Recovery of datable charcoal beneath young lavas: Lessons from Hawaii

Field studies in Hawaii aimed at providing a radiocarbon-based chronology of prehistoric eruptive activity have led to a good understanding of the processes that govern the formation and preservation of charcoal beneath basaltic lava flows. Charcoal formation is a rate-dependent process controlled primarily by temperature and duration of heating, as well as by moisture content, density, and size of original woody material. Charcoal will form wherever wood buried by lava is raised to sufficiently high temperatures, but owing to the availability of oxygen it is commonly burned to ash soon after formation. Wherever oxygen circulation is sufficiently restricted, however, charcoal will be preserved, but where atmospheric oxygen circulates freely, charcoal will only be preserved at lower temperature, below that required for charcoal ignition or catalytic oxidation. These factors cause carbonized wood, especially that derived from living roots, to be commonly preserved beneath all parts of pahoehoe flows (where oxygen circulation is restricted), but only under margins of aa. Pratical guidelines are given for the recovery of datable charcoal beneath pahoehoe and aa. Although based on Hawaiian basaltic flows, the guidelines should be applicable to other areas.     

On the longitudinal extent of magnetopause reconnection pulses

The open magnetosphere model of cusp ion injection, acceleration and precipitation is used to predict the dispersion characteristics for fully pulsed magnetic reconnection at a low-latitude magnetopause X-line. The resulting steps, as would be seen by a satellite moving meridionally and normal to the ionospheric projection of the X-line, are compared with those seen by satellites moving longitudinally, along the open/closed boundary. It is shown that two observed cases can be explained by similar magnetosheath and reconnection characteristics, and that the major differences between them are well explained by the different satellite paths through the events. Both cases were observed in association with poleward-moving transient events seen by ground-based radar, as also predicted by the theory. The results show that the reconnection is pulsed but strongly imply it cannot also be spatially patchy, in the sense of isolated X-lines which independently are intermittently active. Furthermore they show that the reconnection pulses responsible for the poleward-moving events and the cusp ion steps, must cover at least 3 h of magnetic local time, although propagation of the active reconnection region may mean that it does not extend this far at any one instant of time.     

极区电离层对IMF Bz 4次快速转向的响应——EISCAT/ESR雷达观测

利用EISCAT VHF和EISCAT Svalbard（ESR）雷达观测数据,对2003年2月12日IMF B_z分量4次快速方向转换期间,极区电离层,尤其是极尖/极隙区的响应特征进行了分析研究.随着IMF B_z方向的多次快速变化,地面雷达观测到极尖/极隙区所在位置随着开放-闭合磁力线边界在纬度方向上来回移动.在此期间,极区电离层等离子体水平对流多次反向,表现出与IMF B_z分量强的负相关性.进一步分析表明：极区磁层-电离层系统在日侧对IMF极性变化的平均响应时间约为3 min.     

Spatial and temporal infiltration dynamics during managed aquifer recharge

Natural groundwater recharge is inherently difficult to quantify and predict, largely because it comprises a series of processes that are spatially distributed and temporally variable. Infiltration ponds used for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) provide an opportunity to quantify recharge processes across multiple scales under semi-controlled conditions. We instrumented a 3-ha MAR infiltration pond to measure and compare infiltration patterns determined using whole-pond and point-specific methods. Whole-pond infiltration was determined by closing a transient water budget (accounting for inputs, outputs, and changes in storage), whereas point-specific infiltration rates were determined using heat as a tracer and time series analysis at eight locations in the base of the pond. Whole-pond infiltration, normalized for wetted area, rose rapidly to more than 1.0 m/d at the start of MAR operations (increasing as pond stage rose), was sustained at high rates for the next 40 d, and then decreased to less than 0.1 m/d by the end of the recharge season. Point-specific infiltration rates indicated high spatial and temporal variability, with the mean of measured values generally being lower than rates indicated by whole-pond calculations. Colocated measurements of head gradients within saturated soils below the pond were combined with infiltration rates to calculate soil hydraulic conductivity. Observations indicate a brief period of increasing saturated hydraulic conductivity, followed by a decrease of one to two orders of magnitude during the next 50 to 75 d. Locations indicating the most rapid infiltration shifted laterally during MAR operation, and we suggest that infiltration may function as a "variable source area" processes, conceptually similar to catchment runoff.     

« Surface-fed Dikes » — The origin of some unusual dikes along the Hilina fault zone,Kilauea volcano,Hawaii

The origin of dike-like bodies along the Hilina fault scarp on the south flank of Kilauea Volcano. Hawaii has been the subject of recent controversy. Some geologists favour an origin by intrusion of magma from below, others favour « intrusion » of lava derived from above — lava derived from fluid surface flows which poured down open cracks. In order to distinguish between deep versus surface sources for the bodies, a suite of dike and other samples were analyzed for S, H₂O, and Cl. All surface flows are degassed, whereas known dikes are volatile-rich. Samples of the Hilina dikes, and dikes from the Ninole Formation, Mauna Loa are degassed, indicating that these dikes were surface-fed — formed by magma which had been de-volatized by surface transport. A model is presented whereby the Hilina dikes form in talus and lava cones that drape the Hilina fault scarp. Seismic activity during eruption may have played an important role in the formation of the Hilina dikes. Similar dikes in the Ninole Formation probably formed in a similar environment.     

The identification of some lipophilic contaminants in the gill neutral lipids of Gammarus duebeni

Two experimental populations of Gammarus duebeni have been found to contain high levels of what appeared to be pollutants in their gill neutral lipids. Detailed analysis, involving capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons, a plasticizer and silicone compounds. Such a localized concentration of lipophilic pollutants in a tissue such as the gills might be sufficient to influence the metabolism of the whole organism even though the total body burden is low.     

Effect of chlorine on unsaturated lipids

In this note evidence is presented which suggests that an initial effect of chlorine treatment on fouling organisms could involve a deleterious halogenation of membrane lipid components.     

Reconfiguration and closure of lobe flux by reconnection during northward IMF: possible evidence for signatures in cusp/cleft auroral emissions

Observations are presented of the response of the dayside cusp/cleft aurora to changes in both the clock and elevation angles of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) vector, as monitored by the WIND spacecraft. The auroral observations are made in 630 nm light at the winter solstice near magnetic noon, using an all-sky camera and a meridian-scanning photometer on the island of Spitsbergen. The dominant change was the response to a northward turning of the IMF which caused a poleward retreat of the dayside aurora. A second, higher-latitude band of aurora was seen to form following the northward turning, which is interpreted as the effect of lobe reconnection which reconfigures open flux. We suggest that this was made possible in the winter hemisphere, despite the effect of the Earth’s dipole tilt, by a relatively large negative X component of the IMF. A series of five events then formed in the poleward band and these propagated in a southwestward direction and faded at the equatorward edge of the lower-latitude band as it migrated poleward. It is shown that the auroral observations are consistent with overdraped lobe flux being generated by lobe reconnection in the winter hemisphere and subsequently being re-closed by lobe reconnection in the summer hemisphere. We propose that the balance between the reconnection rates at these two sites is modulated by the IMF elevation angle, such that when the IMF points more directly northward, the summer lobe reconnection site dominates, re-closing all overdraped lobe flux and eventually becoming disconnected from the Northern Hemisphere.     

Correlated variations of planetary albedos and coincident solar-interplanetary variations

To locate two-dimensional positions of the solar decametric radio bursts a heliograph was developed on the basis of the UTR-2 radiotelescope (Khar'kov) operated in the range 10–26 MHz. The beamwidth of the heliograph rapid-scanning pencil-beam is 25 arc min at 25 MHz, and its field of view is about 3.5° (E-W) × 2.0° (N-S). The instrument yields rapidly forty records of the radio brightness of all (8 × 5) elementary parts (each 25 arc min in diameter) of the investigated sky area during every period of 1/4 s. Both coordinates of a burst center are measured with an accuracy 5 arc min. The bandwidth of the receiving system is 10 kHz. The heliograph operates in conjunction with a radiospectrograph connected to the output of a N-S arm of the UTR-2 array. The data observations with the UTR-2 correspond only to one linear polarized component.The ionospheric distortion of the test records of the radio source Cassiopeia-A that occurred sometimes is illustrated.First results of 25 MHz observations of the solar radio storm in August, 1976 with the heliograph are presented here. This storm is accompanied by the compact sunspot group travelling all over the optical disk. The type III and stria bursts were predominant during the storm. On the given day the scattering regions of their apparent centers were overlapped and the sizes of these regions were usually not more than 5 arc min. On some days there occurred additional burst sources displaced in position from the persistent storm region. It was found out that, as a rule, 25 MHz stria-bursts from the type IIIb chain coincided in position with the following type III burst at the same frequency. The difference of the daily averaged coordinates of both stria and type III bursts was considerably smaller than the mean diameter of their sources.The radial distance of the 25 MHz storm region from the solar center was calculated by using the three methods. The storm height was estimated as 1.8R from the rotation rate close to the central meridian of the storm center. Definite association of the spots with the storm near the limb allowed to determine the average value 2.1R for the height. The limb measurements give the mean height of 2.3R .The center-to-limb variation of the storm source height is a known fact in the meter-wavelength range. This is the evidence of the propagation effects in the solar corona being essential to interpret the results of the radio source location.