Electron-impact rotational excitation of linear molecular ions

Molecular R -matrix calculations are performed to give rotational excitation rates for electron collisions with linear molecular ions. Results are presented for CO⁺, HCO⁺, NO⁺ and H₂⁺ up to electron temperatures of 10 000 K. De-excitation rates and critical electron densities are also given. It is shown that the widely used Coulomb–Born approximation is valid for Δ j =1 transitions when the molecular ion has a dipole greater than about 2D, but otherwise is not reliable for studying electron-impact rotational excitation. In particular, transitions with Δ j >1 are found to have appreciable rates and are found to be entirely dominated by short-range effects.     

Hornton Stone: battlefields, buildings and Jurassic seas

The Hornton Stone is an unusually pure ooidal ironstone of the Lower Jurassic Marlstone Rock Formation, cropping out on the Edge Hill escarpment and adjacent ironstone plateau in central England. The stone has been quarried for building and ornamental purposes since Medieval times, and more recently as a source of iron ore. Local quarries and buildings provide excellent opportunities to appreciate its fossil content, sedimentary structures and origin.     

Organohalogen contaminants and trace metals in North-East Atlantic porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus)

The North-East Atlantic porbeagle (Lamna nasus) population has declined dramatically over the last few decades and is currently classified as ‘Critically Endangered’. As long-lived, apex predators, they may be vulnerable to bioaccumulation of contaminants. In this study organohalogen compounds and trace elements were analysed in 12 specimens caught as incidental bycatch in commercial gillnet fisheries in the Celtic Sea in 2011. Levels of organohalogen contaminants were low or undetectable (summed CB and BDE concentrations 0.04–0.85 mg kg⁻¹ wet weight). A notably high Cd concentration (7.2 mg kg⁻¹ wet weight) was observed in one mature male, whereas the range observed in the other samples was much lower (0.04–0.26 mg kg⁻¹ wet weight). Hg and Pb concentrations were detected only in single animals, at 0.34 and 0.08 mg kg⁻¹ wet weight, respectively. These contaminant levels were low in comparison to other published studies for shark species.     

Measurements of upper and lower tidal currents at Banc de la Chapelle

Summary Measuring and analysis techniques are described for two sets of measurements of tidal currents near the surface and near the bottom at Banc de la Chapelle, a location 165 m. deep above the edge of the West European Continental Shelf. Reliable results are obtained for the semi-diurnal currents, but the scatter of the data is too great for consistent results to be extracted for the small diurnal and quarter-diurnal tidal constituents. The major axes of the mean semidiurnal current ellipses are aligned at about 30°. This direction is normal to the line of greatest slope of the shelf edge and to the main alignment of the large sand waves on the bank, which accords with a theory of formation of the latter. Bottom currents are on the average about 69% of the surface currents in magnitude. There is also some evidence for a residual drift of about 0·2 knot towards the West. An analysis is made of the errors involved in estimating the drift of a ship from Radar sights on moored buoys.

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Messungen der oberen und unteren Gezeitenströmungen bei der La-Chapelle-Bank

Zusammenfassung Es werden Meß- und Analysemethoden beschrieben für zwei Serien von Gezeitenstrommessungen nahe der Oberfläche und in Bodennähe auf der La-Chapelle-Bank, einer 165 m tiefen Stelle am Rand des West-Europäischen Kontinentalabhangs. Für halbtägige Gezeitenströme wurden zuverlässige Ergebnisse erzielt, die Streuung der Werte ist jedoch zu groß, um übereinstimmende Ergebnisse für die kleinen ganztägigen und vierteltägigen Tiden aus ihnen ableiten zu können. Die Hauptachsen der mittleren halbtägigen Gezeitenstrom-Ellipse bilden einen Winkel von rechtweisend 30⁰. Diese Richtung verläuft senkrecht zur Linie der größten Neigung des Schelfrandes und zur Hauptrichtung der großen Sandwellen auf der Bank, was mit der Theorie über die Entstehung der Bank übereinstimmt. Die Bodenströmungen betragen ungefähr 69% der Oberflächenströmungen. Es scheint auch ein Reststrom von ungefähr 0,2 kn in westlicher Richtung vorhanden zu sein. Die Fehler, die bei Errechnung der Abdrift eines Schiffes mit Hilfe von Radar-Beobachtungen von einer verankerten Boje aus auftreten, werden untersucht.

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La mesure des courants supérieurs et inférieurs de marée sur la banque de la Chapelle

Résumé On décrit des méthodes de mesure et d'analyse pour deux séries de mesures des marées près de la surface et au voisinage du fond sur la banque de la Chapelle, un endroit situé à 165 m de profondeur au bord de la marge continentale de l'Europe occidentale. Des résultats authentiques ont été obtenus en ce qui concerne les marées semi-diurnes, leurs valeurs, cependant, diffèrent à un tel point que l'on ne peut en dériver des résultats conformes pour les petites marées quart-diurnes ou pour celles qui se produisent seulement une fois par jour. Les axes principaux de l'ellipse de la marée semi-diurne forment un angle vrai de 30 degrés. Cette direction suit un cours perpendiculaire à la ligne de la plus grande pente de la marge continentale et à la direction principale de grandes rides de sable sur la banque ce qui s'accorde bien avec la théorie de sa genèse. Les courants au voisinage du fond font 69% des courants superficiels. En outre, il paraît qu'il existe un courant résiduel orienté vers l'ouest dont la vitesse est de 0,2 noeud. Les erreurs se produisant lorsqu'on calcule la dérive du bâtiment à l'aide des observations de radar faites à bord d'une bouée ancrée sont étudiées.

     

Cobble cam: grain‐size measurements of sand to boulder from digital photographs and autocorrelation analyses

A new application of the autocorrelation grain size analysis technique for mixed to coarse sediment settings has been investigated. Photographs of sand‐ to boulder‐sized sediment along the Elwha River delta beach were taken from approximately 1·2 m above the ground surface, and detailed grain size measurements were made from 32 of these sites for calibration and validation. Digital photographs were found to provide accurate estimates of the long and intermediate axes of the surface sediment (r² > 0·98), but poor estimates of the short axes (r² = 0·68), suggesting that these short axes were naturally oriented in the vertical dimension. The autocorrelation method was successfully applied resulting in total irreducible error of 14% over a range of mean grain sizes of 1 to 200 mm. Compared with reported edge and object‐detection results, it is noted that the autocorrelation method presented here has lower error and can be applied to a much broader range of mean grain sizes without altering the physical set‐up of the camera (～200‐fold versus ～6‐fold). The approach is considerably less sensitive to lighting conditions than object‐detection methods, although autocorrelation estimates do improve when measures are taken to shade sediments from direct sunlight. The effects of wet and dry conditions are also evaluated and discussed. The technique provides an estimate of grain size sorting from the easily calculated autocorrelation standard error, which is correlated with the graphical standard deviation at an r² of 0·69. The technique is transferable to other sites when calibrated with linear corrections based on photo‐based measurements, as shown by excellent grain‐size analysis results (r² = 0·97, irreducible error = 16%) from samples from the mixed grain size beaches of Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Thus, a method has been developed to measure mean grain size and sorting properties of coarse sediments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Floodgate Operations and Fish Communities in Tidal Creeks of the Lower Fraser River (British Columbia,Canada)

Tidal creeks in large coastal deltas can be important habitat for fish but are often highly modified by human activities. Connectivity between tributary creeks and mainstem channels is often constrained by structures such as dikes and floodgates, designed to protect urban and agricultural areas from flooding. While they play important roles in flood mitigation, floodgates can diminish habitat quality and block fish from accessing tidal creeks. It is likely that floodgates differ in their operations and may consequently open for different amounts of time; however, floodgate operations and their effects are not well quantified. We asked the question: how does the mechanical functioning of these floodgates affect fish communities in tidal creeks? We used time-lapse cameras and quantified the timing of gate openings for 22 tributaries of the Lower Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada, and related these operational data to differences in fish communities above and below floodgates. Floodgate operations varied substantially, with some floodgates opening daily while others opened less than 20% of the day, on average. Sites with floodgates that seldom opened were associated with greater differences in fish communities and with reduced upstream native species richness by about one species on average. Where floodgates opened infrequently, we also found lower upstream dissolved oxygen concentrations than at sites where floodgates opened for longer periods of time. Thus, floodgate operations can influence fish communities as well as water quality. These data indicate a large scope for improving floodgate operations for connectivity.     

Coastal erosion vs man-made protective structures: evaluating a two-decade history from southeastern India

Remote sensing images of AD 1991–2011 and field observations help evaluate shoreline changes (erosion and accretion) in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu states of southeastern India. A minor harbor was constructed during AD 1986–1989 in the coast of Puducherry, and it initiated the gradual process of shoreline modification. In the subsequent years, beaches located toward the north of the harbor suffered erosion (?0.12–?4.19 m/year) and there was accretion (0.27–7.25 m/year) in the southern beaches. However, the man-made structures (seawall and groin) have reduced the shoreline changes after AD 2004. In the last two decades, the rate of erosion area-wise gradually decreased (0.24–0.013 km²/year) and accretion remained constant (0.019 km²/year). Our results suggest that accretion happened in the southern side of the breakwaters and erosion occurred in the northern part. Presence of groins structures in the region in the northern part has also provoked accretion in the south and erosion in the northern side close to the State of Tamil Nadu.

     

Relations between hydrology and velocity of a continuously moving landslide—evidence of pore-pressure feedback regulating landslide motion?

We measured displacement, pore-water pressure, and climatic conditions for 3 years at the continuously moving Slumgullion landslide in Colorado, USA. The landslide accelerated when pore-water pressure increased within the landslide body, but this occurred as pore-water pressure decreased along the landslide margin. The decrease probably occurred in response to shear-induced soil dilation at rates greater than pore-pressure diffusion and likely increased resistance to shear displacement and resulted in landslide deceleration. This dilative strengthening has been experimentally observed and explained theoretically, but not previously identified during field studies. Although landslide displacement should have exceeded that required to achieve critical-state density of shear boundaries, observed relocation of these boundaries indicates that shearing is episodic at fixed locations, so it permits renewed dilative strengthening when “fresh” soil is sheared. Thus, dilatant strengthening may be a considerable mechanism controlling landslide velocity, even for landslides that have continuously moved great distances.     

Trace element zoning in pyroxenes from ODP Hole 735B gabbros: diffusive exchange or synkinematic crystal fractionation?

Major and trace element profiles of clinopyroxene grains in oceanic gabbros from ODP Hole 735B have been investigated by a combined in situ analytical study with ion probe, and electron microprobe. In contrast to the homogeneous major element compositions, trace elements (REE, Y, Cr, Sr, and Zr) show continuous core to rim zoning profiles. The observed trace element systematics in clinopyroxene cannot be explained by a simple diffusive exchange between melts and gabbros along grain boundaries. A simultaneous modification of the melt composition is required to generate the zoning, although Rayleigh fractional crystallization modelling could mimic the general shape of the profiles. Simultaneous metasomatism between the cumulate crystal and the porous melt during crystal accumulation is the most likely process to explain the zoning. Deformation during solidification of the crystal mush could have caused squeezing out of the incompatible element enriched residual melts (interstitial liquid). Migration of the melt along grain boundaries might carry these melt out of the system. This process named as synkinematic differentiation or differentiation by deformation (Natland and Dick in J Volcanol Geotherm Res 110(3–4):191–233, 2001) may act as an important magma evolution mechanism in the oceanic crust, at least at slow-spreading ridges.