Geochemistry of the Archean Bulawayan Group,Midlands greenstone belt,Rhodesia

The Bulawayan Group in the Midlands greenstone belt can be divided into three formations. The Mafic Formation is composed principally of pillowed, low-K tholeiites and minor bedded chert. The Maliyami Formation and conformably overlying Felsic Formation are composed of calc-alkaline tholeiites, andesites, and dacites with andesites dominating in the Felsic Formation. Minor rhyolite quartz porphyries and ultramafic bodies also occur in the section. The Bulawayan Group near Que Que is perhaps the least altered and metamorphosed Archean greenstone succession known. The absence of andesite and related rocks, the association of bedded chert, and the consistently low K₂O, Rb, and Sr contents of Mafic Formation tholeiites suggest that they represent Archean oceanic rise tholeiites. The compositions of tholeiites and andesites of the Maliyami Formation, however, suggest that they represent an emerging arc system. The Felsic Formation is interpreted as a more advanced stage in the evolution of this arc system.Trace-element model calculations favor an origin for Mafic Formation tholeiites involving about 30% partial melting of a lherzolite source. Similar calculations are consistent with an origin for Maliyami Formation tholeiites, Maliyami and Felsic Formation andesites, and Midlands rhyolites involving, respectively, 50, 20–30, and 10% equilibrium melting of eclogite or garnet amphibolite (of Mafic Formation tholeiite composition). The low K₂O, Rb, and Sr contents of Mafic Formation tholeiites suggest that they were derived from an upper mantle source as depleted in these elements as the oceanic upper mantle is today.A plate tectonic model is proposed for the Bulawayan Group in which the Mafic Formation is derived from a depleted lherzolite source beneath a spreading center in a marginalsea basin and the Maliyami and Felsic Formations and associated rhyolites are produced by partial melting of eclogite in a descending slab located west of the basin.     

The Winchcombe meteorite—A regolith breccia from a rubble pile CM chondrite asteroid

The Winchcombe meteorite is a CM chondrite breccia composed of eight distinct lithological units plus a cataclastic matrix. The degree of aqueous alteration varies between intensely altered CM2.0 and moderately altered CM2.6. Although no lithology dominates, three heavily altered rock types (CM2.1–2.3) represent >70 area%. Tochilinite–cronstedtite intergrowths (TCIs) are common in several lithologies. Their compositions can vary significantly, even within a single lithology, which can prevent a clear assessment of alteration extent if only TCI composition is considered. We suggest that this is due to early alteration under localized geochemical microenvironments creating a diversity of compositions and because later reprocessing was incomplete, leaving a record of the parent body's fluid history. In Winchcombe, the fragments of primary accretionary rock are held within a cataclastic matrix (~15 area%). This material is impact-derived fallback debris. Its grain size and texture suggest that the disruption of the original parent asteroid responded by intergranular fracture at grain sizes <100 μm, while larger phases, such as whole chondrules, splintered apart. Re-accretion formed a poorly lithified body. During atmospheric entry, the Winchcombe meteoroid broke apart with new fractures preferentially cutting through the weaker cataclastic matrix and separating the breccia into its component clasts. The strength of the cataclastic matrix imparts a control on the survival of CM chondrite meteoroids. Winchcombe's unweathered state and diversity of lithologies make it an ideal sample for exploring the geological history of the CM chondrite group.     

Reproductive success as an indicator of genotoxicity in the polychaete worm, Neanthes arenaceodentata

The effects on reproduction of single or chronic exposure to the direct-acting mutagen, radiation, were evaluated using Neanthes arenaceodentata as the model animal. In the first set of experiments, mated pairs were irradiated when oocytes were visible in the female and were given a single dose of either 0·5, 1·0, 2·0, 5·0, 10 or 50 Gy. In the second set of experiments, lifetime exposure was initiated upon the spawning of the P₁ female and was terminated upon the spawning of the F₁ female; the average total doses (0·55, 6·5 and 54 Cy) were delivered at a rate of 0·19, 2·1 or 17 mGyH⁻¹. Our results on embryo abnormalities and mortalities indicated that lethal mutations were most likely induced in the germ cells and had an adverse effect on reproductive success by reducing the survival of early life stages. Except for those mated pairs exposed acutely to 10 or 50 Gy or exposed chronically to 17 mGyh⁻¹, there was no evidence of gamete killing. However, evidence was obtained for mutagen-damage accumulation in developing gametes from continuous exposure to radiation.     

Simulations of the impact of orbital forcing and ocean on the Asian summer monsoon during the Holocene

The importance of orbital forcing and ocean impact on the Asian summer monsoon in the Holocene is investigated by comparing simulations with a fully coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model (FOAM) and with the atmospheric component of this model (FSSTAM) forced with prescribed modern sea-surface temperatures (SSTs). The results show: (1) the ocean amplifies the orbitally-induced increase in African monsoon precipitation, makes somewhat increase in southern India and damps the increase over the southeastern China. (2) The ocean could change the spatial distribution and local intensity of the orbitally-induced latitudinal atmospheric oscillation over the southeastern China and the subtropical western Pacific Ocean. (3) The orbital forcing mostly enhances the Asian summer precipitation in the FOAM and FSSTAM simulations. However, the ocean reduces the orbitally-induced summer precipitation and postpones the time of summer monsoon onset over the Asian monsoon region. (4) The orbital forcing considerably enhances the intensity of upper divergence, which is amplified by ocean further, over the eastern hemisphere. But the divergence is weaker in the FOAM simulations than in the FSSTAM simulations when the orbital forcing is fixed. (5) The orbital forcing can enhance the amplitude of precipitation variability over the subtropical Africa, the southeastern China and northwestern China, inversely, reduce it over central India and North China in the FOAM and FSSTAM simulations. The ocean obviously reduces the amplitude of precipitation variability over most of the Asian monsoon regions in the fixed orbital forcing simulations. (6) The areas characterized by increased summer precipitation in the long-term mean are mostly characterized by increased amplitude of short-term variability, whereas regions characterized by decreased precipitation are primarily characterized by decreased amplitude of short-term variability. However, the influences of orbital forcing or dynamical ocean on regional climate depend on the model.     

The Heliospheric Imagers Onboard the STEREO Mission

Mounted on the sides of two widely separated spacecraft, the two Heliospheric Imager (HI) instruments onboard NASA’s STEREO mission view, for the first time, the space between the Sun and Earth. These instruments are wide-angle visible-light imagers that incorporate sufficient baffling to eliminate scattered light to the extent that the passage of solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) through the heliosphere can be detected. Each HI instrument comprises two cameras, HI-1 and HI-2, which have 20° and 70° fields of view and are off-pointed from the Sun direction by 14.0° and 53.7°, respectively, with their optical axes aligned in the ecliptic plane. This arrangement provides coverage over solar elongation angles from 4.0° to 88.7° at the viewpoints of the two spacecraft, thereby allowing the observation of Earth-directed CMEs along the Sun?–?Earth line to the vicinity of the Earth and beyond. Given the two separated platforms, this also presents the first opportunity to view the structure and evolution of CMEs in three dimensions. The STEREO spacecraft were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in late October 2006, and the HI instruments have been performing scientific observations since early 2007. The design, development, manufacture, and calibration of these unique instruments are reviewed in this paper. Mission operations, including the initial commissioning phase and the science operations phase, are described. Data processing and analysis procedures are briefly discussed, and ground-test results and in-orbit observations are used to demonstrate that the performance of the instruments meets the original scientific requirements.     

Multiscalarity of the Nutrient–Chlorophyll Relationship in Coastal Phytoplankton

The relationship between nitrogen (N) and phytoplankton chlorophyll a (Chl) establishes a basis for understanding eutrophication in coastal marine ecosystems. A substantial literature exists on cross-ecosystem analysis of this relationship, but there is little information on cross-scale patterns. A collection of observational records in Bedford Basin (Canada) was used to construct the N–Chl relationship at four time scales: intra-day, intra-annual, interannual, and interdecadal. Additionally, a dataset of contingent observations from 16 biogeochemical ocean provinces was used to construct the N–Chl relationship at large spatial scale. In Bedford Basin, N statistically predicts Chl at time scales that are short (intra-day, intra-annual) and long (interdecadal) but not intermediate (interannual). There is an apparent stoichiometric regularity in the dependence of Chl on N that crosses time scales. Further, an apparent similitude exists between the local pattern at long time scale and the global pattern at large space scale.     

Reply to “Comments on ‘Poles of rotation’”

Analysis of published data on sea floor spreading for the different oceans demonstrates a close correlation between interruptions of spreading at sea and compressive periods on land and between periods of spreading activity and periods of “no compression” of the orogenic regions. The evolution of both orogenic and oceanic areas appears to be rhythmic. The model is generalized to a dynamic model for the Earth's crust in which periods of global compression and extension follow alternately. Such a model fits better the geological evidences from orogenic regions than the present model for sea floor spreading which postulates an expansion in the mid ocean ridges and a compression along the continental margins underthrusted by oceanic crust.     

X-ray diffraction study of the displacive phase transition in anorthoclase,grain-size effects and surface relaxations

The temperature evolution of the displacive order parameter of hypersolvus, Al-Si disordered alkali feldspars with composition Or₃₁ and Or₂₀ was measured using X-ray powder diffractometry. The monoclinic — triclinic transition shows second-order behaviour and bilinear order parameter-strain coupling. The transition temperatures are 443 K (Or₃₁) and 750 K (Or₂₀). Temperature evolution of the peak width, Γ, of the 132 reflection was found to depend on the grain size of the sample with an anomalous increase of Γ at T _c in fine-grained material. This effect has been rationalised in terms of surface relaxations occuring as T approaches T _c . No anomalous line broadening occurs in coarse-grained material.     

Rates of continental erosion and mountain building

The first objective of this work was to obtain values for the rates at which continental erosion can smooth out or remove the topographic expression produced by orogeny. The dominant part is played by mechanical erosion, which acts most strongly in regions of large topographic expression. Chemical erosion depends strongly on precipitation or runoff in individual river drainage basins, but because most continents have very similar average rainfall, chemical erosion is fairly uniform for continental sized areas, and will succeed in planing down all continents to a level peneplain if given enough time. The exception to this rule is Australia, which has a very low chemical erosion rate because of its dryness. The time constants for mechanical and chemical erosion so obtained vary between about 30 and 300 My depending on the continent and the assumptions made. Mountain building occurs throughout the geological time-scale, but at a non-uniform rate. Although there will not be a balance between erosion and mountain building over a short time-scale, due to the non-uniform rate of mountain building, the long-term situation must be that the two phenomena should balance out. It is shown that the freeboard of continents will respond to the long-term balance between mountain building and erosion. An expression has been derived for the average continental elevation in which the rate of mountain building depends on the rate of radiogenic heat production within the earth. It is shown that relatively small changes in average elevation above sea level of a few hundred metres are predicted to have occurred since the beginning of the Proterozoic. As mountain building is predicted to decrease on average with time, because of the reduction in internal heat generation, and as erosion is dependent on the average elevation, this average elevation will decrease slowly through time, the opposite of what some workers have predicted. A more complicated model of mountain building is then investigated, in which one component of mountain building has a sinusoidal signal. The oscillations in average elevation depend on the period of the sinusoid, being smaller for shorter periods. Finally, an average continental elevation is derived using a list of real orogenic events. Although this list of orogenies is incomplete, there is some indication that the actual continental elevation as seen in the flooding history of the continents is similar to that derived in this paper.