Tracing the exhumation of the Eclogite Zone (Tauern Window,Eastern Alps) by <Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar/<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar dating of white mica in eclogites

New radiometric ages from the Subpenninic nappes (Eclogite Zone and Rote Wand – Modereck Nappe, Tauern Window) show that phengites formed under eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions retain their initial isotopic signature, even when associated lithologies were overprinted by greenschist- to amphibolite-facies metamorphism. Different stages of the eclogite-facies evolution can be dated provided ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating is combined with micro-structural analyses. An age of 39 Ma from the Rote Wand – Modereck Nappe is interpreted to be close to the burial age of this unit. Eclogite deformation within the Eclogite Zone started at the pressure peak along distinct shear zones, and prevailed along the exhumation path. An age of ca. 38 Ma is only observed for eclogites not affected by subsequent deformation and is interpreted as maximum age due to the possible influence of homogenously distributed excess argon. During exhumation deformation was localised along distinct mylonitic shear zones. This stage is mainly characterised by the formation of dynamically recrystallized omphacite2 and phengite. Deformation resulted in the resetting of the Ar isotopic system within the recrystallized white mica. Flat argon release spectra showing ages of 32 Ma within mylonites record the timing of cooling along the exhumation path, and the emplacement onto the Venediger Nappe. Ar-release patterns and ³⁶Ar/⁴⁰Ar vs.³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar isotope correlation analyses indicate no significant ⁴⁰Ar-loss after initial closure, and only a negligible incorporation of excess argon. From the pressure peak onwards, eclogitic conditions prevailed for almost 8–10 Ma.     

Coupling an ocean wave model to an atmospheric general circulation model

A coupled model, consisting of an ocean wave model and an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), is integrated under permanent July conditions. The wave model is forced by the AGCM wind stress, whereas the wind waves modify the AGCM surface fluxes of momentum, sensible and latent heat. We investigate the following aspects of the coupled model: how realistic are the wave fields, how strong is the coupling, and how sensitive is the atmospheric circulation to the spatially and temporally varying wave field. The wave climatology of the coupled model compares favorably with observational data. The interaction between the two models is largest (although weak) in the storm track in the Southern Hemisphere. Young windsea, which is associated with enhanced surface fluxes is generated mostly in the equatorward frontal area of an individual cyclone. However, the enhancement of the surface fluxes is too small to significantly modify the climatological mean atmospheric circulation.This paper was presented at the Second International Conference on Modelling of Global Climate Variability, held in Hamburg 7–11 September 1992 under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Guest Editor for these papers is L. Dümenil     

Palaeomagnetic data of late Cretaceous rocks from Sumba,Indonesia; the rotation of the Sumba continental fragment and its relation with eastern Sundaland

Sumba island forms part of a continental fragment, located near the transition of the Sunda Arc to the Banda Arc. It lies within the forearc region, between the active volcanic arc to the north and the Java Trench to the south. Palaeomagnetic studies of Cretaceous (late Albian-early Campanian) Lasipu sediments revealed a mean characteristic remanence (ChRM) direction with D = 42.5°, I = –23.0° and _{_95} = 6.1°, indicating a palaeolatitude of 12° S. This ChRM is, most likely, a secondary magnetization, possibly caused by the intrusion of the 65-Ma-old Tanadaro granodiorite. This granodiorite gave a mean ChRM direction with D = 44.7°, I = –16.3°, and ₉₅ = 12.2°, pointing to a palaeolatitude of 8.3° S. Eastern Sundaland with Borneo, west and south Sulawesi, and Sumba formed one continental unit in the late Mesozoic, most likely attached to the southeast Asian mainland. Borneo and west and south Sulawesi underwent large counterclockwise (CCW) rotations since the Jurassic with 45° during the Cretaceous, and 45° during the Palaeogene. The Sumba microcontinent, most likely, became detached from eastern Sundaland soon after deposition of the Lasipu sediments. Palaeomagnetic data show that Sumba underwent subsequent clockwise (CW) rotations of up to 96°: 53° between 82 and 65 Ma, and 38° between 65 and 37 Ma. Since the late Eocene, only small rotations occurred. The data indicate that eastern Sundaland, including Sumba, remained close to the equator since the Jurassic. CW rotations occurred in Sundaland both in the north (Indochina) and in the west (Sibumasu) as a consequence of the India – Eurasia collision. The same sense of rotation is seen further east in Sulawesis East Arm and the Philippine Sea plate. Eastern Sundaland (Borneo and west Sulawesi) with CCW rotations is being trapped between these CW rotating plates.     

Continuous injection model for hard X-ray correlated microwave bursts

Asymmetric magnetic field configurations in solar active regions hinder mildly relativistic electrons with magnetic moments suitable to produce microwave radiation from being trapped. Therefore the duration of stay of electrons in the microwave source region is much shorter (<0.2 s) than in the usually assumed trapping models. On this basis we construct a consistent model of hard X-ray correlated microwave bursts due to continuous injection of electrons into a pole field of an asymmetric magnetic loop (Figures 1 and 2). This resolves the discrepancy of the numbers of electrons needed to produce X-ray and radio emission.We compute gyrosynchrotron spectra with the assumption of conservation of the magnetic moment M in the microwave source. The consequence is an anticorrelation between the low frequency power index a of the microwave spectrum and the power index of the hard X-ray spectrum. In fact during the flare of May 18, 1972 increases with time while a is decreasing, so that +a= constant. Furthermore, it is shown that electrons with energies below 100 keV contribute significantly to the microwave radiation; they determine the low frequency spectrum completely.The model is able to explain the most often observed type C-spectra (Guidice and Castelli, 1975), but also flat spectra over one frequency decade.On leave from University of Berne, Institute of Applied Physics.     

Restructuring of polygalacturonate on alumina upon hydration—Effect on phosphate sorption kinetics

Hydration of organic coatings in soils is expected to affect the sorption of oxyanions onto hydrous Fe and Al oxides. We hypothesized that the hydration of polygalacturonate (PGA) coatings on alumina (Al₂O₃) increases their permeability for phosphate. Pure and PGA-coated alumina were equilibrated in deionized water for 2 and 170 h at pH 5 and 20 °C before studying (i) their porosity with N₂ gas adsorption and ¹H NMR relaxometry, (ii) structural changes of PGA-coatings with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and (iii) the kinetics of phosphate sorption and PGA desorption in batch experiments. Scanning electron micrographs revealed that PGA molecules formed three-dimensional networks with pores ranging in size from <10 to several hundred nanometers. Our NMR results showed that the water content of intraparticle alumina pores decreased upon PGA sorption, indicating a displacement of pore water by PGA. The amount of water in interparticle alumina pores increased strongly after PGA addition, however, and was attributed to water in pores of PGA and/or in pores at the PGA-alumina interface. The flexibility of PGA molecules and the fraction of a PGA gel phase increased within one week of hydration, implying restructuring of PGA. Hydration of PGA coatings increased the amount of phosphate defined as instantaneously sorbed by 84%, showing that restructuring of PGA enhanced the accessibility of phosphate to external alumina surfaces. Despite the fact that the efficacy of phosphate to displace PGA was higher after 170 h than after 2 h, a higher phosphate surface loading was required after 170 h to set off PGA desorption. Our findings imply that the number of PGA chain segments directly attached to the alumina surface decreased with time. We conclude that hydration/dehydration of polymeric surface coatings affects the sorption kinetics of oxyanions, and may thus control the sorption and transport of solutes in soils.     

The first record of dinosaurs in the Dalmatian part (Croatia) of the Adriatic-Dinaric carbonate platform (ADCP)

The first discovery of dinosaur footprints on the Dalmatian part of the Adriatic-Dinaric carbonate platform (ADCP) is reported. They constitute the geologically youngest record of footprints on the ADCP. The trackbearing layer was formed in the intertidal environment and represents the final stage of a shallowing-upward cycle. Just below it, a heavy dinoturbated limestone layer can be observed. Microfacies analysis, incorporating evidence from benthic foraminifera and algae, indicates a Late Turonian–Early Coniacian age. The overall morphology and size of the footprints points to sauropod dinosaurs; they represent the largest forms recorded so far on the ADCP. This hints at a prolonged sauropod presence on the platform and to its Late Cretaceous connection to the continent rather than isolation.     

The political geography of religion: historical state-church relations in Europe and recent challenges

Historical processes of state formation and nation building are crucial for an understanding of the geography of religions and churches in Europe. Each country has developed its own model of state-church relations, giving rise to a ‘bewildering variety’ as Grace Davie aptly remarks. The aim of this paper is to bring some order to this variety by developing a framework for the comparative study of church-state relations based on Stein Rokkan’s famous conceptual map and recent extensions of it to Central and Eastern Europe by John Madeley. According to that framework Europe has been divided into three mono-confessional (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox) blocs and two multi-confessional culture belts from Northwest to Southeast, and from Northeast to Southeast. This historical pattern has been challenged by secularisation, which started with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution (Western Europe) and the Russian Revolution (Eastern Europe until the velvet revolutions of 1989/1991) and then became widespread after the ‘cultural revolutions’ of the 1960s. A second challenge has to do with globalisation and its consequences, such as massive immigration and the rise of immigrant religions, and in general deterritorialisation, which means the disembeddedness of religion from its national territory. A third challenge concerns reterritorialisation at other (supranational, regional, transnational, and local) scales, of which the new territorial order of the European Union seems to be the most important. Finally, this paper serves as an introduction to the case studies on church-state relations in this special issue.     

Crustal structure across the Grand Banks–Newfoundland Basin Continental Margin – II. Results from a seismic reflection profile

New multichannel seismic reflection data were collected over a 565 km transect covering the non-volcanic rifted margin of the central eastern Grand Banks and the Newfoundland Basin in the northwestern Atlantic. Three major crustal zones are interpreted from west to east over the seaward 350 km of the profile: (1) continental crust; (2) transitional basement and (3) oceanic crust. Continental crust thins over a wide zone (∼160 km) by forming a large rift basin (Carson Basin) and seaward fault block, together with a series of smaller fault blocks eastwards beneath the Salar and Newfoundland basins. Analysis of selected previous reflection profiles (Lithoprobe 85-4, 85-2 and Conrad NB-1) indicates that prominent landward-dipping reflections observed under the continental slope are a regional phenomenon. They define the landward edge of a deep serpentinized mantle layer, which underlies both extended continental crust and transitional basement. The 80-km-wide transitional basement is defined landwards by a basement high that may consist of serpentinized peridotite and seawards by a pair of basement highs of unknown crustal origin. Flat and unreflective transitional basement most likely is exhumed, serpentinized mantle, although our results do not exclude the possibility of anomalously thinned oceanic crust. A Moho reflection below interpreted oceanic crust is first observed landwards of magnetic anomaly M4, 230 km from the shelf break. Extrapolation of ages from chron M0 to the edge of interpreted oceanic crust suggests that the onset of seafloor spreading was ∼138 Ma (Valanginian) in the south (southern Newfoundland Basin) to ∼125 Ma (Barremian–Aptian boundary) in the north (Flemish Cap), comparable to those proposed for the conjugate margins.     

A geochronological approach to understanding the role of solar activity on Holocene glacier length variability in the Swiss Alps

We present a radiocarbon data set of 71 samples of wood and peat material that melted out or sheared out from underneath eight presentday mid‐latitude glaciers in the Central Swiss Alps. Results indicated that in the past several glaciers have been repeatedly less extensive than they were in the 1990s. The periods when glaciers had a smaller volume and shorter length persisted between 320 and 2500 years. This data set provides greater insight into glacier variability than previously possible, especially for the early and middle Holocene. The radiocarbon‐dated periods defined with less extensive glaciers coincide with periods of reduced radio‐production, pointing to a connection between solar activity and glacier melting processes. Measured long‐term series of glacier length variations show significant correlation with the total solar irradiance. Incoming solar irradiance and changing albedo can account for a direct forcing of the glacier mass balances. Long‐term investigations of atmospheric processes that are in interaction with changing solar activity are needed in order to understand the feedback mechanisms with glacier mass balances.     

The changing relationship between state and church/religion in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is part of the historic Northwest-Southeast multi-confessional culture belt according to the comparative framework of church-state relations in Europe as recently developed by Madeley on the basis of Rokkan’s conceptual map. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of the church-state relations in the Netherlands within this historic framework of state-formation and nation-building, and to interpret recent challenges of its historic state-church model, such as secularisation, the rise of immigrant religions, and general ‘de- and re-territorialisation’ tendencies. The Netherlands developed from a relatively very tolerant polity dominated by the Calvinist Church to a ‘pillarised’ society, in which the Rome-Reformation divide (which also had a strong geographical dimension) was institutionalised in the political system. After the 1960s, very strong secularisation put this ‘pillarised’ system under severe pressure, but the remnants of this system offered a favourable opportunity structure for religious newcomers (Muslims in particular), who could establish their mosques and Muslim schools relatively easily. However, while the main Protestant churches, and even Catholic and Protestant political parties have merged, failing integration of these newcomers in Dutch society and terrorist attacks at the global level as well as in the Netherlands encouraged a new divide between Muslims and non-Muslims. The metropolitan areas in particular became the scene of this new divide.