Outflows from Dynamo-Active Protostellar Accretion Discs

An axisymmetric model of a cool, dynamo-active accretion disc is applied to protostellar discs. Thermally and magnetically driven outflows develop that are not collimated within 0.1 AU. In the presence of a central magnetic field from the protostar, accretion onto the protostar is highly episodic, which is in agreement with earlier work.     

Palaeontological and facial features of the Upper Jurassic Hochstegen Marble (Tauern Window, Eastern Alps)

Micropalaeontological, microscopic and mineralogical investigations of the ductily deformed and greenschist-facies metamorphic Hochstegen Marble in the Tauern Window shed new light on its stratigraphy and fades.
New radiolarian and sponge spicule discoveries have been made in cherty limestone marbles. They confirm previous age assignments and permit for the first time a more exact micropalaeontological age determination of early Tithonian for the upper parts of the marble. Forty morphotypes of radiolarians could be distinguished; in one sample a Fisher diversity index of 6 is reached indicating deeper marine conditions. The spicule fauna is also diverse and shows affinity to the S-German Malm. In respect to all the data it can be presumed that carbonate sedimentation of the Hochstegen Marble took place in a deeper marine environment at the southern margin of the European continent (Helvetic realm) during the whole Late Jurassic.     

The host galaxies of active galactic nuclei

We examine the properties of the host galaxies of 22 623 narrow-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) with  0.02 < z < 0.3  selected from a complete sample of 122 808 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We focus on the luminosity of the [O  iii ]λ5007 emission line as a tracer of the strength of activity in the nucleus. We study how AGN host properties compare with those of normal galaxies and how they depend on L [O  iii ]. We find that AGN of all luminosities reside almost exclusively in massive galaxies and have distributions of sizes, stellar surface mass densities and concentrations that are similar to those of ordinary early-type galaxies in our sample. The host galaxies of low-luminosity AGN have stellar populations similar to normal early types. The hosts of high-luminosity AGN have much younger mean stellar ages. The young stars are not preferentially located near the nucleus of the galaxy, but are spread out over scales of at least several kiloparsecs. A significant fraction of high-luminosity AGN have strong Hδ absorption-line equivalent widths, indicating that they experienced a burst of star formation in the recent past. We have also examined the stellar populations of the host galaxies of a sample of broad-line AGN. We conclude that there is no significant difference in stellar content between type 2 Seyfert hosts and quasars (QSOs) with the same [O  iii ] luminosity and redshift. This establishes that a young stellar population is a general property of AGN with high [O  iii ] luminosities.     

Our galaxy — A former seyfert?

A re-interpretation is offered for both the galactic center lobe and the high-velocity clouds in the galactic halo: the galactic center lobe is a 2-sided chimney for relativistic pair plasma emerging from the center of the Milky Way (=Sag A^*) and streaming as 2 jets through the halo. The channel walls of the flow serve as cold traps for the galactic fountain whenceHi clouds rain back into the disk.     

Martian great dust storms: Interpretive axially symmetric models

The simplified theory of steady, nearly inviscid, thermally forced axially symmetric atmospheric motions developed by Schneider (1977) is applied to the study of the problem of the Martian great dust storms. A highly idealized calculation of the atmospheric response to heating concentrated in a small latitude band is carried out. Qualitatively different local and global response regimes are identified. As the heating is increased from zero, some critical value is reached at which the response jumps from local to global. It is suggested that this transition from local to global response may be related to the observed explosive growth of great dust storms. Results from the idealized model indicate that subtropical latitudes are favored for the initiation of a dust raising global dust storm, as the meridional scale of the response to a heat source of fixed intensity is largest for the heat source located close to the equator, but the surface stress in the zonal direction produced by the response increases as the heat source is moved towards the poles. Also, the steady axially symmetric Martian response to solar forcing is examined. Modification to the solar forced response due to an added latitudinally localized heat source is briefly discussed, and it is indicated that similar transition behavior to that obtained in the more idealized model is to be expected in this case also. Implications of the dynamical model for the dependence of the occurence of great dust storms on orbital parameters are remarked on.     

Anhydrite pseudomorphs and the origin of stratiform Cu–Co ores in the Katangan Copperbelt (Democratic Republic of Congo)

The stratiform Cu–Co ore mineralisation in the Katangan Copperbelt consists of dispersed sulphides and sulphides in nodules and lenses, which are often pseudomorphs after evaporites. Two types of pseudomorphs can be distinguished in the nodules and lenses. In type 1 examples, dolomite precipitated first and was subsequently replaced by Cu–Co sulphides and authigenic quartz, whereas in type 2 examples, authigenic quartz and Cu–Co sulphides precipitated prior to dolomite and are coarse-grained. The sulphur isotopic composition of the copper–cobalt sulphides in the type 1 pseudomorphs is between −10.3 and 3.1‰ relative to the Vienna Canyon Diablo Troilite, indicating that the sulphide component was derived from bacterial sulphate reduction (BSR). The generation of during this process caused the precipitation and replacement of anhydrite by dolomite. A second product of BSR is the generation of H₂S, resulting in the precipitation of Cu–Co sulphides from the mineralising fluids. Initial sulphide precipitation occurred along the rim of the pseudomorphs and continued towards the core. Precipitation of authigenic quartz was most likely induced by a pH decrease during sulphide precipitation. Fluid inclusion data from quartz indicate the presence of a high-salinity (8–18 eq. wt.% NaCl) fluid, possibly derived from evaporated seawater which migrated through the deep subsurface. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of dolomite in type 1 nodules range between 0.71012 and 0.73576, significantly more radiogenic than the strontium isotopic composition of Neoproterozoic marine carbonates (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7056–0.7087). This suggests intense interaction with siliciclastic sedimentary rocks and/or the granitic basement. The low carbon isotopic composition of the dolomite in the pseudomorphs (−7.02 and −9.93‰ relative to the Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite, V-PDB) compared to the host rock dolomite (−4.90 and +1.31‰ V-PDB) resulted from the oxidation of organic matter during BSR.     

Sulfur isotope measurement of sulfate and sulfide by high-resolution MC-ICP-MS

We have developed a technique for the accurate and precise determination of ³⁴S/³²S isotope ratios (δ³⁴S) in sulfur-bearing minerals using solution and laser ablation multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). We have examined and determined rigorous corrections for analytical difficulties such as instrumental mass bias, unresolved isobaric interferences, blanks, and laser ablation- and matrix-induced isotopic fractionation. Use of high resolution sector-field mass spectrometry removes major isobaric interferences from O₂⁺. Standard-sample bracketing is used to correct for the instrumental mass bias of unknown samples. Background on sulfur masses arising from memory effects and residual oxygen-tailing are typically minor (< 0.2‰, within analytical error), and are mathematically removed by on-peak zero subtraction and by bracketing of samples with standards determined at the same signal intensity (within 20%). Matrix effects are significant (up to 0.7‰) for matrix compositions relevant to many natural sulfur-bearing minerals. For solution analysis, sulfur isotope compositions are best determined using purified (matrix-clean) sulfur standards and sample solutions using the chemical purification protocol we present. For in situ analysis, where the complex matrix cannot be removed prior to analysis, appropriately matrix-matching standards and samples removes matrix artifacts and yields sulfur isotope ratios consistent with conventional techniques using matrix-clean analytes. Our method enables solid samples to be calibrated against aqueous standards; a consideration that is important when certified, isotopically-homogeneous and appropriately matrix-matched solid standards do not exist. Further, bulk and in situ analyses can be performed interchangeably in a single analytical session because the instrumental setup is identical for both. We validated the robustness of our analytical method through multiple isotope analyses of a range of reference materials and have compared these with isotope ratios determined using independent techniques. Long-term reproducibility of S isotope compositions is typically 0.20‰ and 0.45‰ (2σ) for solution and laser analysis, respectively. Our method affords the opportunity to make accurate and relatively precise S isotope measurement for a wide range of sulfur-bearing materials, and is particularly appropriate for geologic samples with complex matrix and for which high-resolution in situ analysis is critical.     

Calcium isotope (δCa) fractionation along hydrothermal pathways, Logatchev field (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 14°45′N)

We investigate the Logatchev Hydrothermal Field at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 14°45′N to constrain the calcium isotope hydrothermal flux into the ocean. During the transformation of seawater to a hydrothermal solution, the Ca concentration of pristine seawater ([Ca]_SW) increases from about 10 mM to about 32 mM in the hydrothermal fluid endmember ([Ca]_HydEnd) and thereby adopts a δ^44/40Ca_HydEnd of −0.95 ± 0.07‰ relative to seawater (SW) and a ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratio of 0.7034(4). We demonstrate that δ^44/40Ca_HydEnd is higher than that of the bedrock at the Logatchev field. From mass balance calculations, we deduce a δ^44/40Ca of −1.17 ± 0.04‰ (SW) for the host-rocks in the reaction zone and −1.45 ± 0.05‰ (SW) for the isotopic composition of the entire hydrothermal cell of the Logatchev field. The values are isotopically lighter than the currently assumed δ^44/40Ca for Bulk Earth of −0.92 ± 0.18‰ (SW) [Skulan J., DePaolo D. J. and Owens T. L. (1997) Biological control of calcium isotopic abundances in the global calcium cycle. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta61,(12) 2505-2510] and challenge previous assumptions of no Ca isotope fractionation between hydrothermal fluid and the oceanic crust [Zhu P. and Macdougall J. D. (1998) Calcium isotopes in the marine environment and the oceanic calcium cycle. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta62,(10) 1691-1698; Schmitt A. -D., Chabeaux F. and Stille P. (2003) The calcium riverine and hydrothermal isotopic fluxes and the oceanic calcium mass balance. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 6731, 1-16]. Here we propose that Ca isotope fractionation along the fluid flow pathway of the Logatchev field occurs during the precipitation of anhydrite. Two anhydrite samples from the Logatchev Hydrothermal Field show an average fractionation of about Δ^44/40Ca = −0.5‰ relative to their assumed parental solutions. Ca isotope ratios in aragonites from carbonate veins from ODP drill cores indicate aragonite precipitation directly from seawater at low temperatures with an average δ^44/40Ca of −1.54 ± 0.08‰ (SW). The relatively large fractionation between the aragonite precipitates and seawater in combination with their frequent abundance in weathered mafic and ultramafic rocks suggest a reconsideration of the marine Ca isotope budget, in particular with regard to ocean crust alteration.