Energy market failure in road transport: Is there scope for ‘no regrets’ greenhouse gas reduction?

The Australian Government policy on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions announced in 1990 includes exploring the scope for immediate, low cost reductions. Such measures can be taken as including ‘no regrets’ policies: those that, in addition to mitigating potential climate change, confer economic gains (including other environmental benefits) which exceed their costs. Some possible ‘no regrets’ opportunities and policies are identified relevant to energy use by the road transport sector over the period to 2020. The MARKALMENSA multi-period linear programming model of the Australian energy sector is used to investigate the cost-effectiveness of these policies.     

Evaluation of magmatic processes for the products of the Nevado del Ruiz Volcano, Colombia from geochemical and petrological data

Trace-element concentrations of the eruptive products from the Nevado del Ruiz volcano indicate that at least for the last 1 Ma, the major controlling factor in the evolution of the magma has been a simple fractional crystallization.The Zr/Hf ratios suggest that the source material is mantle-like in origin and whilst subduction-related contamination of the source material has taken place, there is no evidence that assimilation of continental crust has affected the series.No convincing geochemical evidence for magma mixing was found, and data on banded pumices of Pleistocene, Historic and the 1985 eruptions strongly support a crystal fractionation model to explain the compositional variation of their glasses. Therefore, if mixing has taken place it can only be a mixing of layers within a stratified or partially stratified magma chamber.Modeling of fractional crystallization using a stepwise program has been undertaken and least-squares approximations with small residuals are commensurate with analyzed samples. Crystal fractionation models with plagioclase dominating two-pyroxenes and iron oxides give good fits for all calculations. We conclude that simple crystal fractionation is the process most consistent with major- and trace-element variations in the Ruiz series. This closed-system model requires at least 77% crystal fractionation of a basaltic parent to generate the observed compositions of dacites.     

Evidence of an early alteration process driven by magmatic fluid in Mururoa volcano

Evidence for a deuteric alteration process induced by a magmatic fluid has been found in the feeder zone of the Mururoa volcano (French Polynesia). Within the dikes, where basaltic glass does not show any evidence of pervasive alteration, vesicles are filled with dioctahedral smectites and calcite, while olivine phenocrysts are replaced by dioctahedral smectites, ankerite and calcite.The ¹³C signature of carbonates, the carbon and H₂O content of the whole rocks and their impoverishment in deuterium are compatible with the presence of magmatic CO₂ during the crystallization of intruding lavas and exclude contamination by seawater. Mass balance calculations on selected thin sections photographs of partly filled up vesicles and replaced olivine crystals, constrain, assuming a closed system interaction, the chemical composition of the initial fluid and the respective amounts of the initial solid phases involved in the alteration process. Thermodynamic modelings using the EQ3/6 software package correctly predict the mineralogic, chemical and isotopic exchanges accompanying alteration, thus validating the closed system assumption. The model which allows prediction of the influence of CO₂ on the alteration products, shows that, above a 0.25 CO₂ mole fraction in the initial fluid, the alteration is entirely controlled by the chemical composition of the initial solid phases. The presence of CO₂ implies the precipitation of dioctahedral smectites and carbonates instead of the magnesian smectites commonly observed in CO₂-free systems.The Mururoa feeder zone shows alteration features typical of a closed system interaction between the basaltic rock and a magmatic fluid in which seawater did not take part.     

Eliminierung und Rückgewinnung von Metallionen aus Abwässern — eine Übersicht

The present state and the trends of the recovery of heavy metals from wastewaters are presented. The classical precipitation techniques are insatisfactory due to increases of solubility in the presence of impurity ions and/or complexing agents. At present, ion-exchange processes constitute the most frequently used method of metal recycling with an effective enrichment of metal ions. For the effective separation of metals from solutions of a low concentration the electrolytic reduction demands large electrode surface areas. In cells with fixed-bed or fluidized cathodes one can obtain specific electrode surface areas of some 10³ m²/m^m3. For the future, processes of extraction and especially membrane separation will gain in importance. In the past few years, a large number of highly selective metal extracting agents as well as the liquid membrane permeation with suitable carriers were developed. Combinations of membrane separation processes with chemical reactions may attain the same importance, as e.g. ultrafiltration in connection with the fixation of metal ions to watersoluble polymers. In the long run, especially techniques will prevail which will not only result in metal enrichment but also in the recovery of the raw material water.     

The stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation observed in the semidiurnal ground pressure data

Ground pressure observations made at Macao (22^○N, 113^○E) from 1953 to 1991 are analyzed and compared with the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) data obtained during the same interval. The periods of the two phenomena and their time evolution are found to be close to each other. Furthermore, the time series of the stratospheric winds and the S2(p) QBO signature are highly correlated, thus confirming earlier analysis. On this basis, pressure measurements obtained at Batavia (now Djakarta: 6^○S, 107^○E) from 1870 to 1944 are used to trace back the QBO phenomenon before the advent of systematic stratospheric balloon measurements. The inferred period, which varies between 25 and 32 months, suggests that the QBO has been present in the atmosphere at least since 1870.     

Eruptive history of the Colima volcanic complex (Mexico)

The evolution of the Colima volcanic complex can be divided into successive periods characterized by different dynamic and magmatic processes: emission of andesitic to dacitic lava flows, acid-ash and pumice-flow deposits, fallback nuées ardentes leading to pyroclastic flows with heterogeneous magma, plinian air-fall deposits, scoriae cones of alkaline and calc-alkaline nature. Four caldera-forming events, resulting either from major ignimbrite outbursts or Mount St. Helens-type eruptions, separate the main stages of development of the complex from the building of an ancient shield volcano (25 × 30 km wide) up to two summit cones, Nevado and Fuego.The oldest caldera, C1 (7–8 km wide), related to the pouring out of dacitic ash flows, marks the transition between two periods of activity in the primitive edifice called Nevado I: the first one, which is at least 0.6 m.y. old, was mainly andesitic and effusive, whereas the second one was characterized by extrusion of domes and related pyroclastic products. A small summit caldera, C2 (3–3.5 km wide), ended the evolution of Nevado I.Two modern volcanoes then began to grow. The building of the Nevado II started about 200,000 y. ago. It settled into the C2 caldera and partially overflowed it. The other volcano, here called Paleofuego, was progressively built on the southern side of the former Nevado I. Some of its flows are 50,000 y. old, but the age of its first outbursts is not known. However, it is younger than Nevado II. These two modern volcanoes had similar evolutions. Each of them was affected by a huge Mount St. Helens-type (or Bezymianny-type) event, 10,000 y. ago for the Paleofuego, and hardly older for the Nevado II. The landslides were responsible for two horseshoe-shaped avalanche calderas, C3 (Nevado) and C4 (Paleofuego), each 4–5 km wide, opening towards the east and the south. In both cases, the activity following these events was highly explosive and produced thick air-fall deposits around the summit craters.The Nevado III, formed by thick andesitic flows, is located close to the southwestern rim of the C3 caldera. It was a small and short-lived cone. Volcan de Fuego, located at the center of the C4 caldera, is nearly 1500 m high. Its activity is characterized by an alternation of long stages of growth by flows and short destructive episodes related to violent outbursts producing pyroclastic flows with heterogeneous magma and plinian air falls.The evolution of the primitive volcano followed a similar pattern leading to formation of C1 and then C2. The analogy between the evolutions of the two modern volcanoes (Nevado II–III; Paleofuego-Fuego) is described. Their vicinity and their contemporaneous growth pose the problem of the existence of a single reservoir, or two independent magmatic chambers, after the evolution of a common structure represented by the primitive volcano.