Tveitite,a new calcium yttrium fluoride

Tveitite is a new mineral with formula of the type $\text{Ca}{}_{\mathrm{1?x}}\text{(}\text{Y, RE}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{x}}\text{F}{}_{\mathrm{2+x}}\text{where}\text{x}$ is approximately 0.3. It is found in a cleavelandite pegmatite at Høydalen in Tørdal, Telemark, S. Norway. The sub-cell is thought to be monoclinic, $\text{a}\text{′=3.924,}\text{b}\text{′=3.893,}\text{c}\text{′=5.525, ß=90°26′,}\text{Z}\text{=2}$. The structure is very similar to that of fluorite and can be described in terms of a pseudo-cubic cell $\text{[1}\text{1}\text{0]}{}_0\text{= 5.527, [110]}{}_0\text{= 5.527,}\text{c}\text{= 5.525, α = 90°18′, γ = 89°37′}$ which contains approximately 1[YCa₃F₉]. The mineral shows twinning in at lest three different directions giving a grating structure probably due to high-low inversion. DTA studies show an inversion point at about 670°C. Material heated above this temperature gives X-ray diffraction patterns corresponding to yttrofluorite (a₀ 5.528). The effect of trivalent ions on the stability of fluorite is discussed.     

Biological structures as a source of habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity on the deep ocean margins

Biological structures exert a major influence on species diversity at both local and regional scales on deep continental margins. Some organisms use other species as substrates for attachment, shelter, feeding or parasitism, but there may also be mutual benefits from the association. Here, we highlight the structural attributes and biotic effects of the habitats that corals, sea pens, sponges and xenophyophores offer other organisms. The environmental setting of the biological structures influences their species composition. The importance of benthic species as substrates seems to increase with depth as the complexity of the surrounding geological substrate and food supply decline. There are marked differences in the degree of mutualistic relationships between habitat-forming taxa. This is especially evident for scleractinian corals, which have high numbers of facultative associates (commensals) and few obligate associates (mutualists), and gorgonians, with their few commensals and many obligate associates. Size, flexibility and architectural complexity of the habitat-forming organism are positively related to species diversity for both sessile and mobile species. This is mainly evident for commensal species sharing a facultative relationship with their host. Habitat complexity is enhanced by the architecture of biological structures, as well as by biological interactions. Colony morphology has a great influence on feeding efficiency for suspension feeders. Suspension feeding, habitat-forming organisms modify the environment to optimize their food uptake. This environmental advantage is also passed on to associated filter-feeding species. These effects are poorly understood but represent key points for understanding ecosystems and biodiversity on continental margins. In this paper we explore the contributions of organisms and the biotic structures they create (rather than physical modifications) to habitat heterogeneity and diversity on the deep continental margins.     

Marine spatial planning from the perspective of a small seaside community in Ireland

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is advocated as a means of managing human uses of the sea in a manner that is consistent with the maintenance of the ecological goods and services of the marine environment. Support for the process is evident at international and national levels but the degree to which it is acceptable to local level stakeholders is not clear. An Daingean (formely Dingle) is a small sea-oriented town situated on the southwest coast of Ireland in which marine-based tourism and other relatively new uses of the sea are pursued along side traditional fishing activities. Stakeholders in An Daingean are found to be positively disposed to a local process of MSP that incorporates meaningful local involvement.     

Seasonality and duration in extreme value distributions of significant wave height

This paper presents a statistical model to characterize the long-term extreme value distribution of significant wave height, conditioning to the duration of the storm and accounting for seasonality. A time-dependent version of the peak over threshold (POT) approach is used to build the model, which is then applied to specific reanalysis time series and NOAA buoy records. The model considers the annual and semiannual cycles which are parameterized in terms of harmonic functions. The inclusion of seasonal variabilities substantially reduces the residuals of the fitted model. The information obtained in this study can be useful to design maritime works, because (a) the model improves the understanding of the variability of extreme wave climate along a year and (b) the model accounts for the duration of the storm, which is a key parameter in several formulations for rubble mound breakwater design.     

Diagnosis of trace metal contamination in sediments: the example of Ensenada and El Sauzal, two harbors in Baja California, Mexico

Total metal concentrations in sediments from within Ensenada and El Sauzal Harbors are generally higher than at the mouths. Grain-size analyses suggested that this enrichment could be due to the presence of fine-grained sediments in the inner part of the harbors rather than to anthropogenic perturbations. The (Me/Al)(sample) ratios for Pb, Co, Ni and Fe were significantly higher for Ensenada Harbor relative to El Sauzal Harbor, whereas the ratios for Cd, Mn, Zn and Cu were statistically equivalent for both harbors. Calculated enrichment factors [EF(Me)=(Me/Al)(sample)/(Me/Al)(shale)] indicated that the metals showing slight enrichment were those associated with anthropogenic contamination (Pb, Zn), or probably related to primary productivity in the water column (Cd, Co). The levels of most of the metals were not greatly enriched, a consideration that is of the utmost importance when contamination issues are at stake.     

Integrated and interdisciplinary scientific approach to coastal management

Coastal zones and beach management practices, regulatory decisions, and land use planning activities along coastal zones have historically been made with insufficient information concerning the dynamic coastal environment. In this study we address and integrate an interdisciplinary scientific approach to Coastal Management in a scenario where lack of this information has resulted in the alteration of the natural dune system of the beach of Cala Millor (Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain), and also in the perception of the beach retreat and in a parallel way, a risk for the tourism resources. In this work the detailed studies on beach morphodynamics have been developed as a basis for integrating proper beach management, beach natural dynamics and local users and economic agent interests. From this point of view a set of solutions are considered as the basis for a management policy that links beach science and beach use as a tourism resort resource.     

High-resolution record of tectonic and sedimentary processes in growth strata

Growth strata are used to determine the kinematics of synsedimentary structures such as faults. Classical methods of analysis such as thickness versus throw plot consider that the available space created by fault slip in the hanging wall of faults is instantaneously filled up by sediments. This has lead many previous works to identify a cyclic activity for growth faults. Here we perform a careful analysis of the variation of strata thicknesses on each side of a very well documented normal growth fault in the Niger delta. We show that these thickness variations are induced by the alternation of sedimentary processes during continuous fault slip. Suspended-load processes induce either uniform or slightly variable thickness of a large majority of mudstone layers. Bedload processes result in a preferential thickening of sand layers in the hanging wall. These high quality data thus provide strong grounds for doubting the polycyclic growth diagnosed for some faults at the scale of sedimentary cycles and supports the notion that fault displacement rates can be very well behaved. Our study emphasizes the important conclusion that stable fault growth, and related displacement rates, can appear to be punctuated when viewed at the scale of sedimentary cycles. It follows that care should be taken when attempting to derive displacement rates on temporal scales equivalent to those of alternating sedimentological cycles.     

Chondrules in CK carbonaceous chondrites and thermal history of the CV–CK parent body

CK chondrites are the only group of carbonaceous chondrites with petrologic types ranging from 3 to 6. It is commonly reported than ~15 vol% of CK4–6 samples are composed of chondrules. The modal abundance of chondrules estimated here for 18 CK3–6 (including five CK3s) ranges from zero (totally recrystallized) to 50.5%. Although almost all chemically re‐equilibrated with the host matrix, we recognized in CK3s and Tanezrouft (Tnz) 057 (CK4) up to 85% of chondrules as former type I chondrules. Mean diameters of chondrules range from 0.22 to 1.05 mm for Karoonda (CK4) and Tnz 057 (CK4), respectively. Up to ~60% of chondrules in CK3–4 are surrounded by igneous rims (from ~20 μm to 2 mm width). Zoned olivines were found in unequilibrated chondrules from DaG 431 (CK3‐an), NWA 4724 (CK3.8), NWA 4423 (CK3.9), and Tnz 057 (CK4). We modeled Fe/Mg interdiffusion profiles measured in zoned olivines to evaluate the peak metamorphic temperatures and time scales of the CK parent body metamorphism, and proposed a two‐stage diffusion process in order to account for the position of inflection points situated within chondrules. Time scales inferred from Fe/Mg interdiffusion in olivine from unequilibrated chondrules are on the order of tens to a hundred thousand years (from 50 to 70,000 years for peak metamorphic temperatures of 1140 and 920 K, respectively). These durations are longer than what is commonly accepted for shock metamorphism and shorter than what is required for nuclide decay. Using the concept of a continuous CV–CK metamorphic series, which is reinforced by this study, we estimated peak metamorphic temperatures <850 K for CV, 850–920 K for CK3, and 920–1140 K for CK4–6 chondrites considering a duration of 70,000 years.     

Isotropic and anisotropic pointing models

This paper describes an alternative approach for generating pointing models for telescopes equipped with serial kinematics, esp. equatorial or alt-az mounts. Our model construction does not exploit any assumption for the underlying physical constraints of the mount, however, one can assign various effects to the respective components of the equations. In order to recover the pointing model parameters, classical linear least squares fitting procedures can be applied. This parameterization also lacks any kind of parametric singularity. We demonstrate the efficiency of this type of model on real measurements with meter-class telescopes where the results provide a root mean square accuracy of 1.5?2 arcseconds.     

Carbonyl Sulphide (OCS) Variability with Latitude in the Atmosphere

Abstract

Carbonyl sulphide (OCS) is an important precursor of sulphate aerosols and consequently a key species in stratospheric ozone depletion. The SPectromètre InfraRouge d'Absorption à Lasers Embarqués (SPIRALE) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) balloon-borne instruments have flown in the tropics and in the polar Arctic, and ground-based measurements have been performed by the Qualité de l'Air (QualAir) Fourier Transform Spectrometer in Paris. Partial and total columns and vertical profiles have been obtained to study OCS variability with altitude, latitude, and season. The annual total column variation in Paris reveals a seasonal variation with a maximum in April–June and a minimum in November–January. Total column measurements above Paris and from SWIR balloon-borne instrument are compared with several MkIV measurements, several Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) stations, aircraft, ship, and balloon measurements to highlight the OCS total column decrease from tropical to polar latitudes. OCS high-resolution in situ vertical profiles have been measured for the first time in the altitude range between 14 and 30?km at tropical and polar latitudes. OCS profiles are compared with Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) satellite measurements and show good agreement. Using the correlation between OCS and N₂O from SPIRALE, the OCS stratospheric lifetime has been accurately determined. We find a stratospheric lifetime of 68?±?20 years at polar latitudes and 58?±?14 years at tropical latitudes leading to a global stratospheric sink of 49?±?14?Gg?S?y^?1.