. Boyce, David Banks, Neil M. Burnside
Summary: Stable isotopic compositions of δ18O, δ2H, and dissolved sulfate δ34S in water from abandoned and flooded coal mines were analyzed to investigate the origin and history of the water and solutes. The isotopic ratios of mine water were compared with those of unmined strata and sulfide-bearing minerals in host sedimentary rocks and local evaporite. The results indicate a meteoric origin for the coal mine waters and suggest a complex origin for the dissolved sulfate in the mine water, potentially involving processes such as evaporite dissolution, microbial sulfate reduction, and mixing with saline formation waters.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COAL GEOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Toby J. Boocock, Sami Mikhail, Adrian J. Boyce, Julie Prytulak, Paul S. Savage, Eva E. Stueken
Summary: Geochemical analyses of igneous rocks from the Hekla volcanic system in Iceland suggest that the formation of continental crust has trapped significant amounts of magmatic nitrogen over Earth's history. Identifying the sources of crustal nitrogen is important for accurately reconstructing Earth's atmospheric pressure and habitability over geologic timescales. The findings indicate that nitrogen in the continental crust is of magmatic origin and suggest that the degassing of nitrogen from Earth's interior to the atmosphere may have been previously overestimated.
Article
Geology
E. A. Heptinstall, J. Parnell, A. J. Boyce, J. W. Still
Summary: Fenitized rocks near the Great Glen Fault in Scotland contain calcite veins with mineral inclusions, including rare earth vanadate wakefieldite, sulfur-rich monazite, scandium-rich ilmenite, and manganese oxides rich in barium and lead. The presence of these phases, along with the carbon isotope composition and high levels of manganese and strontium, suggests that Scotland's northwestern region was influenced by carbonatite-related fluids during the Caledonian Orogeny.
SCOTTISH JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geology
D. B. Walls, D. Banks, A. J. Boyce, D. H. Townsend, N. M. Burnside
Summary: The potential of mine water geothermal energy for decarbonizing heating and cooling in the UK has generated national interest and the development of new projects. This study used ground investigation techniques coupled with mine water geothermal exploration to assess ground stability and seasonal hydrogeology and geochemistry of mine water. Drilling operations in Scotland encountered varying conditions of mined coal seams, reflecting the different mining techniques used historically. It was found that accessing deeper unworked seams can save time and resources spent on grouting casing through worked seams. The study also monitored changes in chemical composition and water levels over a year, finding seasonal variations in mine water heads and discharge flow rates, with increased pyrite oxidation during lower water levels.
SCOTTISH JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Paolo Fulignati, Adrian J. Boyce
Summary: This study provides the first calculated values of oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of the brines from the peripheral margin of the active magma chamber that fed the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. The exsolved fluids showed a constant δ^18O composition and variable δD composition, with a general decrease in δD while δ^18O remained nearly constant. The progressive fluid exsolution at the upper peripheral parts of the magma chamber may explain this isotopic path. The evaluation of the stable isotope composition of the fluids exsolved from the AD 79 magma chamber is crucial for the monitoring and interpretation of the volcano's geochemical activity.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Veronica Bouhier, Marta Franchini, Fernando Tornos, Ana L. Rainoldi, Patricia Patrier, Daniel Beaufort, Adrian J. Boyce, Warren Pratt, Agnes Impiccini
Summary: Loma Galena is a polymetallic epithermal deposit located in the Canadon Asfalto continental foreland basin in northern Patagonia, Argentina. The mineralization occurs in organic-rich sedimentary rocks and is associated with faults, volcanic rocks, and sedimentary rocks. The earliest hydrothermal minerals are calcite and siderite veins. Subsequent mineralizing events led to the deposition of various ore minerals such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena. The unique sublacustrine anoxic environment of Loma Galena contributed to the efficient deposition and preservation of the Ag-bearing sulfides.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Joseph G. T. Armstrong, John Parnell, Adrian J. Boyce
Summary: The Paleoproterozoic schists of the Leverburgh Belt and the Neoproterozoic carbonaceous metasediments of the Dalradian Supergroup were deposited during significant periods of black shale deposition. Graphite-bearing mineralised plutons formed during orogenic events in these metasedimentary rocks. Carbon assimilation during magmatic pluton emplacement is a recognized mechanism in the formation of metal and semi-metal-enriched deposits. Carbon and sulfur isotope analyses revealed that crustal assimilation of the Paleoproterozoic host rocks occurred during magmatic emplacement and provided the source of carbon and sulfur for mineralisation of the plutons. Trace element enrichments were observed in the South Harris plutonic lithologies, indicating mobilisation and enrichment during assimilation of the schists.
