HCl emissions at Soufrière Hills Volcano,Montserrat, West Indies,during a second phase of dome building: November 1999 to October 2000

HCl:SO₂ mass ratios measured by open path Fourier transform spectroscopy (OP-FTIR) in the volcanic plume at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, are presented for the second phase of dome building between November 1999 and November 2000. HCl:SO₂ mass ratios of greater than 1 and HCl emission rates of greater than 400 t day^–1 characterise periods of dome building for this volcano. The data suggest that chlorine partitions into a fluid phase as the magma decompresses and exsolves water during ascent. This is substantiated by a correlation between chlorine and water content in the melt (derived from the geochemical analysis of plagioclase melt inclusion and matrix glasses from phase I and II of dome growth). The matrix glass from the November 1999 and March 2000 domes indicate an open system degassing regime with a fluid-melt partition coefficient for chlorine of the order of 250–300. September 1997 glasses have higher chlorine contents and may indicate a switch to closed system degassing prior to explosive activity in September and October 1997. The OP-FTIR HCl time series suggests that HCl emission rate is strongly related to changes in eruption rate and we infer an emission rate of over 13.5 kt day^–1 HCl during a period of high extrusion rate in September 2000. A calculation of the HCl emission rate expected for varying extrusion rates from the open-system degassing model suggests a HCl emission rate of the order of 1–4 kt day^–1 is indicative of an extrusion rate of between 2 and 8 m³ s^–1. Monitoring of HCl at Soufrière Hills Volcano provide a proxy for extrusion rate, with changes in ratio between HCl and SO₂ occurring rapidly in the plume. Order of magnitude changes occur in HCl emission rates over the time-scale of hours to days, making these changes easy to detect during the day-to-day monitoring of the volcano. Mean water emission rates are calculated to range from 9–24 kt day^–1 during dome building activity, calculated from the predicted mass ratio of H₂O:HCl in the fluid at the surface and FTIR-derived HCl emission rates.     

Permian radiolarians,chert and basalt from the Daxinshan Formation in Lancangjiang belt of southwestern Yunnan,China

The stratigraphical sequences composed of chert and basalt were found in the Daxinshan area of Simao and the Manbie area of Jinghong, southwestern Yunnan. The Middle Permian to ealiest Late Permian radiolarians, such as Follicucullus and Pseudoalbaillella, have been identified from the chert. The chert from the Manbie area of Jinghong is characterized by high SiO₂content (over 92%), large ratios of MnO/TiO₂ (2.15) and low ratios of Al/(Al+Fe+Mn) (≤0.1) and Ce/Ce*(0.4), which indicate that the chert was deposited in pelagic basin. The chert from the Daxinshan area of Simao, however, is characterized by low SiO₂ content, low ratios of MnO/TiO₂ (0.27) and high ratios of Al/(Al+Fe+Mn) (0.49) and Ce/Ce*(0.88), which imply that the chert was deposited in continental margin basin. The basalts from the both areas belong to tholeiite series, and the chemical compositions of their major, rare earth and trace elements show the characteristics of MORB. These results evidence that there are volcanic rocks and chert sequences representing pelagic basin and oceanic basin near continent. These sequences and the formerly reported island-arc volcanic rock sequences imply that the Daxinshan Formation in the Lancangjiang belt represents a sedimentary assemblage formed in active continental margin basin.     

Research on scale effect of histogram

To describe the spatial relationship among the earth objects compactly, in this paper, we raised the concept of histo-variogram based on the analysis of the characteristics of other spatial analyzing methods such as variogram, information entropy. And we also raised a new spatial analysis method of histogram decomposition based on the definition of standing pixel and contour pixel. At the end of this paper, we demonstrated the characteristics of histo-variogram by two experiments, one for spatial analysis, the other for image fusion.     

Matrix expression of thermal radiative characteristics for an open complex

The directionality of thermal radiance of a homogeneous isothermal non-black plane surface is totally decided by its directional emissivity, which depends on the complex dielectric constant and roughness of surface. It can be expressed by This paper proves that it is necessary to express emissivity by a matrix when a target becomes an inhomogeneous non-isothermal open complex with complicated inner geometric structure. The matrix describes the inner radiative interaction among components accurately and also expresses its thermal radiative directionality and structural characteristics completely. Advantages of matrix expression are as follows: first, the physical mechanics of effective emissivity of an open complex is described in a simple and perfect way; second, it becomes easy to understand the principle and method to retrieve components temperature from multi-angle thermal remotely sensed data; and third, the differences of directionalities between an open complex and a homogeneous isothermal non-black plane body are expressed by just using an effective emissivity matrix instead of an emissivity vector. Formula in classic physics is only the special case of matrix expression; therefore, the matrix is a universal unconditional expression to describe the directionality of thermal radiance.     

Bedded jaspers of the Ordovician Løkken ophiolite,Norway: seafloor deposition and diagenetic maturation of hydrothermal plume-derived silica-iron gels

Sedimentary beds of jasper (red hematitic chert) in the Ordovician Løkken ophiolite of Norway are closely associated with volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits. The jaspers occur in the immediate hangingwall and laterally peripheral to the large Løkken (25–30 Mt) and small Høydal (0.1 Mt) VMS deposits, and are exposed discontinuously for several kilometres along strike. Massive or laminated types predominate; jasper-sulphide debris-flow deposits are also abundant near VMS deposits. The jaspers contain hematite-rich laminae showing soft-sediment deformation structures and microtextural evidence that record the presence of a colloidal precursor and an origin as gels. Early textures include: (1) straight or curved chains of hematitic filaments 3–10 µm in diameter and 20–100 µm long; (2) branching networks of 15–25 µm-thick, tubular structures surrounded by cryptocrystalline hematite and filled with quartz and euhedral hematite; (3) small (up to 10 µm) spherules composed of cryptocrystalline hematite and silica; and (4) up to 50 µm silica spherules with hematitic cores. The small filaments seem to have been deposited in varying proportions in the primary laminae, possibly together with hematitic and siliceous microspheroids. Diagenetic changes are represented by polygonal syneresis cracks, and the presence of cryptocrystalline (originally opaline) silica, chalcedony, quartz, carbonate and cryptocrystalline hematite and/or goethite forming botryoidal masses and spheroids <10 µm to 5 mm in diameter. Coarser euhedral grains of quartz, carbonate, and hematite are integral parts of these textures. Bleached, silica-rich jaspers preserve only small relics of fine-grained hematite-rich domains, and locally contain sparse pockets composed of coarse euhedral hematite±epidote. The jaspers are interpreted to record colloidal fallout from one or more hydrothermal plumes, followed by maturation (ageing) of an Si-Fe-oxyhydroxide gel, on and beneath the Ordovician sea floor. Small hematitic filaments in the jaspers reflect bacteria-catalysed oxidation of Fe ²⁺ within the plume. The larger tubular filaments resulted from either microbial activity or inorganic self-organized mineral growth of Fe-oxyhydroxide within the Si-Fe-oxyhydroxide gel after deposition on the sea floor, prior to more advanced maturation of the gel as represented by the spheroidal and botryoidal silica-hematite textures. Bleaching and hematite±epidote growth are interpreted to reflect heat and fluids generated during deposition of basaltic sheet flows on top of the gels.     

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Effect of near-fault earthquake on bridges: lessons learned from Chi-Chi earthquake

The objective of this paper is to describe the lessons learned and actions that have been taken related to the seismic design of bridge structures after the Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake. Much variable near-fault ground motion data was collected from the rupture of Chelungpu fault during the Chi-Chi earthquake, allowing the seismic response of bridge structures subjected to these near-fault ground motions to be carefully examined. To study the near-fault ground motion effect on bridge seismic design codes, a two-level seismic design of bridge structures was developed and implemented. This design code reflects the near-fault factors in the seismic design forces. Finally, a risk assessment methodology, based on bridge vulnerability, is also developed to assist in decisions for reducing seismic risk due to failure of bridges. Director of Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering. Supported by: the Science Council, Chinese Taipei, under grant no. SC 90-2211-E-002-028.     

Paleoenvironmental evolution of the Paratethys in the Slovenian Basin during the Late Paleogene

Several sections from the uppermost Eocene and Oligocene of northern Slovenia have been investigated with respect to sedimentary facies, foraminiferal assemblages, stable isotopes, carbonate microfacies, and palynology. The main objective was to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental history of the Paleogene Paratethys in this region of the eastern Alpine realm. The sediments exhibit a transgressive succession beginning with conglomerates, sandstones, and mudstones of fluvial and lacustrine origin followed by carbonates and muddy marls indicating marine conditions. The foraminiferal faunal changes from brackish to shallow marine to deeper marine assemblages and the distribution of the palynofloras corroborate the sedimentological results. Microfacies analysis of the limestones shows a wide variation of shallow water, generally mud-rich facies dominated by coralline algae, foraminifera, and corals. Microfaunas adapted to low-oxygen conditions indicate temporal sluggish bottom-water circulation which can be associated with high fresh-water fluxes. These results are discussed as reflecting both the global sea-level rise during the Early Oligocene and the regional tectonic and climatic evolution.     

Simultaneous SOHO and Ground-Based Observations of a Large Eruptive Prominence and Coronal Mass Ejection

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are frequently associated with erupting prominences near the solar surface. A spectacular eruption of the southern polar crown prominence was observed on 2 June 1998, accompanied by a CME that was well-observed by the LASCO coronagraphs on SOHO. The prominence was observed in its quiescent state and was followed throughout its eruption by the SOHO EIT and later by LASCO as the bright, twisted core of the CME. Ground-based H observations of the prominence were obtained at the Ondejov Observatory in the Czech Republic. A great deal of fine structure was observed within the prominence as it erupted. The prominence motion was found to rotate about its axis as it moved outward. The CME contained a helical structure that is consistent with the ejection of a magnetic flux rope from the Sun. Similar structures have been observed by LASCO in many other CMEs. The relationship of the flux rope to other structures in the CME is often not clear. In this event, the prominence clearly lies near the trailing edge of the structure identified as a flux rope. This structure can be observed from the onset of the CME in the low corona all the way out to the edge of the LASCO field of view. The initiation and evolution of the CME are modeled using a fully self-consistent, 3D axisymmetric, MHD code.     

Radio Emission from Three-dimensional Relativistic Hydrodynamic Jets: Observational Evidence of Jet Stratification

High-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio, blue-violet spectra of three red giant branch tip stars in M15 have been obtained with the Keck I High-Resolution Echelle Spectrograph. These spectra have been analyzed to determine the abundances of several neutron-capture elements, including the radioactive chronometer element thorium. There are two principal results of this study. First, the abundances of the heavier (Z>/=56) elements for each of the three stars is well matched by a scaled solar system r-process abundance distribution. Second, a weighted mean-observed Th/Eu ratio for the stars implies an age for the neutron-capture material in M15 stars of 14+/-3 Gyr, in reasonable agreement with other recent age estimates for Galactic globular clusters.