Viscous model of plate tectonics for the Black Sea region (in relation to the problem of the late Cenozoic evolution of the Black Sea basins)

A numerical model of the Black Sea region (Northeastern Mediterranean) is presented in which it is regarded as a part of the mosaic plate ensemble consisting of the fixed East European platform; the active Arabian, Adriatic, and Pannonian plates; and passive East and West Black Sea and Mysian microplates, which are embedded in a plastically deformable regional orogenic matrix. The fields of displacements, stresses, and deformations in the region are calculated by means of the finite element method within the framework of a linear-viscous rheology approach to a system with nonhomogeneous viscosities. The velocity field obtained is in good agreement with published data of direct observations of plate displacements in the region. In the pressure field, areas of low pressure and decompression are established in the western part of Black Sea and in the south of the Mysian microplate. The poles of rotation of the East and West Black Sea microplates and of the Mysian microplate are computed. For the latter two microplates, significant rotational components are suggested. The East Black Sea microplate acts mostly as indenter, which transmits the collisional motion from the Arabian plate to the southern edge of the East European platform including the Crimea. According to the geodynamical model, the rates of the Cenozoic sedimentation in the Black Sea depression at the collision stage (Oligocene-Pliocene) result from the greater compression of the East Black Sea microplate as compared to the West Black Sea microplate, which, probably, experienced a kind of extension.     

Ecology of beach wrack in northern New England with special reference to Orchestia platensis

The northern New England beach wrack community with special reference to the cosmopolitan amphipod crustacean, Orchestia platensis, was examined at estuarine and open coastal habitats. Beach wrack was dominated by the plant genera Ascophyllum, Zostera, Spartina and Chondrus, and was most abundant during spring and late summer. Animal community numbers, biomass and frequency in fresh to moderately decomposed wrack were dominated by O. platensis throughout the year at all habitats; oligochaetes and Collembola were also important. The abundance of O. platensis showed high spatial and temporal variability, with low abundance generally associated with decreased amounts of wrack during colder months. An exception was the winter presence of the species at one estuarine habitat, in patchy aggregations within gravel-cobble refuges. The abundance of O. platensis averaged 1280 (0.04 m²)⁻¹, with a maximum of 7040 (0.04 m²)⁻¹. The life cycle of O. platensis is bivoltine, with summer-hatched young reaching maturity within 1 month. Laboratory studies indicate females with up to 4 broods (30 days)⁻¹, averaging 18 eggs brood⁻¹.Orchestia platensis is omnivorous, eating fresh plant tissue, live oligochaetes, Limulus eggs and diatom ‘fuzz’. The rate of laboratory consumption of algae and Zostera was 0.05 mg plant mg⁻¹ wet body weight day⁻¹. Presumptive predators of O. platensis are juvenile green crab, Carcinus maenus, and the earwig. Anisolabis maritima. The mobility, aggregation and aggressiveness of O. platensis assist the species in establishing and maintaining populations in the rigorous wrack habitat. The general competitive superiority of O. platensis over its congener, O. gammarella, and the co-occurrence of these species on both eastern and western Atlantic shores is discussed.     

Carbon-isotope composition of sediments from the Gulf of Papua

Rivers draining into the Gulf of Papua (GOP) from the Papua New Guinea mainland deliver approximately 340 × 10⁶ t yr^–1 of sediment to the marine environment. The terrestrially derived sediment contains 1.1 ± 0.2% particulate organic carbon with a carbon-isotope composition of –26.5 ± 0.2, and amounts to 3.7 ± 0.7 × 10⁶ t yr^–1. The carbon-isotope composition of sediments in the Gulf of Papua indicates that 40% of the sediment cover contains 75% or more terrestrially derived carbon. Suspended sediments that are transported beyond the delta complex of the Fly River are transported north and northwest, augmented by sediments from other rivers along the coast of the GOP. The carbon-isotope results suggest that a significant quantity of terrestrially derived sediment escapes from the GOP, either along the coastlines to east and west or into the deep ocean via the Moresby and Pandora troughs. Little sediment travels south onto the Great Barrier Reef shelf. Extrapolating the results from this study to the region of Oceania suggests a total flux of particulate organic carbon to the world's oceans from the islands of Oceania of ~ 90 × 10⁶ t yr^–1 or twice the flux of riverine POC from the major rivers of North America, South America, and Africa combined. While such a calculation must be considered illustrative only, the similar tectonic, geomorphologic, and climatic features of the islands of Oceania suggest that the calculation is unlikely to be grossly in error and that the rivers of Oceania therefore represent a major but poorly documented source of sediment and organic carbon to the global ocean.     

Stellar flare statistics — Physical consequences

The observational data permit us to establish clear statistical correlations between different parameters of stellar flare activity and the characteristics of quiet stars. These relations are:

1. between energies and frequencies of flares on stars of different luminosities;
2. between total radiation energies of flares and quiet stars both in X-ray and Balmer emission lines;
3. between flare decay rates just after the maxima and flare luminosities at maxima.

     

Evolution of latitude zonal structure of the large-scale magnetic field in solar cycles

Properties of a latitude zonal component of the large-scale solar magnetic field are analyzed on the basis of H charts for 1905–1982. Poleward migration of prominences is used to determine the time of reversal of the polar magnetic field for 1870–1905. It is shown that in each hemisphere the polar, middle latitude and equatorial zones of the predominant polarity of large-scale magnetic field can be detected by calculating the average latitude of prominence samples referred to one boundary of the large-scale magnetic field. The cases of a single and three-fold polar magnetic field reversal are investigated. It is shown that prominence samples referred to one boundary of the large-scale magnetic field do not have any regular equatorward drift. They manifest a poleward migration with a variable velocity up to 30 m s^-1 depending on the phase of the cycle. The direction of migration is the same for both low-latitude and high-latitude zones. Two different time intervals of poleward migration are found. One lasts from the beginning of the cycle to the time of polar magnetic field reversal and the other lasts from the time of reversal to the time of minimum activity. The velocity of poleward migration of prominences during the first period is from 5 m s^-1 to 30 m s^-1 and the second period is devoid of regular latitude drift.     

The eruption of a quiescent prominence as observed in UV lines

We compare observations of an eruptive and a quiescent prominence in order to better understand the energetic processes in an eruptive prominence. Observations of an eruptive prominence were obtained in H, several UV emission lines (1215–1640 Å), and coronal white light at approximately 19:00 UT on September 20, 1980. The data we present shows the development of the eruption in the H and UV emission lines and is compared with the intensities from similar observations of a quiescent prominence. While the event is coincident with some coronal changes, above 1.2 and up to 1.5 solar radii, it does not result in a true coronal mass ejection event.The comparison between the eruptive and quiescent prominences reveals several differences which suggest that the activation consists not only of a mechanical movement of material, but also changes in the temperature of the prominence plasma. Some prominence material that does not seem to participate in the large scale prominence motion is heated during the eruptive event. Most of this material is heated to transition zone temperatures with almost no cool core (i.e., no or very little H emission). The behavior indicates that there are structures that are first cool and then heat up to transition zone temperatures (apparently remaining stable for some time at these temperatures). Since this is an unstable temperature region for prominence type structures the energy transport that allows this is not understood and presents an interesting theoretical problem.Member of the Carrera del Investigador, CONICET, Argentina, presently at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.     

Irish on the move

Trends in emigration from Ireland over time are reviewed. "During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries overseas migration to the United States and seasonal harvest migration to Britain were the main types of movement, but over the past 100 years the Irish have developed a special affinity for settling in British towns. Although the outflow was halted for a time during the 1970s, when return migration took over, the 1980s have seen a renewal of the exodus. This time, however, the character of the flow has changed from predominantly low-skill construction and factory workers to embrace better-educated emigrants, including many graduates. This shift reflects Ireland's changing position in the international market for labour."     

The latitude of filament bands at the sunspot minimum and the activity level in the two following 11-year solar cycles

The zonal structure of the distribution of filaments is considered. The mean latitudes of two filament bands are calculated in each solar hemisphere at the minima of the sunspot cycle in the period 1924–1986: middle latitude _{2, m} and low latitude _{1, m} . It is shown that the mean latitude of the filament band _{2, m} at the minimum -m of the cycle correlates, with = 0.94, with the maximum - M sunspot area S(M) and maximum Wolf number W(M) in the succeeding solar cycle M. It is shown that the mean latitude of the low-latitude filament band _{1, m} is linearly dependent on the mean latitude filament band _{2, m + 1} at the succeeding minimum. We found a correlation of the latitude of the low-latitude filament band _{1, m} with the maximum sunspot area in the M + 1 cycle. This enables us to predict the power of two succeeding 11-year solar cycles on the basis of the latitude of filament bands at the minimum of activity, 1985–1986: W(22) - 205 ± 10, W(23) - 210 ± 10. The importance of the relationships found for theory and applied aspects is emphasized. An attempt is made to interpret the relationships physically.     

Light scattering by nonspherical ice grains: An application to noctilucent cloud particles

The light scattered by noctilucent cloud particles is nearly fully polarized at scattering angles in the vicinity of 90 . This was one of the reasons to conclude that the upper limit of their sizes is not larger than about 0.12 m. Nevertheless, this estimate was made on the basis of the Mie scattering theory for spherical particles, whereas many investigators noted usefulness of highly aspherical shapes of noctilucent cloud particles. In this paper, we used rigorous light scattering theory for randomly oriented nonspherical particles to calculate the degree of linear polarization of the scattered light for ice grains of different shape. By comparing these calculations with rocket polarization measurements of noctilucent clouds, we show that, as for spherical particles, the upper limit of particle equal-volume radii for slightly flattened and elongated grains is of about 0.12 m, while for highly aspherical plate-like and needle-like particles this upper limit is substantially larger and is of about 0.18–0.20 m. We also report calculations of the volumetric scattering cross-section for particles of different shape and show that randomly oriented spheroids have (slightly) smaller scattering cross section per unit particle mass than equal-volume spherical grains. Nevertheless, if in noctilucent clouds plate-like and needle-like grains grow to much larger sizes than spherical particles, their scattering efficiency may be much greater.