Coordinated Study on Solar Wind Turbulence During the Venus-Express, ACE and Ulysses Alignment of August 2007

At the end of August 2007, Venus, Earth and Ulysses were aligned within a few degrees. This unusual event gives the opportunity to attempt a coordinated study on the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence and coronal transients like CMEs between 0.7 and 1.4 AU. Interplanetary magnetic field data and moments of proton velocity distribution function such as density, speed and temperature are required for this programme and will be provided by ACE at Earth, Venus Express at Venus and Ulysses at 1.4 AU. This project has been recently proposed as a Coordinated Investigation Programme (CIP35) for the International Heliophysical Year.     

Experimental study of the fine structure of the wind field near a rough surface

The air-flow velocity field near the water surface is studied in the zone of wind-wave intensification. Caused by a periodic separation of eddies, a nonzero time-averaged value of the wind velocity in the near-water streamline is detected at the leading slope of the wave. The distribution of pressure along the wave with allowance for the vertical velocity shear and disturbances produced by eddies and a periodic deceleration of the viscous layer was calculated with the aid of the Cauchy-Lagrange integral. This procedure made it possible to calculate the growth rate of the wave amplitude, whose value was found to be close to its experimental value at the initial stage of acceleration.     

Search for main-line OH emission toward high-latitude IRAS sources in the southern hemisphere

We present the results of a search for the emission in the main OH lines toward high-latitude IRAS sources using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) in Narrabri. A sample of 239 sources from the IRAS catalog selected with the color criterion for ultracompact HII regions and with no restriction on flux was studied. No maser or thermal emission or absorption was detected in these sources. The reason for this could be the low sensitivity of the ATCA to faint high-latitude objects. However, we have mapped the regions of eight known masers in star-forming regions in the plane of the Galaxy. The results are given in the form of spectra and maps.     

The Ruiga intrusion: A typical example of a shallow-facies paleoproterozoic peridotite-gabbro-komatiite-basaltic association of the Vetreny Belt,Southeastern Fennoscandia

The Ruiga differentiated mafic-ultramafic intrusion in the northwestern part of the Vetreny Belt paleorift was described for the first time based on geological, petrological, geochronological, and geochemical data. The massif (20 km² in exposed area) is a typical example of shallow-facies peridotite-gabbro-komatiite-basalt associations and consists of three zones up to 810 m in total thickness (from bottom to top): melanogab-bronorite, peridotite, and gabbro. In spite of pervasive greenschist metamorphism, the rocks contain locally preserved primary minerals: olivine (Fo _75–86), bronzite, augite of variable composition, labradorite, and Cr-spinels. A mineral Sm-Nd isochron on olivine melanogabbronorite from the Ruiga Massif defines an age of 2.39 ± 0.05 Ga, while komatiitic basalts of the Vetreny Belt Formation were dated at 2.40–2.41 Ga (Puchtel et al., 1997). The rocks of the Ruiga intrusion and lava flows of Mt. Golets have similar major, rare-earth, and trace element composition, which suggests their derivation from a single deep-seated source. Their parent magma was presumably a high-Mg komatiitic basalt. In transitional crustal chambers, its composition was modified by olivine-controlled fractionation and crustal contamination, with the most contaminated first portions of the ejected melt. In terms of geology and geochemistry, the considered magmatic rocks of the Vetreny Belt are comparable with the Raglan Ni-PGE komatiite gabbro-peridotite complex in Canada (Naldrett, 2003).     

Nickel, Copper, Zinc and Cadmium Cycling with Manganese in Lake Vanda (Wright Valley, Antarctica)

Lake Vanda is a closed-basin, permanently ice-covered lake located in the Wright Valley of Antarctica. The lakes more important geochemical features include the fact that it is fed by a single glacial melt water stream for only 6–8weeks out of the year; that it has remained stratified for more than a millennium; and that, like other lakes in the region, it is remote from anthropogenic influence. These, together with the fact that it is among the least biologically productive lakes in the world, make it an ideal system for examining the transport, cycling and fate of trace metals in the aquatic environment. Like others before us, we view this lake as a natural geochemical laboratory, a flask in the desert. This paper presents the first set of closely spaced, vertical, profiles for dissolved and particulate Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd in the water column. Despite the absence of an outflow, metals in the fresh upper waters of the lake have extremely low concentrations, in the pico-molar to nano-molar range, and are partitioned largely into dissolved rather than particulate phases. Efficient metal scavenging by particles from these oxygen-rich waters is indicated. Significant increases in metal concentrations begin to appear at depth, between 57 and 60m, and these increases coincide with the onset of manganese oxide dissolution in oxic, but lower pH waters. Vertical profiles suggest that the entire suite of trace metals (Ni, Cu, Zn, and Cd) is being released from manganese oxide carrier phases. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that Mn3O4 (i.e., the mineral hausmannite) may be important in metal sequestration and recycling in the deeper waters of Lake Vanda. Manganese-reducing organisms reported by Bratina etal. (1998) are active in the zone of metal release and these could also contribute to the observed cycling.     

Investigation of magnetic fields in solar active regions

The magnetic-field structure in solar active regions outside spots is studied. The line-of-sight fields were measured using the new Crimean digital magnetograph in three spectral lines—Fe I 5253 Å, Fe II 5234 Å, and Ti I 5193 Å. Observations in the Fe II 5234 Å line indicate systematically higher field strengths than those in the Fe I 5253 Å line. The magnetic fluxes in 2″ elements are ～4.3×10¹⁸ Mx, ～4.6×10¹⁸ Mx, and ～6.2×10¹⁸ Mx according to the Fe I 5253 Å, Ti I 5193 Å, and FeII 5234 Å observations, respectively. Elements 2″–8″ in size make the largest contribution to the magnetic fluxes of active regions outside spots.     

Hypotheses of the brown loam formation in the Primorye region (Russian Far East): Hindsight and the new view

This paper addresses the hypotheses of the formation of the brown loams widely spread in the zone with hummocky relief within the intermontane Razdol’noe-Khanka Depression. These hypotheses were proposed in the 1970s–1980s. The accumulation of information on the loess formation in southern East Siberia, as well as obtaining new analytical data on the microtextural, mineralogy, and major and trace-element composition of the brown loams, and the comparative analysis of these deposits provided for the formulation of a more substantiated view concerning the place of the brown loams in the group of loess-type rocks.     

Equilibriums between Cu,Fe, and Zn sulfides and oxides in chloride solution: A thermodynamic study

The results of thermodynamic modeling of equilibriums between Cu, Fe, and Zn sulfides and oxides pertaining to the Cu-Fe-Zn-S-O₂ system in water and aqueous chloride solution are presented. The system comprises solid phases of constant composition: pyrite, pyrrhotite, hematite, magnetite, wüstite, γ-iron, chalcocite, covellite, cuprite, native copper, chalcopyrite, and bornite, as well as more than 100 ions, complexes, and molecules in an aqueous solution. The GIBBS program with the UNITHERM thermodynamic dataset used in calculations allows numerical analysis of phase assemblages in a dry system and in equilibrium with an aqueous solution. How the temperature, pressure, and the composition of the solution in the system opened for oxygen and sulfur affects the composition of phase assemblages was considered in temperature and pressure ranges of 50–350 C and 100–1000 bar, respectively. Decrease in temperature leads to a shift in stability fields of the studied phases toward the region of elevated oxygen and sulfur partial pressures. Variation of temperature is an important factor affecting precipitation of ore minerals, primarily, Cu- and Zn-bearing. The calculation results are presented in tables and diagrams. Each point in the $ (\log m_{S_{tot} } - \log f_{O_2 } ) $ (\log m_{S_{tot} } - \log f_{O_2 } ) diagram is characterized by a single possible assemblage of phases equilibrated with a solution of the given composition within the considered temperature and pressure range. Since the composition of the mineral assemblage is controlled by physicochemical conditions at the moment of mineral formation, comparison of the calculation results with mineral assemblages at ore deposits makes it possible to estimate the parameters of ore deposition at the early stage of investigation, including oxygen and sulfur activity and, occasionally, the composition and salinity of the solution. These parameters control the formation of such assemblages.     

The Kyiv electronic database of television observations of star occultations by the moon

An electronic version of the catalog of observations of star occultations by the Moon is described. Methods for improving the observation accuracy are analyzed. Some features of the photometric curves of star occultations are described. We demonstrate that the diffraction effects arising in star occultations by the Moon can be detected with the use of television technique.