Fine ash content of explosive eruptions

In explosive eruptions, the mass proportion of ash that is aerodynamically fine enough to cause problems with jet aircraft or human lungs (< 30 to 60 μm in diameter) is in the range of a few percent to more than 50%. The proportions are higher for silicic explosive eruptions, probably because vesicle size in the pre-eruptive magma is smaller than those in mafic magmas. There is good evidence that pyroclastic flows produce high proportions of fine ash by communition and it is likely that this process also occurs inside volcanic conduits and would be most efficient when the magma fragmentation surface is well below the summit crater. Reconstructed total grain size distributions for several recent explosive eruptions indicate that basaltic eruptions have small proportions of very fine ash (~ 1 to 4%) while tephra generated during silicic eruptions contains large proportions (30 to > 50%).     

Analysis of burnt schist outcrops in the alps: Relation to historical archaeology and Hannibal's crossing in 218 B.C.

Identification of the exact route followed by Hannibal during his invasion of Italia in the Second Punic War is one of the major questions of antiquity and one that historians/archaeologists have long studied. One of the many clues in the ancient literature that can help answer this question is the mention of fired rock, the result of a conflagration Hannibal is reputed to have employed to reduce the size of boulders in a blocking rockslide some distance down from the high col on the Italian side. The only route with evidence of fired rock along the roadway leading into Italia follows the Col du Clapier, one of the possible northern routes discussed by historians. Radiocarbon dating of calcined rocks is not possible, but whereas Time‐of‐Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM‐EDS), backscatter electron scanning microscopy (BSE), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM), and Raman Spectroscopic data do not provide an age for the burnt rock, compositional evidence of the conflagration derived from these analyses may shed light on Hannibal's actual route. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spinel assemblages in lunar meteorites Graves Nunataks 06157 and Dhofar 1528: Implications for impact melting and equilibration in the Moon's upper mantle

Magnesium‐rich spinel assemblages occur in the two lunar vitric breccia meteorites—Dhofar (Dho) 1528 and Graves Nunataks (GRA) 06157. Dho 1528 contains up to ~0.7 mm cumulate Mg‐rich spinel crystals associated with Mg‐rich olivine, Mg‐ and Al‐rich pyroxene, plagioclase, and rare cordierite. Using thermodynamic calculations of these mineral assemblages, we constrain equilibration depths and discuss an origin of these lithologies in the upper mantle of the Moon. In contrast, small, 10 to 20 μm spinel phenocryst assemblages in glassy melt rock clasts in Dho 1528 and GRA 06157 formed from the impact melting of Mg‐rich rocks. Some of these spinel phenocrysts match compositional constraints for spinel associated with “pink spinel anorthosites” inferred from remote sensing data. However, such spinel phenocrysts in meteorites and Apollo samples are typically associated with significant amounts of olivine ± pyroxene that exceed the compositional constraints for pink spinel anorthosites. We conclude that the remotely sensed “pink spinel anorthosites” have not been observed in the collections of lunar rocks. Moreover, we discuss impact‐excavation scenarios for the spinel‐bearing assemblages in Dhofar 1528 and compare the bulk rock composition of Dho 1528 to strikingly similar compositions of Luna 20 samples that contain ejecta from the Crisium impact basin.     

Petrogenesis of lunar impact melt rock meteorite Oued Awlitis 001

Oued Awlitis 001 is a highly feldspathic, moderately equilibrated, clast‐rich, poikilitic impact melt rock lunar meteorite that was recovered in 2014. Its poikilitic texture formed due to moderately slow cooling, which judging from textures of rocks in melt sheets of terrestrial impact structures, is observed in impact melt volumes at least 100 m thick. Such coherent impact melt volumes occur in lunar craters larger than ~50 km in diameter. The composition of Oued Awlitis 001 points toward a crustal origin distant from incompatible‐element‐rich regions. Comparison of the bulk composition of Oued Awlitis 001 with Lunar Prospector 5° γ‐ray spectrometer data indicates a limited region of matches on the lunar farside. After its initial formation in an impact crater larger than ~50 km in diameter, Oued Awlitis 001 was excavated from a depth greater than ~50 m. The cosmogenic nuclide inventory of Oued Awlitis 001 records ejection from the Moon 0.3 Ma ago from a depth of at least 4 m and little mass loss due to ablation during its passage through Earth's atmosphere. The terrestrial residence time must have been very short, probably less than a few hundred years; its exact determination was precluded by a high concentration of solar cosmic ray‐produced ¹⁴C. If the impact that excavated Oued Awlitis 001 also launched it, this event likely produced an impact crater >10 km in diameter. Using petrologic constraints and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and Diviner data, we test Giordano Bruno and Pierazzo as possible launch craters for Oued Awlitis 001.     

Spatial analysis of groundwater potential using remote sensing and GIS in the Kanyakumari and Nambiyar basins,India

Remotely sensed data can provide useful information in understanding the distribution of groundwater, an important source of water supply throughout the world. In the present study, the modern geomatic technologies, namely remote sensing and GIS were used in the identification of groundwater potential zones in the Kanyakumari and Nambiyar basins of Tamil Nadu in India. The multivariate statistical technique was used to find out the relationship between rainfall and groundwater resource characteristics. It has been found out that groundwater not only depends upon rainfall, but various other factors also influence its occurrence. Eight such parameters were considered and multi criterion analysis has been carried out in order to find out the potential zones. Accordingly, it had been concluded that the Kanyakumari river basin has more ground water potential, whereas the Nambiyar basin has less potential. Thus surface investigation of groundwater has proved to be easier, time consistent and cheaper using the geomatic technologies.     

Polarized Radiation in Relativistic Cosmology

A method to solve the general-relativistic equation of radiative transfer for polarized light incorporating elastic COMPTON scattering is discussed. The method is based on an expansion in spin-o and spin-2 spherical harmonics.     

Lunar meteorite Queen Alexandra Range 93069 and the iron concentration of the lunar highlands surface

Abstract— Lunar meteorite Queen Alexandra Range 93069 is a clast-rich, glassy-matrix regolith breccia of ferroan, highly aluminous bulk composition. It is similar in composition to other feldspathic lunar meteorites but differs in having higher concentrations of siderophile elements and incompatible trace elements. Based on electron microprobe analyses of the fusion crust, glassy matrix, and clasts, and instrumental neutron activation analysis of breccia fragments, QUE 93069 is dominated by nonmare components of ferroan, noriticanorthosite bulk composition. Thin section QUE 93069,31 also contains a large, impact-melted, partially devitrified clast of magnesian, anorthositic-norite composition. The enrichment in Fe, Sc, and Cr and lower Mg/Fe ratio of lunar meteorites Yamato 791197 and Yamato 82192/3 compared to other feldspathic lunar meteorites can be attributed to a small proportion (5–10%) of low-Ti mare basalt. It is likely that the nonmare components of Yamato 82192/3 are similar to and occur in similar abundance to those of Yamato 86032, with which it is paired. There is a significant difference between the average FeO concentration of the lunar highlands surface as inferred from the feldspathic lunar meteorites (mean: ～5.0%; range: 4.3–6.1%) and a recent estimate based on data from the Clementine mission (3.6%).     

INFORMATION SOURCES FOR NINETEENTH CENTURY MIDWESTERN MIGRATION*

A variety of sources provides different levels of information about the origins of nineteenth century migrants to the Midwest. The advantages and disadvantages of four of the most common records, the federal census, land office records, genealogical collections, and county histories/biographies/atlases, are examined. Characteristics considered are the specific types of data provided, extent of coverage, level of detail, statistical reliability, and accessibility. Examples of studies using each record type are cited.     

Surface energy balance,parameterizations of boundary-layer heights and the application of resistance laws near an Antarctic Ice Shelf front

A study of the surface energy balance with turbulent fluxes obtained by the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and a comparison with results for resistance laws are presented for the strong baroclinic conditions in the vicinity of the Filchner/Ronne Ice Shelf front. The data are taken from a field experiment in the Antarctic summer season 1983/84. For the first time in the coastal Antarctic region, this data set comprises synchronous energy balance measurements over the polynya and the ice shelf together with soundings of the boundary layer, yielding vertical profiles of the wind velocity and temperature over the ice shelf, at the ice shelf front and over the polynya.Over the ice shelf, the radiation balance is the largest component of the energy fluxes and is mainly compensated by the subsurface energy flux and the turbulent heat flux in the daily mean. Over the polynya, turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat lead to large energy losses of the water surface in the night-time and in situations of very low air temperatures.Different parameterizations for boundary-layer height are compared using tethered sonde and energy balance measurements. With the height of the inversion base over the polynya and the height of the critical bulk Richardson number over the ice shelf, external parameters for the application of resistance laws were determined. The comparison of turbulent surface fluxes obtained by the energy balance measurements and by the resistance laws shows good agreement for the convective conditions over the polynya. For the stably stratified boundary layer over the ice shelf with small amounts of the turbulent heat flux, the deviation is large for the case of a cold air outflow with a superposed inertial oscillation.     

A laser probe Ar/Ar and INAA investigation of four Apollo granulitic breccias

Infrared laser probe ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology, instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and analytical electron microscopy have been performed on four 0.5 × 1.0 × 0.3 cm polished rock tiles of Apollo 16 and 17 granulitic breccias (60035, 77017, 78155, and 79215). Pyroxene thermometry indicates that these samples were re-equilibrated and underwent peak metamorphic sub-solidus recrystallization at 1000-1100 °C, which resulted in homogeneous mineral compositions and granoblastic textures.⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data from this study reveal that three samples (60035, 77017, and 78155) have peak metamorphic ages of ∼4.1 Ga. Sample 79215 has a peak metamorphic age of 3.9 Ga, which may be related to Serenitatis basin formation. All four samples contain moderately high concentrations of meteoritic siderophiles. Enhanced siderophile contents in three of the samples provide evidence for projectile contamination of their target lithologies occurring prior to peak metamorphism.Post-peak metamorphism, low-temperature (<300 °C) events caused the partial resetting of argon in the two finer-grained granulites (60035 and 77017). These later events did not alter the mineralogy or texture of the rocks, but caused minor brecciation and the partial release of argon from plagioclase. Interpretation of the low-temperature data indicates partial resetting of the argon systematics to as young as 3.2 Ga for 60035 and 2.3 Ga for 77017. Cosmic ray exposure ages range from 6.4 to ∼339 Ma.Our results increase the amount of high-precision data available for the granulitic breccias and lunar highlands crustal samples. The results demonstrate the survival of pre-Nectarian material on the lunar surface and document the effects of contact metamorphic and impact processes during the pre-Nectarian Epoch, as well as the low-temperature partial resetting of ages by smaller impact events after 3.9 Ga.The mineralogy and chemical composition of these rocks, as well as exhumation constraints, indicate that the source of heat for metamorphism was within kilometers of the surface via burial beneath impact-melt sheets or hot ejecta blankets.