Radial velocities in the open cluster IC 2391

We have determined radial velocities for 31 stars in the field of the open cluster IC 2391, and derived the percentage of probable radial-velocity variables. We improved the orbit of one previously known spectroscopic binary, and confirmed the existence of two double-line binaries. We discussed with such data the membership to the cluster, the average cluster radial velocity and compared the incidence of short-period binaries among the Main-Sequence members of IC 2391 with the incidence for other clusters with similar average axial rotation of its members.Member of the Carrera del Investigador Científico del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República ArgentinaVisiting Astronomer, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, operated by AURA, Inc. under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Groundwater capture processes under a seasonal variation in natural recharge and discharge

 "Capture" is the increase in recharge and the decrease in discharge that occurs when pumping is imposed on an aquifer system that was in a previous state of approximate dynamic equilibrium. Regional groundwater models are usually used to calculate capture in a two-step procedure. A steady-state solution provides an initial-head configuration, a set of flows through the boundaries for the modeled region, and the initial basis for the capture calculation. The transient solutions provide the total change in flows through the boundaries. A difference between the transient and steady-state solutions renders the capture calculation. When seasonality is a modeling issue, the use of a single initial hydraulic head and a single set of boundary flows leads to miscalculations of capture. Instead, an initial condition for each season should be used. This approach may be accomplished by determining steady oscillatory solutions, which vary through the seasons but repeat from year to year. A regional groundwater model previously developed for a portion of the San Pedro River basin, Arizona, USA, is modified to illustrate the effect that different initial conditions have on transient solutions and on capture calculations. Received, September 1996 · Revised, October 1997 · Accepted, October 1997     

Rb-Sr dating of alteration events in granitoids

Veins and other effects of low-grade metamorphism are often found in igneous rocks. A method for dating such veins is proposed. It is based on the presence of Ca-bearing, Rb-free minerals in the veins and their aureoles. The method is applicable if five conditions are satisfied. The effects of low-grade metamorphism on Rb-Sr dating of the emplacement (extrusion) age are also studied. Veins and their aureoles in granitoid rocks from Central Sweden are used as a working example. Two groups of vein ages were found, 1600-1500 Ma and 1250-1100 Ma, which coincide with the two known periods of tensional movements in the region. The ratio ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the aureoles and their neighbourhood at the time of vein formation (Sr(a)) shows several different patterns. One with constant Sr(a), independent of the distance to the vein, indicates complete homogenization at the time of alteration. Another shows an increase in Sr(a) close to the vein, indicating that it was rejuvenated. Furthermore, the Sr ratio might determine whether an alteration effect could be of deuteric origin or not: deuteric effects should be characterized by a Sr(a) value equal to the initial Sr-isotope ratio.     

Study of the effect of temperature, irradiance and salinity on growth and yessotoxin production by the dinoflagellate Protoceratium reticulatum in culture by using a kinetic and factorial approach

A complete first order orthogonal plan was used to optimize the growth and the production of yessotoxin (YTX) by the dinoflagellate Protoceratium reticulatum in culture by controlling salinity, temperature and irradiance. Initially, an approach to the kinetic data of cellular density and YTX production for each one of the experimental design conditions was performed. The P. reticulatum growth and YTX production were fitted to logistical equations and to a first-order kinetic model, respectively. The parameters obtained from this adjustment were used as dependent variables for the formulation of the empirical equations of the factorial design tested. The results showed that in practically all the cases for both, P. reticulatum growth and YTX production, irradiance is the primary independent variable and has a positive effect in the range 50-90 micromol photons m(-2) s(-1). Additionally, in certain specific cases, temperature reveals significant positive effects when maintained between 15 and 23 degrees C and salinity in the range of 20-34 displays negative effects. Despite the narrow ranges used in the work, results showed the suitability of factorial analysis to evaluate the optimal conditions for growth and yessotoxin production by the dinoflagellate P. reticulatum.     

A high-resolution operational forecast system for oil spill response in Belfast Lough

This paper presents a high-resolution operational forecast system for providing support to oil spill response in Belfast Lough. The system comprises an operational oceanographic module coupled to an oil spill forecast module that is integrated in a user-friendly web application. The oceanographic module is based on Delft3D model which uses daily boundary conditions and meteorological forcing obtained from COPERNICUS and from the UK Meteorological Office. Downscaled currents and meteorological forecasts are used to provide short-term oil spill fate and trajectory predictions at local scales. Both components of the system are calibrated and validated with observational data, including ADCP data, sea level, temperature and salinity measurements and drifting buoys released in the study area. The transport model is calibrated using a novel methodology to obtain the model coefficients that optimize the numerical simulations. The results obtained show the good performance of the system and its capability for oil spill forecast.     

A Drowned Lagunar Channel in the Southern Brazilian Coast in Response to the 8.2-ka Event: Diatom and Seismic Stratigraphy

Drowning of the coast was initiated by a marine inundation after the Last Glacial Maximum (marine isotope stage (MIS) 2) and has continued during the mid-Holocene and highstand (MIS 1). Detailed analyses of two previously examined core stratigraphy and seismic profiles combined with new grain-size and detailed diatom analyses are used to study the history of the Barra Falsa paleochannel over the last 11,000 years BP and to document the peculiar deposition within the channel fill. A rapid sea-level rise was responsible for flooding the coast in 11,180–10,780, 8420–7930, 8150–7870, and 7640–7430 cal years BP, infilling a low topographic back-barrier region. High deposition rates suggest a rapid filling of the channel, which coincides with an accelerated period of sea-level rise, closely linked to the global 8.2-ka event. The morphology of the channel is recognized by facies units in the underlying strata related to one episode of cut and fill during a single cycle of base-level fall and rise. An overall transgressive sequence above the regional surface is related to marine and marine-brackish sediments, which corresponds to a seaward/central basil fill of a wave-dominated estuary.     

Numerically quantifying energy loss caused by squirt flow

In interconnected microcracks, or in microcracks connected to spherical pores, the deformation associated with the passage of mechanical waves can induce fluid flow parallel to the crack walls, which is known as squirt flow. This phenomenon can also occur at larger scales in hydraulically interconnected mesoscopic cracks or fractures. The associated viscous friction causes the waves to experience attenuation and velocity dispersion. We present a simple hydromechanical numerical scheme, based on the interface-coupled Lamé–Navier and Navier–Stokes equations, to simulate squirt flow in the frequency domain. The linearized, quasi-static Navier–Stokes equations describe the laminar flow of a compressible viscous fluid in conduits embedded in a linear elastic solid background described by the quasi-static Lamé–Navier equations. Assuming that the heterogeneous model behaves effectively like a homogeneous viscoelastic medium at a larger spatial scale, the resulting attenuation and stiffness modulus dispersion are computed from spatial averages of the complex-valued, frequency-dependent stress and strain fields. An energy-based approach is implemented to calculate the local contributions to attenuation that, when integrated over the entire model, yield results that are identical to those based on the viscoelastic assumption. In addition to thus validating this assumption, the energy-based approach allows for analyses of the spatial dissipation patterns in squirt flow models. We perform simulations for a series of numerical models to illustrate the viability and versatility of the proposed method. For a 3D model consisting of a spherical crack embedded in a solid background, the characteristic frequency of the resulting P-wave attenuation agrees with that of a corresponding analytical solution, indicating that the dissipative viscous flow problem is appropriately handled in our numerical solution of the linearized, quasi-static Navier–Stokes equations. For 2D models containing either interconnected cracks or cracks connected to a circular pore, the results are compared with those based on Biot's poroelastic equations of consolidation, which are solved through an equivalent approach. Overall, our numerical simulations and the associated analyses demonstrate the suitability of the coupled Lamé–Navier and Navier–Stokes equations and of Biot's equations for quantifying attenuation and dispersion for a range of squirt flow scenarios. These analyses also allow for delineating numerical and physical limitations associated with each set of equations.     

The role of true polar wander on the Jurassic palaeoclimate

From the Late Carboniferous until the Middle Jurassic, continents were assembled in a quasi-rigid supercontinent called Pangea. The first palaeomagnetic data of South America indicated that the continent remained stationary in similar present-day latitudes during most of the Mesozoic and even the Palaeozoic. However, new palaeomagnetic data suggest that such a scenario is not likely, at least for the Jurassic. In order to test the stationary versus the dynamic-continent model, we studied the Jurassic apparent polar wander paths of the major continents, that is, Eurasia, Africa and North America that all in all show the same shape and chronology of the tracks with respect to those from South America. We thus present a master path that could be useful for the Jurassic Pangea. One of the most remarkable features observed in the path is the change in pole positions at ~197 Ma (Early Jurassic), which denotes the cessation of the counter-clockwise rotation of Pangea and commencement of a clockwise rotation that brought about changes in palaeolatitude and orientation until the end of the Early Jurassic (185 Ma). Here, we analyse a number of phenomena that could have triggered the polar shift between 197 and 185 Ma and conclude that true polar wander is the most likely. In order to do this, we used Morgan’s (Tectonophysics 94:123–139, 1983) grid of hotspots and performed “absolute” palaeogeographical reconstructions of Pangea for the Late Triassic and Jurassic. The palaeolatitudes changes that we observe from our palaeomagnetic data are very well sustained by diverse palaeoclimatic proxies derived from geological and palaeoecological data at this time of both the southern and northern hemispheres.     

Geochemical,isotopic and single crystal <Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar/<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar age constraints on the evolution of the Cerro Galán ignimbrites

The giant ignimbrites that erupted from the Cerro Galán caldera complex in the southern Puna of the high Andean plateau are considered to be linked to crustal and mantle melting as a consequence of delamination of gravitationally unstable thickened crust and mantle lithosphere over a steepening subduction zone. Major and trace element analyses of Cerro Galán ignimbrites (68–71% SiO₂) that include 75 new analyses can be interpreted as reflecting evolution at three crustal levels. AFC modeling and new fractionation corrected δ¹⁸O values from quartz (+7.63–8.85‰) are consistent with the ignimbrite magmas being near 50:50 mixtures of enriched mantle (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ~ 0.7055) and crustal melts (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr near 0.715–0.735). Processes at lower crustal levels are predicated on steep heavy REE patterns (Sm/Yb = 4–7), high Sr contents (>250 ppm) and very low Nb/Ta (9-5) ratios, which are attributed to amphibolite partial melts mixing with fractionating mantle basalts to produce hybrid melts that rise leaving a gravitationally unstable garnet-bearing residue. Processes at mid crustal levels create large negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.45–0.70) and variable trace element enrichment in a crystallizing mush zone with a temperature near 800–850°C. The mush zone is repeatedly recharged from depth and partially evacuated into upper crustal magma chambers at times of regional contraction. Crystallinity differences in the ignimbrites are attributed to biotite, zoned plagioclase and other antecrysts entering higher level chambers where variable amounts of near-eutectic crystallization occurs at temperatures as low as 680°C just preceding eruption. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar single crystal sanidine weighted mean plateau and isochron ages combined with trace element patterns show that the Galán ignimbrite erupted in more than one batch including a ~ 2.13 Ma intracaldera flow and outflows to the west and north at near 2.09 and 2.06 Ma. Episodic delamination of gravitationally unstable lower crust and mantle lithosphere and injection of basaltic magmas, whose changing chemistry reflects their evolution over a steepening subduction zone, could trigger the eruptions of the Cerro Galán ignimbrites.     

Growth anomalies on Acropora cytherea corals

This ten-year study examined the morphological, physiological, and ecological characteristics of coral growth anomalies on Acropora cytherea on Amuro Island, Okinawa, Japan. The objectives of the study were to assess whether the growth anomalies, identified as diffuse disruptions on the skeleton: (i) were more prevalent on large colonies than on small colonies, (ii) were more common near the center of the colonies than peripherally, (iii) affected colony growth and mortality, and (iv) affected coral-colony fecundity and photosynthetic capacity. We hypothesized that the growth anomalies were signs of the onset of aging. The growth anomalies were more prevalent on colonies >2 m diameter, and were concentrated near the central (older) portions of the colonies. The growth anomalies were also associated with reduced productivity and dysfunctional gametogenesis. Still, the growth anomalies did not appear to affect colony survival. The contact experiments showed that the growth anomalies were not contagious, and were most likely a sign of aging that was exacerbated by thermal stress.