Coronal Mass Ejections and the Index of Effective Solar Multipole

The paper considers the relationship between the cyclic variations in the velocity of coronal mass ejections (CME) and the large-scale magnetic field structure (LSMF) in cycles 21??C?23. To characterize a typical size of the LSMF structure, we have used the index of the effective solar multipole (ESMI). The cyclic behavior of the CME occurrence rate and velocity proved to be similar to that of ESMI. The hysteresis observed in variations of the CME maximum velocity is interpreted as a manifestation of different contributions from the two field structures (local and global magnetic fields) in different phases of the 11-year activity cycle. It is suggested that cyclic variations in the maximum velocity of coronal mass ejections are due to different conditions for the formation of the complexes of active regions connected by coronal arch systems, which are the main source of high-velocity CMEs.     

Diatoms and silicoflagellates of the Upper Cretaceous from Saratov Region: Biostratigraphy and sedimentation settings

A representative assemblage of diatoms and silicoflagellates found in a excellent state of preservation is described from terrigenous cherty deposits of the Upper Cretaceous, which are exposed in a quarry near the Kologrivovka village in Saratov Region. The assemblage is correlative with diatoms of the Costopyxis antiqua Zone of the lower Campanian and with silicoflagellates of the Cornua trifurcata Zone, the upper one in the lower Campanian. According to the taxonomic composition, dominated by diatom genera Cortinocornus, Costopyxis, Hemiaulus, Paralia, Pseudopodosira, and Stephanopyxis, the assemblage was typical of a highly productive neritic zone with an active hydrological regime. A perceptible content of silicoflagellates among the diatoms suggests the normal salinity of the sedimentation basin. The comparable sedimentation settings in marginal parts of the Early Campanian epicontinental basin on the south of the East European platform can also be inferred based on the data from the lithological analysis.     

Catchments as reactors: a comprehensive approach for water fluxes and solute turnover

Sustainable water quality management requires a profound understanding of water fluxes (precipitation, run-off, recharge, etc.) and solute turnover such as retention, reaction, transformation, etc. at the catchment or landscape scale. The Water and Earth System Science competence cluster (WESS, http://www.wess.info/) aims at a holistic analysis of the water cycle coupled to reactive solute transport, including soil–plant–atmosphere and groundwater–surface water interactions. To facilitate exploring the impact of land-use and climate changes on water cycling and water quality, special emphasis is placed on feedbacks between the atmosphere, the land surface, and the subsurface. A major challenge lies in bridging the scales in monitoring and modeling of surface/subsurface versus atmospheric processes. The field work follows the approach of contrasting catchments, i.e. neighboring watersheds with different land use or similar watersheds with different climate. This paper introduces the featured catchments and explains methodologies of WESS by selected examples.     

Genesis of organic and carbonate carbon in sediments of the North and Middle Caspian basins inferred from the isotope data

Isotopic compositions of organic (δ¹³C-C_org) and carbonate (δ¹³C-C_carb) carbon were analyzed in the particulate matter (hereafter, particulates) and sediments from the North and Middle Caspian basins. Isotopic composition of C_org was used for assessing proportions of the allochthonous and autochthonous organic matter in the particulates. Difference between the δ¹³C-C_org values in surface sediments and particulates is explained by the aerobic and anaerobic diagenetic transformations. Isotopic composition of C_org in sediments may be used as a tool for reconstructing the Quaternary transgressive-regressive history of the Caspian Sea.     

Transformation of particulate organic matter at the water-bottom boundary in the Russian Arctic seas: Evidence from isotope and radioisotope data

Complex biogeochemical studies including the determination of isotopic composition of C_org in both suspended particulate matter and surface horizon (0–1 cm) of sediments (more than 260 determinations of δ¹³C-C_org) were carried out for five Arctic shelf seas: White, Barents, Kara, East Siberian, and Chukchi. The aim of this study is to elucidate causes that change the isotopic composition of particulate organic carbon at the water-sediment boundary. It is shown that the isotopic composition of C_org in sediments from seas with a high river runoff (White, Kara, and East Siberian) does not inherit the isotopic composition of C_org in particles precipitating from the water column, but is enriched in heavy ¹³C. Seas with a low river runoff (Barents and Chukchi) show insignificant difference between the value of δ¹³C-C_org in both suspended load and sediment because of a low content of the isotopically light allochthonous organic matter (OM) in particulates. Complex biogeochemical studies with radioisotope tracers (¹⁴CO₂, ³⁵S, and ¹⁴CH₄) revealed the existence of specific microbial filter formed from heterotrophic and autotrophic organisms at the water-sediment boundary. This filter prevents the mass influx of products of OM decomposition into water column, as well as reduces the influx of a part of OM contained in the suspended particulate matter from water into sediment.     

Zircon geochronology of the Klyuchevskoi gabbro-ultramafic massif and the problem of the age of the Mohorovicic paleoboundary in the Central Urals

The Klyuveskoi gabbro-ultramafic massif is the most representative ophiolite complex on the eastern portion of the Uralian paleoisland arc part. The massif is composed of dunite-harzburgite (tectonized mantle peridotites) and dunite-wehrlite-clinopyroxenite-gabbro (layered part of the ophiolite section) rock associations. The U-Pb age was obtained for the accessory zircons from the latter association using a SHRIMP-II ion microprobe at the Center for Isotopic Research at the Karpinskii Russian Geological Research Institute. The euhedral zircon crystals with thin rhythmic zoning from dunites are 441.4 ± 5.0 Ma in age. Zircons from olivine clinopyroxenite show three age clusters with sharply prevalent grains 449.0 ± 6.8 Ma in age. Two points give 1.7 Ga, which is probably related to the age of the mantle generating the layered complex. One value corresponds to 280 Ma, which possibly reflects exhumation of ultramafic rocks in the upper crust during the collision of the Uralian foldbelt. Thus, dunites and olivine pyroxenites from the Klyuchevskoi massif are similar in age at 441–449 Ma. The bottom of the layered part of the ophiolite section corresponds to the M paleoboundary and, consequently, the age of the Mohorovicic discontinuity conforms with the Ordovician-Silurian boundary in this part of the Urals.     

First solar-terrestrial storms in cycle 24 of solar activity

The dynamics of the occurrence frequency and intensity of solar-terrestrial storms at the current solar cycle (cycle 24) onset (2007–2011) is considered. The storms were identified based on the moving semidiurnal average planetary index of activity, beginning from Ap* ≥ 30. It has been established that 12, 11, and 2 only moderate storms (Ap* = 30–49), which were randomly distributed during the year, were successively observed in the first three years. After a prolonged period without storms (August 2009–March 2010), a series of storms with mixed or only moderate activity, which were regularly distributed over the seasons (ecliptic longitudes) from April to August, started appearing beginning from the storm of April 1–6, 2010. This period followed the tendency toward the transformation of the slowly rotating four-sector structure (Large-Scale Open Solar Magnetic Field, LOSMF) from the two-sector structure (March 2010). The first storm in the new cycle (April 2010) was very powerful and originated owing to the successive destabilization of the complex of two magnetic filamentary ropes. It is interesting that the origination of a new LOSMF sector was associated with a 27-day interval, during which thermal neutrons appeared at Kamchatka and volcanoes erupted in Iceland, and a strong earthquake occurred in March 2011 in Japan when the Earth was located precisely in this sector.     

AN EXPERIMENT IN SYSTEMATIZING THE CARTOGRAPHIC IMAGES OF GEOMORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES

The authors attempt to identify and standardize the cartographic symbols (“images”) used to represent a variety of specific geomorphological features. A large number of cartographic representations of landform features found on geological-geomorphological maps are classified in terms of their basic pattern/configuration and the level of complexity within each major pattern type. It is argued that the pattern or configuration of a cartographic symbol used to represent a geomorphological feature should represent the spatial structure of that feature with sufficient reliability to serve as a key to an understanding of its genesis. Translated from: Geomorfologiya, 1987, No. 2, pp. 62-66.     

Solar Activity in the Past: From Different Proxies to Combined Reconstruction

Using proxy series that includes ancient observations of sunspots and auroras, concentrations of cosmogenic isotopes ¹⁴C and ¹⁰Be, we reconstruct sunspot activity level since 850 AD to the present. As a main reference index of solar activity we use the Wolf sunspot numbers, which, as we demonstrate, reflect true levels of the activity in the 18th and 19th centuries better than the Group sunspot numbers. We construct a set of linear and nonlinear inductive models, which are in a good agreement with each other and reproduce the known global solar activity extrema. According to our results, amplitudes of the global maxima are in intermediate positions in respect to estimations of other authors. It follows from our reconstructions that the global maximum of the 20th century is not much higher, if at all, than others.