SHRIMP zircon dating and Sm/Nd isotopic investigations of Neoproterozoic granitoids, Eastern Desert, Egypt

There is an increasing evidence for the involvement of pre-Neoproterozoic zircons in the Arabian–Nubian Shield, a Neoproterozoic crustal tract that is generally regarded to be juvenile. The source and significance of these xenocrystic zircons are not clear. In an effort to better understand this problem, older and younger granitoids from the Egyptian basement complex were analyzed for chemical composition, SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages, and Sm–Nd isotopic compositions. Geochemically, the older granitoids are metaluminous and exhibit characteristics of I-type granites and most likely formed in a convergent margin (arc) tectonic environment. On the other hand, the younger granites are peraluminous and exhibit the characteristics of A-type granites; these are post-collisional granites. The U–Pb SHRIMP dating of zircons revealed the ages of magmatic crystallization as well as the presence of slightly older, presumably inherited zircon grains. The age determined for the older granodiorite is 652.5 ± 2.6 Ma, whereas the younger granitoids are 595–605 Ma. Xenocrystic zircons are found in most of the younger granitoid samples; the xenocrystic grains are all Neoproterozoic, but fall into three age ranges that correspond to the ages of other Eastern Desert igneous rocks, viz. 710–690, 675–650 and 635–610 Ma. The analyzed granitoids have (+3.8 to +6.5) and crystallization ages, which confirm previous indications that the Arabian–Nubian Shield is juvenile Neoproterozoic crust. These results nevertheless indicate that older Neoproterozoic crust contributed to the formation of especially the younger granite magmas.     

Seasonal variation of carbon fluxes in a sparse savanna in semi arid Sudan

Background

Large spatial, seasonal and annual variability of major drivers of the carbon cycle (precipitation, temperature, fire regime and nutrient availability) are common in the Sahel region. This causes large variability in net ecosystem exchange and in vegetation productivity, the subsistence basis for a major part of the rural population in Sahel. This study compares the 2005 dry and wet season fluxes of CO₂ for a grass land/sparse savanna site in semi arid Sudan and relates these fluxes to water availability and incoming photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). Data from this site could complement the current sparse observation network in Africa, a continent where climatic change could significantly impact the future and which constitute a weak link in our understanding of the global carbon cycle.

Results

The dry season (represented by Julian day 35–46, February 2005) was characterized by low soil moisture availability, low evapotranspiration and a high vapor pressure deficit. The mean daily NEE (net ecosystem exchange, Eq. 1) was -14.7 mmol d^-1 for the 12 day period (negative numbers denote sinks, i.e. flux from the atmosphere to the biosphere). The water use efficiency (WUE) was 1.6 mmol CO₂ mol H₂O^-1 and the light use efficiency (LUE) was 0.95 mmol CO₂ mol PPFD^-1. Photosynthesis is a weak, but linear function of PPFD. The wet season (represented by Julian day 266–273, September 2005) was, compared to the dry season, characterized by slightly higher soil moisture availability, higher evapotranspiration and a slightly lower vapor pressure deficit. The mean daily NEE was -152 mmol d^-1 for the 8 day period. The WUE was lower, 0.97 mmol CO₂ mol H₂O^-1 and the LUE was higher, 7.2 μmol CO₂ mmol PPFD^-1 during the wet season compared to the dry season. During the wet season photosynthesis increases with PPFD to about 1600 μmol m^-2s^-1 and then levels off.

Conclusion

Based on data collected during two short periods, the studied ecosystem was a sink of carbon both during the dry and wet season 2005. The small sink during the dry season is surprising and similar dry season sinks have not to our knowledge been reported from other similar savanna ecosystems and could have potential management implications for agroforestry. A strong response of NEE versus small changes in plant available soil water content was found. Collection and analysis of flux data for several consecutive years including variations in precipitation, available soil moisture and labile soil carbon are needed for understanding the year to year variation of the carbon budget of this grass land/sparse savanna site in semi arid Sudan.     

Flare development in active region NOAA 6891, 30 October, 1991

A great sunspot group of October 1991 (NOAA 6891 atL = 189,B = –10) was observed, in which an eruptive flare of importance (X2.5/31B) has been reported. A Caii-line 3933 filter was used, and during a time interval of 3 hours more than 90 frames were taken, using a CCD camera. The progress and the distribution in size of the two main flare points have been obtained; they covered an area of about 1800 millionths of the solar disk within a time interval of about 24 min. The average apparent horizontal velocity was 70 km s^–1.     

Studies on flow characteristics of coal–oil–water slurry system

Experiments were carried out to investigate the rheological properties of coal–oil–water suspension containing solids of different sizes. Two different coal samples with mean particle sizes of 120 mesh, 175 mesh and 220 mesh were used. The coal concentration was varied from 5% to 25% by weight. Sodium silicate has been used as an additive to study the behavior of the variation of average viscosity of the suspension. A generalized correlation has been developed to predict the average viscosity of suspension in terms of particle diameter of the coal, concentration of coal, viscosity of the suspending medium and the concentration of water. Experimental investigations revealed that coal–oil–water suspensions show an increase in the viscosity with decrease in coal size but with the addition of an additive, the average viscosity tends to decrease initially up to a certain optimum dosages and thereafter it increases with further addition of additives. Two empirical correlations are proposed for average viscosity of the coal–oil–water suspension, μ_sL in terms of physical properties of the solid and viscosity of the suspending medium with and without additives.     

Evaluation of three waterborne polymers as stabilizers for sandy soil

This study reports on waterborne polymer emulsion systems that were used for structural modification of sandy soils. The first emulsion used was a styrene-acrylic, copolymer emulsion; the second and third were vinyl-acrylic, copolymer-based emulsions. Specimens were prepared by adding different polymer emulsions to the sand and water in prescribed amounts. The performance of the different emulsion systems as sand stabilizers was estimated through measurement of the hydraulic conductivity and compressive strength. Measurements of hydraulic conductivity were conducted in a flexible membrane test apparatus. The hydraulic conductivity for the three emulsions decreased at different rates, with an increase in polymer content up to 3 wt. (i.e., % by weight). Additional increase of polymer content did not introduce significant decrease in hydraulic conductivity, and, at 5 wt.%, the three emulsions had essentially the same effect. Measurements made on dry cylindrical specimens disclosed remarkable enhancement in the mechanical behavior of the system. The compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of the examined emulsions increased with a higher concentration of polymer. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that the reduction in the permeability and the improved mechanical properties can be attributed to three dominant structural changes: the development of interconnecting ties between the sand particles, the development of adhesion between neighboring sand particles in contact, and the covering of the sand particles with a thin polymer film.     

A Review of the Bentong-Raub Suture vis-à-vis New Insight of the Tectonic Evolution of Malay Peninsula, South East Asia

As a milestone of the entire energy industry, unconventional resources have inevitably swept the world in the last decade, and will certainly dominate the global oil and gas industry in the near future. Eventually, the “unconventional” will become “conventional”. Along with the rapid development, however, some issues have emerged, which are closely related to the viability of unconventional resources development. Under the current circumstances of low crude oil and gas price, coupled with the prominent environmental concerns, the arguments about the development and production of unconventional resources have been recently heated up. This work introduced the full-blown aspects of unconventional resources especially shale reservoirs, by discussing their concepts and definitions, reviewing the shale gas and shale oil development history and necessity, analyzing the shale plays’ geology and petroleum systems with respects to key hydrocarbon accumulation elements and mechanisms, and summarizing the technology resolution. This study also discussed the relevant key issues, including significant estimation uncertainty of technically recoverable resources, the equivocal understanding of complex geology preventing the production and technologies implementation optimization, the difficulties of experiences and technologies global expanding, and the corresponding risks and uncertainties. In addition, based on the latest production and exploration data, the future perspective of the unconventional resources was depicted from global unconventional resources assessments, technology development, and limitations constraining the development.     

Automatic identification of fake patterns caused by short-width wavelets in seismic data

Despite the popularity of using the Haar wavelet filter in many applications, it sometimes introduces fake patterns into the multi resolution analysis (MRA) of seismic data. In this work, we compared different wavelet filters to demonstrate that these patterns are fake and not part of the original waveforms and to show that they are a result of using the Haar wavelet filter as a short-width wavelet. To achieve this, many seismic waveforms from two different sources: the Egyptian National Seismic Network (ENSN) and the High Sensitivity Seismograph Network Japan (Hi-net) are used with different wavelet filters. We propose an algorithm based on an autoregressive (AR) model to detect these patterns automatically and fully.