ESR/U-series chronology of the Lower Palaeolithic palaeoanthropological site of Visogliano, Trieste, Italy

The Visogliano shelter, in north-eastern Italy, is an important Middle Pleistocene occupation site where human remains were found together with an archaic lithic industry, including choppers, chopping tools and a few protobifaces. It is of utmost importance to try to document this period, when a second wave of settlement colonised Western Europe, carrying new flaking techniques and tools.Combined ESR/U-series analyses, integrated with biostratigraphical and environmental data, define a chronological frame for the layers from which the artefacts were unearthed. The lower levels, including human remains, can be dated to the 350–500 kyr time span, in agreement with micromammal and stratigraphical studies.These data make Visogliano one of the oldest palaeoanthropological sites in Italy, where human remains are directly associated with protobifaces, choppers and chopping tools. In Western Europe, Visogliano is contemporaneous to the G soil of the Arago Cave, France, with which it shares several similarities in faunal assemblages and radiometric data, and which contains human remains also. These data make Visogliano as one of the oldest sites in Europe where the Acheulian culture is observed.     

Development of a Field Preconcentration/Elution Unit for Routine Determination of Dissolved Metal Concentrations by ICP-OES in Marine Waters: Application for Monitoring of the New Caledonia Lagoon

An iminodiacetate chelating resin was optimised for the rapid determination of Co, Cu, Fe, Mn and Ni in seawater. Using inexpensive, high-capacity, reusable cartridges allowed high flow rates of up to 25 ml min⁻¹. High preconcentration factors, of up to 500, were obtained in order to analyse samples using an ICP-OES. The requirement for a buffer was eliminated due to the high tolerance of the ICP-OES to interfering matrix elements, thereby further reducing the potential for contamination. Quantification limits in seawater were: Co = 6 ng l⁻¹, Cu = 8 ng l⁻¹, Fe = 6 ng l⁻¹, Mn = 5 ng l⁻¹ and Ni = 6 ng l⁻¹. The method was verified by the analysis of near shore seawater (CASS-4) and open ocean seawater (NASS-5) reference materials. In order to satisfy the high sampling demands using the iminodiacetate cartridges, a portable off-line preconcentration unit was developed for routine analysis. The multi-channel preconcentration unit, was capable of treating up to eight samples simultaneously with concentrating times as little as 30 minutes. The technique was also used to determine dissolved metals in fresh and interstitial waters. The technique has been successfully used in a number of environmental studies and impact assessments to evaluate the effects of mining on the New Caledonian lagoon.     

Magnetic resonance sounding applied to aquifer characterization

Magnetic resonance sounding (MRS) is distinguished from other geophysical tools used for ground water investigation by the fact that it measures a magnetic resonance signal generated directly from subsurface water molecules. An alternating current pulse energizes a wire loop on the ground surface and the MRS signal is generated; subsurface water is indicated, with a high degree of reliability, by nonzero amplitude readings. Measurements with varied pulse magnitudes then reveal the depth and thickness of water saturated layers. The hydraulic conductivity of aquifers can also be estimated using boreholes for calibration. MRS can be used for both predicting the yield of water supply wells and for interpolation between boreholes, thereby reducing the number of holes required for hydrogeological modeling. An example of the practical application of MRS combined with two-dimensional electrical imaging, in the Kerbernez and Kerien catchments area of France, demonstrates the efficiency of the technique.     

The carbon dioxide solubility in alkali basalts: an experimental study

Experiments were conducted to determine CO₂ solubilities in alkali basalts from Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli volcanoes. The basaltic melts were equilibrated with nearly pure CO₂ at 1,200°C under oxidizing conditions and at pressures ranging from 269 to 2,060 bars. CO₂ solubility was determined by FTIR measurements. The results show that alkalis have a strong effect on the CO₂ solubility and confirm and refine the relationship between the compositional parameter Π devised by Dixon (Am Mineral 82:368–378, 1997) and the CO₂ solubility. A general thermodynamic model for CO₂ solubility in basaltic melts is defined for pressures up to 2 kbars. Based on the assumption that O²⁻ and CO₃²⁻ mix ideally, we have:

Petrology and U/Pb geochronology of the Telohat migmatites,Aleksod, Central Hoggar,Algeria

The Aleksod region is composed of metasedimentary rocks and large areas of biotite and hornblende-bearing migmatites. Anatexis associated with the main deformation stages, occurred under high pressure and temperature conditions estimated at 13±2 Kbar and 750±50° C. The bulk mineralogical composition of the Telohat migmatites shows that their protolith was granodioritic. Internal structures of zircons and U-Pb data suggest a polyphased evolution, with a 2131±12 Ma age for the protolith and a 609±17 Ma age for the Pan-African tectono-metamorphic evolution, thus precluding any Kibaran event in the Aleksod area. Leucosomes are richer in Sr and display lower Rb, Zr, Nb, Y, Th, U and REE contents than melanosomes wherein accessory phases are stored. Eu contents are also lower in the leucosomes but in lesser proportion than the other rare earth's, leading to a significant positive anomaly. Petrogenetic modelling accounting for accessory mineral phases clearly shows that the trace element contents of leucosomes and melanosomes follow a distribution law consistent neither with equilibrium nor fractional melting. Their trace element patterns are best explained by the model of disequilibrium melting, with mixing of a few residual phases. The present results and previous Sr isotopic data as well raise the question of disequilibrium melting in anatexis of crustal material CRPG Contribution no 782     

Preliminary results about the stability of an intermediate water current

Experiments were run on a 14 m diameter rotating platform to study the stability conditions for a constant volume flow rate current of intermediate water. The flow was introduced in a two-layer system initially at rest in solid body rotation, along the sidewall of the tank, and allowed freely to evolve. A sink collected the intermediate water and thus ensured that the free surface height was constant. Thus the upstream conditions were the rotation rate, the volume flow rate, the density and the initial width of the intermediate current, which was in geostrophic equilibrium when it left the source; i.e. its thickness along the wall at the source was fixed by this condition. The relevant parameters appear to be the Ekman and the Burger numbers. The data collected from the experiments are very consistent, and it appears that there were five typical flow regimes: (1) a stable current along the whole basin; (2) a series of cyclonic vortices attached to the outer edge of the current, with an upstream stable current; (3) a large cyclonic vortex attached to an anticyclonic instability; (4) dipoles shed from the current into the interior fluid; and (5) generation of lenses of intermediate water, similar to meddies. This last result shows that no topographical effect is required to generate such long-lived lenses, which then drift slowly upstream as the dipoles do.     

Comparison of wind and wave measurements and models in the Western Mediterranean Sea

We have hindcast the wind and wave conditions in the Mediterranean Sea for two one month periods. Four different meteorological models and three different wave models have been used. The results have been compared with satellite and buoy wind and wave observations.Several conclusions concerning both the instruments and the models have been derived. The quality of both wind and wave results has been assessed. Close to the coasts high resolution, nested wave models are required for sufficient reliability.A wave threshold analysis suggests a sufficient reliability only off the coast, with a substantial decrease for low wave heights.     

Young (late Amazonian), near-surface, ground ice features near the equator, Athabasca Valles, Mars

A suite of four feature types in a ∼20 km² area near 10° N, 204° W in Athabasca Valles is interpreted to have resulted from near-surface ground ice. These features include mounds, conical forms with rimmed summit depressions, flatter irregularly-shaped forms with raised rims, and polygonal terrain. Based on morphology, size, and analogy to terrestrial ground ice forms, these Athabascan features are interpreted as pingos, collapsing pingos, pingo scars, and thermal contraction polygons, respectively. Thermal Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (THEMIS) data and geological features in the area are consistent with a sedimentary substrate underlying these features. These observations lead us to favor a ground ice interpretation, although we do not rule out volcanic and especially glaciofluvial hypotheses. The hypothesized ground ice that formed the mounds and rimmed features may have been emplaced via the deposition of saturated sediment during flooding; an alternative scenario invokes magmatically cycled groundwater. The ground ice implicit in the hypothesized thermal contraction polygons may have derived either from this flooding/ground water, or from atmospheric water vapor. The lack of obvious flood modification of the mounds and rimmed features indicates that they formed after the most recent flood inundated the area. Analogy with terrestrial pingos suggests that ground ice may be still extant within the positive relief mounds. As the water that flooded down Athabasca Valles emerged via a volcanotectonic fissure from a deep aquifer, any extant pingo ice may contain evidence of a deep subsurface biosphere.