Numerical experiments on Lynden-Bell's statistics

We performed computer experiments on 13 different initial configurations of one-dimensional self-gravitating systems. The three most and the three least violently relaxed systems were compared with the predictions of Lynden-Bell's statistical mechanics. The agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions became worse as the relaxation became more violent. While all six systems were theoretically nondegenerate, the violent systems invariably flung out a halo that took most of the energy, leaving behind a low-energy degenerate core.     

Long-term variation of fiddler crab populations in North Carolina salt marshes

Estuaries and Coasts - Total biomass of the fiddler crabsUca pugnax andU. minax in fourSpartina marshes in the lower Cape Fear River estuary, North Carolina, declined by 65 to 70% between the...     

Oxygen fugacity constraints on the southern African lithosphere

Oxygen fugacities are calculated for olivine—spinel ±orthopyroxene assemblages recovered from diamonds and the concentrate of the Dokolwayo kimberlite, Swaziland. In addition thermobarometric oxygen fugacities are obtained for chrome spinel-garnet peridotites and diamonds from several other southern African kimberlites. The southern African lithosphere appears to be laterally homogeneous with respect to oxygen fugacity. Vertically the oxygen fugacity of the lithospheric upper mantle decreases with an increase in pressure. Locally, oxygen fugacities calculated for Dokolwayo mineral assemblages are indicative of an upper mantle characterised by diverse redox conditions within the range FMQ-IW. Reduced oxygen fugacities, calculated for the majority of the Dokolwayo samples, suggest that CH₄ may be the dominant carbon volatile species in the lower lithosphere. These reduced conditions also suggest that the Dokolwayo kimberlite is unlikely to be a product of redox melting, but may be the product of a thermal anomaly. Calculated equilibrium temperatures for olivine-spinel pairs from Dokolwayo diamonds and concentrate indicate that the upper mantle in the vicinity of Dokolwayo was characterised by cool subsolidus conditions.