First record of dinosaur trackway from Tibet,China

Three sauropod trackways comprise eight tracks that resemble Brontopodus tracks have been found at the Morong track site in Changdu Prefecture, Tibet, China. These wide- (or sub-wide)-gauge tracks suggest that there was a large sauropod, possibly a member of Titanosauriformes, in Changdu Prefecture during the Early-Middle Jurassic. The sauropod fauna from Changdu Prefecture, Tibet not only has elements in common with the sauropod fauna from the Sichuan Basin, but may include more diverse faunal components.     

Definition and measurement of salinity in salt lakes

Salinity is the most important chemical attribute of athalassic salt lakes. Even so, some confusion persists of what salinity means and how to measure it. For sal lakes, salinity is best defined as the sum total of all ion concentrations, or total ion concentration. Ideally, it is recommended that salinities be expressed on a mass per mass basis and as ppt (parts per thousand). Direct measurements of salinity can only be derived from full ionic analyses. Indirect measurements can be derived by determinations of density, conductivity, freezing point depression and total dissolved solids or matter.     

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley as a risk area

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, granted the status of a World Heritage site, is well known for its unique inner narrow valley of Quaternary age with its historical legacy of numerous medieval castles and old towns. Less known is that this has always been a risk area of floods and gravitative mass movements. Up to the recent past, mainly ice floods caused enormous damage. The inhabitants of the valley were well aware that they lived in a risk area, but they had learned to handle the flood hazard. With the demise of ice floods over the last 40 years, due to climate change and because of the additional heating of the river water by power plants, the awareness of flood hazards has been much diminished, in contrast to that of potential damage by rockfalls and landslides which were also much feared in the past, though at the local level only. Still in the people’s memory is the Kaub catastrophe of March 10, 1876, when 28 persons were killed by a landslide. Nowadays, even minor rockfalls are a major threat, as they will affect the much-used traffic lines on both banks of the river, in particular the railroads. Therefore, since 2002, on behalf of German Rail (Deutsche Bahn, DB), all problematic slopes have been protected by costly steel-ring nets, although they are an aesthetic problem by UNESCO standards. The feeling of absolute safety created among the public is only subjective, though, as planners are well aware of. Moreover, the impact of modern climate change on slope stability is nearly unknown. Therefore, it is still necessary to develop a risk map for the narrow valley, with emphasis on gravitational hazards.     

Dynamical attitude model for Gaia

The Dynamical Attitude Model (DAM) is a simulation package developed to achieve a detailed understanding of the Gaia spacecraft attitude. It takes into account external physical effects and considers internal hardware components controlling the satellite. The main goal of the Gaia mission is to obtain extremely accurate astrometry, and this necessitates a good knowledge of Gaia’s behaviour as a spinning rigid body under the influence of various perturbations. This paper describes these perturbations and how they are modelled in DAM.     

The impact of binary-star yields on the spectra of galaxies

One of the complexities in modelling integrated spectra of stellar populations is the effect of interacting binary stars besides Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa). These include common envelope systems, cataclysmic variables, novae, and are usually ignored in models predicting the chemistry and spectral absorption line strengths in galaxies. In this paper, predictions of chemical yields from populations of single and binary stars are incorporated into a galactic chemical evolution model to explore the significance of the effects of these other binary yields. Effects on spectral line strengths from different progenitor channels of SNeIa are also explored. Small systematic effects are found when the yields from binaries, other than SNeIa, are included, for a given star formation history. These effects are, at present, within the observational uncertainties on the line strengths. More serious differences can arise in considering different types of SNIa models, their rates and contributions.     

Observations of OH maser lines at an 18-cm wavelength in 9P/Temper1 and Lulin C/2007 N3 comets with RT-22 at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory

Investigations on OH maser lines in comets have been performed with the RT-22 at CrAO. The results of observations of 9P/Temper1 and Lulin C/2007 N3 comets in the OH molecule line at a wavelength of 18 cm are presented. An original technique for observation data analysis has been developed. The gas production rate of OH molecules in these comets is estimated.     

A cyclicity in the early brigantian (D2) limestones east of the clwydian range,north wales and its use in correlation

For the first time, minor cyclicity is described from some limestones in the lower part of the Brigantian (D2) succession of the Mold district North Wales which can be traced throughout the area enabling a detailed correlation to be established. The minor cyclicity may have been caused by eustatic sea-level fluctuations. Periods of emergence associated with each regressive phase are demonstrated by the presence of subaerial features and terrestrial deposits. The lateral persistence of the cycles is confirmed by comparison with established faunal and lithological horizons. Correlation with other cyclic Brigantian strata in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Bristol is briefly discussed. The Asbian/Brigantian (D1/D2) boundary in North Wales is described and distinctive faunal and lithological changes similar to those in the area of the stratotype in north England have been recorded.     

Luminescence chronology of river adjustment and incision of Quaternary sediments in the alluvial plain of the Sabarmati River, north Gujarat, India

River adjustment and incision in the Sabarmati basin, Gujarat, India have been examined at a site near Mahudi. Towards this, the morphostratigraphy and depositional chronometry of the middle alluvial plains were investigated. The upper fluvial sequence, along with the overlying aeolian sand and riverbed scroll plains, provide clues to the evolution of the present Sabarmati River. Sedimentological analyses of the upper fluvial sequence indicate its deposition by a meandering river system during what is believed to be a persistent wetter phase. Luminescence chronology bracketed this sequence to between 54 and 30 ka, which corresponds to Oxygen Isotope Stage-3, during which the SW monsoon was enhanced. The overlying aeolian sand has been dated to 12 ka, indicating that dune accretion occurred simultaneously with the strengthening of the SW monsoon during the Early Holocene. Adjustment of the Sabarmati along a N–S transect is placed around 12 ka and the incision is bracketed between 12 and 4.5 ka. River adjustment could have been tectonic; however, the incision was facilitated by the availability of continuous flow in the river caused by the SW monsoon. The basin experienced two tectonic events at about 3 and 0.3 ka, as demonstrated by the morphology of the scroll plains.