Outflow channel sources, reactivation, and chaos formation, Xanthe Terra, Mars

The undulating, warped, and densely fractured surfaces of highland regions east of Valles Marineris (located north of the eastern Aureum Chaos, east of the Hydraotes Chaos, and south of the Hydaspis Chaos) resulted from extensional surface warping related to ground subsidence, caused when pressurized water confined in subterranean caverns was released to the surface. Water emanations formed crater lakes and resulted in channeling episodes involved in the excavation of Ares, Tiu, and Simud Valles of the eastern part of the circum-Chryse outflow channel system. Progressive surface subsidence and associated reduction of the subsurface cavernous volume, and/or episodes of magmatic-driven activity, led to increases of the hydrostatic pressure, resulting in reactivation of both catastrophic and non-catastrophic outflow activity. Ancient cratered highland and basin materials that underwent large-scale subsidence grade into densely fractured terrains. Collapse of rock materials in these regions resulted in the formation of chaotic terrains, which occur in and near the headwaters of the eastern circum-Chryse outflow channels. The deepest chaotic terrain in the Hydaspis Chaos region resulted from the collapse of pre-existing outflow channel floors. The release of volatiles and related collapse may have included water emanations not necessarily linked to catastrophic outflow. Basal warming related to dike intrusions, thermokarst activity involving wet sediments and/or dissected ice-enriched country rock, permafrost exposed to the atmosphere by extensional tectonism and channel incision, and/or the injection of water into porous floor material, may have enhanced outflow channel floor instability and subsequent collapse. In addition to the possible genetic linkage to outflow channel development dating back to at least the Late Noachian, clear disruption of impact craters with pristine ejecta blankets and rims, as well as preservation of fine tectonic fabrics, suggest that plateau subsidence and chaos formation may have continued well into the Amazonian Period. The geologic and paleohydrologic histories presented here have important implications, as new mechanisms for outflow channel formation and other fluvial activity are described, and new reactivation mechanisms are proposed for the origin of chaotic terrain as contributors to flooding. Detailed geomorphic analysis indicates that subterranean caverns may have been exposed during chaos formation, and thus chaotic terrains mark prime locations for future geologic, hydrologic, and possible astrobiologic exploration.     

Preservation of the shell matrix protein dermatopontin in 1500 year old land snail fossils from the Bonin islands

Organic molecules such as proteins can be preserved in certain fossils. The bulk properties of fossil proteins of both vertebrates and invertebrates have been studied for over half a century. Named proteins have so far been identified, however, only in vertebrate fossils, such as collagen from mammoth bones. Using immunological assays, we examined 1500 year old fossils of the extinct land snail Mandarina luhuana from the Bonin islands for the presence of dermatopontin, a molluscan shell matrix protein. First, we examined the shell microstructure and mineralogy of the fossil shells using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) in order to estimate the extent of diagenetic alteration. The results suggest that the original microstructure and mineralogy of the shells are preserved. Antiserum raised against the Type-1 dermatopontin fragment of the living land snail Euhadra brandtii showed significant immunological reactivity with the extracts from the fossil shells of M. luhuana. Immunological binding curves drawn for the shell extracts of extant M. aureola and the extinct M. luhuana confirmed the presence of dermatopontin in the fossil shells and provided an estimate that about 75–98% of the original dermatopontin was lost from the M. luhuana fossils. This is the first report of a named protein being identified in invertebrate fossils.     

Standing stocks and production rates of phytoplankton and planktonic copepods in the Inland Sea of Japan

Standing stocks and production rates of phytoplankton and planktonic copepods were investigated at 15 stations in the Inland Sea of Japan during four cruises in October–November 1979, January, April and June 1980. The overall mean of phytoplankton biomass was relatively constant during the study period, ranging from 2.3 mg chl.a m^–3 in April to 3.6 mg chl.a m^–3 in October–November. Primary production was low in January (mean: 90 mg C m^–2 d^–1), but higher than 375 mg C m^–2 d^–1 on the other occasions. Integrated annual primary production was 122 g C m^–2 yr^–1. In terms of carbon weight,Paracalanus parvus was the most important copepod species. The variation of the mean copepod biomass (range: 7.6 mg C m^–3 in April to 20.2 mg C m^–3 in June) was smaller than that of copepod production, which was estimated by the Ikeda-Motoda's physiological method. Copepod producion was low in cold seasons (0.6 and 0.9 mg C m^–3 d^–1 in January and April, respectively), and increased, following the elevation of primary production, to 4.9 mg C m^–3 d^–1 in June. Annual copepod production was 33.7 g C m^–2 yr^–1, of which herbivore (secondary) production was 26.4 g C m^–2 yr^–1 (21.7% of primary production). The ratios of pelagic planktivorous fish catch and total fish catch to the primary production were 0.82 and 1.8%, respectively, indicating very high efficiency in exploiting fishery resources in the Inland Sea of Japan.     

Dust blobs in the solar nebula — primary distended atmosphere

When planetary accretion proceeds in the gas disk-solar nebula, a protoplanet attracts surrounding gas to form a distended H₂-He atmosphere. The blanketing effect of the atmosphere, hampering the escape of accretional energy, enhances the surface temperature of planets. Furthermore, evaporation of ice or reduction of surface silicate and metallic oxide can supply a huge amount of water vapor into the atmosphere, which would raise the temperature and promote evaporation. Evaporated materials can be efficiently conveyed outward by vigorous convection, and condensed dust particles should keep the atmosphere opaque during accretion. The size of this opaque atmosphere dust blob is defined by the gravitational radius, which exceeds 3 × 10⁸ m when the planetary mass is the Earth's mass (5.97 × 10²⁴ kg). This is larger than the radii of present Jovian planets and so-called brown dwarfs. The expected lifetime of dust blobs is 10⁶–10⁷ yr, which is longer than that of the later gas accreting and cooling stages of Jovian planets. The number of dust blobs could exceed that of Jovian planets. If the gas disk is rather transparent, the possibility of observing such objects with a distended atmosphere may be higher than that of detecting Jovian planets. Contamination of the gas disk by the dust from primary atmospheres is negligible.Paper presented at the Conference on Planetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection held 7–10 December, 1992 at CalTech, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.     

Flux determination over a smooth surface under strongly unstable conditions

Careful micrometeorological measurements on an empty parking lot allowed determination of the surface fluxes of sensible heatH and of momentum by applying profile equations derived from Monin-Obukhov similarity theory with two sets of the stability correction function for momentum _m and sensible heat _h . These fluxes were compared with reference values ofH independently determined by means of an eddy correlation technique. In general, better agreement was found betweenH values derived from profiles with the stability functions of Brutsaert (1992) and referenceH values, than when the Businger-Dyer functions were used to deriveH. The disagreement in the latter comparison was especially serious under strongly unstable conditions, with the value ofy=–z/L (wherez is the height andL is the Obukhov length) larger than 10. A closer look at the procedure for calculatingH from the profiles revealed that the large differences between theH values derived with these two different versions of the stability correction functions were caused by the small differences of the _h values, and not by the larger differences of the _m values. This result stems from the strong sensitivity of the resultingH values on the choice of _h .     

Cation distribution in pentlandites (Fe,Ni)9S8: Dependence on pressure and temperature and kinetics of the cation exchange reaction

This paper describes the distribution of Fe and Ni between the octahedral and tetrahedral sites in pentlandite (Fe,Ni)₉S₈. The dependence of the distribution on pressure and temperature and the activation energy of the cation exchange reaction were determined through annealing experiments. Synthetic crystals were annealed at 433–723 K and pressures up to 4 GPa, and natural crystals were annealed at 423, 448 and 473 K in evacuated silica capillary tubes for various durations. The cation distributions in the synthetic crystals were determined with an X-ray powder method employing the anomalous dispersion effect of CuK. and FeK radiations, while those of natural crystals were calculated from the cell dimensions. The values of U, S and V for the Fe/Ni exchange reaction are –6818 J mol^–1, 20.52 J K^–1 mol^–1, and 6.99 × 10^–6 m³ mol^–1, respectively. The dependence of the Fe/Ni distribution on pressure (Pa) and temperature (Kelvin) was determined as lnK = 2.47+8.20 × 10² T ^–1+8.41 x 10^–7 T ^–1 P, where K = (Fe/Ni)_octahedral /(Fe/Ni)_tetrahedral. The activation energy of the cation exchange reaction was 185 kJ mol^–1.     

Measuring the k–S–p relations on DNAPLs migration

Migration characteristics of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) in the subsurface can be expressed as a water–DNAPL two-phase system based on mainly the k–S–p relations, which describe the relations among relative permeability (k), degree of water saturation (S), and capillary pressure head (p). The aims of this research are to develop an experimental system with new type of probes, such as the electrical conductivity probe for measuring the degree of water saturation and the hydrophilic and hydrophobic tensiometer for measuring the pore water and DNAPL pressures, and also to estimate the results obtained from the developed experimental system. From these tests, the excellent k–S–p relations were obtained and the efficiency and validity of this developed experimental system have been confirmed in terms of the concept of the scaling coefficient calculated by interfacial tensions.     

Internal Microanatomy and Zoological Affinity of the Early Cambrian Olivooides

The early Cambrian pentamerous microfossil Olivooides/Punctatus in South China, which is characterized by a diagnostic stellate tubular apex, has been well-known for its almost complete development sequence that can be confidently traced from embryos and hatched juveniles, to conical adults. However, its zoological affinity remains highly controversial. Here we describe the internal microanatomic structures of the soft-body inside the peridermal theca of Olivooides multisulcatus Qian, 1977, including interradial pairs of tentacles, adradial and perradial frenula, perradial oral marginal lappets and twins of perradial gastric saccule-like humps as well as a circular velarium with striated coronal muscles. Particularly, one specimen shows bifurcated velarial canals along the bell aperture. Both the components of the soft-body and the external theca (or cyst) are arranged in perfect pentaradial symmetry. These characteristics are more compatible with those of living cubomedusans and co-occurring Cambrian athecate embryonic cubozoans. Concerning the presence of peridermal theca, Olivooides most likely represents an extinct thecate stem-group cubomedusae but devoid of both perradial eyes and specialized pedalia. The well-grown soft body inside the peridermal tube displays a set of mixed features of both polyp and medusa.     

近200年来黑河下游天鹅湖湖泊沉积记录的环境变迁

根据2002-2004年洞庭湖水质监测数据,参照GB3838-2002中Ⅲ类水质标准,选用内梅罗水污染指数法和黄浦江污染指数对洞庭湖水质现状进行评价,结果表明:(1)洞庭湖水体的主要污染指标是总磷,总氮和粪大肠菌群;(2)黄浦江污染指数平均值为0．27,所以洞庭湖12个断面水质无黑臭现象发生;(3)枯水期西洞庭湖和南洞庭湖水质污染最严重,平水期西洞庭湖水质污染最严重,洞庭湖丰水期的污染程度小于平水期;(4)洞庭湖的大部分水体的水质主要处于轻度污染的状态,局部水体的水质在枯水期达到重污染的状态．     

Petrogenesis and implications of jadeite‐bearing kyanite eclogite from the Sanbagawa belt (SW Japan)

Jadeite‐bearing kyanite eclogite has been discovered in the Iratsu body of the Sanbagawa belt, SW Japan. The jadeite + kyanite assemblage is stable at higher pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions or lower H₂O activity [a(H₂O)] than paragonite, although paragonite‐bearing eclogite is common in the Sanbagawa belt. The newly discovered eclogite is a massive metagabbro with the peak‐P assemblage garnet + omphacite + jadeite + kyanite + phengite + quartz + rutile. Impure jadeite is exclusively present as inclusions in garnet. The compositional gap between the coexisting omphacite (P2/n) and impure jadeite (C2/c) suggests relatively low metamorphic temperatures of 510–620 °C. Multi‐equilibrium thermobarometry for the assemblage garnet + omphacite + kyanite + phengite + quartz gives peak‐P conditions of ~2.5 GPa, 570 °C. Crystallization of jadeite in the metagabbro is attributed to Na‐ and Al‐rich effective bulk composition due to the persistence of relict Ca‐rich clinopyroxene at the peak‐P stage. By subtracting relict clinopyroxene from the whole‐rock composition, pseudosection modelling satisfactorily reproduces the observed jadeite‐bearing assemblage and mineral compositions at ~2.4–2.5 GPa, 570–610 °C and a(H₂O) >0.6. The relatively high pressure conditions derived from the jadeite‐bearing kyanite eclogite are further supported by high residual pressures of quartz inclusions in garnet. The maximum depth of exhumation in the Sanbagawa belt (~80 km) suggests decoupling of the slab–mantle wedge interface at this depth.