The Use of Spatial Cognitive Abilities in Geographical Information Systems: The Map Overlay Operation

Spatial cognitive abilities play an important role in the use of GIS, although they have yet to be examined in a controlled experimental setting. This study aimed to develop an experimental design which measures spatial cognitive abilities in the use of GIS, specifically the map overlay operation. Subjects ( n = 134) received three map overlay tests in which they were given two of the following: input map layers, logical operator(s), or output map layer(s). Subjects were required to select the correct logical operator for Test 1, to select the correct output map layer for Test 2, and to select the correct input map layers for Test 3. Each test contained a total of 16 questions, based on a 4 ('and', 'or', 'xor', 'not' operators) × 2 (one or two polygons per map layer) × 2 (three or five polygon edges) factorial design. Results indicated a significant main effect of logical operators and number of polygons on performance; however, there was no effect of the number of polygon edges on performance. Significant two-way interactions revealed an effect of the number of polygon edges and the number of polygons using various logical operators on performance. In addition, performance was not significantly different between males and females or between GIS users and non-users. Overall, results show that map overlays in which a visual correspondence can be made between the same polygons in the input and output map layers are cognitively less demanding than map overlays in which the shape of the polygons have been radically transformed between the input and output map layers. This study helps further develop our understanding of the spatial cognitive abilities which are required in the use of GIS, and whether certain sub-populations differ in these cognitive abilities. These results may contribute to more effective and efficient GIS teaching and interface design by taking into account individual spatial cognitive abilities.     

山东海阳所麻粒岩向过渡榴辉岩转化的变质动力学过程及其构造意义

在山东半岛东南端的乳山海阳所,角闪岩和长英质片麻岩呈互层产出,在某些角闪岩层的中心残留有弱变形的麻粒岩和强变形的过渡榴辉岩（斜长石榴辉岩）团块,在弱变形的麻粒岩团块中发育有窄的（〈１ｃｍ）剪切条带,沿着这些剪切条带和强变形过渡榴辉岩团块中,原麻粒岩被转化为含斜长石的过渡榴辉岩。变形和流体在这一转化过程中加速了元素扩散和迁移的速度,在变形强和有流体加入的部位麻粒岩向榴辉岩转化的程度明显增强,麻粒岩相     

Approximation functions to the Emden and associated emden functions near the first zero

Analytic expressions are presented which approximate the Emden function θ, and the associated Emden functions,ψ _o andψ ₂, and their derivatives, near the first zero of θ,ξ _o. The range of accurate representation extends toξ= 1.5ξ ₁. This range is sufficient to encompass the boundary of a critically rotating polytrope.     

HAPPY CANYON: A NEW TYPE OF ENSTATITE ACHONDRITE

Happy Canyon [found: 1971, 34° 46.5′N, 101° 33.6′W, Texas] consists of about 85 vol. % enstatite (Fs 0.4%), 5 to 10 vol % plagioclase (An 26%), and 5 vol % diopside (Fs 0.9%). In addition, there are minor remnants of metal (Ni 6.35 wt %, Si-free) and troilite (with 5.10 wt % Cr and 1.15 wt % Ti) that have survived extensive terrestrial weathering. The meteorite has a cumulate texture, uniform-size euhedral, prismatic crystals of enstatite (0.3 to 0.4 mm long) with interstitial plagioclase, diopside, troilite, and metal. The enstatite crystals are dominantly disordered and occur in alignments that suggest flow. There are no chondrules or remnants of chondrules. The enstatite crystals contain internal negative crystal voids, which are charactieristic of enstatite achondrites, as well as internal branching submicron rivulet dislocations. The bulk composition is that of an E6 enstatite chondrite, however, it has the texture of a crystal cumulate; achondritic, but unlike that of enstatite achondrites. Glass of a granitic composition occurs mainly in the mesostasis and is compositionally like the glass found inside pyroxene crystals in the Cumberland Falls enstatite achondrite. Happy Canyon is most simply explained as an E6 composition that has melted and reprecipitated at a slightly higher oxidation state, at some depth (> 7 km), possibly in the core volume of a small, asteroidal-size parent body. In terms of classification, it occupies the gap between the recrystallized enstatite chondrites and the igneous, crystalline, unbrecciated enstatite achondrites like Shallowater. Happy Canyon is a new type of enstatite achondrite     

Kurosegawa zone and its bearing on the development of the Japanese Islands

The Kurosegawa zone in southwest Japan is a 600 km long serpentinite mélange in the Chichibu terrains. It runs generally E-W but is slightly oblique to the subparallel arrangement of the Ryoke, Sanbagawa and Chichibu belts of Southwest Japan. A variety of geological units occurs in the Kurosegawa zone:

1. (1) granodiorite, gneiss and amphibolite of ca. 400 Ma,

2. (2) Siluro-Devonian formations,

3. (3) Upper Carboniferous to Jurassic formations,

4. (4) Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous formations,

5. (5) serpentinite and

6. (6) low- to medium-grade metamorphic rocks of various baric types (ages, 220, 320, 360 and 420 Ma by K-Ar).

The most widespread is a high-pressure intermediate group of metamorphic rocks. Serpentinite is emplaced along the faults between and within the constituent units.Rocks of the Kurosegawa zone represent a mature orogenic belt along a continental margin or an island arc. Its original site as constrained by paleomagnetism was near the equatorial area. Here, 400 Ma old paired metamorphism and related magmatism took place. The island arc or microcontinent migrated northward to collide with the Eurasia plate during Late Jurassic, thus consuming the intervening ocean.     

Assimilation-fractional crystallization of Polvadera Group rocks in the northwestern Jemez Volcanic Field,New Mexico

Pliocene Polvadera Group rocks in the northwestern Rio Grande rift-marginal portion of the Jemez Volcanic Field record the rapid transition from weakly alkaline Lobato Basalt magmatism (48–52% SiO₂; 7.9 Ma) through calc-alkaline Lobato andesite and dacite (53–64% SiO₂) and Tschicoma dacite-rhyodacite magmatism (63–69% SiO₂; 7.4 Ma). Petrologically, Lobato andesite and dacite and Tschicoma dacite-rhyodacite represent a cogenetic suite of differentiates (the La Grulla Plateau or LGP suite) distinctive from the bulk of Polvadera Group rocks including Tschicoma andesite. Increasing (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_O ratios with differentiation within the LGP suite from 0.7051 (54% SiO₂) to 0.7064 (68% SiO₂), trace element variations, and disequilibrium mineral assemblages suggest open system differentiation involving ⁸⁷Sr-enriched upper crust. A likely parental magma is the voluminous Lobato Basalt ((⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶)_O= 0.7043–0.7050) which was erupted predominantly earlier and to the east toward the rift axis. The best model for petrogenesis involves bulk assimilation of locally wide-spread Proterozoic (1.4–1.6 Ga) upper crustal granite by fractionally crystallizing Lobato Basalt. Assimilation-fractional crystallization (AFC) modeling of Sr-isotope and trace element variation (DePaolo 1981) indicates that 40% crystallization of Lobato Basalt accompanied by 10% addition of granite reproduces the observed geochemical and Sr-isotopic diversity. Neither magma mixing, nor mafic recharge have complicated the magmatic evolution of the LGP suite. Crustal thickness and/or retarded tectonism could have facilitated conditions necessary for evolution by AFC to occur within the upper crust.     

Aswan telemetered seismograph network

A telemetered network of 8 short-period seismograph stations was installed at Aswan Reservoir in July 1982 to monitor induced seismicity near the site of a magnitude 5 earthquake which occurred in November 1981. A continuous monitor of the seismicity is provided by pen and ink recording of 4 stations. An event detector is used to identify events of interest, for which all of the stations are recorded on magnetic tape. Approximate displacement magnifications are 40, 000 at 1 hz with a maximum of 500, 000 at 20 hz.     

Non-stoichiometry of interlayer cations in micas from low- to middle-grade metamorphic rocks in the Ryoke and the Sanbagawa belts,Japan

Micas in 17 pelitic (K-feldspar-free) and 8 psammitic (K-feldspar-bearing) rocks from the Wazuka and the Asemi-gawa areas in the Ryoke and the Sanbagawa metamorphic terrains, respectively, were analyzed on an electron-probe microanalyzer. The deficiency of alkali cations in the low- to middle-grade metamorphic micas is ascribed to the illite substitution, K^XII+Al^IV=^XII (vacancy)+Si^IV.At the same metamorphic grade, the deficiency of interlayer cations in micas from the pelitic rocks is greater than that from the psammitic rocks. However, it decreases with rising temperature in both rock-types, irrespective of the pressure of metamorphism.K-feldspar and biotite buffer the illite substitution. Two reactions are proposed to explain the decrease of the alkali-cation deficiency in both muscovite and biotite.     

A microearthquake survey in the Abu-Simbel area in Egypt

From the middle of January to the middle of March, 1981 a microearthquake survey was conducted jointly by Polish and Egyptian seismologists in the Abu-Simbel area, about 230 km upstream from the Aswan High Dam. A small seismic array composed of six stations and a magnetic-tape digital recording system was operated during the survey. Altogether 63 microearthquakes at epicentral distances of up to 50 km and 12 local earthquakes at distances of up to 200 km were recorded, but only 16 microearthquakes could be properly located. All of them originated either directly under the High Dam Reservoir or close to its shores, thus implying their association with its water level fluctuations.It was deduced that under the Abu-Simbel array a deep fracture zone or deep fault extending in the NNE—SSW direction, 1–3 km wide and several kilometers deep, must be present to explain the observed effects of heavy attenuation and scattering of seismic waves under the array. This fracture zone might be a deep expression of the western edge of the Nile Valley in the Abu-Simbel area.