Organic carbon deposition and phosphorus accumulation during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 in Tarfaya, Morocco

With a multi-proxy approach, an attempt was made to constrain productivity and bottom-water redox conditions and their effects on the phosphorus accumulation rate at the Mohammed Plage section on the Tarfaya coast, Morocco, during the Cenomanian-Turonian Anoxic Event (OAE 2). A distinct δ¹³C_org isotope excursion of +2.5‰ occurs close to the top of the section. The unusually abrupt shift of the isotope excursion and disappearance of several planktonic foraminiferal species (e.g. Rotalipora cushmani and Rotalipora greenhornensis) in this level suggests a hiatus of between 40–60 kyrs at the excursion onset. Nevertheless, it was possible to determine both the long-term environmental history as well as the processes that took place immediately prior to and during OAE 2. TOC% values increase gradually from the base of the section to the top (from 2.5% to 10%). This is interpreted as the consequence of a long-term eustatic sea-level rise and subsidence causing the encroachment of less oxic waters into the Tarfaya Basin. Similarly a reduction in the mineralogically constructed ‘detrital index’ can be explained by the decrease in the continental flux of terrigenous material due to a relative sea-level rise. A speciation of phosphorus in the upper part of the section, which spans the start and mid-stages of OAE 2, shows overall higher abundances of P_reactive mass accumulation rates before the isotope excursion onset and lower values during the plateau. Due to the probable short hiatus, the onset of the decrease in phosphorus content relative to the isotope excursion is uncertain, although the excursion plateau already contains lower concentrations. The C_org/P_total and V/Al ratios suggest that this reduction was mostly likely caused by a decrease in the available bottom oxygen content (probably as a result of higher productivity) and a corresponding fall in the phosphorus retention ability of the sediment. Productivity appears to have remained high during the isotope plateau possibly due to a combination of ocean-surface fertilisation via increased aridity (increased K/Al and Ti/Al ratios) and/or higher dissolved inorganic phosphorus content in the water column as a result of the decrease in sediment P retention. The evidence for decreased P-burial has been observed in many other palaeoenvironments during OAE 2. Tarfaya's unique upwelling paleosituation provides strong evidence that the nutrient recycling was a global phenomenon and therefore a critical factor in starting and sustaining OAE 2.     

Babbling brook to thunderous torrent: Using sound to monitor river stage

The passive, ambient sound above the water from a river has previously untapped potential for determining flow characteristics such as stage. Measuring sub-aerial sound could provide a new, efficient way to continuously monitor river stage, without the need for in-stream infrastructure. Previous published work has suggested that there might be a relationship between sound and river stage, but the analysis has been restricted to a narrow range of flow conditions and river morphologies. We present a method to determine site suitability and the process of how to record and analyse sound. Data collected along a 500 m length of the River Washburn during July 2019 is used to determine what makes a site suitable for sound monitoring. We found that sound is controlled by roughness elements in the channel, such as a boulder or weir, which influences the sound produced. On the basis of these findings, we collect audio recordings from six sites around the northeast of England, covering a range of flow conditions and different roughness elements, since 2019. We use data from those sites collected during storms Ciara and Dennis to produce a relationship between this sound and river stage. Our analysis has shown a positive relationship between an R² of 0.73 and 0.99 in all rivers, but requires careful site selection and data processing to achieve the best results. We introduce a filter that is capable of isolating a river's sound from other environmental sound. Future work in examining the role of these roughness elements is required to understand the full extent of this technique. By demonstrating that sound can operate as a hydrometric tool, we suggest that sound monitoring could be used to provide cost-effective monitoring devices, either to detect relative change in a river or, after more research, a reliable stage measurement.     

Stochastic variability in the atmospheric activity of Jupiter

The atmospheric activity of Jupiter exhibits quasi-periodic character attributed to the stochastic nature of the involved mechanisms. Periodicities between 4–33 years are obtained employing four spectrum analysis methods, (power spectrum employing the Blackman-Tukey window, maximum entropy, Fourier, autocorrelation), whilst, their significance and their stationarity has been established with the application of general statistical tests (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, one sample and two sample test, randomness test, chi-square, various orders of autoregressive process, analysis of truncated records).Deceased.     

Closed-form solution of P4P or the three-dimensional resection problem in terms of Möbius barycentric coordinates

 The perspective 4 point (P4P) problem - also called the three-dimensional resection problem - is solved by means of a new algorithm: At first the unknown Cartesian coordinates of the perspective center are computed by means of M?bius barycentric coordinates. Secondly these coordinates are represented in terms of observables, namely space angles in the five-dimensional simplex generated by the unknown point and the four known points. Substitution of M?bius barycentric coordinates leads to the unknown Cartesian coordinates (2.8)–(2.10) of Box 2.2. The unknown distances within the five-dimensional simplex are determined by solving the Grunert equations, namely by forward reduction to one algebraic equation (3.8) of order four and backward linear substitution. Tables 1.–4. contain a numerical example. Finally we give a reference to the solution of the 3 point (P3P) problem, the two-dimensional resection problem, namely to the Ansermet barycentric coordinates initiated by C.F. Gau? (1842), A. Schreiber (1908) and A.␣Ansermet (1910). Received: 05 March 1996; Accepted: 15 October 1996     

Physical and chemical properties of the waters of saline lakes and their importance for deep-water renewal: Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan

The relationships between electrical conductivity, temperature, salinity, and density are studied for brackish Lake Issyk-Kul. These studies are based on a newly determined major ion composition, which for the open lake shows a mean absolute salinity of 6.06 g kg⁻¹. The conductivity-temperature relationship of the lake water was determined experimentally showing that the lake water is about 1.25 times less conductive than seawater diluted to the same absolute salinity as that of the lake water. Based on these results, an algorithm is presented to calculate salinity from in-situ conductivity measurements. Applied to the field data, this shows small but important vertical salinity variations in the lake with a salinity maximum at 200 m and a freshening of the surface water with increasing proximity to the shores. The algorithm we adopt to calculate density agrees well with earlier measurements and shows that at 20°C and 1 atm Lake Issyk-Kul water is about 530 g m⁻³ denser than seawater at the same salinity. The temperature of maximum density at 1 atm is about 0.15°C lower than that for seawater diluted to the same salinity. Despite its small variations, salinity plays an important role, together with temperature changes, in the static stability and in the production of deep-water in this lake. Changes in salinity may have had important consequences on the mixing regime and the fate of inflowing river water over geological time. Uncharged silicic acid is negligible for the stability of the water column except near an ∼15 m thick nepheloid layer observed at the bottom of the deep basin.     

Solving the problem of shock wave attenuation in an obstacle during a contact explosion of a high-energy material charge

A problem of estimation of shock wave attenuation in an obstacle under an explosion of a high-energy material (explosive) charge on its surface is considered. An algorithm for its solution is proposed using the analytical and semiempirical dependences generally recognized in explosion physics.     

Modes of iron-manganese mineralization on the bottom of Lake Baikal

The investigation of the bottom of Lake Baikal carried out during the 2008 summer season by means of Mir manned deep-submergence vehicles resulted in the recovery of a series of sediments, ferruginous crusts, and peculiar mineralized tubes several centimeters high and up to 2–6 cm in diameter. According to the scanning electron investigation, these formations consist mainly of the enclosing sediment particles and biogcnie silica cemented by iron and minor manganese hydroxides. The chemical composition of the tubes is similar to both that of the enclosing sediments and slightly ferruginous crusts and nodules, but the tubes and crusts are somewhat richer relative to the sediments in some microelements, namely, arsenic, cadmium, and uranium. In general, the structure and composition of these tubes reminds one of the worm tubes common in the sediments of a number of seas. The investigation of the rare earth elements in some samples or ferruginous formations and sediments revealed a positive europium anomaly, which might be related to either the composition of the surrounding continental magmatic rocks or to the influence of hypothetical hydrothermal solutions.     

Geology and tectonics of Neoproterozoic salt diapirs and salt sheets in the eastern Willouran Ranges,South Australia

Allochthonous salt structures and associated primary and secondary minibasins are exposed in Neoproterozoic strata of the eastern Willouran Ranges, South Australia. Detailed geologic mapping using high‐quality airborne hyperspectral remote‐sensing data and satellite imagery, combined with a qualitative structural restoration, are used to elucidate the evolution of this complex, long‐lived (>250 Myr) salt system. Field observations and interpretations at a resolution unobtainable from seismic or well data provide a means to test published models of allochthonous salt emplacement and associated salt‐sediment interaction derived from subsurface data in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Salt diapirs and sheets are represented by megabreccias of nonevaporite lithologies that were originally interbedded with evaporites that have been dissolved and/or altered. Passive diapirism began shortly after deposition of the Callanna Group layered evaporite sequence. A primary basin containing an expulsion‐rollover structure and megaflap is flanked by two vertical diapirs. Salt flowed laterally from the diapirs to form a complex, multi‐level canopy, now partly welded, containing an encapsulated minibasin and capped by suprasalt basins. Salt and minibasin geometries were modified during the Late Cambrian–Ordovician Delamerian Orogeny (ca. 500 Ma). Small‐scale structures such as subsalt shear zones, fractured or mixed ‘rubble zones’ and thrust imbricates are absent beneath allochthonous salt and welds in the eastern Willouran Ranges. Instead, either undeformed strata or halokinetic drape folds that include preserved diapir roof strata are found directly below the transition from steep diapirs to salt sheets. Allochthonous salt first broke through the diapir roofs and then flowed laterally, resulting in variable preservation of the subsalt drape folds. Lateral salt emplacement was presumably on roof‐edge thrusts or, because of the shallow depositional environment, via open‐toed advance or extrusive advance, but without associated subsalt deformation.     

Evolution and Spectrum of the Radio Emission of Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

The radio spectrum of Tycho’s Supernova Remnant is constructed at frequencies 12.6–143 000 MHz for epoch 2010.3, taking into account the secular decrease in the radio flux density of the remnant at the rate d = ?(0.46 ± 0.03)%/year:

$$S_\nu ^{3C10} (t = 2010.3) = (43.1 \pm 1.8 Jy)(\nu [GHz])^{ - (0.592 \pm 0.019) + (0.041 \pm 0.012)\log (\nu [GHz])} .$$

The spectrum has positive curvature. The presence of a low-frequency turnover in the spectrum of the radio source 3C10 with its maximum at 7.7 MHz is predicted, due to absorption in the interstellar medium in the direction toward the source.