Neoproterozoic glaciation in the mid-oceanic realm: An example from hemi-pelagic mudstones on Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey, UK

We report the first occurrence of ice-rafted dropstones in mid-oceanic sediments belonging to an ocean plate stratigraphy within a Neoproterozoic accretionary complex on Llanddwyn Island, Wales, UK. Dropstones of sandstone, chert, and basalt occur as matrix-supported exotic clasts in a 1 m-thick, hemi-pelagic mafic mudstone; the largest clast is 20 × 25 cm across. These dropstones occur specifically in hemi-pelagic mafic mudstone that is located at the structural top of ocean plate stratigraphy that records a ridge-trench transition; they are supplementary to dropstones associated with extensive tillites reported in shallow marine sequences of continental shelf facies and in back-arc basins.     

Estimation of urban heat island intensity using biases in surface air temperature simulated by a nonhydrostatic regional climate model

This study demonstrates that urban heat island (UHI) intensity can be estimated by comparing observational data and the outputs of a well-developed high-resolution regional climate model. Such an estimate is possible because the observations include the effects of UHI, whereas the model used does not include urban effects. Therefore, the errors in the simulated surface air temperature, defined as the difference between simulated and observed temperatures (simulated minus observed), are negative in urban areas but 0 in rural areas. UHI intensity is estimated by calculating the difference in temperature error between urban and rural areas. Our results indicate that overall UHI intensity in Japan is 1.5 K and that the intensity is greater in nighttime than in daytime, consistent with the previous studies. This study also shows that root mean square error and the magnitude of systematic error for the annual mean temperature are small (within 1.0 K).     

An Alternative Measure of the Reliability of Ordinary Kriging Estimates

This paper presents an interpolation variance as an alternative to the measure of the reliability of ordinary kriging estimates. Contrary to the traditional kriging variance, the interpolation variance is data-values dependent, variogram dependent, and a measure of local accuracy. Natural phenomena are not homogeneous; therefore, local variability as expressed through data values must be recognized for a correct assessment of uncertainty. The interpolation variance is simply the weighted average of the squared differences between data values and the retained estimate. Ordinary kriging or simple kriging variances are the expected values of interpolation variances; therefore, these traditional homoscedastic estimation variances cannot properly measure local data dispersion. More precisely, the interpolation variance is an estimate of the local conditional variance, when the ordinary kriging weights are interpreted as conditional probabilities associated to the n neighboring data. This interpretation is valid if, and only if, all ordinary kriging weights are positive or constrained to be such. Extensive tests illustrate that the interpolation variance is a useful alternative to the traditional kriging variance.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001065

It has been thought that granitic crust,having been formed on the surface,must have survived through the Earth’s evolution because of its buoyancy.At subduction zones continental crust is predominantly created by arc magmatism and is returned to the mantle via sediment subduction,subduction erosion, and continental subduction.Granitic rocks,the major constituent of the continental crust,are lighter than the mantle at depths shallower than 270 km,but we show here,based on first principles calculations, that beneath 270 km they have negative buoyancy compared to the surrounding material in the upper mantle and transition zone,and thus can be subducted in the depth range of 270-660 km.This suggests that there can be two reservoirs of granitic material in the Earth,one on the surface and the other at the base of the mantle transition zone(MTZ).The accumulated volume of subducted granitic material at the base of the MTZ might amount to about six times the present volume of the continental crust.Our calculations also show that the seismic velocities of granitic material in the depth range from 270 to 660 km are faster than those of the surrounding mantle.This could explain the anomalous seismic-wave velocities observed around 660 km depth.The observed seismic scatterers and reported splitting of the 660 km discontinuity could be due to jadeite dissociation,chemical discontinuities between granitic material and the surrounding mantle,or a combination thereof.