Detrital zircon geochronology of Palaeozoic Novaya Zemlya – a key to understanding the basement of the Barents Shelf

The Novaya Zemlya fold‐and‐thrust‐belt is the northern continuation of the late Palaeozoic Uralide Orogen. Little is known about its deeper structure and the basement history of the adjacent Barents and Kara shelves. Based on geological evidence and detrital zircon analysis of 28 samples from the northeastern and stratigraphically deepest part of the archipelago, we demonstrate that Cambro‐Ordovician turbidite‐dominated deposition was almost exclusively sourced from rocks consolidated during the Timanian orogeny (Timanian basement). A profound change in provenance occurred near the end of the Ordovician. Over 90% of the zircons from Silurian and about 80% from Devonian strata have ages characteristic of the Sveconorwegian Orogen, implying uplift of these rocks in the vicinity of Novaya Zemlya. The presence of Sveconorwegian and Grenvillian rocks in the high Arctic suggests revision of recent reconstructions of the Rodinia supercontinent, its break‐up and subsequent Caledonian orogeny.     

Leveraging modern climatology to increase adaptive capacity across protected area networks

Human-driven changes in the global environment pose an increasingly urgent challenge for the management of ecosystems that is made all the more difficult by the uncertain future of both environmental conditions and ecological responses. Land managers need strategies to increase regional adaptive capacity, but relevant and rapid assessment approaches are lacking. To address this need, we developed a method to assess regional protected area networks across biophysically important climatic gradients often linked to biodiversity and ecosystem function. We plot the land of the southwestern United States across axes of historical climate space, and identify landscapes that may serve as strategic additions to current protected area portfolios. Considering climate space is straightforward, and it can be applied using a variety of relevant climate parameters across differing levels of land protection status. The resulting maps identify lands that are climatically distinct from existing protected areas, and may be utilized in combination with other ecological and socio-economic information essential to collaborative landscape-scale decision-making. Alongside other strategies intended to protect species of special concern, natural resources, and other ecosystem services, the methods presented herein provide another important hedging strategy intended to increase the adaptive capacity of protected area networks.     

Plate and intraplate processes of Hercynian Europe during the late paleozoic

It is speculated that until Late Carboniferous time the region of Hercynian Europe was occupied by an elongated island arc system underlain by a segment of continental crust. In the Upper Carboniferous, two subduction zones are assumed to have extended from the north and south beneath Hercynian Europe. An extensive zone of hot, partially molten upper mantle lay above and between these, and diapiric uprise of portions of this material led to separation of mafic magmas, widespread partial melting in the lower and middle crust, high temperature-low pressure metamorphism in crustal rocks, and regional uplift and extension of the crust, as indicated by intermontane troughs and their associated volcanic rocks.In Visean to Westphalian time Hercynian Europe collided with both the large neighbouring plates North America-Europe and Africa. During these diachronous collisions and owing to reduced rigidity of the relatively hot island arc crust, the irregular continental margins of the larger and thicker continental plates induced oroclinal bending of Hercynian Europe. After the collision processes had been terminated, processes of upper mantle activity continued, causing further crustal uplift and even, enhanced crustal extension for several tens of million years into the Lower Permian. Decline of the upper mantle activity beneath Hercynian Europe is indicated by crustal subsidence and formation of a peneplain in Permian time followed by the Upper Permian transgression of both the Zechstein sea and the Tethys sea which mark the end of the Hercynian geodynamic cycle.     

Methoxy formation in the reaction of CH3O2 radicals with NO

Formation of methoxy (CH₃O) radicals in the reaction (1) CH₃O₂+NOCH₃O+NO₂ at 298 K has been observed directly using time resolved LIF. The branching ratio % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaeqOXdyMaae% 4qaiaabIeadaWgaaWcbaGaae4maaqabaGccaqGpbGaaeiiaiaabIca% ieqacaWF9aGaa8hiaiaa-nbicaWFGaGaeuiLdqKaai4waiaaboeaca% qGibWaaSbaaSqaaiaabodaaeqaaOGaae4taiaac2facaWFVaGaeuiL% dqKaai4waiaaboeacaqGibWaaSbaaSqaaiaabodaaeqaaOGaae4tam% aaBaaaleaacaqGYaaabeaakiaac2facaqGPaaaaa!4E31!\[\phi {\rm{CH}}_{\rm{3}} {\rm{O (}} = -- \Delta [{\rm{CH}}_{\rm{3}} {\rm{O}}]/\Delta [{\rm{CH}}_{\rm{3}} {\rm{O}}_{\rm{2}} ]{\rm{)}}\] has been determined by quantitative cw-UV-laser absorption at 257 nm of CH₃O₂ and CH₃ONO, the product of the consecutive methoxy trapping reaction (2) % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaae4qaiaabI% eadaWgaaWcbaGaae4maaqabaGccaqGpbacbeGaa83kaiaa-bcaieaa% caGFobGaa43taiaa+bcacaGFOaGaa83kaiaa+1eacaGFPaGaa4hiai% abgkziUkaabccacaqGdbGaaeisamaaBaaaleaacaqGZaaabeaakiaa% b+eacaqGGaGaaeOtaiaab+eacaqGGaGaa4hkaiaa-TcacaGFnbGaa4% xkaiaa+5cacaGFGaGaa4hiaiabeA8aMnaaBaaajqwaacqaaiaaboea% caqGibWaaSbaaKazcaiabaGaae4maaqabaqcKfaGaiaab+eaaSqaba% aaaa!55AC!\[{\rm{CH}}_{\rm{3}} {\rm{O}} + NO ( + M) \to {\rm{ CH}}_{\rm{3}} {\rm{O NO }}( + M). \phi _{{\rm{CH}}_{\rm{3}} {\rm{O}}} \] is found to be (1.0±0.2). The rate constant k ₁ is (7±2) 10^-12 cm³/molecule · s in good agreement with previous results.     

On the growth of maars and diatremes and its relevance to the formation of tuff rings

Small and large maars exist associated with small and large diatremes, respectively, their subsurface feeder structures. The problem of size and growth of maar-diatreme volcanoes is discussed from a phreatomagmatic point of view from field data, some geophysical data, and short-lived historic maar eruptions. A hydrostatic pressure barrier of usually about 20–30 bars is assumed to control the maximum depth level of explosive magma/groundwater interactions. Similar to the situation in submarine and subglacial volcanism, initial maar-forming water vapour explosions are therefore assumed to occur at shallow depth and to produce a small maar with a shallow diatreme. Because of limited availability of groundwater and ejection of groundwater in the form of steam, the confining pressure barrier is displaced downward. Consequently, water vapour explosions can take place at consecutively deeper levels with the result that the diatreme penetrates downward and grows in size. Since maars are collapse craters resulting from ejection of wallrocks fragmented by water vapour explosions at the level of the diatreme root zone, downward penetration of a diatreme not only results in increase in size of a diatreme but also in increase in size of the overlying maar. As availability of groundwater in limited amounts controls formation of diatremes and their downward penetration, lack of groundwater enables magma to rise within a diatreme and to form a scoria cone or lava lake within the maar, as is frequently found in volcanic fields such as the Eifel area in Germany. In contrast, availability of large amounts of water in near surface environments such as shallow marine, lake, water-rich coastal plains, or water-rich fluviatile gravel beds prevents formation of maars and deep diatremes but causes formation of tuff rings.     

External ballistic of volcanic explosions

In order to determine the kinetic energy of an explosion it is necessary to know the initial velocities of ejected fragments. Calculations of initial velocities made earlier with few exceptions did not take into account the resistance of the air and therefore, greatly underestimated the initial velocities, and consequently the energy of the explosions. A solution of the inverse problem of ballistics which takes into account air resistance makes it possible to find precise values of initial velocities of ejection, determined from the distance of ejected fragments and their ballistic coefficients. The method makes it possible to determine the kinetic energy of explosions for eruptions which were not directly observed. It is shown that the velocity field in volcanic explosions is not spherical,i.e. the velocities of ejection of fragments differ markedly in different directions. Accordingly, the maximum distance of ejection of fragments depends not only on the initial angle of ejection, but also on the character of distribution of initial velocities and the ballistic coefficients of the fragments. For fragments with diameters of 40 cm to 2 m the maximum distance of ejection is realized in the case of angles of ejection of 30–36°. For smaller fragments the optimal angles of ejection are still smaller. The ballistics of explosive eruptions of the volcanoes Asama, Arenal, and Shiveluch are considered.     

Mapping the Globalization of the Temporary Staffing Industry*

Very little is currently known about the globalization of the temporary staffing industry, a strategically significant sector given its role in promulgating wider labor market flexibility. This article starts to rectify this research lacuna in four ways: by conceptualizing the international expansion of temporary staffing and comparing it to other business service sectors, by identifying and mapping the top twenty transnational staffing agencies, by offering a typology of the leading transnational agencies based on their functional and geographic characteristics, and by charting a research agenda for future work on this sector.     

Chemical composition of lunar meteorites and the lunar crust

The paper presents the first analyses of major and trace elements in 19 lunar meteorites newly found in Oman. These and literature data were used to assay the composition of highland, mare, and transitional (highland-mare interface) regions of the lunar surface. The databank used in the research comprises data on 44 meteorites weighing 11 kg in total, which likely represent 26 individual falls. Our data demonstrate that the lunar highland crust should be richer in Ca and Al but poorer in mafic and incompatible elements than it was thought based on studying lunar samples and the first orbital data. The Ir concentration in the highland crust and the analysis of lunar crater population suggest that most lunar impactites were formed by a single major impact event, which predetermined the geochemical characteristics of these rocks. Lunar mare regions should be dominated by low-Ti basalts, which are, however, enriched in LREEs compared to those sampled by lunar missions. The typical material of mare-highland interface zones can contain KREEP and magnesian VLT basalts. The composition of the lunar highland crust deduced from the chemistry of lunar meteorites does not contradict the model of the lunar magma ocean, but the average composition of lunar mare meteorites is inconsistent with this concept and suggests assimilation of KREEP material by basaltic magmas. The newly obtained evaluations of the composition of the highland crust confirm that the Moon can be enriched in refractory elements and depleted in volatile and siderophile elements.