Factors affecting the distribution and abundance of Macrobrachium petersi (Hilgendorf) in the Keiskamma River and estuary,South Africa

A dry (1979–1980) and a wet (1980–1981) season had a marked effect on the freshwater inflow into the Keiskamma estuary. Under low inflow conditions, which results in elevated salinities in the upper reaches, an upstream migration of adult Macrobrachium petersi (Hilgendorf) to freshwater takes place. During periods of increased river inflow adult M. petersi move downstream to the more saline reaches of the estuary. These two migratory responses have been interpreted as (a) a breeding migration under high inflow conditions which ensures that larvae are in close proximity to salinities that favour growth and development, and (b) an adult upstream migration back to freshwater to escape elevated estuarine salinities as a result of the low freshwater inflow.     

First sodium nightglow results for Natal

The first year of sodium nightglow observations from Natal (6°S, 35°W) are examined. Time variations appear to follow a pattern of their own, different from low latitude results. The major seasonal peak occurs in September-October and the average variation during the night decreases from dusk to dawn. Statistics on cloud coverage show that Natal has roughly only about 3 clear hours per night. The best observing period is April with an average of 5 clear hours per night.     

On the structure of the Ivrea-Verbano Zone (northern Italy) and its implications for present-day lower continental crust geometry

The Ivrea-Verbano Zone in northern Italy represents a section through the lower continental crust which has been tilted and emplaced into its present position during the Alpine orogeny. Recent and on-going structurally-oriented geological mapping in this region is providing new information about the geometry of the complex. The central part of the zone is dominated by a large basic complex (the 'mafic formation') which is intrusive into the surrounding gneisses. The foliation within the envelope of gneisses is deflected around the intrusive complex as if by ballooning, but in the region south-west of Monte Capio both units are folded together into a tight to isoclinal steeply plunging fold with an amplitude of c. 10 km. This fold locally inverts the stratigraphy of the layered basic group of the complex, and is thought to be the result of gravitational collapse following intrusion and inflation of a large magma body into the lower crust.
Several high-temperature shear zones have now been traced within the country rock for distances up to 20 km. The geometry of these, and their relationship to the basic complex suggests that at least some of the extensional collapse of the mafic body is related to uplift caused by intrusion of this body.
Close parallels can be drawn between the observed structure in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone (after removing the effects of late, low-temperature faulting and folding related to emplacement of the rocks into their present position), and those inferred from deep seismic reflection profiling in areas of current extension such as parts of the US Basin and Range province.     

Current convection in solar active regions

Current carrying magnetic fields which penetrate sunspots can be unstable to current convective modes caused by the large gradient of electrical conductivity. The linear growth rates and wavelengths of the unstable modes are found. The unstable modes produce fine-scale vortices perpendicular to the magnetic field, which overshoot well into the solar corona. The modes provide a turbulent vorticity source at the photospheric footpoints of the field. This can cause braiding and reconnection of the coronal magnetic field. The modes twist the coronal magnetic field into loops with a typical radius of 200 km, consistent with recent X-ray observations.     

A 20 cm2 CCD mosaic camera for a dark matter search part I : Mechanics,optics and cryogeny

A 20cm ² CCD mosaic camera has been especially built to search for dark galactic halo objects by the gravitational microlensing effect. The sensitive area is made of 16 edge-buttable CCDs developped by Thomson-CTS, with 23×23 µm ² pixels. The 35 kg camera housing and mechanical equipment is presented. The associated electronics and data acquisition system are described in a separate paper. The camera resides at the focal plane of a 40 cm, f/10, Ferson reflector. The instrument has been in operation since December 1991 at the La Silla Observatory (ESO).     

40Ar/39Ar and oxygen isotope studies of polymetamorphism from Tinos Island, Cycladic blueschist belt, Greece

Abstract Petrological, oxygen isotope and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar studies were used to constrain the Tertiary metamorphic evolution of the lower tectonic unit of the Cyclades on Tinos. Polyphase high-pressure metamorphism reached pressures in excess of 15 kbar, based on measurements of the Si content in potassic white mica. Temperatures of 450–500° C at the thermal peak of high-pressure metamorphism were estimated from critical metamorphic assemblages, the validity of which is confirmed by a quartz–magnetite oxygen isotope temperature of 470° C. Some ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar spectra of white mica give plateau ages of 44–40 Ma that are considered to represent dynamic recrystallization under peak or slightly post-peak high-pressure metamorphic conditions. Early stages in the prograde high-pressure evolution may be documented by older apparent ages in the high-temperature steps of some spectra. Eclogite to epidote blueschist facies mineralogies were partially or totally replaced by retrograde greenschist facies assemblages during exhumation. Oxygen isotope thermometry of four quartz–magnetite pairs from greenschist samples gives temperatures of 440–470° C which cannot be distinguished from those deduced for the high-pressure event. The exhumation and overprint is documented by decreasing ages of 32–28 Ma in some greenschists and late-stage blueschist rocks, and ages of 30–20 Ma in the lower temperature steps of the Ar release patterns of blueschist micas. Almost flat parts of Ar–Ar release spectra of some greenschist micas gave ages of 23–21 Ma which are assumed to represent incomplete resetting caused by a renewed prograde phase of greenschist metamorphism. Oxygen isotope compositions of blueschist and greenschist facies minerals show no evidence for the infiltration of a δ¹⁸O-enriched fluid. Rather, the compositions indicate that fluid to rock ratios were very low, the isotopic compositions being primarily controlled by those of the protolith rocks. We assume that the fundamental control catalysing the transformation of blueschists into greenschists and the associated resetting of their isotopic systems was the selective infiltration of metamorphic fluid. A quartz–magnetite sample from a contact metamorphic skarn, taken near the Miocene monzogranite of Tinos, gave an oxygen isotope temperature of 555° C and calculated water composition of 9.1%. The value of δ¹⁸O obtained from this water is consistent with a primary magmatic fluid, but is lower than that of fluids associated with the greenschist overprint, which indicates that the latter event cannot be directly related to the monozogranite intrusion.