A simple method to model the reduced environment of lake bottom sapropel formation

The Kambala and Barchin brackish lakes(Baraba steppe,southern West Siberia) contain an organic-rich sapropel layer that was formed in oxygen-depleted waters.We measured the bulk sediment elemental composition,the water chemistry and determined the mineralogical composition and predominant biota species(Diatoms and Cyanobacteria in phytoplankton community respectively) in the lakes.The result indicates that the first lake has a siliceous type of sapropel and the second a carbonaceous one.A computer thermodynamic model was developed for chemical interaction in water-bottom sediment systems of the Kambala and Barchin Lakes.The surface sodium bicarbonate waters are supersaturated with respect to calcite,magnesite(or low Mg-calcite),quartz and chlorite with minor strontianite,apatite and goethite(pH8.9-9.3,Eh 0.3 V).Nevertheless,it is shown that during sapropel deposition,deep silt waters should be anoxic(Eh0 V).The virtual component CH_2O has been used to create an anoxic environment suitable for pyrite formation due to the biotic community impact and abiotic reduction.Thermodynamic calculation has shown that silt water is not necessarily euxinic(anoxic and sulfidic).Depending on Eh,sulfate sulfur can dominate in solution,causing the formation of gypsum together with pyrite.An attempt was made to find a reason for solution supersaturation with respect to Ca and Mg ions due to their complexation with humic acids.     

Field Survey and Geological Effects of the 15 November 2006 Kuril Tsunami in the Middle Kuril Islands

The near-field expression of the tsunami produced by the 15 November 2006 Kuril earthquake (M_w 8.1–8.4) in the middle Kuril Islands, Russia, including runup of up to 20 m, remained unknown until we conducted a post-tsunami survey in the summer of 2007. Because the earthquake occurred between summer field expeditions in 2006 and 2007, we have observations, topographic profiles, and photographs from three months before and nine months after the tsunami. We thoroughly surveyed portions of the islands of Simushir and Matua, and also did surveys on parts of Ketoi, Yankicha, Ryponkicha, and Rasshua. Tsunami runup in the near-field of the middle Kuril Islands, over a distance of about 200 km, averaged 10 m over 130 locations surveyed and was typically between 5 and 15 m. Local topography strongly affected inundation and somewhat affected runup. Higher runup generally occurred along steep, protruding headlands, whereas longer inundation distances occurred on lower, flatter coastal plains. Sediment transport was ubiquitous where sediment was available—deposit grain size was typically sand, but ranged from mud to large boulders. Wherever there were sandy beaches, a more or less continuous sand sheet was present on the coastal plain. Erosion was extensive, often more extensive than deposition in both space and volume, especially in areas with runup of more than 10 m. The tsunami eroded the beach landward, stripped vegetation, created scours and trim lines, cut through ridges, and plucked rocks out of the coastal plain.     

Atmospheric boundary layer over steep surface waves

Turbulent air-sea interactions coupled with the surface wave dynamics remain a challenging problem. The needs to include this kind of interaction into the coupled environmental, weather and climate models motivate the development of a simplified approximation of the complex and strongly nonlinear interaction processes. This study proposes a quasi-linear model of wind-wave coupling. It formulates the approach and derives the model equations. The model is verified through a set of laboratory (direct measurements of an airflow by the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique) and numerical (a direct numerical simulation (DNS) technique) experiments. The experiments support the central model assumption that the flow velocity field averaged over an ensemble of turbulent fluctuations is smooth and does not demonstrate flow separation from the crests of the waves. The proposed quasi-linear model correctly recovers the measured characteristics of the turbulent boundary layer over the waved water surface.     

Stratospheric Measurements of Magnetospheric Electron Precipitation and Interplanetary Medium Conditions in Solar Activity Cycles 22–24

High-energy electrons precipitate into the atmosphere under the influence of disturbances of the interplanetary medium on the magnetosphere. Electrons captured from interplanetary space interact in the magnetosphere with waves, resulting in both acceleration and electron energy loss. Some high-energy electrons precipitate into the atmosphere where they generate bremsstrahlung X-rays, which can penetrate deep into the atmosphere to heights of the order of 20 km. The current 11-year cycle is characterized by weak solar activity and a small number of precipitations. The paper discusses the correlation between the parameters of the interplanetary medium and the magnetosphere with the number of precipitations recorded from 1987 to the present during regular measurements of ionizing radiation in the atmosphere in the Murmansk region.     

Ground-based Instrument for the Study of Cosmic Ray Variation in Nur-Sultan

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - Cosmic rays are the main factor in atmospheric ionization; they affect the formation of clouds and determine the properties of the global electrical circuit. The...     

Sources of manganese deposited as oceanic Fe-Mn ore

The current concepts of two competing sources of manganese deposited as oceanic Fe-Mn ore are reviewed and assessed critically. A new solution of this problem proposed in this paper is a further development of fundamental works by N.M. Strakhov in the light of new facts and with allowance for geological, geochemical, and geohistorical data. It has been concluded that terrigenous material removed from land serves as a main source of manganese fixed in oceanic Fe-Mn ore. The history of sedimentation and nodule formation in the World Ocean lasted for more than two billion years. Manganese has been supplied to recent bottom sediments from both present-day and older sources. The closed geochemical cycle of Mn circulation in the ocean is intimately related to its circulation in the hydrosphere. Seawater is oversaturated with Mn and serves as its immediate source for ore deposition and elevated concentrations in bottom sediments affected by hydrothermal solutions or other manifestations of endogenic activity. Seawater is a repository for Mn, where this element is retained during global cataclysms, which have repeatedly occurred in geological history.     

40Ar/39Ar dating and cosmic‐ray exposure time of desert meteorites: Dhofar 300 and Dhofar 007 eucrites and anomalous achondrite NWA 011

Abstract— We performed high‐resolution ⁴⁰Ar‐³⁹Ar dating of mineral separates and whole‐rock samples from the desert meteorites Dhofar 300, Dhofar 007, and Northwest Africa (NWA) 011. The chronological information of all samples is dominated by plagioclase of varying grain size. The last total reset age of the eucrites Dhofar 300 and Dhofar 007 is 3.9 ± 0.1 Ga, coeval with the intense cratering period on the Moon. Some large plagioclase grains of Dhofar 007 possibly inherited Ar from a 4.5 Ga event characteristic for other cumulate eucrites. Due to disturbances of the age spectrum of NWA 011, only an estimate of 3.2–3.9 Ga can be given for its last total reset age. Secondary events causing partial ⁴⁰Ar loss ≤3.4 Ga ago are indicated by all age spectra. Furthermore, Ar extractions from distinct low temperature phases define apparent isochrons for all samples. These isochron ages are chronologically irrelevant and most probably caused by desert alterations, in which radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar and K from the meteorite and occasionally K induced by weathering are mixed, accompanied by incorporation of atmospheric Ar. Additional uptake of atmospheric Ar by the alteration phase(s) was observed during mineral separation (i.e., crushing and cleaning in ultrasonic baths). Consistent cosmic‐ray exposure ages were obtained from plagioclase and pyroxene exposure age spectra of Dhofar 300 (25 ± 1 Ma) and Dhofar 007 (13 ± 1 Ma) using the mineral's specific target element chemistry and corresponding ³⁸Ar production rates.     

Structure and modeling of disorder in miserite from the Murun (Russia) and Dara-i-Pioz (Tajikistan) massifs

The structure, structural disorder and chemistry of miserite from the charoite-bearing rocks of the Murun massif (Russia) and from alkaline-syenite pegmatitic rocks of the Dara-i-Pioz massif (Tajikistan) were investigated employing a combination of electron microprobe, single crystal diffraction and micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. Chemical analysis of the sample investigated by X-ray diffraction evidenced that Dara-i-Pioz miserite has a greater REE concentration than Murun miserite (~0.22 vs. 0.05 apfu, respectively) and also contains Y (0.14 apfu), which is absent in Murun miserite. The occurrence of a band at about 1,600 cm^?1 testified to the presence of H₂O in miserite at hand. Structural analyses yielded average cell parameters of a = 10.092, b = 16.016, c = 7.356 Å, α = 96.60°, β = 111.27° and γ = 76.34°. Anisotropic structural refinement in space group P $\bar{1}$ converged at similar values for the analyzed samples (R ~3.4, R _w ~3.8 %). An interesting feature shown by both the miserite specimen is the presence, revealed by difference Fourier analysis, of a disordered part of the structure. This turned out to be due to the flipping of the tetrahedra belonging to the isolated [Si₂O₇]^6? diorthogroups, one of the two radicals (the other is [Si₁₂O₃₀]^12?) characterizing the miserite structure. The sixfold and seven-vertex Ca polyhedra linked to the inverted diorthogroups show variation in coordination number with respect to those of the ordered structure.