Isolation of diagenetic overgrowths on quartz sand grains for oxygen isotopic analysis

Diagenetic overgrowths on detrital quartz sand grains in sandstones can be isolated for direct measurement of their oxygen isotope ratios. Interfacial materials between detrital cores and diagenetic overgrowths are dissolved by etching with dilute HF. The weakened interface breaks when grains are agitated ultrasonically. Subsequent particle size separation is an effective means of concentrating the diagenetic component.     

Beryllium-10 contents of core samples from the St. Severin meteorite

Eleven samples taken from along the 35-cm core AIII of the LL-chondrite St. Severin have ¹⁰Be contents ranging from 20 to 28 dpm/kg and averaging 24.5 ± 0.9 dpm/kg. The ¹⁰Be contents increase with depth in the outermost 8 cm while at depths greater than 8 cm the ¹⁰Be contents change little. Calculations based on cross sections for proton-induced reactions that make ¹⁰Be disagree seriously with the measured values. Relatively large cross sections were constructed for neutron-induced reactions below 1 GeV. They give calculated ¹⁰Be production rates that agree with the measured values to within 10%. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be in stony meteorites is better described as a medium-energy product than as a high-energy one.     

Influence of free field variability on linear soil–structure interaction (SSI) by indirect integral representation

An integral equation for the representation of the response of a structure impinged by an incident wave field including soil–structure interaction is proposed. It requires the knowledge of the fundamental solution for the overall soil–structure domain when a unit load is applied to the structure. This fundamental solution is obtained by means of a substructuring technique and boundary integral equations using the Green tensors for homogeneous or horizontally stratified soil media. The effects of a non‐stationary modulated random incident field are addressed in terms of the instantaneous power spectral density of the structural response of interest for a given coherency function of the free field. Several applications of the proposed procedure are presented. The first one considers kinematic interaction of a rigid circular foundation and is used to validate the numerical implementation. The second one considers a complex structure on a stiff stratified soil and the last one considers the pounding effect between two adjacent, identical structures resting on a thin soft soil layer. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oxygen and carbon isotope composition of structural carbonate in weathering apatites from laterites, southern Brazil and western Senegal

The oxygen (δ¹⁸O_c) and carbon (δ¹³C_c) isotope compositions of the structural carbonate group (CO₃) in apatites from lateritic profiles were investigated. The weathering profiles, located in southern Brazil and in western Senegal, are developed on three different types of apatite-rich parent rock: carbonatite, metamorphosed marine phosphorite and sedimentary marine phosphorite. The parent rock apatites are of magmatic, hydrothermal, metamorphic and sedimentary origins. The in situ formation of apatite of weathering origin in the profiles is well documented petrographically and geochemically.The overall range of measured δ¹⁸O_c and δ¹³C_c values of apatites of weathering origin (22 to 27 SMOW for δ¹⁸O_c and −15 to −10 PDB for δ¹³C_c) is much smaller than the range of measured and/or published isotope compositions of parent rock apatites (4–35 for δ¹⁸O_c and −11 to +1 for δ¹³C_c). In any profile, the apatites of weathering origin can exhibit lower, similar or higher δ¹⁸O_c values than parent rock apatites. In contrast, their δ¹³C_c values are systematically and significantly lower than those of the parent rock apatites. Apatites formed as a result of weathering in laterites can therefore be readily distinguished from apatites of other origin on the basis of their isotope composition.Assuming that apatite CO₃ fractionates O in a way similar to calcite CO₃, the structural carbonate group of the apatites of weathering origin appears to form in approximate isotopic equilibrium with the weathering solutions. The very low δ¹³C_c values exhibited by these apatites indicate that the dominant sources of dissolved CO₂ in the soil water are organic. The isotope composition of structural carbonate in apatite of weathering origin in lateritic profiles may provide useful information for paleoenvironmental studies.     

Determination of the Parameters of a Submerged Source by Perturbations of the Liquid Surface Based on Machine Learning Methods

Doklady Earth Sciences - The inverse problem of generating surface waves in a liquid is to determine the parameters of the source of perturbations from the waves it creates on the liquid surface. A...     

Waves at the sea surface generated by a flow over an underwater obstacle

We study wave perturbations appearing at the surface of a two-layer fluid flowing around an underwater obstacle in the lower layer of the fluid. The obstacle is modeled as a point source. A class of asymptotic solutions was obtained that demonstrate that realistic conditions of the open sea and the given parameters of the source in the neighborhood of the source of hydrodynamic perturbations allow for the formation of two types of surface waves. The waves of the first type only slightly depend on the stratification, and, in the conditions of the real sea, they are almost not observed. The characteristics of the second type of waves were repeatedly recorded in field experiments during radar and optical monitoring of the sea surface.     

A Validation of MODIS Snowcover Products in Romania: Challenges and Future Directions

The MODIS snowcover product is one of many geophysical products derived from MODIS data. A cross‐validation of the MODIS snowcover daily products with data obtained from the meteorological network stations was conducted for the entire territory of Romania. The validation time interval covered the period between 29 October, 2004 and 1 May, 2005. The overall accuracy for the whole set of cloud‐free useful data proved to be 95%. The validation time interval included the three common snow situations: (1) late autumn months where 37.1% of the initial set of the data was used, and the overall accuracy was 98.6%; (2) the “winter” months where the clouds reduced the set of useful data – 31.75%– and the overall accuracy was 93.7%; and (3) the months of February and March which returned the highest accuracy (> 95%). Additionally, a cross‐validation using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) high‐resolution imagery was carried out. Furthermore, the MODIS, meteorological data and ASTER data were integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment to perform flexible and comprehensive cross‐checking followed by a thematic analysis based on additional sets of data such as digital elevation models (DEMs) and land‐cover datasets.     

Soil-geographical characteristics of the western part of the democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The specific character of soil cover in the territory of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is revealed, and the soil interpretation schemes in the key areas are compiled. It is established that the main soil resource for agriculture within the region’s low and middle mountains is provided by areas of weakly developed brown forest soils in the lower parts of slopes as well as by alluvial soils along the valleys of large and medium-sized rivers. Specifically, brown forest soils of slopes are used largely in dry farming and forestry, while soils along river valleys are utilized in rice cultivation. Soils of terraced slopes and rice fields have been transformed anthropogenically to the greatest extent.