The Forum of European Geological Surveys Geochemistry Task Group 1994-1996 inventory

The Forum of European Geological Surveys (FOREGS) includes representatives from 33 European countries and is responsible for co-ordinating Geological Survey activities in Europe. The FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group was established in 1994 to develop a strategy for the preparation of European geochemical maps following the recommendations of the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) Project 259 ‘International Geochemical Mapping’ (now the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) /International Association of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry (IAGC) Working Group on Global Geochemical Baselines). The FOREGS geochemistry programme is aimed at preparing a standardised European geochemical baseline to IGCP-259 standards. The principal aims of this dataset will be for environmental purposes, as a baseline for the assessment of the extent and distribution of contaminated land in the context of variations in the natural geochemical background, but it will also have applications in resource assessment and for the development of policy for the sustainable management of metalliferous mineral and other resources. The first phase of the programme was the compilation of an inventory of geochemical data based on the results of a questionnaire completed by Geological Surveys and related organisations throughout the FOREGS community. The results show that the sample types which have been used most extensively are stream sediment (26% coverage), surface water (19% coverage) and soil (11% coverage). Stream sediments have been collected using a narrow range of mesh sizes (< 150–< 200 μm), but soil samples have been collected according to two different conventions: some surveys used a similar mesh size range to that used for stream sediments while others employed the < 1000 or < 2000 μm fractions traditionally used by soil surveys. Sample densities range from 1 sample per 0.5 km2 to 1 per 3500 km2. Various analytical methods have been used, but most of the available data have been calibrated using international reference materials, and data for the most important of the potentially harmful elements (PHEs) are available for most datasets. Systematic radiometric data are available for only a small proportion of Europe, a situation which compares very unfavourably with that in Australia, North America, the former Soviet Union and many developing countries. Recommendations are made for increasing the compatibility of geochemical methods between national geochemical surveys as a basis for the preparation of a series of European geochemical maps. The next stage of the FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group will be the collection of the Global Reference Network of samples against which to standardise national datasets according to the methods recommended in the final report of the IGCP 259 programme

The FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group 1994-1996

The Forum of European Geological Surveys (FOREGS) includes geological surveys from 33 European countries and is responsible for co-ordinating geological survey activities in Europe. The FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group was established in 1994 as part of the programme, to supervise European geochemical mapping policy following the recommendations of IGCP Project 259 ‘International Geochemical Mapping’. The task group comprises representatives from five countries charged initially with the compilation of an inventory of geochemical data within FOREGS countries

The Interface of Geophysical and Geochemical Survey: Towards an Understanding of Geophysical Data Quality in Challenging Scottish Archaeological Sites

Geophysical and geochemical techniques have been widely applied to detect and investigate archaeological sites. Integrated geophysical survey plays a major role in the discovery and exploration of archaeological sites. Geochemical survey also provides valuable information on the location of sites, but it also has the potential of determining source and spatial extent of past human activities and in investigating the use of space in archaeological sites. Both approaches have tended to operate independently of each other but their interface can be of great help in order to understand the capacities and limits in detection of different near-surface geophysical techniques for archaeological prospection. This poster will introduce an on-going NERC PhD research project which explores this interface by characterising the geophysical response of common archaeological features in terms of chemical signatures and soil properties to comprehend why that geophysical response varies in quality. This should allow a more confident prediction of the most appropriate survey strategy to be used at archaeological sites lying in challenging soil environments. The research is focussed on archaeological sites in Scotland which lie in contrasting drift soils and have existing data records (geophysical and/or geochemical surveys, aerial photography, excavation records). Integrated geophysical surveys and geochemical sampling are currently being undertaken. The different geophysical responses will be determined with respect to soil moisture content, texture, conductivity and geochemical composition to evaluate the performance of the different geophysical techniques used

Geochemical analysis of Cenozoic fossil conifers at high latitudes: Implications for molecular preservation and environmental change

Fossil materials record ancient life and their adapted environment. Arctic plant fossils are critical for our understanding of the Earth’s paleoenvironment when high latitudes were under ice-free conditions. All Arctic plant fossils in this research are conifers, plants conducive for morphological and molecular study because of their incredible genetic stability. Miocene (15 million year old) and Pliocene (5 million year old) conifer leaves were collected from Banks Island, Canada (Williams et al., 2008). Samples were analyzed and compared with Paleocene (60 million year old) and Eocene (45 million year old) samples from Axel Heiberg Island, Canada and with modern equivalent species from Washington D.C., USA (William et al., 2008). This paper has three main sample analyses. First, Pyrolysis-Mass Spectrometry-Gas Chromatography technology was used to detect organic volatile compounds. The amounts and types of organic volatile compounds provide further insights into the molecular preservation of the Miocene and Pliocene fossilized samples. Molecular preservation from this research was compared to previous research that used Scanning Electron Microscope observations of Paleocene and Eocene transverse sections to indicate extraordinary morphological preservation (Yang et al., 2005; Yang et al., 2007). Second, Miocene and Pliocene bulk peat were cross-referenced with known species in the region to reconstruct Arctic environmental changes between 5 million and 15 million years ago. Third, the ratios of three stable compounds were analyzed as biomarkers, essentially benchmarks for plant fossil preservation. However, biomarkers were inconclusive because of complications including age, species type, and environmental conditions. Overall, our analyses provide the first assessments of molecular preservation for these rare Arctic fossils which offer unique material for further paleoclimate analysis

Geophysical and geochemical constraints on geoneutrino fluxes from Earth's mantle

Knowledge of the amount and distribution of radiogenic heating in the mantle is crucial for understanding the dynamics of the Earth, including its thermal evolution, the style and planform of mantle convection, and the energetics of the core. Although the flux of heat from the surface of the planet is robustly estimated, the contributions of radiogenic heating and secular cooling remain poorly defined. Constraining the amount of heat-producing elements in the Earth will provide clues to understanding nebula condensation and planetary formation processes in early Solar System. Mantle radioactivity supplies power for mantle convection and plate tectonics, but estimates of mantle radiogenic heat production vary by a factor of more than 20. Recent experimental results demonstrate the potential for direct assessment of mantle radioactivity through observations of geoneutrinos, which are emitted by naturally occurring radionuclides. Predictions of the geoneutrino signal from the mantle exist for several established estimates of mantle composition. Here we present novel analyses, illustrating surface variations of the mantle geoneutrino signal for models of the deep mantle structure, including those based on seismic tomography. These variations have measurable differences for some models, allowing new and meaningful constraints on the dynamics of the planet. An ocean based geoneutrino detector deployed at several strategic locations will be able to discriminate between competing compositional models of the bulk silicate Earth.Comment: 34 pages, 6 tables, 5 figures, 2 supplementary figures; revised version submitted to Earth Planet. Sci. Let

Geochemical reactivity of subsurface sediments as potential buffer to anthropogenic inputs: a strategy for regional characterization in the Netherlands

Geochemical reactivity of subsurface sediments as potential buffer to anthropogenic inputs: a strategy for regional characterization in the Netherland

Source and dynamics of a volcanic caldera unrest : Campi Flegrei, 1983–84

Acknowledgements We thank Tiziana Vanorio, Antonella Amoruso, Luca Crescentini, Nicholas Rawlinson, Yasuko Takei, and David Cornwell for the valuable suggestions regarding the methodology and interpretation. Reviews from Tim Greenfield and two anonymous reviewers helped improving both clarity of the manuscript and interpretation. The Royal Society of Edinburgh - Accademia dei Lincei Bilateral Agreement, the Santander Mobility Award of the College of Physical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, and the TIDES EU COST action granted L.D.S. travel grants for the realisation of this study. E.D.P. has been supported by the EPHESTO and KNOWAVES projects, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Peer reviewedPublisher PD