Spectral variations of DY Cen

Two high resolution spectra of the hot RCrB star DY Cen in the red region are compared. The photospheric absorption lines show a radial velocity variation of 12 kms-1 between 1989 July and 1992 May. Emission components to some CII lines present in 1989 are almost entirely absent in 1992. Nebular forbidden lines of [OI], [NII] and [SII] appear unchanged from 1989 to 1992     

Results of deep reflection seismic profiling in the Oberpfalz (Bavaria)

Summary. In order to investigate the target area of the Continental Deep Drilling (KTB) in the Oberpfalz a network of six seismic reflection lines was acquired in 1985 using the Vibroseis technique. The average length of these lines was 50 km. In addition, the 185 km long NW/SE striking line DEKORP 4 with its short appendix line 4-Q of 40 km length was acquired with the same technique. The results reveal a strongly structured upper crust. This is in contrast with previous surveys in the German Variscides which show a poorly reflective upper crust and a strongly reflective lower crust. Except for the S part of DEKORP 4 in the Oberpfalz area the Mono is only weakly reflective. In addition to the Vibroseis survey 96 shots along line DEKORP 4 were recorded by conventional reflection techniques and by portable reflection and refraction stations from university institutes and geological surveys in order to obtain wide-angle reflection and expanding spread data.     

Late Holocene relative sea level rise and the Neoglacial history of the Greenland ice sheet

In West Greenland, early and mid Holocene relative sea level (RSL) fall was replaced by late Holocene RSL rise during the Neoglacial, after 4–3 cal. ka BP (thousand calibrated years before present). Here we present the results of an isolation basin RSL study completed near to the coastal town of Sisimiut, in central West Greenland. RSL fell from 14 m above sea level at 5.7 cal. ka BP to reach a lowstand of ?4.0 m at 2.3–1.2 cal. ka BP, before rising by an equivalent amount to present. Differences in the timing and magnitude of the RSL lowstand between this and other sites in West and South Greenland record the varied interplay of local and non‐Greenland RSL processes, notably the reloading of the Earth's crust caused by a Neoglacial expansion of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and the subsidence associated with the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet forebulge. This means that the timing of the sea level lowstand cannot be used to infer directly when the GIS advanced during the Neoglacial. The rise in Late Holocene RSL is contrary to recently reported bedrock uplift in the Sisimiut area, based on repeat GPS surveys. This indicates that a belt of peripheral subsidence around the current ice sheet margin was more extensive in the late Holocene, and that there has been a switch from subsidence to uplift at some point in the last thousand years or so. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Cretaceous-Paleogene Palynostratigraphy from the Arkhara-Boguchan Brown Coal Mine of Zeya-Bureya Depression, Russia

1IntroductionThe Arkhara-Boguchan brown coal mine is lo-cated in the western Arkhara depression,southeast-ern part of the Zea-Bureya Basin (Fig.1). Late Creta-ceous-Paleogene coal-bearing strata are well out-cropped at the Arkhara-Boguchan quarry. It contains four coal-bearing beds (in descending order): “Ve-likan”, “Promezhutochny”,“Dvoinoy”and “Nyzhny”, and composed of three sedimentary cycles (Fig.2). The lower cycle can be divided into two sub-cycles:the lowest sub-cycle is …     

Project Pan-STARRS and the Outer Solar System

Pan-STARRS, a funded project to repeatedly survey the entire visiblesky to faint limiting magnitudes (m_R～ 24), will have asubstantial impact on the study of the Kuiper Belt and outer solarsystem. We briefly review the Pan-STARRS design philosophy and sketchsome of the planetary science areas in which we expect this facility tomake its mark. Pan-STARRS will find ～20,000 Kuiper Belt Objectswithin the first year of operation and will obtain accurate astrometryfor all of them on a weekly or faster cycle. We expect that it willrevolutionise our knowledge of the contents and dynamical structure ofthe outer solar system.     

Palaeotemperature reconstructions of the European permafrost zone during marine oxygen isotope Stage 3 compared with climate model results

A palaeotemperature reconstruction based on periglacial phenomena in Europe north of approximately 51 °N, is compared with high‐resolution regional climate model simulations of the marine oxygen isotope Stage 3 (Stage 3) palaeoclimate. The experiments represent Stage 3 warm (interstadial), Stage 3 cold (stadial) and Last Glacial Maximum climatic conditions. The palaeotemperature reconstruction deviates considerably for the Stage 3 cold climate experiments, with mismatches up to 11 °C for the mean annual air temperature and up to 15 °C for the winter temperature. However, in this reconstruction various factors linking climate and permafrost have not been taken into account. In particular a relatively thin snow cover and high climatic variability of the glacial climate could have influenced temperature limits for ice‐wedge growth. Based on modelling the 0 °C mean annual ground temperature proves to be an appropriate upper temperature limit. Using this limit, mismatches with the Stage 3 cold climate experiments have been reduced but still remain. We therefore assume that the Stage 3 ice wedges were generated during short (decadal time‐scale) intervals of extreme cold climate, below the mean temperatures indicated by the Stage 3 cold climate model simulations. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.