Modelling of space weather effects on pipelines

The interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field produces time varying currents in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. The currents cause variations of the geomagnetic field at the surface of the earth and induce an electric field which drives currents in oil and gas pipelines and other long conductors. Geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) interfere with electrical surveys of pipelines and possibly contribute to pipeline corrosion.In this paper, we introduce a general method which can be used to determine voltage and current profiles for buried pipelines, when the external geoelectric field and the geometry and electromagnetic properties of the pipeline are known. The method is based on the analogy between pipelines and transmission lines, which makes it possible to use the distributed source transmission line (DSTL) theory. The general equations derived for the current and voltage profiles are applied in special cases. A particular attention is paid to the Finnish natural gas pipeline network.This paper, related to a project about GIC in the Finnish pipeline, thus provides a tool for understanding space weather effects on pipelines. Combined with methods of calculating the geoelectric field during magnetic storms, the results are applicable to forecasting of geomagnetically induced currents and voltages on pipelines in the future.     

Exploring the links between health and housing: The limitations of population health surveys

While it is intuitively attractive to link health status and the quality of housing, it is methodologically complex to identify the relative importance of housing because individual characteristics and environmental variables act as confounders. A secondary issue is that the data sets which contain detailed data on health status and environmental variables often contain only limited data on housing. Similarly, housing surveys rarely contain detailed data on health and environmental variables. Respondents from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in the public use micro-data files of the 1996/97 cycle of the National Population Health Survey make up the data sets for a series of logistic regression models where health status, allergies, asthma, arthritis, migraines and bronchitis/emphysema act as the dependent variables. Sets of variables which measure housing, the environment (smoking and alcohol consumption) and the socio-economic status of individuals are used as independent variables. The issues of confounders and the limitations of the data are illustrated by the results of the analysis. If we are to go beyond local area surveys and carry out broader analyses of the links between health status and the quality of housing, researchers and data collection agencies will need to re-think the artificial divisions between these two critical aspects of peoples' lives.     

Breakthroughs in the biodiversity, biogeography, biostratigraphy, and basin analysis of the Beaufort group

Over the past decade researchers working on the rocks of the Beaufort Group in the main Karoo Basin of South Africa have vastly increased our understanding of this important Permo-Triassic sequence. Many new fossil forms have been discovered, allowing for breakthroughs into the biodiversity, biogeography and biostratigraphy of the group. Taxonomic and phylogenetic advances are many and varied, and cover most of the vertebrate taxa, but with emphasis placed on the temnospondyl amphibians, archosauriforms and non-mammalian synapsids, in particular the anomodontia. Biostratigraphic breakthroughs have centered on the Middle Permian Eodicynodon and Tapinocephalus assemblage zones, the Late Permian Dicynodon Assemblage Zone, and the Triassic Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus assemblage zones. Correlation of these biozones with better dated sequences in Europe, Russia and China has allowed for many chronostratigraphic refinements, which are in turn vital for sequence stratigraphical analysis of the basin fill. Based on fossil data, both the lower (Ecca–Beaufort) and upper (Beaufort–Molteno) contacts of the group have been proved to be highly diachronous. The refined chronostratigraphic framework has also allowed for a better analysis of the basin evolution through time, particularly in terms of the correlation of external stimuli that affect basin sedimentation patterns.     

Holocene History of the Bering Sea Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) in Its Beaufort Sea Summer Grounds off Southwestern Victoria Island, Western Canadian Arctic

The fossil remains of 43 bowhead whales were mapped on the raised beaches of western Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic, near the historic summer range limit of the Bering Sea stock in the Beaufort Sea. The elevations and radiocarbon ages of the remains demonstrate that the bowhead ranged commonly into the region following the submergence of Bering Strait at ca. 10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. until ca. 8500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. During the same interval, bowheads ranged widely from the Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay. Subsequently, no whales reached Wollaston Peninsula until ca. 1500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Late Holocene populations evidently were small, or occupations were brief, in comparison to those of the early Holocene. Although the late Holocene recurrence may relate to the expansion of pioneering Thule whalers eastward from Alaska, there are few Thule sites and limited evidence of Thule whaling in the area surveyed to support this suggestion.     

Modeling of dioctahedral 2:1 phyllosilicates by means of transferable empirical potentials

 Dioctahedral 2:1 phyllosilicates with different interlayer charge have been studied theoretically by using transferable empirical interatomic potentials. The crystal structures of pyrophyllite, muscovite, margarite, beidellite, montmorillonite, and different smectites and illites have been simulated. The interatomic potentials were able to reproduce the experimental structure of phyllosilicates with high, medium and low interlayer charge. The calculated structures are in agreement with experiment for the main structural features of the crystal lattice. The effect of the cation substitution in the octahedral and tetrahedral sheets on the structural features has been also studied. Good linear relationships have been found, and the calculated effects are consistent with experimental results. Some unknown structural features of the crystal structures of clays are predicted in this work. Received: 8 March 2000 / Accepted: 19 September 2000     

Zircon ages of high-grade gneisses in the Eastern Erzgebirge (Central European Variscides)—constraints on origin of the rocks and Precambrian to Ordovician magmatic events in the Variscan foldbelt

This study is an attempt to unravel the tectono-metamorphic history of high-grade metamorphic rocks in the Eastern Erzgebirge region. Metamorphism has strongly disturbed the primary petrological genetic characteristics of the rocks. We compare geological, geochemical, and petrological data, and zircon populations as well as isotope and geochronological data for the major gneiss units of the Eastern Erzgebirge; (1) coarse- to medium-grained “Inner Grey Gneiss”, (2) fine-grained “Outer Grey Gneiss”, and (3) “Red Gneiss”. The Inner and Outer Grey Gneiss units (MP–MT overprinted) have very similar geochemical and mineralogical compositions, but they contain different zircon populations. The Inner Grey Gneiss is found to be of primary igneous origin as documented by the presence of long-prismatic, oscillatory zoned zircons (540 Ma) and relics of granitic textures. Geochemical and isotope data classify the igneous precursor as a S-type granite. In contrast, Outer Grey Gneiss samples are free of long-prismatic zircons and contain zircons with signs of mechanical rounding through sedimentary transport. Geochemical data indicate greywackes as main previous precursor. The most euhedral zircons are zoned and document Neoproterozoic (ca. 575 Ma) source rocks eroded to form these greywackes. U–Pb-SHRIMP measurements revealed three further ancient sources, which zircons survived in both the Inner and Outer Grey Gneiss: Neoproterozoic (600–700 Ma), Paleoproterozoic (2100–2200 Ma), and Archaean (2700–2800 Ma). These results point to absence of Grenvillian type sources and derivation of the crust from the West African Craton. The granite magma of the Inner Grey Gneiss was probably derived through in situ melting of the Outer Grey Gneiss sedimentary protolith as indicated by geological relationships, similar geochemical composition, similar Nd model ages, and inherited zircon ages. Red Gneiss occurs as separate bodies within fine- and medium-grained grey gneisses of the gneiss–eclogite zone (HP–HT overprinted). In comparison to Grey Gneisses, the Red Gneiss clearly differs in geochemical composition by lower contents of refractory elements. Rocks contain long-prismatic zircons (480–500 Ma) with oscillatory zonation indicating an igneous precursor for Red Gneiss protoliths. Geochemical data display obvious characteristics of S-type granites derived through partial melting from deeper crustal source rocks. The obtained time marks of magmatic activity (ca. 575 Ma, ca. 540 Ma, ca. 500–480 Ma) of the Eastern Erzgebirge are compared with adjacent units of the Saxothuringian zone. In all these units, similar time marks and geochemical pattern of igneous rocks prove a similar tectono-metamorphic evolution during Neoproterozoic–Ordovician time.     

Fossil Rotifers and the Early Colonization of an Antarctic Lake

Early Holocene sediments from a continental Antarctic lake (Ace Lake, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica) contained abundant fossil rotifers of the genus Notholca. The fossil is similar to specimens of Notholca sp. present in modern-day Ace Lake and other fresh and brackish lakes of the Vestfold Hills. Cyanobacteria and protists (chrysophyte cysts, dinoflagellate cysts, and rhizopod tests) were also recovered from the core samples. These sediments were deposited early in the freshwater phase of Ace Lake, soon after deglaciation of the area. The occurrence of this trophically diverse assemblage of organisms at an early stage in the evolution of the lake suggests either that they were part of an endemic Antarctic flora and fauna which pre-dated the last glacial maximum and survived in glacial refugia or that efficient intercontinental dispersal had occurred.     

陆相红层盆地1:5万区调中的遥感应用研究

本文采用遥感地质方法,对陆相红层盆地的沉积岩相、沉积体系界面、盆地充填序列、岩相变化以及地层格架影像特征进行了识别研究,取得了较好效果,为遥感在红层盆地1:5万区调中的应用,开辟了新思路。     

脑脓肿的CT诊断

作者报告了１００例脑脓肿，其中一般性脑脓肿６２例、脑内小脓肿３８例（强化灶小于１．５ｃｍ），并对发病部位，临床表现及ＣＴ表现的主要特点进行了讨论。     

妊娠期脑积水畸形的宫内CT诊断

本文报告了４例在妊娠期间ＣＴ检查出来脑积水畸形病例，ＣＴ表现为幕上大片低密度区域，基底节和部分枕叶地结构完整，幕上脑室系统消失，脑组织形状结构不规则，大脑镰结构完整。