Intrusive processes at ocean ridges: Evidence from the sheeted dyke complex of Masirah, Oman

Masirah Island largely consists of a late Mesozoic ophiolite which includes extensive areas of near-vertical, ENE—WSW striking, sheeted dykes. Previously the possibility has been suggested of a correlation between the similarly-aged ophiolites of Masirah and the Semail Complex of the Oman Mts. However, the Masirah ENE–WSW trend contrasts with N—S dyke trends from the Wadi Jizi area of the Semail, possibly suggesting two unrelated spreading centres. The dykes pass up into a pillow lava—minor sediment sequence, down into both layered and unlayered gabbros and are bounded to the west by a major N—S mélange zone which may have originated as a ridge transform fault. Age relations of the dykes and the gabbros are complex: the dykes contain a variable proportion of gabbro screens representing earlier crystallization, but they are also intruded by several small gabbro bodies which are themselves cut by still later dykes. The lava and dyke—gabbro screen sequence shows evidence of metamorphism from zeolite to low amphibolite grade. This metamorphism was caused by ridge hydrothermal activity which appears to have been effective approximately to the lower levels of the dykes. The rapid passage from low-amphibolite dykes to fresh gabbro suggests lithological control of the metamorphism. A combination of structural, geochemical and mineral phase studies may indicate generation in a slow spreading ridge environment and near-ridge metamorphism caused by a geothermal gradient of approximately 200°C/km.     

1) I. A. H. S. / A. I. H. S.

Abstract

A simple method is used to study the response of runoff in the Sahel to climate change. The statistical characteristics of rainfall are calculated over the western part of the Sahel for the period 1961–1990, using the BADOPLU network. Daily rainfall is simulated using a Markov process with Weibull distribution for rainfall depths. Runoff is modelled using a conceptual SCS model and the curve numbers are calculated for West Africa. Climate change is provided by simulations using the Arpège GCM (Scenario A1B), and a perturbation method is used on the parameters which describe the rainfall. Changes in rainfall are assumed to occur through increases in frequency, not intensity. Using Arpège, runoff is mainly found to increase, in depth and in number of events, by the end of the 21st century. Changes in evaporation and land use are not included in the analysis. The impact of this 21st century potential climate change (rainfall) on the runoff is found to be of the same magnitude as the impact of changes in land use.     

On the instability of weakly radially anisotropic star clusters

We discuss contradictions existing in the literature in the problem on the stability of collisionless spherical stellar systems, which are the simplest anisotropic generalization of the well-known polytropic models. On the one hand, calculations of the growth rates within the framework of a linear stability theory and N-body simulations suggest that these systems should become stable when the parameter s characterizing the degree of anisotropy of the stellar velocity distribution becomes lower than some critical value s _crit > 0. On the other hand, according to Palmer and Papaloizou, the growth rate should be nonzero up to the isotropic limit s = 0. Using our method of determining the eigenmodes of stellar systems, we show that even though the mode growth rates in weakly radially anisotropic systems of this type are nonzero, they are exponentially small, i.e., decrease as γ ∝ exp(−a/s) when s → 0. For slightly radially anisotropic systems with a finite lifetime, this actually implies stability.     

青藏高原及邻近地区地壳与上地幔剪切波三维速度结构

本文利用30个基准台所记录的238条长周期面波资料,经过适配滤波和分格频散反演,得到中国大陆及邻区147个分格10—105s的纯路径频散,进而反演出青藏高原及邻近地区深至170km的剪切波三维速度结构.研究表明,青藏高原中西部地区和东部地区的地壳平均厚度分别为70±7km和65±7km,地壳平均剪切波速度分别为3.55和3.62km/s,上地幔顶盖平均速度分别为4.63和4.61km/s; 岩石层厚度均为120±10km;东部地区下地壳内30—40km深度处普遍存在低速层;青藏高原及其东侧的上地幔低速层内有横贯东西且明显向上隆起的低速腔.滇西缅北地区的地壳厚45±5km,上地壳及下地壳内都有低速层;上地幔顶盖的速度为4.42km/s,比青藏高原本体及恒河平原都低.恒河平原地壳厚34±2km,速度平均为3.45km/s;上地幔顶盖厚86±10km,速度平均为4.63km/s,顶盖内55—83km深处有一个低速夹层.     

A numerical model of the partitioning of trace chemical solutes during drop freezing

Partitioning of volatile chemicals among the gas, liquid, and solid phases during freezing of liquid water in clouds can impact trace chemical distributions in the troposphere and in precipitation. We describe here a numerical model of this partitioning during the freezing of a supercooled liquid drop. Our model includes the time-dependent calculation of the coupled processes of crystallization kinetics, heat transport, and solute mass transport, for a freezing hydrometeor particle. We demonstrate the model for tracer partitioning during the freezing of a 1000 μm radius drop on a 100 μm ice substrate, under a few ambient condition scenarios. The model effectively simulates particle freezing and solute transport, yielding results that are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with previous experimental and theoretical work. Results suggest that the ice shell formation time is governed by heat loss to air and not by dendrite propagation, and that the location of ice nucleation is not important to freezing times or the effective partitioning of chemical solutes. Even for the case of nucleation at the center of the drop, we found that dendrites propagated rapidly to form surface ice. Freezing then proceeded from the outside in. Results also indicate that the solid-liquid interfacial surface area is not important to freezing times or the effective partitioning of chemical solutes, and that the rate aspects of trapping are more important than equilibrium solid-liquid partitioning to the effective partitioning resulting from freezing.     

A mass ratio limit for primordial black holes

We augment our scenario for the formation of astronomical objects from macroscopic superstrings by the assumption that the central matter keeps its identity in the fragmentation. From the condition that the angular momentum per mass squared of this matter should be less than the Kerr limit G/c, we obtain upper limits for the ratio of the mass of central black holes M(BH) to the mass M of the host object. This limit is M(BH)/M ≈ 0.001, and, expressed in observed quantities, approximately M(BH)/M ≈ σ²/(v · c) where σ is the r.m.s. velocity, v the rotational velocity and c the velocity of light. The valuesM(BH) agree with the observed behaviour both in order of magnitude and in the variation with velocity dispersion. (© 2003 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Observations of OH maser lines at an 18-cm wavelength in 9P/Temper1 and Lulin C/2007 N3 comets with RT-22 at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory

Investigations on OH maser lines in comets have been performed with the RT-22 at CrAO. The results of observations of 9P/Temper1 and Lulin C/2007 N3 comets in the OH molecule line at a wavelength of 18 cm are presented. An original technique for observation data analysis has been developed. The gas production rate of OH molecules in these comets is estimated.     

Numerical simulation of the interaction between two high-energy plasma bunches in the ionosphere

The 3D MHD algorithm developed by us has been adapted to modeling the interaction between two plasma bunches in the ionosphere, mainly in order to sufficiently correctly describe the physics of the interaction between two plasma regions with regard to the ionospheric inhomogeneity and the geomagnetic field action. Modeling has been performed for several versions of location of the plasma region centers.