Hyperspectral remote sensing of evaporate minerals and associated sediments in Lake Magadi area, Kenya

Pleistocene to present evaporitic lacustrine sediments in Lake Magadi, East African Rift Valley, Kenya were studied and mapped using spectral remote sensing methods. This approach incorporated surface mineral mapping using space-borne hyperspectral Hyperion imagery together with laboratory analysis, including visible, near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (VNIR) measurements and X-ray diffraction for selected rock and soil samples of the study area. The spectral signatures of Magadiite and Kenyaite, which have not been previously reported, were established and the spectral signatures of trona, chert series, volcanic tuff and the High Magadi bed were also analyzed.Image processing techniques, MNF (Minimum Noise Fraction) and MTMF (Mixture Tuned Matched Filtering) using a stratified approach (image analysis with and without the lake area), were used to enhance the mapping of evaporates. High Magadi beds, chert series and volcanic tuff were identified from the Hyperion image with an overall mapping accuracy of 84.3%. Even though, the spatial distribution of evaporites and sediments in Lake Magadi area change in response to climate variations, the mineralogy of this area has not been mapped recently. The results of this study shows the usefulness of the hypersspectral remote sensing to map the surface geology of this kind of environment and to locate promising sites for industrial open-pit trona mining in a qualitative and quantitative manner.     

PSR J1753−2240: a mildly recycled pulsar in an eccentric binary system

We report the discovery of PSR J1753−2240 in the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey data base. This 95-ms pulsar is in an eccentric binary system with a 13.6-d orbital period. Period derivative measurements imply a characteristic age in excess of 1 Gyr, suggesting that the pulsar has undergone an episode of accretion-induced spin-up. The eccentricity and spin period are indicative of the companion being a second neutron star, so that the system is similar to that of PSR J1811−1736, although other companion types cannot be ruled out at this time. The companion mass is constrained by geometry to lie above 0.48 solar masses, although long-term timing observations will give additional constraints. If the companion is a white dwarf or a main-sequence star, optical observations may yield a direct detection of the companion. If the system is indeed one of the few known double neutron star systems, it would lie significantly far from the recently proposed spin-period/eccentricity relationship.     

Discovery of 28 pulsars using new techniques for sorting pulsar candidates

Modern pulsar surveys produce many millions of candidate pulsars, far more than can be individually inspected. Traditional methods for filtering these candidates, based upon the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection, cannot easily distinguish between interference signals and pulsars. We have developed a new method of scoring candidates using a series of heuristics which test for pulsar-like properties of the signal. This significantly increases the sensitivity to weak pulsars and pulsars with periods close to interference signals. By applying this and other techniques for ranking candidates from a previous processing of the Parkes Multi-beam Pulsar Survey, 28 previously unknown pulsars have been discovered. These include an eccentric binary system and a young pulsar which is spatially coincident with a known supernova remnant.     

A SuperWASP search for additional transiting planets in 24 known systems

We present results from a search for additional transiting planets in 24 systems already known to contain a transiting planet. We model the transits due to the known planet in each system and subtract these models from light curves obtained with the SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) survey instruments. These residual light curves are then searched for evidence of additional periodic transit events. Although we do not find any evidence for additional planets in any of the planetary systems studied, we are able to characterize our ability to find such planets by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Artificially generated transit signals corresponding to planets with a range of sizes and orbital periods were injected into the SuperWASP photometry and the resulting light curves searched for planets. As a result, the detection efficiency as a function of both the radius and orbital period of any second planet is calculated. We determine that there is a good (>50 per cent) chance of detecting additional, Saturn-sized planets in   P ∼  10 d orbits around planet-hosting stars that have several seasons of SuperWASP photometry. Additionally, we confirm previous evidence of the rotational stellar variability of WASP-10, and refine the period of rotation. We find that the period of the rotation is  11.91 ± 0.05  d, and the false alarm probability for this period is extremely low  (∼10⁻¹³)  .     

Iodine-rich waters involved in supergene enrichment of the Mantos de la Luna argentiferous copper deposit,Atacama Desert,Chile

Recent studies have suggested the involvement of highly saline deep formation waters that modified preexisting Cu assemblages to form atacamite during supergene oxidation of Cu deposits in the Atacama region. In this report, we document the occurrence of (Ag–I) inclusions hosted by supergene chalcocite from Mantos de la Luna, an argentiferous Upper Jurassic stratabound Cu deposit in the Coastal Range of northern Chile. The presence of this unusual mineral assemblage indicates that iodargyrite precipitated from reducing iodine-rich waters, suggesting that the fluids involved in supergene enrichment of Cu deposits in the Coastal Range were more complex than previously thought. This suggests the prevalence of hyperarid conditions during the latest stages of supergene enrichment of the Mantos de la Luna Cu deposit in the Atacama region, supporting the notion that supergene enrichment processes in hyperarid areas are dynamic in nature and do not exclusively require the presence of meteoric water.     

A morphological, sedimentological and geophysical investigation of the Woore Moraine, Shropshire, England

The Bar Hill-Whitchurch-Wrexham Morainic Complex is a large-scale glacial landform thought to represent either the maximum extent or the re-advance of the British-Irish Ice Sheet during the Late Devensian. The origin of the moraine remains uncertain as its key characteristics have not been studied in detail due to a lack of exposures from which its large-scale structure can be determined. The development of new technologies has enabled detailed examination of the topography and internal structure of such large-scale landforms. This paper describes a multi-disciplinary approach involving digital geomorphological mapping using enhanced resolution NextMAP™ digital surface models, geophysical imaging (electrical resistivity tomography) and conventional sedimentological analyses. This combination of techniques is useful for elucidating the origin of a large glacial landform in a region of poor exposure. Digital elevation models such as NextMAP™ offer an efficient and accurate method for landform-mapping, whilst electrical resistivity tomography was able to map the major constituent sediments of the moraine, which had in turn been identified in the single exposure available. Additional geophysical techniques should however be applied to provide further structural data and thereby enable a more detailed interpretation of the moraine's internal structure. Preliminary findings indicate that the moraine is a glaciotectonic landform composed of diamicton and glaciofluvial sediments, an origin consistent with recent suggestions that the Cheshire Plain contained an active ice lobe during the last glacial maximum.     

Glaciation and deglaciation of the SW Lake District,England: implications of cosmogenic 36Cl exposure dating

Exposure dating using cosmogenic ³⁶Cl demonstrates that the summit plateau of Scafell Pike (978 m) in the SW Lake District escaped erosion by glacier ice during the last glacial maximum (LGM; c. 26–21 kyr) and probably throughout the Devensian Glacial Stage (MIS 5d-2). Exposure ages obtained for ice-moulded bedrock on an adjacent col at 750–765 m confirm over-riding and erosion of bedrock by warm-based glacier ice during the LGM. The contrast between the two sites is interpreted in terms of preservation of tors, frost-shattered outcrops and blockfields on terrain above 840–870 m under cold-based ice. An exposure age of 17.3 ± 1.1 kyr for the col at 750–765 m suggests that substantial downwastage of the last ice sheet had occurred by c. 17 kyr, consistent with deglacial exposure ages obtained for other high-level sites in the British Isles. An exposure age of 12.5 ± 0.8 kyr obtained for a glacially transported rockfall boulder within the limits of later corrie glaciation confirms that the final episode of local glaciation in the Lake District occurred during the Loch Lomond Stade (c. 12.9–11.7 kyr). This research also demonstrated the difficulties of obtaining reliable exposure ages from rhyolite and andesite bedrock that has proved resistant to glacial abrasion.     

A feather hydrogen isoscape for Mexico

Developing useful biological isoscapes for areas of the world is a priority. This is the case for Mexico that hosts a large percentage of North America's Neotropical migrant birds. Here we investigated the use of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) feathers to create a spatially explicit feather deuterium isoscape for that country using samples (n = 461) that were collected across Mexico. Considerable and useful spatial hydrogen isotopic structure was observed, suggesting that isotopes may be a potential forensic tool for evaluating origins of Mexican derived fauna and flora. The most positive feather δD values occurred in the northeast and most negative in the south-central part of the country, roughly matching δD patterns observed in groundwater. A weak negative isotopic relationship was found with altitude in both the Pacific and Atlantic drainage systems. The most parsimonious model describing isotopic spatial variation in feathers between 300 and 3000 m a.s.l. included groundwater δD (δD_gw; precipitation proxy), sex, amount of precipitation, and the coefficient of variation in amount of precipitation. Overall, δD_gw was a poor predictor of sparrow δD_f values for all of Mexico. However, this relationship was considerably strengthened when we considered sex separately, removed the Baja peninsula from our sample, and considered the Atlantic and Pacific drainage basins separately. The strongest relationship between δD_gw and δD_f was found for female sparrows in the Atlantic drainage basin (r² = 0.464). We recommend that researchers interested in inferring origins of migratory birds and other animals in Mexico create species specific isotopic basemaps that may be guided by the isotopic patterns we have observed for House Sparrows and groundwater.     

Aerial electromagnetic sounding of the lithosphere of Venus

Electromagnetic (EM) investigation depths are larger on Venus than Earth due to the dearth of water in rocks, in spite of higher temperatures. Whistlers detected by Venus Express proved that lightning is present, so the Schumann resonances ～10–40 Hz may provide a global source of electromagnetic energy that penetrates ～10–100 km. Electrical conductivity will be sensitive at these depths to temperature structure and hence thermal lithospheric thickness. Using 1D analytic and 2D numerical models, we demonstrate that the Schumann resonances—transverse EM waves in the ground-ionosphere waveguide—remain sensitive at all altitudes to the properties of the boundaries. This is in marked contrast to other EM methods in which sensitivity to the ground falls off sharply with altitude. We develop a 1D analytical model for aerial EM sounding that treats the electrical properties of the subsurface (thermal gradient, water content, and presence of conductive crust) and ionosphere, and the effects of both random errors and biases that can influence the measurements. We initially consider specified 1D lithospheric thicknesses 100–500 km, but we turn to 2D convection models with Newtonian temperature-dependent viscosity to provide representative vertical and lateral temperature variations. We invert for the conductivity-depth structure and then temperature gradient. For a dry Venus, we find that the error on temperature gradient obtained from any single local measurement is ～100%—perhaps enough to distinguish “thick” vs. “thin” lithospheres. When averaging over thousands of kilometers, however, the standard deviation of the recovered thermal gradient is within the natural variability of the convection models, <25%. A “wet” interior (hundreds of ppm H₂O) limits EM sounding depths using the Schumann resonances to <20 km, and errors are too large to estimate lithospheric properties. A 30-km conductive crust has little influence on the dry-interior models because the Schumann penetration depths are significantly larger. We conclude that EM sounding of the interior of Venus is feasible from a 55-km high balloon. Lithospheric thickness can be measured if the upper-mantle water content is low. If H₂O at hundreds of ppm is present, the deeper, temperature-sensitive structure is screened, but the “wet” nature of the upper mantle, as well as structure of the upper crust, is revealed.     

Macroscopic quantum resonators (MAQRO)

Quantum physics challenges our understanding of the nature of physical reality and of space-time and suggests the necessity of radical revisions of their underlying concepts. Experimental tests of quantum phenomena involving massive macroscopic objects would provide novel insights into these fundamental questions. Making use of the unique environment provided by space, MAQRO aims at investigating this largely unexplored realm of macroscopic quantum physics. MAQRO has originally been proposed as a medium-sized fundamental-science space mission for the 2010 call of Cosmic Vision. MAQRO unites two experiments: DECIDE (DECoherence In Double-Slit Experiments) and CASE (Comparative Acceleration Sensing Experiment). The main scientific objective of MAQRO, which is addressed by the experiment DECIDE, is to test the predictions of quantum theory for quantum superpositions of macroscopic objects containing more than 10⁸ atoms. Under these conditions, deviations due to various suggested alternative models to quantum theory would become visible. These models have been suggested to harmonize the paradoxical quantum phenomena both with the classical macroscopic world and with our notion of Minkowski space-time. The second scientific objective of MAQRO, which is addressed by the experiment CASE, is to demonstrate the performance of a novel type of inertial sensor based on optically trapped microspheres. CASE is a technology demonstrator that shows how the modular design of DECIDE allows to easily incorporate it with other missions that have compatible requirements in terms of spacecraft and orbit. CASE can, at the same time, serve as a test bench for the weak equivalence principle, i.e., the universality of free fall with test-masses differing in their mass by 7 orders of magnitude.