Zircon dating,Sr and Nd isotopes,and element geochemistry of the Khalifan pluton,NW Iran: Evidence for Variscan magmatism in a supposedly Cimmerian superterrane

The Khalifan pluton of the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone is composed of A-type peraluminous leucogranites with Nd model ages around 1.2 Ga. It intrudes an unfossiliferous sedimentary sequence previously considered as Cretaceous by analogy with neighboring areas. However, zircon U–Pb SHRIMP and Pb–Pb sequential evaporation dating have revealed that Khalifan granites are Carboniferous, with a precise age of 315 ± 2 Ma. This is the first reliable Variscan age obtained so far in this area, but there are geological indicators that other small plutonic bodies might also be Variscan. The existence of Carboniferous granite rocks in the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone casts doubts on whether it was a part of the Cimmerian superterrane detached from east Gondwanide terranes because these characteristically lack Variscan magmatism. The age, chemical features and Nd isotopes of Khalifan granites are similar to those of the southernmost Urals and Tien Shan, so that we tentatively suggest that this area bears a Middle Asian instead of Cimmerian linkage.     

Port privatization in Panama

In previous papers we have looked at open registries, the Panama maritime sector and Panama Canal operations and management. No maritime study of Panama is complete, however, without a detailed look at the Panama Canal's main port system, which has enjoyed remarkable growth since the privatization of the terminal ports of Cristóbal and Balboa in 1995. This paper looks at the evolution and development of the Canal's port system; its stewardship, initially by the American authorities governing the Canal and, post-transition, by the Panamanians, and includes a study of the driving forces that led to privatization. We will conclude by looking at the results of the successful reform of the system, currently considered a primary model for other Latin American countries.     

Brazil beyond 2020: from deforestation to the energy challenge

The main assumptions and findings are presented on a comparative analysis of three GHG long-term emissions scenarios for Brazil. Since 1990, land-use change has been the most important source of GHG emissions in the country. The voluntary goals to limit Brazilian GHG emissions pledged a reduction in between 36.1% and 38.9% of GHG emissions projected to 2020, to be 6–10% lower than in 2005. Brazil is in a good position to meet the voluntary mitigation goals pledged to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) up to 2020: recent efforts to reduce deforestation have been successful and avoided deforestation will form the bulk of the emissions reduction commitment. In 2020, if governmental mitigation goals are met, then GHG emissions from the energy system would become the largest in the country. After 2020, if no additional mitigation actions are implemented, GHG emissions will increase again in the period 2020–2030, due to population and economic growth driving energy demand, supply and GHG emissions. However, Brazil is in a strong position to take a lead in low-carbon economic and social development due to its huge endowment of renewable energy resources allowing for additional mitigation actions to be adopted after 2020.

Policy relevance

The period beyond 2020 is now relevant in climate policy due to the Durban Platform agreeing a ‘protocol, legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force’ that will have effect from 2020. After 2020, Brazil will be in a situation more similar to other industrialized countries, faced with a new challenge of economic development with low GHG energy-related emissions, requiring the adoption of mitigation policies and measures targeted at the energy system. Unlike the mitigation actions in the land-use change sector, where most of the funding will come from the national budgets due to sovereignty concerns, the huge financial resources needed to develop low-carbon transport and energy infrastructure could benefit from soft loans channelled to the country through nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs).     

GEODESY AND DIGITAL CARTOGRAPHIC SURVEY IN FILDES PENINSULA,REY JORGE ISLAND,ANTARCTICA

1　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＴｈｅｉｎｃｒｅａｓｅｉｎｒｅｓｅａｒｃｈｉｎｔｈｅＣｈｉｌｅａｎＡｎｔａｒｃｔｉｃＴｅｒｒｉｔｏｒｙｈａｓｂｅｃｏｍｅｍａｎｉｆｅｓｔｏｖｅｒｔｈｅｌａｓｔｔｅｎｙｅａｒｓｉｎｔｈｅｓｕｂｓｔａｎｔｉａｌｉｎｃｒｅａｓｅｉｎｔｈｅｎｕｍｂｅｒｏｆｓｃｉｅｎｔｉｆｉｃｓｔａｔｉｏｎｓｅｓｔａｂｌｉｓｈｅｄａｎｄｍａｉｎｔａｉｎｅｄｏｎＲｅｙＪｏｒｇｅＩｓｌａｎｄ ,ｍａｋｉｎｇｉｔｎｅｃｃｅｓａｒｙｔｏｒｅｇｕｌａｔｅｔｈｅｕｓｅｏｆｔｈｏｓｅａｒｅａｓｏｆｉｎｔｅｒｅ…     

Sedimentary effects of flood‐producing windstorms in playa lakes and their role in the movement of large rocks

This paper sheds light on the hydrodynamic conditions of transport and sedimentary effects of wind‐induced water currents produced during strong windstorms in low gradient systems. Repeated field surveys were conducted in a playa lake in central Spain to determine the impacts of major winter storms on the bed form morphology in real time. The succession of storms that passed through the area from mid‐December 2013 to early February 2014 left behind a variety of sedimentary structures: mainly ripple marks showing complex patterns and erosional structures. The latter include obstacle scours, grooves and other tool marks. In situ observations revealed that strong storm events in almost flat, extremely shallow lakes (less than 5 cm) have enough hydraulic energy to erode and remove high volumes of sediments and may also lead to large stones sliding across the bed, thus creating long grooves. Sole marks found in ancient continental successions have been typically attributed to fluvial conditions. We suggest that shallow lake basins should not be discounted when storm‐generated structures are preserved in ancient rocks. The identification of such sedimentary structures provides valuable information for reconstructing hydrodynamic conditions and paleoclimatic conditions in semi‐arid environments. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The transition zone of the Canary Current upwelling region

Like all the major upwelling regions, the Canary Current is characterised by intense mesoscale structure in the transition zone between the cool, nutrient-rich waters of the coastal upwelling regime and the warmer, oligotrophic waters of the open ocean. The Canary Island archipelago, which straddles the transition, introduces a second source of variability by perturbing the general southwestward flow of both ocean currents and Trade winds. The combined effects of the flow disturbance and the eddying and meandering of the boundary between upwelled and oceanic waters produce a complex pattern of regional variability. On the basis of historical data and a series of interdisciplinary field studies, the principal features of the region are described. These include a prominent upwelling filament originating near 28°N off the African coast, cyclonic and anti-cyclonic eddies downstream of the archipelago, and warm wake regions protected from the Trade winds by the high volcanic peaks of the islands. The filament is shown to be a recurrent feature, apparently arising from the interaction of a topographically trapped cyclonic eddy with the outer edge of the coastal upwelling zone. Its role in the transport and exchange of biogenic material, including fish larvae, is considered. Strong cyclonic eddies, observed throughout the year, drift slowly southwestward from Gran Canaria. One sampled in late summer was characterised by large vertical isopycnal displacements, apparent surface divergence and strong upwelling, producing a fourfold increase in chlorophyll concentrations over background values. Such intense eddies can be responsible for a major contribution to the vertical flux of nitrogen. The lee region of Gran Canaria is shown to be a location of strong pycnocline deformation resulting from Ekman pumping on the wind shear boundaries, which may contribute to the eddy formation process.     

Remarkable variability in dyke features at the Vicuña Pampa Volcanic Complex,Southern Central Andes

Dykes at the Vicuña Pampa Volcanic Complex, which are mostly basaltic (trachy)‐andesite and (trachy)‐andesite, are exposed at the base and along the walls of a large depression resulting from intense degradation. Dykes intruding stiff layers (lavas, plugs and necks) are thin, mostly dip >60° and have coherent textures, whereas dykes intruding more compliant materials (breccias and conglomerates) tend to be thicker, have lower dips and have coherent, brecciated or mixed textures (coherent and brecciated textural domains in a single or compound dyke). Single dykes with brecciated and mixed textures are only found intruding near‐surface units. Dykes with mixed textures always have sharp contacts between domains. Dykes with sinuous domain contacts and enclaves of one domain inside the other are interpreted as resulting from dyke arrest, partial cooling and reinjection of new magma. Dykes with straight domain contacts are considered to be compound dykes, with a new dyke intruding along the margins of an older, solidified one.