Sedimentology,palaeoenvironments and biostratigraphy of the Pliocene–Pleistocene carbonate platform of Grande‐Terre (Guadeloupe,Lesser Antilles forearc)

Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits from Grande‐Terre (Guadeloupe archipelago, French Lesser Antilles) provide a remarkable example of an isolated carbonate system built in an active margin setting, with sedimentation controlled by both rapid sea‐level changes and tectonic movements. Based on new field, sedimentological and palaeontological analyses, these deposits have been organized into four sedimentary sequences (S1 to S4) separated by three subaerial erosion surfaces (SB0, SB1 and SB2). Sequences S1 and S2 (‘Calcaires inférieurs à rhodolithes’) deposited during the Late Zanclean to Early Gelasian (planktonic foraminiferal Zones PL2 to PL5) in low subsidence conditions, on a distally steepened ramp dipping eastward. Red algal‐rich deposits, which dominate the western part of Grande‐Terre, change to planktonic foraminifer‐rich deposits eastward. Vertical movements of tens of metres were responsible for the formation of SB0 and SB1. Sequence S3 (‘Formation volcano‐sédimentaire’, ‘Calcaires supérieurs à rhodolithes’ and ‘Calcaires à Agaricia’) was deposited during the Late Piacenzian to Early Calabrian (Zones PL5 to PT1a) on a distally steepened, red algal‐dominated ramp that changes upward into a homoclinal, coral‐dominated ramp. Deposition of Sequence S3 occurred during a eustatic cycle in quiet tectonic conditions. Its uppermost boundary, the major erosion surface SB2, is related to the Cala1 eustatic sea‐level fall. Finally, Sequence S4 (‘Calcaires à Acropora’) probably formed during the Calabrian, developing as a coral‐dominated platform during a eustatic cycle in quiet tectonic conditions. The final emergence of the island could then have occurred in Late Calabrian times.     

Evolution,architecture and hierarchy of distributary deep‐water deposits: a high‐resolution outcrop investigation from the Permian Karoo Basin,South Africa

Sea floor and shallow seismic data sets of terminal submarine fan lobes can provide excellent planform timeslices of distributive deep‐water systems but commonly only limited information on cross‐sectional architecture. Extensive outcrops in the Tanqua depocentre, south‐west Karoo Basin, provide these three‐dimensional constraints on lithofacies distributions, stacking patterns, depositional geometries and the stratigraphic evolution of submarine lobe deposits at a scale comparable with modern lobe systems. Detailed study (bed‐scale) of a single‐lobe complex (Fan 3) over a 15 km by 8 km area has helped to define a four‐fold hierarchy of depositional elements from bed through to lobe element, lobe and lobe complex. The Fan 3 lobe complex comprises six distinct fine‐grained sandstone packages, interpreted as lobes, which display compensational stacking patterns on a 5 km scale. Between successive lobes are thin‐bedded, very fine‐grained sandstones and siltstones that do not change lithofacies over several kilometres and therefore are identified as a different architectural element. Each lobe is built by many lobe elements, which also display compensational stacking patterns over a kilometre scale. Thickness variations of lobe elements can be extremely abrupt without erosion, particularly in distal areas where isopach maps reveal a finger‐like distal fringe to lobes. Lobe deposits, therefore, are not simple radial sheet‐dominated systems as commonly envisaged.     

COHERENT GENERATION OF NARROW-BAND CIRCULARLY POLARIZED RADIO BURSTS FROM THE SUN AND FLARE STARS

It is shown that narrow-band radio bursts of right- and left-hand circular polarizations from the Sun and flare stars can be produced via nonlinear conversion of Langmuir waves into high-frequency electromagnetic electron cyclotron waves near the plasma frequency by coupling to low-frequency electromagnetic cyclotron waves such as Alfvén-ion cyclotron or magnetosonic-whistler waves.     

A New Method to Determine the Derivatives of the Laplace Coefficients

The determination of the secular variations of the orbital elements of objects in N-body systems is based on the literal development of the perturbing function. The development makes use of the Laplace coefficients and their derivatives. In this paper a new method is described for the analytical computation of the derivatives of the Laplace coefficients. It is an explicit formula in the sense that it only contains the Laplace coefficients and the parameter on which the Laplace coefficients depend. The advantage of this method is that it is unnecessary to calculate all the derivatives up to the desired order. It is enough to calculate the Laplace coefficients. Easy coding is a further benefit of the method and it provides more accurate numerical results. The paper describes in detail the application of the method through an example and gives comparison with former methods.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

INTÉERÉET D'ÉETUDES HYDROLOGIQUES APPROFONDIES SUR DES BASSINS EXPÉERIMENTAUX OCCUPANT PLUSIEURS MILLIERS DE KM2

Abstract

A relationship of hydrologic variables with stream salinity was determined statistically for two ephemeral streams located in western Oklahoma. The hydrologic variables employed in this study are measures of streamflow, precipitation, anteccedent conditions, and agricultural land use.

The best single estimate of stream salinity was achieved by use of those variables classed as direct measures of precipitation, with the greatest variability in stream salinity (51%) being predicted by maximum daily P, the maximum amount of precipitation received at any rain gage zone in the watershed during one month. Maximum daily P predicts nearly double the variability in stream salinity predicted by flow. Antecedent conditions did not correlate well with stream salinity, except for the variable describing the antecedent stream salinity. Similarly, the areal location of precipitation within the watershed and agricultural land use did not correlate significantly with stream salinity, except for a variable designating the distance between the stream gaging station and the rain gage zone receiving the most precipitation for the month.

The best overall estimate of salinity was given by a multiple regression equation chosen on the basis of a factor analysis. This equation accounted for 65 percent of the variability in salinity and emphasized the contribution of variables classed as direct measures of precipitation. In comparing the two streams, the watershed having the most intensive rain gage network produced the best prediction equation.     

Mapping groundwater quality variables using PCA and geostatistics: a case study of Bajo Andarax,southeastern Spain

Abstract

A case study is presented for the application of statistical and geostatistical methods to the problem of estimating groundwater quality variables. This methodology has been applied to the investigation of the detrital aquifer of the Bajo Andarax (Almería, Spain). The use of principal components analysis is proposed, as a first step, for identifying relevant types of groundwater and the processes that bring about a change in their quality. As a result of this application, three factors were obtained, which were used as three new variables (VI: sulphate influence; V2: thermal influence; and V3: marine influence). Analysis of their spatial distribution was performed through the calculation of experimental and theoretical variograms, which served as input for geostatistical modelling using ordinary block kriging. This analysis has allowed a probabilistic representation of the data to be obtained by mapping the three variables throughout the aquifer for each sampling point. In this way, one can evaluate the spatial and temporal variation of the principal physico-chemical processes associated with the three variables VI, V2 and V3 implicated in the groundwater quality of the detrital aquifer.