Iron oxidation state of a 2.45-Byr-old paleosol developed on mafic volcanics

The 2.45-Byr-old weathering profile developed on early Proterozoic mafic volcanics located near Cooper Lake, Ontario, Canada, was examined geochemically and mineralogically for a better understanding of the atmospheric oxygen evolution. Ferrous to ferric ion, Fe(II) and Fe(III), respectively, ratios of the bulk rock samples were analyzed by Mössbauer spectrometry. The total Fe (Fe(T)) and Fe(II) concentrations decrease from 12.0 and 11.2 wt.% to 1.85 and 0.89 wt.%, respectively, from the bottom to the top of the weathering profile. The Fe(T) and Fe(II) concentrations normalized to Ti and Zr, as well as the Fe(II)/Fe(III) ratio of raw data, linearly decrease with depth toward the top, while the Fe(III) concentration remains nearly constant throughout the profile. The linear decrease of Fe(II), accompanied by the nearly constant distribution of Fe(III), is difficult to be explained by the scenario of oxidizing weathering and subsequent reducing hydrothermal alteration. The behaviors of Fe(II) and Fe(III) can be simply explained by anoxic weathering. The anoxic weathering suggests that the 2.45-Ga atmosphere was anoxic. The slight increase of Fe/(Fe+Mg) in the octahedral sites of chlorite toward the top and no Ce anomaly in the REE patterns are also consistent with anoxic weathering.     

Characteristics of turbulent boundary layers over a rough bed under saw-tooth waves and its application to sediment transport

A large number of studies have been done dealing with sinusoidal wave boundary layers in the past. However, ocean waves often have a strong asymmetric shape especially in shallow water, and net of sediment movement occurs. It is envisaged that bottom shear stress and sediment transport behaviors influenced by the effect of asymmetry are different from those in sinusoidal waves. Characteristics of the turbulent boundary layer under breaking waves (saw-tooth) are investigated and described through both laboratory and numerical experiments. A new calculation method for bottom shear stress based on velocity and acceleration terms, theoretical phase difference, φ and the acceleration coefficient, a_c expressing the wave skew-ness effect for saw-tooth waves is proposed. The acceleration coefficient was determined empirically from both experimental and baseline k–ω model results. The new calculation has shown better agreement with the experimental data along a wave cycle for all saw-tooth wave cases compared by other existing methods. It was further applied into sediment transport rate calculation induced by skew waves. Sediment transport rate was formulated by using the existing sheet flow sediment transport rate data under skew waves by Watanabe and Sato [Watanabe, A. and Sato, S., 2004. A sheet-flow transport rate formula for asymmetric, forward-leaning waves and currents. Proc. of 29th ICCE, ASCE, pp. 1703–1714.]. Moreover, the characteristics of the net sediment transport were also examined and a good agreement between the proposed method and experimental data has been found.     

化学物质诱导变态后紫贻贝稚贝的生长及存活

在以往实验的基础上,跟踪调查了筛选出的化学诱导物质对紫贻贝(Mytilus edulis)幼虫变态后的生长和成活率的影响,并比较了其与相同条件下自然诱导物、微生物膜诱导后的稚贝的生长和成活率.实验结果表明,肾上腺素、苯肾上腺素、可乐宁、KCI和NH_4Cl 5种化学物质均成功地诱导了该种幼虫的变态,其变态后稚贝同微生物诱导变态后的稚贝以相同的速度生长,且在培育过程中无死亡稚贝出现.因此,这些化学物质可作为该种养殖以及海洋防污染研究中幼虫变态的有效人工诱导物.     

Chemical composition of primary cosmic rays with energies from 10 to 10 eV

The chemical composition of primary cosmic rays with energies from 10¹⁵ to 10^16.5 eV, so called “knee” region, is examined. We have observed the time structures of air Čerenkov light associated with air showers at Mt. Chacaltaya, Bolivia, since 1995. The distribution of a parameter that characterizes the observed time structures is compared with that calculated with a Monte Carlo technique for various chemical compositions. Then the energy dependence of the average logarithmic mass numbers ln A of the primary cosmic rays is determined. The present result at 10^15.3 eV is almost consistent with the result of JACEE (A12) and shows gradual increase in ln A as a function of the primary energy (A24 at 10¹⁶ eV). Form the comparison of the observational results with several theoretical models, we conclude that the supernova explosion of massive stars is a plausible candidate for the origin of cosmic rays around the “knee” region.     

Strengthening of the Walker circulation under globalwarming in an aqua-planet general circulation model simulation

Most climate models project a weakening of the Walker circulation under global warming scenarios. It is argued, based on a global averaged moisture budget, that this weakening can be attributed to a slower rate of rainfall increase compared to that of moisture increase, which leads to a decrease in ascending motion. Through an idealized aqua-planet simulation in which a zonal wavenumber-1 SST distribution is prescribed along the equator, we find that the Walker circulation is strengthened under a uniform 2-K SST warming, even though the global mean rainfall–moisture relationship remains the same. Further diagnosis shows that the ascending branch of the Walker cell is enhanced in the upper troposphere but weakened in the lower troposphere. As a result, a "double-cell" circulation change pattern with a clockwise(anti-clockwise) circulation anomaly in the upper(lower) troposphere forms, and the upper tropospheric circulation change dominates. The mechanism for the formation of the "double cell" circulation pattern is attributed to a larger(smaller) rate of increase of diabatic heating than static stability in the upper(lower) troposphere. The result indicates that the future change of the Walker circulation cannot simply be interpreted based on a global mean moisture budget argument.     

Alkali (Rb/K) abundances in Allende barred-olivine chondrules: Implications for the melting conditions of chondrules

Abstract— In order to study abundances of alkali metals in chondrules, 25 petrographically characterized chondrules, including 18 barred olivine (BO) chondrules from the Allende (CV3) meteorite, were analyzed for alkalis (K and Rb) and alkaline earths (Sr, Ba, Ca and Mg) by mass spectrometric isotope dilution. Most BO chondrules with higher alkalis (>CI level) have nearly CI-chondritic Rb/K ratios, while those with lower alkalis clearly show higher Rb/K ratios than the CI-chondritic. In general, BO chondrules with higher Rb/K exhibit more depletion of alkalis relative to Ca. The mean olivine Fa for individual chondrules positively correlates with bulk alkali concentrations in BO type but not in porphyritic type chondrules. These observations suggest that some BO chondrules formed from more reducing assemblages of precursor minerals, which experienced more intensive vaporization losses of alkalis, accompanied by Rb/K fractionation, during the chondrule-formation melting.     

Maximal size of chondrules in shock wave heating model: Stripping of liquid surface in a hypersonic rarefied gas flow

Abstract— We examined partially molten dust particles that have a solid core and a surrounding liquid mantle, and estimated the maximal size of chondrules in a framework of the shock wave heating model for chondrule formation. First, we examined the dynamics of the liquid mantle by analytically solving the hydrodynamics equations for a core‐mantle structure via a linear approximation. We obtained the deformation, internal flow, pressure distribution in the liquid mantle, and the force acting on the solid core. Using these results, we estimated conditions in which liquid mantle is stripped off from the solid core. We found that when the particle radius is larger than about 1–2 mm, the stripping is expected to take place before the entire dust particle melts. So chondrules larger than about 1–2 mm are not likely to be formed by the shock wave heating mechanism. Also, we found that the stripping of the liquid mantle is more likely to occur than the fission of totally molten particles. Therefore, the maximal size of chondrules may be determined by the stripping of the liquid mantle from the partially molten dust particles in the shock waves. This maximal size is consistent with the sizes of natural chondrules.