Device for finely resolved sampling of littoral lake regions: Design and operation

Although littoral regions in northern lakes may sustain fish spawning grounds, little is known of the temporal or spatial aspects of their thermal and chemical regimes. This shortcoming is due in part to the difficulty in properly sampling these regions throughout the year with adequate spatial resolution. This problem is especially critical in lakes affected by episodic acidification during the spring snowmelt, a period of substantial importance to fisheries recruitment. A device was constructed to alleviate the problems associated with conventional water quality sampling of littoral regions. Constructed of thick walled polyvinyl chloride and permanently installed in the nearshore regions of an Adirondack lake, the episodic event sampler (EES) provided finely resolved (0.25 m) temperature and water chemistry data during the spring snowmelt period (February to May) of 1989. Although the construction and installation of the sampler represented a significant investment in labour and materials, this was offset by the high quality of the data collected. As the samplers were relatively undamaged by freeze-thaw activity, it is expected that they will continue to provide excellent information for several years.     

Asteroid rotation rates

The dependence of rotational frequency on diameter, taxonomic type, and family membership is analyzed for 217 main-belt asteroids with statistically useful periods extracted from the file published by Harris and Young ((1983). Icarus54, 59–109). It is shown that for asteroids with diameters ? 120 km, mean rotational frequency increases with increasing diameter. This trend is equally present in all subsets of M-, S-, and C-type asteroids, for both family and nonfamily members alike, and cannot be accounted for by observational selection. For asteroids with diameters ? 120 km, mean rotational frequency increases with decreasing diameter; however, within this group there is a subset of asteroids with exceptionally long rotational periods. This marked change in the distribution at diameter ～ 120 km could separate primordial asteroids from their collision products. However, it is probable that the sample is biased in favor of small asteroids with short rotational periods and that the apparent increase of mean rotational frequency with decreasing diameter for small asteroids is at least partly the product of observational selection. An observational program that could test this hypothesis is described. If asteroids of any one diameter are considered, then, on average, M asteroids rotate faster than S asteroids which in turn rotate faster than C asteroids. This shows that asteroids which have been classified by their surface properties alone have different bulk properties. There is also some evidence that for all asteroidal types, of all diameters, family members rotate faster than nonfamily members.     

苏鲁超高压变质岩的构造热历史：中国大陆科学钻探工程(CCSD)主孔（MH）和先导孔（PP2）的磷灰石裂变径迹约束

本文包括中国大陆科学钻（CCSD）主孔（MH）0~5000m和先导孔（PP2）0~1000m的磷灰石裂变径迹分折结果,先导孔PP2的裂变径迹表观年龄变化范围为79.5±5.1~50.4±6.2Ma,主孔的裂变径迹表观年龄变化范围为98.6±17.0~2.9±2.0Ma,主孔在4200m以下,磷灰石样品中实际上已不存在自发裂变径迹,表明裂变径迹时钟已经“置零”。实验资料表明,裂变径迹表观年龄值随样品深度的增加而逐渐减少,直到一定深度,即达到磷灰石的裂变径迹封闭温度（~120℃）以后,年龄值为零。根据主孔0~2000m和先导孔0~1000m的裂变径迹年龄剖面,作为一级近似,计算出超高压变质岩体在90~30Ma期间,平均隆升速度为~35m/Ma。对主孔测定了9个样品的约束径迹（Confined track）长度,样品约束径迹平均长度的变化范围约为13.1~7.4μm,总的变化趋势是：约束径迹平均长度随样品深度的增加而逐渐减少。样品的约束径迹长度分布都具有双峰型特征。根据裂变径迹年龄和约束径迹长度的资料,应用计算机模拟得到了样品的时间-温度（t-T）轨迹。结果表明,岩体从早白垩世（~120Ma）快速冷却以后,在晚白垩世和始新世又经历了两次加热作用,始新世末岩体所达到的温度大约是80℃,随后岩体则一直上升和缓慢冷却到现今所处的位置。在最后~30Ma岩体的平均隆升速度为~53m/Ma。     

The origin of the Brunflo fossil meteorite and extraterrestrial chromite in mid‐Ordovician limestone from the Gärde quarry (Jämtland,central Sweden)

Abstract— The Brunflo fossil meteorite was found in the 1950s in mid‐Ordovician marine limestone in the Gärde quarry in Jämtland. It originates from strata that are about 5 million years younger than similar limestone that more recently has yielded >50 fossil meteorites in the Thorsberg quarry at Kinnekulle, 600 km to the south. Based primarily on the low TiO₂ content (about 1.8 wt%) of its relict chromite the Brunflo meteorite had been tentatively classified as an H chondrite. The meteorite hence appears to be an anomaly in relation to the Kinnekulle meteorites, in which chromite composition, chondrule mean diameter and oxygen isotopic composition all indicate an L‐chondritic origin, reflecting an enhanced flux of meteorites to Earth following the disruption of the L chondrite parent body 470 Ma. New chondrule‐size measurements for the Brunflo meteorite indicate that it too is an L chondrite, related to the same parent‐body breakup. Chromite maximum diameters and well‐defined chondrule structures further show that Brunflo belongs to the L4 or L5 type. Chromites in recently fallen L4 chondrites commonly have low TiO₂ contents similar to the Brunflo chromites, adding support for Brunflo being an L4 chondrite. The limestone in the Gärde quarry is relatively rich (about 0.45 grain kg⁻¹) in sediment‐dispersed extraterrestrial chromite grains (>63 μm) with chemical composition similar to those in L chondrites and the limestone (1–3 grains kg⁻¹) at Kinnekulle, suggesting that the enhanced flux of L chondrites prevailed, although somewhat diminished, at the time when the Brunflo meteorite fell.     

From ductile to brittle deformation: structural development and strain distribution along a crustal-scale shear zone in SW Finland

This study demonstrates the impact of variations in overall crustal rheology on crustal strength in relatively high P–T conditions at mid- to lower mid-crustal levels. In a crustal-scale shear zone, along-strike variations in the rheological competence result in large-scale deformation partitioning and differences in the deformation style and strain distribution. The structural behaviour of the crustal-scale Sottunga–Jurmo shear zone (SJSZ) in SW Finland is described. The shear zone represents a discontinuity between the amphibolite-to-granulite facies, dome-and-basin style crustal block to the north and the amphibolite facies rocks with dominantly steeply dipping structures to the south. The overall deformation style and resulting strains along the shear zone are greatly affected by the local lithology. The results of this study also have implications for the current tectonic models of the Palaeoproterozoic Fennoscandia. The most important implication is that the SJSZ, together with other structurally related shear zones, compartmentalised the far-field stresses, so that the late ductile structures within and south of the SJSZ can be allocated to a convergence from the south as late as ~1.79 Ga rather than to the Nordic orogeny from the west-northwest. It is further suggested that at ~1.79 Ga the stress regime was still compressive/transpressive and that the ~1.79 Ga magmatism in Åland at least initiated in a compressive setting. No extension or orogenic collapse, therefore, occurred in the Åland area while the rocks still were within the ductile regime.     

Properties of dust aerosol particles transported to Portugal from the Sahara desert

Aerosol properties of mineral particles in the far field of an African desert dust outbreak were investigated that brought Saharan dust over the Mediterranean in different layers to Portugal. The measurements were performed inside the project Desert Aerosols over Portugal (DARPO) which was linked to the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM). The maximum particle mass concentration was about 150 μg m⁻³ and the corresponding scattering coefficient was 130 M m⁻¹ which results in a mass scattering efficiency of 0.87 m² g⁻¹. The aerosol optical depth reached values up to 0.53 and the lidar ratio was between 45 and 50 in the whole dust loaded column. A comparison between particle size distributions and refractive indices derived from different instruments and models showed a general good agreement but some minor differences could also be observed. Measurements as well as calculations with a particle transport model suggest that there is a relatively higher concentration of very large particles in the upper region of the dust layer than on the surface which is likely connected with meteorological conditions at the observational site (Évora, Portugal).     

Error calibration of geopotential harmonics in recent and past gravitational fields

The geopotential coefficients of a number of recent and past models have been examined with the aim of calibrating their formal (or published) errors, principally by direct comparison with the same coefficients of a precise and wholly independent satellite-only reference field determined (in 2010) predominantly from over 7 years of μ/s low–low GRACE inter-satellite range rate observations (ITG-GRACE2010S). In all of these comparisons the reference field used, over specified spectral ranges, has much smaller reported errors than the ones to be calibrated. In particular we find that a recently published field (in 2010) using gravity gradient and position data from ESA’s GOCE satellite, GO_CONS_GCF_2_TIM_R1, has formal errors which are significantly optimistic for the lowest degrees (n) but with increasing realism where the gradiometer gains influence over the position information (15 < n < 120). Other GOCE models do not afford an unbiased error calibration. Validating error calibration with the independent reference model, of two past comprehensive fields (containing both satellite and surface data), confirms that one of them (JGM3, published in 1994, complete to n = 70) reported generally realistic formal errors while another (EGM96, published in 1998, complete to n = 360, tested only for n < 150) had significantly optimistic ones for most n < 100 but with better realism when affected only by the surface information.     

Aqueous fluids and hydrous melts in high-pressure and ultra-high pressure rocks: Implications for element transfer in subduction zones

High-pressure (HP) and ultra-high pressure (UHP) terranes are excellent natural laboratories to study subduction-zone processes. In this paper we give a brief theoretical background and we review experimental data and observations in natural rocks that constrain the nature and composition of the fluid phase present in HP and UHP rocks. We argue that a fluid buffered by a solid residue is compositionally well defined and is either an aqueous fluid (total amount of dissolved solids < 30 wt.%) or a hydrous melt (H₂O < 35 wt.%). There is only a small temperature range of approximately 50–100 °C, where transitional solute-rich fluids exist. A review of available experimental data suggest that in felsic rocks the second critical endpoint is situated at 25–35 kbar and  700 °C and hence must be considered in the study of UHP rocks. Despite this, the nature of the fluid phase can be constrained by relating the peak metamorphic conditions of rocks to the position of the wet solidus even if the peak pressure exceeds the pressure where the wet solidus terminates at the second critical endpoint. Transitional solute-rich fluids are expected in UHP terrains (P > 30 kbar) with peak temperatures of about 700 ± 50 °C. At higher temperatures, hydrous granitic melts occur whereas at lower temperatures aqueous fluids coexists with eclogite-facies minerals. This argument is complemented by evidence on the nature of the fluid phase from high-pressure terrains. We show that in the diamond-bearing, high-temperature UHP rocks from the Kokchetav Massif there are not only hydrous felsic melts, but probably also carbonate and sulfide melts present.

Hydrous quartzo-feldspathic melts are mainly produced in high temperature UHP rocks and their composition is relatively well constrained from experiments and natural rocks. In contrast, constraining the composition of aqueous fluids is more problematic. The combined evidence from experiments and natural rocks indicates that aqueous fluids liberated at the blueschist to eclogite facies transition are dilute. They contain only moderate amounts of LILE, Sr and Pb and do not transport significant amounts of key trace elements such as LREE, U and Th. This indicates that there is a decoupling of water and trace element release in subducted oceanic crust and that aqueous fluids are unable to enrich the mantle wedge significantly. Instead we propose that fluid-present melting in the sediments on top of the slab is required to transfer significant amounts of trace elements from the slab to the mantle wedge. For such a process to be efficient, top slab temperature must be at least 700–750 °C at sub-arc depth. Slab melting is likely to be triggered by fluids that derive from dehydration of mafic and ultramafic rocks in colder (deeper) portions of the slab.