The K-band luminosity function of nearby field galaxies

We present a measurement of the K -band luminosity function (LF) of field galaxies obtained from near-infrared imaging of a sample of 345 galaxies selected from the Stromlo-APM Redshift Survey. The LF is reasonably well fitted over the 10-mag range −26 M _K −16 by a Schechter function with parameters α =−1.16±0.19, M *=−23.58±0.42 and φ *=0.012±0.008 Mpc⁻³, assuming a Hubble constant of H ₀=100 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹. We have also estimated the LF for two subsets of galaxies subdivided by the equivalent width of the H α emission line at EW(H α )=10 Å. There is no significant difference in LF shape between the two samples, although there is a hint (∼1 σ significance) that emission-line galaxies (ELGs) have M * roughly 1 mag fainter than non-ELGs. Contrary to the optical LF, there is no difference in faint-end slope α between the two samples.     

A Local Example of Land‐Use Change: Southern Illinois—1807, 1938, and 1993*

This article provides an analysis of a wetland site in southern Illinois from presettlement to the present. The study area is part of the Cache River‐Cypress Creek Wetland, which has international importance, as recognized by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Land‐cover data for 1807, 1938, and 1993 were created and analyzed with a geographic information system (GIS). Land‐use change by topographic setting (uplands, transitional, and bottomlands) and soil productivity was quantified and studied. Interviews with local experts informed this analysis. Results illustrate the complexity of environmental change and its driving forces. First, notable forest and swamp acreage was converted to cropland between 1807 and 1938 and, to a lesser degree, from 1938 to 1993. Second, there were land‐use variations by topographic region. Between 1807 and 1938, the largest transformation occurred in the uplands, with substantial acreage converted from forest to cropland. Between 1938 and 1993, however, agriculture decreased in the upland areas as hilly areas reverted to forest cover. At the same time, agriculture expanded in the bottomlands as this land was drained for farming. Third, there are interesting patterns within these categories of land‐use change, as soil productivity is an indicator of what lands were taken out of cropland and converted back to grassland and forest.     

Sediment fingerprinting in fluvial systems： review of tracers,sediment sources and mixing models

Suspended sediments in fluvial systems originate from a myriad of diffuse and point sources, with the relative contribution from each source varying over time and space. The process of sediment fingerprinting focuses on developing methods that enable discrete sediment sources to be identified from a composite sample of suspended material. This review identifies existing methodological steps for sediment fingerprinting including fluvial and source sampling, and critically compares biogeochemical and physical tracers used in fingerprinting studies. Implications of applying different mixing models to the same source data are explored using data from 41 catchments across Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and North and South America. The application of seven commonly used mixing models to two case studies from the US （North Fork Broad River watershed） and France （Bldone watershed） with local and global （genetic algorithm） optimization methods identified all outputs remained in the acceptable range of error defined by the original authors. We propose future sediment fingerprinting studies use models that combine the best explanatory parameters provided by the modified Collins （using correction factors） and Hughes （relying on iterations involving all data, and not only their mean values） models with optimization using genetic algorithms to best predict the relative contribution of sediment sources to fluvial systems.     

Petrological and experimental evidence for differentiation of water-rich magmas beneath St. Kitts,Lesser Antilles

St. Kitts lies in the northern Lesser Antilles, a subduction-related intraoceanic volcanic arc known for its magmatic diversity and unusually abundant cognate xenoliths. We combine the geochemistry of xenoliths, melt inclusions and lavas with high pressure–temperature experiments to explore magma differentiation processes beneath St. Kitts. Lavas range from basalt to rhyolite, with predominant andesites and basaltic andesites. Xenoliths, dominated by calcic plagioclase and amphibole, typically in reaction relationship with pyroxenes and olivine, can be divided into plutonic and cumulate varieties based on mineral textures and compositions. Cumulate varieties, formed primarily by the accumulation of liquidus phases, comprise ensembles that represent instantaneous solid compositions from one or more magma batches; plutonic varieties have mineralogy and textures consistent with protracted solidification of magmatic mush. Mineral chemistry in lavas and xenoliths is subtly different. For example, plagioclase with unusually high anorthite content (An_≤100) occurs in some plutonic xenoliths, whereas the most calcic plagioclase in cumulate xenoliths and lavas are An₉₇ and An₉₅, respectively. Fluid-saturated, equilibrium crystallisation experiments were performed on a St. Kitts basaltic andesite, with three different fluid compositions (XH₂O = 1.0, 0.66 and 0.33) at 2.4 kbar, 950–1025 °C, and fO₂ = NNO ? 0.6 to NNO + 1.2 log units. Experiments reproduce lava liquid lines of descent and many xenolith assemblages, but fail to match xenolith and lava phenocryst mineral compositions, notably the very An-rich plagioclase. The strong positive correlation between experimentally determined plagioclase-melt Kd_Ca–Na and dissolved H₂O in the melt, together with the occurrence of Al-rich mafic lavas, suggests that parental magmas were water-rich (> 9 wt% H₂O) basaltic andesites that crystallised over a wide pressure range (1.5–6 kbar). Comparison of experimental and natural (lava, xenolith) mafic mineral composition reveals that whereas olivine in lavas is predominantly primocrysts precipitated at low-pressure, pyroxenes and spinel are predominantly xenocrysts formed by disaggregation of plutonic mushes. Overall, St. Kitts xenoliths and lavas testify to mid-crustal differentiation of low-MgO basalt and basaltic andesite magmas within a trans-crustal, magmatic mush system. Lower crustal ultramafic cumulates that relate parental low-MgO basalts to primary, mantle -derived melts are absent on St. Kitts.     

Magma evolution beneath Bequia,Lesser Antilles,deduced from petrology of lavas and plutonic xenoliths

Extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks represent different parts of a magmatic system and ultimately provide complementary information about the processes operating beneath volcanoes. To shed light on such processes, we have examined and quantified the textures and mineral compositions of plutonic and cumulate xenoliths and lavas from Bequia, Lesser Antilles arc. Both suites contain assemblages of iddingsitized olivine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene and spinel with rare orthopyroxene and ilmenite. Mineral zoning is widespread, but more protracted in lavas than xenoliths. Plagioclase cores and olivine have high anorthite (An?≤?98) and low forsterite (Fo?≤?84) compositions respectively, implying crystallisation from a hydrous mafic melt that was already fractionated. Xenolith textures range from adcumulate to orthocumulate with variable mineral crystallisation sequences. Textural criteria are used to organize the xenoliths into six groups. Amphibole, notably absent from lavas, is a common feature of xenoliths, together with minor biotite and apatite. Bulk compositions of xenoliths deviate from the liquid line of descent of lavas supporting a cumulate origin with varying degrees of reactive infiltration by evolved hydrous melts, preserved as melt inclusions in xenolith crystals. Volatile saturation pressures in melt inclusions indicate cumulate crystallization over a 162–571 MPa pressure range under conditions of high dissolved water contents (up to 7.8 wt% H₂O), consistent with a variety of other thermobarometric estimates. Phase assemblages of xenoliths are consistent with published experimental data on volatile-saturated low-magnesium and high-alumina basalts and basaltic andesite from the Lesser Antilles at pressures of 200–1000 MPa, temperatures of 950–1050 °C and dissolved H₂O contents of 4–7 wt%. Once extracted from mid-crustal mushes, residual melts ascend to higher levels and undergo H₂O-saturated crystallization in shallow, pre-eruptive reservoirs to form phenocrysts and glomerocrysts. The absence of amphibole from lavas reflects instability at low pressures, whereas its abundance in xenoliths testifies to its importance in mid-crustal differentiation processes. A complex, vertically extensive (6 to at least 21 km depth) magmatic system is inferred beneath Bequia. Xenoliths represent fragments of the mush incorporated into ascending magmas. The widespread occurrence of evolved melts in the mush, but the absence of erupted evolved magmas, in contrast to islands in the northern Lesser Antilles, may reflect the relative immaturity of the Bequia magmatic system.     

Climate Dangers and Atoll Countries

Climate change-induced sea-level rise, sea-surface warming, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events puts the long-term ability of humans to inhabit atolls at risk. We argue that this risk constitutes a dangerous level of climatic change to atoll countries by potentially undermining their national sovereignty. We outline the novel challenges this presents to both climate change research and policy. For research, the challenge is to identify the critical thresholds of change beyond which atoll social-ecological systems may collapse. We explain how thresholds may be behaviorally driven as well as ecologically driven through the role of expectations in resource management. The challenge for the international policy process, centred on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is to recognize the particular vulnerability of atoll countries by operationalising international norms of justice, sovereignty, and human and national security in the regime.     

Distribution Characteristics and Accumulation Model for the Coal‐formed Gas Generated from Permo‐Carboniferous Coal Measures in Bohai Bay Basin,China: A Review

Coal-formed gas generated from the Permo-Carboniferous coal measures has become one of the most important targets for deep hydrocarbon exploration in the Bohai Bay Basin, offshore eastern China. However, the proven gas reserves from this source rock remain low to date, and the distribution characteristics and accumulation model for the coal-formed gas are not clear. Here we review the coal-formed gas deposits formed from the Permo-Carboniferous coal measures in the Bohai Bay Basin. The accumulations are scattered, and dominated by middle-small sized gas fields, of which the proven reserves ranging from 0.002 to 149.4×108 m3 with an average of 44.30×108 m3 and a mid-point of 8.16×108 m3. The commercially valuable gas fields are mainly found in the central and southern parts of the basin. Vertically, the coal-formed gas is accumulated at multiple stratigraphic levels from Paleogene to Archaeozoic, among which the Paleogene and PermoCarboniferous are the main reservoir strata. According to the transporting pathway, filling mechanism and the relationship between source rocks and reservoir, the coal-formed gas accumulation model can be defined into three types: "Upward migrated, fault transported gas" accumulation model, "Laterally migrated, sandbody transported gas" accumulation model, and "Downward migrated, sub-source, fracture transported gas" accumulation model. Source rock distribution, thermal evolution and hydrocarbon generation capacity are the fundamental controlling factors for the macro distribution and enrichment of the coal-formed gas. The fault activity and the configuration of fault and caprock control the vertical enrichment pattern.     

The surface boundary condition in nonhydrostatic ocean models

With increasing resolution in numerical ocean models, nonhydrostatic pressure effects have to be accounted for. In sigma-coordinate mode split ocean models, this pressure may be regarded as a pressure correction. An elliptic equation must be solved for the nonhydrostatic pressure, and the gradients are used to correct the provisional hydrostatic velocity components in each time step. The focus in the present work is on the surface boundary condition for the elliptic equation. In the literature, both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are suggested and applied. To investigate the sensitivity of the numerical results to the choice of boundary condition, three numerical experiments are performed. The first and second experiments are studies of the propagation and steepening of nonlinear internal waves. The first study is on tank scale and the second experiment is on ocean scale. In the tank-scale experiment, the density and the flow fields are very robust to the choice of boundary condition. In the ocean-scale experiment, the waves produced with a Dirichlet boundary condition become more damped than the waves produced with a Neumann boundary condition. The third study involves a surface buoyant jet. It is shown that well-known characteristics of the plume front are reproduced with a Neumann boundary condition, but the rotating turbulent core of this front is lost with a Dirichlet condition. It is accordingly argued that the appropriate surface boundary condition in mode split nonhydrostatic ocean models is the Neumann condition.     

Complex Archean lower crustal structure revealed by COCORP crustal reflection profiling in the Wind River Range,Wyoming

A COCORP deep crustal reflection profile across the Wind River uplift crosses exposed Archean rocks and resolves an unusual complex deep crustal structure at a depth of 24–31 km in an area where depth relations in Precambrian rocks can be inferred. The different levels of exposure across the beveled plunge of the Wind River uplift reveal supracrustal rocks at shallower levels with migmatites and pyroxene granulites at deeper levels. For the first time, deep crustal structure from reflection profiling may be interpreted in terms of exposed basement geology. A folded, multilayered deep structure shown by relfection data resembles multiply folded pyroxene granulite interlayered with granitic gneiss exposed in the central Wind River uplift; isoclinal folding is suggested in the folded layered seismic structure. Earlier seismic reflection studies suggested a simpler lower crust. These data indicate that lower crustal structure may have a complexity similar to deeply eroded Precambrian granulite-facies rocks. If this seismic feature represents folded metamorphic rocks, it seems unlikely that this Archean crust could have been thickened by underplating after 2.7 b.y. B.P. and the crust would have to be at least 30 km thich when this structure was formed.