Zirconolite, zircon and monazite-(Ce) U-Th-Pb age constraints on the emplacement, deformation and alteration history of the Cummins Range Carbonatite Complex, Halls Creek Orogen, Kimberley region, Western Australia

In situ SHRIMP U-Pb dating of zirconolite in clinopyroxenite from the Cummins Range Carbonatite Complex, situated in the southern Halls Creek Orogen, Kimberley region, Western Australia, has provided a reliable 207Pb/206Pb age of emplacement of 1009 ± 16 Ma. Variably metamict and recrystallised zircons from co-magmatic carbonatites, including a megacryst ~1.5 cm long, gave a range of ages from ~1043–998 Ma, reflecting partial isotopic resetting during post-emplacement deformation and alteration. Monazite-(Ce) in a strongly foliated dolomite carbonatite produced U-Th-Pb dates ranging from ~900–590 Ma. Although the monazite-(Ce) data cannot give any definitive ages, they clearly reflect a long history of hydrothermal alteration/recrystallisation, over at least 300 million years. This is consistent with the apparent resetting of the Rb-Sr and K-Ar isotopic systems by a post-emplacement thermal event at ~900 Ma during the intracratonic Yampi Orogeny. The emplacement of the Cummins Range Carbonatite Complex probably resulted from the reactivation of a deep crustal structure within the Halls Creek Orogen during the amalgamation of Proterozoic Australia with Rodinia over the period ~1000–950 Ma. This may have allowed an alkaline carbonated silicate magma that was parental to the Cummins Range carbonatites, and generated by redox and/or decompression partial melting of the asthenospheric mantle, to ascend from the base of the continental lithosphere along the lithospheric discontinuity constituted by the southern edge of the Halls Creek Orogen. There is no evidence of a link between the emplacement of the Cummins Range Carbonatite Complex and mafic large igneous province magmatism indicative of mantle plume activity. Rather, patterns of Proterozoic alkaline magmatism in the Kimberley Craton may have been controlled by changing plate motions during the Nuna–Rodinia supercontinent cycles (~1200–800 Ma)

Interferon regulatory factor-1 protects from fatal neurotropic infection with vesicular stomatitis virus by specific inhibition of viral replication in neurons.

The innate immune system protects cells against invading viral pathogens by the auto- and paracrine action of type I interferon (IFN). In addition, the interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-1 can induce alternative intrinsic antiviral responses. Although both, type I IFN and IRF-1 mediate their antiviral action by inducing overlapping subsets of IFN stimulated genes, the functional role of this alternative antiviral action of IRF-1 in context of viral infections in vivo remains unknown. Here, we report that IRF-1 is essential to counteract the neuropathology of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). IFN- and IRF-1-dependent antiviral responses act sequentially to create a layered antiviral protection program against VSV infections. Upon intranasal infection, VSV is cleared in the presence or absence of IRF-1 in peripheral organs, but IRF-1-/- mice continue to propagate the virus in the brain and succumb. Although rapid IFN induction leads to a decline in VSV titers early on, viral replication is re-enforced in the brains of IRF-1-/- mice. While IFN provides short-term protection, IRF-1 is induced with delayed kinetics and controls viral replication at later stages of infection. IRF-1 has no influence on viral entry but inhibits viral replication in neurons and viral spread through the CNS, which leads to fatal inflammatory responses in the CNS. These data support a temporal, non-redundant antiviral function of type I IFN and IRF-1, the latter playing a crucial role in late time points of VSV infection in the brain

Integration of fission track thermochronology with other geochronologic methods on single crystals

Fission-track (FT) thermochronology can be integrated with the U–Pb and (U–Th)/He dating methods. All three radiometric dating methods can be applied to single crystals (hereafter referred to as “triple-dating”), allowing more complete and more precise thermal histories to be constrained from single grains. Such an approach is useful across a myriad of geological applications. Triple-dating has been successfully applied to zircon and apatite. However, other U-bearing minerals such as titanite and monazite, which are routinely dated by single methods, are also candidates for this approach. Several analytical procedures can be used to generate U–Pb—FT—(U–Th)/He age triples on single grains. The procedure introduced here combines FT dating by LA-ICPMS and in situ (U–Th)/He dating approach, whereby the U–Pb age is obtained as a byproduct of U–Th analysis by LA-ICPMS. In this case, U–Pb, trace element and REE data can be collected simultaneously and used as annealing kinetics parameter or as provenance and petrogenetic indicators. This novel procedure avoids time-consuming irradiation in a nuclear reactor, reduces multiple sample handling steps and allows high sample throughput (predictably on the order of 100 triple-dated crystals in 2 weeks). These attributes and the increasing number of facilities capable of conducting triple-dating indicate that this approach may become more routine in the near future