Regional Stress Fields under Tibet from 3D Global Flow Simulation

Tibetan area is the most active continental collision zone on earth.Several major earth-quakes occurred around the boundaries of Tibetan plateau and caused massive damages and casualties.The dynamics of this area is not well understood due to the complex structure of Tibet and its sur-rounding area.In this study,a 3D global flow simulation with only viscous rheology is applied to studying the stress distribution in this area,and the interaction between Tibet and its surrounding areas is investigated.Finally...     

Early Cretaceous fish trails from La Rioja, Spain

We report a new find of the fish trail Undichna unisulca in fluvial sediments of the Lower Cretaceous Oliván Group of the Cameros Basin (Aptian-Albian; Valtrujal, La Rioja, northern Spain). It is the second Mesozoic record of Undichna unisulca after the first discovery in the Lower Cretaceous of central Spain (Las Hoyas, Cuenca, central Spain). The trails are characterized by single sinusoidal waves which in this case are often surrounded by well-preserved lateral levees that rule out an undertrail hypothesis.The continental depositional setting, a floodplain fluvial system, reflects the known broad palaeoenvironmental distribution of Undichna and confirms its occurrences in freshwater settings.     

A comparison of brachyuran crab community structure at four mangrove locations under different management systems along the Melaka Straits-Andaman Sea Coast of Malaysia and Thailand

Brachyuran crab community structure was compared between mangrove sites under different management systems from four locations along the Melaka Straits-Andaman Sea Coast. Klong Ngao, a mangrove estuary in Ranong Province of southern Thailand, lies within a Biosphere Reserve designated in 1997. Sites were positioned in plantations at a former charcoal concession forest, a disused tin mine, and an abandoned shrimp pond along this estuary. The Merbok estuary in Kedah, Malaysia, is partially managed: the mangroves are cut for charcoal and poles on a small scale and the forests are left to regenerate naturally. The Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve in Perak, Malaysia, is heavily exploited but well managed, forRhizophora wood to produce charcoal, and has been for 100 years. Sites were positioned in plantations of different ages. Kuala Selangor Nature Park, Selangor, Malaysia, was established as a nature reserve in 1987 and contains mature mangrove forest regenerating naturally from previous selective felling. At Klong Ngao and Matang, mature reserve forest sites were also studied for comparison with plantation sites. The sites included both upstream and downstream locations and were of similar area, minimizing effects from possible species-area relationships. Sites were chosen with similar environmental conditions and with a dominance ofRhizophora spp. At each site per location, the brachyuran crabs were sampled quantitatively in 100 m² quadrats by three independent 15-min timed crab catches. The crab community recorded was analyzed by univariate and multivariate statistical techniques. Management history plays an important role in moderating the crab community structure. The crab community also changes with the age of the mangrove forest stand. Sesarmid crabs consistently dominated in mature forests, whereas young plantations were colonized mainly by ocypodid crabs. The findings show that heavily effected sites—e.g., disused tin mining areas, former concession forests, and abandoned shrimp ponds—can be rehabilitated by planting mangroves and that the crab community is a useful ecological indicator of habitat status.     

Geochemical constraints on the genesis of the Sarıcakaya intrusive rocks,Turkey: Late Paleozoic crustal melting in the central Sakarya Zone

The Sakarya Zone is intruded by several Late Paleozoic granitoids, of which the Sar?cakaya intrusive rocks in the central Sakarya (Eski?ehir) region, is the least-studied. The Sar?cakaya intrusive rocks consist mainly of quartz diorite-granodiorite, granodiorite and granite. They are, geochemically, divided into two groups: diorites and granites. The former is medium-K and calc-alkaline (mainly I-type), whereas the latter is high-K to shoshonite and calcic (I-type). Typical minerals for both rock types are plagioclase, K-feldspar, quartz, biotite, hornblende and Fe–Ti oxides. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns for the Sar?cakaya intrusive rocks are moderately fractionated and have small negative Eu anomalies. They are enriched in LILE and LREE relative to HFSE showing characteristics of arc-related granitoids. Geochemical characteristics of the Sar?cakaya intrusive rocks indicate a hybrid origin through partial melting of lower crustal source rocks.     

Rutile/TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>II phase equilibria

The transition between rutile and α-PbO₂ structured TiO₂ (TiO₂II) has been investigated at 700–1,200 °C and 4.2–9.6 GPa. Hydrothermal phase equilibrium experiments were performed in the multi-anvil apparatus to bracket the phase boundary at 700, 1,000, and 1,200 °C. The equilibrium phase boundary is described by the equation: P (GPa)=1.29+0.0065 T ( °C). In addition, growth of TiO₂II was observed in experiments at 500 and 600 °C, although growth of rutile was too slow to bracket unambiguously the equilibrium boundary at these temperatures. Water was not detected in either rutile or TiO₂II, and dry synthesis experiments at 1,200 °C were consistent with the phase boundary determined in the fluid-bearing experiments, suggesting that the equilibrium is unaffected by the presence of water. Our bracket of the phase boundary at 700 °C is consistent with the reversed, dry experiments of Akaogi et al. (1992) and the reversals of Olsen et al. (1999). The new data suggest that the phase boundary is linear, in agreement with Akaogi et al. (1992), but in striking contrast to the phase diagram inferred by Olsen et al. (1999). The natural occurrence of TiO₂II requires formation pressures considerably higher than the graphite–diamond phase boundary.     

Line-broadening effects in the powder infrared spectrum of apatite

The crystallinity of natural and synthetic apatite samples is often determined from the broadening of ν ₄ PO₄ infrared absorption bands. However, various physical mechanisms contribute to the observed linewidth. In the present study, the factors determining the linewidth in the powder spectrum of synthetic fluorapatite and hydroxyapatite samples are investigated. The temperature dependence of the infrared spectrum (10–270 K) is used to assess the respective contributions of homogeneous broadening, related to the decay of phonons through anharmonic coupling, and heterogeneous broadening related to elastic strain and macroscopic electrostatic effects. This latter contribution is dominant in the investigated samples and depends on the shape of powder particles. It is discussed under the light of the theoretical modeling of the low-frequency dielectric properties of apatite based on first-principles density functional theory calculations. The linewidth of the weak ν ₁ PO₄ absorption band provides a reliable information on microscopic sources of broadening, i.e., apatite crystallinity. In comparison, the other more intense PO₄ bands are more sensitive to long-range electrostatic effects.     

Durchschnittliche Schwankung und Periodenlänge von Jahresring-Breitenkurven als Klima-Indikatoren

Zusammenfassung Die Schwankungen der Jahresringbreiten von Jahr zu Jahr sind nicht nur bei verschiedenen Holzarten verschieden (bei Buche grö\er als bei Eiche, bei Lärche grö\er als bei Zirbelkiefer), sie zeigen auch bei derselben Holzart säkulare Schwankungen, mit einem Minimum in der Bronzezeit und im hohen Mittelalter (12.–13. Jahrhundert) sowie einem Maximum in der Jungsteinzeit und im 17. Jahrhundert (der kleinen Eiszeit). Eine geographische Eichung ergibt, da\ die Schwankungen in Mitteleuropa von Westen nach Osten zunehmen, da\ also stärkere Schwankungen als Zeichen eines irgendwie kontinentaleren Klimas gelten können.Auch die Periodenlänge von Jahresringbreiten-Kurven, d. h. die Zahl der Jahre, in welchen die Breite ohne Unterbrechung steigt oder fällt, weicht gesetzmä\ig von reiner Zufallsverteilung ab. Auch diese Kennzahl scheint klimabedingt säkularen Schwankungen zu unterliegen, deren statistische Sicherung noch geprüft wird.

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Summary The average annual fluctuation of ring width shows secular differences with minimum in the bronce age and the high middle ages, and a maximum in neolithic times and the so called little ice time of the 17th century. This seems to be a sign of continental climate in the times of higher annual fluctuation.The same may hold truth for the average number of years the ring width increases or decreases (length of periods), a more frequent reversal of increasing to decreasing and vice versa being a sign of continental climate.

     

Evaluation of a spatial rainfall generator for generating high resolution precipitation projections over orographically complex terrain

Space–time variability of precipitation plays a key role as driver of many environmental processes. The objective of this study is to evaluate a spatiotemporal (STG) Neyman–Scott Rectangular Pulses (NSRP) generator over orographically complex terrain for statistical downscaling of climate models. Data from 145 rain gauges over a 5760-km² area of Cyprus for 1980–2010 were used for this study. The STG was evaluated for its capacity to reproduce basic rainfall statistical properties, spatial intermittency, and extremes. The results were compared with a multi-single site NRSP generator (MSG). The STG performed well in terms of average annual rainfall (+1.5 % in comparison with the 1980–2010 observations), but does not capture spatial intermittency over the study area and extremes well. Daily events above 50 mm were underestimated by 61 %. The MSG produced a similar error (+1.1 %) in terms of average annual rainfall, while the daily extremes (>50-mm) were underestimated by 11 %. A gridding scheme based on scaling coefficients was used to interpolate the MSG data. Projections of three Regional Climate Models, downscaled by MSG, indicate a 1.5–12 % decrease in the mean annual rainfall over Cyprus for 2020–2050. Furthermore, the number of extremes (>50-mm) for the 145 stations is projected to change between ?24 and +2 % for the three models. The MSG modelling approach maintained the daily rainfall statistics at all grid cells, but cannot create spatially consistent daily precipitation maps, limiting its application to spatially disconnected applications. Further research is needed for the development of spatial non-stationary NRSP models.     

Isolation and characterization of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria from Nsukka soils in Nigeria

Twenty-four bacteria capable of utilizing naphthalene, as their sole source of carbon and energy for growth were isolated from three different sites in Nsukka, Nigeria. By standard bacteriological methods, these bacteria were characterized taxonomically as belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, Burkholderia or Actinomycetes. Two of the isolates, which showed the highest growth during screening as demonstrated by an increase in their optical densities (OD₆₀₀) and identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia respectively, were also able to grow in anthracene and carbazole, but not very much so in 2,4-dichlorophenol and D-camphor. The isolates showed a concentration-dependent growth in all the compounds they grew in. There were visible changes in the colour of the growth medium of the isolates during their incubation, suggesting the production of different metabolites. There were also changes in their medium pH during growth. These studies demonstrate the possession by the bacterial species of novel degradative systems.     

Fe(II)-Na(I)-Ca(II) Cation Exchange on Montmorillonite in Chloride Medium: Evidence for Preferential Clay Adsorption of Chloride – Metal Ion Pairs in Seawater

Fe(II)–Ca(II), Fe(II)–Na(I), and Fe(II)–Ca(II)–Na(I) exchange experiments on montmorillonite were performed in chloride background. These experiments show the possible sorption of Fe²⁺ and FeCl⁺ ion pairs in exchange site positions, a result confirmed with 77 K ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer experiments. The sorption data were modeled and the cation exchange selectivity for Fe(II) were found to be nearly equal to that of Ca(II). Vanselow selectivity coefficients, for Na–Fe²⁺ and Na–FeCl⁺ reactions, were found to be equal to 0.4 (0.5 for Ca²⁺) and 2.3 (2.5 for CaCl⁺) respectively. High affinity of montmorillonite for chloride ion pairs seems to be a common mechanism as first stated by Sposito et al., (Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 47, 51–56, 1983a), and should have implications e.g., on the chemistry of suspended particles in seawater. Exchange selectivity coefficients derived from this study and others were used to model experimental data on river water and seawater equilibrated particles. The agreement between simulations and experimental data is very good. The simulation shows the predominance of monovalent ion (Na⁺ and chloride ion pairs) sorption on clay particles in seawater. This sorption of monovalent ions leads to the dispersion of particles in seawater and to the extension of a plume of particles spreading away from river deltas, such as that of the River Amazon.