Change in biochemical and morphological characteristics of Lonicera caerulea in tectonically active zone of the Dzhazator River Valley (Altai Mountains)

Local geophysical and geochemical anomalies affect the polymorphism of taste variations, berry shape, and content of some biologically active substances in Lonicera caerulea leaves in the tectonically active Altai Mountains (Dzhazator River basin).     

The use of seasonal rhythms and conditional random process repeatability for the prospective estimation of the forthcoming cold half-year nature in the Midlatitude Eastern Eurasia

The nature of cold half-years in midlatitude Asia is investigated using the data from 1917 to 2008. The schemes are developed of transitive forecasts of various characteristics of the thermal cold half-year structure on the basis of the use of seasonal rhythms within the cold half-year: the duration of the whole cold period and pre-spring period and the dates of the end of the coldest winter period. The reasonability of computation scheme adaptation to the certain dynamics of both predictors and predictants is demonstrated. The possibilities are considered of the determination of duration and dates of the coldest winter period coming at certain stations with the lead time of one year according to the conditional repeatability of the process of their temporal variations.     

Slumping processes on the Caucasian continental slope of the Black Sea

New results of geomorphological, seismoacoustic, and lithological investigations on the upper continental slope off the Arkhipo-Osipovka Settlement are presented. Here, a large submarine slump was discovered by seismic survey in 1998. The assumed slump body, up to 200 m thick, rises 50–60 m above the valley floor that cuts the slope. Recent semiliquid mud that overlies laminated slope sediments with possible slump deformations flows down in the valley thalweg. Radiocarbon age inversion recorded in a Holocene sediment section of shelf facies recovered from the upper slope points to the gravity dislocation of sediments.     

Thermal behavior of ferric selenite hydrates (Fe2(SeO3)3·3H2O,Fe2(SeO3)3·5H2O) and the water content in the natural ferric selenite mandarinoite

Any progress in our understanding of low-temperature mineral assemblages and of quantitative physico-chemical modeling of stability conditions of mineral phases, especially those containing toxic elements like selenium, strongly depends on the knowledge of structural and thermodynamic properties of coexisting mineral phases. Interrelation of crystal chemistry/structure and thermodynamic properties of selenium-containing minerals is not systematically studied so far and thus any essential generalization might be difficult, inaccurate or even impossible and erroneous. Disagreement even exists regarding the crystal chemistry of some natural and synthetic selenium-containing phases. Hence, a systematic study was performed by synthesizing ferric selenite hydrates and subsequent thermal analysis to examine the thermal stability of synthetic analogues of the natural hydrous ferric selenite mandarinoite and its dehydration and dissociation to unravel controversial issues regarding the crystal chemistry. Dehydration of synthesized analogues of mandarinoite starts at 56–87?°C and ends at 226–237?°C. The dehydration happens in two stages and two possible schemes of dehydration exist: (a) mandarinoite loses three molecules of water in the first stage of the dehydration (up to 180?°C) and the remaining two molecules of water will be lost in the second stage (>180?°C) or (b) four molecules of water will be lost in the first stage up to 180?°C and the last molecule of water will be lost at a temperature above 180?°C. Based on XRD measurements and thermal analyses we were able to deduce Fe₂(SeO₃)₃·(6-x)H₂O (x?=?0.0–1.0) as formula of the hydrous ferric selenite mandarinoite. The total amount of water apparently affects the crystallinity, and possibly the stability of crystals: the less the x value, the higher crystallinity could be expected.     

The Mineralogy of Iron and Manganese Ores of the Ushkatyn-III Deposit in Central Kazakhstan

Geology of Ore Deposits - The Ushkatyn-III in Central Kazakhstan is a weakly metamorphosed hydrothermal–sedimentary ore deposit of the Atasu type. For such objects, an assemblage of...     

Thermodynamics of arsenates,selenites and sulfates in the oxidation zone of sulfide ores: XII. Mineral equilibria in the Cd–Se–H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O system at 25°C

Understanding the mechanisms of cadmium and selenium behavior under near-surface conditions is very important for solving certain environmental problems. The principal aim of this study is physicochemical analysis of the formation conditions of synthetic cadmium selenite CdSeO₃ · H₂O and experimental investigation of its thermal stability and dehydration and dissociation mechanisms. The synthesis was performed by boiling-dry aqueous solutions of cadmium nitrate and sodium selenite. The obtained samples were identified with electron microprobe and powder X-ray diffraction. Complex thermal analysis (thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry) have shown that CdSeO₃ · H₂O is dehydrated at 177–241°C in two stages, apparently corresponding to the formation of CdSeO₃ · 2/3H₂O. The Eh–pH diagrams were calculated using the Geochemist’s Workbench (GWB 9.0) software package. The Eh–pH diagrams have been calculated for the Cd–Se–Н₂О and Cd–Se–CO₂–H₂O systems for the average content of these elements in underground waters. The formation of cadmium selenite, CdSeO₃ · H₂O in the oxidation medium is quite possible. The existence of CdSeO₃ is possible at high temperature.     

Identification of biogenic paraffins and their thermal phase transitions

Natural normal paraffin hydrocarbons C _n H_{2n + 2} (n = 17–41) of a biological origin were investigated in terms of their composition, structure, polymorph modification, and thermal phase transition. Paraffin compositions were studied from beeswax (honeycombs and their cappings), plant wax (apple and pumpkin rinds), as well as from different parts of rat cerebrum (cortex, subcortex, brainstem, cerebellum, cerebral hemispheres, myelin, chromatin, etc.). X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), chromatography, and high-temperature XRD, as well as original analytical methods elaborated upon by the authors, were used. The beeswax paraffin composition that corresponds to the six-component solid solution with a superperiodic four-layer orthorhombic cell was subjected to experimental modeling for the first time. The prepared mixture simulated a paraffin composition (n = 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33) and the asymmetric distribution of homologues by n.     

Synthesis of the organic mineral evenkite

The synthesis of an analogue of the organic mineral evenkite included preparation of a mixture of ten individual molecular homologues of normal paraffin C _n H_{2n + 2} (n = 19–28), melting of this mixture, and subsequent slow cooling under controlled conditions. The symmetrical distribution of these homologues by the number of carbon atoms in the molecule (dominant homologue n = 23) and the X-ray pattern of synthesized evenkite—a ten-component solid solution of n-paraffins—correspond to the characteristics of natural evenkite.