Integrated chronostratigraphy of Proterozoic-Cambrian boundary beds in the western Anabar region, northern Siberia

Carbonate-rich sedimentary rocks of the western Anabar region, northern Siberia, preserve an exceptional record of evolutionary and biogeochemical events near the Proterozoic/Cambrian boundary. Sedimentologically, the boundary succession can be divided into three sequences representing successive episodes of late transgressive to early highstand deposition; four parasequences are recognized in the sequence corresponding lithostratigraphically to the Manykal Formation. Small shelly fossils are abundant and include many taxa that also occur in standard sections of southeastern Siberia. Despite this coincidence of faunal elements, biostratigraphic correlations between the two regions have been controversial because numerous species that first appear at or immediately above the basal Tommotian boundary in southeastern sections have first appearances scattered through more than thirty metres of section in the western Anabar. Carbon- and Sr-isotopic data on petrographically and geochemically screened samples collected at one- to two-metre intervals in a section along the Kotuikan River, favour correlation of the Staraya Reckha Formation and most of the overlying Manykai Formation with sub-Tommotian carbonates in southeastern Siberia. In contrast, isotopic data suggest that the uppermost Manykai Formation and the basal 26 m of the unconformably overlying Medvezhya Formation may have no equivalent in the southeast; they appear to provide a sedimentary and palaeontological record of an evolutionarily significant time interval represented in southeastern Siberia only by the sub-Tommotian unconformity. Correlations with radiometrically dated horizons in the Olenek and Kharaulakh regions of northern Siberia suggest that this interval lasted approximately three to six million years, during which essentially all 'basal Tommotian' small shelly fossils evolved.     

Objective measures of the information density of satellite data

Summary We propose and objective method whereby the density of Shannon's information associated with the retrieval of a profile of atmospheric variables from satellite-derived infrared radiance measurements may be estimated. The technique is a natural extension of one we previously proposed to estimate the effective data density in a profile. We test the method in a comparison of simulated satellite instruments to show that the method does indeed provide an objective summary of the spatial distribution of each instrument's information content. We propose that further extensions of the method be developed to include other more traditional data sources in a fully three-dimensional scheme. We also note that analogous and compatible methods may be used to diagnose the information content of meteorological analysis and forecast fields relative to the information contained in the covariance, at the appropriate season, of the corresponding climate fields.With 8 Figures     

Trace metals in suspended particulate matter and in sediment trap material from a permanently anoxic fjord — Framvaren, South Norway

Geochemical studies of the trace metal concentrations in suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sediment trap material from a permanently anoxic fjord, Framvaren, South Norway in 1989 and 1993 indicate that extremely high concentrations of zinc (max = 183920 mg/kg), copper (max = 4130 mg/kg), lead (max = 2752 mg/kg), and cadmium (max= 8.1 mg/kg) sometimes (1993) occur in the SPM collected in the anoxic water layer. The highest concentrations of Zn occur just below the redoxcline at 22 m water depth (in 1993), and copper, lead and cadmium have maximum concentrations between 30 and 80 m depth, where the amount of total SPM is at a minimum (about 0.3 mg/L). On a mass per volume (g/L) basis, the maximum concentrations of Cd, Cu and Fe occur at the interface (21m) and those of Zn occur just below the redoxcline (22 m depth). The SPM and sediment trap data suggest that the metals are precipitated as sulfide minerals in the anoxic water. The presence of particulate sulfides was confirmed by SEM studies that show the occurrence of discrete metal (Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn) sulfide particles in size from 10–20 m as well as framboidal pyrites (1–5 m in size). Higher levels of metal sulfides at intermediate depths rather than in the deep water of Framvaren (> 100 m), may be due to input of trace metals by water exchange over the sill in the upper part of the water column. In the deep water, less metal sulfide precipitation takes place due to depletion of trace metals, and the dilution of particulate metal concentrations by organic matter and by the chemogenic formation of calcite.     

Overbreak and underbreak in underground openings Part 2: causes and implications

Summary The newly developed light sectioning method has been used to investigate some of the causes and costs of overbreak and underbreak. Investigations at the Aquamilpa Hydroelectric Project in Mexico have shown decreased overbreak and increased underbreak as a result of increased rock quality and decreased explosive energy. A new measure of explosive energy, the perimeter powder factor (PPF), has been defined and shown to be useful in the context of tunnel-wall rock damage. Tentative results indicate that explosive energy (PPF) may be a more important factor in producing underbreak, whereas rock quality may be a greater factor in producing overbreak. A site-specific equation is given for predicting overbreak or underbreak as a function of rock quality and explosive energy, with an evaluation of the cost of underbreak and overbreak.     

Far-infrared contribution to interstellar extinction from graphite whiskers

A mass contribution of graphite whiskers as small as 0.1% to the population of interstellar grains could dramatically change their far-infrared extinction properties. With varying mass fractions of graphite whiskers, and for different size parameters, the infrared extinction could vary from a ^-2 dependence to ⁰, consistent with the requirements of some astronomical observations.     

Climate change and snow-cover duration in the Australian Alps

This study uses a model of snow-cover duration, an observed climate data set for the Australian alpine area, and a set of regional climate-change scenarios to assess quantitatively how changes in climate may affect snow cover in the Australian Alps. To begin, a regional interannual climate data set of high spatial resolution is prepared for input to the snow model and the resulting simulated interannual and spatial variations in snow-cover duration are assessed and compared with observations. The model provides a reasonable simulation of the sensitivities of snow-cover duration to changes in temperature and precipitation in the Australian Alps, although its performance is poorer at sites highly marginal for snow cover. (In a separate comparison, the model also performs well for sites in the European Alps.) The input climate data are then modified in line with scenarios of regional climate change based on the results of five global climate models run in enhanced greenhouse experiments. The scenarios are for the years 2030 and 2070 and allow for uncertainty associated with projecting future emissions of greenhouse gases and with estimating the sensitivity of the global climate system to enhanced greenhouse forcing. Attention focuses on the climate changes most favourable (best-case scenario) and least favourable (worst-case scenario) for snow cover amongst the range of climate changes in the scenarios. Under the best case scenario for 2030, simulated average snow-cover duration and the frequency of years of more than 60 days cover decline at all sites considered. However, at the higher sites (e.g., more than 1700 m) the effect is not very marked. For the worst case scenario, a much more dramatic decline in snow conditions is simulated. At higher sites, simulated average snow cover duration roughly halves by 2030 and approaches zero by 2070. At lower sites (around 1400 m), near zero average values are simulated by 2030 (compared to durations of around 60 days for current climate).These simulated changes, ranging between the best and worst case, are likely to be indicative of how climate change will affect natural snow-cover duration in the Australian Alps. However, note that the model does not allow directly for changes in the frequency and intensity of snow-bearing circulation systems, nor do the climate-change scenarios allow possible changes in interannual variability (particularly that due to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation) and local topographical effects not resolved by global climate models. The simulated changes in snow cover are worthy of further consideration in terms of their implications for the ski industry and tourism, water resources and hydroelectric power, and land-use management and planning.68 Barada Crescent, Aranda ACT 2614, Australia.     

Global comparison of the regional rainfall results of enhanced greenhouse coupled and mixed layer ocean experiments: Implications for climate change scenario development

The extent of agreement amongst current global climate models (GCMs) on the global pattern of rainfall change simulated under enhanced greenhouse conditions is assessed. We consider the results of five experiments which use a simple mixed layer ocean formulation and five which use a fully dynamic ocean model (coupled experiments). For many regions of the northern hemisphere there is strong agreement amongst both mixed layer and coupled experiments on the sign of simulated rainfall change. However, in the southern hemisphere there are large, and apparently systematic, differences between the coupled and mixed layer experiments. In particular, whereas the mixed layer experiments agree on simulated rainfall increase in summer in the tropics and subtropics of the Australian sector, the coupled experiments agree (although more weakly) on rainfall decreases. These differences appear to relate to the much reduced warming simulated by the coupled experiments in the high latitudes of the southern hemisphere. However, recent oceanographie evidence suggests that this suppressed warming may be considerably overestimated. We conclude therefore that despite the in-principle advantages of coupled models, it may be too soon to base some regionally specific climate change scenarios solely on the results of coupled experiments.     

Orientation of the galactic magnetic field in the vicinity of the solar system

It is found from analysis of the position angles of the plane of polarization of about 3000 stars (¦b¦ 5° andP 0.5%) that the angle between the magnetic field and the equatorial plane of the galaxy is approximately 0–5°. The distance within which the local magnetic fields of the galaxy have a greater effect on the position angles of the plane of polarization than the galactic magnetic field is estimated to be about 500 pc. The effect of the galactic magnetic field becomes dominant for distancesr 1000 pc.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 553–559, November, 1996.     

Neutron stars in the multidimensional einstein theory of gravitation

The radius, mass, total number of baryons, and other parameters of static, spherically symmetric, superdense stars are calculated. A model with one Ricci-flat inner space of arbitrary dimensionality and the approximation p₁=?0.5ε + ap for additional components of the energy — momentum tensor are used (ε and ρ are the total energy density and the pressure of the stellar matter and a is a fitting parameter). In the case of white dwarfs, the results of the multidimensional theory do not depend on the dimensionality D of space-time for ?10 ? a ? 10 and coincide with the analogous data of the general theory of relativity (GTR). For neutron stars there is a dependence on D and a. For D>4, in particular, the greatest mass M_max of a neutron star as a function of a has a maximum at 3<a(D) ? 4, which exceeds the greatest mass M _max ⁰ =2.14 M_⊙ in the GTR. A comparison of theoretical results with observational data determines the allowable values of a. Data for PSR 1913 + 16 lead to 0.2 ≤ a ≤ 9.2 in the case of D=26, while the results of [P. C. Joss and S. A. Rappaport, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys.,22, 537 (1984)] lead to the stricter limits 1 ≤ a ≤ 7.4.     

Oil and gas resource assessment: The linkage between geological analysis and discovery process model results

Two widely-used techniques to estimate the volume of remaining oil and gas resources are discovery process modeling and geologic assessment. Both were used in a recent national assessment of oil and gas resources of the United States. Parallel estimates were obtained for 27 provinces. Geological-based estimates can typically see into areas not available to discovery process models (that is areas with little or no exploration history) and thus, on average, yield higher estimates. However, a linear relation does exist between the mean estimates obtained from these two methods. In addition, other variables were found in a multiple regression model that explained much of the difference. Thus, it is possible to perform discovery process modeling and adjust the estimates to yield results that might be expected from geological-based assessments.