Observations of shocked H2 and [FeII] line profiles in orion bullet wakes

New observations of H₂ velocity profiles in the Orion bullet wakes are extremely difficult to reconcile with existing steady-state shock models. We have observed [FeII] 1.644µm velocity profiles of selected bullets and H₂ 1-0 S(1) 2.122µm velocity profiles for a series of positions along and across the corresponding bow-shock wakes. Integrated [FeII] velocity profiles of the brightest bullets are consistent with theoretical bow shock predictions. Observations of broad, singly-peaked H₂ 1-0 S(1) profiles in the most clearly resolved bullet wakes challenge our understanding of molecular shocks. It may be necessary to model the effects of instabilities and turbulence in the Orion bullet wakes in order to fit our observations.     

On the stability of the lagrangian points in the spatial restricted problem of three bodies

The problem of stability of the Lagrangian equilibrium point of the circular restricted problem of three bodies is investigated in the light of Nekhoroshev-like theory. Looking for stability over a time interval of the order of the estimated age of the universe, we find a physically relevant stability region. An application of the method to the Sun-Jupiter and the Earth-Moon systems is made. Moreover, we try to compare the size of our stability region with that of the region where the Trojan asteroids are actually found; the result in such case is negative, thus leaving open the problem of the stability of these asteroids.     

Environmental fragility evaluation and guidelines for environmental zoning: a study case on Ibiuna (the Southeastern Brazilian region)

Environmental fragility models are important decision tools for policy makers as they help quantify environmental sensitivity and understand the relationship between human activities and environmental quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate three different environmental fragility models within the Brazilian rainforest region and to use the results to develop environmental zone classes. Two rural river basins located in Ibiuna, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, were studied. Input variables, including slope class, relief dissection rate, soil class, lithology, land cover, and climate data, were used to compute environmental fragility classes using three standard models. The model outputs were evaluated on their ability to accurately predict the most sensitive and least sensitive areas. The best models for each region were used to derive environmental zoning maps, including restoration priorities, best regions for agriculture, and areas with high needs for soil management. These maps will help support land use strategies for environmental restoration. This study provides insight into territorial ordering and management of environmental services with a regional perspective.     

Instrumental monitoring of the subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal in the city of Murcia (Spain)

This paper presents the results of investigations of the generalized subsidence occurring in and around the city of Murcia, Spain. Based on this research, this is the first integrated investigation of its type performed in Spain. The phenomenon of ground consolidation in the city of Murcia leads to the appearance of severe cracking and settlement in buildings. Subsidence is the result of two factors: on the one hand, the nature of the ground in this area, as it is made of recent deposits of clay and soft limes filled in with clay–lime backfills in the top layers. On the other hand, the increase in groundwater withdrawal during the 1992–95 drought led to a decrease in the water level of a magnitude never before recorded in the city. The risk prevention management suggested convenience of the installation of a measurement network to study and follow the phenomena of the subsidence to quantify it and to calibrate this theoretical model. This network is composed of extensometers and piezometers, the best devices to measure moderate ground movements, which is the case of Murcia. The first phase (Phase I) of this study of ground settlement in the metropolitan area of Murcia involved the installation of a network with 22 extensometers and taking the first measurement series. In a second phase (Phase II), during a period of 4 years, measurements with extensometers were performed to make the analysis and calibration of the theoretical model. Experience and data analysis showed the convenience of installation of new control points with an incremental extensometer and a piezometer in close position with the aim of precisely correlating piezometric levels with the observed subsidence. The third phase (Phase III) started in 2007, a new control technique, based on radar interferometry (InSAR), is being employed to provide information about subsidence in areas not previously monitored.     

Groundwater recharge in semi-arid carbonate aquifers under intensive use: the Estepa Range aquifers (Seville, southern Spain)

Quantifying groundwater recharge in carbonate aquifers located in semi-arid regions and subjected to intensive groundwater use is no easy task. One reason is that there are very few available methods suitable for application under such climatic conditions, and moreover, some of the methods that might be applied were originally designed with reference to non-carbonate aquifers. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the fact that, in any given aquifer, groundwater recharge is modified by the groundwater exploitation. Here we focus on four methods selected to assess their suitability for estimating groundwater recharge in carbonate aquifers affected by intensive exploitation. The methods were applied to the Estepa Range aquifers of Seville, southern Spain, which are subjected to different degrees of exploitation. Two conventional methods were used: chloride mass balance and daily soil–water balance. These results were compared with the results obtained by means of two non-conventional methods, designed for application to the carbonate aquifers of southern Spain: the APLIS and ERAS methods. The results of the different methods are analogous, comparable to those obtained in nearby non-exploited carbonate aquifers, confirming their suitability for use with carbonate aquifers in either natural or exploited regimes in a semi-arid climate.     

The transition between the two major Permian tectono-stratigraphic cycles in the central Southern Alps: results from facies analysis and U/Pb geochronology

The Val Daone Conglomerate (VDC) is a continental clastic unit that crops out eastwards of the central Southern Alps, from the NE sector of the Collio Basin to the W as far as the Tione Basin to the E. This significant but as yet relatively unknown formation lies just above the regional unconformity that marks the boundary between the two Permian major tectono-sedimentary cycles (TSU1 and TSU2) and grades upwards paraconformably (?) to the fluvial red beds of Verrucano Lombardo/Val Gardena Sandstone, generally associated with Late Permian times. Recent palynological investigations on the VDC suggested a Guadalupian age (late Roadian–early Wordian), owing to the remarkable presence of diversified pollen associations; therefore, this sedimentary unit is to date the first one ascribed, on a palaeontological basis, to the Middle Permian in the entire Southern Alps domain. A detailed facies analysis of VDC shows deposition in amalgamated alluvial fan-braided and fluvial environments with wide channels and longitudinal bars. In its type area and Val Rendena, the VDC rests unconformably above the last volcanic episode of the TSU1. LA ICP-MS U–Pb dating on zircon from two samples of such topmost Lower Permian volcanic rocks, known as Ponte Murandin dacitic lava and Malga Plan rhyodacitic Ignimbrites (Tione Basin), provided Concordia ages of 278 ± 2 Ma (MSWD = 0.01) and 279 ± 2 Ma (MSWD = 0.16), respectively. As well as allowing us to better define the duration of the time gap between the two Permian megacycles in the central Southern Alps in almost 10 Ma, these radiometric age determinations are also significant because they enable us to regionally link the coeval volcanic bodies which crop out in the Collio Basin to the SW and in the “Athesian Volcanic Group” to the NE, respectively.     

Dynamics and mass balance of the 2007 Cima Una rockfall (Eastern Alps, Italy)

On October 12th, 2007 about 40,000 m³ of dolomitic rock detached from the northern wall of the peak known as “Cima Una” (Val Fiscalina, Sesto Dolomites, Bolzano, Italy), and fell 900 m to Fiscalina Valley below. The event generated a dense dust cloud, which traveled up to 4 km from the source area. The failure surface was formed by two near-vertical surfaces, almost perpendicular to each other. The orientation of these surfaces is consistent with two of the main regional tectonic sets. Only a small portion of the fallen material appeared to be preserved as blocks deposited at the base of the rock wall. About a fifth of the fallen mass was deposited on a colluvial cone. The missing mass, estimated to be about 80 %, may be represented by highly fragmented rock in part deposited as sand on the valley floor and in part dispersed as a dense dust cloud generated during the rockfall. There appears to be a deficit of deposited material, which could lead underestimation in the calculation of rock–cliff recession rates. The dynamics of the rockfall, strongly conditioned by the local topography, partially explains the intense rock breakage and the generation of the dust cloud. The rockfall was not caused by an external trigger, such as an earthquake or heavy rainfall; the failure was most likely progressive due to mechanical and physical degradation along highly stressed failure surfaces, possibly promoted by permafrost degradation and freeze and thaw processes.     

Upper cretaceous biostratigraphy of the south-central Pyrenees (Lleida,Spain)

Abstract

Biostratigraphical data using larger foraminifera and planktonic foraminifera permitted us to establish the correlation between shallow platform sediments rich in larger foraminifera (Montsec and Serres Marginals thrust sheets) and deeper ones containing planktonic foraminifera (Boixols thrust sheet).

Consequently, the Santa Fe limestones containing Ovalveolina-Praealveolinaassemblage represent the Cenomanian. Early Turonian ( ‘IT~ archaeocretacea and P. helvetica zones) exist in both, Montsec and Boixols thrust sheets and it is constituted by Pithonella limestones. Late Turonian (M. schneegansi zone) is only present in Boixols thrust sheet (Reguard Fm.), the Montsec thrust sheet having an erosive hiatus.

Late Coniacian-Early Santonian (D. Concavata zone) is represented in the Montsec thrust sheet (Cova Limestones) and in the eastern part of the Boixols thrust sheet (St. Corneli Fm.) by two differents facies giving two different microfaunal assemblages; the firts one, characterized by Ophtalmidiidae s.l indicate a restricted lagoonal environment while the second one, characterized by diverses species of complex agglutinated, Fabulariidae, Meandropsinidae and Rotaliidae, represents an open shallow platform. In the Boixols thrust sheet (Anseroles Fm.) dominate the planktonic foraminifera and small benthic.

In the late Santonian (D. asyrnetrica zone) the sea reached as far as Serres Marginales thrust sheet where sediments (Tragó de Noguera unit) are terrigenous and deposited in a very shallow platform. In the Montsec thrust sheet (Montsec marls) the larger foraminifera indicate a platform deeper than that of the Serres Marginals thrust sheet. In the Boixols thrust sheet the sediments are deposited in an outer platform (Herbasavina Fm.) or turbiditic basin (Mascarell Mb.).

During Campanian times the transgresion reaches the maximum. In the Serres Marginals sediments are deposited in a restricted shallow environment rich in Meandropsinidae (Serres Limestones). In the Montsec thrust sheet they are deposited in a platform with patch reefs and shoals (Terradets limestones) and in the Boixols one in an outer platform, talus and/or basin.

During Early Maastrichtian times (C. falsostuarti zone) terrigenous materials arrived in the basin, the rate of sedimentation increased outstripping the subsidence rate and the retreat of the sea to the north. Late Maastrichtian (C. gansseri zone) is only present in the Boixols thrust sheet.     

Progressive extensional shear structures in a detachment contact in the Western Sierra Nevada (Betic Cordilleras,Spain)

Abstract

The present contact caused by the superposition of the Alpujarride complex over that of the Nevado-Filabride in the western area of Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Filábres corresponds to a detachment. The deformation in the footwall associated with this contact, produced mylonitic fabrics with a significant stretching-lineation, over which brittle structures are superimposed. The deformation in the hanging wall associated with this contact is, on the other hand, essentially brittle. These deformations are subsequent to a series of syn-to post-metamorphic structures related to thrust phases.

The micro- and meso-structures indicate that the hanging wall has moved towards the west-south-west.

Other brittle structures, which began during the same extensional regime, are superimposed on the detachment and have continued to develop up to the present time. These structures were produced in an extensional regime with a non-coaxial deformation component and suggest the possibility of a tectonic evolution similar to that described for core complexes in the USA.     

δ18O and chemical composition of Libyan Desert Glass,country rocks,and sands: New considerations on target material

Oxygen isotope and chemical measurements were carried out on 25 samples of Libyan Desert Glass (LDG), 21 samples of sandstone, and 3 of sand from the same area. The δ¹⁸O of LDG samples range from 9.0‰ to 11.9‰ (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water [VSMOW]); some correlations between isotope data and typological features of the LDG samples are pointed out. The initial δ¹⁸O of a bulk parent material may be slightly increased by fusion due to the loss of isotopically light pore water with no isotope exchange with oxygen containing minerals. Accordingly, the δ¹⁸O of the bulk parent material of LDG may have been about 9.0 ± 1‰ (VSMOW). The measured bulk sandstone and sand samples have δ¹⁸O values ranging from 12.6‰ to 19.5‰ and are consequently ruled out as parent materials, matching the results of previous studies. However, separated quartz fractions have δ¹⁸O values compatible with the LDG values suggesting that the modern surface sand inherited quartz from the target material. This hypothesis fits previous findings of lechatelierite and baddeleyite in these materials. As the age of the parent material reported in previous studies is Pan‐African, we measured the δ¹⁸O values of bulk rock and quartz from intrusives of Pan‐African age and the results obtained were compatible with the LDG values. The main element abundances (Fe, Mg, Ca, K, Na) in our LDG samples conform to previous estimates; Fe, Mg, and K tend to be higher in heterogeneous samples with dark layers. The hypothesis of a low‐altitude airburst involving silica‐rich surface materials deriving from weathered intrusives of Pan‐African age, partially melted and blown over a huge surface by supersonic winds matches the results obtained.