The dust grains in the coma of Comet West

The observed variation of reddening as function of the heliocentric distance and the spatial variation of reddening within the coma of Comet West in the visual wavelength range have been considered to infer the properties of the cometary dust grains. The relevant model incorporates the variation in the size distribution function as well as the composition of the spherical grains. The real part of the complex index of refraction (m = m – im) is chosen such thatm = 1.6. The imaginary part is required to vary from m = 0.2 to 0.05 over the wavelength range 0.4 to 0.7 m. This choice of refractive index corresponds to dirty silicate grains. As a by-product, the model also satisfies the observed polarization and albedo for the Comet West.     

Farm income,inequality, and poverty among farm families of a flood-prone area in Bangladesh: climate change vulnerability assessment

GeoJournal - This paper examines the farm income differences, income inequality of farm households, parameters of income variability that ascertain vulnerability levels, and cost-income variability...     

Land leasing in a post-land reform context: insights from Zimbabwe

GeoJournal - Despite the Zimbabwean State’s narrative and discourse that in fast track land reform areas ‘land leasing is illegal’, there is a surge in land leasing. This article...     

Multidimensional six-stage model for flood emergency response in schools: a case study of Pakistan

Natural Hazards - Children spend more than two-thirds of their total daytime in schools and becoming more persuasive in shielding them from potential hazards. Schools have a responsibility to...     

Influence of redox conditions on the intensity of Mars crustal magnetic anomalies

We evaluate the relationship between the intensity of remanent magnetization and fO₂ in natural and synthetic Mars meteorites. The olivine‐phyric shergottite meteorite Yamato 980459 (Y‐980459) and a sulfur‐free synthetic analog (Y‐98*) of identical major element composition were analyzed to explore the rock magnetic and remanence properties of a basalt crystallized from a primitive melt, and to explore the role of magmatic and alteration environment fO₂ on Mars crustal anomalies. The reducing conditions under which Y‐980459 is estimated to have formed (QFM‐2.5; Shearer et al. 2006) were replicated during the synthesis of Y‐98*. Y‐980459 contains pyrrhotite and chromite. Chromite is the only magnetic phase in Y‐98*. The remanence‐carrying capacity of Y‐980459 is comparable to other shergottites that formed in the fO₂ range of QFM‐3 to QFM‐1. The remanence‐carrying capacity of these low fO₂ basalts is 1–2 orders of magnitude too weak to account for the intense crustal anomalies observed in Mars's southern cratered highlands. Moderately oxidizing conditions of >QFM‐1, which are more commonly observed in nakhlites and Noachian breccias, are key to generating either a primary igneous assemblage or secondary alteration assemblage capable of acquiring an intense remanent magnetization, regardless of the basalt character or thermal history. This suggests that if igneous rocks are responsible for the intensely magnetized crust, these oxidizing conditions must have existed in the magmatic plumbing systems of early Mars or must have existed in the crust during secondary processes that led to acquisition of a chemical remanent magnetization.     

The problem,significance and implications for metamorphism of 60 million years of multiple phases of staurolite growth

Microstructural measurements of FIAs in staurolite reveal at least 3 periods of growth in the Proterozoic Colorado Front Range and 5 in the Paleozoic Western Maine. Dated monazite inclusions in staurolite have an absolute age of 1760±12 Ma (FIA 1), 1720±7 Ma (FIA 2), 1682±18 Ma (FIA 3) in Colorado, and 408±10 Ma (FIA 2), 388±8 Ma (FIA 3), 372±6 Ma (FIA 4), 352±4 Ma (FIA 5) in Maine, supporting the multiple periods of deformation and metamorphism indicated by the FIA succession in each region. Multiple phases of growth by similar reactions in the same as well as in diverse adjacent rocks in both regions suggest that PT and X are not the only factors controlling the commencement and cessation of metamorphic reactions. The FIAs preserved by the staurolite porphyroblasts indicate that the local partitioning of deformation at the scale of a porphyroblast was the eventual controlling factor on whether or not the staurolite forming reactions took place.     

Incipient eclogite facies metamorphism in the Moldanubian granulites revealed by mineral inclusions in garnet

We investigated several mineral phases and their replacement products which occur as inclusions in garnets from felsic and mafic granulites of the Gföhl Unit in the Moldanubian Zone. The most important mineral inclusions, Ti-rich muscovite and omphacite, were used for the reconstruction of the metamorphic history of granulites. Some inclusions were transformed during high-temperature granulite facies metamorphism, partial melting and decompression to other phases, and so the original mineral can only be deduced from the inclusion morphology and reaction products. These inclusions have columnar shapes and consist of K-feldspar + kaolinite, albite + Fe-oxide, plagioclase + Fe-oxide, or albite + K-feldspar, respectively. The pseudomorphs with albite/plagioclase occur in a Ca-rich garnet that shows prograde zoning. Pressure–temperature (PT) evolution, derived from mineral assemblages in granulite and based on the inclusions, suggests a prograde metamorphism from amphibolite through eclogite to granulite facies conditions with subsequent amphibolite facies overprint during exhumation. The estimated PT trajectory for the studied granulites, which also host lenses or boudins of eclogites and garnet peridotites, allows reconstruction of the complete clockwise metamorphic path that is consistent with subduction geotherm prior to the tectonic amalgamation within the continental collisional root.     

Lead isotope signatures of Pb-Zn sulfide mineralization in the Reshian-Lamnian area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir,Pakistan

The Reshian-Lamnian area within the Hazara-Kashmir syntaxis in Pakistan is composed mainly of the rocks of the Salkhala, Panjal and Murree formations. Base metal sulfide mineralization in the form of sphalerite and galena with lesser amounts of chalcopyrite and pyrite is present within the Salkhala Formation of the study area. Chemically all these ore phases are homogeneous in composition. The Pb isotopic composition of galena from the area suggests that there is very little or negligible variation in the ratios of ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb. Modal ages ranging from 509 to 562 Ma and the μ values of 10.71 to 10.93 have been calculated for the studied Pb-Zn mineralization. On the basis of field features, mineralogy and Pb-isotope signatures, it is concluded that the Pb-Zn sulfide mineralization in the Reshian-Lamnia area is pre-Himalayan in age and can be correlated with the Cambro-Ordovician (Pan-African) orogenic event.     

Hydrological processes of adsorption,sedimentation, and infiltration into the lake bed during the 2004 urban flood in Dhaka city,Bangladesh

The urban flood of Dhaka city in September 2004 is a result of heavy rainfall (341 mm a day or more than 600 mm in 5 days). In addition to the local rainfall, elevated water levels in the surrounding rivers may have affected the flood duration by bank filtration. Two lakes, Banani and Gulshan, in the mid of the city are the part of general storm water retention system in Dhaka. Flood water runs through the lakes acting as channels to the pumping station downstream. A tank model is used in this study to describe the total drainage process with the hydraulic geometry and resistance laws to derive cross-sections and friction factors of the quasi-uniform flows. Assuming the dissolved matters of the flood water was of similar composition as in the lake sediments, the process was a combination of adsorption and sedimentation. Lake sediment samples collected in March 2004 show an anomaly of chromium which may reflect the previous 1998 flood, and there may be a diffusive leakage from the source area to the adjacent zones. Further evidence of infiltration process is seen in records of diurnal thermal stratification of Lake Banani. It responds to only heavy rainfalls over 100 mm/day, and the fact means that infiltration to the groundwater is rather intermittent.     

Kinetics of the Reactions of IO with HO2 and O(3P)

A discharge-flow tube coupled with resonance fluorescence and chemiluminescence detection has been used to investigate the reactions IO + HO₂ products (1) and IO + O(³P) I + O₂(2), at T = 296 ± 1 K and P = 1.7 - 2 Torr. The rate constants k_-1 and k₂ have been found to be (7.1 ± 1.6) × 10^-11 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1 and (1.35 ± 0.15) × 10^-10 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1, respectively.