Estimation of exploration potential of a metallogenic unit by parametric modeling of the distribution of mineral occurrences when exploration is incomplete. Case study: Walker Lake quadrangle of Nevada and California

Analysis of the distribution of ore-bodies in space can be useful generally in the estimation of mineral resources or the management of exploration. This study is directed to analysis of the undiscovered potential of well known areas of mining district size, referred to as metallogenic units (MUs). The analysis employs an effort-adjusted and truncated probability model for number of occurrences within a subdivision (quadrat) of a MU and Monte Carlo sampling to generate an approximation to the probability distribution for number of occurrences and number of mines within an MU when it is totally explored. Exploration potential for Monitor, Bodie, Aurora, and Camp Douglas MUs (Walker Lake quadrangle of Nevada and California) are estimated to be 9, 4, 7, and 4 mines, respectively.     

Pyroclastic phases of a rhyolitic dome-building eruption: Puketarata tuff ring,Taupo Volcanic Zone,New Zealand

The 14 ka Puketarata eruption of Maroa caldera in Taupo Volcanic Zone was a dome-related event in which the bulk of the 0.25 km³ of eruption products were emplaced as phreatomagmatic fall and surge deposits. A rhyolitic dike encountered shallow groundwater during emplacement along a NE-trending normal fault, leading to shallow-seated explosions characterised by low to moderate water/magma ratios. The eruption products consist of two lava domes, a proximal tuff ring, three phreatic collapse craters, and a widespread fall deposit. The pyroclastic deposits contain dominantly dense juvenile clasts and few foreign lithics, and relate to very shallow-level disruption of the growing dome and its feeder dike with relatively little involvement of country rock. The distal fall deposit, representing 88% of the eruption products is, despite its uniform appearance and apparently subplinian dispersal, a composite feature equivalent to numerous discrete proximal phreatomagmatic lapilli fall layers, each deposited from a short-lived eruption column. The Puketarata products are subdivided into four units related to successive phases of:(A) shallow lava intrusion and initial dome growth; (B) rapid growth and destruction of dome lobes; (C) slower, sustained dome growth and restriction of explosive disruption to the dome margins; and (D) post-dome withdrawal of magma and crater-collapse. Phase D was phreatic, phases A and C had moderate water: magma ratios, and phase B a low water: magma ratio. Dome extrusion was most rapid during phase B, but so was destruction, and hence dome growth was largely accomplished during phase C. The Puketarata eruption illustrates how vent geometry and the presence of groundwater may control the style of silicic volcanism. Early activity was dominated by these external influences and sustained dome growth only followed after effective exclusion of external water from newly emplaced magma.     

地球物理学与大陆成长

引言解释星球和原子的內部运动和活动情况的理論比关于地球的类似理論发展得更为完善,更广泛地为人接受,这是令人惊奇的。但如比較一下,地球比較容易接触到,而星球和原子則十分遙远,那么上述的情况应正好相反。这种情况之所以产生,一部分是由于許多星球和原子有強烈的輻射,因而透露出它們的性貭,一部分是由于原子和星球数量很多,因而我們有时可能对它們其中之一所发生的不寻常变化.     

Upwelling and the distribution of chlorophyll a within the Bay of Concepción,Chile

The influence of upwelling on the distribution of chlorophyll a within the Bay of Concepción, Chile is discussed in light of continuous measurements of surface in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence and temperature taken simultaneously along horizontal transects, and hydrographic stations' data. Results suggest significant temporal variability both in the distribution of in vivo fluorescence, temperature and salinity within the Bay and in the characteristics of the exchange between the Bay and the adjacent shelf waters, induced by variable upwelling. Upwelling is produced by the predominant south-westerly winds during the summer. Significant variations in the wind direction occur with periods from two to seven days. During active upwelling, exchange is characterized by a surface outflow through the mouth of the Bay and an inflow at depth. Low chlorophyll fluorescence is confined to the upwelling areas on the eastern shore either within or outside the Bay; high chlorophyll fluorescence is confined to the central and western Bay. Density data suggest a three-layered circulation pattern at the mouth of the Bay during the upwelling relaxation involving an inflow both at the surface and bottom and outflow at mid-depth. Associated with this exchange is an active high chlorophyll transport from the Bay to the adjacent coastal waters at mid-depth and inflow of low chlorophyll water from the adjacent shelf at the surface and near the bottom.     

Volumetric characteristics of lava flows from interferometric radar and multispectral satellite data: the 1995 Fernandina and 1998 Cerro Azul eruptions in the western Galápagos

We have used a suite of remotely sensed data, numerical lava flow modeling, and field observations to determine quantitative characteristics of the 1995 Fernandina and 1998 Cerro Azul eruptions in the western Galápagos Islands. Flank lava flow areas, volumes, instantaneous effusion rates, and average effusion rates were all determined for these two eruptions, for which only limited syn-eruptive field observations are available. Using data from SPOT, TOPSAR, ERS-1, and ERS-2, we determined that the 1995 Fernandina flow covers a subaerial area of 6.5×10⁶ m² and has a subaerial dense rock equivalent (DRE) volume of 42×10⁶ m³. Field observations, ATSR satellite data, and the FLOWGO numerical model allow us to determine that the effusion rate declined exponentially from a high of ~60–200 m³ s^-1 during the first few hours to <5 m³ s^-1 prior to ceasing after 73 days, with a mean effusion rate of 4–16 m³ s^-1. Integrating the ATSR-derived, exponentially declining effusion rate over the eruption duration produces a total (subaerial + submarine) DRE volume of between 27 and 100×10⁶ m³, the range in values being due to differing assumptions about heat loss characteristics; only values in the higher part of this range are consistent with the independently derived subaerial volume. Using SPOT, TOPSAR, ERS-1, and ERS-2 data, we determine that the 1998 Cerro Azul flow is 16 km long, covers 16 km², and has a DRE volume of 54×10⁶ m³. FLOWGO produces at-vent velocity and effusion rate values of 11 m s^-1 and ~600 m³ s^-1, respectively. The velocity value agrees well with the 12 m s^-1 estimated in the field. The mean effusion rate (total DRE volume/duration) was 7–47 m³ s^-1. Dike dimensions, fissure lengths, and pressure gradients along the conduit based on magma chamber depth estimates of 3–5 km produce mean effusion rates for the two eruptions that range over nearly four orders of magnitude, the range being due to uncertainty in the magma viscosity, dike dimensions, and pressure gradient between magma chamber and vent. Although somewhat consistent with mean effusion rates from other techniques, their wide range makes them less useful. The exponentially declining effusion rates during both eruptions are consistent with release of elastic strain being the driving mechanism of the eruptions. Our results provide independent input parameters for previously published theoretical relationships between magma chamber pressurization and eruption rates that constrain chamber volumes and increases in volume prior to eruption, as well as time constants of exponential decay during the eruption. The results and theoretical relationships combine to indicate that at both volcanoes probably 25–30% of the volumetric increase in the magma chamber erupted as lava onto the surface. In both eruptions the lava flow volumes are less than 1% of the magma chamber volume.     

Observations and Simulations of the Polar Field Reversals in Cycle 23

We have used observations obtained by the National Solar Observatory at Kitt Peak to study the reversals of the polar magnetic fields in Cycle 23. We have compared them with corresponding data obtained by the Mt. Wilson Observatory, when these are available, testing both data sets against the locations of H filaments. Because of the unreliability of the data at extreme latitudes and because the apparent time of reversal varies with the degree of smoothing applied to the data, it is difficult to determine precise reversal time in each hemisphere from direct observations. However, we show that it is possible to obtain a better-defined and more precise reversal time using polar maps derived from simulations of the synoptic fields. These indirect values, however, depend critically on the diffusivity used in the simulations. We applied various tests to confirm an empirical value for the diffusivity parameter of about 600 km ² s ^–1 and hence determined empirical reversal times of CR 1976 in the northern hemisphere and CR 1981 in the south.     

Dust Trails of 8P/Tuttle and the Unusual Outbursts of the Ursid Shower

We calculate the position of dust trails from comet 8P/Tuttle, in an effort to explain unusual Ursid meteor shower outbursts that were seen when the comet was near aphelion. Comet 8P/Tuttle is a Halley-type comet in a 13.6-year orbit, passing just outside of Earth's orbit. We find that the meteoroids tend to be trapped in the 12:14 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, while the comet librates in a slightly shorter period orbit around the 13:15 resonance. It takes 6 centuries to decrease the perihelion of the meteoroid orbits enough to intersect Earth's orbit, during which time the meteoroids and comet separate in mean anomaly by 6 years, thus explaining the 6-year lag between the comet's return and Ursid outbursts. The resonances also prevent dispersion along the comet orbit and limit viewing to only one year in each return. We identified past dust trail encounters with dust trails from 1392 (Dec. 1945) and 1378 (Dec. 1986) and predicted another outburst on 2000 December 22 at around 7:29 and 8:35 UT, respectively, from dust trails dating to the 1405 and 1392 returns. This event was observed from California using video and photographic techniques. At the same time, five Global-MS-Net stations in Finland, Japan, and Belgium counted meteors using forward meteor scatter. The outburst peaked at 8:06±07 UT, December 22, at zenith hourly rate ∼90 per hour, and the Ursid rates were above half peak intensity during 4.2 h. We find that most Ursid orbits do scatter around the anticipated positions, confirming the link with comet 8P/Tuttle and the epoch of ejection. The 1405 and 1392 dust trails appear to have contributed similar amounts to the activity profile. Some orbits provide a hint of much older debris being present as well. This work is the strongest evidence yet for the relevance of mean motion resonances in Halley-type comet dust trail evolution.     

High-resolution Studies of the Polar Magnetic Fields during Cycle 23

High-resolution mosaics of the solar polar magnetic fields have been constructed using individual magnetograms obtained with the video magnetograph of the Big Bear Solar Observatory, and the properties of these mosaics are demonstrated in this paper. The mosaics show selected regions of the polar fields on several days during the rising phase of Cycle 23, and are related to the global polar fields (i) by superposing the mosaic for a given day on to a full-disk SOHO-MDI magnetogram obtained on the same day, (ii) by plotting the mosaics in polar projection and using these to identify the approximate regions reported by the mosaics on the NSOKP polar synoptic plots, and (iii) by imposing the locations of the H filaments on to the mosaics in order to infer the neutral lines of the large-scale fields. We have studied the fine structure of the large-scale unipolar fields near the poles and, in particular, have constructed histograms of the magnetic field intensities within particular regions of the mosaics and, in this way, have estimated the ratios of the number of magnetic knots of opposite polarities within the unipolar plumes. We have also generated enlargements of the polar regions of the NSOKP daily magnetograms. These and statistical studies have shown that on days for which the BBSO mosaics are not available, the NSOKP enlargements may be used to study the high-resolution polar fields. Time-series of mosaics obtained over four-hour periods on September 6 and November 18 show that considerable evolution in the structure of existing flux knots and the formation of several new knots has taken place during these periods.