Peralkaline nephelinites

Two fractionation trends in sodic alkaline ultramafic liquids have been predicted from experiments in subsystems of the join Di-Ak-Ne-Lc-Qz. The products of these trends are equated with contrasting suites of peralkaline nephelinites from two nephelinite-carbonatite volcanos of the south Gregory Rift, Shombole (southern Kenya) and Oldoinyo L'engai (northern Tanzania). In both trends, peralkalinity is interpreted to result from fractional crystallization of aluminous clinopyroxene. The Shombole trend has olivine nephelinite as its parental magma, and the differentiation products are mildly peralkaline [(Na+K)/Al1.15] nephelinites. It is the most common lineage observed in nephelinite-carbonatite centres. The Oldoinyo L'engai trend has melilitite or olivine-melilite nephelinite as its parental magma, and produces extremely peralkaline [(Na+K)/Al=1.4–2.3] wollastonite- and combeite- (Na₂ Ca₂Si₃O₉) bearing nephelinites. The presence of a reaction relation between wollastonite and liquid to produce combeite, indicated by corroded wollastonite phenocrysts armoured by combeite in some nephelinites from Oldoinyo L'engai, is confirmed by melting experiments. Combeite nephelinites from Oldoinyo L'engai were erupted simultaneously with natrocarbonatite ash, and are very similar in composition to silicate liquids that have been shown by experiment to be immiscible with natrocarbonatite. Because the L'engai trend is rarely expressed at extrusive centres (combeite has been recorded at only three localities), and combeite nephelinites are highly evolved magmas, it is unlikely that natrocarbonatite is primary to other carbonatite types. It is proposed that carbonatite liquid is exsolved at crustal pressures from a wide range of nephelinitic liquids: Mg-rich carbonatite from primitive, olivine-bearing alkaline ultramafic liquids, Ca-rich carbonatite from olivine-free nephelinites of low peralkalinity, and natrocarbonatite from strongly peralkaline combeite nephelinites.     

Upper limits on micro-mini black holes

The equations determining cosmic nucleosynthesis up to⁴He are modified to take account of black-hole evaporation during nucleosynthesis. Numerical calculation shows that deuterium is enhanced by the presence of these micro-mini black holes (mBH); but very high-density universes are difficult to reconcile with observations, even with a very large abundance of mBH.     

Critical network infrastructure analysis: interdiction and system flow

Effective management of critical network infrastructure requires the assessment of potential interdiction scenarios. Optimization approaches have been essential for identifying and evaluating such scenarios in networked systems. Although a primary function of any network is the distribution of flow between origins and destinations, the complexity and difficulty of mathematically abstracting interdiction impacts on connectivity or flow has been a challenge for researchers. This paper presents an optimization approach for identifying interdiction bounds with respect to connectivity and/or flow associated with a system of origins and destinations. Application results for telecommunications flow are presented, illustrating the capabilities of this approach.

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Characterizing uncertainties for quantifying bathymetry change between time-separated multibeam echo-sounder surveys

Changes of bathymetry derived from multibeam sonars are useful for quantifying the effects of many sedimentary, tectonic and volcanic processes, but depth changes also require an assessment of their uncertainty. Here, we outline and illustrate a simple technique that aims both to quantify uncertainties and to help reveal the spatial character of errors. An area of immobile seafloor is mapped in each survey, providing a common ‘benchmark’. Each survey dataset over the benchmark is filtered with a simple moving-averaging window and depth differences between the two surveys are collated to derive a difference histogram. The procedure is repeated using different length-scales of filtering. By plotting the variability of the differences versus the length-scale of the filter, the different effects of spatially uncorrelated and correlated noise can be deduced. The former causes variability to decrease systematically as predicted by the Central Limit Theorem, whereas the remaining variability not predicted by the Central Limit Theorem then represents the effect of spatially correlated noise. Calculations made separately for different beams can reveal whether problems are due to heave, roll, etc., which affect inner and outer beams differently. We show how the results can be applied to create a map of uncertainties, which can be used to remove insignificant data from the bathymetric change map. We illustrate the technique by characterizing changes in nearshore bed morphology over one annual cycle using data from a subtidal bay, bedrock headland and a banner sand bank in the Bristol Channel UK.