Forecasting environmental contamination development in the coastal and water area of the Russian far east under the effect of the radiation factor and industrial anthropogenic load under conditions of catastrophes

Studies of seasonal variability (including the winter season) of the main hydrodynamic, sedimentation, physicochemical and other characteristics of the Chazhma Bay of the Sea of Japan, in the zone of the atomic submarine K-431 nuclear accident of 1985 that influence the radioecological state of the environment was carried out. The substance fluxes required for estimating radionuclide balance are defined based on the expedition survey of radioactivity of bottom sediments, sea water, and suspension in the epicenter of the accident and over the water area of the bay together with hydrophysical, sedimentation, and meteorological observations. Modern trace methods and 3D prognostic modeling of interaction of natural and anthropogenic processes of evolution of radioactive contamination of the bottom sediments in the zone of the atomic submarine accident are used; a new approach to estimating the maximum contamination of the marine environment is proposed.     

Phanerozic bauxite epochs

The Early Cambrian, Middle and Late Devonian, Middle and Late Carboniferous, Permian, Late Triassic-Early Jurassic, Late Cretaceous, Paleocene-Eocene, and Miocene epochs of bauxite formation have been the most productive. They lasted for no less than 10 Ma. The scope of bauxite deposition of various epochs is shown in the diagram, and the present-day localization of Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic bauxites is depicted in separate maps. The Cenozoic bauxite deposits are located in tropical and subtropical zones of the Southern and Northern hemispheres. The Mesozoic deposits occur in the Northern Hemisphere as far north as 50°N, and the Paleozoic deposits, as far north as 70°N. Palinspastic reconstructions show that during all the aforementioned epochs, bauxites were deposited at paleotropical latitudes. The current localization of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic bauxites at high latitudes up to the Polar Circle is caused by continental drift to the north in the Phanerozoic.     

Model for the development of rhythmically banded wollastonite-hedenbergite skarns at the Dal’negorsk deposit,southern Russian Far East

Skarns at the Dal’negorsk boron deposit belong to the infiltration type. In their outer contact zone (bounded by limestone and consisting of wollastonite + hedenbergite), rhythmically banded textures developed, with alternating wollastonite and hedenbergite bands. The petrological study and modeling of the process that produced them led us to propose a mechanism for the genesis of such textures. They are thought to form as a consequence of a dissipative structure in the infiltrating solution and its interaction with the rock. The dissipative structure itself resulted from the instability of the equilibrium state of the skarn-solution system and the development of pervasive spatial oscillations in the redox potential of the solution. The progressive development of the banded texture was associated with a change in the dissipative structure because of the existence of feedback (mutual influence) between the structure of the solution and the texture of the rock. The rhythms generated thereby are of several orders (as follows from their thicknesses and the distances between them), which is an indication of a large-scale invariance of the developing texture. The simulation of the process involved the analysis of a system of kinetic equations, the stability of the equilibrium, and the conditions of the stability of spatial oscillations in the concentrations of major components in the solution. A necessary condition of the stability of the dissipative structure is a low velocity of fluid filtration, which should be no higher than a critical value, with the latter controlled by kinetic parameters of the system. The proposed model can be modified and adapted for rhythmically banded skarns of other composition and for banded hydrothermal mineralized veins with the aim of constraining the petrogenetic conditions and elucidating the role of banded textures as precipitators of ore and minor components of the solution.     

Erratum to: Sedimentary Basins of the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea and the Adjacent Area of the Amerasia Basin: Seismic Stratigraphy and Stages of Geological History

Geotectonics - erratum     

Geochemistry of Rare and Rare-Earth Elements in Manganiferous Sediments of the Polar Urals and Pai-Khoi

Lithology and Mineral Resources - Data on the concentration of rare and rare-earth elements in the Devonian manganese-rich metasediments of the Polar Urals and Pai-Khoi Ridge are presented. It is...     

The state and prospects of the network of Doppler Weather Radars

Discussed are the problems arising in the process of creating a new network of DMRL-C weather radars in Russia. Compared are the potentials of these new and previous radars. Measured characteristics of the received signal and the algorithms of their assessment are briefly described. It is concluded that the programs of the secondary processing of information correspond to the potential of DMRL-C incompletely. It is proposed to speed up the development of methodological documents regulating the operation of the new network and working out additions to the secondary processing of information. Considered is a possibility of supplementing the developed network with small-sized weather radars in stalled in the areas of the most probable formation of such hazardous phenomena as tornados and heavy showers.     

Methods and statistics of TV observations of telescopic meteors

A review of TV and telescopic methods of meteor observations and of the problems of meteor astronomy addressed using these methods is presented. A meteor patrol developed at the Astronomical Observatory of Odessa National University and based on a Schmidt telescope and a TV detector is described. The meteor patrol allows meteor events to be recorded with a time resolution of 0.04 s. The investigated characteristics of the patrol are reported, and some aspects of the methods of observations and reduction employed are considered. The results of observations made during the period 2003–2004 are reported. A total of 368 meteors were recorded on 1093 individual frames during a total patrol time of 679 hours within a 36′ × 48′ field of view. The statistical data for meteor observations are reported, and classification of meteor images is presented. The specific features of some recorded meteor events are analyzed.     

The influence of a finite conductivity on the spectrum of solar <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-modes

We consider the influence of a finite conductivity on the spectrum of solar p-modes (by taking into account their absorption at cusp resonance levels) in a plane two-layer model that consists of an upper isothermal layer with a uniform horizontal magnetic field and a lower adiabatic layer with a linear increase in temperature with depth. We show that an allowance for the finite, but high conductivity of the medium is required only to calculate the eigenfrequencies of the p-modes for which the resonance levels are located almost at the interface between the layers.     

Bauxite provinces of the world

Phanerozoic bauxite provinces are contoured and characterized. The relations to large tectonic units—ancient and young platforms, island arcs and foldbelts, active continental margins, etc.—are chosen as the major criterion for the recognition of bauxite provinces; 19 provinces of different age and conditions of bauxite deposition are described. Single- and multistage as well as single- and multilevel provinces are distinguished depending on the type of tectonic and geomorphic structure. The most productive bauxite provinces are located in the present-day tropical zone within ancient Gondwanan platforms. Three-level provinces with Cretaceous bauxite at the highest and oldest (post-Gondwanan) surface and Cenozoic deposits at lower and younger planation surfaces are predominant. The most complex, two- and three-stage and multilevel provinces are related to ancient fold regions. The single-level provinces are localized in young island arcs and oceanic islands. The prevalent genetic types of bauxite deposits—lateritic, sedimentary, and karst—are shown in the map of bauxite provinces.