Chemical Composition Diversity Among 24 Comets Observed At Radio Wavelengths

We present a comparative study on molecular abundances in comets basedon millimetre/submillimetre observations made with the IRAM 30-m,JCMT, CSO and SEST telescopes. This study concerns a sample of 24comets (6 Jupiter-family, 3 Halley-family, 15 long-period) observedfrom 1986 to 2001 and 8 molecular species (HCN, HNC, CH₃CN,CH₃OH, H₂CO, CO, CS, H₂S). HCN was detected in all comets,while at least 2 molecules were detected in 19 comets. From the sub-sample of comets for which contemporary H₂O productionrates are available, we infer that the HCN abundance relative to water variesfrom 0.08% to 0.25%. With respect to other species, HCN is the moleculewhich exhibits the lowest abundance variation from comet to comet. Therefore,production rates relative to that of HCN can be used for a comparative study ofmolecular abundances in the 19 comets. It is found that: CH₃OH/HCN varies from ≤ 9 to 64; CO/HCN varies from ≤ 24 to 180; H₂CO/HCN varies between 1.6 and 10; and H₂S/HCN varies between 1.5 and 7.6. This study does not show any clear correlation between the relative abundancesand the dynamical origins of the comets, or their dust-to-gas ratios.     

The 3:2 spin-orbit resonant motion of Mercury

Our purpose is to build a model of rotation for a rigid Mercury, involving the planetary perturbations and the non-spherical shape of the planet. The approach is purely analytical, based on Hamiltonian formalism; we start with a first-order basic averaged resonant potential (including J ₂ and C ₂₂, and the first powers of the eccentricity and the inclination of Mercury). With this kernel model, we identify the present equilibrium of Mercury; we introduce local canonical variables, describing the motion around this 3:2 resonance. We perform a canonical untangling transformation, to generate three sets of action-angle variables, and identify the three basic frequencies associated to this motion. We show how to reintroduce the short-periodic terms, lost in the averaging process, thanks to the Lie generator; we also comment about the damping effects and the planetary perturbations. At any point of the development, we use the model SONYR to compare and check our calculations.     

Bringing GEOSS Services into Practice: A Capacity Building Resource on Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI)

Data discoverability, accessibility, and integration are frequent barriers for scientists and a major obstacle for favorable results on environmental research. To tackle this issue, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is leading the development of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), a voluntary effort that connects Earth Observation resources world‐wide, acting as a gateway between producers and users of environmental data. GEO recognizes the importance of capacity building and education to reach large adoption, acceptance and commitment on data sharing principles to increase the capacity to access and use Earth Observations data. This article presents “Bringing GEOSS services into practice” (BGSIP), an integrated set of teaching material and software to facilitate the publication and use of environmental data through standardized discovery, view, download, and processing services, further facilitating the registration of data into GEOSS. So far, 520 participants in 10 countries have been trained using this material, leading to numerous Spatial Data Infrastructure implementations and 1,000 tutorial downloads. This workshop lowers the entry barriers for both data providers and users, facilitates the development of technical skills, and empowers people.     

Multi‐scale constraints of sediment source to sink systems in frontier basins: a forward stratigraphic modelling case study of the Levant region

Recent scientific work has highlighted the presence of an up to 12 km thick Cenozoic siliclastic and carbonate infill in the Levant Basin. Since the Late Eocene, several regional geodynamic events affecting Afro‐Arabia and Eurasia (collision and strike slip deformation) induced marginal uplifts. The initiation of local and long‐lived regional drainage systems in the Oligo‐Miocene period (e.g., Lebanon, Arabia and Nile) provoked a change in the depositional pattern along the Levant region from carbonate‐dominated to mixed clastic‐rich systems. Herein, we explore the importance of multi‐scale constraints (i.e., seismic, well and field data) in the quantification of subsidence history, sediment transport and deposition of a Middle to Upper Miocene “multi‐source” to sink system along the northern Levant frontier region. Through a comprehensive 4D forward stratigraphic modelling workflow, we suggest that the contribution to basin infill is split between proximal and more distal clastic sources as well as in situ carbonate and hemipelagic deposition. The results show that single‐source scenarios could not reasonably satisfy the basin‐scale constraints. The worldwide application of such new multi‐disciplinary workflows in frontier regions highlights the additional data constraints that are needed to de‐risk highly uncertain geological models in the hydrocarbon exploration phase.     

Effects of water and fines contents on the resilient modulus of the interlayer soil of railway substructure

This paper deals with the resilient behavior of the interlayer soil which is created mainly by the interpenetration of ballast and subgrade soils. The interlayer soil studied was taken from a site in the southeast of France. Large-scale cyclic triaxial tests were carried out at three water contents (w = 4, 6 and 12 %) and three fines contents corresponding to 5, 10 % subgrade added to the natural interlayer soil and 10 % fine particles (<80 μm) removed from the natural interlayer soil. Soil specimens underwent various deviator stresses, and for each deviator stress, a large number of cycles was applied. The effects of deviator stress, number of cycles, water content and fines content on the resilient modulus (M _r) were analyzed. It appears that the effects of water content and fines content must be analyzed together because the two effects are closely linked. Under unsaturated conditions, the soil containing high fines content has higher resilient modulus due to the contribution of suction. When the soil approaches the saturated state, it loses its mechanical enhancement with a sharp decrease in resilient modulus.     

Classical and integrated multicomponent geothermometry at the Tengchong geothermal field,Southwestern China

To reconstruct deep fluid chemical composition and increase the confidence in estimated reservoir temperatures, a more integral geothermometry method was compared to other classical geothermometers. Here, we apply the integrated multicomponent geothermometry (IMG) method using the GeoT code to estimate reservoir temperatures at the Tengchong geothermal field in Southwestern China. Results show reservoir temperatures calculated using the quartz geothermometer are closest to those estimated with the IMG method. The concentrations of Al and Mg, as well as selected minerals for geothermometry computations, are key factors for successfully using the IMG. Using the IMG method together with classical geothermometers can significantly increase confidence in reservoir temperature estimations. The methods presented and simulation program used here may be useful for analysis of other geothermal fields under similar conditions.