Detection and temporal coherence of p‐modes below 1.4 mHz

Data collected recently by the helioseismic experiments aboard the SOHO spacecraft have allowed the detection of low degree p‐modes with increasingly lower order n. In particular, the GOLF experiment is currently able to unambiguously identify low degree modes with frequencies as low as 1.3 mHz. The detection of p‐modes with very low frequency (i.e., low n), is difficult due to the low signal‐to‐noise ratio in this spectral region and its contamination by solar signals that are not of acoustic origin. To address this problem without using any theoretical a priory, we propose a methodology that relies only on the inversion of observed values to define a spectral window for the expected locations of these low frequency modes. The application of this method to 2920‐day‐long GOLF observations is presented and its results discussed. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The composition of the Earth

Compositional models of the Earth are critically dependent on three main sources of information: the seismic profile of the Earth and its interpretation, comparisons between primitive meteorites and the solar nebula composition, and chemical and petrological models of peridotite-basalt melting relationships. Whereas a family of compositional models for the Earth are permissible based on these methods, the model that is most consistent with the seismological and geodynamic structure of the Earth comprises an upper and lower mantle of similar composition, an Fe---Ni core having between 5% and 15% of a low-atomic-weight element, and a mantle which, when compared to CI carbonaceous chondrites, is depleted in Mg and Si relative to the refractory lithophile elements.The absolute and relative abundances of the refractory elements in carbonaceous, ordinary, and enstatite chondritic meteorites are compared. The bulk composition of an average CI carbonaceous chondrite is defined from previous compilations and from the refractory element compositions of different groups of chondrites. The absolute uncertainties in their refractory element compositions are evaluated by comparing ratios of these elements. These data are then used to evaluate existing models of the composition of the Silicate Earth.The systematic behavior of major and trace elements during differentiation of the mantle is used to constrain the Silicate Earth composition. Seemingly fertile peridotites have experienced a previous melting event that must be accounted for when developing these models. The approach taken here avoids unnecessary assumptions inherent in several existing models, and results in an internally consistent Silicate Earth composition having chondritic proportions of the refractory lithophile elements at 2.75 times that in CI carbonaceous chondrites. Element ratios in peridotites, komatiites, basalts and various crustal rocks are used to assess the abundances of both non-lithophile and non-refractory elements in the Silicate Earth. These data provide insights into the accretion processes of the Earth, the chemical evolution of the Earth's mantle, the effect of core formation, and indicate negligible exchange between the core and mantle throughout the geologic record (the last 3.5 Ga).The composition of the Earth's core is poorly constrained beyond its major constituents (i.e. an Fe---Ni alloy). Density contrasts between the inner and outer core boundary are used to suggest the presence ( 10 ± 5%) of a light element or a combination of elements (e.g., O, S, Si) in the outer core. The core is the dominant repository of siderophile elements in the Earth. The limits of our understanding of the core's composition (including the light-element component) depend on models of core formation and the class of chondritic meteorites we have chosen when constructing models of the bulk Earth's composition.The Earth has a bulk Fe/Al of 20 ± 2, established by assuming that the Earth's budget of Al is stored entirely within the Silicate Earth and Fe is partitioned between the Silicate Earth ( 14%) and the core ( 86%). Chondritic meteorites display a range of Fe/Al ratios, with many having a value close to 20. A comparison of the bulk composition of the Earth and chondritic meteorites reveals both similarities and differences, with the Earth being more strongly depleted in the more volatile elements. There is no group of meteorites that has a bulk composition matching that of the Earth's.     

Mineral magnetic signatures in a long core from Lake Qarun, Middle Egypt

The analysis and interpretation of changes in mineral magnetic signatures from a long (ca. 8.2 m) sedimentary sequence recovered from Lake Qarun, Middle Egypt in 2003 spanning a timescale of approximately the last 2,000 years is reported. A suite of mass specific susceptibility and magnetic remanence measurements were made at irregular intervals downcore on 39 samples. These samples were selected on the basis of trends and abrupt changes in whole-core magnetic susceptibility measured using a Bartington^® MS2E sensor and were analysed for low and high temperature loss on ignition and their particle size distribution. Trends in all mineral magnetic concentration parameters are remarkably similar and were initially used to divide the core into three magnetically distinct zones. The upper and lower sections of the core (0–119 cm and 445–822 cm depth) are characterised by low values for all magnetic concentration parameters. Between 153 and 380 cm depth, concentration parameters are considerably higher, although somewhat variable. The S ratio and percentage loss of remanence after 24 h (IRM_loss) follow a different trend and are inversely related to each other. A low S ratio (<0.7) is associated with a loss of remanence of >4%. On the basis of these parameters, the core can be divided into four zones, and differences in magnetic mineralogy between these four zones were confirmed by measurement of IRM acquisition curves. The major difference between concentration parameters and ratios or percentage loss of IRM lies in the identification of an additional zone below 619 cm depth where the S ratio is high and IRM_loss is low. There is little evidence to suggest that the magnetic signatures are controlled by particle size or by trends in organic matter and/or carbonate content. The signatures appear to be predominantly detrital and show little evidence of post-depositional alteration through dissolution or authigenic addition of bacterial magnetite or greigite. Analysis of Saharan dust deposition rates in Northern Egypt suggests that atmospheric fallout is likely to make only a very minor contribution (<1%) to sedimentation rates in Lake Qarun. The downcore trends therefore appear to reflect major changes in fluvial sediment sources over the ca. 2,000 year time period spanned by this ～8 m core. Preliminary mineral magnetic characterisations of potential local sources suggest that these cannot account for the range of signatures recorded in the Qarun sediments and it is hypothesised that these sediments are derived from Nile river floods.     

Overview of in-situ thermomechanical experiments in clay: Concept, results and interpretation

The HADES project (High Activity Disposal Experimental Site) aims at demonstrating the technical feasibility and the long-term safety of geological disposal of reprocessed HLW (High-Level Wastes) radioactive wastes. This disposal could be realised in the Tertiary Boom clay formation below the Mol/Dessel nuclear site. Previous studies in the 80's on the geomechanical behaviour of Boom clay, at host rock temperature (15°C), have demonstrated the mining capabilities of this clay. European partners have collaborated to increase the number of in-situ tests to be developed and operated from the Underground Research Facility (URF). Integrated large-scale experiments have been developed during the last four years, within the framework of the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) research contracts, in order to gain more insight into the thermal influence of heat-emiting wastes on the clay behaviour in the near field.

This paper summarizes the knowledge gained from the in-situ hydro-thermo-mechanical experiments realised from the URF. The objectives and main issues of the tests are described. Information regarding selection of parameters and representativeness of their measurements is discussed. Despite their different aims and designs, three hydro-thermo-mechanical experiments are compared in order to emphasize similarities in the general behaviour of the clay massif submitted to a thermal load. It is observed that its behaviour is qualitatively similar to the reaction upon a constant total stress increase. With the information now available, it is not obvious to draw conclusions with respect to the irreversibility of some phenomena.

Simple in-house analytical codes are able to simulate with a good accuracy the hydro-thermo-mechanical behaviour of clay. Nevertheless, these codes are not sufficient to describe the complexity of the phenomena that are involved in hydro-thermo-mechanical processes as pointed out by field data. In order to validate more complex models, the possibilities to improve the representativeness of the measurements are investigated.     

Central configurations of four bodies with one inferior mass

The number of equivalence classes of central configurations (abbr. c.c.) in the planar 4-body problem with three arbitrary and a fourth small mass is investigated. These c.c. are derived according to their generic origin in the 3-body problem. It is shown that each 3-body collinear c.c. generates exactly 2 non-collinear c.c. (besides 4 collinear ones) of 4 bodies with smallm ₄0; and that any 3-body equilateral triangle c.c. generates exactly 8 or 9 or 10 (depending onm ₁,m ₂,m ₃) planar 4-body c.c. withm ₄=0. Further, every one of these c.c. can be continued uniquely to sufficiently smallm ₄>0 except when there are just 9; then exactly one of them is degenerate, and we conjecture that it is not continuable tom ₄>0.Paper presented at the 1981 Oberwolfach Conference on Mathematical Methods in Celestial Mechanics.     

Non-Homogeneous Charge-Consistent Model for Acceleration of Iron in the Solar Corona

Acceleration of iron ions by a spherical shock wave moving through non-homogeneous solar corona is considered. The energy dependence of the mean charge of iron, _Fe(E), is determined by the characteristic acceleration time, T _a, trapping time, T _tr, and time for charge changes, T _q. The latter varies along with plasma number density during the propagation of the shock wave in the corona. Our calculations have demonstrated that adiabatic energy changes, Coulomb losses and shock broadening do not sufficiently influence the dependence _Fe(E). According to our estimations, the photoionizing processes can scarcely affect the ionic states of accelerated iron, except probably for the most powerful X10 class events.     

Die Weiterentwicklung der Meßtechnik des Wassergehalts des Bodens auf thermischer Grundlage

Zusammenfassung Durch Untersuchungen vonJ. Bracht [3] und dem Verfasser wurde im Jahre 1940 festgestellt, daß die Wärmeleitfähigkeit des Bodens nicht bei allen Bodenarten eindeutig mit dem Wassergehalt zusammenhängt. Es wird eine Erklärung für diese Erscheinung durch die Verscjiedenheit der Wasserablagerung zwischen den Bodenpartikeln bei Wasseraufnahme und Wasserabgabe gegeben. Von allen Wärmekonstanten des Bodens ist nur die Wärmekapazität wahrscheinlich eindeutig abhängig von dem Wassergehalt des Bodens. Diese Größe kann am einfachsten als der Quotient aus der Wärmeleitfähigkeit und der Temperaturleitfähigkeit des Bodens bestimmt werden. Es mu\ also außer der Wärmeleitfähigkeit auch noch die Temperaturleitfähigkeit gemessen werden.In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein Verfahren zur Bestimmung dieser letzteren Größe beschrieben. Hierbei wird als Geber das Doppelthermometer benutzt, das zur Messung der Wärmeleitfähigkeit des Bodens vom Verfasser [2] beschrieben wurde. Von den beiden Thermometern dieses Doppelthermometers wird das eine in halbstündigen Intervallen je eine Viertelstunde lang geheizt. Gemessen wird dann außer dem Temperaturunterschied zwischen geheiztem und ungeheiztem Thermometer auch der Temperaturgang des ungeheizten Thermometers allein. Aus dem Temperaturunterschied zwischen beiden Thermometern wird in der üblichen Weise die Wärmeleitfähigkeit und aus der Amplitude des Temperaturganges und seiner Phasenverschiebung gegen die Heizung die Temperaturleitfähigkeit des Bodens berechnet.

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Summary Researches ofJ. Bracht [3] and of the present author have shown in 1940 that the thermal conductivity of the soil is not exactly coherent with the content of water in all kinds of soil. An explanation of this phenomenon is given by the difference of water deposit between the soil particles under conditions of imbilition and desiccation of water. Of all thermal constants of the soil solely the heat capacity probably is distinctly dependent on the water content of the soil. This value can be determined in the simplest manner as the quotient of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the soil. Beside thermal conductivity therefore thermal diffusivity must be measured too.A procedure for the determination of this last value is developed in this paper. The double thermometer which has been described by the author [2] for measuring the thermal conductivity is used as indicator. One of the two thermometers of this double thermometer is being heated during a quarter of an hour at intervals of half an hour. Beside the difference of temperature between heated and unheated thermometer the variation of temperature of the unheated thermometer itself is measured. Then the thermal conductivity is calculated in the usual manner from the difference of temperature between the two thermometers and the thermal diffusivity of the soil from the amplitude of the temperature variation and its shift of phase against heating.

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Résumé Des recherches deJ. Bracht [3] et de l'auteur en 1940 ont montré que la conductibilité calorifique de certains sols ne dépend pas uniquement de leur teneur en eau. On tente d'expliquer cette anomalie par le fait que l'eau s'insère différemment entre les particules du sol lors de l'imbibition et lors de la dessication. Parmi toutes les constantes calorifiques du sol, la capacité calorifique est probablement la seule qui soit en relation univoque avec la teneur en eau. Cette grandeur peut se définir le plus simplement par le quotient de la conductivité calorifique et de la transmission thermique du sol. Il faut donc mesurer séparément ces deux grandeurs.On décrit dans le présent mémoire un procédé permettant la mesure de la transmission thermique. On se sert comme indicateur du thermomètre double décrit par l'auteur [2] en vue de la mesure de la conductibilité du sol. L'un de ces thermomètres est chauffé pendant un quart d'heure toutes les demi-heures. On note alors non seulement la différence de température entre les deux instruments, mais encore les variations du thermomètre non chauffé: la différence de température permet comme d'ordinaire le calcul de la conductibilité, tandis que l'amplitude de la variation du thermomètre non chauffé et son décalage par rapport à l'autre permettent le calcul de la transmission thermique.

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