Agglutinated abyssal foraminifers of the equatorial pacific

The quantitative study of the distribution and taxonomic composition of recent living and dead (without plasma) benthic foraminifers revealed three foraminiferal assemblages in the bottom sediments of the Pacific Ocean at depths of 3350 to 4981 m. The assemblage dominated by the epibenthic Lagenammina difflugiformis, Reophax dentaliniformis, and Saccorhiza ramosa occupies the slopes of underwater hills. The assemblage with a high share of the infaunal Cribrostomoides subglobosum, C. nitidum, and Ammobaculites agglutinans is registered on the abyssal plateau. The assemblage with a significant proportion of the large Astrorhiza and Reophax species, which are characterized by an active way of life, populates gentle slopes and narrow depressions with potentially strong bottom currents.     

Radon-rich waters in Russia

In radon mineral curative waters, according to Russian mineral water classification, the radon concentration should be greater than 185 Bq/l. There are about 30 mineral waters with high levels of radon in Russia. Radon-rich waters have high therapeutic effects. It is proven that natural background radiation stimulates the human immune system. Radon is a natural radioactive gas that has no taste, smell or color. Radon-222 is one of the heaviest elements in the zero groups of inert gases. It is a gaseous radioactive element. All radon isotopes are -emitters while the transformation of its decay products is accompanied by the emitting of -or -particles. The main products of radon decay are short-lived isotopes Po, Pb, Bi, and TL. Belonging to the uranium and thorium decay chain, radon isotopes form directly during the decay of radium isotopes. Therefore the radon concentration depends upon the concentration of its parent's isotope in water and rocks washed by it as well as upon the amount of radon emanation. Loose rocks or rocks with a great number of cracks are characterized by higher radon concentration (zones of tectonic disturbance, weathering crusts, etc.).Crystalline rocks usually have higher uranium concentrations than the average bedrock. Examples of rock types, which often have enhanced uranium concentration >5% ppm U includes the following: granites, syenites, pegmatite, acid volcanic rocks and acid gneisses. In the earth's crust radon migrates either in a gaseous or dissolved state. It can go to the surface without any chemical reaction. Formation of the radon-rich therapeutics waters of Russia has been analyzed, and most of them are genetically connected to crystalline acid rocks that have exceeded uranium-radium mineralization. The radon content in Russia reaches more than 8,000 Bq/l. Radon-rich waters of this type occur in the Altai, Karelia, St Petersburg and Trans-Baikal regions. Another type is connected to geodynamic activity of regions and secondary radioactivity. A well-known example of radon-rich waters of the second type is Pyatigorsk in the North Caucasus. Mixing confined carbon dioxide-hydrogen sulfide water and unconfined groundwater forms radon waters. The radon concentration is 1,170–2,430 Bq/l. The occurrence of radon-rich water deposits in other regions of Russia is described. Further investigation of the radon content in other geological environments will contribute to the environmental safety as well as to the solution to many genetic, hydrogeochronological, paleoreconstructive and prediction problems in hydrogeology.     

Two-Dimensional Periodic Waves in an Inviscid Continuously Stratified Fluid

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - In this paper we study the propagation of two-dimensional periodic waves in an inviscid continuously stratified fluid with a free surface in the...     

A new magneto-hydrostatic theory of sunspots

The structure of a stationary sunspot of circular shape is considered. Schluter-Temesvary theory, based on the similarity assumption is criticized. It is shown that this theory does not describe the observed inclination of magnetic field lines in a sunspot. A new assumption is proposed taking into account field lines which return to the photosphere. On the basis of this assumption, the main equation of the new theory is obtained and the results compare well with observations.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Modelling the time variation of the surface differential rotation in AB Doradus and LQ Hydrae

Sequences of Doppler images of the young, rapidly rotating late-type stars AB Dor and LQ Hya show that their equatorial angular velocity and the amplitude of their surface differential rotation vary versus time. Such variations can be modelled to obtain information on the intensity of the azimuthal magnetic stresses within stellar convection zones. We introduce a simple model in the framework of the mean-field theory and discuss briefly the results of its application to those solar-like stars. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Estimation of groundwater recharge rates using soil-water isotope profiles: a case study of two contrasting dune types on Langeoog Island,Germany

Hydrogeology Journal - The creation of artificial dunes for coastal protection may have important consequences for freshwater lenses in coastal aquifers. The objective of this study was to compare...     

Cosmogenic nuclide measurements in southernmost South America and implications for landscape change

We measured in situ ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al and³⁶Cl on glacial deposits as old as 1.1 Myr in the southernmost part of Patagonia and on northern Tierra del Fuego to understand boulder and moraine and, by inference, landscape changes. Nuclide concentrations indicate that surface boulders have been exposed for far less time than the ages of moraines they sit upon. The moraine ages are themselves constrained by previously obtained ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages on interbedded lava flows or U-series and amino acid measurements on related (non-glacial) marine deposits. We suggest that a combination of boulder erosion and their exhumation from the moraine matrix could cause the erratics to have a large age variance and often short exposure histories, despite the fact that some moraine landforms are demonstrably 1 Myr old. We hypothesize that fast or episodic rates of landscape change occurred during glacial times or near the sea during interglacials. Comparison with boulder erosion rates and exhumation histories derived for the middle latitudes of semi-arid Patagonia imply different geomorphic processes operating in southernmost South America. We infer a faster rate of landscape degradation towards the higher latitudes where conditions have been colder and wetter.     

SQUINTING BACK AT STRABO*

ABSTRACT. Strabo of Amasia (ca. 64 B.c.‐ca. A.D. 23) wrote the first comprehensive geography of the world known to the Greeks and Romans. Interest in Strabo and his Geography, which survives nearly intact in seventeen books, has fluctuated over the centuries among both classicists and historians of geography. After some historical background on Strabo and his reception, this essay considers the contribution of two significant recent English‐language treatments, as well as Strabo's Geography itself, and suggests ways in which the Strabonic model may have renewed relevance to the geographer's task of interpreting the oikoumene in the contemporary world.