Hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico: Does the science support the Plan to Reduce,Mitigate, and Control Hypoxia?

We update and reevaluate the scientific information on the distribution, history, and causes of continental shelf hypoxia that supports the 2001 Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force 2001), incorporating data, publications, and research results produced since the 1999 integrated assessment. The metric of mid-summer hypoxic area on the LouisianaTexas shelf is an adequate and suitable measure for continued efforts to reduce nutrients loads from the Mississippi River and hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico as outlined in the Action Plan. More frequent measurements of simple metrics (e.g., area and volume) from late spring through late summer would ensure that the metric is representative of the system in any given year and useful in a public discourse of conditions and causes. The long-term data on hypoxia, sources of nutrients, associated biological parameters, and paleoindicators continue to verify and strengthen the relationship between the nitratenitrogen load of the Mississippi River, the extent of hypoxia, and changes in the coastal ecosystem (eutrophication and worsening hypoxia). Multiple lines of evidence, some of them representing independent data sources, are consistent with the big picture pattern of increased eutrophication as a result of long-term nutrient increases that result in excess carbon production and accumulation and, ultimately, bottom water hypoxia. The additional findings arising since 1999 strengthen the science supporting the Action Plan that focuses on reducing nutrient loads, primarily nitrogen, through multiple actions to reduce the size of the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico.     

Petrography and geochemistry of clastic sedimentary rocks as evidences for provenance of the Lower Cambrian Lalun Formation, Posht-e-badam block, Central Iran

Petrography and geochemistry (major, trace and rare earth elements) of clastic rocks from the Lower Cambrian Lalun Formation, in the Posht-e-badam block, Central Iran, have been investigated to understand their provenance. Petrographical analysis suggests that the Lalun conglomerates are dominantly with chert clasts derived from a proximal source, probably chert bearing Precambrian Formations. Similarly, purple sandstones are classified as litharenite (chertarenite) and white sandstones as quartzarenite types. The detrital modes of purple and white sandstones indicate that they were derived from recycled orogen (uplifted shoulders of rift) and stable cratonic source. Most major and trace element contents of purple sandstones are generally similar to upper continental crust (UCC) values. However, white sandstones are depleted in major and trace elements (except SiO₂, Zr and Co) relative to UCC, which is mainly due to the presence of quartz and absence of other Al-bearing minerals. Shale samples have considerably lower content in most of the major and trace elements concentration than purple sandstones, which is possibly due to intense weathering and recycling. Modal composition (e.g., quartz, feldspar, lithic fragments) and geochemical indices (Th/Sc, La/Sc, Co/Th, Cr/Th, Cr/V and V/Ni ratios) of sandstones, and shales (La/Sc and La/Cr ratios) indicate that they were derived from felsic source rocks and deposited in a passive continental margin. The chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns of the studied samples are characterized by LREE enrichment, negative Eu anomaly and flat HREE similar to an old upper continental crust composed chiefly of felsic components in the source area. The study of paleoweathering conditions based on modal composition, chemical index of alteration (CIA), plagioclase index of alteration (PIA) and A–CN–K (Al₂O₃ − CaO + Na₂O − K₂O) relationships indicate that probably chemical weathering in the source area and recycling processes have been more important in shale and white sandstones relative to purple sandstones. The results of this study suggest that the main source for the Lalun Formation was likely located in uplifted shoulders of a rifted basin (probably a pull-apart basin) in its post-rift stage (Pan-African basement of the Posht-e-badam block).     

A Procedure for Determining the Reaction Curve of Shotcrete Lining Considering Transient Conditions

Summary The mechanical behaviour of a shotcrete lining is analysed in this paper using the convergence-confinement approach. A calculation procedure is presented which is able to provide the reaction curve of a lining with increasing stiffness, by taking into account the variability due to time of the shotcrete stiffness and strength, as well as the face advancement rate. The proposed procedure is also able to provide the change of the safety factor of the lining in time. This results to be a very useful tool for understanding the behaviour of this widely used support and for assigning its thickness to guarantee stability (also in transient conditions), with a known safety factor, during tunnel excavation. Received May 25, 2001; accepted July 18, 2002; Published online January 21, 2003 Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Prof. S. Pelizza and Dr. S. Xu for the help given during the preparation of this paper. The help of the Editor G. Barla is also acknowledged. Authors' address: Dr. P. P. Oreste, Department of Earth Resources and Land, Politecnics di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 1-10129 Torino, Italy; e-mail: oreste@polito.it     

Annealing studies of fission tracks in allanite

The annealing characteristics of fission tracks in allanite have been studied. All the tracks in the mineral fade at 720° C for one hour heating. The activation energy of allanite ranges from 1.4 to 3.4 eV.     

The thermophob experiment: Direct investigations of the thermophysical properties of the regolith of phobos

The methodology and the main features of the Thermophob experiment developed for the direct analysis of the thermophysical properties of the surface of the Martian satellite Phobos from the Phobos-Grunt lander are considered. The methodical and engineering aspects of the measurements are discussed, and the design of the instrument and the potential of the interpretation of the measurement results with accounting for the theoretical estimates and the data of the laboratory tests are discussed.     

Estimating the dark halo mass from the relative thickness of stellar disks

We analyze the relationship between the mass of a spherical component and the minimum possible thickness of stable stellar disks. This relationship for real galaxies allows the lower limit on the dark halo mass to be estimated (the thinner the stable stellar disk is, the more massive the dark halo must be). In our analysis, we use both theoretical relations and numerical N-body simulations of the dynamical evolution of thin disks in the presence of spherical components with different density profiles and different masses. We conclude that the theoretical relationship between the thickness of disk galaxies and the mass of their spherical components is a lower envelope for the model data points. We recommend using this theoretical relationship to estimate the lower limit for the dark halo mass in galaxies. The estimate obtained turns out to be weak. Even for the thinnest galaxies, the dark halo mass within four exponential disk scale lengths must be more than one stellar disk mass.     

Tumbling asteroids

We present both a review of earlier data and new results on non-principal axis rotators (tumblers) among asteroids. Among new tumblers found, the best data we have are for 2002 TD₆₀, 2000 WL₁₀₇, and (54789) 2001 MZ₇—each of them shows a lightcurve with two frequencies (full terms with linear combinations of the two frequencies are present in the lightcurve). For 2002 TD₆₀, we have constructed a physical model of the NPA rotation. Other recent objects which have been found to be likely tumblers based on their lightcurves that do not fit with a single periodicity are 2002 NY₄₀, (16067) 1999 RH₂₇, and (5645) 1990 SP. We have done a statistical analysis of the present sample of the population of NPA rotators. It appears that most asteroids larger than ∼0.4 km with estimated damping timescales (Harris, 1994, Icarus 107, 209) of 4.5 byr and longer are NPA rotators. The statistic of two short-period tumblers (D=0.04 and 0.4 km) with non-zero tensile strength suggests that for them the quantity μQ/T, where μ is the mechanical rigidity, Q is the elastic dissipation factor, and T is a spin excitation age (i.e., a time elapsed since the last significant spin excitation event), is greater by two to four orders of magnitude than the larger, likely rubble-pile tumblers. Among observational conditions and selection effects affecting detections of NPA rotations, there is a bias against detection of low-amplitude (small elongation) tumblers.