Geometry and kinematics of recent deformation in the Mondy–Tunka area (south-westernmost Baikal rift zone, Mongolia–Siberia)

We used satellite imagery and field data to investigate the south‐westernmost Baikal rift zone. We focus our study in the Mondy and Ikhe Ukhgun valleys, site of an Mw = 6.9 seismic event in 1950. Surface deformations are observed along the E–W‐trending Mondy strike‐slip fault and along the Ikhe Ukhgun thrust. The Mondy fault system is 80 km long and is composed of four segments 10–15 km long. These segments are characterized by subvertical planes with left‐lateral movements. The Ikhe Ukhgun thrust is 20 km long, dips 40° to the south and shows reverse movement with a left‐lateral component. These observations are consistent with the present‐day regional NNE–SSW compression and with the focal mechanism of the 1950 Mondy earthquake that was recently re‐evaluated. These features, like those observed in the Tunka basin, demonstrate a recent change of regional strain regime from transtension to transpression that we place before the Late Pleistocene.     

A shipborne- type wave-height meter for oceangoing vessels, using microwave Doppler radar

A wave-height meter using a simple microwave Doppler radar,simeq10mW in power and 10.525 GHz in frequency, is proposed so that we can measure oceanic waves effectively while the ship is steaming. It was first applied to the measurement of the variation of water level generated in a wave tank, which suggested that it is adequately applicable to the measurement of oceanic waves. A field test was carried out off the cape of Nojimazaki by installing the Doppler radar 5 m above the sea level at the bow of the ship. The result agreed reasonably well with that measured simultaneously by the ultrasonic wave-height meter installed at the same position. Another test is running successfully on a larger ship with the wave-height meter installed at 9 m above the sea level. The significant wave height measured by the present meter is being compared with that observed visually by the navigation officers.     

Preliminary organic petrography of Palaeozoic rocks from the Grand Banks,Newfoundland

Samples of lower Palaeozoic bedrock from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland were examined using reflected light microscopy and Rock-Eval pyrolysis. These samples contained organic material which included bitumen (structureless organic material), acritarchs, chitinozoa, scolecodonts and graptolites. The reflectance of the organic material increased from acritarchs towards graptolites with bitumen showing a wide range of reflectance. Multiple phases of oil migration through one sample were inferred by examination of the bitumens: the lowest reflecting being more recent than the highest reflecting bitumen. Combined reflectance and Rock-Eval analysis indicate that these samples are mature to overmature. The two oldest samples (Arenig-Llanvirn, Ordovician) are assessed as mature and as having potential for generation of liquid hydrocarbons, but must be considered as mainly gas prone.     

Radiocarbon on Titan

Abstract— We explore the likely production and fate of ¹⁴C in the thick nitrogen atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan and investigate the constraints that measurements of ¹⁴C might place on Titan's photochemical, atmospheric transport and surface‐atmosphere interaction processes. Titan's atmosphere is thick enough that cosmic‐ray flux limits the production of ¹⁴C: absence of a strong magnetic field and the increased distance from the Sun suggest production rates of ?9 atom/cm²/s, ?4x higher than Earth. The fate and detectability of ¹⁴C depends on the chemical species into which it is incorporated: as methane it would be hopelessly diluted even in only the atmosphere. However, in the more likely case that the ¹⁴C attaches to the haze that rains out onto the surface (as tholin, HCN or acetylene and their polymers), haze in the atmosphere or recently deposited on the surface would be quite radioactive. Such radioactivity may lead to a significant enhancement in the electrical conductivity of the atmosphere which will be measured by the Huygens probe. Measurements with simple detectors on future missions could place useful constraints on the mass deposition rates of photochemical material on the surface and identify locations where surface deposits of such material are “freshest”.     

Cokriging nonstationary data

Universal cokriging is used to obtain predictions when dealing with multivariate random functions. An important type of nonstationarity is defined in terms of multivariate random functions with increments which are stationary of orderk. The covariance between increments of different variables is modeled by means of the pseudo-cross-covariance function. Criteria are formulated to which the parameters of pseudo-cross-covariance functions must comply so as to ensure positive-definiteness. Cokriging equations and the induced cokriging equations are given. The study is illustrated by an example from soil science.     

The interannual leading modes of the extratropical variability in the Southern Hemisphere simulated by the ECHAM-4 atmospheric model

 An ensemble of twenty-three 14-year experiments conducted with the ECHAM-4 GCM has been examined to test the model's capability to simulate the principal modes of interannual variability. The integrations were performed under specified monthly SST between 1979–1993. The analysis was focused on the Southern Hemisphere (SH) extratropics. Empirical orthogonal functions analysis (EOF) using seasonal anomaly fields has been performed to isolate the principal modes that dominate the southern extratropical variability at the interannual time scale. Leading patterns of 500 hPa geopotential height (z500) have been compared with those estimated from the ECMWF re-analysis dataset. The model is able to adequately reproduce the spatial pattern of the annular mode, but it represents the temporal variations of the oscillation less satisfactorily. The model simulation of the Pacific South American (PSA) pattern is better, both in the shape of the pattern and in the temporal evolution. To verify if the capability of the model to adequately simulate the temporal oscillation of the propagating patterns is related to the increased influence of the tropical external forcing, covarying SST-atmospheric modes have been identified by singular value decomposition (SVD). In winter (July-August-September, JAS) the tropical SST variability is highly correlated with the ENSO mode. In summer (January-February-March, JFM) the strength of the teleconnections is related to strong westerly anomalies, disrupted by a meridional out of phase relation near to South America. The large size of the ensemble was exploited by comparing the time-varying model spread and degrees of freedom of the simulated extratropical circulation. Results show that when the extratropical circulation has a few degrees of freedom, the reproducibility is relatively low and the ensemble is governed by a fairly robust zonally symmetric structure of dispersion. Received: 9 May 2000 / Accepted: 30 January 2001     

Wave Beams in an Inhomogeneous Plasma in a Transverse Magnetic Field

The propagation of axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic waves near the equatorial plane of the crust of a neutron star in a transverse magnetic field is considered. The magnetic field is perpendicular to the equatorial plane. The magnetic fields and electric currents excited by this wave beam at the stellar surface are determined.     

Recharge and salinization in the Madrid Basin

The purpose of this work was to reinvestigate the existing hydrogeological conceptual model of the basin of Madrid, Spain. A cumulative chemical isotopic diagram which enabled the distinction between different groups of water as well as calculation of the mode of their blending was used for this investigation. It was found that the groups of discharge were lighter in their isotopic composition than that of recharge. The previous explanation of this fact, backed by carbon-14 dating, was the long residence time due to flow lines going down to depths of more than 1000 m. This flow model assumes homogenous conditions to these depths. This assumption can not be supported by evidence from deep wells. Thus a modified model is suggested which maintains homogenous conditions only to about 300 m and a deep confined aquifer below containing paleowater. The higher degree of depletion of this water has been explained by a colder climate on top of an altitude effect. Another interesting observation was the correlation between the isotopic composition of the rains, the month of the rain event and the composition of the recharge group groundwater. It could be seen that the winter rains resemble the groundwater composition, which shows that practically all the spring and summer rains were evapotranspirated.     

The stable isotope signature of kilometre-scale fracturedominated metamorphic fluid pathways, Mary Kathleen, Australia

Abstract Large calcite veins and pods in the Proterozoic Corella Formation of the Mount Isa Inlier provide evidence for kilometre-scale fluid transport during amphibolite facies metamorphism. These 10- to 100-m-scale podiform veins and their surrounding alteration zones have similar oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios throughout the 200 × 10-km Mary Kathleen Fold Belt, despite the isotopic heterogeneity of the surrounding wallrocks. The fluids that formed the pods and veins were not in isotopic equilibrium with the immediately adjacent rocks. The pods have δ¹³C_calcite values of –2 to –7% and δ¹⁸O_calcite values of 10.5 to 12.5%. Away from the pods, metadolerite wallrocks have δ¹⁸O_whole-rock values of 3.5 to 7%. and unaltered banded calc-silicate and marble wallrocks have δ¹³C_calcite of –1.6 to –0.6%, and δ¹⁸O_calcite of 18 to 21%. In the alteration zones adjacent to the pods, the δ¹⁸O values of both metadolerite and calc-silicate rocks approach those of the pods. Large calcite pods hosted entirely in calc-silicates show little difference in isotopic composition from pods hosted entirely in metadolerite. Thus, 100- to 500-m-scale isotopic exchange with the surrounding metadolerites and calc-silicates does not explain the observation that the δ¹⁸O values of the pods are intermediate between these two rock types. Pods hosted in felsic metavolcanics and metasiltstones are also isotopically indistinguishable from those hosted in the dominant metadolerites and calc-silicates. These data suggest the veins are the product of infiltration of isotopically homogeneous fluids that were not derived from within the Corella Formation at the presently exposed crustal level, although some of the spread in the data may be due to a relatively small contribution from devolatilization reactions in the calc-silicates, or thermal fluctuations attending deformation and metamorphism. The overall L-shaped trend of the data on plots of δ¹³C vs. δ¹⁸O is most consistent with mixing of large volumes of externally derived fluids with small volumes of locally derived fluid produced by devolatilization of calc-silicate rocks. Localization of the vein systems in dilatant sites around metadolerite/calc-silicate boundaries indicates a strong structural control on fluid flow, and the stable isotope data suggest fluid migration must have occurred at scales greater than at least 1 km. The ultimate source for the external fluid is uncertain, but is probably fluid released from crystallizing melts derived from the lower crust or upper mantle. Intrusion of magmas below the exposed crustal level would also explain the high geothermal gradient calculated for the regional metamorphism.     

Monsoon-induced sea surface temperature changes recorded in Indian corals

The South Asian Summer Monsoon induces vertical mixing in the surface Arabian Sea, leading to a reduction in the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) of the order of 3–4°C. This reduction in temperature is recorded by modern corals (Porites) that grow in the Lakshadweep Islands (coralline islands located at about 350 km off the south-west coast of India) in their stable oxygen isotope ratios (denoted by δ¹⁸O). As large coral colonies of this genus are available, our results show that palaeomonsoon records for a few centuries back in time, a crucial input for climatic models aimed at predicting the Asian Monsoon, can be obtained from these corals. We also show that two corals separated by ? 60 km show similar (518O variations as does a giant clam (Tridacna maximus) that grew near one end of the coral colonies. As this clam is known to precipitate CaCO3 in isotopic equilibrium with the ambient sea-water, it is possible to estimate the isotopic offset of coralline δ¹⁸O from that of the CaCO3 precipitated in isotopic equilibrium. This ‘disequilibrium effect’ appears to be constant around 4.5±0.2%0. Our calculations show that SST (t, °C) is related to the coral δ¹⁸O (δ_c) and the sea-water δ¹⁸O (δ_w) by the equation t = 3.0–4.68 (δ_c - δ_w), which is in good agreement with such relationships for corals from the Pacific and Atlantic.