The contact binary system YY Eri

Relatively new and unanalysed photometric data-sets of the contact binary system YY Eri are presented. The light curves have been analysed using information limit optimization techniques, and the Binary Maker program of Bradstreet (1992).Comparison of the results allows insight into determinacy questions affecting the W UMa type of light curve, which relates to our general understanding of contact binaries. A limiting contact configuration cannot be ruled out on the basis of empirical data-analysis alone.Very careful analysis of the photospheric flux distribution over the surface of the Sun may help establish appropriate values of the gravity brightening parameter for cool dwarf stars. At present, however, empirical photometric information on contact binaries is non-discriminatory: i.e. alternative cosmogonies can find alternative support from available evidence. The implication is then for more and better observational data to allow better real independent parameter determination.     

Evolution of cool skin and direct air-sea gas transfer coefficient during daytime

Absorption of solar radiation within the thermal molecular sublayer of the ocean can modify the temperature difference across the cool skin as well as the air-sea gas transfer. Our model of renewal type is based on the assumption that the thermal and diffusive molecular sublayers below the ocean surface undergo cyclic growth and destruction, the heat and gas transfer between the successive burst events are performed by molecular diffusion. The model has been upgraded to include heating due to solar radiation. The renewal time is parameterized as a function of the surface Richardson number and the Keulegan number. A Rayleigh number criterion characterizes the convective instability of the cool skin under solar heating. Under low wind speed conditions, the solar heating can damp the convective instability, strongly increasing the renewal time and correspondingly decreasing the interfacial gas exchange. In the ocean, an additional convective instability caused by salinity flux due to evaporation becomes of importance in such cases. The new parameterization is compared with the cool skin data obtained in the western equatorial Pacific during the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment in February 1993. In combination with a model of the diurnal thermocline it describes main features of the field data both in nighttime and daytime. Under low wind speed conditions (< 5 m s^-1) diurnal variations of the sea surface temperature due to the formation of a diurnal thermocline were substantially larger than those across the cool skin. Under wind speeds > 5 m s^-1, diurnal variations of the surface temperature due to the variations of the thermal molecular sublayer become more important.     

Particle acceleration and the decay of soft X-ray non-thermal line broadening in solar flares

The relationship between the production of -ray emitting particles and non-thermal soft X-ray line broadening is investigated. A model of particle acceleration via the stochastic interaction with MHD turbulence is assumed and the time development of the wave energy density derived under the condition of energy conservation between waves and particles. The inferred numbers and energy distribution of accelerated protons for four -ray flares are used to define the wave energy density and its temporal development. The presence of Alfvén wave turbulence is considered as the source of the non-thermal motions in the ambient plasma. These motions are observed as excess widths in the soft X-ray line emission from these events. The decay of the waves via the particle acceleration process is compared with the observed decays of this non-thermal line broadening. Our results show that both the -ray emission and excess soft X-ray line widths in these flares can be explained by the single physical phenomenon of Alfvén wave turbulence.     

Study on the kinetics of iron oxide leaching by oxalic acid

The presence of iron oxides in clay or silica raw materials is detrimental to the manufacturing of high quality ceramics. Although iron has been traditionally removed by physical mineral processing, acid washing has been tested as it is more effective, especially for extremely low iron (of less than 0.1% w/w). However, inorganic acids such as sulphuric or hydrochloric acids easily contaminate the clay products with SO₄²⁻ and Cl⁻, and therefore should be avoided as much as possible. On the other hand, if oxalic acid is used, any acid left behind will be destroyed during the firing of the ceramic products. The characteristics of dissolution of iron oxides were therefore investigated in this study.The dissolution of iron oxides in oxalic acid was found to be very slow at temperatures within the range 25–60 °C, but its rate increases rapidly above 90 °C. The dissolution rate also increases with increasing oxalate concentration at the constant pH values set within the optimum range of pH2.5–3.0. At this optimum pH, the dissolution of fine pure hematite (Fe₂O₃) (105–140 μm) follows a diffusion-controlled shrinking core model. The rate expression expressed as 1 − (2 / 3)x − (1 − x)^2 / 3 where x is a fraction of iron dissolution was found to be proportional to [oxalate]^1.5.The addition of magnetite to the leach liquor at 10% w/w hematite was found to enhance the dissolution rate dramatically. Such addition of magnetite allows coarser hematite in the range 0.5–1.4 mm to be leached at a reasonable rate.     

Yeosu dinosaur track sites of Korea: The youngest dinosaur track records in Asia

Eighty two dinosaur trackways were newly discovered in Upper Cretaceous lacustrine deposits on islands in the vicinity of Yeosu, Korea. Most dinosaur tracks occur in marginal lake deposits with polygonal desiccation cracks. The dinosaur tracks at the Yeosu site include 65 ornithopod trackways, 16 theropod trackways and one sauropod trackway. The prevalence of ornithopod tracks and the limited occurrence of sauropod tracks at the Yeosu site evidently reflect decreased sauropod diversity in the Upper Cretaceous. All ornithopod trackways represent bipeds, and most of the ornithopod tracks are similar to Caririchnium from other sites of the Korean peninsula. All fossil wood specimens collected in the study area represent conifers (three species of cupressaceous and two species of taxodiaceous conifers, and a new species) except for one, which is a discotyledon. It is thus inferred that the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula was primarily covered with mesic forests with taxodiaceous trees during the Late Cretaceous. The K–Ar age of the Yeosu tracksite is determined as 81–65 Ma (Camapnian to Maastrichtian). It indicates that the Yeosu track site contains the last records of dinosaurs living in Asia. Consequently, semi-arid palaeoclimatic conditions, together with a large lake as a persistent water source and rich vegetation of gymnosperm trees as food, resulted in the preservation of abundant dinosaur tracks in the Upper Cretaceous on the Korean Peninsula.     

Structural similarity and variety at the tips in a wide range of strike–slip faults: a review

Strike–slip faults are often accompanied by a variety of structures, particularly at their tips. The zones of additional fracturing are classified as tip‐damage zones. These zones can be subdivided into several different damage patterns based on the nature and orientation of faults and fractures developed. Damage zones at the ends of small strike–slip faults (mode II tips) develop wing cracks, horsetail splays, antithetic faults, synthetic branch faults and solution surfaces. Similar tip‐damage patterns are also commonly observed at larger (regional) scales, but with a dominance of faulting over tensile cracks and solution surfaces. Wing cracks and horsetail splays developed at small‐scale faults are replaced by normal faults in large‐scale faults. Antithetic faults and synthetic branch faults are observed at small and large scales. Thrust faults are developed at large scales, in a similar pattern to solution surfaces at a small scale. All these structures may show slightly different angular relationships to the master fault at small and large scale, but develop in response similar stress distribution and mechanics around the fault. Thus, mode II tip‐damage zones show similar patterns over a wide range of fault scales.     

Spatial and temporal variability of Holocene temperature in the North Atlantic region

The early Holocene climate of the North Atlantic region was influenced by two boundary conditions that were fundamentally different from the present: the presence of the decaying Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and higher than present summer solar insolation. In order to assess spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene climate evolution across this region, we collated quantitative paleotemperature records at sub-millennial resolution and synthesized their temporal variability using principal components analysis (PCA). The analysis reveals considerable spatial variability, most notably in the time-transgressive expression of the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM). Most of the region, but especially areas peripheral to the Labrador Sea and hence closest to the locus of LIS disintegration, experienced maximum Holocene temperatures that lagged peak summer insolation by 1000-3000 years. Many sites from the northeastern North Atlantic sector, including the Nordic Seas and Scandinavia, either warmed in phase with maximum summer insolation (11,000-9000 years ago) or were less strongly lagged than the Baffin Bay-Labrador Sea region. These spatially complex patterns of Holocene climate development, which are defined by the PCA, resulted from the interplay between final decay of the LIS and solar insolation forcing.     

Partial melting and P–T evolution of the Kodaikanal Metapelite Belt, southern India

The Kodaikanal region of the Madurai Block in southern India exposes a segment of high-grade metamorphic rocks dominated by an aluminous garnet–cordierite–spinel–sillimanite–quartz migmatite suite, designated herein as the Kodaikanal Metapelite Belt (KMB). These rocks were subjected to extreme crustal metamorphism during the Late Neoproterozoic despite the lack of diagnostic ultrahigh-temperature assemblages. The rocks preserve microstructural evidence demonstrating initial-heating, dehydration melting to generate the peak metamorphic assemblage and later retrogression of the residual assemblages with remaining melt. The peak metamorphic assemblage is interpreted to be garnet + sillimanite + K-feldspar + spinel + Fe–Ti oxide + quartz + melt, which indicates pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions around 950–1000 °C and 7–8 kbar based on calculated phase diagrams. A clockwise P–T path is proposed by integrating microstructural information with pseudosections. We show that evidence for extreme crustal metamorphism at ultrahigh-temperature conditions can be extracted even in the cases where the rocks lack diagnostic ultrahigh-temperature mineral assemblages. Our approach confirms the widespread regional occurrence of UHT metamorphism in the Madurai Block during Gondwana assembly and point out the need for similar studies on adjacent continental fragments.     

Deformation-induced garnet zoning

Compositional zoning patterns in garnet porphyroblasts from kyanite-bearing samples of the Devonian Littleton Formation, north-central Massachusetts, reveal complex patterns of growth that are related to multiple deformation and metamorphic events. Garnet porphyroblasts exhibit asymmetrical and irregular zoning patterns in X_Mn, X_Ca and Fe/(Fe + Mg). Zoning reversals in Mn and Fe/(Fe + Mg) and patch distribution in Ca appear to occur around the boundaries of the textural zones. Also, the compositions of the garnet at the textural boundaries are variable for all traverses. These observations suggest that the garnet zoning was not only modified from diffusion processes, but was also influenced by pre-existing microfabrics through the effects of preferential dissolution and resorption in partial disequilibrium. Relationships between chemical and textural truncations indicate that the zoning patterns of garnet were strongly modified from preferential dissolution and precipitation during the development of successive foliations that occurred in zones of high strain/stress (cleavage seams) and zones of low strain/stress, respectively.