Crustal transit time monitoring using PKP

The arrival time difference for the AB branch of PKP from deep Tonga earthquakes is constant over years with a standard deviation of ±0.05 seconds at seismographs located 10 to 50 km from each other. If published travel time curves are used to calculate the relative residuals of PKP the standard deviation from the constant mean is improved by approximately 0.01 seconds for AB branch data. For the BC branch, standard deviations of relative travel times of ±0.06 seconds are reduced to less than ±0.05 seconds by calculating relative residuals. We conclude that changes of crustal transit time forP-waves could be resolved, based on careful PKP arrival time measurement at two or more neighboring stations if the changes exceed 0.05 sec and last for more than one year. The conditions for achieving this result are that PKP from Tonga earthquakes is clearly recorded, and that time-keeping is accurate. The data on which these conclusions are based were obtained from the Graefenberg seismograph array, which is located in West Gemany and consists of 13 stations separated by distances of 10 km to 100 km. We propose that relative arrival times of PKP from Tonga could be used in the Mediterranean - Middle East area to search for precursory travel time changes before large earthquakes.     

Self-consistent computation of γ-ray spectra due to proton–proton interactions in black hole systems

In the inner regions of an accretion disc around a black hole, relativistic protons can interact with ambient matter to produce electrons, positrons and γ-rays. The resultant steady-state electron and positron particle distributions are self-consistently computed taking into account Coulomb and Compton cooling,  e⁻ e⁺  pair production (due to γ–γ annihilation) and pair annihilation. While earlier works used the diffusion approximation to obtain the particle distributions, here we solve a more general integro-differential equation that correctly takes into account the large change in particle energy that occurs when the leptons Compton scatter off hard X-rays. Thus this formalism can also be applied to the hard state of black hole systems, where the dominant ambient photons are hard X-rays. The corresponding photon energy spectrum is calculated and compared with broad-band data of black hole binaries in different spectral states. The results indicate that the γ-ray spectra  ( E > 0.8 MeV)  of both the soft and hard spectral states and the entire hard X-ray/γ-ray spectrum of the ultrasoft state could be due to p–p interactions. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that there always exists in these systems a γ-ray spectral component due to p–p interactions that can contribute between 0.5 and 10 per cent of the total bolometric luminosity. The model predicts that GLAST would be able to detect black hole binaries and provide evidence for the presence of non-thermal protons, which in turn would give insight into the energy dissipation process and jet formation in these systems.     

On the existence of a second scale of convection in the upper mantle

Summary. This paper is concerned with an examination of the possibility that there might exist a small scale of convective circulation beneath the oceanic lithosphere. Recent suggestions that this might be the case have been made in an effort to understand why the bathymetry of the sea-floor deviates from the prediction of boundary layer theory for ages in excess of about 100 Ma. The energy source which sustains the secondary motion is supposed to be found in the steep temperature gradient near the planetary surface which is itself presumably maintained by the large-scale convective circulation associated with plate creation and destruction. Here we investigate the extent to which the temperature dependence of viscosity may act so as to stabilize the upper boundary layer against disruption by such secondary instability. If the viscosity profile is monotonie and the asymptotic upper mantle viscosity is about 10²²poise, as suggested by post-glacial rebound data, then the existence of the second scale is extremely unlikely. On the other hand, if a sufficiently pronounced low viscosity zone does exist under old sea-floor then the development of such a second scale cannot be ruled out completely. Some recently obtained geophysical evidence is reviewed which suggests that this is unlikely to be the case.     

A revised chronology for the adoption of agriculture in the Southern Levant and the role of Lateglacial climatic change

This paper re-examines the chronology and environmental context for the transition to agriculture in the Southern Levant, seen as the likely starting point for the adoption of agriculture in Europe and the Near East. The role in this process of abrupt late Quaternary climate change has been discussed widely, but limitations on the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental chronologies have led to varying interpretations. Here we attempt to clarify the situation by first testing the available radiocarbon database for the archaeological transitions from the Natufian through to the PPNA. We apply internationally accepted radiocarbon quality assurance procedures and find that a significant number of the published dates fall bellow acceptable standards. The cleaning process significantly clarifies and constrains the reported time ranges for the Natufian, Late Natufian and PPNA. We then apply the new IntCal09 calibration curve and Bayesian calibration methods, using the archaeological phasing to constrain the data and calculate the most likely timing of the transitions between each phase. We then compare the onset and duration of archaeological phases to data representing the key Northern Hemisphere climatic transitions, using the new GICC05 Greenland Ice core timescale and the timing of transitions between wet and dry phases in the southern Levant from published high precision isotopic analyses of Speleothem data. The results of this exercise present the currently best available chronology for these events and suggest that during the second part of the Lateglacial interstadial, drying of the southern Levant may have triggered the transition to the Late Natufian, when hunter-gatherer communities resorted to a more mobile lifestyle. The Late Natufian culture appears to have disappeared from the southern Levant during the Younger Dryas, as drying intensified. There is then a gap in well dated evidence for human occupation until a reappearance of humans at the onset of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period at the beginning of the Holocene. Thus the onset of the Holocene can be hypothesised to be the driver behind the onset of the Neolithic in this region.     

Constrains on stresses in isotropic homogeneous infinite half-spaces being in welded contact: 2D anti-plane and in-plane cases

Formulas are derived for two-dimensional problems relating stresses across a plane boundary that divides infinite homogeneous half-spaces being in welded contact. The calculations are made for both anti-plane and in-plane stress cases. The results obtained for the former case that involve only two stress components are useful in the analysis of fracture of strike-slip type. For the in-plane case, the relations that link stresses in one half-space with the corresponding homogeneous stresses in the other half-space are presented for arbitrarily oriented shear and normal stresses and for the center of compression (dilatation). The above relations provide a compete set of expressions that, among other things, make it possible to analyze stresses involved in faulting of deep-slip type in an inhomogeneous medium. The quantitative preliminary evaluations based on the results obtained demonstrate the great role of low rigidity media in fracture processes of all kinds within the Earth’s crust.     

Eddy Detection Over Southern Indian Ocean Using TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimeter Data

Field biological and geomorphological observations in certain East Asia coasts permit definition of Mean Sea Level (MSL) with an accuracy of ～10 cm, that is, a vertical geodetic datum, as well as recognition of the MSL of fossil shorelines, up to a few thousand years old, mainly associated with tectonic/seismic effects. Subsidence produced by compaction of nearly-surficial strata seems also to be a usual effect. These data indicate that datum variability is a widespread effect in East Asia, time-dependent even at time scales affecting engineering works, but only in a few cases fully predictable.