Uso del análisis digital de imágenes en las medidas de algunas características de las palinofacies de

Se  estudiaron palinofacies de  carbones de la  mina  El Bloque, del manto de la Formación Amagá,  provenientes del  terciario inferior. La preparación  de las muestras fue adaptada de  la palinología,  la observación se realizó en microscopia de luz blanca y fluorescente. El método de análisis de imagen consistió en dos  etapas: La primer etapa,  midió la fluorescencia  total  de las palinofacies,  obtenida de una imagen a color  segmentada con el método Otsu ,de la  que se extrajo, el  índice de color Verde/Rojo para cada ply del manto de carbón. Los resultados de la fluorescencia fueron comparados contra los datos obtenidos de la pirólisis Rock-Eval (S1/TOC y HI) y el porcentaje de liptinitas. La segunda etapa  evaluó algunos factores de forma y generó  las curvas de  textura morfológica, para las imágenes segmentadas, de las  dos  especies de polen estudiadas: Cyclusphaera y Spirosyncolpites, Se encontró que la intensidad de fluorescencia total,   está relacionada con los datos  de la pirólisis  Rock- Eval(S1/TOC, HI). Los factores de forma, las curvas de textura y la intensidad de fluorescencia son elementos que podrían, ser usados en la discriminación, de algunos tipos de materia orgánica presentes en las placas de kerógenos analizadas..  ABSTRACT Coal samples from a seam in the lower Tertiary Amagá Formation, “El Bloque” mine, Colombia, were used for analyzing palynofacies. Palynofacies residues obtained through the adapting palynological preparation method, were studied in white and fluorescent light.  The proposed method of image analysis consists of two steps: (1) the total fluorescence of the palynofacies was measured with a color image and binary image as a result of Otsu segmentation. A green and red (G/R) color index was measured and each level of the coal seam the G/R index ratio was compared to the results of Rock-Eval data (S1/TOC and HI) and the percentage of liptinites. (2) Some shape factors (roundness, fullness ratio, aspect ratio, and elongation) and textural curves were derived using the distance function of mathematical morphology; these were measured in two pollen species, Cyclusphaera and Spirosyncolpites, to test the techniques.  The results of these tests have shown that fluorescence intensity measured with image analysis is related to coal petrography and pyrolysis Rock-Eval data (S1/TOC, HI). The shape factors, textural curves, and fluorescence intensity together are elements that could be used in discriminating some types of organic matter in kerogen slide

Automated image analysis of lung branching morphogenesis from microscopic images of fetal rat explants

Article ID 820214Background. Regulating mechanisms of branching morphogenesis of fetal lung rat explants have been an essential tool for molecular research. This work presents a new methodology to accurately quantify the epithelial, outer contour, and peripheral airway buds of lung explants during cellular development from microscopic images. Methods. The outer contour was defined using an adaptive and multiscale threshold algorithm whose level was automatically calculated based on an entropy maximization criterion. The inner lung epithelium was defined by a clustering procedure that groups small image regions according to the minimum description length principle and local statistical properties. Finally, the number of peripheral buds was counted as the skeleton branched ends from a skeletonized image of the lung inner epithelia. Results. The time for lung branching morphometric analysis was reduced in 98% in contrast to the manual method. Best results were obtained in the first two days of cellular development, with lesser standard deviations. Nonsignificant differences were found between the automatic and manual results in all culture days. Conclusions. The proposed method introduces a series of advantages related to its intuitive use and accuracy, making the technique suitable to images with different lighting characteristics and allowing a reliable comparison between different researchers.The authors acknowledge Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal, for the fellowship with the references: SFRH/BD/74276/2010 and SFRH/BPD/46851/2008

The palynology, palynofacies and palaeoenvironment of the early cretaceous Weald clay of Southeast England

This study attempts to show that cluster groupings of rock samples based on spore/pollen content in the Weald Clay represent particular palaeoenvironments

Relationships and fire feedbacks in the Earth system over medium and long timescales in the deep past

Fire is a natural process that has existed on our planet for more than ~350 million years, and is a process that continues to influence our everyday lives. On Earth, a relationship exists between the process of combustion and the natural functioning of the Earth system. Here, the process of combustion has been implicated in playing an essential role for life on Earth, where natural Earth system processes have been shown to influence ignition probability, fire spread and fire behaviour, and where fire can provide a variety of feedbacks, to the Earth system over different timescales. Over medium timescales of decades to hundreds of thousands of years, the likelihood and behaviour of fires are controlled by regional climate changes and vegetation type, whilst the occurrence of fire can play a crucial role in influencing biome persistence and development. Over long timescales (hundreds of thousands to multi-million year), the components influencing the probability of fire and fire behaviour not only involve processes occurring over local and regional spatial scales, and over short and medium timescales, but also long term processes occurring globally, such as changes in atmospheric oxygen concentration and the evolution of vegetation. Across these timescales in Earth’s past, combustion has been shown to impact global ecosystems, climate and the carbon cycle by generating feedbacks that influence Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. However, it is clear that our understanding of the role that fire plays in the Earth system, although improving is still developing. This thesis provides an analysis of these Earth system - fire relationships and feedbacks across medium and long timescales in deep time, in order to understand the role that fire may have played and what the record of fire can tell us about the functioning and re-equilibrating of the Earth system during and after significant carbon-cycle perturbation events occurring in Earth’s deep past. The results presented in this thesis contribute what is believed to be the first fossil evidence that rising atmospheric oxygen and fire feedbacks may have aided in the termination of a significant carbon-cycle perturbation event, termed the ‘Toarcian oceanic anoxic event’ that occurred ~183 million years ago during the Jurassic period, and the return of the Earth system towards ‘background functioning’. This thesis also provides an analysis of the record of wildfire in the form of fossil charcoal across the initiation of an anoxic event that occurred ~93 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. The results illustrate that CO2 - climate driven changes in wildfire activity can be observed across medium timescales even during times of significant carbon-cycle perturbations, and modelled high atmospheric oxygen concentrations. These results illustrate how hypothesized changes in the hydrological cycle, and likely moisture content of fuel, appear to be the dominant control on wildfire activity during this period. Finally, this thesis provides an analysis of charcoal abundance variations occurring across natural, orbitally forced cycles, termed the Milankovitch cycles. The results presented illustrate that natural variations in charcoal abundance are possible over intermediate timescales within the geological record. This thesis therefore illustrates a need to take into consideration and incorporate ‘natural background’ fluctuations in fire activity occurring over medium timescales, when analysing and predicting past and future climate change patterns.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for funding this work through a studenship gran

Silurian black shales from Sousel-Barrancos Metallogenic Belt (Ossa-Morena Zone, Portugal): Characterization and interplay to Cu deposits

Black shales are commonly spatially associated with metal-rich deposits, wherein organic matter in these rocks may condition or influence the processes related with the concentration of metals and formation of ore deposits. In the Ossa-Morena Zone (South of Portugal), namely in the Sousel-Barrancos metallogenic belt, several Cu mineralized veins occurs, being generally hosted in Silurian metasedimentary units mainly composed of black and grey shales, with interbedded lyddites and black quartzites. This research aims to contribute to the study of the association between those Silurian black shales and the Cu ore deposition in the Sousel-Barrancos metallogenic belt. The petrographic, geochemical and mineralogical analysis of black shales was performed to characterize the organic and inorganic fractions, to investigate elements concentration and its mode of occurrence. The data allow to identify the spatial pattern of thermal maturation of these black shales related to the variability of metamorphic processes, and the studied samples collected in drill cores from Miguel Vacas deposit also allow to identify an irregular pattern of maturation associated to the pathway of hydrothermal fluids. A significant Cu enrichment in black shales in the supergene enrichment domains were identified and data seems to indicate that Cu concentration is not directly related with organic carbon content, probably indicating a distinct source for Cu content. The mobilization of hydrothermal fluids, possibly of magmatic source, contributed to the discrepant maturation of organic matter in black shales

Impact of Etna’s volcanic emission on major ions and trace elements composition of the atmospheric deposition

Mt. Etna, on the eastern coast of Sicily (Italy), is one of the most active volcanoes on the planet and it is widely recognized as a big source of volcanic gases (e.g., CO2 and SO2), halogens, and a lot of trace elements, to the atmosphere in the Mediterranean region. Especially during eruptive periods, Etna’s emissions can be dispersed over long distances and cover wide areas. A group of trace elements has been recently brought to attention for their possible environmental and human health impacts, the Technology-critical elements. The current knowledge about their geochemical cycles is still scarce, nevertheless, recent studies (Brugnone et al., 2020) evidenced a contribution from the volcanic activity for some of them (Te, Tl, and REE). In 2021, in the framework of the research project “Pianeta Dinamico”, by INGV, a network of 10 bulk collectors was implemented to collect, monthly, atmospheric deposition samples. Four of these collectors are located on the flanks of Mt. Etna, other two are in the urban area of Catania and three are in the industrial area of Priolo, all most of the time downwind of the main craters. The last one, close to Cesarò (Nebrodi Regional Park), represents the regional background. The research aims to produce a database on major ions and trace element compositions of the bulk deposition and here we report the values of the main physical-chemical parameters and the deposition fluxes of major ions and trace elements from the first year of research. The pH ranged from 3.1 to 7.7, with a mean value of 5.6, in samples from the Etna area, while it ranged between 5.2 and 7.6, with a mean value of 6.4, in samples from the other study areas. The EC showed values ranging from 5 to 1032 μS cm-1, with a mean value of 65 μS cm-1. The most abundant ions were Cl- and SO42- for anions, Na+ and Ca+ for cations, whose mean deposition fluxes, considering all sampling sites, were 16.6, 6.8, 8.4, and 6.0 mg m-2 d, respectively. The highest deposition fluxes of volcanic refractory elements, such as Al, Fe, and Ti, were measured in the Etna’s sites, with mean values of 948, 464, and 34.3 μg m-2 d-1, respectively, higher than those detected in the other sampling sites, further away from the volcanic source (26.2, 12.4, 0.5 μg m-2 d-1, respectively). The same trend was also observed for volatile elements of prevailing volcanic origin, such as Tl (0.49 μg m-2 d-1), Te (0.07 μg m-2 d-1), As (0.95 μg m-2 d-1), Se (1.92 μg m-2 d-1), and Cd (0.39 μg m-2 d-1). Our preliminary results show that, close to a volcanic area, volcanic emissions must be considered among the major contributors of ions and trace elements to the atmosphere. Their deposition may significantly impact the pedosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and directly or indirectly human health

EVOLUTION OF THE SUBCONTINENTAL LITHOSPHERE DURING MESOZOIC TETHYAN RIFTING: CONSTRAINTS FROM THE EXTERNAL LIGURIAN MANTLE SECTION (NORTHERN APENNINE, ITALY)

Our study is focussed on mantle bodies from the External Ligurian ophiolites, within the Monte Gavi and Monte Sant'Agostino areas. Here, two distinct pyroxenite-bearing mantle sections were recognized, mainly based on their plagioclase-facies evolution. The Monte Gavi mantle section is nearly undeformed and records reactive melt infiltration under plagioclase-facies conditions. This process involved both peridotites (clinopyroxene-poor lherzolites) and enclosed spinel pyroxenite layers, and occurred at 0.7–0.8 GPa. In the Monte Gavi peridotites and pyroxenites, the spinel-facies clinopyroxene was replaced by Ca-rich plagioclase and new orthopyroxene, typically associated with secondary clinopyroxene. The reactive melt migration caused increase of TiO2 contents in relict clinopyroxene and spinel, with the latter also recording a Cr2O3 increase. In the Monte Gavi peridotites and pyroxenites, geothermometers based on slowly diffusing elements (REE and Y) record high temperature conditions (1200-1250 °C) related to the melt infiltration event, followed by subsolidus cooling until ca. 900°C. The Monte Sant'Agostino mantle section is characterized by widespread ductile shearing with no evidence of melt infiltration. The deformation recorded by the Monte Sant'Agostino peridotites (clinopyroxene-rich lherzolites) occurred at 750–800 °C and 0.3–0.6 GPa, leading to protomylonitic to ultramylonitic textures with extreme grain size reduction (10–50 μm). Compared to the peridotites, the enclosed pyroxenite layers gave higher temperature-pressure estimates for the plagioclase-facies re-equilibration (870–930 °C and 0.8–0.9 GPa). We propose that the earlier plagioclase crystallization in the pyroxenites enhanced strain localization and formation of mylonite shear zones in the entire mantle section. We subdivide the subcontinental mantle section from the External Ligurian ophiolites into three distinct domains, developed in response to the rifting evolution that ultimately formed a Middle Jurassic ocean-continent transition: (1) a spinel tectonite domain, characterized by subsolidus static formation of plagioclase, i.e. the Suvero mantle section (Hidas et al., 2020), (2) a plagioclase mylonite domain experiencing melt-absent deformation and (3) a nearly undeformed domain that underwent reactive melt infiltration under plagioclase-facies conditions, exemplified by the the Monte Sant'Agostino and the Monte Gavi mantle sections, respectively. We relate mantle domains (1) and (2) to a rifting-driven uplift in the late Triassic accommodated by large-scale shear zones consisting of anhydrous plagioclase mylonites. Hidas K., Borghini G., Tommasi A., Zanetti A. & Rampone E. 2021. Interplay between melt infiltration and deformation in the deep lithospheric mantle (External Liguride ophiolite, North Italy). Lithos 380-381, 105855