Properties of Synthetic Triclinic KFeSi3O8, Iron-microcline, with some Observations on the Iron-microcline{rightleftharpoons}Iron-sanidine Transition

Triclinic KFeSi₃O₈, iron-microcline, has been synthesized fromoxide mixes and by complete conversion of monoclinic KFeSi₃O₈,iron-sanidine. Iron-microcline is triclinic, C, a=8?68?0?01?, b=13?10?0?01, c=7?34?0?01, =90? 45'?10', ß=116?03'?10', =86?14'?10'. The optical properties (Na light) are:=1?585?0?002, ß=1?596?0?002, =1?605?0?002, 2V=85?(calc.), Xb, Z c=20??5?. A reversible phase transition betweentriclinic and monoclinic KFeSi₃O₈ occurs at 704??6? C at 2000bars total pressure. Iron-microcline is the low-temperaturepolymorph; no intermediate polymorphs were observed in eitherhydrothermal or dry heating experiments.     

赞比亚北部省卡萨马西部石英闪长岩锆石U- Pb和Lu- Hf同位素及地球化学特征

石英闪长岩锆石U-Pb和Lu-Hf同位素及地球化学特征研究对赞比亚东北部班韦乌卢地块的形成时代及构造演化具有重要的研究意义。采用LA-MC-ICP MS方法测得班韦乌卢地块中卡萨马西部地区出露的两个石英闪长岩体中锆石的~(207)Pb/~(206)Pb年龄加权平均值分别为1964±8 Ma(MSWD=0.87,N=32)和1913±10 Ma(MSWD=0.77,N=19),表明两期石英闪长岩均形成于古元古代且可能与古元古代乌本迪构造带的活动有关。全岩地球化学分析显示,石英闪长岩属准铝质、高钾钙碱性系列岩石。稀土配分曲线均呈右倾型,具有富含轻稀土元素(LREE)、贫重稀土元素(HREE)以及δEu (0.77～0.80)弱负异常特点。微量元素均显示大离子亲石元素(如Rb、Ba及K)和活泼的不相容元素(如Th及U)相对富集,高场强元素Nb、Ta、P、Sr和Ti相对亏损。Nd/Th=3.60～4.65,Nb/Ta=12.05～13.87,Th/Ta=11.14～11.81,Ti/Zr=36.84～41.71,Ti/Y=220.28～300.00和具有不均一的ε_(Hf)(t)值(分别为-3.8～1.3和-4.3～8.6)均显示石英闪长岩的原始岩浆具有壳幔混合的特点。Zr/Y=5.98～7.19,La/Nb=2.91～3.88,La/Yb=12.19～13.92及构造判别图解均显示石英闪长岩形成于安第斯型活动大陆边缘。     

Genesis of hummocks in glaciofluvial corridors near the Keewatin Ice Divide, Canada

Glaciofluvial corridor hummocks (GCHs) within the Walker Lake map area, Canada, were examined in order to determine the character and genesis of these geomorphic features and their associated deposits. Located south of the Chantrey Moraine and north of the Keewatin Ice Divide, these corridors occur within a belt extending approximately 120 km east–west and approximately 60 km north–south. They are spaced 5–10 km apart and are hundreds of metres to several kilometres in width. They have undulating longitudinal profiles, abrupt material boundaries with the surrounding till and occur in valleys and over interfluves. Hummocks were investigated using longitudinal and perpendicular ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys in conjunction with pit excavations. From these analyses, the hummocks comprise a single lithofacies consisting of coarsely stratified, matrix-supported gravely sand to a depth of approximately 10 m. This sediment is similar to that of a 'sliding bed facies' observed in esker sediments and hyperconcentrated flow deposits, both of which are attributed to high meltwater discharges. Therefore, we hypothesize that the Walker Lake GCHs formed from sedimentation in cavities at the base of the ice sheet by a rapid influx of meltwater.     

Long‐term summer (AD751–2008) temperature fluctuation in the French Alps based on tree‐ring data

Corona, C., Edouard, J.‐L., Guibal, F., Guiot, J., Bernard, S., Thomas, A. & Denelle, N. 2010: Long‐term summer (AD751–2008) temperature fluctuation in the French Alps based on tree‐ring data. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00185.x. ISSN 0300‐9843. On the basis of a dense tree‐ring width network (34 unpublished multi‐centennial larch chronologies), this paper attempts to reconstruct, for the first time, the summer temperatures in the French Alps (44°–45.30°N, 6.30°–7.45°E) during the last millennium. The adaptative Regional Growth Curve standardization method is applied to preserve interannual to multi‐centennial variations in this high‐elevation proxy data set. The proxies are calibrated using the June to August mean temperatures from the last revised version of the HISTALP database spanning the period AD1760–2003 and adjusted to take into account the warm bias before 1850. About 45% of the temperature variance is reconstructed. Despite the use of the newly updated meteorological data set, the reconstruction still shows colder temperatures than early instrumental measurements between 1760 and 1840. The proxy record evidences a prolonged Medieval Warm Period persisting until 1500, with warm periods that resemble 20th century conditions but also cold phases before 1000 synchronous with Swiss glacier advances. The Little Ice Age is rather mild until 1660 if compared with other Alpine reconstructions. Thereafter, summers are 0.7 °C cooler than the 1961–1990 mean until 1920. The maximum temperature amplitude over the past 1250 years is estimated to be 3 °C between the warmest (810s, 1990s) and coldest (1810s) decades. Most of the 20th century is comparable with the Medieval Warm Period.     

Comment on Air pollution and precipitation suppression over SE Australia: critical review of evidence presented by Rosenfeld (2000) and Rosenfeld (2006) by Greg Ayers

Rosenfeld (2000, hereafter R00), in applying new satellite methodology to analyse case studies in Southeastern Australia and elsewhere, provided evidence that urban and industrial air pollution can suppress precipitation from shallow clouds. He concluded that 'Air pollution must be an important factor in determining the precipitation amounts in the Snowy Mountains'. These satellite observations were the impetus for our proposed detailed follow-on research program to further validate and quantify these inferences, publicly offered in Rosenfeld et al. (2006, hereafter R06) and repeated here, thereby recognizing the remaining large uncertainties. In response, Ayers (2009, hereafter A09) attempts to deny the significance and validity of the observations of R00. His scientific arguments are refuted here. Furthermore, A09 wrote erroneously that 'a hypothesis that air pollution in the form of small particles has caused a secular decrease in precipitation over SE Australia was advanced by Rosenfeld (2000) , who concluded that the hypothesis was proven.' But R00 did not make such a claim, although this is a viable hypothesis that warrants testing (R06). In fact, R00 wrote: 'trend analyses of snow, winter temperature, and total winter rainfall for the period 1910–1991 showed statistically insignificant decreases… ( Duus, 1992 )'.     

The orientation of helical flow in curved channels

The planform patterns of meandering submarine channels and subaerial fluvial bends show many similarities that have given rise to strong analogies concerning the fluid dynamics of these channel types. Existing models of helical motion in open‐channel bends depict flow that is characterized by surface flow towards the outer bank, and basal flow towards the inner bank. This paper investigates and compares, through an analytical model and physical experiment, flows within fluvial meanders, and submarine channel bends that contain density‐driven gravity currents. The results indicate that the sense of helical motion can be reversed in submarine bends that contain density currents when compared with fluvial bends, and that the orientation of the helical flow is dependent on the vertical distribution of downstream velocity. Specifically, the sense of helical motion is reversed in bends when the maximum downstream velocity is near the bed, resulting in near‐bed flow towards the outer bank. These findings suggest that the dynamics of sediment transport and deposition in curved channels with such velocity profiles will be fundamentally different to those currently assumed from sinuous open‐channels.     

Feldspathoidal Syenite in a Quartz Diabase Sill, Brookville, New Jersey

Nepheline- and analcime-bearing syenite occurs at the uppercontact of a quartz diabase sill with the Lockatong Argilliteat Brookville, New Jersey. The syenite is intimately mixed withgranophyre that formed by fractional crystallization of basalticmagma and accumulated near the top of the sill. Some of theresidual liquid now represented by granophyre reacted with silica-poor,sodium-rich argillite to form the syenite. Initial Sr⁸⁷/Sr⁸⁶ ratios (assuming an age of 190 m. y.) are0.7144–0.7147 for the unmetamorphosed and the hornfelsedargillite, 0.7067 for the granophyre, 0.7058 for the diabase,and intermediate values of 0.7128–0.7131 for the syenite. The isotopic evidence agrees with field, petrographic, experimental,and chemical data supporting assimilation. Alternative hypothesesof syenite formation by separate intrusion, differentiation,or partial melting of Lockatong Argillite are contradicted bythe data. Isotopic and normative data strongly suggest that syenite formedfrom argillite and granophyre in the proportions three or fourto one; during the assimilation process the country rock actedas solvent and the intrusive as solute.     

Deep-water resedimentation of anhydrite and gypsum deposits in the Middle Miocene (Belayim Formation) of the Red Sea, Egypt

The Middle Miocene evaporites in the Red Sea rift were deposited within a complex system of fault-bounded basins that were episodically active during sedimentation. Such a tectonic framework is known to be highly favourable to resedimentation processes. An offshore petroleum well in the north-western Red Sea has cored, below a massive salt unit, an anhydrite-bearing succession which provides an excellent opportunity to study the processes of gravity induced redeposition of Ca-sulphates in a deep basin. Anhydrite deposits, interbedded with siliciclastic layers and thin halite layers, are composed of resedimented facies ranging from fine-grained laminated sediments to coarse-grained breccias. The components derive from the reworking of shelf sediments deposited initially in shallow water to supratidal settings on the surface and edges of structural highs bordering depressions: proximal siliciclastic deposits with interstitial anhydrite (cement patches, nodules) or gypsum and dolostones with early diagenetic anhydrite facies (nodular, chicken-wire) formed in sabkha conditions, interstitially grown gypsum crystals and subaqueous gypsum crusts precipitated in hypersaline ponds, and diatom-rich oozes formed in marine, shallow-water conditions. The homogeneity of the stable isotope composition and petrography of sulphates argue for the initial crystallization of Ca-sulphates within brines of the same origin and in closely interconnected sedimentary settings. The unconsolidated sediments redeposited as slope-foot accumulations were carried both as anhydrite (nodules, soft masses, various fragments, individual grains or crystals released by disintegration of large masses) and gypsum (crystalline aggregates or single crystals) later converted to anhydrite during burial. Layers of chaotic breccia are interpreted as the result of seismic events, whereas the fine-grained deposits could be related to redistribution by nepheloid layers of suspensions of finer grains released by disintegration of the soft anhydrite masses during downslope transport, or of in situ deposits removed by the turbiditic flows.     

PERSONALITY,GEOGRAPHICAL ART,AND LESSONS FROM SAUER'S MEXICO

Editors' note: This essay by Dan Arreola begins the second set of retrospective pieces commissioned to celebrate the centennial volume. Members of the Editorial Board responded to our request to prepare brief commentaries on landmark Geographical Review articles that were influential in their professional careers. Although many other articles touched the minds of emerging scholars, this small sampling covers a fairly wide swath of the fabric of American geography. It also reminds us that each future article has the potential to have a similar enduring value and help open new intellectual vistas. In addition to Arrreola's piece, the short essays include the musings of Barry Keim, Susan Walcott, Larry Ford, and Risa Palm.