Influence of atmospheric circulation on precipitation in Altai Mountains

We analyzed the changes in precipitation regime in the Altai Mountains for 1959-2014 and estimate the influence of atmospheric circulations on these changes. Our study showed that during last 56 years the changes in the precipitation regime had a positive trend for the warm seasons(April-October),but weakly positive or negative trends for the cold seasons(November-March). It was found that these changes correspond to the decreasing contribution of “Northern meridional and Stationary anticyclone(Nm-Sa)” and “Northern meridional and East zonal(Nm-Ez)” circulation groups and to the increasing contribution of “West zonal and Southern meridional(Wz-Sm)” circulation groups,accordingly to the Dzerdzeevskii classification. In addition,it was found that the variation of precipitation has a step change point in 1980. For the warm seasons,the precipitation change at this point is associated with the reduced influence of “West zonal(Wz)”,“Northern meridional and Stationary anticyclone(Nm-Sa)” and “Northern meridional and Southern meridional(Nm-Sm)” circulation groups. For the cold seasons,a substantialincrease of “Wz-Sm” and a decrease of “Nm-Sa”,“Nm-Ez” circulation groups are responsible for the precipitation change in the two time periods(1959-1980 and 1981-2014).     

Origin of components in Chilean thermal waters

Thermal waters of northern (18°–27°S) and southern (37°–45°S) Chile occur in two very different climatic, geologic and hydrologic environments: arid closed basins with abundant evaporites in the north; humid climate and well drained valleys in the south. The origin and behavior of the main components of the two groups of waters are examined and compared to each other. The modeling of the alteration of volcanic rocks leads to water compositions very different from those observed both in the north and south. In addition to hydrothermal alteration and deep emanations, the Cl/Br ratio reveals a major contribution of saline waters to the two groups: infiltrating brines from salt lakes in the north; seawater in the south.In the north, concentrations of Cl, Br, Na, K, Ca, SO₄, Li, B, Si result from the mixing of alteration waters with recycled brines. Hydrothermal alteration is obscured by this massive saline input, except for Mg. δ³⁴S values are consistent with an origin of sulfate from salar brines, which are themselves derived from deep Tertiary gypsum. In the south, two processes account for the composition of thermal waters: mixing of alteration waters with seawater and deep magmatic contribution. The mixing process controls the concentration of Cl, Br, Na, Alk, Si, K, Ca, Mg. Magmatic inputs are detectable for SO₄, Li and B. δ³⁴S suggests that sulfate stems from the mixing of alteration waters with either marine SO₄ in coastal waters or with deep SO₂ in inland waters. In both the north and south, the Mg concentration is drastically lowered (<1 μmol/L) by the probable formation of a chlorite-type mineral. In the south, very small amounts of seawater (<1% in volume) are sufficient to imprint a clear signature on thermal waters. Not only coastal springs are affected by seawater mixing, but also remote inland springs, as far as 150 km from the sea. Subduction of marine sediments in the accretive margin could be the source of the marine imprint in thermal waters of southern Chile. Seawater may be expelled from the subducted lithosphere and incorporated into the mantle source.     

Chemical Composition of Some Saline Lakes in the Tuva Region(Russia)

正1 Introduction Salt lakes are very interesting natural objects which can be found in different places in the world.Russia is not an exception.Climate conditions are various in Russia,but the climate is not very hot.In Russia there are a lot of places where salt lakes are spread.One of them is the Tuva region where lakes with different compositions are     

Middle-Upper Miocene stratigraphy of the Taman Peninsula, Eastern Paratethys

The stratigraphy of the Taman Peninsula is defined using the sections at Zelensky Hill ?? Panagia, Popov Kamen, Taman and Zheleznyi Rog. The stratigraphy is constructed from distribution of mollusks, foraminifers, nannofossils, diatoms, and organic-walled phytoplankton, as well as incorporating paleomagnetic data. The occurrence of oceanic diatom species in the Middle-Upper Sarmatian, Maeotian and Lower Pontian makes a direct correlation possible between the sections studied, the Mediterranean basin and oceanic zonation. The new data on planktonic and benthic biotic groups suggests a pulsating connection of the Eastern Paratethys with the open marine basins, especially during transitional intervals within constant environments. Comprehensive studies of the Chokrakian-Kimmerian microbiota provide evidence for several levels of marine microbiotic associations that are related to short-term marine invasions. The biotic and paleomagnetic data of the Taman Peninsula sections give a more comprehensive, but sometimes a controversial picture on the Eastern Paratethys history and the nature of its relationship with the adjacent marine basins.     

Paleomagnetic constraints on the paleogeography and oroclinal bending of the Devonian volcanic arc in Kazakhstan

Numerical modelling, incorporating coupling between surface processes and induced flow in the lower continental crust, is used to address the Quaternary evolution of the Gulf of Corinth region in central Greece. The post-Early Pleistocene marine depocentre beneath this Gulf overlies the northern margin of an older (Early Pleistocene and earlier) lacustrine basin, the Proto Gulf of Corinth Basin or PGCB. In the late Early Pleistocene, relief in this region was minimal but, subsequently, dramatic relief has developed, involving the creation of  900 m of bathymetry within the Gulf and the uplift by many hundreds of metres of the part of the PGCB, south of the modern Gulf, which forms the Gulf's main sediment supply. It is assumed that, as a result of climate change around 0.9 Ma, erosion of this sediment source region and re-deposition of this material within the Gulf began, both processes occurring at spatial average rates of  0.2 mm a^− 1. Modelling of the resulting isostatic response indicates that the local effective viscosity of the lower crust is  4 × 10¹⁹ Pa s, indicating a Moho temperature of  560 °C. It predicts that the  10 mm a^− 1 of extension across this  70 km wide model region, at an extensional strain rate of  0.15 Ma^− 1, is partitioned with  3 mm a^− 1 across the sediment source,  2 mm a^− 1 across the depocentre, and  5 mm a^− 1 across the ‘hinge zone’ in between, the latter value being an estimate of the extension rate on normal faults forming the major topographic escarpment at the southern margin of the Gulf. This modelling confirms the view, suggested previously, that coupling between this depocentre and sediment source by lower-crustal flow can explain the dramatic development in local relief since the late Early Pleistocene. The effective viscosity of the lower crust in this region is not particularly low; the strong coupling interpreted between the sediment source and depocentre results instead from their close proximity. In detail, the effective viscosity of the lower crust is expected to decrease northward across this model region, due to the northward increase in exposure of the base of the continental lithosphere to the asthenosphere; in the south the two are separated by the subducting Hellenic slab. The isostatic consequences of such a lateral variation in viscosity provide a natural explanation for why, since  0.9 Ma, the modern Gulf has developed asymmetrically over the northern part of the PGCB, leaving the rest of the PGCB to act as its sediment source.     

The rayed crater Zunil and interpretations of small impact craters on Mars

A 10-km diameter crater named Zunil in the Cerberus Plains of Mars created ∼¹⁰⁷ secondary craters 10 to 200 m in diameter. Many of these secondary craters are concentrated in radial streaks that extend up to 1600 km from the primary crater, identical to lunar rays. Most of the larger Zunil secondaries are distinctive in both visible and thermal infrared imaging. MOC images of the secondary craters show sharp rims and bright ejecta and rays, but the craters are shallow and often noncircular, as expected for relatively low-velocity impacts. About 80% of the impact craters superimposed over the youngest surfaces in the Cerberus Plains, such as Athabasca Valles, have the distinctive characteristics of Zunil secondaries. We have not identified any other large (?10 km diameter) impact crater on Mars with such distinctive rays of young secondary craters, so the age of the crater may be less than a few Ma. Zunil formed in the apparently youngest (least cratered) large-scale lava plains on Mars, and may be an excellent example of how spallation of a competent surface layer can produce high-velocity ejecta (Melosh, 1984, Impact ejection, spallation, and the origin of meteorites, Icarus 59, 234-260). It could be the source crater for some of the basaltic shergottites, consistent with their crystallization and ejection ages, composition, and the fact that Zunil produced abundant high-velocity ejecta fragments. A 3D hydrodynamic simulation of the impact event produced 10¹⁰ rock fragments ?10 cm diameter, leading to up to 10⁹ secondary craters ?10 m diameter. Nearly all of the simulated secondary craters larger than 50 m are within 800 km of the impact site but the more abundant smaller (10-50 m) craters extend out to 3500 km. If Zunil is representative of large impact events on Mars, then secondaries should be more abundant than primaries at diameters a factor of ∼1000 smaller than that of the largest primary crater that contributed secondaries. As a result, most small craters on Mars could be secondaries. Depth/diameter ratios of 1300 small craters (10-500 m diameter) in Isidis Planitia and Gusev crater have a mean value of 0.08; the freshest of these craters give a ratio of 0.11, identical to that of fresh secondary craters on the Moon (Pike and Wilhelms, 1978, Secondary-impact craters on the Moon: topographic form and geologic process, Lunar Planet. Sci. IX, 907-909) and significantly less than the value of ∼0.2 or more expected for fresh primary craters of this size range. Several observations suggest that the production functions of Hartmann and Neukum (2001, Cratering chronology and the evolution of Mars, Space Sci. Rev. 96, 165-194) predict too many primary craters smaller than a few hundred meters in diameter. Fewer small, high-velocity impacts may explain why there appears to be little impact regolith over Amazonian terrains. Martian terrains dated by small craters could be older than reported in recent publications.     

Early Neoproterozoic Granite-Gneisses of the Junggar Alataw (Southeastern Kazakhstan): Age, Petrogenesis and Tectonic Implications

The combined petrographic, petrological, geochemical and geochronological study of the Neoproterozoic gneisses of the Sarychabyn and Baskan complexes of the Junggar Alataw of South Kazakhstan elucidate the Precambrian tectonic evolution of the Aktau–Yili terrane. It is one of the largest Precambrian crustal blocks in the western Central Asian orogenic belt. The U-Pb single-grain zircon ages indicate that granite-gneisses formed from the same source and crystallised in the early Neoproterozoic ca. 930–920 Ma. The chemical composition of gneisses corresponds to A2-type granites. The whole-rock Nd isotopic characteristics (εNd(t) = ?4.9 to ?1.0 and TNd(DM-2st) = 1.9 to 1.7 Ga) indicate the involvement of Paleoproterozoic crustal rocks in magma generation. Early Neoproterozoic ca. 930–920 Ma A-type granitoids in the Aktau–Yili terrane of South and Central Kazakhstan might reflect within-plate magmatism adjacent to the collisional belt or a local extension setting in back-arc areas of the continental arc.     

Behavior of planetary dynamos under the influence of external magnetic fields: Application to Mercury and Ganymede

For planets with strong intrinsic magnetic fields such as Earth and Jupiter, an external magnetic field is unlikely to affect the internal dynamo, but for bodies with weak intrinsic fields in appropriate environments, such as Mercury and Ganymede, the interaction with nearby field sources may determine the internal dynamics and overall behavior of their liquid iron cores. On the basis of simulations of such interactions using numerical models for fluid flow and dynamo generation, the parameter regimes for stable dipolar and multipolar reversing dynamo magnetic fields established for isolated systems can be substantially changed by the action of external sources. Relatively weak external background fields (as low as 2% of the averaged undisturbed field at the core-mantle boundary) may change the energy balance and alter the regime over which natural isolated dynamos operate.