Middle Paleozoic Rhyolite of the Gorny and Rudny Altai: Geochronology and Composition

Doklady Earth Sciences - The paper reports the results of geological, geochemical, and isotope–geochronological studies of subvolcanic rhyolites of NW Gorny Altai and Rudny Altai, which...     

Phlogopites and potassic richterites from mica nodules in South African kimberlites

Mica nodules from the Dutoitspan and Wesselton mines, Kimberley can be divided into two groups: diopside-phlogopite nodules and potassic richterite-phlogopite nodules. The latter is characterized by the presence of abundant potassic richterite (less than 50% by volume) and large size of the crystals (up to 1 cm in length). It seems this type nodule is the first finding. Phlogopites and potassic richterites show a rather wide variations of major elements they have low Al₂O₃ and high Fe₂O₃, with Fe⁺³ in addition to Al⁺³ in the tetrahedral sites. It is believed that the mica nodules would be produced from kimberlitic and related magmas under moderate temperature and pressure conditions.     

Petrography and petrochemistry of latest Pliocene olivine-tholeiites of Taos area,northern New Mexico,U.S.A.

In north-central New Mexico, U.S.A., enormous volumes of basaltic rocks erupted in latest Pliocene time, forming large flat plateaus along the western foot of the Rocky Mountain Range.Petrographically, and also geologically, the volcanic rocks are divided into three series. Of these, the lava flows of the middle series accounted for more than ninety-five per cent of both area and volume. The first two series are composed of olivine-tholeiite while the last one is composed of calc-alkaline andesite.Twenty volcanic rocks, five groundmass plagioclases and five groundmass clinopyroxenes have been chemically analysed.The basalts are intermediate between tholeiitic and alkaline types and are rather similar to the high-alumina basalt from Oregon and the Cascade Range. However, the crystallization trends of groundmass plagioclase and clinopyroxene closely resemble those found in Japanese and Kilauean tholeiitic series.     

Evaluation of Seasonal Sea Level Variation at Syowa Station, Antarctica, Using GPS Observations

Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of the vertical displacement of fast ice near Syowa Station, Antarctica, were conducted between April and December 1998 to evaluate measurements of sea level variation derived with a conventional bottom pressure gauge (BPG). The BPG-derived sea level revealed a seasonal variation of about 0.13 m, with a high in April–June and a low in November–December. The GPS-derived sea level, combined with observed sea ice thickness, supported the BPG result, with an RMS error of 0.007 m. Our result also demonstrates that GPS is a powerful technique for monitoring sea level variations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ar and Sr isotopes of mantle-derived rocks from the Japanese Islands

⁴⁰Ar-³⁰Ar and Sr isotope analyses have been made for ultramatic nodules in basaltic rocks from Itinome-gata and the Oki-Dōgo Island, northeast and southwest of Japan respectively, in order to examine the state of the upper mantle under the Japanese Islands. ⁴⁰Ar-³⁰Ar analyses have revealed that ultramafic nodules from Oki-Dōgo Island were involved in events which caused Ar redistribution in these rocks and probably were related to their formation not older than several tens of millions of years ago. These nodules are relatively depleted in both Rb and Sr contents together with some other incompatible elements compared to similar nodules from the other regions in the world. This may be typical for ultramafic nodules from the Japanese Islands. Ultramafic nodules show mostly a little higher⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.704–0.706) than those of host basaltic rocks (0.703–0.705) indicating the accidental origin for these nodules. Present results also suggest both horizontal and vertical inhomogeneities of the uppermost part of the mantle with respect to Sr isotopes on a regional scale. Hence, the ultramafic nodules in volcanic rocks may not always directly represent the upper mantle materials from which the magma is produced at present. Such ultramafic nodules might be relatively old material from the uppermost part of the mantle under the Japanese Islands.     

Verification of the wind-driven transport in the North Pacific subtropical gyre using gridded wind-stress products

Wind-stress products supplied by satellite scatterometers carried the European Remote-sensing Satellite (ERS) and QuikSCAT (QSCAT), together with numerical weather predictions from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) and the National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) were used to estimate wind-driven transports of the North Pacific subtropical gyre. At 30°N, we compared the wind-driven transports with geostrophic transports calculated from World Ocean Database 2005. The wind-driven transports for QSCAT and NCEP are in good agreement with the geostrophic transport within reasonable error, except for a regional difference in the eastern part of the section. The difference in the eastern part suggests an anti-cyclonic deviation of the geostrophic transport, resulting from an anti-cyclonic anomalous flow in the surface layer. It is suggested that this anomalous flow is the Eastern Gyral, produced by the thermohaline process associated with the formation of the Eastern Subtropical Mode Water. To investigate the validity of QSCAT and NCEP data, we examined whether or not the Sverdrup transports for these products are consistent with the transport of the western boundary current estimated by past studies. The net southward transport, given by the sum of the Sverdrup transport for QSCAT and NCEP and the thermohaline transport, agrees well with the net northward transport of the western boundary current. From this result, together with the fact that the wind-driven transports for these products are in good agreement with the geostrophic transport, we conclude that the Sverdrup balance can hold in the North Pacific subtropical gyre.     

Transient ULF Electric and magnetic fields of an electrical current source in a medium with continuously varying conductivity

Recent analytical studies of ULF electromagnetic fields in the atmosphere are reviewed. These fields have their origin in the discharge of thunderclouds. The problem for a vertical electrical dipole source played in an atmosphere where the conductivity increases exponentially with altitude is described. The analytical expressions for the electric and magnetic field, which vary in time and space, are approximately obtained by a vector potential. It is seen that the amplitudes of the pulse decrease with both increases of the horizontal distance and the gradient of the conductivity. However, the shapes of the pulse are almost constant.On leave from the Department of Electronic Engineering, Gumma University Kiryu, 376, Japan     

基于亚太地区环境综合监测的陆地生态系统中水、热和二氧化碳的监测与模拟

The Integrated Environmental Monitoring (IEM) project, part of the Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategy (APEIS) project, developed an integrated environmental monitoring system that can be used to detect, monitor, and assess environmental disasters, degradation, and their impacts in the Asia-Pacific region. The system primarily employs data from the moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) sensor on the Earth Observation System- (EOS-) Terra/Aqua satellite,as well as those from ground observations at five sites in different ecological systems in China. From the preliminary data analysis on both annual and daily variations of water, heat and CO2 fluxes, we can confirm that this system basically has been working well. The results show that both latent flux and CO2 flux are much greater in the crop field than those in the grassland and the saline desert, whereas the sensible heat flux shows the opposite trend. Different data products from MODIS have very different correspondence, e.g. MODIS-derived land surface temperature has a close correlation with measured ones, but LAI and NPP are quite different from ground measurements, which suggests that the algorithms used to process MODIS data need to be revised by using the local dataset. We are now using the APEIS-FLUX data to develop an integrated model, which can simulate the regional water,heat, and carbon fluxes. Finally, we are expected to use this model to develop more precise high-order MODIS products in Asia-Pacific region.     

侵蚀沉积模型在嘉陵江流域的应用

从20世纪50年代到80年代长江宜昌水文站观测的泥沙输送量逐年增加,但是到了90年代却出现了逐渐减少的趋势。泥沙量增加的原因主要是乱伐森林和土地利用方式的快速改变,而减少的原因则可能是采取了一系列防止水土流失的对策和在上游修建了许多大坝而造成的。嘉陵江流域是长江泥沙的主要源区之一,90年代每年从嘉陵江流域到长江的输沙量减少到1988年前的约36%。因此,分析该流域每年泥沙输送动态及其变化原因,对制定减小水土流失的森林规划,防止三峡水库的淤积以及保护长江流域的生存环境和生态系统等具有重大意义。本研究开发并改进了一个流域集水坡面上的侵蚀模型,并将它应用到1987年的嘉陵江流域,以对其适用性进行了研究。结果表明,该模式可被用于月度泥沙生产量的评估中。