The Preboreal climate reversal and a subsequent solar‐forced climate shift

Accurate chronologies are essential for linking palaeoclimate archives. Carbon‐14 wiggle‐match dating was used to produce an accurate chronology for part of an early Holocene peat sequence from the Borchert (The Netherlands). Following the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition, two climatic shifts could be inferred. Around 11 400 cal. yr BP the expansion of birch (Betula) forest was interrupted by a dry continental phase with dominantly open grassland vegetation, coeval with the PBO (Preboreal Oscillation), as observed in the GRIP ice core. At 11 250 cal. yr BP a sudden shift to a humid climate occurred. This second change appears to be contemporaneous with: (i) a sharp increase of atmospheric ¹⁴C; (ii) a temporary decline of atmospheric CO₂; and (iii) an increase in the GRIP ¹⁰Be flux. The close correspondence with excursions of cosmogenic nuclides points to a decline in solar activity, which may have forced the changes in climate and vegetation at around 11 250 cal. yr BP. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of ferrous and ferric Mössbauer fractions

The Mössbauer fractions f for various ferrous- and/or ferric-containing oxides and oxyhydroxides, silicates and carbonates were evaluated from the experimental temperature dependence of their center shifts, using the Debye approximation for the second-order Doppler shift. It is concluded that ferrous ions exhibit a lower fraction as compared to ferric ions. Using standard mixtures of -Fe₂O₃ with selected Fe²⁺ or Fe³⁺ compounds, it is found that the calculated Fe³⁺ f values are somewhat overestimated with respect to those of Fe²⁺. Possible explanations for this shortcoming are discussed and it is suggested that a different temperature dependence of the intrinsic isomer shift is the most likely reason. This suggestion is corroborated by analyses of hematite and hedenbergite data which are available for temperatures up to 900 K and 800 K respectively.     

The relation between molecular clouds and stellar kinematics

The relation between molecular clouds, star clusters, and the stellar component of the galactic disk is investigated. According to Elmegreen (1985) bound stellar systems, e.g., open star clusters, can be formed from molecular cloud of mass 10⁴ M . A close encounter with a giant molecular cloud or massive black hole disrupts such stellar systems and forms superclusters. This explains why some open star clusters are so mass-deficient. Unbound stellar systems, e.g., expanding OB associations, are formed from molecular clouds of mass 10⁵ M . When disruptive O-type stars appear the star formation is halted and the cloud is destroyed. An example of the relict of GMC disruption in the solar vicinity is Gould's belt. The velocity dispersion-versus-age relation is also investigated and explained as a consequence of gravitational scattering of stars on GMC, or massive black holes, or as due to recurrent transient spirals.Paper presented at a Workshop on The Role of Dust in Dense Regions of Interstellar Matter, held at Georgenthal, G.D.R., in March 1986.     

Sunspot nests

For the period August 1959–December 1964 the Greenwich Photoheliographic Results were searched for sunspot nests. Such a nest is a sequence of sunspot groups that appear within a small area on the solar surface and that last for several months. The search procedure is described and data for 41 probable sunspot nests are given. At least three quarters of these nests appear to be real, and not chance clusters.The nests are the same type of activity sequences as the Fleckenherde discovered by Becker (1955) and the complexes of activity pointed out by Gaizauskas et al. (1983). The complexes of activity as defined by Bumba and Howard (1965) are different patterns, however; the relation between complexes and the nests is shown.Some properties of the nests are: (i) many nests appear as double structures; (ii) single nests and components of double nests are quite compact: the effective areas are comparable to those of medium-large sunspot groups; (iii) each nest rotates at its own steady rate about the Sun; (iv) the intrinsic scatter in the rotation rates is much larger than the trend in the differential rotation; (v) displacements in latitude are less than a few meters per second; (vi) many nests live for 6 to 15 Carrington rotation periods, the minimum lifetime is not yet determined; (vii) the fraction of the sunspot groups that are members of nests is large (at least 30%).     

Accuracy of close binary mass determinations from parallaxes

Absolute masses for W Ursae Majoris and Algol-type close binaries can be determined from their parallax, if observed, and the relative sizes of the stars and their mass ratio, obtained from a light curve solution. An error propagation study compares the typical order of magnitude of the various terms involved, and shows how accurate parallaxes have to be in order to make the procedure work, i.e., making the parallax term not larger than the combined non-parallax terms, and producing reasonably low mass errors. Some comments are made on the possibilities with respect to the HIPPARCOS program.Communication presented at the International Conference on Astrometric Binaries, held on 13–15 June, 1984, at the Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, Germany, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846).     

Emission features in the solar corona after the perihelion passage of Comet 1979 XI

On the coronograph spectrophotographic records taken on 31.372 UT, August 1979, some faint emission features were found which can be ascribed to Siii and Niii. These emissions were obviously a transient phenomena which were detected only 10 hr after the supposed fall of Comet 1979 XI in the Sun's photosphere. It cannot be excluded that the appearance of Si and Ni lines was triggered by the evaporation of dust particles with a high abundance of heavier elements in the solar corona. This assumption is also supported by intensity distribution of the Fex coronal line around the Sun's limb. The maximum coincide with the position angle of the projected path of the comet.     

Opening of the Fram Strait gateway: A review of plate tectonic constraints

We have revised the regional crustal structure, oceanic age distribution, and conjugate margin segmentation in and around the Lena Trough, the oceanic part of the Fram Strait between the Norwegian–Greenland Sea and the Eurasia Basin (Arctic Ocean). The Lena Trough started to open after Eurasia–Greenland relative plate motions changed from right-lateral shear to oblique divergence at Chron 13 times (33.3 Ma; earliest Oligocene). A new Bouguer gravity map, supported by existing seismic data and aeromagnetic profiles, has been applied to interpret the continent–ocean transition and the influence of Eocene shear structures on the timing of breakup and initial seafloor spreading. Assuming that the onset of deep-water exchange depended on the formation of a narrow, oceanic corridor, the gateway formed during early Miocene times (20–15 Ma). However, if the initial Lena Trough was blocked by terrigenous sediments or was insufficiently subsided to allow for deep-water circulation, the gateway probably formed with the first well developed magnetic seafloor spreading anomaly around Chron 5 times (9.8 Ma; Late Miocene). Paleoceanographic changes at ODP Site 909 (northern Hovgård Ridge) are consistent with both hypotheses of gateway formation. We cannot rule out that a minor gateway formed across stretched continental crust prior to the onset of seafloor spreading in the Lena Trough. The gravity, seismic and magnetic observations question the prevailing hypotheses on the Yermak Plateau and the Morris Jesup Rise as Eocene oceanic plateaus and the Hovgård Ridge as a microcontinent.     

Determining effective wellbore permeability from a field pressure test: a numerical analysis of detection limits

We propose a simple pressure test that can be used in the field to determine the effective permeability of existing wellbores. Such tests are motivated by the need to understand and quantify leakage risks associated with geological storage of CO₂ in mature sedimentary basins. If CO₂ is injected into a deep geological formation, and the resulting CO₂ plume encounters a wellbore, leakage may occur through various pathways in the “disturbed zone” surrounding the well casing. The effective permeability of this composite zone, on the outside of the well casing, is an important parameter for models of leakage. However, the data that exist on this key parameter do not exist in the open literature, and therefore specific field tests need to be done in order to reduce the uncertainty inherent in the leakage estimates. The test designed and analyzed herein is designed to measure effective wellbore permeability within a low-permeability caprock, bounded above and below by permeable reservoirs, by pressurizing the reservoir below and measuring the response in the reservoir above. Alternatively, a modified test can be performed within the caprock without directly contacting the reservoirs above and below. We use numerical simulation to relate pressure response to effective well permeability and then evaluate the range of detection of the effective permeability based on instrument measurement error and limits on fracture pressure. These results can guide field experiments associated with site characterization and leakage analysis.