Description: The Lausitz (Lusatia) Volcanic Field is part of the Central European Volcanic Province, and its magmas represent an alkaline trend from olivine nephelinites and basanites to trachytes and phonolites, typical for intraplate settings. Neighbouring volcanic fields are the České Strˇedohorˇí Mountains to the south-west and the Fore-Sudetic Basin in Lower Silesia to the east. More than 1000 volcanic structures associated with approximately 500 vents have been located within this volcanic field. Residuals of scoria cones, lava lakes, lava flows and maardiatreme in filling occur in situ near the level of the original syn-volcanic terrain. In more deeply eroded structures, volcanic relicts outcrop as plugs or feeders. Evolved rocks occur as monogenetic domes or intrusions in diatremes, while their volcaniclastic equivalents are rare. Twenty-three localities were dated using the 40Ar/39Ar method. The ages range from 35 to 27 Ma, with a focus around 32–29 Ma, indicating Late Eocene and mainly Oligocene volcanism for the LVF. Differentiated rocks appear to be slightly younger than less differentiated. No geographical age clusters are apparent.

Description: Submarine volcanic rocks dredged during RV Meteor cruise M43-1 comprise alkali basalts, basanites, nephelinites and their differentiates representing both basement-shield and young post-shield volcanics of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro. The primitive lavas vary widely in trace element composition (e.g., Zr/Y=6.6–11.7, (La/Sm)N=2.3–5.4, and Ba/Yb=71–311), and they are characterized by steep, rare-earth element patterns with mean (La/Yb)N=16, and by pronounced, positive primitive mantle-normalized Nb and Ta and negative K anomalies similar to HIMU-type basalts. Rocks from the submarine flanks west and north of Gran Canaria are isotopically and geochemically identical to rocks of the subaerial Miocene shield stage, but they are distinct from rocks of the post-shield stages (Zr/Nb=6.3–8.9, 87Sr/86Sr=0.70327–0.70332, 143Nd/144Nd=0.51289–0.51293, 206Pb/204Pb=19.55–19.88). Most rocks dredged from the submarine flanks of Tenerife are isotopically and geochemically similar to rocks of the adjacent subaerial shield remnants, but a few resemble rocks of the subaerial post-shield stages (total range in Zr/Nb=4.6–6.1, 87Sr/86Sr=0.70300–0.70329, 143Nd/144Nd=0.51281–0.51292, 206Pb/204Pb=19.51–19.96). Rocks from the southern submarine ridge of La Palma cover the entire compositional range of the subaerial rocks of that ridge. Additionally, they comprise a high Zr/Nb group which resembles rocks of the ca. 1-Ma-old Taburiente shield of northern La Palma (total range in Zr/Nb=3.0–6.4, 87Sr/86Sr=0.70297–0.70314, 143Nd/144Nd=0.51288–0.51296, 206Pb/204Pb=19.21–19.79). Rocks from the southern submarine ridge of El Hierro compositionally resemble subaerial rocks of the island (Zr/Nb=4.1–6.2, 87Sr/86Sr=0.70296–0.70314, 143Nd/144Nd=0.51291–0.51297, 206Pb/204Pb=19.25–19.91). The degree of melting in the subcanarian mantle is interpreted to decrease from east to west across the archipelago whereas the proportion of depleted mantle component in the melting anomaly increases, as illustrated by Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes. The isotopic characteristics of the mantle source beneath the Canary Islands represents a mixture of HIMU, DMM and EM I. The overall isotopic signature is intermediate between that of Madeira to the north, which trends towards more depleted compositions, and that of the Cape Verde Islands to the south which shows a pronounced trend towards enriched mantle compositions. A clear trend towards the EM II component is only evident in more evolved rocks dredged from a seamount between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, some of which contain terrigenous sedimentary xenoliths. We propose a genetic model which relates similar mantle source signatures of volcanic archipelagos off West Africa to a common, large-scale lower mantle upwelling which, according to geophysical data, becomes more diffuse in the upper mantle. Narrow plumes or blobs feeding the volcanic centers along the passive margin may rise from this thermal anomaly due to upwelling in small, continent-parallel upper-mantle convection cells.

Description: The mechanisms, key organisms, and geochemical significance of biological low-pH Mn(II) oxidation are largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the structure of indigenous Mn(II)-oxidizing microbial communities in a secondary subsurface Mn oxide deposit influenced by acidic (pH 4.8) metal-rich groundwater in a former uranium mining area. Microbial diversity was highest in the Mn deposit compared to the adjacent soil layers and included the majority of known Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) and two genera of known Mn(II)-oxidizing fungi (MOF). Electron X-ray microanalysis showed that romanechite [(Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn 4+ ,Mn 3+ ) 5 O 10 ] was conspicuously enriched in the deposit. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that certain fungal, bacterial, and archaeal groups were firmly associated with the autochthonous Mn oxides. Eight MOB within the Proteobacteria , Actinobacteria , and Bacteroidetes and one MOF strain belonging to Ascomycota were isolated at pH 5.5 or 7.2 from the acidic Mn deposit. Soil-groundwater microcosms demonstrated 2.5-fold-faster Mn(II) depletion in the Mn deposit than adjacent soil layers. No depletion was observed in the abiotic controls, suggesting that biological contribution is the main driver for Mn(II) oxidation at low pH. The composition and species specificity of the native low-pH Mn(II) oxidizers were highly adapted to in situ conditions, and these organisms may play a central role in the fundamental biogeochemical processes (e.g., metal natural attenuation) occurring in the acidic, oligotrophic, and metalliferous subsoil ecosystems. IMPORTANCE This study provides multiple lines of evidence to show that microbes are the main drivers of Mn(II) oxidation even at acidic pH, offering new insights into Mn biogeochemical cycling. A distinct, highly adapted microbial community inhabits acidic, oligotrophic Mn deposits and mediates biological Mn oxidation. These data highlight the importance of biological processes for Mn biogeochemical cycling and show the potential for new bioremediation strategies aimed at enhancing biological Mn oxidation in low-pH environments for contaminant mitigation.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (2011): B07103, doi:10.1029/2010JB007931.

Description: Expeditions 304 and 305 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program cored and logged a 1.4 km section of the domal core of Atlantis Massif. Postdrilling research results summarized here constrain the structure and lithology of the Central Dome of this oceanic core complex. The dominantly gabbroic sequence recovered contrasts with predrilling predictions; application of the ground truth in subsequent geophysical processing has produced self-consistent models for the Central Dome. The presence of many thin interfingered petrologic units indicates that the intrusions forming the domal core were emplaced over a minimum of 100–220 kyr, and not as a single magma pulse. Isotopic and mineralogical alteration is intense in the upper 100 m but decreases in intensity with depth. Below 800 m, alteration is restricted to narrow zones surrounding faults, veins, igneous contacts, and to an interval of locally intense serpentinization in olivine-rich troctolite. Hydration of the lithosphere occurred over the complete range of temperature conditions from granulite to zeolite facies, but was predominantly in the amphibolite and greenschist range. Deformation of the sequence was remarkably localized, despite paleomagnetic indications that the dome has undergone at least 45° rotation, presumably during unroofing via detachment faulting. Both the deformation pattern and the lithology contrast with what is known from seafloor studies on the adjacent Southern Ridge of the massif. There, the detachment capping the domal core deformed a 100 m thick zone and serpentinized peridotite comprises ∼70% of recovered samples. We develop a working model of the evolution of Atlantis Massif over the past 2 Myr, outlining several stages that could explain the observed similarities and differences between the Central Dome and the Southern Ridge.