Self‐purification in Upland and Lowland Streams

Ecological investigations at four streams in Saxony‐Anhalt have shown that there are considerable differences between the self‐purification power of upland and lowland streams. This result is reflected in chemistry and in microbiology. The structure of the bottom substrate mainly influences the degree of self‐purification in connection with rate of flow and flow velocity. The results and differences are demonstrated using the example of Katzsohlbach in the landscape unit “Mittel‐ and Unterharz” and the stream Olbe in the landscape unit “Magdeburger Börde”.     

Relations between electrical conductivity and petrological parameters of the crust and upper mantle

Laboratory data of the electrical conductivity of rocks and minerals pertinent to the deeper crust and upper mantle and summarized. They are discussed in the context of a theory to calculate effective conductivities of materials in the state of partial melt. Most published data have been obtained by too rapid measurements, i.e. without reaching an equilibrium state of the sample. Conductivity measurements on a material similar to the composition of pyrolite are not het known, their importance is outlined. A global conductivity distribution obtained by electromagnetic induction studies is represented by a few results covering oceanic and continental areas. Till today it seems to be a doubtful venture to deduce the temperature of the upper mantle or even the existence of a partial molten asthenosphere from a global conductivity distribution. On a more local scale the correlation of electrical conductivity with temperature and state of the material seems to be more realistic. This is tentatively shown by two petrological models of the Afar depression in Ethiopia and of the midoceanic rift.     

Collapse structures in the Permian of the Saar-Nahe area,Southwest Germany

Volcanic breccias near an intrusive rhyolite dome in the Permian Saar-Nahe trough of southwest Germany have been identified as complex pipe-like subsidence-structures occupying the site and immediate neighbourhood of explosive volcanoes.At the Rödern, at first fine-grained, well-bedded and later coarser-grained and poorly bedded pyroclastic materials were deposited on top of a lava flow that formed the regional surface. Collapse along a ringfault with differential subsidence of 500 to 700 m produced a saucer-shaped structure in which steeply dipping pyroclastic beds still overlie the lava flow on which they were originally deposited. In the actual feeder, large blocks of country-rock subsided individually prior to wholesale subsidence of the entire feeder-content. Intrusion of a high alumina quartz tholeiite into the pyroclastic beds terminated the activity.The Hirschberg structure has essentially the same history, but is more fragmented. Subsidences vary between 150 and 260 m. Intrusion of petrographically and chemically similar basalt took place mainly near the margin of the ringfault.Three smaller structures also contain bedded pyroclastic deposits that subsided approximately 600, 1100, and 1400 m. The surface expressions of these five collapse structures are assumed to have been small collapse-calderas with diameters of several 100 m. to 1.5 km.

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Zusammenfassung Vulkanische Brekzien im Rotliegenden der Umgebung des Donnersberges in der Saar-Nahe-Senke/Pfalz liegen in Einbruchsstrukturen vor, die den ursprünglichen Schlot und seine unmittelbare Umgebung einnehmen.Am Rödern wurden ehemals auf einer Olivin-Basalt-Lava feinkörnige und spÄter grobkörnige Pyroclastica abgelagert. Einbruch an einem Ringbruch und differentielle Absenkung zwischen 500 und 700 m führte zur Anlage der trichterförmigen Struktur der geschichteten Pyroclastica. Trotz der Absenkung liegen sie immer noch mit ungestörtem Kontakt, jedoch nun steil einfallend, dem mitabgesenkten Olivin-Basalt auf.Am ursprünglichen Schlot ist Absenkung einzelner gro\er Nebengesteinsschollen und nachfolgend des gesamten Schlotinhaltes festzustellen. Die vulkanische AktivitÄt wurde durch Intrusion eines high-alumina Quarz-Tholeiites abgeschlossen.Der Hirschberg weist im wesentlichen die gleiche Struktur und Entwicklungsgeschichte auf, ist jedoch in mehrere Schollen untergliedert. Die BetrÄge der differentiellen Absenkung liegen zwischen 150 und 260 m. Infolge der Zerblockung innerhalb des Ringbruches intrudierte Basalt vorwiegend im Bereich der Verwerfungen, also am Ringbruch und zwischen einzelnen Schollen.Drei kleinere Strukturen enthalten ebenfalls geschichtete Pyroclastica und weisen maximale AbsenkungsbetrÄge von 600, 1100 und 1400 m auf.Im Bereich der ursprünglichen ErdoberflÄche müssen infolge der Einbrüche tiefe Krater vorgelegen haben, die als kleine Einbruchscalderen bezeichnet werden können.

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Résumé Aux alentours du «Donnersberg» dans la «Saar-Nahe-Senke» (Palatinat, Sudouest de l'Allemagne) des brèches volcaniques du Permien inférieur sont conservées à l'intérieur de structures d'effondrement. Celles-ci se trouvent au lieu mÊme de la cheminée originale et à ses alentours immédiats.Une de ces structures, le «Rödern», est caractérisée par des dépÔts pyroclastiques — fins à la base et plus grenus vers le sommet — couvrant des laves basaltiques à olivine. L'effondrement à l'intérieur d'une faille annulaire et une subsidence différentielle de 500 à 700 m ont eu comme résultat une structure rappelant un entonnoir. Les dépÔts pyroclastiques stratifiés reposent, quoiqu'avec un pendage fort, toujours en superposition normale et non faillés sur les basaltes à olivine qui eux aussi ont été affectés par la subsidence.A la cheminée mÊme on constate l'affaissement de grands panneaux de roches encaissantes suivi de l'effondrement de tout le remplissage de cheminée. L'activité s'achève par des venues d'une «high-alumina Quarz-Tholeiite».Le «Hirschberg», dont la structure et l'évolution ressemblent à celles du «Rödern», est caractérisé par une fragmentation du bloc effondré. L'affaissement de différents panneaux varie entre 150 et 260 m. Suite à la fragmentation de nouvelles venues basaltiques prennent place, soit le long de la faille annulaire, soit le long des failles entre les differents panneaux.Des dépÔts pyroclastiques stratifiés sont conservés encore dans trois autres structures plus petites. L'affaissement à l'intérieur de ces structures est de 600, 1100 et 1400 m au maximumQuant à la morphologie de la région après l'effondrement, on peut supposer qu'elle était caractérisée par l'existence de cratères profonds (caldères d'effondrement).

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, Donnersberg ( -, ) , . - Rödern - , . - 500–700 , . , .- , . . - Hirschberg, , , . 150–260 . , . . . - ; 600, 1100 1400 . - , , , , .

     

The formation and survival of discs in a ΛCDM universe

We study the formation of galaxies in a Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) universe using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations with a multiphase treatment of gas, cooling and feedback, focusing on the formation of discs. Our simulations follow eight isolated haloes similar in mass to the Milky Way and extracted from a large cosmological simulation without restriction on spin parameter or merger history. This allows us to investigate how the final properties of the simulated galaxies correlate with the formation histories of their haloes. We find that, at   z = 0  , none of our galaxies contains a disc with more than 20 per cent of its total stellar mass. Four of the eight galaxies nevertheless have well-formed disc components, three have dominant spheroids and very small discs, and one is a spheroidal galaxy with no disc at all. The   z = 0  spheroids are made of old stars, while discs are younger and formed from the inside-out. Neither the existence of a disc at   z = 0  nor the final disc-to-total mass ratio seems to depend on the spin parameter of the halo. Discs are formed in haloes with spin parameters as low as 0.01 and as high as 0.05; galaxies with little or no disc component span the same range in spin parameter. Except for one of the simulated galaxies, all have significant discs at   z ≳ 2  , regardless of their   z = 0  morphologies. Major mergers and instabilities which arise when accreting cold gas is misaligned with the stellar disc trigger a transfer of mass from the discs to the spheroids. In some cases, discs are destroyed, while in others, they survive or reform. This suggests that the survival probability of discs depends on the particular formation history of each galaxy. A realistic ΛCDM model will clearly require weaker star formation at high redshift and later disc assembly than occurs in our models.     

Palaeobotanical evidence of wildfires in the Late Palaeozoic of South America – Early Permian, Rio Bonito Formation, Paraná Basin, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Fossil charcoal, as direct evidence of palaeowildfires, has repeatedly been reported from several plant-bearing deposits from the Late Palaeozoic of the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast charcoal reports from the Late Palaeozoic deposits of the Southern Hemisphere are relatively rare in comparison to the Northern Hemisphere. Although the presence of pyrogenic coal macerals has repeatedly been reported from Late Palaeozoic coals from South America, no detailed anatomical investigations of such material have been published so far. Here is presented an anatomical analysis of charcoal originating from Early Permian sediments of the Quitéria Outcrop, Rio Bonito Formation, Paraná Basin, located in the central-eastern portion of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This charcoal comes from two different coaly facies, and it was possible to scrutinize between three types, based on anatomical characters of the charcoal. Two of these charcoal types can be correlated to gymnosperm woods, and the other type corresponds to strongly permineralized bark with characteristic features of lycopsids. The presence of charcoal in different facies, ranging from parautochtonous to allochtonous origin, indicates that different vegetation types, i.e. plants which grew under wet conditions in the lowland as well as in the more dry hinterland, have experienced wildfires. Taking into account previous petrographic and lithological analyses from the facies in which the charcoal occurs and from the conditions of the wood and bark fragments, it was possible to speculate that the intensity of such wildfires most probably corresponds to forest-crown fires. Moreover, it is possible to state that wildfires have been a more or less common element in distinct Late Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystems in the South American part of Gondwana. The data support previous assumptions on the occurrence of wildfires in the Early Permian of the Paraná Basin which were based solely on coal-petrographic data.     

Automatic interpretation of digital maps

In the past, the availability and/or the acquisition of spatial data were often the main problems of the realization of spatial applications. Meanwhile this situation has changed: on one hand, comprehensive spatial datasets already exist and on the other hand, new sensor technologies have the ability to capture fast and with high quality large amounts of spatial data. More and more responsible for the increasing accessibility of spatial data are also collaborative mapping techniques which enable users to create maps by themselves and to make them available in the internet. However, the potential of this diversity of spatial data can only hardly be utilized. Especially maps in the internet are represented very often only with graphical elements and no explicit information about the map’s scale, extension and content is available. Nevertheless, humans are able to extract this information and to interpret maps. For example, it is possible for a human to distinguish between rural and industrial areas only by looking at the objects’ geometries. Furthermore, a human can easily identify and group map objects that belong together. Also the type, scale and extension of a map can be identified under certain conditions only by looking at the objects’ geometries. All these examples can be subsumed under the term “map interpretation”. In this paper it is discussed how map interpretation can be automated and how automatic map interpretation can be used in order to support other processes. The different kinds of automatic map interpretation are discussed and two approaches are shown in detail.