In situ Raman observation of the crystallization in NaNO3–Na2SO4–H2O solution droplets

Several double salts have been detected in building materials and most of these salts are incongruently soluble compounds. In contrast to single salts, however, no systematic investigations of the crystallization behavior and deleterious effects of incongruently soluble double salts exist. To assess the damage potential of these salts, a systematic investigation of their highly complex behavior is desirable. This paper deals with the crystallization behavior of various solids in the ternary mixed NaNO₃–Na₂SO₄ system including the formation of the double salt darapskite, Na₃NO₃SO₄·H₂O. The crystallization sequence during droplet evaporation experiments at room conditions was determined using Raman and polarization microscopy. The basic idea of this research is to use deviations of the crystallization sequence of a salt or a mixed salt solution from the equilibrium pathway as an indicator to detect the degree of supersaturation. The observed crystallization pathway includes the formation of the metastable phases Na₂SO₄(III), Na₂SO₄(V) and darapskite. The experimental observations are discussed on the basis of the NaNO₃–Na₂SO₄–H₂O phase diagram and the results provide evidence for crystal growth from highly supersaturated solutions in both systems. If the crystals growing under these conditions are confined, these supersaturations result in substantial crystallization pressures.     

西北地区水资源若干问题探讨

在对我国西北地区水资源及开发利用现状进行分析的基础上,针对如何认识西北地区的缺水问题,如何评价西北地区地下水资源的重要性,怎样看待深层地下水资源以及开采地下水可能引起的环境地质问题等,进行了较深入的分析论述。指出进一步查清西北地区地下水资源,尤其是中深层地下水资源,并加以科学、适度的开发和合理利用,是解决西北地区水资源短缺问题的重要途径之一。     

Denudation and cooling of the Lake Teletskoye Region in the Altai Mountains (South Siberia) as revealed by apatite fission-track thermochronology

Lake Teletskoye occupies a narrow graben located in the northwestern sector of the Altai fold belt in South Siberia. The lake basin is thought to have formed during the Pleistocene as a distant result of the Cenozoic collision of India and Eurasia that caused a tectonic reactivation of the Palaeozoic Gorny–Altai (GA) and West Sayan (WS) blocks.The present work reports of a pilot fission-track study performed on 13 apatite separates collected from rocks that were sampled along two profiles in close proximity of the lake. The age–length data and AFT thermochronological modelling reveal two important phases of cooling in the Altai Mountains, a first one during the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous and a second one that started in the Miocene–Pliocene and that persists until today. The first event is interpreted to result from uplift-induced denudation probably related to the closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean; the second event can be linked to the young Cenozoic movements that lie at the origin of the formation of the Lake Teletskoye basin.     

Fault plane solutions of the january 26th, 2001 bhuj earthquake sequence

A 12-station temporary microearthquake network was established by the Geological Survey of India for aftershock monitoring of the January 26th, 2001 Bhuj earthquake (M _w 7.6) in the Kutch district of Gujarat state, western India. The epicentres of the aftershocks show two major trends: one in the NE direction and the other in the NW direction. Fault-plane solutions of the best-located and selected cluster of events that occurred along the NE trend, at a depth of 15–38 km, show reverse faulting with a large left-lateral strike-slip motion, which are comparable with the main-shock solution. The NW trending upper crustal aftershocks at depth <10 km, on the other hand, show reverse faulting with right-lateral strike-slip motion, and the mid crustal and lower crustal aftershocks, at a depth of 15–38 km, show pure reverse faulting as well as reverse faulting with right-lateral and left-lateral strike-slip motions; these solutions are not comparable with the main-shock solution. It is inferred that the intersection of two faults has been the source area for stress concentration to generate the main shock and the aftershocks.     

含硒硫锑铅矿在我国的发现及其意义

含硒硫锑铅矿是硫锑铅矿的含硒变种，产于皖南宋冲锑－铅矿点的矿脉中，这是含硒硫锑铅矿在我国的首次发现。在该矿点，含硒硫锑铅矿含量高，独立形成锑－铅矿体，这在国内外尚属首例。含硒硫锑铅矿中Ｓｅ的含量ｗＳｅ＝１．５８８％，其化学式为（Ｐｂ４．６１７１Ａｇ０．０２１７）４．６３８８（Ｓｂ３．６７８１Ａｓ０．１９００）３．８６８１（Ｓ１０．６３４５Ｓｅ０．３６３７Ｔｅ０．００１８）１１。     

Seismic activity at the MCT in Sikkim Himalaya

A microearthquake survey in the Sikkim Himalaya raised a question whether the north–south segment of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) in this part of the Himalaya is seismically active(?). Fault-plane solution of a cluster of events occurred below this segment of the MCT shows right-lateral strike-slip motion. The seismic observations and the geological evidences suggest that a NNE–SSW trending strike-slip fault, beneath this segment, caused right lateral movement on the MCT, and is seismically active.     

Convolutive independent component analysis for processing massive datasets: a case study at Campi Flegrei (Italy)

A novel procedure is proposed to analyse continuous seismic signal on hourly scales to have a prompt discrimination among the different sources. Specifically, this approach is applied to a massive dataset recorded at Campi Flegrei caldera during the year 2006 when a swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes occurred. The convolutive independent component analysis is adopted to obtain a clear separation among meteo-marine microseism, anthropogenic noise, hydrothermal tremor in the absence of volcano-tectonic activity, whereas in non-stationary conditions a contribution connected to the corner frequency of the earthquakes emerges. A coarse-grained variable to be monitored continuously is introduced, i.e. the frequency associated with the maximum amplitude of the power spectral density of the deconvolutive independent components. That parameter is sensitive to the variation in the frequency bands of interest (e.g. that corresponding to the corner frequencies of volcano-tectonic events) and can be used as marker of the insurgence of seismic activity.

     

华北地层大区寒武纪早期地层统一划分与对比问题

基于华北地层大区数百条寒武纪早期地层剖面与安徽淮南地区基准层序(2组2亚组15段1个亚段)和带序(6个三叶虫带)的确切对比,编制了新的沉积分区图;依据有无猴家山组和馒头组下亚组是否完整,划分出5个沉积区;讨论了各区与基准层序-带序的对比;明确了各地方性岩石地层单位(五山组、李官组、碱厂组、辛集组、朱砂洞组、苏峪口组、五道淌组、昌平组、府君山组、老庄户组、水洞组、黑沟组等)的层位归属(具体至段),确认与寒武纪早期地层有关的3个沉积间断(皖北上升、豫陕上升和燕辽上升),归属于重新厘定的蓟县运动的3个期次.     

Simulations of Galactic Cosmic Ray impacts onto the Herschel/PACS photoconductor arrays with Geant4 code

We present results of simulations performed with the Geant4 software code of the effects of Galactic Cosmic Ray impacts on the photoconductor arrays of the PACS instrument. This instrument is part of the ESA-Herschel payload, which will be launched in 2008 and will operate at the Lagrangian L2 point of the Sun-Earth system. Both the Satellite plus the cryostat (the shield) and the detector act as source of secondary events, affecting the detector performance. Secondary event rates originated within the detector and from the shield are of comparable intensity. The impacts deposit energy on each photoconductor pixel but do not affect the behaviour of nearby pixels. These latter are hit with a probability always lower than 7%. The energy deposited produces a spike which can be hundreds times larger than the noise. We then compare our simulations with proton irradiation tests carried out for one of the detector modules and follow the detector behaviour under ‘real’ conditions.     

The potassium abundance in the solar photosphere

High precision center-limb spectrograms of the K i resonance doublet line at λ 7699 Å were used to study the line formation and to determine the abundance of potassium in the solar atmosphere. The LTE assumption is not valid for these lines. Synthetic profiles computed in NLTE reproduce very well the observed center-limb line behaviour and yield log? _K = 5.14±0.10 for the solar abundance of potassium (on the scale of log? _H = 12 for Hydrogen).