Tidal and seasonal variations of sulfate ion in a New Jersey marsh system

Sulfate variations during a tidal cycle were investigated at three sites in a highly polluted tidal marsh. Sulfate- chlorinity relationships were determined in the light of fluctuations in temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH. The relationships were found to be seasonal in nature, being affected by temperature and rainfall effects on biologic productivity. Both reduction of sulfate ion to a sulfide species and oxidation of sulfide species to the sulfate ion were found to occur. Consideration of the sulfide oxidation process suggests the possibility that metals precipitated as sulfides may be mobilized and redistributed in the marsh system.     

Hydrodynamic effects in the dynamic response of concrete gravity dams

Hydrodynamic effects in the acceleration response of concrete gravity dams to harmonic ground motion are investigated. The effects include the presence of water, compressibility of water, interaction between the fluid and underlying foundation medium, shape of the fluid domain, and the extent of excitation applied to an infinite fluid domain under vertical ground motion.     

Limited modification of mid-latitude landscapes by ice sheets: The case of northeast Scotland

The paper uses a case study in Scotland to examine the amount and processes of landscape modification by Quaternary ice sheets. There is an inverse correlation between the distribution of landforms of glacial erosion and pre-glacial landscape remnants in northeast Scotland. The implication is that in places ice sheets can preserve a pre-glacial landscape unscathed, while elsewhere they remove the pre-glacial weathered rock. The location of glacial protection or erosion is strongly influenced by the topography and its influence on former ice sheet flow and basal thermal regime. The classic glacially eroded landscape of areal scouring can be produced by the removal of only 10–50 m of weathered rock. Furthermore rock basins, often regarded as the hallmark of glacial erosion, may be directly inherited from the pre-glacial pattern of deep weathering.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Murchison meteorite

More than thirty polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including nine heterocyclic aromatic compounds, have been identified in solvent extracts of the Murchison meteorite by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using bonded-phase fused silica columns. Structural isomers of several alkylated aromatic hydrocarbons, including methylpyrene and methylphenanthrene were chromatographically separated, thus allowing calculations of the amount of alkyl substituted compounds in the solvent extracts. The ratio of odd-carbon number to even-carbon number was found to be approximately 0.1. Based on these data and literature data from model pyrolysis experiments, a temperature of 1000°C is suggested for the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the solar nebula or premeteoritic body. The value of 1000°C is within the range of temperatures for the condensation of the nebular material from the initial high temperature phases to the lower temperature phases at which chemical and isotopic equilibria were frozen. A simple model for the abiotic synthesis of heterocyclic compounds from simple aliphatic precursors is also presented.     

Resource allocation in urban services: Spatial response to financial constraints with reference to health visiting in Kent,England

Part of urbanised South East England is used to discuss some of the spatial allocation problems of a reorganised health service region under conditions of financial constraint. In particular, the role and response of health visiting services are scrutinised so as to examine the relationship between stringent financial control, changing spatial organisation patterns and actual primary health-care requirements.     

Observed generation of an atmospheric gravity wave by shear instability in the mean flow of the planetary boundary layer

Observations of a single boundary-layer event — the generation of an atmospheric gravity wave by an unstable shear flow at Haswell, Colorado on November 12, 1971 — are briefly described and discussed. The observations were made using: (a) an acoustic echo sounder, (b) anemometers mounted at two fixed levels on a 150-m tower, (c) an anemometer and a thermometer mounted on a movable carriage on the tower, and (d) a microbarograph array, including one microbarograph mounted atop the tower. The wave phase velocity (–3.5–4.0 m s^–1) was found to equal the wind velocity in the middle of the shear flow, as assumed by other authors. The wave-associated vertical fluxes of momentum and energy measured just above the wave critical layer were estimated to be –5 dyn cm^–2 and –800 erg cm^–2 s^–1, respectively. These are large values. The annual average vertical flux of momentum at temperate and high latitudes is –0.25 dyn cm^–2, while the average kinetic energy dissipation rate in a unit column of atmosphere is –5 × 10³ erg cm^–2 s^–1. If the region of wave generation was itself propagating horizontally, its propagation velocity was large compared with the horizontal phase speed of the small-scale waves generated. Wave generation appeared to occur over an area large compared with the size of the microbarograph array (i.e., 2 km).     

Geochemistry of the Cornubian tin province

The exposed crust of the Cornubian massif in S.W. England has been systematically sampled, and the rocks analysed for a wide range of major and trace elements. Geochemically this region is highly anomalous, with three elements (boron, lithium, tin) occurring at levels several times higher than the average for other parts of the continental crust. The greatest degree of enrichment is found in the rocks of the Cornubian granite batholith, but it is also present in rocks pre-dating the formation of the batholith. The mineral deposits of Cornubia derive their trace elements from different sources: B and Sn from the granite, and Cu and S from the country rocks.     

Shaking table study of concrete gravity dam monoliths

A series of shaking table tests was performed on three small-scale models of a monolith of a concrete gravity dam in order to simulate earthquake shaking. The purpose of the tests was to examine the nature of crack formation in a gravity dam and the stability of the dam in the presence of cracks. No failures occurred even though the levels of shaking employed were unrealistically high. The good performance owed to the development of crack profiles which had favourable orientations to resist sliding failures in each case. However, the development of an unfavourable crack profile, which cannot be ruled out, and the possibility of water intrusion into open cracks, something not included in the experiments, could lead to failure under significantly lower levels of excitation than those employed.