U/Pb ages of ophiolites and arc-related plutons of the Norwegian Caledonides: implications for the development of Iapetus

U/Pb zircon ages are reported for four ophiolites and three crosscutting arc-related plutons from the Norwegian Caledonides. Plagiogranite differentiated from gabbro of the Karmøy ophiolite is dated at 493+7/-4 Ma whereas arc-related trondhjemite cutting this ophiolite crystallized at 485+/–2 Ma. A crosscutting clinopyroxene-phyric gabbro intrusion is dated at 470+9/–5 Ma by near concordant magmatic titanite (sphene) and discordant U-rich (2903–6677 ppm) zircon. Lower intercepts of 247+/–68 and 191+/–70 Ma defined by the plagiogranite and clinopyroxene-phyric gabbro best-fit lines may reflect a real low-T alteration/rift-related event.A plagiogranite differentiate of the Gullfjellet ophiolite complex is dated at 489+/–3 Ma and a crosscutting arc-related tonalite is 482+6/–4 Ma. Both of these ages overlap with those of the correlative rocks at Karmøy suggesting that they are parts of one ophiolitic terrane with a common history.Trondhjemite associated with the Leka ophiolite is dated at 497+/–2 Ma, indicating that supra-subduction zone magmatism there may be coeval with spreading which formed the Karmøy axis sequence.The U/Pb zircon ages of Norwegian ophiolites reported here, combined with ages of other Appalachian-Caledonian ophiolite complexes in Britain and Canada, indicate a narrow age range for the generation of at least two marginal basins in the Tremadoc-Arenig. Two spreading episodes documented at Karmøy are separated in time by intrusion of arc-related trondhjemite magmas at 485+/–2 Ma and may correlate with two separate spreading events documented in other ophiolites.The Solund/Stavfjorden ophiolite, at 443+/–3 Ma, is the only late Ordovician ophiolite yet documented in the entire Appalachian-Caledonian Orogen and it probably represents a small, short-lived marginal basin late in the history of the Iapetus Ocean. It is correlative with Caradocian ensialic marginal basin magmatism in Wales and the Trondheim region, and with tholeiitic gabbro-diorite plutons that intruded Newfoundland ophiolites in a tensional regime after emplacement of the ophiolites over the continental margin.     

Photosynthesis-irradiance relationships for three species of submersed macrophytes in the tidal freshwater Hudson River

Net photosynthesis under a range of natural light intensities was determined for three common macrophytes of the tidal freshwater Hudson River:Vallisneria americana Michx.,Potamogeton perfoliatus L., andMyriophyllum spicatum L. Light-saturated net photosynthetic rates did not differ among species, nor were there differences among species in the light intensity at which respiration balanced photosynthesis. The initial slope (α) of the photosynthesis-irradiance (P-I) curve was greater forV. americana than the other two species. As a result, maximum photosynthetic rates were reached inV. americana at significantly lower irradiances than those required to saturate photosynthesis inP. perfoliatus andM. spicatum. This characteristic would give this species a competitive advantage under conditions in which growth is limited by light availability. Macrophyte biomass distribution showed no clear correlation with depth.V. americana was the most abundant of the three species, both in frequency of occurrence and absolute biomass. The low irradiance required for the saturation of photosynthesis inV. americana may contribute to its predominance in the turbid Hudson River.     

A Preliminary Study of the Self-Directed Photography of Middle-Class,Homeless, and Mobility-Impaired Children*

Understanding the ways in which children with different life experiences come to terms with day-to-day contexts and constraints has become an important topic of social science research. This study applies the technique of auto-photography to the study of children-environment transactions. How children apprehend their environments is described through a leitmotif analysis and an interpretation of photographs taken by children from middle-class families, homeless children, and children whose mobility is impaired by cerebral palsy. We speculate upon the social and physical contexts of these children based upon the images that they selected to photograph. Although impressionistic, our findings suggest the importance of auto-photography as a method for uncovering children-environment transactions.     

Inversion of arrival-times in a region of dilatancy anisotropy

Shear-wave splitting has been identified in many three-component seismograms from two separate field experiments on a section of the North Anatolian Fault in North-West Turkey. These observations are consistent with shear-wave propagation through a zone of extensive-dilitancy anisotropy. A preliminary attempt has been made to confirm this interpretation by simultaneously inverting suites of arrival-times for hypocentral locations and for parameters describing an anisotropic halfspace. Although the inversion procedure is not globally convergent, it is possible to recognize the true solution by systematically varying the initial conditions. Applied to selected data sets, the inversion defines several anisotropic models that fit the data significantly better than a simple isotropic model, and display the anisotropy required by the shear-wave splitting. However, most of these anisotropic models are not superior when they are used to individually locate events in a much larger data set. However, for each experiment, there is a single model that produces clearly superior locations for the larger data sets than those of other anisotropic or simple isotropic models. Both models display similar velocity variations which are characteristic of propagation through distributions of biplanar cracks displaying orthorhombic symmetry. The principal axes of the two models are oriented in similar directions and are within 20° of the principal axis of regional stress derived from fault-plane solutions. The solutions indicate low velocities close to the tensional axis, as would be expected in extensive-dilatancy anisotropy.     

The generation ofK indices from digitally recorded magnetic data

TheK index was developed by Bartels and is a measure of geomagnetic activity. The important feature of this index is that it is a measure of solar activity superimposed on the regular daily variation.It is the most used estimate of activity being of particular interest to researchers in ionospheric physics and telecommunications.In response to increased availability of digital data from magnetic observatories and their demand by the scientific community it becomes desireable to check whetherK indices produced from magnetograms plotted from digital data are consistent with those handscaled from La Cour charts.This paper presents results of these comparisons and also reports on several methods tested to produce theK index directly from the digital data.Handscaled indices from digital plots are suitable for producing theK index. Computations using digital data do not reproduceK as defined by Bartels precisely but do provide an equivalent index which is satisfactory for most user and research purposes.