The Geologic Time Scale and the Italian stratigraphic record

The construction of the Geologic Time Scale (GTS) is a titanic scientific challenge that has been under way for two centuries and will require much dedicated effort in the future. Italy preserves a paramount stratigraphic record of Mesozoic and Cenozoic marine sediments that have been significant in the development of the modern GTS. The Italian stratigraphic record has been histori-cally important in introducing and defining the standard Chronostratigraphic Units (CUs) of the Neogene and Quaternary. Pelagic successions from Northern Apen-nines and Southern Alps have been used in the seventies for integrating the late Cretaceous-Paleogene Geomag-netic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS) with planktonic microfossil biostratieraohv and standard CUs. This was a major contribution to the construction of a new gener-ation of GTS based on integrated magnetobiochronol-ogy. The middle Miocene to early Pleistocene marinerecord from Sicily and southern Italy has been funda-mental for establishing the recently developed Astro-nomical Time Scale (ATS). In prospect, there are many potentials still to be exploited in the Italian marine stratigraphic record for implementing the GTS by defin-ing GSSPs of various CUs, improving magneto-biochronology and extending downwards the ATS.     

Optical Flash of GRB 990123: Constraints on the Physical Parameters of the Reverse Shock

The optical flash accompanying GRB 990123 is believed to be powered by the reverse shock of a thin shell. With the best-fit physical parameters for GRB 990123 and the assumption that the parameters in the optical flash are the same as in the afterglow, we show that: 1) the shell is thick rather than thin, and we have provided the light curve for the thick shell case which coincides with the observation; 2) the theoretical peak flux of the optical flash accounts for only 3×10~-4 of the observed. In order to remove this discrepancy, the physical parameters, the electron energy and magnetic ratios, εe and εB, should be 0.61 and 0.39, which are very different from their values for the late afterglow.     

Mantle processes during ocean formation：Petrologic records in peridotites from the Alpine－Apennine ophiolites

Mantle peridotites were early exposed at the sea-floor of the Jurassic Tethys derived from the subcontinental mantle of the Europe-Adria system. During continental rifting and oceanic spreading, these lithospheric peri-dotites were percolated via diffuse reactive porous flowby melt fractions produced by near-fractional melting of the upwelling asthenosphere. Ascending melts inter-acted with the lower lithosphere, dissolving pyroxenes and precipitating olivine, and crystallized at shallower levels in the mantle column causing melt impregnation.Subsequent focused porous flow formed replacive dunitechannels, cutting the impregnated oeridotites, which were conduits for upward migration of MORB-type liq-uids. Melt migration produced depletionlrefertilization and significant heating of the percolatedlimpregnated mantle, i.e the thermochemical erosion of the litho-sphere. Impregnated and thermally modified lithos-pheric mantle was cooled by conductive heat loss dur-ing progressive lithosphere thinning and was intrudeaby MORB magmas, which formed Mg-rich and Fe-richgabbroic dykes and bodies. Alpine-Apennine ophiolitic peridotites record the deep-seated migration of melts which changed their compositions and dynamics during the rift evolution. The thermochemical erosion of the lithospheric mantle by the ascending asthenospheric melts, which induces significant compositional and rhe-ological changes in the lower lithosphere, is a major process in the evolution of the continent-ocean transi-tion towards a slow spreading oceanic system.     

30天记录的潮汐谱分析

一、引言 目前，存在着不断增长数目的短期(例如30天)潮汐观测记录，特别是越来越多的潮流观测记录已从自动记录仪器获得。这些资料需要人们去分析、研究和利用。多年来，人们通常用经典的调和分析方法来分析短期潮汐记录，而这些方法仅仅提供人们一些预先确定了的分潮的信息。事实上，在不同的地区存在着不同的浅水分潮，而这些浅水分潮则是地区特征的表现。     

一种新的温度记录器

本文提出一个以带有定时器的低功耗微处理机为主体的温度记录器。其定时器用于开动微处理机,可由一个开关定为0.5、1、3或30分钟。仪器通过处理一个电容器向热敏电阻放电的时间来测量温度。仪器在工作中能显示温度值,并把温度值保存在微处理机的RAM之中。总共资料容量为2816次测值,量程为0～35℃,精度±0.1℃,分辨±0.02℃。 温度记录器具有液晶显示器,可直接读出温度值,配有标准计算机接口RS-232,能把保存的资料方便地倒给个人计算机。 这项工作是伍兹霍尔海洋研究所A.Bradley博士指导的。他提出的原理对研制可靠而廉价的温度记录器是一条新的途径。     

高能潮道中的灰泥层——风暴沉积的记录

1992年8月23—24日，安德鲁飓风经过了美国大巴哈马滩北部的两个典型的鲕沉积地区(catcay和Joulfefscay)．在风暴后7个星期，观察到在风暴中沉积于高能潮道(4m深)中的碳酸盐灰泥纹层已经暴露在水下鲕丘的丘槽中，     

生产率的测定

冰芯记录表明，在过去的冰期期间大气二氧化碳的浓度减小了．为什么会这样?在极地大洋生长的浮游生物是主要怀疑对象，因为CO2通过光合作用被吸收，而在有机物沉到洋底时停止了循环．对于气候来说，非常需要对浮游生物生产率进行一次很好的测定．