Âges KAr des roches magmatiques du fossé de Garoua (Cameroun) : leur place dans le cadre de la « Ligne du Cameroun »

KAr analyses on whole rock and minerals are reported for the Kokoumi anorogenic pluton and alkaline volcanics of the Benue valley, west of Garoua (northern Cameroon), which belong to the northern part of the ‘Cameroon Line’. The two formations yield similar ages of 39 and 37 Ma, respectively. These values likely correspond to the time of emplacement. They are in agreement with the interpretation considering the ‘Cameroon Line’ as a huge lithospheric crack tapping a hot deep asthenospheric zone. To cite this article: R. Montigny et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

GPS-Based On-Board Orbit Determination of a Satellite Using Extended H ∞ Filtering Algorithms

In this paper the extended H filtering algorithms for the design of the GPS-based on-board autonomous navigation system for a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite are introduced. The dynamic process models for the estimation of position, velocity and acceleration from the GPS measurements are established. The nominal orbit of the small LEO satellite is determined by using the 7th–8th order Runge—Kutta algorithms. Three filtering approaches are applied to smooth the orbit solutions, respectively, based upon the simulated GPS pseudo range observables using the Satellite Navigation Tool Box. The simulation shows that the observed orbit errors obtained by using the extended H filtering algorithms can be reduced to a lower level than the observed orbit errors in the sense of RMS within 12 h of tracking time by using the H filtering algorithms and the extended Kalman filtering algorithms under the appropriately designed parameters. Based upon the position errors predicted by the three filtering algorithms after the last observation, we find that the extended H filtering algorithm provides the least position errors of the user satellite.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Zipf’s Law: A Viable Geological Paradigm?

Zipfs Law originally was proposed as a guide to a statistical distribution in social studies. The law describes a relationship between size and rank of discrete phenomena. It is a variant of Paretos 1927 Law known as the 80/20 rule and is similar to Bodes Law in concept. The relationship described by Zipfs Law is a succession of order data with the largest followed by half the size for the next largest, which in turn, the next is half that size, and so on. In geology, it has been used with moderate success in resource assessment of mining and petroleum. In essence, it predicts how many entities of a certain size may be left in a sequence of decreasing size assuming the largest has been ascertained. Examples of applications would be plotting the rank and size of ore deposits or oil fields to determine how many deposits remained undiscovered and their size. After a flurry of papers in the 1970s and 1980s, application of the law apparently either was successful and thus not reported in way the literature or was determined to be ineffectual and its use discontinued, but either way the law lapsed into obscurity. Examples of oil- and gas-field size in Kansas, the occurrence of historic earthquakes that affected the state, and size of anticlines (plains-type folds) are presented to illustrate application and limits of Zipfs Law.     

Hubbert’s petroleum production model: an evaluation and implications for World Oil Production Forecasts

Following Hubberts successful prediction of the timing of US peak oil production, Hubberts model has been used extensively to predict peak oil production elsewhere. However, forecasts of world and regional peak oil and natural gas production using Hubberts methodology usually have failed, leading to the implicit belief that such predictions always will fail and that we need not worry about finite resources. A careful examination of Hubberts approach indicates that the most important reasons for his success in the US were stable markets, the high growth rate of demand, ready availability of low cost imports, and a reasonable estimate of easily extractable reserves. This analysis also shows that his model cannot predict ultimate oil reserves and that it should be considered an econometric model. Building on Hubberts vital insight, that cheap fossil fuel reserves are knowable and finite, one can state that for world peak oil production, political constraints should be much more important than resource constraints.     

The effect on the geoid of lateral topographic density variations

Gravimetric geoid determination by Stokes formula requires that the effects of topographic masses be removed prior to Stokes integration. This step includes the direct topographic and the downward continuation (DWC) effects on gravity anomaly, and the computations yield the co-geoid height. By adding the effect of restoration of the topography, the indirect effect on the geoid, the geoid height is obtained. Unfortunately, the computations of all these topographic effects are hampered by the uncertainty of the density distribution of the topography. Usually the computations are limited to a constant topographic density, but recently the effects of lateral density variations have been studied for their direct and indirect effects on the geoid. It is emphasised that the DWC effect might also be significantly affected by a lateral density variation. However, instead of computing separate effects of lateral density variation for direct, DWC and indirect effects, it is shown in two independent ways that the total geoid effect due to the lateral density anomaly can be represented as a simple correction proportional to the lateral density anomaly and the elevation squared of the computation point. This simple formula stems from the fact that the significant long-wavelength contributions to the various topographic effects cancel in their sum. Assuming that the lateral density anomaly is within 20% of the standard topographic density, the derived formula implies that the total effect on the geoid is significant at the centimetre level for topographic elevations above 0.66 km. For elevations of 1000, 2000 and 5000 m the effect is within ± 2.2, ± 8.8 and ± 56.8 cm, respectively. For the elevation of Mt. Everest the effect is within ± 1.78 m.     

Computation of spherical harmonic coefficients from gravity gradiometry data to be acquired by the GOCE satellite: regularization issues

The issue of optimal regularization is investigated in the context of the processing of satellite gravity gradiometry (SGG) data that will be acquired by the GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite. These data are considered as the input for determination of the Earths gravity field in the form of a series of spherical harmonics. Exploitation of a recently developed fast processing algorithm allowed a very realistic setup of the numerical experiments to be specified, in particular: a non-repeat orbit; 1-s sampling rate; half-year duration of data series; and maximum degree and order set to 300. The first goal of the study is to compare different regularization techniques (regularization matrices). The conclusion is that the first-order Tikhonov regularization matrix (the elements are practically proportional to the degree squared) and the Kaula regularization matrix (the elements are proportional to the fourth power of the degree) are somewhat superior to other regularization techniques. The second goal is to assess the generalized cross-validation method for the selection of the regularization parameter. The inference is that the regularization parameter found this way is very reasonable. The time expenditure required by the generalized cross-validation method remains modest even when a half-year set of SGG data is considered. The numerical study also allows conclusions to be drawn regarding the quality of the Earths gravity field model that can be obtained from the GOCE SGG data. In particular, it is shown that the cumulative geoid height error between degrees 31 and 200 will not exceed 1 cm. AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank Dr. E. Schrama for valuable discussions and for computing the orbit used to generate the long data set. They are also grateful to Prof. Tscherning and two anonymous reviewers for numerous valuable remarks and suggestions. The orbit to generate the short data set was kindly provided by J. van den IJssel. Computing resources were provided by Stichting Nationale Computerfaciliteiten (NCF), grant SG-027.     

Gaseous and Particulate Oxidation Products Analysis of a Mixture of α-pinene + β-pinene/O3/Air in the Absence of Light and α-pinene + β-pinene/NOx/Air in the Presence of Natural Sunlight

The gas and particle phase reaction products of a mixture of the atmospherically important terpenes -pinene and -pinene with the atmospheric oxidants O₃ and OH/NO_x were investigated using both gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for identification and quantification of reaction products. The nighttime oxidation of a mixture of -pinene and -pinene in the presence of O₃/air, and the daytime oxidation of a mixture of -pinene + -pinene with NO_x air in the presence of natural sunlight were carried out in the University of North Carolina's large outdoor smog chamber (190 m³) located in Chatham County, North Carolina. Mass balances for gaseous and aerosol reaction products are reported over the course of the reaction. More than twenty-nine products were identified and/or quantified in this study. On average, measured gas and particle phase products accounted for 74 to 80% of the reacted -pinen/-pinene mixture carbon. Measurements show that a number of reaction products were found in both O₃ and NO_x system [pinonaldehyde, pinic acid, pinonic acid, pinalic-3-acid, 4-hydroxypinalic-3-acid, 4-oxonopinone, 1-hydroxy-nopinone, 3-hydroxy-nopinone, and nopinone]. Pinonic acid, pinic acid, pinalic-3-acid, 4-hydroxypinalic-3-acid, and 10-hydroxypinonic acid were observed in the early stage in the aerosol phase and may play an important role in the early formation of secondary aerosols.     

Mass Balance of Gaseous and Particulate Products from β-Pinene/O3/Air in the Absence of Light and β-Pinene/NOx/Air in the Presence of Natural Sunlight

The gas and particle phase products from the reaction of -pinene with the atmospheric oxidants O₃ and OH radicals in the presence of NO_x were investigated using both gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for identification and quantification of reaction products. The nighttime oxidation of -pinene in the presence of O₃/air and the daytime oxidation of -pinene in the presence of NO_x/air and natural sunlight were carried out in the University of North Carolina large outdoor smog chamber (190 m³) located in Chatham County, North Carolina. A Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer system (3936, TSI) and a Condensation Particle Counter (3025A, TSI) were used to study the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, and a filter pack/denuder sampling system was used for simultaneously collecting gas and particle phase products for analysis. A gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer (GC-EIMS or GC-CIMS) was used for the identification and quantification of gas and aerosol products. A HPLC method was used for the measurement of small carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones) as their 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones (DNPH) derivatives. Mass balances for gaseous and aerosol reaction products were reported over the course of the reaction. More than sixteen products were identified and/or quantified in this study. On average, measured gas and particle phase products accounted for 57 to 71% of the reacted -pinene carbon. Measurements showed that a number of reaction products were found in both O₃ and NO_x systems (pinic acid, pinalic-3-acid, 4-hydroxypinalic-3-acid, 4-oxonopinone, 1-hydroxynopinone, 3-hydroxynopinone, and nopinone). Pinic acid, pinalic-3-acid, and 4-hydroxypinalic-3-acid were observed in the early stage in the aerosol phase and may play an important role in the early formation of secondary aerosols. Detailed reaction schemes are presented to account for most of the observed reaction products.     

Recent Observations of PMS δ Scuti Stars

We present time series observations of the intermediate mass Pre-Main Sequence star H254 belonging to the young star cluster IC 348 and of the Herbig Ae star V351 Ori.Both these stars present light variation on short time scale (a few hours) typical of the Scuti pulsation. The new data are briefly described together with the plan for future observational campaigns on PMS Scuti stars.     

辽河油田地下水资源优化利用方案研究

辽河油田以开采上第三系地下水为主，已出现降落漏斗、水质恶化及咸水入侵等问题。文章应用Visual MODFLOW模型，建立了地下水流数值模拟模型，对不同开采方案下的地下水动态变化进行了预测和分析，确定了最佳开采量和最优开采布局。建议调减开采量和调整地下水开采布局以实现辽河油田地区水资源可持续利用。