Planetary-type rare gases in an upper mantle-derived amphibole

All twenty-three stable rare gas isotopes have been measured in a mantle-derived amphibole, kaersutite. The elemental abundance pattern of the rare gases is similar to the “planetary” rare gas pattern as defined by carbonaceous chondrites. The³He/⁴He ratio, (4.9 ± 0.6) × 10^?5, is suggestive of primordial He degassing from the mantle. Excess²¹Ne is present. The measured⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar ratio,400 ± 5, may represent a mantle⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar ratio <240 when corrected for radiogenic⁴⁰Ar. The heavy isotopes of Kr and t0he Xe isotopes are within error of the atmosphere values.     

Clay catalysis of aromatic hydrogen-exchange reactions

The exchange of aromatic hydrogen in the presence of clay catalysts has been studied by measuring the rates of detritiation of some tritiated naphthalene derivatives on homoionic bentonites. The rate of reaction is influenced by the position of tritium on the ring, the presence of a methoxysubstituent on the ring and the acidity of the clay catalyst. It is inferred that the mechanism of exchange involves an adsorbed species similar to the arenium ion intermediate of electrophilic aromatic substitutions in homogeneous systems. In some cases exchange of hydrogen between acidic clay surfaces and naphthalene derivatives could be detected at temperatures as low as 23°C, and in aqueous slurries at 70°C. This observed reactivity suggests that these reactions could occur in sedimentary environments where organic matter, such as petroleum hydrocarbons, is in contact with clay surfaces. The hydrogen isotopic composition of aromatic hydrogen in petroleum may therefore be related to that of the acidic water adsorbed on clay surfaces with which the petroleum has been in contact.     

Office dispersal in metropolitan areas 1: a review and framework for analysis

Policies advocating restraint on the growth of office activity in central areas, and the dispersal of that activity to suburban centres have become increasingly popular in large metropolitan areas in Britain and Australia in recent years. This is the first of two papers which explore the implications of such a policy in detail. For these policies have been based on rather subjective judgements and on conventional wisdom; it has simply been assumed that they would solve growing problems of central congestion, environmental disamenity and job access. Little attention has been paid to the full range and distribution of costs and benefits that might arise. Experience to date has suggested that while an office dispersal policy has the potential to reduce problems in the central area, it can also give rise to serious problems of congestion, increased energy consumption and inequities of access in suburban areas. These problems which stem from the likely switch from public transport to cars for work journeys have generally been ignored by those advocating dispersal policies, and have received little attention in the few academic studies of this area. The paper concludes by outlining the assumptions and methodology adopted for a comprehensive case study of the cost and benefits of an office dispersal policy within the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia.     

Office dispersal in metropolitan areas II: Case study results and conclusions

A case study of office dispersal options in Sydney, Australia is presented within a Planning Balance Sheet Framework. Two dispersal options, one involving a limited number of large subcentres, the other a large number of smaller subcentres are examined. It is shown that both options are likely to result in considerable work-journey time savings for employees in relocated offices (particularly clerical and female workers) and considerable improvements in job access for many suburban residents. Overall, however, the large subcentre option appears to offer greater net benefits to both office employees and relocated organizations. Yet both options are likely to generate high external costs in terms of suburban road congestion, increased energy consumption, financial losses to public transport operators, and inequities of access to captive public transport users. These problems could be avoided if the government were to embark on a programme of upgrading public transport services and restricting car usage to the point where the majority of suburban commuters used public transport. This would involve considerable public expenditure, which is unlikely to be forthcoming in the present economic climate. But without such a programme, a policy of office dispersal would create more problems than it would solve.     

Floorspace to worker ratios in shopping centres: A note

The characteristics of employment within the retailing sector are still poorly understood. This short paper expands on a previously presented study of Canberra (Geoforum10, 407–425) by reporting on the systematic variation between the ratio of floorspace to employees and type of shopping centre, and the different relationships between floorspace per worker and size of store by type of shopping centre. The planning implications in terms of employment provision are briefly discussed.     

Pollution history of the savannah river estuary and comparisons with Baltic Sea pollution history

The sediment record, as revealed in sediment cores, can be used to reconstruct the history of contaminant input into estuaries. The basic assumptions are that contaminant inputs equilibrate relatively rapidly with sediment inputs and that the sediment column represents a continuous sequence of sediment and associated contaminant accumulation. With radiochemical chronologies, it is possible to date sediments over a period corresponding to about five half-lives (100 years for ²¹⁰Pb). In our study we reconstruct the pollution history of the Savannah Estuary, which is a typical estuary in the South Atlantic Bight. A series of cores were taken in the estuary, followed by the analysis of the cores for a variety of organic and inorganic contaminants. Ages were assigned to different depth intervals by the use of two radiotracers, ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs. The major pesticides found were an isomer of DDT and dieldrin. The peak in their concentrations (1967) correlated with peak use of these pesticides before their use was banned. Between 1959 and 1962, there was more input of anthropogenic PAHs than before and after this period. The metals which showed significant changes in the cores include mercury, lead and chromium. Chromium reached a maximum during the late 1950s, followed by a decrease in the late 1960s. This chromium peak coincided with the initial operation of a titanium dioxide pigment plant in the Savannah Estuary. An interesting aspect of the study, which has been noted by many pollution history studies, was the decrease in the concentration of anthropogenic chemicals during the past two decades, suggesting that pollution controls have been effective, even while industrial and population growth was taking place.Similar studies have been carried out to reconstruct the historical record of contamination in the Baltic Sea. Concentrations of metals were found to increase after 1880 (industrial revolution in northern Europe). PCBs peaked in concentration in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, while DDT peaked in the 1960s. The Baltic experienced a major input of nutrients (N and P) after 1965 resulting from heavy use of fertilizers in this region.     

Coupled degassing and crystallization: experimental study at continuous pressure drop, with application to volcanic bombs

 Experiments on degassing of water-saturated granite melts with a pressure drop from 100 and 450 MPa to 40 and 120 MPa, respectively, at temperatures close to feldspar liquidus (750–700  °C), were carried out to determine the modality of water exsolution and vesicle formation at the liquidus temperature. Pressure-drop rates as small as approximately 100 bar/day were used. Uniform space distributions of bubbles of exsolved water were obtained with starting glass containing a small fraction (≈0.5 vol.%) of trapped air bubbles. Volume crystallization of feldspar was observed in degassed melts supplied with seeds. Bubble size distributions (BSD) measured in granite glasses after degassing are presented. Data on vesicle characteristics (number, radius, area, elongation) were acquired on images digitized with standard software, while the reconstruction of size distributions was performed with the Schwartz-Saltikov "unfolding" procedure. Bubble size distributions of size classes in the range 5–1000 μm were acquired with proper magnification and satisfactory statistical reliability of determined number densities. The BSDs of the experimental samples are compared with the results of measurements of rapidly degassed products of Mt. Etna and Vulcano Island. Many particular features of the bubble nucleation and growth can be distinguished in an individual BSD. However, the general BSD of the whole data set, including natural ones, can be relatively well described with linear regression in bilogarithmic coordinates. The slope of this regression is approximately 2.8±0.1. This dependence is in striking contrast with distributions theoretically predicted with classical nucleation models based on homogeneous nucleation of vesicles. The theoretical distribution requires the occurrence of strong maxima that are not observed in our experimental and natural samples, thus arguing for heterogeneous nucleation mechanisms. Received: 1 October 1998 / Accepted: 25 June 1999     

Trace metals in southern Californian mussels

The intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus is a useful indicator of anthropogenic inputs of several trace metals off southern California. Highest metal concentrations were measured in the digestive glands, and no significant differences attibutable to sex were found for this tissue. The distribution of lead appears to be dominated by diffuse inputs, while those of copper, chromium, and silver are most related to urban point sources. No distinct pattern was observed for nickel or zinc.     

Antiferromagnetic inclusions in lunar glass

The magnetic susceptibility of 11 glass spherules from the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 fines and two specimens of a relatively large glass spherical shell were studied as a function of temperature from room temperature to liquid helium temperatures. All but one specimen showed the presence of antiferromagnetic inclusions. Closely spaced temperature measurements of the magnetic susceptibility below 77 K on five of the specimens showed antiferromagnetic temperature transitions (Néel transitions). With the exception of ilmenite in one specimen, these transitions did not correspond to any transitions in known antiferromagnetic compounds.     

Co-seismic landslide detection after M 7.4 earthquake on June 23, 2020, in Oaxaca,Mexico, based on rapid mapping method using high and medium resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images

Landslides are the fourth most common natural disasters in the world, with Costa Rica and southern Mexico being the most affected regions of Central America (Froude and Petley, 2018). In this work, we propose a semi-automated method to detect earthquake-triggered landslides for rapid mapping after a disaster event using open Sentinel-1 data. We used high-resolution TerraSAR-X data and very high-resolution Spot-7 images to compare and evaluate the accuracy of landslide distribution maps generated from the semi-automated method, applied to the M 7.1 earthquake on June 23, 2017, in Oaxaca, Mexico. The outcomes showed better accuracy in descending orbits due to ‘windward-leeward’ physiographic conditions, with a 50.56% quality percentage. This shows a reasonably good capacity to detect co-seismic landslides. However, the breaching factor was also high because several features, such as bare soils and agricultural areas, were incorrectly identified as co-seismic landslides. Finally, this semi-automated method establishes a basis for future improvements in methodologies applied to construct rapid mapping inventories using medium SAR scales.