Abstract: The mechanisms of magma crust accretion at large igneous provinces (LIPs) are questioned using arguments based on the north Atlantic case. Published and new data on the calculated flow vectors within dike swarms feeding the early traps and subsequent seaward-dipping reflector lavas suggest that most of the mafic magmas forming the north Atlantic LIP transited through a small number of igneous centers. The magma was injected centrifugally in dike swarms at some distance away from individual igneous centers along the trend of the maximum horizontal stress acting in the crust, feeding lava piles via dikes intersecting the ground surface. This mechanism is similar to that observed in present-day Iceland and, more generally, in mafic volcano-tectonic systems. The absence of generalized vertical magma transit in a LIP has major geodynamic consequences. We cannot link the surface extent of LIP magmas to the dimensions of the mantle melting zone as proposed in former plume head models. The distribution of LIP magmas at the surface is primarily controlled by the regional stress field acting within the upper crust, but is also affected by magma viscosity. The igneous centers feeding LIPs most likely represent the crustal expression of small-scale convective cells of the buoyant mantle naturally located beneath the mechanical lithosphere.

Abstract: The Kerguelen Archipelago, constructed on the submarine Northern Kerguelen Plateau, is attributed to Cenozoic volcanism arising from the Kerguelen hot spot. Geochemical studies of 325 to 1000 m thick lava sections of the ?30 to 25 Ma flood basalt forming the bulk of the archipelago show a temporal change from older tholeiitic basalt to younger slightly alkalic basalt. This compositional transition is expressed in a 630 m lava section at Mt. Capitole where the lava sequence is lowermost tholeiitic basalt overlain by slightly alkalic basalt overlain by plagioclase-rich cumulates that are mixtures of plagioclase-phyric basalt and more evolved magmas. During growth of the archipelago, magma supply from the hot spot was variable and at times sufficiently low to enable extensive crystal fractionation; e.g., at Mt. Capitole and nearby Mt. Tourmente only 10 of 120 lava flows have >6 wt% MgO. On the basis of this study and previous isotopic data for the ?34 Ma submarine lavas erupted on the Northern Kerguelen Plateau, other flood basalt sections in the Kerguelen Archipelago, and younger lavas erupted in the archipelago and at Heard Island, there is significant Sr, Nd, Hf, and Pb isotopic heterogeneity that can be explained by two stages of mixing. The first mixing event, best shown by the submarine lavas, is between components that are related to Indian Ocean mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) and the Kerguelen hot spot. From ?34 Ma to <1 Ma, on average the proportion of the MORB-related component decreased. Subsequently, a second mixing process involved addition of a component with relatively high 87Sr/86Sr (>0.7060) and low 143Nd/144Nd (<0.5125) and 176Hf/177Hf (<0.2827) and nonradiogenic Pb isotope ratios (<17.9 for 206Pb/204Pb). We infer that this component was lower continental crust.

Abstract: One example of the response of ionospheric convection and the polar cap boundary to a sudden change in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation has been studied by using ground magnetometers, the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) particle detectors when the IMF suddenly changed from northward (+6 nT) to strongly southward (?19 nT) at 1716 UT on 5 September 1995. The Bz component was fairly constant for ?2 hours before and ?25 min after the sudden IMF change. The convection flow changed almost simultaneously over a global extent. This initial change of the convection pattern can be characterized by a sudden formation of a large flow vortex in the afternoon sector. This agrees with the earlier findings by Ruohoniemi and Greenwald [1998] and Ridley et al. [1998]. On the other hand, the response of the polar cap boundary (or its proxy) is more complicated. The Saskatoon radar, located in the late morning sector, observed an equatorward shift of the cusp scatter region simultaneously with the initial response of the convection flows. The DMSP particle data also showed a simultaneous equatorward expansion of the auroral oval in the 2100 magnetic local time (MLT) sector. The radar and particle data indicate the immediate equatorward expansion of the precipitation regions in the noon and premidnight sectors. About 10–20 min after the initial change, there were changes observed in the dusk region, namely, an equatorward expansion of the current reversal boundary observed by the Greenland magnetometer chain in the dusk sector between 1740 and 1750 UT and an equatorward expansion of the convection reversal boundary detected by the Stokkseyri, Halley, and Syowa radars. The delayed responses were observed 18-8 min before a substorm onset was recorded at midlatitude stations at 1756 UT. These observations indicate that there were two kinds of ionospheric responses to the southward turning of the IMF; the first response is the formation of the convection vortex and the equatorward shift of the polar cap boundary at noon and at ?2100 MLT, and the second response is the equatorward expansion of the convection reversal boundary in the dusk sector. We make the case that the first response is associated with the propagation of magnetosonic waves and that the second response is consistent with the Cowley and Lockwood [1992] picture of the redistribution of the newly created open flux in the polar cap region.

Abstract: Accurate estimates of penguin energetics would represent an important contribution to our understanding of the trophodynamics of the Southern Ocean ecosystem and our ability to predict effects of environmental change on these species. We used the heart rate–rate of oxygen consumption technique to estimate rate of energy expenditure in adult king penguins raising a chick, in combination with data from the literature on changes in adult mass, chick energy requirements, and prey energy density. Our model estimated a variety of energetic costs and quantities of prey consumption related to raising a king penguin chick during the austral summer. The total energy requirements of a king penguin chick at the Crozet Archipelago from hatching until reaching a mass of 8 kg 90 d later is 271 MJ, representing the consumption of 38.4 kg of myctophid fish. A successfully breeding male requires 0.78 kg d-1 of fish during the entirety of the incubation period and 1.14 kg d-1 during the subsequent 90 d of chick rearing. Assuming the same energy requirements for females, the estimated 580,000 pairs of king penguins that breed successfully at Crozet each year, together with their chicks, consume a total of around 190,000 tons of fish during the incubation and summer rearing periods combined. If, due to depletion of fish stocks, the diet of breeders and chicks during the summer becomes identical to the typical diet of adults during the austral winter, the mass of prey required by both adults and chicks combined (where the chick still reaches 8 kg after 90 d) would increase by more than 25%.