Spectroscopic Study of a Large Sample of Galaxies Discovered in the Second Byurakan Survey Fields

The Second Byurakan Survey (SBS) is a well known combined survey, which uses the presence of UV-excess radiation in the continuum, or the presence of emission-lines in the spectra for the identification of active and star-forming galaxies. This paper reports on a comparative study of 77 galaxies identified with UV-excess, and 34 galaxies identified via emission-line techniques in the fields of the SBS. The spectroscopic parameters used for the comparison are the [OII]3727/H and [OIII]5007/H emission-lines ratios, the equivalent widths of [OII]3727, [OIII]5007 and H emission-lines, and the C _[OII]-C _H index. Spectroscopic parameters as well as new redshifts were determined from the spectra obtained with the 6m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory (Russia). The main results are: 1) Galaxies discovered via UV-excess technique are preferably more active. 2) Galaxies discovered via emission-line technique are preferably high-excitation low-luminosity star-forming galaxies. 3) UV-excess galaxies with faintest UV-excess radiation are likely candidates to be LINER or Sy2 type objects.     

The right to say: the development of youth councils/forums within the UK

Summary Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes explicit reference to children's right to say what they think about matters relating to the quality of their lives, and to have those opinions taken into account in accordance with their levels of competence and maturity. Despite the commitment of the UK Government to this and other similar initiatives designed to empower young people, a culture of non-participation is endemic within the UK in the context of environmental planning. Young people are seemingly invisible on the landscape. This paper reviews the case for children's active involvement in their environmental future and considers attempts to engage young people through an incipient structure of youth councils and forums.     

Partitioning of Fe and Mn between ilmenite and olivine at 1100 °C: constraints on the thermodynamic mixing properties of (Fe, Mn)TiO3 ilmenite solid solutions

The partitioning of Fe²⁺ and Mn²⁺ between (Fe, Mn)TiO₃ and (Fe, Mn)₂SiO₄ solid solutions in the system FeO-MnO-TiO₂-SiO₂ has been experimentally investigated at 1100 ^∘C and pressures of 1 bar and 25 kbar, over a wide range of Fe/Mn ratios, using electron microprobe analysis of quenched run products. The ilmenite solid solution in this system is within analytical uncertainty a simple binary between FeTiO₃ and MnTiO₃, but the olivine solid solution appears to contain up to 2.5 wt% TiO₂. The Fe-Mn partitioning results constrain precisely the difference in the thermodynamic mixing properties of the two solid solutions. If the mixing properties of (Fe, Mn)₂SiO₄ solid solutions are assumed to be ideal, as experimentally determined by Schwerdtfeger and Muan (1966), then the ilmenite is a regular, symmetric solution with W ^ilm _Fe-Mn=1.8±0.1 kJ mol⁻¹. The quoted uncertainty does not include the contribution from the uncertainty in the mixing properties of the olivine solution, which is estimated to be ±1.8 kJ mol⁻¹, and which therefore dominates the uncertainty in the present results. Nevertheless, this result is in good agreement with the previous experimental study of O'Neill et al. (1989), who obtained W ^ilm _Fe-Mn=2.2±0.3 kJ mol⁻¹ from an independent method. The results provide another item of empirical evidence supporting the proposition that solid solutions between isostructural end-members, in which order-disorder effects are not important, generally have simple thermodynamic mixing properties, with little asymmetry, modest excess entropies, and excess enthalpies approximately proportional to the difference in the molar volumes of the end-members. Received: 11 February 1998 / Accepted: 29 June 1998     

Volcanism and vertical tectonics in the Pacific Basin related to global Cretaceous transgressions

The dominance of volcanic processes and the importance of vertical tectonics in the geological evolution of the Pacific Basin has been recognised since the time of Charles Darwin. Data gathered on several legs of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and numerous marine expeditions in the past decade have confirmed Menard's postulate that the Pacific Basin was the scene of volcanism on an enormous scale in Mesozoic time. Widespread mid-plate volcanism between ～110 and 70 m.y. B.P. characterised the area bounded by the Line Islands, the Mid-Pacific Mountains and the Nauru Basin-Marshall Islands. Heating of the Pacific lithospheric plate during this period of volcanism resulted in regional uplift and the bathymetric evolution of the area diverged significantly from a “normal” Parsons-Sclater subsidence curve. The Farallon plate, now almost entirely subducted, was also the scene of mid-plate volcanism that produced such features as the Nicoya Plateau now found as an allochthonous ophiolitic terrain landward of the middle America trench. Large, benthonic, reef-associated foraminifera comprising a pseudorbitoid fauna, hitherto considered to be largely restricted to Central America, have now been additionally recorded from DSDP Sites 165, 315 and 316 in the Line Islands, Site 462 in the Nauru Basin, and in New Guinea. The distribution of this fauna, of Campanian/Maastrichtian age, is interpreted as indicating “stepping stone” connections (aseismic ridges, plateaus and seamounts) between the Caribbean, Farallon, and Pacific plates 70–80 m.y. B.P. Similarities between the geology of the Nauru Basin and the Caribbean Ocean crust reinforce the interpretation of the latter as a former part of the Farallon plate. Estimates of the sea-level and continental freeboard change caused by the thermally induced uplift of the Pacific and Farallon plates, as well as substantial areas in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean Basins, indicate that such shallowing of the sea floor could have been the major factor in causing global Cretaceous transgressions.     

Pu and137Cs in coastal sediments

Analyses are presented of¹³⁷Cs,²³⁸Pu, and^239,240Pu, in relation to depth in sediment, in 21 gravity cores. These cores span the ranges of times 1964–1975, and of water depths 12–2000 m; they come from three distinct sedimentation areas off the northeast coast of the United States. Although the ranges of total sediment inventories of^239,240Pu and of¹³⁷Cs from the various areas hardly overlap, the range of ratios of the inventories of these two nuclides is probably the same in all the areas. In the shallow-water cores the^239,240Pu/¹³⁷Cs ratio regularly diminishes with depth in the core, and a tendency is seen for curves of this function to have similar slopes in each area; ratios of²³⁸Pu/^239,240Pu show no change with depth in these shallow-water cores. In the deeper-water cores, the^239,240Pu/¹³⁷Cs ratio shows no systematic change with depth, but sometimes the²³⁸Pu/^239,240Pu ratio shows a minimum at the sediment surface, and is much higher deeper in the cores. We believe that these phenomena can be explained in terms of a complicated bioturbational process moving the nuclides, together, down into the sediments, of chemical resolubilization, at depth, of plutonium only, and of its subsequent upward translocation in the interstitial solution. Some re-immobilization of plutonium near the sediment surface is implied, and a mechanism is suggested for this, based on displacement of plutonium from organic complexes by the increasing concentrations, in upper layers of the sediment, of re-oxidized dissolved iron.     

An archaean granulite-grade tonalite-trondhjemite-granite suite from scourie,NW Scotland: Geochemistry and origin

The Lewisian complex of the Scourie-Badcall area is composed predominantly of banded tonalitic gneiss which intrudes layered gabbro-ultramafic complexes. Intrusive into both gabbro and tonalitic gneiss are homogeneous acid sheets which are trondhjemitic to granitic in composition. All rocks were subjected to granulite facies metamorphism. Smooth continuous trends on chemical variation diagrams suggest that the evolution of these rocks was dominated by fractional crystallisation. A scheme is proposed whereby a tonalitic melt was parental to trondhjemite and granite. Variation within tonalites was a function of the fractional crystallisation of hornblende and plagioclase, and trondhjemite was derived from tonalite by the fractional crystallisation of hornblende and/or plagioclase. Granite and granodiorite represent residual liquids which evolved along the quartz-feldspar cotectic surface; they were derived by the fractional crystallisation of plagioclase from a trondhjemite liquid. Some trondhjemitic sheets are quartz-plagioclase residues from which a granitic melt was removed. The associated gabbros and ultramafic rocks are not directly related to the proposed fractional crystallisation scheme and are not crystal residues removed from the tonalitic melt. Tonalites were probably derived from a basaltic source by partial melting or fractional crystallisation with either hornblende and/or garnet as residual phases.     

The effects of assimilation of country rocks by magmas on 18O/16O and 87Sr/86Sr systematics in igneous rocks

Examples of positive correlations between initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O have now been shown to be very common in igneous rock series. These data in general require some type of mixing of mantle-derived igneous rocks with high-¹⁸O, high-⁸⁷Sr crustal metamorphic rocks that once resided on or near the Earth's surface, such as sedimentary rocks or hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks. Mixing that involves assimilation of country rocks by magmas, however, is not a simple two-end-member process; heat balance requires appreciable crystallization of cumulates. In such cases, the isotopic compositions may strongly reflect this open-system behavior and indicate the process of assimilation, whereas the major element chemical compositions of the contaminated magmas will be largely controlled by crystal-melt equilibria and crystallization paths fixed by multicomponent cotectics. A variety of oxygen and strontium isotope “mixing” curves were therefore calculated for this process of combined assimilation-fractional crystallization. The positions and characteristics of the resultant curves on δ¹⁸O-⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr diagrams markedly diverge from simple two end-member mixing relationships. Based on the above, model calculations can be crudely fitted to two igneous rock suites (Adamello and Roccamonfina in Italy), but the shapes of the calculated curves appear to rule out magmatic assimilation as an explanation for most δ¹⁸O-⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr correlations discovered so far, including all of those involving calc-alkaline granitic batholiths and andesitic volcanic rocks. The isotopic relationships in such magma types must be inherited from their source regions, presumably reflecting patterns that existed in the parent rocks (or magmas) prior to or during melting.     

Changes in an urban water resource,an example from Sydney,Australia

This paper examines present and future resource utilization in the tidal section of the Georges River in the southern part of Sydney. Over the last 30 years, the physical characteristics of the river have changed as a result of urbanization, changed hydrologic regime and sand dredging. Urbanization has resulted in an increase in population from 190,000 in 1947 to 550,000. This has resulted in an increase in runoff, sediment input to the river and waste disposal. The change in hydrologic regime has resulted in a substantial increase in the magnitude and frequency of flooding which has increased erosion. Sand dredging has increased the channel capacity, enlarged the tidal prism and increased water turbidity. It has also resulted in extensive bank erosion in the upper part of the river and extensive deposition lower down as tailings are deposited. Although most of these changes have resulted in the deterioration of environmental quality, use of the river for recreation and as an urban amenity has increased.