Evidence for heterogenes primary MORB and mantle sources,NW Indian Ocean

Basalts from 5 Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) sites in the northwest Indian Ocean (Somali Basin and Arabian Sea) have general geochemical features consistent with a spreading origin at the ancient Carlsberg Ridge. However, compared to most MORBS from other oceans they have low normative olivine, TiO₂, and Zr contents. There is no evidence that the mantle source of these northwest Indian Ocean basalts was enriched in incompatible elements relative to the Atlantic and Pacific ocean mantles. In detail, incompatible element abundances in these DSDP basalts establish that they evolved from several compositionally distinct parental magmas. In particular, basalts from site 236 in the Somali Basin have relatively high SiO₂ and low Na, P, Ti, and Zr contents. These compositional features along with low normative olivine contents are similar to those proposed for melts derived by two-stage (or dynamic) melting. Published data also indicate there is no enrichment in incompatible elements at the southwest Indian Ocean triple junction, although southwest Indian Ocean basalts have slightly higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr than normal Atlantic MORB. The data suggest that there are significant subtle geochemical variations in the Indian Ocean mantle sources, but are insufficient to show whether these variations have a systematic temporal or geographic distribution.     

Coke/carbon reactions in the study of factors affecting coke quality

Pilot-scale and plant cokes with initially different properties were subjected to weight loss by reaction with carbon dioxide, and the resulting products were characterized both microscopically and by ASTM Tumbler tests. The cokes were found to lose strength progressively as weight loss occured, and the examination of carbon forms and microstructures showed the strength changes to be related to the initial properties of the cokes and ultimately to particular compositional characteristics of the coals used to make the cokes. The results have been providing coal-selection guidelines to assist in the manufacture of higher-quality coke. Our coke reactivity test is also being used to signal changes in the coal supply and to monitor certain other coking parameters.     

A design study for an advanced ocean color scanner system

The spaceborne ocean color scanners currently being planned for flights on Nimbus-G satellite or space shuttle craft are, in every aspect, only a modest beginning towards what is to be expected of ocean color scanners in the eighties. Improvements are necessary in the following areas: present systems provide a spatial resolution on the order of 1 km at nadir, which would not satisfy most of the coastal zone study requirements. Also the present design of radiomers is less than optimum for the removal of the atmospheric effects on ocean colorimetry.Along with a colorimetric data analysis scheme, the instrumental parameters which need to be optimized in future systems are outlined. One technique for meeting these requirements entails use of large linear array detector technology.     

Geometric adjustment of pools to changes in slope and discharge: a flume experiment

To characterize the factors controlling pool shape, 30 different forced pools were created utilizing a 50% triangular constriction in a 0.5-m wide, 6-m long recirculating flume. Pools were scoured from an initial plane bed of sand with a d₅₀ of 0.25 mm. Pool depth and length were measured and used as dependent variables in least-squares, multiple-regression analyses. Discharge, channel-bed gradient and energy slope were the independent variables. Additional linear-regression analyses were conducted with either pool depth or length and stream power. Results indicate that both pool depth and length are primarily a function of discharge. Channel-bed and energy slopes are also significantly related to pool length but are not significantly related to pool depth. Stream power is significantly related to both pool depth and length, but R² values for pool depth versus discharge indicate stronger relations than those between pool depth and stream power. Observations on the type of geometric adjustment indicate that pools may minimize their rate of energy expenditure primarily through elongation. In contrast, pool depth appears to be more sensitive to the characteristics of the constrictions that create the forced pools. The results suggest that many field studies may suffer from cross-correlation problems. In particular, channel erodibility may exert a more dominant influence on pool geometry than hydraulic controls in many constriction-influenced channels.     

Origin of oceanic phonolites by crystal fractionation and the problem of the Daly gap: an example from Rarotonga

Felsic alkalic rocks are a minor component of many ocean island volcanic suites, and include trachyte and phonolite as well as various types of alkaline and peralkaline rhyolite. However, there is considerable debate on the nature of their formation; for example, are they formed by partial melting of anomalous mantle or the final products of fractional crystallization of mafic magmas. The phonolites and foidal phonolites on Rarotonga were formed by low pressure crystal fractionation of two chemically distinct parental magmas. Low silica and high silica mafic magmas produced a basanite-foidal phonolite series and an alkali basalt-phonolite series, respectively. The foidal phonolite composition evolved from the low silica mafic magmas by approximately 60% fractionation of titanaugite + leucite + nepheline + magnetite + apatite. Fractionation continued with the crystallization of aegirine-augite + nepheline + kaersutite + magnetite + apatite. The phonolites formed from the alkali basalts by approximately 40% fractionation of kaersutite + titanaugite + Fe-Ti oxide + plagioclase + apatite and continued to evolve further by fractionation of anorthoclase + nepheline + aegerine-augite + Fe-Ti oxides. As the magmas fractionated in both suites, their overall viscosities (solid + liquid) increased until a point was reached whereby viscosity inhibited the eruption of magmas with compositions intermediate between the mafic rocks and the felsic rocks. However, the magmas continued to fractionate under static conditions with the residual fluid becoming foidal phonolitic in the low silica suite or phonolitic in the high silica suite. These phonolitic liquids, as a result of an increase in volatiles and enrichment of alkalis over aluminum, would actually have a lower viscosity than the intermediate liquids. This decrease in viscosity and the switch from a magma chamber being predominantly a liquid with suspended solids to a solid crystalline network with an interstitial liquid enabled phonolitic liquids to migrate, pool, and eventually erupt on the surface.     

The structure and microstructure of α-cristobalite and its relationship to β-cristobalite

Recent transmission electron microscopy (TEM) electron diffraction investigation of β-cristobalite has revealed a strong characteristic diffuse intensity distribution. In this work a similar, but less intense, diffuse scattering is reported for synthetic α-cristobalite. This material also displays both tetragonal twinning and characteristic striations correspond to planar boundaries which may exist on any {1, 0, l}_tetragonal plane.     

Haurwitz solutions of the nonlinear shallow-water equations for small froude number

Summary In this note we find special solutions of the nonlinear shallow-water equations. From the first integrals of the potential vorticity and energy equations for steady flow we derive a single equation in the streamfunction. In the limiting case of very small Froude number, that equation has no solutions corresponding to gravity waves. Under a nonlinear transformation of dependent variable, it becomes a linear equation whose solutions are related to Haurwitz's solutions for nondivergent barotropic flow in spherical surfaces. The distinguishing feature of these solutions is that the streamlines coincide with contours of the free surface: thus, although the height of the free surface varies, the motions of the fluid are horizontal, and the flow is nondivergent.The solutions are easily modified to correspond to Rossby waves propagating eastward or westward without change of shape.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.This paper is dedicated to the memory of my scientific mentor and old friend, Bernhard Haurwitz.