A major lava tube system from Undara Volcano,North Queensland

The Undara Volcano erupted 0.19 m.y. ago and formed lava fields covering 1,500 km² with a volume of approximately 23 km³. One of the flows extended 160 km on a gradient that averaged only 0.3°. This great length was a result of very high effusion rates, favourable topography and lava tube efficiency. The Undara lavas are rather uniform hawaiites. Lava temperatures are estimated to have been somewhat less than 1175–1220°C and viscosities greater than 10 to 30 Pa s. Long, apparently single lava tubes are well preserved in many places. They are marked by depressions, caves and long level ridges. A system of lava tubes extends for perhaps more than 100 km. The features of the lava tubes are comparable with those described elsewhere. Aligned depressions associated with caves appear to have formed contemporaneously. Most are much wider than the caves and probably represent collapsed lava ponds. The lava tubes appear to have formed by roofing over of lava channels. Close to lava tubes, the rocks developed strongly oxidised characteristics, such as oxidised olivine phenocrysts, ferric clinopyroxene and extensively developed hematite. Differentiated lava forms drips in some caves and is also oxidised.     

The Siberian Solar Radio Telescope: the current state of the instrument,observations, and data

The Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT) is one of the world's largest solar radio heliographs. It commenced operation in 1983, and since then has undergone several upgrades. The operating frequency of the SSRT is 5.7 GHz. Since 1992 the instrument has had the capability to make one-dimensional scans with a high time resolution of 56 ms and an angular resolution of 15 arc sec. Making one of these scans now takes 14 ms. In 1996 the capability was added to make full, two-dimensional images of the solar disk. The SSRT is now capable of obtaining images with an angular resolution of 21 arc sec every 2 min. In this paper we describe the main features and operation of the instrument, particularly emphasizing issues pertaining to the imaging process and factors limiting data quality. Some of the data processing and analysis techniques are discussed. We present examples of full-disk solar images of the quiet Sun, recorded near solar activity minimum, and images of specific structures: plages, coronal bright points, filaments and prominences, and coronal holes. We also present some observations of dynamic phenomena, such as eruptive prominences and solar flares, which illustrate the high-time-resolution observations that can be done with this instrument. We compare SSRT observations at 5.7 GHz, including computed `light curves', both morphologically and quantatively, with observations made in other spectral domains, such as 17 GHz radio images, Hα filtergrams and magnetograms, extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray observations, and dynamic radio spectra.     

BACODINE,the real-time BATSE gamma-ray burst coordinates distribution network

The celestial coordinates of gamma-ray burst sources observed with BATSE on GRO are automatically determined and distributed in real time to members of the global scientific community. These data are now being used by more than 20 operations to enable searches for associated transients in a variety of other wavelength or energy regimes to identify the burst source objects. The minimum total delay time from the onset of a burst to the receipt of its coordinates by distant experimenters can be under 4 sec, less than the duration of a typical GRB, and the maximum total delay is 7 sec, or longer, depending on the distribution method. Some improvements to the BACODINE system and a summary of the follow-up observations made by some of the sites are given.     

Evaluation of MIVIS Hyperspectral Data for Mapping Soil Degradation in an Upland Ecosystem of Southern Italy

Abstract

This paper describes the first stage of an experiment aiming to evaluate the potential and limitations of MIVIS data for mapping the degradational state of soils in a sub‐scene of a southern Apennines study area (Italy). After radiometric rectification of the image data and the collection of a field/laboratory spectral library, linear spectral mixture modelling (SMA) was used to decompose image spectra into fractions of spectrally distinct mixing components. Spectral endmember selection was based upon a principal component analysis (PCA) applied to a set of soil spectra, collected from the spectral library. The resulting abundance estimates (fractions) trough SMA were then analysed to identify soil conditions and to obtain an improved measure of dry and green vegetation cover. A map of soil conditions and dry‐green vegetation abundance, based upon MIVIS data was then derived from normalised fractions of soil‐vegetation endmembers obtained from SMA.     

A Practical Procedure for the Measurement of Fragmentation by Blasting by Image Analysis

Summary. The operation of a digital image analysis system in a limestone quarry is described. The calibration of the system, required in order to obtain moderately reliable fragmentation values, is done from muckpile sieving data by tuning the image analysis software settings so that the fragmentation curve obtained matches as close as possible the sieving. The sieving data have also been used to extend the fragment size distribution curves measured to sizes below the system’s optical resolution and to process the results in terms of fragmented rock, discounting the material coming from a loose overburden (natural fines) that is cast together with the fragmented rock. Automatic and manual operation modes of the image analysis are compared. The total fragmentation of a blast is obtained from the analysis of twenty photographs; a criterion for the elimination of outlier photographs has been adopted using a robust statistic. The limitations of the measurement system due to sampling, image processing and fines corrections are discussed and the errors estimated whenever possible. An analysis of consistency of the results based on the known amount of natural fines is made. Blasts with large differences in the amount of fines require a differentiated treatment, as the fine sizes tend to be the more underestimated in the image analysis as they become more abundant; this has been accomplished by means of a variable fines adjustment factor. Despite of the unavoidable errors and the large dispersion always associated with large-scale rock blasting data, the system is sensitive to relative changes in fragmentation.     

Paleozoic plume-lithospheric processes in northeastern Fennoscandia: Evaluation of the composition of the parental mantle melts and magma generation conditions

The paper reports quantitative evaluations of the modal and chemical composition of the mantle whose Paleozoic activation gave rise to the Kola alkaline province in the northeastern Baltic Shield. The volume of alkaline magmatism within the province and the volume of the mantle melts that were generated in the course of the Paleozoic activation cycle were evaluated by three-dimensional density modeling on the basis of gravimetric data. Our studies involved, along with the sampling of alkaline magmatic rocks in the region, the examination of the deep (to a depth of 22.5 km) structure of all alkaline intrusions in the province and the development of their three-dimensional density models. Concentrations of trace elements were precisely analyzed by the ICP-MS technique, and these data were used in order to calculate the weighted mean concentrations of trace elements in rocks of the province, to simulate the melting of mantle sources, and to evaluate the geodynamic sequences of these mantle processes. Our simulations indicate that the total volume of the Paleozoic mantle melts in the northeastern part of the Baltic Shield amounted to 15000 ± 2700 km³. The calculated composition of the partial melts that could be produced by the mantle of average composition shows the necessity for the significant introduction of certain elements into the mantle source. It is demonstrated that primitive melts in the Kola province were highly probably derived at low degrees of melting of the source (0.3–0.5%), whose composition corresponded to phlogopite-bearing (±amphibole) garnet lherzolite under the conditions of the mantle garnet depth facies. The calculated degree of enrichment of this sources was three times higher than the average concentrations of incompatible elements in the primitive mantle. It is demonstrated that magma generating processes affected much of the lithosphere beneath northeastern Fennoscandia and reached a depth of 120 km, i.e., the depth of the mantle facies of garnet lherzolite. The area of this region corresponds to the area of regional Paleozoic magmatism, and its depth correlates with the estimated P-T conditions under which the mantle xenoliths found in regional diatremes were formed.     

Protein Digestibility by Khosti Fish Colisa fasciatus (Pisces,Anabantidae) under the Influence of Certain Factors

Protein digestibility was determined via two feeding trials in glass aquaria by the indicator (Chromium oxide) method using a mixture of shrimp powder with oil cake and wheat bran respectively (1: 1 W/W) as food. Analyses of feed were made to calculate the crude protein, carbohydrate, lipid and ash contents. Feces were analysed to determine their total nitrogen and chromium oxide. Protein digestibility was studied in relation to salinity of the medium size and weight of the fish body. The apparent digestibility of crude protein of a corresponding die has shown that 1st: Younger fish do possess a lower capability of protein digestion than fish having a medium weight and medium size; 2nd: Older fish with a high weight and large size exhibit no improvement in efficiency to digest the food protein, though their weight and size are significantly greater than those of middle weight and medium size fish; 3rd: The replacement of oil cake by wheat bran decreases the protein digestibility of shrimp powder mixture with them; 4th: A salinity (NaCl) of the aquatic medium at or above 3 g/l depletes the protein digestibility when fish of the same size were experimented with; but a salinity up to 2 g/l does not result in a significant decrease in the protein digestion rate.     

Erosion rates and mechanisms of knickzone retreat inferred from 10Be measured across strong climate gradients on the northern and central Andes Western Escarpment

A steep escarpment edge, deep gorges and distinct knickzones in river profiles characterize the landscape on the Western Escarpment of the Andes between ~5°S and ~18°S (northern Peru to northern Chile). Strong north–south and east–west precipitation gradients are exploited in order to determine how climate affects denudation rates in three river basins spanning an otherwise relatively uniform geologic and geomorphologic setting. Late Miocene tectonics uplifted the Meseta/Altiplano plateau (~3000 m a.s.l.), which is underlain by a series of Tertiary volcanic‐volcanoclastic rocks. Streams on this plateau remain graded to the Late Miocene base level. Below the rim of the Meseta, streams have responded to this ramp uplift by incising deeply into fractured Mesozoic rocks via a series of steep, headward retreating knickzones that grade to the present‐day base level defined by the Pacific Ocean. It is found that the Tertiary units on the plateau function as cap‐rocks, which aid in the parallel retreat of the sharp escarpment edge and upper knickzone tips. ¹⁰Be‐derived catchment denudation rates of the Rio Piura (5°S), Rio Pisco (13°S) and Rio Lluta (18°S) average ~10 mm ky^?1 on the Meseta/Altiplano, irrespective of precipitation rates; whereas, downstream of the escarpment edge, denudation rates range from 10 mm ky^?1 to 250 mm ky^?1 and correlate positively with precipitation rates, but show no strong correlation with hillslope angles or channel steepness. These relationships are explained by the presence of a cap‐rock and climate‐driven fluvial incision that steepens hillslopes to near‐threshold conditions. Since escarpment retreat and the precipitation pattern were established at least in the Miocene, it is speculated that the present‐day distribution of morphology and denudation rates has probably remained largely unchanged during the past several millions of years as the knickzones have propagated headward into the plateau. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neoproterozoic events in the Tcholliré area: Pan-African crustal growth and geodynamics in central-northern Cameroon (Adamawa and North Provinces)

The Rei Bouba Group is a sedimentary and volcanic sequence (750–?650 Ma), regarded as a remnant of a Pan-African (back-arc?) orogenic basin that separated a remobilized Paleoproterozoic crust from an accretionary area (Poli Complex: 800-650 Ma). The latter was subjected to early deformation (D1) and intruded by calc-alkalic plutons (670 Ma). Transpressive tectonics and major thrusting, with emplacement of synkinematic granite, occurred at ca 630 Ma (D2-3) and a late compression (D4), with emplacement of calc-alkalic granite, occurred at ca 570 Ma. The Tcholliré Shear Zone is regarded as part of the major boundary between a recently accreted crust and the remobilized margin of the Congo Craton.