Factors affecting the distribution and abundance of Macrobrachium petersi (Hilgendorf) in the Keiskamma River and estuary,South Africa

A dry (1979–1980) and a wet (1980–1981) season had a marked effect on the freshwater inflow into the Keiskamma estuary. Under low inflow conditions, which results in elevated salinities in the upper reaches, an upstream migration of adult Macrobrachium petersi (Hilgendorf) to freshwater takes place. During periods of increased river inflow adult M. petersi move downstream to the more saline reaches of the estuary. These two migratory responses have been interpreted as (a) a breeding migration under high inflow conditions which ensures that larvae are in close proximity to salinities that favour growth and development, and (b) an adult upstream migration back to freshwater to escape elevated estuarine salinities as a result of the low freshwater inflow.     

Interpretation of aeromagnetic data across the central crystalline shield area of Nigeria

Summary. A residual map of the total magnetic field (above 25 000 nT base) is presented for a portion of the central crystalline shield area of Nigeria and overlapping small portions of the Chad basin and the Benue rift (8°30'−12° 00'lat, and 7°−10°30' long). The map (based on a dataset digitized from recently released aeromagnetic sheets of Nigeria) leads to four results. (1) A magnetic boundary, evident on the map, separates the Younger Granite complexes into two groups. The groups are petrologically different, and the boundary may be a fault line with uplift to the south. (2) South of the boundary the map is dominated by a system of sub-parallel anomalies striking NE–SW, possibly representing major tectonic trends, and a set of fractures through which the Younger Granite complexes were intruded. The trend of the system parallels the Benue rift and lineaments in the oceanic crust off West Africa. (3) Negative magnetic anomalies lie over most of the known ring complexes, and over some suspected buried ring complexes and other intrusions. (4) 2½-and 3-D modelling shows that the larger complexes extend to 12 km depth, and the smaller ones to 6 km. They have nearly vertical sides, and magnetization contrasts range from 0.3 to 0.5 A m⁻¹.     

First sodium nightglow results for Natal

The first year of sodium nightglow observations from Natal (6°S, 35°W) are examined. Time variations appear to follow a pattern of their own, different from low latitude results. The major seasonal peak occurs in September-October and the average variation during the night decreases from dusk to dawn. Statistics on cloud coverage show that Natal has roughly only about 3 clear hours per night. The best observing period is April with an average of 5 clear hours per night.     

On the structure of the Ivrea-Verbano Zone (northern Italy) and its implications for present-day lower continental crust geometry

The Ivrea-Verbano Zone in northern Italy represents a section through the lower continental crust which has been tilted and emplaced into its present position during the Alpine orogeny. Recent and on-going structurally-oriented geological mapping in this region is providing new information about the geometry of the complex. The central part of the zone is dominated by a large basic complex (the 'mafic formation') which is intrusive into the surrounding gneisses. The foliation within the envelope of gneisses is deflected around the intrusive complex as if by ballooning, but in the region south-west of Monte Capio both units are folded together into a tight to isoclinal steeply plunging fold with an amplitude of c. 10 km. This fold locally inverts the stratigraphy of the layered basic group of the complex, and is thought to be the result of gravitational collapse following intrusion and inflation of a large magma body into the lower crust.
Several high-temperature shear zones have now been traced within the country rock for distances up to 20 km. The geometry of these, and their relationship to the basic complex suggests that at least some of the extensional collapse of the mafic body is related to uplift caused by intrusion of this body.
Close parallels can be drawn between the observed structure in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone (after removing the effects of late, low-temperature faulting and folding related to emplacement of the rocks into their present position), and those inferred from deep seismic reflection profiling in areas of current extension such as parts of the US Basin and Range province.     

Current convection in solar active regions

Current carrying magnetic fields which penetrate sunspots can be unstable to current convective modes caused by the large gradient of electrical conductivity. The linear growth rates and wavelengths of the unstable modes are found. The unstable modes produce fine-scale vortices perpendicular to the magnetic field, which overshoot well into the solar corona. The modes provide a turbulent vorticity source at the photospheric footpoints of the field. This can cause braiding and reconnection of the coronal magnetic field. The modes twist the coronal magnetic field into loops with a typical radius of 200 km, consistent with recent X-ray observations.     

A 20 cm2 CCD mosaic camera for a dark matter search part I : Mechanics,optics and cryogeny

A 20cm ² CCD mosaic camera has been especially built to search for dark galactic halo objects by the gravitational microlensing effect. The sensitive area is made of 16 edge-buttable CCDs developped by Thomson-CTS, with 23×23 µm ² pixels. The 35 kg camera housing and mechanical equipment is presented. The associated electronics and data acquisition system are described in a separate paper. The camera resides at the focal plane of a 40 cm, f/10, Ferson reflector. The instrument has been in operation since December 1991 at the La Silla Observatory (ESO).