Physiological adaptations in Coleoptera on Spitsbergen

Metabolic rates and Q₁₀ values were determined for three species of Spitsbergen Coleoptera, Amara quenseli, Simplocaria metallica and Rhynchaenus flagellum . The beetles had metabolic rates which were elevated compared to values of Coleoptera from other regions. This is interpreted as an adaptation to the prevailing low temperatures and short activity period on Spitsbergen.
A. quenseli had rates of water loss comparable to values of beetles in temperate and tropical xeric habitats, indicating that the habitat of the beetles on Spitsbergen at least occasionally is xeric.
Determination of cold-hardiness parameters such as supercooling point and haemolymph melting point of A. quenseli beetles revealed that the beetles had values corresponding to those of active insects in the temperate and tropical region. They had no thermal hysteresis factors. Thus, during summer they show no physiological adaptations to cold.     

Mid-Jurassic through mid-Cretaceous extension in the Central Graben of the North Sea - part 2: estimates from faulting observed on a seismic reflection line

Abstract We present an interpretation of the structure and faulting of an industry multichannel line across the Central North Sea Graben. We observe substantial faulting between the mid-Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous and on the base Zechstein (salt) reflector. To estimate the extension from these faults we consider movement along both planar and curved faults. We demonstrate that summing the heave (the horizontal displacement) overestimates the time measure of elongation for planar, ‘domino-type’, faulting. However, for high-angle normal faults and up to 70% extension (β= 1.7) the heave only overestimates the extension by 13%. In the absence of other information, summing the heave provides a useful estimate of extension in the case of domino-type faulting. For curved ‘listric’ faults the heave is only a true measure of the elongation if the antithetic faulting which removes the voids is vertical. Antithetic movement along inclined shear planes implies significantly more extension. We used the two models; of faulting to introduce progressively greater amounts of internal deformation in the crustal rocks and sediments to attempt to reconcile the estimate of extension necessary to give the observed subsidence and that given by analysing the faults visible on the seismic line. Estimates of extension obtained by allowing antithetic faulting along inclined shear planes are consistent with the range of estimates necessary to account for the post-mid-Jurassic subsidence. The estimates for the prior mid-Jurassic faulting are still substantially less than those necessary to explain the subsidence. However, this is not of major concern as there are many reasons as to why analysis of the faulting should underestimate the pre mid-Jurassic extension. Our interpretation of the seismic line implies curved faults bottoming in the lithologically weak Zechstein salt. These faults are decoupled from the region below and, hence, do not reflect the geometry of the faulting in the basement.     

Ecophysiological studies on arthropods from Spitsbergen

The cold-hardiness, high temperature tolerance and metabolic activity of summer specimens of staphylinid beetles ( Atheta graminicola ), collembolans ( Onichiurus groenlandicus ), spiders ( Erigone arctica ), and prostigmatid mites ( Molgus littoralis ) from Spitsbergen were investigated. The animals displayed cold-hardiness and haemolymph melting points within the normal ranges for summer insects from temperate regions, but were less tolerant to high temperatures. Haemolymph from spiders and from one species of collembolans ( Isotoma sp.) was found to contain thermal hysteresis factors. The beetles, collembolans, and mites were found to have oxygen consumption rates above the values of their relatives in other climatic zones, whereas the spiders had values within the range of temperate arachnoids. The study supports the view that polar arthropods have activation energy values lower than those of temperate animals.     

俯冲板片中微量元素的活动性:西天山榴辉岩相运输脉的制约

西天山的基性高压变质岩显示互相连接的榴辉岩相脉体网络来源于蓝片岩的进变质脱水作用,通过这些网脉可以洞察在俯冲带高压条件下远程流体流动中的流体-岩石相互作用和元素负载。岩相学证据表明外来流体的渗透作用产生运输脉,而流体持续的沟道式流动导致主岩蓝片岩的淋滤。脉和蓝片岩蚀变带中锂(Li)的含量几乎是蓝片岩主岩中锂的两倍,它支持流体是外部来源的设想。这些流体触发了蓝片岩主岩的榴辉岩化作用而形成蓝片岩蚀变带。由于成脉流体中的微量元素含量低,所以导致与流体发生化学反应的主岩中所有微量元素的强烈淋滤。在此过程中有53%~81%的微量元素被活化,与大离子亲石元素和轻稀土元素的损失相符合,它们的损失量几乎是重稀土元素和高场强元素损失量的两倍。     

Equilibration History of the Basel Alpine-Type Peridotite, Red Mountain, New Zealand

The Red Mountain alpine peridotie forms the basal, dominantlyharzburgitic tectonite portion of an ophiolite suite in SouthIsland, New Zealand. Olivine and pyroxene Mg/Fe compositionsare constant for individual lithologies, but generally increasethrough the series harzburgite, orthopyroxenite, harzburgiticdunite, dunite. An olivine-clinopyroxene dominated transitionalperidotite along the western margin of the mass has more Fe-richsilicates than in the harzburgitic suite. Fe-Mg silicate-spinelrelationships and the distribution of Al between coexistingpyroxene and spinel indicate nearly complete post-layering equilibration.A partial re-equilibration is suggested by narrow compositionalrims on pyroxenes and spinel. Relative to the mineral cores,the rims show enhanced partitioning of Al into spinel relativeto pyroxene. The Fe-Mg relationships between silicates and spinel,and the compositional variations from cores to rims of pyroxenesand spinels indicate that the rims formed at lower temperaturesthan the mineral cores. This conclusion is supported by theapplication of several geothermometers, which give average temperaturesof equilibration and partial re-equilibration of 1000–1070?C and 920–1030 ?C, respectively. Pyroxene overgrowthson olivine probably represent pre-equilibration cooling phenomena.Equilibration pressures cannot be estimated with precision becauseRed Mountain pyroxenes have Al contents that vary as a functionof whole-rock Al₂O₃, and other compositional variables, as wellas of T and P of equilibration. The lack of plagioclase in theharzburgite tectonites, and the wide range of (Al/Cr)_spinelindicate equilibration at fairly high pressures, probably atdepths within the 25–80 km range. The transitional peridotiteprobably formed by re-equilibration of residual crystals withbasaltic melt at shallower (<25 km) depths, and is evidencesupporting the conclusion that the ultramafic and mafic partsof the ophiolite suite at Red Mountain represent complementaryparts of the same melting event.     

REE and PGE Geochemical Constraints on the Formation of Dunites in the Luobusa Ophiolite, Southern Tibet

The Luobusa ophiolite, Southern Tibet, lies in the Indus–YarlungZangbo suture zone that separates Eurasia to the north fromthe Indian continent to the south. The ophiolite contains awell-preserved mantle sequence consisting of harzburgite, clinopyroxene(cpx)-bearing harzburgite and dunite. The harzburgite containsabundant pods of chromitite, most of which have dunite envelopes,and the cpx-bearing harzburgites host numerous dunite dykes.Dunite also exists as a massive unit similar to those of themantle–crust transition zones in other ophiolites. Allof the dunites in the ophiolite have a similar mineralogy, comprisingmainly olivine with minor orthopyroxene and chromite and tracesof clinopyroxene. They also display similar chemical compositions,including U-shaped chondrite-normalized REE patterns. Mantle-normalizedPGE patterns show variable negative Pt anomalies. Detailed analysisof a chromite-bearing dunite dyke, which grades into the hostcpx-bearing harzburgite, indicates that LREE and Ir decrease,whereas HREE, Pd and Pt increase away from the dunite. Thesefeatures are consistent with formation of the dunite dykes byinteraction of MORB peridotites with boninitic melts from whichthe chromitites were formed. Because the transition-zone dunitesare mineralogically and chemically identical to those formedby such melt–rock reaction, we infer that they are ofsimilar origin. The Luobusa ultramafic rocks originally formedas MORB-source upper mantle, which was subsequently trappedas part of a mantle wedge above a subduction zone. Hydrous meltsgenerated under the influence of the subducted slab at depthmigrated upward and reacted with the cpx-bearing harzburgitesto form the dunite dykes. The modified melts ponded in smallpockets higher in the section, where they produced podiformchromitites with dunite envelopes. At the top of the mantlesection, pervasive reaction between melts and harzburgite producedthe transition-zone dunites. KEY WORDS: melt–rock interaction; REE; PGE; hydrous melt; mantle; ophiolite; Tibet     

The status of the 'Little Ice Age' in southern Norway: relative-age dating of Neoglacial moraines with Schmidt hammer and lichenometry

A Schmidt hammer was used in conjunction with lichenometry to examine the relative age of the outermost Neoglacial moraines in front of glaciers in the Jotunheimen mountains of southern Norway. Particular attention was directed at (1) the magnitude of the 'Little Ice Age' glacier expansion episode relative to any others of Neoglacial age, and (2) the potential and limitations of the Schmidt hammer in the context of Holocene glacial chronologies. Schmidt hammer R-values were measured at 34 glaciers and the sizes of the lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum agg. at 80 glaciers. Unusually low R-values and large lichens suggest the occurrence of pre- 'Little lee Age' Neoglacial moraines at only a small minority (< 10 %) of the sampled glaciers. The traditional model of relatively large southern Norwegian glaciers during the 'Little Ice Age' is substantiated and it is tentatively suggested that differences in climate or glacier type may account for a regional difference in the status of the 'Little Ice Age' between northern and southern Scandinavia. The incorporation of weathered boulders into 'Little Ice Age' moraines by glacier push mechanisms, and the altitudinally-related variation in boulder surface textures, are identified as major sources of potential error in the use of the Schmidt hammer R-values for relative-age determination of Neoglacial surfaces.     

Aeolian saltation threshold: the effect of density ratio

Saltation threshold data from three wind tunnels and from hydraulic flumes are presented to show that the dimensionless threshold friction speed for small particles is a continuous function of particle-to-fluid-density ratio. In addition, the dimensionless threshold speed is a function of the grain-friction Reynolds number and an interparticle force term. The variation with density ratio seems to be due to the relative energy with which particles impact other particles to initiate saltation.