Mineralogy and temperature of crater Haulani on Ceres

We investigate the region of crater Haulani on Ceres with an emphasis on mineralogy as inferred from data obtained by Dawn's Visible InfraRed mapping spectrometer (VIR), combined with multispectral image products from the Dawn Framing Camera (FC) so as to enable a clear correlation with specific geologic features. Haulani, which is one of the youngest craters on Ceres, exhibits a peculiar “blue” visible to near‐infrared spectral slope, and has distinct color properties as seen in multispectral composite images. In this paper, we investigate a number of spectral indices: reflectance; spectral slopes; abundance of Mg‐bearing and NH₄‐bearing phyllosilicates; nature and abundance of carbonates, which are diagnostic of the overall crater mineralogy; plus a temperature map that highlights the major thermal anomaly found on Ceres. In addition, for the first time we quantify the abundances of several spectral endmembers by using VIR data obtained at the highest pixel resolution (~0.1 km). The overall picture we get from all these evidences, in particular the abundance of Na‐ and hydrous Na‐carbonates at specific locations, confirms the young age of Haulani from a mineralogical viewpoint, and suggests that the dehydration of Na‐carbonates in the anhydrous form Na₂CO₃ may be still ongoing.     

New British records of Carboniferous lycopod cones

Five species of Carboniferous lycopod cones have been identified from new British localities. Their geographical distributions have been widened and most have had their stratigraphical ranges extended. Comparisons are also made with the ranges of those dispersed spores which appear to be identical to the spores found in the cones.     

Silica in Lake Superior: mass balance considerations and a model for dynamic response to eutrophication

The dissolved silica concentration in waters of Lake Superior probably is in a steady state because it is not influenced significantly by man, and the climate, topography and vegetation in the drainage area of the lake have been stable for the past 4000 years. Therefore the rate at which dissolved silica is introduced to the lake should equal the output rate.The primary inputs are: tributaries (4.1–4.6 × 10⁸kgSiO₂/yr), diffusion from sediment pore waters (0.21?0.78 × 10⁸kgSiO₂/yr) and atmospheric loading (0.26 × 10⁸kgSiO₂/yr). Silica is lost from the lake waters by: outflow through the St. Marys River, diatom deposition, adsorption onto particulates in the sediments, and authigenic formation of new silicate minerals. Tributary outflow accounts for less than one half the annual input of silica, and diatom deposition and silica adsorption withdraw less than 10% of the annual input. Therefore the formation of new silicate phases must be the dominant sink for dissolved silica in Lake Superior. The specific phases formed are not identified in the bottom sediments. X-ray diffraction studies suggest that smectite is one product, and amorphous ferroaluminum silicates may be another product.Mathematical modeling of the dissolved silica response to lake eutrophication suggests that the phosphate loading to Lake Superior would have to increase by about 250-fold to cause a silica depletion rate equal to that reported for Lake Michigan, assuming no change in the rate of upwelling of deep waters.     

Late quaternary glacial stades in the Cordillera Central,Colombia, based on glacial geomorphology,tephra–soil stratigraphy,palynology, and radiocarbon dating

Using data from glacial geomorphology, tephra–soil stratigraphy and mineralogy, palynology, and radiocarbon dating, a sequence of glacial and bioclimatic stades and interstades has been identified for the last ca. 50000 yr in the Ruiz-Tolima massif, Cordillera Central, Colombia. Six Pleistocene cold stades separated by warmer interstades occurred: before 48000, between 48000 and 33000, between 28000 and 21000, from ≥16000 to ca. 14000, ca. 13000–12400, and ca. 11000–10000 yr BP. Although these radiocarbon ages are minimum-limiting ages obtained from tephra layers on top of tills, the tills are not significantly older because most are bracketed by dated tephra sets in measured stratigraphic sections. Two minor moraine stages likely reflect glacier standstill during cold intervals ca. 7400 yr BP and slightly earlier. Finally, glaciers readvanced between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. In contrast to the ice-clad volcanoes of the massif, ca. 34 km² in area above an altitude of ca. 4800 m, the ice cover expanded to 1200 km² during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and was still 800 km² during Late-glacial time (LGT). Glacier reconstructions based on the moraines suggest depression of the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) by ca. 1100 m during the LGM and 500–600 m during LGT relative to the modern ELA, which lies at ca. 5100 m in the Cordillera Central. Glaciers in this region apparently reached their greatest extent when the climate was cold and wet, e.g. during stades corresponding to Oxygen Isotope Stage 3; glaciers were still expanding during the LGM ca. 28000–21000 yr BP, but they shrank considerably after 21000 yr BP because of greatly reduced precipitation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Site occupation and electric field gradient in acentric neptunite-measurements and evaluations concerning powder- and single crystal – Mössbauer spectroscopy and x-ray diffractometry

Mössbauer measurements on neptunite (KNa₂Li(Fe,Mn,Mg)₂Ti₂Si₈O₂₄) at 400?K reveal the distribution of Fe-ions on the crystallographic sites in agreement with neutron diffraction results published elsewhere. Even the previously postulated small amount of Fe-ions on the Ti(2) site has been detected, combined with a charge transfer which is in agreement with optical absorption investigations by other authors. A qualitative site occupation model is able to explain the different features of our observations. Single crystal Mössbauer measurements with the k-vector of incident γ-rays parallel to the crystallographic b-axis (space group Cc) of neptunite at different temperatures yield the angle β between the main component of the electric field gradient (EFG), V _zz and b. This angle is in close accordance with a calculated value of β for the Fe(1) position from electron density maps. The latter also reveal an absolute value of V _zz which is in satisfactory agreement with V _zz derived from Mössbauer spectroscopy.     

Symphurus civitatium (Pleuronectiformes: Cynoglossidae), a second estuarine-occurring tonguefish off the Southeastern United States and Northern Gulf of Mexico

Two species of tonguefishes,Symphurus plagiusa (Linnaeus 1766) andSymphurus civitatium Ginsburg 1951, occur sympatrically and sometimes syntopically in shallow water habitats in North Carolina and Louisiana estuaries. In North Carolina, approximately 2% of 430 small (<75 mm SL) tonguefishes collected wereS. civitatium, while in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, this species was more abundant and cosmopolitan in distribution than wasS. plagiusa, comprising over 82% of 3,564 tonguefishes collected with a small beam trawl over a 2-yr period. Historical literature has regardedS. plagiusa as the only tonguefish species inhabiting inshore waters in both regions. Presence of a secondSymphurus species in shallow estuaries has been overlooked, most probably due to difficulties in identifying early post-settlement juveniles because both species have similar morphologies and overlapping dorsal-fin and anal-fin ray counts. Juveniles can be readily recognized by differences in number of caudal-fin rays (10 inS. plagiusa versus 12 inS. civitatium), especially when used in combination with pigmentation patterns and posterior extent of the jaws relative to the posterior margin of the lower eye. The most distinctive pigmentation difference between juveniles of these two species (allowing for accurate identifications of over 98% of juveniles) is the absence inS. civitatium (12–61 mm SL) of a series of melanophores overlying pterygiophore regions of the dorsal and anal fins on the blind side. This feature contrasts markedly with that of juvenileS. plagiusa (12–65 mm SL), which are characterized by two interrupted, diagonal series of dark chromatophores converging, but not merging, with posterior tapering of the body. Occurrence of two sympatric species of tonguefishes in estuarine environments in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. potentially compromises results of earlier ecological and distributional studies that assumed presence of only a single tonguefish species in these regions.     

Deglacial palaeoclimate at Puerto del Hambre,subantarctic Patagonia,Chile

The primary objective of this study is to further substantiate multistep climatic forcing of late‐glacial vegetation in southern South America. A secondary objective is to establish the age of deglaciation in Estrecho de Magallanes–Bahía Inútil. Pollen assemblages at 2‐cm intervals in a core of the mire at Puerto del Hambre (53°36′21″S, 70°55′53″W) provide the basis for reconstructing the vegetation and a detailed account of palaeoclimate in subantarctic Patagonia. Chronology over the 262‐cm length of core is regulated by 20 AMS radiocarbon dates between 14 455 and 10 089 ¹⁴C yr BP. Of 13 pollen assemblage zones, the earliest representing the Oldest Dryas chronozone (14 455–13 000 ¹⁴C yr BP) records impoverished steppe with decreasing frequencies and loss of southern beech (Nothofagus). Successive 100‐yr‐long episodes of grass/herbs and of heath (Empetrum/Ericaceae) before 14 000 ¹⁴C yr BP infer deglacial successional communities under a climate of increased continentality prior to the establishment of grass‐dominated steppe. The Bølling–Allerød (13 000–11 000 ¹⁴C yr BP) is characterised by mesic grassland under moderating climate that with abrupt change to heath dominance after 12 000 ¹⁴C yr BP was warmer and not as humid. At the time of the Younger Dryas (11 000–10 000 ¹⁴C yr BP), grass steppe expanded with a return of colder, more humid climate. Later, with gradual warming, communities were invaded by southern beech. The Puerto del Hambre record parallels multistep, deglacial palaeoclimatic sequences reported elsewhere in the Southern Andes and at Taylor Dome in Antarctica. Deglaciation of Estrecho de Magallanes–Bahía Inútil is dated close to 14 455 ¹⁴C yr BP, invalidating earlier dates of between 15 800 and 16 590 ¹⁴C yr BP. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gravel transport,gravel harvesting,and channel-bed degradation in rivers draining the southern olympic mountains,Washington, U.S.A.

The potential for gravel extraction to adversely affect anadromous fish habitat in three gravel-bed rivers of southwestern Washington, U.S.A., prompted the need to determine sustainable rates of gravel removal. This was accomplished by evaluating the components of a long-term sediment mass balance for the three rivers. Average annual gravel transport was determined by three independent methods. The closely agreeing results indicate that annual bedload supply decreases downstream through deposition and storage in response to declining gradient and from attrition during transport, as confirmed by laboratory experiments. A survey of gravel-bar harvesting operations indicates that the annual replenishment rate has been exceeded for up to three decades, often by more than tenfold. Analysis of data from nine stream gauging stations over a 55-yr period indicates degradation of about 0.03 m/yr in these reaches and suggests that bed degradation has produced the difference between the replenishment rates and the volumes of gravel harvested from the river beds and bars.     

Effects of shock pressures on calcic plagioclase

Samples of single crystal calcic plagioclase (labradorite, An63, from Chihuahua, Mexico) have been shock-loaded to pressures up to 496 kbar. Optical and electron microscopic studies of the recovered samples show the effects of increasing shock pressures on this mineral. At pressures up to 287 kbar, the recovered specimens are still essentially crystalline, with only a trace amount of optically unresolvable glass present at 287 kbar. Samples recovered after shock-loading to pressures between 300 and 400 kbar are almost 100% diaplectic glasses; that is formed by shock transformation presumably in the solid-state. Above about 400 kbar, glasses with refractive indices similar to thermally fused glass were produced. The general behavior of the index of refraction with shock pressures agrees closely with previous work, however, the absence of planar features is striking. At pressures less than 300 kbar, the most prominent physical feature is the pervasive irregular fracturing caused by the shock crushing, although some (001) and (010) cleavages are observed. No fine-scale shock deformation structures, i.e. planar features, were noted in any of the specimens. We conclude, in contrast to previous studies of shocked rocks that planar features are not necessarily definitive shock indicators, in contrast to diaplectic glass (e.g., maskelynite) and high-pressure phases, but are rather likely indicative of the local heterogeneous dynamic stress experienced by plagioclase grains within shocked rocks.