Saturn's rings: Particle composition and size distribution as constrained by observations at microwave wavelengths: II. Radio interferometric observations

The sizes, composition, and number of particles comprising the rings of Saturn may be meaningfully constrained by a combination of radar- and radio-astronomical observations. In a previous paper, we have discussed constraints obtained from radar observations. In this paper, we discuss the constraints imposed by complementary “passive” radio observations at similar wavelengths. First, we present theoretical models of the brightness of Saturn's rings at microwave wavelengths (0.34–21.0 cm), including both intrinsic ring emission and diffuse scattering by the rings of the planetary emission. The models are accurate simulations of the behavior of realistic ring particles and are parameterized only by particle composition and size distribution, and ring optical depth. Second, we have reanalyzed several previously existing sets of interferometric observations of the Saturn system at 0.83-, 3.71-, 6.0-, 11.1-, and 21.0-cm wavelengths. These observations all have spatial resolution sufficient to resolve the rings and planetary disk, and most have resolution sufficient to resolve the ring-occulted region of the disk as well. Using our ring models and a realistic model of the planetary brightness distribution, we are able to establish improved constraints on the properties of the rings. In particular, we find that: (a) the maximum optical depth in the rings is ～ 1.5 ± 0.3 referred to visible wavelengths; (b) a significant decrease in ring optical depth from λ3.7 to λ21.0 cm allows us to rule out the possibility that more than ～30% of the cross section of the rings is composed of particles larger than a meter or so; this assertion is essentially independent of uncertainties in particle adsorption coefficient; and (c) the ring particles cannot be primarily of silicate composition, independently of particle size, and the particles cannot be primarily smaller than ～0.1 cm, independently of composition.     

Modes of raising northeastern Tibet probed by explosion seismology

New wide-angle reflection and refraction seismic data provide constraints on the structure of the upper lithosphere, and test models of its evolution to raise the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. Amplitudes observed for reflections from the crust-mantle boundary are sufficiently large to suggest that there is no significant partial melt in the deep crust. The data show an increase of the crustal thickness between terranes from north of the Kun Lun Fault into the Qang Tang of central Tibet, and a contrast among their intracrustal images and compositions. In the north, P and S velocities are consistent with a dominantly felsic composition and show that only the upper crust thickened. South of the Kun Lun Fault a thicker crust made of two layers could result from the superposition of the originally thin crust of the Bayan Har terrane on the lower part of the crust of the domain to the north, which upper crust it shoved and thickened. Different modes of crustal thickening, either by thickening of individual layers or superpositions and imbrication among them appear to work jointly to raise the topography.     

The Organization of Production in High Technology Industries: An Empirical Assessment*

Recent attention given to the concept of vertical integration and disintegration of production processes has identified the existence of a continuum, with small, flexibly specialized producers at one end and large, mass production units at the other end. Firms along the continuum constantly strive for the optimum combination of economies of scale and scope. This paper attempts to identify the organizational characteristics of high technology firms in one industrial complex of the U.S. Manufacturing Belt. A principal components analysis is performed on a number of theoretically relevant variables for a sample of high technology establishments in Northeast Ohio. The results indicate that the region contains a variety of organizational forms ranging from isolated workshops to large, vertically integrated assembly plants. These findings conform to expectations derived from recent conceptualizations in the literature. Additional empirical research will further enhance understanding of the processes that shape the organization of production in territorial complexes.     

Oxygen isotope speedometry in granulite facies garnet recording fluid/melt–rock interaction (Sør Rondane Mountains,East Antarctica)

In situ analysis of a garnet porphyroblast from a granulite facies gneiss from Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica, reveals discontinuous step‐wise zoning in phosphorus and large δ¹⁸O variations from the phosphorus‐rich core to the phosphorus‐poor rim. The gradually decreasing profile of oxygen isotope from the core (δ¹⁸O = ~15‰) to the rim (δ¹⁸O = ~11‰) suggests that the ¹⁸O/¹⁶O zoning was originally step‐wise, and modified by diffusion after the garnet rim formation at ~800°C and 0.8 GPa. Fitting of the ¹⁸O/¹⁶O data to the diffusion equation constrains a duration of the high‐T event (~800°C) to c. 0.5–40 Ma after the garnet rim formation. The low δ¹⁸O value of the garnet rim, together with the previously reported low δ¹⁸O values in metacarbonates, indicates regional infiltration, probably along a detachment fault, of low δ¹⁸O fluid/melt possibly derived from meta‐mafic to ultramafic rocks.     

On Invisible Trade Relations between Mesopotamian Cities during the Third Millennium B.C.

The idea that the emergence of writing was necessity due to the increase in both the number of economic transactions and political complexity has been recently emphasized by Matthews, who also underlines that writing acted as a feedback in enabling and encouraging the growth of ever more complex modes of exchange. The intertwinement of trade and writing suggests that clay tablets left by the civilizations from the third millennium B.C. in Mesopotamia, where writing was invented, may be considered as traces of trade links and transactions between cities. We estimate a gravity model based on clay tablets, as if they represented trade flows. The parameters lead us to conclude that Mesopotamia formed a strongly integrated market.