A 20 cm2 CCD mosaic camera for a dark matter search part I : Mechanics,optics and cryogeny

A 20cm ² CCD mosaic camera has been especially built to search for dark galactic halo objects by the gravitational microlensing effect. The sensitive area is made of 16 edge-buttable CCDs developped by Thomson-CTS, with 23×23 µm ² pixels. The 35 kg camera housing and mechanical equipment is presented. The associated electronics and data acquisition system are described in a separate paper. The camera resides at the focal plane of a 40 cm, f/10, Ferson reflector. The instrument has been in operation since December 1991 at the La Silla Observatory (ESO).     

Anatomy of shelf deltas at the edge of a prograding Eocene shelf margin, Spitsbergen

Abstract Although shelf‐edge deltas are well‐imaged seismic features of Holocene and Pleistocene shelf margins, documented outcrop analogues of these important sand‐prone reservoirs are rare. The facies and stratigraphic architecture of an outcropping shelf‐edge delta system in the Eocene Battfjellet Formation, Spitsbergen, is presented here, as well as the implications of this delta system for the generation of sand‐prone, shelf‐margin clinoforms. The shelf‐edge deltas of the Battfjellet Formation on Litledalsfjellet and Høgsnyta produced a 3–5 × 15 km, shelf edge‐attached, slope apron (70 m of sandstones proximally, tapering to zero on the lower slope). The slope apron consists of distributary channel and mouth‐bar deposits in its shelf‐edge reaches, passing downslope to slope channels/chutes that fed turbiditic lobes and spillover sheets. In the transgressive phase of the slope apron, estuaries developed at the shelf edge, and these also produced minor lobes on the slope. The short‐headed mountainous rivers that drained the adjacent orogenic belt and fed the narrow shelf, and the shelf‐edge position of the discharging deltas, made an appropriate setting for the generation of hyperpycnal turbidity currents on the slope of the shelf margin. The abundance of organic matter and of coal fragments in the slope turbidites is consistent with this notion. Evidence that many of the slope turbidites were generated by sustained turbidity currents that waxed then waned includes the presence of scour surfaces and thick intervals of plane‐parallel laminae within turbidite beds in the slope channels, and thick spillover lobes with repetitive alternations of massive and flat‐laminated intervals. The examined shelf‐edge to slope system, now preserved mainly below the shelf break and dominated by sediment gravity‐flow deposits, has a threefold stratigraphic architecture: a lower, progradational part, in which the clinoforms have a slight downward‐directed trajectory; a thin aggradational zone; and an upper part in which clinoforms backstep up onto the shelf edge. A greatly increased density of erosional channels and chutes marks the regressive‐to‐transgressive turnaround within the slope apron, and this zone becomes an angular unconformity up near the shelf edge. This unconformity, with both subaerial and subaqueous components, is interpreted as a sequence boundary and developed by vigorous sand delivery and bypass across the shelf edge during the time interval of falling relative sea level. The studied shelf‐margin clinoforms accreted mostly during falling stage (sea level below the shelf edge), but the outer shelf later became estuarine as sea level became re‐established above the shelf edge.     

A 20cm 2 CCD mosaic camera for a dark matter search part II : Electronics,data acquisition and performance

Conclusion To summarize, the readout and the control system of the CCD mosaic camera are running since December 1991 at the La Silla Observatory (ESO). The overall performance of the camera has been good. About 12000 pictures (data and flat-fields) have been successfully registered up to now. We will report in the near future preliminary scientific results of the EROS experiment.     

The Radial Basis Functions Method for Improved Numerical Approximations of Geological Processes in Heterogeneous Systems

Mathematical Geosciences - A robust, high order modeling approach is introduced, based on the finite difference-based radial basis functions method, for solving the groundwater flow equation in the...     

Island shadow effects and the wave climate of the Western Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia) inferred from altimetry and numerical model data

To implement a numerical model of atoll lagoon circulation, we characterized first the significant wave height (Hs) regime of the Western Tuamotu Archipelago and the local attenuation due to the protection offered by large atolls in the south Tuamotu. Altimetry satellite data and a WAVEWATCH III two-way nested wave model at 5km resolution from 2000 to 2010 were used. Correlation between altimetry and model was high (0.88) over the period. According to the wave model, the archipelago inner seas experienced attenuated Hs year-long with a yearly average Hs around 1.3m vs a minimum of 1.6m elsewhere. The island shadow effect is especially significant in the austral winter. In contrast with southern atolls, Western Tuamotu experienced only few days per year of Hs larger than 2.5m generated by very high Hs southern swell, transient western local storms, strong easterly winds, and during the passage of distant hurricanes.     

Synsedimentary brecciation in the Eifelian (Middle Devonian) Baltic Basin: sudden catastrophe or diagenetic collapse?

The Eifelian sedimentary record in the epeiric Baltic Basin contains an extensive brecciated interval known as the Narva Breccia. During recent decades, the origin of this breccia has been attributed to (1) palaeoseismicity, (2) extraterrestrial impact event or (3) diagenetic collapse. Our studies show the presence of two different breccia types that form 11 stratigraphic horizons and contain several laterally and stratigraphically unrelated breccias. The occurrence of Type‐1 and Type‐2 breccias, together with carbonate sabkha and carbonate inter‐ to supratidal tidal flat deposits on the basin margins, indicates synsedimentary brecciation formed in a sabkha environment. Type‐2 breccia could also originate from wave‐cycling loading.     

Shallow-water deltaic clinoforms and process regime

Utilizing two outcrop data sets with dip direction exposures of shallow-water (tens of meters) deltaic clinoforms, this paper quantifies sedimentary facies proportions and clinoform lengths and gradients, and links process regimes to delta clinoform dimensions. Both data sets are from foreland basins, the Cretaceous Chimney Rock Sandstone of the Rock Springs Formation from the US Western Interior, and the Eocene Brogniartfjellet Clinoform Complex 8 of the Battfjellet Formation from the Central Basin of Spitsbergen. Sedimentary facies indicate presence of both river- and wave-dominated clinothems in each data set. Facies characteristics and distribution implies that river-dominated clinothem progradation was primarily driven by deposition from weak hyperpycnal flow turbidity currents across the clinoforms, and minor slumps. Wave-dominated clinothems were constructed by wave processes rather than alongshore currents, and are also progradational subaerial clinoforms, with one exception, where the formation of a compound subaqueous clinoform set indicates erosion and sediment bypass above the wave base. Sediment distribution and lithological heterogeneity in the river-dominated clinothems is controlled by individual hyperpycnal flow events or mouth-bar collapse events, and thus by self-organization and minimal reworking that results in a heterogeneity that is difficult to predict (high entropy). The efficient reworking of river-derived sediments in wave-dominated clinothems results in predictable lithological sediment partitioning (low entropy). Clinoform dimension analyses show that although of similar sediment caliber, river-dominated clinoforms in both data sets are on average 3–4 times steeper and 3–4 times shorter than the wave-dominated clinoforms, with mean gradients of ca 4 degrees and ca 1 degree, respectively, and mean lengths of 150–230 m and 640–760 m. These results require corroboration from additional data sets, but do suggest that river- and wave-dominated delta clinoforms are likely to have distinct downdip extents (lengths) and gradients for given clinoform heights. Clinoform shape can thus be a method for differentiating ancient river- vs. wave-dominated deltaic clinoforms, in addition to their sedimentary facies, biogenic features and sandstone maturity, and helpful when incorporated into reservoir models.     

Complete metamorphic cycle and long-lived anatexis in the c. 2.1 Ga Mistinibi Complex,Canada

Secular changes in the architecture, thermal state, and metamorphic style of global orogens are thought to have occurred since the Archean; however, despite widespread research, the driving mechanisms for such changes remain unclear. The Paleoproterozoic may prove to be a key era for investigating secular changes in global orogens, as it marks the earliest stage of an eon that saw the onset of modern-style global tectonics. The 2.1 Ga granulite-facies Mistinibi-Raude Domain (MRD), located in the Southeastern Churchill Province, Canada, offers a rare exposure of Paleoproterozoic high metamorphic grade supracrustal sequences (Mistinibi Complex, MC). Rocks from this domain were subjected to petrochronological investigations to establish P–T–t–X evolutions and to provide first order thermal state, burial and exhumation rates, and metamorphic gradients for the transient Paleoproterozoic times. To obtain comprehensive insight into the P–T–t–X evolution of the MRD, we used multi-method geochronology—Lu–Hf on garnet and U–Pb on zircon and monazite—integrated with detailed petrography, trace element chemistry, and phase equilibria modelling. Despite the extensive use of zircon and monazite as geochronometers, their behaviour in anatectic conditions is complex, leading to substantial ambiguity in interpreting the timing of prograde metamorphism. Our results indicate a clockwise metamorphic path involving significant melt extraction from the metasedimentary rocks, followed by cooling from >815°C to ~770°C at ~0.8 GPa. The timing of prograde burial and cooling from supra- to subsolidus conditions is constrained through garnet, monazite, and zircon petrochronology at 2,150–2,120 Ma and at 2,070–2,080 Ma, respectively. These results highlight long-lived residence of the rocks at mid-crustal supra-solidus conditions (55–70 Ma), with preserved prograde and retrograde supra-solidus monazite and zircon. The rocks record extremely slow burial rates (0.25–0.30 km/Ma) along a high metamorphic gradient (900–1,000°C/GPa), which appears symptomatic of Paleoproterozoic orogens. The MC did not record any significant metamorphism after 2,067 Ma, despite having collided with terranes that record high-grade metamorphism during the major 1.9–1.8 Ga Trans-Hudson orogeny. The MC would therefore represent a remnant of a local early Paleoproterozoic metamorphic infrastructure, later preserved as superstructure in the large hot Trans-Hudson orogen.     

Do human activities affect the picoplankton structure of the Ahe atoll lagoon (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia)?

The spatial variations of the picoplankton (photoautotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms) in the Ahe atoll lagoon were studied in May and October 2008 to assess whether they were affected by human activities along the atoll. Spatial patterns were studied using 10 sampling stations chosen according to the location of the anthropogenic activities (pearl farming, harbor). Experiments were also carried out to determine whether bacterial growth, with or without predators, was limited by inorganic (N and P) substrates. The results showed that heterotrophic bacterioplankton abundance was superior to the photoautotrophic organisms, especially in May. Significant increases in bacterial abundance were observed in May after 24h incubation with +P and +N (but not in October). All samples complied with the quality levels for fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) defined by the European Union and there was no evidence that human sewage had any impact on picoplankton over the whole atoll.