Drumlin formation in Southern Anglesey and Arvon,Northwest Wales

This is a study of Late Devensian drumlins formed in southern Anglesey and Arvon, northwest Wales. This area was affected by ice sheet coalescence when the Welsh ice sheet met with the lrish Sea ice sheet, and drumlins were formed once the two had coalesced. It is suggested that the drumlins were the result of net subglacial soft-bed erosion, and that they represent more resistant cores within the subglacial deforming layer. The drumlins have either gravel or till cores, and where the core was deformable, large-scale compressive glaciotectonic structures were seen (e.g. Dinas Dinlle) with local subglacial compression of –59%. Where the cores were more resistant (e.g. Lleiniog) these were not deformed but remained as more competent masses within the deforming layer. It is suggested that the less competent material flowed around the cores, some remaining as a thin carapace, but most of the material being removed down glacier, leaving the drumlins as erosional remnants. In northwest Wales there is a multi-till sequence that traditionally has been interpreted as having been deposited as the result of separate ice-sheet advances and retreats. However, in this study, it is suggested that the different tills were deposited as the result of ice-sheet coalescence, and that sites such as Dinas Dinlle do not show evidence of a major readvance in the retreat of the Devensian ice, but are indicative of continuously changing conditions within the subglacial deforming bed.     

The Leonard Award Address Presented 1996 July 25, Berlin,Germany: The elemental composition of stony cosmic spherules

Abstract— Five hundred stony cosmic spherules collected from deep-sea sediments, polar ice, and the stratosphere have been analyzed for major and some minor element composition. Typical spherules are products of atmospheric melting of millimeter sized and smaller meteoroids. The samples are small and modified by atmospheric entry, but they are an important source of information on the composition of asteroids. The spherules in this study were all analyzed in an identical manner, and they provide a sampling of the solar system's asteroids that is both different and less biased than provided by studies of conventional meteorites. Volatile elements such as Na and S are depleted due to atmospheric heating, while siderophiles are depleted by less understood causes. The refractory nonsiderophile elements appear not to have been significantly disturbed during atmospheric melting and provide important clues on the elemental composition of millimeter sized meteoroids colliding with the Earth. Typical spherules have CM-like composition that is distinctively different than ordinary chondrites and most other meteorite types. We assume that C-type asteroids are the primary origin of spherules with this composition. Type S asteroids should also be an important source of the spherules, and the analysis data provide constraints on their composition. A minor fraction of the spherules are melt products of precursor particles that did not have chondritic elemental compositions. The most common of these are particles that are dominated by olivine. The observed compositions of spherules are inconsistent with the possibility that an appreciable fraction of the spherules are simply chondrules remelted during atmospheric entry.     

Further analysis of temperature and emission measure during the decay phase of solar flares derived from soft X-ray light curves

The light curves of soft X-ray lines, observed by the Flat Crystal Spectrometer on Solar Maximum Mission during eight solar flares are modeled to determine the plasma temperature and emission measure as functions of time using the method first presented by Bornmann (1985, Paper I), but modified to include a ² search routine. With this modification the technique becomes more general, more accurate, and applicable throughout the gradual phase of the flare. The model reproduces the light curves of the soft X-ray lines throughout these flares. Model fits were repeated for each flare using five different sets of published line emissivity calculations. The emissivities of Mewe and Gronenschild (1981) consistenly gave the best fits to the observed light curves for each flare.     

Silica phase transformations in the petroliferous sequences

The joint evolution of organic matter and silica in petroliferous sequences is considered in the terms of the laws of transformation of dispersion systems. The dispersion systems are transformed under conditions of low-temperature solid-phase processes accompanied by the silica phase transition and dehydration that favors the evolution of organic matter.     

The wadic project: A comprehensive field evaluation of directional wave instrumentation

The results of a comprehensive field trial of nearly all commercially available directional wave measurement systems at the Edda field in the North Sea during winter 1985-86 are presented. The results summarize the accuracy of the principal engineering wave parameters from each system and the dependence on sea state. Limiting factors on system performance and operational problems are also included in the assessment. Overall experience has been good with systems utilizing widely different measurement principles returning consistent results.     

The impact of wave loads and pore-water pressure generation on initiation of sediment transport

The build-up of pore-water pressure by waves can lead to sediment liquefaction and subsequent transport by traction currents. This process was investigated by measuring pore-water pressures both in a field experiment and laboratory wave tank tests. Liquefaction was observed in the wave tank tests. The results suggest that sand is less susceptible than silts to wave-induced liquefaction because of the tendency to partially dissipate pore-water pressures. However, previous studies have determined that pore-water pressures must approach liquefaction before current velocities necessary to initiate transport are reduced. Once liquefaction has occurred more sediment can be transported.     

Raising the packing density of computerized oceanographic data records

In this paper the peculiarities of compiled oceanographic data sets, which consist primarily in the presence of some characteristic information as well as in the planned incomplete filling of the files with observations, are discussed. A number of special ways are suggested which essentially improve the packing density of computerized data without applying special archiving algorithms. The effectiveness of these methods has been tested by treating thein situ hydrological/chemical data file compiled in the Black Sea in 1988.Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

The American whale oil industry: A look back to the future of the American petroleum industry?

The American whaling industry rose from humble beginnings off Long island to become an international giant. In its peak year, 1846, 735 ships and 70,000 people served the industry. As whale stocks and reserves decreased, whalers were forced to go farther and farther from their New England home ports. Voyages became longer, and risks on required return-on-investment became higher. The easy money of Atlantic and Pacific whaling was no more: the only remaining profitable ventures were to Arctic and Antarctic waters. Many ships returned empty, if at all. in 1871, most of the Arctic whaling fleet was crushed by early winter ice and lost. This calamity, in conjunction with the long-term diminishing whale stocks, the diversion of investment capital to more profitable ventures, and the discovery, development, and refinement of abundant petroleum crude oil, struck the death blow to the American whaling industry. By 1890, only 200 whaling vessels were at work, and by 1971, no American commercial whaling ship sailed the world's oceans.It is apparent that no single event caused the final, rapid decline. However, a single calamity, in an already stressed industry, that was self-insured and commercially interlinked, precipitated the end. Today's American petroleum industry, although adopting some principles of the American whaling industry, also has embraced other activities such as work process reengineering and customer alliances, which may preempt, or postpone, a similar catastrophic demise.