Strengths and weaknesses of the global ocean conveyor: Inter-basin freshwater disparities as the major control

According to the current paradigm of modern climatology and oceanography, the global ocean thermohaline circulation works as the so-called “global ocean salinity conveyor belt” – a system of currents connecting different ocean basins and most notably – the northern North Atlantic and northern North Pacific Oceans – the most distant regions of the world ocean. It is shown here that a slight disparity in freshwater redistribution between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans can be sufficient for building up and maintaining a global conveyor-type ocean thermohaline circulation. On the other hand, relatively small changes in this disparity leading to change in sea surface salinity contrasts between and in the north-south within the northern parts of these two oceans can easily change the conveyor.     

Levels and distributions of organic source tracers in air and roadside dust particles of Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

The concentrations of n-alkanes, unresolved complex mixture (UCM), petroleum molecular markers, other tracers of cooking and burning emissions, and natural background in atmospheric particles and roadside dust particles were measured at eight locations in the city center and the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Atmospheric particles were collected using high-volume filtration (PM-10, GFF) over 24 h average periods. Road dusts were swept up, dried and sieved. Both types of samples were extracted with dichloromethane/methanol mixture (3:1 v/v) by ultrasonic agitation. The extracts were then fractionated by column chromatography and the alkanes subjected to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Total extracts were also analyzed directly by GC–MS after silylation. The molecular distributions of compounds as well as diagnostic geochemical ratios were determined in order to identify the sources of the organic compounds. Samples collected from a rural area and lubricating oils were also analyzed for comparisons. Anthropogenic and biogenic sources such as vehicular emissions, waxes of higher plants, food cooking operations, and biomass and domestic refuse burning processes contributed to the organic matter content of atmospheric and to lesser extent, roadside dust particles.     

Orogenic structure of the Eastern Alps, Europe, from TRANSALP deep seismic reflection profiling

The TRANSALP Group, comprising of partner institutions from Italy, Austria and Germany, acquired data on a 340 km long deep seismic reflection line crossing the Eastern Alps between Munich and Venice. Although the field work was split into four campaigns, between fall 1998 and summer 2001, the project gathered for the first time a continuous profile across the Alps using consistent field acquisition and data processing parameters. These sections span the orogen itself, at its broadest width, as well as the editor Fred Davey and the two adjacent basins. Vibroseis and explosion data, complementary in their depth penetration and resolution characteristics, were obtained along with wide-angle and teleseismic data. The profile shows a bi-vergent asymmetric structure of the crust beneath the Alpine axis which reaches a maximum thickness of 55 km, and 80–100 km long transcrustal ramps, the southward dipping ‘Sub-Tauern-Ramp’ and the northward-dipping ‘Sub-Dolomites-Ramp’. Strongly reflective patterns of these ramps can be traced towards the north to the Inn Valley and towards the south to the Valsugana thrust belt, both of which show enhanced seismicity in the brittle upper crust. The seismic sections do not reveal any direct evidence for the presence of the Periadriatic Fault system, the presumed equivalent to the Insubric Line in the Western Alps. According to our new evolutionary model, the Sub-Tauern-Ramp is linked at depth with remnants of the subducted Penninic Ocean. The ‘crocodile’-type model describes an upper/lower crustal decoupling and wedging of both the European and the Adriatic–African continents.     

Influence of source distance and depth on the branches ofPKP waves

Summary The average dependence of the calibration function q and the travel-time residuals t on the depth and distance of the source has been derived for individual branches of PKP waves using earthquakes from the SW Pacific Ocean (distance interval 147°–159°, depths 0–700 km). The analysis of very distant shocks of all depths according to the regional PKP travel time tables can be completed by the magnitude determination.     

Finite-Element-Berechnungen zur Auswertung herdmechanischer Daten und deren Beziehungen zum Störungsmuster des Ägäis-Raumes

Zusammenfassung Für den Ägäis-Raum liegt seitRitsema 1974 ein umfangreiches Material herdmechanischer Daten vor. In der vorliegenden Studie wird daher die Rekonstruktion der Spannungsfelder aus den Richtungen der maximalen Kompression über ein ebenes Finite-Element-Modell versucht. Die auf diese Weise simulierten Bruchstrukturen werden mit den aus Luftbild- und Satellitenbild-Interpretation ermittelten Photolineationen sowie mit den Ergebnissen bathymetrischer und reflexions-seismischer Untersuchungen verglichen, um zu Aussagen über symmetrologische Beziehungen zwischen rezentem bzw. subrezentem Störungsmuster und rezenten Spannungsverteilungen zu gelangen.

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SinceRitsema 1974 a large amount of focal plane data exists for the Aegean. In this study the reconstruction of the stress field due to the direction of maximum compression as found inRitsema is attempted in a Finite-Element model. The fracture patterns thus simulated are compared with the results of photolineations ascertained from airphotos and satellite images as well as bathymetric and reflection — seismic investigations, in order to determine if a relation exists between the recent or subrecent fracture pattern and the recent stress distribution.

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Résumé DepuisRitsema 1974 un matériel considerable de données existe sur les mécanismes aux foyers des tremblements de terre de la région égéenne. Dans l'étude présente nous essayons done de reconstruire le champ des contraintes à partir des directions de la compression maximale au moyen d'un modèle d'élément-finite. Afin d'arriver à une conclusion sur des relations symmétrologiques entre les directions des failles récentes, respectivement subrécentes, et les répartitions de contraintes récentes, on doit comparer les failles ainsi simulées avec des photolinéations déterminées au moyen de l'interprétation des photos aériennes et satellites d'une part, et des résultats obtenus des recherches bathymétriques et réflexion-sismiques d'autre part.

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Resin diterpenoids as tracers for biomass combustion aerosols

Diterpenoids present in atmospheric particles produced by slash burns were analyzed by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. This suite of compounds, originating in the resinous higher plants which were combusted, was comprised of reaction intermediates in the thermal transformation sequence of components such as abietic acid and dehydroabietin to retene. This sequence parallels the diagenetic alteration/decomposition processes noted in sedimentary records. Since global transport of combustion aerosols has been well documented, it is likely that the thermally-altered diterpenoids elucidated in this study can be deposited directly to sedimentary sinks.     

Floodplain sediments on the divide between Huang He and Chang Jiang,Gansu Province,NW China

At Lingfeng, (34°17'N, 104°08'E) on the northern slopes of the Qinling Mountains, a stratigraphic survey was made of a 21-m-profile of floodplain sediments on the watershed between the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) and Huang He (Yellow River) at 2500 m above sea level. The sediments contain <2 m thick layers of peat and detritical plant matter that had been deposited on the floodplain of the Langouhe. If the radiometric dates are reliable, the chronology of the site spans some 80,000 years, covering an accumulation process from the terminal Last Interglacial up to <24 ka BP. The phase >73 ka BP had cool and wet conditions with a coniferous forest vegetation. Between 73 ka and > 40 ka colder and drier conditions were likely. The vegetation changed from aPicea-Pinus forest to aPicea-Abies-Larix forest with a later increase of non-arboreal pollen. Around 40 ka the climate was warm and moist. The accumulation of silt and organic matter as well as the development of a mixed coniferous forest with high rates of thermophilous trees(Quercus, Castanea) characterize the interstadial conditions at this time. Later on, the climate changed to cool and moist conditions, evidenced by silt and peat accumulation and a coniferous forest vegetation up to <24 ka BP. The loess in this area was deposited after 24 ka and erosion by the tributaries of Chang Jiang and Huang He to a depth of at least 40 m created the watershed between the two river systems.     

Age of intrusion and rapid cooling of the Frankenstein gabbro (Odenwald,SW-Germany) evidenced by40Ar/39Ar and single-zircon207Pb/206Pb measurements

The Frankenstein gabbro complex in the northern Odenwald/FR Germany is one of the Hercynian plutonic bodies of the Saxothuringian zone in the Variscan belt.⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic investigations on pyroxene,⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age determinations on hornblendes, plagioclases, biotites and pyroxenes and²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb dating on single zircon crystals have been carried out. The⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr initial ratio of the gabbro (0.70380) indicates uncontaminated derivation of the magma from the mantle. The results on hornblendes, plagioclases and zircons establish the isotopic age of intrusion and the mode of cooling. Pyroxene and biotite data indicate disturbed K-Ar systems of these minerals. The average ages of the hornblendes (363±7 Ma), of the plagioclases (359±3 Ma) and of the zircons (362 ±9 Ma) agree within the 1-sigma levels and constrain the early history of the plutonic intrusion at the turn from Devonian to Carboniferous times. These minerals must have been cooled below their closure temperatures within a time-interval shorter than the error margins of 10 Ma. The ages therefore are, unlike those of the neighbouring Bergsträßer Odenwald, not long-time cooling ages due to largescale and slow geological uplift of the crustal segment. Instead, they will closely estimate the time of intrusion of the Frankenstein pluton into a shallow crustal level. The hiatus of about 20 Ma compared to the average ages of the crystalline rocks of the Bergsträßer Odenwald in the south characterizes the mafic Frankenstein pluton as a separated unit of the Odenwald crystalline, and underlines the importance of the Carboniferous tectonic fault zone in-between. The present data set clearly demonstrates the importance of the applied combination of methods and techniques to constrain the history of intrusion and cooling of mafic plutonic rocks.