Trace gas exchange at the air/water interface: Measurements of mass accommodation coefficients

A liquid jet of 90 m diameter and variable length has been utilized to determine absorption rates and, hence, mass accommodation coefficients , of atmospheric trace gases. The compounds investigated are HCl (0.01), HNO₃ (0.01), N₂O₅ (0.005), peroxyacetyl nitrate (>0.001), and HONO (0.005). It is concluded that the absorption of these trace gases by liquid atmospheric water is not significantly retarded by interfacial mass transport. The strengths and limitations of the liquid jet technique for measuring mass accommodation coefficients are explored.     

Ophiomorpha irregulaire, rare trace fossil in shallow marine sandstones, Cretaceous Atane Formation, West Greenland

Ophiomorpha irregulaire is a large and extremely rare trace fossil. The type section is in the Book Cliffs, Utah, USA. A second on-shore locality is reported here, in the Nuussuaq Basin of West Greenland. Both occurrences date from the Late Cretaceous. Other reports of O. irregulaire are restricted to two-dimensional sections in well cores and are mostly Jurassic in age. The West Greenland occurrence is in the Atane Formation in shallow marine clean sandstone. The two on-shore localities lie in the same biogeographical region, in connection with the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. O. irregulaire is characterized by a sinuous, branched meander maze lying mostly within a single horizontal plane, probably not far beneath the seafloor. The burrow lining has remarkably elongate pellets that probably were emplaced by the burrower. In some cases, diagenetic compression may have deformed the lining pellets to produce their elongated shape. The muddy sediment comprising the lining is almost unrepresented in the clean sands of the substrate, and it was probably trapped from suspension during suspension-feeding activity.     

Holocene climate and cultural evolution in late prehistoric-early historic West Asia

The precipitation climatology and the underlying climate mechanisms of the eastern Mediterranean, West Asia, and the Indian subcontinent are reviewed, with emphasis on upper and middle tropospheric flow in the subtropics and its steering of precipitation. Holocene climate change of the region is summarized from proxy records. The Indian monsoon weakened during the Holocene over its northernmost region, the Ganges and Indus catchments and the western Arabian Sea. Southern regions, the Indian Peninsula, do not show a reduction, but an increase of summer monsoon rain across the Holocene. The long-term trend towards drier conditions in the eastern Mediterranean can be linked to a regionally complex monsoon evolution. Abrupt climate change events, such as the widespread droughts around 8200, 5200 and 4200 cal yr BP, are suggested to be the result of altered subtropical upper-level flow over the eastern Mediterranean and Asia.The abrupt climate change events of the Holocene radically altered precipitation, fundamental for cereal agriculture, across the expanse of late prehistoric-early historic cultures known from the archaeological record in these regions. Social adaptations to reduced agro-production, in both dry-farming and irrigation agriculture regions, are visible in the archaeological record during each abrupt climate change event in West Asia. Chronological refinement, in both the paleoclimate and archaeological records, and transfer functions for both precipitation and agro-production are needed to understand precisely the evident causal linkages.     

Erratum “Boundary” in ancient Persian tradition of statehood: an introduction to the origins of the concept of boundary in pre-modern history

Erratum to: GeoJournal 62: 51–58 DOI 10.1007/s10708-005-8562-2 The erroneous version of this article was originally published in GeoJournal 62: 51–58. This amended version corrects the formatting errors which are evident in the original version.Abstract It is universally accepted that the need for defining precise lines of separation and points of contacts between states is the byproduct of the emergence of nation-states and ‘world economy’ in the nineteenth century Europe. Nevertheless, it is hard to overlook the fact that these modern notions are rooted in periods prior to the emergence in Europe of nation-states. There are indications that ancient civilizations were familiar with the notion of ‘state’ in connection with the concepts of territory and boundary. Ancient texts reveal that this basic principle existed in ancient Persian literature in respect of matters of state, territory, and boundary. Similarly, the likelihood exists that these Persian notions could have influenced Roman civilization. It is widely believed that a combination of ancient Greco-Roman and Persian civilizations is a major contributor to what culturally constitutes ‘West’. Later in the Sassanid period the inter-linked notions of state, territory, and boundary developed substantially, coming quite close to their contemporary forms. On the other hand, considering that ‘justice’ was the corner stone of ancient Persian Political philosophy, the idea that ancient␣Iranian spatial arrangement might have contributed to the evolution of the concept of democracy in the West may not be too difficult to contemplate.The online version of the original article can be found at     

Biofacies of Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sediments of central West Siberia

Paleontological study of Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sediments recovered by boreholes in the Agan-Vakh and Nadym-Vengapur interfluves clarified environments of their deposition. As is shown, influx of siliciclastic material to central areas of the West Siberian sea basin varied through time. Taxonomic composition and ecological structure of nektonic and benthic fossil assemblages are analyzed and considered in terms of environmental factors such as hydrodynamics, aeration, temperature, and salinity of seawater.     

滇西潞西上芒岗卡林型金矿

上芒岗金矿赋存于二叠系沙子坡组碳酸岩和侏罗系勐戛组下段砂岩、灰岩中,明显受上芒岗断裂控制,与美国模式卡林型金矿极为相似,具有相同的物质来源和成因模式。上芒岗地区具有广阔的深部找矿前景。     

冈底斯地区林子宗群火山岩岩石地球化学特征及地球动力学意义

错卧莫-惩香错火山-沉积盆地位于西藏冈底斯陆块中部南缘。盆地内火山-沉积地层称古新世-渐新世林子宗群，岩石地球化学数据分析表明：这套火山岩系属钙碱性系列，轻稀土富集，不同程度表现出负Eu、负Ce、负Nb异常。微量元素K、Rb、Th、Ce富集，Sr、Ba，尤其是Nb、P、Ti亏损。初步认为这套火山-沉积岩系形成于俯冲造弧的构造背景中，是来自于俯冲带的地幔源区基性分异岩浆与陆壳重熔的酸性岩浆在不同的时间段内，按不同的比例混合形成的。同时，俯冲板块上深海沉积物与基性岩浆混合作用也是不容忽视的因素。在综合分析基础上，笔者认为印度板块与欧亚板块的碰撞启动时间在45Ma以后。     

亚洲沙尘暴的遥感监测方法研究 --以中国-日本合作研究区为例

介绍了亚洲沙尘暴遥感监测的一些新方法,并对监测结果与数据进行了综合分析,这些结果能够为GCM全球尺度沙尘模型提供参数和验证数据。本次研究结果为亚洲沙尘暴的中长期预测/预警系统提供了新的遥感技术方法。     

东亚冬季风异常与广东前汛期旱涝关系的初步分析

利用500hPa北半球格点资料,参照历史平均东亚大槽位置,定义了东亚冬季风强度指数(I₅₀₀)。分析发现,近50年东亚冬季风强度有减弱趋势,特别是1987年以来冬季风明显减弱。根据广东48个站1954～2004年前汛期(4～6月)降水资料,用区域旱涝指数W对广东前汛期旱涝等级进行划分。51年内广东有9年前汛期出现大涝(或特涝),11年出现大旱(或特旱),旱涝发生频繁。冬季风异常对广东前汛期降水的影响比较大,强冬季风年后广东前汛期出现大旱的可能性较大,而出现大涝的可能性很小。     

亚洲赤道地区大气动能的纬向传播

基于 1980～ 1997年 85 0hPa逐日NCEP/NCAR再分析资料讨论了亚洲赤道地区 (0°～ 5°N)大气动能的纬向传播特征。结果表明 ,在亚洲季风区内 ,赤道地区大气动能 (K)的最强中心位于 75°～ 90°E ,次强中心在索马里急流区 (5 0°E附近 )。在 0°～ 5°N ,90°E以东 ,平均的大气动能扰动和赤道上经向风扰动主要起源于西太平洋 ,并向西经南海传播到孟加拉湾。而在孟加拉湾动能中心与索马里急流区之间 ,动能传播方向比较复杂。以上事实说明赤道地区东亚季风系统确实是存在的 ,与印度季风系统中扰动的传播方向不同 ,东亚季风系统中动能和经向风扰动在东西方向上主要受西太平洋的影响。在亚洲赤道季风区 ,这两个系统的交界处约在 95°～ 10 0°E附近 ,比过去界定的偏西 5～ 10个经度。