Multi-spacecraft Observations of CIR-Associated Ion Increases During the Ulysses 2007 Ecliptic Crossing

The period between 21 June and 8 October, 2007 (Carrington rotations 2058 to 2061), comprising the Ulysses ecliptic plane crossing, was characterized by low solar activity. Excluding the small solar energetic particle events observed during July, the ion increases observed in the inner heliosphere between 100?keV/n and 10?MeV/n were associated with Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs). In this work, we investigate CIR-related ion increases using multipoint observations from Ulysses, ACE, and the twin STEREO spacecraft. The ballistic backmapping technique has been used to correlate in situ observations of these spacecraft and remote-sensing observations of coronal holes. Although the radial, longitudinal and latitudinal separation of the spacecraft (except Ulysses) are relatively small, we find discrepancies when a detailed comparison of narrow structures like stream interfaces and CIR-associated shocks is performed. Therefore we concentrate on the two CIR events from day 5 to day 10 of August 2007 and from day 25 to day 31 of August 2007, which lend themselves to a more undisturbed comparison. Using the multi-spacecraft measurements we could determine a radial gradient of 230±30% AU^?1, which is consistent with previous results by van Hollebeke et al. (J. Geophys. Res. 83, 4723, 1978) of ～?350% AU^?1 using Helios and Pioneer data.

     

Relative sea level changes during the Holocene in the Sisimiut area,south‐western Greenland

Holocene relative sea level (RSL) changes have been investigated by analysing and dating isolation sequences from five lakes near Sisimiut in south‐western Greenland. The transitions between marine and lacustrine sediments were determined from elemental analyses and analyses of macroscopic plant and animal remains. Radiocarbon dating was used to provide minimum ages for the transitions and to construct a RSL curve. Dating of a shell of the marine bivalve Macoma balthica indicates that deglaciation of the lowlands occurred in the early Holocene, at around 10 900 cal a BP. The RSL curve shows initial rapid regression from the marine limit at around 140 m, implying strong glacio‐isostatic rebound. We suggest that the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet was located at the shelf break during the Last Glacial Maximum. Frequent remains of the ostracode Sarcypridopsis aculeata, which is a thermophilous brackish water species that is unknown from the extant fauna of Greenland, in one of the basins around 8500 cal a BP may mark the beginning of the Holocene thermal maximum in the region. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biodegradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Fractured, Unsaturated Dolomite at a Field Site

Gasoline constituents were detected in unsaturated soil and rock during abandonment of a leaky underground storage tank (UST). The unsaturated sequence beneath the former UST consists of 90 feet of silty till, fractured dolomite, and friable sand-stone. Pore gas probes were installed in each of the unsaturated units, both in the source area and in a background on-site location. Pore gas samples were collected to evaluate the nature, extent, and fate of residual hydrocarbons in the vadose zone. Pore gas from the till and dolomite in the source area was enriched in petroleum hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide, and was depleted in oxygen, relative to pore gas from the background area. During two years of ground water monitoring at the site, methyl tertiary butyl ether was periodically detected in the ground water beneath the source area as pulses of recharge passed through the unsaturated zone, but no other gasoline constituents were detected. Apparently, the most degradable fraction of the gasoline (aromatic hydrocarbons) is being attenuated in the vadose zone before the water table is reached.     

The behaviour of outer radiation belt electrons (> 1·5 MeV) during a geomagnetically disturbed time on 8 March 1970 and its relationship to magnetospheric processes

Omnidirectional intensities of electrons with energies E_e > 1·5 MeV detected by a low orbiting polar satellite (GRS-A/AZUR) in the outer radiation belt are examined during disturbed times including the main phase of a very strong geomagnetic storm on 8 March 1970. The particle intensity features are discussed in relationship with proposed magnetospheric processes. It is found that a superposition of the two following effects can explain the particle behavior in the trapping region:(A) Radial diffusion. After the southward turning of the interplanetary field an inward motion of both the energetic electron belt and the plasmapause took place. This effect was observed at L > 3 R_E and we attribute it to enhanced magnetospheric electric field fluctuations. Later, a strong interplanetary shock impinged upon the magnetosphere which was related to the triggering of intense magnetospheric substorms; a further inward diffusion occurred at L ? 3 R_E, accompanied by an inward movement of the electron slot. A rough estimation of the diffusion coefficient leads to a power spectrum of the electric field fluctuations which seems to be consistent with experimentally determined power spectra (Mozer, 1971).(B) Adiabatic response to ring current changes. Large energetic electron intensity decreases within the outer radiation belt are shown to be adiabatic changes due to ring current variations. The influence of the inflation of the magnetosphere due to the developing ring current is simultaneously observed by the decrease of the solar proton outoff (1·7-2·5 MeV).     

Strengths and weaknesses of the global ocean conveyor: Inter-basin freshwater disparities as the major control

According to the current paradigm of modern climatology and oceanography, the global ocean thermohaline circulation works as the so-called “global ocean salinity conveyor belt” – a system of currents connecting different ocean basins and most notably – the northern North Atlantic and northern North Pacific Oceans – the most distant regions of the world ocean. It is shown here that a slight disparity in freshwater redistribution between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans can be sufficient for building up and maintaining a global conveyor-type ocean thermohaline circulation. On the other hand, relatively small changes in this disparity leading to change in sea surface salinity contrasts between and in the north-south within the northern parts of these two oceans can easily change the conveyor.     

Levels and distributions of organic source tracers in air and roadside dust particles of Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

The concentrations of n-alkanes, unresolved complex mixture (UCM), petroleum molecular markers, other tracers of cooking and burning emissions, and natural background in atmospheric particles and roadside dust particles were measured at eight locations in the city center and the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Atmospheric particles were collected using high-volume filtration (PM-10, GFF) over 24 h average periods. Road dusts were swept up, dried and sieved. Both types of samples were extracted with dichloromethane/methanol mixture (3:1 v/v) by ultrasonic agitation. The extracts were then fractionated by column chromatography and the alkanes subjected to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Total extracts were also analyzed directly by GC–MS after silylation. The molecular distributions of compounds as well as diagnostic geochemical ratios were determined in order to identify the sources of the organic compounds. Samples collected from a rural area and lubricating oils were also analyzed for comparisons. Anthropogenic and biogenic sources such as vehicular emissions, waxes of higher plants, food cooking operations, and biomass and domestic refuse burning processes contributed to the organic matter content of atmospheric and to lesser extent, roadside dust particles.     

湖南芙蓉锡矿床锡矿石和有关花岗岩的40Ar-39Ar年龄及其地球动力学意义

在研究和介绍湖南芙蓉锡矿矿床地质特征的基础上,对云英岩型锡矿石中的白云母和与成矿有关的骑田岭角闪黑云花岗岩中的黑云母进行了40Ar-39Ar年龄测定,获得角闪黑云花岗岩的坪年龄为(157.5±0.3)Ma;三门云英岩锡矿石的坪年龄为(156.1±0.4)Ma;淘洗窝云英岩锡矿石的坪年龄(160.1±0.9)Ma.这3组测年数据很一致,不仅精确地反应出成岩成矿的时间限制,而且表明了花岗岩成岩与锡矿成矿的密切关系.此外,三组数据坪年龄一致显示出,在成岩成矿之后矿体未受到后期热事件的扰动.芙蓉锡矿床是湘南大型钨锡多金属矿集区的组成部分,也是华南地区中生代钨锡成矿两大高峰期之一的160～135 Ma期间形成的代表性矿床,可能为中国东部地球动力学体制调整时晚期岩石圈减薄过程中的产物.     

Orogenic structure of the Eastern Alps, Europe, from TRANSALP deep seismic reflection profiling

The TRANSALP Group, comprising of partner institutions from Italy, Austria and Germany, acquired data on a 340 km long deep seismic reflection line crossing the Eastern Alps between Munich and Venice. Although the field work was split into four campaigns, between fall 1998 and summer 2001, the project gathered for the first time a continuous profile across the Alps using consistent field acquisition and data processing parameters. These sections span the orogen itself, at its broadest width, as well as the editor Fred Davey and the two adjacent basins. Vibroseis and explosion data, complementary in their depth penetration and resolution characteristics, were obtained along with wide-angle and teleseismic data. The profile shows a bi-vergent asymmetric structure of the crust beneath the Alpine axis which reaches a maximum thickness of 55 km, and 80–100 km long transcrustal ramps, the southward dipping ‘Sub-Tauern-Ramp’ and the northward-dipping ‘Sub-Dolomites-Ramp’. Strongly reflective patterns of these ramps can be traced towards the north to the Inn Valley and towards the south to the Valsugana thrust belt, both of which show enhanced seismicity in the brittle upper crust. The seismic sections do not reveal any direct evidence for the presence of the Periadriatic Fault system, the presumed equivalent to the Insubric Line in the Western Alps. According to our new evolutionary model, the Sub-Tauern-Ramp is linked at depth with remnants of the subducted Penninic Ocean. The ‘crocodile’-type model describes an upper/lower crustal decoupling and wedging of both the European and the Adriatic–African continents.