The statistical effects of galactic tides on the Oort cloud

This report is a comment on two papers by Matese and Whitman (1989, 1992). We discuss here the applicability of uniform probability densities for the orbital parameters of the Oort cloud comets.     

Revised marine reservoir offset (ΔR) values for molluscs and marine mammals from Arctic North America

Appropriate marine–terrestrial reservoir offset (ΔR) values are essential for accurate calibration of marine radiocarbon dates. However, ΔR values are only valid for the specific calibration curve that their calculation is based on. Here, we present revised ΔR values for the Marine20 calibration curve from Arctic North America, based on previously published ¹⁴C dates on pre-bomb live-collected marine molluscs (n = 124) and cetaceans (beluga whales; tooth dentine; n = 12), and bowhead whale–driftwood age comparisons from the same glacio-isostatically uplifted shorelines (n = 18). Molluscan-based ΔR are: Chukchi/Beaufort sea coasts, 265±116 ¹⁴C years; NW Canadian Arctic Archipelago, 188±91 ¹⁴C years; NE Baffin Island, 81±18 ¹⁴C years; SE Baffin Island, 14±58 ¹⁴C years; Hudson Strait, −73±64 ¹⁴C years; Ungava Bay, 0±86 ¹⁴C years; Foxe Basin, 175±89 ¹⁴C years; Hudson Bay, −21±72 ¹⁴C years; James Bay, 209±114 ¹⁴C years; West Greenland, −93±111 ¹⁴C years. Species-specific marine mammal ΔR terms are 107±59 ¹⁴C years for beluga and 24±58 ¹⁴C years for bowheads. Our revised ΔR values are applicable for as long as the same broad oceanographic conditions (circulation, ventilation) have persisted, i.e. through the Holocene. While molluscan values are applicable to other marine carbonate (e.g. foraminifera), cetacean ΔR are valid only for the species they were calculated for and should not be applied to other marine mammals. Importantly, the ΔR terms calculated here are only valid for Marine20 and should not be used with earlier or later calibration curves.     

Conditioning clayey soils with a dispersant agent for Deep Soil Mixing application: laboratory experiments and artificial neural network interpretation

Acta Geotechnica - Plasticity of clays makes Deep Soil Mixing (DSM) problematic due to the tendency of the material to congest the rotating blades, reduce mixing efficiency and remain...     

Tracing exhumation record in high-pressure micaschists: A new tectonometamorphic model of the evolution of the eastern part of the Fore Sudetic Block,Kamieniec Metamorphic Belt,NE Bohemian Massif,SW Poland

The Kamieniec Metamorphic Belt comprises a volcano-sedimentary succession exposed within a collision zone between the Saxothuringian and Brunovistulian crustal domains of the European Variscides. The studied rocks recorded two metamorphic episodes. The first episode, M₁, occurred at conditions of c. 485 ± 25 °C and 18 ± 1.8 kbar related to burial within a subduction zone. The subsequent episode, M₂, was linked to the final phases of exhumation to mid-crustal level, associated with pressure and temperature (P–T) conditions ranging from c. 520 ± 26 °C and 6 ± 0.6 kbar through 555 ± 28 °C and 7 kbar ± 0.7 to ~590 ± 30 °C and 3–4 ± 0.4 kbar. The documented deformation record is ascribed to three events, D₁ to D₃, interpreted as related to the burial and subsequent exhumation of the Kamieniec Metamorphic Belt. The D₁ event must have witnessed the subduction of the Kamieniec Metamorphic Belt rock succession whereas the D₂ event was associated with the exhumation and folding of the Kamieniec Metamorphic Belt in an E-W-directed shortening regime. A subsequent folding related to the D₂ event was initiated at HP conditions, however, the planar fabric produced during a late stage of the D₂ event, defined by a low-pressure mineral assemblage M₂, indicates that the D₂ final stage was synchronous with the onset of the M₂ episode. Consequently, the entire D₂ event seems to have been associated with the exhumation of the Kamieniec Metamorphic Belt to mid crustal level. The third deformation event D₃, synchronous with the M₂ episode, marked the last stage of the exhumation, and was linked to emplacement of granitoid veins and lenses. The latter resulted in heating and rheological weakening of the entire rock succession and in the formation of non-coaxial shear zones.     

海南石碌铁矿独居石的成因类型、化学定年及地质意义

海南石碌铁矿是我国最大的富赤铁矿矿床,同时伴生有钴、铜等多金属矿产。轴向北西-南东向的复式向斜是石碌铁、钴铜矿体的主要控矿构造,富铁矿和钴铜矿的形成与该褶皱变形及伴随的韧性剪切和高温塑性流动有着密切的关系。为获得该构造变形的年代学信息和证实构造变形对成矿物质的富集影响,本文开展了石碌铁矿近矿围岩—石碌群第六层透辉石透闪石岩中独居石的显微结构观察和电子探针化学Th-U-Pb定年(CHIME法)。显微结构观察发现独居石往往沿岩石面理定向分布,且具典型的球冠结构,表现为围绕独居石核部向外依次出现磷灰石、褐帘石、绿帘石同心环。电子探针分析结果表明这些独居石为Ce-La-Nd磷酸盐[(Ce,La,Nd,Th)PO4],具富钍独居石端元组分。ThO 2含量范围(0.78%~4.61%)、稀土特征以及独居石的产出特征均暗示了其为同构造变质成因。电子探针CHIME化学定年结果表明独居石的年龄变化范围为614~397Ma,并具有两个峰值年龄:即主峰值ca.455Ma和次峰值ca.564Ma。低的ThO 2(0.78%~1.65%),PbO(0.02%~0.04%)和CaO(0.50%~0.97%)含量,以及高的Th/U比值(23.06~53.11)暗示了构成ca.564Ma的独居石是早期剪切变形事件的产物。而在随后剪切变形过程中独居石在低角闪岩相变质条件下以及碱性变质流体诱导下发生了溶解-再沉淀,形成了具ca.455Ma年龄的补丁状成分区。该过程引起了U-Pb体系的局部重置,形成的独居石具有变化较大的ThO 2(0.92%~4.61%)、PbO(0.01%~0.08%)和CaO(0.28%~1.58%)含量范围以及Th/U值(24.83~52.86)。在剪切变形之后,早期变质成因的独居石在绿片岩相退变质作用过程中及富Ca、Fe、Si、Al流体参与的条件下,经不平衡反应形成了磷灰石-褐帘石-绿帘石球冠物,反应机制以独居石和球冠矿物间的元素扩散动力学为主。该反应暗示了REE、Y、Th等元素发生了迁移,并可能引起边部独居石的部分Pb丢失。结合华南的构造演化,年龄谱主峰值455Ma代表了与华南加里东造山运动有关的区域变质和动力变质作用事件年龄,是加里东运动在海南岛的响应;次峰值年龄564Ma对应着冈瓦纳泛非事件,暗示了华南在晚新元古代-早古生代与冈瓦纳大陆具有亲缘性,华南加里东运动引起陆内造山过程可能与冈瓦纳大陆的聚合碰撞事件有关。因此,晚新元古代-早古生代造山事件对海南岛构造演化历史具重要影响。此外,该构造运动使石碌群发生褶皱变形,伴随产生的变质流体使铁、钴铜成矿元素进一步活化和富集,对石碌铁、钴铜矿的富集有着重要影响。     

Periglacial and Fluvial Factors Controlling the Sedimentation of Pleistocene Breccia in NW Poland

Breccias were investigated on the terrace of the Toruń‐Eberswalde ice‐marginal valley at Rozwarzyn (NW Poland). Breccia layers include soft‐sediment clasts with diameters between 2 and 256 mm and soft‐sediment megaclasts with diameters from 256 mm to 7 m. The shape of the soft‐sediment clasts and megaclasts (derived from frozen sediments) in the breccia is diverse: from angular and irregular in the case of debris‐flow breccias to slightly rounded and tabular in fluvial breccias. These two types of breccias were developed during the Late Weichselian when the periglacial climate favored extensive lateral erosion by currents of frozen braided channels in the ice‐marginal valley. The dual presence of breccias of fluvial and debris‐flow origin in channel deposits is unique for Quaternary sediments. Zones of breccias existed in the channels where scours and obstacle marks related to megaclasts developed. The study of breccias shed new light on the fluvial processes in ice‐marginal valleys during the Pleistocene and can be considered as diagnostic for fluvio‐periglacial conditions.     

Integral Turbulence Statistics Over a Central European City Centre

Atmospheric measurements over 5 years (2005–2010) at two sites in ?ód?, central Poland have been analyzed to develop a better understanding of turbulence in urban areas. Fast response wind velocity, temperature, humidity and CO₂ concentration were measured using sonic anemometers and gas analyzers, placed on narrow masts at 37 and 42 m above the ground. The measurements were used to calculate standard deviations of each parameter, and were then normalized according to local Monin–Obukhov similarity theory and plotted as a function of stability parameter ζ = z′/L. Results for the wind components show typical scaling with a power law with exponent ±1/3 in the free convection limit, and that approaches a constant value close to neutral stratification. For stable conditions, the constant value in the neutral limit remains the same for stability parameters lower than 0.1–0.2, then increases. The normalized standard deviation of temperature fits the ?1/3 law in the free convection limit, approaching a constant value within a stable limit. However, it exhibits hyperbolic characteristics for close to neutral stratification. The normalized standard deviations for humidity and CO₂ concentration exhibit scaling similar to the wind components in the unstable regime and remain constant in the stable domain. The results for the wind components and for temperature are in the range of various functions found in other studies. The absolute values for humidity and CO₂ concentration seem to be slightly higher, but only single examples of such investigations can be found in the literature.