Strukturen von Laven und „Tuffen“ in ihrer AbhÄngigkeit von der Schmelzflu\temperatur

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

A procedure to identify natural arsenic sources,applied in an affected area in North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

The aim of the study was to identify the geogenic source for elevated arsenic (As) concentrations recently discovered in soils of the Heubach plain, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Therefore, a catalogue of conditions that an As source has to fulfil in order to be considered as geogenic was formulated, including the source’s linkage to the sink, its mineralogy, As total content, As mobilization potential, groundwater redox conditions and As output. Accordingly, mineralogical, geo- and hydrochemical investigations were carried out, including X-ray diffractometry, microscopy, ICP-OES and AAS analysis and a sequential extraction procedure. Paleo bog iron ores (PBIOs) of Tertiary age, occurring within unconsolidated sands (Haltern-layers, Santonian–Lower Campanian), and glauconitic marlstones (Dülmen-layers, Lower Campanian) were examined. Results indicate that output from the PBIOs is responsible for the elevated As levels. Accounting their diverse mineralogy, five types of PBIOs were defined. Type-dependent, they at least partly fulfil all of the formulated requirements. The relations and behaviour of As sources and sinks in space and time could be clarified for the area of interest. The approach presented in this paper may offer a tool for identifying natural As sources worldwide.     

Re-evaluating the use of beached bird oiling rates to assess long-term trends in chronic oil pollution

The oiling rate (oiled birds/total birds) has become the international standard to analyze beached bird survey data. However, this index may not reliably track long-term changes in marine oil pollution in regions where other activities that kill seabirds vulnerable to oil, such as hunting and gill-netting, are also changing. We compare the oiling rate from beached bird surveys conducted in southeastern Newfoundland between 1984 and 2006 to an alternative approach, namely trends derived from a model examining the linear density of oiled birds (birds/km). In winter, there was no change in the oiling rate since 1984, while in summer oiling rates significantly increased. In contrast, the number of oiled birds/km showed a significant decline in both winter and summer. The discrepancy in these trends was attributed to steep declines in the number of unoiled birds found in both seasons. In winter, the decline in unoiled birds/km was related to a reduction in the legal murre hunt and less onshore winds, while in summer a reduced cod fishery resulting in fewer murres drowning in nets and warming summers may have lead to the decline. The significant declines in oiled birds/km over the past three decades are hopefully an indication of less oil being present in the marine environment. Although oiled bird densities since 2000 have remained relatively low for the region (winter: 0.58 birds/km, summer: 0.27 birds/km), they still exceed densities reported elsewhere in the world.     

Sidescan sonar imagery of widespread fossil and active cold seeps along the central Chilean continental margin

The central Chilean subduction zone between 35°S and 37°S was investigated in order to identify, document and possibly understand fluid flow and fluid venting within the forearc region. Several areas were mapped using multibeam bathymetry and backscatter, high-resolution sidescan sonar, chirp subbottom profiling and reflection seismic data. On a subsequent cruise ground-truthing observations were made using a video sled. In general, this dataset shows surprisingly little evidence of fluid venting along the mid-slope region, in contrast to other subduction zones such as Central America and New Zealand. There were abundant indications of active and predominantly fossil fluid venting along the upper slope between 36.5°S and 36.8°S at the seaward margin of an intraslope basin. Here, backscatter anomalies suggest widespread authigenic carbonate deposits, likely the result of methane-rich fluid expulsion. There is unpublished evidence that these fluids are of biogenic origin and generated within the slope sediments, similar to other accretionary margins but in contrast to the erosional margin off Central America, where fluids have geochemical signals indicating an origin from the subducting plate.     

FIRST RESULTS OF THE SUMER TELESCOPE AND SPECTROMETER ON SOHO – II. Imagery and Data Management

SUMER – Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation – is not only an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrometer capable of obtaining detailed spectra in the range from 500 to 1610 Å, but, using the telescope mechanisms, it also provides monochromatic images over the full solar disk and beyond, into the corona, with high spatial resolution. We report on some aspects of the observation programmes that have already led us to a new view of many aspects of the Sun, including quiet Sun, chromospheric and transition region network, coronal hole, polar plume, prominence and active region studies. After an introduction, where we compare the SUMER imaging capabilities to previous experiments in our wavelength range, we describe the results of tests performed in order to characterize and optimize the telescope under operational conditions. We find the spatial resolution to be 1.2 arc sec across the slit and 2 arc sec (2 detector pixels) along the slit. Resolution and sensitivity are adequate to provide details on the structure, physical properties, and evolution of several solar features which we then present. Finally some information is given on the data availability and the data management system.     

Observations of sunspot transition region oscillations

Oscillations with a period of 3 minutes are observed in the transition region of six sunspots with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory - SOHO joint observing programme for velocity fields in sunspot regions. Observations of the transition region lines Ov 629 and Nv 1238, 1242 with the SUMER instrument show significant differences in the amplitude of the 3-minute oscillations from one sunspot to another, both in intensity and line-of-sight velocity. In four sunspots the central part of the umbra is observed. Two of these sunspots show coincidence between the maxima in peak line intensity and velocity directed towards the observer, as is expected for an upward-propagating acoustic wave. The two other sunspots show large oscillation amplitudes and a difference of 25° between maxima in intensity and blue shift. The possible effect of partial wave reflection on the observed phase relation is discussed. For one sunspot only a part of the umbra, close to the penumbra, was observed and the observations show a difference of 50° between maxima in intensity and blueshift. For the smallest sunspot the observations are found to be contaminated by contributions from an area without oscillations. Observed oscillations in line width are small, but probably significant in two sunspots. The observations of NOAA 8378 allow us to compare simultaneous recordings of the oscillations in the chromospheric Siii 1260 line with the oscillations in the transition region lines. We question the suggestion by Fludra (1999) that the sunspot transition region oscillations are a typical feature of the sunspot plumes.     

SUMER - Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation

The instrument SUMER - Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation is designed to investigate structures and associated dynamical processes occurring in the solar atmosphere, from the chromosphere through the transition region to the inner corona, over a temperature range from 10⁴ to 2 × 10⁶ K and above. These observations will permit detailed spectroscopic diagnostics of plasma densities and temperatures in many solar features, and will support penetrating studies of underlying physical processes, including plasma flows, turbulence and wave motions, diffusion transport processes, events associated with solar magnetic activity, atmospheric heating, and solar wind acceleration in the inner corona. Specifically, SUMER will measure profiles and intensities of EUV lines; determine Doppler shifts and line broadenings with high accuracy; provide stigmatic images of the Sun in the EUV with high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution; and obtain monochromatic maps of the full Sun and the inner corona or selected areas thereof. SUMER will be flown on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), scheduled for launch in November, 1995. This paper has been written to familiarize solar physicists with SUMER and to demonstrate some command procedures for achieving certain scientific observations.     

Gesteinsbildung im Flachseebecken,am Beispiel der Jade

Zusammenfassung Die grundberührenden, durch Winde erzeugten Seegangswellen verhindern, wie das Studium der rezenten Jade (südliche Nordsee) zeigt, für große Teile eines Flachseebeckens die sofortige endgültige Ablagerung der von Gezeiten und Süßwasserzuflüssen gelieferten Sedimente. Sie unterliegen einer ständigen Umlagerung; Schichtaufbau wechselt mit Schichtabbau. Diese Umlagerungen führen zur Ausspülung der in den eben gebildeten Schichten lebenden Organismen und ihrer kalkigen Hartteile. Seegangswirkung bis zum Meeresgrund zeigt sich daher in Schillausspülungen an. So läßt Schillreichtum im fossilen Sediment auf Flachwasserablagerung schließen.Die Jade, eine noch junge Meeresbucht der südlichen Nordseeküste, verdankt ihre Entstehung mehreren Sturmfluten im Mittelalter, die nach und nach eine tiefgründige Küstenmarsch und weite Alluvialmoore ausräumten (Schütte 1939). Im 15. Jahrhundert hatte sie ihre größte Ausdehnung erreicht; seit dieser Zeit haben großräumige Verlandungen, vor allem im S und W der Jade, unterstützt durch Deichbauten und künstliche Auflandungen, die in Abb. 1 gegebene Umrißform entstehen lassen.     

Joint interpretation of earthquake travel-time residuals and seismic measurements along the ‘Blue Norma’ profile in northern Scandinavia

The deep seismic sounding project Blue Norma was carried out in the summer of 1977 in northern Scandinavia in order to investigate the deep structure of the Norwegian continental margin and the Caledonian mountain chain. During the measurements, by chance the core phase PKIKP of an earthquake at the New Hebrides was recorded with 30 seismic field stations along a profile through the central Caledonides. The results of the refraction seismic data, as obtained by a ray-tracing method, are presented and compared to the interpretation of the relative residuals of the PKIKP travel times. From both data sets a continentward down-dipping crust-mantle boundary is evaluated. From the interpretation of the refraction seismic measurements a crustal thickness of 32 km below the coastline and 42 km below the central mountain chain is obtained. The increase of the crustal thickness derived by the inversion of the travel-time residuals along this line amounts only to 6 km. This considerable discrepancy can only be explained by an eastward increasing seismic velocity in the mantle.