Late Holocene Mediterranean coastal change along the Tiber Delta and Roman occupation of the Laurentine shore, central Italy

A line of Roman villas once dominated the Mediterranean coastline to the south of the Tiber river mouth near Ostia in central Italy. The Roman remains, which were constructed within a series of dune ridges, now lie up to 900 m from the current shoreline as a result of the continued evolution of the Tiber delta in response to postglacial sea level rise, sediment inputs from the Tiber river catchment and tectonic uplift. Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages of potassium-rich feldspars extracted from dune sands are in good agreement with the independent age control provided by the Roman structures and allow us to hypothesise an increase in aggradation rates of five times since the end of the period of Roman occupation compared with the earlier Holocene.     

A portable rainfall simulator for field assessment of splash and slopewash in remote locations

This paper describes the design, operation and performance of a field‐portable ‘drip‐type’ simulator and erosion measurement system. The system was constructed specifically for soil erosion research in the humid tropics and has been used extensively in Malaysian Borneo. The simulator is capable of producing replicable storms of up to 200 mm h^?1 intensity and 20–30 minutes duration with a drop‐size distribution close to that of natural storms of such intensity (D₅₀ of simulated rainfall is 4·15 mm at 200 mm h^?1 and 3·65 mm at 160 mm h^?1, D⁵⁰ measured during natural rainfall = 3·25 mm). The simulator is portable and simply constructed and operates without a motor or electronics, thus making it particularly useful in remote, mountainous areas. The erosion measurement system allows assessment of: (1) rainsplash detachment and net downslope transport from the erosion plot; (2) slopewash (erosion transported by overland flow); and (3) infiltration capacity and overland flow. The performance of the simulator–erosion system compared with previous systems is assessed with reference to experiments carried out in primary and regenerating tropical rainforest at Danum Valley (Malaysian Borneo). The system was found to compare favourably with previous field simulators, producing a total storm kinetic energy of 727 J m^?2 (over a 20‐minute storm event) and a kinetic energy rate of 0·61 J m^?2 s^?1, approximately half that experienced on the ground during a natural rainfall event of similar intensity, despite the shorter distance to the ground. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Primordial substructure in the Orion Nebula Cluster

We use numerical N -body simulations of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) to investigate the possibility of substructure in its formation. There is no substructure apparent in the ONC today. However, unless there was a remarkable degree of homogeneity in the molecular cloud from which it formed, it seems unlikely that this would have been true of the cluster in its earliest phase. More plausibly, the early structure of the cluster would have consisted of groups or clumps of subclusters, following the structure of the cloud itself. We have explored the extent to which such subclusters could subsequently have merged, and find that the age of the cluster is a critical factor. The most inhomogeneous initial conditions, comprising a small number of subclusters with many members, are ruled out by an age of 2 Myr or less. There is a considerable amount of freedom in the other direction, however, which suggests that fragmentation in the original cloud is more likely to have been on the scale of small clumps, each producing fewer than 100 stars. These initial subclusters could have been very dense – perhaps two or three orders of magnitude more dense than the core of the ONC today.     

Comparison of theoretical and observed temperature profiles in Devon Island ice cap, Canada

Summary. A non-steady-state theoretical model is used to predict the present variation of temperature with depth in two boreholes in the Devon Island ice cap, Arctic Canada. The boreholes are 300 m apart and one of them reaches bedrock. The heat transfer equation is solved numerically with the record of past temperatures obtained from measurements of the variations of oxygen—isotope ratio with depth in the cores as surface boundary condition. The effects of ice advection, refreezing of meltwater percolating from the surface (the amount of which is recorded in the cores), heating due to firn compaction and ice deformation, and heat flow in the bedrock below the ice sheet are all included in the model. The free parameters are geothermal heat flux, present surface temperature and heat loss at the surface which depends on the depth of meltwater penetration and other factors. Agreement between observed and predicted temperature—depth profiles is very close. Latent heat released by percolating meltwater is the predominating factor in determining the temperature distribution in the upper half of each borehole. The temperature distribution is insensitive to the value of the factor used to convert oxygen—isotope ratio to temperature.     

Spatially Resolved Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of the Jovian Aurora

Spatially resolved spectra in four 50-Å FUV spectral windows were obtained across the jovian aurora with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Nearly simultaneous ultraviolet imaging makes it possible to correlate the intensity variations along the STIS slit with those observed in the images and to characterize the global auroral context prevailing at the time of the observations. Spectra at ∼1-Å resolution taken in pairs included an unabsorbed window and a spectral region affected by hydrocarbon absorption. Both sets of spectra correspond to an aurora with a main oval brightness of about 130 kilorayleighs of H₂ emission. The far ultraviolet color ratios I(1550-1620 Å)/I(1230-1300 Å) are 2.3 and 5.9 for the noon and morning sectors of the main oval, respectively. We use an interactive model coupling the energy degradation of incoming energetic electrons, auroral temperature and composition, and synthetic H₂ spectra to fit the intensity distribution of the H₂ lines. It is found that the model best fitting globally the spectra has a soft energy component in addition to a 10 erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ flux of 80 keV electrons. It provides an effective H₂ temperature of 540 K. The relative intensity of temperature-sensitive H₂ lines indicates differences between the auroral main oval and polar cap emissions. The amount of methane absorption across the polar region is shown to vary in a way consistent with temperature. For the second spectral pair, the polar cap shows a higher attenuation by CH₄, indicating a harder precipitation along high-latitude magnetic field lines.     

Hydration of eclogite, Pam Peninsula, New Caledonia

Garnet glaucophanite and greenschist facies assemblages were formed by the recrystallization of barroisite-bearing eclogite facies metabasites in northern New Caledonia. The mineralogical evolution can be modelled by calculated P–T and P–X _H2O diagrams for appropriate bulk rock compositions in the model system CaO–Na₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O. The eclogites, having developed in a clockwise P–T path that reached P ≈19 kbar and T  ≈590 °C, underwent decompression with the consumption of free H₂O as the volume of hydrous minerals increased. Eclogite is preserved in domains that experienced no fluid influx following the loss of this fluid. Garnet glaucophanite formed at P ≈16 kbar during semi-pervasive fluid influx. Fluid influx, after further isothermal decompression, was focused in shear zones, and resulted in chlorite–albite-bearing greenschist facies mineral assemblages that reflect P ≈9 kbar.