Pyroxmangite: Stability in H2O-CO2 mixtures at a total pressure of 2000 bars

The curve of the reaction: 1 Rhodochrosite + 1 Quartz Pyroxmangite was determined experimentally using gas mixtures with different CO₂H₂O ratios at a total pressure of 2 kb. In pure CO₂, the equilibrium temperature is 508±2° C. By plotting the equilibrium data in terms of InX_CO2 versus reciprocal temperature, a H of reaction of 51.7 kcal was obtained. This plot shows a straight-line relationship, indicating internal consistency of the data, and is in good agreement with previous findings that CO₂ and H₂O mix ideally within the investigated temperature range (400–600° C). When applied to pyroxmangites formed during moderate greenschist facies metamorphism, these data indicate a high acitivity of H₂O.     

Manganese pyroxenoids and carbonates: Critical phase relations in metamorphic assemblages from the Alps

The compositions of coexisting pyroxmangites, rhodonites, rhodochrosites and manganese calcites in regional metamorphosed manganese cale-silicate marbles from Val Scerscen and Alagna were analysed by microprobe and permit definition of critical tie lines at metamorphic grades appropriate to temperatures between 400 and 450 °C.Variations in composition of coexisting mineral pairs in one and the same locality are attributed to variations in and not to metamorphic temperatures. From the analysed assemblages isothermal plots (with SiO₂ as excess component) were constructed for the system CaO-MnO-SiO₂-CO₂.     

Improved seismic discrimination using pattern recognition

The problem of discriminating between earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions is formulated as a problem in pattern recognition. As such it may be separated into two stages, feature extraction and classification. The short-period (SP) features consist of m_b and autoregressive parameters characterising the preceding noise, signal and coda. The long-period (LP) features consist of LP power spectral estimates taken within various group velocity windows. Contrary to common usage we have extracted features from horizontal Rayleigh waves and Love waves as well as vertical Rayleigh waves. The classification is performed by approximating the statistical distribution of earthquake and explosion feature vectors by multivariate normal distributions.The method has been tested on a data base containing 52 explosions and 73 earthquakes from Eurasia recorded at NORSAR between 1971 and 1975. Several of these events are difficult on the m_b : M_s diagram [m_b(PDE) and M_s (NORSAR) have been used]. The data set was divided into a learning and an independent data set. All of the events both from the learning data set and the independent data set were correctly classified using the new procedures. Furthermore, the increase in separation as compared to the m_b : M_s discriminant is significant.     

Linearized elastic parameter sections1

Contrasts in elastic parameters can be estimated directly from seismic data using offset-dependent information in the PP reflection coefficient. A linear approximation to the PP reflection coefficient including three coefficients is fitted to the data, and relative contrasts in various elastic parameters are obtained from linear combinations of the estimated coefficients. Linearized elastic parameter sections for the contrasts in P-wave impedance, P-wave velocity, density, plane-wave modulus, and the change in bulk modulus and shear modulus normalized with the plane-wave modulus are estimated. If the average P- to S-wave velocity ratio is known, linearized parameter sections including the contrast in the average P- to S-wave velocity ratio and a fluid factor section can be computed. Applied to synthetic data, visual comparison of the estimated and true elastic parameter sections agree qualitatively, and the results are confirmed by an analysis of the standard deviation of the estimated parameters. The parameter sections obtained by inversion of a shallow seismic anomaly in the Barents Sea are promising, but the reliability is uncertain because neither well data nor regional trends are available.     

Evaluation of the frequency of skipped spawning in Norwegian spring-spawning herring

Based upon an under-representation of second time spawners on the spawning grounds between 1935 and 1973, researchers have suggested that Norwegian spring-spawning (NSS) herring (Clupea harengus) frequently skip their second spawning event. In order to evaluate this claim with direct evidence, herring were collected over a period of three years from statutory surveys and commercial catches over a wide area covering the feeding, over-wintering and spawning grounds. The development stage of the ovaries was assessed and the intensity of atresia quantified. Only a negligible number of the analysed herring caught were considered likely to skip spawning, thus this phenomenon does not appear to be a common feature of the NSS herring stock at present. In addition, considering the reproductive strategy of herring, it seems doubtful that skipping the second spawning event has ever frequently occurred in this stock.     

Detection of detached dust envelopes around oxygen-rich AGB stars

Extended emission components are clearly found in the IRAS scan data of optically visible oxygen-rich AGB stars which show no 10µm silicate band feature in the IRAS LRS spectra but a strong infrared excess in the IRAS photometric data. It is most likely that these stars really have their circumstellar dust envelopes, which are detached from the central stars, indicating a halting of mass loss for a significant period.     

UV irradiation of natural organic matter (NOM): impact on organic carbon and bacteria

UV-induced transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOC) is often accompanied by reduction of molecular weight and aromaticity and an increase of low-molecular weight (LMW) matter that can be utilized as a substrate by heterotrophic bacteria. Moreover, the generation of reactive transients and mineralization of DOC occurs. For a better understanding of the modification that starts after irradiation and to distinguish between possible chemical and biological modifications, we selected different natural organic matter (NOM) from Norway and Germany. The aqueous solutions were treated by UV irradiation and divided into two aliquot samples. NaN₃ anti-bacterial treatment was applied to one sample, and high-pressure size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) analysis was used for both. In all samples, we found typical modifications of NOM after UV irradiation. Incubation (>7?days) of UV-irradiated NOM samples resulted in lower levels of LMW matter and increased aromaticity. Parallel to these changes of carbon fractions, an increase in bacterial cell numbers was observed. Addition of NaN₃ to NOM, however, inhibited the reduction of LMW matter, indicating that microbial activity accounted for the observed changes in NOM. Analysis of the bacterial community composition by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of the amplified 16S rRNA genes revealed that bacterial communities of non-irradiated and UV-irradiated NOM were different and that UV selected for specific members of ??-proteobacteria, ??-proteobacteria, and Bacteriodetes. Our results imply that after UV-irradiation of NOM, specific bacterial members are well adapted to low pH, high LMW DOC concentrations, and oxidative stress, and therefore thrive well on UV-irradiated humic matter.     

Prehistoric shore environments,shellfish availability,and shellfish gathering at Franchthi,Greece

People who exploit marine resources choose among them according to technological, economic, and social considerations. Prehistoric selectivity in their exploitation has often been postulated, but can be established only by comparing the archaeological record with an estimate of the kinds and quantities available in the environments of the time. Only then can those factors be considered that might have influenced their choice, a subject which is the domain of the archaeologist. In Franchthi Cave, a thick Upper Paleolithic through Neolithic sequence (ca. 23,000–5000 yrs B.P.) of occupational deposits has been excavated. As might be expected at a site now only a few meters from the sea, this sequence has yielded ample evidence for the use of marine resources, though only from ca. 11,000 B.P. onward. Moreover, the marine molluscan record exhibits drastic changes in composition over time, implying either major variation in availability or selective collecting. A marine geophysical study supplemented by an examination of present shore environments in the area has permitted the reconstruction of the changing coastal environments since ca. 20,000 B.P., thus providing an estimate of the probably available shellfish resources. Comparison with the molluscan assemblages found in the cave demonstrates that only during the latest Paleolithic and most of the Neolithic were the collected shellfish reasonably representative of what should have been available in the area. At other times the inhabitants made highly specialized, seemingly idiosyncratic choices from the spectrum of available species.     

Coronal heating and solar wind acceleration; gyrotropic electron-proton solar wind

In coronal holes the electron (proton) density is low, and heating of the proton gas produces a rapidly increasing proton temperature in the inner corona. In models with a reasonable electron density in the upper transition region the proton gas becomes collisionless some 0.2 to 0.3 solar radii into the corona. In the collisionless region the proton heat flux is outwards, along the temperature gradient. The thermal coupling to electrons is weak in coronal holes, so the heat flux into the transition region is too small to supply the energy needed to heat the solar wind plasma to coronal temperatures. Our model studies indicate that in models with proton heating the inward heat conduction may be so inefficient that some of the energy flux must be deposited in the transition region to produce the proton fluxes that are observed in the solar wind. If we allow for coronal electron heating, the energy that is needed in the transition region to heat the solar wind to coronal temperatures, may be supplied by heat conduction from the corona.