High-Resolution Keck Adaptive Optics Imaging of Violent Volcanic Activity on Io

Io, the innermost Galilean satellite of Jupiter, is a fascinating world. Data taken by Voyager and Galileo instruments have established that it is by far the most volcanic body in the Solar System and suggest that the nature of this volcanism could radically differ from volcanism on Earth. We report on near-IR observations taken in February 2001 from the Earth-based 10-m W. M. Keck II telescope using its adaptive optics system. After application of an appropriate deconvolution technique (MISTRAL), the resolution, ∼100 km on Io's disk, compares well with the best Galileo/NIMS resolution for global imaging and allows us for the first time to investigate the very nature of individual eruptions. On 19 February, we detected two volcanoes, Amirani and Tvashtar, with temperatures differing from the Galileo observations. On 20 February, we noticed a slight brightening near the Surt volcano. Two days later it had turned into an extremely bright volcanic outburst. The hot spot temperatures (>1400 K) are consistent with a basaltic eruption and, being lower limits, do not exclude an ultramafic eruption. These outburst data have been fitted with a silicate-cooling model, which indicates that this is a highly vigorous eruption with a highly dynamic emplacement mechanism, akin to fire-fountaining. Its integrated thermal output was close to the total estimated output of Io, making this the largest ionian thermal outburst yet witnessed.     

The magneto-boussinesq approximation by scale analysis

Abstract

The Magneto-Boussinesq approximation is derived as a set of leading order equations in an asymptotic expansion. An analogous set of equations is derived for the case when the Alfvén speed is comparable to the sound speed.     

Mining geohazards—land subsidence caused by the dewatering of opencast coal mines: The case study of the Amyntaio coal mine, Florina, Greece

Mining activities impact the nearby environment, causing the so-called mining hazards. The land subsidence phenomena caused by the dewatering of the mines are listed among the mining-induced catastrophic geohazards slowly affecting extensive areas around the opencasts. These large-scale geo-hazards are related to both hydrogeological and geotechnical factors, and they cause irreversible damages. The research presented aims to clarify all the components of the phenomenon and to establish the proper modelling procedure for the study of its mechanism. The site under investigation is the area extending at the west—northwest of the Amyntaio opencast coal mine at Florina Prefecture, Northern Greece. The overexploitation of the aquifers for the protection of the slopes turned the opencast to a large-diameter well, draining the surrounding area. The extensive land subsidence phenomena extend 3–4 km around the mine causing severe damages in two villages. The established results can be used for monitoring and predicting the impact of the particular mining hazard on the natural and human environment, without precluding further exploitation and mining of the energy resources.     

Eruptive history and petrologic evolution of the Albano multiple maar (Alban Hills, Central Italy)

A comprehensive volcanological study of the Albano multiple maar (Alban Hills, Italy) using (i) ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of the most complete stratigraphic section and other proximal and distal outcrops and (ii) petrographic observations, phase analyses of major and trace elements, and Sr and O isotopic analyses of the pyroclastic deposits shows that volcanic activity at Albano was strongly discontinuous, with a first eruptive cycle at 69±1 ka producing at least two eruptions, and a second cycle with two peaks at 39±1 and 36±1 ka producing at least four eruptions. Contrary to previous studies, we did not find evidence of magmatic or hydromagmatic eruptions younger than 36±1 ka. The activity of Albano was fed by a new batch of primary magma compositionally different from that of the older activity of the Alban Hills; moreover, the REE and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data indicate that the Albano magma originated from an enriched metasomatized mantle. According to the modeled liquid line of descent, this magma differentiated under the influence of magma/limestone wall rock interaction. Our detailed eruptive and petrologic reconstruction of the Albano Maar evolution substantiates the dormant state of the Alban Hills Volcanic District. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at Editorial responsibility: J. Donnelly-Nolan An erratum to this article can be found at     

UNCLOS and the marine scientist

The deliberations at UNCLOS have been watched with great interest by individual marine scientists and by those who have attended as observers on behalf of scientific groups. Most of all these scientists have been apprehensive that their ability (freedom) to carry out research would be significantly limited by many of the provisions of the ICNT. In fact, one author goes as far as to state that progress has been made, largely at the expense of the marine research scientist¹.     

Pattern,style and timing of British–Irish Ice Sheet advance and retreat over the last 45 000 years: evidence from NW Scotland and the adjacent continental shelf

Predicting the future response of ice sheets to climate warming and rising global sea level is important but difficult. This is especially so when fast-flowing glaciers or ice streams, buffered by ice shelves, are grounded on beds below sea level. What happens when these ice shelves are removed? And how do the ice stream and the surrounding ice sheet respond to the abruptly altered boundary conditions? To address these questions and others we present new geological, geomorphological, geophysical and geochronological data from the ice-stream-dominated NW sector of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). The study area covers around 45 000 km² of NW Scotland and the surrounding continental shelf. Alongside seabed geomorphological mapping and Quaternary sediment analysis, we use a suite of over 100 new absolute ages (including cosmogenic-nuclide exposure ages, optically stimulated luminescence ages and radiocarbon dates) collected from onshore and offshore, to build a sector-wide ice-sheet reconstruction combining all available evidence with Bayesian chronosequence modelling. Using this information we present a detailed assessment of ice-sheet advance/retreat history, and the glaciological connections between different areas of the NW BIIS sector, at different times during the last glacial cycle. The results show a highly dynamic, partly marine, partly terrestrial, ice-sheet sector undergoing large size variations in response to sub-millennial-scale climatic (Dansgaard–Oeschger) cycles over the last 45 000 years. Superimposed on these trends we identify internally driven instabilities, operating at higher frequency, conditioned by local topographic factors, tidewater dynamics and glaciological feedbacks during deglaciation. Specifically, our new evidence indicates extensive marine-terminating ice-sheet glaciation of the NW BIIS sector during Greenland Stadials 12 to 9 – prior to the main ‘Late Weichselian’ ice-sheet glaciation. After a period of restricted glaciation, in Greenland Interstadials 8 to 6, we find good evidence for rapid renewed ice-sheet build-up in NW Scotland, with the Minch ice-stream terminus reaching the continental shelf edge in Greenland Stadial 5, perhaps only briefly. Deglaciation of the NW sector took place in numerous stages. Several grounding-zone wedges and moraines on the mid- and inner continental shelf attest to significant stabilizations of the ice-sheet grounding line, or ice margin, during overall retreat in Greenland Stadials 3 and 2, and to the development of ice shelves. NW Lewis was the first substantial present-day land area to deglaciate, in the first half of Greenland Stadial 3 at a time of globally reduced sea-level c. 26 kabp , followed by Cape Wrath at c. 24 kabp. The topographic confinement of the Minch straits probably promoted ice-shelf development in early Greenland Stadial 2, providing the ice stream with additional support and buffering it somewhat from external drivers. However, c. 20–19 kabp , as the grounding-line migrated into shoreward deepening water, coinciding with a marked change in marine geology and bed strength, the ice stream became unstable. We find that, once underway, grounding-line retreat proceeded in an uninterrupted fashion with the rapid loss of fronting ice shelves – first in the west, then the east troughs – before eventual glacier stabilization at fjord mouths in NW Scotland by ~17 kabp. Around the same time, ~19–17 kabp , ice-sheet lobes readvanced into the East Minch – possibly a glaciological response to the marine-instability-triggered loss of adjacent ice stream (and/or ice shelf) support in the Minch trough. An independent ice cap on Lewis also experienced margin oscillations during mid-Greenland Stadial 2, with an ice-accumulation centre in West Lewis existing into the latter part of Heinrich Stadial 1. Final ice-sheet deglaciation of NW mainland Scotland was punctuated by at least one other coherent readvance at c. 15.5 kabp , before significant ice-mass losses thereafter. At the glacial termination, c. 14.5 kabp , glaciers fed outwash sediment to now-abandoned coastal deltas in NW mainland Scotland around the time of global Meltwater Pulse 1A. Overall, this work on the BIIS NW sector reconstructs a highly dynamic ice-sheet oscillating in extent and volume for much of the last 45 000 years. Periods of expansive ice-sheet glaciation dominated by ice-streaming were interspersed with periods of much more restricted ice-cap or tidewater/fjordic glaciation. Finally, this work indicates that the role of ice streams in ice-sheet evolution is complex but mechanistically important throughout the lifetime of an ice sheet – with ice streams contributing to the regulation of ice-sheet health but also to the acceleration of ice-sheet demise via marine ice-sheet instabilities.     

The kinetic studies of the cobalt ion removal from aqueous solutions by dolomite-based sorbent

The kinetics of Co(II) ions adsorption on thermally activated dolomite was studied with respect to the calcination temperature of natural dolomite. The sorption of Co(II) onto all samples is reasonably fast: The first 30–35 min accounts for approximately 70–80 % of Co(II) removal from feed solutions. In order to select the main rate-determining step in the overall uptake mechanism, a series of experiments were performed and data obtained were interpreted in terms of film diffusion control, intraparticle diffusion, pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. From the modeling of kinetic data, it can be concluded that adsorption of Co(II) ions from aqueous solution by heat-treated dolomite is a complex phenomenon and occurs in a mixed diffusion mode—the kinetic data are well described by the pseudo-second-order equation. The possible multistage sorption mechanism involving film diffusion and intraparticle diffusion control steps as well as chemical interaction between Co(II) ions and calcined dolomite is proposed.