Amazonian magnetostratigraphy: Dating the first pulse of the Great American Faunal Interchange

The chronostratigraphy of the youngest Neogene deposits of the Amazon Basin, which comprise the Madre de Dios Formation in eastern Peru, remains unresolved. Although ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates on two volcanic ashes from this formation in Peru provide critical baseline data points, stratigraphic correlations among scattered riverine outcrops in adjacent drainage basins remain problematic. To refine the chronostratigraphy of the Madre de Dios Formation, we report here the magnetostratigraphy of an outcrop on the Madre de Dios River in southeastern Peru. A total of 18 polarity zones was obtained in the ～65-m-thick Cerro Colorado section, which we correlate to magnetozones Chrons C4Ar to C2An (9.5–3.0 Ma) based on the prior ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates. These results confirm the late Miocene age of a gomphothere recovered from the Ipururo Formation, which underlies the late Miocene Ucayali Unconformity at the base of the Cerro Colorado outcrop. The results also support earlier interpretations of a late Miocene age for other fossils of North American mammals recovered from basal conglomeratic deposits of the Madre de Dios Formation immediately above the Ucayali Unconformity. These mammals include other gomphotheres, peccaries, and tapirs, and their presence in South America in the late Miocene is recognized as part of the first pulse of the Great American Faunal Interchange.     

The August 20, 1852 earthquake in Santiago de Cuba

On August 20, 1852, an earthquake caused widespread destruction in the city of Santiago de Cuba and its surroundings. A comprehensive search for contemporary documentation was made. The information gathered was used for a detailed analysis of the damage from and characteristics of the earthquakes. Intensities were evaluated at 45 localities, and an isoseismal scheme has been drawn. Maximum intensity reached 8 degrees (MSK), and 6.4 was the estimated magnitude. Damage to the city of Santiago de Cuba has been studied in detail. The low quality of construction aggravated the damage. The total number of casualties was two dead and approximately 200 injured. The shock was felt within 80,000 km². The epicenter was determined as 19.75º N, 75.32º W, h = 30 km. This study shows that contemporary Cuban documents must be studied with care in their historical and cultural background to avoid overestimating earthquake intensities.     

Radio emission in active galaxies: the starburst scenario

The origin of the radio emission in active galaxies ranging from LINERS to ultraluminous IRAS galaxies is considered under the scenario of a violent nuclear or circumnuclear starburst. The radio luminosity is explained as non-thermal radio emission generated in supernova remnants (SNRs). Implications of this scenario in terms of the radio brightness of SNRs, the supernovae rates, and their detectability are discussed.     

Stress tensor analysis of the 1998–1999 tectonic swarm of northern Quito related to the volcanic swarm of Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador

The phreatic activity and the subsequent dacitic dome growth in 1998–1999 at Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador, were associated with two seismic swarms: one located in the northern part of Quito (population: 1,500,000) and another one, just below the active volcano, about 15–20 km SW from the first one. Quito swarm tectonic events have high frequencies (from 1 to 10–15 Hz). We registered more than 3200 events (among which 2354 events of 1.4≤M_L≤4.2) between June 1998 and December 1999 at the −2- and −17-km depth. The volcanic events below the Guagua Pichincha caldera have high (from 1 to 10–15 Hz) and low (less than 3 Hz) frequencies. Approximately, 130,000 events were registered between September 1998 and December 1999 at the +2.4- and −3.5-km depth. Here, we study the stress tensors of these two swarms deduced from the polarities of P first motions and compare them to the regional stress tensor deduced from CMT Harvard focal mechanisms. The Quito swarm stress tensor is relatively close to the regional stress tensor (the σ₁ axis was oriented N117°E close to the N102°E direction of the plate motion found by the GPS measurement, and σ₃ is nearly vertical). The difference may be due to the action of the closely active Guagua Pichincha volcano. The Guagua Pichincha stress tensor is very different from the regional tectonic one. The σ₁ axis of the volcano is oriented N214°E, almost perpendicular to the σ₁ of the swarm of Quito and σ₃ is almost horizontal. Even if these two tensors are different, they can be explained in a more general tectonic scheme. The almost horizontal direction of σ₃ just below the volcano is compatible with an extensional horizontal direction that may be expected in the shallow extrados part of a compressional region and consistent with an opening of the top of the Guagua Pichincha volcano. The movement of the fluids (magma, gas and/or groundwater) produced by the closely active Guagua Pichincha volcano seems to have an influence in the acceleration of the generation of seismic events.     

Simple swept-sine analyzer for excitation and measurement of dynamic response in ocean structures

We present the design of a simple, low cost swept-sine analyzer. Based on direct digital synthesis, the analyzer can generate high purity tones with a linear resolution of 0.000931 Hz up to 1 MHz. Details of the circuit are discussed, and the performance of the system is demonstrated by a simple application to the dynamical characterization of cracked cantilever beams. It is felt that the device may find application in the design, construction and monitoring of structural systems such as offshore platforms and other marine structures.     

Las Matras Block, Central Argentina (37°S-67°W): the Southernmost Cuyania Terrane and its Relationship with the Famatinian Orogeny

The Las Matras Block in Central Argentina constitutes the southernmost part of the Cuyania terrane, which was accreted to the southwestern margin of Gondwana during the Early to Mid Ordovician Famatinian orogeny. The Grenville-aged rocks of the Las Matras Block are represented by the tonalitic to trondhjemitic Las Matras pluton. A new U-Pb conventional zircon age of 1244±42 Ma confirms previous Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isochron ages of this pluton. Mineral composition data are consistent with the tonalitic-trondhjemitic character of the pluton, and constrain its emplacement level to 1.9 to 2.6 kb. This shallow level of emplacement and the undeformed character of the pluton are distinctive features of this southernmost basement. A regional comparison indicates that the igneous-metamorphic evolution of the Grenville-aged basement rocks of the Cuyania terrane occurred over a period of more than 200 million years, with ages older than 1200 Ma up to those close to 1000 Ma. The shallowest crustal level is found in Las Matras, suggesting a southward shallowing of the exposed level of basement. The deformation and metamorphism associated with the collisional Famatinian orogeny affect both the Cuyania terrane and the adjacent western margin of Gondwana, and the Gondwana margin was also the locus of the related arc magmatism, but the compressive effects of the collision decrease in intensity toward the south. The Famatinian metamorphism and magmatism continue even further south into the Patagonia region, but the southern continuity of the Cuyania terrane into this region remains uncertain.     

Secondary gravitational anisotropies in open universes

The applicability of the potential approximation in the case of open universes is tested. Great Attractor-like structures are considered in the test. Previous estimates of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies produced by these structures are analysed and interpreted. The anisotropies corresponding to inhomogeneous ellipsoidal models are also computed. It is proved that, whatever the spatial symmetry may be, Great Attractor-like objects with extended cores (radii ∼10 h ⁻¹), located at redshift z =5.9 in an open universe with density parameter Ω₀=0.2, produce secondary gravitational anisotropies of the order of 10⁻⁵ on angular scales of a few degrees. The amplitudes and angular scales of the estimated anisotropy decrease as the Great Attractor size decreases. For comparable normalizations and compensations, the anisotropy produced by spherical realizations is found to be smaller than that of ellipsoidal models. This anisotropy appears to be an integrated effect along the photon geodesics. Its angular scale is much greater than that subtended by the Great Attractor itself. This is easily understood by taking into account the fact that the integrated effect is produced by the variations of the gravitational potential, which seem to be important in large regions subtending angular scales of several degrees. As a result of the large size of these regions, the spatial curvature of the universe becomes important and, consequently, significant errors (∼30 per cent) arise in estimates based on the potential approximation. As is emphasized in this paper, two facts should be taken into account carefully in some numerical estimates of secondary gravitational anisotropies in open universes: (1) the importance of scales much greater than those subtended by the cosmological structures themselves, and (2) the compatibility of the potential approximation with the largest scales.     

Do Solar Flares Affect Total Ozone?

An analysis of total ozone from Hradec Králové (50.25°N, 15.21°E) and of radio wave absorption in the lower ionosphere at 1539 kHz (reflection point 50.3°N, 11.8°E) shows that there is no detectable effect of strong solar flares in total ozone, no correlation between total ozone and absorption on a day-to-day time scale, and that strong solar flares do not affect this correlation. Thus the long-term correlation of monthly average values (Alberca et al., 1996) is not reproduced on a day-to-day time scale, and the effects of strong geomagnetic storms in total ozone (Latovika et al., 1992; Mlch and Latovika, 1996) have no counterpart in effects of strong solar flares.