Depths to density discontinuities beneath the Adamawa Plateau region, Central Africa, from spectral analyses of new and existing gravity data

New gravity data from the Adamawa Uplift region of Cameroon have been integrated with existing gravity data from central and western Africa to examine variations in crustal structure throughout the region. The new data reveal steep northeast-trending gradients in the Bouguer gravity anomalies that coincide with the Sanaga Fault Zone and the Foumban Shear Zone, both part of the Central African Shear Zone lying between the Adamawa Plateau and the Congo Craton. Four major density discontinuities in the lithosphere have been determined within the lithosphere beneath the Adamawa Uplift in central Cameroon using spectral analysis of gravity data: (1) 7–13 km; (2) 19–25 km; (3) 30–37 km; and (4) 75–149 km. The deepest density discontinuities determined at 75–149 km depth range agree with the presence of an anomalous low velocity upper mantle structure at these depths deduced from earlier teleseismic delay time studies and gravity forward modelling. The 30–37 km depths agree with the Moho depth of 33 km obtained from a seismic refraction experiment in the region. The intermediate depth of 20 km obtained within region D may correspond to shallower Moho depth beneath parts of the Benue and Yola Rifts where seismic refraction data indicate a crustal thickness of 23 km. The 19–20 km depths and 8–12 km depths estimated in boxes encompassing the Adamawa Plateau and Cameroon Volcanic Line may may correspond to mid-crustal density contrasts associated with volcanic intrusions, as these depths are less than depths of 25 and 13 km, respectively, in the stable Congo Craton to the south.     

Experimental and theoretical transition probabilities in singly ionized gold

Absolute transition probabilities have been measured for lines originating from the 5d⁹6d and 5d⁹7s electronic configurations in the spectrum of singly ionized gold (Au  ii ). The laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy has been applied to free gold atoms and ions produced by laser ablation. Absolute transition probabilities have been determined using the branching fraction and the Boltzmann plot methods. Theoretical branching fractions as well as radiative lifetime values have also been obtained by a relativistic Hartree–Fock method taking core polarization and configuration interaction effects into account. The new results are compared with previous results when available.     

Gravitational collapse of a dust ball — The external observer's point of view

The problem of collapse of a dust ball has been studied in detail from the point of view of an external observer (O). It is seen that although there is no material pressure from the point of view of the comoving observer, there is a non-vanishing material pressure in the ball from the point of view of O. In the early stages of collapse (w.r.t. O), this pressure is positive everywhere inside the ball, while during the later stages, if one goes outwards from the centre towards the surface of the ball, this pressure is negative up to a certain value of the radial coordinate, and then changes its sign thereafter. On the basis of this pressure, one can understand the physics of the whole scenario of collapse w.r.t. O; in particular, the important feature is that in the ultimate stages an event horizon is formed asymptotically and there is no collapse to a point (as takes place from the point of view of the comoving observer).     

The breakdown of potassium feldspar at high water pressures

The equilibrium position of the reaction between sanidine and water to form “sanidine hydrate” has been determined by reversal experiments on well characterised synthetic starting materials in a piston cylinder apparatus. The reaction was found to lie between four reversed brackets of 2.35 and 2.50 GPa at 450 °C, 2.40 and 2.59 GPa at 550 °C, 2.67 and 2.74 GPa at 650 °C, and 2.70 and 2.72 GPa at 680 °C. Infrared spectroscopy showed that the dominant water species in sanidine hydrate was structural H₂O. The minimum quantity of this structural H₂O, measured by thermogravimetric analysis, varied between 4.42 and 5.85 wt% over the pressure range of 2.7 to 3.2 GPa and the temperature range of 450 to 680 °C. Systematic variation in water content with pressure and temperature was not clearly established. The maximum value was below 6.07 wt%, the equivalent of 1 molecule of H₂O per formula unit. The water could be removed entirely by heating at atmospheric pressure to produce a metastable, anhydrous, hexagonal KAlSi₃O₈ phase (“hexasanidine”) implying that the structural H₂O content of sanidine hydrate can vary. The unit cell parameters for sanidine hydrate, measured by powder X-ray diffraction, were a = 0.53366 (±0.00022) nm and c = 0.77141 (±0.00052) nm, and those for hexasanidine were a = 0.52893 (±0.00016) nm and c = 0.78185 (±0.00036) nm. The behaviour and properties of sanidine hydrate appear to be analogous to those of the hydrate phase cymrite in the equivalent barium system. The occurrence of sanidine hydrate in the Earth would be limited to high pressure but very low temperature conditions and hence it could be a potential reservoir for water in cold subduction zones. However, sanidine hydrate would probably be constrained to granitic rock compositions at these pressures and temperatures. Received: 6 May 1997 / Accepted: 2 October 1997     

Adaptive hierarchical upscaling of flow in heterogeneous reservoirs based on an a posteriori error estimate

This paper treats the upscaling of the absolute permeability in a heterogeneous reservoir. By replacing the fine scale permeability tensor with an upscaled, or effective permeability tensor, a modelling error is introduced. An a posteriori error estimate on this modelling error is formulated and tested. An implementation of the theory, based on domain decomposition coupled with a hierarchical representation of the absolute permeability field, is given. As hierarchical basis functions we have chosen the Haar system, which leads to a wavelet representation of the permeability. The wavelet representation offers a natural upscaling technique which resembles the highcut filters commonly used in signal analysis. This procedure represents an adaptive upscaling method. The numerical results show that this method conserves both the dissipation and the mean velocity in the problem fairly well. The a posteriori error estimate on the modelling error coupled with domain decomposition methods constitutes a powerful modelling tool.     

Experimental determination of argon solubility in silicate melts: An assessment of the effects of liquid composition and temperature

The argon solubility of 38 liquids in the system Na₂O-CaO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ (NCMAS) has been determined at 1873 K and 1 bar, the argon concentration of presaturated glasses being measured using a static mass spectrometer. For compositions in the subsystem diopside (CaMgSi₂O₆), nepheline (NaAlSiO₄), albite (NaAlSi₃O₈), anorthite (CaAl₂Si₂O₈), argon solubility is generally a linear function of the relative proportion of each end member, solubility being lowest in diopside melt (1.53 10⁻⁵ cm³ STP · g⁻¹ · bar⁻¹) and highest in albite melt (2.88 10⁻⁴ cm³ STP · g⁻¹ · bar⁻¹). For the tectosilicate joins studied (SiO₂-Na₂Al₂O₄, SiO₂-CaAl₂O₄, SiO₂-MgAl₂O₄) solubility decreases with decreasing silica content in all cases, being highest for Na-bearing liquids and lowest for Mg-bearing liquids at constant molar silica content. Where comparison is possible our results are in good agreement with data from the literature. When our data are considered in isolation we find that argon solubility shows an excellent correlation with calculated ionic porosity. The covariation of argon solubility and liquid density is also reasonable, that with molar volume less convincing and that with polymerization state (as defined by the ratio of the number of nonbridging oxygens and tetrahedral network forming cations; NBO/T) nonexistent. However, when our data are combined with those from the literature no well constrained correlation between argon solubility and ionic porosity is apparent. Based upon this observation and consideration of the temperature dependence of noble gas solubility it is concluded that ionic porosity is not a universally applicable parameter which may be used to predict noble gas solubility as a function of composition, temperature and pressure. Two new models for calculating argon solubility are proposed, both employing the notion of partial molar argon solubilities. The first uses oxide components, for which partial molar argon solubility is directly proportional to partial molar ionic porosity calculated at 1873 K, irrespective of the temperature of experimental equilibration. The second model, which offers the best fit to the available data, employs tetrahedral units rather than oxides as the proposed melt components. This latter model successfully accounts for reported argon solubilities in simple Al-free systems, in simple Al-bearing systems and in natural liquids. This is interpreted to infer that argon is incorporated in large sites in the liquid structure (such as the space within rings of n-tetrahedra) although further work is required to understand the quantitative links between melt structure and noble gas solubility.