High resolution ultraviolet solar spectra in the region 2765–2822 Å

Wavelengths and identifications of the near ultraviolet solar spectrum are presented. The data were obtained during the rocket flight of an interferometer spectrograph with a spectral resolution of 0.03 Å.SRC Astrophysics Research Unit, Culham Laboratory, Abingdon, Berks, now at Max-Planck Institut fur Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany.Now at Kevin Street College of Technology, Dublin, Eire.     

First lacustrine varve chronologies from Mexico: impact of droughts,ENSO and human activity since AD 1840 as recorded in maar sediments from Valle de Santiago

We present varve chronologies for sediments from two maar lakes in the Valle de Santiago region (Central Mexico): Hoya La Alberca (AD 1852–1973) and Hoya Rincón de Parangueo (AD 1839–1943). These are the first varve chronologies for Mexican lakes. The varved sections were anchored with tephras from Colima (1913) and Paricutín (1943/1944) and ²¹⁰Pb ages. We compare the sequences using the thickness of seasonal laminae and element counts (Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, and Sr) determined by micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The formation of the varve sublaminae is attributed to the strongly seasonal climate regime. Limited rainfall and high evaporation rates in winter and spring induce precipitation of carbonates (high Ca, Sr) enriched in ¹³C and ¹⁸O, whereas rainfall in summer increases organic and clastic input (plagioclase, quartz) with high counts of lithogenic elements (K, Al, Ti, and Si). Eolian input of Ti occurs also in the dry season. Moving correlations (5-yr windows) of the Ca and Ti counts show similar development in both sequences until the 1930s. Positive correlations indicate mixing of allochthonous Ti and autochthonous Ca, while negative correlations indicate their separation in sublaminae. Negative excursions in the correlations correspond with historic and reconstructed droughts, El Niño events, and positive SST anomalies. Based on our data, droughts (3–7 year duration) were severe and centred around the following years: the early 1850s, 1865, 1880, 1895, 1905, 1915 and the late 1920s with continuation into the 1930s. The latter dry period brought both lake systems into a critical state making them susceptible to further drying. Groundwater overexploitation due to the expansion of irrigation agriculture in the region after 1940 induced the transition from calcite to aragonite precipitation in Alberca and halite infiltration in Rincón. The proxy data indicate a faster response to increased evaporation for Rincón, the lake with the larger maar dimensions, solar radiation receipt and higher conductivity, whereas the smaller, steeper Alberca maar responded rapidly to increased precipitation.     

GHG mitigation of agricultural peatlands requires coherent policies

As soon as peat soil is drained for agricultural production, the peat starts to degrade, which causes emissions to the atmosphere. In countries with large peatland areas, the GHG mitigation potential related to management of these soils is often estimated as the highest amongst the measures available in agriculture. Although the facts are well known, the policies leading to diminished emissions are often difficult to implement. We have analysed the reasons why the mitigation potential is not fully utilized and what could be done better in national implementation of climate policies. Four cases are used to illustrate the necessary steps to reach mitigation targets: determining the amount and properties of peat soils, estimating the potential, costs and feasibility of the mitigation measures, and selecting and implementing the best measures. A common feature for all of the cases was that national and international climate policies have increased the public interest in GHG emissions from peat soils and increased the pressure for mitigation. Basically the same factors restrict the implementation of mitigation measures in all countries with significant peat soil areas. The most important of these is lack of policy coherence, e.g. ignoring climate policies when planning land use or agricultural policies. We conclude that GHG mitigation is achieved only if other policies, especially national regulations and strategies, are in line with climate policies.

Policy relevance

Agricultural peat soils could be used to help reach GHG mitigation goals in many countries, but the full potential of mitigation of peat soils is not used. Although peatland cultivation inevitably leads to loss of the whole peat layer and high emissions, there are few incentives or regulation to effectively minimize these losses. This article discusses the possibilities to reduce GHG emissions from agricultural peat soils, with specific emphasis on the barriers of implementing mitigation measures nationally. The lessons learned from the selected cases emphasize the role of all policy makers and their cooperation in planning coherent policies for achieving the goals determined by climate policies.     

A method for the selection of relevant pattern indices for monitoring of spatial forest cover pattern at a regional scale

When signing Agenda 21, several countries agreed to monitor the status of forests to ensure their sustainable use. For reporting on the change in spatial forest cover pattern on a regional scale, pattern metrics are widely used. These indices are not often thoroughly evaluated as to their sensitivity to remote sensing data characteristics. Hence, one would not know whether the change in the metric values was due to actual landscape pattern changes or to characteristic variation of multitemporal remote sensing data.     

Diapirism during regional compression: The structural pattern in the Chibougamau region of the archean Abitibi belt,Québec

The major fold pattern of the Chibougamau region in the Archean Abitibi Belt, Quebec, is the result of two fold phases. The principal F₁-synclines first formed as subsiding fault troughs, and were shortened in NS direction and molded around volcanic centers that had been consolidated by large synvolcanic plutons; they have a general easterly direction but curve locally to the NE or SE. N-trending F₁-folds are locally present in the anticlinoria and are thought to have been produced by the upwelling of basement gneiss and/or synvolcanic plutons. The F₂-folds have rather regular easterly trends; their axial plane schistosity S₂ is the predominant planar fabric element. Basin margin faults were transformed into east-trending thrust faults during the F₁- and F₂-folding.The superposed schistosities S₃ and S₄ are conjugate shear planes related to NS shortening. They and the kink bands produce only minor strain except at a few localities. Synkinematic and late kinematic diapiric plutons pierce the structural pattern. The F₁-folds, derived from the paleogeographic pattern during the uplift of volcanic islands and during the subsidence of fault basins, may also be interpreted as diapiric. Thus, diapirism took place during the whole period of NS compression.ENE trending left-lateral shear belts and their associated first and second order faults, displaced the Kenoran structures in late Archean and early Proterozoic time.

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Zusammenfassung Der Faltenbau des Chibougamaugebietes im Archaischen Abitibi Belt, Quebec, ist das Resultat zweier Faltungsphasen. Die gro\en F₁-Synklinalen bildeten sich zuerst als absinkende Verwerfungströge, die später in NS-Richtung eingeengt wurden und gleichzeitig dabei an die verfestigten Vulkanzentren gepre\t wurden. Die gro\en synvulkanischen Plutone konsolidierten die vulkanischen Zentren. Die F₁-Falten streichen generell OW, biegen aber lokal in NO- und SO-Richtung um. Nord-streichende F₁-Falten finden sich lokal in den Antiklinorien und werden auf das Aufsteigen der basalen Gneisse und/oder der synvulkanischen Plutone zurückgeführt. Die F₂-Falten haben ein regelmä\iges Ost-Streichen; ihre der Faltenachsenfläche parallele Schieferung S₂ ist das deutlichste planare Strukturelement. Die Randbrüche der Verwerfungsbecken wurden während der F₁- und F₂-Faltungsphase in Oststreichende überschiebungen umgewandelt. Die S₃ und S₄-Schieferungen sind konjugierte Scherflächen in NS-Kompression. S₃ und S₄ und die Knickbänder verursachen nur lokal eine erhebliche Verformung. Synkinematische und spätkinematische Plutone durchbrechen diese Strukturen und die F₁-Falten, erzeugt durch den Aufstieg von Vulkaninseln und das Absinken von Verwerfungsbecken können ebenfalls als diapirische Strukturen gedeutet werden. Der Diapirismus überdauerte die ganze Periode der NS-Kompression.Linkshändig rotierte ONO-streichende Scherzonen und die dazugehörigen Verwerfungen erster und zweiter Ordnung versetzen die Kenorischen Strukturen während des späten Archaikums und des frühen Proterozoikums.

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Résumé Les plis majeurs de la région de Chibougamau dans la ceinture Archéenne de l'Abitibi au Québec sont le résultat de deux phases de plissement. Les synclinaux F₁ majeurs prenaient naissance comme bassins de faille subsidents et furent comprimés en direction NS. Ils furent moulés autour des centres volcaniques qui avaient été consolidés par des plutons synvolcaniques; leur direction générale est est-ouest mais ils s'incurvent localement vers le NE ou vers le SE. Des plis F₁ de direction N sont présents localement dans les anticlinoria et nous pensons qu'ils sont le résultat de l'ascension diapirique du gneiss du socle et des plutons synvolcaniques. Les plis F₂ ont une direction EO assez régulière; leur schistosité de plan axial (S₂) est l'élément structural planaire prédominant. Les failles en bordure des bassins de subsidence furent transformées en chevauchement lors des phases de plissement F₁ et F₂.Les schistosités superposées S₃ et S₄ sont des surfaces de cisaillement conjugées en compression NS. Ces schistosités et les plis en chevron ne sont pas responsables d'une déformation substantielle, sauf à quelques endroits. Des plutons diapiriques d'âge syn-cinématique à tardi-cinématique percent ce patron structural. Le patron des plis F₁, déterminé par le patron paléogéographique durant le soulèvement d'Îles volcaniques et la subsidence des bassins de faille peut aussi Être interprété comme une structure diapirique. Des ceintures de cisaillement senestre en direction ENE et leur cortège de failles de premier et deuxième ordre ont déplacé les structures Kénoréennes tard dans l'Archéen et tÔt dans le ProtérozoÏque.

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An overview of Calanus helgolandicus ecology in European waters

We review current knowledge and understanding of the biology and ecology of the calanoid copepod Calanus helgolandicus in European waters, as well as provide a collaborative synthesis of data from 18 laboratories and 26 sampling stations in areas distributed from the northern North Sea to the Aegean and Levantine Seas. This network of zooplankton time-series stations has enabled us to collect and synthesise seasonal and multi-annual data on abundance, body size, fecundity, hatching success and vertical distribution of C. helgolandicus. An aim was to enable comparison with its congener Calanus finmarchicus, which has been studied intensively as a key component of European and north east Atlantic marine ecosystems. C. finmarchicus is known to over-winter at depth, whereas the life-cycle of C. helgolandicus is less well understood. Overwintering populations of C. helgolandicus have been observed off the Atlantic coast between 400 and 800 m, while in the Mediterranean there is evidence of significant deep-water populations at depths as great as 4200 m. The biogeographical distribution of C. helgolandicus in European coastal waters covers a wide range of habitats, from open ocean to coastal environments, and its contribution to mesozooplankton biomass ranges from 6% to 93%. Highest abundances were recorded in the Adriatic and off the west coast of Spain. C. helgolandicus is generally found in 9-20 °C water, with maximum abundances from 13-17 °C. In contrast, C. finmarchicus is found in cooler water between 0 and 15 °C, with peak abundances from 0 to 9 °C. As water has warmed in the North Atlantic over recent decades, the range of C. helgolandicus and its abundance on the fringes of its expanding range have increased. This review will facilitate development of population models of C. helgolandicus. This will not only help answer remaining questions but will improve our ability to forecast future changes, in response to a warming climate, in the abundance and distribution of this important species.     

Composite lightcurve of asteroid Moskva (787)

89 CCD frames of the asteroid Moskva (787) were obtained over six nights. Lightcurves have been acquired for each night. We suggest a possible composite lightcurve with a corresponding rotational period of 0.4 days. This is to the knowledge of the authors the first lightcurve of Moskva(787) to be published.