High He/He in central Panama reveals a distal connection to the Galápagos plume.

It is well established that mantle plumes are the main conduits for upwelling geochemically enriched material from Earth's deep interior. The fashion and extent to which lateral flow processes at shallow depths may disperse enriched mantle material far (>1,000 km) from vertical plume conduits, however, remain poorly constrained. Here, we report He and C isotope data from 65 hydrothermal fluids from the southern Central America Margin (CAM) which reveal strikingly high He/He (up to 8.

Identification of chondritic krypton and xenon in Yellowstone gases and the timing of terrestrial volatile accretion.

Identifying the origin of noble gases in Earth's mantle can provide crucial constraints on the source and timing of volatile (C, N, HO, noble gases, etc.) delivery to Earth. It remains unclear whether the early Earth was able to directly capture and retain volatiles throughout accretion or whether it accreted anhydrously and subsequently acquired volatiles through later additions of chondritic material.

Dual in-aquifer and near surface processes drive arsenic mobilization in Cambodian groundwaters.

Millions of people globally, and particularly in South and Southeast Asia, face chronic exposure to arsenic from reducing groundwaters in which. Arsenic release to is widely attributed largely to reductive dissolution of arsenic-bearing iron minerals, driven by metal reducing bacteria using bioavailable organic matter as an electron donor. However, the nature of the organic matter implicated in arsenic mobilization, and the location within the subsurface where these processes occur, remains debated.

Halogens in chondritic meteorites and terrestrial accretion.

Volatile element delivery and retention played a fundamental part in Earth's formation and subsequent chemical differentiation. The heavy halogens-chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br) and iodine (I)-are key tracers of accretionary processes owing to their high volatility and incompatibility, but have low abundances in most geological and planetary materials. However, noble gas proxy isotopes produced during neutron irradiation provide a high-sensitivity tool for the determination of heavy halogen abundances.

Effect of water on the fluorine and chlorine partitioning behavior between olivine and silicate melt.

Halogens show a range from moderate (F) to highly (Cl, Br, I) volatile and incompatible behavior, which makes them excellent tracers for volatile transport processes in the Earth's mantle. Experimentally determined fluorine and chlorine partitioning data between mantle minerals and silicate melt enable us to estimate Mid Ocean Ridge Basalt (MORB) and Ocean Island Basalt (OIB) source region concentrations for these elements. This study investigates the effect of varying small amounts of water on the fluorine and chlorine partitioning behavior at 1280 °C and 0.

High resolution profile of inorganic aqueous geochemistry and key redox zones in an arsenic bearing aquifer in Cambodia.

Arsenic contamination of groundwaters in South and Southeast Asia is a major threat to public health. In order to better understand the geochemical controls on the mobility of arsenic in a heavily arsenic-affected aquifer in northern Kandal Province, Cambodia, key changes in inorganic aqueous geochemistry have been monitored at high vertical and lateral resolution along dominant groundwater flow paths along two distinct transects. The two transects are characterized by differing geochemical, hydrological and lithological conditions.

Note: A dual temperature closed loop batch reactor for determining the partitioning of trace gases within CO2-water systems.

An experimental approach is presented which can be used to determine partitioning of trace gases within CO2-water systems. The key advantages of this system are (1) The system can be isolated with no external exchange, making it ideal for experiments with conservative tracers. (2) Both phases can be sampled concurrently to give an accurate composition at each phase at any given time.

Pond-derived organic carbon driving changes in arsenic hazard found in Asian groundwaters.

Microbially mediated reductive processes involving the oxidation of labile organic carbon are widely considered to be critical to the release of arsenic into shallow groundwaters in South and Southeast Asia. In areas where there is significant pumping of groundwater for irrigation the involvement of surface-derived organic carbon drawn down from ponds into the underlying aquifers has been proposed but remains highly controversial. Here we present isotopic data from two sites with contrasting groundwater pumping histories that unequivocally demonstrate the ingress of surface pond-derived organic carbon into arsenic-containing groundwaters.