Sill dynamics and fjord deep water renewal: Idealized modeling study

Fjord exchange circulation and its response to abrupt changes in forcing is examined by means of an idealized modeling experiment. Puget Sound, a fjord-type estuary in western North America (State of Washington), is the main context for this study. Parameters of the idealized model are representative of the entrance sill at Admiralty Inlet and the Main Basin of Puget Sound. Sensitivity to some of the model parameters relevant to a 3D realistic model is discussed. An idealized tidal forcing with fortnightly modulation drives a qualitatively realistic cycle of exchange circulation while the other boundary conditions are kept fixed in time. The cycle is characterized by fortnightly pulses of deep water intrusions with a sharp front at the leading edge and reversed circulation cells below the sill depth developing between the intrusions. This basic state is then perturbed and response of the circulation to abrupt changes in oceanic salinity and river discharge is examined.     

On the spatial structure and dispersion of slow magnetosonic modes coupled with Alfvén modes in planetary magnetospheres due to field line curvature

The structure of the slow mode coupled with Alfvén mode in the axially symmetric magnetosphere is studied in the paper. Due to the coupling, the slow magnetosonic wave gets dispersion across magnetic shells and becomes not strictly guided. The slow mode is found to be captured between the resonant and cutoff surfaces, where the wave vector radial component goes to infinity and to zero, accordingly. The resonant surface is farther from the Earth than the cutoff surface. The slow mode resonance frequency is much lower than the Alfvén resonance frequency due to small value of the sound velocity near the equator. The maximum of the slow mode amplitude expressed in terms of the parallel magnetic field is concentrated near the equator, but expressed in hydromagnetic terms is concentrated near the ionospheres.     

Pull-apart formation mechanism of Cenozoic basins in the Tien Shan and their transpressional evolution: Structural and experimental evidence

The geodynamic settings of the evolution of Cenozoic basins in the North and Middle Tien Shan and their Paleozoic framework have been estimated from a kinematic analysis and detailed structural geological mapping of key sites. Two stages of their development in different geomechanical settings are distinguished. It is suggested that in the late Oligocene, Miocene, and early Pliocene, the pull-apart basins developed under the setting of simple left-lateral shear or transtension. Presumably in the late Pliocene and Quaternary, this setting gave way to right-lateral transpression; extension in the basins was changed by compression with the formation of local fold-thrust structural elements. The reconstruction of geomechanical sections was tested by analog tectonophysical simulation. The natural and experimental structural assemblies and patterns reveal satisfactory convergence.     

Shallow virtual source redatuming by multi‐dimensional deconvolution

Recently, new on‐shore acquisition designs have been presented with multi‐component sensors deployed in the shallow sub‐surface (20 m–60 m). Virtual source redatuming has been proposed for these data to compensate for surface statics and to enhance survey repeatability. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of replacing the correlation‐based formalism that undergirds virtual source redatuming with multi‐dimensional deconvolution, offering various advantages such as the elimination of free‐surface multiples and the potential to improve virtual source repeatability. To allow for data‐driven calibration of the sensors and to improve robustness in cases with poor sensor spacing in the shallow sub‐surface (resulting in a relatively high wavenumber content), we propose a new workflow for this configuration. We assume a dense source sampling and target signals that arrive at near‐vertical propagation angles. First, the data are preconditioned by applying synthetic‐aperture‐source filters in the common receiver domain. Virtual source redatuming is carried out for the multi‐component recordings individually, followed by an intermediate deconvolution step. After this specific pre‐processing, we show that the downgoing and upgoing constituents of the wavefields can be separated without knowledge of the medium parameters, the source wavelet, or sensor characteristics. As a final step, free‐surface multiples can be eliminated by multi‐dimensional deconvolution of the upgoing fields with the downgoing fields.     

Structure of the basement surface and sediments in the Kochkor basin (Tien Shan): geological and geophysical evidence

The basement surface and sediments of the Kochkor basin have been studied by structural geological and geophysical methods. The work included high-resolution mapping of the southern basin margin, with a focus on Cenozoic basin stratigraphy, structural unconformities, basement/sediment contacts, and latest deformation (folds, fractures, and faults). Magnetotelluric (MT) soundings provided insights into basin and basement structure, especially important in the poorly exposed eastern flank of the basin margin. The sections across the southern margin of the basin based on geological and geophysical data reveal deformation in both the basement and the sediments. Deformation in sediments shows up as folding, conformal peneplain surfaces, large faults, low-angle detachment faults, and related thrust-fold belts. Thrusting in sediments is inferred to result from cataclastic flow and mass redistribution in disintegrated basement granites. With this mechanism, the total amount of thrusting in the central part of the basin can exceed the convergence of the basin sides.     

Estimating thermal inflow to El Chichón crater lake using the energy-budget,chemical and isotope balance approaches

El Chichón crater lake appeared immediately after the 1982 catastrophic eruption in a newly formed, 1-km wide, explosive crater. During the first 2 years after the eruption the lake transformed from hot and ultra-acidic caused by dissolution of magmatic gases, to a warm and less acidic lake due to a rapid “magmatic-to-hydrothermal transition” — input of hydrothermal fluids and oxidation of H₂S to sulfate. Chemical composition of the lake water and other thermal fluids discharging in the crater, stable isotope composition (δD and δ¹⁸O) of lake water, gas condensates and thermal waters collected in 1995–2006 were used for the mass-balance calculations (Cl, SO₄ and isotopic composition) of the thermal flux from the crater floor. The calculated fluxes of thermal fluid by different mass-balance approaches become of the same order of magnitude as those derived from the energy-budget model if values of 1.9 and 2 mmol/mol are taken for the catchment coefficient and the average H₂S concentration in the hydrothermal vapors, respectively. The total heat power from the crater is estimated to be between 35 and 60 MW and the CO₂ flux is not higher than 150 t/day or ~ 200 gm^− 2 day^− 1.