Determination of Ti, K, Sm and Gd Values in Geological Survey of Japan Reference Materials by Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis

Prompt gamma neutron activation analysis was applied to the determination of the titanium, potassium, samarium and gadolinium contents of nine Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ) reference materials (JB-1, 1a, 2, 3; JA-1, 2, 3; JR-1, 2). Firstly, the values in JB-1 were determined by the standard addition method: pressed powder disks of JB-1 were used for neutron irradiation and gamma-ray measurements, after known quantities of standard reagents had been added. Secondly, the contents of eight other reference materials were determined by comparison methods using JB-1 as the comparative standard. The precision of analyses were obtained by replicate determinations on these samples. The relative standard deviation was generally less than 5%. For most samples, analysed values agreed well (< 5%) with the recommended values.     

MIPAS-Transall Observations of the Variability of CLONO2 during the Arctic Winter of 1994/95

In the winter of 1994/95 the German Transall research aircraft performed 5 campaigns in the European Arctic with 22 flights altogether. An extensive dataset of HNO3, ClONO2 and O3 column amounts was obtained by MIPAS-FT (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding - Flugzeug Transall) onboard the aircraft. In this paper we present the variability of the ClONO2 reservoir gas in the course of the winter. We include groundbased FTIR measurements of HF, HCl and ClONO2 to discuss the airborne observations with regard to the partitioning of inorganic chlorine.From mid-December until the end of January, MIPAS measured a stable ClONO2 collar with constantly low column amounts inside the polar vortex and maxima at the edge. This observation reflected widespread conversion of ClONO2 to reactive chlorine inside the vortex for at least six weeks. In good accordance, the ground stations measured low in-vortex HCl and ClONO2 column amounts and conversion of HCl into ClONO2 in the region of the ClONO2 maxima. In the first week of February the ClONO2 amounts started to increase in the edge region as well as inside the vortex. Between March 21 and 27, just one week after the last cold period, MIPAS observed exclusively high ClONO2 column amounts inside the vortex, indicating fast deactivation of active chlorine. In the same period the ground stations measured an excess of ClONO2 over HCl. Further, the high ClONO2 implies that the polar vortex was renoxified in March. Lower ClONO2 values, observed inside the vortex on the flights of April 5 and 8, and an increased HCl/ClONO2 ratio, measured from ground, marked the starting redistribution within the chlorine reservoir species to the photochemically more stable HCl.In February, March and April, MIPAS observed mixing of ClONO2-rich air masses with midlatitude air at the vortex edge. A very clear event happened on March 27. On this flight a distinct ClONO2 minimum was measured at the vortex edge, which was closely correlated with a filament of midlatitude air observed by OLEX (Ozone Lidar EXperiment) onboard the Transall.     

中国大陆东部晚中生代构造活化及其演化过程

与中生代中期造山型构造活化不同．晚中生代期间,中国大陆东部的构造活化表现为规模宏大的断陷盆地系、变质核杂岩、花岗岩浆侵位、火山岩喷发以及沿大型走滑断层的转换伸展为特征的大陆裂陷作用。根据岩浆活动、盆地的充填记录,构造格架和盆地的沉降史分析,可以将裂陷作用划分为两个大的阶段,即由兴安岭群火山喷发为代表的第一阶段和以巴彦花群含煤、油碎屑岩系为代表的断陷盆地形成阶段。盆地沉降史回剥研究表明,裂陷作用第二阶段断陷盆地的发育受控于次一级的幕式构造作用过程。此外．对晚中生代裂陷作用的动力学背景的探讨需要阐明岩石圈的深部过程和构造应力场的反转这个两个重要的问题。     

云南个旧矿区富锡、铜矿体成矿学浅析

论述了构造岩浆活化与富锡、铜矿体形成的地质条件。作者将个旧矿区富锡、铜矿体分为两大类：①岩浆改造富化型;②岩浆迭加富化型。从控矿地质条件和矿物包裹体成分、同位素组成论述了两类矿体多因复成特征。分析了构造岩浆活化与富锡、铜成矿的关系。     

Elemental composition of particulate material sampled from the Arctic haze aerosol

Thirty-six aerosol filter samples collected in tropospheric Arctic haze layers, in the stratosphere, and in the marine boundary layer during the 1983 Arctic Gas and Aerosol Sampling Program were analyzed for trace elements using instrumental neutron activation analysis. Average crustal dust concentrations were 540 ng/m³ and 330 ng/m³ for samples collected in Arctic haze over the North American and Norwegian Arctic, respectively. An average marine salt concentration of 120 ng/m³ was obtained for haze samples collected above the marine boundary layer on both sides of the Arctic.Meteorological and wind trajectory information were used to identify specific haze transport pathways, which brought relatively unmixed aerosol from the central Soviet Union into the AGASP sampling areas. Results from individual filters collected within these transport zones are discussed, with emphasis on certain trace metal ratos which have been proposed by other researchers as discriminators of aerosols from different source regions. Our aircraft-collected data are compared with previously-collected ground-based measurements, and show reasonably good agreement for most tracer elements and ratios. Specifically, we have determined the As/Sb ratio tracer, named by other researchers as the most effective elemental discriminator of aerosol from the central Soviet Union, to be approximately 5–6. This relatively high tracer value is consistent with previous ground-based findings. A significantly lower V/Sb ratio was observed throughout this study, possibly indicating a change in the source signature.     

Regional variation of mechanical and chemical denudation,upper Colorado River Basin,U.S.A.

The variation of mechanical and chemical denudation is investigated using discharge and sediment yield data from the Upper Colorado River System. Annual precipitation ranges from approximately 150 mm to 1500 mm. Mean specific yield ranges from 0-2 1/s km² ( = 6 mm p a) to 151/s km² ( = 475 mm p a). The hydrological-geomorphological system adjusts itself to these varying climatic conditions; in some areas, however, the effects of lithology or land use seem to override the climatic controls. It is demonstrated that the increase in the absolute and particularly the relative amount of suspended sediment is closely related to a decrease in annual runoff and to an increase in the importance of high magnitude/low frequency events. This indicates that in areas of low annual runoff and high runoff variability, soluble rocks are more resistant than in more humid areas. During high magnitude/low frequency events, suspended sediment concentrations and loads are very high in semiarid areas due to sparse vegetation cover and dominance of direct runoff. Events of moderate magnitude and frequency, which in more humid areas transport most of the dissolved load, seldom occur. The trend towards increasing mechanical denudation is even observed in areas of very low runoff (0-221/s km² = 7 mm p a). The peak of sediment yield in dry areas seems to approximate the point of no runoff very closely. Mechanical and chemical denudation are of equal importance at a runoff of about 300 mm per year.     

Chalk–fluid interactions with glycol and brines

Mechanical properties of high porosity chalks are strongly dependent on the type of fluid in the pores. Dry chalk is considerably stronger than water-saturated chalk, and this phenomenon is often referred to as the water-weakening effect. To address the problem of chalk–fluid interactions, several series of tests have been performed with glycol and high concentration brines as saturating fluids. Glycol is a fluid that in many aspects resembles oil, except that glycol is miscible with water. Glycol-saturated chalk turns out to have properties very similar to oil-saturated chalk. Compared to dry chalk, both oil and glycol make the chalk somewhat weaker, but this weakening effect is much less than with water. Several series of tests with brines with high concentrations of calcium chloride or sodium chloride show that the water-weakening effect is considerably reduced in high ionic strength solutions. Most tests were performed as quasi-hydrostatic tests, with a constant stress ratio of 0.9. In such tests, the yield point marks the onset of accelerated pore collapse, and the yield value is close to the hydrostatic yield stress. In addition to these compressive tests, a series of Brazilian tests were performed, revealing the same trend. The variations in mechanical strength have been correlated with the activity of water in the brines. Within the experimental accuracy of the compressive tests, there is a linear trend between reduction of water activity and the corresponding increase in strength. This leads to the hypothesis that the water activity may be a key parameter in the water-weakening mechanism. But this conclusion also indicates that water weakening may be a special case of general chalk–fluid interactions where the degree of weakening depends on the strength of adsorption of the fluid molecules to the calcite surfaces.     

Geometrical relationships between unconformities and subsequent folding: the Arro fold system (southern Pyrenees)Relations entre discordances et plissement dans le système de plis et chevauchements d'Arro (bassin de Graus-Tremp,Pyrénées)

The Arro system is an oblique fold system involving the Eocene sediments of the Graus-Tremp basin. It consists of westward-verging folds, trending NNW–SSE, some of them related with thrusts, in piggyback sequence. Seismic profiles allow to infer the geometry of structures at depth: folds and thrusts are ‘decolled’ over an unconformity between turbiditic and platform sediments. Re-activation of bedding surfaces by folding in the underlying units resulted in folding and thrusting in the upper series. To cite this article: A.M. Casas et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 765–772.     

Interprétation hydrogéologique de l'aquifère des bassins sud-rifains (Maroc) : apport de la sismique réflexion

The aquifer of the Rharb Basin is constituted by heterogeneous material. The seismic reflexion interpretation carried out in this area, highlighted a permeable device compartmentalized in raised and subsided blocks. Depressions identified in the northern and southernmost zones are characterized by Plio-Quaternary fillings that are favourable to the hydrogeological exploitation. Two mechanisms contribute to structure the Plio-Quaternary aquifer: the Hercynian reactivation in the southernmost part, and the gravitational mechanism of the Pre-Rifean nappe. The groundwater flow and the aquifer thickening are controlled by this reactivation.