Martian canyons and African rifts: Structural comparisons and implications

The resistant parts of the canyon walls of the Martian rift complex Valles Marineris have been used to infer an earlier, less eroded reconstruction of the major troughs. The individual canyons were then compared with individual rifts of East Africa. When measured in units of planetary radius, Martian canyons show a distribution of lengths nearly identical to those in Africa, both for individual rifts and for compound rift systems. A common mechanism which scales with planetary radius is suggested. Martian canyons are significantly wider than African rifts. This is consistent with the long-standing idea that rift width is related to crustal thickness: most evidence favors a crust on Mars at least 50% thicker than that of Africa. The overall pattern of the rift systems of Africa and Mars are quite different in that the African systems are composed of numerous small faults with highly variable trend. On Mars the trends are less variable; individual scarps are straighter for longer than on Earth. This is probably due to the difference in tectonic histories of the two planets: the complex history of the Earth and the resulting complicated basement structures influence the development of new rifts. The basement and lithosphere of Mars are inferred to be simple, reflecting a relatively inactive tectonic history prior to the formation of the canyonlands.     

Swimming speeds of oyster larvaeCrassostrea virginica in different salinities and temperatures

Swimming speeds of oyster larvaeCrassostrea virginica were determined in constant and increasing salinities to learn more about the oyster larval “salinity response”. “Normal” non-directed swimming speeds ranged from less than 1 cm/min for early veligers to 5 cm/min for “eyed” veligers with temperature an important variable. When subjected to hourly salinity increases of 0.5‰, most larvae swam upward or downward at approximately 3 times the above speeds. Larvae with values closed in response to traces of formalin sank at speeds of 5 to 50 cm/min depending on larval stage. The results may explain the differential vertical position of larval stages in estuaries and suggest the presence of a taxic component to the salinity response.     

Die Gastiain-Struktur (Nordspanien)

Zusammenfassung Die Exploration nach Kohlenwasserstoffen in Nordspanien wird am Beispiel der Antiklinalstruktur Gastiain geschildert. Aufgrund geologischer Feldaufnahmen und seismischer Untersuchungen wurden 4 Tiefbohrungen niedergebracht, die jedoch keine wirtschaftlich verwertbaren Mengen von Kohlenwasserstoffen antrafen.Die Strukturgeschichte des Raumes Gastiain und die Gründe für das negative Ergebnis der Exploration werden diskutiert.

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The anticlinal structure of Gastiain is shown as an example of the exploration for hydrocarbons in Northern Spain. After geological surveys and seismic measurements, four wells were drilled, however with negative or at least not economic results.The structural history of the Gastiain region and the reasons for the negative result of the exploration are discussed.

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Résumé L'exploration d'hydrocarbure dans le Nord de l'Espagne est décrite par l'exemple de l'anticline de Gastiain. A l'aide de recherches géologiques et sismiques, quatre forages ont été forés, cependant sans trouver des quantités économiquement utilisables d'hydrocarbure.L'histoire de la structure de la région Gastiain et les raisons pour le résultat négatif de l'exploration sont discutées.

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Gastiain . 4 , . — .

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Herrn Professor Dr.Roland Brinkmann zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Calculated geochronology and stress field orientations along the Hawaiian chain

A new method has been discovered for calculating ages of the main shield building stages of volcanoes along the Hawaiian chain from Kilauea to the Hawaiian-Emperor bend. The method is based on a graphical technique for hypothetical subtraction of distance intervals that theoretically represent regions of simultaneous volcanism along adjacent or nearly en-echelon loci of volcanism. Distances along the chain, measured from Kilauea, when progressively foreshortened by the distances of hypothetical “collapse” and plotted versus existing age data are found to give linear age-distance relationships. A calibration graph is presented that agrees closely with the measured ages in 17 of the 20 existing dated volcanoes. The criterion for simultaneous activity on different loci is based on the concept of equal azimuths of synchronous volcanic propagation within coeval segments of the chain. This is the predicted relationship when magmatic fluids inject the lithosphere along directions normal to a nearly horizontal least principal stress. It appears that the Pacific plate has been subjected to oscillatory, but principally clockwise, rotations of horizontal stress components during the last 40 m.y.     

Surface aerosol measurements at Barrow during AGASP-II

Measurements at Barrow during the second Arctic Gas and Aerosol Sampling Program (AGASP-II), conducted in April 1986, showed no rapid long-range transport from lower-latitude source regions to Barrow, and only limited vertical transport from above the boundary layer to the surface. New aerosol size distribution measurements in the 0.005–0.1 m diameter size range using a Nuclepore-filter diffusion battery apparatus showed a median diameter of about 0.01 m during times of high condensation nucleus (CN) concentrations. Aerosol black carbon concentrations exceeding 400 ng m^–3 were detected at the surface and were more strongly correlated with CN concentrations than with aerosol scattering extinction (_sp), suggesting that aerosol carbon was generally associated with small particles rather than large particles. Measurements at Barrow during AGASP-I, conducted in March–April 1983, showed a series of aerosol events detected at the ground that were caused by rapid long-range transport paths to the vicinity of Barrow from Eurasia. These events were strongly correlated with aerosol loading in the vertical column (optical depth).     

1990 Watershed Management Symposium Durango, Colorado, USA

Reports

1990 Watershed Management Symposium Durango, Colorado, USA