The nanoSIMS as a tool to study zonation around/in melt inclusions

Melt inclusions preserve geochemical records of magmatic processes and can provide windows into melt composition prior to near-surface fractionation processes such as degassing, crystal fractionation, and mixing that can influence the compositions of erupted magmas. The compositions of melt inclusions are usually measured near their centers using in-situ analytical techniques such as electron microprobe, ion probe, or LA-ICPMS. However, melt inclusions can experience post-entrapment modifications through crystallization or exchange with the host mineral or the outside melt via diffusion through the host mineral. For example, water loss (or gain) can occur by diffusion of H-bearing species through the host mineral toward (or from) the enclosing melt. Zonation in melt inclusions and their host minerals provide information on such post-entrapment modifications. We present a new approach to the study of such zonation using the nanoSIMS Cameca 50L high-resolution ion microprobe. Our data document mechanisms of chemical evolution of melt inclusion after entrapment and can constrain the nature and timescales of syn-eruptive processes

Para-infectious brain injury in COVID-19 persists at follow-up despite attenuated cytokine and autoantibody responses

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1–11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common in COVID-19 than controls and some (including against MYL7, UCH-L1, and GRIN3B) are more frequent with altered consciousness. Additionally, convalescent participants with neurological complications show elevated GFAP and NfL, unrelated to attenuated systemic inflammatory mediators and to autoantibody responses. Overall, neurological complications of COVID-19 are associated with evidence of neuroglial injury in both acute and late disease and these correlate with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses acutely

Solubility and Diffusivity of Water in Lunar Basalt, and Chemical Zonation in Olivine-Hosted Melt Inclusions

I report the solubility and diffusivity of water in lunar basalt and an iron-free basaltic analogue at 1 atm and 1350 °C. Such parameters are critical for understanding the degassing histories of lunar pyroclastic glasses. Solubility experiments have been conducted over a range of fO2 conditions from three log units below to five log units above the iron-wüstite buffer (IW) and over a range of pH2/pH2O from 0.03 to 24. Quenched experimental glasses were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS) and were found to contain up to ~420 ppm water. Results demonstrate that, under the conditions of our experiments: (1) hydroxyl is the only H-bearing species detected by FTIR; (2) the solubility of water is proportional to the square root of pH2O in the furnace atmosphere and is independent of fO2 and pH2/pH2O; (3) the solubility of water is very similar in both melt compositions; (4) the concentration of H2 in our iron-free experiments is &#60;3 ppm, even at oxygen fugacities as low as IW-2.3 and pH2/pH2O as high as 24; and (5) SIMS analyses of water in iron-rich glasses equilibrated under variable fO2 conditions can be strongly influenced by matrix effects, even when the concentrations of water in the glasses are low. Our results can be used to constrain the entrapment pressure of the lunar melt inclusions of Hauri et al. (2011). Diffusion experiments were conducted over a range of fO2 conditions from IW-2.2 to IW+6.7 and over a range of pH2/pH2O from nominally zero to ~10. The water concentrations measured in our quenched experimental glasses by SIMS and FTIR vary from a few ppm to ~430 ppm. Water concentration gradients are well described by models in which the diffusivity of water (D*water) is assumed to be constant. The relationship between D*water and water concentration is well described by a modified speciation model (Ni et al. 2012) in which both molecular water and hydroxyl are allowed to diffuse. The success of this modified speciation model for describing our results suggests that we have resolved the diffusivity of hydroxyl in basaltic melt for the first time. Best-fit values of D*water for our experiments on lunar basalt vary within a factor of ~2 over a range of pH2/pH2O from 0.007 to 9.7, a range of fO2 from IW-2.2 to IW+4.9, and a water concentration range from ~80 ppm to ~280 ppm. The relative insensitivity of our best-fit values of D*water to variations in pH2 suggests that H2 diffusion was not significant during degassing of the lunar glasses of Saal et al. (2008). D*water during dehydration and hydration in H2/CO2 gas mixtures are approximately the same, which supports an equilibrium boundary condition for these experiments. However, dehydration experiments into CO2 and CO/CO2 gas mixtures leave some scope for the importance of kinetics during dehydration into H-free environments. The value of D*water chosen by Saal et al. (2008) for modeling the diffusive degassing of the lunar volcanic glasses is within a factor of three of our measured value in our lunar basaltic melt at 1350 °C. In Chapter 4 of this thesis, I document significant zonation in major, minor, trace, and volatile elements in naturally glassy olivine-hosted melt inclusions from the Siqueiros Fracture Zone and the Galapagos Islands. Components with a higher concentration in the host olivine than in the melt (MgO, FeO, Cr2O3, and MnO) are depleted at the edges of the zoned melt inclusions relative to their centers, whereas except for CaO, H2O, and F, components with a lower concentration in the host olivine than in the melt (Al2O3, SiO2, Na2O, K2O, TiO2, S, and Cl) are enriched near the melt inclusion edges. This zonation is due to formation of an olivine-depleted boundary layer in the adjacent melt in response to cooling and crystallization of olivine on the walls of the melt inclusions concurrent with diffusive propagation of the boundary layer toward the inclusion center. Concentration profiles of some components in the melt inclusions exhibit multicomponent diffusion effects such as uphill diffusion (CaO, FeO) or slowing of the diffusion of typically rapidly diffusing components (Na2O, K2O) by coupling to slow diffusing components such as SiO2 and Al2O3. Concentrations of H2O and F decrease towards the edges of some of the Siqueiros melt inclusions, suggesting either that these components have been lost from the inclusions into the host olivine late in their cooling histories and/or that these components are exhibiting multicomponent diffusion effects. A model has been developed of the time-dependent evolution of MgO concentration profiles in melt inclusions due to simultaneous depletion of MgO at the inclusion walls due to olivine growth and diffusion of MgO in the melt inclusions in response to this depletion. Observed concentration profiles were fit to this model to constrain their thermal histories. Cooling rates determined by a single-stage linear cooling model are 150–13,000 °C hr-1 from the liquidus down to ~1000 °C, consistent with previously determined cooling rates for basaltic glasses; compositional trends with melt inclusion size observed in the Siqueiros melt inclusions are described well by this simple single-stage linear cooling model. Despite the overall success of the modeling of MgO concentration profiles using a single-stage cooling history, MgO concentration profiles in some melt inclusions are better fit by a two-stage cooling history with a slower-cooling first stage followed by a faster-cooling second stage; the inferred total duration of cooling from the liquidus down to ~1000 °C is 40 s to just over one hour. Based on our observations and models, compositions of zoned melt inclusions (even if measured at the centers of the inclusions) will typically have been diffusively fractionated relative to the initially trapped melt; for such inclusions, the initial composition cannot be simply reconstructed based on olivine-addition calculations, so caution should be exercised in application of such reconstructions to correct for post-entrapment crystallization of olivine on inclusion walls. Off-center analyses of a melt inclusion can also give results significantly fractionated relative to simple olivine crystallization. All melt inclusions from the Siqueiros and Galapagos sample suites exhibit zoning profiles, and this feature may be nearly universal in glassy, olivine-hosted inclusions. If so, zoning profiles in melt inclusions could be widely useful to constrain late-stage syneruptive processes and as natural diffusion experiments.</p

Water-in-olivine magma ascent chronometry: Every crystal is a clock

The syneruptive decompression rate of basaltic magma in volcanic conduits is thought to be a critical control on eruptive vigor. Recent efforts have constrained decompression rates using models of diffusive water loss from melt embayments, olivine-hosted melt inclusions and clinopyroxene phenocrysts; however, these techniques are difficult to apply because of the rarity of pyroxene crystals or melt embayments suitable for analysis and the complexities associated with modeling water loss from melt inclusions. We have developed a new magma ascent chronometer based on syneruptive diffusive water loss from olivine phenocrysts. We have found water zonation in every olivine phenocryst we have measured, from explosive eruptions of Seguam, Fuego, Kilauea and Cerro Negro volcanoes. The majority of the olivine phenocrysts were polished to expose a central plane normal to the crystallographic ‘b’ axis and volatile concentration profiles were measured along ‘a’ and ‘c’ axes by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Profiles are compared to 1D and 3D finite-element models of diffusive water loss from olivine, whose boundaries are in equilibrium with a melt undergoing closed-system degassing. Least-squares fitting of measured water concentration gradients in olivine to a 1D Monte Carlo model produces constraints on magma decompression rates that are in good agreement with independent constraints from melt embayment studies and modeling of water loss from olivine-hosted melt inclusions at Fuego, Seguam, Kilauea, and Cerro Negro. Such agreement confirms the accuracy and sensitivity of the water-in-olivine chronometer over a range of decompression rates (dP/dt) spanning ~2 orders of magnitude (from 0.007 to 0.45 MPa/s). We find that the assumption of a zero-water boundary condition (in which the water concentration at the edges of the olivine phenocrysts is fixed at 0 ppm throughout their ascent) leads to an overestimation of the decompression rate by an order of magnitude compared to the closed-system degassing boundary condition assumed in our model, thereby highlighting the sensitivity of the water-in-olivine chronometer to the host magma degassing path. At Seguam, a wide range of best-fit values of dP/dt is obtained both from the water-in-olivine chronometer (0.04–0.23 MPa/s) and from melt embayments (0.02–0.13 MPa/s). We find systematically higher dP/dt values in the melt embayments that appear to have stalled or crystallized at the shallowest depths. Together, these observations are suggestive of magma acceleration during ascent. A strength of the water-in-olivine chronometer is the prevalence of olivine in mafic to intermediate magmas. This new technique yields many values of dP/dt from a single eruption, providing insight into the diversity of ascent records carried by the crystal cargo and possibly defining changes in dP/dt through time and space. This data density offers a more detailed window into syneruptive conduit processes than has been possible using other techniques for constraining dP/dt. In theory, each crystal is a clock, with the potential to record variable ascent in the conduit, over the course of an eruption, between eruptions, and among volcanic systems

Replication Data for: The H2O content of the ureilite parent body.

The fate of highly volatile elements (H, C, F, Cl and S) during planetary accretion and differentiation is debated. Recent analyses of water in non-carbonaceous chondrites (RC, OC, EC) and achondrites (angrites, eucrites) have been used to argue that inner solar system parent bodies accreted and retained their highly volatile element budgets from their primary feedstock without substantial loss during accretion, metamorphism and differentiation. An alternative model posits that differentiated inner solar system parent bodies (e.g., the angrite parent body, 4 Vesta, Earth) derived the majority of their water from a carbonaceous chondrite-like source, delivered during the final stages of accretion. In order to add new constraints to this debate, we have measured water in nominally anhydrous minerals, melt inclusions, and interstitial glass in ureilites, the largest group of primitive achondrites in the terrestrial meteorite collection. Primitive achondrites did not experience global melting and homogenization. Therefore, these meteorites capture part of the transition from chondritic to achondritic parent bodies, allowing us to constrain the fate of water during the earliest stages of differentiation. Our nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS) analyses allow us to assess the viability of ureilite-like material as a potential source of terrestrial water. Analyses of pigeonite in main group ureilites yield a range of 2.0 – 6.0 µg/g H2O, and analyses of high-Ca pyroxene and glass (glassy melt inclusions and interstitial glass) in the Almahata Sitta ureilitic trachyandesite yield ranges of 13 – 19 µg/g H2O and 44 – 216 µg/g H2O, respectively. Mass balance, incremental melting, and batch melting calculations yield a preferred ureilite parent body H2O content of 2 – 20 µg/g, similar to previous estimates of water in the eucrite parent body (4 Vesta), but lower than estimates of Earth’s water budget. With these data, we demonstrate that 1) the ureilite parent body is H2O-depleted relative to the Earth; 2) ureilite-like material is unlikely to be a primary source of H2O to the Earth; 3) C and H are not necessarily coupled elements during planetary accretion and thermal processing; and 4) accretion, heating, partial melting, and degassing of rocky planetesimals likely results in significant depletion of H2O

An evaluation of 4 commercial assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a predominantly mildly symptomatic low prevalence Australian population

A total of 1080 individual patient samples (158 positive serology samples from confirmed, predominantly mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients and 922 serology negative including 496 collected pre-COVID) from four states in Australia were analysed on four commercial SARS-CoV-2 serological assays targeting antibodies to different antigens (Roche Elecsys and Abbott Architect: nucleocapsid; Diasorin Liaison and Euroimmun: spike). A subset was compared to immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) and micro-neutralisation. Sensitivity and specificity of the Roche (n = 1033), Abbott (n = 806), Diasorin (n = 1034) and Euroimmun (n = 175) were 93.7 %/99.5 %, 90.2 %/99.4 %, 88.6 %/98.6 % and 91.3 %/98.8 %, respectively. ROC analysis with specificity held at 99 % increased the sensitivity for the Roche and Abbott assays from 93.7% to 98.7% (cut-off 0.21) and 90.2 % to 94.0 % (cut-off 0.91), respectively. Overall seropositivity of samples increased from a maximum of 23 % for samples 0-7 days-post-onset of symptoms (dpos), to 61 % from samples 8-14dpos and 93 % from those >14dpos. IFA and microneutralisation values correlated best with assays targeting antibodies to spike protein with values >80 AU/mL on the Diasorin assay associated with neutralising antibody. Detectable antibody was present in 22/23 (96 %), 20/23 (87 %), 15/23 (65 %) and 9/22 (41 %) patients with samples >180dpos on the Roche, Diasorin, Abbott and microneutralisation assays respectively. Given the low prevalence in this community, two-step algorithms on initial positive results saw an increase in the positive predictive value (PPV) of positive samples (39 %-65 % to ≥98 %) for all combinations. Similarly accuracy increased from a range of 98.5 %-99.4 % to ≥99.8 % assuming a 1 % seroprevalence. Negative predictive value (NPV) was high (≥99.8 %) regardless of which assay was used initially