Low induction number, ground conductivity meters: A correction procedure in the absence of magnetic effects

Ground conductivity meters, comprising a variety of coil–coil configurations, are intended to operate within the limits provided by a low induction number (LIN), electromagnetic condition. They are now routinely used across a wide range of application areas and the measured apparent conductivity data may be spatially assembled and examined/correlated alongside information obtained from many other earth science, environmental, soil and land use assessments. The theoretical behaviour of the common systems is examined in relation to both the prevailing level of subsurface conductivity and the instrument elevation. It is demonstrated that, given the inherent high level of accuracy of modern instruments, the prevailing LIN condition may require operation in environments restricted to very low (< 12 mS/m) conductivities. Beyond this limit, non-linear departures from the apparent conductivity that would be associated with a LIN condition occur and are a function of the coil configuration, the instrument height and the prevailing conductivity. Using both theory and experimental data, it is demonstrated that this has the potential to provide biased and spatially distorted measurements. A simple correction procedure that can be applied to the measured data obtained from any of the LIN instruments is developed. The correction procedure would, in the limit of a uniform subsurface, return the same (correct) conductivity, irrespective of the ground conductivity meter used, the prevailing conductivity or the measurement height.     

Toward micro-scale spatial modeling of gentrification

 A simple preliminary model of gentrification is presented. The model is based on an irregular cellular automaton architecture drawing on the concept of proximal space, which is well suited to the spatial externalities present in housing markets at the local scale. The rent gap hypothesis on which the model's cell transition rules are based is discussed. The model's transition rules are described in detail. Practical difficulties in configuring and initializing the model are described and its typical behavior reported. Prospects for further development of the model are discussed. The current model structure, while inadequate, is well suited to further elaboration and the incorporation of other interesting and relevant effects. Received: 1 November 2001 / Accepted: 12 April 2002 Town centres data were made available by kind permission of the UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.     

Avoiding numerical stability problems of long duration DGPS/INS Kalman filters

A current pursuit of the geodetic community is the optimal integration of differential GPS (DGPS) and inertial navigation system (INS) data streams for precise and efficient position and gravity vector surveying. Therein a complete INS and multiple-antenna GPS receiver payload, mounted on a moving platform, is used in conjunction with a network of ground-fixed single antenna GPS receivers. This paper presents a complete, GPS-based, external updating measurement model for the applicable Kalman filter. The model utilizes four external observation types for every GPS satellite in-view: DGPS range differences, single phase differences, and single phase-rate differences; as well as the mobile, multipleantenna GPS receiver's measurement of theerrors in the INS's estimate of the phase difference between any two vehicle-borne GPS antennae. Although not widely conveyed in the geodetic world, the inertial navigation community has long known that traditional Kalman filter covariance propagation recurrences are inherently unstable when such highly accurate external updates are repeatedly applied (every 1 second) over long time durations. A hybrid square root covariance/U — D covariance factorization approach is a numerically stable alternative and is reviewed herein. The hybrid makeup of the algorithm is necessitated by the correlated nature of the fourth type of GPS external measurement listed above (each vehicle-borne GPS antenna formstwo baselines). Such measurement correlations require a functional transformation of the overall external updating model to permit the multiple updates (simultaneously available at each updating epoch) to be sequentially (and efficiently) processed. An appropriate transformation is given. Stable covariance propagation relationships are presented and the transformed Kalman gain is also furnished and its use in the determination of the externally updated error states is discussed. Specific DGPS/INS instabilities produced by the traditional recurrences are displayed. The stable alternative method requires about 25% more CPU time than the traditional Kalman recurrences. With the ever-increasing computational speeds of microprocessors, this added CPU time is of no real concern.     

Marymia: an Archean, amphibolite facies-hosted, orogenic lode-gold deposit overprinted by Palaeoproterozoic orogenesis and base metal mineralisation, Western Australia

The Marymia gold deposit, comprising two orebodies, Keillor 1 and Keillor 2, is at the northern end of the Plutonic Well greenstone belt in the Marymia Inlier, in the southern Capricorn Orogen, just north of the Yilgarn craton. The Marymia Inlier is a discrete fault-bounded Archean gneiss-granitoid-greenstone domain surrounded by sedimentary basins that were formed and variably metamorphosed and deformed during several Palaeoproterozoic orogenic cycles. The greenstone sequence at Marymia is stratigraphically and geochemically similar to greenstone sequences in the Yilgarn craton, but was subjected to further deformation and metamorphism in the Palaeoproterozoic. Late Archean deformation (D1-D2) was ductile to brittle-ductile in style, whereas Palaeoproterozoic deformation was predominantly brittle. Equilibrium mineral assemblages indicate that peak amphibolite-facies metamorphism (540-575 °C, <3 kb) was overprinted by greenschist-facies metamorphism (300-360 °C). Petrographic textures indicate that prograde metamorphism was coeval with D1-D2, with peak metamorphism early to syn D2. Gold mineralisation at Marymia is hosted in metamorphosed tholeiitic basalts and banded iron formation. On a gross scale, the distribution of gold is controlled by D2 folds and shear zones. Lithological contacts with strong rheological or chemical contrasts provide local controls. Gold-related alteration comprises subtle millimetre- to centimetre-wide zones of silicification with variable amounts of quartz, hornblende, biotite, K-feldspar, plagioclase, calcite/siderite, scheelite, titanite, epidote, sulfide and telluride minerals. Quartz veins are generally narrow and discontinuous with low total volume of quartz. Gold is sited in the wall rock, at vein salvedges or within stringers of wall rock within veins. There are two distinct opaque-mineral assemblages: pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite-galena and hessite-petzite-altaite-Bi-telluride-galena. Ore samples are variably enriched in Ag, Te, Pb, W, Cu, S and Fe reflecting heterogeneity of the ore mineralogy. Structural timing and temperature of formation of alteration and ore minerals support deposition of gold during late peak amphibolite-facies metamorphism from neutral to alkaline (pH=5-6), moderately oxidising (log P_O2,-21-22) and CO₂-bearing (X_CO2 Ƹ.2) fluids. The total sulfur content of the fluid is estimated at 1mDS. Lead isotope compositions support derivation of lead from within the local greenstone sequence. Gold lodes were deformed by faults and shear zones in the Palaeoproterozoic, with only limited remobilisation. Subeconomic, carbonate vein- and breccia-hosted base metal mineralisation is locally hosted within Palaeoproterozoic fault zones, which clearly cut gold lodes. Base-metal-related alteration is characterised by intense carbonatisation, chloritisation, and albitisation of the mafic host rocks. Mineral assemblages are consistent with formation at greenschist facies conditions. Lead isotope compositions support crystallisation at ca. 1.7 Ga from lead that is similar in composition to earlier gold-related galena.     

Phase Relations and Melting of Anhydrous K-bearing Eclogite from 1200 to 1600{degrees}C and 3 to 5 GPa

To investigate eclogite melting under mantle conditions, wehave performed a series of piston-cylinder experiments usinga homogeneous synthetic starting material (GA2) that is representativeof altered mid-ocean ridge basalt. Experiments were conductedat pressures of 3·0, 4·0 and 5·0 GPa andover a temperature range of 1200–1600°C. The subsolidusmineralogy of GA2 consists of garnet and clinopyroxene withminor quartz–coesite, rutile and feldspar. Solidus temperaturesare located at 1230°C at 3·0 GPa and 1300°C at5·0 GPa, giving a steep solidus slope of 30–40°C/GPa.Melting intervals are in excess of 200°C and increase withpressure up to 5·0 GPa. At 3·0 GPa feldspar, rutileand quartz are residual phases up to 40°C above the solidus,whereas at higher pressures feldspar and rutile are rapidlymelted out above the solidus. Garnet and clinopyroxene are theonly residual phases once melt fractions exceed 20% and garnetis the sole liquidus phase over the investigated pressure range.With increasing melt fraction garnet and clinopyroxene becomeprogressively more Mg-rich, whereas coexisting melts vary fromK-rich dacites at low degrees of melting to basaltic andesitesat high melt fractions. Increasing pressure tends to increasethe jadeite and Ca-eskolaite components in clinopyroxene andenhance the modal proportion of garnet at low melt fractions,which effects a marked reduction in the Al₂O₃ and Na₂O contentof the melt with pressure. In contrast, the TiO₂ and K₂O contentsof the low-degree melts increase with increasing pressure; thusNa₂O and K₂O behave in a contrasted manner as a function ofpressure. Altered oceanic basalt is an important component ofcrust returned to the mantle via plate subduction, so GA2 maybe representative of one of many different mafic lithologiespresent in the upper mantle. During upwelling of heterogeneousmantle domains, these mafic rock-types may undergo extensivemelting at great depths, because of their low solidus temperaturescompared with mantle peridotite. Melt batches may be highlyvariable in composition depending on the composition and degreeof melting of the source, the depth of melting, and the degreeof magma mixing. Some of the eclogite-derived melts may alsoreact with and refertilize surrounding peridotite, which itselfmay partially melt with further upwelling. Such complex magma-genesisconditions may partly explain the wide spectrum of primitivemagma compositions found within oceanic basalt suites. KEY WORDS: eclogite; experimental petrology; mafic magmatism; mantle melting; oceanic basalts     

Geological maps from the British Antarctic Survey

In a bold move the British Antarctic Survey has published the naturally fragmentary results of their ongoing geological mapping and research programme in the Antarctic Peninsula and offshore islands, plus South Georgia. The later is classified as a United Kingdom overseas territory, along with the volcanically active South Sandwich Islands just north of 60 degrees south. Beyond this latitude to the South Pole all territorial claims have been frozen by the Antarctic treaty, which built upon the International Geophysical Year of 1957 and came into force in 1961. Since then this monumental achievement, developed during the height of the cold war, has succeeded in keeping Antarctica demilitarized, including banning the disposal of nuclear waste, and untainted by mineral exploration. In 1998 this treaty was renewed for a further fifty years and extended to cover the impact of tourism. Although geological research had been conducted since the pioneering days of Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen, the original 1908 territorial claim was backed up by a continuing presence since 1943, and the Falklands Islands Dependencies Survey was renamed the British Antarctic Survey in 1962 to chime with the spirit of purely scientific research entailed by this treaty which has now expanded to a membership of nearly fifty nations.     

Towards an operational use of space imagery for oil pollution monitoring in the Mediterranean basin: a demonstration in the Adriatic Sea

Studies of operational pollution carried out by European commission - Joint Research Centre in the Mediterranean Sea for the years 1999-2004 are briefly introduced. The specific analysis of the Adriatic Sea for the same period demonstrates that this area has been characterized by a relevant number of illegal discharges from ships. After setting the historical background of the project AESOP (aerial and satellite surveillance of operational pollution in the Adriatic Sea), the content, partners and aim of the project are presented. Finally, the results of the first phase of the AESOP project are presented. The results seem very encouraging. For the first time in the Adriatic, real time detection of oil spills in satellite images and an immediate verification by the Coast Guard has been undertaken. An exploratory activity has also been carried out in collaboration with the University of Ljubljana to use automatic information system (AIS) to identify the ships detected in the satellite images.     

Observing total solar eclipses from near the edge of the predicted path

Suitable observations from various locations in the predicted path of a total solar eclipse can provide information about the relative positions and shapes of the Sun and Moon to about ±0.02. The total solar eclipse of 1972, July 10 was observed from locations near the edges of its predicted path. The durations of the limb phenomena were greatly enhanced. Preliminary analysis of the observations shows that the eclipse shadow passed 3 km northeast of its predicted path.Communication presented at the conference on Lunar Dynamics and Observational Coordinate Systems held January 15–17, 1973 at the Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Tex., U.S.A.     

Evolution of basin architecture in an incipient continental rift: the Cenozoic Most Basin, Eger Graben (Central Europe)

The Oligo-Miocene Most Basin is the largest preserved sedimentary basin within the Eger Graben, the easternmost part of the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS). The basin is interpreted as a part of an incipient rift system that underwent two distinct phases of extension. The first phase, characterised by NNE–SSW- to N–S-oriented horizontal extension between the end of Eocene and early Miocene, was oblique to the rift axis and caused evolution of a fault system characterised by en-échelon-arranged E–W (ENE–WSW) faults. These faults defined a number of small, shallow initial depocentres of very small subsidence rates that gradually merged during the growth and linkage of the normal fault segments. The youngest part of the basin fill indicates accelerated subsidence caused probably by the concentration of displacement at several major bounding faults. Major post-depositional faulting and forced folding were related to a change in the extension vector to an orthogonal position with respect to the rift axis and overprinting of the E–W faults by an NE–SW normal fault system. The origin of the palaeostress field of the earlier, oblique, extensional phase remains controversial and can be attributed either to the effects of the Alpine lithospheric root or (perhaps more likely because of the dominant volcanism at the onset of Eger Graben formation) to doming due to thermal perturbation of the lithosphere. The later, orthogonal, extensional phase is explained by stretching along the crest of a growing regional-scale anticlinal feature, which supports the recent hypothesis of lithospheric folding in the Alpine–Carpathian foreland.