Correlation between Loess profiles on the basis of mineralogical,malacological, and anthropogenic indicators: A case study from Moravany-Lopata,western Slovakia

Moravany-Lopata, located in the complex of sites in the middle Vah basin, dates to the period immediately preceding the LGM. The authors use this site to demonstrate the usefulness of mineralogical, sedimentological, palaeomalacological, and anthropogenic criteria for the correlation of loess profiles. This analysis is especially concerned with sites in loess territories where the loess layers covering archaeological levels are not thick. Such sites occur frequently on the plateaus of the northern part of Central Europe, though they appear most notably in the areas in which the last loess cover, corresponding to the period after the last Pleniglacial and/or Late Glacial postloess sediments, is absent. The archaeological levels dated to before or directly after the LGM occur in the upper portion of the loess, overlain by the Holocene soil. The investigations at the Moravany-Lopata site have confirmed the usefulness of the anthropogenic indicators in the 0.1–1.0 mm fraction for the identification of occupation levels extending even beyond the area of occurrence of macrofinds and evident type structures. On this basis, a relationship could be established between two occupational levels and two ice-wedge generations in the period from 21.4 to 20 ky. Gravettian settlement in western Slovakia seems to have persisted up to the maximum of the LGM. Population groups representing the end of the shouldered points horizon (pointes à cran) appeared in western Slovakia in the intervals between the formation of large networks of ice wedges. The next settlement phase in that territory falls at about 18–17 ky B.P. This is the Epigravettian settlement, which is culturally unrelated to the shouldered points horizon. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On the origin of the auroral inverted-V electron spectra

On the basis of quasi-linear theory of ion-acoustic turbulence it is shown that the angular and energy distribution of the electron spectra observed in quasi-static inverted-V structures are natural products of electron heating and runaway processes occuring in a region of current-driven turbulence located at h ≈ 1 Re. The power law population J ∞ E^?γ, with γ ≈ 1 observed in the energy range ~ 25–1000 eV, is interpreted as a quasi-stationary distribution of suprathermal electrons interacting resonantly with the ion sound waves. This spectrum is generated in the turbulent region and convectively transported earthward along the magnetic field lines. Field-aligned intense electron fluxes with collimation angle < 10° are explained as due to particles escaping from the turbulent region through the runaway cone—a characteristic feature of velocity-space in ion-acoustic turbulence. A complete, new interpretation of the observed electron spectra is given on the basis of the proposed physical acceleration mechanism along with many other implications of this theory.     

Flood‐plain responses to contemporary climate change in small High‐Arctic basins (Svalbard,Norway)

Changes in the supply of water and sediment to high‐latitude rivers related to contemporary climate change and glacier fluctuations largely determine the activity of fluvial processes. This study reconstructs fluvial dynamics since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) in two small, partially glaciated basins in the southern part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard Archipelago. We use a combination of aerial photograph interpretation, field mapping and dendrochronological analysis. Sequences of abandoned channels and glacifluvial terraces are distinctly visible in middle and lower parts of the Brattegg and Arie basins in this area. The advance of glaciers during the LIA in the upper part of the basins led to the development of a braiding pattern and to channel aggradation corresponding to the highest glacifluvial levels. The decreasing activity of these braidplains occurred at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, immediately prior to a significant incision period. A second generation of braided channels developed during the first half of the 20th century. Ice‐marginal lake development, less input of fine‐grained sediment to the river channel, and fast incision began from the second half of the 20th century onward. During the last two decades, the main fluvial response to the climatic warming has been contraction of flow within a narrower channel and the abandonment of braidplains. The increased lateral erosion and rate of downcutting and the formation of the most downstream reaches of the modern valley bottom occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. This process was intensified under flood conditions generated by extreme rainfall events. These micro‐scale (small partially glaciated basins) observations concerning the changes of the activity of fluvial processes since the end of LIA may be helpful for the reconstruction of past fluvial changes over longer time scales.     

Study of vertical structure of aerosol optical properties with sun photometers and ceilometer during the MACRON campaign in 2007

This paper presents the measurements of a vertical structure of aerosol optical properties performed during the MACRON (Maritime Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation Observation in Norway) campaign, which took place in July and August 2007 at ALOMAR observatory on Andøya island (69.279°N, 16.009°E, elevation 380 m a.s.l.). The mean value of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 500 nm during campaign was 0.12. Significant increase of the AOT above longtime mean value was observed on 7 and 8 August 2007 when the AOT exceeded 0.4 at 500 nm. Analyses of back trajectories show the aerosol transported from over Africa and Central Europe. The aerosol extinction coefficient obtained from the synergy of ceilometer and sun photometer observations reached 0.05–0.08 km^?1 (at 1064 nm) in the dust layer. The single scattering albedo at the ALOMAR observatory decreased during the dust episode to 0.93–0.94, which indicates some absorptive aerosols in the lower PBL.     

A Lower Palaeozoic shallow water sequence in the eastern European Variscides (SW Poland): provenance and depositional history

The Gackowa Formation of inferred Cambrian —Ordovician age is part of the metamorphosed pre-Variscan basement of the southern Kaczawa Mountains of the Sudetes region, south-west Poland. Previously variously interpreted as lavas, tuffs and sandstones, it is shown to consist of about 200 m of originally well-sorted siliclastic sedimentary rocks within a sequence of predominantly mafic volcanic rocks. Four facies have been distinguished based on relict sedimentary structures and textures and these suggest that deposition took place on a storm-dominated shelf, mostly above the wave base. The petrography, detrital zircon morphologies and geochemistry suggest affinity with, and derivation in large part from, acid volcanic rocks at a comparable stratigraphic position in a separate tectonostratigraphic unit to the south. The Gackowa Formation and its acid volcanic source rocks have a clear continental geochemical signature, in contrast with the mantle-derived basic/bimodal volcanic rocks below and above; it is suggested that the parent acid magma originated by crustal melting during the ascent of these mantle-derived magmas. A continental crust setting is inferred for the deposition of the Gackowa Formation sandstones, thus suggesting a continental setting for the associated within-plate basalts. The entire volcanic/sedimentary succession resembles elements of the Lower Palaeozoic of Germany, and all may have formed in an initial rift setting during Late Precambrian to Ordovician times.     

Formation of voids in the Universe within the Lemaître–Tolman model

We develop models of void formation starting from a small initial fluctuation at recombination and growing to a realistic present-day density profile in agreement with observations of voids. The model construction is an extension of previously developed algorithms for finding a Lemaître–Tolman metric that evolves between two profiles of either density or velocity specified at two times. Of the four profiles of concern (those of density and velocity at recombination and at the present day), two can be specified and the other two follow from the derived model.
We find that, in order to reproduce the present-day void density profiles, the initial velocity profile is more important than the initial density profile.
Extrapolation of current cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations to the scales relevant to protovoids is very uncertain. Even so, we find that it is very difficult to make both the initial density and velocity fluctuation amplitudes small enough and still obtain a realistic void by today.