Heavy element abundances in absorption line systems towards Q2206-199N

Spectroscopy of thez=2.0763 absorption line system in A2206-199N shows that it has a very large hydrogen column density (5×10²⁰ cm^–2) but extremely weak absorption due to heavy elements. We discuss the possibility that the gas cloud causing this absorption system may be exceptionally metal-poor.Paper presented at the IAU Thrid Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

Late Cretaceous oceanic crust and Early Tertiary foreland basin development, Euboea, Eastern Greece

In northern Euboea (Eastern Greece), Late Cretaceous platform carbonates of the Pelagonian Zone pass depositionally upwards into Maastrichtian hemipelagic limestones, possibly reflecting a rifting event in the adjacent Neotethys. This is followed by a c. 1 km-thick unit of siliciclastic turbidites, debris flows and detached limestone blocks. Thrust intercalations of ophiolitic rocks comprise altered pillow basalts and ultramafic rocks with ophicalcite. Calcite veins in sheared serpentinite contain planktonic foraminifera and the ophicalcite is directly overlain, with a depositional contact, by Globotruncana-bearing pelagic limestones and calciturbidites of Maastrichtian age. The ophiolitic rocks are interpreted as Late Cretaceous oceanic crust and mantle, that formed at a fracture zone, or rifted spreading axis within a Neotethyan, Vardar basin to the east. During the Early Tertiary (Palaeocene–Eocene), the Neotethyan basin began to close, with development of a subduction-accretion complex, mainly comprising sheared, trench-type sandstones, associated with ophiolitic slices. In response to trench/margin collision, the Pelagonian carbonate platform foundered and limestone debris flows and olistoliths were shed into a siliciclastic foreland basin. Suturing of the Neotethyan ocean basin then resulted in westwards thrusting of oceanic units over the foreland basin, thrusting of slices of inferred Late Cretaceous Pelagonian carbonate platform slope and large-scale recumbent folding.     

Multimodel analysis on the response of the AMOC under an increase of radiative forcing and its symmetrical reversal

Climate Dynamics - The response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to an increase of radiative forcing (ramp-up) and a subsequent reversal of radiative forcing (ramp-down) is...     

Spawning of the frostfish,Lepidopus caudatus (Pisces: Trichiuridae), in New Zealand waters

Frostfish spawning, as indicated by the presence of planktonic eggs, was observed mainly in north‐eastern, but also in south‐western, New Zealand waters in spring to autumn. Spawning takes place in the afternoon in outer shelf waters 50–200 m deep, with surface temperatures and salinities between 17.5 and 22.0°C and 35.3 and 35.6‰ respectively. Egg and oil droplet diameters ranged from 1.65 to 1.75 mm and 0.40 to 0.43 mm respectively.     

Use of fluorescein as a ground water tracer in brackish water aquifers

A drift and pumpback experiment was conducted in a brackish water sandfill. The sandfill was reclaimed from the sea in the eastern part of Singapore and contains sands with low organic and clay/silt contents. The high salinity in the ground water precludes the use of chloride and bromide as tracers in such an environment, and a field experiment was conducted to assess the viability of using fluorescein as a tracer in brackish water aquifers. Nitrate was used as a second tracer to serve as a check. Initial laboratory studies showed that fluorescence was unaffected over the range of electrical conductivity and pH of the ground water. Results from the field experiment show that fluorescein appears to behave conservatively.     

Performing environmental governance

This essay reflects on issues of researcher positionality within participant observation and action research, and the specific methodological issues surrounding research on neoliberal governance strategies, using my experience at the US Environmental Protection Agency as case material. Although I was initially concerned about participating with the anti-progressive Bush Administration, I attempted to adopt the interests and subjectivity of an environmental bureaucrat. Doing so proved to be an extremely effective way of exploring the multi-vocality and cross-cutting interests constituting the state, which often appears from the outside to be a policy monolith. Participant research among elites in the neoliberal state is an effective way to observe such complexity. It became apparent that, because mainstream economics tends to adopt a totalizing epistemology, both its casual and dogmatic adherents usually do not conceive of a coherent external critique. This often means that researchers of any theoretical background can be quite frank concerning their purposes, background, and interests, even as participants.     

<Superscript>10</Superscript>Be, <Superscript>18</Superscript>O and radiogenic isotopic constraints on the origin of adakitic signatures: a case study from Solander and Little Solander Islands,New Zealand

Subduction-related Quaternary volcanic rocks from Solander and Little Solander Islands, south of mainland New Zealand, are porphyritic trachyandesites and andesites (58.20–62.19 wt% SiO₂) with phenocrysts of amphibole, plagioclase and biotite. The Solander and Little Solander rocks are incompatible element enriched (e.g. Sr ~931–2,270 ppm, Ba ~619–798 ppm, Th ~8.7–21.4 ppm and La ~24.3–97.2 ppm) with MORB-like Sr and Nd isotopic signatures. Isotopically similar quench-textured enclaves reflect mixing with intermediate (basaltic-andesite) magmas. The Solander rocks have geochemical affinities with adakites (e.g. high Sr/Y and low Y), whose origin is often attributed to partial melting of subducted oceanic crust. Solander sits on isotopically distinct continental crust, thus excluding partial melting of the lower crust in the genesis of the magmas. Furthermore, the incompatible element enrichments of the Solander rocks are inconsistent with partial melting of newly underplated mafic lower crust; reproduction of their major element compositions would require unrealistically high degrees of partial melting. A similar argument precludes partial melting of the subducting oceanic crust and the inability to match the observed trace element patterns in the presence of residual garnet or plagioclase. Alternatively, an enriched end member of depleted MORB mantle source is inferred from Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions, trace element enrichments and εHf ? 0 CHUR in detrital zircons, sourced from the volcanics. ¹⁰Be and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic systematics are inconsistent with significant sediment involvement in the source region. The trace element enrichments and MORB-like Sr and Nd isotopic characteristics of the Solander rocks require a strong fractionation mechanism to impart the high incompatible element concentrations and subduction-related (e.g. high LILE/HFSE) geochemical signatures of the Solander magmas. Trace element modelling shows that this can be achieved by very low degrees of melting of a peridotitic source enriched by the addition of a slab-derived melt. Subsequent open-system fractionation, involving a key role for mafic magma recharge, resulted in the evolved andesitic adakites.     

Radiolarian biochronology of Mesozoic deep-water successions in NW Syria and Cyprus: implications for south-Tethyan evolution

ABSTRACT New radiolarian biostratigraphical data have shed light on the Mesozoic tectonic evolution of South-Tethys in the Baer–Bassit region of NW Syria. Radiolarian assemblages of Late Triassic, Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous age were extracted from radiolarites in five measured sections. The results are compared with published radiolarian ages from the Mamonia Complex, western Cyprus. These two areas are interpreted as preserved fragments of the conjugate margins of a small South Tethyan oceanic basin formed by Triassic rifting. In the southerly (i.e. Arabian) margin, proximal successions were dominated by shallow-water-derived carbonate, whereas distal successions reveal seamount-type alkaline/peralkaline volcanism, dated as both Late Triassic and Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. Along the inferred northern margin (i.e. western Cyprus) proximal successions are dominantly terrigenous, whereas distal settings include Late Triassic oceanic crust and seamount-type lavas.     

Contributions of individual variation in temperature, solar radiation and precipitation to crop yield in the North China Plain, 1961–2003

An understanding of the relative impacts of the changes in climate variables on crop yield can help develop effective adaptation strategies to cope with climate change. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the interannual variability and trends in temperature, solar radiation and precipitation during 1961–2003 on wheat and maize yields in a double cropping system at Beijing and Zhengzhou in the North China Plain (NCP), and to examine the relative contributions of each climate variable in isolation. 129 climate scenarios consisting of all the combinations of these climate variables were constructed. Each scenario contained 43 years of observed values of one variable, combined with values of the other two variables from each individual year repeated 43 times. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) was used to simulate crop yields using the ensemble of generated climate scenarios. The results showed that the warming trend during the study period did not have significant impact on wheat yield potential at both sites, and only had significant negative impact on maize yield potential at Beijing. This is in contrast with previous results on effect of warming. The decreasing trend in solar radiation had a much greater impact on simulated yields of both wheat and maize crops, causing a significant reduction in potential yield of wheat and maize at Beijing. Although decreasing trends in rainfed yield of both simulated wheat and maize were found, the substantial interannual variability of precipitation made the trends less prominent.