Pre-Variscan basement rocks in southern Poland: Where is the southeastern margin of eastern Avalonia (Cadomia)?

Summary Pre-Variscan basement in southern Poland is poorly exposed and thus known mostly from subsurface data. The availability of the latter is reviewed for terrains located between the Sudetes and the East European Platform. In these terrains the following relationships have been documented: Cadomian granitoids capped by Variscan flysch, Palaeozoic platform strata, Palaeozic folded and partly thermally altered successions, and low-grade metamorphic rocks overlain by Middle Cambrian strata. In view of their interrelationships the location of the Avalonia-Baltica suture in southeastern Poland is uncertain.     

Enzymological classification of salt lakes in Romania

Sediments of 56 salt lakes from Romania were studied enzymologically. The following 7 enzymatic and nonenzymatic catalytic activities have been measured: phosphatase, H₂O₂-splitting in nonautoclaved (catalase) and autoclaved samples, TTC reduction in nonautoclaved (dehydrogenase) and autoclaved samples, without or with glucose addition. A formula is proposed for the evaluation of the enzymatic potential of salt lake sediments or other habitats. A hierarchy of the studied lakes has been established on the basis of the enzymatic potential of their sediments expressed as enzymatic indicator.     

The Taylor series method for the problem of the rotational motion of a rigid satellite

This paper presents the Taylor series method for integration of differential equations describing the rotational motion of a rigid satellite. We compared the presented algorithm with other methods, and we show that it gives the most accurate results with reasonable efficiency.     

On the gravitational fields of Pandora and Prometheus

Utilizing topographic models of Saturn's F-ring shepherd satellites Prometheus (S16 1980S27) and Pandora (S15 1980S26), derived by Stooke (1994), and supposing that their mass density is constant, we derived basic geometrical and dynamical characteristics of the moons. They include the volume and mass, the mean radii, the tensor of inertia, and Stokes coefficients of the harmonic expansions of external gravitational potential. The best fitting ellipsoid approximations of the topography were calculated. A simple method of determining the gravitational potential on the surface of an irregular satellite is presented. Examples of equipotential surfaces of the satellites are shown     

Solutions homoclinic to regular precessions of a symmetric satellite

The aim of this paper is to study numerically asymptotic manifolds and homoclinic solutions to the regular precessions of a rigid symmetric satellite in a circular orbit.     

Manufaktura in Łódź, Poland: An example of a festival marketplace

The main aim of the article is to describe the phenomenon of the festival marketplace using the example of Manufaktura in ?ód?, which is a post-socialist Polish city. The article presents the concept, the development of large shopping centres, and the main socio-economic and spatial urban transformations that accompanied the creation of Manufaktura. The research methods included analysis of Internet and statistical data, participant observation, one in-depth interview, and a large number of semi-structured interviews. The results of the study confirm that Manufaktura – a large arts centre, shopping mall, and leisure complex built in the revitalized part of a former textile factory – represents most of the festival marketplace features. Additionally, revitalization reflects urban transformation processes in post-socialist cities, such as functional transformation, deindustrialization, internationalization of trade, privatization, or changes in consumer behaviour. The author concludes that Manufaktura is now an important part of the revitalized urban geographical space in ?ód?. It performs essential urban functions, not only commercial but also cultural and tourism-related.     

Entstehung und Zusammensetzung der Röhrensteine des Großen Plöner Sees

Zusammenfassung Im Litoral des Großen Plöner Sees liegt an örtlich begrenzten Stellen ein stark kalkhaltiger Ton unmittelbar im Kontakt mit dem Wasser. Teilweise kommt es dort durch das Wachstum der Uferpflanzen zur Bildung von Roströhren. Das Seesediment wird auf diese Weise lokal derartig verfestigt, daß das epilimnische Wasser nur die umliegenden, wenig Eisenhydroxyd-haltigen Bodenregionen zu erodieren vermag. Stumpfkegelartige Konkretionen von verschiedenster Gestalt bleiben stehen und werden meistens sekundär mit den gewöhnlichen Algen besiedelt. Die Gebilde werden als Röhrensteine bezeichnet, da sie an Stelle der anfangs noch vorhandenen Pflanzenwurzeln zentral eine Röhre besitzen. Die zentrifugal erfolgende Oxydation ist an rhythmischenLiesegangschen Fällungen von Eisenhydroxyd zu beobachten. Das CaCO₃ des Tones wird im zentralen Teil der Röhrensteine durch Fe(OH)₃ ersetzt. Dieser Vorgang hat nach dem Absterben und Verwesen der Wurzeln keineswegs sein Ende gefunden, sondern erreicht oft erst dann sein Optimum. Im peripheren Teil erfolgt dieser Substitutionsprozeß in viel schwächerem Maße; d. h. es besteht vom Zentrum zur Peripherie ein Abfall der Fällungsintensität. Das sind die wesentlichsten Ergebnisse der chemischen Analyse. Für die regionale Verschiedenheit der Roströhrenbildungen sind der Kalkgehalt und das Initialmaterial von großer Bedeutung.     

Cosmological parameters and redshift periodicity

This work is the continuation of the search for such a cosmological model using which the observed redshift distribution of galaxies in the sample of Broadhurstet al. (1990) turns out to be maximally periodic in the calculated spatial distance. In a previous work, Paálet al. (1992) have demonstrated that among theflat models with non-negative cosmological constant (e.e., vacuum density) the one with a vacuum: dust ratio 2:1 provides the optimum. Now we extend that study to the case of arbitrary space curvature and find equally good periodicity in a surprisingly wide range of models. By use of the dimensionless parameters ₀= ₀/ _crit and ₀=/3H ₀ ² acceptable periodicity is obtained forall points of the parameter plane within the strip between the parallel lines 0.83₀–0.30< ₀(₀)<0.83₀+0.85(₀<1.8), whilst the best periodicities appear along the line ₀=0.83₀+0.39 fitting to the previous optimum at ₀=1/3, ₀=2/3. Any nonpositive value of ₀ gives bad periodicity unless the space curvature is strongly negative and ₀<0.4. Fairly good periodicity is observed only in the range of the deceleration parameter –1.2q ₀<0.2, corresponding to a small or even negative total gravitational attraction and an expansion time-scale longer than usually expected.     

Human‐affected disturbances in vegetation cover and peatland development in the late Holocene recorded in shallow mountain peatlands (Central Sudetes,SW Poland)

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of biotic and abiotic factors on peatland formation in the Central Sudetes (central Europe) during the late Holocene. The research methodology adopted allowed us to determine whether vegetation development and shallow peatland formation were affected by human activity. Knowledge of past changes might be useful in evaluating recent and future changes, and to avoid pitfalls in the present management of peatland ecosystems. A palaeoecological research study of four peatlands was conducted in the Sto?owe Mountains (Central Sudetes, SW Poland). The results showed that these shallow peatlands originated in the middle to late Holocene (from 3301 BC to AD 1137). Palaeoecological records reflect continuous human impact on vegetation development and peat accumulation from the Middle Ages to the present (late Holocene). The strongest agrarian settler activity is observed in the High Middle Ages (AD 1200–1500). The human‐induced or wildfires observed in the late Holocene were an integral component of peatland ecosystems in the Central Sudetes. Moreover, palaeoecological analysis (sphagnum spores decline) and radiocarbon dating (AD 1870) confirmed drainage of the study area in the 19th century, which greatly affected the vegetation communities.