Patterns and controls of surface sediment distribution: west-central Florida inner shelf

The west-central Florida inner shelf represents a transition between the quartz-dominated barrier-island system and the carbonate-dominated mid-outer shelf. Surface sediments exhibit a complex distribution pattern that can be attributed to multiple sediment sources and the ineffectiveness of physical processes for large-scale sediment redistribution. The west Florida shelf is the submerged extension of the Florida carbonate platform, consisting of a limestone karst surface veneered with a thin unconsolidated sediment cover. A total of 498 surface sediment samples were collected on the inner shelf and analyzed for texture and composition. Results show that sediment consists of a combination of fine quartz sand and coarse, biogenic carbonate sand and gravel, with variable but subordinate amounts of black, phosphorite-rich sand. The carbonate component consists primarily of molluskan fragments. The distribution is patchy and discontinuous with no discernible pattern, and the transition between sediment types is generally abrupt. Quartz-rich sediment dominates the inner 15 km north of the entrance into Tampa Bay, but south of the Bay is common only along the inner 3 km. Elsewhere, carbonate-rich sediment is the predominate sediment type, except where there is little sediment cover, in which cases black, phosphorite-rich sand dominates. Sediment sources are likely within, or around the periphery of the basin. Fine quartz sand is likely reworked from coastal units deposited during Pleistocene sea-level high stands. Carbonate sand and gravel is produced by marine organisms within the depositional basin. The black, phosphorite-rich sand likely originates from the bioerosion and reworking of the underlying strata that irregularly crop out within the study area. The distribution pattern contains elements of both storm- and tide-dominated siliciclastic shelves, but it is dictated primarily by the sediment source, similar to some carbonate systems. Other systems with similar sediment attributes include cool-water carbonate, sediment-starved, and mixed carbonate/siliciclastic systems. This study suggests a possible genetic link among the three systems.     

Environmental tracers as indicators of karst conduits in groundwater in South Dakota,USA

Environmental tracers sampled from the carbonate Madison aquifer on the eastern flank of the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA indicated the approximate locations of four major karst conduits. Contamination issues are a major concern because these conduits are characterized by direct connections to sinking streams, high groundwater velocities, and proximity to public water supplies. Objectives of the study were to estimate approximate conduit locations and assess possible anthropogenic influences associated with conduits. Anomalies of young groundwater based on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), tritium, and electrical conductivity (EC) indicated fast moving, focused flow and thus the likely presence of conduits. δ¹⁸O was useful for determining sources of recharge for each conduit, and nitrate was a useful tracer for assessing flow paths for anthropogenic influences. Two of the four conduits terminate at or near a large spring complex. CFC apparent ages ranged from 15 years near conduits to >50 years in other areas. Nitrate-N concentrations >0.4 mg/L in groundwater were associated with each of the four conduits compared with concentrations ranging from <0.1 to 0.4 mg/L in other areas. These higher nitrate-N concentrations probably do not result from sinking streams but rather from other areas of infiltration.     

Rupture process of large earthquakes in the northern Mexico subduction zone

The Cocos plate subducts beneath North America at the Mexico trench. The northernmost segment of this trench, between the Orozco and Rivera fracture zones, has ruptured in a sequence of five large earthquakes from 1973 to 1985; the Jan. 30, 1973 Colima event (M _s 7.5) at the northern end of the segment near Rivera fracture zone; the Mar. 14, 1979 Petatlan event (M _s 7.6) at the southern end of the segment on the Orozco fracture zone; the Oct. 25, 1981 Playa Azul event (M _s 7.3) in the middle of the Michoacan gap; the Sept. 19, 1985 Michoacan mainshock (M _s 8.1); and the Sept. 21, 1985 Michoacan aftershock (M _s 7.6) that reruptured part of the Petatlan zone. Body wave inversion for the rupture process of these earthquakes finds the best: earthquake depth; focal mechanism; overall source time function; and seismic moment, for each earthquake. In addition, we have determined spatial concentrations of seismic moment release for the Colima earthquake, and the Michoacan mainshock and aftershock. These spatial concentrations of slip are interpreted as asperities; and the resultant asperity distribution for Mexico is compared to other subduction zones. The body wave inversion technique also determines theMoment Tensor Rate Functions; but there is no evidence for statistically significant changes in the moment tensor during rupture for any of the five earthquakes. An appendix describes theMoment Tensor Rate Functions methodology in detail.The systematic bias between global and regional determinations of epicentral locations in Mexico must be resolved to enable plotting of asperities with aftershocks and geographic features. We have spatially shifted all of our results to regional determinations of epicenters. The best point source depths for the five earthquakes are all above 30 km, consistent with the idea that the down-dip edge of the seismogenic plate interface in Mexico is shallow compared to other subduction zones. Consideration of uncertainties in the focal mechanisms allows us to state that all five earthquakes occurred on fault planes with the same strike (N65°W to N70°W) and dip (15±3°), except for the smaller Playa Azul event at the down-dip edge which has a steeper dip angle of 20 to 25°. However, the Petatlan earthquake does prefer a fault plane that is rotated to a more east-west orientation—one explanation may be that this earthquake is located near the crest of the subducting Orozco fracture zone. The slip vectors of all five earthquakes are similar and generally consistent with the NUVEL-predicted Cocos-North America convergence direction of N33°E for this segment. The most important deviation is the more northerly slip direction for the Petatlan earthquake. Also, the slip vectors from the Harvard CMT solutions for large and small events in this segment prefer an overall convergence direction of about N20°E to N25°E.All five earthquakes share a common feature in the rupture process: each earthquake has a small initial precursory arrival followed by a large pulse of moment release with a distinct onset. The delay time varies from 4 s for the Playa Azul event to 8 s for the Colima event. While there is some evidence of spatial concentration of moment release for each event, our overall asperity distribution for the northern Mexico segment consists of one clear asperity, in the epicentral region of the 1973 Colima earthquake, and then a scattering of diffuse and overlapping regions of high moment release for the remainder of the segment. This character is directly displayed in the overlapping of rupture zones between the 1979 Petatlan event and the 1985 Michoacan aftershock. This character of the asperity distribution is in contrast to the widely spaced distinct asperities in the northern Japan-Kuriles Islands subduction zone, but is somewhat similar to the asperity distributions found in the central Peru and Santa Cruz Islands subduction zones. Subduction of the Orozco fracture zone may strongly affect the seismogenic character as the overlapping rupture zones are located on the crest of the subducted fracture zone. There is also a distinct change in the physiography of the upper plate that coincides with the subducting fracture zone, and the Guerrero seismic gap to the south of the Petatlan earthquake is in the wake of the Orozco fracture zone. At the northern end, the Rivera fracture zone in the subducting plate and the Colima graben in the upper plate coincide with the northernmost extent of the Colima rupture zone.     

Microwave emission from a sunspot

From the gyroresonance brightness temperature spectrum of a sunspot, one can determine the magnetic field strength by using the property that microwave brightness is limited above a frequency given by an integer-multiple of the gyrofrequency. In this paper, we use this idea to find the radial distribution of magnetic field at the coronal base of a sunspot in the active region, NOAA 4741. The gyroresonance brightness temperature spectra of this sunspot are obtained from multi-frequency interferometric observations made at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory at 24 frequencies in the range of 4.0–12.4 GHz with spatial resolution 2.2″–6.8″. The main results of present study are summarized as follows: first, by comparison of the coronal magnetic flux deduced from our microwave observation with the photospheric magnetic flux measured by KPNO magnetograms, we show that theo-mode emission must arise predominantly from the second harmonic of the gyrofrequency, while thex-mode arises from the third harmonic. Second, the radial distribution of magnetic fieldsB(r) at the coronal base of this spot (say, 2000–4000 km above the photosphere) can be adequately fitted by $$B(r) = 1420(1 \pm 0.080)\exp \left[ { - \left( {\frac{r}{{11.05''(1 \pm 0.014)}}} \right)^2 } \right]G,$$ wherer is the radial distance from the spot center at coronal base. Third, it is found that coronal magnetic fields originate mostly from the photospheric umbral region. Fourth, although the derived vertical variation of magnetic fields can be approximated roughly by a dipole model with dipole moment 1.6 × 10³⁰ erg G^?1 buried at 11000 km below the photosphere, the radial field distribution at coronal heights is found to be more confined than predicted by the dipole model.     

Characterizing heterogeneous permeable media with spatial statistics and tracer data using sequential simulated annealing

Characterizing heterogeneous permeable media using flow and transport data typically requires solution of an inverse problem. Such inverse problems are intensive computationally and may involve iterative procedures requiring many forward simulations of the flow and transport problem. Previous attempts have been limited mostly to flow data such as pressure transient (interference) tests using multiple observation wells. This paper discusses an approach to generating stochastic permeability fields conditioned to geologic data in the form of a vertical variogram derived from cores and logs as well as fluid flow and transport data, such as tracer concentration history, by sequential application of simulated annealing (SA). Thus, the method incorporates elements of geostatistics within the framework of inverse modeling. For tracer-transport calculations, we have used a semianalytic transit-time algorithm which is fast, accurate, and free of numerical dispersion. For steady velocity fields, we introduce a transit-time function which demonstrates the relative importance of data from different sources. The approach is illustrated by application to a set of spatial permeability measurements and tracer data from an experiment in the Antolini Sandstone, an eolian outcrop from northern Arizona. The results clearly reveal the importance of tracer data in reproducing the correlated features (channels) of the permeability field and the scale effects of heterogeneity.     

Infrared spectrum of Io, 2.8–5.2 μm

The reflectance spectrum of Io is presented from 2.8 to 5.2 μm, extending the earlier results of D. P. Cruikshank, T. J. Jones, and C. B. Pilcher (1978, Astrophys. J. 225, L89–L92), and demonstrating the full extent of the broad and deep spectral absorption between 3.5 and 4.8 μm. Laboratory spectra of nitrates and carborates diluted with sulfur do not satisfactorily reproduce the Io spectrum, but new information based on the recently discovered volcanic activity on the satellite lead to consideration of other classes of compounds as reported in a companion paper (F. P. Fanale, R. H. Brown, D. P. Cruikshank, and R. N. Clark, 1979, Nature280, 761–763).     

Galilean satellite eclipse studies: III. Jovian methane abundance

The methane abundance in the lower Jovian stratosphere is measured using Galilean satellite eclipse light curves. Spectrally selective observations in and between absorption bands are compared. An average mixing ratio at the locations measured is [CH₄]/[H₂] ～ 1.3 × 10^?3, larger than the value 0.9 × 10^?3 expected for a solar abundance of carbon. Some zenographic variation of the mixing ratio may occur. Observationally compatible values are 1.3–2.0 × 10^?3 in the STZ, 1.3– 2.6 × 10^?3 on the GRS/STrZ edge, and 0.7–1.3 × 10^?3 in the GRS.     

Numerical simulation of the final stages of terrestrial planet formation

Three representative numerical simulations of the growth of the terrestrial planets by accretion of large protoplanets are presented. The mass and relative-velocity distributions of the bodies in these simulations are free to evolve simultaneously in response to close gravitational encounters and occasional collisions between bodies. The collisions between bodies, therefore, arise in a natural way and the assumption of expressions for the relative velocity distribution and the gravitational collision cross section is unnecessary. These simulations indicate that the growth of bodies with final masses approaching those of Venus and the Earth is possible, at least for the case of a two-dimensional system. Simulations assuming an initial uniform distribution of orbital eccentricities on the interval from 0 to e_max are found to produce final states containing too many bodies with masses which are too small when e_max < 0.10, while simulations with e_max > 0.20 result in too many catastrophic collisions between bodies thus preventing rapid accretion of planetary-size bodies. The e_max = 0.15 simulation ends with a state surprisingly similar to that of the present terrestrial planets and, therefore, provides a rough estimate of the range of radial sampling to be expected for the terrestrial planets.     

Remote comets and related bodies: VJHK colorimetry and surface materials

Spectrophotometric data show that major compositional groups among outer solar system (OSS) surfaces include bright ices and at least two distinct classes of blackish carbonaceous-like materials, called C-type and RD-type. VJHK colorimetry of asteroids, satellites, and laboratory samples shows that these three classes can be distinguished by VJHK colors. We define an “α index” that denotes the position of objects in VJHK color - color diagrams; it empirically increases with albedo and ice/dirt ratio. We use the above data to define color fields that may be useful in interpreting our observations of eight comets (1980–1981). All eight comets have colors generally resembling RD asteroids and are inconsistent with reflection off clean ice surfaces. The observations suggest that these comets' halos contain RD dirt or dirty ice grains colored by RD dirt, supporting J. Gradie and J. Veverka's [Nature283, 840–842 (1980)] prediction of RD, rather than C, material in comets. Remote Comet P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 was observed both during outburst and quiescence and had the highest α index of any observed comet. Comet α indices appear to be correlated with solar distance. Further work will be needed to clarify possible coloring effects due to particle size, dispersal, and composition. We suggest a number of physical interpretations based on a single two-component mixing model, which assumes that all OSS planetesimals formed primarily from bright ices and dark carboneceous-like dirt, consistent with condensation theory. We discuss differentiation processes that concentrated one component or the other at the surface. All measured OSS interplanetary bodies have surfaces of dark dirt or dark dirty ice colored by the dirt component. Comets, consistent with the Whipple dirty iceberg model, are such objects close enough to the Sun for volatilization to throw dirty ice grains into the coma. In remote comets, the ice component of the grains remains stable, and we see dirty ice grains; in near comets, the ice component vaporizes, and we see dirt grains. A volatile-depleted dusty regolith on P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 and other remote comets could explain their eruptive behavior by means of gas pressure buildup in the porous, weakly bonded dust.     

Hydrocarbons in surficial sediments from the Scotian Shelf

Surface sediments from 20 stations on the Scotian Shelf, collected on a transect from Halifax to Emerald Bank and around Sable Island, have been analyzed for hydrocarbon content and composition by gas chromatography and fluorescence spectrophotometry. Some samples were taken near abandoned exploratory drilling sites in the Sable Island area. Hydrocarbons appear to be mainly derived from biogenic terrestrial sources as evidenced by an inverse correlation of concentration with increasing distance from the mainland and a strong odd carbon preference in the n-alkanes. Contribution from petroleum sources, while minor, was most noticeable between Halifax and Emerald Bank. There is also evidence that the hydrocarbon composition at abandoned exploratory drilling sites has been slightly altered.