The halogens in Luna 16 and Luna 20 soils

Cl and P₂U₅ do not appear to exhibit the same correlation in soils from the Luna 20 and possibly the Luna 16 sites as they do in samples from the Apollo 11–15 sites. Nevertheless, the coherence between labile Cl and other KREEP-related elements is maintained.     

The role of non-linear deformation analyses in the design of a reinforced soil berm at Red River U-frame lock No. 1

This paper describes a design application of non-linear deformation analysis to a complex soil–structure–foundation interaction problem through use of a finite element analysis. The problem consists of a proposed renovation to an existing soil-founded U-frame lock structure consisting of construction of a densely reinforced soil berm adjacent to an existing lock wall. Major questions facing the designer involve reduction of the earth pressure on the lock wall, layout of the reinforcing in the soil berm, and collateral effects of berm construction on the U-frame lock structure. A non-linear deformation analysis played a central role in addressing all of these questions. Berm construction and four operational load cases were used to understand the performance of the reinforced berm and to discern interactions among the lock, the backfill, the foundation strata of the U-frame lock, the reinforced berm, and the foundation strata of the reinforced berm. Insight gained from the soil–structure–foundation interaction analyses led to an alteration to the proposed reinforcement layout to enhance the performance of the reinforced soil berm.     

196Hg and202Hg isotopic ratios in chondrites: revisited

Additional evidence for an isotopically anomalous Hg fraction in unequilibrated meteorites has been obtained using neutron activation to produce¹⁹⁶Hg and²⁰²Hg followed by stepwise heating to extract the Hg. In the latest experiments Allende matrix samples released the anomalous Hg but various high-temperature inclusions did not. Nucleogenetic processes are suggested as the probable cause of the anomaly.     

Compositions of magmatic hydrothermal fluids determined by LA-ICP-MS of fluid inclusions from the porphyry copper–molybdenum deposit at Butte, MT

We analyzed 85 fluid inclusions from seven samples from the porphyry Cu–Mo deposit in Butte, MT, using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The Butte deposit formed at unusually great depth relative to most porphyry deposits, and fluid inclusions in deep veins trapped a low-salinity, CO₂-bearing, magmatically derived, supercritical fluid as a single aqueous phase. This fluid is interpreted to be the parent fluid that cooled, decompressed, unmixed, and reacted with wall rock to form the gigantic porphyry Cu deposit at Butte. Few previous analyses of such fluids exist.Low-salinity, aqueous fluids from the earliest veins at Butte are trapped in deep veins with biotite-rich alteration envelopes (EDM veins). These veins, and the Butte quartz monzonite surrounding them, host much of the Butte porphyry Cu mineralization. Twenty fluid inclusions in one EDM quartz vein are dominated by Na, K, Fe (from 0.1 to 1 wt.%) and contain up to 1.3 wt.% Cu. These inclusions contain only small amounts (tens of ppm) of Pb, Zn, and Mn, and typically contain Li, B, Ca, As, Mo, Ag, Sn, Sb, Ba, and W in less than detectable quantities. The abundance of Cu in early fluids indicates that a low-salinity, Cu-rich, aqueous ore fluid can be directly produced by aqueous fluid separation from a granitic magma. Similar inclusions (eight) in an early deep quartz–molybdenite vein with a K-feldspar selvage have similar compositions but contain significantly less Cu than most inclusions in the biotite-altered vein. Analyzed inclusions in both veins contain less than detectable concentrations of Mo even though one is molybdenite-bearing.Low-salinity, CO₂-bearing aqueous fluids are also trapped in pyrite–quartz veins with sericitic selvages. These veins cut both of the above vein types and contain inclusions that were trapped at lower pressure and temperature. Thirty-nine inclusions in two such veins have compositions similar to early fluids, but are enriched by up to a factor of 10 in Mn, Pb, and Zn relative to early fluids, and are slightly depleted in Fe. Many of these inclusions contain as much or more Cu than early fluids, although little chalcopyrite is found in or around pyrite–quartz veins.Eighteen halite-bearing inclusions from three veins from both chalcopyrite-bearing and barren veins with both K-silicate and sericitic selvages were analyzed as well. Halite-saturated inclusions are dominated by Na, K, Fe, and in some inclusions Ca. Whereas these inclusions are significantly enriched in Ca, Mn, Fe, Zn, and Pb, fluids in all three veins contain significantly less Cu than early, high temperature, low-salinity inclusions.Analyses of all inclusion types show that whereas bulk-salinity of the hydrothermal fluid must be largely controlled by the magma, fluid–rock interactions have a significant role in controlling fluid compositions and metal ratios. Cu concentrations range over an order of magnitude, more than any other element, in all four samples containing low-salinity inclusions. We infer that variations are the result of fluid trapping after different amounts of fluid–rock reaction and chalcopyrite precipitation. Enrichment, relative to early fluids, of Mn, Pb, and Zn in fluids related to sericitic alteration is also likely the result of fluid–rock reaction, whereby these elements are released from biotite and feldspars as they alter to sericite. In halite-bearing inclusions, concentrations of Sr, Ca, Pb, and Ba are elevated in inclusions from the pyrite–quartz vein with sericitic alteration relative to halite-bearing inclusions from unaltered and potassically altered samples. Such enrichment is likely caused by the breakdown of plagioclase and K-feldspar in the alteration envelope, releasing Sr, Ca, Pb, and Ba.     

Flocculation and particle size analysis of expansive clay sediments affected by biological, chemical, and hydrodynamic factors

Expansive clay sediments are abundant in riverine and estuarine waters and bottom beds, and their particle size distributions (PSD) are important for the analysis of sediment transport. This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate, using a laser particle size analyzer under varying flow conditions, the intrinsic PSD of two expansive clays, a Ca- and a Na-montmorillonite and the influence of biological, chemical, and hydrodynamic factors on their flocculation and PSD. The considered biological factor consists of three extracellular polymeric substances of varying polarity, including xanthan gum, guar gum, and chitosan; the chemical factor is the salinity; and the hydrodynamic factor is the types of flow indicated by the Reynolds number and shear rate. The intrinsic PSD of both clays show a multimodal lognormal distribution with sizes ranging from 0.2 to 50 μm. All three biopolymers, xanthan gum, guar gum, and chitosan, can facilitate flocculation through long-range polymer bridging and short-range ion-dipole interaction, hydrogen bonding, and Coulomb force. The influence of salinity is different for the two clays: the particle size of the Na-montmorillonite increases with salinity, which is caused by flocculation resulting from the suppressed electrical double layer, while that of the Ca-montmorillonite is slightly reduced owing to the decreased basal spacing and cation exchange. For different hydrodynamic conditions, higher shear rate promotes the flocculation of Ca-montmorillonite, but breaks the Na-montmorillonite flocs. The significance of understanding the flocculation and PSD of expansive clays is also discussed in terms of sediment transport under different aquatic environments.     

A 40,000-year record of environmental change from ancient Lake Ohrid (Albania and Macedonia)

Lake Ohrid is considered to be of Pliocene origin and is the oldest extant lake in Europe. A 1,075-cm-long sediment core was recovered from the southeastern part of the lake, from a water depth of 105 m. The core was investigated using geophysical, granulometric, biogeochemical, diatom, ostracod, and pollen analyses. Tephrochronology and AMS radiocarbon dating of plant macrofossils reveals that the sediment sequence spans the past ca. 39,500 years and features a hiatus between ca. 14,600 and 9,400 cal. year BP. The Pleistocene sequence indicates relatively stable and cold conditions, with steppe vegetation in the catchment, at least partial winter ice-cover of the lake, and oxygenated bottom waters at the coring site. The Holocene sequence indicates that the catchment vegetation had changed to forest dominated by pine and summer-green oak. Several of the proxies suggest the impact of abrupt climate oscillations such as the 8.2 or 4.0 ka event. The observed changes, however, cannot be related clearly to a change in temperature or humidity. Human impact started about 5,000 cal. year BP and increased significantly during the past 2,400 years. Water column mixing conditions, inflow from subaquatic springs, and human impact are the most important parameters influencing internal lake processes, notably affecting the composition and characteristics of the sediments.     

DETERMINATION OF Ni,Ga, AND Ge IN IRON METEORITES BY X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS

Although neutron activation analysis for trace Ga and Ge is more sensitive and possibly more accurate, X-ray fluorescence analysis is quicker, uses readily available equipment, and is non-destructive. It is shown that Ga, Ge, and Ni can be determined by X-ray fluorescence on metallographic polished mounts sufficiently accurately for classification according to Wasson's chemical groups. Results are given for 45 irons, including some not previously classified     

Discovery of A New Class of Pulsating Stars: Gravity-mode Pulsators among Subdwarf B Stars

During the course of an ongoing CCD monitoring program to investigate low-level light variations in subdwarf B (sdB) stars, weserendipitously discovered a new class of multimode pulsators withperiods of the order of an hour. These periods are a factor of tenlonger than those of previously known multimode sdB pulsators (EC14026 stars), implying the new pulsations are due to gravity modes rather than pressure modes. The iron opacity instability that drives the short period EC 14026 stars is effective in hot sdB's. Thelong period pulsators are found only among cooler sdB stars, wherethey are surprisingly common. The mechanism responsible for excitingthe deeper g-modes in cool sdB's is currently unknown, but thetemperature and gravity range in which these stars occur must be animportant clue. We present the first observational results for thisnew class of pulsating sdB stars, and discuss some possible implications.     

Imagining the Dirty Green City

ABSTRACT

The green city is being elevated to the status of a self-evident good in the theory and practice of urban sustainability. A large literature documents the linked environmental, economic and well-being benefits associated with vegetating urban systems to maximise the ecosystem function. Contemporary urban greening seeks to challenge attempts to expel nature from the city in a quest for order and control. However, by imagining nature as a new mode of urban purification, much effort in the name of the green city inverts and reproduces dualistic understandings of natural and built space. In response, we disrupt the normative dialectics of purity and dirt that sustain this dualism to expose the untidy but fertile ground of the green city. We draw together Ash Amin’s four registers of the Good City – relatedness, rights, repair and re-enchantment – with the artworks of the Australian visual ecologist Aviva Reed. Our work seeks to enrich the practice of more-than-human urbanism through ‘dirt thinking’ by imagining the transformative possibilities in, of and for the dirty green city.