A New Lichenometric Dating Curve For Southeast Iceland.

This paper presents a new lichenometric dating curve for southeast Iceland. The temporal framework for the curve is based on reliably dated surfaces covering the last 270 years, making it the best constrained study of this nature conducted in Iceland. The growth of lichen species within Rhizocarpon Section Rhizocarpon is non-linear over time, with larger (older) thalli apparently growing more slowly. The linear 'growth' curves derived previously by former authors working in Iceland represent only part of a curve which has an overall exponential form. Reasons for the non-linearity of the new dating curve are probably physiological, although climatic change over the last three centuries cannot be ruled out. Use of linear 'growth' curves in Iceland is problematic over time-spans of more than c . 80 years. Pre-20th century moraines dated using a constant, linear relationship between lichen size and age are probably older than previously believed. Those moraines lichenometrically 'dated' to the second half of the 19th century in Iceland may actually pre-date this time by several decades (30–100 years), thus throwing doubt on the exact timing of maximum glaciation during the 'Little Ice Age'.     

Implications for behavior of volatile elements during impacts—Zinc and copper systematics in sediments from the Ries impact structure and central European tektites

Moldavites are tektites genetically related to the Ries impact structure, located in Central Europe, but the source materials and the processes related to the chemical fractionation of moldavites are not fully constrained. To further understand moldavite genesis, the Cu and Zn abundances and isotope compositions were measured in a suite of tektites from four different substrewn fields (South Bohemia, Moravia, Cheb Basin, Lusatia) and chemically diverse sediments from the surroundings of the Ries impact structure. Moldavites are slightly depleted in Zn (~10–20%) and distinctly depleted in Cu (>90%) relative to supposed sedimentary precursors. Moreover, the moldavites show a wide range in δ⁶⁶Zn values between 1.7 and 3.7‰ (relative to JMC 3‐0749 Lyon) and δ⁶⁵Cu values between 1.6 and 12.5‰ (relative to NIST SRM 976) and are thus enriched in heavy isotopes relative to their possible parent sedimentary sources (δ⁶⁶Zn = ?0.07 to +0.64‰; δ⁶⁵Cu = ?0.4 to +0.7‰). In particular, the Cheb Basin moldavites show some of the highest δ⁶⁵Cu values (up to 12.5‰) ever observed in natural samples. The relative magnitude of isotope fractionation for Cu and Zn seen here is opposite to oxygen‐poor environments such as the Moon where Zn is significantly more isotopically fractionated than Cu. One possibility is that monovalent Cu diffuses faster than divalent Zn in the reduced melt and diffusion will not affect the extent of Zn isotope fractionation. These observations imply that the capability of forming a redox environment may aid in volatilizing some elements, accompanied by isotope fractionation, during the impact process. The greater extent of elemental depletion, coupled with isotope fractionation of more refractory Cu relative to Zn, may also hinge on the presence of carbonyl species of transition metals and electromagnetic charge, which could exist in the impact‐induced high‐velocity jet of vapor and melts.     

Pennsylvanian carbonate platforms adjacent to deltaic systems in an active marine foreland basin (Escalada Fm., Cantabrian Zone,NW Spain)

The Pennsylvanian marine foreland basin of the Cantabrian Zone (NW Spain) is characterized by the unique development of kilometre‐size and hundred‐metre‐thick carbonate platforms adjacent to deltaic systems. During Moscovian time, progradational clastic wedges fed by the orogen comprised proximal alluvial conglomerates and coal‐bearing deltaic sequences to distal shelfal marine deposits associated with carbonate platforms (Escalada Fm.) and distal clay‐rich submarine slopes. A first phase of carbonate platform development (Escalada I, upper Kashirian‐lower Podolskian) reached a thickness of 400 m, nearly 50 km in width and developed a distal high‐relief margin facing a starved basin, nearly 1000‐m deep. Carbonate slope clinoforms dipped up to 30° and consisted of in situ microbial boundstone, pinching out downslope into calciturbidites, argillaceous spiculites and breccias. The second carbonate platform (Escalada II, upper Podolskian‐lower Myachkovian) developed beyond the previous platform margin, following the basinward progradation of siliciclastic deposits. Both carbonate platforms include: (1) a lower part composed of siliciclastic‐carbonate cyclothems characterized by coated‐grain and ooid grainstones; and (2) a carbonate‐dominated upper part, composed of tabular and mound‐shaped wackestone and algal‐microbial boundstone strata alternating at the decametre scale with skeletal and coated‐grain grainstone beds. Carbonate platforms initiated in distal sectors of the foreland marine shelf during transgressions, when terrigenous sediments were stored in the proximal part, and developed further during highstands of 3rd‐order sequences in a high‐subsidence context. During the falling stage and lowstand systems tracts, deltaic systems prograded across the shelf burying the carbonate platforms. Key factors involved in the development of these unique carbonate platforms in an active foreland basin are: (1) the large size of the marine shelf (approaching 200 km in width); (2) the subsidence distribution pattern across the marine shelf, decreasing from proximal shoreline to distal sectors; (3) Pennsylvanian glacio‐eustacy affecting carbonate lithofacies architecture; and (4) the environmental conditions optimal for fostering microbial and algal carbonate factories.     

Laboratory Study on the Hydraulic Conductivity and Pore Pressure of Sand-Silt Mixtures

The hydraulic conductivity plays a major role on the excess pore pressure generation during monotonic and cyclic loading of granular soils with fines. This paper aims to determine how much the hydraulic conductivity and pore pressure response of the sand-silt mixtures are affected by the percentage of fines and void ratio of the soil. The results of flexible wall permeameter and undrained monotonic triaxial tests performed on samples reconstituted from Chlef River sand with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% nonplastic silt at an effective confining stress of 100 kPa and two relative densities (D_r = 20, and 91%) are presented and discussed. It was found that the pore pressure increases linearly with the increase of the fines content and logarithmically with the increase of the intergranular void ratio. The results obtained from this study reveal that the saturated hydraulic conductivity (k) of the sand mixed with 50% low plastic fines can be, on average, four orders of magnitude smaller than that of the clean sand. The results show also that the hydraulic conductivity decreases hyperbolically with the increase of the fines content and the intergranular void ratio.     

Mass and gas profiles in A1689: joint X-ray and lensing analysis

We carry out a comprehensive joint analysis of high-quality HST /ACS and Chandra measurements of A1689, from which we derive mass, temperature, X-ray emission and abundance profiles. The X-ray emission is smooth and symmetric, and the lensing mass is centrally concentrated indicating a relaxed cluster. Assuming hydrostatic equilibrium we deduce a 3D mass profile that agrees simultaneously with both the lensing and X-ray measurements. However, the projected temperature profile predicted with this 3D mass profile exceeds the observed temperature by ∼30 per cent at all radii, a level of discrepancy comparable to the level found for other relaxed clusters. This result may support recent suggestions from hydrodynamical simulations that denser, more X-ray luminous small-scale structure can bias observed temperature measurements downward at about the same (∼30 per cent) level. We determine the gas entropy at  0.1 r _vir  (where r _vir is the virial radius) to be ∼800 keV cm², as expected for a high-temperature cluster, but its profile at  >0.1 r _vir  has a power-law form with index ∼0.8, considerably shallower than the ∼1.1 index advocated by theoretical studies and simulations. Moreover, if a constant entropy 'floor' exists at all, then it is within a small region in the inner core,   r < 0.02 r _vir  , in accord with previous theoretical studies of massive clusters.     

The contribution of faint blue galaxies to the submillimetre counts and background

Observations in the submillimetre (submm) waveband have recently revealed a new population of luminous sources. These are proposed to lie at high redshift and to be optically faint because of their high intrinsic dust obscuration. The presence of dust has been previously invoked in optical galaxy count models which use the Bruzual & Charlot evolution models with an exponential τ =9 Gyr star formation rate (SFR) for spirals, and these fit the count data well from U to K . We now show that by using either a 1/ λ or Calzetti absorption law for the dust and re-distributing the evolved spiral galaxy ultraviolet (UV) radiation into the far-infrared (FIR), these models can account for all of the 'faint' ( 1 mJy) 850-μm galaxy counts, but fail to fit 'bright' ( 2 mJy) sources, indicating that another explanation for the submm counts may apply at brighter fluxes, e.g., quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) or ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). We find that the main contribution to the faint, submm number counts is in the redshift range 0.5< z <3, peaking at z ≈1.8. The above model, using either dust law, can also explain a significant proportion of the extragalactic background at 850 μm, as well as producing a reasonable fit to the bright 60-μm IRAS counts.