Pedogenic factors affecting magnetic susceptibility of the last interglacial palaeosol S1 in the Chinese Loess Plateau

The magnetic susceptibility has been used as a quantitative or semi‐quantitative proxy for reconstructing the summer monsoon intensity in the Chinese Loess Plateau based on extensive studies on climatic or/and environmental mechanisms producing the magnetic susceptibility signatures. However, the precise nature of the link between past climates and the susceptibility signatures has remained uncertain primarily due to lack of our understanding in the ?nalizing and preserving processes of the signatures. This paper attempts to examine the reliability or acceptability of this summer monsoon proxy from non‐magnetic perspectives of soil‐forming processes. We chose nine sections along two transects: one across the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau and another across the eastern part. Several conclusions can be drawn from our analytical data. First, clay translocation within the S1 palaeosol pro?les, as indicated by ?eld‐observed clay coatings on ped faces in Bt and Bk horizons and demonstrated by laboratory‐analysed clay contents, must have moved some of the magnetic minerals downward so that the susceptibility re?ects only the post‐translocation distribution of the magnetic‐susceptibility‐producing minerals. Second, the best‐developed palaeosol S1S3 at most of the sections studied is not expressed by the magnetic susceptibility because this palaeosol developed in underlying coarse loess (L2) and coarse textures tend to lower the susceptibility. Third, carbonate concentration is normally negatively correlated with the magnetic susceptibility or simply suppresses the magnetic susceptibility peak when the susceptibility enhancement exceeds the carbonate dilution effect. To conclude, extreme caution must be observed when using magnetic susceptibility signatures to retrieve high‐resolution records of the last interglacial palaeoclimate in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of an interface boundary layer on the resonance properties of a buried structure

This paper presents a model for the analysis of the diffraction of plane waves at a cavity in an infinite homogeneous linear elastic medium supported by a segmented lining. An elastic boundary layer is introduced between the cavity lining and the infinite medium. The boundary layer is simulated by ‘elastic boundary conditions’ in which the stress is proportional to the relative displacement of the lining and of the surrounding medium boundary. A closed‐form analytical solution of the problem was obtained using the Fourier–Bessel series, the convergence of which was proven. It was shown that the number of series terms required to obtain a desired level of accuracy can be determined in advance. Using amplitude–frequency response analysis it was shown that the boundary layer produces additional ‘pseudo‐resonance’ frequencies that depend on the layer properties. These frequencies are almost identical to the eigenvalues obtained from the simple analysis of a segmented elastically supported lining. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Focal mechanism dependence of static stress triggering of earthquakes

We perform a global statistical investigation into the problem of Coulomb stress triggering of earthquakes by using the Harvard CMT catalogue of shallow earthquakes from 1976 to 2001. We consider ‘earthquake pairs’, i.e., pairs of successive earthquakes occurring near each other with similar focal mechanisms, and address the problem of whether or not the change of the Coulomb failure stress (CFS) produced by the first earthquake of the pair ‘encourages’ the occurrence of the second one. An interesting feature is that such a Coulomb stress-triggering phenomenon has an apparent focal mechanism dependence: for thrust earthquakes, a more evident triggering effect can be observed.     

Effect of salinity on chlorophyll concentration, leaf area, yield and yield components of rice genotypes grown under saline environment

Salt tolerance in eighteen advanced rice genotypes was studied under an artificially salinized (EC=8.5 dSm^?1) soil conditions after 90 days of transplanting. The results showed that the yield per plant, chlorophyll concentrations, fertility percentage, and number of productive tillers, panicle length and number of primary braches per panicle of all the genotypes were reduced by salinity. However, genotypes viz. Jhona-349 x Basmati-370, NR-1, DM-59418, DM-63275, DM-64198 and DM-38-88 showed better salinity tolerance than others.     

Computation of response spectra from mining tremors using neural networks

Underground coal and copper ore exploitation in two Polish mining regions causes mining tremors and a series of other negative phenomena in the environment. Although these tremors are strictly connected with human activity, they differ considerably from other paraseismic vibrations. The moment of their occurrence is not to be foreseen likewise for earthquakes. The main problem discussed in the paper was formulated as the neural network evaluation of a relation between mining tremor energies, epicentral distances and acceleration response spectra. Back-propagation neural networks with Resilient back-propagation learning method were used. Each input vector included information about the mining tremor energy and the epicentral distance. Values of acceleration response spectrum were expected as the outputs of neural networks. Neurally evaluated spectra were compared with spectra computed on the basis of experimental data. After the network is trained and tested, it can be used for mapping of new data of mining tremor energies and epicentral distances into the spectra. Then, what is the substantial advantage of neural approach, the prediction of acceleration response spectra can be performed without recording of surface vibrations. In the light of the results, it is visible that the presented way of computation of acceleration response spectra can be peculiarly applied to prognosis of mining tremors influences on structures.     

Energetic Particles Observed in the CUSP Region During a Storm Recovery Phase

In this paper we report energetic ion behavior and its composition variations observed by the Cluster/RAPID instrument when the spacecraft was travelling in the high latitude magnetospheric boundary region on the day of the 31 March, 2001, strongest magnetic storm in the past 50 years. The Dst index reached −360 nT at about 09:00 UT. During its early recovery phase, large amounts of oxygen and helium ions were observed; the ratio of oxygen to hydrogen in the RAPID energy range reached as high as 250%, which suggests that the observed energetic particles might be of magnetospheric origin. The observations further show that enhanced energetic electron fluxes are confined in a very narrow region, while protons have occupied a larger region, and heavy ions have been observed in an even larger region. The flux of energetic electrons show a slight enhancement in a region where the magnetic field magnitude is around zero. These observed energetic ions could be quasi-trapped by the current sheet in the stagnation region of the cusp.     

Lame surfaces as a generalisation of the triaxial ellipsoid

In modern geodesy the triaxial ellipsoid as a generalisation of the ellipsoid of revolution has a significant position in studying the figure of the Earth. Lame surfaces represent a generalisation of the triaxial ellipsoid. The following paragraphs are devoted to curvatures of the Lame surfaces.     

Low-Frequency Plasma Waves in the Outer Polar CUSP: A Review of Observations from Prognoz 8, Interball 1, Magion 4, and Cluster

This paper presents a review of the most interesting observations of low-frequency plasma waves together with plasma particles which were made by the Interball 1, Magion 4 and Prognoz 8 satellites in the outer polar cusp. Accelerated plasma particles, hot electron populations and very strong wave activity, particularly at low frequencies, are observed. A detailed study of the wave spectra together with the distribution function for electrons indicate the correlation between the presence of lower-hybrid waves and the population of the particles with higher energy than in the surrounding space. These experimental facts suggest that strong coupling between waves and particles is responsible for plasma heating. During polar cusp crossings by Interball 1 and Prognoz 8, FFT analysis of the wave form indicates many bursts of ULF emissions in both electric and magnetic components. These waves have highly non-stationary characteristics. To study the dynamics of changes in the spectral characteristics of the waves wavelet analysis has been used. Nonlinear interactions are studied using bispectral methods of analysis. This presentation gives the results of such an analysis for selected cusp crossings at different altitudes. An example of wave activity registered by the STAFF instrument onboard the CLUSTER spacecraft in the polar cusp is also presented.