Latest Precambrian to Early Cambrian U–Pb zircon ages of augen gneisses from Calabria (Italy), with inference to the Alboran microplate in the evolution of the peri-Gondwana terranes

In situ U–Pb dating of zircons from five samples of Calabrian augen gneisses shows that their protoliths are Latest Precambrian to Early Cambrian in age (562 ± 15, 547 ± 7, 540 ± 4, 539 ± 16 and 526 ± 10 Ma), and contain Archaean (3.1 Ga), Palaeoproterozoic (1.7–2.4 Ga) and Neoproterozoic (0.6–0.9 Ga) inheritance. Geochemical signature of augen gneisses is typical of high-K calc-alkaline post-collisional magmatism. Their Sr–Nd isotopic compositions [0.7093 < (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i < 0.7139; −3.2 < ɛ_Nd(t) < −5.4; 1.5 < T _DM < 1.7 Ga] indicate the involvement of a crustal component in significant proportions. The Calabrian augen gneisses have, therefore, to be distinguished from the orthogneisses of Sardinia and northern Algeria, and from the porphyroids of Sicily, which are Middle Ordovician. By contrast, the Calabrian augen gneisses show a close similarity to the Pan-African post-collisional granitoids of the northern edge of the West African craton (e.g. the Moroccan Anti-Atlas). This suggests a peri-Gondwana origin and corroborates previous palaeogeodynamic reconstructions attributing the Alboran microplate to the northern margin of the West African craton.     

Poincaré's méthode nouvelle by skew composition

Poincaré designed the méthode nouvelle in order to build approximate integrals of Hamiltonians developed as series of a small parameter. Due to several critical deficiencies, however, the method has fallen into disuse in favor of techniques based on Lie transformations. The paper shows how to repair these shortcomings in order to give Poincaré’s méthode nouvelle the same functionality as the Lie transformations. This is done notably with two new operations over power series: a skew composition to expand series whose coefficients are themselves series, and a skew reversion to solve implicit vector equations involving power series. These operations generalize both Arbogast’s technique and Lagrange’s inversion formula to the fullest extent possible. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

华北新太古代和中生代大陆下地壳中的水:以汉诺坝地区为例

应用显微傅里叶变换红外光谱技术,对华北克拉通北缘汉诺坝地区的太古宙地体麻粒岩和新生代玄武岩中捕虏体麻粒岩(中生代底侵成因)的主要组成矿物(单斜辉石、斜方辉石、斜长石和石榴子石)进行了详细分析.结果表明,无论是地体麻粒岩还是捕虏体麻粒岩,岩石中的主要组成矿物均含有结构水,主要以OH形式存在.同种产状麻粒岩的矿物水含量(H2O%)均存在较大的变化,而且都远远超出实验误差,表明下地壳内水的分布可能是不均一的.两种产状麻粒岩的矿物结构水含量有着显著的不同,地体麻粒岩中矿物的水含量是捕虏体麻粒岩的2倍以上.太古宙-古元古代形成的安徽女山新生代玄武岩中的捕虏体麻粒岩具有与汉诺坝太古宙地体麻粒岩相似的水含量范围,但明显高于汉诺坝中生代形成的捕虏体麻粒岩.由此看来,早期(太古宙-古元古代)下地壳的水含量要比中生代形成的下地壳高得多,这可能指示不同时代下地壳在形成机制和性质上的不同.     

U–Pb zircon (TIMS and SIMS) and Sm–Nd whole-rock geochronology of the Gour Oumelalen granulitic basement, Hoggar massif, Tuareg shield, Algeria

Two major granulitic units are recognized in the Gour Oumelalen area. One of the units is composed partially of Archean gneisses (Red Gneiss complex) with U–Pb zircon SIMS and TIMS ages of approximately 2.7 Ga. Although they were formed from 3.0- to 3.2-Ga-old precursors, as indicated by Nd model ages, we find no evidence of any older history (≈3.5 Ga) as suggested by previous Pb–Pb ages. The other formation (Gour Oumelalen supergroup) is a metasedimentary sequence at least partly of Paleoproterozoic age, as indicated by zircon dates of a metavolcanic rock at approximately 2.2 Ga. A later magmatic event is recorded at approximately 1.9 Ga in both units and related to coeval granulite-facies metamorphism that affected both units. Nd model ages at approximately 2.0 Ga suggest an accretion of juvenile crust formation at that time. The existence of T_DM Nd model ages intermediate between 2.5 and 2.9 Ga could result from the mixing of 3.2 and 2.0-Ga-old material or may reflect separate events.     

北大别片麻岩中锆石U—Pb年龄离子探针初步测定

对北大别鹿吐石和道士冲二个片麻岩中锆石进行了离子探针Ｕ－Ｐｂ年龄测定。二个样品１３个颗粒的２０个有效测定点的年龄表明,鹿吐石片麻岩主要分布在２３３￣３９４Ｍ道士冲片麻岩在３０７￣７１８Ｍａ之间。道十冲片麻岩年龄的一致性程度要高于鹿叶石,两个样品均无低于２２０Ｍａ的年龄信息。由于存在年龄的不一致性,这些年龄可能代表了由古老岩浆锆石和三叠纪的超高压变质锆石或者早白垩纪岩浆锆石所代表的混合、增生锆石。Ｈ     

Precision spacecraft navigation using a low-cost GPS receiver

Within the PROBA-2 microsatellite mission, a miniaturized single-frequency GPS receiver based on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology is employed for onboard navigation and timing. A rapid electronic fuse protects against destructive single-event latch-ups (SEL) and enables a quasi-continuous receiver operation despite the inherent sensitivity to space radiation. While limited to single-frequency C/A-code tracking with a narrow-band frontend, the receiver is able to provide precision navigation services through processing of raw GPS measurements on ground as well as a built-in real-time navigation system. In both cases, ionospheric path delays are eliminated through a combination of L1 pseudorange and carrier phase measurements, which also offers a factor-of-two noise reduction relative to code-only processing. By comparison with satellite laser ranging (SLR) measurements, a 0.3-m (3D rms) accuracy is demonstrated for the PROBA-2 reduced dynamic orbit determinations using post-processed GPS orbit and clock products. Furthermore, the experimental onboard navigation system is shown to provide real-time position information with a 3D rms accuracy of about 1?m, which notably outperforms the specification of the Standard Positioning Service (SPS). In view of their lower hardware complexity, mass budget and power requirements as well as the reduced interference susceptibility, legacy C/A-code receivers can thus provide an attractive alternative to dual-frequency receivers even for demanding navigation applications in low Earth orbit.