The continuity of the auroral oval in the afternoon sector

United States Air Force DMSP satellite auroral images and South Pole auroral all-sky camera data are presented to provide new direct evidence that the afternoon sector auroras lie within a continuous oval belt. An example is also presented to illustrate that afternoon substorm auroras occur within the auroral oval configuration.     

Lithospheric growth at margins of cratons

Deep seismic reflection profiles collected across Proterozoic–Archean margins are now sufficiently numerous to formulate a consistent hypothesis of how continental nuclei grow laterally to form cratonic shields. This picture is made possible both because the length of these regional profiles spans all the tectonic elements of an orogen on a particular cratonic margin and because of their great depth range. Key transects studied include the LITHOPROBE SNORCLE 1 transect and the BABEL survey, crossing the Slave and Baltic craton margins, respectively. In most cases, the older (Archean) block appears to form a wedge of uppermost mantle rock embedded into the more juvenile (Proterozoic) block by as much as 100–200 km at uppermost mantle depths and Archean lithosphere is therefore more laterally extensive at depth than at the surface. Particularly bright reflections along the Moho are cited as evidence of shear strain within a weak, low-viscosity lower crustal channel that lies along the irregular top of the indenting wedge. The bottom of the wedge is an underthrust/subduction zone, and associated late reversal in subduction polarity beneath the craton margin emerges as a common characteristic of these margins although related arc magmatism may be minor.     

Sgr B2中处于振动激发态的CH_3CN分子

使用BIMA的C位形混合波寻联结9元天线阵,对SgrB2（N）和SgrB2（M）观测了CH3CN分子振动激发态v8＝1的6k－5k线系.仅在SgrB2（N）的10＂×14＂区域里探测到上述发射线．在8．5kpe的距离下,该区域的相应线尺寸是0．41pc×0．58pc．对于SgrB2（M）没有探测到高于均方根噪音的发射流量密度．经粗略地估计,SgrB2（N）区的振动激发温度约为300K．针对此线系的激发机制以及SgrB2（N）区和SgrB2（M）区物理条件之间的差别进行了讨论．     

Major auroral substorm features in the dark sector observed by a USAF DMSP satellite

Synoptic auroral photographs acquired by a United States Air Force DMSP satellite have provided the data necessary for an improved understanding of the common auroral phenomena that occur during the substorm expansive phase. Specifically, it is recognized that diffuse auroras (patches, large scale wave structures and Omega bands) form an integral part of the auroral substorm and that their morphological features should be added in the substorm pattern proposed by Akasofu (1964). Several other important auroral substorm features have been added to or corrected in the original pattern. A revised substorm pattern at about the maximum epoch of the substorm is presented.     

Iodine as a tracer of organic material: I results from gas hydrate systems and fore arc fluids

The strong association of iodine with organic material and the presence of the cosmogenic radioisotope ¹²⁹I make the iodine isotopic system useful in tracing and dating organic materials and their derivatives. We present here results from two new applications of this system, investigations of gas hydrates from the Peru Margin (ODP Leg 201, Site 1230) and of fluids collected from the fore arc region of the North Island, New Zealand. Pore fluids from Site 1230 are strongly enriched in iodine and show a distinct decrease in ¹²⁹I/I ratios from 920 × 10^− 15 close to the surface to 140 × 10^− 15 at a depth of 200 mbsf, suggesting the presence of a shallow, young source and deep, old source of fluids. The fore arc fluids from New Zealand are also enriched in iodine and show a similar range in ¹²⁹I/I ratios. In both cases minimum ages are calculated to be between 40 and 60 Ma for these fluids. The results are in good agreement with earlier investigations of gas hydrate systems at Blake Ridge and Nankai Trough and of fore arc fluids from Central America and Japan, but are not compatible with derivation from subducting sediments in active margins. The results indicate that continental margins contain large amounts of old iodine, reflecting the presence of large quantities of organic material stored in these regions. Results for gas hydrate systems and fore arc fluids show similar characteristics, but differ strongly from those obtained for fluids collected from the main zones of volcanic activity associated with active margins.     

散射系数矩阵的计算及其应用

利用Gabor Daubechies（G? D）小波束域波场分解和传播在空间和方向上的双重局域性，提出了基于G? D小波束域叠前深度偏移进行角度域成像和计算局部散射系数矩阵的方法. 以简单分层模型为例，对不同探测系统的局部散射系数矩阵分布特征进行分析. 分析结果表明，在一定的探测系统几何布局下，由本文方法得到的局部散射系数矩阵能够较真实地反映局部结构的散射(或反射)特性. 通过局部散射系数矩阵进一步外推具有不同速度反差的水平界面随角度变化的反射系数，并估计界面的空间位置和倾角等说明局部散射系数矩阵的潜在应用.     

Slow,dense replenishments of a basic magma chamber: the layered series of the Newark Island layered intrusion,Nain, Labrador

The Newark Island layered intrusion is a composite layered intrusion within the Nain anorthosite complex, Labrador. The intrusion comprises a lower layered series (LS) dominated by troctolites, olivine gabbros and oxide-rich cumulates and an upper hybrid series (HS) characterized by a wide range of mafic, granitic and hybrid cumulates and discontinuous layers of chilled mafic rocks (Wiebe 1988). The HS crystallized from a series of replenishments of both silicic and basic magmas. The LS crystallized from periodically replenished basic magmas. The LS has a lower zone that consists mainly of olivine-plagioclase cumulates and contains minor cryptic reversals in mineral compositions that resulted from replenishments of relatively primitive magma. An upper zone is dominated by olivine-plagioclaseaugite-ilmenite cumulates. Cumulus titanomagnetite and pyrrhotite occur within some oxide-rich cumulates, and the stratigraphically highest layers contain cumulus apatite. At intermediate levels in the sequence, cumulus inverted pigeonite occurs in place of olivine. Several prominent regressions in the stratigraphy of the upper zone are marked by fine-grained troctolitic layers with much higher Mg no. [100 MgO/(MgO+FeO)] and anorthite than underlying cumulates. These layers coarsen upward and grade back to oxide-bearing olivine gabbros within thicknesses ranging from 10 cm to 15 m. Dikes that cut the LS have major- and trace-element compositions that strongly suggest that they are feeders for the replenishments. In the lower zone when olivine and plagioclase were the only cumulus phases, replenishments were less dense than the resident magma and rose as plumes and mixed with it. Precipitation of cumulus oxides in the upper zone lowered the density of resident magma so that subsequent replenishments were more dense than resident magma. Replenishments that occurred after oxides began to precipitate had small injection velocities. These post-oxide injections flowed along the interface between resident magma and the cumulate pile and precipitated flow-banded, fine-grained troctolites.     

Estimating the timescale of fluvial response to anthropogenic disturbance using two generations of dams on the South River,Massachusetts, USA

Centuries-long intensive land-use change in the north-eastern United States provides the opportunity to study the timescale of geomorphic response to anthropogenic disturbances. In this region, forest-clearing and agricultural practices following EuroAmerican settlement led to deposition of legacy sediment along valley bottoms, including behind mill dams. The South River in western Massachusetts experienced two generations of damming, beginning with mill dams up to 6-m high in the eighteenth–nineteenth century, and followed by construction of the Conway Electric Dam (CED), a 17-m-tall hydroelectric dam near the watershed outlet in 1906. We use the mercury (Hg) concentration in upstream deposits along the South River to constrain the magnitude, source, and timing of inputs to the CED impoundment. Based on cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs) chronology and results from a sediment mixing model, remobilized legacy sediment comprised % of the sediment load in the South River prior to 1954; thereafter, from 1954 to 1980s, erosion from glacial deposits likely dominated (63 ± 14%), but with legacy sediments still a substantial source (37 ± 14%). We also use the CED reservoir deposits to estimate sediment yield through time, and find it decreased after 1952. These results are consistent with high rates of mobilization of legacy sediment as historic dams breached in the early twentieth century, and suggest rapid initial response to channel incision, followed by a long decay in the second half of the century, that is likely dependent on large flood events to access legacy sediment stored in banks. Identifying sources of sediment in a watershed and quantifying erosion rates can help to guide river restoration practices. Our findings suggest a short fluvial recovery time from the eighteenth–nineteenth century to perturbation during the first half of the twentieth century, with subsequent return to a dominant long-term signal from erosion of glacial deposits, with anthropogenic sediment persisting as a secondary source. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reassessing the invasion of South African waters by the European shore-crab Carcinus maenas

The European shore-crab Carcinus maenas has been present in South Africa since 1983. Despite this species’ international reputation as a biological invader, its distribution in this region has only been considered by three outdated ‘snapshot surveys.’ The present study is the most comprehensive to date, providing an update on the species’ range and the first temporal assessment of its abundance and demographics. Along South Africa's Cape Peninsula and surrounding areas, C. maenas was absent from 12 intertidal sites surveyed, except for Sea Point, and no crabs were found during subtidal surveys along the open coastline. Subtidal harbour populations were recorded in the Cape Town harbours of Table Bay and Hout Bay (previously estimated as comprising approximately 164 200 and 6 500 individuals, respectively). Table Bay was surveyed monthly for one year, using baited traps, crab condos and postlarvae settlement collectors, to assess size distributions and reproductive seasonality of the crab. Reproductive females were recorded throughout most of the year. These results suggest that the harbour populations could be targeted by control programmes, but provide no strong evidence to support the initiation of management action during a particular season. The lack of detection of postlarval settlement, even among well-established populations, suggests this will not be a useful monitoring tool for detecting incursions.