PSDF: Particle Stream Data Format for N-body simulations

We present a data format for the output of general N-body simulations, allowing the presence of individual time steps. By specifying a standard, different N-body integrators and different visualization and analysis programs can all share the simulation data, independent of the type of programs used to produce the data. Our Particle Stream Data Format, PSDF, is specified in YAML, based on the same approach as XML but with a simpler syntax. Together with a specification of PSDF, we provide background and motivation, as well as specific examples in a variety of computer languages. We also offer a web site from which these examples can be retrieved, in order to make it easy to augment existing codes in order to give them the option to produce PSDF output.     

Development of Synthetic Fiber-Reinforced Electro-Optical-Mechanical Cables for Use With Moored Buoy Observatories

We consider an alternative to traditional high-modulus synthetic electro-optical-mechanical (EOM) mooring cables that are being used in single-point moorings for deep-ocean observatories. The alternative cable design is based on using low-modulus nylon or polyester fibers as the strength member. High-modulus EOM cables such as those that use Vectran fibers as the strength member are usually constructed with the conductors and optical fibers in the core and the strength member on the outside. The key aspect of the new design is that the strength member is placed in the center of the cable and the conductors and fibers are wrapped around the outside at a high helix angle to accommodate stretching of the center-strength-member. A comparison of the static and dynamic responses of moorings constructed with nylon, polyester, and Vectran EOM cables (for mooring scopes of 1.1 and 1.2 and deployment depths of 1800, 3000, and 5000 m) shows that the maximum total tensions of moorings made with nylon EOM cables are lowest under all conditions. Differences between the nylon and the Vectran EOM cable moorings are due principally to the differences in the dynamic tensions. Differences between the nylon and the polyester EOM cable moorings are due mainly to differences in static tensions caused by the higher specific gravity of polyester fibers. Reduction in the scope of all the moorings from 1.2 to 1.1 resulted in significantly higher tensions for the polyester and Vectran EOM cable moorings but only slightly higher tensions for the nylon EOM cable moorings     

Discovery of a double impact crater in Libya: the astrobleme of Arkenu

Using orbital imaging radar, we detected a double circular structure, located in the southeastern part of the Libyan Desert, which is partially hidden under sandy sediments. Fieldwork confirmed it to be an unknown double impact crater, each crater having a diameter of about 10 km, younger than 140 Ma. Sampling on the site enabled the observation of quantities of shatter cone structures and impact breccias containing planar fractures. To cite this article: P. Paillou et al., C. R. Geoscience 335 (2003).     

Microstructural evidence for crystallization regimes in mafic intrusions: a case study from the Little Minch Sill Complex,Scotland

The magma forming the 20 m thick crinanitic/picrodoleritic Dun Raisburgh sill, part of the Little Minch Sill Complex of NW Scotland, comprised a mafic carrier liquid with a crystal cargo of plagioclase and olivine (1 vol%). The olivine component of the cargo settled on the floor of the intrusion while the more buoyant plagioclase component remained suspended during solidification, resulting in a relatively high plagioclase content in the centre of the sill. The settled olivine grains form a lower fining-upwards sequence overlain by a poorly sorted accumulation formed of grains that grew within the convecting magma. The accumulation of olivine on the sill floor occurred over 5–10 weeks, synchronous with the upwards-propagation of a solidification front comprising a porous (~?70 vol% interstitial liquid) plagioclase-rich crystal mush.