High-temperature fracturing and subsequent grain-size-sensitive creep in lower crustal gabbros:Evidence for coseismic loading followed by creep during decaying stress in the lower crust?

The mechanism of shear zone formation in lower crustal, relatively “dry” rocks is still poorly understood. We have studied the high-temperature deformation of the Hasvik gabbro (northern Norway) which commences by fracturing. The 10–20 μm wide fractures show little displacement. The fine-grained plagioclase and orthopyroxene in the fractures lack a crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) or a systematic crystallographic orientation with respect to the host grains. Fractures grade into narrow shear zones, which are composed of fine (10–20 μm), equant grains of recrystallized plagioclase, amphibole, and pyroxene. Recrystallized plagioclase and pyroxene have compositions different from the magmatic grains, suggesting that they have formed by nucleation and growth. Based on conventional plagioclase-amphibole thermobarometry, the shear zones have formed at temperatures and pressures of 700–750°C and 0.5–0.6 GPa. The observed primary minerals cut by fractures suggest high-temperature fracturing in the absence of high pore pressures, which implies a high strength of the lower crustal gabbros and high stresses at fracturing. The shear zones are characterized by the lack of CPO and a small grain size, suggesting that the mechanism of deformation of the fine-grained plagioclase and orthopyroxene has been grain boundary sliding accommodated by diffusive mass transfer. The amphibole grains have strong CPOs, which most likely result from oriented growth and/or rigid body rotations during deformation. The process that initiated the fracturing and subsequent viscous creep in the Hasvik gabbro may have resulted from a process of coseismic loading followed by creep during decaying stress in the lower crust

CARB-ES-19 Multicenter Study of Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli From All Spanish Provinces Reveals Interregional Spread of High-Risk Clones Such as ST307/OXA-48 and ST512/KPC-3

ObjectivesCARB-ES-19 is a comprehensive, multicenter, nationwide study integrating whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in the surveillance of carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (CP-Kpn) and E. coli (CP-Eco) to determine their incidence, geographical distribution, phylogeny, and resistance mechanisms in Spain.MethodsIn total, 71 hospitals, representing all 50 Spanish provinces, collected the first 10 isolates per hospital (February to May 2019); CPE isolates were first identified according to EUCAST (meropenem MIC > 0.12 mg/L with immunochromatography, colorimetric tests, carbapenem inactivation, or carbapenem hydrolysis with MALDI-TOF). Prevalence and incidence were calculated according to population denominators. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the microdilution method (EUCAST). All 403 isolates collected were sequenced for high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing, core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST), and resistome analysis.ResultsIn total, 377 (93.5%) CP-Kpn and 26 (6.5%) CP-Eco isolates were collected from 62 (87.3%) hospitals in 46 (92%) provinces. CP-Kpn was more prevalent in the blood (5.8%, 50/853) than in the urine (1.4%, 201/14,464). The cumulative incidence for both CP-Kpn and CP-Eco was 0.05 per 100 admitted patients. The main carbapenemase genes identified in CP-Kpn were blaOXA–48 (263/377), blaKPC–3 (62/377), blaVIM–1 (28/377), and blaNDM–1 (12/377). All isolates were susceptible to at least two antibiotics. Interregional dissemination of eight high-risk CP-Kpn clones was detected, mainly ST307/OXA-48 (16.4%), ST11/OXA-48 (16.4%), and ST512-ST258/KPC (13.8%). ST512/KPC and ST15/OXA-48 were the most frequent bacteremia-causative clones. The average number of acquired resistance genes was higher in CP-Kpn (7.9) than in CP-Eco (5.5).ConclusionThis study serves as a first step toward WGS integration in the surveillance of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales in Spain. We detected important epidemiological changes, including increased CP-Kpn and CP-Eco prevalence and incidence compared to previous studies, wide interregional dissemination, and increased dissemination of high-risk clones, such as ST307/OXA-48 and ST512/KPC-3

Development of lattice preferred orientation in clinoamphiboles deformed under low-pressure metamorphic conditions. A SEM/EBSD study of metabasites from the Aracena metamorphic belt (SW Spain)

The mechanical properties of the lower continental crust are intimately related to the rheology of calcic clinoamphibole. Naturally deformed clinoamphibole typically shows brittle behaviour under a wide range of deformation conditions, whereas crystal plasticity is rarely observed. In this study, the microfabric of clinoamphiboles from metabasites deformed under low-pressure/medium-to-high temperature metamorphic conditions is presented. Amphiboles from all samples have developed LPO that can be attributed to different deformation mechanisms depending on deformation temperature, fluid content, structure and phase-strength contrasts. Rigid body rotation of amphibole prisms within a weaker plagioclase matrix corresponds to metabasites deformed under medium deformation temperatures that show a weak layer structure and a high phase strength-contrast between plagioclase and clinoamphibole. Lower temperatures and the presence of fluids mean that one of the studied rocks was affected also by dissolution-precipitation creep and cataclastic flow. In the final sample, dislocation creep was accommodated by recovery and subgrain rotation dynamic recrystallization in monominerallic hornblende layers at higher temperatures, which could be representative of the rheology of amphiboles in a lower continental crust at high temperature conditions.Ministerio de Ciencia y TecnologíaUK Natural Environment Research CouncilDepto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu