Tectonic control of pyrrhotite phase distribution studied on a fold structure

A fold structure within a pyrite ore specimen has been analysed with respect to the amount and distribution of pyrrhotite modifications present. The relative distribution of the two types of pyrrhotite, hexagonal 5C and monoclinic 4C, was found to be strongly dependent upon the stress distribution. Within very short distances the hexagonal fraction of the total amount of pyrrhotite varied from nearly zero up to 0.65 giving steep and structurally well defined gradients. The monoclinic phase was preferably located to regions deformed by intense shearing. It is suggested that the influence of anisotropic stresses accelerated the conversion of hexagonal to monoclinic pyrrhotite. Variations in the distribution of the total amount of pyrrhotite were also observed and partly ascribed to migration of pyrrhotite.     

Direct determination of geostrophic drag coefficients at sea

Geostrophic drag coefficients are obtained from direct measurements of the momentum flux and from an objective analysis of the synoptic pressure field by the method of least squares. At a site in the Kiel Bight, a mean geostrophic drag coefficient c _g = 0.0223 was obtained with near neutral/ slightly unstable conditions and a surface Rossby Number of 1.2 × 10⁹.Contribution of the sonderforschungsbereich Meeresforschung Hamburg der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, Hamburg, F.R.G.     

A resistance-law hypothesis for the non-stationary advective planetary boundary layer

The theoretical developments yielding the resistance law for the planetary boundary layer are summarized, including the refinements of the ageostrophic method. This leads to the hypothesis that the resistance law for the simple non-stationary, advective boundary layer is obtained from the one for a stationary, horizontally homogeneous boundary layer, if the modulous of the geostrophic wind in the latter is replaced with a generalized frictionless wind in the former. The generalized frictionless wind includes the inertial terms.Contribution from the Sonderforschungsbereich Meeresforschung Hamburg of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

The strontium and oxygen isotopic record of hydrothermal alteration of syenites from the Abu Khruq complex,Egypt

Hydrothermal convection initiated by emplacement of the gabbro-syenite complex of Abu Khruq into the Egyptian basement 89 Ma ago systematically altered the trace element and isotopic compositions of the syenites. The scale of Sr transport in migrating solutions was far larger than the scale of Sr isotopic equilibration within rocks. As a result, Sr exchange was heterogeneous in the syenites, an effect which can be observed on three different scales. Within grains of a single mineral species, heterogeneities are related to grain boundaries and microfractures through which fluids migrated. Among minerals within rock samples, heterogeneities are related to differences in susceptibility to Sr alteration. Among samples within a single unit, heterogeneous alteration is apparently related to differences in permeability close to fracture zones.During the early stages of alteration radiogenic Sr derived from the country rocks was added to the syenites, causing small net changes in concentration (5 ppm ave.). Some Rb-Sr mineral isochrons from single rock samples yield the emplacement age because isotopic equilibration of this added Sr sometimes occurred within rock specimens. However, regressions of the whole-rock Rb-Sr data yield apparent ages that are about 10 Ma too old. Later stage alteration involved larger changes in whole-rock Sr concentration (45 ppm ave.) but had little further effect on the isotopic relationships because the Sr was derived from cogenetic gabbros rather than the country rocks.Alterations of Rb, Sr, and Sr isotopic compositions are not well correlated with changes in ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratio because mineralogy played an important role in decoupling trace element and oxygen isotopic alteration. In general, the absence of such correlations for whole-rock data is not diagnostic of rocks with unaltered trace element and isotopic compositions. Mineral-scale Sr isotopic heterogeneities associated with grain boundaries and microfractures may be the most unambiguous evidence of trace element mobility.Deceased on 9/81     

Application of Landsat-7 satellite data and a DEM for the quantification of thermokarst-affected terrain types in the periglacial Lena–Anabar coastal lowland

Extensive parts of Arctic permafrost-dominated lowlands were affected by large-scale permafrost degradation, mainly through Holocene thermokarst activity. The effect of thermokarst is nowadays observed in most periglacial lowlands of the Arctic. Since permafrost degradation is a consequence as well as a significant factor of global climate change, it is necessary to develop efficient methods for the quantification of its past and current magnitude. We developed a procedure for the quantification of periglacial lowland terrain types with a focus on degradation features and applied it to the Cape Mamontov Klyk area in the western Laptev Sea region. Our terrain classification approach was based on a combination of geospatial datasets, including a supervised maximum likelihood classification applied to Landsat-7 ETM+ data and digital elevation data. Thirteen final terrain surface classes were extracted and subsequently characterized in terms of relevance to thermokarst and degradation of ice-rich deposits. 78% of the investigated area was estimated to be affected by permafrost degradation. The overall classification accuracy was 79%. Thermokarst did not develop evenly on the coastal plain, as indicated by the increasingly dense coverage of thermokarst-related areas from south to north. This regionally focused procedure can be extended to other areas to provide the highly detailed periglacial terrain mapping capabilities currently lacking in global-scale permafrost datasets.     

Further Characterisation of the 91500 Zircon Crystal

This paper reports the results from a second characterisation of the 91500 zircon, including data from electron probe microanalysis, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and laser fluorination analyses. The focus of this initiative was to establish the suitability of this large single zircon crystal for calibrating in situ analyses of the rare earth elements and oxygen isotopes, as well as to provide working values for key geochemical systems. In addition to extensive testing of the chemical and structural homogeneity of this sample, the occurrence of banding in 91500 in both backscattered electron and cathodoluminescence images is described in detail. Blind intercomparison data reported by both LA-ICP-MS and SIMS laboratories indicate that only small systematic differences exist between the data sets provided by these two techniques. Furthermore, the use of NIST SRM 610 glass as the calibrant for SIMS analyses was found to introduce little or no systematic error into the results for zircon. Based on both laser fluorination and SIMS data, zircon 91500 seems to be very well suited for calibrating in situ oxygen isotopic analyses.     

Reflection-constrained 2D and 3D non-hyperbolic moveout analysis using particle swarm optimization

The objective of moveout parameter inversion is to derive sets of parameter models that can be used for moveout correction and stacking at each common midpoint location to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the data and to provide insights into the kinematic characteristics of the data amongst other things. In this paper, we introduce a data-driven user-constrained optimization scheme that utilizes manual picks at a point on each reflector within a common midpoint gather to constrain the search space in which an optimization procedure can search for the optimal parameter sets at each reflection. The picks are used to create boundary curves which can be derived approximately via an optimization technique or analytically via the derivation of an analytical bounds function. In this paper, we derive analytical forms of bounds functions for four different moveout cases. These are normal moveout, non-hyperbolic moveout, azimuthally dependent normal moveout and azimuthally dependent non-hyperbolic moveout. The optimization procedure utilized here to search for the optimal moveout parameters is the particle swarm optimization technique. However, any metaheuristic optimization procedure could be modified to account for the constraints introduced in this paper. The technique is tested on two-layer synthetic models based on three of the four moveout cases discussed in this paper. It is also applied to an elastic forward modelled synthetic model called the HESS model, and finally to real 2D land data from Alaska. The resultant stacks show a marked improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio compared to the raw stacks. The results for the normal moveout, non-hyperbolic moveout and azimuthally dependent normal moveout tests suggest that the method is viable for said models. Results demonstrate that our method offers potential as an alternative to conventional parameter picking and inversion schemes, particularly for some cases where the number of parameters in the moveout approximation is 2 or greater.     

EUREC<Superscript>4</Superscript>A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds,Convection and Circulation

Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of trade-cumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of trade-cumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air–sea interactions and convective organization.