Small scale turbulent diffusion determined with underwater flow visualization

Dye plumes were generated at three depths in the seasonal thermocline between 7 and 11 m, 22 km south of Key West on 21 August 1980 and photographed at about 10 second intervals with an underwater camera system. Eleven pairs of consecutive pictures are analyzed to determine the mean current vertical shear and the width of the plumes by positioning reference points relative to the rod attached to the camera system. The relative distances of reference points are calibrated with the stereophotogrammetric method for one pair. The eddy diffusivity is calculated by use of a model of turbulent diffusion developed byTaylor (1921). Its values range from 5 to 25 cm²s^–1 for the plume widths ranging from 33 to 132 cm. The Richardson number is calculated for each pair of pictures with the vertical density gradient estimated from temperature profiles. Its values are higher than the critical value of 0.25 except for one case. The diffusivity was higher by orders of magnitude than the molecular one and indicates the presence of turbulence together with billow like features of the plumes in spite of high Richardson numbers. This suggests that the billow turbulence might be caused by effects of surface gravity waves and not by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.     

A study of intergranular and fissure permeability in Chalk and Permian aquifers,using double-packer injection testing

Double-packer injection tests have been carried out in a borehole in the Chalk of Hampshire and a borehole in the Permian Penrith Sandstone of Cumbria, England. The tests have been supplemented by borehole logging and television inspections and by laboratory measurements on cores. A new mathematical treatment has enabled results to be calculated for injection test intervals containing fissures. In both formations, transmissivity immediately around the borehole is dominated by a few major fissures. In the Penrith Sandstone there is good agreement between intergranular hydraulic conductivity measurements and packer-test results in the portions of the borehole which do not contain major fissures. In the Chalk, the packer-test values are always higher than the intergranular measurements, suggesting that some degree of fissuring is present throughout.     

Patterns in seasonal abundance,growth and biomass of the atlantic silverside,Menidia menidia,in a New England estuary

Patterns in seasonal abundance (no. per m² surface area), growth and biomass (g per m² surface area) of an annual fish, the Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia (L.) were investigated in a marsh and more seaward bay region of Essex Bay, Massachusetts from August 1976 to May 1978 using a quantitative beach seining technique. Silverside abundance varied greatly by season and year class during the study period. Abundance was high in 1976 but winter mortality (99%) left an adult density of only .01 per m² surface area in the marsh during spring 1977. Resultant 1977 year class density in the marsh was 1.88 per m² by late fall 1977 but winter mortality again produced an adult density of .01 per m² in spring 1978. Abundance was generally higher in the marsh than in the bay region especially during spring and late fall when catches in the bay were negligible. Based on catch rate comparisons, the summer and fall juvenile abundance of the 1976 year class was much higher than the juvenile abundance of the 1977 year class. Coincidentally, mean lengths and condition of the abundant 1976 year class in the late fall were significantly lower than those of the 1977 year class, suggesting density dependent population regulation. In both years, juveniles grew rapidly and reached full adult size by November when an offshore movement to deeper waters outside Essex Bay occurred. Biomass peaked in the marsh region in late fall 1977 at 7.8 g per m² wet weight. Winter mortality was size selective, favoring larger individuals. The annual life history design of M. menidia including an offshore winter movement and high winter mortality suggests that silversides represent an important pathway of energy flow from marsh to offshore trophic systems.     

Strontium-calcium ratios in Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera

The $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ ratio and other parameters have been measured in fossil planktonic foraminifera from the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins in order to evaluate the $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ ratio of seawater during the last 75 million years. Results on well-preserved samples indicate that the ratio has increased to its present value by 10–15% during the Cenozoic, and that minima occurred between 55-45 Ma and 10-5 Ma, when the ratio was 15–25% less than at present. The long-term increase may reflect either decreasing deposition of aragonite with a high $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ ratio in shallow seas, or decreasing seafloor spreading rates and consequently decreasing hydrothermal supply of Ca during the Cenozoic. Other geologic evidence suggests that the Eocene minimum (near 50 Ma) may have resulted from increased aragonite sedimentation, while the Late Miocene minimum (between 10-5 Ma) may have been caused by an increased rate of seawater-basalt exchange when seafloor spreading rates increased on the East Pacific Rise near 10 Ma.     

Accumulation rates of Th-230, Pa-231, and some transition metals on the Bermuda Rise

Measurements of ²³⁸U, ²³⁴U, ²³⁰Th, ²³²Th, ²³¹Pa, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn were made on 23 samples from core GPC-5, a 29-m giant piston core from a water depth of 4583 m on the northeastern Bermuda Rise (33°41.2′N, 57°36.9′W). This area is characterized by rapid deposition of sediment transported by abyssal currents. Unsupported ²³⁰Th and ²³¹Pa are present throughout the core but, because of large variations in the sedimentation rate, show marked departures from exponential decay with depth. The trend with depth of the ${}^{231}\text{Pa}{}_{\mathrm{ex}}{}^{230}\text{Th}{}_{\mathrm{ex}}$ ratio is consistent with the average accumulation rate of 36 cm/1000 y reported earlier on the basis of radiocarbon dating and CaCO₃ stratigraphy. When expressed on a carbonate-free basis, concentrations of Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, ²³⁰Th_ex, and ²³¹Pa_ex all show cyclic variations positively correlated with those of CaCO₃. The correlations can be explained by a model in which all of these constituents, including CaCO₃, are supplied to the sediments from the water column at a constant rate. Concentration variations are controlled mainly by varying inputs of terrigenous detritus, with low inputs occurring during interglacials and high inputs during glacials. Relationships between the metal and ²³⁰Th_ex concentrations permit estimates of the rates at which the metals are removed to the sediment by scavenging from the water column. The results, in μg/cm²-1000 y, are: 4300 ± 1100 for Mn, 46 ± 16 for Ni and 76 ± 26 for Cu. These rates are somewhat larger than ocean-wide averages estimated by other methods, and the absolute rate of ²³⁰Th accumulation in GPC-5 averages about nine times higher than production in the overlying water column. This part of the Bermuda Rise and similar bottom-current deposits may act as important accumulators of elements scavenged from seawater.     

Chemical studies of L chondrites—II. Shock-induced trace element mobilization

Previous studies of chondrites heated in the laboratory for extended periods under conditions approximating those in shock-heated collisional debris indicate that Au, Co, Se, Ga, Rb, Cs, Te, Bi, In, Ag, Zn, Tl and Cd progress in mobility. We report data for these 13 trace elements in 14 L4–6 chondrites of established shock history and discuss these and 13 additional chondrites studied earlier. Trace element contents vary with petrologic type, $\text{S}\text{Fe}$ sub-group and shock history, the last dominating strongly. Absolute abundances and interelement relationships for the 6 or 7 most mobile elements vary with degree of shock-loading (i.e. residual temperatures) established from mineralogic/petrologic study. A tertiary process, shock-heating, previously known to have affected radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar and/or ⁴He in meteorites but not other elements, apparently was at least as effective as other open-system processes (secondary [parent body] and primary [nebular and/or accretionary] episodes) in establishing mobile trace element contents of L chondrites and probably others. If conditions during early genetic episodes are to be deduced from compositional information, shocked meteorites should be avoided or effects of later processes should be compensated for.     

Evaluating the quality of the residential environment in a deprived council estate

The majority of the Scottish population occupy council housing but attempts to establish quantitative definitions of the quality of such residential environments have been hampered by the irrelevance of traditional indicators and the general failure to consider the views of residents. This research presents a methodology which overcomes both of these difficulties and illustrates its application in a deprived council housing estate within the Clydeside conurbation.     

Use of the Bray-Curtis similarity measure in cluster analysis of foraminiferal data

Transformation of data effectively limits the distortion by outlying values on the Bray-Curtis similarity measure. It represents an effective method of using cluster analysis in distinguishing biotopes of benthic foraminifera.     

Time-temperature-transformation (TTT) analysis of cation disordering in omphacite

The kinetics of cation disordering in a natural ordered (P2/n) omphacite have been followed at P=18 and 30 kb, T= 750–1,260° C, for times of between 1.5 min and 16 days in a piston-cylinder apparatus. Time-temperature-transformation (TTT) analysis of the experimental data, using the presence or absence of the 11¯1 reflection in single crystal X-ray precession photographs to indicate the extent of reaction, yields an equilibrium order/disorder temperature (T _ord) of 865±10° C, an activation enthalpy (1 bar) of 71±6 kcal mole^–1 and an activation volume of 9±4 cm³ mole^–1 (plus and minus figures represent the precision of a best fit between experimental data and TTT theory rather than absolute errors). The activation volume is consistent with a vacancy mechanism of cation diffusion. H₂O, added in the form of oxalic acid, appears to speed the process up slightly. The overall transformation mechanism is continuous, involving neither the nucleation of a disordered phase nor a change in antiphase-domain distribution. This is consistent with both first- and non-first-order character for the C2/cP2/n transformation, though a range of ordered states below T _ord is indicated by the weakening of h+k=odd reflections. A simple extrapolation of the disordering rates to geological conditions leads to the first estimate of how long disordered omphacites would take to order in nature, ranging from less than one year at T800° C to more than 10⁷ years at T<350° C.