Late Cenozoic tectonic activity and its significance in the Northern Junggar Basin,Northwestern China

The Dingshan area located in the northern part of the Junggar Basin of northwestern China is a significant prospect area for sandstone-type uranium deposits in China, where mainly Cenozoic rocks were deposited. The Cenozoic strata can be divided into four units according to the prior data and our own field observation. Sedimentary studies indicate that most Cenozoic strata were deposited under a hot and arid climate in a continental environment. The sedimentary facies are alluvial-fan, meandering-fluvial, and fluvio-lacustrine. Field investigation and interpretation of satellite images suggest that Cenozoic tectonics in the area is characterized by reactivation of early deep-seated thrusts, resulting in extensional fractures and formation of many small depressions in the shallow crustal level. Measurement of joint orientations suggests that regional shortening direction trends in north–south in the middle Pleistocene as indicated by the ESR (Electronic Spin Resonance) age of 0.1–0.4 Ma obtained from fault gouge and gypsum deposits. A four-stage sedimentation-tectonic evolution model of the northern Junggar Basin during the Late Cenozoic can be established based on reconstruction of sedimentary filling processes and Cenozoic tectonic movements. We suggest that landform evolution and groundwater movement are controlled by active tectonics, indicating that Late Cenozoic tectonic activities may also play important roles in the formation of sandstone-type uranium deposits. Therefore, a new metallogenic model for sandstone-type uranium deposits is proposed.     

Microwave radiometry and interferometry of Uranus

We present high-resolution interferometry of Uranus at 6 cm wavelength and single-dish observations of the disk-averaged brightness temperature, T_B, at 2.8 and 4.8 cm wavelength. The 1978 measurements of T_B of 228 ± 2,243 ± 9, and 259 ± 4 K at 2.8, 4.8, and 6 cm, respectively, support the finding of M. J. Klein and J. A. Turegano (1978, Astrophy. J.224, L31–L34) that the brightness temperature of Uranus has been rising. There is no evidence for radio emission from outside the visible disk at 6 cm. Radiation from a synchrotron radiation belt or from the Uranian rings is certainly less than 10% of the total radio flux. The interferometry shows a possible 55 ± 20 K difference in brightness temperature between the equator and the currently exposed pole. The pole appears to be ～275 K while the equator is ～220 K. However, a permanent gradient of this magnitude is insufficient to account for the rise in disk-averaged brightness by simple reorientation of Uranus' globe relative to our line of sight. The changing insolation probably triggers a redistribution of the trace constituent NH₃ which is responsible for the radio opacity. The NH₃ may be interacting strongly with H₂S on Uranus.     

The evaluation of BATSE line candidates

We evaluated the significance of the line candidates identified by the visual search of burst spectra from BATSE's spectroscopy detectors. None of the candidates satisfy the detection criteria: anF-test probability less than 10^–4 for a feature in one detector and consistency among the detectors which viewed the burst. Most of the candidates are not very significant, and are likely to be fluctuations. Because of the expectation of finding absorption lines, the search was biased towards absorption features. We do not have a quantitative measure of the completeness of the search which would form the basis of a comparison with previous missions. Therefore a more objective computerized search has begun.     

X-ray source populations in the region of the open clusters NGC 6633 and IC 4756

Using deep exposures (∼10⁵ s) with the ROSAT High Resolution Imager, we have performed flux-limited surveys for X-ray sources in the vicinity of the Hyades-age open stellar clusters NGC 6633 and IC 4756, detecting 31 and 13 sources, respectively. Our primary aim is to search for so-far unrecognized cluster members. We propose identifications or classifications (cluster member, field star, extragalactic field object) for the X-ray sources, based on published membership lists, and on X-ray:optical flux ratios and optical colour–magnitude diagrams. Results of simulating the expected X-ray-emitting source populations are compared with the ROSAT measurements and with the expected capabilities of the XMM mission. The simulations provide a novel method of comparing the activity levels of NGC 6633 and IC 4756 with that of the Hyades. The measurements and simulations confirm that cluster members are the major class of X-ray emitter in these fields at flux levels     (0.1–2.4 keV), contributing ∼40 per cent of the total X-ray sources. We find six possible new members in NGC 6633 and four candidates in IC 4756; all require further observation to establish membership probability.     

In situ and laboratory geoacoustic measurements in soft mud and hard-packed sand sediments: Implications for high-frequency acoustic propagation and scattering

Near-surface sediment geoacoustic and physical properties were measured in gas-rich, muddy sediments of Eckernförde Bay, Baltic Sea, and in hard-packed, sandy sediments of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Values of compressional and shear wave velocity are much lower in muddy compared to sandy sediments. The spatial and temporal variability of sediment physical and geoacoustic properties and, as a consequence, the scattering and propagation of high-frequency acoustic waves are primarily related to the presence and absence of free methane gas bubbles at the muddy site and to the abundance and distribution of shell material on sandy sediments.     

Structural adjustment and the contemporary sub-Saharan African city

Although it has been suggested that structural adjustment policies have slowed Third World urban growth and have stimulated a spatial deconcentration of economic activity, this paper argues that African cities continue to grow and mainly through peri-urban development. This investment comes mainly from domestic sources and migrants' remittances, and tends to be in consumption rather than production. Reasons include cultural factors, lack of confidence in the national economy and in the state's long-term economic objectives, an increasing demand for housing, improvements in intraurban transport, and a desire to spread investment risk among a range of alternatives including housing.     

Selection effects and tests of repetition (clustering) in the BATSE 1B catalog

A repeater statistic (derived from the two-point angular correlation function and accounting for location errors) is used to identify constraints on the rate of burst repetition from the BATSE 1B catalog. Because of the anisotropic sky exposure, repeating sources should create additional effects in the large-scale distribution of close burst pairs.National Research Council Fellow at NASA/MSFC     

Adolf Seilacher's fossil record

Adolf (Dolf) Seilacher, who died earlier this year at the age of 89, was a major figure in palaeontology on both sides of the Atlantic. His interests were diverse, including trace fossils, the processes involved in exceptional preservation, and the evolution of invertebrate morphology. But it is for his views on the nature of the extraordinary fossils of the Ediacaran that he is perhaps best known. His ideas—compelling and provocative—will continue to stimulate research for years to come, not least through the wide use of his terminology (e.g. Lagerstätten, morphodynamics, constructional morphology, vendobiont).     

Toxicity of sediments from around a North Sea oil platform: are metals or hydrocarbons responsible for ecological impacts?

Discharges of contaminated drill cuttings have caused appreciable ecological change of the benthos adjacent to many oil and gas platforms in the North Sea. Many platforms have large piles of cuttings lying beneath them and these probably present the greatest potential hazard to the environment during platform decommissioning and removal. There is, however, a lack of consensus on which aspects of drill cuttings are responsible for the adverse ecological effects. This hinders risk assessment of management options. Here we report data on the toxicity of sediments from around the North West Hutton platform to the amphipod Corophium volutator, the polychaete Arenicola marina and the Microtox" acute test system. Sediment was acutely toxic to Corophium out as far as 600 m from the platform. Sediment from 100 m from the platform remained acutely toxic to Corophium when 3% contaminated sediment was mixed with clean sediment. A 10% dilution of this sediment also inhibited Arenicola feeding almost completely. Sediment elutriates did not inhibit Microtox light output, but organics extracted by dichloromethane were very toxic. Fifteen minute EC50 values were as low as 0.25 mg ml(-1) and were strongly correlated with hydrocarbon concentrations. Metal concentrations in whole sediments were correlated with their toxicity to Corophium but the relationship was much weaker when data on dilutions were included. Except at sites immediately adjacent to the platform, metal concentrations were well below ERL values from the literature, so were too low to explain sediment toxicity. Toxicity of sediments to Corophium was closely correlated with their hydrocarbon content, even when tests on dilutions were included in the analysis. We conclude that hydrocarbons are the most significant cause of toxicity in these sediments contaminated with oil based drill cuttings and that polar organics, sulphide. ammonia and other water soluble substances are of much lower significance. Applying OSPAR guidelines to our data on the toxicity of cuttings pile material to Corophium data would give a maximum allowable concentration of 0.03% in clean sediments. The Microtox data indicate that sediments from deeper in the pile would require an even greater dilution than this.