Palaeomagnetic timing of the rotation and translation of Cyprus

The geological evolution of the Mesozoic Troodos Ophiolite Complex in Cyprus, and the tectonic nature and timing of the palaeomagnetically indicated anticlockwise rotation of Cyprus of some 80° and ca. 15° northward translation, have been open for debate for some time. New palaeomagnetic data from 18 sites ( 180samples) in the post-ophiolite sediments, ranging in age from Upper Cretaceous to Upper Miocene, are presented. Most of the sites are of normal geomagnetic polarity, but indications of reversed polarity have been found in an older group of sediments (the Lefkara Formation of Upper Palaeocene age).Six sites from the older group of sediments (Upper Cretaceous to Eocene in age) give a site mean direction of the AF cleaned sediments of (D, I) = (323°, 29°) with α₉₅ = 18°, while 5 sites from a younger group of sediments (Oligocene to Miocene in age) give a cleaned site mean direction of (D, I) = (334°, 58°) with α₉₅ = 9°. These and published data suggest that an anticlockwise rotation of Cyprus of 60 ± 10° occurred early during the post-igneous evolution of the Cyprus oceanic crust between 90 and 50Ma, leaving only a minor anticlockwise rotation of 20 ± 10° to occur during the last 50 Ma. It is furthermore concluded that the northward translation of Cyprus of 15° mostly took place during the last 30Ma.It thus appears that a fairly rapid rotation of the Cyprus microplate first took place in the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary time with an average angular velocity of 1–2°/Ma, during which the northward translation was minor or negligible. In the latter half of the Tertiary, the sense of movement appears to have radically changed, the northward translation now being dominant with an average velocity of 5–6cm/yr. This temporal evolution is found to be in good agreement with the Mesozoic and Tertiary movements of the African lithospheric plate relative to Europe, as evidenced from the Atlantic sea-floor magnetic anomaly spreading history.     

A method to reduce the temperature influence on measurements with thermoelectric pyranometers

Summary It is shown that the current of a pyranometer can be made independent of temperature by connecting a resistor of appropriate characteristics in series with the pyranometer. The temperature coefficient of the pyranometer with respect to the electromotive force should be made equal to the temperature coefficient of the resistance of the circuit. A resistor with a semilinear temperature characteristic and a negative temperature coefficient can be constructed by connecting a N.T.C. (Negative Temperature Coefficient) resistor in parallel with a resistor of constant resistance. A complete calculation is carried out for a case where the pyranometer is a Moll-Gorczynski solarimeter and the instrument indicating the current is a potentiometer. It turns out that the temperature influence on the radiation measurement can be almost eliminated.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird gezeigt, daß der Strom eines Pyranometers durch Einbau eines Resistors von geeigneter Charakteristik in Serie mit dem Pyranometer temperaturunabhängig gemacht werden kann. Zu diesem Zweck ist der Temperaturkoeffizient des Pyranometers in bezug auf die elektromotorische Kraft dem Temperaturkoeffizienten des Widerstandes des Stromkreises gleich zu machen. Ein Resistor mit einer semilinearen Temperaturcharakteristik und einem negativen Temperaturkoeffizienten kann durch Verbindung eines resistors mit negativen Temperaturkoeffizienten (N. T. C.) parallel zu einem Resistor von konstantem Widerstand konstruiert werden. Es wird eine vollständige Berechnung für den Fall der Kombination eines Solarimeters Moll-Gorczynski mit einem Potentiometer durchgeführt. Dabei ergibt sich, daß der Temperatureinfluß auf die Strahlungsmessung nahezu eliminiert werden kann.

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Résumé L'auteur démontre que le courant issu d'une pyranomètre peut être rendu indépendant des influences de la température en introduisant dans le circuit une thermistance appropriée placée en série. Le coefficient thermique du pyranomètre—compte tenu de la force électromotrice—doit être égal au coefficient thermique de la résistance du circuit. On peut construire une thermistance avec une caractéristique semi-linéaire de température et un coefficient thermique négatif en connectant en parallèle une résistance N. T. C. (Negative Temperature Coefficient) et une résistance constante. L'auteur présente un calcul complet pour le cas où le pyranomètre est un solarimètre Moll-Gorczynski et l'instrument de mesure un potentiomètre. Il en résulte que l'influence de la tempature sur la mesure du rayonnement peut presque être éliminée.

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With 4 Figures     

1D inversion of DC resistivity data using a quality-based truncated SVD

Many DC resistivity inversion schemes use a combination of standard iterative least-squares and truncated singular value decomposition (SVD) to optimize the solution to the inverse problem. However, until quite recently, the truncation was done arbitrarily or by a trial-and-error procedure, due to the lack of workable guidance criteria for discarding small singular values. In this paper we present an inversion scheme which adopts a truncation criterion based on the optimization of the total model variance. This consists of two terms: (i) the term associated with the variance of statistically significant principal components, i.e. the standard model estimate variance, and (ii) the term associated with statistically insignificant principal components of the solution, i.e. the variance of the bias term. As an initial model for the start of iterations, we use a multilayered homogeneous half-space whose layer thicknesses increase logarithmically with depth to take into account the decrease of the resolution of the DC resistivity technique with depth. The present inversion scheme has been tested on synthetic and field data. The results of the tests show that the procedure works well and the convergence process is stable even in the most complicated cases. The fact that the truncation level in the SVD is determined intrinsically in the course of inversion proves to be a major advantage over other inversion schemes where it is set by the user.     

Atmospheric input of nitrogen into the North Sea: ANICE project overview

The aim of the atmospheric nitrogen inputs into the coastal ecosystem (ANICE) project is to improve transport–chemistry models that estimate nitrogen deposition to the sea. To achieve this, experimental and modelling work is being conducted which aims to improve understanding of the processes involved in the chemical transformation, transport and deposition of atmospheric nitrogen compounds. Of particular emphasis within ANICE is the influence of coastal zone processes. Both short episodes with high deposition and chronic nitrogen inputs are considered in the project. The improved transport–chemistry models will be used to assess the atmospheric inputs of nitrogen compounds into the European regional seas (the North Sea is studied as a prototype) and evaluate the impact of various emission reduction strategies on the atmospheric nitrogen loads. Assessment of the impact of atmospheric nitrogen on coastal ecosystems will be based on comparisons of phytoplankton nitrogen requirements, other external nitrogen inputs to the ANICE area of interest and the direct nitrogen fluxes provided by ANICE. Selected results from both the experimental and modelling components are presented here. The experimental results show the large spatial and temporal variability in the concentrations of gaseous nitrogen compounds, and their influences on fluxes. Model calculations show the strong variation of both concentrations and gradients of nitric acid at fetches of up to 25 km. Aerosol concentrations also show high temporal variability and experimental evidence for the reaction between nitric acid and sea salt aerosol is provided by size-segregated aerosol composition measured at both sides of the North Sea. In several occasions throughout the experimental period, air mass back trajectory analysis showed connected flow between the two sampling sites (the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory on the North Norfolk coast of the UK and Meetpost Noordwijk, a research tower at 9 km off the Dutch coast). Results from the METRAS/SEMA mesoscale chemistry transport model system for one of these cases are presented. Measurements of aerosol and rain chemical composition, using equipment mounted on a commercial ferry, show variations in composition across the North Sea. These measurements have been compared to results obtained with the transport–chemistry model ACDEP which calculates the atmospheric inputs into the whole North Sea area. Finally, the results will be made available for the assessment of the impact of atmospheric nitrogen on coastal ecosystems.     

European Observation Network: Ground - Based Support for Gamma-Ray Satellites

We present first preliminary results obtained with the European Observation Network consisting of 9 observatories in the Czech Republic, Germany and Bulgaria. We also discuss related problems such as the background of unknown variable stars and suggest a strategy for work in this area.     

DSDP/ODP 504B孔上洋壳Nd和Pb同位素变化

低 8 6Sr/ 87Sr和高 14 3 Nd/ 14 4 Nd比值作为洋中脊玄武岩 ( MORB)的特征 ,表明偏离原先亏损的不相容元素的源区。同其它火山环境中的岩浆岩相比较 ,MORB具有相当均一的成分 ,然而在区域和局部范围内同位素和微量元素地球化学的变化较小但很明显。在许多地方 ,区域地球化学变化明显与地幔羽的影响有关。接近洋脊的海山和沿扩张脊的局部地球化学变化表明MORB幔源在较小区域也是不均匀的 ,洋脊表层取样只提供了局部地球化学变化的有限信息。因此 ,我们研究科斯塔里卡断裂南侧DSDP/ ODP50 4B孔新鲜玄武岩剖面是为了阐明太平洋洋壳…