Deep-Water Circulation in the Hunter Channel (Southwest Atlantic) in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene Based on Benthic Foraminifera

Oceanology - Based on benthic foraminifera from three sediment cores, the deep-water circulation near the Hunter Channel (Southwest Atlantic) in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene has been...     

Changing depositional environment and factors controlling the growth of mudflat in a tropical estuary,west coast of India

Mudflats and associated mangroves are most important ecosystems of tropical coastal regions. Mangroves play a very important role in maintaining the environmental balance; thus in addition to mangrove reforestation and restoration, afforestation has also been practiced. We studied distribution of sediment components (sand, silt, clay) organic carbon (OC), heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr and Co) and pH in six cores collected from one of the largest mudflats of Mandovi estuary, west coast of India. The temporal distribution patterns of these proxies suggested that past changes in tidal energy conditions, fresh water inflow and anthropogenic activities over the last few decades, together helped in development of a middle tidal flat in this estuary. In cores collected from the mangroves, trapping and deposition of finer particles and organic matter were enhanced by a complex aerial mangrove root system in recent years. Mangroves were, therefore, suggested to enhance the buildup of mudflats in Mandovi estuary. Cores collected from mudflats also exhibited higher deposition of finer particles and organic matter (except MF2) in recent years, suggesting maturity and greater stability of the entire mudflat in recent years. Middle tidal flats (mudflats) of Mandovi estuary may, therefore, prove to be suitable substrates for mangrove proliferation in the near future. Finer sediments deposited mainly from mining activities in recent years exhibited lower pH and higher metal content. Organisms dwelling in these recently deposited sediments are, therefore, at higher risk of bioaccumulation and metal toxicity.     

Salt-bearing fumarole deposits in the summit crater of Oldoinyo Lengai, Northern Tanzania: interactions between natrocarbonatite lava and meteoric water

Oldoinyo Lengai in the Northern Tanzania rift is the only active nephelinite–carbonatite stratovolcano. We report the discovery of thermonatrite, aphthitalite, halite and sylvite fumarole deposits on recent natrocarbonatite lava flows erupted in the summit crater during the wet season. These salt deposits occur as delicate, concave fringes or tubes that line the cooling cracks in the lava flows and consist of intergrowths of euhedral crystals. The presence of a dark altered zone, depleted in halides and alkalies, adjacent to cooling cracks and observations of steam fumaroles emanating from the fractures suggest that the salts are formed by sublimation from saturated vapours generated by the extrusion of lavas over meteoric water. The crystallisation sequence recorded in the salts suggests that mixing between meteoric steam and magmatic CO₂ and H₂S occurs at high temperatures resulting in the sublimation of carbonates and sulphates. At lower temperatures the vapours are dominated by meteoric steam and sublimate halides. The high solubility of the fumarole salts within meteoric water and their formation only during the wet season implies that these are ephemeral deposits that are unlikely to be preserved in the geological record.     

Quantitative assessment of dissolved radiotracers in the English Channel: Sources, average impact of la Hague reprocessing plant and conservative behaviour (1983, 1986, 1988, 1994)

Knowledge of long-term movements of water-masses in the English Channel has been substantially improved using hydrodynamic modelling coupled with radio-tracers studies; nevertheless, the precision of results so obtained is still largely dependent on measurement precision. New tools are now available to make more accurate determinations of radio-tracer distribution: (1) Repositioning of station locations at the same tide reference-time, giving a homogeneous spatial data set, coupled with the possibility of interpolating and quantifying the amounts of dissolved radioactivity flowing through the English Channel; (2) the first measurements of tritium (³H) in seawater on a large scale in the English Channel demonstrate that this fully conservative radionuclide is a clearly identifiable marker of industrial releases; (3) recent campaigns carried out during the FLUXMANCHE II CCE (1994) programme show the general distribution of dissolved radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs, ¹³⁴Cs, ⁶⁰Co, ¹²⁵Sb, ¹⁰⁶Ru and ³H in the English Channel and the Irish Sea; and (4) the re-utilisation of data from previous campaigns (1983, 1986, 1988) provides indications, at any given location in the English Channel, about the average dilution and distribution of releases derived from the La Hague reprocessing plant. Excesses and losses of radionuclides are now quantified with respect to known source terms; estimates of losses are provided for non-conservative radionuclides, while an excess of ¹³⁷Cs was observed in the English Channel during the period 1983–1994. This excess, which has the same order of magnitude as the quantities released from La Hague plant in the English Channel, could be explained by about 1% of the Sellafield reprocessing plant releases entering the Channel. These results confirm and give a more detailed picture of the previously known distribution of water masses in the English Channel. They lead to clear information about transit times and dilution at this scale, and provide directly comparable data for the validation of hydrodynamic models.     

The Water Vapour Continuum: Brief History and Recent Developments

The water vapour continuum is characterised by absorption that varies smoothly with wavelength, from the visible to the microwave. It is present within the rotational and vibrational–rotational bands of water vapour, which consist of large numbers of narrow spectral lines, and in the many ‘windows’ between these bands. The continuum absorption in the window regions is of particular importance for the Earth’s radiation budget and for remote-sensing techniques that exploit these windows. Historically, most attention has focused on the 8–12?μm (mid-infrared) atmospheric window, where the continuum is relatively well-characterised, but there have been many fewer measurements within bands and in other window regions. In addition, the causes of the continuum remain a subject of controversy. This paper provides a brief historical overview of the development of understanding of the continuum and then reviews recent developments, with a focus on the near-infrared spectral region. Recent laboratory measurements in near-infrared windows, which reveal absorption typically an order of magnitude stronger than in widely used continuum models, are shown to have important consequences for remote-sensing techniques that use these windows for retrieving cloud properties.     

The Potential for Environmentally Sound Development of Marine Deposits of Potassic and Phosphatic Minerals Offshore, Southern Africa

Extensive potassium and phosphorous-rich mineralization occurs on the outer continental shelf of the southern and west coasts of South Africa and Nambia. This article reviews the potential of exploiting these deposits in an environmentally sound manner for the manufacture of fertilizer. At present, reserves of potash and phosphate fertilizer are exploited from terresterial deposits, the majority being surface mined. The use of fertilizer in South Africa has shown no growth in the past 13 years, and, in some years, usage has even declined. On average, over the last decade, South Africa has consumed 2 million Mt of fertilizer (including nitrogen) per annum, the vast majority of phosphate fertilizer being produced by FOSKOR from the Phalaborwa Igneous Complex. Potash fertilizer is imported into South Africa. Although fertilizer consumption is expected to decrease in the short-term, there are good future prospects for the domestic and international fertilizer market. Considerable research into both glauconitic (containing K 2 O) and phosphatic deposits along the southern African continental shelf indicate that these sedimentary deposits have a complex genesis and mineralization. Of the total K 2 O reserves of 1300 million Mt on the southern African margin, 1000 million Mt is located off the southern African west coast, and the remainder situated on the Agulhas Bank. The largest glauconite concentration ( ±300 million Mt K 2 O) off southern Africa lies west of Saldanha Bay, South Africa. The distribution of P 2 O 5 off southern Africa is dominated by the vast deposit between Walvis Bay and Luderitz, Nambia. This reserve is estimated to contain 1000 million Mt of greater than 5% P 2 O 5 in a relatively small area of about 10000 km2. The phosphorite deposit south of Saldanha Bay constitutes a reserve of ±3500 million Mt of apatite and the deposit on the Agulhas Bank comprises 5500 million Mt. The phosphate deposit off Saldanha Bay occurs as an extensive, low to medium grade deposit. Although vast resources of potash and phosphatic minerals occur along the southern African outer continental shelf the expensive nature of marine exploitation may render most of these deposits, especially the phosphates, subeconomic. The low price of fertilizer andextensive natureontheonland deposits, although confined to asmallnumber of countries, mean that it will not be financially viable to extract these deposits. Assuming high grade glauconitic sand with the right composition can be located, the high market price indicates good future prospects for these potash deposits.     

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: luminosity dependence of galaxy clustering

We investigate the dependence of the strength of galaxy clustering on intrinsic luminosity using the Anglo-Australian two degree field galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS). The 2dFGRS is over an order of magnitude larger than previous redshift surveys used to address this issue. We measure the projected two-point correlation function of galaxies in a series of volume-limited samples. The projected correlation function is free from any distortion of the clustering pattern induced by peculiar motions and is well described by a power law in pair separation over the range     . The clustering of     galaxies in real space is well-fitted by a correlation length     and power-law slope     . The clustering amplitude increases slowly with absolute magnitude for galaxies fainter than M *, but rises more strongly at higher luminosities. At low luminosities, our results agree with measurements from the Southern Sky Redshift Survey 2 by Benoist et al. However, we find a weaker dependence of clustering strength on luminosity at the highest luminosities. The correlation function amplitude increases by a factor of 4.0 between     and −22.5, and the most luminous galaxies are 3.0 times more strongly clustered than L * galaxies. The power-law slope of the correlation function shows remarkably little variation for samples spanning a factor of 20 in luminosity. Our measurements are in very good agreement with the predictions of the hierarchical galaxy formation models of Benson et al.     

Assessment of predictions of the response of the Hualien containment model during forced vibration tests

Blind predictions for the response of the 1/4-scale reinforced concrete Hualien (Taiwan) containment model during forced vibration tests are compared with the observed data. The predictions obtained by the CLASSI approach reflect the experimental conditions prior to and after backfill of the soil surrounding the embedded foundation. The experimental data show a strong and unexpected coupling between the response in the NS and EW directions which is not present in the results for the axisymmetric theoretical models. Also, significant differences can be seen between the experimental responses in the two orthogonal horizontal directions which minimize cross-axis coupling. Although these differences are not accounted for in the theoretical models, the discrepancies between predictions and observations are within the uncertainty of the structural and geotechnical data. The obtained differences between predictions and observations give an excellent measure of the prediction error that can be expected in this type of analysis from uncertainty in the data. A detailed assessment of the initial structural and geotechnical data based on extensive comparisons with the results of previous identification studies is also presented. Finally, comparisons between the observed response and calculations based on revised models for the structure and the soil show that current methods of analysis can account accurately for the observed response.     

Body-wave dispersion in the Friuli focal area

The differential dispersion of P- and S- body waves is studied in the Friuli area. We estimate theoretically the respective contributions of the source, from dislocation models, and of the propagation, from the Futterman model. We demonstrate the possible existence of differential dispersion, which is interpreted as being due to attenuation. The quality factor Q_P deduced from this hypothesis shows a regional variation from 15 to 210. Results also indicate a possible dependence of Q_P on frequency in the range 5–40 Hz.     

Neoproterozoic events in the Tcholliré area: Pan-African crustal growth and geodynamics in central-northern Cameroon (Adamawa and North Provinces)

The Rei Bouba Group is a sedimentary and volcanic sequence (750–?650 Ma), regarded as a remnant of a Pan-African (back-arc?) orogenic basin that separated a remobilized Paleoproterozoic crust from an accretionary area (Poli Complex: 800-650 Ma). The latter was subjected to early deformation (D1) and intruded by calc-alkalic plutons (670 Ma). Transpressive tectonics and major thrusting, with emplacement of synkinematic granite, occurred at ca 630 Ma (D2-3) and a late compression (D4), with emplacement of calc-alkalic granite, occurred at ca 570 Ma. The Tcholliré Shear Zone is regarded as part of the major boundary between a recently accreted crust and the remobilized margin of the Congo Craton.