Ion microprobe analysis of oxygen isotopes in garnets of complex chemistry

Accurate ion microprobe analysis of oxygen isotope ratios in garnet is possible if appropriate standards are employed to correct for instrumental bias, a component of which depends on the cation chemistry of the analyzed mineral. In this study, 26 garnet standards (including 14 new standards) that span the compositional range of pyrope, almandine, grossular, spessartine, and andradite were analyzed repeatedly by ion microprobe to develop a new method of correcting for instrumental bias in garnets. All analyses were normalized to a single master garnet standard (UWG-2) before bias from cation composition was considered. Bias due to cation composition in garnet was found to correlate with grossular content in pyralspite garnets and with andradite in ugrandite garnets. Bias is correlated with molar volume in garnets of all compositions in this study. Although this correlation is suitable as a correction scheme for bias, a more accurate correction scheme based on the grossular and andradite compositions of garnet is proposed. This method reproduces the bias of all but one standard to within a range of 0.4%%, an accuracy that is on the same order as the reproducibility (+/-0.3%%, 2S.D.) of the master garnet standard UWG-2, but that remains an independent source of error. The new correction scheme is used to successfully reproduce laser fluorination analyses along a traverse of a polymetamorphic, zoned skarn garnet from the Adirondack Mountains. While previous analyses were at the mm-scale, the new data resolve a gradient of δ^1^8O of 2.1%% over 16 m. If experimentally derived diffusion coefficients are correct, these new results show that granulite-facies metamorphism was significantly faster than previously assumed and the thermal peak was less than 5Myr

Extreme oxygen isotope zoning in garnet and zircon from a metachert block in melange reveals metasomatism at the peak of subduction metamorphism

A tectonic block of garnet quartzite in the amphibolite-facies melange of the Catalina Schist (Santa Catalina Island, California, USA) records the metasomatic pre-treatment of high-delta O-18 sediments as they enter the subduction zone. The block is primarily quartz, but contains two generations of garnet that record extreme oxygen isotope disequilibrium and inverse fractionations between garnet cores and matrix quartz. Rare millimeter-scale garnet crystals record prograde cation zoning patterns, whereas more abundant similar to 200-mu m-diameter crystals have the same composition as rims on the larger garnets. Garnets of both generations have high-delta O-18 cores (20.8 parts per thousand-26.3 parts per thousand, Vienna standard mean ocean water) that require an unusually high-delta O-18 protolith and lower-delta O-18, less variable rims (10.0 parts per thousand-11.2 parts per thousand). Matrix quartz values are homogeneous (13.6 parts per thousand). Zircon crystals contain detrital cores (delta O-18 = 4.7 parts per thousand-8.5 parts per thousand, 124.6 + 1.4/-2.9 Ma) with a characteristic igneous trace element composition likely sourced from arc volcanics, surrounded by zircon with metamorphic age (115.1 +/- 2.5 Ma) and trace element compositions that suggest growth in the presence of garnet. Metamorphic zircon decreases in delta O-18 from near-core (24.1 parts per thousand) to rim (12.4 parts per thousand), in equilibrium with zoned garnets. Collectively, the data document the subduction of a mixed high-delta O-18 siliceous ooze and/or volcanic ash protolith reaching temperatures of 550-625 degrees C prior to the nucleation of small garnets without influence from external fluids. Metasomatism was recorded in rims of both garnet and zircon populations as large volumes of broadly homogeneous subduction fluids stripped matrix quartz of its extremely high oxygen isotope signature. Thus, zoned garnet and zircon in high-delta O-18 subducted sediments offer a detailed window into subduction fluids

Oxygen isotope heterogeneity of the mantle beneath the Canary Islands : insights from olivine phenocrysts

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 162 (2011): 349-363, doi:10.1007/s00410-010-0600-5.A relatively narrow range of oxygen isotopic ratios (δ18O = 5.05.4‰) is preserved in olivine of mantle xenoliths, mid-ocean ridge (MORB) and most ocean island basalts (OIB). The values in excess of this range are generally attributed either to the presence of a recycled component in the Earth’s mantle or to shallow level contamination processes. A viable way forward to trace source heterogeneity is to find a link between chemical (elemental and isotopic) composition of the earlier crystallized mineral phases (olivine) and the composition of their parental magmas, then using them to reconstruct the composition of source region. The Canary hotspot is one of a few that contains ~1-2 Ga old recycled ocean crust that can be traced to the core-mantle boundary using seismic tomography and whose origin is attributed to the mixing of at least three main isotopically distinct mantle components i.e., HIMU, DMM and EM. This work reports ion microprobe and single crystal laser fluorination oxygen isotope data of 148 olivine grains also analyzed for major and minor elements in the same spot. The olivines are from 20 samples resembling the most primitive shield stage picrite through alkali basalt to basanite series erupted on Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, Canary Islands, for which shallow level contamination processes were not recognized. A broad range of δ18Oolivine values from 4.6 to 6.1‰ was obtained and explained by stable, long-term oxygen isotope heterogeneity of crystal cumulates present under different volcanoes. These cumulates are thought to have crystallized from mantle derived magmas uncontaminated at crustal depth, representing oxygen isotope heterogeneity of source region. A relationship between Ni×FeO/MgO and δ18Oolivine values found in one basanitic lava erupted on El Hierro, the westernmost island of the Canary Archipelago, was used to estimate oxygen isotope compositions of partial melts presumably originated from peridotite (HIMU-type component inherited its radiogenic isotope composition from ancient, ~12 Ga, recycled ocean crust) and pyroxenite (young, <1 Ga, recycled oceanic crust preserved as eclogite with depleted MORB-type isotopic signature) components of the Canary plume. The model calculations yield 5.2 and 5.9±0.3‰ for peridotite and pyroxenite derived melts, respectively, which appeared to correspond closely to the worldwide HIMU-type OIB and upper limit N-MORB δ18O values. This difference together with the broad range of δ18O variations found in the Canarian olivines cannot be explained by thermodynamic effects of oxygen isotopic fractionation and are believed to represent true variations in the mantle, due to oceanic crust and continental lithosphere recycling.This work was supported by the CNRS “poste rouge” grant to AG, the NSF EAR-CAREER-0844772 grant to IB and the CRPG-CNRS and at its initial stage by the DFG (grant SCHM 250/64) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Wolfgang Paul Award to A.V. Sobolev who provided access to the electron microprobe at the Max Planck Institute, Mainz, Germany)

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M&gt;70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0&lt;e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Accurate determination of ferric iron in garnets

Numerous techniques are available to determine the amount of Fe2+ and Fe3+ in minerals. Calculating Fe2+ and Fe3+ by charge-balance using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) data is the most common method, but several studies question the usefulness and accuracy of this approach (Canil and O’Neill 1996; Dyar et al. 1993, 2012; Lalonde et al. 1998; Li et al. 2005; McGuire et al. 1989; Schingaro et al. 2016; Schmid et al. 2003; Sobolev et al. 2011). We compile and compare data for natural garnets that have been analyzed by both EPMA and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Comparison of Fe3+/ΣFe determined by charge-balance vs. Mössbauer spectroscopy shows an approximate 1:1 correlation. The EPMA data set of Dyar et al. (2012) is reexamined and it is shown that disagreement between EPMA and Mössbauer for their data is not nearly as bad as reported. Data for charge-balance vs. Mössbauer spectroscopy are compared and show that the EPMA/charge-balance approach provides a suitable alternative when other methods are not practical

Prograde and retrograde history of the Junction School eclogite, California, and an evaluation of garnet phengite-clinopyroxene thermobarometry

Quantitative thermobarometry of inclusions in zoned garnet from a Franciscan eclogite block record a counter-clockwise P–T path from blueschist to eclogite and back. Garnet retains prograde zoning from inclusion-rich Alm52Grs30Pyp6Sps12 cores to inclusion-poor Alm62Grs25Pyp12Sps1 mantles, with overgrowths of highly variable composition. Barometry using the Waters–Martin version of the garnet–phengite–omphacite thermobarometer yields conditions of 7–15 kbar, 400–500°C (garnet cores), 18–22 kbar, ∼550°C (mantles), and 10–14 kbar, 350–450°C (overgrowths), in agreement with clinozoisite–sphene–rutile–garnet–quartz barometry. These pressures are ∼10–15 kbar less than those obtained using more recent, fully thermodynamic calibrations of the phengite–omphacite–garnet thermobarometer. Low early temperatures suggest that the block was subducted in a thermally mature subduction zone and not at the inception of subduction when prograde temperature is expected to be higher. Franciscan high-grade blocks likely represent crust subducted throughout the history of this convergent margin, rather than only at the inception of the subduction zone