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The Vila de Cruces ophiolite (NW Spain) comprises a tectonically repeated succession of greenschist-facies volcanic rocks, alterations of pelitic or siliceous metasediments and scarce orthogneisses, metagabbros and serpentinites. A protolith age (U-Pb in zircons 497 ± 4 Ma) of a granitic orthogneiss intruding the mafic rocks, can be considered a reference for the generation of the ophiolite. Evidence from the most immobile trace elements suggests that the greenschist and metagabbros are derived from basaltic magmas with island-arc tholeiite affinities.The granitic orthogneisses also have similarities with volcanic arc granites. The Vila de Cruces ophiolite is interpreted as a suprasubduction zone ophiolite generated during the early (late Cambrian) stages of opening of the Rheic Ocean, probably in a back-arc basin during the first stages of the pulling apart and later drift of one or more peri-Gondwanan terrains, one of which being represented by the upper allochthon of the NW Iberian Massif.

Central aims of IODP Expedition 352 were to delineate and characterize the magmatic stratigraphy in the Bonin forearc to define key magmatic processes associated with subduction initiation and their potential links to ophiolites. Expedition 352 penetrated 1.2 km of magmatic basement at four sites and recovered three principal lithologies: tholeiitic forearc basalt (FAB), high-Mg andesite, and boninite, with subordinate andesite. Boninites are subdivided into basaltic, low-Si, and high-Si varieties. The purpose of this study is to determine conditions of crystal growth and differentiation for Expedition 352 lavas and compare and contrast these conditions with those recorded in lavas from mid-ocean ridges, forearcs, and ophiolites. Cr# (cationic Cr/Cr+Al) vs. TiO relations in spinel and clinopyroxene demonstrate a trend of source depletion with time for the Expedition 352 forearc basalt to boninite sequence that is similar to sequences in the Oman and other suprasubduction zone ophiolites. Clinopyroxene thermobarometry results indicate that FAB crystallized at temperatures (1142–1190 °C) within the range of MORB (1133–1240 °C). When taking into consideration liquid lines of descent of boninite, orthopyroxene barometry and olivine thermometry of Expedition 352 boninites demonstrate that they crystallized at temperatures marginally lower than those of FAB, between ~1119 and ~1202 °C and at relatively lower pressure (~0.2–0.4 vs. 0.5–4.6 kbar for FAB). Elevated temperatures of boninite orthopyroxene (~1214 °C for low-Si boninite and 1231–1264 °C for high-Si boninite) may suggest latent heat produced by the rapid crystallization of orthopyroxene. The lower pressure of crystallization of the boninite may be explained by their lower density and hence higher ascent rate, and shorter distance of travel from place of magma formation to site of crystallization, which allowed the more buoyant and faster ascending boninites to rise to shallower levels before crystallizing, thus preserving their high temperatures.

The association of deep-sea trenches—steeply angled, planar zones where earthquakes occur deep into Earth’s interior—and chains, or arcs, of active, explosive volcanoes had been recognized for 90 years prior to the development of plate tectonic theory in the 1960s. Oceanic lithosphere is created at mid-ocean ridge spreading centers and recycled into the mantle at subduction zones, where down-going lithospheric plates dynamically sustain the deep-sea trenches. Study of subduction zone initiation is a challenge because evidence of the processes involved is typically destroyed or buried by later tectonic and crust-forming events. In 2014 and 2017, the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) specifically targeted these processes with three back-to-back expeditions to the archetypal Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) intra-oceanic arcs and one expedition to the Tonga-Kermadec (TK) system. Both subduction systems were initiated ~52 million years ago, coincident with a proposed major change of Pacific plate motion. These expeditions explored the tectonism preceding and accompanying subduction initiation and the characteristics of the earliest crust-forming magmatism. Lack of compressive uplift in the overriding plate combined with voluminous basaltic seafloor magmatism in an extensional environment indicates a large component of spontaneous subduction initiation was involved for the IBM. Conversely, a complex range of far-field uplift and depression accompanied the birth of the TK system, indicative of a more distal forcing of subduction initiation. Future scientific ocean drilling is needed to target the three-dimensional aspects of these processes at new converging margins.

Post-collision magmatic rocks are common in the southern portion of the Marmara region (Kapıdağ, Karabiga, Gönen, Yenice, Çan areas) and also on the small islands (Marmara, Avşa, Paşalimanı) in the Sea of Marmara. They are represented mainly by granitic plutons, stocks and sills within Triassic basement rocks. The granitoids have ages between Late Cretaceous and Miocene, but mainly belong to two groups: Eocene in the north and Miocene in the south. The Miocene granitoids have associated volcanic rocks; the Eocene granitoids do not display such associations. They are both granodioritic and granitic in composition, and are metaluminous, calc-alkaline, medium to high-K rocks. Their trace elements patterns are similar to both volcanic-arc and calc-alkaline post-collision intrusions, and the granitoids plot into the volcanic arc granite (VAG) and collision related granite areas (COLG) of discrimination diagrams. The have high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr (0.704–0.707) and low 143 Nd/ 144 Nd (0.5124–0.5128). During their evolution, the magma was affected by crustal assimilation and fractional crystallization (AFC). Nd and Sr isotopic compositions support an origin of derivation by combined continental crustal AFC from a basaltic parent magma. A slab breakoff model is consistent with the evolution of South Marmara Sea granitoids.

Volcanic rocks encountered during the Tibet Geotraverse have been studied in the field, in thin section and by major and trace element geochemistry in order to determine their most probable original eruptive environment. Rocks from a total of eleven distinct volcanic provinces were studied in this way. They provide evidence for: an active continental margin or post-collision province of probable Devonian/early Carboniferous age in the northern Kunlun mountains; an active continental margin of late Carboniferous age in the southern Lhasa Terrane; Permian continental rifts in the central Qiangtang and central Kunlun Terranes; Triassic volcanic arcs in the southern Lhasa and northern Qiangtang Terranes; a Triassic active continental margin dyke swarm in the northern Kunlun mountains; a Jurassic post-collision or back-arc rifting province in the southern Qiangtang Terrane; a Jurassic island arc in the northern Lhasa Terrane; a Cretaceous post-collision province in the northern Lhasa Terrane possibly extending into the southern Qiangtang Terrane; and a Palaeogene active continental margin in the southern Lhasa Terrane. An Oligocene trachyte plug in the northern Qiangtang Terrane was the only evidence encountered during the Geotraverse of volcanism post-dating the Palaeogene India--Eurasia collision. However, the composition of this plug, coupled with new and published analyses from Miocene volcanics in the southern Lhasa terrane and from the Pliocene-Recent volcanic province of northwest Tibet, places important constraints on models for post-collision underplating of Tibet by continental lithosphere: any underplating is likely to have been (a) much later than the start of collision, (b) directed beneath Tibet from the north as well as the south, and (c) limited in extent.

Ophiolite belts are found in Tibet along the Zangbo, Banggong and Jinsha River Sutures and in the Anyemaqen mountains, the eastern extension of the Kunlun mountains. Where studied, the Zangbo Suture ophiolites are characterized by: apparently thin crustal sequences (3-3.5 km); an abundance of sills and dykes throughout the crustal and uppermost mantle sequences; common intraoceanic melanges and unconformities; and an N-MORB petrological and geochemical composition. The ophiolites probably formed within the main neo-Tethyan ocean and the unusual features may be due to proximity to ridge-transform intersections, rather than to genesis at very slow-spreading ridges as the current consensus suggests. The Banggong Suture ophiolites have a supra-subduction zone petrological and geochemical composition -- although at least one locality in the Ado Massif shows MORB characteristics. However, it is also apparent that the dykes and lavas show a regional chemical zonation, from boninites and primitive island arc tholeiites in the south of the ophiolite belt, through normal island arc tholeiites in the central belt to island arc tholeiites transitional to N-MORB in the north. The ophiolites could represent fragments of a fore-arc, island arc, back-arc complex developed above a Jurassic, northward-dipping subduction zone and emplaced in several stages during convergence of the Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes. The ophiolites of the Jinsha River Suture have a N-MORB composition where analysed, but more information is needed for a proper characterization. The Anyemaqen ophiolites, where studied, have a within-plate tholeiite composition and may have originated at a passive margin: it is not, however, certain whether true oceanic lithosphere, as opposed to strongly attenuated continental lithosphere, existed in this region.

THE high-pressure, low-temperature metamorphic rocks known as blueschists have long been considered to form in subduction zones, where the descent of a relatively cold slab leads to the occurrence of unusually low temperatures at mantle pressures. Until now, however, the link between blueschist-facies rocks and subduction zones has been indirect, relying on a spatial association of blueschists with old subduction complexes, and estimates of the geothermal gradients likely to exist in subduction zones. Here we strengthen this link, by reporting the discovery of blueschist-facies minerals (lawsonite, aragonite, sodic pyroxene and blue amphibole) in clasts from a serpentinite seamount in the forearc of the active Mariana subduction zone. The metamorphic conditions estimated from the mineral compositions are 150–250 °C and 5–6 kbar (16–20 km depth). The rocks must have been entrained in rising serpentine mud diapirs, and extruded from mud volcanoes onto the sea floor. Further study of these rocks may provide new insight into the tectonics of trench-forearc systems, and in particular, the processes by which blueschist-facies clasts come to be associated with forearc sediments in ancient subduction complexes.

Prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein (Pup) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the first known post-translational small protein modifier in prokaryotes, and targets several proteins for degradation by a bacterial proteasome in a manner akin to ubiquitin (Ub) mediated proteolysis in eukaryotes. To determine the extent of pupylation in Mtb, we used tandem affinity purification to identify its \"pupylome\". Mass spectrometry identified 55 out of 604 purified proteins with confirmed pupylation sites. Forty-four proteins, including those with and without identified pupylation sites, were tested as substrates of proteolysis in Mtb. Under steady state conditions, the majority of the test proteins did not accumulate in degradation mutants, suggesting not all targets of pupylation are necessarily substrates of the proteasome under steady state conditions. Four proteins implicated in Mtb pathogenesis, Icl (isocitrate lyase), Ino1 (inositol-1-phosphate synthase), MtrA (Mtb response regulator A) and PhoP (phosphate response regulator P), showed altered levels in degradation defective Mtb. Icl, Ino1 and MtrA accumulated in Mtb degradation mutants, suggesting these proteins are targeted to the proteasome. Unexpectedly, PhoP was present in wild type Mtb but undetectable in the degradation mutants. Taken together, these data demonstrate that pupylation regulates numerous proteins in Mtb and may not always lead to degradation.

The protein modifier ubiquitin is a signal for proteasome-mediated degradation in eukaryotes. Proteasome-bearing prokaryotes have been thought to degrade proteins via a ubiquitin-independent pathway. We have identified a prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein, Pup (Rv2111c), which was specifically conjugated to proteasome substrates in the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Pupylation occurred on lysines and required proteasome accessory factor A (PafA). In a pafA mutant, pupylated proteins were absent and substrates accumulated, thereby connecting pupylation with degradation. Although analogous to ubiquitylation, pupylation appears to proceed by a different chemistry. Thus, like eukaryotes, bacteria may use a small-protein modifier to control protein stability.

Conventional, hadronic matter consists of baryons and mesons made of three quarks and a quark–antiquark pair, respectively 1 , 2 . Here, we report the observation of a hadronic state containing four quarks in the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment. This so-called tetraquark contains two charm quarks, a u ¯ and a d ¯ quark. This exotic state has a mass of approximately 3,875 MeV and manifests as a narrow peak in the mass spectrum of D 0 D 0 π + mesons just below the D *+ D 0 mass threshold. The near-threshold mass together with the narrow width reveals the resonance nature of the state. The LHCb Collaboration reports the observation of an exotic, narrow, tetraquark state that contains two charm quarks, an up antiquark and a down antiquark.