Molecular test for oil pollution in surface sediments

Polycyclic biological markers, such as pentacyclic triterpanes, can be useful as “molecular markers” in the study of crude oil pollution problems. This has been shown in the case of a weakly polluted surface sediment from the west coast of France. The use of these markers is based on the differences in their distribution, which depend on the degree of maturity of the geological sources.     

A sensitive phototube-amplifier combination for measurements of meteorological radiation at day and night

Summary The paper describes a new instrument combination for the measurement of various kinds of radiation. The complete set-up is for mobile use and consists of three units, namely: (A) Phototube and Optical part, (B) Amplifier, and (C) Galvanometer. After a comprehensive introduction to the problems involved, each unit is described in detail and appropriate figures are also included.Another section of the paper covers semi-standard adaptors, useful for this instrument and similar ones, in order to allow controllable readings at all times. Finally, various applications are mentioned.

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Zusammenfassung Die Arbeit beschreibt einen neuartigen Instrumentensatz für Messungen von Strahlung verschiedener Art. Der komplete Satz ist zum leicht beweglichen Betrieb bestimmt und besteht aus drei Einheiten, nämlich (A) Photozelle und optischer Teil, (B) Verstärker, und (C) Galvanometer. Nach einer eingehenden Einführung zu den vorliegenden Problemen ist jede Einheit in einzelheiten beschrieben, und entsprechende Abbildungen sind ebenfalls beigefügt.Ein weiterer Abschnitt der Arbeit behandelt Halbstandardgeräte, die für das beschriebene und ähnliche Instrumente Verwendung finden können, um kontrollierbare Messungen zu jeder Zeit zu erhalten. Abschließend werden mehrere Anwendungsmöglichkeiten erwähnt.

     

Investigations on great-circle propagation between eastern Australia and western Europe

Summary From propagation data in the frequency range 3–30 M/cs collected during the period 1952 to February 1957, the author selected the results representative of conditions prevailing during the sunspot minimum, November 1953 to December 1954. Emphasis being laid on studies concerning propagation near the LUHF, monthly median values of path attenuation, path characteristics, and times of openings are given where the measurements were sufficiently conclusive. All results are discussed with reference to ionospheric predictions.

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Zusammenfassung Von Ausbreitungsmessungen in dem Frequenzbereich 3–30 MHz, die während der Periode 1952 bis Februar 1957 durchgeführt wurden, hat der Verfasser die während des Sonnenfleckenminimums November 1953 bis December 1954 erhaltenen Ergebnisse ausgewählt. Unter besonderer Beachtung der Ausbreitung nahe der LUHF werden monatliche Zentralwerte des Feldstärkeverlustes und der Schichtcharakteristik auf dem Wege und die Zeiten der Ausbreitungsperioden gegeben, wo die Messungen hinreichend aufschlußreich waren. Alle Ergebnisse werden mit Bezug auf die ionosphärischen Vorhersagen diskutiert.

     

Deformationsverhalten tektonisch unterschiedlich beanspruchter Carnallitite

Four different stressed carnallite-rocks were microscopically investigated by U-stage and the indicatrix orientation pattern was treated in topotropic analysis (AVA). The investigation involved a young, post-tectonic carnallitite, a layered carnallite-rock and a weakly cataclastic carnallitite, as well as so-called Trümmercarnallitite, and had as its objective observation of changes in fabric orientation.The youngest, uninfluenced carnallitite is a megagrained (handspecimen 3 grains), the other varieties are heterogenous, and respectively middleto finegrained carnallitite.With increasing tectonically strain, the number of grains with similar indicatrix orientation diminishs from that of the wholegrain. Neighbouring grains are shifted more and more and respectively show varying degrees of recristallisation from layered carnallitite up to the cataclastic Trümmercarnallitite.In addition for interpretation the mechanics undulations, kinkbands and rotationcristallisation by twinning were investigated.An attempt is made to explain the mechanism of the deformation.

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Zusammenfassung Vier unterschiedlich beanspruchte Carnallitite wurden mikroskopisch mit dem U-Tisch gemessen und Achsenverteilungsanalysen angefertigt. Ausgehend von einem posttektonisch entstandenen, jüngeren Carnallitit wurden ein gut geschichteter, ein schwach kataklastischer und sog. Trümmercarnallitit auf die Änderung ihrer Gefüge hin untersucht. Der jüngere unbeeinflußte Carnallitit ist riesenkörnig (Handstück 3 Körner), die anderen Varietäten sind heterogen- und mittel- bis kleinkörnig.Mit zunehmender tektonischer Beanspruchung wird die Zahl der Körner kleiner, die ursprünglich ein Großkorn gebildet haben, d. h. die Lage der Indikatrix benachbarter Körner ist stärker verstellt.Zur Feststellung der Mechanismen werden Messungen an Verbiegungen (undulöse Auslöschungen), Knickbändern und die Rotationskristallisation durch Zwillingsbildung untersucht. Es wird der Versuch unternommen, den mechanischen Ablauf der Deformation zu erklären.

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Résumé Quatre roches à carnallite, ayant subi des sollicitations différentes, ont fait l'objet d'une analyse topotropique («Achsenverteilungsanalyse») au moyen de la platine universelle. Ces quatre roches sont des carnallitites respectivement: (1) grenue posttectonique, (2) à rubanement bien exprimé, (3) légèrement cataclastique, (4) dite «Trümmercarnallitite». La roche jeune non affectée (1) est une Carnallitite à grains géants (3 grains pour l'échantillon); les autres sont des roches à granularité hétérogène moyenne à fine.Lorsque la sollicitation tectonique augmente, on voit diminuer le nombre de grains issus d'un même grain originel; en d'autres termes on voit se modifier de plus en plus la position des indicatrices de grains voisins.En outre, il a été procédé à une investigation des extinctions onduleuses, des kink-bands et des macles de déformation. La note présente finalement un essai d'interprétation du mécanisme de la déformation.

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Pressure effects on regional mean sea level trends in the German Bight in the twenty-first century

The effect of large-scale atmospheric pressure changes on regional mean sea level projections in the German Bight in the twenty-first century are considered. A developed statistical model is applied to climate model data of sea level pressure for the twenty-first century to assess the potential contribution of large-scale atmospheric changes to future sea level changes in the German Bight. Using 78 experiments, an ensemble mean of 1.4-cm rise in regional mean sea level is estimated until the end of the twenty-first century. Changes are somewhat higher for realisations of the special report on emission scenarios (SRES) A1B and A2, but generally do not exceed a few centimeters. This is considerably smaller than the changes expected from steric and self-gravitational effects. Large-scale changes in sea level pressure are thus not expected to provide a substantial contribution to twenty-first century sea level changes in the German Bight.     

Petrogenetic and metallogenetic responses to Miocene slab flattening: new constraints from the El Indio-Pascua Au–Ag–Cu belt,Chile/Argentina

The Eocene–Miocene volcanic and hypabyssal rocks of the El Indio-Pascua Au–Ag–-Cu belt in the southern central Andean flat-slab region are medium–high-K calc-alkaline arc suites, ranging in composition from andesite to rhyolite. A significant transition in magmatic trace element chemistry, coinciding with a pronounced reduction in magma output, occurred in the late-Middle Miocene as documented by ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar geochronology. The upper Eocene–lower-Middle Miocene rocks exhibit low Sr/Y ratios (<50), minor heavy REE fractionation with Sm/Yb ratios not exceeding 3.5 and, in some cases, minor negative Eu anomalies. In contrast, the largely dacitic rocks erupted after ca. 13 Ma are depleted in Y (10 ppm), have generally high, but variable Sr/Y ratios (30–200), exhibit moderate middle and heavy REE fractionation (Sm/Yb: 3.7–5.9) and lack negative Eu anomalies. The latter features are characteristic of adakitic suites (i.e. slab-melts), but the regional temporal and spatial distribution of arc magmatism precludes a major magma source in the downgoing slab. This evolution is interpreted as reflecting a progressive increase in pressure and the availability of water in the lower-crustal site of magma generation, establishing both garnet and hornblende as major stable phases in the residuum. The pressure in the lower crust increased in response to episodic crustal thickening related to the shallowing of the slab, a process recorded by the incision of three regional pediplains over the period 17–6 Ma. Elimination of the subarc asthenospheric mantle and much of the lithospheric mantle by ca. 10 Ma permitted direct incursion of slab-derived, highly oxidised metal- and volatile-rich supercritical fluids into the lower crust, stimulating melting of mafic, garnet amphibolitic and eclogitic assemblages.The igneous suites emplaced from 36–11 Ma were associated with widespread, and locally intense, epizonal hydrothermal activity, but this was barren of base and precious metals. The shallow-crustal availability of abundant water highlighted in earlier models was therefore not a metallogenetic determinant. Moreover, economic Au–Ag–Cu mineralization, associated with small volumes of dacitic magma, was restricted to the interval 9.5–5 Ma, and was not initiated until at least 3.5 my after the inception of high-pressure magma generation. In contrast to previous metallogenetic studies, we therefore suggest that this petrochemical transition was not inherently favourable for ore formation. We propose that the incursion of highly oxidized supercritical fluids from the slab into the lower crust was ultimately responsible for the brief Late Miocene metallogenetic episode.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at Editorial handling: V. Bouchot     

The European HST science data archive

The design of the Data Management Facility (DMF), the system to handle the data from HST, has been based on the concepts of modularity and flexibility, so that changes inevitably due to occur during the long lifetime of the project could be gracefully accomodated. At the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF), new constraints have led the archive group to evolve the system, so to allow a more efficient ingesting of the data imported from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), an easier browsing of the HST catalogue of observations, and a more efficient servicing of archive researchers' retrieval requests. In this paper, the European Science Data Archive of HST data is described, with particular reference to dataflow, hardware and software system structure, operations, differences with DMF, and foreseen developments.Affiliated with the Astrophysics Division, Space Science Dept., ESAThe observations of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope are obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.     

Pre-Variscan geological events in the Austrian part of the Bohemian Massif deduced from U–Pb zircon ages

In an attempt to elucidate the pre-Variscan evolution history of the various geological units in the Austrian part of the Bohemian Massif, we have analysed zircons from 12 rocks (mainly orthogneisses) by means of SHRIMP, conventional multi-grain and single-grain U–Pb isotope-dilution/mass-spectrometry. Two of the orthogneisses studied represent Cadomian metagranitoids that formed at ca. 610 Ma (Spitz gneiss) and ca. 580 Ma (Bittesch gneiss). A metagranite from the Thaya batholith also gave a Cadomian zircon age (567±5 Ma). Traces of Neoproterozoic zircon growth were also identified in several other samples, underlining the great importance of the Cadomian orogeny for the evolution of crust in the southern Bohemian Massif. However, important magmatic events also occurred in the Early Palaeozoic. A sample of the Gföhl gneiss was recognised as a 488±6 Ma-old granite. A tonalite gneiss from the realm of the South Bohemian batholith was dated at 456±3 Ma, and zircon cores in a Moldanubian metagranitic granulite gave similar ages of 440–450 Ma. This Ordovician phase of magmatism in the Moldanubian unit is tentatively interpreted as related to the rifting and drift of South Armorica from the African Gondwana margin. The oldest inherited zircons, in a migmatite from the South Bohemian batholith, yielded an age of ca. 2.6 Ga, and many zircon cores in both Moravian and Moldanubian meta-granitoid rocks gave ages around 2.0 Ga. However, rocks from the Moldanubian unit show a striking lack of zircon ages between 1.8 and 1.0 Ga, reflecting an ancestry from Armorica and the North African part of Gondwana, respectively, whereas the Moravian Bittesch gneiss contains many inherited zircons with Mesoproterozoic and Early Palaeoproterozoic ages of ca. 1.2, 1.5 and 1.65–1.8 Ga, indicating a derivation from the South American part of Gondwana.