Effect of bed surface roughness on longitudinal dispersion in artificial open channels

In several empirical and modelling studies on river hydraulics, dispersion was negatively correlated to surface roughness. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the influence of surface roughness on longitudinal dispersion under controlled conditions. In artificial flow channels with a length of 104 m, tracer experiments with variations in channel bed material were performed. By use of measured tracer breakthrough curves, average flow velocity, mean longitudinal dispersion, and mean longitudinal dispersivity were calculated. Longitudinal dispersion coefficients ranged from 0·018 m² s^?1 in channels with smooth bed surface up to 0·209 m² s^?1 in channels with coarse gravel as bed material. Longitudinal dispersion was linearly related to mean flow velocity. Accordingly, longitudinal dispersivities ranged between 0·152 ± 0·017 m in channels with smooth bed surface and 0·584 ± 0·015 m in identical channels with a coarse gravel substrate. Grain size and surface roughness of the channel bed were found to correlate positively to longitudinal dispersion. This finding contradicts several existing relations between surface roughness and dispersion. Future studies should include further variation in surface roughness to derive a better‐founded empirical equation forecasting longitudinal dispersion from surface roughness. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Devitrite (Na2Ca3Si6O16)—structural, spectroscopic and computational investigations on a crystalline impurity phase in industrial soda-lime glasses

Single crystals of devitrite (Na₂Ca₃Si₆O₁₆) were synthesized as pale-yellow transparent needle shaped crystals using a Na₂MoO₄-flux. Experiments aiming to prepare the K-equivalent of devitrite from the corresponding K₂MoO₄-flux were unsuccessful. The crystal structure of devitrite was determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data (Mo-K_α radiation, 2θ_max.?=?25.34°, R_int?=?2.66%) and refined in space group P $ \bar{1} $ (no. 2) to R(|F|)?=?3.08% using 2,513 observed reflections with I?>?2σ(I). Unit-cell parameters are: a?=?7.2291(8), b?=?10.1728(12), c?=?10.6727(12) Å, α?=?95.669(9), β?=?109.792(10), γ?=?99.156(9)°, V?=?719.19(14) ų, Z?=?2. The structure belongs to the group of multiple chain silicates consisting of dreier quadruple chains, i.e. the crystallochemical formula can be written as $ {\hbox{N}}{{\hbox{a}}_2}{\hbox{C}}{{\hbox{a}}_3}\left\{ {{\mathbf{uB}}{,4}_\infty^1} \right\}\left[ {^3{\hbox{S}}{{\hbox{i}}_6}} \right.\left. {{{\hbox{O}}_{16}}} \right\} $ . Linkage between the bands running along [100] is provided by double chains of edge sharing CaO₆-octahedra as well as additional more irregularly coordinated Na- and Ca-cations located in the tunnel-like cavities of the mixed tetrahedral-octahedral framework. Structural investigations were completed by Raman and infrared spectroscopical studies. The allocation of the bands to certain vibrational species was aided by density functional theory (DFT) calculations.     

U-Pb-Hf isotopic data from detrital zircons in late Carboniferous and Mid-Late Triassic sandstones,and also Carboniferous granites from the Tauride and Anatolide continental units in S Turkey: implications for Tethyan palaeogeography

ABSTRACT

Zircons from Carboniferous sandstones (three samples) and Mid-Late Triassic sandstones (four samples) from the Tauride and Anatolide continental units were analysed for U-Pb-Hf isotopes. For comparison, zircons were also analysed from Carboniferous granites of the Afyon Zone, Anatolides (three samples). A NE African/Arabian source is inferred for both the Carboniferous sandstones of the Taurides (Alada?) and the Anatolides (Konya Complex). In contrast, the Carboniferous Karaburun Melange is characterised by a NW African provenance. A prominent Devonian population occurs in the Carboniferous Karaburun Melange, characterised by mainly positive ε_Hf(t) values that differ significantly from those of the Devonian granites of the Sakarya continental crustal unit (Pontides). Middle-Late Triassic Tauride sandstones include minor Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic zircons. In contrast, Devonian and Carboniferous zircons are relatively abundant in Late Triassic sandstones of the Karaburun Peninsula. The Hf isotopic compositions of 25 Carboniferous-aged zircons from three samples of Mid-Late Triassic sandstone and one of Late Carboniferous age (one sample) overlap with the ε_Hf(t) values of Carboniferous arc-type granites in the Anatolides. Taking account of the available U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopic data from comparative crustal units, the Devonian zircon populations from the melanges in the Karaburun Peninsula and the Konya Complex are inferred to have a westerly source (e.g. granitic rocks of Aegean region or central Europe). A tectonic model is proposed in which Palaeozoic Tethys sutured during the late Carboniferous in the west (Aegean region westwards), leaving an eastward-widening oceanic gulf in which sandstone turbidites accumulated, including Devonian zircons.     

Bathymetry of Molloy Deep: Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland

The sea floor of Fram Strait, the over 2500 m deep passage between the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, is part of a complex transform zone between the Knipovich mid-oceanic ridge of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge of the Arctic Ocean. Because linear magnetic anomalies formed by sea-floor spreading have not been found, the precise location of the boundary between the Eurasian and the North American plate is unknown in this region. Systematic surveying of Fram Strait with SEABEAM and high resolution seismic profiling began in 1984 and continued in 1985 and 1987, providing detailed morphology of the Fram Strait sea floor and permitting better definition of its morphotectonics. The 1984 survey presented in this paper provided a complete set of bathymetric data from the southernmost section of the Svalbard Transform, including the Molloy Fracture Zone, connecting the Knipovich Ridge to the Molloy Ridge; and the Molloy Deep, a nodal basin formed at the intersection of the Molloy Transform Fault and the Molloy Ridge. This nodal basin has a revised maximum depth of 5607 m water depth at 79°8.5N and 2°47E.     

Provenance and accumulation rates of opaline silica,Al, Ti,Fe, Mn,Cu, Ni and Co in Pacific pelagic sediments

Accumulation rates and chemical compositions have been obtained for pelagic sediments for 73 locations in the Pacific and for 11 in the Indian Ocean. The data for the Pacific show that many elements accumulate rapidly close to the continents and slowly in the central part of the ocean. This pattern is interrupted by two major zones of relatively high accumulation rates, one along the Equator and one along the East Pacific Rise. Deposition of opaline silica is almost completely restricted to areas of known high biological productivities at the Equator and at very high latitudes. Cu and Ni show stronger tendencies than Fe and Mn to precipitate with opaline silica. The highest accumulation rates of Fe and Mn in the open Pacific occur along the East Pacific Rise, to some extent also Cu and Ni are enriched there due to volcanic processes. Al and Ti show high accumulation rates only close to the continents; these elements appear to be almost completely terrigenous.Provenance studies of minerogen fractions, using the relations between Fe, Ti, Al and Mn, show that significant quantities of basaltic matter (oceanic crust) are incorporated into the sediments only in areas of very low total sedimentation rates in the vicinity of oceanic island groups such as Polynesia and Hawaii, whereas hydrothermal processes act as a major sediment source only on the East Pacific Rise. Sediments in the north as well as in the southernmost part of the Pacific are nearly entirely terrigenous. A balance estimate of the minerogen fraction of the deep-sea sediments from the open Pacific suggests that between 75 and 95% of all sediments in the Pacific are terrigenous and that submarine weathering (and release of basaltic debris in general) and submarine exhalations each account for only a small fraction of the sediments.     

Mega-monsoon variability during the late Triassic: Re-assessing the role of orbital forcing in the deposition of playa sediments in the Germanic Basin

The formation of the supercontinent Pangaea during the Permo–Triassic gave rise to an extreme monsoonal climate (often termed ‘mega-monsoon’) that has been documented by numerous palaeo-records. However, considerable debate exists about the role of orbital forcing in causing humid intervals in an otherwise arid climate. To shed new light on the forcing of monsoonal variability in subtropical Pangaea, this study focuses on sediment facies and colour variability of playa and alluvial fan deposits in an outcrop from the late Carnian (ca 225 Ma) in the southern Germanic Basin, south-western Germany. The sediments were deposited against a background of increasingly arid conditions following the humid Carnian Pluvial Event (ca 234 to 232 Ma). The ca 2·4 Myr long sedimentary succession studied shows a tripartite long-term evolution, starting with a distal mud-flat facies deposited under arid conditions. This phase was followed by a highly variable playa-lake environment that documents more humid conditions and finally a regression of the playa-lake due to a return of arid conditions. The red–green (a*) and lightness (L*) records show that this long-term variability was overprinted by alternating wet/dry cycles driven by orbital precession and ca 405 kyr eccentricity, without significant influence of obliquity. The absence of obliquity in this record indicates that high-latitude forcing played only a minor role in the southern Germanic Basin during the late Carnian. This is different from the subsequent Norian when high-latitude signals became more pronounced, potentially related to the northward drift of the Germanic Basin. The recurring pattern of pluvial events during the late Triassic demonstrates that orbital forcing, in particular eccentricity, stimulated the occurrence and intensity of wet phases. It also highlights the possibility that the Carnian Pluvial Event, although most likely triggered by enhanced volcanic activity, may also have been modified by an orbital stimulus.