A New Octahedrite from South Africa

Abstract Examination of an iron meteorite found in South Africa discloses it to be a coarse octahedrite containing 6.90 weight-percent nickel. The meteorite body contains several inclusions of troilite, or troilite plus graphite, and at least one of pure graphite veined with kamacite. Kamacite, cohenite, and phosphides are the other major constituents of the structure.     

中国西部铂矿床类型与找矿方向探讨

中国铂矿资源严重不足,主要分布在中国西部,根据原生矿床特征可划分为4类：①硫化物型;②铬铁矿型;③辉石岩型;④层控型。寻找铂矿新类型和富铂(岩石)资源,应成为解决中国铂矿资源紧缺的重要任务。铂矿找矿方向：地台与地槽接合部位,特别是围绕着基性、超基性岩内外接触带,铂的预富集岩带与层控型铂矿带,另外还有砂铂型铂矿发育区有望扩大找铂前景。     

Near‐infrared spectroscopy of a hydroecological indicator: new tool for determining sustainable yield for Floridan aquifer system

Pond‐cypress (Taxodium ascendens Brong.) is a dominant canopy species in depressional wetlands of the south‐eastern Coastal Plain. Unsustainable withdrawals from the karst Floridan aquifer system have caused premature decline and death of pond‐cypress trees, presumably owing to altered hydroperiods (which alter the flow of water and nutrients in trees). There has been no scientifically based means to determine sustainable yield from this regional aquifer system or to detect early stages of physical/ecological damage associated with groundwater mining and aquifer storage and recovery (ASR, which also can alter natural hydroperiods). In this study, the relationship between visual symptoms (indicators) of stress or premature decline, and spectral reflectance was evaluated using dried, milled branch tips collected from natural stands of mature pond‐cypress. Depressional systems evaluated represented four of the six aquifer system subregions where subsurface perturbations from groundwater mining: (i) were presumed not to be occurring (reference wetlands); (ii) may be occurring but are not documented; and (iii) have been confirmed. Sampled trees were assigned to one of three stress classes (1, no/minimal; 2, moderate; 3, severe) based on the visual indicators. Partial least squares–linear discriminant analysis of second derivative spectral transformations in the visible/shortwave near‐infrared (NIR) region (400–1100 nm) and the NIR region (1100–2500 nm) was used to evaluate the samples in assigned classes. Class 1 samples were discriminated from combined class 2 and 3 samples in the NIR region with 100% and 97% accuracy for consecutive winter sample periods (before bud‐break). The percentage of correctly classified samples in this spectral region was lower (85%) for summer samples (full leaf‐out). Second‐derivative models for the NIR region developed from the winter data sets predicted assigned classes for alternate winter's samples with an accuracy of 97% and 100%. High correlation between spectral reflectance of dried, milled branch tips collected from mature pond‐cypress in winter and visual indicators of premature decline suggests in situ pond‐cypress are hydroecological indicators of anthropogenic subsurface hydroperiod perturbations. This approach provides objective means for early detection of unsustainable aquifer yield and adverse impacts from ASR activities in the south‐eastern Coastal Plain. Used in conjunction with hydrological monitoring and modelling, the hydroecological indicators should provide the means with which sustainable yield in the south‐eastern Coastal Plain can be achieved and maintained. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Swinburne intermediate-latitude pulsar survey

We have conducted a survey of intermediate Galactic latitudes using the 13-beam 21-cm multibeam receiver of the Parkes 64-m radio telescope. The survey covered the region enclosed by 5°<| b |<15° and −100°< l <50° with 4702 processed pointings of 265 s each, for a total of 14.5 d of integration time. 13 2×96‐channel filterbanks provided 288 MHz of bandwidth at a centre frequency of 1374 MHz, one-bit sampled every 125 μs and incurring ∼ DM/13.4 cm⁻³ pc samples of dispersion smearing. The system was sensitive to slow and most millisecond pulsars in the region with flux densities greater than approximately 0.3–1.1 mJy . Offline analysis on the 64-node Swinburne workstation cluster resulted in the detection of 170 pulsars of which 69 were new discoveries. Eight of the new pulsars, by virtue of their small spin periods and period derivatives, may be recycled and have been reported elsewhere. The slow pulsars discovered are typical of those already known in the volume searched, being of intermediate to old age. Several pulsars experience pulse nulling and two display very regular drifting subpulses. We discuss the new discoveries and provide timing parameters for the 48 slow pulsars for which we have a phase-connected solution.     

Atmospheric Stability Effects on Wind Fields and Scalar Mixing Within and Just Above a Subalpine Forest in Sloping Terrain

Air temperature T _a , specific humidity q, CO₂ mole fraction χ _c , and three-dimensional winds were measured in mountainous terrain from five tall towers within a 1 km region encompassing a wide range of canopy densities. The measurements were sorted by a bulk Richardson number Ri _b . For stable conditions, we found vertical scalar differences developed over a “transition” region between 0.05 < Ri _b < 0.5. For strongly stable conditions (Ri _b > 1), the vertical scalar differences reached a maximum and remained fairly constant with increasing stability. The relationships q and χ _c have with Ri _b are explained by considering their sources and sinks. For winds, the strong momentum absorption in the upper canopy allows the canopy sublayer to be influenced by pressure gradient forces and terrain effects that lead to complex subcanopy flow patterns. At the dense-canopy sites, soil respiration coupled with wind-sheltering resulted in CO₂ near the ground being 5–7 μmol mol⁻¹ larger than aloft, even with strong above-canopy winds (near-neutral conditions). We found Ri _b -binning to be a useful tool for evaluating vertical scalar mixing; however, additional information (e.g., pressure gradients, detailed vegetation/topography, etc.) is needed to fully explain the subcanopy wind patterns. Implications of our results for CO₂ advection over heterogenous, complex terrain are discussed.     

Sedentary urchins influence benthic community composition below the macroalgal zone

Sea urchins are important ecosystem engineers in subtidal ecosystems worldwide, providing biogenic structure and altering nutrient dynamics through intensive grazing and drift algal capture. The current work evaluates red urchin (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) density on fixed transects through time, individual displacement, and urchin‐associated benthic community composition using a field‐based approach at multiple depths (in and outside of the macroalgal zone) and replicated across sites in the San Juan Archipelago, Washington. Urchins exhibited no large‐scale, temporal or directional changes in density among depths. Furthermore, 87% of individual urchins observed in repeated small‐scale surveys over 3 weeks exhibited no change in position. Individual displacement was negatively correlated to drift algal capture. Evidence of sedentary behavior from the displacement surveys was supported by the sessile and mobile community composition in areas directly under versus adjacent to (control) urchins. The benthos under urchins had a higher percentage of bare space, crustose coralline algae, and increased density of snails, crabs and shrimp relative to associated control plots. Abundance of mobile organisms associating with urchins increased relative to control plots at the deepest survey depth (30 m), indicating a greater strength of interaction with distance from macroalgal production. This work presents evidence of food availability‐related behavior in red urchins and indicates that even when sedentary, urchins have a strong influence on ecosystem structure through increasing availability of shelter and macroalgal detritus to the benthos.     

A preliminary investigation of boundary layer effects on daytime atmospheric CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> concentrations at a mountaintop location in the Rocky Mountains

Observations of CO₂ concentration at a mountaintop in the Colorado Rockies in summer show a large diurnal variability with minimum CO₂ concentrations found between 10:00 and 18:00 MST. Simulations are performed with a mesoscale model to examine the effects of atmospheric structure and large-scale flows on the diurnal variability. In the simulations initialized without large-scale winds, the CO₂ minimum occurs earlier compared to the observations. Upslope flows play an important role in the presence of this early (pre-noon) minimum while the timing and magnitude of the minimum depend only weakly on the temperature structure. An increase in large-scale flow has a noticeable impact on the diurnal variability with a more gradual decrease in daytime CO₂ concentration, similar to summer-averaged observations. From the idealized simulations and a case study, it is concluded that multi-scale flows and their interactions have a large influence on the observed diurnal variability.