Twist transport in strongly torsioned astrophysical flux tubes

Riemannian geometrical effects on the expansion of the electron magnetohydrodynamical (EMH) superconductivity modeled twisted nonplanar thin magnetic flux tubes are considered. A solution is found which represents almost incompressible plasma flows, where the twist of flux tube is computed in terms of the continuous variation of its cross-section. It is shown that the twist increases in regions where twisted flux tube expands as in Parker’s conjecture. From computation of compression along the tube we show that when the torsion is weak a centrifugal or vorticity effect on the longitudinal direction of the tube enhances the screening effect on the “superconductor”. Throughout the paper we consider helical flux tubes where torsion and curvature of the tube are constants. Thus we show that the Parker’s conjecture is valid in a continuos manner for these type II superconducting twisted flux tubes. Throughout the paper we adopt the approximation that the radial component of the magnetic field varies so slowly along the tube axis that it can be approximated to zero along the tube. It is suggested that the models discussed here may also be applied to DNA and nanotubes.     

Nocturnal urban heat island in Lisbon (Portugal): main features and modelling attempts

Summary In recent years, several studies have examined the Lisbon urban climate. A central conclusion is the existence of a nocturnal urban heat island (mean ΔT_u−r = 2.5 °C). The aim of this paper is to summarise several attempts carried out in the last decade to interpolate nocturnal air temperatures across Lisbon, in order to be able to draw thermal maps as accurately as possible. This study refers only to clear nights. Stepwise multiple regression and a Geographic Information System were used to model the relation between air temperature and parameters related to land-use and topography. The different regression models (coefficients of determination between 0.68 and 0.92) show that canopy layer air temperature depends on sky-view factor, building height and percentage of built-up area, but also to a great extend on mesoclimatic geographic factors such as altitude, topography and distance from the Tagus River. Examples of four frequently encountered nocturnal air temperature patterns are presented, each corresponds to a different weather type. This method employed could prove useful in drawing climatic maps that may be of use in master plans of urban municipalities.     

Effects of grain morphology on critical state: a computational analysis

We introduce a new DEM scheme (LS-DEM) that takes advantage of level sets to enable the inclusion of real grain shapes into a classical discrete element method. Then, LS-DEM is validated and calibrated with respect to real experimental results. Finally, we exploit part of LS-DEM potentiality by using it to study the dependency of critical state (CS) parameters such as critical state line (CSL) slope \(\lambda \), CSL intercept \(\varGamma \), and CS friction angle \(\varPhi _{\mathrm{CS}}\) on the grain’s morphology, i.e., sphericity, roundness, and regularity. This study is carried out in three steps. First, LS-DEM is used to capture and simulate the shape of five different two-dimensional cross sections of real grains, which have been previously classified according to the aforementioned morphological features. Second, the same LS-DEM simulations are carried out for idealized/simplified grains, which are morphologically equivalent to their real counterparts. Third, the results of real and idealized grains are compared, so the effect of “imperfections” on real particles is isolated. Finally, trends for the CS parameters (CSP) dependency on sphericity, roundness, and regularity are obtained as well as analyzed. The main observations and remarks connecting particle’s morphology, particle’s idealization, and CSP are summarized in a table that is attempted to help in keeping a general picture of the analysis, results, and corresponding implications.     

Distribution of dissolved species and suspended particulate copper in an intertidal ecosystem affected by copper mine tailings in Northern Chile

The coastline near Chañaral in Northern Chile is one of the most highly Cu-contaminated zones in the world due to discharges from mining activities for more than 60 years. The speciation of Cu has been studied to determine the importance of organic complexation in highly contaminated areas, and to assess the likely physiological impacts of Cu on marine organisms. Dissolved Cu concentrations of up to 500 nM were measured, completely saturating organic ligands and leading to free Cu²⁺ concentrations in excess of 10^− 8 M. These values are higher than those reported in any other marine environment, and because they occur over an extensive area, provide a unique opportunity to study the effects of Cu on marine ecosystems and to see how Cu behaves when its speciation is predominantly inorganic. We found strong gradients in free Cu²⁺ between Chañaral and adjacent areas with lower Cu, where speciation is dominated by organic complexation. There is also a significant increase in the partitioning of Cu onto suspended particles in the contaminated areas, consistent with previous studies that showed that organic ligands stabilize Cu in the dissolved phase, whilst “excess” Cu is rapidly scavenged. Those high dissolved Cu concentrations persist in spite of solid phase partitioning and advective processes along this open-ocean coastline, suggesting that Cu inputs into the system are still very large. Measurements were made using anodic stripping voltammetry with a thin mercury film coated with Nafion, which previous workers have shown can mitigate ambiguity in the data arising from inadvertent reduction of organic complexes. Our findings suggest that this is a useful methodology for contaminated systems.     

Tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Karakorum Metamorphic complex (Dassu–Askole area, NE Pakistan): exhumation of mid-crustal HT–MP gneisses in a convergent context

The South Karakorum margin, east of the Himalayan syntaxis, consist of an E–W elongated zone of young (10–3 Ma) high‐grade metamorphic rocks (M2) and related migmatitic domes. This late tectono‐metamorphic event post‐dates the Palaeogene (55–37 Ma) phase of thickening of the belt featured by NW–SE structures and associated M1 amphibolite facies metamorphism (0.7 GPa, 700 °C). This M2 metamorphism is characterised by low‐pressure, high‐temperature conditions coeval with migmatite formation in response to a thermal increase of c. 150 °C compared to M1, culminating at a temperature of c. 770 °C and a pressure of 0.5–0.6 GPa. Rapid exhumation of migmatitic domes, at a rate of 5 mm yr^?1, was accommodated by vertical extrusion, in the core of E–W crustal‐scale folds. These crustal‐scale folds formed in response to N–S syn‐collisional shortening and were enhanced by thermal weakening of the migmatised continental crust. M2 metamorphism is spatially and temporarily associated with granitoids showing a mantle affinity, firmly suggesting that this could be the advective heat source for the granite and syenite generation and the subsequent migmatisation of the mid‐crustal level. Such relationships between a mantle‐related magmatism and a high‐temperature metamorphism in a convergent shortening context are suggestive of the breakoff of the subducted Indian slab since 20 Ma.     

Evidence for a warmer period during the 12th and 13th centuries AD from chironomid assemblages in Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada

This study presents the Late-Holocene evolution of a northern Southampton Island (Nunavut, Canada) lake, using fossil chironomids supported by sedimentological evidences (XRF, grain size and CNS). All proxies revealed a relatively stable environment during the last millennium with short-lived events driving changes in the entire lake ecosystem. The chironomid-based paleotemperatures revealed variations of significant amplitude coincident with changes in the sediment density and chemical composition of the core. Higher temperature intervals were generally correlated to lower sediment density with higher chironomid concentration and diversity. Higher temperatures were recorded from cal yr AD 1160 to AD 1360, which may correspond to the Medieval Warm Period. Between cal yr AD 1360 and AD 1700, lower temperatures were probably related to a Little Ice Age event. This study presents new information on the timing of known climatic events which will refine our knowledge of the paleoclimate and climatic models of the Foxe Basin region. It also provides a new framework for the evolution of such freshwater ecosystems under the “Anthropocene” and underlines the importance of including sedimentological proxies when interpreting chironomid remains as this combined approach provides an extended overview of the past hydrological and geochemical changes and their impacts on lake biota.     

Tectonometamorphic evolution of the Atbashi high‐P units (Kyrgyz CAOB,Tien Shan): Implications for the closure of the Turkestan Ocean and continental subduction–exhumation of the South Kazakh continental margin

The South Tien Shan (STS) belt results from the last collision event in the western Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). Understanding its formation is of prime importance in the general framework of the CAOB. The Atbashi Range preserves high‐P (HP) rocks along the STS suture, but still, its global metamorphic evolution remains poorly constrained. Several HP units have been identified: (a) a HP tectonic mélange including boudins of mafic eclogites in a sedimentary matrix, (b) a large (>100 km long) high‐P metasedimentary unit (HPMU) and (c) a lower blueschist facies accretionary prism. Raman Spectroscopy on carbonaceous material combined with phengite and chlorite multiequilibria and isochemical phase diagram modelling indicates that the HPMU recorded homogeneous P–T conditions of 23–25 kbar and 560–570°C along the whole unit. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating on phengite from the HPMU ranges between 328 and 319 Ma at regional scale. These ages are interpreted as (re‐) crystallization ages of phengite during T_max conditions at a pressure range of 20–25 kbar. Thermobarometry on samples from the HP tectonic mélange provides similar metamorphic peak conditions. Thermobarometry on the blueschist to lower greenschist facies accretionary prism indicates that it underwent P–T conditions of 5–6 kbar and 290–340°C, highlighting a 17–20 kbar pressure gap between the HPMU‐tectonic mélange units and the accretionary prism. Comparison with available geochronological data suggests a very short time span between the prograde path (340 Ma), HP metamorphic peak (330 Ma), the T_max (328–319 Ma) and the final exhumation of the HPMU (303–295 Ma). Extrusion of the HPMU, accommodated by a basal thrust and an upper detachment, was driven by buoyant forces from 70–75 km up to 60 km depth, which directly followed continental subduction and detachment of the HPMU. At crustal depths, extrusion was controlled by collisional tectonics up to shallow levels. Lithological homogeneity of the HPMU and its continental‐derived character from the North Tien Shan suggest this unit corresponds to the hyper‐extended continental margin of the Kazakh continent, subducted southward below the north continental active margin of the Tarim craton. Integration of the available geological data allows us to propose a general geodynamic scenario for Tien Shan during the Carboniferous with a combination of (a) N‐dipping subduction below the Kazakh margin of Middle Tien Shan until 390–340 Ma and (b) S‐dipping subduction of remaining Turkestan marginal basins between 340 and 320 Ma.     

P–T–t estimation of deformation in low‐grade quartz‐feldspar‐bearing rocks using thermodynamic modelling and 40Ar/39Ar dating techniques: example of the Plan‐de‐Phasy shear zone unit (Briançonnais Zone,Western Alps)

Pressure–Temperature–time (P–T–t) estimates of the syn‐kinematic strain at the peak‐pressure conditions reached during shallow underthrusting of the Briançonnais Zone in the Alpine subduction zone was made by thermodynamic modelling and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating in the Plan‐de‐Phasy unit (SE of the Pelvoux Massif, Western Alps). The dated phengite minerals crystallized syn‐kinematically in a shear zone indicating top‐to‐the‐N motion. By combining X‐ray mapping with multi‐equilibrium calculations, we estimate the phengite crystallization conditions at 270 ± 50 °C and 8.1 ± 2 kbar at an age of 45.9 ± 1.1 Ma. Combining this P–T–t estimate with data from the literature allows us to constrain the timing and geometry of Alpine continental subduction. We propose that the Briançonnais units were scalped on top of the slab during ongoing continental subduction and exhumed continuously until collision.