Wound magnetostatics and flaring

We discuss the winding of a force-free axisymmetric magnetic field rooted on a heavy conductor onz=0. In quadrupolar symmetry the field expands in the half-spacez>0 and the toroidal flux concentrates on a conical surface. After a mean twist of 208°, the conical layer hosts large toroidal current loops with reversal of the magnetic flux on either side. The evolution of the field structure is described by scale-free static solutionsBr ^–(p+2), withp taking values between 0 and 2. The large expansion factor of the field structure is suggestive of flaring originating on the solar photosphere.     

Surface renewal analysis for sensible and latent heat flux density

High frequency temperature measurements were recorded at five heights and surface renewal (SR) analysis was used to estimate sensible heat flux density (H) over 0.1 m tall grass. Traces of the temperature data showed ramp-like structures, and the mean amplitude and duration of these ramps were used to calculate H using structure functions. Data were compared with H values measured with a sonic anemometer. Latent heat flux density (E) was calculated using an energy balance and the results were compared with E computed from the sonic anemometer data. SR analysis provided good estimates of H for data recorded at all heights but the canopy top and at the highest measurement level, which was above the fully adjusted boundary layer.     

The Taconite Inlet Lakes Project: a systems approach to paleoclimatic reconstruction

A comprehensive study of meteorological, hydrological, limnological and sedimentological conditions in the watersheds of density-stratified (meromictic) lakes around Taconite Inlet, Northern Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada was carried out from 1990–1992. Lakes C1 and C2 contain seawater trapped by isostatic uplift as the former embayments became isolated from the sea. These lakes, and Lake C3, contain varved sediments which provide an annually resolvable paleoclimatic record. By studing the major systems influencing sedimentation in one of these lakes (Lake C2) a better understanding of the climatic controls on varve formation, and hence on the paleoclimatic signal in the varved sediment record, was obtained. The varves of Lake C2 provide a proxy record of summer temperature for the region.This is the first in a series of papers published in this issue on the Taconite Inlet Lakes Project. These papers were collected by Dr R. S. Bradley.     

The spatial mobility of two generations of young adults in Norway

"This article presents results from a longitudinal study using data from the Norwegian population register, combined with data from the 1970 and 1980 censuses. For two generations, those born in 1948 and 1958, successive migrations are considered and the effects of various sociodemographic characteristics on migratory behaviour are explored....Event-history analysis is used to examine the duration of stay at the place reached at age 22, and the effects of individual characteristics on this duration. Since a distinction is made between intra- and inter-regional migration, it has been possible to show that these effects vary significantly depending on whether we are dealing with short- or long-distance migration."     

Rupture process of large earthquakes in the northern Mexico subduction zone

The Cocos plate subducts beneath North America at the Mexico trench. The northernmost segment of this trench, between the Orozco and Rivera fracture zones, has ruptured in a sequence of five large earthquakes from 1973 to 1985; the Jan. 30, 1973 Colima event (M _s 7.5) at the northern end of the segment near Rivera fracture zone; the Mar. 14, 1979 Petatlan event (M _s 7.6) at the southern end of the segment on the Orozco fracture zone; the Oct. 25, 1981 Playa Azul event (M _s 7.3) in the middle of the Michoacan gap; the Sept. 19, 1985 Michoacan mainshock (M _s 8.1); and the Sept. 21, 1985 Michoacan aftershock (M _s 7.6) that reruptured part of the Petatlan zone. Body wave inversion for the rupture process of these earthquakes finds the best: earthquake depth; focal mechanism; overall source time function; and seismic moment, for each earthquake. In addition, we have determined spatial concentrations of seismic moment release for the Colima earthquake, and the Michoacan mainshock and aftershock. These spatial concentrations of slip are interpreted as asperities; and the resultant asperity distribution for Mexico is compared to other subduction zones. The body wave inversion technique also determines theMoment Tensor Rate Functions; but there is no evidence for statistically significant changes in the moment tensor during rupture for any of the five earthquakes. An appendix describes theMoment Tensor Rate Functions methodology in detail.The systematic bias between global and regional determinations of epicentral locations in Mexico must be resolved to enable plotting of asperities with aftershocks and geographic features. We have spatially shifted all of our results to regional determinations of epicenters. The best point source depths for the five earthquakes are all above 30 km, consistent with the idea that the down-dip edge of the seismogenic plate interface in Mexico is shallow compared to other subduction zones. Consideration of uncertainties in the focal mechanisms allows us to state that all five earthquakes occurred on fault planes with the same strike (N65°W to N70°W) and dip (15±3°), except for the smaller Playa Azul event at the down-dip edge which has a steeper dip angle of 20 to 25°. However, the Petatlan earthquake does prefer a fault plane that is rotated to a more east-west orientation—one explanation may be that this earthquake is located near the crest of the subducting Orozco fracture zone. The slip vectors of all five earthquakes are similar and generally consistent with the NUVEL-predicted Cocos-North America convergence direction of N33°E for this segment. The most important deviation is the more northerly slip direction for the Petatlan earthquake. Also, the slip vectors from the Harvard CMT solutions for large and small events in this segment prefer an overall convergence direction of about N20°E to N25°E.All five earthquakes share a common feature in the rupture process: each earthquake has a small initial precursory arrival followed by a large pulse of moment release with a distinct onset. The delay time varies from 4 s for the Playa Azul event to 8 s for the Colima event. While there is some evidence of spatial concentration of moment release for each event, our overall asperity distribution for the northern Mexico segment consists of one clear asperity, in the epicentral region of the 1973 Colima earthquake, and then a scattering of diffuse and overlapping regions of high moment release for the remainder of the segment. This character is directly displayed in the overlapping of rupture zones between the 1979 Petatlan event and the 1985 Michoacan aftershock. This character of the asperity distribution is in contrast to the widely spaced distinct asperities in the northern Japan-Kuriles Islands subduction zone, but is somewhat similar to the asperity distributions found in the central Peru and Santa Cruz Islands subduction zones. Subduction of the Orozco fracture zone may strongly affect the seismogenic character as the overlapping rupture zones are located on the crest of the subducted fracture zone. There is also a distinct change in the physiography of the upper plate that coincides with the subducting fracture zone, and the Guerrero seismic gap to the south of the Petatlan earthquake is in the wake of the Orozco fracture zone. At the northern end, the Rivera fracture zone in the subducting plate and the Colima graben in the upper plate coincide with the northernmost extent of the Colima rupture zone.     

Radiocarbon redating of contaminated samples from a tropical volcano: the Mansion ‘Series’ of St Kitts,West Indies

Heavy rainfall and dense vegetation on tropical volcanoes produce abundant carbonized wood in pyroclastic deposits, in addition to easy contamination of this wood by root systems and soluble humic material. Because the physical nature of the charcoal varies, some samples are more prone to contamination. Two independent studies of the same volcano, Mt Liamuiga on St Kitts in the Lesser Antilles, sometimes using samples from the same carbonized tree, yielded a systematic difference in radiocarbon ages. An exchange of samples and a re-investigation of three physically distinct types of charcoal yielded the following results. Rare, hard, dense charcoal, lacking contamination, which had yielded a spurious age of 2860 years bp, was redated at 1845±58 years bp. Common soft, friable charcoal with good cellular structure proved to be susceptible to contamination. A field decontamination technique utilized by one group seems significant as it yields older ages than when only routine laboratory pre-treatment was used, indicating that the latter technique only partly removes the dried and hard residue produced by the decomposition of modern plant rootlets. A previous date of 24870 years bp obtained from powdery charcoal in a horizon beneath the Mansion Series contradicted ages older than 41000 years bp from common friable charcoal in the lower Mansion Series. The soft powdery charcoal was re-investigated using a sample collected a few centimeters from the original, although field decontamination of this sample was not possible, more extensive laboratory treatment yielded an age of ca. 43000 years bp, again proving that routine laboratory pretreatments are inadequate. A revised geochronology for the Mansion Series is described and a cautionary discussion is presented for the benefit of investigators using radiocarbon ages to date volcanic deposits.     

Dynamics of the plasmasphere in the dusk sector as observed in the outer ionosphere

Summary Direct measurements of the thermal plasma parameters in the topside ionosphere reveal variations of the plasmasphere boundary in the dusk sector. The ACTIVE satellite's near-polar orbits at altitudes of 500 – 1800 km around winter solstice 1989 were used to study the bulge region of the plasmasphere during intervals with different levels of geomagnetic agitation. The narrow, sharply defined trough in electron concentration corresponding to the plasmapause under quiet conditions situated at L = 6 – 7 moved to lower L-values with increasing geomagnetic activity. This narrow trough can be found in all main ion constituents. During periods of moderate geomagnetic activity, following the onset of a weak magnetic storm, a portion of the plasmaspheric bulge region was separated from the main plasmaspheric body. This can be seen in the outer ionosphere as an inner narrow trough at lower L-value. Troughs in light ions need no longer coincide with this in electron concentration. He⁺ is the most sensitive constituent reflecting the dusk sector plasmaspheric situation at this altitude.Dedicated to the Memory of Professor Karel P     

Paleogeothermal gradient in the boskovice furrow

Summary A coalification data set from the first seam of the Rosice-Oslavany coal district in the Boskovice furrow was used to estimate the temperature gradient prevailing within the furrow during Autunian sedimentation. An appreciable scatter of the data reflects the complicated history of the sedimentary region. The northern part of the district displays a higher degree of coalification. The results of the evaluation suggest that the region ceased to subside in the upper Autunian, and that the extent of the post-Autunian erosion does not exceed 500 metres. This version of the burial history, which is consistent with geological data, yields a temperature paleogradient of 76 mK/m for the northern part and of 72 mK/m for the southern part of the district. The gradients estimated are higher than those prevailing during the Carboniferous sedimentation in the Central Bohemian Basin (45 – 53 mK/m), lower than values found for the Ostrava Formation in the Upper Silesian Basin during its Namurian A sedimentation (about 95 mK/m), but comparable with values evaluated for the Karviná Formation of the same basin deposited during the Namurian B - C and Westphalian A (60 – 77 mK/m).Dedicated to the Memory of Professor Karel P     

Low temperature,low pressure deformation and metamorphism of the Vangorda massive sulphide orebody,Yukon, Canada

The Vangorda orebody is a small stratiform massive sulphide orebody located in Anvil District, Yukon, Canada. The orebody consists of fineto medium-grained semi-massive and massive sulphides with a common sulphide mineralogy of pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, galena, and minor chalcopyrite. The host rocks and the sulphide lithofacies have been complexly deformed during two phases of deformation (D₁ and D₂) and associated metamorphism (M₁ and M₂). The effects of d₁ and M₁ are penetratively overprinted by D₂ and M₂. D₂ and M₂ resulted in tight to isoclinal F₂ folding of the orebody, remobilisation of the sulphides, recrystallisation and development of shear zones along the limbs of the F₂ folds. Chlorite thermometry and sulphide thermobarometry have been carried out on the host phyllites and on the sulphides. Chlorite was analysed from the S₁ and S₂ foliations in the phyllites to determine M₁ and M₂ temperatures, respectively. However, no difference was found between chlorite compositions in these foliations and a mean temperature of 363 °C was calculated from the tetrahedral A1_IV occupancy. Arsenopyrite thermometry yielded a comparable mean temperature of 336 °C. Sphalerite inclusions in M₂ pyrite porphyroblasts from D₂ shear zones were analysed for pressure using the sphalerite + hexagonal pyrrhotite + pyrite barometer. Inclusions were analysed in an attempt to determine if relic m₁ sphalerite, and hence pressure signature, was preserved. Inclusion compositions appear to reflect only M₂ conditions and yielded a mean pressure of 4.0 kb. Sphalerite + hexagonal pyrrhotite assemblages were analysed from D₂ shear zones to determine the M₂ pressure using the sphalerite + hexagonal pyrrhotite barometer. These calculations yielded a mean pressure of 6.1 kb. The M₂ temperatures and pressures calculated using these calibrations are in good agreement with those estimated from petrogenetic relationships.     

Bayes estimation: A novel approach to derivation of internally consistent thermodynamic data for minerals,their uncertainties,and correlations. Part II: Application

Internally consistent thermodynamic data, including their uncertainties and correlations, are reported for 22 phases of the quaternary system CaO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O. These data have been derived by simultaneous evaluation of the appropriate phase properties (PP) and reaction properties (RP) by the novel technique of Bayes estimation (BE). The thermodynamic model used and the theory of BE was expounded in Part I of this paper. Part II is the follow-up study illustrating an application of BE. The input for BE comprised, among others, the a priori values for standard enthalpy of formation of the i-th phase, Δ_f H _i ⁰ , and its standard entropy, S _i ⁰ , in addition to the reaction reversal constraints for 33 equilibria involving the relevant phases. A total of 269 RP restrictions have been processed, of which 107 turned out to be non-redundant. The refined values for Δ_f H _i ⁰ and S _i ⁰ obtained by BE, including their 2σ-uncertainties, appear in Table 4; the Appendix reproduces the corresponding correlation matrix. These data permit generation of computed phase diagrams with 2σ-uncertainty envelopes based on conventional error propagation; Fig. 3 depicts such a phase diagram for the system CaO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂. It shows that the refined dataset is capable of yielding phase diagrams with uncertainty envelopes narrow enough to be geologically useful. The results in Table 4 demonstrate that the uncertainties of the prior values for Δ_f H _i ^Emphasis>0 , given in Table 1, have decreased by up to an order of magnitude, while those for S _i ⁰ improved by a factor of up to two. For comparison, Table 4 also lists the refined Δ_f H _i ⁰ and S _i ⁰ data obtained by mathematical programming (MAP), minimizing a quadratic objective function used earlier by Berman (1988). Examples of calculated phase diagrams are given to demonstrate the advantages of BE for deriving internally consistent thermodynamic data. Although P-T curves generated from both MAP and BE databases will pass through the reversal restrictions, BE datasets appear to be better suited for extrapolations beyond the P-T range explored experimentally and for predicting equilibria not constrained by reversals.