Vibrationally excited molecular hydrogen in circumstellar clouds and the interstellar CH+ abundance

The production of CH⁺ in dense interstellar clouds under intense UV irradiation is discussed. A model applicable to the cloud towards the star 20 Tau is described.     

Aklimaite, Ca4[Si2O5(OH)2](OH)4 · 5H2O, a new natural hydrosilicate from Mount Lakargi, the Northern Caucasus, Russia

A new mineral aklimaite, Ca₄[Si₂O₅(OH)₂](OH)₄ · 5H₂O, has been found near Mount Lakargi, Upper Chegem caldera, Kabardino-Balkaria, the Northern Caucasus, Russia, in the skarnified limestone xenolith in ignimbrite. This hydrothermal mineral occurs in a cavity of altered larnite skarn and is associated with larnite, calcium humite-group members, hydrogarnets, bultfonteinite, afwillite, and ettringite. Aklimaite forms transparent, colorless (or occasionally with pinkish tint) columnar or lath-shaped crystals up 3 × 0.1 × 0.01 mm in size, flattened on {001} and elongated along {010}; they are combined in spherulites. The luster is vitreous; the cleavage parallel to the {001} is perfect. D _calc = 2.274 g/cm³. The Mohs’ hardness is 3–4. Aklimaite is optically biaxial, negative, 2V _meas > 70°, 2V _calc = 78°, α = 1.548(2), β = 1.551(3), γ = 1.553(2). The IR and Raman spectra are given. The chemical composition (wt %, electron microprobe) is as follows: 0.06 Na₂O, 0.02 K₂O, 45.39 CaO, 0.01 MnO, 0.02 FeO, 24.23 SiO₂, 0.04 SO₃, 3.22 F, 27.40 H₂O_(calc.), ?1.36 -O=F₂; the total is 99.03. The empirical formula calculated on the basis of 2Si apfu with O + OH + F = 16 is as follows: (Ca_4.02Na_0.01)_Σ4.03[Si_2.00O_5.07(OH)_1.93][(OH)_3.16F_0.84] _Σ4.00 · 5H₂O. The mineral is monoclinic, space group C2/m, a = 16.907(5), b = 3.6528(8), c = 13.068(4) Å, β = 117.25(4)·, V= 717.5(4) ų, Z = 2. Aklimaite is representative of the new structural type, the sorosilicate with disilicate groups [Si₂O₅(OH)₂]. The strongest reflections in the X-ray powder patterns [d, Å (hkl)] are: 11.64(100)(001), 2.948(32)(310, 203), 3.073(20) ( $\bar 404$ , $\bar 311$ ), 2.320(12)(005, 510), 2.901 (11)(004), 8.30(10) $\left( {\bar 201} \right)$ . The type specimen is deposited in the Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.     

Lagrangian measurements and modelling of fluid advection in the inner surf and swash zones

New laboratory and field data are presented on fluid advection into the swash zone. The data illustrate the region of the inner surf zone from which sediment can be directly advected into the swash zone during a single uprush, which is termed the advection length. Experiments were conducted by particle tracking in a Lagrangian reference frame, and were performed for monochromatic breaking waves, solitary bores, non-breaking solitary waves and field conditions. The advection length is normalised by the run-up length to give an advection ratio, A, and different advection ratios are identified on the basis of the experimental data. The data show that fluid enters the swash zone from a region of the inner surf zone that can extend a distance seaward of the bore collapse location that is approximately equal to half of the run-up length. This region is about eight times wider than the region predicted by the classical swash solution of Shen and Meyer [Shen, M.C., Meyer, R.E., 1963. Climb of a bore on a beach. Part 3. Runup. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 16, 113–125], as illustrated by Pritchard and Hogg [Pritchard, D., Hogg, A.J., 2005. On the transport of suspended sediment by a swash event on a plane beach. Coastal Engineering 52, 1–23]. Measured advection ratios for periodic waves show no significant trend with Iribarren number, consistent with self-similarity in typical swash flows. The data are compared to recent characteristic solutions of the non-linear shallow water wave (NLSW) equations and both finite difference and finite volume solutions of the NLSW equations.     

Incrustations and fumarolic condensates at kilauea volcano, Hawaii: field, drill-hole and laboratory observations

Hawaiian volcanoes characteristically have but few of the many types of minerals found in incrustations of other volcanic areas. In Hawaii sulfates resulting from air oxidation of volatiles predominate, and fluorides produced during rock alteration by fumarolic gases are prominent. Halides are generally found where reducing conditions exist in fumaroles and lava lake drill holes. The most common mineral types are sulfur, opaline silica, gypsum, ralstonite, and thenardite. Minerals from the same deposit are found to vary markedly in the content of the less abundant components. Condensates from vapor issuing from fumaroles show little quantitative relationship in component content to incrustations deposited at the same fumaroles. It is believed that an energetically favorable isomorphic substitution of some elements in the crystal lattice of a depositing mineral may lead to the build-up of a high concentration of an element from a lean vapor. Equilibrium calculations applied to condensate studies give a good quantitative approximation to the concentrations of the elements found in natural systems, but when applied to incrustations they serve only to indicate general compositional relations. Laboratory studies have shown the important role of chlorides in metal transfer in the gas phase in high-temperature aqueous systems, but only in the absence of oxygen. These studies also demonstrated the important role of HF in rock alteration and in the transfer of silica.     

Variations in statistical parameters of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">NmF</Emphasis>2 winter anomaly with latitude and solar activity

The maximal R ratios of the winter-to-summer NmF2 values of each ionosonde are calculated for a specified UT under daytime quiet geomagnetic conditions and at approximately equal levels of solar activity, based on foF2 measurement data of 98 ionosondes at mid- and low geomagnetic latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres for 1957–2009. The P(R > 1) conditional probability of NmF2 winter anomaly observations, as well as the most probable RMP and average <R> of R values are calculated for low, moderate, and high solar activity on the base of foF2 measurements during the periods December 22 ± 30 days and June 21 ± 30 days. Variations in P(R > 1), RMP, and 〈R〉 with latitude and solar activity are analyzed.     

The impact of physical processes on pollutant transport in Hangzhou Bay

A Lagrangian tracer model is set up for Hangzhou Bay based on Coupled Hydrodynamical Ecological model for Regional Shelf Sea (COHERENS). The study area is divided into eight subdomains to identify the dominant physical processes, and the studied periods are March (the dry season) and July (the wet season). The model performance has been first verified by sea-surface elevation and tidal current observations at several stations. Eight tracer experiments are designed and Lagrangian particle tracking is simulated to examine the impact of physical processes (tide, wind and river runoff) on the transport of passive tracer released within the surface layer. Numerical simulations and analysis indicate that: (1) wind does not change the tracer distribution after 30 days except for those released from the south area of the bay during the wet season; (2) the tide and the Qiantang River runoff are important for particle transport in the head area of the bay; (3) the Changjiang River runoff affects the tracer transport at the mouth of the bay, and its impact is smaller in the dry season than in the wet season. Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40576080); National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, No. 2007AA12Z182)     

Oil pollution of the anabranches of the Ob river on the territory of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra

An analysis is made of the oil pollution of the Ob river waters using a long-term (1993–2013) hydrochemical monitoring of oil fields in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Contents of oil hydrocarbons (OHC) were determined in 4277 samples from the main Ob channel, and in 7076 samples from its anabranches by using infrared spectrometry. An increase in MAC (0.05 mg/dm³) was observed in 28% of the samples from the main channel, and in 32% from the anabranches. The total percentage of samples with an extremely high (> 50 MAC) and high (30–50 MAC) pollution level made up 0.3% of the samples for the anabranches, and 0.1% for the main channel. Maximum pollution was revealed in the eastern part of Okrug, from its eastern boundary to the mouth of the Trom’egan river which is associated with a considerable number of accidents on the pipelines within the Nizhnevartovskii district. The upper and lower quantiles in the most polluted anabranches, Pasl and Bagras, are 0.03–01.7 and 0.032–0.16 mg/dm³, respectively, whereas in the main Ob channel they vary from 0.022 to 0.065 mg/dm³ (0.4–1.2 MAC). The methods of geoinformatics and mathematical statistics were used to assess a dependence of OHC on the number of pollution sources (well clusters, and the area of oil spills) in zones at different distances from the river channels. By calculating the Spearman correlation coefficients, it was shown that OHC contents are dependent mainly on the number of wells, and on the area of oil spills located at less than 2 km from the channels.     

The Eastern Congo—a beauty spot,rediscovered from a geological point of view

In East Africa, the feedback between tectonic uplift, erosional denudation and associated possible climate changes is being studied by a multidisciplinary research group, ‘Riftlink’. The group's focus is the Albertine Rift, the northern part of the western branch of the East African Rift System, and in particular the rising Rwenzori Mountains that stretch along the border of the D.R. Congo and Uganda. Major questions relate to the timing of the formation of the Rwenzori Mountains, and whether the height of these mountains (> 5000 m) relates to rift movements in Neogene times, or represents an old basement block that formed a topographic high long before. Though, at first, research concentrated on the eastern (Ugandan) part of the Albertine Rift and Rwenzori Mountains, it has now moved further to the west to the D.R. Congo. A first field‐campaign, covering the area from northern Lake Edward along the rift shoulder up to the Blue Mountains at Lake Albert, was conducted in summer 2009, in cooperation with the Ruwenzori State University of Butembo. Here, we present a brief overview of the field‐campaign, with impressions gathered on the morphology and geology of the study area.     

Neoproterozoic Volhynia-Brest magmatic province in the western East European craton: Within-plate magmatism in an ancient suture zone

The reasons for the isotopic and geochemical heterogeneity of magmatism of the Neoproterozoic large Volhynia-Brest igneous province (VBP) are considered. The province was formed at 550 Ma in response to the break up of the Rodinia supercontinent and extends along the western margin of the East European craton, being discordant to the Paleoproterozoic mobile zone that separates Sarmatia and Fennoscandia and the Mesoproterozoic Volhynia-Orsha aulacogen. The basalts of VBP show prominent spatiotemporal geochemical zoning. Based on petrographic, mineralogical, geochemical, and isotopic data, the following types of basalts can be distinguished: olivine-normative subalkaline basalts consisting of low-Ti (sLT, < 1.10–2.0 wt % TiO₂; ε_Nd(550) from ?6.6 to ?2.7) and medium-Ti (sMT, 2.0–3.0 wt % TiO₂, occasionally up to 3.6 wt % TiO₂; ε_Nd(550) from ?3.55 to + 0.6) varieties; normal quartz-normative basalts (tholeiites) including low-Ti (tLT, < 1.75–2.0 wt % TiO₂) and medium-to-high-Ti (tHT1, 2.0–3.6 wt % TiO₂, ε_Nd(550) from ?1.3 to + 1.0) varieties. The hypabyssal bodies are made up of subalkaline low-Ti olivine dolerites (LT, 1.2–1.5 wt % TiO₂; ε_Nd(550) = ?5.8) and subalkaline high-Ti olivine gabbrodolerites (HT2, 3.0–4.5 wt % TiO₂; ε_Nd(550) = ?2.5). Felsic rocks of VBP are classed as volcanic rocks of normal (andesidacites, dacites, and rhyodacites) and subalkaline (trachyrhyodacites) series with TiO₂ 0.72–0.77 wt% and ε_Nd(550) of ?12. The central part of VBP is underlain by a Paleoproterozoic domain formed by continent-arc accretion and contains widespread sills of HT2 dolerites and lavas of LT basalts; the northern part of the province is underlain by the juvenile Paleoproterozoic crust dominated by MT and HT1 basalts. MT and LT basalts underwent significant AFC-style upper crustal contamination. During their long residence in the upper crustal magmatic chambers, the basaltic melts fractionated and caused notable heating of the wall rocks and, correspondingly, nonmodal melting of the upper crustal protolith containing high-Rb phase (biotite), thus producing the most felsic rocks of the province. The basalts of VBP were derived from geochemically different sources: probably, the lithosphere and a deep-seated plume (PREMA type). The HT2 dolerites were generated mainly from a lithospheric source: by 3–4% melting of the geochemically enriched garnet lherzolite mantle. LT dolerites were obtained by partial melting of the modally metasomatized mantle containing volatile-bearing phases. The concepts of VBP formation were summarized in the model of three-stage plume-lithosphere interaction.     

How Well Does Chlorophyll Explain the Seasonal Variation in Phytoplankton Activity?

The seasonal variation in phytoplankton activity is determined by analysing 1385 primary production (PP) profiles, chlorophyll a (Chl) concentration profiles and phytoplankton carbon biomass concentrations (C) from the period 1998–2012. The data was collected at six different stations in the Baltic Sea transition zone (BSTZ) which is a location with strong seasonal production patterns with light as the key parameter controlling this productivity. We show that the use of Chl as a proxy for phytoplankton activity strongly overestimates the contribution from the spring production to annual pelagic carbon flow. Spring (February and March) Chl comprised 16–30% of the total annual Chl produced, whereas spring C was much lower (8–23%) compared to the annual C. Spring PP accounted for 10–18% of the total annual PP, while the July–August production contributed 26–33%, i.e. within the time frame when zooplankton biomass and grazing pressure are highest. That is, Chl failed in this study to reflect the importance of the high summer PP. A better proxy for biomass may be C, which correlated well with the seasonal pattern of PP (Pearson correlation, p < 0.05). Thus, this study suggests to account for the strong seasonal pattern in C/Chl ratios when considering carbon flow in coastal systems. Seasonal data for PP were fitted to a simple sinusoidal wave model describing the seasonal distribution of PP in the BSTZ and were proposed to present a better parameterizaton of PP in shallow stratified temperate regions than more commonly applied proxies.