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Notes: Abstract Antimony-rich vein mineralisation is widespread in the German part of the Variscan orogenic belt. Mineralogical investigation of a representative suite of these deposits, coupled with fluid inclusion characterisation and microthermometry, permits a reconstruction of their genetic evolution. Two structural settings host antimony mineralisation: the cores or flanks of anticlinal zones and major lithological contrasts. Channelled migration of geothermal fluids through permeable rock sequences and later stagnation of fluids in cap-rock situations inside the anticlinal zones led to mineral deposition. The mineralising event is interpreted as relating to input of deep-sourced fluids during late-orogenic exhumation at the transitional stage between collision tectonics and the late-Variscan extensional regime. Fluid inclusion data, chlorite geothermometry and the presence of meneghinite as a characteristic Pb-Sb-sulfosalt mineral in a number of vein systems allows constraints on model P-T conditions at the onset of mineralisation to be made. These are as high as 390 to 440 °C at 0.6–1.0 kbar for the Saarsegen, Apollo and Schöne Freundschaft deposits, with lower temperatures of 320–340 °C being obtained for the Spes deposit. The fluid inclusion data indicate drastic fluid cooling during the mineralising event; minimum temperatures of approximately 150–220 °C are obtained for all deposits at the end of vein quartz formation, which coincided with deposition of stibnite and most of the Pb-Sb sulfosalts. Besides the formation of extensional quartz-stibnite-Pb-sulfosalt veins, the mineralising, low-salinity NaCl-KCl-rich high-temperature tectonic brines have overprinted sulfide assemblages within earlier siderite-(Cu)-Pb-Zn veins. This has led to replacement reaction textures and remobilisation of sulfide components within the vein systems. In contrast with the earlier siderite-(Cu)-Pb-Zn veins, neither the quartz-stibnite-sulfosalt nor the (Cu)-Pb-Sb sulfosalt assemblages were affected by Variscan deformation. Rather, they display characteristic extensional features crosscutting all earlier structures and can thus be assigned to a later phase of mineralisation. Fluid composition characteristics and structural criteria indicate formation in the latest part of the Variscan mineralisation cycle; a post-Variscan genesis being rejected on grounds of conspicuously diverging fluid characteristics. A comparison of antimony deposits in the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge with other late-orogenic deposits elsewhere in the European Variscan belt indicates a significant number of shared features, enabling them to be placed into a common model related to the onset of late-Variscan brittle extensional tectonics.

Notes: Abstract The south-eastern part of Kunene Intrusive Complex (KIC), Namibia/Angola, is host to volumetrically significant, and economically important, concentrations of sodalite in the area around Swartbooisdrif, north-west Namibia. The mineralisation was formed by metasomatic exchange with carbonatites of the Epembe–Swartbooisdrif Alkaline Province. This process led to the breakdown of ore minerals initially present in various rock types of the KIC and caused the formation of new opaque phases in the sodalite-bearing metasomatites. A detailed investigation of textures and chemical compositions of the Fe–Ti oxides and sulphides has allowed evaluation of the complex ore-forming processes related to the polyphase magmatic and metasomatic history of the sodalite deposit. The predominant opaque phases in the various rock types of the KIC are ilmenite and (titano)magnetite, which are highly concentrated in the so-called magnetite plugs. It is clear from the textural evidence that most of the ilmenite and (titano)magnetite, although of orthomagmatic origin, recrystallised under subsolidus conditions. Conformably, their respective chemical compositions and phase relations represented in the system FeO–1/2Fe2O3–TiO2 point to re-equilibration at temperatures below 600 °C. Ilmenite and (titano)magnetite were affected by later deformation and decomposed by various reactions, related to, or outlasting, the metasomatic process. Oxidation of ilmenite led to the formation of symplectitic aggregates of rutile and secondary magnetite. Carbonatisation of the Fe–Ti oxides produced rutile and the siderite and rhodochrosite components in ankerite. Pyrite, in part together with rutile and secondary magnetite, was formed by sulphidation of the Fe–Ti oxides. Conspicuous aggregates of granular or lamellar intergrowths of pyrite with hematite and/or magnetite are interpreted as products of contemporaneous sulphidation and oxidation of former igneous pyrrhotite. Rarely observed pyrrhotite with pentlandite lamellae is probably not an igneous relic, but was formed during the metasomatic event. Smaller amounts of chalcopyrite, bornite, digenite–chalcocite, galena, ferroan siegenite, millerite and polydymite testify to different cooling stages during or after metasomatism. Applying the phase relations in the simplified system Fe–Co–Ni–S–O, we were able to reconstruct a semi-quantitative T–f(S2)–f(O2) path for the ore-forming processes.

Notes: Abstract Several distinct assemblages of Pb-Sb, Pb-As, Cu-Pb-Sb and Cu-Fe-Zn-Sn sulphosalts are identified in sulphide samples from Bleikvassli mine, Norway. Detailed optical microscopy and electron probe microanalysis have permitted investigation of textural relationships between minerals and compositional variations between different ore types. Tetrahedrite, typically containing 10–16 wt.% Ag (rare freibergite containing 25–30 wt.% Ag has also been identified in two samples), stannite (Cu2(Fe〉Zn)SnS4), and meneghinite, CuPb13Sb7S24, are widely distributed as trace constituents throughout massive pyritic and galena-rich ores. Native antimony and pyrargyrite occur in trace amounts in all ore types, as the breakdown products of earlier sulphosalts. Several distinct types of wall-rock mineralisation are present at Bleikvassli. Of considerable mineralogical interest are the coarse-grained sulphide mobilisates within the wall rock which contain a distinct␣and characteristic suite of Pb-As sulphosalts:␣tennantite + jordanite (Pb14As6S23) + seligmannite (CuPbAsS3) ± dufrenoysite (Pb2As2S5). Bournonite (CuPbSbS3) is the only Sb-bearing sulphosalt recognised in significant amounts within the mobilisates, meneghinite and tetrahedrite being conspicuously absent. These mobilisates display considerable Au enrichment; electrum can be confirmed, intimately associated with jordanite and tennantite. Appreciable Sb (up to 3 wt.%) is contained within galena in the mobilisates, in contrast to galena from massive ores which contains only negligible Sb. Contents of Ag and Bi in galena vary considerably in all ore types, but confirm earlier suggestions that galena is a major Ag-carrier at Bleikvassli. Boulangerite (Pb5Sb4S11), jamesonite (FePb4Sb6S14) and gudmundite (FeSbS) occur in trace amounts. Sn-sulphosalts are represented by kësterite, (Cu2(Zn〉 Fe)SnS4), but commonly zoned with respect to Zn/Fe ratio, in the mobilisates, rather than by stannite. A rare type of mobilisate, also in the wall rock, in which chalcocite and bornite are the main minerals, contains native Ag, stromeyerite (AgCuS), mckinstryite ((Ag,Cu)2 S), Ag-free tetrahedrite, an unnamed Cu-Ag-Fe sulphide (Cu3Ag2FeS4) and native Bi, myrmekitically intergrown with chalcocite. Although a comprehensive genetic model for the wall-rock mineralisation at Bleikvassli is largely impossible given the limitations in the present state of knowledge regarding mechanisms involved in remobilisation processes, a multi-stage model of remobilisation during regional metamorphism is considered to best explain the observations. An interplay of different solid- and liquid-state remobilisation mechanisms, in various combinations, is required to account for the macro- and microscopic observations. Remobilisation probably began during the earlier stages of metamorphism, with crystallisation and further remobilisation taking place during the entire metamorphic cycle, giving rise to the extensive chemical and mineralogical diversity observed today. Preserved mineral assemblages and their textural relationships reflect a complex sequence of replacement and decomposition reactions taking place during the latest phase of late-metamorphic crystallisation and subsequent cooling.

Notes: Summary A widespread feature of Variscan siderite-Pb-Zn-Cu vein deposits in the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, Germany, is an overprinting brought about by late-Variscan Sb-rich fluids which exploited the existing vein geometry. In a number of cases, this later event led to considerable textural modification of the primary sulphide assemblage. Sphalerite is a major component of the primary mineralization in the Stahlberg (Müsen), Schöne Freundschaft (Obersdorf) and Silberwiese (Oberlahr) deposits, Siegerland-Wied district and the Silbersand (Mayen) and Saarsegen (Altenahr) deposits in the Eastern Eifel. Primary sphalerite (sphalerite 1) displays corrosion, replacement by a range of Pb-Sbsulphosalts, partial dissolution and, ultimately, remobilization as a result of the overprinting event. Remobilized sphalerite has recrystallized (Sphalerite II) directly from the overprinting fluid. A comparable textural evolution is also noted in samples from the Dörnberg-Aurora (Ramsbeck) mine, although, in this case, several distinct stages of textural modification and remobilization are recognised, resulting from a yet more complex sequence of vein emplacement. Microanalysis of sphalerite representing distinct stages of textural evolution in each of the deposits reveals extensive removal of Fe by diffusion ahead of the reactive replacement front. Second generation sphalerite contains only low contents of Fe. The data are consistent with theoretical predictions and experimental observations of interdiffusion of Fe and Zn in sphalerite in contact with a low Fe/Zn fluid. Interaction with the Sb-rich fluids was sufficiently prolonged to permit substantial textural and compositional modification of the primary sphalerite, particularly in the case of smaller grains close to the reaction front. However, relatively rapid cooling resulted in a cessation of interdiffusion before equilibrium between fluid and solid could be established.

Notes: Abstract The Bleikvassli massive sulfide ore deposit is hosted by Proterozoic pelitic, quartzofeldspathic, and amphibolitic rocks of the Uppermost Allochthon of the Scandinavian Caledonides. Staurolite-garnet-biotite and kyanite-staurolite-biotite assemblages indicate that metamorphism reached the kyanite zone of the amphibolite facies. Geothermobarometry was conducted on rocks in and around the deposit using a variety of silicate and sulfide calibrations. Temperature determinations are most reliant on the garnet-biotite exchange reaction, with analyses obtained from 259 garnet rims and adjacent biotite. Results from nine calibrations of the garnet-biotite geothermometer are considered, but compositional limitations of many calibrations involving high Ca and Mn contents in garnet and AlVI and Ti in biotite make many of the coexisting mineral pairs unsuitable. Average temperatures calculated from the two calibrations that most closely address the garnet-biotite compositions observed at Bleikvassli are 584 °C ± 49 °C and 570 °C ± 40 °C. The application of two calibrations of the garnet-staurolite geothermometer on a limited number of samples yields 581 °C ± 2 °C and 589 °C ± 12 °C, assuming a H2O=0.84, based upon calculations of the modal proportions of gaseous species. Pressure determinations are less constrained. Phengite and plagioclase-biotite-garnet-muscovite geobarometers give average pressures of approximately 5.0 kbar and 8.5 ± 1.2 kbar, respectively. Pressures obtained from the sphalerite-hexagonal pyrrhotite-pyrite barometer average 7.7 ± 1.0 kbar. In consideration of these results, the peak metamorphic conditions at the Bleikvassli deposit are estimated to be 580 °C and 8 kbar.

Notes: Abstract This is one of a series of papers on the Askervein Hill Project. It presents results from the Askervein 1982 and 1983 experiments in the form of vertical profiles of mean wind and turbulence integral statistics at upwind reference locations and at two hilltop sites. The data were obtained from a variety of sensors including sonic, Gill UVW and cup anemometers mounted on 50, 30, 17 and 10 m towers and TALA kite systems. Comparisons with numerical-model predictions are discussed.

Notes: Abstract: Injection to the zygapophysial joint is a procedure which is performed frequently for diagnostic or therapeutic reasons in the management of back pain. It is generally considered to be free of significant complications. We report a patient who developed a paraspinal abscess following a lumbar facet joint injection.

Notes: Summary Measurement of cortisol and testosterone in saliva samples provided by marathon runners at 6.4 km (4-mile) intervals has been used for monitoring acute changes in adrenal and testicular activity, and the changes compared with mean values in timed samples on five rest days. The collection of mixed whole saliva was well accepted; the missed sample rate in the 8 runners in the Cardiff marathon was less than 10%. On rest days, salivary cortisol and testosterone were within the normal male range and showed a circadian rhythm; mean values at 08.00 h (23.5 nmol L−1; 258 pmol L−1 p〈0.001, p〈0.001 respectively) were higher than at 22.00 h (2.8 nmol L−1; 130 pmol L−1). In samples collected at 09.00 h, immediately prior to the Cardiff marathon, cortisol (25.1 nmol L−1) and testosterone (304 pmol L−1) were higher than the mean values (14.9 nmol L−1; 209 pmol L−1) on non-run days. Concentrations of both steroids increased during the marathon; testosterone peaked (442 pmol L−1) at 21 miles, whereas cortisol continued to increase, being maximal (87.9 nmol L−1) at 30 min after completion of the run. Four of the runners in the Cardiff marathon also participated in the Bristol marathon and the changing patterns in salivary hormones were strictly comparable. Salivary sampling would appear to be of value in monitoring acute and rhythmic changes in endocrine function in marathon runners. The temporal relationship between changes in salivary cortisol and testosterone are consistent with direct inhibition of testicular secretion by high cortisol concentrations.