Reconstruction of Holocene Environmental Changes in North-Western Pacific in Relation to Paleorecord from Shikotan Island

Doklady Earth Sciences - Results of a paleolimnological investigation of a well-dated lake sediment section from Shikotan Island (Southern Kurils) showed that from ca 8.0 to 5.8 cal ka BP a warm...     

Stars with discrepant <Emphasis Type="Italic">υ</Emphasis> sin <Emphasis Type="Italic">i</Emphasis> as derived from Ca II 3933 and Mg II 4481 Å lines. II. Multiple star HD 90569

Axial rotation of a star plays an important role in its evolution, physical condition in its atmosphere and appearance of its spectrum. Methods of determinations of υ sin i are based on comparison of the observed profiles of spectral lines with theoretical ones. Their accuracy depends on the kind and quality of spectrograms as well as on the algorithms used. A frequently used method is the simple comparing of one line, e.g. the Ca II at 3933 Å or Mg ii at 4481 Å. This however, may result in a false value of υ sin i if low dispersion spectra are used. In this work we studied contemporary CCD as well as older photographic spectra of the multiple star HD90569. We determined the projected rotational velocity value to be υ sin i = 11 km/s. Besides formerly reported enhancing of lines of Cr, Fe, Mn and Sr, we found also large overabundances of rare earths, gallium and platinum. Helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, aluminium, calcium, scandium and nickel are in deficit. The spectrum of the occultation double was not identified to be of the SB2-type, however, there are some observable evidences that the pair creates a binary with a long orbital period. Despite this there are also observations that leave such interpretation uncertain.     

Warm frontal structure in association with a rapidly deepening extratropical cyclone

Abstract

The detailed characteristics of a CASPII warm frontal passage are presented in this article. This storm, Intensive Operating Period (IOP) 13 (February 26–27, 1992), was observed in detail with an array of diverse instruments. It has the advantage over earlier freezing precipitation studies of having simultaneous, in situ and remote sensing measurements by aircraft and ground‐based Doppler radar.

The associated precipitation was in the form of banded structures parallel to the front. Within these bands were embedded precipitation cores, some parallel to the band, some perpendicular. The warm front itself was characterized by major perturbations in its kinematic and thermodynamic features. The cores oriented parallel to the front were the result of embedded convection generated, at least in part, by the irregularities in the frontal surface.

The cores oriented perpendicular to the front were closely associated with the 0°C isotherm on the underside of the frontal inversion. Precipitation phase changes played a significant role in the occurrence of wide near 0°C regions, both vertically and horizontally. These regions had a profound influence on the observed precipitation types and led to complex precipitation‐thermodynamic‐dynamic interactions. Instabilities produced by these interactions are seen in wave‐like features observed by the Doppler radar in these regions, both parallel and perpendicular to the frontal zone.     

Geochemistry and Intrusive History of the Ashland Pluton, Klamath Mountains, California and Oregon

The Ashland pluton is a calc-alkaline plutonic complex thatintruded the western Paleozoic and Triassic belt of the KlamathMountains in late Middle Jurassic time. The pluton comprisesa series of compositionally distinct magma pulses. The oldestrocks are hornblende gabbro and two-pyroxene quartz gabbro withinitial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0{dot}7044, ¹⁸O = 8{dot}7%, and REE patternswith chondrite normalized La/Lu = 7. These units were followedby a suite of tonalitic rocks (La_N/Lu_N = 7) and then by a suiteof K₂O- and P₂O₅ rocks of quartz monzodioritic affinity (La_N/Lu_N= 13–21; La_N/Sm_N = 2{dot}4–3{dot}) The quartz monzodioriticrocks were then intruded by biotite granodiorite and granitewith lower REE abundances but more fractionated LREE(La_N/Lu_N= 13–19; La_N/Sm_N = 4{dot}3–6 and they, in turn,were host to dikes and bosses of hornblende diorite. The latestintrusive activity consisted of aplitic and granitic dikes.Combined phase equilibria and mineral composition data, indicateemplacement conditions of approximately P_total = 2{dot}3kb,P_H2O between 1{dot}5 and 2{dot}2 kb, and f_O2 between the nickel-nickeloxide and hematite-magnetite buffers. Successive pulses of magma display increasing SiO₂ togetherwith increasing ¹⁸O and decreasing initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. The isotopicdata are consistent with either (1) combined fractional crystallizationof andesitic magma and concurrent assimilation of crustal materialcharacterized by low Sr₁ and high (¹⁸O or, more probably, (2)a series of partial melting events in which sources were successivelyless radiogenic but richer in ¹⁸O Each intrusive stage displaysevidence for some degree of crystal accumulation and/or fractionalcrystallization but neither process adequately accounts fortheir compositional differences. Consequently, each stage appearsto represent a distinct partial melting or assimilation event. The P₂O₅-rich nature of the quartz monzodiorite suite suggestsaccumulation of apatite. However, the suite contains abundantmafic microgranitoid enclaves and most apatite in the suiteis acicular. These observations suggest that magma mixing affectedthe compositional variation of the quartz monzodiorite suite.Mass balance calculations are consistent with a simple mixingprocess in which P₂O₅-rich alkalic basalt magma (representedby the mafic microgranitoid enclaves) was combined with a crystal-poorfelsic magma (represented by the tonalite suite), yielding aquartz monzodioritic magma that then underwent differentiationby crystal fractionation and accumulation.     

Cuspidine‐bearing skarn from Chesney Vale,Victoria

The rare calc‐silicate minerals cuspidine, bultfonteinite, foshagite and xonotlite occur in a calcsilicate skarn zone near Chesney Vale, in northern Victoria. They are associated with andradite-grossular garnet, vesuvianite, diopside, wollastonite, prehnite, epidote, fluorite, calcite, perovskite,sphene and possibly tobermorite. The calc‐silicate skarn zone has formed in thermally meta‐morphosed, Ordovician, deep‐marine sediments adjacent to an Early Devonian aplitic granite pluton. The assemblages are estimated to have formed at low pressure (<100 MPa) at temperaturesnot exceeding 600°C in the presence of a low‐X_co2 fluorine‐bearing fluid. The occurrence is the firstrecord of bultfonteinite and foshagite in Australia and the first record of cuspidine and xonotlite inVictoria.     

Political ecology of tiger conservation in India: Adverse effects of banning customary practices in a protected area

Protected areas have had significant impacts on local communities primarily through the physical removal of people. In some instances, people continue to live within protected areas due to the inability of the state to evict them. The restrictions on livelihoods placed on people living inside protected areas lead to in situ displacement. We show how conservation enclosures in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve have produced a class of people that the state ‘lets die’ by banning customary practices such as fire use, hunting and harvesting of forest produce. Using longitudinal ethnographic, socio‐economic and ecological data, we demonstrate that conservation policy has alienated indigenous forest dwellers from their agricultural and forest‐land. The outcomes of conservation policy include dispossession through increased crop losses, reduced income from agriculture and forest produce, as well as a forest that is dominated by weeds due to fire suppression. The ban on hunting in particular has increased wildlife densities, which has enabled the state to accumulate revenues through the establishment of wildlife tourism facilities. All in all, centralized protected area governance has changed the relationships among people, forest and the state in a way that has produced adverse effects for both livelihoods and the ecosystem.     

Mechanisms of ice accumulation in a river bend-an experimental study

In this study,under conditions of different flow and ice discharge,extensive experiments have been carried out in a 180°-bend flume and an S-shaped bend channel.The phenomenon and mechanisms of ice accumulation in the bend channel have been studied.Ice accumulation along the convex bank was normally thicker than that along the concave bank.The maximum thickness of ice accumulation in the downstream bend channel occurred close to the convex bank.The difference between the maximum thickness and the minimum thickness of ice accumulation was significant.The entire ice accumulation became unstable if flow Froude number was large.When the flow Froude Number is high,the entire ice accumulation becomes unstable.For Froude Number between 0.035 and 0.060,the bottom surface of ice accumulation became waved in form.Small changes in Froude number and ice discharge rate can change a channel from a state of no ice accumulation to uniform accumulation over the channel bend.The higher the ice discharge,the more uniform the ice accumulation.The experimental results have been compared with field observations of ice jams at the Hequ Reach of the Yellow River.     

Influence of afforestation on water regime in Jizera Catchments,Czech Republic

This paper studies the influence of afforestation on the water regime in two catchments in the Jizera Mountains that are similar in size and altitude but have different afforestation pattern. In this paper a range of different modelling tools is used to establish whether the differences in catchment water regime can be quantified and attributed to differences in catchment characteristics. Frequency analysis of low and high flows and a number and duration of flows over a threshold value are used to look for the differences in flow regime in both catchments. Low flow conditions are modelled using the Wittenberg nonlinear store approach. A rainfall-runoff process is modelled using a Data Based Mechanistic approach. The results indicate that the differences in the catchment response to external climatic factors outweigh the influence of land use apart from the low flows, where the changes in the response might be attributed to afforestation.