A New Method for Low‐Temperature Decomposition of Chromites and Dichromium Trioxide using Bromic Acid Evaluated by Chromium Isotope Measurements

In recent years, routine application of the stable isotope determination of chromium (Cr) in environmental and health protection research has led to the search for simpler chromite decomposition techniques. As the range of Cr isotope abundance ratios in nature is very narrow, conventional chromite decomposition techniques are no longer suitable, due to the relatively high risk of contamination during laboratory procedures. We have developed a protocol for the decomposition of chromites based on oxidation by bromic acid at room temperature. The procedure takes 15 d and requires two doses of bromic acid during the reaction period (day 1 and 8), due to the limited stability of the reagent. Chromium extracted by alkaline oxidative fusion and by bromic acid decomposition yielded statistically indistinguishable δ⁵³Cr values, measured by multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry following addition of a ⁵⁰Cr‐⁵⁴Cr double‐spike.     

Jesenice—A new meteorite fall from Slovenia

Abstract– On April 9, 2009, at 3:00 CEST, a very bright fireball appeared over Carinthia and the Karavanke Mountains. The meteoroid entered the atmosphere at a very steep angle and disintegrated into a large number of objects. Two main objects were seen as separate fireballs up to an altitude of approximately 5 km, and witnesses reported loud explosions. Three stones were found with a total weight of approximately 3.611 kg. The measured activity of short‐lived cosmogenic radionuclides clearly indicates that two specimens result from a very recent meteorite fall. All cosmogenic radionuclide concentrations suggest a rather small preatmospheric radius of <20 cm; a nominal cosmic‐ray exposure age based on ²¹Ne is approximately 4 Ma, but the noble gas and radionuclide results in combination indicate a complex irradiation. Jesenice is a highly recrystallized rock with only a few relic chondrules visible in hand specimen and thin section. The texture, the large grain size of plagioclase, and the homogeneous compositions of olivines and pyroxenes clearly indicate that Jesenice is a L6 chondrite. The bulk composition of Jesenice is very close to the published average element concentration for L ordinary chondrites. The chondrite is weakly shocked (S3) as indicated by the undulatory extinction in olivine and plagioclase and the presence of planar fractures in olivine. Being weakly shocked and with gas retention ages of >1.7 Ga (⁴He) and approximately 4.3 Ga (⁴⁰Ar), Jesenice seems not to have been strongly affected by the catastrophic disruption of the L‐chondrite parent body approximately 500 Ma ago.     

Large‐scale 3D inversion of potential field data

Inversion of gravity and/or magnetic data attempts to recover the density and/or magnetic susceptibility distribution in a 3D earth model for subsequent geological interpretation. This is a challenging problem for a number of reasons. First, airborne gravity and magnetic surveys are characterized by very large data volumes. Second, the 3D modelling of data from large‐scale surveys is a computationally challenging problem. Third, gravity and magnetic data are finite and noisy and their inversion is ill posed so regularization must be introduced for the recovery of the most geologically plausible solutions from an infinite number of mathematically equivalent solutions. These difficulties and how they can be addressed in terms of large‐scale 3D potential field inversion are discussed in this paper. Since potential fields are linear, they lend themselves to full parallelization with near‐linear scaling on modern parallel computers. Moreover, we exploit the fact that an instrument’s sensitivity (or footprint) is considerably smaller than the survey area. As multiple footprints superimpose themselves over the same 3D earth model, the sensitivity matrix for the entire earth model is constructed. We use the re‐weighted regularized conjugate gradient method for minimizing the objective functional and incorporate a wide variety of regularization options. We demonstrate our approach with the 3D inversion of 1743 line km of FALCON gravity gradiometry and magnetic data acquired over the Timmins district in Ontario, Canada. Our results are shown to be in good agreement with independent interpretations of the same data.     

Water transport in planetary ice shells by two-phase flow – a parametric study

We present a two-phase model for the generation of meltwater and its propagation through the outer shells of icy satellites such as Europa, Enceladus or Titan. We exploit the analogy with the process of partial melt generation in the Earth’s interior by adopting the formalism of two-phase flow developed in the mantle-dynamics community, and by means of scaling analysis we derive a reduced system appropriate for our planetary application. The resultant system couples Darcy’s law with the deformation of the viscous ice matrix. We numerically investigate the system in a simplified one-dimensional geometry, corresponding to a laterally uniform ice layer, and analyze the role of various physical parameters. We focus on the leading-order effects, namely (i) the key importance of ice permeability, (ii) the role of complex ice rheology depending on temperature, deformation mechanisms and water content, (iii) the possible contribution of surface tension and (iv) the effects of mechanical coupling between the phases. Our analysis suggests that the global water transport through temperate ice is mainly controlled by ice permeability and can be well approximated by a model in which the complex ice rheology is parameterized in terms of a constant viscosity. While the mechanical coupling between the phases dramatically affects the flow at the local scale, the surface tension appears to be insignificant.     

An assessment of global and regional climate change based on the EH5OM climate model ensemble

An analysis of climate change for global domain and for the European/Mediterranean region between the two periods, 1961–1990 (representing the twentieth century or “present” climate) and 2041–2070 (representing future climate), from the three-member ensemble of the EH5OM climate model under the IPCC A2 scenario was performed. Ensemble averages for winter and summer seasons were considered, but also intra-ensemble variations and the change of interannual variability between the two periods. First, model systematic errors are assessed because they could be closely related to uncertainties in climate change. A strengthening of westerlies (zonalization) over the northern Europe is associated with an erroneous increase in MSLP over the southern Europe. This increase in MSLP is related to a (partial) suppression of summer convective precipitation. Global warming in future climate is relatively uniform in the upper troposphere and it is associated with a 10% wind increase in the subtropical jet cores. However, spatial irregularities in the low-level temperature signal single out some regions as particularly sensitive to climate change. For Europe, the largest near-surface temperature increase in winter is found over its north-eastern part (more than 3°C), and the largest summer warming (over 3.5°C) is over south Europe. For south Europe, the increase in temperature averages is almost an order of magnitude larger than the increase in interannual variability. The magnitude of the warming is larger than the model systematic error, and the spread among the three model realisations is much smaller than the magnitude of climate change. This further supports the significance of estimated future temperature change. However, this is not the case for precipitation, implying therefore larger uncertainties for precipitation than for temperature in future climate projections.     

Fluctuations and trends of annual precipitation in different climatic regions of Croatia

Summary Secular series of annual precipitation over Croatia have been studied at three stations representing the different climatic regions of Croatia: Osijek (continental precipitation climate), Zagreb-Gri (continental precipitation climate with maritime influence) and Crikvenica (maritime precipitation climate).The time series analysis has been deduced by using a quick test for stationarity according to Schönwiese and Malcher, moving average filters, the Mann-Kendall rank statistic, and a progressive test for trend according to Sneyers. From this analysis, the stationarity in time series of annual precipitation totals is stated over the entire interval at all locations except for a very short interval during the first decade of the twentieth century over the continental lowland (Osijek). A generally decreasing trend is present over the entire interval, but is statistically significant only in the continental lowland (Osijek).With 4 Figures     

Graphic intergrowths of feldspars and quartz in some Czechoslovak pegmatites

Graphic intergrowths of alkali feldspar+quartz, and plagioclase+quartz, occur together in pegmatites in the eastern part of the Czechoslovak Moldanubicum. They form zones between the finer-grained wall zone and the central blocky feldspar+quartz core. The normative Or-Pig-Q compositions of the graphic intergrowths and the Or-Ab-An contents of their feldspars show broad variations generally, but have a restricted range within individual pegmatites. At two localities studied in more detail, coexisting feldspars show gradual changes in composition, from the margins up to the innermost graphic pegmatite, compatible with fractional crystallization along the feldspar solidus-solvus intersection in the Or-Ab-An-Q-H₂O system, at different vapour pressures in different pegmatites. Two models are demonstrated for low and high pressure cases. The feldspar compositions from central blocky zones deviate from the magmatic fractional crystallizations paths; this corresponds with the general assumption that they crystallized from supercritical gaseous fluids.In these and in similar pegmatites, coexisting alkali feldspar+quartz and plagioclase + quartz intergrowths are interpreted as the last products of cotectic crystallization from an ultimately fractionated granitic magma. Positive correlation of Ab solid solution and quartz content in the potassic intergrowths suggests that these characteristics may be indicative of the relative pressure and temperature effective during their crystallization, when compared in pegmatites of the same bulk composition.     

SPECTROSCOPY OF A GEMINID FIREBALL: ITS SIMILARITY TO COMETARY METEOROIDS AND THE NATURE OF ITS PARENT BODY

A detailed analysis of a photographic spectrum of a Geminid fireball obtained in December 14, 1961 at the Ondrejov Observatory is presented. We have computed a synthetic spectrum for the fireball and compared it with the observed spectrum assuming chemical equilibrium in the meteor head. In this way we have determined relative chemical abundances in meteor vapors. Comparing the relative chemical abundances of this Geminid meteoroid with those obtained from meteoroids associated with comets 55P/Tempel-Tuttle and 109P/Swift-Tuttle we found no significant chemical differences in main rock-forming elements. Despite of this similarity, the deepest penetration of the Geminid meteoroids and their ability to reach high rotation rates in space without fragmentation suggest that thermal processing is affecting their physical properties. We suggest that as consequence of space weathering a high-strength envelope is produced around these particles. In this picture, heating processes of the mineral phases could result in the peculiar properties observed during atmospheric entry of the Geminid meteoroids, especially their strength, which is evidenced by its resistance to ablation. Finally, although one meteoroid cannot be obviously considered as representative of the composition of its parent body, we conclude that 3200 Phaethon is able to produce millimetre-size debris nearly chondritic in composition, but the measured slight overabundance of Na would support a cometary origin for this body.     

Inhomogeneous Harmonic Plane Waves in Viscoelastic Anisotropic Media

In viscoelastic media, the slowness vector p of plane waves is complex-valued, p = P + iA. The real-valued vectors P and A are usually called the propagation and the attenuation vector, repectively. For P and A nonparallel, the plane wave is called inhomogeneousThree basic approaches to the determination of the slowness vector of an inhomogeneous plane wave propagating in a homogeneous viscoelastic anisotropic medium are discussed. They differ in the specification of the mathematical form of the slowness vector p. We speak of directional specification, componental specification and mixed specification of the slowness vector. Individual specifications lead to the eigenvalue problems for 3 × 3 or 6 × 6 complex-valued matrices.In the directional specification of the slowness vector, the real-valued unit vectors N and M in the direction of P and A are assumed to be known. This has been the most common specification of the slowness vector used in the seismological literature. In the componental specification, the real-valued unit vectors N and M are not known in advance. Instead, the complex-valued vactorial component p of slowness vector p into an arbitrary plane with unit normal n is assumed to be known. Finally, the mixed specification is a special case of the componental specification with p purely imaginary. In the mixed specification, plane represents the plane of constant phase, so that N = ±n. Consequently, unit vector N is known, similarly as in the directional specification. Instead of unit vector M, however, the vectorial component d of the attenuation vector in the plane of constant phase is known.The simplest, most straightforward and transparent algorithms to determine the phase velocities and slowness vectors of inhomogeneous plane waves propagating in viscoelastic anisotropic media are obtained, if the mixed specification of the slowness vector is used. These algorithms are based on the solution of a conventional eigenvalue problem for 6 × 6 complex-valued matrices. The derived equations are quite general and universal. They can be used both for homogeneous and inhomogeneous plane waves, propagating in elastic or viscoelastic, isotropic or anisotropic media. Contrary to the mixed specififcation, the directional specification can hardly be used to determine the slowness vector of inhomogeneous plane waves propagating in viscoelastic anisotropic media. Although the procedure is based on 3 × 3 complex-valued matrices, it yields a cumbersome system of two coupled equations.     

Photoelectric photometry of the stars HD 29647 and HDE 283809 in the Taurus dark cloud

Photoelectric Vilnius photometry of the B-type stars HD 29 647 and HDE 283 809 in the direction of the Taurus molecular cloud indicates their brightness and energy distribution to be constant within 1–2%. The interstellar extinction law is determined for the star HDE 283 809 from the photometry data in the Vilnius andUBVRJHKL systems, which yield the ratioR=A _V/E_B-V=3.5 and grain sizes exceeding the average by approximately 10%. The interstellar extinction law for the two stars is found to be the same in the infrared, however, it is very different in the near ultraviolet. The new spectra of HDE 283 809 confirm the earlier classification and indicate an absence of emission in the hydrogen lines. The interstellar band at 443 nm is observed but its intensity is a half of what is expected forE _B-V=1.61. The observed peculiarities of the energy distribution in the spectrum of HDE 283 809 apparently originate in interstellar or circumstellar dust, not in the star itself.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.