Gravimetric examination of Hagia Sophia's subsurface structure

The subsurface structure of Hagia Sophia, one of the oldest sacred monuments in the world built between 532–537 under the reign of Justinian in today's Istanbul, has been investigated by using two relative LaCoste-Romberg gravimeters in order to detect hidden cavities which have also served as earthquake dampers in similar constructions. On the building's ground floor a grid of 100 points with a grid size of about 4.m was measured. The mean gravimetric point error was ± 3.10^–8 ms^–2. The result of the examination is that cavities were not detected in the inner central part of Hagia Sophia with a larger diameter than 8.m down to a depth of about 20.m, and Hagia Sophia's foundation was found to be a slope of natural rock with a downward inclination to the East that has a small crest symmetrical to the building's East-West axis.     

Monsoon response of the Somali Current and associated upwelling

The Somali Current typically develops in different phases in response to the onset of the summer monsoon. Each of these phases exists quasistationary for some time ranging from weeks to months. These periods of rather constant circulation patterns are separated by periods of rapid transition.In the early phase of the monsoon response, during May, with weak southerly winds off Somalia, a cross equatorial inertial current develops which turns offshore a few degrees north of the equator with a coastal upwelling wedge just north of the offshore flow. North of that region, an Ekman upwelling regime exists all the way up the coast. At the onset of strong winds in June, a northern anticyclonic gyre develops north of 5°N and a second cold wedge forms north of 8°–9°N, where that current turns offshore. The most drastic change of upwelling pattern occurs in the late phase of the summer monsoon, August/September, when the southern cold wedge propagates northward, indicating a break-down of the two-gyre pattern and development of a continuous boundary current from south of the equator to about 10°N. The wedge propagation during 1976–1978 is discussed, based on satellite observations (EVANS and BROWN, 1981), moored station data during 1978, 1979 and shipboard hydrographic data during 1979. A simple relation between the decrease of local monsoon winds offshore and wedge propagation cannot be determined.The southward coastal undercurrent, which is part of the Ekman upwelling regime north of 5° during the early summer monsoon, seems to turn offshore between 3° and 5°, probably due to a zonal excursion of depth contours in that area. With the spin-up of the deep-reaching northern gyre the undercurrent is extinguished during July to August but seems to get reestablished after the coalescence of the two gyres.     

In situ hydrocarbon concentrations from pressurized cores in surface sediments, Northern Gulf of Mexico

Two newly developed coring devices, the Multi-Autoclave-Corer and the Dynamic Autoclave Piston Corer were deployed in shallow gas hydrate-bearing sediments in the northern Gulf of Mexico during research cruise SO174 (Oct–Nov 2003). For the first time, they enable the retrieval of near-surface sediment cores under ambient pressure. This enables the determination of in situ methane concentrations and amounts of gas hydrate in sediment depths where bottom water temperature and pressure changes most strongly influence gas/hydrate relationships. At seep sites of GC185 (Bush Hill) and the newly discovered sites at GC415, we determined the volume of low-weight hydrocarbons (C₁ through C₅) from nine pressurized cores via controlled degassing. The resulting in situ methane concentrations vary by two orders of magnitudes between 0.031 and 0.985 mol kg^− 1 pore water below the zone of sulfate depletion. This includes dissolved, free, and hydrate-bound CH₄. Combined with results from conventional cores, this establishes a variability of methane concentrations in close proximity to seep sites of five orders of magnitude. In total four out of nine pressure cores had CH₄ concentrations above equilibrium with gas hydrates. Two of them contain gas hydrate volumes of 15% (GC185) and 18% (GC415) of pore space. The measurements prove that the highest methane concentrations are not necessarily related to the highest advection rates. Brine advection inhibits gas hydrate stability a few centimeters below the sediment surface at the depth of anaerobic oxidation of methane and thus inhibits the storage of enhanced methane volumes. Here, computerized tomography (CT) of the pressure cores detected small amounts of free gas. This finding has major implications for methane distribution, possible consumption, and escape into the bottom water in fluid flow systems related to halokinesis.     

Seismic Characterisation of Gas-rich Near Surface Sediments in the Arkona Basin, Baltic Sea

Gas in sediments has become an important subject of research for various reasons. It affects large areas of the sea floor where it is mainly produced. Gas and gas migration have a strong impact on the environmental situation as well as on sea floor stability. Furthermore, large research programs on gas hydrates have been initiated during the last 10 years in order to investigate their potential for future energy production and their climatic impact. These activities require the improvement of geophysical methods for reservoir investigations especially with respect to their physical properties and internal structures. Basic relationships between the physical properties and seismic parameters can be investigated in shallow marine areas as they are more easily accessible than hydrocarbon reservoirs. High-resolution seismic profiles from the Arkona Basin (SW Baltic Sea) show distinct ‘acoustic turbidity’ zones which indicate the presence of free gas in the near surface sediments. Total gas concentrations were determined from cores taken in the study area with mean concentrations of 46.5 ml/l wet sediment in non-acoustic turbidity zones and up to 106.1 ml/l in the basin centre with acoustic turbidity. The expression of gas bubbles on reflection seismic profiles has been investigated in two distinct frequency ranges using a boomer (600–2600 Hz) and an echosounder (38 kHz). A comparison of data from both seismic sources showed strong differences in displaying reflectors. Different compressional wave velocities were observed in acoustic turbidity zones between boomer and echosounder profiles. Furthermore, acoustic turbidity zones were differently characterised with respect to scattering and attenuation of seismic waves. This leads to the conclusion that seismic parameters become strongly frequency dependent due to the dynamic properties of gas bubbles.     

Topographische und geologische Nachrichten über die Gegend östlich des Ranco-Sees in Süd-Chile,im besondern über den jüngsten Vulkan-Ausbruch „Los Azufres“ (Dezember 1922)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Die Entwicklung der Alpen zum Hochgebirge

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Die Herkunft des Mo,V, As und Cr im Wulfenit der alpinen Blei-Zinklagerstdtten

Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse Zur Ermittlung der Herkunft der Elemente Mo, V, As, Cu, Cr und Ni, die teils im Wulfenit, teils im Vanadinit und Descloizit auf einigen alpinen Blei-Zinklagerstätten des Wettersteinkalkes enthalten sind, wurden 59 Proben von Mineralien und Nebengesteinen dieser Lagerstätten im Kohlebogen spektrographiert und etwa tausend Einzelbestimmungen durchgeführt. Außer den 6 erwähnten Elementen wurden die meisten Proben auch auf Pb, Zn, Cd, Mn, Fe, Co, Ti, Ba, Sr, Be, Al, Si, Ca und Mg untersucht, entweder zur Prüfung des Reinheitsgrades der Proben oder allgemein genetischer Verhältnisse wegen.Bei 6 verschiedenen alpinen Wulfeniten konnten spektrochemisch folgende Gehalte, die zwischen den angegebenen Werten stark schwanken, festgestellt werden: für V 0,02–0,8%, As 0,1–0,7%, Ca 0,007 bis über 5%, Cu < 0,0005 bis 0,01%. Ferner wurden in den Wulfeniten noch geringe Mengen von Mg, Fe, Mn, A1 und Si festgestellt (Tabelle 1, S. 698). Cr konnte nur in, einer von 6 Proben mit 0,003% bestimmt werden.Die spektrographische Analyse eines Vanadinits von Bleiberg zeigte unter anderem 0,01 % Ni und 0,03 % Cr an, die eines Descloizits von Eisenkappel 0,03 % Ni, 0,05 % Cu und 0,1 % Cr neben geringen Mengen von Na, K u. a. Elementen (S. 698).Nach dem geochemischen Untersuchungsbefund ist der Wulfenit auf den alpinen Blei-Zinklagerstättenkeine hydrothermale Bildung, wie bisher fast allgemein angenommen, sondernein Produkt der Oxydationszone. Auch die beiden auf einigen alpinen Blei-Zinklagerstätten neben Wulfenit vorkommenden Mineralien.Vanadinit undDeseloizit sind durch Vorgänge der Oxydationszone entstanden.     

Versuch einer Skizze der paläogeographischen Beziehungen Südamerikas

Zusammenfassung In der im vorhergehenden auseinandergesetzten Weise glaubt Verf. die Hypothese eines bis Südamerika von Osten her reichenden Gondwanalandes durch eine annehmbarere ersetzt zu haben. Die hier aufgestellte Annahme einer Verbindung Südamerikas mit SO-Asien durch die australische Region erklärt nicht nur die auffallenden Verhältnisse der Landfaunen, sondern ist auch durch eine große Menge von geologischen Ereignissen und Zuständen gestützt, die nicht Hypothesen, sondern Tatsachen sind. Am Schluß des Paläozoikums ist der hier nicht genauer aufgeführte Parallelismus der geologischen Geschehnisse in Südafrika und in Südamerika ein auffallender, er reicht auch noch ins Mesozoikum hinein. Faunistische Beziehungen sind durch die Mesosaurier unleugbar gegeben, aber im Mesozoikum fehlen sie schon fast ganz. Im Laufe des Mesozoikums tritt ein ebenso starker Parallelismus des geologischen Geschehens zwischen Australasien und Südamerika ein. Aber die Erforschung der Lebewelt sowohl Südamerikas in vergangener Zeit als auch Australasiens besonders muß noch große Fortschritte machen, bis ein volles Bild dieser Vorgänge vor uns liegt; bis jetzt besteht es fast nur aus einer Reihe von Lücken. Diese Zeilen wollen neue Arbeit wecken, die Kenntnis zu erhöhen.