Palaeointensity studies of a late Permian lava succession from Guizhou Province, South China: implications for post-Kiaman dipole field behaviour

Palaeomagnetic results are presented from a volcanic sequence in Zhijin County, Guizhou Province, Southern China. The lavas and associated volcanic breccias comprising the sequence represent a southern extension of the Emeishan volcanic province. Biostratigraphic dating of interbedded limestone units and stratigraphic constraints indicate that the section formed during the late Permian (∼263–255  Ma), and is thus somewhat older than the Emei stratotype section in Sichuan Province, and close in age to reported estimates of the termination of the Permo-Carboniferous (Kiaman) reverse superchron. Rock magnetic analyses and reflected light microscopy indicate that the magnetic mineralogy of the lava units is dominated by fresh, primary magnetites containing a significant fraction of single-domain grains. Thermal demagnetization behaviour of the breccia units is poor, but most lava samples have one or two components of remanence above 250 °C. The normal polarity characteristic remanence held by the lavas implies a post-Kiaman age for this succession and suggests that the termination of the Kiaman occurred prior to 263  Ma, supporting recently published estimates. According to standard criteria, Thellier palaeointensity results from the lavas are of good quality and reveal that the dipole field strength was comparatively low shortly after the termination of the superchron. 80 per cent of samples record relative VDM values in the range 42–52 per cent of the present-day value, supporting recent studies of mid-Kiaman field intensity. This suggests that a low-energy dipole existed at least between 300 and 255  Ma and does not appear to have been confined to the stable reverse polarity interval.     

Alkaline intrusion in a granulite ensemble in the eastern ghats belt,India: Shear zone pathway and a pull-apart structure

The alkaline complex of Koraput, Orissa, India, is one of several bodies in the high-grade Eastern Ghats belt, but this one is an integral part of the high-grade belt and remote from the western boundary against the Bastar craton. The Koraput complex forms a lozenge-shaped intrusion into the metapelitic granulites and is bounded by shear zones. The combined effect of movement along these shear zones, is a northeasterly elongated sygmoidal cavity with maximum width along the northwesterly trending Reidel shear. Thus the Koraput alkaline complex can be considered to have been emplaced in a pull-apart structure, developed in the granulitic country rocks. Moreover, in view of the fact that the western margin of the high-grade Eastern Ghats belt bears clear evidence of collisional features, rather than that of rifting or break-up, the rift-valley model for the alkaline magmatism in this high-grade belt appears untenable.     

Analysis of Ac in seawater by delayed coincidence counting

The activity of ²²⁷Ac in seawater was determined using a delayed coincidence counting technique based on the measurement of the short-lived daughter ²²³Ra (half-life of 11 days). Two 180-l aliquots of Ac free seawater from surface waters of the California borderlands were spiked with Harwell Uraninite standard and the added Ac and Ra were extracted on Mn-fibers. The measured activities on the fibers agreed to within 5% of the equilibrium Ac activity of the spike addition, well within the 2σ counting error of 7% for the measurements. Thus, any recovery error was indistinguishable from counting error. Large volume samples were collected from the water column of the Eastern North Pacific in December of 1998 and processed through Mn-fiber columns. The ²²³Ra activities on the fibers were measured four or more times over a period of 2 months by the technique of [J. Geophys. Res. 101 (1996) 1321] to determine if the activity of ²²³Ra was wholly supported by ²²⁷Ac. In most cases, no significant differences in ²²³Ra activity were observed during repeated counting of the same sample, again implying that ²²³Ra was supported wholly by ²²⁷Ac. In samples where unsupported ²²³Ra were present, samples were counted beyond five half live of the ²²³Ra (>60 days). Two depth profiles of ²²⁷Ac in the Eastern North Pacific showed similar shape and activity to profiles in the Western and Central Pacific measured with alpha-spectrometry by [Nature 310 (1984) 486). Surface waters of the Southern Ocean were relatively enriched in ²²⁷Ac compared to Eastern North Pacific waters, possibly indicating export of the parent ²³¹Pa from Atlantic surface waters or upwelling.     

Assessing the west ridge of Luzon Strait as an internal wave mediator

The Luzon Strait is blocked by two meridional ridges at depths, with the east ridge somewhat higher than the west ridge in the middle reaches of the Strait. Previous numerical models identified the Luzon Strait as the primary generation site of internal M₂ tides entering the northern South China Sea (Niwa and Hibiya, 2004), but the role of the west-versus-east ridge was uncertain. We used a hydrostatic model for the northern South China Sea and a nonhydrostatic, process-oriented model to evaluate how the west ridge of Luzon Strait modifies westward propagation of internal tides, internal bores and internal solitary waves. The dynamic role of the west ridge depends strongly on the characteristics of internal waves and is spatially inhomogeneous. For M₂ tides, both models identify the west ridge in the middle reaches of Luzon Strait as a dampener of incoming internal waves from the east ridge. In the northern Luzon Strait, the west ridge is quite imposing in height and becomes a secondary generation site for M₂ internal tides. If the incoming wave is an internal tide, previous models suggested that wave attenuation depends crucially on how supercritical the west ridge slope is. If the incoming wave is an internal bore or internal solitary wave, our investigation suggests a loss of sensitivity to the supercritical slope for internal tides, leaving ridge height as the dominant factor regulating the wave attenuation. Mechanisms responsible for the ridge-induced attenuation are discussed.     

The collaboration modelling framework for ship structural design

Within a shipyard, many designers each have their own design objective cooperating in complex design circumstance that a variety of software tools run on different hardware platforms. Different CAD systems are used by different design stages and departments, and the design result is usually delivered on paper drawings. The proliferation of data and the rising number of disparate data systems do not communicate with each other and certainly do not collaborate. Advanced 3D modelling tools are installed in most of progressive shipyards for advantage to improve their productivities. However these 3D models are repetitiously constructed as per the specified design objectives of disparate software tools in various design stages. This paper describes the development of collaboration modelling framework, knowledge-based design support system, to make a web-based data-sharing collaborative environment potentially allowing to facilitate some applications, construct 3D lines rapidly, translate the product data, and further be capable of providing reasonable model configurations for XML type, and sharing the web services from the Internet to comply with shipyards’ specific strategy for each particular case to be designed.     

The nature,distribution and origin of a sapropelic layer in sediments of the Silicia Basin,northeastern Mediterranean

A sapropelic layer with organic carbon contents of 1.0–1.5%, in contrast to the usual 0.2–0.5% of adjacent normal basin sediments, is found to be widespread in sediment cores collected from the Cilicia Basin, northeastern Mediterranean. The horizon is thought to be equivalent to the S₁ sapropel of other workers. It is finely laminated with no evidence of bioturbation, has a very markedly low magnetic susceptibility, and contains a significantly higher content of pollen and plant debris than is found in the normal basin sediment. The stable oxygen and carbon isotope values suggest that the layer formed during post-glacial climatic warming when fresh nutrient-rich surface water flowed into the Cilicia Basin from the surrounding land to produce a stratified water mass which allowed the development of anoxic bottom waters. The distribution of the sapropelic layer indicates that anoxic conditions extended to within approximately 350 m of sea level during deposition, a depth shallower than previously recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean.     

Marine geology of St. George’s Bay, Newfoundland, as interpreted from multibeam bathymetry and back-scatter data

 Multibeam bathymetric data collected in St. George’s Bay, Newfoundland, show glacial and postglacial landforms in a 100-m-deep basin offshore from a barrier. Back-scatter data provide information on sediment lithology. Features undetected by previous conventional surveys include large bedforms on the surface of a barrier platform and submarine fans on its flanks. The data demonstrate that sediment transport processes are more complex than was previously believed. Multibeam bathymetric images are the sea-floor equivalents of air photographs. They can be used effectively to plan conventional acoustic surveys. Received: 16 February 1996 / Revision received: 4 September 1996     

Different levels of mussel (Mytilus edulis) DNA strand breaks following chronic field and acute laboratory exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) were at least seven-fold higher in mussels sampled from a polluted site (Loch Leven, in Scotland, UK) compared to a nearby clean reference site (Loch Etive) throughout the year 2000. Levels of DNA strand breaks (alkaline COMET assay) using both gill and digestive gland nuclei were similar at both sites despite the difference in contaminant load (total PAH). In contrast, mussels collected from a reference site (Port Quin, Cornwall, UK) had an increase in DNA strand breaks in digestive gland cells following laboratory exposure to B[a]P-dosed Isochrysis galbana. However, after 14 days high dose (20 ppb-exposed diet) animals had returned to levels similar to the controls. There was no evidence of increased necrosis or apoptosis after treatments. The results from these two studies suggest that an adaptive response may prevent ongoing DNA damage in mussels exposed to high levels of B[a]P and PAH contamination.     

Retrograde pressure-temperature path for spinel-bearing metapelites in Rayagada, Eastern Ghats, India

Summary Two assemblages have been identified in spinel-bearing metapelites from Rayagada, in the Eastern Ghats Belt, India: the first, an iron-rich assemblage, is characterized by iron-rich spinel and garnet; the second, iron-poor assemblage, by iron-poor spinel and garnet, together with cordierite and hematite. Garnet and sillimanite coronas around spinel show elongation parallel to the dominant fabric in the iron-rich assemblage but not in the iron-poor one. Both textures suggest the corona forming retrograde reaction spl + qtz = grt + sil. The P-T conditions for these corona-forming reactions are estimated at 950°C and 8.7-9.0 kbar for the iron-rich, and 800°C and 8 kbar for the iron-poor assemblage. Thermobarometric results and observed phase relations, using the model system FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ (FMAS) indicate near-isobaric cooling from 950° to 800°C and subsequent decompression from 8 to 6.5 kbar. The corona-forming event in the iron-rich assemblage has been correlated with the dominant second phase of deformation (D2), but that in the iron-poor assemblage apparently postdates D₂.

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Der retrograde P-T Pfad Spinell führender Metapelite in Rayagada, östliche Ghats, Indien

Zusammenfassung Zwei unterschiedliche Spinell-führende Mineralvergesellschaftungen in Metapeliten werden aus Rayagada in den östlichen Ghats Indiens beschrieben. Die erste, eine eisenreiche, ist durch Fe-reichen Spinell und Granat, die zweite eisenarme, durch Fe armen Spinell, Granat, Cordierit und Hämatit charakterisiert. Granat und Sillimanit Coronas um Spinell sind nur in der eisenreichen Vergesellschaftung parallel zum dominierenden metamorphen Gefüge elongiert, nicht aber in der eisenarmen. Beide Texturen belegen die retrograde Reaktion Spl + Qtz = Grt + Sil. Die P-T Bedingungen der Koronareaktionen in der Fe-reichen Assoziation werden mit ca. 950°C und 8.7-9.0 kbar, die in der Fe-armen mit ca. 800°C und 8 kbar abgeschätzt. Die Ergebnisse der Geothermobarometrie und die beobachteten Phasenbeziehungen im Modellsysem FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ (FMAS) belegen eine mehr oder weniger isobare Abkühlung von ca. 950 bis 800°C mit anschließender Dekompression von ca. 8 bis 6.5 kbar. Die koronabildende Raktion in der eisenreichen Vergesellschaftung wird mit der dominierenden zweiten (D2) Deformationsphase korreliert, überdauert diese aber in den Fe-armen Gesteinen.

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With 5 Figures