Tools and cover effects in bedload transport observations in the Pitzbach,Austria

We report bedload data and acoustic impulse measurements due to particle impact from the Pitzbach in Austria. Impulse counts can be viewed as a measure of the energy delivered to the bed by moving particles. Impulse counts show a large scatter even for the same discharge and bedload supply. This scatter is due to varying grain size distribution, grain shape, mode of transport of the sediment particles and spatial and temporal distribution of the sediment load. The mean impulse count at given hydraulic conditions may increase or decrease with increasing sediment supply, suggesting that both tools and cover effects are active on the channel bed. Dependent on the local balance between sediment supply and transport capacity, either effect may be dominant at different locations along the cross‐section at the same time. Furthermore, the same bed location may respond to increasing sediment supply as tools‐dominated at some discharges and cover‐dominated at other discharges. Our observations may have implications for modelling of bedrock erosion in landscape evolution models and of bedrock channel morphology. Erosion models that do not incorporate both tools and cover effects are not sufficient to describe observations. Furthermore, a local erosion law cannot in general be used to describe erosion averaged over the channel cross‐section. The changing balance between sediment supply and transport capacity with increasing discharge highlights that a single representative discharge is not sufficient to capture the full erosion dynamics. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Variations of daytime and nighttime electron temperature and heat flux in the upper ionosphere,topside ionosphere and lower plasmasphere for low and high solar activity

A database of the electron temperature (T_e) comprising of most of the available LEO satellite measurements is used for studying the solar activity variations of T_e. The T_e data are grouped for two levels of solar activity (low LSA and high HSA), five altitude ranges between 350 and 2000 km, and day and night. By fitting a theoretical expression to the T_e values we obtain variation of T_e along magnetic field lines and heat flux for LSA and HSA. We have found that T_e increases with increase in solar activity at low and mid-latitudes during nighttime at all altitudes studied. During daytime the T_e response to solar activity depends on latitude, altitude, and season. This analysis shows existence of anti-correlation between T_e and solar activity at mid-latitudes below 700 km during the equinox and winter day hours. Heat fluxes show small latitudinal dependence for daytime but substantial for nighttime.     

Interaction of waves,currents and tides,and wave-energy impact on the beach area of Sylt Island

Erosion due to waves is an important and actual problem for most coastal areas of the North Sea. The objective of this study was to estimate the impact of wave action on the coastline of Sylt Island. From a 2-year time series (November 1999 to October 2001) of hydrological and wave parameters generated with a coupled wave–current modelling system, a period comprising storm ‘Anatol’ (3–4 December 1999) is used to investigate the effects of waves on currents and water levels and the input of wave energy into the coastline. The wave-induced stress causes an increase of the current velocity of 1 m/s over sand and an additional drift along the coast of about 20 cm/s. This produces a water level increase of more than 20 cm in parts of the tidal basin. The model system also calculates the wave energy input into the coastline. Scenario runs for December 1999 with a water level increase of 50 cm and wind velocity increased by 10% show that the input of the wave energy into the west coast of Sylt Island increases by 30% compared to present conditions. With regard to the forecasted near-future (Woth et al., Ocean Dyn 56:3–15, 2006) increase of strong storm surges, the scenario results indicate an increased risk of coastal erosion in the surf zone of Sylt Island.     

The youngest basic oceanic magmatism in the Alps (Late Cretaceous<Emphasis Type="Italic">;</Emphasis> Chiavenna unit,Central Alps): geochronological constraints and geodynamic significance

Cathodoluminescence-controlled radiometric dating (U–Pb SHRIMP) was carried out on zircon domains from metabasic rocks of the Chiavenna unit, a major mafic/ultramafic-bearing unit in the Central Alps. Co-magmatic zircon domains from amphibolites near Chiavenna and Prata areas yielded weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages at 93.0±2.0 and 93.9±1.8 Ma, respectively, interpreted as the age of crystallization of the magmatic protoliths. These ages fit well with the time of late spreading in the Valais Ocean, as suggested by previous paleogeographic reconstructions. Inherited zircon grains and/or core domains (Permo-Triassic, Carboniferous, Proterozoic) are abundant, indicating proximity of the Chiavenna unit to thinned continental crust. This is in line with the origin of this unit from subcontinental mantle sources, as suggested previously on petrological and structural grounds. Metamorphic zircon domains from one amphibolite near Chiavenna yielded a weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age at 37.1±0.9 Ma, identical to the 38.5±0.9 Ma SHRIMP age of an amphibolitized eclogite of the Antrona ophiolites (Valais domain, Western Alps). Precise metamorphic ages were difficult to obtain from the composite (poly)metamorphic rim domains of the Prata amphibolite. This is attributed to the location of the Prata area close to the granulite-facies Gruf unit (metamorphosed at ca. 33 Ma) and to the 24–25 Ma old Novate granite, where metamorphic/fluid events probably caused multiple resetting to various degrees. The ca. 93 Ma old magmatism, identified for the first time in the Chiavenna unit, is the youngest basic oceanic magmatism reported in the Alps. The 37.1±0.9 Ma old metamorphism in the Chiavenna unit, attributed to the Valais domain, confirms the model suggesting stepwise younging of metamorphic ages from the south (Adriatic plate) to the north (European plate). It is older than metamorphism in the European margin (ca. 35–31 Ma) lying to the north of the Valais domain and younger than that in the Piemont–Ligurian Ocean (ca. 44–45 Ma) lying to the south of the Valais domain.Editorial responsibility: W. Schreyer     

The solar system abundances of phosphorus and titanium and the nebular volatility of phosphorus

Abstract— The bulk chemical composition of Orgueil and 25 other carbonaceous chondrites was determined by x‐ray fluorescence analysis. The sample sizes of the analyzed meteorites were in all cases 120 mg. The abundances of P and Ti in Orgueil and Ivuna were precisely determined by the standard addition method. The new P CI abundance is 926 ± 65 ppm. Excluding the low P of Ivuna and one Orgueil sample with unusual chemistry gives a CI P content of 930 ± 23 ppm. A CI abundance of 926 ppm corresponds to a P/Si wt ratio of 8.66 times 10^?3 (atomic ratio 7.85 times 10^?3). For Ti a CI content of 458 ± 18 ppm and a Ti/Si wtratio of 4.28 times 10^?3 (atomic ratio 2.51 times 10^?3) were found. A Si content of 10.69% was obtained for average CI. The new P CI abundance is 20 to 30% below earlier estimates, while the Ti CI abundance is in agreement with earlier determinations. From the results of the analyses of bulk carbonaceous chondrites it is concluded: (1) Refractory element/Mg ratios increase from CI through CM and C3O to C3V, but ratios among Al, Ca and Ti are constant, except for low Ca/Al ratios in the reduced subgroup of C3V. (2) The Si/Mg ratios are constant in all groups of carbonaceous chondrites. (3) There is a volatility related depletion of Cr and Fe, but the Cr/Fe ratios are constant. (4) The sequence of volatility related depletions of the moderately volatile elements P, Au, As, Mn, and Zn follows condensation temperatures (except for As), if in condensation calculations non‐ideal solid solution in the host phase is considered.     

A nonlinear analysis of the moon's physical libration in longitude

The Euler equations for the forced physical librations of the Moon have already been solved by using a digital computer to perform the semi-literal mathematical manipulations. Very near resonance, the computer solution for the physical libration in longitude is complemented by the solution of the appropriate Duffing equation with a dissipation term. Because of its apparent proximity to a resonant frequency, the term whose argument is 2 - twice the mean angular distance of the Moon's perigee from the ascending node of its orbit - is especially important. Its phase, which soon should be measurable, is related to the Moon's anelasticity. The term's frequency, in units of the sidereal month, increases as the semi-major axis of the Moon's orbit about the Earth increases. Using the Moon's mechanical ellipticity of Koziel and the rate of increase of the semi-major axis of MacDonald, it is estimated that the 2 term will cross the resonant frequency in 130 million years and, if the rate of energy dissipation is sufficiently low, a transient libration will be induced.     

Announcement Internatioal Society for Diatom Research and Nederlands-Vlaamse Kring van Diatomisten

Announcement Internatioal Society for Diatom Research and Nederlands-Vlaamse Kring van Diatomisten     

Comment on the Brans-Dicke-Bianchi type-III vacuum solution

We wish to point out that the Brans-Dicke-Bianchi type-III vacuum solution recently given by Tiwari and Singh (1984) is not new. Moreover, the solution given has no correct Einstein limit, contrary to what is claimed by these authors. The Ellis-MacCallum vacuum solution in the Einstein case can be obtained from the Brans-Dicke solution first given by Lorenz-Petzold (1984a).     

Thermal characteristics of coal fires 2: Results of measurements on simulated coal fires

In this paper we present thermal characteristics of coal fires as measured during simulated fires under an experimental setting in Germany in July 2002. It is thus a continuation of the previously published paper “Thermal surface characteristics of coal fire 1: Results of in-situ measurement”, in which we presented temperature measurements of real subsurface coal fires in China [Zhang, J., Kuenzer, C., accepted for publication. Thermal Surface Characteristics of Coal Fires 1: Results of in-situ measurements. Accepted for publication at Journal of Applied Geophysics.]. The focus is on simulated coal fires, which are less complex in nature than fires under natural conditions. In the present study we simulated all the influences usually occurring under natural conditions in a controllable manner (uniform background material of known thermal properties, known ventilation pathways, homogeneous coal substrate), creating two artificial outdoor coal fires under simplified settings. One surface coal fire and one subsurface coal fire were observed over the course of 2 days. The set up of the fires allowed for measurements not always feasible under “real” in-situ conditions: thus compared to the in-situ investigations presented in paper one we could retrieve numerous temperature measurements inside of the fires. Single temperature measurements, diurnal profiles and airborne thermal surveying present the typical temperature patterns of a small surface-and a subsurface fire under undisturbed conditions (easily accessible terrain, 24 hour measurements period, homogeneous materials). We found that the outside air temperature does not influence the fire's surface temperature (up to 900 °C), while fire centre temperatures of up to 1200 °C strongly correlate with surface temperatures of the fire. The fires could heat their surrounding up to a distance of 4.5 m. However, thermal anomalies on the background surface only persist as long as the fire is burning and disappear very fast if the heat source is removed. Furthermore, heat outside of the fires is transported mainly by convection and not by radiation. In spatial thermal line scanner data the diurnal thermal patterns of the coal fire are clearly represented. Our experiments during that data collection also visualize the thermal anomaly differences between covered (underground) and uncovered (surface) coal fires. The latter could not be observed in-situ in a real coal fire area. Sub-surface coal fires express a much weaker signal than open surface fires and contrast only by few degrees against the background. In airborne thermal imaging scanner data the fires are also well represented. Here we could show that the mid-infrared domain (3.8 μm) is more suitable to pick up very hot anomalies, compared to the common thermal (8.8 μm) domain. Our results help to understand coal fires and their thermal patterns as well as the limitations occurring during their analysis. We believe that the results presented here can practicably help for the planning of coal fire thermal mapping campaigns — including remote sensing methods and the thermal data can be included into numerical coal fire modelling as initial or boundary conditions.