On the possibility of earth-type habitable planets around 47 UMa

We investigate whether Earth-type habitable planets can in principle exist in the planetary system of 47 UMa. The system of 47 UMa consists of two Jupiter-size planets beyond the outer edge of the stellar habitable zone, and thus resembles our own Solar System most closely compared to all exosolar planetary systems discovered so far. Our study of habitability deliberately follows an Earth-based view according to the concept of Franck and colleagues, which assumes the long-term possibility of photosynthetic biomass production under geodynamic conditions. Consequently, a broad variety of climatological, biogeochemical, and geodynamical processes involved in the generation of photosynthesis-driven life conditions is taken into account. The stellar luminosity and the age of the star/planet system are of fundamental importance for planetary habitability. Our study considers different types of planetary continental growth models and takes into account a careful assessment of the stellar parameters. In the event of successful formation and orbital stability, two subjects of intense research, we find that Earth-type habitable planets around 47 UMa are in principle possible! The likelihood of those planets is increased if assumed that 47 UMa is relatively young (?6 Gyr) and has a relatively small stellar luminosity as permitted by the observational range of those parameters.     

The Cosmology of Extra Dimensions and Varying Fundamental Constants

I briefly present the Organizing Committee's and my own motivation for organizing this workshop, and I suggest a few key questions for which we will try to find possible answers in the coming days. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Lithium Abundances in the Atmospheres of SLR C-Giants WZ Cas and WX Cyg from Resonance and Subordinate Li I Lines

Lithium abundances in the atmospheres of the super Li-rich C-giants WZ Cas and WX Cyg are derived by the spectral synthesis technique using the Li I resonance line at λ670.8 nm and three subordinate lines at λλ 812.6, 610.4 and 497.2 nm. The differences between the Li abundances derived from the λ670.8 nm line and the λλ 497.2, 812.6 nm lines do not exceed ±0.5 dex. The lithium line at λ610.4 nm provides typically lower abundances than the resonance line (by ≈ 1 dex). The mean LTE and NLTE Li abundances from three Li I lines (excluding λ610.4 nm) are 4.7, 4.9 for WZ Cas, and 4.6, 4.8 for WX Cyg, respectively. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A simple model for lensing by black holes in galactic nuclei

The lensing properties of the Plummer model with a central point mass and external shear are derived, including the image multiplicities, critical curves and caustics. This provides a simple model for a flattened galaxy with a central supermassive black hole. For the Plummer model with black hole, the maximum number of images is four, provided the black hole mass is less than an upper bound which is calculated analytically. This introduces a method to constrain black hole masses by counting images, thus applicable at cosmological distance. With shear, the maximum number of images is six and we illustrate the occurrence of an astroid caustic and two metamorphoses.     

The global Frasnian-Famennian »Kellwasser Event«

During the UppermostP. gigas conodont zone (P. linguiformis zone) the stepwise Frasnian extinction culminates in the global transgressive-regressive Frasnian-Famennian »Kellwasser event«. Most pelagic organisms of the tropical marine environment are more or less affected by this mass extinction. During the early Upper Devonian extinction rates are clearly related to the deposition of black shales and the storage of a great amount of organic carbon in the (shelf) sediments. Contemporaneous positive excursions of the ¹³C recorded from pelagic limestones of Europe and Australia prove a worldwide change in the CO₂ content of the oceans surface water which is in balance with the atmosphere. If the climate is controlled by the CO₂ content of the atmosphere, a cyclic operation process might have developed with the succession: transgression — high organic production — deposition of organic carbon — lowering of CO₂ in the atmosphere — icehouse effect — polar glaciation — regression — erosion of organic carbon and re-supply of CO₂ to the ocean and atmosphere — greenhouse effect — deglaciation — transgression. During the change from a greenhouse to an icehouse effect an overturn of the anoxic oceans probably was one of the causes for the mass killing of low latitude marine organisms.

---

Zusammenfassung Während der OberstenP. gigas-Zone (=P. linguiformis-Zone) kulminiert das stufenweise Erlöschen der Frasne Organismen im globalen transgressiv-regressiven »Kellwasser-Ereignis«, das die Frasne-Famenne-Grenze markiert. Die meisten Organismengruppen der tropischen Meere werden mehr oder weniger von dem Massensterben betroffen. Während des tiefen Oberdevons sind die Aussterberaten offensichtlich mit der Ablagerung von Schwarzschiefern verknüpft, in denen eine große Menge organischen Kohlenstoffs auf den Schelfen fixiert wird. Gleichzeitige positive Exkursionen der ¹³C-Kurven, die in pelagischen Kalken aus Europa und Australien gemessen wurden, deuten auf eine weltweite Änderung der CO₂-Gehalte des ozeanischen Oberflächenwassers und der Atmosphäre hin.Sollte das Klima vom CO₂ in der Atmosphäre gesteuert werden, könnte sich folgender Autozyklus entwickelt haben: Transgression — hohe organische Produktion — Ablagerung von organischem Kohlenstoff — Erniedrigung des CO₂-Gehaltes in der Atmosphäre — Abkühlung — polare Vereisung-Regression — Erosion und Oxidation von organischem Kohlenstoff — Erhöhung des CO₂-Gehaltes in der Atmosphäre — Treibhauseffekt — Abschmelzen der polaren Vereisung — Transgression. Aufsteigende anoxische Wässer beim Übergang vom Treibhaus- zum »Kühlhauseffekt« dürften eine der Ursachen für das Massensterben tropischer mariner Organismen gewesen sein.

---

Résumé Au cours de la partie supérieure de la zone de conodontes àP. gigas (= zone àP. linguiformis), l'extinction progressive des organismes frasniens a culminé au moment de l'événement de Kellwasser, marqué par une transgression-régression globale à la limite Frasnien-Famennien. La plupart des organismes pélagiques des milieux marins tropicaux ont été affectés à des degrés divers par cette extinction de masse. Pendant le début du Dévonien supérieur, les taux d'extinction sont clairement en relation avec le dépôt de boues noires et le stockage d'une grande quantité de matière organique dans les sédiments de shelf. Simultanément, des variations positives de ¹³C enregistrées dans des calcaires pélagiques d'Europe et d'Australie indiquent un changement modial de la teneur en CO₂ de l'eau de surface des océans et de l'atmosphère.Si on admet que le climat est régi par la teneur en CO₂ de l'atmosphère, le processus cyclique suivant a pu se développer: transgression — forte production organique — dépôt de carbone organique — baisse de la teneur en CO₂ de l'atmosphère — refroidissement — glaciation polaire — régression — érosion et oxydation du carbone organique — élévation de la teneur en CO₂ de l'atmosphère — effet de serre — fusion des glaces polaires — transgression. Lors du passage du stade de l'effet de serre à celui du refroidissement, une remontée des eaux anoxiques océaniques peut être à l'origine de l'extinction de masse des organismes marins tropicaux.

---

, , P. gigas, - Kellwasser, . . , . ¹³ , , ₂ , . ₂ , : — — _opr.- ₂ — — — — — ₂ — - — . » « .

     

Detailed <Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar/<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar dating of geologic events associated with the Mantos Blancos copper deposit,northern Chile

The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronological method was applied to date magmatic and hydrothermal alteration events in the Mantos Blancos mining district in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile, allowing the distinction of two separate mineralization events. The Late Jurassic Mantos Blancos orebody, hosted in Jurassic volcanic rocks, is a magmatic-hydrothermal breccia-style Cu deposit. Two superimposed mineralization events have been recently proposed. The first event is accompanied by a phyllic hydrothermal alteration affecting a rhyolitic dome. The second mineralization event is related to the intrusion of bimodal stocks and sills inside the deposit. Because of the superposition of several magmatic and hydrothermal events, the obtained ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data are complex; however, with a careful interpretation of the age spectra, it is possible to detect complex histories of successive emplacement, alteration, mineralization, and thermal resetting. The extrusion of Jurassic basic to intermediate volcanic rocks of the La Negra Formation is dated at 156.3 ± 1.4 Ma (2σ) using plagioclase from an andesitic lava flow. The first mineralization event and associated phyllic alteration affecting the rhyolitic dome occurred around 155–156 Ma. A younger bimodal intrusive event, supposed to be equivalent to the bimodal stock and sill system inside the deposit, is probably responsible for the second mineralization event dated at ca. 142 Ma. Other low-temperature alteration events have been dated on sericitized plagioclase at ca. 145–146, 125, and 101 Ma. This is the first time that two distinct mineralization events have been documented from radiometric data for a copper deposit in the metallogenic belt of the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Determination of fluid/melt partition coefficients by LA-ICPMS analysis of co-existing fluid and silicate melt inclusions: Controls on element partitioning

Analyses of co-existing silicate melt and fluid inclusions, entrapped in quartz crystals in volatile saturated magmatic systems, allowed direct quantitative determination of fluid/melt partition coefficients. Investigations of various granitic systems (peralkaline to peraluminous in composition, log fO₂ = NNO−1.7 to NNO+4.5) exsolving fluids with various chlorinities (1-14 mol/kg) allowed us to assess the effect of these variables on the fluid/melt partition coefficients (D). Partition coefficients for Pb, Zn, Ag and Fe show a nearly linear increase with the chlorinity of these fluid (D_Pb ∼ 6 ∗ m_Cl, D_Zn ∼ 8 ∗ m_Cl, D_Ag ∼ 4 ∗ m_Cl, D_Fe ∼ 1.4 ∗ m_Cl, where m_Cl is the molinity of Cl). This suggests that these metals are dissolved primarily as Cl-complexes and neither oxygen fugacity nor the composition of the melt affects significantly their fluid/melt partitioning. By contrast, partition coefficients for Mo, B, As, Sb and Bi are highest in low salinity (1-2 mol/kg Cl) fluids with maximum values of D_Mo ∼ 20, D_B ∼ 15, D_As ∼ 13, D_Sb ∼ 8, D_Bi ∼ 15 indicating dissolution as non-chloride (e.g., hydroxy) complexes. Fluid/melt partition coefficients of copper are highly variable, but highest between vapor like fluids and silicate melt (D_Cu ? 2700), indicating an important role for ligands other than Cl. Partition coefficients for W generally increase with increasing chlorinity, but are exceptionally low in some of the studied brines which may indicate an effect of other parameters. Fluid/melt partition coefficients of Sn show a high variability but likely increase with the chlorinity of the fluid (D_Sn = 0.3-42, D_W = 0.8-60), and decrease with decreasing oxygen fugacity or melt peraluminosity.     

The pathway of mercury in contaminated waters determined by association with organic carbon (Tagus Estuary,Portugal)

Reactive dissolved Hg (Hg_R), non-reactive dissolved Hg (Hg_NR), particulate Hg (Hg_P), dissolved organic C (DOC), particulate organic C (POC), salinity and other interpretative parameters were determined in water samples collected in the North Channel and in adjacent areas of the Tagus estuary (Portugal). Higher concentrations of both dissolved and particulate Hg in the North Channel indicate a pollution source and raise the possibility of Hg escaping to adjacent areas by tidal action. This transport was confirmed by the increase of Hg_R with salinity and Hg_NR with DOC, along a longitudinal axis paralleling the North Channel. Apparently, Hg leaving this channel is progressively complexed by inorganic and organic ligands. Near the mouth of the estuary, values decreased reflecting dilution with seawater. Moreover the Hg_P:POC ratio also increased seaward, suggesting mixing with Hg enriched particles that escaped the North Channel, or incorporation of dissolved Hg species in river-derived particles. These results suggest that the pathway of anthropogenic Hg in contaminated waters may be identified by their enrichment in organic matter, both in the dissolved and particulate fraction.     

The passivation of calcite by acid mine water. Column experiments with ferric sulfate and ferric chloride solutions at pH 2

Column experiments, simulating the behavior of passive treatment systems for acid mine drainage, have been performed. Acid solutions (HCl or H₂SO₄, pH 2), with initial concentrations of Fe(III) ranging from 250 to 1500 mg L⁻¹, were injected into column reactors packed with calcite grains at a constant flow rate. The composition of the solutions was monitored during the experiments. At the end of the experiments (passivation of the columns), the composition and structure of the solids were measured. The dissolution of calcite in the columns caused an increase in pH and the release of Ca into the solution, leading to the precipitation of gypsum and Fe–oxyhydroxysulfates (Fe(III)–SO₄–H⁺ solutions) or Fe–oxyhydroxychlorides (Fe(III)–Cl–H⁺ solutions). The columns worked as an efficient barrier for some time, increasing the pH of the circulating solutions from 2 to 6–7 and removing its metal content. However, after some time (several weeks, depending on the conditions), the columns became chemically inert. The results showed that passivation time increased with decreasing anion and metal content of the solutions. Gypsum was the phase responsible for the passivation of calcite in the experiments with Fe(III)–SO₄–H⁺ solutions. Schwertmannite and goethite appeared as the Fe(III) secondary phases in those experiments. Akaganeite was the phase responsible for the passivation of the system in the experiments with Fe(III)–Cl–H⁺ solutions.