The effect of particles on light scattering in the sea

Relationships of light scattering to particle concentration and size distribution were experimentally determined to follow theoretical findings, both in laboratory suspensions and in a variety of conditions in the natural marine environment. Confirmation was obtained by electronic particle counts paired with scattering measurements that light scattering provides a measure of concentration of particle cross-section in the sea. The use of light scattering as a measure of particle bulk concentration is shown to require constancy of the distribution of particle size, which is met under prescribed circumstances in the upper part of the sea. A simple test can indicate the constancy of the size distribution. A tentative estimate is made of the effect particles have on the inherent properties of open ocean water.     

Geomorphology,sedimentology and minimum exposure ages of streamlined subglacial landforms in the NW Himalaya,India

Streamlined subglacial landforms that include drumlins in three study areas, the upper Chandra valley around Chandra Tal, the upper Spiti Valley and the middle Yunam Valley of the NW Himalaya of India were mapped and studied using geomorphic, sedimentological and geochronological methods. These streamlined subglacial landforms include a variety of morphological types, including: (i) half egg‐shaped forms; (ii) complex superimposed forms; (iii) dome‐shaped forms; (iv) inverse forms; and (v) flat‐topped symmetrical forms. Sedimentological data indicate that subglacial deformational processes are responsible for the formation of the streamlined subglacial landforms in the Chandra Tal and upper Spiti Valley study areas. In contrast, streamlined landforms in the middle Yunam Valley are the result of melt‐out and subglacial erosional processes. In the Yunam Valley study area, 11 new cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface exposure ages were obtained for boulders inset into the crests of streamlined subglacial landforms and moraines, and also for a bedrock surface. The streamlined landforms date to 8–7 ka, providing evidence of an early Holocene valley glaciation, and older moraines date to ～17–15 and 79–52 ka, representing other significant valley glacial advances in the middle Yunam Valley. The subglacial landforms in the Chandra Valley provide evidence for a ≥300‐m‐thick Lateglacial glacier that advanced southeast, overtopping the Kunzum Range, and advancing into the upper Spiti Valley. The streamlined subglacial landforms in these study areas of the NW Himalaya highlight the usefulness of such landforms in developing glacial chronostratigraphy and for understanding the dynamics of Himalayan glaciation.     

Nature and timing of large landslides in the Himalaya and Transhimalaya of northern India

Four large landslides, each with a debris volume >10⁶ m³, in the Himalaya and Transhimalaya of northern India were examined, mapped, and dated using ¹⁰Be terrestrial cosmogenic radionuclide surface exposure dating. The landslides date to 7.7±1.0 ka (Darcha), 7.9±0.8 ka (Patseo), 6.6±0.4 ka (Kelang Serai), and 8.5±0.5 ka (Chilam). Comparison of slip surface dips and physically reasonable angles of internal friction suggests that the landslides may have been triggered by increased pore water pressure, seismic shaking, or a combination of these two processes. However, the steepness of discontinuities in the Darcha rock-slope, suggests that it was more likely to have started as a consequence of gravitationally-induced buckling of planar slabs. Deglaciation of the region occurred more than 2000 years before the Darcha, Patseo, and Kelang Serai landslides; it is unlikely that glacial debuttressing was responsible for triggering the landslides. The four landslides, their causes, potential triggers and mechanisms, and their ages are compared to 12 previously dated large landslides in the region. Fourteen of the 16 dated landslides occurred during periods of intensified monsoons. Seismic shaking, however, cannot be ruled out as a mechanism for landslide initiation, because the Himalaya has experienced great earthquakes on centennial to millennial timescales. The average Holocene landscape lowering due to large landslides for the Lahul region, which contains the Darcha, Patseo, and Kelang Serai landslides, is ～0.12 mm/yr. Previously published large-landslide landscape-lowering rates for the Himalaya differ significantly. Furthermore, regional glacial and fluvial denudation rates for the Himalaya are more than an order of magnitude greater. This difference highlights the lack of large-landslide data, lack of chronology, problems associated with single catchment/large landslide-based calculations, and the need for regional landscape-lowering determinations over a standardized time period.     

Contamination of Caribbean coastal waters by the antifouling herbicide Irgarol 1051

Irgarol 1051 is a s-triazine herbicide used in popular slime-resistant antifouling paints. It has been shown to be acutely toxic to corals, mangroves and sea grasses, inhibiting photosynthesis at low concentrations (>50 ng l(-1)). We present the first data describing the occurrence of Irgarol 1051 in coastal waters of the Northeastern Caribbean (Puerto Rico (PR) and the US Virgin Islands (USVI)). Low level contamination of coastal waters by Irgarol 1051 is reported, the herbicide being present in 85% of the 31 sites sampled. It was not detected in water from two oceanic reference sites. In general, Irgarol 1051was present at concentrations below 100 ng l(-1), although far higher concentrations were reported at three locations within Benner Bay, USVI (223-1,300 ng l(-1)). The known toxicity of Irgarol 1051 to corals and sea grasses and our findings of significant contamination of the Northeastern Caribbean marine environment by this herbicide underscore the importance of understanding, more fully, local and regional exposure of reef and sea grass habitats to Irgarol 1051 and, where necessary, implementing actions to ensure adequate protection of these important ecosystems.     

The Apparent Layered Structure of the Heliospheric Current Sheet: Multi-Spacecraft Observations

Solar Physics - Multiple current sheet crossings are ubiquitous features of the solar wind associated with high-beta plasma sheets, notably during the passage of the heliospheric current sheet...     

Quaternary glaciation in the Nubra and Shyok valley confluence, northernmost Ladakh, India

Three glacial stages (Deshkit 1, Deshkit 2 and Dishkit 3 glacial stages) are identified in the Nubra and Shyok valleys in northernmost Ladakh, northwest India, on the basis of geomorphic field mapping, remote sensing, and ¹⁰Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating. The glacial stages date to ∼ 45 ka (Deshkit 1 glacial stage), ∼ 81 ka (Deshkit 2 glacial stage) and ∼ 144 ka (Deshkit 3 glacial stage). A mean equilibrium line altitude depression of ∼ 290 m for the Deshkit 1 glacial stage was calculated using the area accumulation ratio, toe-to-headwall ratio, area-altitude, and area-altitude balance ratio methods. Comparison of glaciation in the Nubra and Shyok valleys with glaciations in the adjacent Central Karakoram of northern Pakistan and northern side of the Ladakh Range of northern India indicates that glaciation was synchronous on Milankovitch timescales across the region during MIS-6, but differed greatly in extent, with more extensive glaciation in the Karakoram than the morphostratigraphically equivalent glaciation on the northern slopes of the Ladakh Range. This highlights the strong contrast in the extent of glaciation across ranges in the Himalaya-Tibetan orogen, necessitating caution when correlating glacial successions within and between mountain ranges.     

Meridian-scanning photometer, coherent HF radar, and magnetometer observations of the cusp: a case study

The dynamics of the cusp region and post-noon sector for an interval of predominantly IMF B_y, B_z < 0 nT are studied with the CUTLASS Finland coherent HF radar, a meridian-scanning photometer located at Ny Ålesund, Svalbard, and a meridional network of magnetometers. The scanning mode of the radar is such that one beam is sampled every 14 s, and a 30° azimuthal sweep is completed every 2 minutes, all at 15 km range resolution. Both the radar backscatter and red line (630 nm) optical observations are closely co-located, especially at their equatorward boundary. The optical and radar aurora reveal three different behaviours which can interchange on the scale of minutes, and which are believed to be related to the dynamic nature of energy and momentum transfer from the solar wind to the magnetosphere through transient dayside reconnection. Two interpretations of the observations are presented, based upon the assumed location of the open/closed field line boundary (OCFLB). In the first, the OCFLB is co-located with equatorward boundary of the optical and radar aurora, placing most of the observations on open field lines. In the second, the observed aurora are interpreted as the ionospheric footprint of the region 1 current system, and the OCFLB is placed near the poleward edge of the radar backscatter and visible aurora; in this interpretation, most of the observations are placed on closed field lines, though transient brightenings of the optical aurora occur on open field lines. The observations reveal several transient features, including poleward and equatorward steps in the observed boundaries, braiding of the backscatter power, and 2 minute quasi-periodic enhancements of the plasma drift and optical intensity, predominantly on closed field lines.     

Recrystallization of quartzofeldspathic rocks in a paleozoic thrust belt, Grand Lake, Newfoundland: Implications for garnet-biotite thermometry

Migmatitic granitic gneiss and associated garnetiferous granite at Grand Lake are tectonically interleaved with high-pressure ( 9 kbar) metapelites that contain Barrovian (Ky-St-Grt-Bt-Ms-Rt) mineral assemblages. The migmatites contain metabasites that are compositionally similar to the latest Proterozoic Long Range dykes, suggesting that the gneisses correlate to Grenvillian inliers in western Newfoundland.

In the metapelites, the Barrovian porphyroblastic assemblage overprints microfolds and is itself overprinted by greenschist-facies assemblages in thrust-related high-strain zones. Evidence that the quartzofeldspathic rocks also experienced Barrovian metamorphism is provided by low Ti/>Al amphiboles in metabasites in the gneiss, and, despite the migmatitic character of these rocks, the presence of growth-zoned garnets with bell-shaped compositional profiles (e.g., rimward increase in X_Prp and decrease in X_Sps) similar to those exhibited by garnet in the metapelite. The range of garnet-biotite paleotemperatures for the quartzofeldspathic rocks is only marginally higher (T_max=530–660°C) than that determined for the metapelites (T_max=500–615°C). There are no systematic differences in Grt-Bt temperatures between (proto) mylonitic rocks and nearby precursors.

These results indicate that the quartzofeldspathic rocks and metapelites share a common, post-migmatization (of the gneisses) metamorphic history; they may well have originally been linked by a basement/cover relationship. Mineralogical evidence for the earlier, higher grade metamorphic history of the migmatites has virtually been eradicated even outside the high-strain zones. In this area, there is no clear relation between qualitatively-estimated superimposed strain and the degree of resetting of the Grt-Bt geothermometer.