Coarse-grained chondrule rims in type 3 chondrites

Relatively coarse-grained rims occur around all types of chondrules in type 3 carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites. Those in H-L-LL3 chondrites are composed primarily of olivine and low-Ca pyroxene; those in CV3 chondrites contain much less low-Ca pyroxene. Average grain sizes range from ～4 μm in H-L-LL3 chondrites to ～10 μm in CV3 chondrites. Such rims surround ～50%, ～10% and ≤ 1% of chondrules in CV3, H-L-LL3 and CO3 chondrites, respectively, but are rare (≤1%) around CV3 Ca,Al-rich inclusions. Rim thicknesses average ～150 μm in H-L-LL3 chondrites and ～400 μm in CV3 chondrites.The rims in H-L-LL3 chondrites are composed of material very similar to that which comprises darkzoned chondrules and recrysiallized matrix. Dark-zoned chondrules and coarse-grained rims probably formed in the solar nebula from clumps of opaque matrix material heated to sub-solidus to sub-liquidus temperatures during chondrule formation. Mechanisms capable of completely melting some material while only sintering other material require steep thermal gradients; suitable processes are lightning, reconnecting magnetic field lines and, possibly, aerodynamic drag heating.CV chondrites may have formed in a region where the chondrule formation mechanism was less efficient, probably at greater solar distances than the ordinary chondrites. The lesser efficiency of heating could be responsible for the greater abundance of coarse-grained rims around CV chondrules. Alternatively, CV chondrules may have suffered fewer particle collisions prior to agglomeration.     

The Transiometer: An Alternative Method of Soil Moisture Measurement in Slowly Permeable Soils

The union of a piezoresistive pressure transducer and a porous ceramic cup was termed "transiometer." The transiometer was constructed from economical and readily available materials. It could be used to measure soil water potentials in both saturated and unsaturated conditions, and was well suited to continuous monitoring with data acquisition equipment.
Transiometer testing was conducted at two sites, one of moderate permeability and the other of slow permeability. The slowly permeable site was instrumented with four replications of the following: (1) transiometers installed at four depths, (2) a transi-ometerwithout the ceramic cup, (3) apiezometer, and (4) access tubes for monitoring soil moisture with a neutron probe. The moderately permeable site was instrumented with a transiometer, two piezometers, and an access tube for monitoring with a neutron probe.
In saturated conditions the transiometer had a faster response time after installation than the piezometer. Faster response makes the transiometer more desirable for use in slowly permeable soils, especially when monitoring dynamic soil water.
Calculated random error of the transiometer measuring system, including a digital voltmeter and a scanner, was typically 0.09 feet (2.8cm), with a maximum calculated to be 0.38 feet (11.5cm). The two most significant components were imprecision of the scanner card and calibration shift. The transiometer was sensitive to atmospheric pressure fluctuations, with sensitivity to atmospheric pressure change increasing with installation depth.     

The role of stratification in the deoxygenation of Mobile Bay and adjacent shelf bottom waters

Oxygen depletion in the shallow bottom waters of Mobile Bay, Alabama, and in adjacent nearshore and continental shelf waters, is shown to be directly related to the intensity of water column stratification. Low winds speeds are coincidental with the onset of water column stratification and the occurrence of hypoxic events. Hourly, daily, and seasonal changes in the relationship between percent oxygen saturation or oxygen concentration in the bottom waters and surface-bottom density differences indicate that the oxidized materials are recently formed, and not relic or overwintering carbon sources. The influence of density structure (water column stratification) in other oxygen-depleted coastal water masses is compared to Mobile Bay.     

Ultimate removal mechanisms of elements from the ocean—a comment

Li (1981) has proposed a surface complexation model to rationalise the partitioning of the elements between the oceans and pelagic clays. In this comment we compare the resulting scattered correlations with the coherent and statistically significant correlations obtained from a simple electrostatic model.     

An experimental investigation of volatile exsolution in evolving magma chambers

Previous laboratory experiments investigating the fluid dynamics of replenished magma chambers have been extended to model effects resulting from the release of gas. Turbulent transfer of heat between a layer of dense, hot and volatile-rich mafic magma overlying cooler more evolved magma can lead to crystallization and exsolution of volatiles in the lower layer. Small gas bubbles can cause the bulk density to decrease to that of the upper layer and thus produce sudden overturning and initiate mixing, followed by further exsolution of gas and explosive eruption. These processes have been modelled in the laboratory using a chemical reaction between sodium or potassium carbonate and nitric acid to release small bubbles of CO₂. We have investigated both the initial overturning produced by gas release in the lower layer, and the subsequent evolution of gas due to intimate mixing of the two layers. The latter experiments, in which the reactants remained isolated in the two layers until overturning occurred, demonstrated unambiguously that the fluxes of chemical components across the interfaces between convecting layers are very slow compared to the flux of heat. This shows that the evolution of layers of magma of different origins and composition can take place nearly independently of each other. The magmas can coexist in the same stratified chamber, until their bulk densities become equal and they mix together. The processes illustrated in these experiments could occur in H₂O-bearing magmas such as in the calcalkaline association and in CO₂-bearing mafic magmas such as in silica undersaturated suites.     

The problem of current channelling: A critical review

The notion that currents induced ‘elsewhere’, by external source fields, could wend their way in a frequency-independent ohmic-like manner through a region of interest has been the cause of many recent disputes within the geomagnetic induction community. In particular, two-dimensional (2D) models of the Rhinegraben, and of the region known as the ‘Eskdalemuir anomaly’ in southern Scotland, have been dismissed as erroneous by those who believe that the observations are more correctly interpreted as due to the effects of ‘channelled’ currents rather than ‘induced’ currents. In this review, attention is paid primarily to consider under what circumstances any perturbation of current flow, which may manifest itself as a ‘DC-like’ channelled current, could cause a ‘problem’ for those wishing to interpret their observations. Various concepts are introduced, particularly the ratio of 3D/2D current channelling numbers for the induction problem, which is shown to be the ratio of the length of the 3D body to the skin depth in the host medium. It is stressed that the worker must analyse his data by adequate statistical techniques, and that the simplest physical models possible, that describes the observations, must be sought. Finally, suggestions are made for further work to be undertaken.