The effect of acoustic waves on spectral-line profiles in the solar atmosphere: Observations and theory

The fine structure of the FeI λ 532.4185-nm line of neutral iron is studied with high spatial (0.5″) and temporal (9.3 s) resolution using observations of a quiet region at the center of the solar disk. The character of the line asymmetry depends strongly on the nature of the velocity field, i.e., on whether it is due to convective or wave motions. The magnitude of the asymmetry due to acoustic waves is comparable to that due to convective motions. The propagation of acoustic waves in moving granules and intergranular lanes is studied by solving a system of hydrodynamical equations in a three-dimensional model for the solar atmosphere. The temporal variations in the bisector of the line synthesized in a non-LTE approximation agree well with the observational data.     

Ore-bearing fluids of the Eldorado gold deposit (Yenisei Ridge,Russia)

The Eldorado low-sulfide gold-quartz deposit, with gold reserves of more than 60 tons, is located in the damage zone of the Ishimba Fault in the Yenisei Ridge and is hosted by Riphean epidote-amphibolite metamorphic rocks (Sukhoi Pit Group). Orebodies occur in four roughly parallel heavily fractured zones where rocks were subject to metamorphism under stress and heat impacts. They consist of sulfide-bearing schists with veins of gray or milky-white quartz varieties. Gray quartz predominating in gold-bearing orebodies contains graphite and amorphous carbon identified by Raman spectroscopy; the contents of gold and amorphous carbon are in positive correlation. As inferred from thermobarometry, gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy of fluid inclusions in sulfides, carbonates, and gray and white quartz, gold mineralization formed under the effect of reduced H₂O-CO₂-HC fluids with temperatures of 180 to 490 °C, salinity of 9 to 22 wt.% NaCl equiv, and pressures of 0.1 to 2.3 kbar. Judging by the presence of 11% mantle helium (³He) in fluid inclusions from quartz and the sulfur isotope composition (7.1-17.4‰ δ³⁴S) of sulfides, ore-bearing fluids ascended from a mantle source along shear zones, where they “boiled”. While the fluids were ascending, the metalliferous S- and N-bearing hydrocarbon (HC) compounds they carried broke down to produce crystalline sulfides, gold, and disseminated graphite and amorphous carbon (the latter imparts the gray color to quartz). Barren veins of milky-white quartz formed from oxidized mainly aqueous fluids with a salinity of < 15 wt.% NaCl equiv at 150-350 °C. Chloride brines (> 30 wt.% NaCl equiv) at 150-260 °C impregnated the gold-bearing quartz veins and produced the lower strata of the hydrothermal-granitoid section. The gold mineralization (795-710 Ma) was roughly coeval to local high-temperature stress metamorphism (836-745 Ma) and intrusion of the Kalama multiphase complex (880-752 Ma).     

Nonlinear Numerical Simulations of Magneto-Acoustic Wave Propagation in Small-Scale Flux Tubes

We present results of nonlinear, two-dimensional, numerical simulations of magneto-acoustic wave propagation in the photosphere and chromosphere of small-scale flux tubes with internal structure. Waves with realistic periods of three to five minutes are studied, after horizontal and vertical oscillatory perturbations are applied to the equilibrium model. Spurious reflections of shock waves from the upper boundary are minimized by a special boundary condition. This has allowed us to increase the duration of the simulations and to make it long enough to perform a statistical analysis of oscillations. The simulations show that deep horizontal motions of the flux tube generate a slow (magnetic) mode and a surface mode. These modes are efficiently transformed into a slow (acoustic) mode in the v _A<c _S atmosphere. The slow (acoustic) mode propagates vertically along the field lines, forms shocks, and remains always within the flux tube. It might effectively deposit the energy of the driver into the chromosphere. When the driver oscillates with a high frequency, above the cutoff, nonlinear wave propagation occurs with the same dominant driver period at all heights. At low frequencies, below the cutoff, the dominant period of oscillations changes with height from that of the driver in the photosphere to its first harmonic (half period) in the chromosphere. Depending on the period and on the type of the driver, different shock patterns are observed.     

Electronic absorption spectra of Cr3+ ions in natural clinopyroxenes

The polarized (E‖a′, E‖b and E‖c) electronic absorption spectra of five natural chromium-containing clinopyroxenes with compositions close to chromdiopside, omphacite, ureyite-jadeite (12.8% Cr₂O₃), jadeite, and spodumene (hiddenite) were studied. The polarization dependence of the intensities of the Cr³⁺ bands in the clinopyroxene spectra cannot be explained by the selection rules for the point groups C ₂ or C _2v but can be accounted for satisfactorily with the help of the higher order pseudosymmetry model, i.e. with selection rules for the point symmetry group C _3v. The trigonal axis of the pseudosymmetry crystal field forms an angle of 20.5° with the crystallographic direction c in the (010) plane. D _q increases from diopside (1542 cm^?1) through omphacite (1552 cm^?1), jadeite (1574 cm^?1) to spodumene (1592 cm^?1). The parameter B which is a measure of covalency for Cr³⁺-O bonds at M1 sites in clinopyroxene depends on the Cr³⁺ concentration and the cations at M2 sites.     

Titanium substitution and OH-bearing defects in hydrothermally grown pyrope crystals

A series of Ti-substituted pyrope crystals was synthesized in the system MgO-(Na₂O)-Al₂O₃-TiO₂-SiO₂-H₂O at P_H20 = P_tot between 25 and 30 kbars and 975 and 1000° C, using graphite heated piston-cylinder devices. The crystals, ranging up to 500 m in diameter, were studied by X-ray, electron-microprobe and FTIR-microscope spectrometric techniques. The pyrope crystals were colourless when hem/mt or mt/wu buffers were used during the synthesis, and pale blue with the wu/iron buffer and in unbuffered runs. Sodium was not found in the synthetic crystals, titanium was always near 0.06 Ti atoms pfu, independent on the Ti-excess used in the starting material. A substitution Al_2+[6]+Si_4+[4]+4O_2-= Ti_4+[6]+_[4]+[(OH)₃O^^5-, providing charge balance for octahedral Ti⁴⁺-substitution is found to be compatible with all properties (number, widths, position, integrated intensity) of the stretching vibrations of defect hydroxyls, which have energies 3684, 3568, 3525 cm^-1.This work was made possible through a research fellowship, generously provided by the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Bonn, Bad Godesberg, to V.M.K.     

Vestoid surface composition from analysis of faint absorption bands in visible reflectance spectra

Faint absorption bands in the visible range of the smoothed vestoid spectra have been found. The bands centered near 505, 530, and 550 nm are attributed to ferrous iron in low-calcium pyroxene and are typical for pyroxene-bearing vestoid surfaces. In accordance with characteristics of the faint absorption bands around 600 and 650 nm the studied vestoid spectra can be sorted into five types. Since the same absorptions are also seen in the laboratory spectra of the minerals and meteorites, which appear to be similar to vestoid material, spectral types of the vestoids can be related to their surface compositions. Regolith of the Type-I vestoids consists of pure low-calcium pyroxenes. Minor amount of olivine along with pyroxene appear to be on the Type-II vestoids whereas the mixtures of low-calcium pyroxene with minor chromite define the Type-III and -IV. The causes for the fifth spectral type in terms of minor mineral phases are unclear now. Simulation of the spectra of vestoids was employed to estimate content of olivine (∼6-12 vol%) and chromite (∼12-30 vol%) on their surfaces.     

Optical absorption spectra and Fe distribution in the structures of Li-Fe micas

The paper proposes pioneering data on the polarized optical absorption spectra of Li-Fe micas: intermediate members of the siderophyllite-zinnwaldite-polylithionite and annite-protolithionite-zinnwaldite-trilithionite series with variable Fe and Li proportions and Li- and Fe-bearing muscovite (phengite). Based on the analysis of structural data, the complicated structure of the Fe²⁺ → Fe³⁺ charge transfer band in the mica structures is explained, and arguments are presented to justify the ascribing of its shortwave component (CTB-1, ν = 17200-14900 cm^?1) to charge transfer in the pair Fe²⁺(M2) → Fe³⁺(M2) and the longwave component (CTB-2, ν = 14200-13600 cm^?1) to charge transfer in the pair Fe²⁺(M1) Fe³⁺(M2). It is demonstrated that the anomalous shift of the superposition of two-component CTB toward the shortwave region, to 17000 cm^?1, results from a decrease in the length of oxygen edges between adjacent M2M2 and M1M2 tetrahedrons when Li is accommodated in the mica structure. The first data are presented on the spectrum of Fe²⁺ ions in large distorted M3(M1) tetrahedrons (OAC Fe²⁺ II) in hetero-octahedral Li micas (zinnwaldite), and the behavior of the corresponding absorption bands at 11400 and 8000 cm^?1 is determined. It is proved that characteristics of the optical spectra of Fe²⁺ ions can be used as an indicator of the structure of the octahedral layer in the mica structures. Results of the comparative analyses of spectral parameters of the Fe²⁺ → Fe³⁺ charge transfer, crystal field spectra of Fe²⁺ ions, and the crystal-chemical characteristics controlling them in micas of the polylithionite-siderophyllite series are completely consistent with the character of cation ordering in the crystal structures of these micas determined by X-ray diffraction analysis.