The effect of an oil slick on the albedo of the sea surface

Values of sea surface albedo estimated from a 3-day data set agree reasonably well with the findings of Payne (1972). However, when an oil slick moved over the observational site, the value of albedo suddenly jumped to 0.57. The effect of turbidity on the albedo over a lake has already been reported (Sadhuram et al., 1988).     

Measurements and Langevin simulations of mean tracer concentration fields downwind from a circular line source inside an alfalfa canopy

Two Langevin simulations of trajectories of marked fluid elements in inhomogenous turbulence, where the Lagrangian length and vertical velocity scales are height dependent, were compared with field data. A CO₂ tracer was released from a circular line source and the concentration profiles were measured for diffusion distances of 50 and 100 cm inside and above an alfalfa canopy.One of the simulations, suggested by Wilson et al. (1983), biases the vertical velocities by adding a mean upward drift. The second simulation proposed here by-passes this difficulty by reflecting marked particles according to a probability calculated from the gradient in vertical velocity variance between the beginning and the end of each step. This simulation also makes use of a constant time-scale within the canopy, following preliminary results from a turbulence experiment within a forest (Leclerc, 1987).Comparing the results of these simulations with the field data shows that the simulation proposed by Wilson et al. (1983) does not correctly reproduce the difusion for the larger fetch in systems exhibiting strong gradients in vertical velocity variance. Instead, the modelled plumes exhibit a bulge at the source height whereas the field data show smooth profiles. In addition, the modelled plumes overestimate the vertical spread of the plumes, which is possibly due to the inadequacy of the approach in severely inhomogeneous systems. In contrast, the results from the tracer experiments indicate that the diffusion can be better reproduced with the use of a reflection probability calculated at each step. The discrepancies between the experimental results and the simulation using a reflection probability are attributed to stability effects.     

Contact oxidation process followed by activated carbon adsorption for textile wastewater treatment

A pilot plant study and a full scale plant study were conducted to determine the feasibility of using contact oxidation followed by activated carbon adsorption process in textile wastewater treatment, and to determine the effects of types of packing media in the contact oxidation tank and types of aeration process on the treatment performance. Results indicated that contact oxidation followed by activated carbon adsorption process was effective in removing organics and color from textile wastewaters. Types of packing media and types of aeration processes had little effect on the treatment performance. The pilot plant performance was found to perform slightly better than the performance of the full scale plant.     

Organic matter of the Mulhouse Basin, France: a synthesis

The lower Oligocene evaporite sequence of the Mulhouse Basin (France) contains organic matter-rich marl deposits. These marls display an overall cyclic variation of sedimentation rate, organic carbon content, hydrogen index and selected molecular parameters over a 30 m thick stratigraphic interval. The integration of all sedimentological and geochemical parameters has allowed the reconstruction and characterization of the paleoenvironment of deposition. The marls were deposited in a perennial lake that was at times connected to the sea. Two organic facies end members could be assigned to a lake stage with a marine connection and a lake stage that received dominantly continental water input. The overall stratigraphic variation in the organic matter content is interpreted to reflect the adaptation of the Oligocene flora to the changing paleoclimate and environmental conditions.     

Types and distribution of silver ore deposits in China

Silver is generally recovered as a by- and co-product along with Au, Pb, Zn, Cu, Sb, Bi, Hg, Sn and W from polymetallic and gold mines in China. Chinese silver deposits can be classified into five principal types according to host rocks. These types and their host rocks are: (1) marine volcanic-sedimentary rocks hosting (la) massive sulfide Pb-Zn-(Cu)-Ag ores and (1b) stratiform Ag-(Au) ores; (2) continental volcanic-sedimentary rocks containing (2a) various polymetallic-silver veins and/or stockworks, and (2b) Ag-(Au) veins in pyroclastic rocks; (3) rocks affected by metasomatic processes including (3a) complex Sn-polymetallic-Ag ores, (3b) Pb-Zn-(Cu)-Ag skarns, (3c) associated W-Ag quartz veins and/or skarns, and (3d) Ag-(Au) zones and veins in altered carbonate rocks; (4) metamorphic-intrusive rocks, principally Ag-(Au) veins in sheared and brecciated metamorphic rocks; and (5) sedimentary rocks including (5a) stratiform Pb-Zn-Ag ores in carbonate rocks, (5b) Ag-V mantos in black shales, and (5c) Cu-(Ag) layers in red sandstones. A sixth grouping includes gossans. The tectonic settings, geological features, and temporal and spatial distribution of these different types of silver occurrences indicate that silver mineralization reflects to a great extent the evolution of tectonic environments in China throughout geological time. Type 1 is generally developed in association with several fold belts from the Caledonian to Yanshanian orogens, while types 2, 3 and 4 correlate with rejuvenation of the eastern China continent during the Mesozoic period. The three subgroups of type 5 are recognized in different stages and various sedimentry and diagenetic environments during the development of paraplatforms and fold belts. Type 6 results from recent weathering of existing sulfide ores or protores. Editorial handling: DR     

Application of the weighted residual method to diffraction by 2-D canyons of arbitrary shape: I. Incident SH waves

A solution for the two-dimensional scattering and diffraction of plane SH waves by canyons of arbitrary shape in an elastic half space is presented. The wave field for arbitrary geometry in this paper is computed numerically by the method of weighted residues (moment method). The wave displacement field computed by the present residual method for the case of a semi-circular canyon was shown to agree analytically and numerically with that computed by the exact closed form series solution. The same observations about ground amplifications, their dependence on frequencies and orientations of the incident waves, can be stated here for canyons of arbitrary shape as previously made for circular canyons.     

Magnotospheric imaging of high latitude ion outflows

High latitude ion outflows mostly consist of upward streaming O⁺ and He⁺ emanating from the ionosphere. At heights above 1000 km, these flows consist of cold and hot components which resonantly scatter solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light, however, the ion populations respond differently to Doppler shifting resulting from the large relative velocities between the ions and the Sun. The possibility of optical detection of the Doppler effect on the scattering rate will be discussed for the O⁺ (83.4 nm) ions. We have contrasted the EUV solar resonance images of these outflows by simulations of the 30.4 nm He⁺ and 83.4 nm O⁺ emissions for both quiet and disturbed geomagnetic conditions. Input data for the 1000 km level has been obtained from the EICS instrument aboard the Dynamics Explorer satellite. Our results show emission rates of 50 and 56 milli-Rayleighs at 30.4 nm for quiet and disturbed conditions and 65 and 75 milli-Rayleighs at 83.4 nm for quiet and disturbed conditions, respectively, obtained for a polar orbiting satellite and viewing radially outward. We also find that an imager at an equatorial distance of 9 R_E or more is in a favorable position for detecting ion outflows, particularly when the plasmapause is depressed in latitude. However, an occultation disk is necessary to obscure the bright plasmaspheric emissions.