The prediction of mineral solubilities in natural waters: The Na-K-Mg-Ca-H-Cl-SO4-OH-HCO3-CO3-CO2-H2O system to high ionic strengths at 25°C

The mineral solubility model of Harvie and Weare (1980) is extended to the eight component system, Na-K-Mg-Ca-H-Cl-SO₄-OH-HCO₃-CO₃-CO₂-H₂O at 25°C to high concentrations. The model is based on the semi-empirical equations of Pitzer (1973) and co-workers for the thermodynamics of aqueous electrolyte solutions. The model is parameterized using many of the available isopiestic, electromotive force, and solubility data available for many of the subsystems. The predictive abilities of the model are demonstrated by comparison to experimental data in systems more complex than those used in parameterization. The essential features of a chemical model for aqueous electrolyte solutions and the relationship between pH and the equilibrium properties of a solution are discussed.     

Mechanisms and duration of non-tectonically assisted magma emplacement in the upper crust: The Black Mesa pluton, Henry Mountains, Utah

A new study of Black Mesa pluton (Henry Mountains, Colorado Plateau, Utah, USA) indicates that it is a classic example of a small upper-crustal pluton assembled over a few years by incremental amalgamation of discrete magma pulses. The results of our petrostructural study of the pluton interior allow us to constrain the geometry, kinematics and timing of the processes. The symmetric internal fabric is interpreted as an evidence for a feeding by below and not laterally. The observed rotation of the lineation, from WNW–ESE on the very top to NNE–SSW below, lead us to propose that the fabric at the base of the pluton is a record of magma infilling process, and the fabric at the very top is a record of the strain due to the relative movement between magma and wallrocks. A consequence is that except at the contact between pluton and wallrocks (top and margins), the stretching direction, recorded by the lineation, is not parallel to the flow direction of the magma i.e. displacement. The Black Mesa pluton is a sheeted laccolith on its western edge and a bysmalith on its eastern edge. This E–W asymmetry in pluton geometry/construction and the symmetrical internal fabric indicates that the apparently different west and east growth histories could have occurred simultaneously. Our field data indicate pluton growth through an asymmetric vertical stacking of sill-like horizontal magma sheets.One-dimensional thermal models of the pluton provide maximum limits on the duration of its growth. We have constrained the number, the thickness, and the frequency of magma pulses with our structural observations, including: (1) the emplacement of the pluton by under-accretion of successive magma pulses, (2) the absence of solid-state deformation textures at internal contacts, and (3) the apparent absence of significant recrystallization in the wallrocks. Our results suggest that the emplacement of the Black Mesa pluton was an extremely rapid event, with a maximum duration on the order of 100 years, which requires a minimum vertical displacement rate of the wallrocks immediately above the pluton greater than 2 m/yr. Finally, our data show that the rates of plutonic and volcanic processes could be similar, a significant result for interpretation of magma transfer in arc systems.     

Bushmanship: The explorers' silent partner

Bushmanship, or the competence to interact meaningfully with newly encountered environments in the achievement of predetermined goals, is a factor overlooked in analyses of land-based exploration. The importance of bushmanship is examined in this paper through a comparison of George Grey's inept exploration of north-western Australia in 1836-37 with Edward Eyre's increasingly successful overlanding ventures in south-eastern Australia at approximately the same time. Grey's impetuosity, inexperience and lack of competence contrast sharply with Eyre's growing confidence to handle unfamiliar conditions. The comparison reveals many of the factors that differentiate externally initiated expeditions such as Grey's from forays by settlers determined to wrest a living from newly settled territories.     

The British Contribution to the Charting of the Adriatic Sea

In this paper, we present the results of an original research study that was based on the analysis of British charts of the Adriatic produced during and immediately after military operations undertaken by British forces and their allies against Napoleon in the Adriatic. We analyse the creation and production of British charts of the Adriatic from the first charting campaign of the Hydrographic Office of 1800–1801 to charts produced in the period of British rule over the island of Lissa of 1811–1815 to the first systematic hydrographic surveying of the Adriatic of 1817–1819 under the leadership of William Henry Smyth that resulted in the first hydrographic atlas and pilot book of the Adriatic. At the same time, the paper evaluates the British contribution to the creation of some of the first reliable nautical charts of the Adriatic and to the development of the nautical cartography of the Adriatic in general.     

南苏丹独立进程和平顺利实现的原因分析

2011年7月9日南苏丹举行了开国庆典,世界上最年轻的国家诞生了,而苏丹履行了诺言,成为第一个承认南苏丹独立的国家。压倒多数赞成独立的民意,国际社会的普遍欢迎态度,苏丹摆脱自身困境的考量,中国建设性的调解作用等,都是导致南苏丹独立进程能够和平顺利完成的原因与条件。南苏丹共和国的诞生是苏丹南方人民的共同意愿和自主选择。苏丹北南双方坚持和平选择,铸剑为犁,结束非洲历史上时间最长的内战,和平进程开花结果的实践,为冲突不断的非洲大陆和平解决类似矛盾与争端,争取建立好邻居、好伙伴、好兄弟的和睦关系提供了范式。     

北京平原包气带典型沉积物对NH+4 N吸附特性研究

采用批实验方法,研究了北京平原典型沉积物对NH+4 N的吸附规律。结果表明颗粒越细的沉积物,达到吸附反应平衡所需的时间越长,对NH+4 N的吸附量也越大;NH+4 N初始浓度在0~50 mg/L范围内,Henry、Langmuir、Freundlich吸附等温模式均能较好地描述北京平原典型沉积物对NH+4 N的吸附特性。沉积物对NH+4 N的吸附量随初始浓度的增加而增加;沉积物的颗粒越细,Henry吸附系数K越大,单位质量沉积物的饱和吸附量也越大;沉积物中TOC含量对沉积物的NH+4 N吸附行为有一定的控制作用,永定河、潮白河沉积物TOC值与Henry吸附系数K的相关系数R2分别为050,076;沉积物对NH+4 N的饱和吸附量随着土水比的增加而减少,通过乘幂的方式拟合不同土水比下的饱和吸附量,得出了北京平原包气带沉积物对NH+4 N的饱和吸附量;相同岩性条件下,特别是细颗粒沉积物中,潮白河沉积物对NH+4 N的吸附能力较永定河沉积物强,而同一流域内,中、下游沉积物的吸附能力较上游强。     

Medical Mapping: The Revolution in Teaching—and Using—Maps for the Analysis of Medical Issues

Abstract

As a result of advances in GIS, students from a range of disciplines (epidemiology, public health, medical sociology, and anthropology) are seeking to learn how to apply a mapped, spatial perspective to issues of disease and health. This paper describes a pilot program whose intent has been to develop an interdisciplinary, skills-based course in medical mapping using a case-based approach. The focus of its first module is the famous nineteenth-century case of a cholera epidemic in Soho, London. Here, however, that case–critical to a range of disciplines—is an opportunity to introduce modern GIS tools and their applicability to the issues surrounding the mapping of diseases in general.