Anelastic Strain Recovery and The Kaiser Effect Retention Span in the Carnmenellis Granite, U.K.

Summary Knowledge of in-situ stress in rock masses is essential for mining and civil engineering design and the Kaiser effect method of stress determination provides an economical alternative to currently applied investigation techniques. A practical problem associated with this method is the loss of the Kaiser effect over time during the process of anelastic strain recovery, but a direct relationship is observed between anelastic strain recovery and the number of acoustic emissions. The behaviour is modelled here using the Kelvin and Burger rheological models, for the stages of creep during uniaxial laboratory loading, anelastic strain recovery and the loss of the Kaiser effect, with constants being calculated and compared for samples loaded under geological and laboratory conditions. It is found that the loss of the KE at low stress levels compares directly with the process of anelastic strain recovery and fits the Burger model over the time scales of interest. A difference between primary and secondary (undercored samples) recovery is demonstrated with a slower recovery for primary relaxation and with samples taken from geological stress environments recovering more slowly than those loaded under laboratory conditions, for all stress levels tested.     

The European Large Area ISO Survey – III. 90-μm extragalactic source counts

We present results and source counts at 90 μm extracted from the preliminary analysis of the European Large Area ISO Survey (ELAIS). The survey covered about 12 deg² of the sky in four main areas and was carried out with the ISOPHOT instrument onboard the Infrared Space Observatory ( ISO ). The survey is at least an order of magnitude deeper than the IRAS 100-μm survey and is expected to provide constraints on the formation and evolution of galaxies. The majority of the detected sources are associated with galaxies on optical images. In some cases the optical associations are interacting pairs or small groups of galaxies, suggesting that the sample may include a significant fraction of luminous infrared galaxies. The source counts extracted from a reliable subset of the detected sources are in agreement with strongly evolving models of the starburst galaxy population.     

Seamount chains formed near the crest of Juan de Fuca Ridge,northeast Pacific Ocean

Heck and Heckle are seamount chains trending approximately northwest on the western flank of Juan de Fuca Ridge near its northern end. Evidence from magnetic anomalies and from chemistry and relative ages of dredged basalt suggests that the seamounts in these chains are produced near the spreading centre on Juan de Fuca Ridge and do not continue to grow as they are carried away by sea-floor spreading. Their development is possibly related to transverse fractures on Juan de Fuca Ridge resulting from reorientation of the ridge from north to north-northeast which began about 8 m.y. ago, combined with tension in the Pacific Plate. In contrast the Eickelberg Chain to the south may have been produced by a fixed-mantle plume now located near Juan de Fuca Ridge, as suggested by limited basalt geochemistry and by the long and productive life of that chain. The Pratt-Welker Chain may also have been produced by a mantle plume, but most other seamounts on the western flanks of Juan de Fuca and Explorer ridges are thought to have formed at crustal fractures near the spreading centres in the same way as the seamounts of the Heck and Heckle chains.     

Melts of garnet lherzolite: experiments, models and comparison to melts of pyroxenite and carbonated lherzolite

Phase equilibrium experiments on a compositionally modified olivine leucitite from the Tibetan plateau have been carried out from 2.2 to 2.8 GPa and 1,380–1,480 °C. The experiments-produced liquids multiply saturated with spinel and garnet lherzolite phase assemblages (olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel ± garnet) under nominally anhydrous conditions. These SiO₂-undersaturated liquids and published experimental data are utilized to develop a predictive model for garnet lherzolite melting of compositionally variable mantle under anhydrous conditions over the pressure range of 1.9–6 GPa. The model estimates the major element compositions of garnet-saturated melts for a range of mantle lherzolite compositions and predicts the conditions of the spinel to garnet lherzolite phase transition for natural peridotite compositions at above-solidus temperatures and pressures. We compare our predicted garnet lherzolite melts to those of pyroxenite and carbonated lherzolite and develop criteria for distinguishing among melts of these different source types. We also use the model in conjunction with a published predictive model for plagioclase and spinel lherzolite to characterize the differences in major element composition for melts in the plagioclase, spinel and garnet facies and develop tests to distinguish between melts of these three lherzolite facies based on major elements. The model is applied to understand the source materials and conditions of melting for high-K lavas erupted in the Tibetan plateau, basanite–nephelinite lavas erupted early in the evolution of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, as well as younger tholeiitic to alkali lavas from Kilauea.     

Climate,fire and vegetation history from subtropical North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah), eastern Australia,during the last three interglacials

Records of Australian palaeoclimate beyond the last glacial cycle are rare, limiting detailed analysis of long-term climate trends and associated ecosystem responses. This study analyses a discontinuous pollen and charcoal record from Fern Gully Lagoon, North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah), subtropical Queensland, Australia, which covers much of the last ~210 ,000 years. Climate variation is inferred from changes in vegetation, while analysis of micro- and macrocharcoal is used to infer fire activity. Pollen assemblages consist of ~40% rainforest taxa during marine isotope stage (MIS) 7a–c and early MIS 5. These are inferred to result from high rainfall in the Australian subtropics, which was also evident in north-east and central Australia. Human impact from 21 ,000 years ago likely supressed post-MIS 2 rainforest expansion to some extent. However, the increased Holocene abundance of herbs and grasses and reduced representation of aquatic taxa suggest that the Holocene was relatively dry when compared with early MIS 5 and MIS 7a–c. Similar MIS 5 and early MIS 7a–c climates, in contrast to a notably drier Holocene, suggest that the progressive interglacial drying trend most strongly recorded in central Australia was not a major feature of subtropical eastern Australian climates.     

Elemental abundances for Nova LMC 1990#1

We present our analysis of the UV spectra of the fast ONeMg Nova LMC 1990#1. Observations with the IUE began on 1990 January 18 and continued through to 1990 March 15. We have analysed these spectra, and determined line fluxes and physical parameters as a function of time. Using both He  ii lines and the Balmer decrement, we find the reddening for the nova to be E ( B − V )≃0.22. Using the photoionization code cloudy 90.03b and the minimization routine minuit , we derive elemental abundances for the ejecta. We find the following abundances, relative to solar material: He=1, C=8, N=109, O=20, Ne=62, Mg=16, Al=257 and Si=41. These results are based on independent fits to different data sets acquired three weeks apart. These abundances are extremely similar to those found for V693 Corona Austrinae 1981. Given the position of V693 CrA in the Galaxy and the range of distances found for it, the similar abundances imply that the V693 CrA outburst took place on an older population white dwarf. The high N/O ratio implies an outburst on a massive white dwarf.     

Early to Middle Devonian granitic and volcanic rocks from the central Gulf of Maine

Cashes Ledge igneous suite in the central Gulf of Maine is represented by 10 granitic and two felsic tuff samples collected from bedrock outcrops using the submersible Alvin in 1971–1972 and archived at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Laser ablation ICP-MS analyses of zircon grains yielded crystallization ages of 414.9 ± 1.1 Ma and 399.7 ± 1.5 Ma for two alkali feldspar granite samples, 407.0 ± 1.9 Ma for a syenogranite sample, and 384.4 ± 2.3 Ma and 383.9 ± 1.6 Ma for two felsic tuff samples. The samples contain iron-rich mafic minerals, including aegirine-augite, grunerite/ferroedenite, and annite. Most of the samples are alkaline to slightly peralkaline, with high concentrations of SiO₂, Y, Zr, Nb, and REE, strong negative Eu anomalies, and positive epsilon Nd values (1.8 to 3.7). The suite resembles part of a belt of similar Silurian–Devonian rocks with ages between 426 and 370 Ma now recognized in the central part of Avalonia in southeastern New England. They formed in a long-lived, likely extensional regime linked to subduction and subsequent complex transcurrent motions among Ganderia, Avalonia, and Meguma, culminating in the closure of the Rheic Ocean.     

Citizens, consumers and sustainability: (Re)Framing environmental practice in an age of climate change

Recent moves by national and local policy makers have sought to encourage individuals to engage in a wide range of pro-environmental practices to address both discrete environmental problems and major, global challenges such as climate change. The major framing device for these developments is the notion of ‘citizen–consumers’, which positions individual ecological responsibilities alongside consumer choice logics in a Neo-liberal socio-economic framework. In the environmental social sciences, there have been recent moves to interpret the citizen–consumer through adopting a social practices approach, which advances the notion that in understanding environmental commitments, a deeper appreciation of underlying norms, values, identity politics and consumption is required to uncover the complex processes that lead to environmental practices in specific contexts. This paper argues that whilst these approaches have considerable utility in tracing the normalisation of established and discrete environmental practices in particular contexts, the issue of climate change represents an independent and over-arching discursive conflict between new and embedded practices that challenges the ability of citizen–consumers to act as agents for change. Accordingly, the data presented in this paper suggest that climate change can be seen as an unsettling and dynamic issue that generates discursive conflict in its own right around fundamental issues of knowledge, responsibility, scale and place. The paper therefore argues that a new and more critical perspective is required within environmental social science to understand (conflicting) discourses of sustainable living between the ‘passive’ normalisation of conventional environmental practice and the ‘contested’ ambiguities of climate change.     

Times for (Un)sustainability? Challenges and opportunities for developing behaviour change policy. A case-study of consumers at home and away

This paper examines the assertion that individuals with seemingly high levels of commitment to the environment at home may also be those engaged in less sustainable leisure and tourism behaviours, including a high dependency on air travel. This potential difference in environmental commitments between different consumption settings is placed within the context of recent policy developments that have seen the rise of segmentation as a commonly applied technique used to understand and encourage pro-environmental behaviours through the notion of ‘sustainable lifestyles’ and social marketing campaigns. Using data derived from a questionnaire of consumers in the UK, three distinctive, empirically-defined ‘lifestyle’ groups are identified, based on the respondents’ environmental behaviours. Significant differences emerged in reported environmental commitments according to their consumption setting. Those with higher levels of commitment in and around the home also tended to be those who flew furthest and most frequently, whilst those with moderate-to-high commitments ‘at home’ often failed to transfer these activities to their holiday environments. The paper concludes by arguing that both academics and policy-makers need to address the role of different consumption settings in which behaviours are undertaken and the ways in which these relate to underlying social practices within these settings.     

Measurement of advective soil gas flux: results of field and laboratory experiments with CO2

A multi-channel, steady-state flow-through (SSFT), soil-CO₂ flux monitoring system was modified to include a larger-diameter vent tube and an array of inexpensive pyroelectric non-dispersive infrared detectors for full-range (0–100 %) coverage of CO₂ concentrations without dilution. Field testing of this system was then conducted from late July to mid-September 2010 at the Zero Emissions Research and Technology project site located in Bozeman, Montana, USA. Subsequently, laboratory testing was conducted at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA, USA using a flux bucket filled with dry sand. In the field, an array of 25 SSFT and 3 non-steady-state (NSS) flux chambers was installed in a 10 × 4 m area, the long boundary of which was directly above a shallow (2-m depth) horizontal injection well located 0.5 m below the water table. Two additional chambers (one SSFT and one NSS) were installed 10 m from the well for background measurements. Volumetric soil moisture sensors were installed at each SSFT chamber to measure mean moisture levels in the top 0.15 m of soil. A total flux of 52 kg CO₂ day^?1 was injected into the well for 27 days and the efflux from the soil was monitored by the chambers before, during, and for 27 days after the injection. Overall, the results were consistent with those from previous years, showing a radial efflux pattern centered on a known “hot spot”, rapid responses to changes in injection rate and wind power, evidence for movement of the CO₂ plume during the injection, and nominal flux levels from the SSFT chambers that were up to sevenfold higher than those measured by adjacent NSS chambers. Soil moisture levels varied during the experiment from moderate to near saturation with the highest levels occurring consistently at the hot spot. The effects of wind on measured flux were complex and decreased as soil moisture content increased. In the laboratory, flux-bucket testing with the SSFT chamber showed large measured-flux enhancement due to the Venturi effect on the chamber vent, but an overall decrease in measured flux when wind also reached the sand surface. Flux-bucket tests at a high flux (comparable to that at the hot spot) also showed that the measured flux levels increase linearly with the chamber-flushing rate until the actual level is reached. At the SSFT chamber-flushing rate used in the field experiment, the measured flux in the laboratory was only about a third of the actual flux. The ratio of measured to actual flux increased logarithmically as flux decreased, and reached parity at low levels typical of diffusive-flux systems. Taken together, the results suggest that values for advective CO₂ flux measured by SSFT and NSS chamber systems are likely to be significantly lower than the actual values due to back pressure developed in the chamber that diverts flux from entering the chamber. Chamber designs that counteract the back pressure and also avoid large Venturi effects associated with vent tubes, such as the SSFT with a narrow vent tube operated at a high chamber-flushing rate, are likely to yield flux measurements closer to the true values.