Evaluation of Organic Matter,Hydrocarbon Source,and Depositional Environment of Onshore Warkalli Sedimentary Sequence from Kerala-Konkan Basin,South India

Multidisciplinary analysis of the carbonaceous sediments of Warkalli Formation (Mio-Pliocene) from the Warkalli cliff section has been done to assess the source of organic matter, palaeodepositional settings and the hydrocarbon potential. The n-alkane distribution from n-C₁₂ to n-C₃₃ along with bimodal distribution indicates significant organic matter contribution from microbial activity and higher plants. The contribution from angiosperm source vegetation is indicated by the oleanane type of triterpenoids. The hopanes distribution indicates the immature stage of the organic matter, which is in agreement with the T_max (av. 401 °C) and huminite reflectance (av. 0.28% R_r) values. The total organic carbon (TOC) contents vary between 0.8 and 6.72 wt. % in the studied sediments. Hydrogen index and oxygen index values range from 16 to106 mg HC/g TOC, and 113 to 344 mg CO₂/g TOC, respectively. The maceral content is low, being dominated by the detrohuminite submaceral and the mineral matter accounts for 68 to 77% of the total composition. The phytoclast group (63–87%) is dominant with subordinate amorphous organic matter (4–35%). The study shows that the sediments were deposited in a marginal suboxic basin with intermittent variations. All the parameters unequivocally suggest that the studied sequence holds the potential to generate gaseous hydrocarbons.     

Cooling Flow Star Formation and the Apparent Stellar Ages of Elliptical Galaxies

Simple theoretical arguments indicate that cooled interstellar gas in bright elliptical galaxies forms into a young stellar population having a bottom-heavy but optically luminous initial mass function extending to approximately 2 M middle dot in circle. When the colors and spectral features of this young population are combined with those of the underlying old stellar population, the apparent ages are significantly reduced, similar to the relatively young apparent ages observed in many elliptical galaxies. Galactic mergers are not required to resupply young stars. The sensitivity of continuous star formation to LB and LX&solm0;LB is likely to account for the observed spread in apparent ages among elliptical galaxies. Local star formation is accompanied by enhanced stellar Hbeta equivalent widths, stronger optical emission lines, more thermal X-ray emission, and lower apparent temperatures in the hot gas. The young stars should cause M&solm0;L to vary with galactic radius, perturbing the fundamental plane of the old stars alone.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Aspect Sensitivity Considerations in Interpreting Radar Meteor Range-Spread Trail Echo Durations

Earth, Moon, and Planets -     

Assessing professional benefits of GIS certification

ABSTRACT

The certification of geographic information system (GIS) professionals remains a contentious topic. After more than 25 years, the GIS community remains divided over the need to formally recognize GIS professionals who maintain standards of professional competency and conduct. Unfortunately, few studies have examined individuals who have become certified or the professional benefits of certification. This study explores GIS certification through a survey of 1731 geospatial professionals who became geographic information systems professionals (GISPs) between 2003 and 2014. A web-based questionnaire asked GISPs about the certification process, its influence on their compensation and advancement, and other issues. Quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that perceptions about certification fall along a wide spectrum with GISPs employed in private industry seeing fewer benefits compared with those employed in government or not-for-profit organizations. While a large number of respondents conveyed pride in completing the certification process, others expressed frustration over the program’s lack of visibility, standards that have enabled less qualified peers to become certified, and the slow progress at which GIS certification has achieved respect compared with programs administered in other fields such as engineering and planning.     

Considerations concerning the non-rigid Earth nutation theory

This paper presents the reflections of the Working Group of which the tasks were to examine the non-rigid Earth nutation theory. To this aim, six different levels have been identified: Level 1 concerns the input model (giving profiles of the Earth's density and theological properties) for the calculation of the Earth's transfer function of Level 2; Level 2 concerns the integration inside the Earth in order to obtain the Earth's transfer function for the nutations at different frequencies; Level 3 concerns the rigid Earth nutations; Level 4 examines the convolution (products in the frequency domain) between the Earth's nutation transfer function obtained in Level 2, and the rigid Earth nutation (obtained in Level 3). This is for an Earth without ocean and atmosphere; Level 5 concerns the effects of the atmosphere and the oceans on the precession, obliquity rate, and nutations; Level 6 concerns the comparison with the VLBI observations, of the theoretical results obtained in Level 4, corrected for the effects obtained in Level 5.Each level is discussed at the state of the art of the developments.     

Preliminary results of atmospheric acoustic sounding at Calgary

Operation of a monostatic acoustic sounder on the campus of The University of Calgary for the period March to September, 1976, has provided data on the atmospheric boundary layer over Calgary. The formation and dissipation of the nocturnal temperature inversion layer leaves a clear signature in the sounder records. A trend is discerned in which the nocturnal layer tends to form at sunset, whereas convective instability is established some 2–3 hours after sunrise. Comparison of sounder records with an extensive set of radiosonde temperature profiles has shown that the height of the inversion layer can be determined reliably when a single, dark, ground-based return is visible on the sounder charts. On many occasions, however, the sounder detects multiple structures in the atmosphere. In these cases, it is difficult to establish a systematic correspondence of the turbulent structure as observed in the sounder records with the temperature profile as observed by the radiosonde.     

印度南部麻粒岩地体Namakkal陆块新太古代钙硅酸盐岩的岩石学和锆石U-Pb年代学研究

本文对印度南部麻粒岩地体Namakkal陆块Tammampatti地区方柱石石榴子石钙硅酸盐岩进行了详细的岩石学、锆石U-Pb年代学和变质相平衡模拟研究,以研究其岩石成因和地质意义。岩相学观察识别出两阶段变质矿物组合：第一阶段为石榴子石+方柱石+斜长石+榍石+钛铁矿;第二阶段为石榴子石边部的绿帘石和方柱石边缘的方解石、斜长石和石英冠状体。CL图像分析显示锆石可分为两种,分别为高亮度和低亮度的变质锆石。LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年得到高亮度变质锆石²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb加权平均年龄为2562±17Ma,而低亮度变质锆石的²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb加权平均年龄稍年轻,为2495±15Ma。基于相平衡模拟计算了2个样品18ID-24和18ID-25的P-T视剖面图,确定它们峰期变质PT条件分别为4.3~7.1kbar、800~960℃和4.0~7.8kbar、750~854℃。高亮度变质锆石年龄2562±17Ma与Namakkal陆块紫苏花岗岩的原岩结晶年龄相当,其代表了紫苏花岗岩的原岩侵入导致的接触交代变质作用形成方柱石石榴子石钙硅酸盐岩的时代;低亮度变质锆石年龄2495±15Ma与该地区大约2530~2440Ma的高温-超高温变质作用时代相吻合,因此认为其代表区域性变质作用叠加的时代。根据全岩成分以及矿物组合,我们推测该岩石为中酸性岩浆岩（紫苏花岗岩原岩）与碳酸盐岩发生交代变质作用的产物。

     

Multidecadal biological monitoring and abatement program assessing human impacts on aquatic ecosystems within the Oak Ridge Reservation in eastern Tennessee,USA

Human activities can be powerful drivers of ecosystem change within catchments. While most long-term catchment studies have been conducted at pristine sites, such studies are less common from sites more impacted by human activity. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) was developed in the mid-1980s to (1) assess compliance with environmental regulations, (2) identify causes of adverse ecological impacts, (3) provide data for human and ecological risk assessments, and (4) evaluate the effectiveness of remedial actions taken to mitigate the impacts of contaminants in soils, groundwater, and surface water by documenting ecological recovery on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), a federally owned 33 476-acre site in eastern Tennessee, managed by the US Department of Energy. The ORR is composed of multiple watersheds containing many small to mid-size streams. BMAP uses an integrated approach for determining stream health; its databases include long-term seasonal records of contaminant concentrations in water and biota, data from aquatic toxicity testing, and surveys of macroinvertebrate and fish assemblages from impacted and reference streams. These long-term data provide valuable records of degradation and recovery in catchment ecosystems. Our objective here is to describe our study system and data series in order to increase awareness of the availability of these long-term data to the catchment science community.     

College students’ consumption, contribution, and risk awareness related to online mapping services and social media outlets: does geography and GIS knowledge matter?

Location-enabled online tools and/or services (i.e. Google Earth/Maps, Flickr, Facebook check-ins, etc.) have been widely used for distributing and processing geospatial-related data. They attract diverse users to consume and contribute geographic information (GI) in many different forms. This study examines college students’ consumption and contribution of GI through these tools and/or services as well as their perception of risk and privacy. It evaluates the impact of Geographic information systems (GIS) and geography knowledge on the related behavior and perception. Through conducting a survey, it was found that college students’ consumption frequency of GI through the investigated tools and services is positively related to their knowledge in GIS and geography, but their GI contribution is not related. GIS knowledge was found to help raise students’ awareness level of risk. However, this relationship does not translate into students’ concern about potential privacy disclosure or their willingness to share personal location information through using location-enabled online tools and/or services. Discussions on the gap between students’ consumption and contribution of GI through the tools and/or services are shared in the paper as well as possible explanations on the disconnection between their risk awareness, privacy concern, and willingness to share personal information. Future research directions are discussed.