African linkage of Precambrian Sri Lanka

New age and isotopic data show that the high-grade basement rocks of Sri Lanka were not linked to the Archaean granulite domain of southern India but experienced their main structural and metamorphic development during the Pan-African event some 950 to 550 Ma ago. This occurred when West Gondwana and East Gondwana collided to form one of the longest collisional structures in the Supercontinent — the Mozambique belt that extends from Mozambique to Ethiopia and Sudan. A major tectonic boundary, interpreted as a thrust zone, divides the Highland/Southwestern Complex in the central part of Sri Lanka from the Vijayan Complex in the E and SE. The former is interpreted to represent the remnant of a once extensive passive margin extending west, in a Gondwana reconstruction, via Madagasgar to Tanzania and Mozambique. The Vijayan Complex may have been part of a separate continental margin plutonic assemblage, and its collision with the Highland/ Southwestern Complex marks the final amalgamation of East and West Gondwana into a supercontinent some 550 Ma ago. The Sri Lankan granulites cannot be correlated with the distinctly older granulites of the Eastern Ghats belt of India, and this suggests that Sri Lanka was situated close to the SE coast of Madagascar in a Gondwana reconstruction.

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Zusammenfassung Neue Isotopen- und Altersdaten aus dem metamorphen Grundgebirge von Sri Lanka zeigen, daß dieses Gebiet nicht, wie vielfach vermutet, Teil des archaischen Granulitkomplexes von Südindien war, sondern seine strukturelle und metamorphe Entwicklung während der panafrikanischen Orogenèse zwischen ca. 950 Ma und ca. 550 Ma hatte. Diese Orogenèse ist das Resultat der Kollision zwischen West-Gondwana (Afrika und Südamerika) und Ost-Gondwana (Südindien, Australien und Antarktis) und führte zur Bildung eines der längsten Kollisionsgürtel des Superkontinentes, dem Mosambik-Gürtel, der sich von Mosambik bis nach Äthiopien und in den Sudan erstreckt. Der West- und Zentralteil Sri Lankas mit den Wanni und Highland/Southwestern Komplexen wird vom Vijayan Komplex im Osten und Südosten durch eine Überschiebungszone getrennt, die möglicherweise eine Sutur darstellt. Die Gesteine im Westen und in den Highlands werden als der Rest eines ehemals weiträumigen passiven Kontinentalrandes interpretiert, zu dem wohl auch die lithologisch ähnlichen Abfolgen der hochmetamorphen Gebiete in Mosambik, Tansania und Madagaskar gehörten. Der Vijayan Komplex war wohl Teil der separaten plutonischen Suite eines aktiven Kontinentalrandes, und seine Kollision mit dem Highland/ Southwestern Komplex markiert das endgültige Verschweißen von West- und Ost-Gondwana zu einem Superkontinent vor ca. 550 Ma. Die Granulite Sri Lankas können nicht mit den deutlich älteren Granuliten des Gürtels der Eastern Ghats in Südost Indien korreliert werden sondern ähneln eher den hochgradigen Gesteinen in Südost Madagaskar. Damit ist die Lage Sri Lankas nahe Madagaskar in einer Gondwana Rekonstruktion wahrscheinlicher als nahe der Südostküste Indiens.

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Résumé De nouvelles données isotopiques et géochronologiques montrent que les roches métamorphiques du socle du Sri Lanka ne constituent pas, comme on l'a souvent cru, une partie du complexe granulitique archéen de l'Inde méridionale, mais qu'elles ont vécu leur propre histoire tectono-métamorphique au cours de l'orogenèse panafricaine, entre 950 et 550 Ma. Cette orogenèse est le résultat de la collision entre le Gondwana occidental (Afrique et Amérique du Sud) et le Gondwana oriental (Inde du sud, Australie et Antarctique) et constitue une des plus grandes chaînes de collision du Supercontinent: la chaîne du Mozambique, qui s'étend du Mozambique jusqu'au Soudan et en Ethiopie. Un contact tectonique majeur, interprété comme un charriage, sépare le »Highland/South-western Complex« (partie centrale du Sri Lanka) du »Vijayan Complex« (partie est et sud-est). Le premier de ces complexes est interprété comme un reste d'une ancienne marge passive de grande étendue, à laquelle appartenaient aussi les séries lithologiquement analogues du domaine très métamorphique du Mozambique, de Tanzanie et de Madagascar. Le «Vijagan Complex« a pu être une partie d'un ensemble plutonique séparé de marge active; sa collision avec le »Highland/Southwestern Complex« marque la réunion finale en un super-continent il y a quelque 550 Ma, des Gondwanas oriental et occidental. Les granulites du Sri Lanka ne peuvent pas être corrélées avec celles de la chaîne des Eastern Ghats (Inde du sud-est) qui sont nettement plus anciennes; elles se rapprochent plutôt des roches très métamorphiques du sud-est de Madagascar. On en déduit que la position du Sri Lanka, dans une reconstruction du Gondwana, devait être plus proche de Madagascar que de la côte sud de l'Inde.

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Coulomb-trapped particles in the electromagnetic fields of an oblique magnetic rotator

An oblique, rotating magnetized sphere emits electromagnetic waves which, for large magnetization, can quickly accelerate charged particles to very high energies. A central, attractive Coulomb force can trap particles in the region beyond the light cylinder by balancing the accelerating influence of the radiation on the particles. We sample some of the particle orbits possible under these dynamical conditions. A general feature of these orbits is that non-interacting particles started with random initial conditions in the domain of attraction of these orbits will arrange themselves on a curve corotating with the axis of magnetization. Such particle configurations can be a source of pulsed radiation. In the idealized case of no interparticle interactions the spectral index for the radiation emitted by one frequently occurring configuration is found to be –2/3, for emission from radio to -ray frequencies. The dynamical conditions in this simple model closely match those prevalent in outer pulsar magnetospheres, making it possible that part of the radiation from pulsars is emitted by trapped plasma in the region beyond the light cylinder.     

Cosmic-ray propagation in compressible turbulent media

The influence of compressibility of media on both the statistical acceleration and the turbulent diffusion of cosmic-ray particles is investigated. The averaging over an ensemble of random velocity fields of the medium was performed in the kinetic equation. The kinetic coefficients, which are responsible for the particle acceleration, were obtained in the cases of weak and strong scattering due inhomogeneous magnetic fields.     

On the systematic errors of the determinations of the absolute orientation of the meridian marks

The classical method of determination of the absolute azimuth (or Bessel's parameter n) can secure sufficiently precision for RA from observations of stars at high geographical latitudes during polar night only.     

Unsteady hydromagnetic flow through a porous medium between two infinite parallel porous plates with time-varying suction

Unsteady two-dimensional flow of a viscous incompressible and electrical-conducting fluid through a porous medium bounded by two infinite parallel plates under the action of a transverse magnetic field is presented when there is time-varying suction at the plates. The lower plate is at rest while the upper plate is oscillating in its own plane about a constant mean velocity. Expressions for the velocity, fluctuating parts of the velocity, amplitude, and phase of the skin-friction are obtained. The flow phenomenon has been characterized by the parametersK (permeability of the porous medium),N(magnetic parameter) (frequency parameter), andA(variable suction parameter) and the role of these parameters on the flow characteristics has been studied.     

Can Brans-Dicke universes in five dimensions be interpreted as 4-dimensional general relativity cosmologies?

The 5-dimensional Jordan-Brans-Dicke cosmologies in vacuum are found for the Bianchi type I metric, their relation with general relativity cosmologies is studied. Two solutions are possible, both produce effective pressure and energy density in the 4-dimensional G.R.-universes. One is a power-law relation, with two cases, the first one is forp _eff=_eff and the other forp _eff=_eff(– 1 < < 1) has a behaviour as the open flat universe. The second solution is an exponential only valid forp _eff=–_eff. In all cases the three-space expansion reaches infinity ast and the fifth dimension can be made to decrease approaching zero. The scalar field can increase or decrease with time.     

Excitation class of nebulae—An evolution criterion?

A principally new, quantitative system of the classification of the spectra of planetary nebulae is proposed. Spectral class of excitation class of the nebulap is determined according to the relative intensities of emission lines (N ₁+N ₂) [OIII]/4686 HeII and (N ₁+N ₂) [OIII]/H (Table I, Figure 1). The excitation classes are obtained for 142 planetary nebulae of all classes—low (p=1–3), middle (p=4–8), and high (p=9–12⁺) (Tables II, III, and IV). An empirical relationship between excitation classp and mean radius of nebulae is discovered (Figure 2). This relationship as well as excitation classp, as an independend parameter, admit an evolutionary interpretation. It is shown that after reaching the highest class of excitationp=12⁺ the nebulae decrease their class of excitation with the further increases of sizes. The diagram of this relationship has two nearly-symmetric branches — rising and descending with the apogee onp=12⁺ (Figure 2).     

Realisation of a celestial system based on VLBI geodynamics programs

The relative orientations of various VLBI celestial reference frames are evaluated on the basis of coordinate differences of common sources. It is shown that an accuracy better than 0.001 can be achieved. Possible regional deformations in the different catalogues are investigated; they are found to reach a few 0.001 in some restricted zones. The application of these studies to the realisation of a combined celestial reference frame consistent with the BIH Terrestrial System is outlined.     

Magnetic reconnection in high-temperature plasma of solar flares

Quasi-steady high-temperature current sheets are an energy source during the main or hot phase of solar flares. Such sheets are shown to be stabilized with respect to the tearing instability by a small transverse component of magnetic field existing in the sheets.