Selenium in a shore bird,the dunlin,from the Dutch Waddenzee

The hypothesis that Se is secreted by birds via the preen gland or salt glands, thus contaminating the feathers, has been investigated. It is concluded that the feather vanes show indirectly in this way the birds' e?posure to Se. Therefore they can be used as an indicator tissue for this element.     

Evolution of polycyclic alkanes in the Espirito Santo Basin

The distributions of polycyclic alkanes were monitored in a Neocomian sequence (well 1-ESS-34) from the Espirito Santo Basin, southeast Brazil. The profiles included, apart from regular hopanes, significant concentrations of 18α(H), 28,30-bisnorhopane and subordinate amounts of gammacerane. Sterane concentrations, normally with hopane/sterane <5, were compatible with other geochemical data indicating a predominantly planktonic/microbial source of the deposited organic matter. Sample maturities ranged from very immature to the onset of oil generation, allowing biomarker distributions to be followed along a broad maturation range. The ability of certain molecular ratios (e.g. C₂₇ 17α(H)/17β(H)hopanes) to reflect a maturity sequence with depth in the closely-spaced strata of the immature upper levels (Jiquiá Stage) showed the value of molecular techniques over classical geochemical methods (e.g. vitrinite reflectance) for the study of immature sequences. The presence in the oils of southern Espirito Santo of 28,30-bisnorhopane, gammacerane and methyl steranes in similar concentrations as in extracts of the deepest levels of the 1-ESS-34 well qualify the Jiquia Stage as the probable source rock of oils accumulated in the basin.     

Coastal slope terracing and relative sea-level changes: Deductions based on computer simulations

Although a traditional geological survey of terraced coastal slopes is an essential part of studies aimed to reconstruct relative sea-level changes, the stratigraphic and chronological data so obtained frequently prove inadequate to completely unravel the sometimes very complex history of sea-level fluctuation, especially where erosion has prevailed over deposition and/or deposits are difficult to date. On the basis of our experience we think that much additional information can be gained through geomorphological interpretation of the profiles of those slopes. In order to facilitate such interpretation, a computer simulation model is developed that is able to predict the morphogenic response to a variety of possible relative-sea-level histories. The results can be used to envisage some new interpretation keys for the analysis of real situations and, hopefully, as bases for the conception of general models of coastal slope evolution under the action of a variable sea level. Though preliminary, the results so far obtained permit identification of the geomorphological consequences (in terms of resulting slope profile) of ordered successions of transgressions and regressions of different amplitude, rate, order and style. Moreover they provide interesting insights into the role that different styles of tectonic uplift may play in the phenomenon of multiple terracing of coastal slopes.     

Understanding the inelastic seismic behaviour of asymmetric-plan buildings

Studied in this paper is the inelastic seismic behaviour of asymmetric-plan buildings using the histories of base shear and torque. The first step in understanding this behaviour is to construct the base shear and torque surface (BST) for the building, which represents all combinations of shear and torque that applied statically lead to collapse of the structure. Several factors controlling the shape of this surface, such as strength eccentricity and bidirectional ground motion, are identified. Also, their effects on the building responses are studied considering several structural configurations. The results obtained show that the BST surface, in conjunction with the base-shear and torque histories, provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding the behaviour of asymmetric systems. Furthermore, using these surfaces, relevant aspects of the behaviour and design of such buildings become apparent even before dynamic analysis of the structure.     

The southern cape conductive belt (South Africa): Its composition, origin and tectonic significance

Magnetometer array studies have led to the discovery and mapping of the Southern Cape Conductive Belt (SCCB) crossing the southern tip of Africa from west to southeast coasts. The SCCB lies just south of the Namaqua-Natal Belt of cratonic rocks remobilized about 1000 m.y. B.P. It is shown that it coincides with a zone of weakness which has been exploited by three major geosynclinal accumulations over some 600 m.y. Relationships between the SCCB and the basement geochronology, geology and tectonics are considered in detail. These relationships support the view that the conductive belt was formed by an accumulation of marine sediments and oceanic lithosphere at the top of a Proterozoic subduction which stopped about 1000 to 800 m.y. B.P. Associated with this subduction we propose a Proterozoic range of Andean mountains, whose roots are now exposed in the Namaqua-Natal Belt. Later subduction further south, near the present south coast, is proposed to account for the intrusion, between the south coast and the SCCB, of the Cape Granites in the time interval 600-500 m.y. B.P. There is some evidence for a third, yet more distant, subduction episode off Permian Gondwanaland. After outlining this tectonic history, the paper turns to a closer examination of the hypothesis that the Southern Cape Conductive Belt consists of partly serpentinized basalt accumulated at the top of a Proterozoic subduction. A large static magnetic anomaly, which correlates with the SCCB over most of its length, is well fitted by a model which strongly supports this hypothesis. Bouguer gravity anomalies along western and central profiles likewise support the hypothesis. A discussion follows of the process of formation of the proposed block of serpentinized marine rocks, beginning with serpentinization of the crust near oceanic ridges by reaction of warm, porous, newly-extruded basalt with seawater convecting through it. The serpentinized basalt is stable at crustal temperatures and pressures and so is transported in the seafloor until it reaches a subduction, where it accumulates because of its low density. Examples of such accumulations are cited. Finally, it is shown that any iron in the olivine and pyroxene in the original basalt precipitates, when these silicates are hydrated to serpentine, as magnetite which is the dominant mineral conferring high electrical conductivity and high magnetic susceptibility on serpentinites. In particular the Beattie static magnetic anomaly requires, in our model calculation, a very high susceptibility readily attainable in basalt at 15–20% serpentinization. The authors know of no other rock able to provide this high susceptibility. A similar percentage of serpentinization provides the density required to model the gravity anomalies.     

Embedding reach-scale fluvial dynamics within the CAESAR cellular automaton landscape evolution model

We introduce a new computational model designed to simulate and investigate reach-scale alluvial dynamics within a landscape evolution model. The model is based on the cellular automaton concept, whereby the continued iteration of a series of local process ‘rules’ governs the behaviour of the entire system. The model is a modified version of the CAESAR landscape evolution model, which applies a suite of physically based rules to simulate the entrainment, transport and deposition of sediments. The CAESAR model has been altered to improve the representation of hydraulic and geomorphic processes in an alluvial environment. In-channel and overbank flow, sediment entrainment and deposition, suspended load and bed load transport, lateral erosion and bank failure have all been represented as local cellular automaton rules. Although these rules are relatively simple and straightforward, their combined and repeatedly iterated effect is such that complex, non-linear geomorphological response can be simulated within the model. Examples of such larger-scale, emergent responses include channel incision and aggradation, terrace formation, channel migration and river meandering, formation of meander cutoffs, and transitions between braided and single-thread channel patterns. In the current study, the model is illustrated on a reach of the River Teifi, near Lampeter, Wales, UK.     

通过对调查数据的趋势和多变量分析确定宏观场

通过多变(相关分析)和趋势分析等统计方法对宏观调查数据进行了解释.这种方法使我们通过评定不同宏观效应叠加的程度、估计调查数据的不确定性更客观地评定烈度.通过滤波确定烈度场的区域分量,使我们消除观测中的局部变化.给出了选取适当滤波参数的准则.本文应用这一方法对发生在意大利的一次地震的调查数据进行了处理.     

The submarine volcano of Capelinhos and the tectonics of the Azores

Bulletin of Volcanology - In another paper of the author, a picture of the tectonics of the Azores was presented. The morphological analysis showed evidence of a folded and faulted structure and...