The Global Context of Solar Activity During the Whole Heliosphere Interval Campaign

The Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) was an international observing and modeling effort to characterize the 3-D interconnected ??heliophysical?? system during this solar minimum, centered on Carrington Rotation 2068, March 20??C?April 16, 2008. During the latter half of the WHI period, the Sun presented a sunspot-free, deep solar minimum type face. But during the first half of CR 2068 three solar active regions flanked by two opposite-polarity, low-latitude coronal holes were present. These departures from the quiet Sun led to both eruptive activity and solar wind structure. Most of the eruptive activity, i.e., flares, filament eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), occurred during this first, active half of the interval. We determined the source locations of the CMEs and the type of associated region, such as active region, or quiet sun or active region prominence. To analyze the evolution of the events in the context of the global solar magnetic field and its evolution during the three rotations centered on CR 2068, we plotted the CME source locations onto synoptic maps of the photospheric magnetic field, of the magnetic and chromospheric structure, of the white light corona, and of helioseismological subsurface flows. Most of the CME sources were associated with the three dominant active regions on CR 2068, particularly AR 10989. Most of the other sources on all three CRs appear to have been associated with either isolated filaments or filaments in the north polar crown filament channel. Although calculations of the flux balance and helicity of the surface magnetic features did not clearly identify a dominance of one region over the others, helioseismological subsurface flows beneath these active regions did reveal a pronounced difference among them. These preliminary results suggest that the ??twistedness?? (i.e., vorticity and helicity) of subsurface flows and its temporal variation might be related to the CME productivity of active regions, similar to the relationship between flares and subsurface flows.     

Nonlinear elastic behavior of fiber-reinforced soil under cyclic loading

Experimental investigations and modeling of nonlinear elasticity of fiber-reinforced soil under cyclic loading at small strain are conducted in this paper. The investigations include three aspects. First, cyclic shear tests are conducted using conventional triaxial apparatus. Twenty-seven specimens with three different fiber contents are employed to conduct triaxial cyclic shear tests under different confining pressure and loading repetition. Effects of geofiber, confining pressure and loading repetition on elastic shear modulus of reinforced soil are studied and analyzed. Second, a hyperbolic function is introduced to describe the nonlinear stress–strain skeletal curve under cyclic loading. Nonlinear elastic modulus is expressed as a function of shear strain and two variables A and B that are related to the initial tangential modulus and ultimate cyclic loading stress, respectively. In the present paper, variables A and B both are further assumed to be functions of geofiber content, confining pressure and loading repetition. Finally, eight constitutive coefficients of the nonlinear elastic model are calibrated using stress–strain curves from cyclic triaxial shear tests. The calibration of parameters is conducted using the technique of the linear regression for multiple variables. Impacts and effects of geofiber, confining pressure and loading repetitions on soil nonlinear elastic behavior are discussed.     

New U–Pb isotopic data for detrital zircons from metasedimentary sequences of northwestern Taimyr

This work presents the U–Pb (LA–ICP–MS) data of detrital zircons from metasedimentary sequences of northwestern Taimyr. An analysis of the youngest populations of detrital zircons testifies to the wide distribution of Cambrian sequences in the study area, but not Precambrian sequences as was considered earlier, and the need for a substantial revision of the stratigraphic scheme of this area. The detrital zircon age distribution shows that the Timan margin of the Baltic paleocontinent was a major provenance area of the Cambrian sediments in northern and northwestern Taimyr, as well as the coeval sediments of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago.     

The Connection between Lake Ladoga and the Baltic Sea in the Late Holocene: New Paleolimnological Data

Doklady Earth Sciences - The paper presents the results of chronological and lithostratigraphic studies of five small lakes located in the northern part of the Karelian Isthmus, where the...     

Petrogenesis of Peraluminous Granites, Monashee Mountains, Southeastern Canadian Cordillera

Two-mica granites that locally contain garnet and sillimaniteoccur as dikes, sills, and sheets up to 50 m thick within thesillimanite zonc of the Monashee Mountains in the southeasternCanadian Cordillera of British Columbia. Syn-kinematic and post-kinematicgranites are recognized. U-Pb dating of zircon demonstrates that the syn-kinematic granitesare 100.4?0.3 Ma old, based on duplicate concordant single abradedzircon analyses. Other zircons have slightly older Pb/Pb dates,indicating small amounts of inherited zircons. Monazites are99?10 Ma old. Post-kinematic granites have 62.5?0.2 Ma zirconages and 634+0.1 Ma monazite ages. High initial 87 ratios (0.71492–0.74181)and evidence of Precambrian Pb inheritance indicates that bothsyn- and post-kinematic granites were derived from a crustalsource. Geobarometric estimates suggest that both generationsof granites equilibrated at 6–8 kb (22–30 km). Zirconand monazite saturation temperatures range from 660–824?Cand indicate that these minerals were liquidus phases earlyin the crystallization history of the granites. Because monazitesaturation temperatures generally exceed those of zircon, itis possible that some monazites may be inherited. Apatite saturationtemperatures in excess of 900?C suggest that both generationsof granites contain source inherited apatite. Syn- and post-kinematic granites have essentially identicalmajor and trace element chemistries. Syn-kinematic graniteshave steep light rare earth element (LREE) enriched patternswith pronounced negative Eu anomalies. The REE patterns of post-kinematicgranites range from steep LREE enriched patterns with negativeNd and Eu anomalies to flat patterns with low LREE contents,negative Nd anomalies, and both positive and negative Eu anomalies.Modelling of REE, Rb, Sr, and Ba contents demonstrates thatsyn-kinematic gramtes could have been generated by a low degreeof partial melting (with 10–25% feldspar fractionationof the melt) of Late Proterozoic Horsethief Creek Group metapelitesleaving a monazite-bearing upper amphibolite facies residue.Post-kinematic granites were produced by partial melting ofa geochemically and isotopically similar metapelitic source.The suite of post-kinematic granites can be related by a smallamount (up to 0.1%) of monazite crystal fractionation.     

Composition,Age, and Origin of Cretaceous Granitic Magmatism on the Eastern Chukchi Peninsula

New geochronological and isotopic geochemical data are given, which make it possible to recognize two types of granitic rocks on the eastern Chukchi Peninsula. Early Cretaceous Tkachen and Dolina granitic plutons with zircon ages (U–Pb SIMS) of 119–122 and 131–136 Ma are related to the first type. They cut through Devonian–Lower Carboniferous basement rocks and are overlain by the Aptian–Albian Etelkuyum Formation. Basal units of the latter contain fragments of granitic rocks. Late Cretaceous Provideniya and Rumilet granitic plutons, which contain zircons with ages of 94 and 85 Ma (U–Pb SIMS), respectively, belong to the second type. They cut through volcanic–sedimentary rocks of the Etelkuyum and Leurvaam formations pertaining to the Okhotsk–Chukotka Volcanic Belt. In petrographic and geochemical features, the Early Cretaceous granitic rocks of the Tkachen Pluton are commensurable with I-type granites, while Late Cretaceous granite of the Rumilet Pluton is comparable to A₂-type granite. The Sr–Nd isotopic data provide evidence that from the Early Cretaceous Tkachen and Dolina plutons to the Late Cretaceous Provideniya and Rumilet plutons, the degree of crustal assimilation of suprasubduction mantle-derived melts increases up to partial melting of heterogeneous continental crust enriched in rubidium. An unconformity and various degrees of secondary alteration of volcanic–sedimentary rocks have been established in the Okhotsk–Chukotka Volcanic Belt, and this was apparently caused by transition of the tectonic setting from suprasubduction to a transform margin with local extension.     

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.     

A geoelectrical survey of an area under construction near the Moscow–St. Petersburg highway

The results of a geoelectrical survey of the Mshentsy area located in Tver oblast near the Moscow–St. Petersburg express road, which is under construction, are presented. In order to obtain information about the geological composition of the area and the processes that occur in it (karst and water flow zones ), we performed our measurements using the electrical resistivity imaging, self potential survey, water electrical conductivity and temperature measurements. Using petrophysical resistivity modeling of the rocks, taking the geoelectric data into account, we completed a lithology differentiation of the section and calculated the hydraulic conductivity values of the rocks. By interpreting this data, we found a wide distribution of fractured carbonates that compose the lower part of the section of the studied territory. The conclusion was drawn that the Mshentsy area belongs to the intense local karst zone.