•Petrologic/geochemical study of all 9 eruptions from the 1975–1984 Krafla fires.•Bimodal magma compositions reflect tapping of two distinct reservoirs.•Primitive magma stored near Moho, evolved ...magma stored in upper crust.•Decoupling of flow paths for the two magma types.•Hydraulic connection between reservoirs with joint response to rifting.
The 1975–1984 Krafla Fires in northeast Iceland was the first plate-boundary rifting episode to be tracked using seismic and geodetic monitoring. Geophysical observations from this episode have inspired conceptual models of magma transport during plate spreading, but a lack of complementary petrologic insights has hindered a holistic understanding of the events. To address this knowledge gap, we studied the petrochemistry of all nine Krafla Fires basaltic eruptions. Our large dataset of new whole-rock, matrix glass and mineral analyses from samples collected during or shortly after each eruption reveal a clear compositional bimodality in the erupted magmas that persisted across the episode, with evolved quartz tholeiite (MgO = 5.7–6.4 wt.%) erupted inside Krafla caldera, and more primitive (usually olivine-normative) tholeiite (MgO = 6.4–8.7 wt%) erupted north of the caldera margin. Barometric calculations indicate tapping of these magmas from distinct reservoirs: a primitive lower-crustal reservoir at a most probable depth of ∼14–19 km, and a more evolved, shallower reservoir at a most probable depth of ∼7–9 km beneath the caldera. These reservoirs were tapped simultaneously in several of the nine eruptions, and in three events the two magma types mixed near the northern caldera margin. Varying levels of trace element depletion in the deep-sourced primitive melts reflect incomplete mixing of diverse mantle-derived melts at depth; the most enriched of these melts could be parental to evolved inside-caldera magma via fractional crystallization. Clinopyroxene rims on gabbroic nodules from primitive September 1984 lavas record lower crustal pressures, while diffusion models suggest that these rims grew up to within a few months before eruption. Ascent of the primitive magma from the lower crust thus occurred over timescales much shorter than eruptive repose periods, without prolonged stalling at shallow depths. These observations are inconsistent with the view that the eruptions were entirely fed by lateral magma outflow from the shallow reservoir. They instead require some decoupling of the flow paths of the two magma types: the primitive magma either bypassed the sub-caldera reservoir laterally or ascended vertically beneath the northern vents. The two reservoirs nonetheless shared a hydraulic connection and jointly responded to rifting. Comparison of the Krafla Fires with other rifting events and eruptions highlights the complexity and diversity of magma transport during plate boundary rifting events, which is not yet captured by a generalizable model. Integration of petrologic, geochemical and geophysical data is essential to provide a holistic view of future rifting events in Iceland and at other spreading centres.
To determine if pharmacologic and physiologic tests are equally effective in the assessment of growth hormone (GH) secretory status, serum GH levels were measured during sequential tests with ...intravenous arginine infusion and insulin-induced hypoglycemia (arginine-insulin tolerance test AITT ) and during sleep in 62 children, aged 2.1 to 17.3 years. Responses during AITT and sleep were concordant in 53 patients and discordant in nine patients. Arginine-insulin tolerance test results were consistent with the subsequent clinical course in 80% of the patients while nocturnal sampling was consistent with the subsequent clinical course in 93% of the patients. Thus, the failure of a normal serum GH response to pharmacologic stimuli is not always a diagnostic indicator of GH deficiency. Additional investigation of discordant GH responses to pharmacologic and physiologic stimuli may lead to a further understanding of the control mechanisms of GH secretion.
We report the construction of a small library of recombinant plasmids containing Mus musculus repetitive DNA inserts. The repetitive cloned fraction was derived from denatured genomic DNA by ...reassociation to a Cot value at which repetitive, but not unique, sequences have reannealed followed by exhaustive S1 nuclease treatment to degrade single stranded DNA. Initial characterizations of this library by colony filter hybridizations have led to the identification of a previously undetected M. musculus minor satellite as well as to clones containing M. musculus major satellite sequences. This new satellite is repeated 10-20 times less than the major satellite in the M. musculus genome. It has a repeat length of 130 nucleotides compared with the M. musculus major satellite with a repeat length of 234 nucleotides. Sequence analysis of the minor satellite has shown that it has a 29 base pair region with extensive homology to one of the major satellite repeating subunits. We also show by in situ hybridization that this minor satellite sequence is located at the centromeres and possibly the arms of at least half the M musculus chromosomes. Sequences related to the minor satellite have been found in the DNA of a related Mus species, Mus spretus, and may represent the major satellite of that species.
The construction of a small library of mouse repetitive DNA has been previously reported (Pietras et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 11:6965-6983, 1983). Here we report that the 35 plasmids in this library ...corresponding to highly repeated (>30,000 copies per genome) dispersed DNA sequences can be grouped into no more than 5 distinct families. These families together comprise 8 to 10% of the mouse genome. They include the previously described small elements B1, B2, and R and the large MIF-1 element. Twelve of the 35 clones contain evolutionarily conserved (EC) sequences. One EC clone in our library mostly consists of alternating dCdT residues; another consists of tandem repeats of the sequence CCTCT. The majority of B1s and B2s in the genome appear to be homogeneous, whereas R sequences, ECs, and MIF-1s are heterogeneous. Two earlier reports showed highly repeated mammalian DNA sequences in the herpesvirus genome (Peden et al., Cell 31:71-80, 1982; Puga et al., Cell 31:81-87, 1982). We show that sequences homologous to our EC clones are present in the herpesvirus genome, although these polypyrimidine stretches are not detected in poxvirus, adenovirus, and simian virus 40 genomes. We detect transcripts containing homology to all of these sequences in a nuclear transcription assay. Also, we show that small, polyadenylated RNA molecules homologous to B2 sequences are expressed in undifferentiated embryonal carcinoma cells but not in their differentiated derivatives. The significance of these findings is discussed.