Refinement of the Micro‐Distillation Technique for Isotopic Analysis of Geological Samples with pg‐Level Osmium Contents

In recent years, the ¹⁸⁷Re–¹⁸⁷Os isotope system has been increasingly used to study samples containing very small quantities of Os. For such samples, optimisation of measurement procedures is essential to minimise the loss of Os before mass spectrometric measurements. Micro‐distillation is a necessary purification step that is applied after the main Os chemical separation procedure, prior to Os isotope ratio measurements by negative‐thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (N‐TIMS). However, unlike the other separation steps, this procedure has not yet been optimised for small samples. In this study, we present a refined micro‐distillation method that achieved higher yields and allowed high‐precision R(¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os) expressed as ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os measurements for small‐sized geological samples that contain only a few pg Os. The Os recovery in the micro‐distillation step was tested by changing the operating conditions including heating time and temperature, and amounts of oxidant and reductant. Recoveries were measured by the isotope dilution ICP‐MS method after the addition of ¹⁹⁰Os‐enriched spike solution. We found that the most critical factor controlling the chemical yield of Os during micro‐distillation is the extent of dilution of the reductant (HBr) by H₂O evaporated from the oxidant. A refined micro‐distillation method, in which the amount of oxidant solution is reduced from the conventional method, achieved an improved chemical yield of Os (~ 90%). This refined method was applied to the measurement of ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os by N‐TIMS of varying test portions of the geological reference material BIR‐1a. The resulting ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios of BIR‐1a matched the literature data, with propagated uncertainties of 0.2, 1.1 and 11% digested sample quantities containing 150, 10 and 1 pg of Os, respectively.     

Mapping the porosity of international border to pedestrian traffic: a comparative data classification approach to a study of the border region in Austria,Italy, and Slovenia

National borders play an important role in everyday life. Interest in border studies has increased with recent changes in geographical locations of the border or the fluctuation of the permeability of the border between some countries, such as in the European Union. Whether the nations are trying to increase traffic flow of the border or to implement stricter border control, having appropriate information of the border is crucial for effective policymaking.

The objective of this research was to identify areas of high porosity, or high permeability, for pedestrians along the southern national border region in Carinthia, Austria using terrain, land use, and road data along with geocomputational methods. Two unsupervised classification methods, the fuzzy K-means clustering and the Self-Organizing Map, were applied to segment the border into homogeneous zones according to topographic and infrastructural attributes. The fuzzy K-means clustering method was chosen for its ability to allow for a continuous approach to classification. With this method, an object can belong, with different degrees of membership, to multiple classes, which is a more realistic reflection of the natural world than discrete clustering, where each object can only belong to one class. However, the fuzzy K-means clustering method does have disadvantages, i.e. the user must determine the number of classes and the input parameters are required to be in continuous format. The second classification method, the Self-Organizing Map, is a type of artificial neural network and was chosen for its ability to automatically determine the number of classes and handle categorical data. The Self-Organizing Map is unique because it can transform high dimensional data into low dimensional display while preserving the topology and spatial distribution of the input parameters. The results of the two classification methods suggest that the fuzzy K-means classification is more effective than the Self-Organizing Map for this situation. However, more research is needed to determine the fit of these algorithms for particular spatial data classification tasks.

The results obtained from this research provide an insight into the permeability of the border region of Carinthia, Slovenia, and Italy to pedestrian traffic and can be potentially useful for decision making processes for tourism development and road transportation management in that region. Furthermore, the approach presented in this article can be applied to other national borders to identify zones permeable to pedestrian traffic.     

Zircon U–Pb ages from tuff beds of the upper Mesozoic Tetori Group in the Shokawa district,Gifu Prefecture,central Japan†

Abstract The upper Mesozoic Tetori Group contains numerous fossils of plants and marine and non‐marine animals. The group has the potential to provide key information to improve our understanding of the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous biota of East Asia. However, the depositional age of the Tetori Group remains uncertain, and without good age constraints, accurate correlation with other areas is very difficult. As a first step in obtaining reliable ages for the formations within the Tetori Group, we used laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry to measure the U–Pb ages of zircons collected from tuff beds in the Shokawa district, Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. The youngest reliable U–Pb ages from the tuff beds of the Ushimaru, Mitarai and Okurodani Formations are 130.2 ± 1.7, 129.8 ± 1.0 and 117.5 ± 0.7 Ma, respectively (errors represent 2 SE). These results indicate that the entire Tetori Group in the Shokawa district, which was previously believed to be correlated to the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous, is in fact correlated to the Lower Cretaceous. The maximum ages of the Ushimaru, Mitarai and Okurodani Formations are late Hauterivian to Barremian, late Hauterivian to Barremian and Barremian to Aptian, respectively.     

Late Holocene Asian monsoon variations recorded in Lake Rara sediment,western Nepal

The Himalayas are a key location for understanding centennial‐ to millennial‐scale variations in the Asian monsoon, yet few studies of the late Holocene have been conducted in this sensitive area. Direct evidence for shifts in monsoonal wind strength is often limited to marine proxy records, while terrestrial reconstructions (e.g. lake levels and spleothems) focus on precipitation. Here, we present the first evidence of terrestrial summer monsoon wind strength changes from Lake Rara, western Nepal, based on Mn/Ti ratios, a proxy for lake stratification. These data indicate a link between the Arabian Sea and the Himalayas, suggesting that centennial‐ to millennial‐scale changes in wind strength occurred synchronously. Distinct similarity is also observed between Lake Rara and the southern part of China, which may support previous suggestions that the southern part of China is influenced by Indian summer monsoon. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新疆雷暴的统计特征

根据新疆地面气象记录月报表，整理出1961－1999年39年新疆90个气象观测站的雷暴天气现象资料并进行统计，结果表明：天山南脉，西部天山和天山中部是新疆雷暴的高发区，新疆雷暴集中于6－8月，多出现在午后至夜间。有半数以上的雷暴持续时间不超过半小时。     

内蒙古赤峰山湾子金矿流体包裹体和年代学研究

内蒙古赤峰山湾子金矿床位于赤峰—朝阳金成矿带东部,产于早白垩世义县组一段安山岩中。为了研究该矿床成矿年龄及成因特征,本文对该矿床流体包裹体岩相学,显微测温,氢、氧同位素和年代学研究表明:流体包裹体主要以纯液相包裹体为主,少量气-液两相包裹体。包裹体气体成分主要是H2O和CO2,反应了成矿流体为NaClH2O-CO2体系。均一温度变化范围为219～49℃,盐度为0.35%～3.23%NaCleqv,属于低温低盐度范畴。成矿压力为2.7～33.8 MPa,成矿深度为2.78 km左右,表明矿床具浅成特征。利用LA-ICP-MS方法锆石U-Pb测年,获得赋矿围岩安山岩的形成年龄为(123.59±1.0)Ma和(124.5±0.68)Ma,对成矿时代进行了限制,即成矿时代不早于早白垩世。综合矿床地质特征和成矿流体研究,认为山湾子金矿床属低硫化浅成低温热液型矿床。     

机场能见度对民航运输影响的初步探讨

对影响乌鲁木齐机场能见度的主要天气现象进行总结，初步分析了能见度对民航运输的影响过程，简单给出了影响效果评估和效益评估的统计模型。     

The H i opacity of the intergalactic medium at redshifts 1.6 < z < 3.2

We use high-quality echelle spectra of 24 quasi-stellar objects to provide a calibrated measurement of the total amount of Lyα forest absorption (DA) over the redshift range  2.2 < z < 3.2  . Our measurement of DA excludes absorption from metal lines or the Lyα lines of Lyman-limit systems and damped Lyα systems. We use artificial spectra with realistic flux calibration errors to show that we are able to place continuum levels that are accurate to better than 1 per cent. When we combine our results with our previous results between  1.6 < z < 2.2  , we find that the redshift evolution of DA is well described over  1.6 < z < 3.2  as   A (1 + z )^γ  , where   A = 0.0062  and  γ= 2.75  . We detect no significant deviations from a smooth power-law evolution over the redshift range studied. We find less H  i absorption than expected at   z = 3  , implying that the ultraviolet background is  ∼40  per cent higher than expected. Our data appears to be consistent with an H  i ionization rate of  Γ∼ 1.4 × 10⁻¹² s⁻¹  .     

无机阴离子及溶解性有机质对程海化学需氧量测定值的影响

自2005年以来,程海水体的化学需氧量(COD)持续升高,而生化需氧量(BOD)却维持不变,高锰酸盐指数(COD_(Mn))升高也较缓慢.为研究程海COD持续升高的原因,选取程海水体中具有代表性的无机阴离子(Cl~-、F~-、S~(2-)、HCO_3~-)和溶解性有机质(DOM)中不同浓度的胡敏酸(HA)、富里酸(FA)和商品化腐殖酸(SHA),研究其对COD和COD_(Mn)测定的影响,探讨Cl~-和DOM共同存在下对COD测定的影响.结果表明:程海水体中Cl~-浓度对COD存在显著影响,产生的COD值为5.42 mg/L,S~(2-)、F~-和HCO_3~-对COD影响较小;各离子对COD_(Mn)的影响很小;不同浓度梯度的HA、FA和SHA与COD测定结果呈显著线性相关,氧化1 mg C HA、FA和SHA所产生的COD值分别为2.164、1.964和2.362 mg;氧化1 mg C HA和FA所产生的COD_(Mn)值分别为0.646和0.344 mg;DOM对COD测定值的影响显著大于对COD_(Mn)测定值的影响;且一定浓度Cl~-的存在增强了FA与HA对COD测定的影响.该研究为进一步阐明程海COD逐步升高,COD_(Mn)值缓慢升高的内在原因奠定了基础.     

High-pressure and high-temperature stability of chlorite and 23-Å phase in the natural chlorite and synthetic MASH system

A series of experiments was conducted on the decomposition of natural and chemically mixed chlorites to examine the stable hydrous phases in the MgO–FeO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O (MFASH) system under 5–12 GPa and 700–1100 °C. The upper pressure and temperature limits of the stability region of chlorite are consistent with those observed in previous studies. The hydrous aluminum bearing pyroxene (phase HAPY) and Mg-sursassite (Sur) were observed just above the temperature stability region of chlorite (Chl); clinohumite (cHm) was observed coexisting with phase HAPY at 6 GPa and 800 °C and coexisting with the 23-Å phase at 7 GPa and 800 °C, which may suggest the transportation of water through Chl → (HAPY → cHm) → 23-Å phase along a relatively warm slab. The 23-Å phase has a wider stability region in the pure MASH system (up to 12 GPa and 1100 °C) than it does in the MFASH system (7–10 GPa, up to 1000 °C). The stability of the 23-Å phase beyond the chlorite breakdown pressure indicates that it may play an important role in transporting water into the deep Earth and even into the mantle transition zone.