Deep Rift Research Articles

After Stunde Null: Reflections on Germany, Italy and Europe

The Franco-German relationship is considered a measure of the European Union’s overall health. Yet the bilateral ties between Germany and another founding member, Italy, are at least as important. Historical parallels between the two countries have been present since the founding of their modern nation-states. Economic differences have caused deep rifts that influence not just diplomatic relations, but also popular opinion. The rise of right-wing parties in both countries could be considered a new parallel, but upon closer inspection, there are important differences between the Alternative für Deutschland and Fratelli d’Italia. In the aftermath of the EU Parliament elections, it is worth taking a closer look at Germany, Italy, and what their relationship means for the EU.

Concentric hydrocarbon accumulations in deep rift basins: A case study of Jizhong and Huanghua depressions, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Concentric hydrocarbon accumulations in deep rift basins: A case study of Jizhong and Huanghua depressions, Bohai Bay Basin, China

The Ukraine War as a Driver of Intraparty Conflict: Germany's Left Party and the AfD

ABSTRACT The two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affords an occasion to examine why the war has produced such deep rifts within the Left Party and the AfD. Drawing upon party documents, parliamentary proceedings, electoral and polling data and secondary literature, this article examines why Russia’s war against Ukraine proved so disruptive to both parties and explores the implications of these intraparty conflicts. Germany’s domestic politics of the Ukraine War matter given Berlin’s central role in backing the Kyiv government. This article assesses three explanations for the lack of internal unity in the Left Party and AfD regarding a new Russia policy: (a) path dependency; (b) eastern Germany, and (c) the reinforcing rather than crosscutting nature of the Ukraine War vis-à-vis the primary intraparty cleavage. It finds that the third explanation fits both Left Party and AfD cases.

Inclusions in magmatic zircon from Slavonian mountains (eastern Croatia): anatase, kumdykolite and kokchetavite and implications for the magmatic evolution

Abstract. Micro-Raman spectroscopy was used to determine the inclusions in magmatic zircon from the Late Cretaceous A-type acid igneous rocks in the Slavonian mountains (Mt. Papuk and Mt. Požeška Gora), in the southwestern part of the Pannonian Basin (Croatia). The mineral inclusions detected in the early-crystallised zircon are anatase, apatite, hematite, ilmenite and possibly magnetite. Numerous melt inclusions comprise albite, cristobalite, hematite, kaolinite, K-feldspar, kokchetavite, kumdykolite muscovite and quartz, where this mineral association is characteristic of so-called nanorocks (nanogranites), commonly found in peritectic garnets from high-grade metamorphic rocks. Here we present the first finding of kokchetavite and kumdykolite in a magmatic zircon. Together with anatase and hematite, these polymorphs are likely evidence of rapid uplift and consequent rapid cooling of hot oxidised magma generated in the lower crust and its emplacement in the upper crustal level. This finding provides further confirmation that kumdykolite and kokchetavite do not require ultra-high pressure (UHP) to form and should not be considered exclusively UHP phases. The rapid uplift was possible due to the formation of accompanying extensional deep rifts during the tectonic transition from compression to extension, associated with the closure of the Neotethys Ocean in the area of present-day Slavonian mountains in the Late Cretaceous (∼82 Ma).

Oceanic Crust Formation in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Segment between Azores and Icelandic Plumes: Results of Geological and Petrogeochemical Studies

The structure of the ocean floor and the composition of basalts and dolerites of the MAR segment between the Maxwell and Charlie Gibbs FZs (North Atlantic) were studied based on the data of the 53rd cruise of the R/V “Akademik Nikolaj Strakhov”. It was found that in this segment, along the spreading axis, areas of greater and lesser magmatic productivity alternate, which correspond to higher and lower bottom relief. In areas of high relief, spreading cells form in the axial zone, and rises of various nature dominate in the ridge zone: from tectonic to volcanic. In areas of low relief, the rift valley consists of deep rift basins, and low ridges are developed on the flanks, separated by wide depressions. Oceanic tholeites N, T and E-MORB are distinguished among the studied volcanites. The first of them are ubiquitous and were melted from mainly depleted mantle (source DM). Basalts and dolerites of E-MORB are found in areas of high relief. Their mantle substrate is formed by a mixture of DM and EM-2 material with the subordinate role of HIMU. T-MORB volcanites are mainly localized on large volcanic rises in the southern part of the studied MAR segment and were melted from a substrate formed by a mixture of DM and HIMU material with the subordinate role of EM-2. Two types of mantle inhomogeneities involved in melting are reconstructed: passive and active. The former are represented by blocks of the transformed continental lithosphere that are similar in composition to the EM-2 mantle source. Active inhomogeneities associate with the uplift near Maxwell FZ of the microplume of the enriched mantle with a composition close to HIMU and with its subaxial flow in the north direction up to the Charlie Gibbs FZ.

Nature and Origin of Magnetic Lineations Within Valdivia Bank: Ocean Plateau Formation by Complex Seafloor Spreading

AbstractValdivia Bank (VB) is a Late Cretaceous oceanic plateau formed by volcanism from the Tristan‐Gough hotspot at the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge (MAR). To better understand its origin and evolution, magnetic data were used to generate a magnetic anomaly grid, which was inverted to determine crustal magnetization. The magnetization model reveals quasi‐linear polarity zones crossing the plateau and following expected MAR paleo‐locations, implying formation by seafloor spreading over ∼4 Myr during the formation of anomalies C34n‐C33r. Paleomagnetism and biostratigraphy data from International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 391 confirm the magnetic interpretation. Anomaly C33r is split into two negative bands, likely by a westward ridge jump. One of these negative anomalies coincides with deep rift valleys, indicating their age and mechanism of formation. These findings imply that VB originated by seafloor spreading‐type volcanism during a plate reorganization, not from a vertical stack of lava flows as expected for a large volcano.

Formation of lower fast-spread oceanic crust: a structural and geochemical study of troctolites in the Hess Deep Rift (East Pacific Rise)

Troctolites were recovered during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 345 at the Hess Deep Rift, next to fast-spreading East Pacific Rise. These troctolites are divided into three groups based on textural differences: coarse-grained (1–10 mm in length) troctolite, fine-grained (~ 2 mm in length) troctolite, and skeletal olivine-bearing troctolite. All troctolites exhibit a magmatic fabric. The major-element compositions of olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene in the troctolites are intermediate between those of Hess Deep gabbros and harzburgites. The trace-element compositions of olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene in the troctolites overlap with those of troctolites from slow-spread crust, but they record no petrographic evidence indicating assimilation of mantle peridotite. Thermodynamic calculation for mineral chemistry showed that fractional crystallization of melt is the dominant process responsible for the formation of the troctolites. The fine-grained troctolite was crystallized with high crystallization rate resulting from hot melt injection into colder wall gabbro. In contrast, interactions between the unsolidified troctolite containing interstitial melt and newly injected melt resulted in the formation of the skeletal olivine-bearing troctolite. While our results demonstrate that the troctolites exhibit multiple melt injections and partial dissolution of a troctolite precursor, fractional crystallization is the dominant process for the creation of the lower crust in the Hess Deep Rift.

Molybdenum in basalt-hosted seafloor hydrothermal systems: Experimental, theoretical, and field sampling approaches

Seafloor hydrothermal vents represent potential sources of Mo and other biologically relevant transition metals to the global ocean, complementing continental runoff. Here, we use a combination of experimental, theoretical, and field-sampling approaches to investigate the behavior of Mo in basalt-hosted seafloor hydrothermal systems to provide insight into the processes controlling Mo concentrations in hydrothermal fluids and to derive estimates of vent fluid Mo concentrations and fluxes. Results of this study demonstrate that reaction fluids generated from 350 °C, 500 bar hydrothermal basalt alteration experiments contain 775–801 nmol/kg Mo and are thus comparable to a recently collected time series of natural seafloor vent fluids that contained 200–220 nmol/kg Mo at 302 °C and 29–30 nmol/kg at 281–282 °C (Evans et al., 2023). Synchrotron-based analyses of experimentally altered basalt produced in this study and additional natural samples of altered oceanic crust originally collected from Pito Deep Rift reveal the presence of Mo-rich particles consistent with trace molybdenite. Comparisons of Mo:Cu ratios in natural vent fluids and near-vent sediment trap samples from Main Endeavour Field indicate that vent fluid Mo is readily incorporated into buoyant plume particles and advected out of the near-vent field, analogous to previous mass balance studies of Cu in this region.Thermodynamic calculations of molybdenite solubility in the context of mineral-buffered hydrothermal fluids and comparisons with natural and experimental hydrothermal fluids suggest that high-temperature vent fluids contain 30–1500 nmol/kg Mo. While a minor component of the modern Mo budget, hydrothermal Mo fluxes are estimated to have constituted 0.3–200× the contemporaneous continental weathering fluxes prior to the ∼2.4 Ga ago “Great Oxidation Event” and widespread oxidative continental weathering. Overall, identification of hydrothermal vents as a source of Mo-rich plume particles with potential for dispersal into the wider marine environment has significant implications for hypotheses regarding the co-evolution of Life and Earth’s environments, specifically the form and availability of Mo in anoxic Archean-Eon oceans, where Mo-dependent enzymatic pathways are thought to have emerged and subsequently evolved.

Upper Crustal Structure of Superfast‐Spread Oceanic Crust Exposed at the Pito Deep Rift: Implications for Seafloor Spreading

AbstractA tectonic window into the upper 2,000 m of oceanic crust generated at the superfast spreading (∼142 mm/yr) southern East Pacific Rise exposes a continuous layered structure of basaltic lavas and sheeted dikes over gabbroic rocks. This relatively simple structure is in accord with expectations for crustal accretion at a very fast spreading rate and high magma budget where magmatic construction keeps pace with plate separation. Detailed observations show that basaltic lava flows dip progressively more steeply inward (toward the spreading axis where they were erupted). Underlying sheeted dikes are faulted and tectonically rotated to dip steeply outward. These structures are interpreted in terms of subsidence beneath the axis of the southern East Pacific Rise during crustal construction that allowed the lava unit to thicken to >400 m without creating comparable relief at the spreading center. Transitional units above and below the sheeted dike complex show that the thickness of upper crustal rock units is modified by tectonic and intrusive processes during accretion. The crustal structure shows that even approaching the superfast spreading end‐member of seafloor spreading, crustal accretion involves dramatic tectonic processes that are not obvious from the surface geology of spreading centers.

Street art as a transforming agent of public space in Arab World. Case study of two artistic groups in Tunisia

The public space in the Arab World has historically been controlled and seized by political authorities. This appropriation has created a deep rift between citizens and public places. Nevertheless, since the beginning of the Arab revolutions, new youth art forms have emerged liberating the arts from traditional formalism and these have been transferred to open spaces making them accessible to the people. This research seeks to explore the youth street art that emerged during the Tunisian revolution, not only as an innovative artistic trend, but also as a social movement that claims a new kind of citizenship. It aims to analyze the philosophical and aesthetic purposes of street art and its role in the liberation of public space. The methodology is based on qualitative interviews and participant observation with members of two street art groups Ahl Al Kahf and Fanni Raghman Anni that emerged during the Tunisian revolution of 2011. The results reveal that the youth revolutionary artistic phenomenon represents a new creative project and constitutes a. intellectual and artistic rupture with the prevailing aesthetic practices.

Hydrothermal Reservoir and Electrical Anisotropy Investigated by Magnetotelluric Data, Case Study of Asal Rift, Republic of Djibouti

At the center of the Republic of Djibouti, an eroded rift called Asal is located where tectonic and magmatic activities can be observed at the surface. Multiple studies were carried out with different exploration methods, such as structural, geophysical and hydrogeological, to understand rifting processes and characterize the subsurface of this rift. Among these subsurface exploration methods, the deep geoelectrical structures need to be better defined with the magnetotelluric (MT) method to better delineate the deep resistivity structures. With the objective of improving our understanding of the deep rift structure, magnetotelluric (MT) data acquired in the Asal rift were analyzed and inverted to build a 2D electrical conductivity model of the hydrothermal system. To achieve this, a dimensionality analysis of the MT data along a 2D profile perpendicular to the rift axis was carried out. Results of this analysis justify the approximation of 2D conductivity structure. Then, 2D inversion models were achieved to build models of the conductive structures. Dimensionality analysis results revealed the existence of electrical anisotropy. Consistent correlation between geoelectric strike and electrical anisotropy direction was suggested. Electrical anisotropy direction determined from the ellipticity of the phase tensor for the short periods was interpreted as the consequence of tectonic activity and horizontal deformation of the rift. Moreover, electrical anisotropy direction for the long periods was assumed to be related to the effects of combined magmatic-tectonic activities with predominant magma/dyke intrusion, which implies the vertical deformation and the subsidence of the rift and may imply the alignment of Olivine. Moreover, the variation and rotation of paleo and recent stress fields direction of plate motion in Asal rift located at the junction of three diverging plates—Arabia, Nubia and Somalia—over geological time can generate both magmatic and tectonic activities which in turn can induce a preferred direction of electrical anisotropy which is the direction of the highest conductivity. While the north-south electrical anisotropy direction is parallel to the direction of Red Sea Rift propagation, the north-east electrical anisotropy direction is aligned with the extension direction between Arabia and Somalia plates. Results of the 2D inversion models presented for the Asal rift allowed to identify two superimposed conductive units close to the surface and are interpreted as a shallow aquifer and a wide potential hydrothermal system. These conductive mediums are overlying a relatively resistive medium. The latter is associated with a magmatic system likely containing hot and/or partly molten rocks. The 2D conductivity model developed in this study could be considered as conceptual model of Asal rift prior to modeling multiphase fluid flow and heat transfer and/or could be used to identify the hydrothermal system for future drilling target depth of geothermal exploration.

The Hazimiyah current of the Islamic State: from religious discourse to extremist ideology

ABSTRACT This paper looks at the origins, foundation and implication for the emergence of the most radical existing extremist current within the Islamic State i.e. Al Hazimiyah. Abu Umar Al Hazimi, initially a rather unknown Salafi scholar and the inspirator of the extremist current, rejected the concept of Ignorance as an excuse (Udhr Bil Jahl) generally accepted by radical jihadi organization, including the Islamic State. While he was never a member of any jihadi organization, his speeches triggered the emergence of the most extremist violent jihadi current and a deep rift with the Islamic State which destabilized the organization from within. Using the speech act theory and extensive filed work and interviews, this paper analysis the foundation of Al Hazimi preaching’s on the concept of ignorance and how this was reinterpreted and translated into a radical faction of the Islamic State causing a major rift inside the organization.

Egy rejtőzködő áramlat az orvosképzésben

The general aim of medical education is the same as in the case of any other ones: creating a professional person from a lay one. A special characteristic of this education is a deep rift between the lay and the professional perspective. One of the main trends of this trait is the discrepancy between the open and the hidden curricula. The contents of the hidden curricula, in many cases, cannot support the main messages of the formal one, on the contrary, they provide a different or even contradictory set of norms, values,attitudes. One of the main consequences of these discrepancies is that some medical students have been becoming more cynical since their entrance into medical education. The open curricula emphasize empathy, alleviating pain and suffering, the importance of trust and fidelity, and that the well-being of patients is one of the most important priorities. The hidden curricula at the same time emphasize objectivity, detachment, caution, and being suspicious against emotions. One of the outcomes of these eventually contradictory tendencies is that the ’wounded healer’ is not a precondition for becoming a healer, like in archaic times, but a by-product of medical education.

Surveillance as the Past and Future of Public Administration

AbstractWe trace how privacy-encroaching technologies have unfolded over the course of human history and how such technologies have influenced human societies and economies; governments have been central to this evolution. We maintain that surveillance is inevitable: that the future of public administration will depend on how administrators and others navigate deep rifts in public fear (yet acceptance) of surveillance and other means of data collection. Finally, we argue for coordination among governance scholars, public administrators, public technologists, and civil society advocates in order to improve the institutions that govern the collection and use of data from surveillance activities.

A channel sampling strategy for measurement of mineral modal and chemical composition of drill cores: application to lower oceanic crustal rocks from IODP Expedition 345 to the Hess Deep rift

Abstract. We report a new sampling strategy for collecting representative samples of drill core. By splitting the core with a diamond saw into working and archive halves, the saw cuttings constitute a “channel” sample, the best subsample from which to obtain an average mineralogical and geochemical composition of a core. We apply this procedure to sampling core of the lower oceanic crust in the Hess Deep obtained during Expedition 345 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (now International Ocean Discovery Program). Our results show that particles produced by sawing range from sand to clay sizes. Sand- and silt-sized cuttings can be sampled with a spatula, whereas clay-sized particles remained in suspension after 12 h and could be collected only by settling, aided by centrifuge. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Rietveld refinement show that phyllosilicates were fractionated into the clay-sized fraction. Thus, collection of both the sedimented fraction and the clay-sized suspended fraction (commonly > 15 wt % of the total) is necessary to capture the whole sample. The strong positive correlation between the recovered sample mass (in grams) and length of core cut demonstrates that this sampling protocol was uniform and systematic, with almost 1.4 g sediment produced per centimeter of core cut. We show that major-element concentrations of our channel samples compare favorably with the compositions of billet-sized samples analyzed aboard the JOIDES Resolution, but the results show that individual billet analyses are rarely representative of the whole core recovered. A final test of the validity of our methods comes from the strong positive correlation between the loss on ignition (LOI) values of our channel samples and the H2O contents calculated from the modal mineralogy obtained by X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement. This sampling procedure shows that grain-sized fractionation modifies both mineralogical and chemical compositions; nevertheless, this channel sampling method is a reliable method of obtaining representative samples of bulk cores. With the ever-increasing precision offered by modern analytical instrumentation, this sampling protocol allows the accuracy of the analytical results to keep pace.

Distribution, development, transformation characteristics, and hydrate prospect prediction of the rift basins of northwest Zealandia in the Southwest Pacific

As the last area with unknown oil exploration potential, Zealandia has attracted the attention of petroleum scientists. Under the constraint of the known rift distribution, the gravity and magnetic anomaly data are utilized to predict the distribution of rift basins, and the balanced cross-section technique and basin simulation technique are utilized to analyze the development of the rift basins and hydrocarbon generation history of source rocks for the hydrate prospect prediction of the rift basins of northwest Zealandia. The time of rifting in Zealandia varies greatly from place to place, and it has experienced extensive rifts, migrated to the east of the Lord Howe Ridge, migrated to the west of the Lord Howe Ridge, migrated to the west of the Dampier Ridge, and finally migrated to both sides of the Lord Howe Ridge and then experienced multiple stages of compression transformation and deep burial transformation. The Upper Cretaceous coal source rock in the rift Ⅱ stage has entered the wet gas generation stage in the deep part of the rift or deeper rift on the eastern side of the Lord Howe Ridge, and the coal-generated wet gas may migrate along the fault and form a gas hydrate in the shallow seabed stable zone.

Which Tradition, Whose Authority? Quests and Tensions in Contemporary Chinese Reception of Greek Antiquity

What is the mission of classical studies in present-day China? Is it a professional discipline governed by Western models and standards, or should it have its own agendas and methods? Should classical antiquity be studied first and foremost on its own terms, or does the most important value of such study lie in the lessons and tools it could provide for China’s persistent quest for an alternative modernity? This article explores the deep rift over these issues between two camps of Chinese scholars by examining an academic controversy that occurred in 2015. This dispute bears strong echoes of two much earlier conflicts: that between Nietzsche and Wilamowitz in the late nineteenth century, and that between Mao and the Comintern in the 1940s. The analysis of these intriguing historical parallels and the light they shed on the nature of the 2015 event reveals that the highly contested role of classical studies in China’s modernization process has taken on new significance in the twenty-first century.

Lower crustal intraplate seismicity in Kachchh region (Gujarat, India) triggered by crustal magmatic infusion: Evidence from shear wave velocity contrast across the Moho

The genesis of intraplate seismicity remains a topic of debate among seismologists. Here, we address this issue by investigating shear wave velocity contrast across the Moho (δβM) in the Deccan volcanic-covered Kachchh seismogenic region, located in the Gujarat state of western India. This region, having complex geology, has witnessed several large damaging intraplate earthquakes since historical times. Most of the shallow focused earthquakes clustered in the eastern part of Kachchh often occurred due to the fluid pressure in the fractured rock matrix at the intersection of a fault network consisting of mainly three prominent faults, viz. Gedi, Kachchh Mainland, and North Wagad. However, the causes of lower crustal earthquakes are not well understood – whether it is due to the reactivation of faults or processes related to the fluid-filled fracked rock matrix of mafic/ultramafic material or magmatic infusion from the underlying mantle. Our results show that the δβM in the study area varies widely from ∼0.15 to 0.86 km/s. The lowest value of δβM (∼0.15 km/s) coincide with lower crustal seismicity. Further, the scaling relation between δβM and crustal thickness is negative, i.e., the thick crust has a low δβM, implying that the magmatic material has enveloped the lower crust, which ascended through the deep rifts during Deccan volcanism at ∼66 Ma. Higher values of δβM below a few stations have been ascribed to the pockets of trapped magmatic material or fluid below the lower crust. We suggest that the presence of mafic/ultramafic material in the crust-mantle transition zone, together with the fluid-filled fractured rock matrix in the intersecting fault geometry might accumulate enough strain to generate seismic activity in the lower crust. The presence of volatile influx or fluid pressure facilitates the triggering of deep-seated faults, and CO2-rich carbonatite-type magma percolated from the shallow asthenosphere.

‘In the Mutual Interest’: The Making and Breaking of the United Kingdom-Ceylon Defence Agreement, 1947–1957

ABSTRACT Historians have lavished enormous attention on British decolonisation but Britain’s post-imperial military relationships with its former colonies have too often been overlooked. The 1947 United Kingdom-Ceylon Defence Agreement established as a condition of the island’s independence was the first such military arrangement. Crucially, this agreement was vaguely conceived to serve ‘in the mutual interest’ of both states. Yet this article demonstrates that negotiations to implement the United Kingdom-Ceylon Defence Agreement produced deep rifts between London and Colombo. Both Labour and Conservative governments viewed Ceylon as vital to the defence of the Empire-Commonwealth in the Cold War due to its geostrategic position. Britain thus had to retain access to its bases on the island. Still, Britain’s financial constraints and global military commitments forced London to press Ceylon to contribute more to Commonwealth defence. In contrast, Ceylon’s first three prime ministers desired a British military presence to provide a cheap deterrent to an apparently imminent Indian invasion. Nevertheless, Colombo also sought to dispel claims the Defence Agreement derogated Ceylon’s sovereignty. By 1956, therefore, the election of a Sinhalese nationalist government in Ceylon and Britain’s Suez fiasco confirmed the Defence Agreement no longer served ‘in the mutual interest’ and it was swiftly terminated.

Challenges and Opportunities in Online Learning Amid COVID-19: A Study on Hearing–Speech Impaired Students of Jammu and Kashmir

The pandemic is a distressing time for academia. The past 24 months have caused a deeper rift between learning and teaching. Online classes have become necessary overnight, but the transition was not smooth and productive. Moreover, educating students with speech and hearing disabilities online is not similar to those who can hear and speak. The present study explores the challenges of online classes, the struggles of the student–teacher community, and the limitations of technology to make virtual education possible for the hearing–speech impaired students in Jammu and Kashmir. The study also captures some of the possibilities of effective deliverance. Finally, it suggests imperative changes to make online learning accessible, inclusive and meaningful for the hearing–speech impaired community that depends on facial expressions, lip-sync and sign language to learn and communicate. This article encapsulates how accessible and effective online learning is among the hearing–speech impaired students in the region.