Chondrules: Precursors and interactions with the nebular gas

Abstract– Chondrule compositions suggest either ferroan precursors and evaporation, or magnesian precursors and condensation. Type I chondrule precursors include granoblastic olivine aggregates (planetary or nebular) and fine‐grained (dustball) precursors. In carbonaceous chondrites, type I chondrule precursors were S‐free, while type II chondrules have higher Fe/Mn than in ordinary chondrites. Many type II chondrules contain diverse forsteritic relicts, consistent with polymict dustball precursors. The relationship between finer and coarser grained type I chondrules in ordinary chondrites suggests more evaporation from more highly melted chondrules. Fe metal in type I, and Na and S in type II chondrules indicate high partial pressures in ambient gas, as they are rapidly evaporated at canonical conditions. The occurrence of metal, sulfide, or low‐Ca pyroxene on chondrule rims suggests (re)condensation. In Semarkona type II chondrules, Na‐rich olivine cores, Na‐poor melt inclusions, and Na‐rich mesostases suggest evaporation followed by recondensation. Type II chondrules have correlated FeO and MnO, consistent with condensation onto forsteritic precursors, but with different ratios in carbonaceous chondrites and ordinary chondrites, indicating different redox history. The high partial pressures of lithophile elements require large dense clouds, either clumps in the protoplanetary disk, impact plumes, or bow shocks around protoplanets. In ordinary chondrites, clusters of type I and type II chondrules indicate high number densities and their similar oxygen isotopic compositions suggest recycling together. In carbonaceous chondrites, the much less abundant type II chondrules were probably added late to batches of type I chondrules from different O isotopic reservoirs.     

New unspiked K–Ar ages of Quaternary sub-glacial and sub-aerial volcanic activity in Iceland

Indisputable geochronology of Icelandic volcanism may contribute to improving the use of volcanic proxies for paleoenvironmental studies. Accurate and reliable ages may also provide some useful constraints in studying the possible relationship between volcanism and deglaciation in Iceland. Given the difficulty of dating accurately young and low potassic volcanic samples from Iceland, the relationship between deglaciation and increasing levels of volcanism has been shown only for the last deglaciation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of the unspiked K–Ar dating method for dating Quaternary Icelandic volcanic rocks, because we consider that reliable K–Ar ages of interglacial and sub-glacial volcanic products may generate useful data sets for paleoclimatic reconstructions, so enabling the link between glaciation and volcanic activity to be better established. Given the ages and precisions obtained, this study demonstrates that the unspiked K–Ar method is a promising tool for reconstructing the recent volcanic activity in Iceland during glacial and interglacial intervals.     

‘Low carbon’ metals, markets and metaphors: the creation of economic expectations about climate change mitigation

Dealing with the threat of anthropogenic climate change has been a challenge for policy makers for a long time. In recent years, the problems posed by climate change and solutions proposed to mitigate its effects have been framed by lexical ‘carbon compounds’, such as carbon footprint or carbon trading and by one dominant metaphor, the market metaphor. Through a detailed content analysis of industry and press coverage from 1985 to the present, this paper examines the fate of one important lexical compound in this context, namely low carbon, which can be used as an adjective or a noun. Over the last two decades this lexical compound moved across and between three discourses, the steel industry, the car industry and what one might call the climate change industry. Using insights from ecolinguistics and the sociology of expectations, the paper discusses how the lexical compound low carbon in general and the metaphor low carbon future in particular came to prominence in policy discourses, especially in the UK, and how they were used to frame expectations of a prosperous low carbon future, while sidelining deeper social and cultural reflections on climate change mitigation.     

Loess and palaeoenvironment: Some results of a European joint programme of research

In 1985, a programme of research on the sedimentology and diagenesis of the loess and loessic silts of western Europe was initiated jointly by laboratories in Leicester, Meudon, Caen, Milan, Cardiff and Southampton, involving a limited amount of comparative work on the loess from types sites in the Loess Plateau of central China. Preliminary results include the following: (1) Experimental procedures in particle size analysis, clay sample preparation and microscopy have been standardised in all cooperating groups; distinctive fabrics indicative of depositional mechanisms have been recognised. (2) Comparison of aeolian, colluvial and alluvial silt by laser-scanning and bulk magnetic susceptibility anisotropy methods appears to differentiate aeolian silt from loessic silts re-deposited by slope processes and flowing water. (3) The variability in the anisotropy of the limon à doublet facies has been assessed by image analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Strong anisotropy has also been measured in thin section imagery of loess from Normandy and Poland as the product of freezing and thawing. This is confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and by experimental freezing of some silts. (4) The clay fabric and mineralogy in western European loess differ from those in Chinese loess, especially in the case of semi-arid deposits. (5) Distribution of CaCO₃, using thin sections and SEM analysis, has been determined for loess from Normandy and the Rhǒne valley in France and for some Chinese loess, At Saint Vallier, zones of CaCO₃ concentration occur masking much of the original (loess) sedimentary skeleton which is a locally reworked loessic silt with some laminations. Despite considerable scatter, the palaeomagnetic results indicate a reversed polarity throughout, placing the whole Saint Vallier sequence in the Matuyama chron. These preliminary results suggest the existence of two different palaeoenvironments: one typified by central China, with arid glacials and humid interglacials; and the other represented by western Europe, with generally high humidities. There was stronger weathering and soil development and fewer freezing effects on the lossic succession in northern Italy than in western littoral Europe.     

Determinants of International Return Migration Intentions*

This paper analyzes the determinants of international return migration intentions using survey data on guestworkers in Germany, 1970–1989. It is hypothesized that return migration intentions are influenced by personal attributes, residential and job satisfaction, and three time-dependent variables: a temporal trend, a duration effect, and years prior to retirement. The hypotheses are tested using logit models of the intention to return. The results indicate that return intention probabilities are strongly affected by satisfaction and time-dependent variables while the influence of personal attributes is of little importance.     

Future extreme events in European climate: an exploration of regional climate model projections

This paper compares how well satellite versus weather station measurements of climate predict agricultural performance in Brazil, India, and the United States. Although weather stations give accurate measures of ground conditions, they entail sporadic observations that require interpolation where observations are missing. In contrast, satellites have trouble measuring some ground phenomenon such as precipitation but they provide complete spatial coverage of various parameters over a landscape. The satellite temperature measurements slightly outperform the interpolated ground station data but the precipitation ground measurements generally outperform the satellite surface wetness index. In India, the surface wetness index outperforms station precipitation but this may be reflecting irrigation, not climate. The results suggest that satellites provide promising measures of temperature but that ground station data may still be preferred for measuring precipitation in rural settings.