Generation of Martian chaos and channels by debris flows

A debris flow mechanism is proposed to account for the formation of chaos and the large channels debouching into Chryse Planitia from the adjacent southern uplands of Mars. The debris is thought to have originated through a mechanism of collapse in the chaotic terrains which exist at the head of these channels as well as locally along the channels. This proposition is based on the detailed morphologic similarities between Martian channel source areas and the heads of both subaerial and subaqueous terrestrial debris flows. The downslope movement of the debris produced the channels through (a) modification of earlier collapse areas, (b) active bed erosion, and (c) loading-induced collapse. The large-scale channel geometry and the assemblage of related morphologic features on Mars correspond tto that observed in subaqueous debris flow chutes on the Mississippi delta front. Through various mechanisms of strain-dependent viscosity decrease the debris flow gained mobility downstream, turned into a debris avalanche, and moved onto Chryse Planitia at very high velocities. This high-velocity avalanche eroded a series of streamlined remnants near the channel mouths and deposited its load as a thin blanket over a large area of the basin creating virtually no depositional relief.     

Redating the advance of the New Zealand Franz Josef Glacier during the Last Termination: evidence for asynchronous climate change

Dating climatic and environmental records with accuracy and precision is critical if we are to robustly test hypotheses of synchronous change between the hemispheres. In the southern hemisphere, the advance of the New Zealand Franz Josef Glacier to the Waiho Loop terminal moraine has been used as evidence of synchronous global change during the Younger Dryas Chronozone. However, radiocarbon ages for wood incorporated into the sediments associated with the advance span an interval of 900 years. Here we demonstrate that weathered ‘old’ wood was incorporated into the deposit prior to, or during, the advance, and that this material is highly susceptible to contamination by young carbon, resulting in the wide range of age estimates reported previously. We have identified material with little evidence of reworking (well-preserved wood with bark attached) that provides a statistically robust mean radiocarbon age of 11,062±30 BP (13.1 ka) for the advance of the Franz Josef Glacier. The timing of this event falls within the later part of the Antarctic Cold Reversal. Comparison with local, regional and global records suggests that cold conditions in the Southern Ocean were probably experienced in New Zealand at this time, driving the glacial advance.     

On the Shape of Force-Free Field Lines in the Solar Corona

This paper studies the shape parameters of looped field lines in a linear force-free magnetic field. Loop structures with a sufficient amount of kinking are generally seen to form S or inverse S (Z) shapes in the corona (as viewed in projection). For a single field line, we can ask how much the field line is kinked (as measured by the writhe), and how much neighbouring flux twists about the line (as measured by the twist number). The magnetic helicity of a flux element surrounding the field line can be decomposed into these two quantities. We find that the twist helicity contribution dominates the writhe helicity contribution, for field lines of significant aspect ratio, even when their structure is highly kinked. These calculations shed light on some popular assumptions of the field. First, we show that the writhe of field lines of significant aspect ratio (the apex height divided by the footpoint width) can sometimes be of opposite sign to the helicity. Secondly, we demonstrate the possibility of field line structures which could be interpreted as Z-shaped, but which have a helicity value sign expected of an S-shaped structure. These results suggest that caution should be exercised in using two-dimensional images to draw conclusions on the helicity value of field lines and flux tubes.     

The IDC Seismic,Hydroacoustic and Infrasound Global Low and High Noise Models

The International Data Centre (IDC) in Vienna, Austria, is determining, as part of automatic processing, sensor noise levels for all seismic, hydroacoustic, and infrasound (SHI) stations in the International Monitoring System (IMS) operated by the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Sensor noise is being determined several times per day as a power spectral density (PSD) using the Welch overlapping method. Based on accumulated PSD statistics a probability density function (PDF) is also determined, from which low and high noise curves for each sensor are extracted. Global low and high noise curves as a function of frequency for each of the SHI technologies are determined as the minimum and maximum of the individual station low and high noise curves, respectively, taken over the entire network of contributing stations. An attempt is made to ensure that only correctly calibrated station data contributes to the global noise models by additionally considering various automatic detection statistics. In this paper global low and high noise curves for 2010 are presented for each of the SHI monitoring technologies. Except for a very slight deviation at the microseism peak, the seismic global low noise model returns identically the Peterson (1993) NLNM low noise curve. The global infrasonic low noise model is found to agree with that of Bowman et al. (2005, 2007) but disagrees with the revised results presented in Bowman et al. (2009) by a factor of 2 in the calculation of the PSD. The global hydroacoustic low and high noise curves are found to be in quantitative agreement with Urick’s oceanic ambient noise curves for light to heavy shipping. Whale noise is found to be a feature of the hydroacoustic high noise curves at around 15 and 25 Hz.     

Plastic deformation of metamorphic pyrite: new evidence from electron-backscatter diffraction and forescatter orientation-contrast imaging

Application of new scanning electron microscope techniques to the study of deformed metamorphic pyrite reveals evidence for plastic deformation not readily recognised by more traditional methods. Specifically, use of forescatter solid-state detectors in conjunction with tilted polished specimens of pyritic ore produces high quality crystallographic orientation contrast images, which map the distribution of deformation domains within grains. Use of electron-backscatter diffraction allows quantification of the crystallographic misorientations shown by the orientation contrast images. Combination of these techniques shows that the pyrite studied deforms by slip on {100} and more rarely {110} systems. Slip is often associated with distributed rotation of up to 20° about <100> and more rarely <110> axes. Pyrites may have simple histories involving rotation about a single <100> axis, or more complex histories involving rotation about different <100> axes, and more rarely <110>, in different domains of the same pyrite grain, or sequential rotations about quite different systems, typically distributed rotation about <100> followed by discrete rotation about a non-crystallographic axis. Received: 25 June 1997 / Accepted: 14 May 1998     

High-resolution deep-tow survey imagery,Gulf of Mexico

Data are presented from a commercially available deep-tow 100-kHz side-scan sonar and 3.5-kHz subbottom profiler acquisition system. The towfish is a positively buoyant vehicle referenced to the seafloor with an anchor chain deadweight. This enables the acoustic sources and receivers to be towed at a constant altitude of 30 to 35 m above the seafloor. The records illustrate a capability for imaging deep-water seafloor morphology and near-surface sediments to water depths of 2200 m in the Gulf of Mexico.     

Active slope failure,sediment collapse,and silt flows on the modern subaqueous Huanghe (Yellow River) delta

Post-depositional slope instability and bottom mass-movement processes strongly modify the progradational subaqueous slopes of the modern Huanghe (Yellow River) Delta. Wide, shallow gullies dissect the submarine slopes with gradients of 0.3 to 0.4°. Lower delta-front sediments experiencein situ subsidence, forming numerous collapse depressions. These processes are pronounced over much of the delta, incising and redistributing the most recently deposited silt-rich sediment. Principal causative factors include low sediment strengths created by rapid deposition in the delta during annual peak discharges from the river and severe bottom perturbations by surface storm-generated waves.     

Sediment blocks on the sea floor in British Columbia fjords

In the deepest parts of Bute and Knight Inlets, British Columbia, unusual blocky mounds of sediment rise abruptly from the otherwise smooth sea floor. The mounds (up to 28 m high, 80 m wide, and 150 m long) display bioturbated surfaces with transverse fractures and elongate depressions. The origin of the mounds and sediment blocks, which contrast with the otherwise flat-lying fjord-bottom strata, remains unknown. Two mechanisms for their formation are considered: (1) subsidence associated with earthquake-induced liquefaction; and (2) uplift driven by the growth of localized gas hydrates in the near-surface sediments.     

The subaqueous delta of the modern Huanghe (Yellow River)

The subaqueous delta of the Huanghe (Yellow River) has been studied using high-resolution acoustic systems. There are many subtle variations in sea floor morphology and sediment geometries; smooth, featureless areas are rare. The main components of the subaqueous delta include broad, shallow channels; moderately disturbed areas with near-surface cut and fill structures; heavily disturbed areas with sea floor depressions, pits, and gullies; and a smooth, gently sloping distal delta apron or rise. These features are not directly related to sediment settling from dilute surface plumes but are due to gravity-driven hyperpycnal underflows, submarine mass movements, and silt flows.