In-situ Gesteinsspannungen und Mechanismen der Kluftöffnung

Zusammenfassung Die Orientierung von post-orogenen Klüften in proterozoischen Sedimentgesteinen des Elliot Lake-Gebietes, Canada, läßt sich mit der meßbaren Gesteinsentspannung in Bohrlöchern in Beziehung bringen. Steile lokale und regionale Kluftscharen ohne Bewegungsspuren streichen in Richtung der elastischen Hauptentformungsachse, also in Richtung der größten in-situ-Kompressionsspannung.Die Klüfte lassen sich deshalb wahrscheinlich als Extensionsfugen erklären, und zwar als Resultat der Wechselwirkung zwischen Oberflächenabtrag des Gesteins und remanenter tektonischer Gesteinsspannung. Der vorgeschlagene Mechanismus sollte auch zum Verständnis von spät-orogenen (ac)-Klüften in gefaltetem Deckgebirge und oberflächenparallelen Klüften in massigen Gesteinen beitragen.

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Orientation of post-orogenic joints in Proterozoic sedimentary rocks of the Elliot Lake area (Canada) seems to be directly related to elastic-strain-recovery as measured in boreholes. Steep local and regional joint sets without displacement are parallel with the axis of maximum elastic-strain-recovery (i. e. the direction of the major principal in situ stress component). Consequently these joints are interpreted as extension joints forming as a result of the interaction between natural (or artificial) erosion of the rock mass and its remanent tectonic stresses. The proposed mechanism should also help to understand late-orogenic (ac)-joints in folded cover rocks and exfoliation joints in otherwise unjointed rocks.

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Résumé L'orientation des diaclases post-tectoniques dans des roches sédimentaires protérozoïques de la région du Lac d'Elliot, Canada, peut être mise en relation avec les tensions élastiques des roches telles qu'on peut les mesurer dans les trous de forage. Les systèmes de diaclases redressées, locales et régionales, sans traces de mouvement, sont dirigés parallèlement aux axes principaux de la déformation élastique, c'est-à-dire à la direction de la plus grande compression in situ mesurée par le changement de forme d'un trou de sonde. Par conséquent, les diaclases s'expliquent vraisemblablement comme joints d'extension, et en fait comme le résultat de l'action réciproque entre des tensions tectoniques rémanentes et l'érosion en surface. Le mécanisme proposé explique aussi les diaclase (ac) tardives dans les couvertures plissées et l'exfoliation parallèle à la surface dans les roches massives.

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- Elliot Lake, , . , in situ. , , , , , . - .

     

Effects of lava flows on lunar crater populations

It is shown that endogenic lava flow processes can be identified by their characteristic effects on lunar crater size distributions without necessarily being able to recognise individual flows on the photographs studied. The thickness of lava flows or a series of flows can be estimated from these crater size distribution characteristics. The lava flow histories of the Apollo landing sites 11, 12 and 15 are discussed in detail. The thicknesses of the most recent (3–3.4 × 10⁹ years ago) flows there and of the youngest flows in an area in south-west Mare Imbrium (3 × 10⁹ years) are found to range between 30 and 60 m. The subsequent flow episodes at the landing sites showing up in the crater size distributions can be related to differences in the radiometric ages of the respective lunar rocks.     

A Discussion of IGS Solutions and Their Impact on Geodetic and Geophysical Applications

The International Association of Geodesy officially established the International GPS Service (IGS) on Janaury 1, 1994. Its prime objective is to provide support and a rerefence system for a wide variety of scientific and practical applications involving GPS. To fulfill its role the IGS also generates, in addition to its fundamental products (orbital/staion positions and consistent Earth orientation parameters), additional reference-system products providing the necessary infrastructure, standards, and means of calibrations for timing and various atmospheric applications of GPS. The generation and efficient application of IGS products and their impact on a number of positioning and atmospheric applications, including low earth orbit satellites, is reviewed and discussed. @ 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Zur geomagnetischen Tiefensondierung

Zusammenfassung Eine Kurvenvergleichsmethode zur Interpretation räumlicher Induktions-pfeilprofile wird unter der Voraussetzung entwickelt, dass die Verteilung der von den geomagnetischen Variationen im Erdinnern induzierten Ströme linear ist. Sie gründet sich auf die lineare Abhängigkeit der Länge des Induktionspfeils von der vertikalen Komponente des Biot-Savartschen Gesetzes. Die Frequenzabhängigkeit des Induktionspfeiles ermöglicht die Angabe eines für die Leitfähigkeitsstruktur charakteristischen Widerstandes und einer Induktivität. Wird zur Bestimmung von Induktionspfeilen das gesamte Horizontalfeld benutzt, so geht die Linearität der Beziehung zwischen Pfeillänge und Ortsfunktion verloren. Für eine Reihe von Strommodellen werden derartige Ortsfunktionenp _z berechnet und diskutiert. Sie dienen als Beispiele von Musterkurven für die entwickelte Interpretationsmethode.

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Summary One curve-matching method is developed in order to interprete the geomagnetic induction arrow profiles when the distribution of telluric currents in the underground is assumed to be linear. It bases on the linear dependence of the lengths of the induction arrows from the vertical component of the Biot-Savarts Law, which is a function of the radius vector. This is valid when the inducing field has only a horizontal component and the induced horizontal field is zero. In case that the model approximates the current distribution one gets a resistivity and an inductivity from the dependence of frequency of the induction arrows. Some model curves concerning several current distributions are drawn and discussed.

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Mitteilung aus dem Geomagnetischen Institut der DAW, Potsdam, Nr. 212.     

Methane exchange between coal-bearing basins and the atmosphere: the Ruhr Basin and the Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany

A precise knowledge of methane exchange processes is required to fully understand the recent rise of atmospheric methane concentration. Three of these processes take place at the lithosphere/atmosphere boundary: bacterial consumption of methane and emission of bacterial or thermogenic methane. This study was initiated to quantify these processes on a regional scale in the Ruhr Basin and the Lower Rhine Embayment. Since these areas are subject to bituminous coal and lignite mining, natural and anthropogenically-induced methane exchange processes could be studied. The methane emission and consumption rates and their carbon isotope signal were measured at the lithosphere/atmosphere boundary using flux chambers. On most of the soils studied, methane consumption by bacteria was identified. Thermogenic methane was released only at some of the natural faults examined. In active and abandoned bituminous coal mining areas methane emissions were restricted to small areas, where high emission rates were measured. The carbon isotope composition of methane at natural faults and in mining subsidence troughs was typical of thermogenic methane (−45 to −32 ‰ δ¹³C). Methane exchange balancing revealed that natural methane emissions from these two basins represent no source of atmospheric importance. However, methane release by upcast mining shafts dominates the methane exchange processes and is by about two orders of magnitude greater than methane consumption by bacterial oxidation in the soils.     

Thermal metamorphism of primitive meteorites—IX. On the mechanism of trace element loss from Allende heated up to 1400° C

We report data for Ag, Bi, Cd, Co, Cs, Ga, In, Se, Te, Tl and Zn determined by neutron activation in Allende samples heated for one week at 100° increments in the 1000–1400°C range in a low pressure (initially 10^?5atmH₂) environment using an apparatus of novel design. In the extremes, concentrations of these trace elements—initially present at ppm-ppb levels—in unheated material are lowered even farther by factors of 10^?4–10^?5 over a broad temperature span. Loss of some elements above 1000°C extends trends evident below 1000°C; loss of others is even more extreme. On Arrhenius diagrams some elements exhibit but one apparent activation energy over the entire temperature span of loss while others exhibit 2 or 3, each operative in a particular temperature region. These discontinuities seem related to mineralogic/petrologic alteration and probably reflect differences in diffusion mechanism rather than siting differences. The extension of previous experiments into the temperature regime postulated for chondritic differentiation should lead to a better understanding of the evolution of meteoritic parent bodies.     

European Surface Pressure Patterns for Months with Outstanding Climatic Anomalies During the Sixteenth Century

Monthly mean surface pressure patterns in the European area are reconstructed for those winter and summer seasons of the 16th century with outstanding climatic anomalies being either widespread over Europe or remarkably intensive in some European regions. From the available documentary information about weather characteristics and their sequences, it proved possible to infer prevalent processes of lower tropospheric advection of typical air masses and to assess the position and strength of major surface pressure centres on a monthly scale. For comparison with modern pressure patterns, monthly mean sea level pressure (SLP) grids from the 20th century have been selected for seasons with similar climatic anomalies. There are broad coincidences between these pressure patterns of the 16th and the 20th centuries except for cold summer seasons. Finally, results from the 16th century are discussed in terms of circulation dynamics (different phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) in winter, decreasing frequency of anticyclonic ridging in summer).