Geochemistry of the Eocene Jijuntun Formation oil shale in the Fushun Basin,northeast China: Implications for source-area weathering,provenance and tectonic setting

Within the fault-bound Fushun Basin of northeastern China, the Eocene Jijuntun Formation hosts extensive deposits of thick lacustrine oil shale. Systematic sampling and geochemical analysis of these deposits has revealed that the parent rocks of the oil shale underwent moderate chemical weathering; and that its mineralogy and trace and rare earth element geochemistry were mainly controlled by parent rock composition, with no synsedimentary changes in the source terrain. Based on source rock and tectonic setting discrimination diagrams, we concluded that the parent rocks of the oil shale were mostly basalts of the Paleogene Laohutai Formation. These basalts originated in a continental back arc environment and contain abundant nutrient elements such as Fe, P, Ni, Cu and Zn, all of which are essential for the growth of aquatic photoautotrophs in lakes. Continuous, high primary productivity in the Jinjuntun lacustrine depocentre, combined with a stable tectonic setting and underfilled sedimentary environment, were key factors in the genesis of its oil shale.     

大兴安岭林区负地闪电荷源的反演

在中国东北大兴安岭林区进行了基于全球定位系统(GPS)时间同步的闪电地面电场变化多站观测.利用2010年7月14日一次过境雷暴多站同步的闪电电场变化资料,采用非线性最小二乘拟合法对雷暴成熟阶段的15次负地闪(包含57次回击和8次连续电流过程)中和的电荷源进行了拟合.大兴安岭林区负地闪单次回击中和的电荷量平均为1.0C(范围为0.1-5.0C),20%的继后回击中和电荷量大于首次回击,继后回击与首次回击中和电荷量的比为0.1-6.1,平均为0.8±1.0.单次连续电流中和的电荷量平均为3.8C(范围为0.4-7.3C),连续电流期间通道中的平均电流估计为25.3A(范围4.9-50.8A),一次负地闪中和的总电荷量平均为6.4C(范围为1.4-12.4C).负地闪回击和连续电流中和电荷源的高度分布与雷暴云的发展有关,对应的环境温度为-10--25℃.在雷暴成熟阶段前期,负地闪回击和连续电流中和电荷源距地面的高度从5.0km缓慢上升至10.5km;在雷暴成熟阶段后期,负地闪回击和连续电流中和电荷源距地面的平均高度从9.0km下降到6.0km,单次回击中和的电荷量也较前期减小约一个量级.与雷达回波的叠加显示,负地闪回击和连续电流中和的电荷源主要位于大于40dBz的强对流中心区,部分位于30-40dBz的强回波区边缘或较弱的回波区.     

Importance of soil surface characteristics on water erosion in a small grazed Sahelian catchment

This study concerns the problem of water erosion in the Sahel. Surface water and sediment yields (suspended matter and bedload) were monitored for 3 years (1998–2000) at the outlet of a small grazed catchment (1·4 ha) in the northern part of Burkina Faso. The catchment consists of about 64% sandy deposits (DRY soil surface type), which support most of the vegetation, and about 34% of crusted bare soils (ERO soil surface type). The annual solid‐matter export is more than 90% suspended sediment, varying between 4·0 and 8·4 t ha^?1. The bedload represents less than 10% of soil losses. In a single flood event (10 year return period), the sediment yield can reach 4·2 t ha^?1. During the period studied, a small proportion (20 to 32%) of the floods was thus responsible for a large proportion (80%) of the solid transport. Seasonal variation of the suspended‐matter content was also observed: high mean values (9 g l^?1) in June, decreasing in July and stabilizing in August (between 2 and 4 g l^?1). This behaviour may be a consequence of a reorganization of the soil surfaces that have been destroyed by trampling animals during the previous long dry season, vegetation growth (increase in the protecting effect of the herbaceous cover) and, to a lesser extent, particle‐supply limitation (exhaustion of dust deposits during July). The particle‐size distribution in the suspended matter collected at the catchment outlet is 60% made up of clay: fraction ≤2 µ m. The contribution of this clay is maximum when the water rises and its kaolinite/quartz ratio is then close to that of the ERO‐type surfaces. This indicates that these surfaces are the main source of clay within the catchment. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

X-ray bursts from the source A1742-294 in the Galactic-center region

We present observations of the X-ray burster A1742-294 near the Galactic center with the ART-P telescope onboard the Granat observatory. The shape of its persistent spectra was described well by the model of bremsstrahlung from optically thin plasma, and it remained essentially unchanged over ～2.5 years of observations. We show that the mean interval between X-ray bursts from the source is several times shorter than assumed previously and that the burst profile itself depends on the flux during the burst. We analyze in detail the strong X-ray burst detected from this source on October 18, 1990, and construct the evolution curves of its luminosity and radiation temperature.     

Broadband X-ray spectrum of XTE J1550-564 during the outburst of 2003

We present the INTEGRAL and RXTE X-ray observations of XTE J1550-564, a Galactic microquasar and a black hole candidate, during its outburst in the spring of 2003. The source during the outburst was in a canonical hard state, and its spectrum remained constant in both the rise and decay phases.     

Observations of the transient X-ray pulsar KS 1947+300 by the INTEGRAL and RXTE observatories

We analyze the observations of the X-ray pulsar KS 1947+300 performed by the INTEGRAL and RXTE observatories over a wide (3–100 keV) X-ray energy range. The shape of the pulse profile was found to depend on the luminosity of the source. Based on the model of a magnetized neutron star, we study the characteristics of the pulsar using the change in its spin-up rate. We estimated the magnetic field strength of the pulsar and the distance to the binary.     

On the analysis of light curves in asteroseismology

We provide a detailed introduction to the main problems arising when analyzing light curves in asteroseismology. Attention is first paid to the signal model delivered by the pulsating stars and to the noise sources corrupting this model in photometric observations. The main pitfalls and ambiguities occurring in Fourier analysis are summarized and illustrated. Some classical, Least Squares (LS) based methods for spectrum analysis are analyzed and commented on from the point of view of ill-posed problems. The insight that can be gained from such analyses is discussed.     

Searches for bright-rimmed clouds with IRAS point sources

We have carried out systematic surveys for small bright-rimmed clouds associated with IRAS point sources in/around HII regions. They are candidate sites for star formation due to radiation-driven implosion.