Families of periodic orbits continued in regularizing coordinates

A predictor-corrector algorithm is proposed for continuing analytically families of periodic orbits beyond collision trajectories in the restricted problem of three bodies. It is based on Hill's equation for normal variations in Thiele's regularizing coordinates.     

A threshold for sequentially self-propagating star formation

When a stellar wind bubble expands into an homogeneous medium, there are two possible outcomes. This is due to the fact that the self-gravity of the swept-up shell acts in two orthogonal directions: tangentially , to promote fragmentation of the shell, and radially , to decelerate expansion of the shell. The outcome depends on whether self-gravity works faster in the tangential or the radial direction.
If the wind power ℒ_o is large and the effective isothermal sound speed a _o in the swept-up gas is small – approximately         – tangential self-gravity works faster. A thin dense shell is swept up and fragments while it is still expanding supersonically. This is the scenario often invoked to explain sequentially self-propagating star formation.
However, if ℒ_o is small and/or a _o is large, radial self-gravity works faster. Expansion of the bubble stalls before the shell can fragment. The expansion speed ceases to be supersonic, the outer shock dissipates, and the shell is neither thin nor dense. Under this circumstance, the shell is unlikely to fragment and star formation will not propagate sequentially.
These conclusions are probably not altered significantly when the medium into which the wind blows is inhomogeneous, provided that the mean density on opposite sides of the bubble does not differ by many orders of magnitude.     

Analysing seismic-source mechanisms by linear-programming methods

Summary. Linear-programming methods are powerful and efficient tools for objectively analysing seismic focal mechanisms and are applicable to a wide range of problems, including tsunami warning and nuclear explosion identification. The source mechanism is represented as a point in the six-dimensional space of moment-tensor components. Each observed polarity provides an inequality constraint, linear with respect to the moment tensor components, that restricts the solution to a half-space bounded by a hyperplane passing through the origin. The intersection of these half-spaces is the convex set of all acceptable solutions. Using linear programming, a solution consistent with the polarity constraints can be obtained that maximizes or minimizes any desired linear function of the moment tensor components; the dilatation, the thrust-like nature, and the strike-slip-like nature of an event are examples of such functions. The present method can easily be extended to fit observed seismic-wave amplitudes (either signed or absolute) subject to polarity constraints, and to assess the range of mechanisms consistent with a set of measured amplitudes.     

Devensian glacigenic sedimentation and landscape evolution in the Cardigan area of southwest Wales

The depositional processes associated with late Devensian ice in areas bordering the Irish Sea basin have been the subject of considerable debate. Among the key areas around the Irish Sea, southwest Wales occupies a particularly crucial position because it is here that ice flowing from the north impinged upon the coast orthogonally and encroached inland. Two main hypotheses have emerged concerning deglaciation of the Irish Sea basin. The traditional hypothesis holds that sedimentation was ice‐marginal or subglacial, whereas an alternative hypothesis that emerged in the 1980s argued that sedimentation was glaciomarine. Southwest Wales is well‐placed to contribute to this debate. However, few detailed sedimentological studies, linked to topography, have been made previously in order to reconstruct glacial environments in this area. In this paper, evidence is presented from four boreholes drilled recently in the Cardigan area, combined with data from coastal and inland exposures in the lower Teifi valley and adjacent areas. A complex history of glaciation has emerged: (i) subglacial drainage channel formation in pre‐Devensian time, (ii) deposition of iron‐cemented breccias and conglomerates possibly during the last interglacial (or in the early/mid‐Devensian interstadial), (iii) late Devensian ice advance across the region, during which a glaciolacustrine sequence over 75 m thick accumulated, within a glacial lake known as Llyn Teifi, (iv) a second high‐level glaciolacustrine succession formed near Llandudoch, (v) outside the Teifi valley, ice‐marginal, subglacial and glaciofluvial sediments were also laid down, providing a near‐continuous cover of drift throughout the area. Glacial advance was characterized by reworking, deformation and sometimes erosion of the underlying sediments. The glaciomarine hypothesis is thus rejected for southwest Wales. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Les « Sables fauves », témoins de mouvements tectoniques dans le bassin d'Aquitaine au Miocène moyenThe ‘Sables fauves’, showing tectonic deformations in the Aquitaine Basin during Middle Miocene

New data about the ‘Sables fauves’ clearly show two different kinds of organisations: stratigraphic superposition of Langhian and Serravallian units to the south and embankment of Serravallian sediments in Langhian deposits to the north. The result consists in two different palaeogeographic schemes. The Langhian Sea is widely extended, forming the ‘Lectoure Gulf’, whereas the Serravallian Sea is much more reduced, with valleys fillings to the north and a little gulf to the south. This involves a tectonic activity along a structure which orientation is N120°E (‘flexure de la Douze’) and a relative rising of the northern part, of about 30 m. To cite this article: P. Gardère et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 987–994.     

Impact of the Late Glacial Eruption of the Laacher See Volcano, Central Rhineland, Germany

Within a period of a few weeks toward the end of the Allerød Interstadial, the major Plinian eruption of the Laacher See volcano produced some 20 km³ of eruptiva, covering and preserving the late-glacial landscape in the German Central Rhineland over an area of more than 1000 km². Correlation of terrestrial archives with the Greenland ice-core records and improved calibration of the radiocarbon timescale permit a precise, accurate age determination of the Laacher See event some 200 yr before the onset of the Younger Dryas cold episode. Carbonized trees and botanical macrofossils preserved by Laacher See Tephra permit detailed regional paleoenvironmental reconstruction and show that open woodland were typical for the cool and humid hemiboreal climatic conditions during the late Allerød. This woodland provided the habitat for a large variety of animal species, documented at both paleontological and Final Paleolithic archeological sites preserved below Laacher See deposits. Of special interest are numerous animal tracks intercalated in Middle Laacher See deposits at the south of the Neuwied Basin. This knowledge may help to evaluate possible supraregional impacts of this volcanic event on northern hemispheric environment and climate during the late Allerød.     

Dysaerobic conditions during Heinrich events 4 and 5: Evidence from phosphorus distribution in a North Atlantic deep-sea core

Reactive phosphorus undergoes diagenetic transformation once transferred into marine sediments. The degree of regeneration and redistribution of phosphorus depends on early diagenetic and environmental conditions, which may be linked to larger scale phenomena, such as bottom water circulation, water column ventilation, and organic carbon flux. Phosphorus phases of the <50-μm-sized fraction of deep-sea sediments from core SU 90-09 (North Atlantic, 43°31′N, 30°24′W, 3375 m below sea level) have been analyzed using a sequential extraction technique (SEDEX method) to reconstruct phosphorus geochemistry during Heinrich events 4 and 5. Comparison with Holocene samples from the same site indicates that postdeposition diagenetic transformation has not affected phosphorus distribution in the deep part of the sediments. Total and reactive phosphorus average 0.40 ± 0.04 mg/g and 0.30 ± 0.05 mg/g, respectively, and are comparable to values found in analog deep-sea environments in the North Atlantic. Detrital phosphorus, the phase linked to igneous- and metamorphic-derived material, sharply increases during Heinrich events and covaries with the ice-rafted debris record, whereas authigenic and Fe-bound phosphorus phases, both influenced by redox conditions, decrease or even disappear. These findings suggest that during the deposition of Heinrich layers (HLs), environmental parameters hampered the precipitation of these phases. Large freshwater discharges in relation to iceberg surges may have provoked a temporary stratification of the water column. Accordingly, dysaerobic conditions in the sediments may have fostered the loss of dissolved phosphorus from the sediments to the water column, in a direct and rapid response to the changed conditions. Decreasing trends in organic matter elemental ratios (total organic carbon/organic phosphorus) and Rock-Eval oxygen index values, along with the presence of partly authigenic dolomite and ankerite within HLs, also support this assumption.     

Signification de la limite Jebha-Arbaoua (Maroc nord-occidental): une rampe latérale au-dessus dúne discontinuité crustale héritée de la période de “rifting”

The terranes which outcrop to the north and south of the westward extension of the Jebha Fault show considerable differences in their nature and structural organisation. The pre-Oligocene basement is composed of synorogenic synclines filled with detrital deposits. In the North, the synclinal troughs are oriented North-South and filled with siliciclastic material. The synclinal structures on top of the western extension of the Jebha Fault are orientated N 140° and are also filled with the same material. South of this westward extension of the Jebha Fault, the orientation of the synclinal structures is north-south; they are filled with bioclastic calcareous material.The synorogenic synclines, situated on top of the Jebha-Arbaoua limit show characteristics of the detached sedimentary cover by their position and orientation. This cover formed the Arbaoua-Jebha lateral ramp during its movement towards the west. Developement of this ramp is explained by the crustal discontinuity inherited from the period of rifting.The resulting palaeomorphological relief allows the difference between the zones situated at each part of the limit to be understood, in particular, it permits the understanding of the differences in the detrital material, in its role as a barrier opposing the arrival of bioclastic calcareous material from the African margin (situated southwards of the limit).The Arbaoua-Jebha lateral ramp appears as a major and original feature of the Rift chain.