Two decades of pulsar timing of Vela

Pulsar timing at the Mt Pleasant observatory has focused on Vela, which can be tracked for 18 hours of the day. These nearly continuous timing records extend over 24 years allowing a greater insight into details of timing noise, micro glitches and other more exotic effects. In particular we report the glitch parameters of the 2004 event, along with the reconfirmation that the spin up for the Vela pulsar occurs instantaneously to the accuracy of the data. This places a lower limit of about 30 seconds for the acceleration of the pulsar to the new rotational frequency. We also confirm of the low braking index for Vela, and the continued fall in the DM for this pulsar.     

Hydrological resilience to forest fire in the subarctic Canadian shield

Understanding the role of forest fires on water budgets of subarctic Precambrian Shield catchments is important because of growing evidence that fire activity is increasing. Most research has focused on assessing impacts on individual landscape units, so it is unclear how changes manifest at the catchment scale enough to alter water budgets. The objective of this study was to determine the water budget impact of a forest fire that partially burned a ~450 km² subarctic Precambrian Shield basin. Water budget components were measured in a pair of catchments: one burnt and another unburnt. Burnt and unburnt areas had comparable net radiation, but thaw was deeper in burned areas. There were deeper snow packs in burns. Differences in streamflow between the catchments were within measurement uncertainty. Enhanced winter streamflow from the burned watershed was evident by icing growth at the streamflow gauge location, which was not observed in the unburned catchment. Wintertime water chemistry was also clearly elevated in dissolved organics, and organic-associated nutrients. Application of a framework to assess hydrological resilience of watersheds to wildfire reveal that watersheds with both high bedrock and open water fractions are more resilient to hydrological change after fire in the subarctic shield, and resilience decreases with increasingly climatically wet conditions. This suggests significant changes in runoff magnitude, timing and water chemistry of many Shield catchments following wildfire depend on pre-fire land cover distribution, the extent of the wildfire and climatic conditions that follow the fire.     

Accelerating Precursory Activity within a Class of Earthquake Analogue Automata

— A statistical fractal automaton model is described which displays two modes of dynamical behaviour. The first mode, termed recurrent criticality, is characterised by quasi-periodic, characteristic events that are preceded by accelerating precursory activity. The second mode is more reminiscent of SOC automata in which large events are not preceded by an acceleration in activity. Extending upon previous studies of statistical fractal automata, a redistribution law is introduced which incorporates two model parameters: a dissipation factor and a stress transfer ratio. Results from a parameter space investigation indicate that a straight line through parameter space marks a transition from recurrent criticality to unpredictable dynamics. Recurrent criticality only occurs for models within one corner of the parameter space. The location of the transition displays a simple dependence upon the fractal correlation dimension of the cell strength distribution. Analysis of stress field evolution indicates that recurrent criticality occurs in models with significant long-range stress correlations. A constant rate of activity is associated with a decorrelated stress field.     

Suevite at the Roter Kamm impact crater,Namibia

Abstract— A small area littered with loose decimeter-sized fragments of glass and melt fragment-bearing suevite has been discovered on the western rim of the Roter Kamm impact crater in southern Namibia. The clast population and results of major and trace element chemical analyses are consistent with this breccia having been formed from granitoid basement lithologies only, without contribution from the metasedimentary Gariep and Cenozoic cover sequences. It is assumed that the limited amount of impact melt observed in the Roter Kamm structure could be the result of melt dissipation due to explosive shock-induced devolatilization of the significant marble component of the Gariep supracrustal cover. Preservation of very limited remnants of impact breccia on the rim of the Roter Kamm crater suggests a relatively deep level of erosion of the crater rim.     

Crystal clots in calc-alkaline andesites as breakdown products of high-Al amphiboles

Andesites of the calc-alkaline volcanic series associated with the circum-Pacific orogenic zone commonly contain crystal clots consisting essentially of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, and magnetite. It is proposed that these crystal clots represent the breakdown products of an amphibole as it enters the low-pressure environment of the upper crust. The bulk chemical composition of the clots compares favorably to that of the high-Al amphibole, pargasitic hornblende. The crystal clots support the hypothesis of the formation of andesitic magma by fractionation of early formed amphibole from a basaltic magma at total pressures less than 18 kbars and temperatures less than 1000° C. The origin of these clots has previously been attributed to random accumulation of phenocrysts. Some features of clot-bearing andesites from Crater Lake, Oregon, U.S.A., cannot be explained by this mechanism. First, in some andesites, certain minerals occur as phenocrysts but are not constituents of the clots, and conversely, certain minerals occurring as accessories in the clots are rarely found as phenocrysts. Second, the minerals comprising the clots occur in a fixed ratio that is significantly different than the ratio of the same minerals as phenocrysts. Crystal clots may form up to 10% by volume of the andesite, imparting a glomeroporphyritic texture to the rock. Crystal clots can be distinguished from xenoliths of similar mineralogy by the presence in the latter of abundant glass, both as interstitial material and as inclusions in the plagioclase grains, giving the plagioclase a “spongy” appearance.