Raman spectroscopic study of PbCO3 at high pressures and temperatures

Cerussite (PbCO₃) has been investigated by high-pressure and high-temperature Raman spectroscopy up to pressures of 17.2 GPa and temperatures of 723 K. Two pressure induced phase transitions were observed at about 8.0(2) and 16.0(2) GPa, respectively. The post-aragonite transition (PbCO₃-II) at 8.0(2) GPa is accompanied by softening of the v ₂-out-of-plane mode of the CO ₃ ^2? group and disappearance of the B_1g (v ₄-in-plane band of the CO ₃ ^2? group) mode. Stronger shifts of the carbonate group modes after the phase transition suggest that the new structure is more compressible. The formation of a second high-pressure polymorph begins at about 10 GPa. It is accompanied by the occurrence of three new bands at different pressures and splitting of the v ₁-symmetric C–O stretching mode of the CO ₃ ^2? group. The transitions are reversible on pressure release. A semi-quantitative phase diagram for PbCO₃ as a function of pressure and temperature is proposed.     

Occurrence Forms of Carbon,Sulfur, and Noble Metals in Deposits of the Black-Shale Formation by the Example of the Degdekan Gold-Ore Deposit (Northeastern Russia)

Pyrite crystals and ore-bearing shales of the Degdekan deposit were studied by means of XPS, SEM–EDX, EPMA, and AAS. Five peaks of carbon organic forms were identified, conforming to polymer compounds containing either double bonds of carbon or alkyne groups and compounds containing C–OH and C=O bonds, as well as, probably, small amounts of S-containing compounds and those with functional groups of carboxylic acids. Sulfate prevails over sulfite in pyrites; among the surface sulfide forms, disulfide prevails over monosulfide; the presence of polysulfide is registered. The occurrence of various chemical forms of sulfur on the surface might provide for concentrating of microelements including the noble metals (NMs) in their surface-bound forms. The regular behavior of NMs (Au, Pt, Pd, and Ru) depending on the grain sizes (specific surfaces) of pyrite crystals along with the narrow range of the ratios of structural and surface components of the concentrations of different NMs points to NM coprecipitation with pyrite during the same productive stage. No capture of NM-containing carbonaceous phases took place, which should violate the regularity of Au distribution in pyrites of the Sukhoi Log deposit.     

Effects of the solar eclipse of August 1, 2008, on the earth’s lower atmosphere

The paper presents results of optical observations and analysis of dynamics of effects on the earth’s lower atmosphere of the partial solar eclipse (of magnitude 42%) of August 1, 2008, near Kharkov. This is compared with the effects induced by the partial solar eclipses on August 11, 1999, and October 3, 2005. All three eclipses occurred around midday. The standard deviation of the solar-limb displacement σ _S during the eclipses on October 3, 2005, August 1, 2008, and August 11, 1999, was established to decrease by 0.13, 0.30, and 0.68″ at the maximum of the solar obscuration function 0.13, 0.31, and 0.73, respectively, so that the temperature drop in the earth’s lower atmosphere t _a was 1.3, 2.0, and 7.3 K. The time lags of decreases of σ _S and t _a was found to be 15 and 5 minutes.     

Post-glacial diatom and geochemical records of ecological status and water level changes of Lake Vorota,Western Beringia

Journal of Paleolimnology - In this study, radiocarbon-dated geochemical and diatom records from Lake Vorota located within the informal meteorological ‘pole of cold’ of the northern...     

Shear-wave polarizations in the Peter the First Range indicating crack-induced anisotropy in a thrust-fault regime

Summary. Three-component seismograms of small local earthquakes recorded in the Peter the First Range of mountains near Garm, Tadzhikistan SSR, display shear-wave splitting similar to that previously observed near the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey. The Peter the First Range is in a region of compressional tectonics, whereas the North Anatolian Fault is a comparatively simple strike-slip fault. Detailed analysis of the Turkish records suggests that the splitting is diagnostic of crack-induced anisotropy caused by vertical microcracks aligned parallel to the direction of maximum compression. Preliminary examination of paper records from Garm shows that most shear waves arriving within the shear-wave window display shear-wave splitting, and that the polarizations of leading shear-waves are consistently aligned in a NE/SW direction. The area is complicated and the tectonics are not well-understood, but the NE/SW direction is approximately perpendicular to the compressional axis in many of the fault-plane mechanisms of the earthquakes. These earthquakes are usually at depths between 5 and 12 km, although there are some deeper events nearby.
Parallel shear-wave polarizations, such as those observed, are expected to indicate the strike of nearly vertical parallel microcracks, which would be aligned parallel to the direction of maximum compression. Thus the shear-wave polarizations in the Peter the First Range indicate that the directions of principal stress are reversed in the rock above the earthquake foci where thrust faulting is taking place.     

Cache-efficient parallel eikonal solver for multicore CPUs

Numerical solution of the eikonal equation is frequently used to compute first-arrival travel times for a given velocity model in seismic applications. Computations for large three-dimensional models become expensive requiring the use of efficient parallel solvers. We present new parallel implementations of the fast sweeping and locking sweeping methods optimized for shared memory systems such as multicore CPUs; we call them block fast sweeping method (BFSM) and block locking sweeping method (BLSM). Proposed methods are based on the domain decomposition approach with a special attention paid to high efficiency of the cache utilization and task execution synchronization. Performance tests on realistic models show high parallel efficiency of 85–95% on modern multicore CPUs and require the same number of iterations to converge as do the serial sweeping methods. We also highlight the importance of properly selecting the stopping criterion in the iterative sweeping methods aiming for a balance between computational time and accuracy of the result required by an application. In particular, we show that in seismic applications one can reach reasonable accuracy of computed travel times while dramatically reducing the number of iterations compared to the case of using the full convergence stopping criterion.     

Quasi-periodicity of MgXII X-ray bursts revealed by CORONAS-F SPIRIT data for solar active regions

A spectral analysis of a series of integrated MgXII 8.42 Å X-ray intensities recorded by the CORONAS-F SPIRIT spectroheliometer is presented. Statistically significant peaks for periods in the intervals 12–30 min and 40–200 min were found in the power spectra. The power spectrum for these periods changed after the emergence of new photospheric magnetic flux in the active region NOAA 9840.     

Seasonal Variations in the North-South Asymmetry of Polarized Light of Jupiter

Over an 18-year period, seasonal changes in the north-south asymmetry of polarization at high latitudes of Jupiter have been revealed by polarimetric observations in blue light. The average seasonal difference in the polarization degree between north and south is positive and equal to about 0.5%. There is some relationship between seasonal variations in the observed difference and the seasonal north-south asymmetry in solar radiation incident on Jupiter's atmosphere. There are two maxima on the observed seasonal curve, falling on the jovian spring and autumn and coinciding correspondingly with positive and negative maxima of the heliographic latitude of Jupiter. Two possible explanations are discussed: seasonal changes in insolation and/or time-dependent magnetospheric influence on the polar events.