On the relationship of thunderstorm ice hydrometeor characteristics and total lightning measurements

Satellite-borne and ground-based devices for the detection of lightning offer the opportunity to explore relationships–on all significant scales up to global–between lightning frequency, f, and other thundercloud parameters. Calculations predict that f is proportional to the product of the downflux p of solid precipitation and the upward mass flux, I, of ice crystals. This prediction has received support from limited computational studies. The physical reasons for such a relationship are explained in terms of the paramount role of ice in the electrification of thunderstorms. Herein, this prediction is subjected to further, preliminary examination through analysis of lightning and dual-polarimetric radar data collected during the STERAO experiment conducted in Northern Colorado during the summer of 1996. The analysis has yielded some highly provisional support for this flux hypothesis. Computed trends of radar derived hydrometeor fractions of solid precipitation and small ice show correlation to the total lightning frequency and raise the possibility of determining values of p and/or I from lightning measurements.It is shown that the extent to which the observed correlations between f and both solid precipitation and small ice trends are or are not strong can provide an indication as to whether the lightning activity is limited by the available concentrations of precipitating or non-precipitating ice in the upper regions of the charging zone of the thundercloud, where most of the charge transfer occurs. It is demonstrated that the most accurate determinations of precipitation rate p from measurements of lighting frequency f are likely to be for conditions where the field-growth is limited by the availability of graupel pellets. It is shown that the simultaneous time variations of f and solid precipitation trends of the type obtained in the STERAO experiment could enable us to determine the nature of the dominant glaciation process operative in the thunderclouds studied.     

Strain localization as a key to reconciling experimentally derived flow-law data with dynamic models of continental collision

Published strength profiles predict strength discontinuities within and/or at the base of continental crust during compression. We use finite element models to investigate the effect of strength discontinuities on continental collision dynamics. The style of deformation in model crust during continued subduction of underlying mantle lithosphere is controlled by: (1) experimental flow-law data; (2) the crustal geotherm; (3) strain localization by erosion; (4) strain-softening and other localization effects. In the absence of erosion and other factors causing strain localization, numerical models with typical geothermal gradients and frictional/ductile rheologies predict diffuse crustal deformation with whole-scale detachment of crust from mantle lithosphere. This prediction is at odds with earlier model studies that only considered frictional crustal rheologies and showed asymmetric, focused crustal deformation. Without localization, model deformation is not consistent with that observed in small collisional orogens such as the Swiss Alps. This suggests that strain localization by a combination of erosion and rheological effects such as strain softening must play a major role in focusing deformation, and that strength profiles derived under constant strain rates and uniform material properties cannot be used to infer crustal strength during collision dynamics.     

青藏高原东缘活动构造

青藏高原东缘由岷山断块和龙门山构造带构成。以活动构造地貌学为主线,在解析该地区主干断裂晚第四纪以来活动的地质地貌表现的基础上,对一批断裂运动学和史前强震活动的定量数据进行分析研究,结果表明:在岷山断块中,虎牙断裂的平均左旋滑动速率为1.4 mm/a,垂直滑动速率为0.3 mm/a。岷江断裂的平均垂直滑动速率介于0.37 mm/a~0.53 mm/a之间,左旋位错量与垂直位错量大致相当;在龙门山构造带中,茂汶-汶川断裂、北川-映秀断裂和彭县-灌县断裂的平均垂直滑动速率均在1 mm/a左右,且几条主干断裂的右旋位错量与垂直位错量相当。结合震源机制解结果和GPS测量资料,建立晚新生代以来青藏高原东缘向南东方向逸出的构造变形模式。     

The pressure dependence of the zirconium-in-rutile thermometer

The solubility of ZrO₂ in rutile is strongly temperature-dependent and has been identified as a potentially powerful thermometer when the rutile coexists with an appropriate buffer assemblage, e.g. zircon + quartz. In combination with experimental data at 10 kbar, previous consideration of data on natural rutile has not identified a pressure dependence for the thermometer. However, the expected volume change as a result of substitution of the larger Zr⁴⁺ cation for Ti⁴⁺ suggests that the Zr content of rutile should decrease with increasing pressure. To investigate the pressure dependence of the thermometer, piston cylinder (at 10, 20 & 30 kbar) and 1 atm furnace experiments were performed in the system ZrO₂-TiO₂-SiO₂. The solubility of ZrO₂ in rutile, in the presence of zircon and quartz was reversed at each pressure value. From these experiments, the thermodynamics of the end-member reaction ZrSiO₄ = SiO₂ + ZrO₂ (in rutile) have been determined. There is a secondary pressure effect accompanying the primary temperature dependence of the Zr content of rutile. New thermometer equations are, in the α -quartz field: in the β -quartz field and in the coesite field in which φ is ppm Zr, P is in kbar and R is the gas constant, 0.0083144 kJ K⁻¹. Thermometric results using these equations are shown for a range of geological settings.