Ar–Ar age determinations of eclogitic clinopyroxene and garnet inclusions in diamonds from the Venetia and Orapa kimberlites

Ar–Ar age measurements are reported for selected eclogitic clinopyroxene and garnet inclusions in Orapa diamonds and clinopyroxene inclusions in Venetia diamonds. Laser drilling of encapsulated clinopyroxene inclusions within Venetia diamonds released a maximum of 3% of the total ⁴⁰Ar, indicating little diffusive transfer and storage of radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar at the diamond–inclusion boundary. Apparent ages obtained during stepped heating of three diamonds are consistent with diamond crystallisation occurring just prior to the kimberlite eruption 520 Ma ago. Stepped heating of three clinopyroxene-bearing Orapa diamonds gave ages of 906–1032 Ma, significantly above the eruption age, but consistent with previously determined isotopic ages. A few higher apparent ages hint at the presence an older generation of Orapa diamonds that formed >2500 Ma ago. Orapa garnets also contain measurable K contents, and record a range of ages between 1000 and 2500 Ma. The old apparent ages and lack of significant interface ⁴⁰Ar released by the laser probe, suggests that pre-eruption radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar and mantle-derived ⁴⁰Ar components are trapped in microinclusions within the pyroxene and garnet inclusions.     

The Knorre astronomers' dynasty

We attempt to throw light upon the poorly known astronomical dynasty of Knorre and describe its contribution to astronomy. The founder of the dynasty, Ernst Christoph Friedrich Knorre (1759–1810), was born in Germany in 1759, and since 1802 he was a Professor of Mathematics at the Tartu University, and observer at its temporary observatory. He determined the first coordinates of Tartu by stellar observations. Karl Friedrich Knorre (1801–1883) was the first director of the Naval Observatory in Nikolaev since the age of 20, provided the Black Sea navy with accurate time and charts, trained mariners in astronomical navigation, and certified navigation equipment. He compiled star maps and catalogues, and determined positions of comets and planets. He also participated in Bessel's project of the Academic Star Charts, and was responsible for Hora 4, published by the Berlin Academy of Sciences. This sheet permitted to discover two minor planets, Astraea and Flora. Viktor Knorre (1840–1919) was born in Nikolaev. In 1862 he left for Berlin to study astronomy. After defending his thesis for a doctor's degree, he went to Pulkovo as an astronomical calculator in 1867. Since 1873 Viktor worked as an observer of the Berlin Observatory Fraunhofer refractor. His main research focussed on minor planets, comets and binary stars. He discovered the minor planets Koronis, Oenone, Hypatia and Penthesilea. Viktor Knorre also worked on improving astronomical instrumentation, e.g. the Knorre & Heele equatorial telescope mounting (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Changes in European precipitation seasonality and in drought frequencies revealed by a four-century-long tree-ring isotopic record from Brittany, western France

A new paleoclimatic reconstruction for western France is obtained from tree-ring cellulose stable isotopes. Living trees from Rennes Forest and beams from two ancient buildings in Rennes city have been combined to cover the past four centuries with a gap from 1730 to 1750. The cellulose ¹³C reflects the progressive changes in atmospheric CO₂ isotopic composition. The combined ¹³C and ¹⁸O measurements are used to propose a reconstruction of interannual fluctuations in local summer temperature and water stress. At the decadal time scale, the reconstructed water stress profile exhibits a significant similarity with the historical wine harvest dates, an indicator of warm and dry growth seasons, as well as with the summer central England and central Alps instrumental temperature records and climate model results. Combined with instrumental precipitation records from Paris, these reconstructions suggest a dramatic and widespread change in the seasonality of the precipitation at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with drier winters and wetter summers, which may have contributed to the Alpine glacier decline at the end of the Little Ice Age. The tree-ring isotope records also show a relationship with large-scale North Atlantic circulation changes and the interannual variability is modified between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (7–8 year periodicities) and the seventeenth century (11–14 year periodicities). By classifying 20-year-long subsets of the reconstructed climatic parameters, we estimate that a decadal mean summer warming of 0.8±0.1°C induced extreme dry years to be 2.2±0.7 times more frequent.     

The effect of composition,temperature and pressure on the stability of the 1Tc and 2M polytypes of sapphirine

Microprobe analyses and structural characterisation by means of transmission electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction are presented for a suite of natural and synthetic sapphirines. Most sapphirines appear to consist of intergrowths of the common 2M polytype with minor amounts of the 1Tc phase, although the converse situation is found in some cases. Attempts to correlate the structural state of the mineral with other factors reveal that: (i) There is no strong relationship between mean tetrahedral cation radius or mean octahedral cation radius and the preferred polytype. The Tschermak substitution M²⁺M⁴⁺-M³⁺M³⁺ does not appreciably influence the 1Tc-2M equilibrium, (ii) However, the total content and mean oxidation state of iron in sapphirine are important in this respect. Fe²⁺ stabilises the 2M phase, whereas Fe³⁺ stabilises the 1Tc phase. (iii) P-T estimates for the host rocks, and estimates for the conditions of sapphirine crystallisation, where obtainable, suggest that the 1Tc phase is stable at lower T and higher P than the 2M phase. Some quantitative constraints are inferred.     

A mechanism for the production of planetary nebulae

C¹² stars in the range 1.04–1.55M are evolved to simulate the core evolution of the possible precursors of planetary nebulae. The nuclear shell burning in stars above 1.2M advances to within about 0.2M of the surface, where the intense radiation interacts with the surface matter and causes mass loss. Comparison between our theoretical results and observations suggests that this may be a mechanism by which planetary nebulae are formed.Presented at the Trieste Colloquium on Mass Loss from Stars, September 12–16, 1968.     

An Upper Limit on Sunspot Activity During the Maunder Minimum

We have estimated the upper and lower limits of sunspot activity, in terms of active day fraction during the Maunder minimum (1645–1710), using raw information on individual daily observations (Hoyt and Schatten, 1998). Establishing the relation between the sunspot activity and active day fraction after 1850, we evaluate the upper limit of annual group sunspot number during the deep Maunder minimum (1645–1700) which does not exceed 4. The earlier finding of a dominant 22-year periodicity during the Maunder minimum is verified and shown to be robust. Also we confirm that the start of the Maunder minimum was very abrupt.     

Search for spatial variation in the jovian N/N ratio from Cassini/CIRS observations

We have used the spectra obtained by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft to search for latitudinal variation in the ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratio on Jupiter. We found no variations statistically significant given the observational and model uncertainties. The absence of latitudinal variations demonstrates that ¹⁵NH₃ is not fractionated in Jupiter's atmosphere, and that the measured ¹⁵N/¹⁴N represents Jupiter's global value. Our mean value for the global jovian ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratio of (2.22±0.52)×10⁻³ agrees with previous measurements made by Fouchet et al. (2000, Icarus 143, 223-243) and Owen et al. (2001, Astrophys. J. 553, L77-L79). We argue that the jovian isotopic ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratio must represent the solar nitrogen isotopic composition. The solar ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratio hence significantly differs from the terrestrial value: (¹⁵N/¹⁴N)_⊕=3.68×10⁻³. This supports the proposition that terrestrial nitrogen originates from a nitrogen reservoir isolated from the main nitrogen reservoir in the proto-solar nebula. The origin and carrier of this isolated reservoir are still unknown.