Source potential and palynofacies of Late Jurassic “Lemeš facies”, Croatia

Laminated limestone and calcareous shale outcrop samples from the Late Jurassic “Leme?” facies (Croatia) were investigated to characterize their organic facies and palynofacies and their hydrocarbon generative potential. The results indicate that the organic rich sediments of “Leme?” facies were deposited within a relatively shallow marine environment at low redox potential, characterized as an oxygen depleted depositional setting with stratified bottom waters of the carbonate platform (Adriatic Carbonate Platform). The organic rich samples contain a high portion of lipid rich amorphous kerogen of algal/phytoplankton origin, enriched by bacterial biomass. Most of the analyzed samples have total organic carbon contents (TOC) greater than 3%, Rock-Eval S2 >20 mg HC/g rock, yielding Hydrogen Index (HI) values ranging from 509–602 mg HC/g TOC. According to these results, the analyzed samples have very good to excellent oil generative potential. Relatively high sulfur content suggests that the kerogen is best described as Type II-S. Biomarker maturity parameters, as well as the fluorescence of the isolated kerogen, show that the organic matter is at early to peak oil thermal maturity. The observed level of thermal maturity indicates that these samples were once buried to depths of ～5.5–5.8 km before being uplifted in the late Tertiary. The surface outcrops of the “Leme?” facies suggest that these strata have significant source potential and are the likely source of oil in the Croatian External Dinarides.     

The Position of High-Frequency Waves with Respect to the Granulation Pattern

High-frequency velocity oscillations were observed in the spectral lines Fe i 543.45 nm and 543.29 nm, by using 2D spectroscopy with a Fabry – Perot and speckle reconstruction, at the Vacuum Tower Telescope in Tenerife. We investigate the radial component of waves with frequencies in the range 8 – 22 mHz in the internetwork, network, and a pore. We find that the occurrence of waves does not show any location preference and that they are equally distributed over downflows and upflows, regardless of the activity of the observed area in the line of Fe i 543.45 nm. The waves observed in the lower formed line of Fe i 543.29 nm seem to appear preferentially over downflows.     

Assessment of radiation exposure to human and non-human biota due to natural radionuclides in terrestrial environment of Belgrade,the capital of Serbia

The main focus of this study was to assess radiation exposure to human and non-human biota due to natural radionuclides in soil of the Serbian capital. For the first time, ERICA tool was employed for calculation of gamma dose rates to non-human biota in this area. In analyzed soils, the mean values of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K specific activities were found to be 35, 43 and 490 Bq kg^?1, respectively. The distribution of analyzed natural radionuclides in soils was discussed in respect to its statistically significant correlations with sand, silt, clay, carbonates, cation exchange capacity and pH value. The annual outdoor effective dose rates to the population varied from 48 to 98 μSv, and the total dose rates to terrestrial biota, calculated by ERICA tool, varied from 9.84?×?10^?2 μGy h^?1 (for tree) to 5.54?×?10⁺⁰ μGy h^?1 (for lichen and bryophytes). The results obtained could serve as a baseline data for the assessment of possible anthropogenic enhancement of the total dose rate to human and non-human biota of the study area.     

Five-coordinate Cd in the crystal structure of triploidite-type Cd2(AsO4)(OH)

This paper reports on hydrothermal synthesis and crystal structure refinement of dicadmium arsenate hydroxide, Cd₂(AsO₄)(OH), obtained at 220 °C and autogenous pressure. Its crystal structure is monoclinic, space group P2₁/a, with a = 13.097(3), b = 14.089(3), c = 10.566(2) Å, β = 108.38(3)°, V = 1850.2(6) ų (Z = 16). It is isotypic with the members of the triploidite group of minerals and synthetic compounds, and thus shows a close topological relationship with the triplite group. The complex framework contains edge- and corner-sharing CdO₄(OH) and CdO₄(OH)₂ polyhedra, linked via corner-sharing to AsO₄ tetrahedra (average As—O distances range between 1.682 and 1.688 Å). Four five-coordinated Cd sites are at the centers of distorted trigonal bipyramids (average Cd—O distances are between 2.225 and 2.251 Å), whereas the remaining four Cd sites have a distorted octahedral coordination environment (average Cd—O distances are between 2.297 and 2.320 Å). The positions of all the hydrogen atoms were located in a difference-Fourier map and refined with an isotropic displacement parameter. The hydrogen-bonds are weak to very weak. The unusual five-coordination of Cd is briefly discussed in relation to comparable minerals and compounds. Among triploidite-type compounds, Cd₂(AsO₄)(OH) is the member with the largest unit cell reported so far, and the second known arsenate member.     

Effects of shallow and deep geology on seismic hazard estimates: a case study of pseudo-acceleration response spectra for the northwestern Balkans

Northwestern Balkans represents one of the rare regions where data on both the shallow geology (i.e., local soil conditions) and the deep geology exist for stations that recorded hundreds of strong motion records. The strong motion database used in this study consists of 203 strong motion accelerograms (each with three orthogonal translational components), recorded in former Yugoslavia in the period 1976–1983, from 108 contributing earthquakes. In this paper, the results of a series of regression analyses are presented where empirical equations for scaling pseudo-acceleration response spectra were developed on the basis of 5 subsets of data and using three prediction models. Results of the regression analyses show that for ground motion in the horizontal direction, both the shallow and deep geology site conditions have to be taken into account or else the spectral estimates might be considerably biased. Results show that the shallow geology influences spectral amplitudes the most in the short period range and has much lesser effects for larger periods, while the influence of the deep geology is expressed in a wider range of intermediate to long periods. Results also show that if the prediction model that considers solely the shallow geology effects is used, the spectral peaks that have been related to the deep geology effects will completely vanish for larger source-to-site distances, while in the case when solely the deep geology is considered, the peaks related to the shallow geology will not be visible for any distance. As for the amplitudes in the vertical direction, although both the shallow and the deep geology effects are less expressed than in the horizontal one, they still cannot be neglected—the deep geology effects are visible for a wider range of vibration periods, while the shallow geology has some effects only for periods smaller than ~0.3 s.     

东沙海域SMI与甲烷通量的关系及对水合物的指示

硫酸根甲烷界面(SMI)是识别海洋沉积物中天然气水合物赋存(甲烷通量)的一个重要生物地球化学标志.通过对南海北部陆坡东沙海域37个站位浅表层沉积物中孔隙水的SO42-和H2S含量变化和沉积物顶空气甲烷含量的变化等地球化学特性进行分析,研究南海北部东沙海域硫酸根甲烷界面(SMI)的分布情况,通过硫酸根变化梯度估算甲烷通量.研究结果显示,东沙海域存在南部深水区"海洋四号"沉积体和北部浅水区九龙甲烷礁两个水合物有利区域,SMI埋深普遍较浅,指示较高的甲烷通量(3.8×10-3~5.9×10-3 mmol/(cm2·a)),与国际上已发现天然气水合物区的地球化学特征相类似.这种高甲烷通量很可能是由下伏的天然气水合物所引起的,暗示着该区海底之下可能有天然气水合物层赋存.     

Cenozoic ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism in pelitic granulites from the Mogok metamorphic belt,Myanmar

Science China Earth Sciences - Ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism is critical for understanding the most extreme thermal evolution of continental crust. However, UHT metamorphism...     

Composition of ciliate fauna and its seasonal changes in fluvial drift

Ciliate composition and its seasonal changes in seston depending on the discharge regime were analyzed in the lower rhithral area of the river Sava. Higher values for ciliate density, dry biomass, index of species diversity and concentration of particulate organic matter (POM) were associated with discharge peaks. Using the power model: y = ax^b ± c a significant positive correlation was found between POM and ciliate dry biomass (as dependent variables) and discharge (as independent variable). The ciliate drift constitutes 0.78% of the total annual POM transport. Depending on the discharge regime, the composition of ciliate drift reflects the temporal and structural changes in periphytic community.     

Global multi-layer network of human mobility

Recent availability of geo-localized data capturing individual human activity together with the statistical data on international migration opened up unprecedented opportunities for a study on global mobility. In this paper, we consider it from the perspective of a multi-layer complex network, built using a combination of three datasets: Twitter, Flickr and official migration data. Those datasets provide different, but equally important insights on the global mobility – while the first two highlight short-term visits of people from one country to another, the last one – migration – shows the long-term mobility perspective, when people relocate for good. The main purpose of the paper is to emphasize importance of this multi-layer approach capturing both aspects of human mobility at the same time. On the one hand, we show that although the general properties of different layers of the global mobility network are similar, there are important quantitative differences among them. On the other hand, we demonstrate that consideration of mobility from a multi-layer perspective can reveal important global spatial patterns in a way more consistent with those observed in other available relevant sources of international connections, in comparison to the spatial structure inferred from each network layer taken separately.