Pleistocene basaltic volcanism of Kunashir Island (Kuril island arc): Mineralogy,geochemistry, and results of computer simulation

New mineralogical, geochemical, and isotope data in combination with numerical modeling were used to reconstruct the physicochemical and geodynamic conditions of the formation of Pleistocene basalts of Kunashir Island. Although they are petrologically close to the Holocene basalts of Tyatya Volcano, their eruption occurred during a brief period of island arc extension, which was accompanied by the high degree melting of mantle wedge asthenosphere. Numerous geological, petrological, and paleogeographical data testify that Pleistocene is an important stage in the geodynamic reorganization of the Kuril island arc. This stage was responsible for uplifting of the southern islands above sea level accompanied by catastrophic endogenous events, deformation, topographic reorganization of the large area of the Sea of Japan and adjacent land, and final folding stage in the West Sakhalin Mountains.     

Batisite,Na2BaTi2(Si4O12)O2, from Inagli massif,Aldan, Russia: crystal-structure refinement and high-temperature X-ray diffraction study

Mineralogy and Petrology - The crystal structure of batisite, Na2BaTi2 (Si4O12)O2, from the Inagli massif (Aldan, Yakutia, Russia) was refined to R 1 = 0.032 for 1449 unique...     

Reply to “Oxygen isotope heterogeneity of the mantle beneath the Canary Islands: a discussion of the paper of Gurenko et al.”

The comment by Day et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol, 2012) (1) discusses the validity of the previously obtained oxygen isotope data for El Hierro and La Palma (Canary Island) olivines, (2) questions the approach by Gurenko et al. (Contrib Mineral Petrol 162:349–363, 2011) of using weakly correlated variations of δ¹⁸O_olivine values with X _px (proportion of pyroxenite-derived melt in the parental magma), and (3) provides reasons why oxygen isotope data by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) “offer sensitive means for detecting melt-crust interactions.” We respond these comments and report a new set of oxygen isotope measurements performed by SIMS and single-grain laser fluorination methods. These measurements confirm our previous data and conclusions and demonstrate the ability of the SIMS technique to analyze O isotopes in terrestrial samples with 2-sigma uncertainty better than ±0.25 ‰.     

Ion transport in porous media: derivation of the macroscopic equations using upscaling and properties of the effective coefficients

In this work, we undertake a numerical study of the effective coefficients arising in the upscaling of a system of partial differential equations describing transport of a dilute N-component electrolyte in a Newtonian solvent through a rigid porous medium. The motion is governed by a small static electric field and a small hydrodynamic force, around a nonlinear Poisson–Boltzmann equilibrium with given surface charges of arbitrary size. This approach allows us to calculate the linear response regime in a way initially proposed by O’Brien. The O’Brien linearization requires a fast and accurate solution of the underlying Poisson–Boltzmann equation. We present an analysis of it, with the discussion of the boundary layer appearing as the Debye–Hückel parameter becomes large. Next, we briefly discuss the corresponding two-scale asymptotic expansion and reduce the obtained two-scale equations to a coarse scale model. Our previous rigorous study proves that the homogenized coefficients satisfy Onsager properties, namely they are symmetric positive definite tensors. We illustrate with numerical simulations several characteristic situations and discuss the behavior of the effective coefficients when the Debye–Hückel parameter is large. Simulated qualitative behavior differs significantly from the situation when the surface potential is given (instead of the surface charges). In particular, we observe the Donnan effect (exclusion of co-ions for small pores).     

Latitudinal and temporal shifts in the radial growth-climate response of Siberian larch in the Polar Urals

This paper presents a dendroclimatic analysis of Siberian larch trees sampled along a latitudinal 260-km transect located in the Polar Urals,Russia. Three standardised chronologies were built over a length of 230–293 years using 79 individual tree-ring chronologies collected in the southern,middle and northern parts of the Polar Urals.Bootstrapped correlation functions showed that the annual growth of the larches was mainly influenced by the air temperatures in June and July. The relative role of the temperatures increased from south to north. Daily air temperature data analysis revealed that the duration of the growing season in the northern part of the Polar Urals is 24 days less than that in the southern part. At the present time, air temperatures exceeded threshold of 8~℃, 5 days earlier than it did in the beginning of the 20 th century In response to the increase in the duration of the growing season and the changing winter conditions in the Polar Urals over the last 130 years, radial growth–temperature relationships in larches have weakened;this effect was strongly pronounced in the southern part of the Polar Urals.     

Results of astrometric observations of stars with large proper motions using telescopes of the Research Institute of Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory

Astrometric CCD observations of stars with large proper motions were carried out during 2008–2014 using telescopes of the Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory. A catalog of positions and proper motion of 1596 fast stars with proper motions exceeding 150 mas/yr has been compiled based on observation results. The catalog covers the declination zone from 0° to 65°. The standard error of derived proper motion is 1…10 mas/yr for both coordinates depending on the observational history of the star. Data from eight different star catalogs and surveys have been used to derive proper motion. The comparison results of proper motion with data from modern catalogs and results of the statistical test for the detection of possible invisible components are given.     

Role of backarc processes in the origin of across-arc geochemical zoning in volcanics of early evolutionary stages in Kunashir Island

Geochemical data obtained on volcanic rocks produced during the early evolutionary stages in Kunashir Island provide insight into certain important aspect of the evolution of the subduction system. The mafic lavas of all age intervals exhibit clearly pronounced across-arc geochemical zoning, which implies that these rocks were produced in the environment of a subducted oceanic slab. The high Ba/Th and U/Th ratios of basalts from the frontal zones suggest that an important role in magma generation was played by a low-temperature aqueous fluid. The arc lavas of the Early Miocene, Pliocene, and Pliocene-Pleistocene episodes in the evolution of the island arc system provide evidence of the melting of subducted sediments, which testifies, when considered together with the calculated P-T conditions under which the high-Mg basalts were derived, that backarc tectono-magmatic processes affected subduction-related magmatic generation. Active mantle diapirism and volcanic activity in the opening Kurile Basin resulted in the heating of the suprasubduction mantle in the rear zone, the involvement of the upper sedimentary layer of the oceanic slab in the process of melting, and the eventual generation of basaltic magmas with unusual geochemical characteristics.     

Weather as a Chronic Hazard for Road Transportation in Canadian Cities

Inclement weather creates a chronic hazard for Canadian travellers. Past studies indicate that road collision rates increase during precipitation, although the magnitude of theincrease varies from study to study, partly as a result of variations in weather and driving conditions,but also because of differences in methods. The goal of the current study is to improve ourunderstanding of the links between weather and travel risk in mid-sized Canadian cities by using astandardized method for analyzing data from six cities with different climates: Halifax-Dartmouth,Ottawa, Québec, Hamilton, Waterloo Region, and Regina. The study has four interrelated objectives: (1) Toconduct a sensitivity analysis to determine the extent to which risk estimates vary depending onthe criteria used to define precipitation events and `normal' conditions; (2) To compare therelative risk of collision and injury during precipitation relative to `normal' conditions; (3) Todetermine the extent to which weather-related risks vary fordifferent Canadian cities; and (4) To explore any differences in collision characteristics between events and controls, especially as theyvary from city to city. Results are based on a matched-pair analysis, using six-hour time blocks over afour-year period, 1995 to 1998. Results indicate only modest sensitivity to the criteria used to define precipitation events and `normal' conditions. On average, precipitation is associated with a 75 percentincrease in traffic collisions and a 45 percent increase in related injuries, as compared to `normal'seasonal conditions, but risk levels vary depending on the characteristics of the weather event.Both sensitivity to specific weather conditions and weather-related accident profiles vary from city tocity in ways that are not easily explained.     

Loess deposition in Asia： its initiation and development before and during the Quaternary

Dust is important in the Earth environment system. However; the role of dust in climate change remains largely unknown. A better understanding of the temporal and spatial variability of the dust accumulation in Asia forms an important step towards establishing the link between dust deposition and climate change. Here, a summary is given for the timing of the onset and expansion of loess deposition in Asia beginning in the early, Miocene. Recent progress on some aspects of loess chronology and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction is also reviewed.     

Response of evapotranspiration and water availability to the changing climate in Northern Eurasia

We introduce a probabilistic framework for vulnerability analysis and use it to quantify current and future vulnerability of the US water supply system. We also determine the contributions of hydro-climatic and socio-economic drivers to the changes in projected vulnerability. For all scenarios and global climate models examined, the US Southwest including California and the southern Great Plains was consistently found to be the most vulnerable. For most of the US, the largest contributions to changes in vulnerability come from changes in supply. However, for some areas of the West changes in vulnerability are caused mainly by changes in demand. These changes in supply and demand result mainly from changes in evapotranspiration rather than from changes in precipitation. Importantly, changes in vulnerability from projected changes in the standard deviations of precipitation and evapotranspiration are of about the same magnitude or larger than those from changes in the corresponding means over most of the US, except in large areas of the Great Plains, in central California and southern and central Texas.