Linking uplift,erosion, and sedimentation using landscape evolution models: Madagascar since the Late Cretaceous

We present a study to estimate the large-scale landscape history of a continental margin, by establishing a source-to-sink volume balance between the eroding onshore areas and the offshore basins. Assuming erosion as the primary process for sediment production, we strive to constrain a numerical model of landscape evolution that balances the volumes of eroded materials from the continent and that deposited in the corresponding basins, with a ratio imposed for loss of erosion products. We use this approach to investigate the landscape history of Madagascar since the Late Cretaceous. The uplift history prescribed in the model is inferred from elevations of planation surfaces formed at various ages. By fitting the volumes of terrigenous sediments in the Morondava Basin along the west coast and the current elevation of the island, the landscape evolution model is optimized by constraining the erosion law parameters and ratios of sediment loss. The results include a best-fit landscape evolution model, which features two major periods of uplift and erosion during the Late Cretaceous and the middle to late Cenozoic. The model supports suggestions from previous studies that most of the high topography of the island was constructed since the middle to late Miocene, and on the central plateau the erosion has not reached an equilibrium with the high uplift rates in the late Cenozoic. Our models also indicate that over the geological time scale a significant portion of materials eroded from Madagascar was not archived in the offshore basin, possibly consumed by chemical weathering, the intensity of which might have varied with climate.     

Phase-sensitive Holography of Solar Activity

Phase-correlation statistics comparing acoustic radiation coming out of a particular point on the solar photosphere with acoustic radiation going into it show considerably reduced sound travel times through the subphotospheres of active regions. We have now applied techniques in phase-sensitive seismic holography to data from the Solar Oscillations Investigation – Michelson Doppler Imager (SOI-MDI) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft to obtain high resolution phase-correlation maps of a large, complex active region and the `acoustic moat' which surrounds it. We report the following new results: First, the reduced sound travel-time perturbations in sunspots, acoustic moats, and isolated plages increase approximately in proportion to the logarithm of the surface magnetic flux density, for flux densities above 10 G. This is consistent with an interpretation of the travel-time anomalies, observed with holographic and other local-helioseismic procedures, as caused by acoustic Wilson-like depressions in photospheres of magnetic regions. Second, we find that, compared with isolated plages, the acoustic moats have an additional sound travel-time reduction on the order of 3–5 s which may be explained by a thermal excess due to the blockage of convective transport by the sunspot photosphere. Third, the combined effect of the Wilson depression in plages, acoustic moats, and sunspots may explain the observed variation of global p-mode frequencies with the solar cycle. Fourth, we find that active regions, including sunspots, acoustic moats, and plages, significantly reflect p modes above the acoustic cut-off frequency, where the surface of the quiet Sun acts as a nearly perfect absorber of incident acoustic radiation.     

Helioseismic Holography of Active-Region Subphotospheres – (Invited Review)

The development of solar acoustic holography has opened a major new diagnostic avenue in local helioseismology. It has revealed `acoustic moats' surrounding sunspots, `acoustic glories' surrounding complex active regions, and `acoustic condensations' suggesting the existence of significant seismic anomalies up to 20 Mm beneath active-region photospheres. Phase-sensitive seismic holography is now yielding high-resolution maps of sound travel-time anomalies caused by magnetic forces in the immediate subphotosphere, apparent thermal enhancements in acoustic moats, and Doppler signatures of subsurface flows. It has given us the first seismic images of a solar flare, and has uncovered a remarkable anomaly in the statistical distribution of seismic emission from acoustic glories. Seismic holography will probably give us the means for early detection of large active regions on the far-surface of the Sun, and possibly of deep subsurface activity as well. This powerful diagnostic now promises a new insight into the hydromechanical and thermal environments of the solar interior in the local perspective.     

Slow deflagration: A mechanism for mass ablation from degenerate stars

We investigate the structure of a slow reaction front on the surface of a dwarf, with a wake of escaping matter above it. We give simple expressions for all the important properties of such a front.It is found that a hydrogen or helium burning front is possible on a dwarf heavier than about one solar mass. For heavier fuels such a process seems impossible.     

Deformation und Gefügeregelung von Steinsalz im Temperaturbereich 20–200° c

Cubic specimens of fine-grained artifical polycristalline rock salt were deformed at different principal stresses in the range of 20–200° C. The data from different types of tests are compared by plotting ₁–₃ against ₁, ₂, ₃. The deformation behavior is highly influenced by the intermediate principal stress ₂. An increase of the intermediate stress from compression (₁>₂=₃) to extension (₁=₂>₃) lowers the rate of deformation. An increase of temperature always gives rise to an increase of deformation rate.Translation gliding on (110) is assumed to be the dominant flow mechanism. Textural changes and development of preferred orientation were investigated by means of the X-ray diffractometer. Intensities were measured for (110), (111), and (100). Compression leads to girdle occupations about the unique principle compressive axis, extension to girdles about the unique principle axis of extension. When all principle stresses are different the polfigures tend to a position intermediate between the two occupations.     

Möglichkeiten der biologischen Behandlung von festen Abfallstoffen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Lithologic control of bedrock meander dimensions in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge province

Marked differences in bedrock meander dimensions in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge province, at times in adjacent reaches of a single stream, are related to differences in relative erodability of the bedrock. Meanders cut in thick-bedded to massive lithologies, typically carbonates, are distinctly smaller overall than meanders cut into shaly lithologies. Other factors that could affect bedrock meander dimensions were considered and none appeared to offer any help in explaining the dimensional differences observed above. In plateau regions underlain by essentially horizontal strata, the meander form characteristic of one lithology may become superimposed upon another as incision progresses, producing anomalous relationships between bedrock meander dimensions and lithology. Empirical relations developed from meander geometry measurements and estimated bedrock erodability for 78 bedrock meander reaches, containing a total of 1089 individual meander loops, show that meanders cut in shaly lithologies (ML = 105 Q^0.50_f, where ML = meander length and Q_f = most probable annual flood) are about twice the length of meanders cut in non-shaly lithologies (ML = 39.3^0.56_f). The valley floor width of the meanders cut in shaly bedrock (VF = 28 Q^0.43_f) is two to three times wider than the valley floor width of the meanders cut in the more resistant non-shaly bedrock (VF = 8 Q^0.43_f). The mean and median meander length values for individual reaches typically differ by less than 10 per cent.     

Evidence for Non-Conservative Behaviour of Chlorine in Humid Tropical Environments

The knowledge of the biogeochemical cycle of chlorine (Cl)is important since this element is used as a tracer of geochemical and hydrological processes in oceanic or continental environments. More specifically, Cl can be used to correct surface water composition from atmospheric contribution in order to calculate precise chemical weathering rates in watersheds. Beyond the problem of potential Cl sources in a given watershed, which is directly related to the lithology, vegetation, and industrial activities, the Cl normalization is based on the assumption that this element behaves conservatively during surface processes (e.g., chemical weathering, adsorption/desorption processes).The purpose of the present study is to forecast the geochemical behavior of Cl in a forested ecosystem located under humid tropical environment.For this reason, we have analyzed the Cl (and also Ca and Na) concentrations ofsurface waters (rainwater, groundwater, river water) over a two-year period in the Nsimi–Zoetele watershed (Cameroon).The Cl mass balance for the watershed appears to be equilibrated over the studied period (1995–1996) but Cl behavior in Mengong River draining the watershed suggests a non-conservative behavior. Indeed, Cl concentrationsin the Mengong River are low during dry seasons and high during wet seasons, which is the reverse tendency to what is usually observed taking into account dilution and evaporation processes. As Cl concentrations in the Mengong River are lower than those measured in all the feeding reservoirs, Cl should be adsorbed onto the soils of the watershed. However, as the Cl mass balance is equilibrated over the whole-year, Cl should be adsorbed and releasedat a seasonal scale. The results we obtained for this small watershed were not generalized for a larger studied basin (i.e., Nyong River basin). Even if these results should be followed by further investigations, this study suggests that Cl normalization should be used with caution to avoid under- or over-estimation of chemical weathering rates.