Geoarchaeological investigation of lithic resources in the central Mesa Verde region,Colorado, USA

An important question in Southwestern archaeological research is how social and economic ties between prehistoric groups changed through time. The chemical and mineralogical matching of stone tools and ceramics to source areas is one approach to addressing this question. Here we challenge the assumption that igneous rocks used for manufacturing stone tools and ceramics in the Mesa Verde region of Colorado were originally derived from the Chuska Mountains of New Mexico. Recent geological surveys suggest that small igneous features present in and around Mesa Verde National Park and Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park contain similar lithologies and may represent a local source. We systematically visited seven of these igneous exposures and nine downstream gravel deposits, looking for geological sources and quarry sites matching the lithology of analyzed debitage from this region. Our results suggest that the ancestral Puebloans could have procured such igneous rocks as aphanitic minette and trachybasalt pottery temper from local areas. Because the trachybasalt is usually thought to have been imported from the Chuska Mountains, this discovery may require a revision of interpreted trade networks based on pottery temper and lithic raw material distinctions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Rock-slides on road cuttings in the Dinaric karst of Croatia: processes and factors

The northern Adriatic coast, which forms part of the Dinaric karst system, is bordered by high mountains. Here, the occurrence of rock-slides and rock-falls in road sections with high cuttings excavated in recent times and more than one century ago has been documented. Some of these old slopes were stable for a long time before rock-slides started to occur. We propose that these mass movements are favoured by karstification processes acting along joints in the exposed rock mass. The stress changes induced by overburden removal (excavation) cause dilation in the mass joint systems reducing the rock mass strength and facilitating the circulation of aggressive water. Changes in water pressure and temperature, wetting and drying cycles, and corrosion processes along discontinuity planes entail a reduction through time of the shear strength of potential failure surfaces.     

Hydrogeochemical stratification of the unconfined Samobor aquifer (Zagreb,Croatia)

In the western part of the city of Zagreb, Croatia, hydrogeochemical and isotopic investigations of the Samobor aquifer were carried out with the aim of determining the differences in hydrogeochemical characteristics at increasing aquifer depths. The aquifer comprises 40-m thick gravelly–sandy deposits, with lenses and interlayers of silt and clay. The analyses have proven that with increasing aquifer depth, there are decreases in groundwater temperature and the values of electrical conductivity and increases in the sodium, iron and manganese concentrations. The δ¹³C distribution shows an evident increase in biogenic carbon concentrations with increasing aquifer depth. The measured specific ¹⁴C activities showed that the deeper part of the aquifer is characterized by slow water exchange, while the shallower part is influenced by current recharge, although the pumping wells located on the well-field downstream penetrate the aquifer fully. A direct exchange of water from the Sava River and groundwater occurs in the near vicinity of the river. This exchange weakens further away, while the difference in hydrogeochemical characteristics between the Sava River water and groundwater increases.     

Dust ejection from planetary bodies by temperature gradients: Laboratory experiments

Laboratory experiments show that dusty bodies in a gaseous environment eject dust particles if they are illuminated. We find that even more intense dust eruptions occur when the light source is turned off. We attribute this to a compression of gas by thermal creep in response to the changing temperature gradients in the top dust layers. The effect is studied at a light flux of 13 kW/m² and 1 mbar ambient pressure. The effect is applicable to protoplanetary disks and Mars. In the inner part of protoplanetary disks, planetesimals can be eroded especially at the terminator of a rotating body. This leads to the production of dust which can then be transported towards the disk edge or the outer disk regions. The generated dust might constitute a significant fraction of the warm dust observed in extrasolar protoplanetary disks. We estimate erosion rates of about 1 kg s^?1 for 100 m parent bodies. The dust might also contribute to subsequent planetary growth in different locations or on existing protoplanets which are large enough not to be susceptible to particle loss by light induced ejection. Due to the ejections, planetesimals and smaller bodies will be accelerated or decelerated and drift outward or inward, respectively. The effect might also explain the entrainment of dust in dust devils on Mars, especially at high altitudes where gas drag alone might not be sufficient.