Carbonaceous matter in sulfide-quartz veins at the Kurultyken base-metal deposit,eastern Transbaikal region,Russia

The carbonaceous matter filling cavities in sulfide-quartz veins at the Kurultyken hydrothermal base-metal deposit in the Khapcheranga ore district, Transbaikal region, was studied using chromatography/mass spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, thermal and isotopic analyses, and IR spectroscopy. It was established that carbonaceous matter was a maltha composed of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Chrysene, pyrene, and benzpyrelene identified among PAHs are evidence for the hydrothermal origin of the initial carbonaceous matter of maltha. The main mass of carbonaceous matter was synthesized under reductive conditions and at a low temperature, i.e., at the final stage of base-metal ore formation. Nevertheless, the thermometric data indicate that part of the carbonic compounds could have formed at 480°C, i.e., at the high-temperature stage of the postmagmatic process. The contribution of host rocks as a source of carbonaceous matter was minimal.     

Ocean tide loading (OTL) displacements from global and local grids: comparisons to GPS estimates over the shelf of Brittany, France

In this paper we examine OTL displacements detected by GPS stations of a dedicated campaign and validate ocean tide models. Our area of study is the continental shelf of Brittany and Cotentin in France. Brittany is one of the few places in the world where tides provoke loading displacements of ∼10–12 cm vertically and a few cm horizontally. Ocean tide models suffer from important discrepancies in this region. Seven global and regional ocean tide models were tested: FES2004 corrected for K2, TPXO.7.0, TPXO.6.2, GOT00.2, CSR4.0, NAO.99b and the most recent regional grids of the North East Atlantic (NEA2004). These gridded amplitudes and phases of ocean tides were convolved in order to get the predicted OTL displacements using two different algorithms. Data over a period of 3.5 months of 8 GPS campaign stations located on the north coast of Brittany are used, in order to evaluate the geographical distribution of the OTL effect. We have modified and implemented new algorithms in our GPS software, GINS 7.1. GPS OTL constituents are estimated based on 1-day batch solutions. We compare the observed GPS OTL constituents of M₂, S₂, N₂ and K₁ waves with the selected ocean tide models on global and regional grids. Large phase-lag and amplitude discrepancies over 20° and 1.5 cm in the vertical direction in the semi-diurnal band of M₂ between predictions and GPS/models are detected in the Bay of Mont St-Michel. From a least squares spectral analysis of the GPS time-series, significant harmonic peaks in the integer multiples of the orbital periods of the GPS satellites are observed, indicating the existence of multipath effects in the GPS OTL constituents. The GPS OTL observations agree best with FES2004, NEA2004, GOT00.2 and CSR4.0 tide models.     

多尺度空间对象拓扑相似关系的表达与计算

研究了空间数据多尺度表达中,在进行模型综合时空间对象拓扑关系的表达、变化和相似性。基于空间对象之间拓扑关系的概念邻域,给出了空间对象拓扑关系相似性的定义以及在数字景观模型中拓扑关系相似性的度量方法,为空间数据的多尺度表达提供了拓扑关系分析和评价手段。     

Variable vegetation cover and episodic sand movement on longitudinal desert sand dunes

Longitudinal (linear) sand dunes of the Simpson and Strzelecki dunefields in eastern central Australia present a paradox. Low levels of activity today stand in contrast to luminescence dating which has repeatedly shown deep deposits of sand on dune crests dating to within the late Holocene. In order to investigate the nature of dune activity in the Simpson–Strzelecki dunefield, vegetation and sand mobility were investigated by detailed vegetation survey and measurement of rippled area and loose sand depth of dunes at three sites along a climatic gradient. The response of both vegetation and sand movement to inter-annual climate variability was examined by repeat surveys of two sites in drought and non-drought conditions. Projected plant cover and plant + crust cover were found to have inverse linear relationships with rippled area and the area of deep loose sand. No relationship was found between these measures of sand movement and the plant frontal area index. A negative exponential relationship between equivalent mobile sand depth on dune surfaces and both vascular plant cover and vascular + crust cover was also found. There is no simple threshold of vegetation cover below which sand transport begins. Dunes with low perennial plant cover may form small dunes with slip faces leading to a positive feedback inhibiting ephemeral plant growth in wet years and accelerating sand transport rates. The linear dunefields are largely within the zone in which plant cover is sufficient to enforce low sand transport rates, and in which there is a strong response of vegetation and sand transport to inter-annual variation in rainfall. Both ephemeral plants (mostly forbs) and crust were found to respond rapidly to large (> 20 mm/month) rainfall events. On millennial time-scales, the level of dune activity is controlled by vegetation cover and probably not by fluctuations of wind strength. Land use or extreme, decadal time-scale, drought may destabilise dunes by removing perennial plant cover, accelerating wind erosion.     

High‐resolution stratigraphy of Scandinavian coastal archaeological settlements: the case of Håkonshella,W Norway

The stratigraphy of Scandinavian open‐air archaeological settlements is usually characterized as homogeneous, highly enriched in decomposing organic matter and poor in biogenic carbonates such as shells or bones. As a result, stratigraphies are often difficult to read in the field and settlement sequences may pass unnoticed by archaeologists. Here we show how the integration of bulk analyses, soil micromorphology, X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning and multivariate statistics can help in overcoming such limitations. We use the case study of Håkonshella 8, a Mesolithic hunter‐fisher‐gatherer settlement located in Bergen (W Norway). Fluctuations in the organic matter content, geochemical proxies (mainly P, Ga, Ti and the Si/Al ratio) and redoximorphic features highlight four cycles of site occupation and abandonment in an otherwise massive anthropogenic deposit. Following these settlement sequences, the site was covered by colluvium from nearby slopes over which a waterlogged soil formed. The approach used in Håkonshella has the potential to improve our capacity to interpret organically enriched anthropic deposits formed in coastal Scandinavia and in similar climatic regions.     

The presence, characteristics and earthquake implications of the St. Lawrence fault zone within and near Lake Ontario (Canada–USA)

Questions persist concerning the earthquake potential of the populous and industrial Lake Ontario (Canada–USA) area. Pertinent to those questions is whether the major fault zone that extends along the St. Lawrence River valley, herein named the St. Lawrence fault zone, continues upstream along the St. Lawrence River valley at least as far as Lake Ontario or terminates near Cornwall (Ontario, Canada)–Massena (NY, USA). New geological studies uncovered paleotectonic bedrock faults that are parallel to, and lie within, the projection of that northeast-oriented fault zone between Cornwall and northeastern Lake Ontario, suggesting that the fault zone continues into Lake Ontario. The aforementioned bedrock faults range from meters to tens of kilometers in length and display kinematically incompatible displacements, implying that the fault zone was periodically reactivated in the study area. Beneath Lake Ontario the Hamilton–Presqu'ile fault lines up with the St. Lawrence fault zone and projects to the southwest where it coincides with the Dundas Valley (Ontario, Canada). The Dundas Valley extends landward from beneath the western end of the lake and is marked by a vertical stratigraphic displacement across its width. The alignment of the Hamilton–Presqu'ile fault with the St. Lawrence fault zone strongly suggests that the latter crosses the entire length of Lake Ontario and continues along the Dundas Valley.The Rochester Basin, an east–northeast-trending linear trough in the southeastern corner of Lake Ontario, lies along the southern part of the St. Lawrence fault zone. Submarine dives in May 1997 revealed inclined layers of glaciolacustrine clay along two different scarps within the basin. The inclined layers strike parallel to the long dimension of the basin, and dip about 20° to the north–northwest suggesting that they are the result of rigid-body rotation consequent upon post-glacial faulting. Those post-glacial faults are growth faults as demonstrated by the consistently greater thickness, unit-by-unit, of unconsolidated sediments on the downthrown (northwest) side of the faults relative to their counterparts on the upthrown (southeast) side. Underneath the western part of Lake Ontario is a monoclinal warp that displaces the glacial and post-glacial sediments, and the underlying bedrock–sediment interface. Because of the post-glacial growth faults and the monoclinal warp the St. Lawrence fault zone is inferred to be tectonically active beneath Lake Ontario. Furthermore, within the lake it crosses at least five major faults and fault zones and coexists with other neotectonic structures. Those attributes, combined with the large earthquakes associated with the St. Lawrence fault zone well to the northeast of Lake Ontario, suggest that the seismic risk in the area surrounding and including Lake Ontario is likely much greater than previously believed.     

黄土高原表土磁化率与气候要素的定量关系研究

黄土高原地区已建立多个表土低频磁化率-气候转换函数,为黄土古气候定量重建提供了关键方法。但是表土磁化率变化的气候控制因素的系统研究尚未开展; 同时,低频磁化率部分受到沉积作用的影响,需要寻找气候意义更明确的指标。我们系统采集了黄土高原及周边地区的表土样品,运用相关、回归和因子分析等方法,研究了不同气候要素及其季节变化对表土磁化率和频率磁化率的控制作用。结果显示,湿度是控制黄土高原表土磁化率的主要因素,温度的影响相对较小; 降水的季节分配也有影响,月降水变率较小的地区磁化率较高。在此基础上,选择反映成壤磁性颗粒组分的频率磁化率,建立了频率磁化率-年均降水量的转换函数,为黄土古气候定量估算提供了新的途径。     

Mixed-function oxygenases as biological monitors around petroleum hydrocarbon development sites: Potential for induction by diesel and other drilling mud base oils containing reduced levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

The use of oil-based drilling muds has been discouraged in hydrocarbon exploration and production in the marine environment but these muds are presently being used to a considerable degree in the United Kingdom and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. Field studies in the North Sea have demonstrated only localized impacts around individual drilling sites,^1,2 even including those sites where ‘toxic’ diesel oils were employed as base fluids in drilling muds. Yet the question of disposal of cuttings contaminated with oil from drilling muds remains somewhat controversial. The induction of mixed-function oxygenases (MFO) has been validated on a number of occasions in the field as a sensitive index of low level hydrocarbon exposure (reviewed by Payne),³ including sites in the North Sea where diesel-based muds were used.⁴ The present study demonstrates that any potential for induction by hydrocarbon contaminated cuttings will probably be reduced by substitution of low-aromatic base oils for diesel in drilling mud formulations.     

Crystal features of supergene gold at Hannan South,Western Australia

Deep weathering of basalt-hosted sulphidic gold mineralisation has resulted in remobilisation of the gold and the formation of a supergene deposit. The deposit occurs beneath an ephemeral lake system and is at least partially saturated by highly saline groundwater. A general downward movement of an iron redox front associated with the weathering has controlled the distribution of the gold and its morphology. It is unusual in that the high fineness gold crystals formed are coarse and well-preserved. Small octahedra, up to 50 μm, are the most abundant form of gold crystals but large, up to 3 mm, octahedral plates are common. Crystal morphology variations described here suggest that the gold is initially precipitated as euhedral octahedra and plates. Subsequent dissolution and recrystallisation associated with fluctuations in the chemical environment above the redox front has led to the development of the more common irregular dendritic or wire gold forms observed in other supergene deposits.     

Statistical characteristics of polar lows over the Nordic Seas based on satellite passive microwave data

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - In this study polar lows over the Nordic Seas for the period of 1995–2008 have been detected and studied using the Special Sensor Microwave Imager...