A diagnostic model using ashfall data to determine eruption characteristic and atmospheric conditions during a major volcanic event

A model is developed for estimating location of a volcano relative to sample points in an associated ashfall, cloud height during eruption, and mean wind velocity during ash deposition. The ash deposit must cover a large area and have an elongate axis. The model appears to be applicable both to recent and to unobserved ashfalls in the past, provided adequate and representative ash samples are available. The opportunity to test the diagnostic model on volcanic ashfalls is limited by sparsity of the necessary input data. From more than 20 ashfalls described in the literature, the 1947 Hekla (Iceland) eruption is the only one which includes suitable particle size analyses taken from samples related to a well-defined axis. The application of the model to the Hekla ashfall is discussed.     

The petroleum evaluation of a tectonically complex area: The western margin of the Southeast Basin (France)

The Southeast Basin of France is the thickest onshore French sedimentary basin which contains locally as much as 10 km of Mesozoic-Cenozoic sediment. Basin development occurred in several stages between late Carboniferous and late Cretaceous times. Partial tectonic inversion took place during two compressive events, the so-called ‘Pyrenean’ and ‘Alpine’ phases of late Cretaceous-early Tertiary and late Tertiary ages respectively. They are separated by an intervening stretching event of Oligocene age, which further south resulted in the opening of the western Mediterranean oceanic basin. As a result of this complex tectonic history, structural traps were difficult to image on the seismic data shot during the first phase of exploration prior to 1980. Oil and gas natural seeps, and shows in several wells, indicate that some petroleum systems are, or have been active, at least in some places.The present erosional western margin of the basin is more or less superimposed on the initial Triassic-Jurassic margin. Margin subsidence and Tertiary inversion are discussed using regional sections on which the polyphase history of the entire basin is well shown. These sections are located on three major segments where the Mesozoic margin is either partly preserved (Ardèche), or has been partly inverted in late Tertiary times (Vercors-Chartreuse), or has been completely inverted in early Tertiary times (Corbières-eastern Pyrenees). 1-D ‘Genex’ basin modelling on the Ardèche segment, and 2-D ‘Thrustpack’ structural-maturity modelling in the Vercors-Chartreuse segment are used to further assess the remaining petroleum plays.     

Dust-acoustic soliton in a plasma with multi-species ions and kappa-distributed electrons

In this work, we consider the formation of electrostatic, dust-acoustic solitary structure in a unmagnetized plasma with Lorentzian electrons (kappa-distributed) and more than one species of thermal ions (Maxwellian). The work is inspired by results of different space-based observations of electrostatic solitary waves (ESW) in the near-earth and magnetospheric plasmas and recent experimental realization of existence of superthermal electron component in various space plasmas. We have, in this work, shown that existence of compressive potential structure is possible only with more than one species of thermal ions. Besides, formation of compressive double layers is also possible which depends on the amount of deviation of the electron thermal velocities from a Maxwellian distribution. We show that both dust-temperature and super-thermal electrons lead to a decrease in the soliton amplitude.     

A NEW APPROACH TO THE INVERSION OF SEISMIC DATA*

A new inversion method for seismic reflection data is based on impedance concepts and uses transformations to reduce the essentially non-linear problem to a linear eigenvalue formulation without approximation. A set of reflection data has been inverted using this method. The characteristic impedances of the layers so determined are compared with log data from a reference borehole.     

ION–Neutral Collisions Effect on MHD Surface Waves

The effect of ion–neutral collisions on the propagation of MHD waves and surface waves at a single magnetic interface is investigated. The dispersion equations for MHD waves in a partially ionized medium are derived. There are three damped propagating modes in a uniform unbounded medium: an Alfvén mode, and fast and slow modes. The damping of waves depends on both the collisional frequency and the ionization fraction. Wave damping increases as ionization fraction decreases. Surface waves are discussed in three cases: (a) the incompressible limit, (b) the low plasma, and (c) for parallel propagation. The incompressible limit leads to Alfvén surface waves in a partially ionized medium and the dispersion characteristics are similar to those obtained by Uberoi and Datta. In the low plasma of the Earth's auroral F region there are two damped propagating magnetoacoustic surface waves for =/3. There is only one damped surface mode for =/2, but no surface wave is able to propagate for =0°. For the case of parallel propagation (=0°) the results obtained in the absence of ion-neutral collisions are consistent with the results of Jain and Roberts. It is found that a three-mode structure of damped propagating waves occurs owing to ion–neutral collisions for a comparatively high ionization fraction. For the case of the solar photosphere, where the ionization fraction is low, two weakly damped surface waves are found, though the damping is almost negligible. The pattern of propagation is similar to that found in the case discussed by Jain and Roberts, but the wave speeds are lower due to ion–neutral collisions. The strong collisions tie the ion–neutral species together and reduce the damping.     

Buried paleo-channels on the New Jersey continental margin: channel porosity structures from electromagnetic surveying

We report on a marine electromagnetic (EM) survey across two portions of the New Jersey continental margin that have been previously shown to contain buried paleo-channels. The EM method used provides bulk porosity estimates to depths of around 20 m below the seafloor and is thus able to place porosity constraints on the nature of the channel infill and the contrast in physical properties across the channel boundaries. Our data show that a key condition for the channels to have an electrical signature is that they incise an underlying regional unconformity, R, thought to represent a subaerially eroded surface, exposed during the late Wisconsinan glaciation. Channels that cut R are seen through increases in apparent porosity. Another seismically imaged channel sequence, which lies within the outer-shelf sediment wedge sequence above R, does not have an electrical signature, indicating that the sediments above and below the channel boundaries have similar physical properties.     

Potential salinity limitations on nitrogen fixation in sediments from Mono Lake, California

Mono Lake is a hypersaline alkaline lake in the high altitude Great Basin desert of eastern California. Algal productivity of the lake is nitrogen-limited, and a contributing source is derived from benthic nitrogen fixation. Lake level and salinity have fluctuated with natural climatic variations but have also been affected by the diversion of tributary streams. This research examines the influence of varied salinity and lake level on the potential for benthic nitrogen fixation in Mono Lake. A sediment-surface microbial mat community was exposed directly, and in acclimated cultures, to a range of Mono Lake salinities under anaerobic incubations and the activity of nitrogenase assayed by acetylene reduction. Activity was stimulated in light, but also occurred in darkness. Over an experimental salinity range from 50 to 150 g L⁻¹ TDS, nitrogenase activity was reduced by 90 per cent, with the activity persisting at the highest salinity being attributable to dark fixation alone. Between a salinity of 50 g L⁻¹, occurring in Mono Lake over 50 years ago, and 100 g L⁻¹, nitrogenase activity was reduced by nearly half. Changes in the area of the littoral zone at varied lake levels also affect the total amount of potential benthic nitrogen fixation in the lake. An accounting of yearly inputs of nitrogen to Mono Lake suggests N₂-fixation could contribute as much as 76–81 percent of the total. Inhibition of nitrogen fixation rates by increased salinity could limit the long-term nutrient supply and benthic primary productivity of this ecosystem.     

Symplectic Mappings of Co-orbital Motion in the Restricted Problem of Three Bodies

The dynamics of co-orbital motion in the restricted three-body problem are investigated by symplectic mappings. Analytical and semi-numerical mappings have been developed and studied in detail. The mappings have been tested by numerical integration of the equations of motion. These mappings have been proved to be useful for a quick determination of the phase space structure reflecting the main characteristics of the dynamics of the co-orbital problem.     

Soil moisture potential and water content in the unsaturated zone within the arid Ejina Oasis in Northwest China

Three soil profiles were selected in the Ejina Oasis, northwest China, to determine water content profiles and evolution of soil moisture potentials in the unsaturated zone within the arid area. The total soil moisture potentials have been monitored for about 3 months in 2001 at different depths in the soil profiles. The occurrence and movement of water in the unsaturated zone was analyzed using the zero flux plane (ZFP) method. It is shown that convergent ZFPs and divergent ZFPs may occur at depths between 0.5 and 3.0 m, and that the depth of the ZFPs was controlled by the root zone of plants growing on the land surface. Profiles of the total soil moisture potentials were observed to be coincident with those of the water contents at the three experimental sites. The total soil moisture potential showed a slight increasing trend and the ZFPs tend to vanish from summer to winter as the water extraction by roots decreased. Evapotranspiration through vegetation has an important bearing on the water content and the total potential in the unsaturated zone.     

Trace element geochemistry of coesite-bearing eclogites from the Roberts Victor kimberlite, Kaapvaal craton

Trace element characteristics of seven coesite-bearing eclogitic xenoliths from the Roberts Victor kimberlite demonstrate that this suite of eclogites originated as gabbroic cumulates in oceanic crust that was subsequently subducted. All but one of the garnets show positive Eu anomalies, accompanied by a flat heavy rare earth pattern, which is atypical of garnet, but characteristic of plagioclase, arguing for a considerable amount of plagioclase in the protoliths. Forward modelling of the accumulation of liquidus minerals from primitive komatiitic, picritic, and basaltic liquids suggests that at least some of the eclogite protoliths were not derived from basaltic parental liquids, whereas derivation from either komatiitic or picritic liquids is possible. The reconstructed eclogite bulk rocks compare favourably with oceanic gabbros from ODP hole 735B (SW Indian Ridge), even to the extent that oxygen isotopic systematics show signs of low-temperature seawater alteration. However, the oxygen isotope trends are the reverse of what is expected for cumulates in the lower section of the oceanic crust. These new findings show that δ¹⁸O values in eclogitic xenoliths, despite being sound indicators for their interaction with hydrothermal fluids at low pressure, do not necessarily bear a simple relationship with the inferred oceanic crustal stratigraphy of the protoliths.