Role of tectonic-sedimentary melange and Permian–Triassic cover units,central southern Turkey in Tethyan continental margin evolution

Melanges play a key role in the interpretation of orogenic belts, including those that have experienced deformation and metamorphism during continental collision. This is exemplified by a Palaeozoic tectonic-sedimentary melange (part of the Konya complex) that is exposed beneath a regionally metamorphosed carbonate platform near the city of Konya in central Anatolia. The Konya complex as a whole comprises three units: a dismembered, latest Silurian–Early Carboniferous carbonate platform, a Carboniferous melange made up of sedimentary and igneous blocks in a sedimentary matrix (also known as the Hal?c? Group or S?zma Group), and an overlying Volcanic-sedimentary Unit (earliest Permian?). The Palaeozoic carbonates accumulated on a subsiding carbonate platform that bordered the northern margin of Gondwana, perhaps as an off-margin unit. The matrix of the melange was mainly deposited as turbidites, debris flows and background terrigenous muds. Petrographic evidence shows that the clastic sediments were mostly derived from granitic and psammitic/pelitic metamorphic rocks, typical of upper continental crust. Both extension- and contraction-related origins of the melange can be considered. However, we interpret the melange as a Carboniferous subduction complex that formed along the northern margin of Gondwana, related to partial closure of Palaeotethys. Blocks and slices of Upper Palaeozoic radiolarian chert, basic igneous rocks and shallow-water carbonates were accreted and locally reworked by gravity processes. Large (up to km-sized) blocks and slices of shallow-water limestone were emplaced in response to collision of the Palaeozoic Carbonate Platform with the subduction zone. The overlying Volcanic-sedimentary Unit (earliest Permian?) comprises alkaline lava flows, interbedded with volcaniclastic debris flows and turbidites, volcanogenic shales and tuff. The complex as a whole is overlain by shallow-water, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic sediments of mainly Late Permian age that accumulated on a regional-scale shelf adjacent to Gondwana. Successions pass transitionally into Lower Triassic rift-related shallow-water carbonates and terrigenous sandstones in the southwest of the area. In contrast, Triassic sediments in the southeast overlie the melange unconformably and pass upwards from non-marine clastic sediments into shallow-marine calcareous sediments of Mid-Triassic age, marking the base of a regional Mesozoic carbonate platform. During the latest Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic the entire assemblage subducted northwards and underwent high pressure/low temperature metamorphism and polyphase folding as a part of the regional Anatolide unit.     

Collisional and return current heating functions for beam-heated models of solar flares

In beam-heated models of solar flares, the bulk of the energy deposited in the flare atmosphere resides in the low-energy end of the electron spectrum. Since the shape of the spectrum at low energy is not well determined observationally, various forms of low-energy cut-off have been assumed in theoretical modelling. Certain results of such modelling may depend strongly on the assumed spectrum. We derive the heating distributions for various spectra, both for collisional energy loss and for Ohmic dissipation of the return current, and show that none of the spectra are fully satisfactory, according to the criteria that for both collisional and Ohmic heating, the heating rate should be bounded, continuous, and smooth, and have a tractable functional form. A simple form of electron spectrum is suggested, which satisfies these criteria.     

Colliding Blast Waves Driven by the Interaction of a Short-Pulse Laser with a Gas of Atomic Clusters

Collisions between shocks are commonly found in many astrophysical objects, however robust numerical models or laboratory analogues of these complex systems remain challenging to implement. We report on the development of scaled laboratory experiments which employ new techniques for launching and diagnosing colliding shocks and high Mach number blast waves, scalable to a limited subset of astrophysically-relevant regimes. Use of an extended medium of atomic clusters enables efficient (>80%) coupling of 700 fs, 1 J, 1054 nm laser pulses to a “cluster” gas with an average density of ≈10¹⁹ particles cm⁻³, producing an initial energy density >10⁵ J cm⁻³, equivalent to ≈5×10⁹ J/g. Multiple laser foci are used to tailor the spatial profile of energy deposition, or to launch pairs of counter-propagating cylindrical shocks which then collide. By probing the collision interferometrically at multiple view angles in 5^{^} increments and applying an inverse Radon transform to the resulting phase projections we have been able to tomographicall reconstruct the full three-dimensional, time-framed electron density profile of the system.     

Comparing and cross-validating lake and bog palaeoclimatic records: a review and a new 5,000 year chironomid-inferred temperature record from northern England

This paper reviews the past history of comparisons between lacustrine records of chironomid-inferred summer temperatures (CI-T) and peat bog-derived records of surface wetness (BSW), and develops a new summer temperature record for the mid-late Holocene for Northern Britain from Bigland Tarn, Cumbria. The CI-T reconstruction is well dated, and corresponds well with the only two other CI-T records for Britain. Comparisons are made with BSW records from northern Britain, which show consistent similarities over centennial to millennial timescales, demonstrating that at this resolution cooler summers equated with a wetter climate, at least during the mid- to late-Holocene.     

The effect of salinity on growth and weight loss of juvenile plaice (Pleuronectes platessa, L): An experimental test

Previous population estimates of the 0+ plaice (Pleuronectes platessa L.) in the Firth of Forth, east central Scotland, did not take account of the Forth estuary west of the Forth bridges. Previous work found plaice in the estuary grew as fast as, or faster than, the outer firth plaice. It was hypothesised that salinity may affect growth rates of early 0+ plaice. This hypothesis was tested in a laboratory experiment, by exposing juvenile plaice to three different, but naturally — experienced by the juveniles, salinities; 25, 30 and 35. Plaice fed a minimum ration did not grow in length. Mean weight decreased at all three salinities, however, the lowest weight loss was found at the lowest salinity (25) and the highest weight loss was found at the highest salinity (35). The minimum feeding ration was halted and plaice were then fed ad libitum. Consumption rates were not significantly different during the ad libitum feeding, while significant differences in mean weight change were found between the highest and lowest salinities.     

Strandflat development and Quaternary shorelines on Tiree and Coll,Scottish Hebrides

The islands of Tiree and Coll in the Scottish Inner Hebrides are dominated by staircases of glaciated rock-platform surfaces in Lewisian gneiss that are interpreted here as areas of strandflat. The rock platform surfaces exhibit differential glacio-isostatic uplift from east to west and are considered to indicate at least four separate periods of strandflat formation during prolonged intervals of Quaternary cold climate. It is suggested that many of the well-known areas of high rock platform located farther east in the Scottish Inner Hebrides represent eroded remnants of the strandflat surfaces described here. The existence of the Tiree and Coll strandflat surfaces in conjunction with their formation during periods of Quaternary glaciation implies that they were produced during periods when mainland Scotland was ice-covered yet when the western margin of the ice sheet was normally located east of these islands. A prominent Late-glacial raised shoreline also occurs on both islands and declines in altitude to the west, from 22 m in northeastern Coll to 9 m in western Tiree. It is believed that this shoreline, whose regional gradient is 0.39 m km^?1, may represent part of the Main Wester Ross Shoreline that was formed in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland during a period of glacial advance that interrupted the decay of the last (Late Devensian) ice sheet. The general similarity in altitude between the Late-glacial shoreline features and rock platform surfaces implies that during each period of Quaternary strandflat formation, relative sea-level returned to the same approximate position. This would appear to indicate that the glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic components affecting the positions of relative sea level in Scotland have remained in approximate equilibrium throughout the duration of the Quaternary.