Facies and genesis of Carboniferous coal seams of Northwest Germany

In order to get detailed information about the facies and genesis of Upper Carboniferous coal seams of Northwest Germany, maceral analyses of complete seam profiles (Westphalian B-D, mainly Westphalian C) were carried out. Four main facies and twelve subfacies could be distinguished. The main facies are:

1. (1) The sapropelic-coal facies, consisting of fine-grained inertinite and liptinite, which forms from organic sediments deposited at the bottom of moor lakes.

2. (2) The densosporinite facies which is high in inertinite and liptinite and low in vitrinite. Syngenetic pyrites, clastic layers, thick vitrains and fusains do not occur. This facies originates from peats of ‘open mires’ with higher groundwater table and herbaceous vegetation. The ‘open mire’ was situated in the centre of extensive swamps. Consequently, clastic sedimentation did not affect this swamp type and nutrient supply and pH values were low.

3. (3) The vitrinite-fusinite facies, which is high in vitrinite. This is the result of abundant vitrains. Under the microscope, fusains were mostly identified as fusinite. The vitrinite-fusinite facies originates from a forest mire. More or less abundant seam splits and clastic layers show that rivers flowed in the neighbourhood of this area.

4. (4) The shaly-coal facies, which represents the most marginal part of the former swamp frequently affected by clastic sedimentation.

Within the Carboniferous of the Ruhr Region it seems unlikely that the thin coal seams of the Namurian C and Westphalian A1 contain a densosporinite facies. The swamps were situated in the lower delta plain where they were often affected by marine influences. Consequently, coals are high in minerals and sulfur and they are thin and discontinous. The best conditions for the formation of extensive swamps, with open mires (densosporinite facies) in their central parts, prevailed during Westphalian A2 and B1 times. Low contents of sulfur and minerals and high content of inertinite are typical for these coals. Sedimentation mainly took place in the transitional zone from the lower to the upper delta plain. During the Westphalian B2 and C fluvial sedimentation dominated. Within the coal seams minerals, sulfur and pseudovitrinite increase while inertinite decreases. This is the consequence of coal of the densosporinite facies occurring with increased rarity. The coal seams of the Westphalian C2 contain no densosporinite facies because peat formation was restricted by increasing fluvial sedimentation and by a better drainage. As a consequence, extensive swamps with ‘open mires’ in the centre were no longer formed after the formation of the “Odin” seams. Above the “Odin” seams coal of the vitrinite-fusinite facies contains thick-walled torisporinites. Variations and lowering of the groundwater table caused mild oxidative influences during peat formation. This is documented by an increase in pseudovitrinite, the occurrence of torisporinites and the absence of spheroidal sideritic concretions. Sulfur content increases in the absence of the low-ash and low-sulfur coal of the densosporinite facies.In Upper Carboniferous coal seams of the Ibbenbüren Region the inertinite and telocollinite contents are higher than in those of the Ruhr Region. Therefore, variations of the groundwater table have been more pronounced and resulting oxidative influences must have been more severe. Seldom occurring marine and brackish horizons and a higher fusinite (fusain) content indicate a slight elevation of this area. From Early Westphalian D times onward, peat formation was no longer possible because of the better drainage. This resulted in severe oxidative conditions which excluded peat formation.     

Ergebnisse einer bathymetrischen Engvermessung im Gebiet zwischen 47° N bis 47° 30′ N und 19° 30′ W bis 21° W (Ostatlantik)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Gated communities in Bulgaria: interpreting a new trend in post-communist urban development

Private residential neighbourhoods encircled by a wall or fence and cut off from the public by a remote-controlled or guarded gate are not entirely new in Bulgaria. Both ‘dacha’ and leisure settlements of the communist rulers existed in such enclosed developments on the outskirts of Sofia, in mountain resorts, and on the coast of the Black Sea until the end of the 1980s. After the political change in 1989, new types of walled settlements, similar to gated communities in the U.S., began to spring up in Bulgaria, a result of the dramatic and decisive changes in Bulgarian society that are still very much underway today. Seven gated communities, comprising 78 housing units and six projects that are not yet fully completed create an entirely new social context and a residential landscape in the Sofia metropolitan area, which may indicate future residential desires. Ivanyane, situated on the western periphery of Sofia, and Mountain View Village to the southeast, exemplify the two main types of gated communities which are either self-organized by residents or developer-organized. The reasons why these gated communities were built appear to be very similar to those in other places. It can be expected that the demand for this new type of residential living will continue to increase in Sofia’s urban periphery, but it would be unwise to assume that these developments will necessarily provide a positive context for building a new society. The research for this paper was made possible through a project on post-communist urban development approved and financed by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and the Austrian Institute for East and Southeast Europe (Liaison Office in Sofia).     

Reactive transport model of silicification at the Mount Isa copper deposit, Australia

A distinct feature of the world-class Mount Isa copper system is the presence of a massive silica body enveloping the chalcopyrite ore body in the Urquhart shale. Because silicification may be genetically linked to the copper mineralization, it is important to understand its formation. It can be shown by numerical simulations of reactive transport processes that both hydraulic head and buoyancy driven flow are capable of generating silicification patterns similar to the field example. Considering the physical conditions required to form the observed patterns we suggest, however, that head-driven flow rather than free thermal convection produced the silica body. Free convection requires very special conditions and only one of several possible scenarios reproduces the observed silicification whereas any of the tested forced flux scenario is capable of doing so.     

Mineralogy and petrology of Al-rich objects and amoeboid olivine aggregates in the CH carbonaceous chondrite North West Africa 739

The aluminum-rich (>10 wt% Al₂O₃) objects in the CH carbonaceous chondrite North West Africa (NWA) 739 include Ca,Al-rich inclusions (CAIs), Al-rich chondrules, and isolated mineral grains (spinel, plagioclase, glass). Based on the major mineralogy, 54 refractory inclusions found in about 1 cm² polished section of NWA 739 can be divided into hibonite-rich (16%), grossite-rich (26%), melilite-rich (28%), spinel-pyroxene-rich (16%) CAIs, and amoeboid olivine aggregates, (AOA's, 17%). Most CAIs are rounded, 25–185 μm (average=70 μm) in apparent diameter, contain abundant, tiny perovskite grains, and typically surrounded by a single- or double-layered rim composed of melilite and/or Al-diopside; occasionally, layers of spinel+hibonite and forsterite are observed. The AOAs are irregularly shaped, 100–250 μm (average=175 μm) in size, and consist of forsterite, Fe,Ni-metal, and CAIs composed of Al-diopside, anorthite, and minor spinel. One AOA contains compact, rounded melilite-spinel-perovskite CAIs and low-Ca pyroxene replacing forsterite. The Al-rich (>10 wt% bulk Al₂O₃) chondrules are divided into Al-diopside-rich and plagioclase-rich. The Al-diopside-rich chondrules, 50–310 μm (average=165 μm) in apparent diameter, consist of Al-diopside, skeletal forsterite, spinel, ±Al-rich low-Ca pyroxene, and ±mesostasis. The plagioclase-rich chondrules, 120–455 μm (average=285 μm) in apparent diameter, are composed of low-Ca and high-Ca pyroxenes, forsterite, anorthitic plagioclase, Fe,Ni-metal nodules, and mesostasis. The isolated spinel occurs as coarse, 50–125 μm in size, subhedral grains, which are probably the fragments of Al-diopside chondrules. The isolated plagioclase grains are too coarse (60–120 μm) to have been produced by disintegration of chondrules or CAIs; they range in composition from nearly pure anorthite to nearly pure albite; their origin is unclear. The Al-rich objects show no evidence for Fe-alkali metasomatic or aqueous alteration; the only exception is an Al-rich chondrule fragment with anorthite replaced by nepheline. They are texturally and mineralogically similar to those in other CH chondrites studied (Acfer 182, ALH85085, PAT91467, NWA 770), but are distinct from the Al-rich objects in other chondrite groups (CM, CO, CR, CV). The CH CAIs are dominated by very refractory minerals, such as hibonite, grossite, perovskite and gehlenitic melilite, and appear to have experienced very low degrees of high-temperature alteration reactions. These include replacement of grossite by melilite, of melilite by anorthite, diopside, and spinel, and of forsterite by low-Ca pyroxene. Only a few CAIs show evidence for melting and multilayered Wark-Lovering rims. These observations may suggest that CH CAIs experienced rather simple formation history and escaped extensive recycling. In order to preserve the high-temperature mineral assemblages, they must have been efficiently isolated from the hot nebular region, like some chondrules and the zoned Fe,Ni-metal grains in CH chondrites.     

Classification of five new ordinary chondrites from North West Africa

We classified five new ordinary chondrites from North West Africa. NWA 3010 is an L6(S5), NWA 3011 is an L5(S5), NWA 3012 is an LL4(S5), NWA 3013 is an L5(S5), and NWA 3014 is an H4(S1). The meteorites experienced a range of terrestrial alteration, with NWA 3010 equal to weathering grade W2, NWA 3011 equal to W3, NWA 3012 equal to W3, NWA 3013 equal to W2, and NWA 3014 equal to W4.     

Numerical simulation of three-dimensional saltwater–freshwater fingering instabilities observed in a porous medium

We consider saltwater–freshwater fingering instabilities in a saturated porous medium. In the first part, we present three-dimensional results obtained from a laboratory experiment using non-invasive imaging. In the second part, we define a set of model problems in which the performed laboratory experiments can be ranged in. Due to its highly non-linear behavior and inevitable modeling errors, a detailed numerical reproduction of the physical concentration measurements cannot be expected. Nevertheless, four criteria have been identified, two quantitative and two qualitative, which facilitate a substantiated comparison of the physical experiment and the numerical simulation. With respect to these criteria a high degree of similarity could be observed. The use of these features allows a deeper understanding of the physical processes and the influence of the initial conditions.     

Soil moisture from operational meteorological satellites

In recent years, unforeseen advances in monitoring soil moisture from operational satellite platforms have been made, mainly due to improved geophysical retrieval methods. In this study, four recently published soil-moisture datasets are compared with in-situ observations from the REMEDHUS monitoring network located in the semi-arid part of the Duero basin in Spain. The remotely sensed soil-moisture products are retrieved from (1) the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E), which is a passive microwave sensor on-board NASA’s Aqua satellite, (2) European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS) scatterometer, which is an active microwave sensor on-board the two ERS satellites and (3) visible and thermal images from the METEOSAT satellite. Statistical analysis indicates that three satellite datasets contribute effectively to the monitoring of trends in surface soil-moisture conditions, but not to the estimation of absolute soil-moisture values. These sensors, or rather their successors, will be flown on operational meteorological satellites in the near future. With further improvements in processing techniques, operational meteorological satellites will increasingly deliver high-quality soil-moisture data. This may be of particular interest for hydrogeological studies that investigate long-term processes such as groundwater recharge.     

前联合国环境规划署执行长官及联合国驻内罗毕办事处主任Klaus Topfer:城市规划与中国可持续发展社会的建立

在“十一五”规划中，中国政府不仅决定它的GDP增加8%，而且它提出了几个强制性的目标。第一个是减少能耗，降低20%的能耗，这意味着什么呢？不仅要减少能源的消耗，每年要减少40%，这是一个巨大的挑战，是很艰巨的任务。