Cassini ISS astrometric observations of the inner jovian satellites, Amalthea and Thebe

We present a total of 289 new astrometric observations of the inner jovian satellites, Amalthea and Thebe, obtained using the Cassini ISS narrow angle camera. Observations were made using image sequences from 2000 December 11-12 (inbound) and 2001 January 15-16 (outbound), at phase angles of approximately 2° and 122°, respectively. Target distances were of order 284 R_J, giving a maximum resolution of approximately 100 km/pixel. Centroided line and sample values for 239 observations of Amalthea and 50 of Thebe are provided, together with estimated camera pointing information for each image. Orbit fitting using a uniformly precessing Keplerian ellipse model, taking into account the oblateness of Jupiter up to terms in J₆, gave RMS fit residuals of 0.364 and 0.443 pixel for Amalthea and Thebe, respectively (equivalent to 0.450 and 0.547 arcsec). RMS residuals relative to the JPL JUP230 ephemeris were 0.306 and 0.604 pixel (equivalent to 0.378 and 0.746 arcsec), for Amalthea and Thebe. The fitted orbital parameters confirm the relatively high inclinations of these satellites (0.374°±0.002° and 1.076°±0.003°, respectively), equivalent to maximum vertical displacements above Jupiter's equatorial plane of 1188±6 and 4240±12 km, respectively, consistent with current estimates of the half-thicknesses of the Amalthea and Thebe gossamer rings [Ockert-Bell, M.E., Burns, J.A., Dauber, I.J., Thomas, P.C., Veverka, J., Belton, M.J.S., Klaasen, K.P., 1999. Icarus 138, 188-213].     

Limitations of Current Approaches for Predicting Groundwater Vulnerability from PFAS Contamination in the Vadose Zone

Published literature for reported sorption coefficients (K_d) of eight anionic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil was reviewed. K_d values spanned three to five log units indicating that no single value would be appropriate for use in estimating PFAS impacts to groundwater using existing soil-water partition equations. Regression analysis was used to determine if the soil or solution parameters might be used to predict K_d values. None of the 15 experimental parameters collected could individually explain variability in reported K_d values. Significant associations between K_d and soil calcium and sodium content were found for many of the selected PFAS, suggesting that soil cation content may be critical to PFAS sorption, as previously noted in sources like Higgins and Luthy (2006), while organic carbon content was significant only at elevated levels (>5%). Unexplained discrepancies between the results from studies where PFAS were introduced to soil and desorbed in the laboratory and those that used material from PFAS-impacted sites suggest that laboratory experiments may be overlooking some aspects critical to PFAS sorption. Future studies would benefit from the development and use of standardized analytical methods to improve data quality and the establishment of soil parameters appropriate for collection to produce more complete data sets for predictive analysis.     

An Evaluation of Tsunami Forecasts from the T2 Scenario Database

A tsunami scenario database (T2) has recently been developed for use within the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC). This scenario database has proven to be a very useful tool for forecast guidance, issuing of tsunami warnings and general event analysis. In this paper, the T2 scenarios are described, and evaluated by comparing them with observations of sea level from tsunameters for a number of recent tsunami events. In general, the T2 scenario database performs very well in terms of predicting the arrival time of the tsunami and the wave amplitudes at tsunameter locations.     

Implications of dredging induced changes in sediment particle size composition for the structure and function of marine benthic macrofaunal communities

A meta-analysis approach was used to assess the effect of dredging induced changes in sediment composition, under different conditions of natural physical disturbance, for the structure and function of marine benthic macrofaunal communities. Results showed the sensitivity of macrofaunal communities increased as both the proportion of gravel increased and the level of natural physical disturbance decreased. These findings may be explained by the close association of certain taxa with the gravel fraction, and the influence of natural physical disturbance which, as it increases, tends to restrict the colonisation by these species. We conclude that maintaining the gravel content of surface sediments after dredging and, where practicable, locating extraction sites in areas of higher natural disturbance will minimise the potential for long-term negative impacts on the macrofauna.     

From richer to poorer: zircon inheritance in Pomona Island Granite,New Zealand

Previous U–Pb zircon dating of the Pomona Island Granite (PIG) pluton (South Island, New Zealand) yielded either Permo-Carboniferous or Late Jurassic ages for five samples essentially indistinguishable in their field, petrographic, and geochemical characteristics. Detailed cathodoluminescence imaging and LA-ICP-MS dating of zircon in new and previously dated samples reveal that portions of the pluton contain either delicately oscillatory-zoned Late Jurassic zircon grains with rare Permo-Carboniferous cores, or Permo-Carboniferous grains with ubiquitous but thin Late Jurassic rims. Based on zircon dissolution-overgrowth textures, zircon rim and core trace element compositions, and the limited extent of sub-solidus rock recrystallisation textures, the bipartite age distribution is unlikely to reflect variable Pb-loss or metamorphic re-equilibration. Magmatic Zr-saturation temperatures were ≥851°C for samples dominated by Jurassic zircon and ≤809°C for samples with a predominance of Permo-Carboniferous zircon. Together, these data are consistent with PIG magmas having been derived from partial melting of a Permo-Carboniferous felsic igneous source at variable temperature wholly in the Late Jurassic (157 ± 3 Ma). The lowest temperature melts would have been incapable of dissolving significant amounts of pre-existing zircon and consequently generated inheritance-rich magmas, with the very thin rims on the pre-existing zircon grains the only evidence of the Late Jurassic magmatic age. As the partial melting temperature increased and nearly all pre-existing zircon grains dissolved into the magma, an inheritance-poor batch of melt was generated, which precipitated new zircon grains upon crystallisation. Concentrations of major and many trace elements in both magma batches may have been buffered by retention of residual quartz and feldspar in the source, which would explain the limited geochemical differences between inheritance-rich and inheritance-poor portions.     

Extended planar defects and the rapid incorporation of Ti4+ into olivine

The formation of extended planar defects in minerals such as olivine is related to high point defect concentration and can be driven by large gradients in chemical potential, where the energy of the system is lowered by the ordering of defects along specific planes in the crystal. The presence of extended defects has the potential to create the (apparently) anomalous ionic diffusion in olivine as reported recently (Spandler and O’Neill in Contrib Mineral Petrol 159(6):791–818, 2010). High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy-filtered imaging were done using experimental samples designed to examine the impact of a _TiO2 and f _O2 on the potential to form such defects in ferromagnesian olivine. Doped basalt (5 wt% TiO₂)–olivine reaction couple experiments were run at 1 atm and 1,310 and 1,410 °C for 50 h at various f _O2, ranging from 10² below to 10² above the quartz–fayalite–magnetite buffer. Our results show that extended planar defects in olivine, parallel to {101}_ol and occurring in ordered “clusters” with a prolate spheroid geometry ~5–25 nm across and extending up to 150 nm into the olivine, are present near the olivine–glass interfaces in all of our experimental high-TiO₂ basalt–olivine samples. Increased Ti content in the olivine is associated with the defects; ordering of Ti⁴⁺ and octahedral site vacancies leads to a two- or three-layer superstructure in the olivine. Defect nucleation and growth is driven by the large TiO₂ chemical potential gradient across the phase boundary at the start of the experiments, which provides access to microstructures not otherwise present.     

First evidence for Ordovician igneous activity in the dial range trough,Tasmania

A small andesitic intrusion, previously considered to be a Middle Cambrian lava, cuts fossiliferous upper Middle Cambrian sediments in the Leven Gorge section of the Dial Range Trough, northwestern Tasmania. Sixteen total‐rock samples of this intrusion produce a perfect‐fit, rubidium‐strontium isochron, which gives an Early Ordo‐vician age of 490 ± 18 m.y. for λ⁸⁷Rb = 1.39 × 10‐¹¹y‐¹, and NBS 70A feldspar = 522 ppm Rb and 65.3 ppm Sr respectively. The initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.7112 ± 0.0003 suggests a continental type intrusion rather than an island‐arc andesite. Rather similar intermediate igneous rocks, at least some of which are intrusive, are common in the Dial Range Trough and could be largely post‐Cambrian in age. From the geological time‐scale point of view, the only definite information obtained in this work is that the Middle‐Late Cambrian boundary is older than the date given above.     

Environmental significance of magnetic properties of Gley soils near Rosslau (Germany)

Geophysical methods are widely applied to soils for resolving different tasks in precision agriculture, pollution evaluation, erosion estimation, etc. Environmental magnetic methods were applied in our study on a collection of soil samples from area near Rosslau (Germany), which was gathered on the basis of a field electromagnetic induction study. Magnetic laboratory analyses include magnetic susceptibility, isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM), anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM), thermomagnetic analyses for determination of the kind of magnetic minerals present in soils. The results reveal the presence of statistically significant inverse correlations between magnetic susceptibility, as well as remanent magnetizations ARM and IRM, and conductivity values. This maybe ascribed to influence of topography and water regime on the iron oxide forms in soil and the influence of soil moisture on soil conductivity. Magnetic measurements on soil cores showed close correspondence between soil horizons outlined in 1 m-long cores, and depth changes in mass-specific magnetic susceptibility. Existing relationships between magnetic characteristics, soil reaction pH, and nutrients’ content (total nitrogen, carbon and sulphur) have been explored by cluster analysis and general regression model statistics. The results reveal the presence of significant correlations between nutrients’ content, magnetic susceptibility and the grain size sensitive ratio ARM/χ. These are expressed by numerical equations, representing pedotransfer functions, which predict the content of Nitrogen, Carbon and Sulphur through combination of magnetic parameters and soil pH. The obtained pedotransfer functions for the particular case of Gley soils and Fluvisols studied could be used for application of magnetic methods in agricultural practice as a fast and inexpensive proxy evaluation of the content of these nutrition elements.     

The experimental governing of mobility and trade on the China‐Laos frontier: The Tai Lue case

This paper discusses the governing of subjects and objects' mobility in the context of trans‐border rice and corn trade on the China‐Laos frontier. It traces the attempts by a group of ethnic Tai Lue traders from China to assert themselves as ‘flexible subjects’ and economically triumphant actors on the Upper Mekong market in the era of economic regionalization. It illustrates how, between 2005 and mid‐2006, the traders' economic success relied on a variety of ‘border strategies’. ‘Border strategies’ include a gender‐balanced organization of trade, the instrumental deployment of trans‐border ethnicity, the appropriation of a Han style of business, the opportunistic reliance on the Chinese administration's ‘regime of graduated mobility’, and the enactment of a ‘war‐machine’ against Lao state agents. Yet, in late 2006, a new wave of state authoritarianism, enmeshed in corporate accumulation processes, inhibited the traders' success. The paper suggests that, unlike what some defenders of globalization and transnational theories maintain, in the age of economic regionalization, the alleged flexibility and increased mobility of subjects and objects across the borders of the Greater Mekong Subregion remain conditional on an unpredictable mechanism of loosening and tightening. This is part of a long‐applied governing pattern of ‘experimentation under hierarchy’ on the Sino‐Lao frontier.