grain size dependence of sediment composition and environmental bias in provenance studies abstract this article investigates both experimentally and theoretically the compositional changes associated with textural effects and hydraulic sorting during sediment transport and deposition which cause systematic distortion in quantitative provenance analysis environmental bias traditional procedures aimed at eliminating textural noise find limited success the gazzi dickinson method cannot remove hydrodynamic related modal variability multiple size window strategies are time consuming narrow or moving size window strategies represent misleading or impractical short cuts being less convenient options than simply analysing each sample in bulk new concepts introduced here unravel the superposed causes of compositional variability in modern sediments intrasample modal variability fundamentally explained by settling equivalence relationships can be accurately modelled mathematically intersample modal variability principally resulting from selective entrainment can be assessed and removed by a simple principle in absence of provenance changes and environmental bias the weighted average density of terrigenous grains srd index should be equal for each sample and each grain size class of each sample to the weighted average density of source rocks by correcting relative abundances of detrital minerals in proportion to their densities we can restore the appropriate srd index for any provenance and subprovenance type in each sample or grain size class modal variability is effectively reduced by this procedure which can be applied confidently to modern sediments deposited by tractive currents in any environment good results are obtained even for placer sands and finest classes where heavy mineral concentration is strongest such srd correction also successfully compensates for biased narrow window modes thus providing a numerical solution of general validity to the problem of environmental bias in sedimentary petrology after compensating for settling equivalence and selective entrainment effects residual size dependent compositional variability may be provenance related minor in ganga brahmaputra sediments provenance related effects are spectacularly displayed in the nile basin where volcaniclastic silt mixes with basement derived quartzofeldspathic sand and wind blown saharan quartz

mixing processes in modern estuarine sediments from the gulf of khambhat western india abstract sandy and muddy detritus from two distinctive end member provenance terrains basaltic and granitic are transported to the estuaries of the gulf of khambhat by fluvial discharge and opposing tidal currents making this embayment ideal for investigating the effects of mineralogical and geochemical mixing on sediment composition in estuarine depositional systems rivers flowing predominantly from the north over precambrian metasediments and granites supply a felsic plutoniclastic sand to the gulf whilst a mafic volcaniclastic sand sourced by deccan basalts is transported by rivers draining the western ghats and from the local coastal erosion in the southern part of the gulf sediments from the tapti estuary are rich in basaltic rock fragments 50 and are characterised by a distinctly basaltic source composition la sc 0 25 0 86 th sc 0 12 0 40 cr th 13 121 eu eu 0 93 1 68 and lree hree 2 96 6 57 by contrast the sediments of the sabarmati inner estuary are rich in quartz grains 80 as evident from the major and trace element compositions la sc 1 38 6 63 th sc 0 58 2 98 cr th 0 58 19 39 eu eu 0 46 0 86 and lree hree 2 90 11 40 the detrital compositions of the remaining major estuaries the narmada dhadhar and mahi scatter across a broad range in a qfr diagram and contain varying amounts of quartz feldspar and rock fragments in the narmada estuary the mixed signature characterised by ree values including eu eu 0 42 2 28 and lree hree 4 37 14 80 is caused by the presence of diverse rock types that crop out in the source area in the mahi estuary which largely flows across felsic source terrains the compositional signature is controlled by mixing of felsic detritus from riverine input with mafic sediments from seaward side in the estuary the two end member detrital compositions plutoniclastic and volcaniclastic are mixed in the macro tidal estuaries mixing of sediment takes place where fluvial currents and tidal flows interact and the proportion of mixing varies systematically from outer to central to inner estuary a high degree of mixing of felsic sediments with deccan basalt derived sediments takes place in the outer estuary resulting in felsic mafic ratios of 40 60 sediments in the central estuaries 65 35 and in the fluvial dominated inner estuaries 90 10 are characterised by moderate to minor degrees of mixing the mixing in estuaries is systematic and is reflected in both the mineralogy and geochemistry of the sediments provenances of ancient estuarine successions should therefore be interpreted with great care incorporating awareness of the mixing processes which influence sediment compositions to different degrees in estuaries especially those characterised by strong tidal currents

petrological geochemical and statistical analysis of eocene oligocene sandstones of the western thrace basin greece and bulgaria abstract the rhodopian orogen developed since the late cretaceous early eocene during accretionary processes following the closure of the vardar ocean basin a branch of neotethys through a multidisciplinary approach including sandstone petrology and geochemistry of the clastic and volcanoclastic sediments we reconstruct the unroofing history of the rhodopian orogen and characterize the formation and the evolution of the western portions of the thrace basin in greece and bulgaria between the late eocene and oligocene detrital modes of 127 sandstone samples provide evidence of three distinctive petrofacies quartzolithic quartzofeldspathic and volcanoclastic the petrographic composition gives evidence of contributions from three key source areas corresponding to the three main tectonic units the circum rhodope belt the variegated complex ultramafic complex and the gneiss migmatite complex the three petrofacies reflect multiple provenance from different tectonic settings as they evolve from quartzolithic to quartzofeldspathic to volcanoclastic corresponding to collisional orogen crustal block uplift and volcanic arc settings respectively geochemical data on major elements and trace elements are used to discuss the efficacy of tectonic setting discrimination diagrams and compare them to the dickinson model as well as to distinguish and characterize i petrographically homogeneous gneiss supplied subbasins and ii volcanic contributions to sandstone composition multivariate statistical techniques are used to unravel the complex web of factors controlling sediment composition biplot analysis highlights the influence of two independent processes 1 mixing between carbonate and silicate phases and 2 evolution from mafic to felsic source rocks the latter indicates progressively increasing supply rates from deeper crustal levels the compositional evolution of the sandstone suites of thrace basin in ne greece and se bulgaria is strictly related to various geodynamic stages of the rhodope region provenance analysis of thrace sandstones provide an example of the changing nature of orogenic belt sand associate basins through time and may contribute to the general understanding of similar geodynamic settings

a critique of emanuel s hurricane model and potential intensity theory we present a critique of emanuel s steady state hurricane model which is a precursor to his theory for hurricane potential intensity pi we show that a major deficiency of the theory is the tacit assumption of gradient wind balance in the boundary layer a layer that owes its existence to gradient wind imbalance in the radial momentum equation if a more complete boundary layer formulation is included using the gradient wind profiles obtained from emanuel s theory the tangential wind speed in the boundary layer becomes supergradient invalidating the assumption of gradient wind balance we show that the degree to which the tangential wind is supergradient depends on the assumed boundary layer depth the full boundary layer solutions require a knowledge of the tangential wind profile above the boundary layer in the outer region where there is subsidence into the layer and they depend on the breadth of this profile this effect is not considered in emanuel s theory we argue that a more complete theory for the steady state hurricane would require the radial pressure gradient above the boundary layer to be prescribed or determined independently of the boundary layer the issues raised herein highlight a fundamental problem with emanuel s theory for pi since that theory makes the same assumptions as in the steady state hurricane model our current findings together with recent studies examining intense hurricanes suggest a way forward towards a more consistent theory for hurricane pi copyright 2008 royal meteorological society

evaluation of planetary boundary layer parameterizations in tropical cyclones by comparison of in situ observations and high resolution simulations of hurricane isabel 2003 part ii inner core boundary layer and eyewall structure this is the second of a two part study of the representation of the planetary boundary layer pbl in highresolutionweatherresearchandforecastmodel wrf simulationsofhurricaneisabel 2003 theyonsei university ysu pbl parameterization and the mellor yamada janjic myj pbl parameterization are evaluated by direct comparison to in situ data obtained by research aircraft the numerical model simulation design details of the pbl schemes and the representation of the boundary layer in the outer core were presented in part i this part presents a detailed study of the inner core pbl including its axisymmetric and asymmetric structures and comparisons to analyses of dropsonde data from previous studies although neither pbl scheme was designed specifically for hurricane conditions their simulated boundary layers are reasonably good representations of the observed boundary layer both schemes reproduce certain unique features of the hurricane boundary layer such as the separate depths of the well mixed layer and the inflow layer and the pronounced wind speed maxima near the top of the inflow layer modification of the original ysu and myj schemes to have ocean roughness lengths more in agreement with recent studies considerably improves the results of both schemes even with these improvements the myj consistently produces larger frictional tendencies in the boundary layer than the ysu scheme leading to a stronger lowlevel inflow and a stronger azimuthal wind maximum at the top of the boundary layer for both schemes differences in the low level asymmetries between the simulated and observed wind fields appear to be related to eyewall asymmetries forced by environmental wind shear the effects of varying horizontal and vertical resolutions are also considered increasing the vertical resolution in the pbl results in minor improvements in the inner core structures increasing the horizontal resolution around the eyewall also leads to improved boundary layers as well as an improvement of the vertical structure of the inner core wind field a summary and discussion of the results of both parts i and ii is provided

evolution of mg fe ratios in late variscan plutonic rocks from the external crystalline massifs of the alps france italy switzerland late variscan plutonic bodies are widespread in the external raumer et al 1993 menot et al 1994 from south to crystalline massifs of the alps argentera pelvoux belledonne north they are the argentera pelvoux belledonne grandes rousses mont blanc aiguilles rouges aar gotthard grandes rousses mont blanc and aiguilles rouges they can be classified on the basis of their mg fe mg ratio massifs western alps and the aar and gotthard massifs and mafic mineral content expressed by the b fe mg central alps fig 1 they appear as dome like structi parameter together with available ages of emplacement this tures of crystalline basement surrounded by a mostly classification highlights the existence of two plutonic suites one mesozoic sedimentary cover as a whole they define an early visean 330 340 ma and highly magnesian the other arcuate structure possibly inherited from the variscan later mainly stephanian 295 305 ma and more ferriferous orogeny bogdanoff et al 1991 this evolution from a magnesian plutonism to a more ferriferous during the variscan orogeny the ecm were part of one which also occurs in other variscan massifs e g corsica the helvetic moldanubian terrane of the internal zone might be accounted for by a combination of factors related to the of the variscides von raumer neubauer 1993 nature of the source of the magmas the physical and chemical precambrian metamorphic units and precambrian to conditions of melting and the late variscan geodynamic setting palaeozoic sediments interlayered with volcanic and as a basis for these considerations a comprehensive review is ultramafic rocks display in most areas a polymetamorphic presented of all the external crystalline massifs and their history and underwent a highly complex pre variscan late variscan intrusions and variscan evolution although they share a number of similarities the ecm each have also specific characteristics von raumer et al 1993 in addition to orthogneisses deriving from early palaeozoic plutonic and volcanic protoliths bussy von

petrology of glacial sand implications for the origin and mechanical durability of lithic fragments the petrology of first cycle unmodified and second cycle reworked sand at the termini of eleven valley glaciers eroding coarse to fine grained bedrock types is determined in order to evaluate the origin and mechanical durability of lithic sands first cycle sands are coarse to medium grained poorly sorted fine skewed non modal lithic sands with an average composition of q21f6l73 grain size distributions do not vary with composition or source rock types although sands derived from finer grained source rocks contain more lithic fragments than sands from coarser grained sources by contrast second cycle sands are medium grained poorly sorted fine to coarse skewed arkosic to lithic sands with an average composition of q19f40l41 and contain fewer lithic fragments than do first cycle sands we propose that the origin mechanical durability and survival potential of lithic fragments are related to the types and abundances of their internal planes of weakness and the particular stress field of the transporting medium as a result of abrasion glacial clasts and lithic fragments are subjected to shear stress so that fractures propagate along intracrystal and intercrystal planes of weakness resulting in a continuous grain size spectrum of lithic fragments and monomineralic grains irrespective of the type of source rock upon subsequent aqueous transport in the proglacial environment lithic fragments are subjected to point loading during saltation in addition to shear stress point loading produces extensional fractures which preferentially propagate along intercrystal planes of weakness so the lithic fragments break into smaller monomineralic grains and or lithic fragments lithic fragments of very coarse sand size are abundant in first cycle sands thus refuting at least for glacial sands the widely held view that grains of this size are deficient in nature the presence of fewer grains of this size in second cycle sands indicates that very coarse sand size lithic fragments can survive recycling but in greatly reduced proportions due to breakage

the boundary layer winds in hurricanes danielle 1998 and isabel 2003 abstract this paper describes the boundary layer wind structure and dynamics of hurricanes danielle 1998 and isabel 2003 based on the analysis of high resolution global positioning system dropwindsonde data and simulation of the flow by a three dimensional boundary layer model produced by kepert and wang the observations show that the hurricane boundary layer has a complex three dimensional structure with large variability over small distances the analysis emphasizes three aspects the degree of gradient wind balance the radially varying depth of the boundary layer and the strength of the near surface wind speed relative to that at a higher level each aspect is compared both with results obtained in a simulation of the individual storm by kepert and wang s model and with theoretical predictions the observations show that the boundary layer depth decreases toward the center of the storm consistent with theoretical arguments the strongest azimuthal winds occur near the top of but still within

petrology chemistry and texture of modern river sands amazon river system key idea following the spirit of p d krynine the sands of the world s largest tropical river system are studied to reveal much about the general origin of sand and sandstone thin section and chemical study of 95 sand samples from the amazon river system in brazil peru ecuador and colombia a river system with great contrasts in climate and rock types reveals that sands derived from the andes are lithic arenites whereas sands derived from precambrian terrains are much richer in quartz as are sands in rivers draining tertiary molasse sand becomes more mature downstream along the main stem of the amazon solimoes maranon so that a sample analyzed at the mouth does not accurately reflect headwater composition dilution by quartz rich tributaries and quartz rich tertiary outcrops possible differential elimination of rock fragments and even possible weathering on the modern flood plain of the amazon contribute to enhanced maturity downstream we speculate that although data on modern large subarti

influence of granitoid textural parameters on sediment composition implications for sediment generation the aim of this study is to determine and characterise the control exerted by parent rock texture on sand composition as a function of grain size the sands investigated were generated from granitoid parent rocks by the rhone damma and sidelen glaciers which drain the aar massif in the central alps switzerland and were deposited in glacial and fluvio glacial settings mechanical erosion comminution crystal breakdown and abrasion and hydraulic sorting are the most important processes controlling the generation of sediments in this environment whereas chemical and or biochemical weathering plays a negligible role by using a gis based microscopic information system mis five samples from the glacier drained portions of the aar basement have been analysed to determine textural parameters such as modal composition crystal size distribution and mineral interfaces types and lengths petrographic data of analysed sands include traditional point counts gazzi dickinson method minimum of 300 points as well as textural counts to determine interface types frequency and polycrystallinity in phaneritic rock fragments according to pettijohn s classification grain size dependent compositions vary from feldspathic litharenite 0 fraction via lithic arkose 1 and 2 to arkose 3 and 4 compositional differences among our data set were compared to modern plutoniclastic sands from the iberian massif spain and the st gabriel mts california usa which allowed us to assess the role exerted by glaciers in generating sediments by combining data from the mis with those from petrographic analysis we outlined the evolution of mineral interfaces from the parent rocks to the sediments

the use of mineral interfaces in sand sized rock fragments to infer ancient climate the kinds of mineral interfaces preserved in rock fragments of modern plutoniclastic sand are closely correlated with climate and topography in the source area stepwise linear regression analysis of the relationship among environmental and petrographic parameters for sand collected from 16 drainages of varying morphology developed on five granodiorite plutons demonstrates that sand composition varies systematically with temperature and precipitation and drainage steepness and area for small drainages in temperate climates the durability of each kind of mineral interface in sand sized rock fragments derived from the plutons depends on mechanical chemical and textural factors interfaces are mechanically stressed by differential expansion of minerals during unroofing interfaces between minerals of similar expansibility compressibility are more likely to remain uncracked and thus survive weathering the rate and extent of chemical dissolution of interfaces depends on the crystallography and chemistry of adjoining minerals interfaces between minerals of similar structure that have short atomicbond lengths are more likely to survive mineral inclusions are texturally isolated from rock disaggregating processes and thus more likely to survive interfaces of opaque with tectosilicate minerals are enriched relative to other interfaces by progressive disaggregation the rate and extent of which increase with increasing temperature interfaces of biotite with tectosilicates are depleted relative to other interfaces with increasing precipitation regression analysis yields statistically plausible testable models of the dependence of modem sand composition on modern climate such models can be used to quantitatively estimate ancient mean annual air temperature and precipitation based on ancient sand composition

dependence of tropical cyclone intensification on the boundary layer representation in a numerical model we present idealized numerical model experiments to investigate the dependence of tropical cyclone intensification and in particular the kinematic structure of the tropical cyclone boundary layer on the boundary layer parametrization in the model the study is motivated by recent findings highlighting the important dynamical role of the boundary layer in tropical cyclone intensification the calculations are carried out using the pennsylvania state university national center for atmospheric research fifth generation mesoscale model mm5 predictions using one of five available schemes are compared not only between themselves but where possible with recent observational analyses of boundary layer structure at this stage the study falls short of being able to advocate the use of a particular scheme although certain shortcomings of individual schemes are identified the current inability to determine the optimum scheme has implications for the predictability of tropical cyclone intensification copyright 2010 royal meteorological society

structure of the eye and eyewall of hurricane hugo 1989 on 15 september 1989 one of noaa s wp 3d research aircraft n42rf lower aircraft la penetrated the eyewall of hurricane hugo the aircraft had an engine fail in severe turbulence while passing the radius of maximum wind and before entering the eye at 450 m altitude after the aircraft returned to controlled flight within the 7 km radius eye it gained altitude gradually as it orbited in the eye observations taken during this period provide an updated model of the inner core structure of an intense hurricane and suggest that la penetrated an intense cyclonic vorticity maximum adjacent to the strongest convection in the eyewall eyewall vorticity maximum evm this evm was distinct from the vortex scale cyclonic circulation observed to orbit within the eye three times during the 1 h that la circled in the eye at the time hugo had been deepening rapidly for 12 h the maximum flight level tangential wind was 89 m s 1 at a radius of 12 5 km however the primary vortex peak tangential wind derived from a 100 s filter of the flight level data was estimated to be 70 m s 1 also at 12 5 km radius the primary vortex tangential wind was in approximate gradient wind balance was characterized by a peak in angular velocity just inside the radius of maximum wind and had an annular vorticity structure slightly interior to the angular velocity maximum the evm along the aircraft s track was roughly 1 km in diameter with a peak cyclonic vorticity of 1 25 10 1 s 1 the larger circulation center with a diameter 15 km was observed within the eye and exhibited an average orbital period of 19 min this period is about the same as that of the angular velocity maximum of the axisymmetric mean vortex and is in reasonable agreement with recent theoretical and model predictions of a persistent trochoidal wobble of circulation centers in mature hurricane like vortices this study is the first with in situ documentation of these vortical entities which were recently hypothesized to be elements of a lower tropospheric eye eyewall mixing mechanism that supports strong storms

gorongosa by the sea first miocene fossil sites from the urema rift central mozambique and their coastal paleoenvironmental and paleoecological contexts abstract the east african rift system ears has played a central role in our understanding of human origins and vertebrate evolution in the late cenozoic of africa however the distribution of fossil sites along the rift is highly biased towards its northern extent and the types of paleoenvironments are primarily restricted to fluvial and lacustrine settings here we report the discovery of the first fossil sites from the urema rift at gorongosa national park central mozambique at the southern end of the ears and reconstruct environmental contexts of the fossils in situ and surface fossils from the lower member of the mazamba formation estimated to be of miocene age comprise mammals reptiles fishes invertebrates palms and dicot trees fossil and geological evidence indicates a coastal plain paleoenvironmental mosaic of riverine forest woodland and estuarine habitats that represent the first coastal biomes identified in the neogene ears context receiving continental sediment from source terranes west of today s urema graben estuarine sequences accumulated prior to rifting as compound incised valley fills on a low gradient coastal plain following transgression modern environmental analogues are extremely productive habitats for marine and terrestrial fauna including primates thus our discoveries raise the possibility that the miocene coastal landscapes of gorongosa were ecologically favorable habitats for primates providing relatively stable maritime climate and ecosystem conditions year round freshwater availability and food both from terrestrial and marine sources the emerging fossil record from gorongosa is beginning to fill an important gap in the paleobiogeography of africa as no fossil sites of neogene age have previously been reported from the southernmost part of the ears furthermore this unique window into past continental margin ecosystems of central mozambique may allow us to test key paleobiogeographic hypotheses during critical periods of primate evolution

estimation and mapping of hurricane turbulent energy using airborne doppler measurements abstract hurricane turbulent kinetic energy tke was computed using airborne doppler measurements from the noaa wp 3d tail radars and tke data were retrieved for a variety of storms at different stages of their life cycle the geometry of the radar analysis coupled with the relatively small beam resolution at ranges 8 km allowed for the estimation of subkilometer turbulent processes two dimensional profiles of tke were constructed and revealed that the strongest turbulence was generally located in convective regions such as the eyewall with magnitudes often exceeding 15 m2 s 2 and in the boundary layer with values of 5 10 m2 s 2 in the lowest kilometer a correlation analysis showed that the strong turbulence was generally associated with strong horizontal shear of vertical and radial wind components in the eyewall and strong vertical shear of horizontal wind in the boundary layer mean vertical profiles of tke decrease sharply above the hurricane boundary layer and level off at low magnitude for al

petrofacies and provenance of late mesozoic forearc basin northern and central california data from the great valley group sequence represent the most complete information regarding sandstone petrology of sediment derived from a magmatic arc this information is useful in documenting tectonic and magmatic events within the arc and related terranes and forms the basis for the establishment of petrostratigraphic units for mapping and correlation sandstone and conglomerate compositions are controlled by changes in provenance many of which were basinwide and synchronous clay mineral composition is controlled primarily by burial metamorphism careful attention to sample collection sample preparation and petrographic techniques is essential for uniform results seven petrographic parameters p f lv l m qp q q f and l listed in decreasing importance to petrofacies discrimination define eight petrofacies stony creek platina lodoga grabast boxer cortina los gatos and rumsey listed in approximate order of decreasing age the upper jurassic lower cretaceous petrofacies stony creek platina and lodoga contain higher lithic contents supracrustal sources whereas the upper cretaceous petrofacies especially the rumsey contain higher proportions of plutoniclastic components quartz feldspar and micas the proportion of potassium feldspar increases from near zero in the upper jurassic to nearly 50 of all feldspars in the uppermost cretaceous the lower part of the great valley group upper jurassic and lower cretaceous contains significant quantities of sedimentaclastic and metamorphiclastic material eroded from accreted and deformed terranes tectonic highlands formed by the arc arc collision nevadan orogeny that occurred prior to initiation of the franciscan great valley sierra nevada arc trench system the klamath mountains area provided a major proportion of this detritus ophiolite and serpentinite detritus was deposited locally near the base of the great valley group as a result of deformation along the east side of the growing franciscan subduction complex volcaniclastic detritus was fed into the entire forearc basin as magmatism increased in the sierra nevada area during the cretaceous as the volcanic cover was stripped off plutoniclastic and metamorphiclastic detritus from the underlying batholithic terranes was provided in abundance to the forearc basin crustal components were more continental in the southern sierra nevada and more oceanic in the northern sierra nevada as demonstrated by the higher proportions of metamorphiclastic detritus and by the more felsic nature of volcaniclastic detritus to the south by the middle of the late cretaceous extensive batholithic terranes provided potassium feldspar rich arkosic detritus to the entire forearc basin by the paleogene arc magmatism had migrated eastward sufficiently that deeper levels of the california part of the arc were exposed by erosion tectonic activity decreased in the forearc basin and the basin was filled to sea leve in most parts

quantitative analysis of detrital modes statistically rigorous confidence regions in ternary diagrams and their use in sedimentary petrology abstract detrital modes are the basic type of quantitative data used in sedimentary petrology they represent estimates of the petrographic framework composition of sand or sandstone obtained by point counting of thin sections at present geological inferences from analysis of these numerical data are semi quantitative only because many of the data processing methods employed in sedimentary petrology lack a firm theoretical basis a review of existing methods reveals a number of fundamental statistical problems associated with the use of univariate statistics and the construction of so called hexagonal fields of compositional variation it is shown that these problems can be overcome by using multivariate methods that honour the non negativity and unit sum constraints on compositional data and incorporate the covariance structure spread in compositional data can be modelled on two levels 1 by regarding the grain as unit of observation and the total point count as a sample from a multinomial distribution 2 by regarding the total count as unit of observation and a set of counts as a sample from an additive logistic normal distribution numerical methods are presented for constructing statistically rigorous confidence regions in ternary diagrams by inversion of significance tests for these two distributions statistical analyses of the framework composition and heavy mineral assemblages of modern beach and river sands illustrate their use the case histories are followed by a brief overview of popular multivariate methods for reconstructing sediment provenance

quantitative provenance analysis of sediments review and outlook provenance analysis of sediments is aimed at reconstructing the parent rock assemblages of sediments and the climaticphysiographic conditions under which sediments formed inferring sediment provenance from the final product a basin fill is anything but straightforward because the detrital spectrum evolves as the sediment is transported along the pathway from source to basin successful provenance analysis requires that the nature and extent of compositional and textural modifications to the detrital spectrum be recognised if not quantified the history of quantification in sediment provenance studies is summarised and illustrated by tracking two fundamental ideas the concept of the sediment petrological province or petrofacies and the relation between sandstone composition and plate tectonic environment progress in sedimentary provenance analysis has been closely linked with advancements in measurement technology a brief survey of modern data acquisition tools illustrates the possibilities and limitations of modern provenance research an operational definition of quantitative provenance analysis qpa is presented in which the central role of mass balance is acknowledged extension of this definition to include quantitative predictions obtained by forward modelling computer simulation of sediment production as well as methodological improvements in data acquisition and processing is needed to cover likely future developments in qpa the contributions to the special issue quantitative provenance analysis of sediments illustrate the intrinsic multidisciplinarity and rapid expansion of qpa d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

relative alteration of microcline and sodic plagioclase in semi arid and humid climates abstract petrographic determination of the degree of alteration of holocene detrital feldspars from first order streams indicates that a broad overlap exists in the amount of alteration on detrital feldspars from contrasting wet and dry climates thus the amount of alteration of detrital feldspars from ancient sandstones is probably an invalid indicator of paleoclimate furthermore regardless of climate detrital plagioclase ab 80 95 generally is 15 20 percent more altered than potassium feldspar in light of this the paleoclimatic significance of the observed relation potassium feldspar more weathered than plagioclase in ancient sandstones todd 1968 needs re evaluation results of this study do suggest a possible preference of limonite plus kaolinite on detrital feldspars from humid climates versus limonite plus smectite on feldspars from semi arid climates however unequivocal substantiation of this difference is still lacking even if the compositional difference can be rigorously demonstrated an inability to distinguish diagenetic from climate controlled surface weathering induced alteration of feldspar will further decrease the utility of feldspar alteration relationships in paleoclimate interpretation

the effects of source rocks and chemical weathering on the petrogenesis of siliciclastic sand from the neto river calabria italy implications for provenance studies plutonic and gneissic rocks of the sila massif in the uppermost portion of the neto drainage basin calabria southern italy weather and erode under a humid mediterranean climate during the development of weathering profiles a combination of chemical weathering and granular disintegration processes occurred chemical weathering involves a loss of both plagioclase mainly during grus generation and k feldspar mainly during soil formation this loss is attributed to transformation of plagioclase to clay minerals and to leaching and dissolution of k feldspar sand composition is quartzofeldspathic and nearly homogeneous along the main channel of the neto river even where the river cuts across a blanket of sedimentary cover thus fluvial transport does not alter sand composition within the neto drainage basin petrographic indices are effective in 1 discriminating between contributions from similar granite and gneiss source rocks qm f 2 relating the provenance of plutoniclastic and gneissiclastic sand found in the headwaters to grus horizons qm f q rg and 3 distinguishing between upstream first cycle and downstream multicycle sand q rg this last distinction is further emphasized by considering both aphanitic and phaneritic varieties of rock fragments rgrmrs diagram chemical weathering is the main sand producer within the regolithic environment in northern calabria in addition rapid erosion resulting from steep slopes removes weathered products and rapid and short transport leads to minimal sediment maturation in general the f q index is climate and relief dependent thus it should be used in conjunction with palaeoclimatic and palaeophysiographic evidence for provenance interpretations of ancient quartzofeldspathic sandstones

an estimation of turbulent characteristics in the low level region of intense hurricanes allen 1980 and hugo 1989 this study analyzes the flight level data collected by research aircraft that penetrated the eyewalls of category 5 hurricane hugo 1989 and category 4 hurricane allen 1980 between 1 km and the sea surface estimates of turbulent momentum flux turbulent kinetic energy tke and vertical eddy diffusivity are obtained before and during the eyewall penetrations spatial scales of turbulent eddies are determined through a spectral analysis the turbulence parameters estimated for the eyewall penetration leg are found to be nearly an order of magnitude larger than those for the leg outside the eyewall at similar altitudes in the low level intense eyewall region the horizontal length scale of the dominant turbulent eddies is found to be between 500 and 3000 m and the corresponding vertical length scale is approximately 100 m the results suggest also that it is unwise to include eyewall vorticity maxima evm in the turbulence parameter estimation because the evms are likely to be quasi two dimensional vortex structures that are embedded within the three dimensional turbulence on the inside edge of the eyewall this studyis afirstattempt at estimatingthe characteristics of turbulent flow in the low leveltroposphereof an intense eyewall using in situ aircraft observations the authors believe that the results can offer useful guidance in numerical weather prediction efforts aimed at improving the forecast of hurricane intensity because of the small sample size analyzed in this study further analyses of the turbulent characteristics in the high wind region of hurricanes are imperative

some aspects of hurricane inner core dynamics and energetics abstract the energy cycle of the mature hurricane resides in the secondary circulation that passes through the storm s eyewall by equating the generation of energy in this cycle to boundary layer dissipation an upper bound on wind speed is derived this bound depends on the degree of thermodynamic disequilibrium between the tropical ocean and atmosphere on the difference between sea surface and outflow absolute temperatures and also on the ratio between the enthalpy exchange and surface drag coefficients such a bound proves to be an excellent predictor of maximum wind speeds in two different axisymmetric numerical models and does not appear to depend on the existence of the hurricane eye but further consideration of the detailed dynamics of the eye and eyewall show that the intensification of hurricanes is accelerated by feedbacks associated with a component of eye subsidence forced by radial turbulent diffusion of momentum this radial momentum diffusion is an inevitable by product of the strong fr

mesoscale and convective scale characteristics of mature hurricanes part i general observations by research aircraft abstract the analysis of instrumented aircraft data from four recent mature hurricanes reveals common mesoscale and convective scale features the structure and organization of the convection precipitation and wind flow are studied by combining the airborne observations using basic instrumentation with quantitative radar measurements three predominant precipitation features seen are 1 the eyewall 2 a stratiform rain region adjacent to and outside the eyewall and 3 rainbands that contain both convective and stratiform regions the eyewall is so named because it surrounds the rain free eye but several additional features distinguish it from other convective bands in the hurricane in particular the updraft tangential wind maximum and highest rainfall have preferred locations relative to each other with the updraft being radially inward from the rain and wind maxima the 10 dbz radar reflectivity contour indicative of the inner edge slopes substantially outward with height and there is evide

evolution of the structure of precipitation in hurricane allen 1980 abstract reflectivity data from the airborne radar systems on board the three noaa aircraft were gathered during six consecutive days in hurricane allen of 1980 the data have been used to specify the horizontal and vertical precipitation distribution within 111 km radius of the hurricane center the evolution of the structure and intensity of the precipitation in the storm is described from representative time composite radar maps for seven research flights made during the 6 day period the eyewall was characterized by a narrow ring 12 15 km wide of intense reflectivity 42 47 dbz surrounding the center of the storm at a radius that varied in time from 12 40 km the eyewall had steep radial gradients of reflectivity 4 5 db km 1 and tilted radially outward in height the rainbands were characterized by areas of enhanced reflectivity embedded in a region of stratiform rainfall that contained a distinct bright band at the height of the 0 c isotherm the most striking changes in structure during the 6 d

a note on the composition of plutoniclastic sand produced in different climatic belts the grain size dependent compositional trends of 25 samples of holocene plutoniclastic sand produced by the physical and chemical weathering of cretaceous plutonic rocks in arid semi arid and mediterranean hot summer climates were determined during this study these trends when compared to similar data from plutoniclastic sands produced in a humid temperate mesothermal climate suggest that arid semi arid and mediterranean hot summer climates produce comparatively little alteration of feldspathic to rock fragment rich plutoniclastic material this conclusion in conjunction with published data suggests that a climatic threshold exists beyond which feldspathic to rock fragment rich plutoniclastic debris is readily altered to form a sand enriched in quartz current data indicate that the critical climatic threshold lies between the humid temperate mesothermal climate typical of south carolina and north carolina and the arid humid microthermal and humid mesothermal climates common to the western united states data presented here support the use of the climatic discrimination diagram of l j suttner and p k dutta and are generally consistent with the earlier work of a basu

boundary layer structure and dynamics in outer hurricane rainbands part i mesoscale rainfall and kinematic structure abstract results of hurricane boundary layer experiments conducted in outer rainbands of hurricanes josephine 1984 and earl 1986 are presented comparisons of precipitation and kinematic structures in these storms and in hurricane floyd 1981 indicate that principal rainbands have common characteristic mesoscale and convective scale features in the boundary layer the two dimensional mesoscale structure suggests that these rainbands are made up of a linear aggregate of cellular reflectivity elements on the inner upshear side of the band and stratiform rain on the outer downshear side the bands are oriented perpendicular to the shear above the boundary layer and cells move downband at about 85 of the density weighted mean wind speed of the 0 2 6 km layer the boundary layer wind field is strongly influenced by the rainband with alongband and crossband wind maxima located on the outer side of the band axis and minima 4 8 km to the inner side maximum crossband convergence and cyclonic shear vor

turbulence structure of the hurricane boundary layer between the outer rainbands abstract as part of the coupled boundary layers air sea transfer cblast hurricane program flights were conducted to directly measure turbulent fluxes and turbulence properties in the high wind boundary layer of hurricanes between the outer rainbands for the first time vertical profiles of normalized momentum fluxes sensible heat and humidity fluxes and variances of three dimensional wind velocities and specific humidity are presented for the hurricane boundary layer with surface wind speeds ranging from 20 to 30 m s 1 the turbulent kinetic energy budget is estimated indicating that the shear production and dissipation are the major source and sink terms respectively the imbalance in the turbulent kinetic energy budget indicates that the unmeasured terms such as horizontal advection may be important in hurricane boundary layer structure and dynamics finally the thermodynamic boundary layer height estimated based on the virtual potential temperature profiles is roughly half of the boundary

alluvial sandstone composition and paleoclimate i framework mineralogy abstract systematic variations in compositional maturity of first cycle fluvial sandstones are found in the cutler formation permian and fountain formation permian pennsylvanian in colorado and in the gondwana supergroup permian triassic of peninsular india these variations reflect changing climate during deposition climate is considered to be the critical factor affecting maturity because source rocks granite granite gneiss and tectono environmental setting alluvial systems associated with basement cored block uplifts were similar and remained relatively unchanged throughout deposition of all three of the units the roughly 3 200 m thick gondwana succession consisting of five sandstone petrofacies is characterized by the following sequence of change oldest to youngest in compositional maturity expressed in q f r percentages 54 42 4 88 10 2 62 34 4 82 16 2 99 1 0 this sequence is a function of the changing paleoclimate glacial arid temperate humid warm semiarid warm semihumid warm humid associated with the overall global limatic change and the changing latitudinal location of india as it moved from a location close to the south pole northward during the interval of time represented by gondwana deposition lithologic and fossil evidence indicates that during deposition of the fountain formation climate gradually changed from relatively wet and warm to at least semiarid and warm this climatic change is the main factor responsible for the difference in compositional maturity of the older fountain sandstone q f r 65 26 9 relative to the younger q f r 54 36 10 cutler sandstone was deposited in an arid climate and has maximum compositional immaturity q f r 49 44 7 a log log plot of the ratio of total quartz to total feldspar plus rock fragments against the ratio of total polycrystalline quartz to to al feldspar plus rock fragments is a sensitive discriminator of first cycle sandstones with differing climatic heritage bulk chemical composition data support interpretation of climate from framework mineralogy but by themselves are not sensitive enough to be unequivocal indicators the same is true for the ztr index and observations of degree and abundance of solution pits embayments on detrital quartz results of this study support the conclusion of earlier empirical and theoretical analyses which suggest that the optimum conditions for the production and preservation of a distinctive climatic signature on sand composition are met in extensional plate tectonic settings such settings are characterized by coarse grained crystalline parent rocks short transport distances in low order streams deposition in nonroutine environments and shallow burial diagenesis however even in such optimum settings only rarely will climate be a more important determinant of sandstone composition than the tectonic setting itself

an experimental study on hurricane mesovortices mesovortices in the eyewall region of a hurricane are intriguing elements of the hurricane engine in situ measurements of them are sparse however and our understanding of their overall role in the physics of a hurricane is incomplete to further understand their dynamics an experimental apparatus using a homogeneous fluid water has been constructed to emulate the lower tropospheric flow of the hurricane eye eyewall region for experimental configurations possessing a central aspect ratio less than unity a primary and secondary circulation similar to the in flow layer of an intense hurricane and a similar radius to width ratio of the curvilinear shear layer bordering the eye and eyewall region the flow supports two primary quasi steady vortices and secondary intermittent vortices the vortices form through kelvin helmholtz instability of the curvilinear shear layer bordering the slowly upwelling fluid in the centre and the converging fluid from the periphery the primary vortices are maintained by convergence of circulation from the periphery and merger of secondary vortices spawned along the shear layer the horizontal flow field is measured using a particle image velocimeter despite the relatively strong secondary circulation through the parent vortex the horizontal flow is found to be approximately uniform in the direction parallel to the rotation axis the peak tangential velocity is found to occur in the mesovortices and is roughly 50 greater than the parent vortex that supports them the measurements provide insight into recent observations of excessive wind damage in landfalling storms and support the hypothesis that intense storms contain coherent vortex structures in the eyewall region with higher horizontal wind speeds locally than the parent hurricane

the dynamics of boundary layer jets within the tropical cyclone core part i linear theory abstract observations of wind profiles within the tropical cyclone boundary layer have until recently been quite rare the recent massive increase in observations due to the operational implementation of the global positioning system dropwindsonde has emphasised that a low level wind speed maximum is a common feature of the tropical cyclone boundary layer here is proposed a mechanism for producing such a maximum whereby strong inward advection of angular momentum generates the supergradient flow the processes that maintain the necessary inflow against the outward acceleration resulting from gradient wind imbalance are identified as being i vertical diffusion ii vertical advection and iii horizontal advection two complementary tools are used to diagnose the properties and dynamics of the jet the first presented here is a linear analytical model of the boundary layer flow in a translating tropical cyclone it is an extension of the classical ekman boundary layer model as well as of earlier w

geostatistical modelling of compositional variability across granitoid complexes its relevance to petrogenetic interpretations and specification of parent rock properties in sediment generation models abstract sediment generation models need an accurate specification of the fundamental properties of parent rocks and their variability at the scale of first order mono lithologic drainage basins georeferenced point count data of five extensively surveyed plutons were extracted from the literature to examine the spatial variability of modal composition in granitoids point count data must be considered inherently noisy from the point of view of geospatial analysis because sampled areas thin sections are small compared to the average crystal size of granitoids geostatistical modelling of such data is further complicated by the fact that crucial information on short range variability is unavailable because sampling was carried out according to more or less regular patterns to achieve an equal density of data coverage across plutons geostatistical modelling of compositional data was carried out by transforming the data to centred log ratios and calculating their principal components pcs the pc scores were used as input for a geostatistical workflow based on ordinary kriging coupled with cross validation and stochastic simulation to assess the predictive capabilities of the models sets of omnidirectional exponential variogram models with fixed range and sill and variable nugget were used for each pluton the local neighbourhood search radius for geostatistical interpolation was set equal to the range variogram modelling was formulated as an optimisation problem aimed at estimating the nugget for which the mean squared cross validation prediction error reaches its minimum the best model of each pluton was selected from all possible combinations of models obtained from the pcs results of a permutation test indicate that the residuals of observed and predicted compositions do not exhibit significant cross covariance within the search radius adopted and may be interpreted as stationary random errors which suggests that little may be gained by application of co kriging random sampling from the geostatistical models indicates that up to several hundreds of specimens must be analysed to successfully predict the area weighted mean modal composition of plutons and its spatial covariance structure as depicted in single component and qapf streckeisen maps an illustration of the internal consistency of the log ratio approach and petrogenetic models is provided by the analysis of the compositional pattern in one of the granite complexes which can be explained by the combined effects of mixing and fractionation the volumes sampled by bulk geochemical analysis are equivalent to the areas of thin sections and geochemical data of coarse crystalline rocks are thus subject to the same limitations as modal analyses the combined data reduction and geostatistical modelling strategy outlined in this study is expected to be particularly efficient for the modelling of such high dimensional data the advent of quick non destructive measurement techniques such as xrf and nir is expected to play a crucial role in future attempts at rigorous quantitative mapping of lithosomes if sediment generation can be simulated the uncertainties associated with the initial conditions area weighted means of parent rock properties can be propagated all the way through to uncertainties of predicted sediment properties

reexamining the near core radial structure of the tropical cyclone primary circulation implications for vortex resiliency abstract recent theoretical studies based on vortex rossby wave vrw dynamics have established the importance of the radial structure of the primary circulation in the response of tropical cyclone tc like vortices to ambient vertical wind shear linear vrw theory suggests in particular that the degree of broadness of the primary circulation in the near core region beyond the radius of maximum wind strongly influences whether a tilted tc vortex will realign and resist vertical shear or tilt over and shear apart fully nonlinear numerical simulations have verified that the vortex resiliency is indeed sensitive to the initial radial structure of the idealized vortex this raises the question of how well the true nature of a tc s primary circulation is represented by idealized vortices that are commonly used in some theoretical studies in this paper the swirling wind structure of tcs is reexamined by utilizing flight level observations collected from atlantic and eastern pacific storms during 1977 2

evaluation of planetary boundary layer parameterizations in tropical cyclones by comparison of in situ observations and high resolution simulations of hurricane isabel 2003 part i initialization maximum winds and the outer core boundary layer in this study thefirst of two parts the planetary boundarylayer pbl depicted in high resolution weather research and forecast model wrf simulations of hurricane isabel 2003 is studied and evaluated by direct comparisons with in situ data obtained during the coupled boundary layer and air sea transfer experiment cblast in particular two boundary layer schemes are evaluated the yonsei university ysu parameterization and the mellor yamada janjic myj parameterization investigation of these schemes is useful since they are available for use with wrf are both widely used and are based on entirely different methods for simulating the pbl in this first part the model domains and initialization are described for additional realism of the low level thermodynamic environment a simple mixed layer ocean model is used to simulate ocean cooling the ysu and myj schemes are discussed along with some modifications standard measures of the accuracy of the hurricane simulations such as track maximum surface wind speed and minimum surface pressure are describedforavarietyofparameterchoicesandforthetwoparameterizations theeffectsontrackandintensity of increased horizontal and vertical resolutions are also shown a modification of the original ysu and myj schemes to have ocean roughness lengths more in agreement with recent studies considerably improves the results of both schemes instantaneous wind maximaon the innermost grid with 1 33 kmresolutionare shown to be an accurate representation of the simulated 1 min sustained winds thesimulatedboundarylayersareevaluatedby directcomparison ofthepblassimulatedandasobserved by in situ data from the cblast experiment in the outer core region of the storm the two pbl schemes and their modifiedcounterparts reproduce the observed pbl remarkably well comparisonsare also made to the observed vertical fluxes of momentum heat and moisture in part ii the detailed comparisons of the intensities and structures of the simulated and observed innercore boundary layers are presented and the reasons for the differences are discussed

mixed diatom assemblages in glacigenic sediment from the central ross sea antarctica we have investigated diatom assemblages and their distribution in piston and trigger cores from six sites in the central ross sea including analysis of absolute abundance of diatom valves and diatom fragments with the aim of characterising different glacigenic sediment facies and sediment packets these data provide a new perspective on the current texturally based classification of diamicton mud and diatomaceous mud all samples investigated include diatom taxa characteristic of the modern ross sea flora thus all deposits evaluated are interpreted to be upper quaternary in age reworked diatoms are ubiquitous but they vary in terms of species content and concentration sediment units classified as diamicton are enriched in robust reworked valves of long ranging taxa such as paralia spp stephanopyxis spp and stellarima microtrias but different diamicton packets can be distinguished based on variable concentrations of biostratigraphically constrained taxa including denticulopsis spp thalassiosira spp and actinocyclus spp absolute abundance of diatoms and diatom fragments provide another useful criterion for distinguishing sedimentary processes together these criteria permit interpretations of past glacial and glacial marine processes with greater certainty than allowed by textural analyses alone we are able to distinguish between tills deposited beneath ice streams from those emplaced by slow moving ice information that is important in ice sheet reconstruction

aircraft observations of tropical cyclone boundary layer turbulence over the south china sea abstractthere have been no high frequency aircraft observations of tropical cyclone tc eyewall boundary layer turbulence since two flights into atlantic hurricanes in the 1980s we present an ana

the influence of climate and topography on rock fragment abundance in modern fluival sands of the southern blue ridge mountains north carolina chemical weathering influences the detrital composition of sand size sediment derived from source areas subject to different amounts of precipitation in the coweeta basin north carolina of the grain types studied rock fragments are most sensitive to chemical degradation therefore their abundance is the best indicator of cumulative weathering effects destruction of sand size rock fragments by chemical weathering is a function of both the intensity and duration of chemical weathering experienced by grains in regoliths of the source area in the coweeta basin the intensity of chemical weathering is directly related to the climate via effective precipitation in individual subbasins whereas the duration of chemical weathering is inversely related to the relief ratio of the watershed therefore soils in watersheds with low relief ratios and high discharge per unit area experience the most extensive chemical weathering and sediments derived from these watersheds contain the lowest percentage of rock fragments the effects of climate alone cannot explain the systematic variation of rock fragment abundance in sediments from the coweeta basin the compositional imprint left on these sediments by chemical weathering is a function of both climate and topographic slope in the sediment source area

provenance of volcaniclastic beach sand in a magmatic arc setting an example from lipari island aeolian archipelago tyrrhenian sea lipari an active volcanic island in the aeolian magmatic arc is an excellent area to determine the effects of multiple source lithology climate weathering transport and depositional environment on epiclastic sand composition volcaniclastic sand samples from 12 modern beaches were petrographically characterized using the gazzi dickinson method and the proportions of source rocks in combination with topography in associated coastal drainage basins were quantified using gis several types of bedrock in the 12 drainage basins that are the likely prominent sources for sand at each sampled beach were recognized and divided into two categories of provenance lithotypes lavas and pyroclastic rocks ranging in composition from basaltic andesitic to andesitic to rhyolitic volcanic lithic fragments from lipari beach sand consist of colourless and black glassy volcanic fragments with lathwork felsitic vitric and microlitic textures moreover high amounts of detrital less durable minerals such as pyroxene olivine and fe oxides illustrate how the analysed sands preserve the source rock s provenance signals applying the concept of sand generation index we see that these lithotypes have different propensities to create detritus in terms of both grain size and composition clastic contribution from pyroclastic rock outcrops such as pumice is not found in the size ranges studied suggesting that these pumiceous source rocks probably only produce gravel or very fine sand and silt this finding has implications for the stratigraphic record because pumice clasts ranging from medium to fine grain size could be underrepresented in older volcaniclastic deposits and overrepresented in other size fractions

uses and misuses of compositional data in sedimentology this paper serves two goals the first part shows how mass evolution processes of different nature become undistinguishable once we take a size limited noisy sample of its compositional fingerprint processes of exponential decay mass mixture and complementary accumulation are simulated and then samples contaminated with noise are extracted the aim of this exercise is to illustrate the limitations of typical graphical representations and statistical methods when dealing with compositional data i e data in percentages concentrations or proportions the second part presents a series of concepts tools and methods to represent and statistically treat a compositional data set attending to these limitations the aim of this second part is to offer a state of the art compositional data analysis this includes descriptive statistics and graphics the biplot ternary diagrams with confidence regions for the mean regression and analysis of variance models to explain compositional variability and the use of compositional information to predict environmental covariables or discriminate between groups all these tools share a four step algorithm 1 transform compositions with an invertible log ratio transformation 2 apply a statistical method to the transformed scores 3 back transform the results to compositions and 4 interpret results in relative terms using these techniques a data set of sand petrographic composition has been analyzed highlighting that finer sands are richer in single crystal grains in relation to polycrystalline grains and that grain size accounts for almost all compositional variability a stronger water flow river discharge favors mica grains against quartz or rock fragment grains possibly due to hydrodynamic sorting effects a higher relief ratio implies shorter residence times which may favor survival of micas and rock fragments relatively more labile grains

buoyancy of convective vertical motions in the inner core of intense hurricanes part ii case studies abstract this is the second of two papers on the buoyancy of convective vertical motions in the inner core of intense hurricanes this paper uses extensive airborne radar dropwindsonde and flight level observations in hurricanes guillermo 1997 and georges 1998 to illustrate typical azimuthal distribution of buoyant convection and demonstrate that the low level eye can be an important source region for buoyant eyewall convection in both hurricanes eyewall vertical velocity and radar reflectivity are asymmetric and exhibit persistent relationships with the direction of the environmental vertical wind shear mesoscale vertical motions exhibit a wavenumber 1 structure with maximum ascent downshear and weak descent upshear the mesoscale reflectivity maxima are located left of shear buoyant eyewall updraft cores and transient convective scale reflectivity cells are predominantly downshear and left of shear most eyewall downdraft cores that transport significant mass downward are located upshear nega

gradient balance in tropical cyclones abstract analysis of a large inventory of in situ observations from research aircraft shows that the gradient wind approximates the axisymmetric swirling flow in the free atmosphere within 150 km of the centers of atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms in the middle and lower troposphere the rms difference between the azimuthal cream swirling and gradient winds is typically lt 1 5 m s 1 with zero bias this balance prevails only for the azimuthal mean not locally nor is balance to be expected in either the surface friction layer or the upper tropospheric outflow layer where the radial flow is comparable with the swirling flow it is theoretically possible that axisymmetric supergradient flow may occur in response to rapid radial acceleration where the radial flow slows in the friction layer beneath the eyewall or where it converges into intense diabatically forced updrafts nevertheless the observations in the free lower and midtroposphere show that systematic departures of the azimuthal mean vorte

hurricane boundary layer theory in the light of the plethora of definitions for the hurricane boundary layer we advocate a dynamical definition based on the distribution of agradient flow we seek also to clarify the fundamental role of the boundary layer in the hurricane intensification process in particular we contrast the differences between unsteady boundary layers that are able to facilitate the spin up of the vortex above and steady boundary layers that cannot if slaved to the time dependent vortex aloft the latter can spin up the interior vortex only indirectly by changing its thermodynamic properties through vertical advection of these from below and adjustment to thermal wind balance these differences are highlighted by an analytical demonstration that the application of a zero vertical gradient condition on velocity above a steady boundary layer does not provide a direct means of allowing the boundary layer to determine the flow in the interior vortex this result assumes that frictional forces are negligible at this boundary finally echoing a few previous insights we question the applicability of conventional boundary layer theory at radii of strong ascent into the eyewall where the flow is akin to that of separation in aerodynamic boundary layers copyright c 2010 royal meteorological society

concentric eye walls secondary wind maxima and the evolution of the hurricane vortex abstract research aircraft observations in recent hurricanes support the model of shapiro and willoughby 1982 for the tropical cyclone s response to circularly symmetric convective heat sources convective rings in both nature and the numerical model the tangential wind commonly increases rapidly just inside the radius of maximum wind and decreases inside the eye near the central axis of the vortex thus both secondary outer wind maxima and eyewall wind maxima often contract as they intensify this response is independent of the horizontal spatial scale of the maximum an outer maximum is frequently observed to constrict about a pre existing eye and replace it this chain of events often coincides with a weakening or at least a pause in intensification of the vortex as a whole the concentric eye phenomenon is a common but by no means universal feature of tropical cyclones it is most frequently observed in intense highly symmetric systems

initial generation of sand across climate zones of the mojave sierra nevada and klamath batholiths in california u s a the generation of modern plutoniclastic sediment across california varies with climate resulting in significant mineralogical and geochemical differences between parent rock weathering profile material and low order stream sand with average precipitation of 15 cm yr in the arid zones and 120 cm yr in the temperate zones feldspar is relatively decreased in stream sand compared to parent rock by 2 and 20 respectively potassium feldspar is more resistant to weathering than plagioclase but is less stable than quartz in temperate climates hornblende and biotite are more easily weathered in temperate than arid climates although their occurrence in medium grained stream sands is affected by hydraulic sorting and comminution during transport temperate climate sands have lower concentrations of cao and na2o compared to k2o and al2o3 reflective of the expected faster loss of plagioclase than potassium feldspar during weathering with the exception of biotite the mineralogy of medium grained stream sand reflects that of medium grained weathering profile material in both climates confirming the findings from constant climate case studies that the composition of proximal sand is largely achieved within weathering profiles and during initial erosion we encourage continued attention to climate as a control on sand composition in provenance and paleoclimate studies where a moderate precipitation shift is capable of producing a significant loss of feldspar the differential response of common minerals to chemical weathering should be considered for studies and modeling related to bedrock erodibility sediment supply and landscape evolution

paleogeographic and paleotectonic evolution of the himalayan range as reflected by detrital modes of tertiary sandstones and modern sands indus transect india and pakistan detrital modes of sandstones derived from the himalayan suture belt record the history of the mountain range since initial collision between india and asia which began in latest paleocene time tertiary clastic wedges deposited in fore arc foreland and remnant ocean basins and exposed along the indus transect from northernmost india to the arabian sea represent the best opportunity to study sedimentary responses to successive tectonic events during continental collision quartzose continental block and feldspatholithic magmatic arc sandstones were deposited respectively on the passive indian tethys himalayan succession and active asian indus group continental margins during late cretaceous paleocene time closure of the neotethys was marked by sudden arrival of volcanic and ophiolitic detritus on the passive continental margin of the indian plate during deposition of sediments dated at foraminiferal zones p6 pakistan to p8 india starting in early eocene time deposition of chulung la formation and murree supergroup volcanic and ophiolitic to metasedimentary detritus was accumulated in rapidly subsiding piggy back and foreland basins homogeneous petrographic composition within the eocene lower miocene murree supergroup with only slight progressive increase of detrital feldspars suggests erosion of largely supracrustal rocks involved in thrusting in the north in middle miocene time marked enrichment in medium to high grade metamorphic detritus in foreland sandstones siwalik group reflects rapid uplift of a warm wedge of indian crust which was carried southward along the main central thrust this major paleogeographic change was recorded also by quartzolithic remnant ocean turbidites which were fed great distances along transverse fracture zones and later accreted in the coastal makran subduction complex panjgur association and makran group recycled orogen detritus derived from the elevated himalayan chain is still accumulating today in the indus fan enrichment in feldspars with respect to ancient sandstones reflects deep erosion levels into mid crustal rocks along the core of the growing orogen

gneiss saprolite weathering and soil genesis along an east west regolith sequence ne brazil abstract the pressure to increase biomass production worldwide has pushed the boundaries of agricultural lands towards fragile soils this process is particularly intense in pernambuco state ne brazil pernambuco features a moisture gradient with soils developed from similar gneisses resistant structures within the rock influenced the internal movement and distribution of water consequently influencing regolith genesis this paper presents the mineralogical characteristics of three regolith profiles with shallow soils here assumed to be soils in which the top of the cr horizon is at a depth of 1 5 m or less along a transect at 8 s and discusses their weathering and pedogenetic processes samples were investigated via optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy sem x ray diffraction xrd and total chemical analysis by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry icp aes the presence of weathering resistant quartz veins and planes in the rock structure played a central role in controlling the water dynamics and the advancement of the weathering front therefore desilication was dominantly controlled by the pore network hence the weathering indexes did not differ appreciably among the climatic zones and both 1 1 and 2 1 type clays were found in all profiles although the amount of clay minerals that formed and the degree of dissolution of the primary minerals varied among the climate types from an agricultural perspective the thinness of these soil profiles and the presence of leucocratic layers are the main drawbacks of the regoliths whereas the capacity to supply plant nutrients via primary mineral dissolution near the root zone can be an advantage

weathering profiles in granitoid rocks of the sila massif uplands calabria southern italy new insights into their formation processes and rates abstract in this paper we characterized several weathering profiles developed on granitoid rocks in the sila massif upland calabria southern italy integrating detailed macro and micromorphological observations with physico mechanical field tests and petrographic mineralogical and geochemical analyses we focused our attention on the main weathering and pedogenetic processes trying to understand apparent discrepancies between weathering grade classes based on field description and geomechanical properties and two common weathering indices such as the micropetrographic index ip and the chemical index of alteration cia our results showed that sericite on plagioclase and biotite chloritization that represent inherited features formed during late stage hydrothermal alteration of granitoid rocks may cause an overestimation of the real degree of weathering of primary mineral grains under meteoric conditions especially in lower weathering grade classes moreover the frequent identification of fe mn oxides and clay coatings of illuvial origin rather than or in addition to those formed in situ both at the macro and microscale may also explain an overestimation of the weathering degree with respect to field based classifications finally some apparent inconsistencies between field geomechanical responses and chemical weathering were interpreted as related to physical weathering processes cryoclastism and thermoclastism that lead to rock breakdown even when chemical weathering is not well developed hence our study showed that particular caution is needed for evaluating weathering grades because traditional field and geochemical petrographic tools may be biased by inherited hydrothermal alteration physical weathering and illuvial processes on the basis of chronological constraints to soil formation obtained from a 42 ka old volcanic input mixed to granite parent materials detected in the soil cover of the sila massif upland a first attempt to estimate soil formation rates was achieved for different depths of corresponding weathering profile zones soil formation rates ranged from 0 01 0 07 mm a 1 for a and bw horizons weathering class vi to 0 04 0 36 mm a 1 for the underlying saprolite c and cr layers class v by comparing these results with the corresponding erosion rates available in the literature for the study area that range from

quartz grain types in holocene deposits from the spanish central system some problems in provenance analysis holocene sands of the spanish central system were exclusively derived from plutonic middle upper grade and low grade metamorphic rocks modal composition of studied sands is mostly controlled by grain size and source area lithology thus sands derived from slates and schists plot near the qr edge on the qfr diagram for ali grain size fractions sands derived from granitic or gneissic rocks have a wide dispersion on the qfr diagram from the r pole to the qf edge depending on sand grain size percentages of quartz types in granitic derived sands are qnu42 qu40 qp2 314 and qp 34 sands of gneissic origin have qnu 51 qu 1 5 qp2 323 and qp 311 sands derived from slates and schists have qnu 20 qu 1 2 qp2 35 and qp 363 quartz types easily discrimina te sands of low grade origin but distinction of sands derived from plutonic rocks from those derived from middle upper grade metamorphic rocks is difficult because of the highly variable qu content of plutonic rocks related to strain history and crystallization conditions thus quartz types mus be used with caution in source discrimination if plutonic rocks are present in the source area

quantitative models of sediment generation and provenance state of the art and future developments abstract an overview of quantitative approaches to analysis and modelling of sediment generation and provenance is presented with an emphasis on major framework components as determined by means of petrographic techniques conceptual models of sediment provenance are shown to be consistent with two classes of numerical statistical models i e linear mixing models and compositional linear models these cannot be placed within a common mathematical framework because the former requires that sediment composition is expressed in terms of proportions whereas the latter requires that sediment composition is expressed in terms of log ratios of proportions additivity of proportions a fundamental assumption in linear mixing models cannot be readily expressed in log ratio terms linear mixing models may be used to describe compositional variability in terms of physical and conceptual un mixing models of physical un mixing are appropriate for describing compositional variation within transport invariant subpopulations of grains as a result of varying rates of supply of detritus from multiple sources conceptual un mixing governs the relations among chemical mineralogical and petrographic characteristics of sediments which represent different descriptive levels within a compositional hierarchy compositional linear process models may be used to describe compositional and or textural evolution resulting from selective modifications induced by sediment transport as well as chemical and mechanical weathering current approaches to modelling of surface processes treat the coupled evolution of source areas and sedimentary basins in terms of bulk mass transfer only and do not take into account compositional and textural sediment properties moving from the inverse modelling approach embodied in provenance research to process based forward models of sediment generation which provide detailed predictions of sediment properties meets with considerable albeit not insurmountable problems strategies for developing more advanced parameterizations of sediment properties and for simulating their evolution are proposed and expansion of current data acquisition protocols is discussed in the light of data requirements for such advanced sediment generation models inclusion of sediment generation modules in models of landscape evolution and basin filling will mark a significant step towards full fledged source to sink simulations of earth surface processes

a multiscale numerical study of hurricane andrew 1992 part vi small scale inner core structures and wind streaks abstract the objectives of part vi of this series of papers are to a simulate the finescale features of hurricane andrew 1992 using a cloud resolving grid length of 2 km b diagnose the formation of small scale wind streaks and c perform sensitivity experiments of varying surface fluxes on changes in storm inner core structures and intensity as compared to observations and a previous 6 km model run the results show that a higher resolution explicit simulation could produce significant improvements in the structures and evolution of the inner core eyewall and spiral rainbands and in the organization of convection the eyewall becomes much more compact and symmetric with its width decreased by half and the radius of maximum wind is reduced by 10 to 20 km a zone of deep and intense potential vorticity pv is formed at the edge of the eye a ring of maximum pv is collocated in regions of maximum upward motion in the eyewall and interacts strongly with the eyewall convection the convective cor

buoyancy of convective vertical motions in the inner core of intense hurricanes part i general statistics abstract the buoyancy of hurricane convective vertical motions is studied using aircraft data from 175 radial legs collected in 14 intense hurricanes at four altitudes ranging from 1 5 to 5 5 km the data of each leg are initially filtered to separate convective scale features from background mesoscale structure convective vertical motion events called cores are identified using the criteria that the convective scale vertical velocity must exceed 1 0 m s 1 for at least 0 5 km a total of 620 updraft cores and 570 downdraft cores are included in the dataset total buoyancy is calculated from convective scale virtual potential temperature pressure and liquid water content using the mesoscale structure as the reference state core properties are summarized for the eyewall and rainband regions at each altitude characteristics of core average convective vertical velocity maximum convective vertical velocity and diameter are consistent with previous studies of hurricane convection most cores are superi

the dynamics of boundary layer jets within the tropical cyclone core part ii nonlinear enhancement abstract observations of wind profiles within the tropical cyclone boundary layer until recently have been quite rare however the recent spate of observations from the gps dropsonde have confirmed that a low level wind speed maximum is a common feature of the tropical cyclone boundary layer in part i a mechanism for producing such a maximum was proposed whereby strong inward advection of angular momentum generates the supergradient flow the processes that maintain the necessary inflow against the outward acceleration due to gradient wind imbalance were identified as being i vertical diffusion ii vertical advection and iii horizontal advection and a linear analytical model of the boundary layer flow in a translating tropical cyclone was presented and used to diagnose the properties of the jet and the near surface flow a significant shortcoming was that the jet was too weak which was argued to be due to the neglect of vertical advection here a high resolution dry hydrostatic numerical

spectral characteristics of turbulence in the hurricane boundary layer over the ocean between the outer rain bands spectra and cospectra of wind velocity potential temperature and humidity have been analysed using data collected in the atmospheric boundary layer in hurricanes fabian 2003 and isabel 2003 during the coupled boundary layer air sea transfer cblast hurricane experiment the spectra and cospectra are normalized following the surface layer scaling methods according to similarity theory it is found that the cblast data gathered in the mixed layer between the outer rain bands below 400 m can be grouped into well defined curves for spectra of wind velocity potential temperature and humidity and for cospectra of momentum and humidity flux however the cospectra of sensible heat flux do not exhibit well defined universal shape the cblast universal shape spectra and cospectra generally resemble the shapes of those from previous studies but shift to higher frequencies that correspond to smaller wavelengths of turbulent eddies that contain most of the energy this work highlights the structural difference between the hurricane boundary layer and the standard atmospheric boundary layer over land and ocean copyright 2010 royal meteorological society

two distinct regimes in the kinematic and thermodynamic structure of the hurricane eye and eyewall abstract using aircraft flight level data the present work demonstrates that the kinematic and thermodynamic distributions within the eye and eyewall of strong hurricanes are observed to evolve between two distinct regimes in the first regime angular velocity is greatest within the eyewall and relatively depressed within the eye in the second regime radial profiles of angular velocity are nearly monotonic with maxima found at the eye center considering sequential profiles within individual hurricanes the authors find that the evolution of the kinematic distribution is often marked by a transition from the first regime to the second the transition can occur in less than 1 h also noted during the transition are dramatic changes in the thermodynamic structure of the hurricane prior to the transition regime 1 the eye is typically very warm and dry and the equivalent potential temperature is often elevated within the eyewall and relatively depressed within the eye after the transition regime 2

observed boundary layer wind structure and balance in the hurricane core part i hurricane georges abstract the gps dropsonde allows observations at unprecedentedly high horizontal and vertical resolution and of very high accuracy within the tropical cyclone boundary layer these data are used to document the boundary layer wind field of the core of hurricane georges 1998 when it was close to its maximum intensity the spatial variability of the boundary layer wind structure is found to agree very well with the theoretical predictions in the works of kepert and wang in particular the ratio of the near surface wind speed to that above the boundary layer is found to increase inward toward the radius of maximum winds and to be larger to the left of the track than to the right while the low level wind maximum is both more marked and at lower altitude on the left of the storm track than on the right however the expected supergradient flow in the upper boundary layer is not found with the winds being diagnosed as close to gradient balance the tropical cyclone boundary layer model of kepert and wan

grain size control of mineralogy and geochemistry in modern river sediment new guinea collision papua new guinea the new guinea collision includes diverse sediment source areas associated with arc continent collision to the west of the solomon sea triple junction and with subduction of oceanic crust to the southeast and northeast of the triple junction twenty seven sediment suites each comprising up to seven gravel sand and mud samples from the same locality were analysed to determine mineralogical and geochemical variation with changing grain size this paper deals primarily with the mineralogical variation compositional variation from coarse to fine grained fractions is generally 50 of each variable s abundance with many variables showing greater than 100 variation in contrast variation due to analytical error is generally less than 10 between year variation generally ranges from 15 to 25 and downstream variation is generally less than 50 petrographic results indicate that sediment composition is fundamentally dependent on grain size the principal control on sediment composition is mechanical weathering of rock fragments and compositional sorting of the constituent mineral phases while the gazzi dickinson method for point counting sediment reduces modal variability and in most cases provides robust provenance discrimination it is unsuitable for discerning faint source rock signatures often revealed by grain size dependent compositional variation only the upper plate magmatic arc provenance signature is evident from recalculated modal and geochemical data and that signature does not reflect the modern upper plate magmatic arc detailed petrographic analysis of grain types as opposed to recalculated modal or geochemical data is required to elucidate both upper and lower plate provenances and discriminate between ancient and contemporary arc provenances

quantitative analysis of crystal interface frequencies in granitoids implications for modelling of parent rock texture and its influence on the properties of plutoniclastic sands abstract generation of sediments from crystalline rocks is the result of a complex and incompletely understood suite of processes the time evolution of the rock fragment assemblage in sands derived from granitoids is determined by the relative strengths of crystal interfaces and their abundances in the parent rock in this study we highlight the role of crystal interface frequencies in granitoids strong evidence for non random texture with significant implications for predicted interface frequencies have been reported in previous studies we analysed available interface frequency data from granitoids using methods of compositional data analysis and connected our results to existing texture classifications on average granitoids display a high degree of ordering with significant depletion of isomineralic interfaces relative to expectations based on random texture analysis of 210 normalized interface frequency distributions from nine different granitoids reveals a consistent pattern of variation among interface frequencies which suggests a single underlying petrogenetic process related to the combined effects of nucleation and textural equilibration coarsening in view of the large scatter of relative interface frequencies within and among granitoids we propose to model their distribution empirically for the purpose of calibrating sediment generation studies multivariate normal distributions of centred log ratio transformed relative frequencies are capable of capturing 95 of the observed variability with a limited number of dimensions as a rule of thumb the number of dimensions needed to approximate interface frequency counts can be taken equal to the number of mineral classes which is much smaller than the number of interface classes mathematical analysis shows that the joint variability of rock texture and composition may be factorized into three statistically independent measures modal composition crystal size probability density functions and normalized interface frequencies the potential independence of these measures permits objective identification of petrogenetically significant correlations among them which will be indicated by statistically significant cross covariances at this stage inferences from microscopic texture analysis cannot be extrapolated to the scale of entire drainage basins in which sediments are generated because insufficient data are available on the large scale spatial heterogeneity of texture and composition of granitoid parent rocks

quantitative analysis of the joint variability of rock texture and composition in thin section the generalized griffiths descriptor and its application to sediment generation from granitoids abstract the general protocol for quantitative petrographic description of clastic sediments envisioned by j c griffiths approximately 60 years ago is built on specification of the following five statistically independent fundamental properties of aggregates modal composition spatial arrangement size distributions shape distributions and orientation distributions of the elements each element is represented by a grain falling into one of an exhaustive set of petrographic classes we introduce the so called generalized griffiths descriptor ggd which extends this protocol to igneous and metamorphic rocks statistical independence of the fundamental properties permits rigorous testing of petrogenetic hypotheses as well as simulation of rocks based on any conceivable combination of them the benefits of a unifying scheme for description of crystalline parent rocks and their weathering products are illustrated by exploratory analysis of a petrographic data set derived from five granodiorites from across north america comprising the parent rocks and three size fractions coarse medium and fine of their detritus compositional data analysis is used to estimate sediment generation and evolution sge trajectories for each of the plutons sampled the bulk mineral composition and the mineral composition of the rock fragment assemblage display a common trend of relative depletion of quartz and k feldspar with decreasing grain size compensated for by relative enrichment of biotite and accessory minerals the evolution of crystal interface composition suggests that the balance between chemical and mechanical weathering may be reflected in relative stabilities of crystal interfaces we propose a computationally efficient stereological inversion procedure for estimating the parameters of crystal size probability distributions in rocks based on the assumption of lognormality the lognormal distribution is an acceptable default model for crystal size in granitoids at the level of individual thin sections about 87 passes the tests for lognormality but less so at the level of entire plutons only 62 success ratio the current implementation of the ggd is not yet complete because it deals explicitly with the first three fundamental properties only as a consequence of adopting the simplifying assumption that all elements which make up a rock are spherical shape and orientation distributions may be included in future implementations of the ggd dedicated data sets comprising sediments generated from a single parent rock under different conditions will be needed to advance sge studies by shedding more light on the balance between chemical and mechanical weathering

height dependent transition from 3 d to 2 d turbulence in the hurricane boundary layer received 7 february 2013 revised 6 march 2013 accepted 7 march 2013 1 here we show from in situ aircraft measurements in the hurricane boundary layer a height dependent transition of the flow from 3 d to 2 d turbulence this marks a fundamental change in the energy dynamics of the hurricane boundary layer due to the fact that in 3 d energy flows downscale from larger to smaller scales whereas in 2 d it flows upscale from smaller to larger scales these results represent the first measurement of the 2 d upscale energy flux in the atmosphere and also the first to characterize the transition from 3 d to 2 d it is shown that the large scale parent vortex may gain energy directly from small scales in tropical cyclones citation byrne d and j a zhang 2013 height dependent transition from 3 d to 2 d turbulence in the hurricane boundary layer geophys res lett 40 doi 10 1002 grl 50335

post magmatic resetting of rb sr whole rock ages a study in the central aar granite central alps switzerland this study investigates the post magmatic reequilibration of rb sr whole rock isochrons in the central aar granite aar massif central alps a post magmatic prealpine hydrothermal alteration caused rehomogenization of sr isotopes in local subsystems of the granites by subsolidus reactions mainly involving k feldspar the size of these rehomogenized subsystems is dependent on rock mineralogy and chemistry interference between sample size size of the rehomogenized subsystem and undisturbed magmatic system size yields a series of rb sr wholerock ages intermediate between an upper carboniferous intrusion age and the age of a hypothetical triassic liassic alteration event the microscopic reaction textures as well as the rb sr age systematics of this hydrothermal event can be distinguished from alpine metamorphic effects

introduction to the special issue actualistic models of sediment generation conceptual models in sedimentary petrology that relate verticaland lateral compositional signatures during the lling of sedimentarybasins to their internal and external control factors have beendeveloped in the 80 ies and 90 ies of the last century althoughre ned petrographic and geochemical analyses have focussed ondeciphering complex events in time and space such as tectonic evo lution of source terranes changes in sediment dispersal patterns orpalaeoclimate uctuations quantitativemodelsarestillintheirinfancy despite a long history of research one reason for this state of affairs isthe strong interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter another isthe lack of appropriate modelling tools capable of dealing with thecomplex nature of sediment properties the recent proliferation ofquantitative data acquisition techniques coupled with progress indata processing and modelling approaches has led to the emergenceof a new eld of study aimed at solving the fundamental problem ofreconstructing mass transfer from source areas to sedimentary basins the term sediment generation acts as a convenient umbrella for thecomplex web of processes acting between source and sink quantitative models of sediment generation aim at providing anassessment of the type amount and rateof supplyof detritalmaterialfrom identi able parent rock assemblages to a basin ll in order toful l this objective two key questions must be addressed i how much sediment is being delivered ii what are the compositional and textural characteristics of thesediment the rst question is intimately connected to sediment budget as sessments and their derivative with respect to time i e erosion ordenudation and sedimentation rates the second one refers to the

polygonal eyewalls asymmetric eye contraction and potential vorticity mixing in hurricanes hurricane eyewalls are often observed to be nearly circular structures but they are occasionally observed to take on distinctly polygonal shapes the shapes range from triangles to hexagons and while they are often incomplete straight line segments can be identified other observations implicate the existence of intense mesovortices within or near the eye region is there a relation between polygonal eyewalls and hurricane mesovortices are these phenomena just curiosities of the hurricane s inner core circulation or are they snapshots of an intrinsic mixing process within or near the eye that serves to determine the circulation and thermal structure of the eye as a first step toward understanding the asymmetric vorticity dynamics of the hurricane s eye and eyewall region these issues are examined within the framework of an unforced barotropic nondivergent model polygonal eyewalls are shown to form as a result of barotropic instability near the radius of maximum winds after reviewing linear theory simulations with a high resolution pseudospectral numerical model are presented to follow the instabilities into their nonlinear regime when the instabilities grow to finite amplitude the vorticity of the eyewall region pools into discrete areas creating the appearance of polygonal eyewalls the circulations associated with these pools of vorticity suggest a connection to hurricane mesovortices at later times the vorticity is ultimately rearranged into a nearly monopolar circular vortex while the evolution of the finescale vorticity field is sensitive to the initial condition the macroscopic end states are found to be similar in fact the gross characteristics of the numerically simulated end states are predicted analytically using a generalization of the minimum enstrophy hypothesis in an effort to remove some of the weaknesses of the minimum enstrophy approach a maximum entropy argument developed previously for rectilinear shear flows is extended to the vortex problem and end state solutions in the limiting case of tertiary mixing are obtained implications of these ideas for real hurricanes are discussed

vertical motions in intense hurricanes abstract hurricane vertical motion properties are studied using aircraft measured 1 hz time series of vertical velocity obtained during radial penetrations of four mature hurricanes a total of 115 penetrations from nine flight sorties at altitudes from 0 5 to 6 1 km are included in the data set convective vertical motion events are classified as updrafts or downdrafts if the vertical velocity was continuously positive or negative for at least 500 m and exceed an absolute value of 0 5 m s 1 over 3000 updrafts and nearly 2000 downdrafts are included in the data set a second criteria was used to define stronger events called cores this criteria required that upward or downward vertical velocity be continuously greater than an absolute value of 1 m s 1 for at least 500 m the draft and core properties are summarized as distributions of average and maximum vertical velocity diameter and vertical mass transport in two regions eyewall and rainband in both regions updrafts dominated over downdraft