The new hominid skeleton from Sterkfontein,South Africa: age and preliminary assessment

A new hominid skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2 attaches to foot bones recovered from loose blocks during the 1980s and first described in 1995. Several flowstone horizons are present above and below the skeleton and have given clear palaeomagnetic signatures. Five changes in magnetic polarity have been identified; when constrained by the available biostratigraphy, this sequence can be placed confidently between 3.22 and 3.58 Ma. Interpolation of sedimentation rates over the small intervals between reversals allows this range to be reduced to 3.30–3.33 Ma. The skeleton is thus the oldest yet discovered and is considered to belong to a species of Australopithecus other than africanus. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pedogenic factors affecting magnetic susceptibility of the last interglacial palaeosol S1 in the Chinese Loess Plateau

The magnetic susceptibility has been used as a quantitative or semi‐quantitative proxy for reconstructing the summer monsoon intensity in the Chinese Loess Plateau based on extensive studies on climatic or/and environmental mechanisms producing the magnetic susceptibility signatures. However, the precise nature of the link between past climates and the susceptibility signatures has remained uncertain primarily due to lack of our understanding in the ?nalizing and preserving processes of the signatures. This paper attempts to examine the reliability or acceptability of this summer monsoon proxy from non‐magnetic perspectives of soil‐forming processes. We chose nine sections along two transects: one across the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau and another across the eastern part. Several conclusions can be drawn from our analytical data. First, clay translocation within the S1 palaeosol pro?les, as indicated by ?eld‐observed clay coatings on ped faces in Bt and Bk horizons and demonstrated by laboratory‐analysed clay contents, must have moved some of the magnetic minerals downward so that the susceptibility re?ects only the post‐translocation distribution of the magnetic‐susceptibility‐producing minerals. Second, the best‐developed palaeosol S1S3 at most of the sections studied is not expressed by the magnetic susceptibility because this palaeosol developed in underlying coarse loess (L2) and coarse textures tend to lower the susceptibility. Third, carbonate concentration is normally negatively correlated with the magnetic susceptibility or simply suppresses the magnetic susceptibility peak when the susceptibility enhancement exceeds the carbonate dilution effect. To conclude, extreme caution must be observed when using magnetic susceptibility signatures to retrieve high‐resolution records of the last interglacial palaeoclimate in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An island arc origin for the Canyon Mountain ophiolite complex,eastern Oregon,U.S.A.

The Canyon Mountain ophiolite, Oregon, is exceptional in lacking sheeted dikes, basaltic pillow lavas, and sediments that are characteristic of many other ophiolites. Instead, the uppermost portion of the complex consists of a significant volume of plagiogranites, which, in addition to minor basalts, intrude a large section of keratophyres believed to be of volcanic origin. The trend of intrusive rocks and of bedding in the keratophyres is mostly parallel to layering in the underlying gabbroic cumulates and to contacts between units in the remainder of the ophiolite. It is suggested that the plagiogranites, basalts, and keratophyres comprise a sill complex. Both the plagiogranites and the keratophyres are similar, respectively, to low-K₂O plutonic and extrusive rocks of island arcs. The mineralogy and penetrative deformation structures of the ultramafic and some of the gabbroic rocks of the ophiolite indicate greater depth of formation, related to magmatism and diapirism above a Benioff zone. Radiometric age dates of plagiogranites confine the minimum age of the complex to the Early Permian. The Canyon Mountain ophiolite may thus be correlative with other fragments of a Lower Permian arc terrane throughout northeastern Oregon which were chaotically mixed during renewed subduction in middle to late Triassic time.     

The Roaches and Ashover Grits: sequence stratigraphic interpretation of a ‘turbidite-fronted delta’ system

A single Upper Carboniferous fluvio-deltaic cycle (Namurian, R₂b5) in the south part of the Pennine Basin of northern England has been reinterpreted using a sequence stratigraphic approach. In upward succession the deposits comprise basinal mudstones, localized thick density current deposits, delta slope deposits and delta-top sandstones, followed abruptly by basinal mudstones. Earlier interpretations linked these elements with a single, mainly regressive, cycle, referred to as a turbidite-fronted delta. Recent evidence for strong glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations in the Namurian suggests that it is unlikely that the previous simple model can explain the spatial arrangement of all the lithological units. This paper attempts to identify elements of the Exxon sequence stratigraphic model, in which changes of sea level are an essential part. The basinal mudstones represent deep-water deposition and imply a highstand of sea level. Thick density current deposits are now known to be localized close to the basinward limit of delta progradation, so cannot be seen as a ubiquitous component of the depositional system. They may form a detached fan, or a fan located at the foot of the delta slope. Slope siltstones include turbidite-like sandstones, but these are interbedded with tractional sandstones and Pelecypodichnus trace fossils, giving no clear indication of water depth. The delta-top sandstones, some coarse and pebbly, can in places be shown to consist of two parts separated by a significant erosion surface now regarded as a type 1 sequence boundary. The erosion surface is locally incised about 80 m into the delta deposits, forming a major palaeovalley. Giant cross-beds (foresets 20 m thick) forming part of the palaeovalley fill are restricted to the basinward end of this feature. A curve of relative sea level inferred for the R₂b5 interval suggests a fourth-order cycle in which two sharp rises are separated by a gradual fall. Possible minor (fifth-order) rises and falls may be superimposed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural properties of (Mn1-x Fe x )Nb2O6 columbites from X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy

A suite of (Mn_1-x Fe _x )Nb₂O₆ (x=0, 0.05, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1) columbite samples has been prepared by solid-state reaction from oxides. X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic investigations have been carried out in order to gain different perspectives on how the solid solution adapts at different length scales to cation mixing. X-ray powder diffraction and powder absorption IR spectroscopy data are presented. The powder diffraction data show that there is no significant excess volume of mixing on the Fe–Mn columbite join. All the unit-cell parameters decrease linearly as a function of increasing Fe content. Substitution of Fe²⁺ for the larger Mn²⁺ cation causes a decrease in the volume of the A polyhedron, which also becomes more regular with respect to both bond-length and edge-length distortion parameters. No significant variation of the B site has been observed. Wavenumber shifts of the IR peaks nearly all vary linearly with composition, consistent with linear variations of the lattice parameters. Line broadening has been quantified by autocorrelation analysis of the IR spectra. This is interpreted as suggesting that there is some element of local strain or positional disorder at the length scale of second or third nearest neighbours around sites occupied by Fe.     

The possibility of passive acoustic monitoring of a Scuba Diver

The problem of controlling the state and location of scuba divers is of importance. This work consider the possibility to use for this purpose a low-frequency noise of a scuba diver. The noise of a scuba diver under a dry swimming suite near the trachea and in the water at a distance of 50 m was recorded.It wa shown that both sygnals are characterized by the presence of quasi-periodic components induced by the amplitude modulation of wide-band breathing noises by the brething rhythms of a scuba diver. The quasi-periodic componentss distinguished can be used to evaluate the physiological parameters of the state of a scuba diver and to establish his location.     

Silica in Lake Superior: mass balance considerations and a model for dynamic response to eutrophication

The dissolved silica concentration in waters of Lake Superior probably is in a steady state because it is not influenced significantly by man, and the climate, topography and vegetation in the drainage area of the lake have been stable for the past 4000 years. Therefore the rate at which dissolved silica is introduced to the lake should equal the output rate.The primary inputs are: tributaries (4.1–4.6 × 10⁸kgSiO₂/yr), diffusion from sediment pore waters (0.21?0.78 × 10⁸kgSiO₂/yr) and atmospheric loading (0.26 × 10⁸kgSiO₂/yr). Silica is lost from the lake waters by: outflow through the St. Marys River, diatom deposition, adsorption onto particulates in the sediments, and authigenic formation of new silicate minerals. Tributary outflow accounts for less than one half the annual input of silica, and diatom deposition and silica adsorption withdraw less than 10% of the annual input. Therefore the formation of new silicate phases must be the dominant sink for dissolved silica in Lake Superior. The specific phases formed are not identified in the bottom sediments. X-ray diffraction studies suggest that smectite is one product, and amorphous ferroaluminum silicates may be another product.Mathematical modeling of the dissolved silica response to lake eutrophication suggests that the phosphate loading to Lake Superior would have to increase by about 250-fold to cause a silica depletion rate equal to that reported for Lake Michigan, assuming no change in the rate of upwelling of deep waters.