The Kalka layered intrusion,central Australia

The Kalka Intrusion, central Australia has a 5000 m-thick layered sequence comprising Pyroxenite, Norite and Anorthosite Zones; an Olivine Gabbro Zone is enclosed by, and has a facies relationship with, the Norite Zone. Contamination is evidenced by high initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios ( 0.708) in the lower four-fifths of the intrusion, and resulted in pyroxenite rather than peridotite as a basal crystal accumulate. After an early phase of erratic buildup in contamination due to assimilation of ragged granulite wall-rock, armouring of the walls and mixing produced an homogeneous Norite Zone (threshold) magma body crystallising opx-cpx-plag. Within the succeeding 3500 m of section plagioclase An values have a general decline up sequence (An_74-60-feldspar threshold) with superimposed short term digressions to more calcic compositions. Initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios also fall very gradually (0.7081-0.7078 — isotopic threshold) with transient fluctuations to distinctly lower values. Maxima in plagioclase An contents and ⁸⁷Sr/ ⁸⁶Sr minima may be correlated with the spasmodic appearance of olivine and pronounced lithological variation. Such features are explained by the ponding of fresh bodies of uncontaminated magma on the floor of the chamber; these formed a hybrid with threshold magma that temporarily dominated crystallisation thereby perturbing plagioclase and isotopic compositions; eventually, mixing of the hybrid into the overlying threshold magma returned crystallisation to its initial state. The facies-controlled Olivine Gabbro Zone is the physical expression of ponded basal hybrid magmas. The onset of the Anorthosite Zone is marked by a pronounced decline in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios to around 0.705 registering a major influx of new magma. In this instance the new magma dominated the system and a change to plagioclase as the dominant liquidus phase indicates a drastic change in input magma composition. The evolution of Kalka was determined by an interplay of crystal fractionation, fresh magma pulses, and magma mixing, with the latter effects producing both increases and decreases in plagioclase An contents; the complete process can only be revealed by combined mineral composition and isotopic data.     

Relationships between land-use and forced-pool characteristics in the Colorado Front Range

Land use practices in Colorado during the last two centuries altered the supply of sediment and water to many channels in the upper South Platte Basin. As a result of increased supply of sediment and mobility and reduced peak flows, the characteristics of pools associated with channel constrictions, referred to as forced pools, may have been altered. Increased supply of sediment and reduced transport capacity of high flows could lead to aggradation in forced pools. Channel confined by road corridors could lead to high velocities at normal flows, increased energy dissipation from riprap, or even increased pool frequency resulting from failed riprap. To assess potential alterations, four hypotheses were tested: (1) impacted streams will show significantly different mean volume of pools than a control stream; (2) mean volume of pools on streams where land-use activities increased the supply of sediment will be significantly different from streams solely affected by flow regulation; (3) the strongest change in characteristics of pools of impacted streams will be a reduced volume of pools; (4) streams affected by road corridors will show statistically lower spacing of pools than streams unaffected by roads. The downstream spacing and residual volume of twenty consecutive forced pools were surveyed on five streams in the Colorado Front Range that varied from no contemporary impact to multiple historical and contemporary impacts. ANCOVA with stepwise model selection indicated that degree of land-use (categorical), bankfull spacing of pools, upstream riffle slope and expansion ratio were all significant (α = 0.1) predictors of volume of pools (R² = 0.73). Simple linear regression of mean volume of pools and stream specific variables (gradient, drainage area and discharge) and least square means comparison of mean volume of pools indicated a need to standardize volumes of pools by slope and discharge so that the volumes of pools could be compared among different levels of land-use. Significant correlations between drainage area and volume of pools allowed volume of pools to be standardized by drainage area and thereby discharge. This dimensionless variable was also significantly correlated with channel slope, which permitted the construction of a new variable, PV_QS (volume of pools standardized by discharge and slope). Least square means comparison of mean PV_QS revealed that the control reach was significantly different from road-impacted reaches. Mean volume of pools was significantly larger in the control reach compared to all but one road-impacted stream. This was likely a function of higher wood loading in the control reach and the competence of high flows in the road-impacted reach. Streams affected by road corridors did not have significantly different bankfull spacing of pools from streams not impacted by roads. The multiple interactions among control and response variables explored in this study indicate the need to identify the most constrained and sensitive response variables when attempting to assess channel response to land use.     

On the Parameterisation of the Effective Roughness Length for Momentum Transfer over Heterogeneous Terrain

We develop a parameterisation for the effective roughness length of terrain that consists of a repeating sequence of patches, in which each patch is composed of strips of two roughness types. A numerical model with second-order closure in the turbulent stress is developed and used to show that: (i) the normalised Reynolds stress develops as a self-similar profile; (ii) the mixing-length parameterisation is a good first-order approximation to the Reynolds stress. These findings are used to characterise the blending layer, where the stress adjusts smoothly from its local surface value to its effective value aloft. Previous studies have assumed that this adjustment occurs abruptly at a single level, often called the blending height. The blending layer is shown to be characterised by height scales that arise naturally in linear models of surface layer flow over roughness changes, and calculations with the numerical model show that these height scales remain appropriate in the nonlinear regime. This concept of the blending layer allows the development of a new parameterisation of the effective roughness length, which gives values for the effective roughness length that are shown to compare well with both atmospheric measurements and values determined from the second-order model.     

Synoptic Hα Full-Disk Observations of the Sun from Big Bear Solar Observatory – I. Instrumentation,Image Processing,Data Products,and First Results

The Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) has a long tradition of synoptic full-disk observations. Synoptic observations of contrast enhanced full-disk images in the Caii K-line have been used with great success to reproduce the Hi L irradiance variability observed with the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). Recent improvements in data calibration procedures and image- processing techniques enable us now to provide contrast enhanced H full-disk images with a spatial resolution of approximately 2 and a temporal resolution of up to 3 frames min–1.In this first paper in a series, we describe the instruments, the data calibration procedures, and the image-processing techniques used to obtain our daily H full-disk observations. We also present the final data products such as low- and high-contrast images, and Carrington rotation charts. A time series of an erupting mini- filament further illustrates the quality of our H full-disk observations and motivate one of the future research projects. This lays a solid foundation for our subsequent studies of solar activity and chromospheric fine structures. The high quality and the sunrise- to-sunset operation of the H full-disk observations presented in this paper make them an ideal choice to study statistical properties of mini-filament eruptions, chromospheric differential rotation, and meridional flows within the chromosphere, as well as the evolution of active regions, filaments, flares, and prominences.     

A Flare-Triggered Heating of a Quiescent Filament

Using data obtained with the 20-cm H full-disk telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory and Fexii 195 Å EIT on SOHO, we analyze a sudden disappearance event of a quiescent filament in detail. The filament was located along the common boundary of the active regions NOAA 9672 (S19 E13) and NOAA 9673 (N03 E18). The filament disappeared during a time interval between 17:59 UT and 19:47 UT on 22 October 2001 immediately after the onset of a major flare, which occurred in the active region NOAA 9672. At about 23:23 UT of the same day, the filament began to reappear in H and, after about 15 hours, the filament recovered to its steady state with its size being slightly smaller than that before its disappearance. This filament disappearance event belongs to the thermal type of sudden filament disappearances, which is caused by an input of additional heat. The heating mechanism that leads to sudden thermal disappearances of quiescent filaments is still not well understood. This simple event, due to the explicit cause and effect relationship between the flare and the disappearance of the filament, shows us that the flare triggered some kind of heating mechanism which continued several hours. The heat may come from the flare via heat conduction from its ribbon or from the excitation of dissipating Alfvén waves. However, from the data analysis, we conclude that the flare triggered an in-situ heating, which is likely caused by magnetic reconnection.     

Comparison of Transient Network Brightenings and Explosive Events in the Solar Transition Region

I analyze the properties of the pulsed emission from the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 in observations of its 1998 April outburst by the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer. Pulse phase spectroscopy shows that the emission evolves from a hard spectrum (power law with photon index of 2.39+/-0.06) to a soft spectrum (index of 3.39+/-0.24). This softening is also observable as a phase lag in the fundamental of low-energy photons with respect to high-energy photons. I show that this lag is roughly constant over 10 days of the outburst. I fit these data with a model in which the pulse emission is from a hot spot on the rotating neutron star and the flux as a function of phase is determined in a calculation which includes the effects of general relativity. The energy-dependent lags are very well described by this model. The harder spectra at earlier phases (i.e., as the spot approaches) are the result of larger Doppler-boosting factors that are important for this fast pulsar. Since this model is sensitive to the equatorial speed as an independent parameter and since the spin frequency is known, this offers us a new means of measuring the neutron star radius, which is notoriously difficult to determine.     

Neodymium-strontium isotopic evidence for extreme contamination in a layered basic intrusion

Neodymium and strontium isotopic analyses from the Kalka layered basic intrusion, central Australia, are arrayed parallel to the Sr-axis of a Nd-Sr isotopic correlation diagram and are removed from the normal basaltic field. Initial¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios are almost constant and typical of continental basalts, whereas initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios vary greatly and range to high values (0.7049–0.7088). Acidic granulites from the country rock lie upon the continuation of the Kalka trend at higher⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios outlining a mixing system between granulite and normal basaltic magma. If average granulite acted as a contaminant, isotope dilution calculations show that amounts assimilated reached as high as 25%. Bulk contamination is confirmed petrologically by the abundance of orthopyroxene, particularly as basal orthopyroxenites and the restriction of olivine to less-contaminated levels. Analogies between Kalka and several other major layered intrusions, such as the Bushveld Complex, suggest that large-scale contamination was a significant aspect of their genesis.     

The effect of terrace geology on ground‐water movement and on the interaction of ground water and surface water on a mountainside near Mirror Lake,New Hampshire,USA

The west watershed of Mirror Lake in the White Mountains of New Hampshire contains several terraces that are at different altitudes and have different geologic compositions. The lowest terrace (FSE) has 5 m of sand overlying 9 m of till. The two next successively higher terraces (FS2 and FS1) consist entirely of sand and have maximum thicknesses of about 7 m. A fourth, and highest, terrace (FS3) lies in the north‐west watershed directly adjacent to the west watershed. This highest terrace has 2 m of sand overlying 8 m of till. All terraces overlie fractured crystalline bedrock. Numerical models of hypothetical settings simulating ground‐water flow in a mountainside indicated that the presence of a terrace can cause local ground‐water flow cells to develop, and that the flow patterns differ based on the geologic composition of the terrace. For example, more ground water moves from the bedrock to the glacial deposits beneath terraces consisting completely of sand than beneath terraces that have sand underlain by till. Field data from Mirror Lake watersheds corroborate the numerical experiments. The geology of the terraces also affects how the stream draining the west watershed interacts with ground water. The stream turns part way down the mountainside and passes between the two sand terraces, essentially transecting the movement of ground water down the valley side. Transects of water‐table wells were installed across the stream's riparian zone above, between, and below the sand terraces. Head data from these wells indicated that the stream gains ground water on both sides above and below the sand terraces. However, where it flows between the sand terraces the stream gains ground water on its uphill side and loses water on its downhill side. Biogeochemical processes in the riparian zone of the flow‐through reach have resulted in anoxic ground water beneath the lower sand terrace. Results of this study indicate that it is useful to understand patterns of ground‐water flow in order to fully understand the flow and chemical characteristics of both ground water and surface water in mountainous terrain. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Active Region Coronal Rain Event Observed by the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph on the NST

The Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) is being operated on the New Solar Telescope of the Big Bear Solar Observatory. It simultaneously records spectra of Hα and Ca ii 8542 Å lines, and this dual-spectra measurement provides an estimate of the temperature and nonthermal speed components. We observed a loop structure in AR 11305 using the FISS, SDO/AIA, and STEREO/EUVI in 304 Å, and found plasma material falling along the loop from a coronal height into the umbra of a sunspot, which accelerated up to 80 km?s^?1. We also observed C2 and C7 flare events near the loop. The temperature of the downflows was in the range of 10?000?–?33?000 K, increasing toward the umbra. The temperature of the flow varied with time, and the temperature near the footpoint rose immediately after the C7 flare, but the temperature toward the umbra remained the same. There seemed to be a temporal correlation between the amount of downflow material and the observed C-class flares. The downflows decreased gradually soon after the flares and then increased after a few hours. These high-speed red-shift events occurred continuously during the observations. The flows observed on-disk in Hα and Ca ii 8542 Å appeared as fragmented, fuzzy condensed material falling from the coronal heights when seen off-limb with STEREO/EUVI at 304 Å. Based on these observations, we propose that these flows were an on-disk signature of coronal rain.