Norbert Clauer

Impact of nitrogen fertilizers on the natural weathering-erosion processes and fluvial transport in the Garonne basin

Knowledge of the impact of N-fertilizers on the weathering-erosion processes of soils in intensively cultivated regions is of prime importance. Nitrification of NH4− fertilizers produces HNO3 in the basin of the Garonne river, enhancing soil degradation. Their influence on the weathering rates was determined by calculating the consumption rate of atmospheric/soil CO2 by soil weathering and erosion, and its contribution to the total dissolved riverine HCO3−. This contribution was found to be less than 50% which corresponds normally to a complete carbonate dissolution by carbonic acid, suggesting that part of the alkalinity in the river waters is due to carbonate dissolution by an acid other than carbonic acid, probably HNO3.

Isotopic tracing of the dissolved U fluxes of Himalayan rivers: implications for present and past U budgets of the Ganges-Brahmaputra system

U activity ratios have been measured in the dissolved loads of selected rivers from the Himalayan range, in Central Nepal, and from the Bangladesh, as well as in some rain waters. A few European and Asian rivers have also been analyzed for their U activity ratios. The data confirm the negligible effect of rainwater on the budget of dissolved U in river waters. The results also indicate that rivers on each Himalayan structural unit have homogeneous and specific U isotope compositions: i) (234U/238U) activity ratios slightly lower than unity in the dissolved load of the streams draining the Tethyan Sedimentary Series (TSS); ii) values slightly higher than unity for waters from the High Himalaya Crystalline (HHC) and the Lesser Himalaya (LH); iii) systematically higher (234U/238U) activity ratios for waters from the Siwaliks. Thus, U activity ratios, in association with Sr isotopic ratios, can be used to trace the sources of dissolved fluxes carried by these rivers. Coupling of U with Sr isotope data shows (1) that the U carried by the dissolved load of the Himalayan rivers mainly originates from U-rich lithologies of the TSS in the northern formations of the Tibetan plateau; and (2) that the elemental U and Sr fluxes carried by the Himalayan rivers at the outflow of the highlands are fairly homogeneous at the scale of the Himalayan chain. Rivers flowing on the Indian plain define a different trend from that of the Himalayan rivers in the U-Sr isotopic diagram, indicating the contribution of a specific floodplain component to the U and Sr budgets of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. The influence of this component remains limited to 10 to 15 percent for the U flux, but can contribute 35 to 55% of the Sr flux. The variations of the Sr and U fluxes of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system in response to climatic variations have been estimated by assuming a temporary cut off of the chemical fluxes from high-altitude terrains during glacial episodes. This scenario would significantly decrease the dissolved U flux of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system and increase its U activity ratio. Such a climatic dependence of the Himalayan U flux could induce a periodic variation of the mean U activity ratio of the world rivers on glacial-interglacial timescales

Structure-related geochemical (REE) and isotopic (K-Ar, Rb-Sr, δ18O) characteristics of clay minerals from Rotliegend sandstone reservoirs (Permian, northern Germany)

Abstract Euhedral illite cementing the gas-bearing sandstone reservoirs of the Rotliegend in the Niedersachsische rift system (northern Germany) was studied along a horst-to-graben cross-section to examine its chemical and isotopic characteristics. The data show that differentiated illite particles grew during a tectono-thermal event marked by distinct episodic hydrothermal activities along fault drains and in the poral space of sandstones at 210 Ma and at 195 to 190 Ma in horst positions, at 185 to 175 Ma in the nearby graben, and at 170 to 165 Ma in both the horst and graben. Varied REE distribution patterns and initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (from 0.7124 to 0.7142) relative to illite-particle size outline a high chemical variability of the fluids during illite growth. The δ18O values of illite range from +20.0 to +12.4‰ and those of chlorite from +12.0 to +6.9‰. The changing δ18O values of the minerals most likely relate to varied δ18O values of the fluids, or to different water/rock ratios during crystallization. Differences among the REE and 87Sr/86Sr tracers and the δ18O values of different generations of illite also suggest a changing fluid chemistry relative to time. Significant positive Eu anomalies and negative Ce anomalies in the REE distributions of illite suggest feldspar alteration by the migrating fluids in oxidizing environments.

Strontium isotope compositions of river waters as records of lithology-dependent mass transfers: the Garonne river and its tributaries (SW France)

The relation of lithology in the drainage basin to the dissolved load of the Garonne river and its main tributaries, in southwestern France, was evaluated by determining 87Sr/86Sr ratios, and concentrations of major and trace elements during a 2-year-long survey. In the upper drainage basin, the Garonne river waters were isotopically varied at two observation points: 0.71131+/−0.00030 (2σ) for 84+/−18 ppb (2σ) and 0.71272+/−0.00044 for 86+/−10 ppb, respectively. In the lower drainage basin, the Garonne river waters were isotopically identical at three observation points at 0.71020+/−0.00024 for 125+/−22 ppb. By contrast, the tributaries (Lot, Truyere, Aveyron, Arriege, Gers and Salat) are widely varied in their 87Sr/86Sr ratios and Sr concentrations from 0.70836+/−0.00049 to 0.71058+/−0.00057, and from 18+/−8 to 280+/−116 ppb. n nThe Sr isotope ratios and concentrations suggest a dominant supply of two reservoirs of Sr, one of which is with low 87Sr/86Sr ratios and high Sr contents that is typically characteristic of carbonate rocks, and the other with high 87Sr/86Sr ratios and low Sr concentrations that is characteristic of felsic rocks. Locally as in the Lot waters draining the Massif Central and within the Pyrenees mountains, a third source of Sr from mafic rocks may be involved. Mass-balance calculations based on the mean 87Sr/86Sr ratios and contents of the dissolved Sr, and on the mean discharges integrating the 2-year survey, suggest that contribution of the silicate reservoir amounts 3–8% of the total dissolved Sr flux. Mass-balance calculations also suggest that variation in the supply of Sr from either of the two major reservoirs does not exceed the analytical uncertainty at about +/−5%. n nThe 87Sr/86Sr ratios of HCl and NH4Cl leachates of suspended loads of the Garonne river are different from that of the associated dissolved Sr. This leaching-related supplementary Sr represents less than 10% of the total amount of Sr transported by the Garonne waters. The Sr isotope characteristics of the leachates are probably records of an intermediate pedogenic episode in the weathering-erosion process occurring in the Garonne drainage basin.

Influence of anthropogenic activity on the lead isotope signature of Thau Lake sediments (southern France): origin and temporal evolution

Lead concentrations and isotopic compositions were determined on both bulk sediments deposited in the Thau lake in southern France during the last 200 years, and leachates derived from a series of sequential leachings of the sediments, making it possible to identify the sources, natural (i.e. indigenous lithologic) or anthropogenic, and to quantify the different inputs of Pb. n nTwo distinct inputs of Pb could be distinguished. One of these corresponds to the terrigenous material entering the basin, representative of the local natural Pb ‘background’. Its supply remained steady most of the time with 206Pb/207Pb ratios of 1.200±0.003, except at the time of heavy storms producing voluminous and sudden depositions, such as that of September 1875. This Pb supply is mainly hosted by the detrital silicate fraction of the sediments. The second Pb input is a direct consequence of anthropogenic activities of various industrial and domestic emissions in the region, particularly due to the city of Sete and, to a lesser extent, to the villages in the watershed. The 206Pb/207Pb ratios of this input are of 1.142–1.162. The Pb added to gasoline could also be identified in the uppermost sediments, because of its specific 206Pb/207Pb ratios of 1.069–1.094. The leaching experiments also showed that the anthropogenic Pb is mainly hosted by the oxi-hydroxides of the sediments and to a lesser extent by the carbonates. It may also be adsorbed on particle surfaces, while only limited amounts are bound to organic matter.

Chemical and isotopic (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, δD) constraints to the formation processes of Red-Sea brines

Abstract About twenty deeps filled with hot brines and/or metalliferous sediments, are located along the Red-Sea axis. These brines present a well-suited framework to study the hydrothermal activity in such a young ocean. The present study outlines the results of a geochemical approach combining major-, trace-element and isotopic (oxygen, hydrogen, strontium) analyses of brines in six of the deeps, to evaluate different processes of brine formation and to compare the evolution of each deep. Important heterogeneities in temperature, salinity, hydrographic structure and chemistry are recorded, each brine having its own characteristics. The intensity of hydrothermal circulation varies among the deeps and ranges from being strong (Atlantis II and Nereus) to weak (Port-Soudan) and even to negligible (Valdivia and Suakin) and it varies along the entire Red-Sea axis. These observations do not favour a unique formational model for all of the brines. For example, the brines of the Suakin deep appear to have been formed by an old sea water which dissolved evaporite beds, without significant fluid circulation and hydrothermal input, while others such as Atlantis II or Nereus Deeps appear to be dominated by hydrothermal influences. A striking feature is the absence of a relationship between the position of the deeps along the axis and their evolutionary maturity.

Influence hydrothermale dans les sédiments de fosses de la mer Rouge par l'étude de quelques éléments traces

Les teneurs en Cu, Ni, Fe, Cr et Zr servent ici a evaluer linfluence dune activite hydrothermale sur les sediments de six fosses de la mer Rouge. Ainsi, lenrichissement en fer (Fe) et en cuivre (Cu) des fluides hydrothermaux provenant du lessivage de la croute oceanique se retrouve dans les sediments hydrothermaux alors que le nickel (Ni) est essentiellement apporte par leau de mer. La comparaison des rapports Ni/Fe et Cu/Fe represente donc un bon parametre de discrimination entre les sediments biodetritiques et ceux dorigine hydrothermale. Le chrome (Cr) et le zirconium (Zr) proviennent essentiellement du materiel detritique dans les sediments marins normaux et sont correles, alors que labsence de correlation entre ces deux metaux est un indice dune activite hydrothermale. Les resultats cumules montrent que les sediments de la fosse Suakin nont pas subi dinfluence hydrothermale, et que celle-ci est tres faible dans la fosse Valdivia. Les sediments de la fosse Port-Soudan ont aussi enregistre les effets darrivees hydrothermales, mais lactivite hydrothermale est la plus importante et la plus nette dans la fosse Thetis et, surtout, dans celle dAtlantis II.

Sur l'origine de la pyrite framboïdale dans les sédiments de la fosse Suakin (mer Rouge)

Abstract Suakin Deep is one of the southern depressions of the Red Sea, with sediments containing up to 20xa0% of pyrite. Although metalliferous sediments result from hydrothermal activity in most deeps, those of Suakin have different characteristics. Pyrite is framboidal and the REE patterns of its sediments are similar to those of biodetrital sediments. The sediments seem to be of biodetritic origin and to have undergone diagenetic changes without hydrothermal activity.