The Rayner tectonic Province of East Antarctica: Compositional features and geodynamic setting

Geochemical and new isotopic (U-Pb, Sm-Nd) data on the Mesoproterozoic metaigneous complexes of the Rayner Province in central East Antarctica (Enderby Land-Kemp Land and the northern Prince Charles Mountains) are presented. These territories are mainly composed of amphibolite-to-granulite-facies orthogneisses, many of which are Y-depleted tonalite gneisses and mafic schists. The igneous complexes of their protolith are largely products of anatexis of the lower crust; mantle-derived and upper crustal rocks are less abundant. The geochemical features of the mafic rocks indicate that they crystallized from high-temperature plume-related mantle melts and low-temperature lithospheric melts. As follows from the published and new Nd model ages, the Rayner Province formed and evolved over the Paleo-to-Mesoproterozoic in the regime of accretionary and collisional tectonics with predominance of accretion of the juvenile Paleoproterozoic crust between 1500–2400 Ma. New data show that in the northern Prince Charles Mountains, granite-gneiss protoliths were emplaced ca. 1040 and 930 Ma ago. The Rayner Province is considered to be a long-living mobile belt formed as a result of collision of Paleoproterozoic island-arc terranes and Archean blocks amalgamating into a continental massif 1050–1000 Ma ago in the course of the growth of the Rodinia supercontinent. In the northern Prince Charles Mountains, thermal processes related to magmatic underplating at the base of the crust were probably important.     

A GENERALISED ANALYTICAL RELATIVE ORIENTATION PROCEDURE AND ITS APPLICATION TO APOLLO 14 CLOSE UP PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE LUNAR SURFACE

Close up photographs of the lunar surface obtained by the Apollo 14 astronauts presented unusual problems in relative orientation caused by essentially different directions of the camera axes. The problem was resolved by dividing each large unknown rotation into two parts, one of which was a large known part and the other was a small unknown part. The method succeeds when the unknown rotation elements can be initially estimated to about 10°.     

From Magnitudes to Diameters: The Albedo Distribution of Near Earth Objects and the Earth Collision Hazard

A recently published model of the Near Earth Object (NEO) orbital-magnitude distribution (Bottke et al., 2002, Icarus156, 399-433.) relies on five intermediate sources for the NEO population: the ν₆ resonance, the 3:1 resonance, the outer portion of the main belt (i.e., 2.8-3.5 AU), the Mars-crossing population adjacent to the main belt, and the Jupiter family comet population. The model establishes the relative contribution of these sources to the NEO population. By computing the albedo distribution of the bodies in and/or near each of the five sources, we can deduce the albedo distribution of the NEO population as a function of semimajor axis, eccentricity, and inclination. A problem with this strategy, however, is that we do not know a priori the albedo distribution of main belt asteroids over the same size range as observed NEOs (diameter D<10 km). To overcome this problem, we determined the albedo distribution of large asteroids in and/or near each NEO source region and used these results to deduce the albedo distribution of smaller asteroids in the same regions. This method requires that we make some assumptions about the absolute magnitude distributions of both asteroid families and background asteroids. Our solution was to extrapolate the observed absolute magnitude distributions of the families up to some threshold value H_thr, beyond which we assumed that the families' absolute magnitude distributions were background-like.We found that H_thr=14.5 provides the best match to the color vs heliocentric distance distribution observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. With this value of H_thr our model predicts that the debiased ratio between dark and bright (albedo smaller or larger than 0.089) objects in any absolute-magnitude-limited sample of the NEO population is 0.25±0.02. Once the observational biases are properly taken into account, this agrees very well with the observed C/S ratio (0.165 for H<20). The dark/bright ratio of NEOs increases to 0.87±0.05 if a size-limited sample is considered. We estimate that the total number of NEOs larger than a kilometer is 855±110, which, compared to the total number of NEOs with H<18 (963±120), shows that the usually assumed conversion H=18?D=1 km slightly overestimates the number of kilometer-size objects.Combining our orbital distribution model with the new albedo distribution model, and assuming that the density of bright and dark bodies is 2.7 and 1.3 g/cm³, respectively, we estimate that the Earth should undergo a 1000 megaton collision every 63,000±8000 years. On average, the bodies capable of producing 1000 megaton of impact energy are those with H<20.6. The NEOs discovered so far carry only 18±2% of this collision probability.     

Impact cratering and the Oort Cloud

We calculate the expected flux profile of comets into the planetary system from the Oort Cloud arising from Galactic tides and encounters with molecular clouds. We find that both periodic and sporadic bombardment episodes, with amplitudes an order of magnitude above background, occur on characteristic time-scales ∼25–35 Myr. Bombardment episodes occurring preferentially during spiral arm crossings may be responsible both for mass extinctions of life and the transfer of viable microorganisms from the bombarded Earth into the disturbing nebulae. Good agreement is found between the theoretical expectations and the age distribution of large, well-dated terrestrial impact craters of the past 250 Myr. A weak periodicity of ∼36 Myr in the cratering record is consistent with the Sun's recent passage through the Galactic plane, and implies a central plane density  ∼0.15 M_⊙ pc⁻³  . This leaves little room for a significant dark matter component in the disc.     

Evaporitic sedimentation and microbial mats in a salina system (Port Fouad,Egypt)

A salina system along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt was investigated. Five sedimentary facies are described. For each facies, the evaporitic sedimentation and the biological conditions are considered. Comparisons of evaporite precipitates in the salina with ancient deposits are made.     

Distant field blue horizontal branch stars – III. Identification of a probable outer halo stream at Galactocentric distance r= 70 kpc

We present FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph-1 spectra (from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope) of a sample of 34 faint  20.0 < g * < 21.1  A-type stars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release, with the goal of measuring the velocity dispersion of blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars in the remote Galactic halo,   R ∼ 80 kpc  . We show that colour selection with  1.08 < u *− g * < 1.40  and  −0.2 < g *− r * < −0.04  minimizes contamination of the sample by less luminous blue stragglers. In classifying the stars we confine our attention to the 20 stars with spectra of signal-to-noise ratio >15 Å⁻¹. Classification produces a sample of eight BHB stars at distances  65–102 kpc  from the Sun (mean 80 kpc), which represents the most distant sample of Galactic stars with measured radial velocities. The dispersion of the measured radial component of the velocity with respect to the centre of the Galaxy is  58 ± 15 km s⁻¹  . This value is anomalously low in comparison with measured values for stars at smaller distances, as well as for satellites at similar distances. Seeking an explanation for the low measured velocity dispersion, further analysis reveals that six of the eight remote BHB stars are plausibly associated with a single orbit. Three previously known outer halo carbon stars also appear to belong to this stream. The velocity dispersion of all nine stars relative to the orbit is only  15 ± 4 km s⁻¹  . Further observations along the orbit are required to trace the full extent of this structure on the sky.     

Frost spectra: Comparison with Jupiter's Satellites

The near infrared spectral reflectance of pure CH₄, CO₂, H₂O, H₂S, NH₃ and NH₄SH frosts has been measured. Comparison with recent Galilean satellite spectra indicates that H₂O at approximately 150°K and with about 0.01 cm grain size is the major component on the surface of JII (Europa) and JIII (Ganymede); upper limits for the remaining frosts range from 5 to 28%. Materials other than these frosts must be present on the surface of JI (Io) and JIV (Callisto).     

First sodium nightglow results for Natal

The first year of sodium nightglow observations from Natal (6°S, 35°W) are examined. Time variations appear to follow a pattern of their own, different from low latitude results. The major seasonal peak occurs in September-October and the average variation during the night decreases from dusk to dawn. Statistics on cloud coverage show that Natal has roughly only about 3 clear hours per night. The best observing period is April with an average of 5 clear hours per night.     

Behaviour of Tl relative to K,Rb, Sr and Ba in mineralized and unmineralized metavolcanics from the Dir area,northern Pakistan

Copper mineralization in the Dir area of northern Pakistan is confined to the quartz veins and associated with hydrothermally altered metavolcanics. Chalcopyrite is the main copper-bearing phase with subordinate amounts of bornite, chalcocite, covellite, malachite and azurite. Both mineralized quartz veins and associated unmineralized (least altered) and mineralized (strongly altered) metavolcanics have been analyzed for Cu, Au, Ag, Tl, K, Rb, Ba and Sr. An increase of Cu, Au, Ag, Rb/Sr and Tl/Sr, and a decrease of Sr and K/Rb is observed in both mineralized metavolcanics and mineralized quartz veins. Thallium shows lithophile behaviour in the Dir metavolcanics and no chalcophile behaviour was observed. The Tl/Sr ratio might be an indirect guide for the exploration of volcanic-hosted hydrothermal copper deposits.