Low-degree partial melting trends recorded in upper mantle minerals

The study of glass inclusions inside mantle minerals provides direct information about the chemistry of naturally occurring mantle-derived melts and the fine-scale complexity of the melting process responsible for their genesis. Minerals in a spinel lherzolite nodule from Grande Comore island contain glass inclusions which, after homogenization by heating, exhibit a continuous suite of chemical compositions clearly distinct from that of the host basanitic lava. The compositions range from silicic, with nepheline–olivine normative, 64 wt% SiO₂ and 11 wt% alkali oxides, to almost basaltic, with quartz normative, 50 wt% SiO₂ and 1–2 wt% alkali oxides. Within a single mineral phase, olivine, the inferred primary melt composition varies from 54 to 64 wt% SiO₂ for MgO content ranging from 8 to 0.8 wt%. An experimental study of the glass and fluid inclusions indicates that trapped melts represent liquids that are in equilibrium with their host phases at moderate temperature and pressure (T≈1230°C and P≈1.0 Gpa for melts trapped in olivine). Quantitative modelling of the compositional trends defined in the suite shows that all of the glasses are part of a cogenetic set of melts formed by fractional melting of spinel lherzolite, with F varying between 0.2 and 5%. The initial highly silicic, alkali-rich melts preserved in Mg-rich olivine become richer in FeO, MgO, CaO and Cr₂O₃ and poorer in SiO₂, K₂O, Na₂O, Al₂O₃ and Cl with increasing melt fractions, evolving toward the basaltic melts found in clinopyroxene. These results confirm the connection between glass inclusions inside mantle minerals and partial mantle melts, and indicate that primary melts with SiO₂ >60 wt%, alkali oxides >11%, FeO <1 wt% and MgO <1 wt% are generated during incipient melting of spinel peridotite. The composition of the primary melts is inferred to be dependent on pressure, and to reflect both the speciation of dissolved CO₂ and the effect of alkali oxides on the silica activity coefficient in the melt. At pressures around 1 GPa, low-degree melts are characterized by alkali and silica-rich compositions, with a limited effect of dissolved CO₂ and a decreased silica activity coefficient caused by the presence of alkali oxides, whereas at higher pressures alkali oxides form complexes with carbonates and, consequently, alkali-rich silica-poor melts will be generated.     

Hydrologic characteristics of lake‐ and stream‐side riparian wetted margins in the McMurdo Dry Valleys,Antarctica

Water is a limiting factor for life in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica. The active layer (seasonally thawed soil overlying permafrost) accommodates dynamic hydrological and biological processes for 10–16 weeks per year. Wetted margins (visually wetted areas with high moisture content) adjacent to lakes and streams are potential locations of great importance in the MDV because of the regular presence of liquid water, compared with the rest of the landscape where liquid water is rare. At 11 plots (four adjacent to lakes, seven adjacent to streams), soil particle size distribution, soil electrical conductivity, soil water content and isotopic signature, width of the wetted margin, and active layer thaw depth were characterised to determine how these gradients influence physicochemical properties that determine microbial habitat and biogeochemical cycling. Sediments were generally coarse‐grained in wetted margins adjacent to both lakes and streams. Wetted margins ranged from 1·04 to 11·01 m in average length and were found to be longer at lakeside sites than streamside. Average thaw depths ranged from 0·12 to 0·85 m, and were found to be deepest under lake margins. Lake margins also had much higher soil electrical conductivity, steeper topographic gradients, but more gradual soil moisture gradients than stream margins. Patterns of soil water δ¹⁸O and δD distribution indicate capillary action and evaporation from wetted margins; margin pore waters generally demonstrated isotopic enrichment with distance from the shore, indicating evaporation of soil water. Lake margin pore waters were significantly more negative in D_XS (D_XS = δD‐8δ¹⁸O) than streamside pore waters, indicating a longer history of evaporation there. Differences between lake and stream margins can be explained by the more consistent availability of water to lake margins than stream margins. Differences in margin characteristics between lakes and streams have important consequences for the microbial habitat of these margins and their functional role in biogeochemical cycling at these terrestrial–aquatic interfaces. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Relationship Between Transition Region Brightenings,Abundances, and Magnetic Topology

We present multi-instrument observations of active region (AR) 8048, made between 3 June and 5 June 1997, as part of the SOHO Joint Observing Program 33. This AR has a sigmoid-like global shape and undergoes transient brightenings in both soft X-rays and transition region (TR) lines. We compute a magneto-hydrostatic model of the AR magnetic field, using as boundary condition the photospheric observations of SOHO/MDI. The computed large-scale magnetic field lines show that the large-scale sigmoid is formed by two sets of coronal loops. Shorter loops, associated with the core of the SXT emission, coincide with the loops observed in the hotter CDS lines. These loops reveal a gradient of temperature, from 2 MK at the top to 1 MK at the ends. The field lines most closely matching these hot loops extend along the quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) of the computed coronal field. The TR brightenings observed with SOHO/CDS can also be associated with the magnetic field topology, both QSL intersections with the photosphere, and places where separatrices issuing from bald patches (sites where field lines coming from the corona are tangent to the photosphere) intersect the photosphere. There are, furthermore, suggestions that the element abundances measured in the TR may depend on the type of topological structure present. Typically, the TR brightenings associated with QSLs have coronal abundances, while those associated with BP separatrices have abundances closer to photospheric values. We suggest that this difference is due to the location and manner in which magnetic reconnection occurs in two different topological structures. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1013302317042     

An Attempted Explanation for the Discrepancy between Internal and External Errors in Statistical Adjustments

It is shown that underparameterization of models used in statistical adjustments is at least in part responsible for the discrepancies between so-called internal and external rms errors (standard deviations), frequently encountered in derived sets of statistical parameters.     

The Kepler problem: A unifying view

This paper is an attempt to bring unity in the study of the classical Kepler problem by combining, through simple vectorial and quaternionic techniques, its two peculiar aspects: the determination of the constants of the motion and the regularization at the origin.Research supported by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy (C.N.R.-G.N.F.M.).     

Asteroid 21 Lutetia at 3 μm: Observations with IRTF SpeX

We present observations of Asteroid 21 Lutetia collected 2003–2008 using the SpeX instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) covering 2–4 μm. We also reevaluate NSFCam observations obtained in 1996 (Rivkin, A.S., Lebofsky, L.A., Clark, B.E., Howell, E.S., Britt, D.T. [2000]. Icarus 145, 351–368). Taken together, these show deeper 3-μm band depths (of order 3–5%) in the southern hemisphere of Lutetia, and shallower band depths (of order 2% or less) in the north. Such variation is consistent with observations at shorter wavelength by previous workers (Nedelcu, D.A. et al. [2007]. Astron. Astrophys. 470, 1157–1164; Lazzarin, M. et al. [2010]. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 408, 1433–1437), who observed hemispheric-level variations from C-like spectra to X-like spectra.While the shallowness of absorption bands on Lutetia hinders identification of its surface composition, goethite appears plausible as a constituent in its southern hemisphere (Beck, P., Quirico, E., Sevestre, D., Montes-Hernandez, G., Pommerol, A., Schmitt, B. [2011]. Astron. Astrophys. 526, A85–A89). Mathematical models of space weathered goethite are most consistent with Lutetia’s southern hemisphere spectrum, but more work and further observations are necessary to confirm this suggestion.     

Measurement of the radius of Mercury by radio occultation during the MESSENGER flybys

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft completed three flybys of Mercury in 2008–2009. During the first and third of those flybys, MESSENGER passed behind the planet from the perspective of Earth, occulting the radio-frequency (RF) transmissions. The occultation start and end times, recovered with 0.1 s accuracy or better by fitting edge-diffraction patterns to the RF power history, are used to estimate Mercury's radius at the tangent point of the RF path. To relate the measured radius to the planet shape, we evaluate local topography using images to identify the high-elevation feature that defines the RF path or using altimeter data to quantify surface roughness. Radius measurements are accurate to 150 m, and uncertainty in the average radius of the surrounding terrain, after adjustments are made from the local high at the tangent point of the RF path, is 350 m. The results are consistent with Mercury's equatorial shape as inferred from observations by the Mercury Laser Altimeter and ground-based radar. The three independent estimates of radius from occultation events collectively yield a mean radius for Mercury of 2439.2±0.5 km.     

Study of bi-orthogonal modes in magnetic butterflies

We present a bi-orthogonal decomposition of the temporal and latitudinal distribution of solar magnetic fields from synoptic magnetograms. Results are compared with a similar decomposition of the distribution of sunspots since 1874. We show that the butterfly diagrams can be interpreted as the result of approximately constant amplitudes and phases of two oscillations with periods close to 22 years. A clear periodicity of 7 years can also be identified in the most energetic modes of both spatio-temporal series. These results can be used to obtain relevant information concerning the physics of the solar dynamo.     

The transition from complex crater to peak-ring basin on the Moon: New observations from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument

Impact craters on planetary bodies transition with increasing size from simple, to complex, to peak-ring basins and finally to multi-ring basins. Important to understanding the relationship between complex craters with central peaks and multi-ring basins is the analysis of protobasins (exhibiting a rim crest and interior ring plus a central peak) and peak-ring basins (exhibiting a rim crest and an interior ring). New data have permitted improved portrayal and classification of these transitional features on the Moon. We used new 128 pixel/degree gridded topographic data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, combined with image mosaics, to conduct a survey of craters >50 km in diameter on the Moon and to update the existing catalogs of lunar peak-ring basins and protobasins. Our updated catalog includes 17 peak-ring basins (rim-crest diameters range from 207 km to 582 km, geometric mean = 343 km) and 3 protobasins (137-170 km, geometric mean = 157 km). Several basins inferred to be multi-ring basins in prior studies (Apollo, Moscoviense, Grimaldi, Freundlich-Sharonov, Coulomb-Sarton, and Korolev) are now classified as peak-ring basins due to their similarities with lunar peak-ring basin morphologies and absence of definitive topographic ring structures greater than two in number. We also include in our catalog 23 craters exhibiting small ring-like clusters of peaks (50-205 km, geometric mean = 81 km); one (Humboldt) exhibits a rim-crest diameter and an interior morphology that may be uniquely transitional to the process of forming peak rings. A power-law fit to ring diameters (D_ring) and rim-crest diameters (D_r) of peak-ring basins on the Moon [D_ring = 0.14 ± 0.10(D_r)^1.21±0.13] reveals a trend that is very similar to a power-law fit to peak-ring basin diameters on Mercury [D_ring = 0.25 ± 0.14(D_rim)^1.13±0.10] [Baker, D.M.H. et al. [2011]. Planet. Space Sci., in press]. Plots of ring/rim-crest ratios versus rim-crest diameters for peak-ring basins and protobasins on the Moon also reveal a continuous, nonlinear trend that is similar to trends observed for Mercury and Venus and suggest that protobasins and peak-ring basins are parts of a continuum of basin morphologies. The surface density of peak-ring basins on the Moon (4.5 × 10⁻⁷ per km²) is a factor of two less than Mercury (9.9 × 10⁻⁷ per km²), which may be a function of their widely different mean impact velocities (19.4 km/s and 42.5 km/s, respectively) and differences in peak-ring basin onset diameters. New calculations of the onset diameter for peak-ring basins on the Moon and the terrestrial planets re-affirm previous analyses that the Moon has the largest onset diameter for peak-ring basins in the inner Solar System. Comparisons of the predictions of models for the formation of peak-ring basins with the characteristics of the new basin catalog for the Moon suggest that formation and modification of an interior melt cavity and nonlinear scaling of impact melt volume with crater diameter provide important controls on the development of peak rings. In particular, a power-law model of growth of an interior melt cavity with increasing crater diameter is consistent with power-law fits to the peak-ring basin data for the Moon and Mercury. We suggest that the relationship between the depth of melting and depth of the transient cavity offers a plausible control on the onset diameter and subsequent development of peak-ring basins and also multi-ring basins, which is consistent with both planetary gravitational acceleration and mean impact velocity being important in determining the onset of basin morphological forms on the terrestrial planets.     

Species richness,diversity and density of understory vegetation along disturbance gradients in the Himalayan conifer forest

We investigated whether species richness, diversity and density of understory herbaceous plants differed along logging(gap) and grazing(primarily by cattle) disturbance gradients, and sought to identify drivers of richness, diversity and density of understory vegetation of logged sites. A factorial experiment was conducted in the mixed conifer forest of Gidakom in Western Bhutan. Levels of the logging treatment included small(0.15 – 0.24 ha), medium(0.25 – 0.35 ha) and large(0.36 – 1.31 ha) gaps. The grazing treatment included grazed(primarily by cattle) and ungrazed(where herbivores were excluded by a fence) plots nested within each gap. Data were collected from 12 gaps(4 replicates at each level of logging) using the point intercept method. Shannon Weaver Diversity and Margalef's indices were used to estimate species diversity and describe species richness, respectively. Soil samples were analyzed for pH and nutrients. The interaction effect of logging and grazing was significant(p≤0.001) only on species diversity. Relative to ungrazed areas, species diversity was significantly higher(0.01≤p≤0.05) in medium grazed gaps. Under grazed conditions, soil P was negatively correlated with gap size and species diversity. While species diversity was positivelycorrelated(0.01≤p≤0.05) with soil N in grazed plots species richness was positively correlated(0.001≤p≤0.01) with soil N in ungrazed plots. Relative density of Yushania microphylla and Carex nubigena were higher under ungrazed conditions. Our study suggests that the combined effect of cattle grazing and logging results in higher species diversity of understory vegetation in medium and grazed gaps in mixed conifer forests of Bhutan,whereas increase or decrease in relative density of major species is determined primarily by the independent effects of grazing and logging. From management perspective, forest managers must refrain from creating large gaps to avoid loss of nutrients(mainly P and N), which may eventually affect tree regeneration. Managers intending to maintain understory vegetation diversity must consider the combined effects of grazing and logging, ensuring low to moderate grazing pressure.