The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: luminosity dependence of galaxy clustering

We investigate the dependence of the strength of galaxy clustering on intrinsic luminosity using the Anglo-Australian two degree field galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS). The 2dFGRS is over an order of magnitude larger than previous redshift surveys used to address this issue. We measure the projected two-point correlation function of galaxies in a series of volume-limited samples. The projected correlation function is free from any distortion of the clustering pattern induced by peculiar motions and is well described by a power law in pair separation over the range     . The clustering of     galaxies in real space is well-fitted by a correlation length     and power-law slope     . The clustering amplitude increases slowly with absolute magnitude for galaxies fainter than M *, but rises more strongly at higher luminosities. At low luminosities, our results agree with measurements from the Southern Sky Redshift Survey 2 by Benoist et al. However, we find a weaker dependence of clustering strength on luminosity at the highest luminosities. The correlation function amplitude increases by a factor of 4.0 between     and −22.5, and the most luminous galaxies are 3.0 times more strongly clustered than L * galaxies. The power-law slope of the correlation function shows remarkably little variation for samples spanning a factor of 20 in luminosity. Our measurements are in very good agreement with the predictions of the hierarchical galaxy formation models of Benson et al.     

THE KRAMER CREEK,COLORADO METEORITE: A NEW L4 CHONDRITE

The Kramer Creek, Colorado, chondrite was found in 1966 and identified as a meteorite in 1972. Bulk chemical analysis, particularly the total iron content (20.36%) and the ratio of Fe_total/SiO₂ (0.52), as well as the compositions of olivine (Fa_21.7) and orthopyroxene (Fs_18.3) place the meteorite into the L-group of chondrites. The well-defined chondritic texture of the meteorite, the presence of igneous glass in the chondrules and of low-Ca clinopyroxene, as well as the slight variations in FeO contents of olivine (2.4% MD) and orthopyroxene (5.6% MD) indicate that the chondrite belongs to the type 4 petrologic class.     

Incorporation,distribution and fate of saturated petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments from a controlled marine ecosystem

A simulation of a chronic input of petroleum into an estuarine environment was investigated using the facilities at the Marine Ecosystems Research Laboratory at the University of Rhode Island. An oil-water dispersion of No. 2 fuel oil was added to the system (twice weekly for 24 weeks) and the saturated hydrocarbons from this oil were measured in suspended material and sediments. After the initial chronic oil addition, trace amounts of hydrocarbons were detected in the sediments within two weeks, but substantial accumulation was not detected for approximately 135 days. The oil appeared to enter the sediment via the suspended material, with most of the saturated hydrocarbons associated with smaller size sediment particles (< 45 μm to > 0·3 μm). With time, the fuel oil saturated hydrocarbons in the sediments were mixed to a depth of 3 to 4 cm. Although only 12% of the total saturated hydrocarbons added to the system were found in the sediments, these hydrocarbons appear to be relatively stable and were still detectable in these sediments for at least six months after the last oil addition.     

Strike-slip fault patterns on Europa: Obliquity or polar wander?

Variations in diurnal tidal stress due to Europa’s eccentric orbit have been considered as the driver of strike-slip motion along pre-existing faults, but obliquity and physical libration have not been taken into account. The first objective of this work is to examine the effects of obliquity on the predicted global pattern of fault slip directions based on a tidal-tectonic formation model. Our second objective is to test the hypothesis that incorporating obliquity can reconcile theory and observations without requiring polar wander, which was previously invoked to explain the mismatch found between the slip directions of 192 faults on Europa and the global pattern predicted using the eccentricity-only model. We compute predictions for individual, observed faults at their current latitude, longitude, and azimuth with four different tidal models: eccentricity only, eccentricity plus obliquity, eccentricity plus physical libration, and a combination of all three effects. We then determine whether longitude migration, presumably due to non-synchronous rotation, is indicated in observed faults by repeating the comparisons with and without obliquity, this time also allowing longitude translation. We find that a tidal model including an obliquity of 1.2°, along with longitude migration, can predict the slip directions of all observed features in the survey. However, all but four faults can be fit with only 1° of obliquity so the value we find may represent the maximum departure from a lower time-averaged obliquity value. Adding physical libration to the obliquity model improves the accuracy of predictions at the current locations of the faults, but fails to predict the slip directions of six faults and requires additional degrees of freedom. The obliquity model with longitude migration is therefore our preferred model. Although the polar wander interpretation cannot be ruled out from these results alone, the obliquity model accounts for all observations with a value consistent with theoretical expectations and cycloid modeling.     

A model of Titan's aerosols based on measurements made inside the atmosphere

The descent imager/spectral radiometer (DISR) instrument aboard the Huygens probe into the atmosphere of Titan measured the brightness of sunlight using a complement of spectrometers, photometers, and cameras that covered the spectral range from 350 to 1600 nm, looked both upward and downward, and made measurements at altitudes from 150 km to the surface. Measurements from the upward-looking visible and infrared spectrometers are described in Tomasko et al. [2008a. Measurements of methane absorption by the descent imager/spectral radiometer (DISR) during its descent through Titan's atmosphere. Planet. Space Sci., this volume]. Here, we very briefly review the measurements by the violet photometers, the downward-looking visible and infrared spectrometers, and the upward-looking solar aureole (SA) camera. Taken together, the DISR measurements constrain the vertical distribution and wavelength dependence of opacity, single-scattering albedo, and phase function of the aerosols in Titan's atmosphere.Comparison of the inferred aerosol properties with computations of scattering from fractal aggregate particles indicates the size and shape of the aerosols. We find that the aggregates require monomers of radius 0.05 μm or smaller and that the number of monomers in the loose aggregates is roughly 3000 above 60 km. The single-scattering albedo of the aerosols above 140 km altitude is similar to that predicted for some tholins measured in laboratory experiments, although we find that the single-scattering albedo of the aerosols increases with depth into the atmosphere between 140 and 80 km altitude, possibly due to condensation of other gases on the haze particles. The number density of aerosols is about 5/cm³ at 80 km altitude, and decreases with a scale height of 65 km to higher altitudes. The aerosol opacity above 80 km varies as the wavelength to the −2.34 power between 350 and 1600 nm.Between 80 and 30 km the cumulative aerosol opacity increases linearly with increasing depth in the atmosphere. The total aerosol opacity in this altitude range varies as the wavelength to the −1.41 power. The single-scattering phase function of the aerosols in this region is also consistent with the fractal particles found above 60 km.In the lower 30 km of the atmosphere, the wavelength dependence of the aerosol opacity varies as the wavelength to the −0.97 power, much less than at higher altitudes. This suggests that the aerosols here grow to still larger sizes, possibly by incorporation of methane into the aerosols. Here the cumulative opacity also increases linearly with depth, but at some wavelengths the rate is slightly different than above 30 km altitude.For purely fractal particles in the lowest few km, the intensity looking upward opposite to the azimuth of the sun decreases with increasing zenith angle faster than the observations in red light if the single-scattering albedo is assumed constant with altitude at these low altitudes. This discrepancy can be decreased if the single-scattering albedo decreases with altitude in this region. A possible explanation is that the brightest aerosols near 30 km altitude contain significant amounts of methane, and that the decreasing albedo at lower altitudes may reflect the evaporation of some of the methane as the aerosols fall into dryer layers of the atmosphere. An alternative explanation is that there may be spherical particles in the bottom few kilometers of the atmosphere.     

Book reviews

APPLIED GEOGRAPHY: Issues, Questions and Concerns (Geo Journal Library Vol. 15) edited by M. S. Kenzer. 16 × 24 cm, x and 210 pages. Kluwer: Dordrecht 1989 (ISBN 0 7923 04381).

WINE AND THE VINE: An Historical Geography of Viticulture and the Wine Trade by T. Unwin. 16 × 24 cm, xvi and 409 pages. Routledge: London 1991 (ISBN 0 415 13120 6) $A155.00 (hard); distributed by The Law Book Co.

WATERFRONT SYDNEY 1860–1920 by G. Aplin and J. Storey. 26 × 18 cm. 144 pages. Allen & Unwin: Sydney 1991 (first published 1984) (ISBN 1 86373 098 2) $A24.95 (soft).

Australian Geographer 23 (2), November 1992

INDUSTRIAL LOCATION: Principles and Policies (Second Edition) by K. Chapman and D. F. Walker. 15 × 23 cm, xiii and 322 pages. Basil Black‐well: Oxford 1991 (ISBN 0 631 16789 7) $A39.95 (soft).

INTERNATIONALISATION OF AUSTRALIA'S SERVICE INDUSTRIES by J. V. Langdale. 17 × 25 cm, iv and 373 pages. Australian Government Publishing Service, for Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce: Canberra 1991 (ISBN 0 644 13841 6).

TOURISM AND GOLD IN KAKADU: The Impact of Current and Potential Natural Resource Use on the Northern Territory Economy by B. Knapman, O. Stanley and J. Lea. 21 × 29 cm, vi and 49 pages. North Australia Research Unit, Australian National University: Darwin 1991 (ISBN 0 7315 1179 4).

ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA AND THE ‘NEW FEDERALISM’ INITIATIVE (Discussion Paper No. 2) by G. J. Crough. 14 × 21 cm, 42 pages. North Australia Research Unit, Australian National University: Darwin 1991 (ISBN 0 7315 1325 8).

AUSTRALIAN NATIONHOOD AND OUTBACK INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (Discussion Paper No. 1) by P. Jull. 14 × 21 cm, 38 pages. North Australia Research Unit, Australian National University: Darwin 1991 (ISBN 0 7315 1309 6).

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC (Pacific Research Monograph No. 24) edited by J. Connell. 17 × 25 cm, xii and 199 pages. National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University: Canberra 1990 (ISBN 0 07315 0668 5) $A25.00 (soft).

POPIULESIN BLONG HONIARA: Olketa Popiulesin Map Blong 1986 Sensis. HONIARA: 1986 Census Atlas (Statistics Office Occasional Paper No. 4 / Board of Development Studies Monograph No. 1) by A.C. Walsh. 21 × 29 cm, vii and 95 pages. Department of Statistics: Honiara and Board of Development Studies, Massey University: Palmerston North 1990 (ISSN 0114 8834) $NZ34.00 in New Zealand, $NZ38.00 elsewhere (soft).

DOI MOI: Vietnam's Renovation Policy and Performance (Political and Social Change Monograph No. 14) edited by D. K. Forbes, T. H. Hull, D. G. Marr and B. Brogan. 15 × 22 cm, xiv and 263 pages. Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University: Canberra 1991 (ISBN 0 7315 1303 7).     

Rare earth element composition of Paleogene vertebrate fossils from Toadstool Geologic Park,Nebraska, USA

Fossil bones and teeth from terrestrial environments encode unique rare earth and trace element (REE and TE) signatures as a function of redox conditions, pH, concentrations of complexing ligands, and water-colloid interactions. This signature is set early in the fossilization process and serves as a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxy. These signatures can also be used to interpret temporal and spatial averaging within vertebrate accumulations, and can help relocate displaced fossil bones back into stratigraphic context. Rare earth elements in vertebrate fossils from upper Eocene and Oligocene strata of Toadstool Geologic Park, northwestern Nebraska, record mixing and evolution of Paleogene vadose or groundwaters and variations in paleoenvironments. REE signatures indicate that HREE-enriched alkaline groundwater reacted with LREE- and MREE-enriched sediments to produce 3-component mixtures. REE signatures become increasingly LREE- and MREE-enriched toward the top of the studied section as the paleoenvironment became cooler and drier, suggesting that REE signatures may be climate proxies. Time series analysis suggests that REE ratios are influenced by cycles of ca. 1050, 800, 570, 440, and 225 ka, similar to some previously determined Milankovitch astronomical and climate periodicities.     

GDP and employment effects of policies to close the 2020 emissions gap

Four policies might close the gap between the global GHG emissions expected for 2020 on the basis of current (2013) policies and the reduced emissions that will be needed if the long-term global temperature increase can be kept below the 2 °C internationally agreed limit. The four policies are (1) specific energy efficiency measures, (2) closure of the least-efficient coal-fired power plants, (3) minimizing methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production, and (4) accelerating the (partial) phase-out of subsidies to fossil-fuel consumption. In this article we test the hypothesis of the International Energy Agency (IEA) that these policies will not result in a loss of gross domestic product (GDP) and we estimate their employment effects using the E3MG global macro-econometric model. Using a set of scenarios we assess each policy individually and then consider the outcomes if all four policies were implemented simultaneously. We find that the policies are insufficient to close the emissions gap, with an overall emission reduction that is 30% less than that found by the IEA. World GDP is 0.5% higher in 2020, with about 6 million net jobs created by 2020 and unemployment reduced.

Policy relevance

The gap between GHG emissions expected under the Copenhagen and Cancun Agreements and that needed for emissions trajectories to have a reasonable chance of reaching the 2 °C target requires additional policies if it is to be closed. This article uses a global simulation model E3MG to analyse a set of policies proposed by the IEA to close the gap and assesses their macroeconomic effects as well as their feasibility in closing the gap. It complements the IEA assessment by estimating the GDP and employment implications separately by the different policies year by year to 2020, by major industries, and by 21 world regions.