Variability peculiarities of distribution of transparency and suspended matter content in the northwestern part of the Black Sea in spring caused by large-scale processes in the ocean–atmosphere system

The display is considered of global processes in the ocean-atmosphere system in the variability of hydrophysical and hydrobiological fields of the northwestern part of the Black Sea in spring period of 1978–1995. It is demonstrated that the variability of North Atlantic and Southern oscillations in winter-spring period affects the spring hydrometeorological conditions in catchment areas of European rivers of the Black Sea basin causing the variability of runoff volumes of these rivers and the scales of spreading river waters at the northwestern shelf. Hydrological and hydrobiological characteristics of shelf waters varying in the process influence the formation of distribution of suspended matter content and transparency.     

African Refugee Communities in Southeast Queensland: forces of concentration and dispersion

Black African refugee communities are a relatively recent addition to the Australia landscape. Between 2001 and 2007, over 5000 refugees from various African nations resettled in Queensland. There are very few data about African refugee settlement geography in Australia and no previous study delineating African refugee settlement within the State of Queensland. This research addresses the knowledge gap by examining the geographic distribution and secondary migration patterns of eight African refugee communities in Southeast Queensland. The research adopted a multi-method approach, mapping quantitative data from an existing secondary database and comparing these to qualitative primary data to determine geographical distribution. Additional qualitative data were used to establish secondary migration patterns of the case study communities. Results show noticeable discrepancies between existing secondary datasets and primary data collected from the communities. These inconsistencies are significant because settlement service providers who use the secondary data to budget, plan and deliver essential settlement services might be underestimating the size of the African communities and missing some settlement locations altogether. The results also reveal a tension between the main socio-cultural forces of concentration and housing forces of dispersion that are driving secondary migration in the communities. A policy recommendation to mitigate the potentially negative effects of residential dispersion on settlement outcomes includes the strategic location of service hubs in key suburbs, such as Moorooka, to which the communities are already drawn.     

Extinction in a photo-electric nucleus counter using adiabatic expansion of 1.21 pressure ratio achieved by increasing or decreasing the original pressure

Summary Comparisons were made of the extinctions as measured with a photoelectric condensation nucleus counter, Dublin School of Cosmic Physics Model 1957, when the «over-pressure method» or the «under-pressure method» with equal pressure expansion ratios were used for producing the adiabatic cooling of the sample in, the fogtube of the counter. Due to theSchlarb effect the extinction measured by the second method is smaller than that by the first. Tables and graphs for converting the extinction obtained by one method into that by the other are given. The advantages of the underpressure method are given and discussed.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird über die Vergleichung der Extinktionen, welche mit einem photo-elektrischen Kondensationskernzähler Modell 1957 der Schule für kosmische Physik in Dublin gemessen werden, berichtet, wenn, bei gleichem Druckexpansions-Verhältnis, die Druckerhöhungs- oder die Expansionsmethode in ein partielles Vakuum für die Erzeugung der adiabatischen Abkühlung der im Nebelrohr des Kernzählers eingeschlossenen Aerosolprobe benützt wird. Wie erwartet, ist als Folge desSchlarb-Effektes die mit der zweiten Methode gemessene Extinktion kleiner. Tabellen und Kurven werden mitgeteilt, welche die Umwandlung der mit der einen Methode erhaltenen Extinktion in jene der anderen ermöglichen, und die Vorteile der Vakuum-Expansions-Methode diskutiert.

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The research reported in this article has been supported in part by the Geophysics Research Directorate of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, through the European Office of the Air Research Division, United States Air Force under Contract AF 61 (052)-26 and by the Instrumentation Engineering Physics & Analysis Laboratory of the General Electric Co. Schenectady, New York under Retainer Agreement.     

Fractal analysis of magnetite grains — implications for interpreting deformation mechanism

In the present study, the grain size (d) and shape of 225 magnetite grains, that crystallized at T>600°C in a syntectonic granite (Godhra Granite, India) are evaluated and implications of data to decipher deformation mechanism of magnetite are discussed. Fractal (ruler) dimension (D) analysis of magnetite grains is performed and it is demonstrated that they show fractal behaviour. Smaller magnetite grains tend to be more serrated than the larger ones, which is manifested in the higher fractal (ruler) dimension (D) of the former. Assuming a natural strain rate ranging between 10⁻¹⁰ s⁻¹ and 10⁻¹⁴ s⁻¹, the grain size data fall dominantly in the dislocation creep field of the existing deformation mechanism map of magnetite for 630°C. However, SEM-EBSD studies reveal that subgrains are absent in the magnetite grains and they did not undergo dislocation creep. Thus it is inferred that the shape of magnetite grains was not controlled by dislocation creep. It is concluded that the higher serration and increased fractal dimension of finer magnetite grains implies the importance of diffusion creep as an important deformation mechanism at high-T for magnetite in polymineralic rocks.     

NOAA WP-3D instrumentation and flight operations on AGASP-II

The second Arctic Gas and Aerosol Sampling Program (AGASP-II) was conducted across the non-Soviet Arctic in March and April 1986, to study the aerosol, gaseous, chemical, and optical properties of Arctic haze. One component of the program was supported with an instrumented NOAA WP-3D atmospheric research aircraft. Measurements of wind, temperature, ozone, water vapor, condensation nucleus concentration, and aerosol scattering extinction coefficient were used to determine the locations and properties of haze layers. The first three NOAA WP-3D research flights were conducted north of Barrow, Alaska, and over the Beaufort Sea northeast of Barter Island, Alaska. The next three sampled conditions in the high Arctic near Alert, Northwest Territories, Canada. All basic meteorological, gas, and aerosol systems are described. The WP-3D flight tracks and operations are presented.     

Part II. Evaluation of Ar-Ar quartz ages: Implications for fluid inclusion retentivity and determination of initial Ar/Ar values in Proterozoic samples

The argon isotope systematics of vein-quartz samples with two different K-reservoirs have been evaluated in detail. Potassium is hosted by ultra-high-salinity fluid inclusions in quartz samples from the Eloise and Osborne iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits of the Mt Isa Inlier, Australia. In contrast, K is hosted by accidentally trapped mica within lower-salinity fluid inclusions of a sample selected from the Railway Fault, 13 km south of the Mt Isa copper mine, Australia. Imprecise apparent ages have been obtained for all of the samples studied and conclusively demonstrate that quartz fluid inclusions are retentive to Ar and have not leaked over billions of years. IOCG samples that host K in fluid inclusions only, have K/Cl values of <1 and the ages obtained represent the maximum ages for mineralization. In contrast, the Railway Fault samples that include accidentally trapped mica have K/Cl values of ?1. Excess ⁴⁰Ar_E plus Cl hosted by fluid inclusions, and radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar_R plus K, are strongly correlated in these samples and define a plane in 3D ⁴⁰Ar-³⁶Ar-K-Cl space. In this case, the plane yields an ‘excess ⁴⁰Ar_E’ corrected age of ∼1030 Ma that is 100’s of Ma younger than nearby Cu-mineralization at Mt Isa. The age is interpreted to reflect ⁴⁰Ar-loss from the accidentally trapped mica into the surrounding fluid inclusions, and is not related to the samples’ age of formation. The initial ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar value of fluid inclusions is widely used to provide information on fluid origin. For the IOCG samples that host K in fluid inclusions only, the initial ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values are close to the measured values at every temperature of stepped heating experiments. For samples that include accidentally trapped mica, the correction for post-entrapment radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar_R production is significant. Furthermore, because ³⁹Ar_K present in accidentally trapped mica crystals is released at different temperatures to radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar_R lost to the surrounding fluid inclusions, intra-sample ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar variation cannot be reliably documented. The results demonstrate that noble gas analysis is readily applicable to Proterozoic, or older, samples but that if K-mineral impurities are present within quartz the abundance of K must be determined before calculation of mean ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values that are representative of the samples’ initial composition.     

Evolution of the Landscape of the Western Part of the Turan–Uyuk Basin (Tuva Highland) in the Late Pleistocene

Doklady Earth Sciences - A complex of works including geomorphological deciphering, field survey, drilling, electric prospecting, and dating of deposits using the radiocarbon method and optically...     

Water Self-Softening Processes at Waterfall Sites

Many rivers in tropical and subtropical karst regions are supersaturated with respect to CaCO3 and have high water hardness. After flowing through waterfall sites, river water is usually softened, accompanied by tufa formation, which is simply described as a result of water turbulence in fast-flowing water. In this paper, a series of laboratory experiments are designed to simulate the hydrological conditions at waterfall sites. The influences of air-water interface, water flow velocity, aeration and solid-water interface on water softening are compared and evaluated on a quantitative basis. The results show that the enhanced inorganic CO2 outgassing due to sudden hydrological changes occurring at waterfall sites is the principal cause of water softening at waterfall sites. Both air-water interface area and water flow velocity increase as a result of the "aeration effect", "low pressure effect" and "jet-flow effect" at waterfall sites, which greatly accelerates CO2 outgassing and therefore makes natural w     

Electronic structures of sulfide minerals — Theory and experiment

The sulfide minerals exhibit a rich diversity in sturctural chemistry and in electrical, magnetic and other physical properties. Models based on molecular orbital theory and incorporating some elements of band theory can be developed to describe the diverse valence electron behavior in these minerals. Qualitative models can be proposed on the basis of observed properties, and the models can be tested and refined using experimental data from X-ray emission and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum mechanical calculations performed on cluster units which form the basic building blocks of the crystals. This approach to chemical bonding in sulfide minerals is illustrated for binary non-transition metal sulfides (ZnS, CdS, HgS, PbS), binary transition metal sulfides (FeS₂, CoS₂, NiS₂, CuS₂ ZnS₂) and more complex sulfides (CuFeS₂, Cu₂S, Ag₂S, CuS, Co₃S₄, CuCo₂S₄, Fe₃S₄). The relationship between qualitative and quantitative theories is reviewed with reference to the pyrite-marcasite-arsenopyrite-loellingite series of minerals. Application of the models to understanding structure-determining principles, relative stabilities, solid solution limits and properties such as color, reflectance and hardness are discussed.     

The Gagarka gold deposit in the central Urals, Russia

The Gagarka gold deposit was formed in two stages. The gold-telluride ore of the main early stage was formed ～260 Ma ago synchronously with Permian collision, which was accompanied by retrograde metamorphism with mobilization of Au and Te from geochemically similar massive sulfide lodes in the rift zone. The Au-bearing argillic metasomatic rocks of the late stage presumably Mesozoic in age are distinguished by specific geochemistry and locally superposed on the ore related to the early stage. The upper part of the metasomatic column consists of quartz-kaolinite rock, which is confused in many cases with products of Mesozoic-Cenozoic weathering and because of this is not perceived as a guide for hidden Au-bearing argillic alteration, whose resource potential remains underestimated in the Urals.