The Infrared Spectral Energy Distribution And Polarization Of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp) During 1997

Comets, such as C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), are important to studies of the origins of the solar system because they are believed to be frozen reservoirs of the most primitive pre-solar dust grains and ices. Here, we report 1.2–18.5 μm infrared (IR) spectrophotometric and polarimetric observations of comet Hale-Bopp. Our measurements of the spectral energy distribution (SED) and IR polarization near perhelion passage suggest that emission from the coma was dominated by scattering and thermal emission from sub-micron sized dust grains. Hale-Bopp's surprising brightness may have been largely a result of the properties of its coma grains rather than the size of its nucleus. The thermal emission continuum from the grains had a superheat of S = T_color/T_BB ≥ 1.7, the peak of the 10 μm silicate emission feature was 1.7 mags above the carbon grain continuum, and the albedo (reflectivity) of the grains was ≥ 0.4 at a scattering angles, θ ≥ 135° This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of moult on crude oil load in a jackass penguin Spheniscus demersus

Induced moult has been suggested as a technique for rehabilitating oiled seabirds. An oiled jackass penguin underwent natural moult in captivity. Analyses of oil extracted from premoult and postmoult feathers indicate little qualitative difference, with significant amounts of oil transferred from premoult to postmoult feathers. Inducing moult, therefore does not appear to be viable for cleaning oiled seabirds.     

Bentonites in the Chalk of central eastern England and their relation to the opening of the Northeast Atlantic

Within the post-Cenomanian Chalk sequence of central eastern England about 20 thin persistent marl horizons occur. These marls contain from 30 to 65% non-carbonate material the bulk of which is composed of a well crystallised Mg-rich smectite with a notable paucity of illite and quartz. The Chalk matrix above and below the marls contains up to 2.0% of non-carbonate matter which again is dominated by the presence of an Mg-rich smectite but which contains a larger proportion of illite and quartz than occurs in the marls. For both sets of non-carbonate materials the excellent crystallinity and Mg-rich nature of the smectite strongly suggest that it was formed by the in situ alteration of an aeolian transported volcanic ash, i.e. it is a true bentonite. Quartz and illite in the Chalk matrix are probably detrital components.Relative to a standard shale, non-carbonate materials from the Chalk marl horizons exhibit a highly anomalous trace element pattern with accentuated levels of Zr, Nb and Th but depleted levels of Ba, Rb and K. This trace element chemistry corroborates a volcanogenic origin for the smectite insofar as it is not explicable in terms of any realistic sedimentary process. The chemistry is best interpreted in terms of the magnetic processes responsible for the formation of the original ash precursor of the marls. It appears that this precursor had a pantelleritic composition and therefore originated from a source overlying an area where incipient continental rifting was taking place.Micromorphological examinations prove that residues from the Chalk marls contain small amounts of pyroclastic debris, including pumice and fragments of sideromelane glass. The morphology of the fragments suggests that the volcanic eruptions responsible for the ejection of the original ash into the air were of the shallow-water phreatomagmatic (Surtseyan) type.The distribution of marls in the Chalk of eastern England suggests that the ashfalls responsible for their origin were of the tropospheric type and were drawn by westerly winds from a centre to the west or northwest of mainland Britain. Of the numerous volcanic centres that lie in offshore areas to the west, the Anton Dohrn Seamount in the Rockall Trough appears to a likely centre of origin for the ashfalls. However, ashfalls responsible for the formation of the traces of smectite in the Chalk matrix were probably of the general background (stratospheric) type and may have been drawn from more distant centres.Volcanism at the Anton Dohrn Seamount was related to tensional effects in the continental crust that immediately preceded the formation of the Rockall Trough and the separation of Greenland from northwestern Europe during Tertiary times. Activity at the centre, and Cretaceous bentonites derived therefrom, therefore represent the earliest stages in the development of the Thulean igneous province.     

Gelification of Victorian tertiary soft brown coal wood. I. Relationship between chemical composition and microscopic appearance and variation in the degree of gelification

The relationship between chemical composition and microscopic appearance of present-day wood-derived materials and Victorian xylites and gelified soft brown coal woods, Latrobe Valley, Australia, is discussed. The present-day wood-derived material consists of milled wood and lignin and holocellulose fractions prepared from an angiosperm, Eucalyptus regnans and a gymnosperm, Pinus radiata. The xylites and least gelified soft brown coal woods resemble the P. radiata lignin fraction; the latter contains residual cellulose.The atomic H/C ratio was found to be a useful guide to the degree of gelification. Increase in the degree of gelification was accompanied not only by an increase in the total huminite reflectance, but also by an increase in the reflectance of the individual huminite submacerals. The loss of hymotelinite autofluorescence under ultraviolet and blue light excitation with increase in the degree of gelification of Victorian soft brown coal woods was ascribed primarily to the elimination of cellulose and, possibly, modification of the lignin structure of xylite.     

Genesis of copper mineralisation,Myall Creek prospect,South Australia

The Myall Creek copper prospect is in unmetamorphosed carbonaceous dolosiltstone and sandstone at the base of the late Proterozoic (Adelaidean) Tapley Hill Formation. It contains disseminated, fine-grained chalcopyrite, zincian tennanite, bornite, chalcocite, pyrite, sphalerite and galena, and irregular to straight chalcopyrite-rich veinlets. Some ore minerals rim and/or partially replace pyrite or clastic grains. There is no evidence of hydrothermal activity. The ³⁴S_CDT values of pyrite and the other sulfides fall in the wide range –3.6 to +44.2. Dolomite in both mineralised and unmineralised samples has ¹³C_PDB values concentrated around –3, and ¹⁸O_SMOW values around +25. It is concluded that the mineralising fluids were near-neutral brines which leached metals from the basement and early Adelaidean rocks. They entered the Tapley Hill sediments at moderately low temperatures via permeable strata and faults. The metals were precipitated by biogenic H₂S, and also fixed by reaction with iron sulfides and, possibly, organic matter. Continuing ascent of brines into the mineralised strata caused breakdown of detrital feldspars and Fe-Ti oxides, and some solution-remobilisation of early-formed sulfides.     

Flood hazard management in the United States and the National Flood Insurance Program

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) both provides flood insurance to floodplain occupants and encourages local communities to adopt floodplain land-use regulations. As well as providing the core of the federal non-structural flood hazard management effort, the NFIP is a central element in both state and local activities. A major issue influencing the success of the NFIP in curbing flood damages is its treatment of properties built before the adoption of floodplain regulations. The potential for using the NFIP to encourage floodproofing and influence post-flood hazard mitigation must be fully explored.     

Post-collision magmatism and tectonics in northwest Anatolia

A suite of biotite-hornblende granodiorite intrusions has been emplaced into blueschist-facies metasediments in northwest Anatolia, following collision between two continental margins, now represented by the Tavanli and Sakarya zones. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of phengites and glaucophanes from the blueschists, metamorphosed under unusually high P-low T conditions (P=20±2 kbar, T=430±30° C), suggest that metamorphism apparently occurred over a period spanning at least 20 Ma from 108 to 88 Ma. Post-tectonic granodiorites were emplaced during the Eocene (53 to 48 Ma) resulting in a cordierite and andalusite-bearing thermal aureole, indicative of pressures of 3 kbar. Trace-element systematics of the granodiorites are consistent with a derivation either from mantle-derived magmas by fractional crystallisation in shallow magma chambers, or from anatexis of crustal lithologies of internediate composition at pressures <10 kbar. The preservation of high P-low T assemblages in the blueschists together with the range of ages determined for blueschist-facies metamorphism are indicative of rapid exhumation of delaminated fragments from a subducted continental margin. However decompression melting of the crust is unlikely to have been a significant cause of magmatism, both because exhumation of the blueschists from deep crustal levels predated magmatism by at least 25 Ma, and because of the small melt fraction (<0.1) that may be generated in crustal lithologies by this process. Melting in the mantle wedge is required either to generate a primary melt for the derivation of magmas of intermediate composition or to provide an advective heat source for crustal melting. The cause of melt formation in the upper mantle may be related to the termination of subduction following collision during the Mid-Eocene.     

Stratigraphic evolution and preservation of aeolian dune and damp/wet interdune strata: an example from the Triassic Helsby Sandstone Formation, Cheshire Basin, UK

Abstract New and previously published models of wet aeolian system evolution form a spectrum of types that may be explained in terms of aeolian dune dynamics, rate of water table rise and/or periodicity of interdune flooding. This is illustrated with an example from the Mid‐Triassic (Anisian) Helsby Sandstone Formation, Cheshire, UK. Lenses of damp and wet interdune strata exhibit an intertonguing, transitional relationship with the toe‐sets of overlying aeolian dune units. This signifies dune migration that was contemporaneous with water table‐controlled accumulation in adjacent interdunes. Downwind changes in the geometry and facies of the interdune units indicate periodic expansion and contraction of the interdunes in response to changes in the elevation of the groundwater table and episodic flooding, during which accumulation of dune strata continued relatively uninterrupted. This contrasts with other models for accumulation in wet aeolian systems where interdune flooding is associated with a cessation in aeolian bedform climbing and the formation of a bypass or erosional supersurface. Architectural panels document the detailed stratigraphy in orientations both parallel and perpendicular to aeolian transport direction, enabling a quantitative three‐dimensional reconstruction of genetically related aeolian dune and interdune elements. Sets of aeolian dune strata are composed of grainflow and translatent wind‐ripple strata and are divided by a hierarchy of bounding surfaces originating from oblique migration of superimposed dunes over slipfaceless, sinuous‐crested parent bedforms, together with lee‐slope reactivation under non‐equilibrium flow conditions. Silty‐mudstone and sandstone interdune units are characterized by wind ripple‐, wavy‐ and subaqueous wave ripple‐laminae, desiccation cracks, mud flakes, raindrop imprints, load casts, flutes, intraformational rip‐up clasts and vertebrate and invertebrate footprint impressions and trackways. These units result from accumulation on a substrate that varied from dry‐ through damp‐ to wet‐surface conditions. Interdune ponds were flooded by either fluvial incursions or rises in groundwater table and were periodically subject to gradual desiccation and reflooding. Red silty‐mudstone beds of subaqueous origin pass laterally into horizontally laminated wind‐ripple beds indicating a progressive transition from wet‐ through damp‐ to dry‐surface conditions within a single interdune.     

University Campuses and Housing Markets: Evidence from Nanjing

China has witnessed unprecedented growth of its universities in recent years. Because they function as a sort of urban quasi-public good, university campuses generate a variety of externalities within surrounding communities, including their impacts on adjacent housing markets. Through an analysis of the case of Nanjing, China, this study attempts to quantify the association between university campuses and housing markets in China and to help policymakers, planners, and community members better understand campus–community relationships more generally. The study yields the following findings. First, university campuses have been capitalized into the housing prices of their neighboring communities in Nanjing. Second, in the proximate communities, university campus spillover benefits involve trade-offs with the amenity values of other public goods. Third, campus capitalization effects vary across different tiers of universities. Based on the empirical results, we offer several policy implications, key among which are that policymakers need to acknowledge and rationally distribute the potential spillover benefits of the campus to multiple stakeholders; campus and residential communities should be planned synergistically to optimize land use efficiency; and universities should be fully engaged with their surrounding communities to maximize mutual benefits.     

Solar Eclipses and the Surface Properties of Water

Earth, Moon, and Planets - During four solar eclipse events (two annular, one total and one partial) a correlation was observed between a change in water surface tension and the magnitude of the...