Spawning sockeye salmon fossils in Pleistocene lake beds of Skokomish Valley, Washington

An assemblage of fossil sockeye salmon was discovered in Pleistocene lake sediments along the South Fork Skokomish River, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. The fossils were abundant near the head of a former glacial lake at 115 m elevation. Large adult salmon are concentrated in a sequence of death assemblages that include individuals with enlarged breeding teeth and worn caudal fins indicating migration, nest digging, and spawning prior to death. The specimens were 4 yr old and 45-70 cm in total length, similar in size to modern sockeye salmon, not landlocked kokanee. The fossils possess most of the characteristics of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, but with several minor traits suggestive of pink salmon, O. gorbuscha. This suggests the degree of divergence of these species at about 1 million yr ago, when geological evidence indicates the salmon were deposited at the head of a proglacial lake impounded by the Salmon Springs advance of the Puget lobe ice sheet. Surficial geology and topography record a complicated history of glacial damming and river diversion that implies incision of the modern gorge of the South Fork Skokomish River after deposition of the fossil-bearing sediments.     

Book Review: Earthquake Microzoning By A. Roca and C. Oliveira (Eds.), Birkhäuser Verlag, 2001, 298 pp., softcover,Euro 52, ISBN 3-7643-6652-4

Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica -     

Nutrient Budgets,Dynamics and Storm Effects in a Eutrophic,Stratified Baltic Lake

Between 1989 and 1998 the small eutrophic stratified Lake Belau was investigated intensively and multidisciplinarily. This article is a short, comprehensive summary and re‐evaluation of the hydrochemistry of the lake, with focus on nitrogen and phosphorus. In several aspects the lake can be regarded as a typical example of the glacial north German lakes. The 1960's and 1970's are characterised by heavy nutrient inputs and fast eutrophication. During the last two decades the external nutrient load, especially the phosphorus load into Lake Belau was significantly reduced. But phosphorus‐rich sediments and large areas with summerly anoxic sediment surface conditions cause intensive release of phosphorus from older deeper sediment layers. Annual budgets reveal that despite an average sediment accumulation of 3 mm a^?1 the lake has lost its function as net phosphorus sink and it is very likely that internal eutrophication by the sediments will keep the lake in its eutrophic state during the next decades. Despite that, monthly budgets of five vertical layers show that the main phosphorus supplier for the phosphorus depleted epilimnion during summer is the creek Alte Schwentine. The annual nitrogen budget indicates groundwater and interflow water as well as atmospheric input as additional important nitrogen sources. 36% (98 μmol m ^?2 h^?1 N) of all nitrogen input is lost to atmosphere mainly due to denitrification. The example of a heavy storm shows that about 10% of the annual nitrogen loss to the atmosphere can take place during a single day and in form of ammonia. The storm further made obvious that these unpredictable events can have strong impact on nutrient cycling and ecology in Lake Belau and the lake can become an unexpected nutrient source for downstream systems.     

Cracking up: faulting on Earth and Mars

Joyce Vetterlein and Gerald P Roberts describe research in progress on the structural evolution of Cerberus Fossae, Mars, with implications for cryosphere cracking in recent Mars history.     

Dissolution rates of pure methane hydrate and carbon-dioxide hydrate in undersaturated seawater at 1000-m depth

To help constrain models involving the chemical stability and lifetime of gas clathrate hydrates exposed at the seafloor, dissolution rates of pure methane and carbon-dioxide hydrates were measured directly on the seafloor within the nominal pressure-temperature (P/T) range of the gas hydrate stability zone. Other natural boundary conditions included variable flow velocity and undersaturation of seawater with respect to the hydrate-forming species. Four cylindrical test specimens of pure, polycrystalline CH₄ and CO₂ hydrate were grown and fully compacted in the laboratory, then transferred by pressure vessel to the seafloor (1028 m depth), exposed to the deep ocean environment, and monitored for 27 hours using time-lapse and HDTV cameras. Video analysis showed diameter reductions at rates between 0.94 and 1.20 μm/s and between 9.0 and 10.6 · 10⁻² μm/s for the CO₂ and CH₄ hydrates, respectively, corresponding to dissolution rates of 4.15 ± 0.5 mmol CO₂/m²s and 0.37 ± 0.03 mmol CH₄/m²s. The ratio of the dissolution rates fits a diffusive boundary layer model that incorporates relative gas solubilities appropriate to the field site, which implies that the kinetics of the dissolution of both hydrates is diffusion-controlled. The observed dissolution of several mm (CH₄) or tens of mm (CO₂) of hydrate from the sample surfaces per day has major implications for estimating the longevity of natural gas hydrate outcrops as well as for the possible roles of CO₂ hydrates in marine carbon sequestration strategies.     

Spherical harmonics in texture analysis

The objective of this contribution is to emphasize the fundamental role of spherical harmonics in constructive approximation on the sphere in general and in texture analysis in particular. The specific purpose is to present some methods of texture analysis and pole-to-orientation probability density inversion in a unifying approach, i.e. to show that the classic harmonic method, the pole density component fit method initially introduced as a distinct alternative, and the spherical wavelet method for high-resolution texture analysis share a common mathematical basis provided by spherical harmonics. Since pole probability density functions and orientation probability density functions are probability density functions defined on the sphere Ω^{3 3} or hypersphere Ω^{4 4}, respectively, they belong at least to the space of measurable and integrable functions ¹(Ω^d), d=3, 4, respectively.

Therefore, first a basic and simplified method to derive real symmetrized spherical harmonics with the mathematical property of providing a representation of rotations or orientations, respectively, is presented. Then, standard orientation or pole probability density functions, respectively, are introduced by summation processes of harmonic series expansions of ¹(Ω^d) functions, thus avoiding resorting to intuition and heuristics. Eventually, it is shown how a rearrangement of the harmonics leads quite canonically to spherical wavelets, which provide a method for high-resolution texture analysis. This unified point of view clarifies how these methods, e.g. standard functions, apply to texture analysis of EBSD orientation measurements.     

Observations of Coronal Structures Above an Active Region by Eit and Implications for Coronal Energy Deposition

Solar EUV images recorded by the EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) on SOHO have been used to evaluate temperature and density as a function of position in two largescale features in the corona observed in the temperature range of 1.0–2.0 MK. Such observations permit estimates of longitudinal temperature gradients (if present) in the corona and, consequently, estimates of thermal conduction and radiative losses as a function of position in the features. We examine two relatively cool features as recorded in EIT's Feix/x (171 Å) and Fexii (195 Å) bands in a decaying active region. The first is a long-lived loop-like feature with one leg, ending in the active region, much more prominent than one or more distant footpoints assumed to be rooted in regions of weakly enhanced field. The other is a near-radial feature, observed at the West limb, which may be either the base of a very high loop or the base of a helmet streamer. We evaluate energy requirements to support a steady-state energy balance in these features and find in both instances that downward thermal conductive losses (at heights above the transition region) are inadequate to support local radiative losses, which are the predominant loss mechanism. The requirement that a coronal energy deposition rate proportional to the square of the ambient electron density (or pressure) is present in these cool coronal features provides an additional constraint on coronal heating mechanisms.     

Formation of juvenile continental crust in the Arabian–Nubian shield: evidence from granitic rocks of the Nakasib suture, NE Sudan

Major and trace element data, U–Pb zircon ages, and initial isotopic compositions of Sr, Nd, and Pb are reported for ten granitic and one rhyolitic rock sample from the neo-Proterozoic Nakasib suture in NE Sudan. Chemical data indicate that the samples are medium- to high-K, "I-type" granitic rocks that mostly plot as "volcanic arc granites" on discriminant diagrams. Geochronologic data indicate that rifting occurred 790±2?Ma and constrain the time of deformation associated with suturing of the Gebeit and Haya terranes to have ended by approximately 740?Ma. Isotopic data show a limited range, with initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.7021 to 0.7032 (mean=0.7025), εNd(t) =+5.5 to +7.0 (mean=+6.4), and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 17.50–17.62. Neodymium model ages (T_DM; 0.69–0.85?Ga; mean = 0.76?Ga) are indistinguishable from crystallization ages (0.79–0.71?Ga; mean=0.76?Ga), and the isotopic data considered together indicate derivation from homogeneously depleted mantle. The geochronologic data indicate that the terrane accretion to form the Arabian–Nubian shield began just prior to 750?Ma. The isotopic data reinforces models for the generation of large volumes of juvenile continental crust during neo-Proterozoic time, probably at intra-oceanic convergent margins. The data also indicate that crust formation was associated with two cycles of incompatible element enrichment in granitic rocks, with an earlier cycle beginning approximately 870?Ma and culminating approximately 740?Ma, and the second cycle beginning after pervasive high-degree melts – possibly hot-spot related – were emplaced approximately 690–720?Ma.     

Northern Hemisphere atmospheric blocking as simulated by 15 atmospheric general circulation models in the period 1979–1988

 As a part of the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP), the behaviour of 15 general circulation models has been analysed in order to diagnose and compare the ability of the different models in simulating Northern Hemisphere midlatitude atmospheric blocking. In accordance with the established AMIP procedure, the 10-year model integrations were performed using prescribed, time-evolving monthly mean observed SSTs spanning the period January 1979–December 1988. Atmospheric observational data (ECMWF analyses) over the same period have been also used to verify the models results. The models involved in this comparison represent a wide spectrum of model complexity, with different horizontal and vertical resolution, numerical techniques and physical parametrizations, and exhibit large differences in blocking behaviour. Nevertheless, a few common features can be found, such as the general tendency to underestimate both blocking frequency and the average duration of blocks. The problem of the possible relationship between model blocking and model systematic errors has also been assessed, although without resorting to ad-hoc numerical experimentation it is impossible to relate with certainty particular model deficiencies in representing blocking to precise parts of the model formulation. Received: 16 July 1997/Accepted: 20 October 1997