Geodetic grids in authoritative maps – new findings about the origin of the UTM Grid

ABSTRACT

Recent discoveries of Wehrmacht Maps in the Military Archive of the Federal Archive of Germany in Freiburg im Breisgau raised the motivation for further investigations into the history of the internationally employed Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection which actually represents a prerequisite for the global use of Global Positioning System (GPS) – and thus of any type of navigation – instruments. In contrast to the frequently stated opinion that this map projection was first operationally used by U.S. Americans it turned out that presumably the first operational maps with indication of the orthogonal UTM grid were produced by German Wehrmacht officers prior to the post World War (WW) II triumph of this projection. Based on the authors´ recent discoveries this article reveals some hitherto hardly known facts concerning the history of cartography of the 1940s.     

Thermal study of the unilluminated surface of the waning moon

A program of lunar infrared radiometry which uses large area scanning is described. Procedures for atmospheric attenuation correction and data reduction to temperature by relative radiometry are outlined. The scan data of the waning Moon taken during ten evenings in the 10- to 12-µm window are presented as isothermal contour maps of the lunar disc. More than 160 areas of anomalous thermal emission have been found in the lunar darkside data. These are tabulated and are also shown on an accompanying map. An error analysis, derived from accuracy estimates of the independent parameters, is included.     

Large are variability in climate-based soil moisture estimates and implications for remote sensing

Although the basic physical relationships between various remotely sensed signatures and soil are sound, the representativeness of pixel-averaged wetness used to interpret the remotely sensed data is often suspect and at times even doubtful. To study the affect of local variation in soil moisture on the large-area average, mean areal precipitation, temperature and modelled soil moisture in 1/4° grid cells were analyzed for a 700 km by 400 km region in the US Southern Great Plains. Variability in five years of mean daily grid cell data was investigated for 150 km² study sites, approximately corresponding in size to a satellite microwave pixel. The number of wetted grid cells and the magnitude of precipitation in grid cells within a site were highly variable. The variability of each of these factors is critical, and will not only influence mean site wetness, but also how the area will be seen from space. Analysis indicated that similar mean site precipitation values may result from numerous widely differing combinations of precipitation magnitude and watted gric cell population. Consequently, mean site moisture is also highly variable in the distribution and magnitude of the individual cell moisture values. Extreme values in several grid cells may severely bias the quadrant mean, while influencing a remote measurement much less. Although large-scale surface wetness may eventually be reliably inferred from satellite measurements, a degree of uncertainty will always exist, especially in semi-arid areas. One may be required to associate mean soil moisture with an expected distribution of wetness within a pixel.     

Preliminary note on deerite from high-pressure metamorphic rocks of Sifnos,Greece

A new occurrence of deerite-bearing quartzites from blueschist metamorphic rocks of the Greek island of Sifnos is described, and analytical and X-ray data on deerite are presented.     

Ökologie des Aluminiums

After short introductory remarks about the general chemistry of Al, some chemical methods are outlined at first to investigate the speciation of Al in solution and in solids. Speciation, precipitation and complexation are of great importance for living organisms, both for aquatic and terrestric ones. Interactions between organic substances and Al-salts or Al-containing minerals are discussed for soil, freshwater and marine sediments. In plants, especially retardation of growth by available Al, mainly by shortening of roots, is looked upon in detail, because with regard to agriculture this is an important economical factor. Starting from chemical reactions at the molecular level, physiological changes and toxicity symptoms in animal cells can be understood; the severe neuronal damage is the most striking effect. Some aspects about the exposure of workers to Al-containing dusts are added.     

Mineralbestand und Gefügebilder in Faseraggregaten von kohliger Substanz („Thucholith“) aus den Witwatersrand-Konglomeraten

Zusammenfassung Es werden die typischen Faseraggregate von kohliger Substanz beschrieben, die oft an den Liegendkontakten wirtschaftlich wichtiger Gold-Uran-Konglomerate des südafrikanischen Witwatersrand-Systems in dünnen Lagen auftreten. Der Mineralbestand dieser Aggregate wird erzmikroskopisch untersucht, wobei Gold und Uranpecherz besonders berücksichtigt werden. Die Faserung wird als Wachstum senkrecht zur Wandung schichtparalleler Ablösungsklüfte erklärt (parallelstengelige Kluftfüllung im Sinne vonMügge, 1928).An primären detritischen Mineralien finden sich in diesen Aggregaten Pyrit, Kobaltglanz, Chromit, Zirkon und Iridosmium; umgelagerte authigene Bestandteile der Schwerefraktion sind im wesentlichen Gold, Linneit, Kupferkies, Bleiglanz. Zinkblende und Spuren von Magnetkies. Der primär ebenfalls detritische Uranpecherzanteil liegt ausschließlich in stark resorbierter Form vor, d. h. die UO₂-Partikel lösen sich in den verfestigten Kohlenwasserstoffen zu einzelnen Bruchstücken auf, die dann allmählich adsorptiv verdaut werden.Auffallend sind die charakteristischen Fließgefüge der kohligen Substanz um die allogenen Bestandteile der Paragenese, insbesondere um den mengenmäßig vorherrschenden Pyrit. Es kommt zu typischen Augenbildungen, wobei sich häufig Gold, Bleiglanz oder sekundärer Quarz in den Druckschattenräumen an beiden Enden der Streckungshöfe absetzen. Ähnliche Fließgefüge lassen sich auch um einige frühe Neubildungen wie Zinkblende beobachten.Es ergibt sich somit aus den Untersuchungen, daß die kohlige Substanz in ihrer heutigen Form jünger ist als die primären detritischen Mineralien, daß aber andererseits die pseudohydrothermale Umlagerung der Hauptmasse des Goldes (das ursprünglich ebenfalls in detritischer Form vorgelegen haben muß) teilweise noch später erfolgt ist. Dasselbe gilt für einige genetisch junge Sulfide wie Linneit, z. T. auch für Kupferkies.

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The footwall of the principal uraniferous congiomerates occurring within the Witwatersrand System (South Africa) is often characterized by a fibrous carbon or thucholite seam, ranging in thickness from parts of a mm to several cm (Figs. 1 and 2). The carbonaceous material has formed by radiolytic polymerization of originally mobile (preferably gaseous) hydrocarbons percolating through the strata, the prerequisite for its formation thus being the presence of detrital uraninite within the heavy fraction of the individual reefs. The conspicuous columnar fabric of the aggregates is explained as being due to growth at right angles to the bedding planes comparable with several other fibrous minerals (Mügge, 1928).The association between heavy minerals and carbonaceous matter must be particularly intimate, since the latter has accumulated in the lowermost footwall portions where the bulk of the heavy suite of the conglomerates is concentrated. Primary detrital constituents within the fibrous aggregates are pyrite, cobaltite, chromite, zircon, and iridosmine (Figs. 4 and 5); authigenic recrystallized heavy minerals are gold, linnaeite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, as well as traces of pyrrhotite (Figs. 3 and 6). The detrital uraninite fraction is to a large extent replaced by carbonaceous matter, i. e. the UO₂-particles are in the state of floating apart in, and being gradually digested by, the solid hydrocarbons (Fig. 8). Very often the carbonaceous matter displays a prominent flow lamination around the allogenic constituents, especially around the ubiquitous pyrite (Fig. 4). Rise is given thereby to a typical augen structure; gold, galena or secondary quartz are commonly deposited in the pressure-shadows on either side of the inclusions. Similar fabrics may be observed around some early-formed authigenic minerals like sphalerite (Fig. 6); the latter mostly appears to be dragged apart (boudinagedrd) and carbon usually comes to occupy the interstices between the individual fragments. Elongated fragments often tend to arrange themselves parallel to the flow laminae.It is evident from the investigation that carbonaceous matter is distinctly younger than the primary detrital minerals. On the other hand, it is likewise obvious that the pseudohydrothermal recrystallization of the main mass of the gold (which originally also formed part of the heavy suite) must have taken place at a still later stage. The same applies to several genetically young Sulfides as linnaeite, in part also to chalcopyrite.

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Erweiterte Fassung eines Vortrages, den der Verfasser am 5. 9. 65 auf der 43. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Mineralogischen Gesellschaft in Hannover gehalten hat.