Plasma turbulence in solar flares as an explanation of some observed phenomena

It is suggested that, in Petschek's model of magnetic field annihilation, plasma which flows through the boundary layer where its magnetic energy is released is rendered highly turbulent by current driven electrostatic instability. This leads to a physical insight into the mechanism of dissipation, and, by analogy with laboratory experiments on turbulent plasma, can explain the observed X-ray and microwave emissions.When the microstructure is calculated using electrical conductivity appropriate to highly turbulent plasma, a field configuration exists in which protons can be accelerated to very high energies. The results of some numerical calculations of this process are presented.     

一种低海平面时期的沉积岩相——深水盆地相碳酸盐砾岩层序

作者认为北美阿巴拉契亚地区和我国贺兰山地区奥陶系的一套碳酸盐砾岩层序,就是低海平面时期的一种特殊沉积岩相。这种岩相不仅是古海洋条件变化的一种标志,而且也是良好的油气储集层。文中主要从沉积学的角度解释了它们的形成机制。     

Oxygen isotopic determinations of sequentially erupted plagioclases in the 1974 magma of Fuego Volcano,Guatemala

Plagioclases in the 1974 high-Al basalt from Fuego Volcano have δO¹⁸ values of +6.0 to +8.5 per mil. Meteoric water cannot have played a significant role in Fuego’s magma. Large, weakly zone clear phenocrysts had δO¹⁸ values in the accepted mantle range, while patchyzoned and oscillatory-zoned plagioclases inferred to have formed later and shallower levels have slightly heavier oxygen isotopic ratios.     

The oxygen isotope composition of granitoid and sedimentary rocks of the southern Snake Range,Nevada

Six diverse intrusive igneous types are exposed as discrete outcrops within an area of 900 km² in the southern Snake Range, White Pine County, Nevada. The previously recognized variety among these igneous types is reflected in the wide range of ¹⁸O values (–1.1 to 13.4 permil) found in these rocks. This range of ¹⁸O values probably results from differences in source material and post-crystallization history of the different intrusive types.The Jurassic intrusive of the Snake Creek-Williams Canyon area represents the chemical equivalent of a large part of a differentiation sequence, with the entire range of composition (63–76 percent SiO₂) exposed over a horizontal distance of about five km. The rather regular increase of ¹⁸O values from the most mafic to the most felsic parts of this pluton, together with ¹⁸O values determined for constituent minerals recovered from five of the samples, supports a fractional crystallization model. The high ¹⁸O values found (10.2–12.2 permil) indicate that the magma likely was derived from or assimilated sedimentary materials.Nine samples of the Cretaceous two-mica granite of the Pole Canyon-Can Young Canyon area have ¹⁸O values in the range 10.6–12.1 permil. These high ¹⁸O values, an initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.7165, and the presence of muscovite along with an accessory mineral suite limited to monazite, apatite, zircon, and an allanite-like mineral, characterize this intrusive mass as an S-type granite. It probably formed through anatexis of late Precambrian pelitic rocks.The granitoid rock exposed in the Young Canyon-Kious Basin area is Tertiary (32 m.y.). Most of this intrusive has been cataclastically deformed as a result of late (18 m.y.) movement on the overlying Snake Range decollement. The undeformed portion of this intrusive has ¹⁸O values of 8.7–10.0 permil. However, the deformed portion of this intrusive has ¹⁸O values as low as –1.1 permil, apparently resulting from isotopic exchange between this rock and ground water at the time of cataclasis.Although the igneous types exposed in the southern Snake Range differ petrologically and range in age from Jurassic to Tertiary, most have relatively high ¹⁸O values compared with other granitoid rocks of the Basin-Range Province.     

Modern deposition of manganese along the Dead Sea shore

Manganese-rich encrustations along the modern shoreline of the Dead Sea are of three kinds: (a) Black laminae, ranging in thickness from 0.1 mm to 4 mm, alternating with aragonite layers which form continous hard crusts on pebbles and boulders (b) Thin black laminae in laminated muds found in very shallow waters. (c) Thin black laminae, alternating with aragonite and gypsum, surrounding partially submerged tree trunks.

No identifiable X-ray diffraction pattern was obtained in the black layers. SEM studies revealed discrete, shapeless manganese-rich aggregates embedded in an aragonitic matrix. The black laminae consist of approximately 75% aragonite, 15% insoluble residue (mostly quartz), and about 10% manganese-rich fraction. Chemical analyses of the isolated manganese-rich fraction gave up to 50% manganese, and less than 1% iron.

Profiles of dissolved manganese in interstitial water show a two-fold enrichment of manganese as compared with the overlying water, with a particularly high concentration (18 mg/l) at the sediment—water interface. This is interpreted to be due to release of manganese from solid phases in the reduced sediments, and upward migration of dissolved manganese in interstitial water, and oxidation to insoluble tetravalent manganese at the interface with the oxygen-containing water.

The manganese-rich crusts were formed below the water table and were deposited no later than 350 years and possibly sooner.     

Carbonate deformation mechanisms in the world's deepest wells (~ 9 km)

Carbonate rocks penetrated to a depth of 9.07 km in the Anadarko Basin of south-western Oklahoma, show a number of deformation features induced solely by the increased pressures and temperatures of deep burial. The rocks are at temperatures around 210° C and an overburden pressure of about 2.5 kb.Large calcite crystals in the limestones show extensive twin development accompanied by bending or multiple displacement along twin lamellae. Inferred granulation or cataclastic textures are shown by large calcite crystals which are now bordered by small anhedral calcite grains, a product of mechanical breakage. Pressure-solution features are common and aggrading recrystallization has led to an increase in average crystal size with depth.Limestones at these depths are tight compared to dolostones in the same basin at slightly shallower depths. These dolostones still retain in excess of 20% porosity at 8.08 km.     

Potassium Doppler-resonance lidar for the study of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere at the Arecibo Observatory

We have developed a lidar to study the temperature structure of the nighttime mesopause region over the Arecibo Observatory (18.35°N, 66.75°W) by measuring the lineshape of the fluorescence spectrum of atomic potassium that is deposited in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) by meteors. To demonstrate how the potassium lidar can enhance MLT studies at Arecibo, we show recent results for: (1) comparisons with airglow temperature measurements; (2) simultaneous operations with stratospheric and mesospheric temperature profiling by Rayleigh lidar; (3) simultaneous observations of K, Ca⁺, and E-region electron density profiles; and (4) occurrences of sporadic K layers, and relationships to sporadic E layers.     

Are extrusive rhyolites produced from permeable foam eruptions?

The permeable foam hypothesis is suggested by Eichelberger et al. (1986) to explain a major loss of water from rhyolitic magmas in the volcanic conduit. Evidence for the high-water content of the major portion of the magma is herein examined and rejected. Eichelberger's hypothesis does not take into account the large (2 orders of magnitude) viscosity change that would occur in the conduit as a result of water loss. It also requires that the permeable foam collapse and weld to form an obsidian that in thin section displays no evidence of the foam. An alternate hypothesis to explain the existence of small amounts of high water content rhyolite glasses in acid volcanoes is that rhyolite magmas are relatively dry (0.1–0.3% H₂O) and that water enters the magma from the environment to produce a water-rich selvage which then is kneaded into the body of the magma.     

Centroid-moment tensor solutions for January–March, 1983

Centroid-moment tensor solutions are presented for 89 earthquakes that occurred during the first quarter of 1983.