Latest Pleistocene and Holocene dune construction at the north-eastern edge of the Rub Al Khali, United Arab Emirates

Optical dating of two dune profiles developed in linear dunes in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, has been used to establish the timing and rate of dune accretion. One section at Awafi was over 17 m high, while that at Idhn was over 40 m high. The Awafi dune appears to have accumulated very rapidly ≈10 000 years ago, with a vertical accumulation rate of about 3·3 m ka⁻¹. The Idhn dune appears to have accumulated over the past 1000 years, with 20 m of sediment accumulating in a time period of about 270 years. The Awafi dune may have accumulated in response to the transgression of the Persian Gulf by rising sea levels in late Pleistocene and Holocene times. The Idhn dune may have accumulated rapidly because of intensified human activity, a short-lived climatic event, or because it may periodically be reactivated after erosion by fluvial action at its base.     

Modelling the effect of water on the surface structure and stability of forsterite

 We describe the application of atomistic simulation techniques to investigate the effect of associative and dissociative adsorption of water on the structures and stabilities of the low-index surfaces of forsterite. All surfaces are amenable to associative adsorption of water, while dissociative adsorption is energetically favourable on all but the non-dipolar {1 0 0} surface. Often, otherwise unstable (dipolar) surfaces are stabilised to a large extent by hydration, e.g. the dipolar {0 1 0} surface. However, on thermodynamic grounds we do not expect associatively adsorbed water to dissociate on all surfaces, as the energies released for dissociative adsorption of water on the non-dipolar {0 1 0} and {1 0 0} surfaces are less than those released for associative adsorption. As such, there is no energetic incentive for the associatively adsorbed water molecules to dissociate. The stabilities of the two terminations of the {0 1 0} surface, the main cleavage plane of forsterite, are reversed when hydroxylated, indicating that some dissolution of the magnesium ions may occur upon hydration, which is shown to be an exothermic process for both surface terminations. The equilibrium morphology was calculated as a way of assessing the change in surface energies. The experimental morphology of forsterite is adequately reproduced, suggesting that the relative stabilities of the surfaces, both unhydrated and hydroxylated, are calculated correctly. Received: 4 August 1999 / Revised, accepted: 11 October 1999     

Structure and chemistry of sediments in Belfast Lough,a semi-enclosed marine bay

In a study of the benthic environment of Belfast Lough the structure of the subtidal sediment was examined along with its content of organic matter and selected metals (Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb). A wide range of sediment types occurred within the lough but the mean grain sizes for individual sites lay predominantly within the size classes of fine sand, very fine sand and silt. The content of organic matter and metals in the sediments showed strong positive correlations with each other and with the content of silt/clay. Both organic matter and metals decreased in concentration in a seawards direction. The content of organic matter lay generally within the range of 1–5% which is normally associated with shelf sediments, but constituted up to 12% of the sediment in the docks area. Likewise, metals were usually within the range reported within other nearshore coastal waters of the U.K., but sediments in the docks area and inner lough were enriched with several metals. Cluster analysis identified four major subdivisions in the lough which were distinctly different in their contents of silt/clay, organic matter and metals.     

The Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg Hα Planetary Nebula Catalogue: MASH

We present the Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg Hα Planetary Nebula Catalogue (MASH) of over 900 true, likely and possible new Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) discovered from the AAO/UKST Hα survey of the southern Galactic plane. The combination of depth, resolution, uniformity and areal coverage of the Hα survey has opened up a hitherto unexplored region of parameter space permitting the detection of this significant new PN sample. Away from the Galactic bulge the new PNe are typically more evolved, of larger angular extent, of lower surface brightness and more obscured (i.e. extinguished) than those in most previous surveys. We have also doubled the number of PNe in the Galactic bulge itself and although most are compact, we have also found more evolved examples. The MASH catalogue represents the culmination of a seven-year programme of identification and confirmatory spectroscopy. A key strength is that the entire sample has been derived from the same, uniform observational data. The 60 per cent increase in known Galactic PNe represents the largest ever incremental sample of such discoveries and will have a significant impact on many aspects of PN research. This is especially important for studies at the faint end of the PN luminosity function which was previously poorly represented.     

The CFEPS Kuiper Belt Survey: Strategy and presurvey results

We present the data acquisition strategy and characterization procedures for the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), a sub-component of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. The survey began in early 2003 and as of summer 2005 has covered 430 square degrees of sky within a few degrees of the ecliptic. Moving objects beyond the orbit of Uranus are detected to a magnitude limit of mR=23-24 (depending on the image quality). To track as large a sample as possible and avoid introducing followup bias, we have developed a multi-epoch observing strategy that is spread over several years. We present the evolution of the uncertainties in ephemeris position and orbital elements of a small 10-object sample of objects tracked through these epochs as part of a preliminary presurvey starting a year before the main CFEPS project. We describe the CFEPS survey simulator, to be released in 2006, which allows theoretical models of the Kuiper belt to be compared with the survey discoveries. The simulator utilizes the well-documented pointing history of CFEPS, with characterized detection efficiencies as a function of magnitude and rate of motion on the sky. Using the presurvey objects we illustrate the usage of the simulator in modeling the classical Kuiper belt. The primary purpose of this paper is to allow a user to immediately exploit the CFEPS data set and releases as they become available in the coming months.     

Finite element analysis of the seismic response of anchored and unanchored liquid storage tanks

The seismic response of liquid-filled cylindrical storage tanks has been investigated using finite element techniques implemented in the general purpose structural analysis computer code ANSYS. Both added mass concepts and displacement-based fluid finite elements were employed to allow for the effects of the liquid. Simplified response spectrum modal analyses of a tank making use of the axisymmetric harmonic displacement patterns of the principal modes of deformation were found to give accurate predictions of the tank behaviour with a rigidly anchored base. Time history analyses of three-dimensional finite element models of unanchored and flexibly anchored tanks, with gap conditions between the tank base and the supporting floor to allow lift-off of the base, indicated that stresses in the tank and resultant loads on the floor can be much greater than for a rigidly restrained tank. These results demonstrate the importance of carefully considering the restraint conditions when performing seismic design calculations on storage tanks.     

Finite element analysis of water flow in variably saturated soil

A two-dimensional Galerkin finite element model for water flow in variably saturated soil is presented. A fourth-order Runge-Kutta time integration method is employed which allows use of time steps at least 2 times greater than for a traditional finite difference approximation of time derivatives. For short total simulation times computer execution costs for the Runge-Kutta method are greater than for the finite difference approximation due to the start up cost of the Runge-Kutta method, but for longer simulation times the Runge-Kutta method requires considerably less computational effort even when automatic time-step adjustment is used with the finite difference procedure. A comparison of the method of influence coefficients and 2 × 2 Gaussian integration to compute element matrices indicates that the influence coefficient method reduces total execution time to 60% of that required for numerical quadrature. Computed pressure heads using the influence coefficient method and numerical integration are found to be in close agreement with each other even under conditions of highly non-linear soil properties in a heterogeneous domain. Fluxes computed by the two methods are also generally in close agreement except under extremely non-linear conditions when some deviations were observed at short simulation times.