Regional variations in cleavage and fold development in North Wales

The arcuate pattern of the main Caledonian cleavage and associated fold axial plane traces in North Wales is due partly to NW-SE compression with tectonic transport to the southeast against the concealed crop of the Tan y grisiau Microgranite. Low-angle cleavage close to the microgranite is shown to be a local variant of the regional cleavage formed during the main deformation and not an earlier phase as previously supposed. Transcurrent movements along several major fault systems are also related to compression around the microgranite and the Harlech Dome block.     

Photometric and Spectroscopic Study of the Variable Star ET And

The short-periodic spectroscopic and photometric variations and the frequency ratio of 1:2 suggest the existence of a triple system for ET And, though some serious difficulties continue to exist in explaining all observational facts. Assuming a triple, the observable star is the primary of a very close, ellipsoidal binary system. Under this assumption the star cannot be a main-sequence B9 star as usually assumed. It should be a star located in the domain of the horizontal branch stars in the HR diagram possessing a thin and expanding envelope. Spektroskopische und photometrische Beobachtungen des variablen Sterns ET And wurden in den Jahren 1981/82 ausgeführt. Zusätzlich zu der bekannten periodischen Variation der Radialgeschwindigkeit von 48.308 Tagen, hervorgerufen durch einen Begleiter und der wahrscheinlich von der Rotation des Sterns herrührenden photometrischen Periode von 1.61883 Tagen, existieren weitere periodische Variationen. So variieren die Radialgeschwindigkeiten mit einer Periode von 0.1989 Tagen und die photometrischen Werte mit der Hälfte dieses Wertes, d. h. mit 0.0994 Tagen. Die Minima der Helligkeit koinzidieren mit den Extrema der Radialgeschwindigkeiten. Die Radialgeschwindigkeitskurve weicht etwas von der Harmonischen ab; die Werte steigen rascher an, als sie abfallen. Das gleiche Verhalten liegt auch für den entsprechenden Teil der Lichtkurve vor. Die kurzperiodischen spektroskopischen und photometrischen Variationen und das Frequenzverhältnis 1:2 legen die Existenz eines Dreifachsystems für ET And nahe, obwohl für die Erklärung aller Beobachtungswerte einige ernste Schwierigkeiten fortbestehen. Vorausgesetzt der Stern sei ein Dreifachsystem, dann ist der beobachtete Stern die Hauptkomponente eines sehr engen ellipsoidalen Systems und kann nicht ein Hauptsequenz-B9-Stern sein, wie allgemein angenommen wird. Vermutlich handelt es sich bei ET And um einen Vertreter der Gruppe der Horizontalsterne im HR-Diagramm, welcher noch eine dünne, expandierende Hülle besitzt.     

Tokaido — megalopolis of Japan

The Tokaido east coast road has been the main road of Japan since Mediaeval times, and the journey from Tokyo at one end to Kyoto or Osaka at the other, which used to take a fortnight, can now be completed in about three hours by bullet train, and an even faster linear-motor car is likely to be in operation in the near future.Already during the 18. cent., Edo (Tokyo) was the largest city in the world, with a population over a million, and the rapid urbanization of Japan's population since Meiji times, and particularly during the post-WW II period, has been quite unprecendented. In 1950, the median size of place was 13,000 and by 1975 it was 140,000. About 60 million lived in the Tokaido zone.The Kanto, Nobi and Osaka plains, adjacent to the good harbours of Tokyo, Ise and Osaka bays, enjoying the relatively mild climate of the Pacific coast, and being within 600 km of each other, have been the focii of urban and industrial development in Japan. The emergence of Tokaido megalopolis was boosted by capital investment in this zone, and was contingent upon the industriousness and high level of education of the people.The concept of megalopolis in Japan is popularly associated with rapid urbanization, poly-nuclear and linear form, and concentration of population, capital and information, all of which elements are typified by the Tokaido zone. The linear megalopolis pattern has been postulated as a more efficient growth form for high-dense society than the radial metropolitan pattern. It has even been suggested that megalopolis is a concept perceived by the intellect, its physical structure determined by information networks, metropolis being perceived by the eye and its physical structure being determined by transport and energy networks.Quite irrespective of the concept of megalopolis, there can be no denying that Japan's society is a high-dense society. In 1975, 57% of the population lived in Densely Inhabited Districts (DIDs) at minimum densities of 40 persons per hectare, and these DIDs covered only 2.2% of the land area of Japan. The current trend is for more and more people to live in DIDs, but for overall DID densities to decrease. During the past 25 years, there has been a huge influx of population into the Tokaido zone, and while until 1960 the greatest increases were in the three main metropolitan centres, as these became saturated, rapid urbanization spread into the neighbouring prefectures. Since the mid-sixties, the central metropolitan wards have begun to lose residents, but the daytime population has continued to increase, giving rise to increasingly complex commuting patterns. To give an example, the commuting field of Yokohama includes almost all the prefectures of Tokaido megalopolis.Like the image of megalopolis itself, life in Tokaido megalopolis has its good and bad aspects. Although per capita space in dwellings is increasing somewhat, housing is extremely expensive and people commute long distances. Incomes are high but environmental problems persist. There is a U-turn phenomenon, but metropolitan suburbs remain a popular choice of residence.Central management functions and knowledge and information oriented occupations are predominantly concentrated in Tokyo and Osaka, the two main nodes of Tokaido megalopolis. In the intermediate cities, new employment opportunities are stimulated by the expansion of second-level managerial functions. The transport and communications networks of Tokaido are becoming congested as mobility and information flow increase.Planning in the eighties will be affected by the switch from industries dependent on raw materials to knowledge intensive industries; from investment in production to investment in public facilities and pollution control. Within Tokaido megalopolis, there is room for local governments to expand efforts to improve the existing situation, and at its fringes to avert some of the less desirable consequences of rapid urbanization.     

Petrogenesis of voluminous mid-Tertiary ignimbrites of the Sierra Madre Occidental,Chihuahua, Mexico

The mid-Tertiary ignimbrites of the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico constitute the largest continuous rhyolitic province in the world. The rhyolites appear to represent part of a continental magmatic arc that was emplaced when an eastward-dipping subduction zone was located beneath western Mexico.In the Batopilas region of the northern Sierra Madre Occidental the mid-Tertiary Upper Volcanic sequence is composed predominantly of rhyolitic ignimbrites, but volumetrically minor lava flows as mafic as basaltic andesite are also present. The basaltic andesite to rhyolite series is calc-alkalic and contains 1% K₂O at 60% SiO₂. Trace element abundances of a typical ignimbrite with 73% SiO₂ are Sr 225 ppm, Rb 130 ppm, Y 32 ppm, Th 12 ppm, Zr 200 ppm, and Nb 15 ppm. The entire series plots as coherent and continuous trends on variation diagrams involving major and trace elements, and the trends are distinct from those of geographicallyassociated rocks of other suites. We interpret these and other geochemical variations to indicate that the rocks are comagmatic. Mineral chemistry, Sr isotopic data, and REE modelling support this interpretation.Least squares calculations show that the major element variations are consistent with formation of the basaltic andesite to rhyolite series by crystal fractionation of observed phenocryst phases in approximate modal proportions. In addition, calculations modelling the behavior of Sr with the incompatible trace element Th favor a fractional crystallization origin over a crustal anatexis origin for the rock series. The fractionating minerals included plagioclase (> 50%), and lesser amounts of Fe-Ti oxides, pyroxenes, and/or hornblende. The voluminous ignimbrites represent no more than 20% of the original mass of a mantle-derived mafic parental magma.     

The volatile component of quaternary ignimbrite magmas from the North Island,New Zealand

Ignimbrites from the central North Island consist mainly of glass or its devitrified product (70–95%); their phenocryst mineralogy is varied and includes plag., hyp., ti-mag., ilm., aug., hblende, biot., san., qtz, ol., with accessory apatite, zircon and pyrrhotite. The Fe-Mg minerals can be used to divide the ignimbrites into four groups with hyp.+aug. reflecting high quench temperatures and biot.+hblende +hyp.+aug., low quench temperatures. Oxygen fugacities lie above the QMF buffer curve and even in ignimbrites with low crystal contents the solid phases apparently buffered fO₂. Some ignimbrites contain the assemblage actinolite, gedrite, magnetite and hematite, reflecting post-eruption oxidation. The mineralogy also allows estimation of using pyrrhotite and thence , . The assemblage biotite-sanidine can be used to estimate and thence . Water fugacity is calculated in a variety of ways using both biotite and hornblende as well as the combining reaction . It is high and approaches P _total in most ignimbrites (~4kb) but is lower in unwelded pumice breccias. Comparison of temperature estimates using mineral geothermometers for the various phenocryst phases suggests that the ignimbrite magmas showed temperature differences of 60–100 °C and pressure differences of several kilobars. Individual magma chambers therefore, would have extended over several kilometres vertically. The chemical potential of water may have been constant through the magma.     

Organochlorine residues,eggshell thickness,and nest success in barn owls from the Chesapeake Bay

Eggs of barn owls (Tyto alba) were collected from 18 nests in offshore duck blinds on the Maryland side of the lower Potomac River estuary in 1972 and 1973 and analyzed for organochlorine residues. DDE was found in 100% of the clutches, PCBs in 89%, and dieldrin in 78%. Eggshell thickness was inversely correlated with concentrations of DDE, DDD, and dieldrin residues. Six of the 18 clutches had mean DDE residues above 5 ppm, and eggshell thickness in these six clutches was significantly less (P<0.001) than in the other 12 clutches. The owls produced 1.7 young per active nest in 1973. This rate is slightly below the reproductive rate needed to maintain a stable population. An estimated 15% of the population carried concentrations of organochlorine residues that may have been detrimental to their reproduction. Passerine birds, taken extensively as food by a small proportion of the population, are believed to have been the source of elevated concentrations of organochlorines in these barn owls.