Significance of lherzolite at the Etang de Lherz,central Pyrenees,southern France

Geologic relationships in the central Pyrenees of southern France demonstrate that lherzolite has been emplaced, as a plastic solid, into middle or upper Cretaceous calcareous rocks; that it has been eroded and clastic peridotite debris deposited in rocks of approximately the same age as those it intruded; and that it has also been juxtaposed against Cretaceous limestone or marble along or within the North Pyrenean fault zone. There are at least three types of late Cretaceous lherzolite breccias known from this region.Metamorphism of the country rock and penetrative deformation of the lherzolite and marble took place during shearing. Shearing was accompanied by an important period of motion (perhaps 85–100 m.y. ago) along the North Pyrenean fault and an associated thermal event which involved temperatures of 400 ± 100°C. Cretaceous metamorphism along the North Pyrenean fault zone was not due to forcible primary hot intrusion of lherzolite.     

Microwave remote sensing of sea ice in the AIDJEX Main Experiment

During the AIDJEX Main Experiment, April 1975 through May 1976, a comprehensive microwave sensing program was performed on the sea ice of the Beaufort Sea. Surface and aircraft measurements were obtained during all seasons using a wide variety of active and passive microwave sensors. The surface program obtained passive microwave measurements of various ice types using four antennas mounted on a tracked vehicle. In three test regions, each with an area of approximately 1.5 × 10⁴ m², detailed ice crystallographic, dielectric properties, and brightness temperatures of first-year, multiyear, and first-year/multiyear mixtures were measured. A NASA aircraft obtained passive microwave measurements of the entire area of the AIDJEX manned station array (triangle) during each of 18 flights. This verified the earlier reported ability to distinguish first-year and multiyear ice types and concentration and gave new information on ways to observe ice mixtures and thin ice types. The active microwave measurements from aircraft included those from an X- and L-band radar and from a scatterometer. The former is used to study a wide variety of ice features and to estimate deformations, while both are equally usable to observe ice types. With the present data, only the scatterometer can be used to distinguish positively multiyear from first-year and various types of thin ice. This is best done using coupled active and passive microwave sensing.We dedicate this work to our beloved friend William NordbergHe pioneered in microwave ice observations, and his brilliance and enthusiasm inspired all of us.     

Jet Deflection by a Quasi-Steady-State Side Wind in the Laboratory

We present experimental data on the steady state deflection of a highly supersonic jet by a side-wind in the laboratory. The use of a long interaction region enables internal shocks to fully cross the jet, leading to the development of significantly more structure in the jet than in previous work with a similar setup (Lebedev et al., 2004). The ability to control the length of the interaction region in the laboratory allows the switch between a regime representing a clumpy jet or wind and a regime similar to a slowly varying mass loss rate. The results indicate that multiple internal oblique shocks develop in the jet and the possible formation of a second working surface as the jet attempts to tunnel through the ambient medium.     

Assessment of δ13C and C/N ratios in bulk organic matter as palaeosalinity indicators in Holocene and Lateglacial isolation basin sediments,northwest Scotland

Carbon isotopes (δ¹³C) and C/N ratios from bulk organic matter have recently been used as alternative proxies for relative sea‐level (RSL) reconstruction where there are problems associated with conventional biological indictors. A previous study on a single isolation basin (Upper Loch nan Eala) in northwest Scotland has shown a clear relationship between δ¹³C, C/N ratios and palaeosalinity from Younger Dryas and Holocene aged sediments. In this paper we present results of δ¹³C and C/N ratio analyses from other isolation basins in northwest Scotland over the Holocene and the Lateglacial period in order to validate this technique. The results from the Holocene sequences support the earlier findings that this technique can be used to identify RSL change from isolation basins over the Holocene in this region. The relationship between δ¹³C, C/N ratios and RSL change is not apparent in sediments of Lateglacial age. Other environmental variables such as atmospheric CO₂ concentration, poor vegetation development and temperature influence δ¹³C values during this period. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

First cosmogenic 10Be age constraint on the timing of Younger Dryas glaciation and ice cap thickness,western Scottish Highlands

We use cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface exposure age techniques at a locality close to Rannoch Moor, western Scottish Highlands, in order to establish the age and chronology of its most recent glaciation. Glacial erratics and an in situ bedrock quartz vein sampled from this site—the summit of Beinn Inverveigh—have yielded zero‐erosion exposure ages of 12.9 ± 1.5 ka to 11.6 ± 1.0 ka, implying complete ice cover of the mountain during the Younger Dryas, or Loch Lomond Stadial. These results fit closely with published ¹⁴C dates that bracket the maximum (lateral) extent of ice cap outlet glaciers, and are the first internally consistent ages to specifically address this period of glaciation in Scotland. Furthermore, the dates imply that previous palaeoglaciological reconstructions for this area may have underestimated both the thickness of the former ice cap and, by implication, its volume. © British Geological Survey/Natural Environment Research Council copyright 2007. Reproduced with the permission of BGS/NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strain fields and mechanical response of a highly to medium fissured bentonite clay

This article presents the developments of an ongoing research aimed at modelling the influence of fissuring on the behaviour of clays. In particular, it recalls the main results of an extensive laboratory investigation on a fissured bentonite clay from the south of Italy and presents the data of a new investigation on the evolution with shearing of the strain fields developing within the clay, resulting from Digital Image Correlation (DIC). Element test results are analysed in the framework of continuum mechanics and linked to the clay fissuring features, once characterised using the Fissuring IDentity (F‐ID) chart. This article compares the bentonite behaviour with that of other fissured clays of different F‐IDs, highlighting the common behavioural features. Thereafter, the soil response at the macro level is related to the DIC‐derived strain fields evolving within the clay with loading. For this purpose, DIC was successfully used to investigate the deformation processes active in the fissured clay and the sources of the localisation phenomena. DIC is shown to provide indications of the extent to which highly to medium fissured clays element test results can be of use to model the clay behaviour according to continuum mechanics. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Glacier fluctuations in the southern Peruvian Andes during the late‐glacial period,constrained with cosmogenic 3He

The occurrence of pronounced climate reversals during the last glacial termination has long been recognised in palaeoclimate records from both hemispheres and from high to low latitudes. Accurate constraint of both the timing and magnitude of events, such as the Younger Dryas and Antarctic Cold Reversal, is vital in order to test different hypotheses for the causes and propagation of abrupt climate change. However, in contrast to higher‐latitude regions, well‐dated records from the Tropics are rare and the structure of late‐glacial tropical climate remains uncertain. As a step toward addressing this problem, we present an in situ cosmogenic ³He surface exposure chronology from Nevado Coropuna, southern Peru, documenting a significant fluctuation of the ice margin during the late‐glacial period. Ten tightly clustered ages from a pair of moraines located halfway between the modern glacier and the Last Glacial Maximum terminus range from 11.9 to 13.9 ka and give an arithmetic mean age of 12.8 ± 0.7 ka (1σ). These data constitute direct evidence for a readvance, or prolonged stillstand, of glaciers in the arid Andes of southwestern Peru. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial variability of snowmelt timing from AMSR‐E and SSM/I passive microwave sensors,Pelly River,Yukon Territory,Canada

Spring snow melt run‐off in high latitude and snow‐dominated drainage basins is generally the most significant annual hydrological event. Melt timing, duration, and flow magnitude are highly variable and influence regional climate, geomorphology, and hydrology. Arctic and sub‐arctic regions have sparse long‐term ground observations and these snow‐dominated hydrologic regimes are sensitive to the rapidly warming climate trends that characterize much of the northern latitudes. Passive microwave brightness temperatures are sensitive to changes in the liquid water content of the snow pack and make it possible to detect incipient melt, diurnal melt‐refreeze cycles, and the approximate end of snow cover on the ground over large regions. Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR‐E) passive microwave brightness temperatures (T_b) and diurnal amplitude variations (DAV) are used to investigate the spatial variability of snowmelt onset timing (in two stages, ‘DAV onset’ and ‘melt onset’) and duration for a complex sub‐arctic landscape during 2005. The satellites are sensitive to small percentages of liquid water, and therefore represent ‘incipient melt’, a condition somewhat earlier than a traditional definition of a melting snowpack. Incipient melt dates and duration are compared to topography, land cover, and hydrology to investigate the strength and significance of melt timing in heterogeneous landscapes in the Pelly River, a major tributary to the Yukon River. Microwave‐derived melt onset in this region in 2005 occurred from late February to late April. Upland areas melt 1–2 weeks later than lowland areas and have shorter transition periods. Melt timing and duration appear to be influenced by pixel elevation, aspect, and uniformity as well as other factors such as weather and snow mass distribution. The end of the transition season is uniform across sensors and across the basin in spite of a wide variety of pixel characteristics. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

XMM-Newton observations of the isolated neutron star 1RXS J214303.7+065419/RBS1774

We report XMM-Newton observations of the isolated neutron star RBS1774 and confirm its membership as an XDINS. The X-ray spectrum is best fit with an absorbed blackbody with temperature kT=101 eV and absorption edge at 0.7 keV. No power law component is required. An absorption feature in the RGS data at 0.4 keV is not evident in the EPIC data, but it is not possible to resolve this inconsistency. The star is not seen in the UV OM data to m _AB ∼21. There is a sinusoidal variation in the X-ray flux at a period of 9.437 s with an amplitude of 4%. The age as determined from cooling and magnetic field decay arguments is 10⁵–10⁶ yr for a neutron star mass of 1.35–1.5 M_⊙.