Palaeoecology of the Quaternary

Book reviewed in this article:
H. J. B. Birks & Hilary H. Birks: Quaternary Palaeoecology     

ROSAT PSPC detection of soft X-ray absorption in GB 1428+4217: the most distant matter yet probed with X-ray spectroscopy

We report on a ROSAT PSPC observation of the highly luminous z =4.72 radio-loud quasar GB 1428+4217 obtained between 1998 December 11 and 17, the final days of the ROSAT satellite. The low-energy sensitivity of the PSPC detector was employed to constrain the intrinsic X-ray absorption of the currently most distant X-ray detected object. Here we present the detection of significant soft X-ray absorption towards GB 1428+4217, making the absorbing material the most distant matter yet probed with X-ray spectroscopy. X-ray variability by 25±8 per cent is detected on a time-scale of 6500 s in the rest frame. The X-ray variation requires an unusually high radiative efficiency of at least 4.2, further supporting the blazar nature of the source.     

COMPUTATION OF INTERVAL VELOCITIES FROM COMMON REFLECTION POINT MOVEOUT TIMES FOR n LAYERS WITH ARBITRARY DIPS AND CURVATURES IN THREE DIMENSIONS WHEN ASSUMING SMALL SHOT-GEOPHONE DISTANCES*

It is well known that interval velocities can be determined from common-reflection-point moveout times. However, the mathematics becomes complicated in the general case of n homogeneous layers with curved interfaces dipping in three dimensions. In this paper the problem is solved by mathematical induction using the second power terms only of the Taylor series which represents the moveout time as a function of the coordinate differences between shot and geophone points. Moreover, the zero-offset reflection times of the nth interface in a certain area surrounding the point of interest have to be known. The n—I upper interfaces and interval velocities are known too on account of the mathematical induction method applied. Thus, the zero-offset reflection raypath of the nth interface can be supposed to be known down to the intersection with the (n—1)th interface. The method applied consists mainly in transforming the second power terms of the moveout time from one interface to the next one. This is accomplished by matrix algebra. Some special cases are discussed as e.g. uniform strike and small curvatures.     

MAPPING AND INTERPRETATION OF FIELD PHENOMENA FOR GROUNDWATER RECONNAISSANCE IN A PRAIRIE ENVIRONMENT,ALBERTA, CANADA

ABSTRACT

Theoretically, a small drainage basin may be divided into equal areas of downward flow and upward flow of groundwater. In regions where surface water does not obscure the phenomena produced by groundwater, these areas can be differentiated by mapping springs, seepages, groundwater levels, flowing wells, chemical quality of water, natural vegetation, salt precipitates, quality of crops, soap holes, and moist and dry depressions.

Mapping and interpretation of field phenomena have been carried out in a section of the Ghostpine Creek valley in a Prairie environment. The relief is gently rolling, the geology is simple, and the climate is cold, humid, and continental. The area of the “north flow-systems” is apportioned as follows: 26 per cent underlain by downward flow; 42 per cent underlain by a mid-line area; and 32 per cent underlain by upward flow.

Noting that groundwater flow is nearly parallel to the water table in the vicinity of the mid-line these results comply with the above-mentioned theory of groundwater flow distribution in small drainage basins. Thus, the method is suggested for: 1. A reconnaissance study of the groundwater regime in certain areas, and 2. Specific problems related to groundwater in a Prairie environment, such as: finding suitable locations for dug-out type water supplies, estimating prospects for slough-draining and irrigation, and explanation of the development of certain soil types. For such purposes, the method appears to be competitive with test drilling.     

NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR REFLECTION SEISMICS BY UNDERSHOOTING BODIES WITH COMPLICATED TECTONICS *

In modern oil exploration layers of prospective interest with rather simple structural features are often overlain by very complicated bodies as e.g. saltdomes or other kinds of diapirs, olistostromes, or front zones of overthrusted blankets. In all these cases normal reflection seismic investigations, where downgoing and upgoing rays are rather close to each other, mostly fail, either because no reflections from underneath the complicated bodies are obtained, or because a reliable migrated depth presentation becomes practically impossible due to the inhomogeneity of the overlying bodies. The undershooting technique avoids these difficulties by using ray paths which do not traverse the complicated bodies e.g. by shooting on one side of a saltdome and recording on the other side. On account of the large shot-geophone distances in this method special considerations and computer processes were developed concerning moveout corrections for common depth point stacking and migrated depth presentation. In many cases the location of the disturbing complicated bodies is known in advance. The shooting and recording program can then be adjusted to this knowledge and thereby kept to a minimum. If the location of the complicated bodies is unknown a more extended seismic program has to be carried out encompassing a great variety of shot-geophone distances. But in this case the approximate location of the complicated bodies can be deduced from the survey too. Results are presented in order to give an idea of the efficiency of the new seismic tool.     

TEM and XRD determination of crystallite size and lattice strain as a function of illite crystallinity in pelitic rocks

Average crystallite size and mean-square strain of illite in rock specimens and clay separates were measured independently in TEM images and by single-line Fourier (Voigt method) profile analysis of the c. 1 nm peak of XRD patterns for a prograde sequence of pelitic rocks (illite crystallinity indices=0.17–0.58°Δ2θ) from the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec. The TEM-determined crystallite sizes in clay separates approximate those determined by Fourier profile analyses and those calculated from illite crystallinity indices by the Scherrer equation, with the exception of the diagenetic sample. The crystallite sizes and mean-square strains of illite in rock samples exhibit a trend similar to that determined by profile analyses, but the average crystallite sizes are up to five times larger than those measured for clay separates. TEM images show that all rock samples have a wide range of crystallite sizes, and the proportions of larger crystallites increase with metamorphic grade. The diagenetic illite is defect-rich, fine-grained (mean thickness by volume=c. 70 nm), 1M_d material. Anchizonal illite tends to occur as separate aggregates of small 1M_d and larger 2M₁ crystals (c. 200 nm), comprising arrays of subparallel coalescing packets. The epizone sample has thick (c. 400 nm), defect-free crystals of muscovite occurring in stacks of parallel layers, or subhedral crystals intergrown with large-angle boundaries. Cleaved crystals that are free of intracrystalline layer terminations are dominant in clay separates of all samples, having ranges of smaller sizes with volume-average thicknesses of c. 43, 43, and 81 nm (c. 14, 28, 67 nm by the Voigt method), respectively, for the three zones. The results suggest that illite crystallinity indices do not provide a direct measure of a single microstructural state of illite in rocks, although they yield consistent limits for average crystallite sizes for the anchizone (23 & 48 nm here). Therefore, they serve as a general parameter of the degree of recrystallization on a relative basis, in part because the contributions of all peak-broadening variables (mixed layering, size and strain) decrease regularly with prograde regional metamorphism of pelites. The microstructural changes caused by rock disaggregation are probably a function of those variables as well. The data collectively demonstrate a trend from metastable, defect-rich, small crystals towards a stable assemblage of larger, defect-free crystals, through dissolution of strained crystals and neocrystallization, consistent with the Ostwald step rule.     

Influence of molecular outflows from young stellar objects on molecular clouds

In this paper it is investigated whether molecular outflows can support the turbulence in molecular clouds against decay. In the momentum-driven regime of molecular flows the time scale of the replenishment of the fluctuations is longer than the dissipation time scale of pure hydrodynamical supersonic turbulence.