Onshore climate change during the Late Triassic marine inundation of the Central European Basin

Sedimentological, pedological and palynological evidence reveal radically increasing onshore humidity during the Rhaetian marine invasion of central Europe along the north-eastern margin of the Central European Basin (southern Sweden). Pre-Rhaetian aridity favoured the formation of Carnian redbeds with calcrete, which were succeeded by Norian hematite-cemented conglomerates, arkoses, arkosic wackestones, and smectititic mudstones deposited on braidplains and in lakes. Superimposed autochthonous coals and gleysols indicate the Rhaetian onset of year-round humidity. Chemically mature sandstones, kaolinitic mudstones and luvisols also formed at this time, influenced by a permanent vegetation cover which lowered soil pH and strongly intensified chemical weathering. The Rhaetian deposits accumulated in floodplain lakes repeatedly subjected to sediment infill, plant colonization and palaeosol development. The humidity shift resembles that contemporaneously recorded in the North Sea region.     

Quantized Redshifts of Galaxies: Stimulated Raman Scattering in Cold Intergalactic Rydberg Matter

That the redshifts for galaxies in the local supercluster are quantizedwas recently confirmedby Guthrie and Napier(A&Amp;Amp;A310 (1996) 353). These redshifts are here proposed to be due to stimulatedStokes Raman processes in intergalactic matter in the form of Rydberg Matter (RM). Rydberg Matteris an electronically excited material, as demonstrated by its use as laser medium in a thermally excitedultra-broadband tunable IR laser (Chem. Phys. Lett. 376 (2003) 812). Its existence in interstellar andintergalactic space is demonstrated by several observational results, notably the unidentified IR bands,that agree well with the emission from Rydberg Matter. A stimulated Raman process will allow theH I 21 cm radiation to proceed without deflection, in agreement with observation. Such redshiftswill be additive during the passage through space. The process in Rydberg Matter here proposed togive rise to the Stokes Raman process is excitation of electronic translational modes in the planarclusters forming the matter. The specific cluster sizes found in laboratory experiments give rise toa few differently sized redshift quanta, which is in good agreement with the observed quanta. Anexcitation level (principal quantum number) of Rydberg Matter in intergalactic space between 175and 200 gives the correct size of the redshift quanta.     

Flow of Canadian basin deep water in the Western Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean

The LOMROG 2007 expedition targeted the previously unexplored southern part of the Lomonosov Ridge north of Greenland together with a section from the Morris Jesup Rise to Gakkel Ridge. The oceanographic data show that Canadian Basin Deep Water (CBDW) passes the Lomonosov Ridge in the area of the Intra Basin close to the North Pole and then continues along the ridge towards Greenland and further along its northernmost continental slope. The CBDW is clearly evident as a salinity maximum and oxygen minimum at a depth of about 2000 m. The cross-slope sections at the Amundsen Basin side of the Lomonosov Ridge and further south at the Morris Jesup Rise show a sharp frontal structure higher up in the water column between Makarov Basin water and Amundsen Basin water. The frontal structure continues upward into the Atlantic Water up to a depth of about 300 m. The observed water mass division at levels well above the ridge crest indicates a strong topographic steering of the flow and that different water masses tend to pass the ridge guided by ridge-crossing isobaths at local topographic heights and depressions. A rough scaling analysis shows that the extremely steep and sharply turning bathymetry of the Morris Jesup Rise may force the boundary current to separate and generate deep eddies.     

The recession of the Inland Ice margin during the Holocene climatic optimum in the Jakobshavn Isfjord area of West Greenland

Recent subsurface mapping of parts of the Greenland Inland Ice margin in the region of Jakobshavn Isbræ indicates that the fjord system in the period of at least 2700–4700 calendar yr B.P. was more ice free than at present, and that the front of the glacier was at least 15 km behind the present position. The ¹⁴C-dating of subfossils brought to the present ice margin fit with the climatic records from ice cores and confirm the favourable conditions for Greenland's first settlers, the Sarqaq people, who arrived in the region about 400 yr ago to find hunting grounds 10–20% larger than the present.     

Coronal magnetic structure at a solar sector boundary

The persistent large-scale coronal magnetic structure associated with a sector boundary appears to consist of a magnetic arcade loop structure extending from one solar polar region to the other in approximately the north-south direction. This structure was inferred from computed coronal magnetic field maps for days on which a stable magnetic sector boundary was near central meridian, based on an interplanetary sector boundary observed to recur during much of 1968 and 1969.     

Ecological tree line history and palaeoclimate – review of megafossil evidence from the Swedish Scandes

The postglacial tree line and climate history in the Swedish Scandes have been inferred from megafossil tree remains. Investigated species are mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and grey alder (Alnus incana). Betula and Pinus first appeared on early deglaciated nunataks during the Lateglacial. Their tree lines peaked between 9600 and 9000 cal. a BP, almost 600 m higher than present‐day elevations. This implies (adjusted for land uplift) that early Holocene summer temperatures may have been 2.3°C above modern ones. Elevational tree line retreat characterized the Holocene tree line evolution. For short periods, excursions from this trend have occurred. Between c. 12 000 and 10 000 cal. a BP, a pine‐dominated subalpine belt prevailed. A first major episode of descent occurred c. 8200 cal. a BP, possibly forced by cooling and an associated shift to a deeper and more persistent snow pack. Thereafter, the subalpine birch forest belt gradually evolved at the expense of the prior pine‐dominated tree line ecotone. A second episode of pine descent took place c. 4800 cal. a BP. Historical tree line positions are viewed in relation to early 21st century equivalents, and indicate that tree line elevations attained during the past century and in association with modern climate warming are highly unusual, but not unique, phenomena from the perspective of the past 4800 years. Prior to that, the pine tree line (and summer temperatures) was consistently higher than present, as it was also during the Roman and Medieval periods, c. 1900 and 1000 cal. a BP, respectively.     

The effect of copper-treated net pens on farmed salmon (Salmo salar) and other marine organisms and sediments

Samples of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), saithe (Pollacius virens), blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), brown seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) and sediment were collected from six different fish farms. Five of the farms used net pens treated with copper-containing coatings, whereas one farm did not use copper-containing coating (this was used as a reference location). Samples of muscle, liver and gills of Atlantic salmon and saithe, blue mussel and brown seaweed were freeze dried, homogenised, wet digested and analysed for copper by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The results showed no significant differences in copper concentrations among the samples from the different locations. The copper contents of some of the samples appeared to be in the upper part of the normal concentration range. From a nutritional point of view, the use of copper-coatings on net pens did not affect the quality of the seafood products either within, or around the net pen.     

Petrogenesis of ultramafic and mafic xenoliths from Mesozoic basanites in southern Sweden: constraints from mineral chemistry

Jurassic basanite necks occurring at the junction of two major fault zones in Scania contain ultramafic (peridotites, pyroxenites) and mafic xenoliths, which together indicate a diversity of upper mantle and lower crustal assemblages beneath this region. The peridotites can be subdivided into lherzolites, dunites and harzburgites. Most lherzolites are porphyroclastic, containing orthopyroxene and olivine porphyroclasts. They consist of Mg-rich silicates (Mg# = Mg/(Mg + Fe_tot) × 100; 88–94) and vermicular spinel. Calculated equilibration temperatures are lower in porphyroclastic lherzolites (975–1,007°C) than in equigranular lherzolite (1,079°C), indicating an origin from different parts of the upper mantle. According to the spinel composition the lherzolites represent residues of 8–13% fractional melting. They are similar in texture, mineralogy and major element composition to mantle xenoliths from Cenozoic Central European volcanic fields. Dunitic and harzburgitic peridotites are equigranular and only slightly deformed. Silicate minerals have lower to similar Mg# (83–92) as lherzolites and lack primary spinel. Resorbed patches in dunite and harzburgite xenoliths might be the remnants of metasomatic processes that changed the upper mantle composition. Pyroxenites are coarse, undeformed and have silicate minerals with partly lower Mg# than peridotites (70–91). Pyroxenitic oxides are pleonaste spinels. According to two-pyroxene thermometry pyroxenites show a large range of equilibration temperatures (919–1,280°C). In contrast, mafic xenoliths, which are mostly layered gabbronorites with pyroxene- and plagioclase-rich layers, have a narrow range of equilibration temperatures (828–890°C). These temperature ranges, together with geochemical evidence, indicate that pyroxenites and gabbroic xenoliths represent mafic intrusions within the Fennoscandian crust.