A crustal suture and lineament in North Africa

A possible suture between an old craton in West Africa and the Arabian—Nubian shield is marked by a persistent zone of Phanerozoic weakness. This zone extends between the Nile and Niger deltas and passes through the Qattara embayment, along the Bahariya fault, through the Kufra basin, between the Tibesti and Jabal al Uwaynat massifs, through the Bahr el Ghazal and Lake Chad areas, and along the Benoue trough.     

Sea‐level and ocean‐current control on carbonate‐platform growth,Maldives, Indian Ocean

Multichannel high‐resolution seismic and multibeam data were acquired from the Maldives‐isolated carbonate platform in the Indian Ocean for a detailed characterization of the Neogene bank architecture of this edifice. The goal of the research is to decipher the controlling factors of platform evolution, with a special emphasis on sea‐level changes and changes of the oceanic currents. The stacking pattern of Lower to Middle Miocene depositional sequences, with an evolution of a ramp geometry to a flat‐topped platform, reflects variations of accommodation, which here are proposed to be primarily governed by fluctuations of relative sea level. Easterly currents during this stage of bank growth controlled an asymmetric east‐directed progradation of the bank edge. During the late middle Miocene, this system was replaced by a twofold configuration of bank development. Bank growth continued synchronously with partial bank demise and associated sediment‐drift deposition. This turnover is attributed to the onset and/or intensification of the Indian monsoon and related upwelling and occurrence of currents, locally changing environmental conditions and impinging upon the carbonate system. Mega spill over lobes, shaped by reversing currents, formed as large‐scale prograding complexes, which have previously been interpreted as deposits formed during a forced regression. On a regional scale, a complex carbonate‐platform growth can occur, with a coexistence of bank‐margin progradation and aggradation, as well as partial drowning. It is further shown that a downward shift of clinoforms and offlapping geometries in carbonate platforms are not necessarily indicative for a sea‐level driven forced regression. Findings are expected to be applicable to other examples of Cenozoic platforms in the Indo‐Pacific region.     

Resolving mechanisms of toxicity while pursuing ecotoxicological relevance?

In this age of modern biology, aquatic toxicological research has pursued mechanisms of action of toxicants. This has provided potential tools for ecotoxicologic investigations. However, problems of biocomplexity and issues at higher levels of biological organization remain a challenge. In the 1980s and 1990s and continuing to a lesser extent today, organisms residing in highly contaminated field sites or exposed in the laboratory to calibrated concentrations of individual compounds were carefully analyzed for their responses to priority pollutants. Correlation of biochemical and structural analyses in cultured cells and tissues, as well as the in vivo exposures led to the production and application of biomarkers of exposure and effect and to our awareness of genotoxicity and its chronic manifestations, such as neoplasms, in wild fishes. To gain acceptance of these findings in the greater environmental toxicology community, “validation of the model” versus other, better-established often rodent models, was necessary and became a major focus. Resultant biomarkers were applied to heavily contaminated and reference field sites as part of effects assessment and with investigations following large-scale disasters such as oil spills or industrial accidents.

Over the past 15 years, in the laboratory, small aquarium fish models such as medaka (Oryzias latipes), zebrafish (Danio rerio), platyfish (Xiphophorus species), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), and sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) were increasingly used establishing mechanisms of toxicants. Today, the same organisms provide reliable information at higher levels of biological organization relevant to ecotoxicology. We review studies resolving mechanisms of toxicity and discuss ways to address biocomplexity, mixtures of contaminants, and the need to relate individual level responses to populations and communities.     

Searches for very high energy gamma rays from blazars with CANGAROO-III telescope in 2005-2009

We have searched for very high energy (VHE) gamma rays from four blazars using the CANGAROO-III imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope. We report the results of the observations of H 2356-309, PKS 2155-304, PKS 0537-441, and 3C 279, performed from 2005 to 2009, applying a new analysis to suppress the effects of the position dependence of Cherenkov images in the field of view. No significant VHE gamma ray emission was detected from any of the four blazars. The GeV gamma-ray spectra of these objects were obtained by analyzing Fermi/LAT archival data. Wide range (radio to VHE gamma-ray bands) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) including CANGAROO-III upper limits, GeV gamma-ray spectra, and archival data, even though they are non-simultaneous, are discussed using a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model in combination with a external Compton (EC) radiation. The HBLs (H 2356-309 and PKS 2155-304) can be explained by a simple SSC model, and PKS 0537-441 and 3C 279 are well modeled by a combination of SSC and EC model. We find a consistency with the blazar sequence in terms of strength of magnetic field and component size.     

Bizarre geochemistry of komatiites from the Crixás greenstone belt,Brazil

Komatiite lava flows in the Crixás greenstone belt, Goiás, Brazil, have textures and volcanic structures typical of Archean komatiites, but are geochemically most unusual. The flows are porphyritic and massive, or layered with spinifex upper parts and olivine cumulate lower parts. MgO contents range from 18 to 40%. In such lavas, only olivine (and minor chromite) can have crystallized, but neither major nor trace elements fall on olivine control lines. In MgO variation diagrams, CaO and Sr fall on lines with slopes steeper than olivine control lines; SiO₂, FeO, Na₂O, K₂O and Y show little systematic variation; Zr shows a large variation that does not correlate with MgO; and Al₂O₃ decreases markedly with decreasing MgO. The aberrant behaviour is highlighted by the REE (rare earth elements) in spinifex and olivine cumulate layers from three flows: in the spinifex layers, chondrite-normalized REE patterns are hump-shaped with maxima at Nd or Sm ((La/Sm)_N=0.6, (Gd/Yb)_N=1.6–2.3), whereas cumulate zones in the same flows have steadily sloping patterns, with LREE enriched relative to HREE ((La/Sm)_N=1.3, (Gd/Yb)_N=1.4). Neither normal magmatic processes acting during emplacement of the komatiites, nor thermal erosion and wall-rock assimilation can explain these effects, and we speculate that elements commonly thought of as “immobile” (e.g. Al, Zr, REE) migrated during hydrothermal alteration or metamorphism. A Pb-Pb whole rock isochron gave an age of 2,728±140 Ma and selected Sm-Nd analyses an apparent isochron age of 2,825±98 Ma (ɛ_Nd≈0). The Pb-Pb age is believed to be the approximate time of emplacement. Interpretation of the Sm-Nd data is complicated by the evidence of mobility of REE.     

Applying essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation to controlled‐source electromagnetic modelling*

Modelling and inversion of controlled‐source electromagnetic (CSEM) fields requires accurate interpolation of modelled results near strong resistivity contrasts. There, simple linear interpolation may produce large errors, whereas higher‐order interpolation may lead to oscillatory behaviour in the interpolated result. We propose to use the essentially non‐oscillatory, piecewise polynomial interpolation scheme designed for piecewise smooth functions that contains discontinuities in the function itself or in its first or higher derivatives. The scheme uses a non‐linear adaptive algorithm to select a set of interpolation points that represent the smoothest part of the function among the sets of neighbouring points. We present numerical examples to demonstrate the usefulness of the scheme. The first example shows that the essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation (ENO) scheme better captures an isolated discontinuity. In the second example, we consider the case of sampling the electric field computed by a finite‐volume CSEM code at a receiver location. In this example, the ENO interpolation performs quite well. However, the overall error is dominated by the discretization error. The other examples consider the comparison between sampling with essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation and existing interpolation schemes. In these examples, essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation provides more accurate results than standard interpolation, especially near discontinuities.     

The biogeochemical sulfur cycle in the marine boundary layer over the Northeast Pacific Ocean

The major components of the marine boundary layer biogeochemical sulfur cycle were measured simultaneously onshore and off the coast of Washington State, U.S.A. during May 1987. Seawater dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations on the continental shelf were strongly influenced by coastal upwelling. Concentration further offshore were typical of summer values (2.2 nmol/L) at this latitude. Although seawater DMS concentrations were high on the biologically productive continental shelf (2–12 nmol/L), this region had no measurable effect on atmospheric DMS concentrations. Atmospheric DMS concentrations (0.1–12 nmol/m³), however, were extremely dependent upon wind speed and boundary layer height. Although there appeared to be an appreciable input of non-sea-salt sulfate to the marine boundary layer from the free troposphere, the local flux of DMS from the ocean to the atmosphere was sufficient to balance the remainder of the sulfur budget.     

The gravitational field of topographic-isostatic masses and the hypothesis of mass condensation II-the topographic-isostatic geoid

In Part I we focussed on a convergent representation of the gravitational potential generated bytopographic masses on top of the equipotential surface atMean Sea Level, thegeoid, and by those masses which compensate topography. Topographic masses have also been condensated, namely represented by a single layer. Part II extends the computation of the gravitational field of topographic-isostatic masses by a detailed analysis of itsforce field in terms ofvector-spherical harmonic functions. In addition, the discontinuous mass-condensated topographic gravitational force vector (head force) is given. Once we identify theMoho discontinuity asone interface of isostatically compensated topographical masses, we have computed the topographic potential and the gravitational potential which is generated by isostatically compensated masses atMean Sea Level, the geoid, and illustrated by various figures of geoidal undulations. In comparison to a data oriented global geoid computation ofJ. Engels (1991) the conclusion can be made that the assumption of aconstant crustal mass density, the basic condition for isostatic modeling, does not apply. Insteaddensity variations in the crust, e.g. betweenoceanic and continental crust densities, have to be introduced in order to match the global real geoid and its topographic-isostatic model. The performed analysis documents that thestandard isostatic models based upon aconstant crustal density areunreal.