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Ramon & Cajal research contract (RYC-2015-18932) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness

We present the software program THERIA_G, which allows for numerical simulation of garnet growth in a given volume of rock along any pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) path. THERIA_G assumes thermodynamic equilibrium between the garnet rim and the rock matrix during growth and accounts for component fractionation associated with garnet formation as well as for intracrystalline diffusion within garnet. In addition, THERIA_G keeps track of changes in the equilibrium phase relations, which occur during garnet growth along the specified P-T-t trajectory. This is accomplished by the combination of two major modules: a Gibbs free energy minimization routine is used to calculate equilibrium phase relations including the volume and composition of successive garnet growth increments as P and T and the effective bulk rock composition change. With the second module intragranular multi-component diffusion is modelled for spherical garnet geometry. THERIA_G allows to simulate the formation of an entire garnet population, the nucleation and growth history of which is specified via the garnet crystal size frequency distribution. Garnet growth simulations with THERIA_G produce compositional profiles for the garnet porphyroblasts of each size class of a population and full information on equilibrium phase assemblages for any point along the specified P-T-t trajectory. The results of garnet growth simulation can be used to infer the P-T-t path of metamorphism from the chemical zoning of garnet porphyroblasts. With a hypothetical example of garnet growth in a pelitic rock we demonstrate that it is essential for the interpretation of the chemical zoning of garnet to account for the combined effects of the thermodynamic conditions of garnet growth, the nucleation history and intracrystalline diffusion

Magnesian metamorphic rocks with metapelitic mineral assemblage and composition are of great interest in metamorphic petrology for their ability to constrain P-T conditions in terranes where metamorphism is not easily visible. Phase-assemblage diagrams for natural and model magnesian metapelites in the system KFMASH are presented to document how phase relationships respond to water activity, bulk composition, pressure and temperature. The phase assemblages displayed on these phase diagrams are consistent with natural mineral assemblages occurring in magnesian metapelites. It is shown that the equilibrium assemblages at high pressure conditions are very sensitive to a(H2O). Specifically, the appearance of the characteristic HP assemblage chloritoid-talc-phengite-quartz (with excess H2O) in the magnesian metapelites of the Monte Rosa nappe (Western Alps) is due to the reduction of a(H2O). Furthermore, the mineral assemblages are determined by the whole-rock FeO/(FeO+MgO) ratio and effective Al content X A as well as P and T. The predicted mineral associations for the low- and high-X A model bulk compositions of magnesian metapelites at high pressure are not dependent on the X A variations as they show a similar sequence of mineral assemblages. Above 20kbar, the prograde sequence of assemblages associated with phengite (with excess SiO2 and H2O) for low- and high-X A bulk compositions of magnesian metapelites is: carpholite-chlorite→chlorite-chloritoid→chloritoid-talc→chloritoid-talc-kyanite→ talc-garnet-kyanite→garnet-kyanite±biotite. At low to medium P-T conditions, a low-X A stabilises the phengite-bearing assemblages associated with chlorite, chlorite+K-feldspar and chlorite+biotite while a high-X A results in the chlorite-phengite bearing assemblages associated with pyrophyllite, andalusite, kyanite and carpholite. A high-X A magnesian metapelite with nearly iron-free content stabilises the talc-kyanite-phengite assemblage at moderate to high P-T conditions. Taking into account the effective bulk composition and a(H2O) involved in the metamorphic history, the phase-assemblage diagrams presented here may be applied to all magnesian metapelites that have compositions within the system KFMASH and therefore may contribute to gaining insights into the metamorphic evolution of terranes. As an example, the magnesian metapelites of the Monte Rosa nappe have been investigated, and an exhumation path with P-T conditions for the western roof of the Monte Rosa nappe has been derived for the first time. The exhumation shows first a near-isothermal decompression from the Alpine eclogite peak conditions around 24kbar and 505°C down to approximately 8kbar and 475°C followed by a second decompression with concomitant cooling

Garnet in metapelites from the Wölz Complex of the Austroalpine crystalline basement east of the Tauern Window characteristically consists of two growth phases, which preserve a comprehensive record of the geothermal history during polymetamorphism. From numerical modelling of garnet formation, detailed information on the pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) evolution during prograde metamorphism is obtained. In that respect, the combined influences of chemical fractionation associated with garnet growth, modification of the original growth zoning through intragranular diffusion and the nucleation history on the chemical zoning of garnet as P and T change during growth are considered. The concentric chemical zoning observed in garnet and the homogenous rock matrix, which is devoid of chemical segregation, render the simulation of garnet growth through successive equilibrium states reliable. Whereas the first growth phase of garnet was formed at isobaric conditions of ∼3.8kbar at low heating/cooling rates, the second growth phase grew along a Barrovian P-T path marked with a thermal peak of ∼625°C at ∼10kbar and a maximum in P of ∼10.4kbar at ∼610°C. For the heating rate during the growth of the second phase of garnet, average rates faster than 50°CMa−1 are obtained. From geochronological investigations the first growth phase of garnet from the Wölz Complex pertains to the Permian metamorphic event. The second growth phase grew in the course of Eo-Alpine metamorphism during the Cretaceous

East African landscapes today are the result of the cumulative effects of climate and land-use change over millennial timescales. In this review, we compile archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from East Africa to document land-cover change, and environmental, subsistence and land-use transitions, over the past 6000 years. Throughout East Africa there have been a series of relatively rapid and high-magnitude environmental shifts characterised by changing hydrological budgets during the mid- to late Holocene. For example, pronounced environmental shifts that manifested as a marked change in the rainfall amount or seasonality and subsequent hydrological budget throughout East Africa occurred around 4000, 800 and 300 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP). The past 6000 years have also seen numerous shifts in human interactions with East African ecologies. From the mid-Holocene, land use has both diversified and increased exponentially, this has been associated with the arrival of new subsistence systems, crops, migrants and technologies, all giving rise to a sequence of significant phases of land-cover change. The first large-scale human influences began to occur around 4000 yr BP, associated with the introduction of domesticated livestock and the expansion of pastoral communities. The first widespread and intensive forest clearances were associated with the arrival of iron-using early farming communities around 2500 yr BP, particularly in productive and easily-cleared mid-altitudinal areas. Extensive and pervasive land-cover change has been associated with population growth, immigration and movement of people. The expansion of trading routes between the interior and the coast, starting around 1300 years ago and intensifying in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries CE, was one such process. These caravan routes possibly acted as conduits for spreading New World crops such as maize (Zea mays), tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), although the processes and timings of their introductions remains poorly documented. The introduction of southeast Asian domesticates, especially banana (Musa spp.), rice (Oryza spp.), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and chicken (Gallus gallus), via transoceanic biological transfers around and across the Indian Ocean, from at least around 1300 yr BP, and potentially significantly earlier, also had profound social and ecological consequences across parts of the region.

A thermodynamic model for the quaternary white mica solid solution with end-members muscovite-Mg-celadonite-paragonite-Fe-celadonite (Ms-MgCel-Pg-FeCel) is presented. The interaction energies for the MgCel-Pg join, the FeCel-Pg join and the ternary interactions were obtained from natural coexisting phengite-paragonite pairs. Phengite-paragonite pairs were selected based on the criteria that their chemical compositions may be represented as a linear combination of the model end-member compositions and that the respective formation conditions (350-650°C, 4-21 kbar) are accurately known. Previously published excess free energy expressions were used for the Ms-Pg, Ms-MgCel and Ms-FeCel binaries. The suggested mixing model was tested by calculating multicomponent equilibrium phase diagrams. This proved to be particularly well suited to reproduce compositional variations of white micas from amphibolite-facies metapelites

The metamorphic evolution of metapelites from the eastern part of the Monte Rosa nappe and the Camughera-Moncucco unit, both situated in the upper Penninic units SW of the Simplon line, were investigated using microstructural relationships and equilibrium phase diagrams. The units under consideration experienced pre-Alpine amphibolite-facies conditions and underwent a complex metamorphic evolution during the Alpine orogeny. Peak pressures during an early Alpine high-pressure stage of 12·5-16 kbar were similar in the Monte Rosa nappe and Camughera-Moncucco unit. A pronounced thermal gradient is indicated during decompression leading to an amphibolite-facies overprint, as the decompression paths went through the chlorite, biotite and plagioclase stability fields in most of the Monte Rosa nappe, through the staurolite field in the easternmost Monte Rosa nappe and in the Camughera-Moncucco unit, and through the sillimanite field in the easternmost Camughera-Moncucco unit. In high-Al metapelites the initial formation of staurolite is related to continuous paragonite breakdown and associated formation of biotite. In the course of this reaction phengite becomes successively sodium enriched. In low-Al metapelites, in contrast, the initial staurolite formation occurs via the continuous breakdown of sodium-rich phengite. In both low- and high-Al metapelites the largest volume of staurolite is formed during the continuous breakdown of sodium-rich phengite below P-T conditions of about 9·5 kbar at 600-650°C. During this reaction phengite becomes successively potassium enriched as sodium from phengite is used to form the albite component in plagioclase. For ‘normal' pelitic chemistries, phengite becomes Na enriched during decompression through the breakdown of paragonite along a near-isothermal decompression path. The Na content in phengite reaches its maximum when paragonite is entirely consumed. During further decompression the paragonite component in phengite decreases again because Na is preferentially incorporated into the albite component of plagioclase

The work presented in this report is part of the effort to define the landscape state and diversity indicator in the\ud frame of COM (2006) 508 “Development of agri-environmental indicators for monitoring the integration of\ud environmental concerns into the common agricultural policy”. The Communication classifies the indicators\ud according to their level of development, which, for the landscape indicator is “in need of substantial\ud improvements in order to become fully operational”. For this reason a full re-definition of the indicator has been\ud carried out, following the initial proposal presented in the frame of the IRENA operation (“Indicator Reporting on\ud the Integration of Environmental Concerns into Agricultural Policy”). The new proposal for the landscape state\ud and diversity indicator is structured in three components: the first concerns the degree of naturalness, the\ud second landscape structure, the third the societal appreciation of the rural landscape. While the first two\ud components rely on a strong bulk of existing literature, the development of the methodology has made evident\ud the need for further analysis of the third component, which is based on a newly proposed top-down approach.\ud This report presents an in-depth analysis of such component of the indicator, and the effort to include a social\ud dimension in large scale landscape assessment.

International audience

In subduction zones, many observations indicate that the backarc thermal state is particularly hot and that the upper lithosphere is thin, even if no recent extension episode has occurred. This might result from free thermal convection favored by low viscosities in the hydrated mantle wedge. We perform 2-D numerical experiments of the convective mantle wedge interaction with both the downgoing slab and the overriding plate to test this hypothesis, explore its physical mechanism, and assess its dependencies on some relevant rock properties. Water transfers across the subducting plate and the mantle wedge are explicitly modeled by including in the calculation realistic hydration/ dehydration reaction boundaries for a water-saturated mantle and oceanic crust. The rheology is non-Newtonian and temperature-, pressure-, and water content-dependent. For low strength reduction associated to water content, the upper plate is locally thinned by an enhanced corner flow. For larger strength reductions, small convection cells rapidly thin the upper plate ( in less than 15 Myr) over the area in the overriding lithosphere hydrated by slab-derived water fluxes. As a result, the thinned region location depends on the subducting plate thermal state, and it increases with high convergence rates and low subduction dip angles. Other simulations are performed to test the sole effect of hydrous rock weakening on the upper plate/mantle convective interaction. They show that the thinning process is not influenced by the corner flow, but develops at the favor of a decoupling level induced by the formation of hydroxylated minerals inside the hydrated lithosphere. The erosion mechanism identified in these simulations allows us to explain the characteristic duration of erosion as a function of the hydrous strength reduction. We find that the presence of amphibole in the upper lithosphere in significant proportions is required down to a temperature of about 980 degrees C, corresponding to an initial depth of similar to 70 km, to strongly decrease the strength of the base of the lithosphere and trigger a rapid erosion (< 15 Myr).