Atmospheric Disturbances that Generate Intermittent Turbulence in Nocturnal Boundary Layers

Using the unprecedented observational facilities deployed duringthe 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99),we found three distinct turbulent events on the night of 18October 1999. These events resulted from a density current,solitary wave, and internal gravity wave, respectively. Our studyfocuses on the turbulence intermittency generated by the solitarywave and internal gravity wave, and intermittent turbulenceepisodes associated with pressure change and wind direction shiftsadjacent to the ground. Both the solitary and internal gravitywaves propagated horizontally and downward. During the passage ofboth the solitary and internal gravity waves, local thermal andshear instabilities were generated as cold air was pushed abovewarm air and wind gusts reached to the ground. These thermal andshear instabilities triggered turbulent mixing events. Inaddition, strong vertical acceleration associated with thesolitary wave led to large non-hydrostatic pressure perturbationsthat were positively correlated with temperature. The directionaldifference between the propagation of the internal gravity waveand the ambient flow led to lateral rolls. These episodic studiesdemonstrate that non-local disturbances are responsible for localthermal and shear instabilities, leading to intermittentturbulence in nocturnal boundary layers. The origin of thesenon-local disturbances needs to be understood to improve mesoscalenumerical model performance.     

Wetland-water column exchanges of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in a southern Everglades dwarf mangrove

We used enclosures to quantify wetland-water column nutrient exchanges in a dwarf red mangrove, (Rhizophora mangle L.) system near Taylor River, an important hydraulic linkage between the southern Everglades and eastern Florida Bay, Florida, USA. Circular enclosures were constructed around small (2.5–4 m diam) mangrove islands (n=3) and sampled quarterly from August 1996 to May 1998 to quantify net exchanges of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The dwarf mangrove wetland was a net nitrifying environment with consistent uptake of ammonium (6.6–31.4 μmol m⁻² h⁻¹) and release of nitrite +nitrate (7.1–139.5 μmol m⁻² h⁻¹) to the water column. Significant flux of soluble reactive phosphorus was rarely detected in this nutrient-poor, P-limited environment. We did observe recurrent uptake of total phosphorus and nitrogen (2.1–8.3 and 98–502 μmol m⁻² h⁻¹, respectively), as well as dissolved organic carbon (1.8–6.9 μmol m⁻² h⁻¹) from the water column. Total organic carbon flux shifted unexplainably from uptake, during Year 1, to export, during Year 2. The use of unvegetated (control) enclosures during the second year allowed us to distinguish the influence of mangrove vegetation from soil-water column processes on these fluxes. Nutrient fluxes in control chambers typically paralleled the direction (uptake or release) of mangrove enclosure fluxes, but not the magnitude. In several instances, nutrient fluxes were more than twofold greater in the absence of mangroves, suggesting an influence of the vegetation on wetland-water column processes. Our findings characterize wetland nutrient exchanges, in a mangrove forest type that has received such little attention in the past, and serve as baseline data for a system undergoing hydrologic restoration.     

Sedimentary rock-hosted Au deposits of the Dian–Qian–Gui area, Guizhou, and Yunnan Provinces, and Guangxi District, China

Sedimentary rock-hosted Au deposits in the Dian–Qian–Gui area in southwest China are hosted in Paleozoic and early Mesozoic sedimentary rocks along the southwest margin of the Yangtze (South China) Precambrian craton. Most deposits have characteristics similar to Carlin-type Au deposits and are spatially associated, on a regional scale, with deposits of coal, Sb, barite, As, Tl, and Hg. Sedimentary rock-hosted Au deposits are disseminated stratabound and(or) structurally controlled. The deposits have many similar characteristics, particularly mineralogy, geochemistry, host rock, and structural control. Most deposits are associated with structural domes, stratabound breccia bodies, unconformity surfaces or intense brittle–ductile deformation zones, such as the Youjiang fault system. Typical characteristics include impure carbonate rock or calcareous and carbonaceous host rock that contains disseminated pyrite, marcasite, and arsenopyrite—usually with μm-sized Au, commonly in As-rich rims of pyrite and in disseminations. Late realgar, orpiment, stibnite, and Hg minerals are spatially associated with earlier forming sulfide minerals. Minor base–metal sulfides, such as galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and Pb–Sb–As–sulphosalts also are present. The rocks locally are silicified and altered to sericite–clay (illite). Rocks and(or) stream-sediment geochemical signatures typically include elevated concentrations of As, Sb, Hg, Tl, and Ba. A general lack of igneous rocks in the Dian–Qian–Gui area implies non-pluton-related, ore forming processes. Some deposits contain evidence that sources of the metal may have originated in carbonaceous parts of the sedimentary pile or other sedimentary or volcanic horizons. This genetic process may be associated with formation and mobilization of petroleum and Hg in the region and may also be related to As-, Au-, and Tl-bearing coal horizons. Many deposits also contain textures and features indicative of strong structural control by tectonic domes or shear zones and also suggest syndeformational ore deposition, possibly related to the Youjiang fault system. Several sedimentary rock-hosted Au deposits in the Dian–Qian–Gui area also are of the red earth-type and Au grades have been concentrated and enhanced during episodes of deep weathering.     

Analysis of condensates formed at the viking 2 lander site: The first winter

A thin light-colored ground covering appeared on the surface of Mars near the Viking 2 lander from L_s = 230° to L_s = 16°, a total of 249 Mars days, during the lander's first winter on the surface. This paper presents a reduction of applicable lander imagery during the period. Imaging sequences, relative surface albedo, spectral reflectance estimates, and limited photometric data are presented and compared with previous laboratory measurements. Photometric data are best fit by an average Minnaert k = 1.1 (blue), k = 1.0 (green), and k = 0.95 (red). Appearance and disappearance rates, spectral reflectance, and photometric data all tend to confirm an earlier proposal that the covering was a combination of H₂O and CO₂, which fell already condensed onto dust particles brought northward by the season's first major dust storm. Under this assumption, the covering thickness is estimated to be between 0.5 and a few millimeters.     

Are the Benches at Mormon Point, Death Valley, California, USA, Scarps or Strandlines?

The benches and risers at Mormon Point, Death Valley, USA, have long been interpreted as strandlines cut by still-stands of pluvial lakes correlative with oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 5e/6 (120,000–186,000 yr B.P.) and OIS-2 (10,000–35,000 yr B.P.). This study presents geologic mapping and geomorphic analyses (Gilbert's criteria, longitudinal profiles), which indicate that only the highest bench at Mormon Point (90 m above mean sea level (msl)) is a lake strandline. The other prominent benches on the north-descending slope immediately below this strandline are interpreted as fault scarps offsetting a lacustrine abrasion platform. The faults offsetting the abrasion platform most likely join downward into and slip sympathetically with the Mormon Point turtleback fault, implying late Quaternary slip on this low-angle normal fault. Our geomorphic reinterpretation implies that the OIS-5e/6 lake receded rapidly enough not to cut strandlines and was 90 m deep. Consistent with independent core studies of the salt pan, no evidence of OIS-2 lake strandlines was found at Mormon Point, which indicates that the maximum elevation of the OIS-2 lake surface was −30 m msl. Thus, as measured by pluvial lake depth, the OIS-2 effective precipitation was significantly less than during OIS-5e/6, a finding that is more consistent with other studies in the region. The changed geomorphic context indicates that previous surface exposure dates on fault scarps and benches at Mormon Point are uninterpretable with respect to lake history.     

Chemical and isotopic evidence for widespread Eoarchean metasedimentary enclaves in southern West Greenland

New mapping, geochemistry and zircon U-Pb ion microprobe geochronology of pre-3750 Ma rocks from West Greenland was used to identify sedimentary protoliths in a problematic high-grade metamorphic terrane. Samples were collected from southernmost part of the Itsaq Gneiss Complex where Akilia association supracrustal rocks have previously been noted. Supracrustal lithologies include laterally continuous and variably deformed units of amphibolite, ultramafics and ferruginous quartz-pyroxene rocks. Oxygen isotope and mass-independently fractionated sulfur isotopes, immobile trace elements and rare earth element patterns are consistent with origin of quartz-pyroxene rocks as chemical sediments deposited in a marine hydrothermal setting. We describe a further supracrustal lithology: Garnet-bearing quartz-biotite schists with elevated oxygen isotope values (δ¹⁸O_SMOW ? +16‰) and mass-independently fractionated S isotopes consistent with a low-temperature aqueous sedimentary origin. In several enclaves, granitoid gneisses within low-strain limbs transect lithologic contacts and contain inclusions of surrounding rocks. This supports the interpretation that some orthogneisses were originally emplaced as igneous veins that cut supracrustal lithologies. Zircon geochronology on orthogneisses that preserve intrusive relationships confirms minimum ages of ca. 3750 Ma for the supracrustals and pooled [Th/U]_zircon and δ¹⁸O_zircon values of older zircon populations are consonant with igneous growth in the bulk composition of the host rocks. Low [Zr]_WR and high Zr saturation temperatures further minimize the possibility of zircon inheritance. A >3750 Ma age and chemical sedimentary origin for various Akilia association lithologies underscores the widespread occurrence of rocks of this kind beyond the type locality on Akilia (island) at the southern limit of the Itsaq Gneiss Complex.     

Global Detection of Infrasonic Signals from Three Large Bolides

We present the infrasonic observations of three large bolides that were observed at numerous International Monitoring System (IMS) infrasound arrays on a global scale. First, a simple procedure for the global association of infrasound detections from large infrasound events is outlined. Infrasound signals are associated with large events based on arrival time, backazimuth and uniqueness at a given IMS array. Next, we apply the algorithm to three bolides and investigate some of the factors affecting the detectability of infrasound from large events. Our findings suggest that site-noise effects significantly degrade the capability of the IMS infrasound network, suggesting that more effort is required to reduce ambient site noise. These results have implications for the use of infrasound measurements (in particular those from IMS stations) as a tool for evaluating the global flux of near-Earth objects.     

Stratigraphic control of hot fluids on anthracitization, Lackawanna synclinorium, Pennsylvania

The Lackawanna synclinorium of Pennsylvania contains abundant coal that was altered to anthracite rank during the Late Paleozoic Alleghanian orogeny. Why did the coal in the synclinorium undergo anthracitization? Two alternatives have been suggested. (1) The region was buried deeply during and/or after the Alleghanian orogeny and thus became hot in response to Earth's geothermal gradient; and (2) hot fluids migrating from the orogen toward the foreland carried heat into the coal and caused anthracitization. If the second hypothesis is correct, the region should contain evidence that hot fluids passed through the coal. Field observations, illite-crystallinity studies and fluid-inclusion analyses indicate that the coal-bearing Pottsville and Llewellyn Formations, and an underlying detachment fault, called the Pottchunk fault (at or slightly below the base of the Pottsville Formation), acted as a regional aquifer for the migration of hot fluids during the Alleghanian orogeny. The presence of quartz veins and the hydrothermal minerals tosudite and pyrophyllite in strata above the Pottchunk fault, and the apparent absence of an illite-crystallinity burial gradient in the underlying strata, suggest that fluids migrated through large pores in coarse-grained sandstones, through abundant fractures that developed in response to Alleghanian deformation, and along the Pottchunk fault. The quartz veins, tosudite and pyrophyllite mineralization do not occur below the Pottchunk fault (except at one locality), suggesting that fluid flow was greater above the fault, perhaps because fracturing accompanying deformation increased permeability of the fault's hanging wall. Fluid inclusions in the Pottsville and Llewellyn Formations indicate fluids achieved a minimum temperature of 270 °C at a depth of 3.1–8.5 km. Heat-flow calculations constrained by fluid-inclusion data show the heat carried by the migrating fluids through the coal-bearing strata was sufficient to elevate the rock temperature to anthracite-grade conditions (250 °C), assuming that the fluid event lasted about 1 year. Thus, deep burial (6–9 km) of the coal-bearing strata in the Lackawanna synclinorium was not required for anthracitization. Anthracitization was likely the result of stratigraphically controlled hot fluid migration through the coal-bearing strata at shallow depths (≤5 km).     

Chironomid‐inferred Late‐glacial air temperatures at Whitrig Bog,Southeast Scotland

This paper presents the first chironomid‐inferred mean July air temperature reconstruction for the Late‐glacial in Britain. The reconstruction suggests that the thermal maximum occurred early in the interstadial, with temperatures reaching about 12°C. There was then a gradual downward trend to about 11°C, punctuated by four distinct cold oscillations of varying intensity. At the beginning of the Younger Dryas, mean July temperatures fell to about 7.5°C but gradually increased to about 9°C before a rapid rise at the onset of the Holocene. The chironomid‐inferred temperature curve agrees closely, both in general trends and in detail, with the GRIP ice‐core oxygen‐isotope curve. The reconstructed temperatures are 2–4°C lower than coleopteran‐inferred temperatures but are closer to those inferred from plant macrofossils and glacial equilibrium‐line altitudes during the Younger Dryas. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.