Karst database development in Minnesota: design and data assembly

The Karst Feature Database (KFD) of Minnesota is a relational GIS-based Database Management System (DBMS). Previous karst feature datasets used inconsistent attributes to describe karst features in different areas of Minnesota. Existing metadata were modified and standardized to represent a comprehensive metadata for all the karst features in Minnesota. Microsoft Access 2000 and ArcView 3.2 were used to develop this working database. Existing county and sub-county karst feature datasets have been assembled into the KFD, which is capable of visualizing and analyzing the entire data set. By November 17 2002, 11,682 karst features were stored in the KFD of Minnesota. Data tables are stored in a Microsoft Access 2000 DBMS and linked to corresponding ArcView applications. The current KFD of Minnesota has been moved from a Windows NT server to a Windows 2000 Citrix server accessible to researchers and planners through networked interfaces.     

A deep-sea in-situ suspended sediment sampling system: Comment

A recent article by Beer et al. (1974) in Marine Geology describes an in-situ suspended sediment sampling system which utilizes a pump/motor unit, filter holders, and a lead-acid battery power source. Two aspects of their article may be misleading: the use of certain filter material as X-ray diffraction mounts, and the technique by which an oil-filled battery case may be operated.     

The holstein interglaciation: Time-stratigraphic position and correlation to stable-isotope stratigraphy of deep-sea sediments

Marine molluscan shells from para-type and other loclities of the Holsteinian interglaciation were dated by Th/U and the electron spin resonance (ESR) method to more than 350,000 and 370,000 yr B.P., beyond the limit of Th/U dating. The high age estimate is corroborated by a K/Ar age of 420,000 yr B.P. determined from volcanic ash near the base of the Ariendorf paleosol in the Middle Rhine valley believed to be a pedostratigraphic equivalent of the Holsteinian. Shells from the Herzeele marine unit III, an equivalent of the Wacken (Dömnitz) warm stage in northern France and subsequent to the Holsteinian, revealed ages between 300,000 and 350,000 yr B.P. A correlation of these two warm stages with marine oxygen-isotope stages 11 and 9 on the SPECMAP and CARTUNE time scales is suggested. From the benthic oxygen-isotope record one may infer that no exceptionally high global sea-level rise corresponds to the large transgressions of the Holstein Sea in northern Germany. Therefore, a significant proportion of the transgression was probably the result of an unusually large local glacial-isostatic depression caused by the extreme buildup of ice during the preceding Elster glaciation (stage 12). According to the deep-sea record, it lasted approximately 50% longer than the subsequent cold stage 10. The outstanding soil formation with Braunlehm and the well-developed thermal optimum of the Holsteinian are tentatively related to a phase of minimum sea-ice cover in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, as deduced from long benthic carbon-isotope records from the central Atlantic.     

Beobachtungsergebnisse der Berliner Arbeitsgemeinschaft für veränderliche Sterne e. V. (BAV)

In this 8th compilation, the following results of observations are given: 207 observed minima of 56 eclipsing binaries, 100 maxima of 21 RR Lyrae- and δ Cephei-stars, 82 results of 32 Mira stars and long period variables, and 47 results of 9 RV Tauri stars, semiregular, and irregular variables, from the years 1966 up to 1968.     

Copper(II) humate mobility in kaolinite soil

An investigation of the influence of humate on the mobility of copper(II) ions in a kaolinite soil using leaching tests and electrokinetic experiments is reported. The data are interpreted in terms of humate–copper–clay interactions and humate electrical charge. Humate is mostly immobile below pH8 but is more mobile in alkaline conditions (sorption to kaolinite reduces its mobility in neutral conditions). Copper humate complexes are mobile in both acidic and alkaline conditions, but not in neutral conditions where they are sorbed. The dissolved copper humate complexes that form in acidic conditions are positively charged. The net effect of humate is to increase cupric ion mobility in kaolinite soil, especially in alkaline conditions.     

Sodian stellerite from Capo Pula,Sardegna

The sodian stellerite (a zeolite) occurs as lustrous white or slightly pink, easily cleavable lamellae, filling cavities and fractures in an acid lava (andesite or rhyolite) in the cliff below S. Efisio Tower, near Capo Pula, Cagliari, Sardegna, Italy. The principal forms present are {010}, {011}, {111}. Single crystal photographs show an orthorhombic symmetry and Ammm (or Ammm) space group. An indexed X-ray diffraction powder pattern is provided. Unit cell dimensions, chemical formula, density, optical properties and thermal behaviour are given.     

金塔绿洲风场与温湿场特征的数值模拟

使用美国NCAR新版MM5V3.6非静力平衡模式,采用三重嵌套的降尺度方法,模拟研究了甘肃河西走廊金塔绿洲风场与温湿场特征。结果表明:由于绿洲的存在,绿洲沙漠系统产生的次级环流对局地环流有一定影响;平流作用将沙漠中的干热空气送向绿洲,绿洲近地层会出现逆温,感热向地表输送;沙漠上由于临近绿洲的水汽平流作用,上层大气湿度比低层更大,这就是逆湿现象。     

Groundwater Resources In Hard Rock; Experiences from The Hvaler Study,Southeastern Norway

Investigations in a newly constructed subsea road tunnel in the Iddefjord granite at Hvaler and test-pumping of boreholes on land indicate that a topographic or geophysical anomaly is no guarantee of a substantially transmissive fracture zone. Many prominent fracture zones appear to have depressed transmissivity due to secondary swelling-clay mineral infillings. No current geophysical technique can adequately distinguish these zones from transmissive ones. Given that siting of boreholes on the basis of geology alone can be unreliable, hydrogeologists should concentrate on quantifying the chances of a successful boring, and optimizing those chances by sensible location, favourable borehole orientation and use of artificial enhancement techniques.