Measurements of desert dust optical characteristics at Porte au Sahara during SAMUM

Main optical characteristics of desert dust, such as phase function and single scattering albedo, have been derived from combinations of sun-/sky-radiometer and satellite measurements during the SAMUM experiment (10 May–10 June 2006) at the site Porte au Sahara (30.237°N, 5.607°W) in South Morocco. Scattering phase functions have been retrieved using combined data of spectral aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and spectral sky brightness in the almucantar, considering non-spherical light scattering. Intercomparisons of modelled top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance with satellite observations of the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography () instrument have been used for the estimation of spectral single scattering albedo. For the radiative transfer calculations scattering phase functions and AOT from ground-based observations have been used. The spectral single scattering albedo ranges from 0.93 in the blue to 0.98 at 753 nm.     

Desert dust aerosol air mass mapping in the western Sahara, using particle properties derived from space-based multi-angle imaging

Coincident observations made over the Moroccan desert during the Sahara mineral dust experiment (SAMUM) 2006 field campaign are used both to validate aerosol amount and type retrieved from multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) observations, and to place the suborbital aerosol measurements into the satellite's larger regional context. On three moderately dusty days during which coincident observations were made, MISR mid-visible aerosol optical thickness (AOT) agrees with field measurements point-by-point to within 0.05–0.1. This is about as well as can be expected given spatial sampling differences; the space-based observations capture AOT trends and variability over an extended region. The field data also validate MISR's ability to distinguish and to map aerosol air masses, from the combination of retrieved constraints on particle size, shape and single-scattering albedo. For the three study days, the satellite observations (1) highlight regional gradients in the mix of dust and background spherical particles, (2) identify a dust plume most likely part of a density flow and (3) show an aerosol air mass containing a higher proportion of small, spherical particles than the surroundings, that appears to be aerosol pollution transported from several thousand kilometres away.     

Multi‐proxy evidence for early to mid‐Holocene environmental and climatic changes in northeastern Poland

Lauterbach, S., Brauer, A., Andersen, N., Danielopol, D. L., Dulski, P., Hüls, M., Milecka, K., Namiotko, T., Plessen, B., von Grafenstein, U. & DecLakes participants 2010: Multi‐proxy evidence for early to mid‐Holocene environmental and climatic changes in northeastern Poland. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00159.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. We investigated the sedimentary record of Lake Hańcza (northeastern Poland) using a multi‐proxy approach, focusing on early to mid‐Holocene climatic and environmental changes. AMS ¹⁴C dating of terrestrial macrofossils and sedimentation rate estimates from occasional varve thickness measurements were used to establish a chronology. The onset of the Holocene at c. 11 600 cal. a BP is marked by the decline of Lateglacial shrub vegetation and a shift from clastic‐detrital deposition to an autochthonous sedimentation dominated by biochemical calcite precipitation. Between 10 000 and 9000 cal. a BP, a further environmental and climatic improvement is indicated by the spread of deciduous forests, an increase in lake organic matter and a 1.7‰ rise in the oxygen isotope ratios of both endogenic calcite and ostracod valves. Rising δ¹⁸O values were probably caused by a combination of hydrological and climatic factors. The persistence of relatively cold and dry climate conditions in northeastern Poland during the first one and a half millennia of the Holocene could be related to a regional eastern European atmospheric circulation pattern. Prevailing anticyclonic circulation linked to a high‐pressure cell above the retreating Scandinavian Ice Sheet might have blocked the influence of warm and moist Westerlies and attenuated the early Holocene climatic amelioration in the Lake Hańcza region until the final decay of the ice sheet.     

THREE NATURAL ZIRCON STANDARDS FOR U-TH-PB, LU-HF, TRACE ELEMENT AND REE ANALYSES

We report here the results of a study to develop natural zircon geochemical standards for calibrating the U-(Th)-Pb geochronometer and Hf isotopic analyses. Additional data were also collected for the major, minor and trace element contents of the three selected sample sets. A total of five large zircon grains (masses between 0.5 and 238 g) were selected for this study, representing three different suites of zircons with ages of 1065 Ma, 2.5 Ma and 0.9 Ma. Geochemical laboratories can obtain these materials by contacting Geostandards Newsletter.     

Garnet evolution in pre-Variscan pelitic rocks from the Lake Emosson area, Aiguilles Rouges Massif, Western Alps

Abstract The chemical evolution of garnets from pelitic rocks of probable Palaeozoic age corresponds to a complex metamorphic evolution of the host rocks.
Among the almandine-rich garnets (Alm_60–80), two main types of evolution can be distinguished. Early Mn-rich garnets coexisting with kyanite may be replaced by plagioclase and then, during a late stage, by biotite and/or sillimanite. The second type of evolution corresponds to an overgrowth of Mn-poor late-stage garnet on older Mn-rich garnets which corresponds to a thermal peak with sillimanite-type of metamorphism. This new garnet may appear either as an overgrowth with a strong discontinuity, or as small, new euhedral garnet or as skeletal garnet.
This chemical evolution of garnet corresponds to an early collisional stage of metamorphism (of high pressure type with high Mn values) of probable Ordovician age followed by uplift and a thermal peak (low Mn values) in Devonian times.     

Quantification of Magmatic and Hydrothermal Processes in a Peralkaline Syenite-Alkali Granite Complex Based on Textures, Phase Equilibria, and Stable and Radiogenic Isotopes

The Puklen complex of the Mid-Proterozoic Gardar Province, SouthGreenland, consists of various silica-saturated to quartz-bearingsyenites, which are intruded by a peralkaline granite. The primarymafic minerals in the syenites are augite ± olivine +Fe–Ti oxide + amphibole. Ternary feldspar thermometryand phase equilibria among mafic silicates yield T = 950–750°C,a_SiO2 = 0·7–1 and an f_O2 of 1–3 log unitsbelow the fayalite–magnetite–quartz (FMQ) bufferat 1 kbar. In the granites, the primary mafic minerals are ilmeniteand Li-bearing arfvedsonite, which crystallized at temperaturesbelow 750°C and at f_O2 values around the FMQ buffer. Inboth rock types, a secondary post-magmatic assemblage overprintsthe primary magmatic phases. In syenites, primary Ca-bearingminerals are replaced by Na-rich minerals such as aegirine–augiteand albite, resulting in the release of Ca. Accordingly, secondaryminerals include ferro-actinolite, (calcite–siderite)_ss,titanite and andradite in equilibrium with the Na-rich minerals.Phase equilibria indicate that formation of these minerals tookplace over a long temperature interval from near-magmatic temperaturesdown to     

Chemical kinetics, speleothem growth and climate

The morphology and stratigraphy of speleothems are controlled by parameters that depend on climate. These are the water supply rates feeding the speleothem, e.g. a stalagmite, the growth rates dependent on the chemical kinetics of calcite precipitation and the supersaturation of the solution from which calcite is precipitated. To elucidate the basic principles of speleothem growth, a physical-chemical model of calcite precipitation is used to estimate growth rates under various geologically relevant conditions. Furthermore, we present a model that allows the computation of the growth history of stalagmites, i.e. their morphology and stratigraphy under varying climatic conditions. This enables us to see how climatic signals are inscribed into stalagmites. Owing to the counter-balancing effects of some parameters, it is not possible to read climatic conditions backwards from the morphology and stratigraphy of a speleothem in a simple way, but a basic understanding of the growth of speleothems can be a helpful supporting tool in the interpretation of palaeoclimatic records.     

The type section of the Vikinghôgda Formation: a new Lower Triassic unit in central and eastern Svalbard

The Vikinghøgda Formation (250 m) is defined with a stratotype in Deltadalen-Vikinghøgda in central Spitsbergen. The Vikinghøgda Formation replaces the Vardebukta and Sticky Keep Formations of Buchan et al. (1965) and the lower part of the Barentsøya Formation of Lock et al. (1978) as extended geographically by Mørk, Knarud et al. (1982) in central Spitsbergen, Barentsøya and Edgeøya. The formation consists of three member: the Deltadalen Member (composed of mudstones with sandstones and siltstones), the Lusitaniadalen Member (dominated by mudstones with thin siltstone beds and some limestone concretions) and the Vendomdalen Member (composed of dark shales with dolomite interbeds and nodules). The Lusitaniadalen and Vendomdalen members replace the former Sticky Keep Formation/ Member in the siirne areu. The Vikinghøda Formation can be followed through central and eastern Spitsbergen to Barentøya and Edgeøya and includes all sediments between the chert-rich Kapp Starostin Formation (Permian) and the organic-rich shales of the Botneheia Formation (Middle Triassic). The subdivision into three members is also reflected in the organic carbon content and palynofacies. Upwards. each succeeding member becomes more distal, organic-rich and oil-prone than the one below.
The Vikinghøda Formation is well-dated by six ammonoid zones. although the transitional beds between the Deltadalen and Lusitaniadalen members lack age diagnostic macrofossils. Corresponding palynozonation and magnetustratigraphy have also been determined. The overall stratigraphical development correlates well with other key Triassic areas in the Arctic, although intervals in the late Dienerian and early Smithian may be condensed or missing.     

SWAT模型在斯里兰卡河流径流预测中的运用

本文运用SWAT模型和新安江模型对斯里兰卡卡鲁河流域上游地区日径流进行了预测.卡鲁河是斯里兰卡的第二大河,由于流域的降雨量很大,上游地区河流沿峡谷流下,中下游平原地区河床平坦.卡鲁河流域的洪水变的很正常.应用SWAT模型来对卡鲁河的日径流量进行预测,并同应用新安江模型所得到的结果做对比.研究表明,新安江模型要比SWAT (分布式水文模型)模型在卡鲁河日径流量预测上稍微好一些.实际上,或许数据质量不高或不恰当是部分原因,因为SWAT的输出成果严格取决于其输入的数据质量.此外,在斯里兰卡,许多人的日常用水是靠井水.当把流域看作一个整体,通常都是一个很大的范围,那样的话就不可能详尽的记录所有各个小规模的水利用,例如:小灌溉、小规模的家畜管理和工业水利用.这些水利用累积起来或许就很可观.这些数据的缺失对分布式水文模型在水平衡的应用有着独特的影响.但是概念水文模型(如新安江模型)可以根据实际情况在校正中调节它的参数,因为这些参数并没有实质的物理含义.因此,在流域特征和模型输入数据有限或不完整的情况下,概念水文模型比分布式水文模型更具优势.     

Clastic sediments associated with radiolarites (Tauglboden—Schichten, Upper Jurassic, Eastern Alps)

During the early Upper Jurassic, widespread deep-sea radiolarites were deposited in most parts of the Northern Limestone Alps. In the formation described (Tauglboden-Schichten), these pelagic sediments interfinger with local-source clastic material. Depending on the topography and the kind of material, either slides and slumps, mudflows, grain flows or turbidity currents operated and formed slump-folded beds, mud-flow breccias, fluxoturbidites or turbidites. A breccia had been traced over an area of 20 km². Its variation is described in terms of lithological columns, bed thicknesses, maximum grain sizes and grain orientations. It forms a tongue-shaped body, which was probably a part of a submarine fan. The fluxoturbidites of the proximal area grade distally on three sides into turbidites within 3–5 km. The clastic material consists of marls and limestones of Rhaetian and Jurassic age. It was probably derived from a tectonically uplifted palaeo-high by an interplay of tectonics and gravity. The clastics were deposited on submarine fans bordering this high. In its lithology the formation closely resembles certain marginal facies of flysch troughs.