Evidence for methane and hydrogen sulfide venting imprinted on a Quaternary eolianite from southern Israel

Two different and physically separated chemosynthetic communities of bacteria are responsible for the formation of the Beeri native sulfur deposit hosted in a Late Quaternary sandstone on the southern coastal plain of Israel. The enriched concentrations are distributed over an area of about 1 km², within a zone 2–3 m thick at 1–13 m below surface. Two hundred fifty meters below the sulfur deposit, sulfur-reducing bacteria, thriving on methane generated in Neogene marls, reduced the Messinian gypsum to generate hydrogen sulfide, which subaqueously vented together with methane into the siliciclastic Quaternary sequence. Another, different chemosynthetic community ofBeggiatoa-like and unidentified bacteria oxidized the hydrogen sulfide into native sulfur and secondary gypsum, alunite, and iron sulfates. The coupled chemical and bacterial processes attributed to the formation of the sulfur deposit at Beeri are strikingly similar to the processes occurring today in the context of submarine hydrocarbon vents associated with the salt diapirs in the Gulf of Mexico.     

THE EVOLUTION OF SERVICE ECONOMIES: A GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE1

Of the several classifications of services, each emphasizes different characteristics. The International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) is used for a comparative study on the transformation into service economies of the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, West Germany, Italy and Japan. Service economies are defined as national economies in which employment in services surpassed that in manufacturing. The pace of the evolution of service economies has been rapid with North America leading, followed in order by Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and West Germany. Service economies have important implications for urban growth, intercity competition, and international trade.     

Extension of the effective modal seismic design method to generally irregular RC wall structures

Structural irregularity in new buildings is sometimes desired for aesthetic reasons. Often it is unavoidable due to different uses in adjacent spaces within the building. The seismic behaviour of irregular structures is harder to predict than that of regular buildings. More comprehensive analysis techniques are often required to achieve adequate accuracy. Designing irregular structures poses additional challenges as the structural characteristics are unknown. There is a lack of practical design methods that reliably produce economic and seismically robust design solutions for highly irregular RC structures. This paper presents an extension of the Effective Modal Design (EMD) method from asymmetric-plan RC wall buildings to vertically setback asymmetric-plan RC wall buildings. EMD is a generalization of the Direct Displacement-Based Design method for highly irregular ductile uncoupled RC wall structures. EMD reverse engineers a multi-degree of freedom Equivalent Linear System to produce the most economic design solution that achieves the target performance levels. The utility of EMD is verified for a wide range of setback asymmetric-plan reinforced concrete wall structures using nonlinear time history analysis of reasonably realistic 3D structural models. Advantages of EMD include explicit consideration of nonlinear, torsional and ‘higher mode’ effects. The method produces capacity-designed design actions for all reinforced concrete walls in the seismic structural system. EMD only requires three response spectrum type analyses. It does not require time history analysis or pushover analysis. EMD is a practical seismic design method for generally irregular RC wall buildings that uses analysis techniques that most engineering practitioners are familiar and confident with. It was found that for over 95% of the structures considered, EMD achieved critical mean peak responses between ??20 and +?15% of the target response values, with a median of ??5%. This significant improvement in design accuracy and reliability (compared to traditional force based design) was achieved at the relatively small additional computational effort of two Response Spectrum Analyses. This demonstrates the value that the proposed Effective Modal Design method adds to the current spectrum of seismic design methods for irregular ductile RC wall structures.     

Centralized power and divided space: `Fractured regions' in the Israeli `ethnocracy'

This paper uses a critical political-geographical perspective to account for the high centrality of power found in Israel. It suggests that the concentration of power have not been solely caused by national solidarity and integration or by metropolitan development, as commonly explained, but also by the territorial `fracturing' of the main social and ethnic groups in Israel/Palestine. This has prevented the emergence of effective pressure for regional devolution. Israel's character as a settler and settling state, and its central project of Judaizing contested territories, enabled the Israeli `ethnocracy' and its (mainly Ashkenazi and secular) elites to create a political geography of `fractured ethnic and social regions'. Dispersing minorities and legitimizing segregation and inequality, all in the name of the `national interest', achieved this. The Israeli political landscape is therefore organized as `fractured regions', each representing a distinct and interconnected, yet geographically dispersed, set of localities, and resembling a `chain of beads'. The logic of dispersal and segregation, in turn, has also influenced patterns of development and residential separation within Israel's main urban areas. Thus, ethnic and social fragmentation and conflict, and not a putative process of national or metropolitan integration, can explain much of Israel's highly centralized power structure.     

Quasi-exospheric heat flux of solar-wind electrons

Density, bulk-velocity, and heat-flow moments are calculated for truncated maxwellian distributions representing the cool and hot populations of solar-wind electrons, as realized at the base of a hypothetical exosphere. The electrostatic potential is thus calculated by requiring charge quasineutrality and the absence of electrical current. Plasma-kinetic coupling of the cool-electron and proton bulk velocities leads to an increase in the electrostatic potential and a decrease in the heat-flow moment. If the velocities differ by the Alfvén speed along the magnetic field, for example, the potential rises to 72.6 V and the heat flux falls to 2.72×10^–2 erg cm^–2 s^–1. In each case the heat flux is carried mainly by the quasi-exospherichot electrons.     

Effects of Io ejecta on Europa

We examine the effects of Io ejecta on the surface and environment of Europa. We find that the observed sulfur on the trailing side of Europa, when interpreted as a deposit in equilibrium between implanation of, and sputtering by, corotating Io ejecta, implies a slow loss of material from Europa by sputtering. From this we infer that the spectrum of particles sputtered from water ice is soft. The quantity of observed sulfur and its confinement to the trailing hemisphere appear to exclude significant implantation and sputtering by energetic heavy ions. We also conclude that the contribution from Europa to the magnetospheric plasma (even at Europa itself) is negligible compared to the matter ejected from Io.     

Mineral assemblages occurring around hydrocarbon vents in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Magnesian calcites are the most abundant authigenic minerals associated with hydrocarbon vents at 25 sites, in water depths ranging from 100 to 600 m in the Green Canyon area and about 2200 m in the Alaminos Canyon area on the Continental Slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The most frequently encountered magnesian calcites have 10–15 mol% MgCO₃ and the apparent structural disorder revealed by XRD peak widths increases with Mg substitution. There are no systematic variations in Mg content with respect to water depth or geographic location. The calcite saturation state of the precipitating fluid is primarily determined by the nature of the fluids escaping from the vents, not the ambient seawater.     

Preface: Value and dynamics of salt lakes in a changing world

正Thestatementthattheworld’secosystemsare rapidly deteriorating due to human intervention and global warming is nowadays commonplace. Some o the ecosystems most heavily impacted are inland sal lakes. The salt lakes are among the most valuable and fascinating ecosystems on Earth, and their study has both basic scientifi c interest as well as applied aspects