Observations And Modelling Of The On-Ice And Off-Ice Air Flow Over The Northern Baltic Sea

Two cases of on-ice and off-ice air flow characterizing the opposite weather situations over the ice-edge zone in the northern Baltic Sea are analysed on the basis of aircraft observations, and modelled using atwo-dimensional mesoscale model. The stable boundary layer (SBL) during theon-ice flow exhibited little thermal modification, but a low-level jet (LLJ) was generated at the 250-m high top of the SBL. In the model, the LLJ was associated with inertial oscillations in space, while the baroclinicity explained the shape of the wind profile well above the SBL. Although the observed LLJ was most pronounced over the ice, the modelling suggests that it was not generated by the ice edge but by the coastline some 400 km upwind of the ice edge, where a much more drastic change in the thermal stratification and surface roughness took place. The generation, maintenance, and strength of the LLJ were very sensitive to the parameterization of turbulent mixing in the SBL. In the case of the off-ice flow, the modification of the air mass and the development of a convective boundary layer (CBL) both over the ice and open sea were reasonably well modelled. Sensitivity runs suggested that it was essential to take into account the effects of subgrid-scale leads, a forest in the archipelago (which was crossed by the air flow), and water vapour condensationinto ice crystals. The heat flux from leads was particularly important for the heatbudget of the CBL, and the observed growth of the CBL was partly due to theeffective mixing over the rough and relatively warm forest.     

Onset of magmatic accretion within a magma-poor rifted margin: a case study from the Platta ocean-continent transition, eastern Switzerland

Exhumation of subcontinental mantle rocks and its exposure at the seafloor is known from different magma-poor passive continental margins. However, the transition from largely amagmatic passive rifting to seafloor spreading is still poorly documented. In this contribution we use MOR-type gabbroic and basaltic rocks to characterize the magmatism associated with the formation of an ancient ocean-continent transition preserved in the Platta nappe, eastern Switzerland. Gabbros form individual small intrusions into exhumed serpentinized subcontinental mantle rocks. Mineral and bulk-rock chemistry and simple modeling indicate that each gabbro body records different magmatic processes ranging from predominantly fractional crystallization to solidification without fractionation. Mg numbers and Ni contents of equilibrium olivine calculated from basalts and gabbros indicate that few mafic rocks are primary melts but most represent fractionated compositions ranging from T- to N-MORB. Whereas most mafic rocks may be explained by low to moderate degrees of melting of an N-MORB-type mantle, the source of some basalt is enriched in incompatible elements. This compositional variation seems to correlate with the spatial distribution of the mafic rocks within the ocean-continent transition whereby mafic rocks with T-MORB signatures occur close to the continental margin whereas N-MORB signatures are predominantly found oceanwards. As in an opening system time and space are closely linked, the chemical evolution of the mafic rocks along the ocean-continent transitions suggests continuous thinning of the subcontinental mantle and associated uplift of the underlying asthenosphere during the time between the crustal and the lithospheric breakup.     

Influence of gold mine on groundwater quality (Efemçukuru, Izmir, Turkey)

. Currently, exploration of gold ores is under discussion in Turkey, without considering its adverse affect on the environment. Studying the adverse affect on environment is extremely important because significant civic activities are already taking place on the geological units that contain gold ore bodies in Turkey. Such an area is located at the southeast of Izmir City (Turkey), and approximately 2-km-long gold-bearing ore veins occur close to the Efemçukuru Village. The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics and seasonal variation of the groundwater chemistry and pollution of the aquifer in the ore deposit site, and to determine the impact of ore deposits on groundwater quality. The gold-bearing formation is highly weathered and fractured. The fractures in the geological units control the permeability and the depth of groundwater in the area. The concentrations of Al, Ag, Cu, Cd, Cr, Fe, Pb, Mn, Zn, Ni, and Sb were determined for four well samples and two stream waters for wet and dry seasons. The results showed that the concentrations of most of these elements were below the USA EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) limits; however, Pb and Cd concentrations are slightly above the limits. The results indicate that minerals in gold bodies do not dissolve although the weathering of formations is high. The low concentration of elements in groundwater and streams may be attributed to the high velocity of ground and surface water.     

Mantle Convection Modeling with Viscoelastic/Brittle Lithosphere: Numerical Methodology and Plate Tectonic Modeling

--The earth's tectonic plates are strong, viscoelastic shells which make up the outermost part of a thermally convecting, predominantly viscous layer. Brittle failure of the lithosphere occurs when stresses are high. In order to build a realistic simulation of the planet's evolution, the complete viscoelastic/brittle convection system needs to be considered. A particle-in-cell finite element method is demonstrated which can simulate very large deformation viscoelasticity with a strain-dependent yield stress. This is applied to a plate-deformation problem. Numerical accuracy is demonstrated relative to analytic benchmarks, and the characteristics of the method are discussed.     

The Role of Organic Matter During Metal Enrichment in Permian Kupferschiefer of the Rudna Mine,Southwest Poland

The bulk composition of organic matter and saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons extracted from 16 samples collected from two Kuperschiefer profiles in the Rudna mine,Southwest Poland has been analyzed to study the role of organic matter during base metal enrichment in the Kupferschiefer shale.The results indicated that the extract yields and saturated hydrocarbon yields decreased with increasing base metal contents.GC and GC/MS analyses indicated that n -alkanes and alkylated aromatic compounds were depleted and may have served as hydrogen donators for thermochemical sulfate reduction.The enrichment of base metal is closely connected with the destruction of hydrocarbons.     

Enhanced red fluorescence emission in the oxygen minimum zone of the Arabian Sea

 Depth profiles of fluorescence at several excitation and emission wavelengths were measured along with CTD data during the cruise So119 of RV Sonne in the Arabian Sea from 12 May to 10 June 1997. In addition to chlorophyll fluorescence from phytoplankton in the near-surface layer, the profiles in the oxygen minimum region well below the euphotic zone show enhanced red fluorescence. Red fluorescence intensity is inversely related to the oxygen concentration in intermediate and deep waters. A relationship to characteristic water masses of the region cannot be found in the data, and this holds also with chemical data such as DOC. Absorbance spectra of water samples taken in the oxygen minimum zone show an absorption band at 420 nm wavelength with about 50 nm bandwidth, much weaker than gelbstoff absorbance in the same wavelength range. The absorption band remains stable after sample filtration with 0.45 μm glass fibre filters. Hence, the size of the absorbing matter is in the range of dissolved molecules or particles much smaller than 1 μm. Fluorescence spectra of unfiltered samples with 420 nm excitation show a weak emission band at 600 nm and a more pronounced one at 660 nm wavelength. The trailing edge of the 660 nm band falls into the range of chlorophyll emission, thus giving rise to the observed depth profiles of red fluorescence in the oxygen minimum zone. Red fluorescence measured on samples remain stable during a few hours after sampling even in the presence of oxygen. It is not detectable after several weeks of sample storage in the dark and cannot be reproduced even after depletion of dissolved oxygen. Received: 22 May 2002 / Accepted: 18 February 2003 Responsible Editor: Andreas Oschlies Acknowledgements. This work was supported by a grant from the Federal Minister of Education and Technology, Bonn, within the frame work of the JGOFS Arabian Sea program. We are grateful to the captain and the crew of RV Sonne for their support. We are indebted to Mrs. Kirsten Neumann from the Institute of Marine Chemistry and Biogeochemistry of the University of Hamburg for providing the oxygen data, and to Mr. Nikolai Delling from the same institute for making the DOC and chlorophyll data available to us.     

An Mw based earthquake Catalogue for central, northern and northwestern Europe using a hierarchy of magnitude conversions

Data from 25 local catalogues and 30special studies of earthquakes in central,northern and northwestern Europe have beenincorporated into a Databank. The dataprocessing includes discriminating eventtypes, eliminating fake events and dupletsand converting different magnitudes andintensities to M_w if this is not givenby the original source. The magnitudeconversion is a key task of the study andimplies establishment of regressionequations where no local relations exist.The Catalogue contains tectonic events fromthe Databank within the area44°N–72°N,25°W–32°E and the time period1300–1993. The lower magnitude level forthe Catalogue entries is setat M_w == 3.50. The area covered by thedifferent catalogues are associated withpolygons. Within each polygon only datafrom one or a small number of the localcatalogues, supplemented by data fromspecial studies, enter the Catalogue. Ifthere are two or more such catalogues orstudies providing a solution for an event,a priority algorithm selects one entry forthe Catalogue. Then M_w is calculatedfrom one of the magnitude types, or frommacroseismic data, given by the selectedentry according to another priority scheme.The origin time, location, M_w magnitude and reference are specified for eachentry of the Catalogue. So is theepicentral intensity, I₀, if providedby the original source. Following thesecriteria, a total of about 5,000earthquakes constitute the Catalogue.Although originally derived for the purposeof seismic hazard calculation within GSHAP,the Catalogue provides a data base for manytypes of seismicity and seismic hazardstudies.     

Geoid determination using adapted reference field, seismic Moho depths and variable density contrast

 The traditional remove-restore technique for geoid computation suffers from two main drawbacks. The first is the assumption of an isostatic hypothesis to compute the compensation masses. The second is the double consideration of the effect of the topographic–isostatic masses within the data window through removing the reference field and the terrain reduction process. To overcome the first disadvantage, the seismic Moho depths, representing, more or less, the actual compensating masses, have been used with variable density anomalies computed by employing the topographic–isostatic mass balance principle. In order to avoid the double consideration of the effect of the topographic–isostatic masses within the data window, the effect of these masses for the used fixed data window, in terms of potential coefficients, has been subtracted from the reference field, yielding an adapted reference field. This adapted reference field has been used for the remove–restore technique. The necessary harmonic analysis of the topographic–isostatic potential using seismic Moho depths with variable density anomalies is given. A wide comparison among geoids computed by the adapted reference field with both the Airy–Heiskanen isostatic model and seismic Moho depths with variable density anomaly and a geoid computed by the traditional remove–restore technique is made. The results show that using seismic Moho depths with variable density anomaly along with the adapted reference field gives the best relative geoid accuracy compared to the GPS/levelling geoid. Received: 3 October 2001 / Accepted: 20 September 2002 Correspondence to: H.A. Abd-Elmotaal