Is the transition impact to post‐impact rock complete? Some remarks based on XRF scanning,electron microprobe,and thin section analyses of the Yaxcopoil‐1 core in the Chicxulub crater

Abstract The transition from impact to post‐impact rocks in the Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) core is marked by a 2 cm‐thick clay layer characterized by dissolution features. The clay overlies a 9 cm‐thick hardground, overlying a 66 cm‐thick crossbedded unit, consisting of dolomite sandstone alternating with thin micro‐conglomerate layers with litho‐ and bioclasts and the altered remains of impact glass, now smectite. The micro‐conglomerates mark erosion surfaces. Microprobe and backscatter SEM analysis of the dolomite rhombs show an early diagenetic, complex‐zoned, idiomorphic overgrowth, with Mn‐rich zones, possibly formed by hot fluids related to cooling melt sheet in the crater. The pore spaces are filled with several generations of coelestite, barite, K‐feldpar, and sparry calcite. XRF core scanning analysis detected high Mn values in the crossbedded sediments but no anomalous enrichment of the siderophile elements Cr, Co, Fe, and Ni in the clay layer. Shocked quartz occurs in the crossbedded unit but is absent in the clay layer. The basal Paleocene marls are strongly dissolved and do not contain a basal Paleocene fauna. The presence of a hardground, the lack of siderophile elements, shocked quartz, or Ni‐rich spinels in the clay layer, and the absence of basal Paleocene biozones P0 and Pa all suggest that the top of the ejecta sequence and a significant part of the lower Paleocene is missing. Due to the high energy sedimentation infill, a hiatus at the top of the impactite is not unexpected, but there is nothing in the biostratigraphy, geochemistry, and petrology of the Yax‐1 core that can be used to argue against the synchroneity of the end‐Cretaceous mass‐extinctions and the Chicxulub crater.     

Modes to replace transitional asymptotic ray fields in a vertically inhomogeneous earth model

Summary. Asymptotic ray theory (ART) fails in transition regions near critically reflected, bottom glancing or caustic-forming rays in a vertically inhomogeneous layered earth. These deficiencies are repaired here by replacing the transitional ray fields with guided modes plus truncation remainders. Exact ray-mode equivalences and their high-frequency asymptotic approximations are formulated, and their validity and efficiency are verified by numerical comparisons for SH motion in a two-layer earth model comprised of an inhomogeneous sediment above an homogeneous semi-infinite bedrock.     

Self-similar solutions for the blast wave problem in radiative gasdynamics,I

Similarity solutions, describing the flow of a perfect gas behind spherical shock waves, are investigated including the radiation heat flux. The shock is assumed to be propagating in a medium at rest. Shock radius varies exponentially with time and density is inversely proportional to fifth power of the shock radius immediately ahead of the shock front.     

Friedmann cosmology with a cosmological constant in the modified Brans-Dicke theory

Homogenous isotropic cosmologies in the presence of a cosmological constant A are studied in the modified Brans-Dicke theory. A class of exact solutions are obtained in Dicke's revised units for empty space as well as for the models filled with dust or radiation. Behaviour of these models near the singularity are discussed.     

Going underground: in search of Carboniferous coal forests

The development of coal forests during the Carboniferous is one of the best-known episodes in the history of life. Although often reconstructed as steamy tropical rainforests, these ancient ecosystems were a far cry from anything we might encounter in the Amazon today. Bizarre giant club-mosses, horsetails and tree ferns were the dominant plants, not flowering trees as in modern rainforests. At their height, coal forests stretched all the way from Kansas to Kazakhstan, spanning the entire breadth of tropical Pangaea. Most of what we know of their biodiversity and ecology has been quite literally mined out of the ground through two centuries of hard labour. Without coal mining, our knowledge would be greatly impoverished. Over the past few years, we've been exploring underground coal mines in the United States, where entire forested landscapes have been preserved intact over huge areas. Never before have geologists had the opportunity to walk out through mile upon mile of fossilized forest. In this feature article, we describe some of our recent explorations and attempt to shed new light on these old fossils.     

Dust supply from river floodplains: the case of the lower Huang He (Yellow River) recorded in a loess–palaeosol sequence from the Mangshan Plateau

The Mangshan Plateau is located on the south bank of the Huang He (Yellow River) just west of the city of Zhengzhou, well outside the Loess Plateau in central China. Mixing models of the grain‐size data indicate that the loess deposits are mixtures of three loess components. Comparison of the mixing model with existing models established for a series of loess–palaeosol sequences from the Loess Plateau indicates that the Mangshan loess has been supplied from a proximal dust source, the Huang He floodplain, during major dust outbreaks. The high accumulation rates, the composition of the loess components, and especially the high proportions of a sandy loess component support this. Owing to the exceptionally high accumulation rates, the Mangshan grain size, magnetic susceptibility and carbonate records provide a high‐resolution archive of environmental and climate change. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

沂水崔家峪玻璃用石英砂岩矿地质特征

沂水崔家峪玻璃用石英砂岩矿床赋存于早寒武世李官组砂岩段中．呈近水平的层状产出。因其岩石坚硬．矿体呈环山的平台状分布。矿体厚度大，矿石品级高，特级品矿石二氧化硅平均含量98．47％，铁杂质平均含量0．043％(选矿后，铁杂质含量可降至0．02％以下)，为一优质玻璃硅质原料矿床。矿石为细一中粒石英砂岩，粒度以中粒为主，矿石由碎屑颗粒和胶结物组成，碎屑成分含量为97％～98％．其中绝大部分是石英颗粒．具典型的砂屑结掏。该矿床属滨海陆源沉积矿床。     

Thermal stability of a layer with permeable boundaries and variable gravitational field

The aim of this paper is to investigate the thermal stability of a fluid layer with permeable boundaries and a variable gravitational field. It is observed that the principle of exchange of stabilities is valid when the layer is heated form below and the complex growth rate of an arbitrary oscillatory mode exists outside of a circle whose radius depends upon the permeability parameter, Prandtl number and wavelength of the mode. In the case of a layer heated from below, gravity increasing upward has a destabilizing effect whereas the permeability parameter has a stabilizing effect.