a coal depositional model for the durham coal measures of ne england the upper carboniferous westphalian coal measures of the durham coalfield were deposited on a broad flat deltaic plain in early westphalian a times a lower delta plain setting prevailed evolving through southward deltaic progradation into an upper delta plain by mid westphalian a detailed facies analysis of large opencast exposures supported by extensive subsurface data has shown that a hierarchy of depositional controls operated across the durham area during westphalian times i on the large scale depositional geometry was controlled by patterns of major delta progradation and switching ii on the medium scale by a combination of structurally and compactionally induced subsidence and iii on the small scale by local sedimentary processes and subsidence patterns these observations form the basis of a coal depositional model for the durham coal measures which predicts that the thickest coals are to be found in upper delta plain domains controlled by compactional subsidence and not underlain by substantial channel sandstones this model may also be applicable to other coalfields of northern england and to ancient delta plain sequences elsewhere in the world

overview of the influence of syn sedimentary tectonics and palaeo fluvial systems on coal seam and sand body characteristics in the westphalian c strata campine basin belgium

observed degree day factors and their spatial variation on glaciers in western china the degree day factor ddf is an important parameter for the degree day model which is a widely used method for ice and snowmelt computation spatial variations of the ddf greatly affect the accuracy of snow and ice melt modelling this study analyzes the spatial variability of ddfs obtained from observed glaciers in different regions of western china the results clearly show that the ddf for a single glacier is subject to significant small scale variations and the factor for maritime glaciers is higher than that for subcontinental and extremely continental glaciers in western china the factors increase gradually from northwest to southeast in general the regional patterns of ddfs are detectable on the glaciers due to the unique climatic environment and heat budget of the tibetan plateau and surrounding regions low ddfs can be expected for cold dry areas whereas high ddfs can be expected for warm wet areas in western china depending on spatial variation of the characteristics of ddfs and the meteorological data we can provide gridded degree day models for non monitored glaciers to reconstruct gridded historical glacier mass balance series in western china

lunar highland meteorites and the composition of the lunar crust abstract major minor and trace element data obtained by neutron activation techniques and by spark source mass spectrometry ssms on two lunar meteorites mac88104 and mac88105 are reported both mac samples were also analysed for their contents and isotopic compositions of rare gases additional ssms data were obtained on four lunar highland meteorites previously found in antarctica alha81005 y791197 y82192 and y86032 mac88104 and mac88105 are very similar in chemistry suggesting that they are pieces of a single fall event the bulk chemical composition of mac88104 5 is not very different from the other lunar highland meteorites highly aluminous with relatively low contents of ree and siderophile element concentrations slightly above 1 of a ci chondritic level however mafic element concentrations mg cr mn etc are slightly lower in mac88104 5 than in the other lunar highland meteorites the contents of solar rare gases in the two mac samples are low indicating only a small regolith contribution in agreement with rare petrographically identifiable regolith components the mac samples and also y82192 and y86032 are classified as fragmental breccias with negligible regolith components in contrast to alha81005 and y791197 which are regolith breccias with high solar wind derived rare gas contents there is no correlation among lunar meteorites between peak shock pressures and solar gas contents indicating that peak shock pressures of up to 25 gpa do not lead to gas loss a low 26al activity vogt et al 1990 and high contents of cosmogenic rare gases in mac88104 5 suggest a long exposure 400 000 years in the lunar sub surface k ar ages are in excess of 3 9 by lunar highland meteorites and compositionally similar granulitic rocks from the apollo 16 and 17 landing sites contain about 1 of a ci chondritic component according to siderophile and volatile element contents but independent of the amount of regolith components apparently the major fraction of meteoritic elements in these rocks was not provided by micrometeorites impacting the regolith the abundances of siderophile e g ir and volatile elements may therefore reflect the last spike of accretion of the moon after the formation of the anorthositic crust lunar meteorites of highland origin are chemically different from the bulk of the apollo 16 highland samples in having higher fe mg ratios and lower contents and less fractionated patterns of incompatible and siderophile elements since lunar highland meteorites are associated with at least three but probably four different fall events and since they are not derived from chemically exotic front side terranes they may represent a better sampling of the average chemical composition of the lunar crust than previous estimates based on returned lunar samples and remote sensing data a comparison between an average highland composition derived by taylor 1982 and an estimate based on lunar highland meteorites shows that the taylor composition contains higher concentrations and more fractionated incompatible elements mainly because of a substantial amount of kreep a trace element rich highly fractionated component from the front side of the moon not present at the sites from which the lunar meteorites come

a distributed temperature index ice and snowmelt model including potential direct solar radiation hourly melt and discharge of storglaciaren a small glacier in sweden were computed for two melt seasons applying temperature index methods to a 30 m resolution grid for the melt component the classical degree day method yielded a good simulation of the seasonal patient of discharge but the pronounced melt induced daily discharge cycles were not captured modelled degree day factors calculated for every hour and each gridcell from melt obtained from a distributed energy balance model varied substantially both diurnally and spatially a new distributed temperature index model is suggested attempting to capture both the pronounced diurnal melt cycles and the spatial variations in melt due to the effects of surrounding topography this is accomplished by including a radiation index in terms of potential clear sky direct solar radiation and thus without the need for other data besides air temperature this approach improved considerably the simulation of diurnal discharge fluctuations and yielded a more realistic spatial distribution of melt rates the incorporation of measured global radiation to account for the reduction in direct solar radiation due to cloudiness did not lead to additional improvement in model performance

a comparative analysis of some late carboniferous basins of variscan europe vegetation diversity and pattern changes and their relation to tectono sedimentary histories are compared between selected euramerican late palaeozoic coalfields to understand better the controls on the dynamics of the pennsylvanian terrestrial ecosystems and to demonstrate the problems with comparing data from various basins the analysis is based on data from the following basins of different geotectonic and palaeogeographical positions the cratonic pennines basin the foreland south wales and upper silesia basins and the fault related intra sudetic and central and western bohemia basins the analysis indicates that complex factors are responsible for changes in plant diversity and vegetation patterns these are related to climate tectonics preservation potential sampling biases and the current state of revision of the flora in each basin plant diversity patterns in the basins differ because of local controls and or the character and detail of the available data maximum diversity varies among the basins within the langsettian and duckmantian substages two apparent step like drops in diversity were detected within coal bearing strata of most basins at the duckmantian bolsovian boundary and at the bolsovian asturian boundary further and more prominent falls are related to transitions from coal bearing to non coal bearing mostly red bed strata or vice versa during stephanian times interpretation of climatic signals recorded in the sedimentary successions indicates that westphalian and middle stephanian times were wet intervals whereas early and late stephanian times were drier

deltaic sedimentation in an unstable tectonic environment the lower limestone group lower carboniferous of east fife scotland the lower limestone group which outcrops extensively on the east coast of fife southeast scotland consists of interbedded sandstones siltstones and claystones with occasional coal seams and limestone beds several of the coals have been mined economically in the past the sequence was deposited in a shallow water deltaic setting three facies associations have been distinguished 1 laminated claystones and marine bioclastic limestones which were deposited in prodelta and marine shelf environments 2 crudely coarsening upward sandstone units interpreted as delta front deposits of fluvially dominated though wave influenced shallow water deltas and 3 interbedded clastic sedimentary rocks and coals deposited in delta plain environments the sequence as a whole accumulated by repeated progradation and abandonment of deltaic complexes palaeosol profiles of four types are superbly preserved within the delta plain facies association these are 1 organic soils peats now coal seams 2 gley palaeosols which formed in persistently waterlogged conditions 3 freely drained soils which formed on a quartz sand rich substrate and 4 similar profiles formed by free drainage through variable substrates and involving b horizon accumulation of concretionary iron oxides compound palaeosols are common deposition of the lower limestone group was influenced by the tectonic and volcanic instability of the fife area during visean times frequent seismic events centred on active fault lines caused local uplift of parts of the normally waterlogged delta plain environment allowing the formation of well drained soils peats coals were best developed and least affected by oxidation in an elongate fault bounded zone of enhanced subsidence

elephant moraine 87521 the first lunar meteorite composed of predominantly mare material abstract the trace element chemistry and detailed petrography of brecciated antarctic meteorite eet87521 reveal that it is not as originally classified a eucrite its fe mn ratio and bulk co content are far higher than expected for a eucrite an affiliation with the snc meteorites appears almost equally improbable on the basis of far lower ga al and na ca ratios in eet87521 only one known type of extraterrestrial material resembles eet87521 in all important respects for which constraints exist very low ti vlt lunar mare basalts even compared to vlt basalts eet87521 is enriched in ree however other varieties of high alumina low ti mare basalt are known that contain ree at even higher concentrations than eet87521 several clasts in eet87521 preserve clear vestiges of coarse grained igneous possibly orthocumulate textures mineralogically these coarse grained clasts are diverse e g olivine ranges from fo15 in one to fo67in another one clast with an anomalously fine grained texture is anor thositic and contains exceptionally mg rich pyroxene and na poor plagioclase along with the only feni metal in the thin section this clast is probably an impact melt breccia from the lunar highlands its feni metals have compositions typical of metals incorporated into lunar soils and polymict breccias as debris from metal rich meteorites however the low ni and ir contents of our bulk rock analysis imply that the proportion of impact projectile matter in our chip sample is probably small the moderate degree of lithologic diversity among the lithic clasts and the bulk composition in general indicate that eet87521 is dominated by a single rock type vlt mare basalt the fundamental distinction between mare and nonmare lunar materials has traditionally been based primarily on ti content and secondarily on such characteristics as ca al ratio and ree pattern however eet87521 recent studies of apollo 12 and apollo 14 rocks and the many apparent vlt basalts reported earlier as clasts in lunar highlands meteorites all tend to indicate that the dichotomy of lunar magmatism into distinct nonmare and mare styles may have been less abrupt than commonly envisaged

a ferroan region of the lunar highlands as recorded in meteorites mac88104 and mac88105 macalpine hills 88104 and 88105 mac88104 5 are paired meteorites of noritic anorthosite composition from the lunar highlands mac88105 is a breccia composed mainly of melt breccia clasts in a fine grained fragmental and partly glassy matrix the most abundant melt lithologies are feldspathic and are similar in composition to the bulk meteorite other melt lithologies include feldspathic melt rocks mafic melt breccias and a rare melt breccia relatively enriched in incompatible trace elements subordinate lithic clasts are granulitic breccias and ferroan relatively low mg mg fe igneous lithologies including troctolitic anorthosite anorthositic norite gabbronorite and anorthosite igneous clasts having mafic mineral compositions more magnesian than fo55 and en60 were not observed rare fragments of glass spheres and shards as well as glass clasts indicate that the meteorite was derived from an immature regolith the bulk composition of mac88105 is characterized by a molar mg mg fe ratio of 0 62 at the extreme low end of the range for meteorites from the lunar highlands its low concentrations of incompatible trace elements and feldspathic bulk composition 29 al2o3 suggest that it like the other lunar meteorites formed at a site far removed from the areas sampled by the apollo missions similarities in mineral compositions among the different lithologies of the breccia melt breccia clasts granulitic breccias igneous fragments and the distribution of mineral fragments suggest that most components of the meteorite were derived from a crustal section dominated by material with a noritic anorthosite composition and an affinity to the ferroan suite of plutonic rocks the mafic melt breccias have roughly peritectic melt compositions similar to many low k fra mauro melt breccias in the apollo collection but much more ferroan and represent a source material distinct from the noritic anorthosite moderate ce anomalies both positive and negative occur in some separated clasts and to a lesser extent in some small chips dominated by matrix but not in powder prepared from 20 g of bulk meteorite these anomalies are almost certainly terrestrial weathering effects one granulitic breccia clast is rich in siderophile elements as a result of a large amount of fe ni metal the auir ratio of the clast 0 64 ci normalized is distinctly different from that of metal rich impact melts from apollo 16 3 ci normalized the compositional range observed among the nonmare lunar meteorites alha81005 y791197 y82192 3 y86032 and mac88104 5 is equivalent to that observed among representative samples of 1 mm fines from apollo 16 thus compositional data provide little constraint on the number of impacts required to eject these meteorites from the moon

understanding the lunar surface and space moon interactions the surface of the moon is a critical boundary that shapes our understanding of the moon as a whole all geologic mapping and remote sensing techniques utilize only the outermost portion of the moon before leaving the moon for study in our laboratories all lunar samples that have been studied existed at or very near the surface with the exception of the deeply probing geophysical techniques our understanding of the interior of the moon is derived from surficial but not superficial information coupled with boundary of the lunar crust it is the lower boundary layer of the tenuous lunar atmosphere and constitutes both a source and a sink for atmospheric gases the surface is also where the moon interacts with the space environment causing changes in the physical nature of lunar materials and provides a laboratory for the study of processes that occur on all airless bodies the data obtained remotely by the galileo clementine and lunar prospector missions as well as data derived from lunar meteorites have resulted in major changes to our understanding of global distributions of chemistry and rocks this chapter summarizes the current understanding of this critical interface the surface of the moon in its role as the lower boundary of the lunar atmosphere the upper boundary of the crust and the window through which we view through remote sensing the composition of the crust and the history of the moon in this post lunar prospector time the view of the moon has changed lending new perspectives to lunar samples and lunar processes but the new view will likely remain in flux as we continue to digest the results from these recent space missions and move forward to a new era of lunar exploration despite the freshness of our perspective this is an important moment to capture

paired lunar meteorites mac88104 and mac88105 a new fan of lunar petrology abstract new lunar meteorite mac88104 5 represents an exciting new opportunity to study a potentially unsampled region of the moon we have analyzed six thin sections by electron microprobe and three bulk samples by instrumental neutron activation ina in order to determine the chemical characteristics of this new lunar sample lunar meteorite macs 8104 5 is dominated by lithologies of the ferroan anorthosite fan suite and contains abundant granulitized highland clasts devitrified glass beads of impact origin and two small clasts which appear to be of basaltic origin one of these asaltic clasts clast e in mac88105 84 is probably mesostasis material whereas the second larger clast clast g may be similar to the very low ti vlt or low ti high alumina mare basalts impact melt clasts mac88105 69 and 72 have major and trace element compositions similar to the bulk meteorite there is little evidence of any lkfm low k fra mauro or low k kreep contribution to this meteorite as mac88104 5 and other brecciated lunar meteorites are fe rich and poor in the incompatible elements relative to apollo 16 regolith and feldspathic breccias while the exact site of origin for the lunar meteorites cannot be pinpointed it is evident that they were derived from a relatively kreep free ferroan anorthosite terrain

south cascade glacier mass balance 1935 2006 a simple model uses daily observations of precipitation and temperature at a nearby weather station to estimate glacier average seasonal mass balance components at south cascade glacier washington usa from 1935 24 years before measurements began at the glacier this is 13 years earlier than measurements that can be derived using the ncep ncar reanalysis database begins 1 january 1948 although the model s error in estimating winter balance and summer balance over 1959 2006 is greater than that of a model using the reanalysis database its error in estimating net balance is comparable the model uses an empirically determined precipita tion ratio between the station and the glacier and a seasonally varying temperature lapse rate de termined from 9 years of measurements at the glacier temperature is used with a degree day for mulation to estimate ablation and to partition precipitation between rain and snow for estimating accumulation both processes are assumed to exist throughout the year and model results are compared seasonally with adjusted observations of winter and summer balances the published mass balance series is adjusted to a constant topography 1970 series in an attempt to remove the influence of changing topography on the glacier s response to climate the reconstructed values prior to 1959 are also with respect to the 1970 glacier topography because precipitation is measured at the weather station rather than being inferred from other meteorological variables it enables us to distinguish more accurately between wet day and dry day conditions including vertical lapse rates of temperature

geochemistry and petrography of the macalpine hills lunar meteorites abstract macalpine hills 88104 and 88105 are anorthositic lunar meteorites recovered from the same area in antarctica which are demonstrated to be paired samples of the same fall petrographic studies of matrix and clasts show that mac88104 5 is a polymict breccia dominated by impact melt clasts it contains a small amount of highland impact glass and very few regolith glass spherules it is better classified as a fragmental breccia than a regolith breccia the bulk composition is ferroan mg 63 and highly aluminous al 2 o 3 28 ree and other incompatible element concentrations are very low compositions of anorthositic granulitic and impact melt breccia clasts are very similar to but distinct from matrix composition mac88104 5 is very similar in composition to the other anorthositic lunar meteorites but each of the meteorites is distinct the anorthositic lunar meteorites especially mac88104 5 and y82192 3 86032 are very similar to north ray crater feldspathic fragmental breccias in compositon and petrography these fragmental lunar meteorites may have been ancient deeply buried breccias from the megaregolith comparisons of chemical petrographic features and exposure histories suggest that the twelve lunar meteorites were derived from two to nine but probably four to seven impacts onto the lunar surface discrepancies between the proportions of lunar meteorites and results of apollo missions may be due to unrepresentative sampling lunar meteorites provide valuable new information on the nature of the lunar crust

using upper air conditions to estimate south cascade glacier washington u s a summer balance asimplemodelusesonce dailymeteorologicalvaluesintheu s national centers for environmental predictionand u s national center foratmospheric research ncep ncar re analysis databaseto estimate summerbalanceof south cascade glacier washington u s a each year over1959 99 the rms error 0 30mw e r 2 0 71 is com parable to measurement error the model relates summer balance linearly to temperature t 0 c at 2000m and to snow flux at1650m the altitudes in recent years of the equilib rium line and terminus the snow flux is the product of the humidity and westerly wind component at 850hpa when temperature t 2 c at 1650m temperatures are inter polated linearly betweenthe 850 and 700hpa levels boththe positive 2000mtemperature andthe snow flux are summedfrom 26 aprilto 4 october whenthe summerestimatesare combinedwiththosefromawinterbalancemodelusingthesamedatabase thermserrorin estimating netbalance is 0 40m r 2 0 81 the indicated sensitivities of balance to warm ing of 1 c are 0 51m for summerand 0 24m for winter onthe assumptionthatthetotal 0 75m c 1 sensitivityexists atall altitudes awarmingof only 0 7 c wouldbe sufficientto overcome the1986 98 averagenetbalance 0 5matthe top of theglacier

influence of upper air conditions on glaciers in scandinavia a simple model using once daily us national centers for environmental prediction us national center for atmospheric research ncep ncar re analysis upper air values estimates winter balance summer balance and net balance at ten glaciers in norway and two in sweden with 0 37 r 2 0 90 the october may arctic oscillation ao an index of sea level pressure slp in the northern hemisphere correlates with winter balance and net balance with 0 09 r 2 0 82 lower than the model in all but 3 of the 24 cases the october may north atlantic oscillation nao an slp gradient in the north atlantic has lower correlations than the ao for all but 5 of the 24 cases at all ten glaciers with records beginning before 1987 net balance became more positive after 1988 owing mainly to increased winter balance with summer balance changing little although winter temperatures increased they were still well below freezing so the rain snow division of the precipitation was only slightly affected increase in winter balance was due to increased precipitation caused by a change in atmospheric circulation resulting in more frequent westerly flow concurrent with the warming at 850 hpa westerly flow is 2 5 c warmer than easterly flow westerly flow warmed by 0 3 c easterly by 0 7 c both the ao and nao with which winter balance is positively correlated at all 12 glaciers were more positive after 1988

mineralogy and geochemistry of lunar meteorite queen alexandra range 93069 queen alexandra range que 93069 is a glass rich regolith breccia derived from the lunar highlands the high abundance of glassy fragments the presence of agglutinates the small size of all mineral and glass fragments the presence of mostly melt rocks and the low abundance of pristine lunar crustal rocks all indicate that que 93069 is derived from a mature regolith this conclusion is also supported by its high siderophile element content the most common mafic mineral is pyroxene with compositions that indicate derivation from ferroan ant suite rocks rare gabbro differentiation products may be indicated by the presence of silica fayalitic olivine and one pyroxferroite grain lithic fragments are mostly meta melt rocks of ant composition the glass compositions are dominated by troctolitic anorthosite compositions followed by gabbroic anorthosite and noritic anorthosite most glasses are ol normative in composition some rare basic glasses of noritic composition were observed glass fragments and matrix glasses are alkali poor except for some rare alkali rich shards the bulk chemical composition of que 93069 as well as the rare earth element ree abundance pattern is very similar to that of other highlands meteorites such as mac 88105 and y 86032 and to average lunar highlands crust one small porous clast was found to be very rich in volatile elements as well as in most lithophile and siderophile elements as this sample also contains abundant sulfides the enrichments could be related to element mobilization and redistribution by volatile sulfur species

history of the paired lunar meteorites mac88104 and mac88105 derived from noble gas isotopes radionuclides and some chemical abundances abstract noble gas isotopes radionuclides and chemical abundances were studied in the lunar meteorites mac88104 and mac88105 collected in the macalpine hills area of antarctica the concentrations of the noble gas isotopes and the radionuclide activities in the two meteorites are essentially identical proving that the two meteorites are paired from 40k 40ar dating we obtain a gas retention age of 3550 400 ma typical for lunar surface material probably before breccia compaction the mac88104 5 material resided for 630 200 ma at an average shielding depth of 85 g cm 2 that is about 50 cm below the lunar surface in the lunar regolith as judged from the concentration of cosmic ray produced kr and xe isotopes although this duration of lunar regolith residence is relatively long mac88104 5 represent immature regolith material the concentration of solar wind implanted noble gases are two orders of magnitude lower than those in mature lunar soil the reason for that might be the relatively high average shielding the 40 ar 36ar ratio of the trapped component is 5 7 1 0 indicating an intermediate antiquity of the material we estimate that the solar wind and lunar atmospheric particles were implanted about 2000 ma ago the radionuclide activities allow us to derive the exposure history of the mac88104 5 material the duration of the moon earth transfer was 0 24 ma production of the radionuclides on the lunar surface immediately before ejection is possible but duration and shielding depth for such an exposure cannot be determined from our data we obtain a terrestrial age of 0 1 tterr 0 6 ma and an ejection time of mac88104 5 from the moon of 0 1 tejection 0 8 ma the exposure histories of the lunar meteorites discussed in this work indicate that at least two impact events are required for their ejection from the moon our first noble gas results for lunar meteorite yamato 793274 show that it represents mature lunar regolith material with relatively high concentrations of solar wind implanted noble gases and a duration of several hundred million years of exposure to cosmic rays

static mass balance sensitivity of arctic glaciers and ice caps using a degree day approach the purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding of the response of glaciers to climate change global sea level is affected by changes in glacier ice volume and melt water from glaciers is a principal water source in many regions this study applies glacier mass balance modelling with varying complexity and spatial resolution ranging from individual glaciers to regional and global assessments of glacier mass losses glaciers located in maritime environments generally show considerably higher mass balance sensitivities than those in continental settings on average an assumed increase in annual precipitation of 10 tends to offset the effect of an annual temperature change of 1 k by roughly 20 two case studies at storglaciaren sweden and hofsjokull iceland involve model results of future mass balance change and glacier melt induced changes in runoff applying a temperature and precipitation scenario for iceland in 2050 results in increased total runoff from hofsjokull by roughly one third and results emphasize the role of the firn layer in delaying water flow through glaciers yielding a redistribution of discharge within the year based on a global gridded data set of glacierized area the sea level equivalent from all mountain glaciers and ice caps outside the ice sheets in greenland and antarctica during 1961 2004 caused by changes in temperature and precipitation is estimated to be 0 58 0 34 mm a 1 the mountain glaciers and ice caps around antarctica alone contribute almost 40 of the global estimate and hence their contribution is considerably larger than previously assumed

surface roughness and bulk heat transfer on a glacier comparison with eddy correlation more than 100 simultaneously measured profiles of wind speed and temperature were analyzed to determine the aerodynamic and thermal roughness lengths of glacier ice the results proved to be extremely sensitive to measurement height which is difficult to define precisely on the hummocky terrain of a glacier therefore aerodynamic roughness lengths were estimated from the microtopography of the surface yielding 2 46 mm for ice and 5 5 mm for snow despite the indeterminate nature of the profile analysis it did support the view that the thermal roughness length must decrease as the roughness reynolds number increases a relationship which has been modelled in the literature good agreement between bulk transfer estimates and eddy correlation measurements of fhe sensible heat flux density on melting ice and snow was obtained by combining the aerodynamic roughness length with a suitable model for thermal roughness length

upper air model of summer balance on mount rainier usa in 2003 07 summer balance was measured at altitudes between 1700 and 3382 m a s l on two glaciers on mount rainier washington state usa 46 85 n 121 72 w 4400 m a s l south facing nisqually glacier and east northeast facing emmons glacier upper air temperatures at the nearest gridpoint in the ncep ncar reanalysis database are used in a distributed over altitude positive degree day pdd model for each glacier the model used the same coefficients at all altitudes for all years the rms model error was 0 65 r 2 0 87 and 0 78 m a 1 w e r 2 0 93 for nisqually and emmons glaciers respectively although pdd work generally uses different coefficients for snow and ice surfaces and the duration of exposure of those surfaces varies with altitude error in this single coefficient model is nearly uncorrelated with altitude values of coefficients obtained are within the range of those found in other pdd work the degree day coefficient however differs markedly between the two glaciers and is shown to be controlled by the difference between them in vertical gradient of measured summer balance it is smaller for nisqually glacier where solar radiation is a stronger contributor to melt and larger for emmons glacier where it is a weaker contributor over 1948 2007 when the model calibrated over 2003 07 was applied to the upper air temperatures estimated summer balance was 0 4 m a 1 less negative over 1962 83 than before and 0 6 m a 1 less negative than after corresponding roughly with changes of the northeast pacific sea surface temperatures

macalpine hills 88104 and 88105 lunar highland meteorites general description and consortium overview abstract macalpine hills 88104 and 88105 are new lunar meteorites returned from antarctica by the 1988 1989 us meteorite collection team the two specimens were found in nearby locations and based on field and laboratory evidence are thought to be pieces of the same meteorite mac88105 is the largest lunar meteorite yet found 662g mac88104 5 is an anorthositic breccia consisting of numerous small clasts in a glassy matrix an origin on the moon is supported by the mineral bulk and oxygen isotope compositions a consortium of twenty research groups has studied these meteorites samples were prepared at the nasa johnson space center meteorite processing laboratory details of consortium plans and allocations are documented herein a summary list of lunar meteorites and an overview of consortium research is presented discussions in this and the following consortium papers involve the issue of paired meteorites and paired ejecta and what new information about the nature and evolution of the lunar crust is provided by the lunar meteorites

the natural thermoluminescence of meteorites iii lunar and basaltic meteorites natural thermoluminescence tl data have been obtained for the lunar meteorite macalpine hills 88104 5 and for 65 eucrites howardites diogenites and mesosiderites in order to investigate their recent thermal and radiation histories all these meteorites have low levels of natural tl compared to chondrites which is primarily because they display anomalous fading i e fading by non classical mechanisms however some have especially low natural tl 5 krad at 250 c in the glow curve which cannot be attributed to anomalous fading or thermal fading over especially large terrestrial ages and which must reflect heating within the last 105 106 y in some cases this heating may have been associated with shock e g lew85303 or regolith processes kapoeta but in most cases bununu lowicz the diogenites alha77256 alha84001 eet79002 and maybe others solar heating at perihelia 0 8 au may be responsible for the low tl values the fraction of basaltic meteorites thought to have had small perihelia about 20 is comparable to the fraction of chondrites with low natural tl and to the fraction of observed falls and fireballs with small perihelia this may imply ejection from the asteroid belt via similar mechanisms assuming plausible values for cosmic ray dose rate and that the natural tl of mac88104 5 was totally drained by ejection from the moon the parameters for tl decay determined in the present study suggest that the moon earth transit times for mac88104 and mac88105 were 2 000 and 1 800 y respectively compared with 19 000 and 2 500 y for y791197 and alha81005 respectively although they are clearly not paired the possibility that mac88104 5 and alha81005 were ejected from the moon by the same event should be considered since diverse rock types are found in close proximity on the lunar surface the natural tl data confirm most previous published pairings among basaltic meteorites and suggest others

the discovery and initial characterization of allan hills 81005 the first lunar meteorite antarctic meteorite alha81005 discovered in the allan hills region of victoria land is a polymict anorthositic breccia which differs from other meteorites in mineralogical and chemical composition but is strikingly similar to lunar highlands soil breccias the petrologic character and several independent lines of evidence identify alha81005 as a meteorite from the moon two small clasts of probable mare basalt occur among the highlands lithologies in thin section 81005 22 this lunar specimen which shows relatively minor shock effects has generated new ideas on the types of planetary samples we may find on the earth and has added fresh excitement to the antarctic meteorite program

constraints on the thermal and mixing history of lunar surface materials and comparisons with basaltic meteorites we have measured the induced thermoluminescence tl properties of mare basalts highland rocks glasses regolith breccias soils and core samples we also performed a series of heating experiments and made cathodoluminescence cl observations of apollo 16 soils the data are readily interpreted in terms of feldspar being the dominant source of tl and cl the known luminescence properties of feldspar and history of the samples for example the tl sensitivity of the mare basalts is lower than that of the highland basalts by about an order of magnitude probably due to the differing feo content of their feldspars similarly the tl properties of regolith breccias can readily be explained in terms of thermal processes similar to those experienced by the soils and by mixing of highland and mare components our major new observations and interpretations include 1 that there are maturity dependent variations in the tl and cl properties of the core samples which reflect thermal annealing and melting during regolith working 2 that the most primitive material in lunar samples in terms of their thermal histories is located in the immature lunar soils and 3 that there is no tl evidence for widespread long term thermal metamorphism of lunar samples tl being particularly sensitive to low level metamorphism in extraterrestrial materials in this latter respect lunar samples differ from basaltic meteorites which otherwise have very similar properties and histories we argue that this reflects a greater tendency toward thick regoliths on asteroid sized bodies

impact melts in the mac88105 lunar meteorite inferences for the lunar magma ocean hypothesis and the diversity of basaltic impact melts abstract the mac88105 lunar meteorite as represented by thin section 78 contains three major types of impact melt breccias the most abundant type is clast laden fine grained and rich in al 2 o 3 28 wt these clasts constitute most of the meteorite their abundance and aluminous nature indicate that the mac88105 source area was very aluminous this is consistent with formation of the primordial lunar crust from a global magma ocean the second type of impact melt is represented by only one clast in 78 it has a basaltic bulk composition similar to many other lunar impact melts but is significantly richer in p 2 o 5 than most and has a much lower mgo mgo feo the third impact melt type resembles a prominent melt group at apollo 16 but has lower mgo mgo feo these data show that basaltic impact melts are compositionally diverse dating samples of the al rich impact melts and the new types of basaltic impact melts from this meteorite can test the idea that the moon suffered a terminal cataclysm 3 9 ga ago

the mass balance of mccall glacier brooks range alaska u s a its regional relevance and implications for climate change in the arctic mccall glacier has the only long term mass balance record in arctic alaska average annual balances over the periods 1958 72 and 1972 93 were 15 and 33cm respectively recent annual balances 1993 96 are about 60 cm and the mass balance gradient has increased for an arctic glacier with its low mass exchange rate this marks a significant negative trend recently acquired elevation profiles of mccall glacier and ten other glaciers within a 30 km radius were compared with topographic maps made in 1956 or 1973 most of these glaciers had average annual mass balances between 25 and 33 cm while mccall glacier averaged 28 cm for 1956 93 indicating that it is representative of the region in contrast changes in terminus position for the different glaciers vary markedly thus mass balance trends in this region cannot be estimated from fractional length changes at time scales of a few decades we developed a simple degree day accumulation mass balance model for mccall glacier the model was tested using precipitation and radiosonde temperatures from weather stations at inuvik canada and barrow kaktovik and fairbanks alaska and was calibrated with the measured balances the inuvik data reproduce all measured mass balances of mccall glacier well and also reproduce the long term trend towards more negative balances data from the other stations do not produce satisfactory model results we speculate that the arctic front oriented east west in this region causes the differences in model results

facies and genesis of carboniferous coal seams of northwest germany abstract in order to get detailed information about the facies and genesis of upper carboniferous coal seams of northwest germany maceral analyses of complete seam profiles westphalian b d mainly westphalian c were carried out four main facies and twelve subfacies could be distinguished the main facies are 1 1 the sapropelic coal facies consisting of fine grained inertinite and liptinite which forms from organic sediments deposited at the bottom of moor lakes 2 2 the densosporinite facies which is high in inertinite and liptinite and low in vitrinite syngenetic pyrites clastic layers thick vitrains and fusains do not occur this facies originates from peats of open mires with higher groundwater table and herbaceous vegetation the open mire was situated in the centre of extensive swamps consequently clastic sedimentation did not affect this swamp type and nutrient supply and ph values were low 3 3 the vitrinite fusinite facies which is high in vitrinite this is the result of abundant vitrains under the microscope fusains were mostly identified as fusinite the vitrinite fusinite facies originates from a forest mire more or less abundant seam splits and clastic layers show that rivers flowed in the neighbourhood of this area 4 4 the shaly coal facies which represents the most marginal part of the former swamp frequently affected by clastic sedimentation within the carboniferous of the ruhr region it seems unlikely that the thin coal seams of the namurian c and westphalian a1 contain a densosporinite facies the swamps were situated in the lower delta plain where they were often affected by marine influences consequently coals are high in minerals and sulfur and they are thin and discontinous the best conditions for the formation of extensive swamps with open mires densosporinite facies in their central parts prevailed during westphalian a2 and b1 times low contents of sulfur and minerals and high content of inertinite are typical for these coals sedimentation mainly took place in the transitional zone from the lower to the upper delta plain during the westphalian b2 and c fluvial sedimentation dominated within the coal seams minerals sulfur and pseudovitrinite increase while inertinite decreases this is the consequence of coal of the densosporinite facies occurring with increased rarity the coal seams of the westphalian c2 contain no densosporinite facies because peat formation was restricted by increasing fluvial sedimentation and by a better drainage as a consequence extensive swamps with open mires in the centre were no longer formed after the formation of the odin seams above the odin seams coal of the vitrinite fusinite facies contains thick walled torisporinites variations and lowering of the groundwater table caused mild oxidative influences during peat formation this is documented by an increase in pseudovitrinite the occurrence of torisporinites and the absence of spheroidal sideritic concretions sulfur content increases in the absence of the low ash and low sulfur coal of the densosporinite facies in upper carboniferous coal seams of the ibbenburen region the inertinite and telocollinite contents are higher than in those of the ruhr region therefore variations of the groundwater table have been more pronounced and resulting oxidative influences must have been more severe seldom occurring marine and brackish horizons and a higher fusinite fusain content indicate a slight elevation of this area from early westphalian d times onward peat formation was no longer possible because of the better drainage this resulted in severe oxidative conditions which excluded peat formation

composition and evolution of the lunar crust in the descartes highlands apollo 16 samples from the north ray crater ejecta blanket apollo 16 were investigated by petrographic microscope electron microprobe instrumental neutron activation and xray fluorescence analyses and 40ar 39ar and rb sr dating techniques nine major groups of monomict and polymict breccias were defined on the basis of microscopic texture and these were further subdivided into chemical subgroups on the basis of characteristic elements such as al mg fe cr ree ni and co the polymict breccias fragmental breccias granulitic breccias and impact melt breccias are the result of multiple impact induced mechanical mixing and melting and of thermal and impact metamorphism of rock and mineral clasts derived from primordial igneous crustal rocks for calculations of mixing models it was found that end members consisting of the pristine igneous rock components present as discrete samples at the apollo 16 site and supplemented by kreep dunite and a meteoritic component yield the best fits for the composition of polymict breccias the end member rocks a re ferroan anorthosite various magnesian gabbronorites including sodic ferrogabbro and feldspathic lherzolite and spinei troctolite the following model is proposed for the composition and stratigraphy of the target for north ray crater the lower section of the stratigraphy is composed of a megabreccia with clasts of highly feldspathic polymict breccias kreep free old eastern highland rock suite interpreted as nectaris ejecta descartes formation the top section contains kreep bearing polymict breccias kreep bearing young western highland rock suite and appears to be similar to the lithologies found in the cayley plains this material interpreted as cayley formation may be a distant facies of imbrium basin ejecta deposits of the imbrium basin the petrographic differences between these two major selenographic units the descartes and the cayley formations in the apollo 16 area are more distinct than the chemical differences the petrographic and chemical composition of the primordial igneous upper crust in the regions of the nectaris and imbrium basins has been calculated by subtraction of the kreep and meteoritic components from the bulk composition of the descartes and cayley materials the nectaris crust which is better constrained consists of 86 87 a northosite 4 sodic ferrogabbro 0 5 1 3 feldspathic lherzolite 6 8 regular magnesian gabbronorite 1 8 2 8 dunite and 0 1 spinel troctolite a model for the evolution of the upper lunar crust in the descartes highlands is proposed on the basis of isotope ages and clast matrix relationships of polymict breccias essential features of this model in sequenial order are 1 development of multiple layers of kreep free early feldspathic fragmental megabreccias and impact melt sheets on the primordial crust in the time period from 4 4 aeons to the time of the nectaris impact which could have occurred as late as 3 85 aeons ago 2 excavation of these megabreccias by the nectaris event and deposition of a nectarian feldspathic fragmental megabreccia in the descartes area 3 introduction of kreep basaltic material into the upper crust mainly west and northwest of the descartes site and formation of kreepy impact melt sheets most probably from 4 05 to 3 80 aeons ago 4 imbrium impact at 3 8 aeons ago and deposition of kreep bearing imbrian feldspathic fragmental breccias at the descartes site which form the cayley formation and 5 redeposition mixing and melting of all preexisting breccias yielding kreep bearing and kreep poor post cayley fragmental breccias and melt ejecta glass bombs as the result of small impacts craters 1 5 km in diameter in the cayley plains and the descartes mountains respectively

lunar basalt breccia identified among antarctic meteorites the antarctic meteorite elephant moraine eet 87521 is a lunar mare basalt breccia this 30 7 g meteorite was originally identified as a brecciated eucrite1 but new petrographic evidence from a more representative thin section fig 1 indicates that it is a breccia of mainly very low titanium vlt basalt and should be reclassified as a lunar meteorite the four or five antarctic lunar meteorites collected previously at allan hills yamato mountains and macalpine hills alha81005 y79117 y793274 y82192 82193 y86032 and mac88104 88105 have all sampled only the plagioclase rich lunar highlands2 3 which dominate the surface of the moon eet87521 extends the lunar meteorite collections to include the less abundant basaltic provinces the maria of the lunar crust

quantifying the effects of climate and surface change on glacier mass balance when a mass balance is computed using an outdated map that computation does not reveal the actual mass change but older maps often must be used for practical reasons we present a method by which with a few additional measurements each year a mass balance computed with an outdated map can be transformed into an actual mass change this is done by taking into account the influence of changes in areal extent and changes in the surface elevation of the glacier since the map was made this method is applied to south cascade glacier washington u s a as an example the computed cumulative mass balance from 1970 to 1997 would have been 16 too negative if the 1970 map had not been updated while the actual volume change of a glacier is relevant to hydrological studies the change that would have occurred on a constant or static surface is more relevant to certain glacier dynamics problems and most climate problems we term this the reference surface balance and propose that such a balance which deliberately omits the influence of changes in area and surface elevation is better correlated to climatic variations than the conventional one which incorporates those influences

mineral chemical comparisons of mac88105 with yamato lunar meteorites abstract the new lunar meteorite mac88105 has been studied by mineral chemical techniques and was compared with the yamato lunar meteorites clast types and pyroxene compositions of mac88105 indicate that evidence for a pairing with any known lunar meteorites is unlikely clast laden vitric breccia and comminuted mineral fragments in glassy matrix are common components as in other lunar meteorites but granulitic clasts are not as common as in other lunar meteorites the large and common granulite like meta igneous clasts still preserve lath shaped plagioclase crystals with fine grained olivine and pyroxenes in the interstices pyroxenes with mg number mg 100 mg fe between 70 48 mol are common but more mg rich pyroxenes and plutonic pyroxenes from nonmare pristine crustal rocks are rare one basaltic clast contains pyroxenes with zoning trends more mg rich than the above mg range and than those of the vlt basalts common in lunar meteorites mac88105 preserves true glass in the matrix as observed by a transmission electron microscope tem the preservation of glassy materials indicates that mac88105 had a metamorphic annealing history different from other lunar meteorites

geochemical comparison of impact glasses from lunar meteorites alha81005 and mac88105 and apollo 16 regolith 64001 abstract most glasses that occur in lunar highland regolith are quenched droplets of impact melt the chemical compositions of these glasses are equivalent in the absence of volatile losses to the original target materials the compositional range of impact glasses in a regolith reflects the chemical diversity that existed throughout the region up to the time of system closure e g breccia formation since these glasses are a product of widespread and random sampling both in terms of space and time they can be used for geochemical exploration of the moon the major element compositions of impact glasses occurring in three samples of lunar feldspathic regolith alha81005 mac88105 apollo 16 64001 have been determined by electron microprobe the glass populations among these three unrelated samples are compositionally distinct while most of the impact glasses within each of these three samples are compositionally similar to the regolith in which they are found up to 40 of the impact glasses are different some of the compositionally exotic glasses were ballistically transported from other areas of the moon and thereby provide information about the compositional range of regoliths that exist elsewhere since the geological setting of the apollo 16 region is well known compared to the source areas of the lunar meteorites the apollo 16 glasses provide a ground truth for interpretations the thirty four impact glasses in meteorite alha81005 overlap the compositional range of feldspathic regoliths represented by all of the lunar highland meteorites i e y86031 y82192 y791197 mac88105 alha81005 and are compositionally distinct from highland regoliths sampled by apollo 14 apollo 16 apollo 17 and luna 20 a small proportion of alha81005 glasses contain a mare component no kreep glasses were observed due to their scarcity only ten impact glasses in lunar meteorite mac88105 were analyzed the spherules occur in two broadly defined compositional groups one group of glasses is similar to the bulk composition of mac88105 whereas the other group is more mafic all of these glasses are distinct from highland regoliths sampled by apollo 14 apollo 16 and apollo 17 and luna 20 a low ti mare glass was also analyzed in mac88105 no kreep glasses were observed the two hundred and fifty three aluminous impact glasses analyzed in apollo 16 regolith 64001 display a prominent grouping of compositions equivalent to the local regolith in addition about 10 of the glasses in 64001 are distinct from the local regolith and chemically resemble the lunar highland meteorites alha81005 mac88105 these glasses may record the chemical composition of an ancient regolith that occurred in the apollo 16 region prior to the arrival of kreep and mare components twentythree percent of the glasses in 64001 have high ti mare affinities these mare glasses are clearly exotic to the apollo 16 site and have been transported from distances of at least 300 km

sedimentary environment dynamics and the formation of coal in the pennsylvanian variscan foreland in the ruhr basin germany western europe during the pennsylvanian formation of coal was a phenomenon that was spread over many continents it is the aim of this paper to illustrate factors that led to the formation of coal seams in paralic clastic sedimentary environments in the ruhr basin german variscan foreland during the pennsylvanian in terms of sequence stratigraphy and the structural evolution of the basin lithostratigraphic sections from exploration wells in the currently explored zone of the coal basin allowed the generation of volumetric lithofacies models using geostastical methods these models support the analysis of sedimentary facies and a sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the successions that are widely correlated throughout the basin we then evaluate the relation of the sequence stratigraphic elements derived from the facies models with the abundance of coal seams

seismic facies analysis of westphalian sequences of the southern north sea abstract differing seismic facies are observed from within the westphalian sequences of the southern north sea a review of published synthetic seismograms and seismic data from known coal bearing basins establishes seismic facies types and their relationships similar reflection character is recognized from westphalian sequences in the southern north sea and lithologies confirmed by borehole information probable sand silt or clastic prone upper coal measures westphalian c d stages and coal prone lower and middle coal measures westphalian a b and part c stages can be defined and mapped providing information on the regional distribution of source and reservoir rocks and stratigraphic plays it is suggested that sand prone channel complexes or clastic dominated areas within the mainly a b stages can be recognized and mapped providing information on migration pathways and stratigraphic plays

surface mass balance thinning and iceberg production columbia glacier alaska 1948 2007 a mass balance model using upper air meteorological data for input was calibrated with surface mass balance measured mainly during 1977 78 at 67 sites on columbia glacier alaska between 135 and 2645 m a s l root mean square error model vs measured is 1 0 m w e a 1 w ithr 2 0 88 a remarkable result of the analysis was that both precipitation and the factor in the positive degree day model used to estimate surface ablation were constant with altitude the model was applied to reconstruct glacier wide components of surface mass balance over 1948 2007 surface ablation 4k m 3 ice eq a 1 ice equivalent has changed little throughout the period from 1948 until about 1981 when drastic retreat began the surface mass balance was positive but changes in glacier geometry were small so the positive balance was offset by calving 0 9 km 3 ice eq a 1 during retreat volume loss of the glacier accounted for 92 of the iceberg production calving increased to 4 3 km 3 ice eq a 1 from 1982 to 1995 and after that until 2007 to 8 0 km 3 ice eq a 1 which was about twice the loss by surface ablation whereas prior to retreat it was only about a quarter as much calving is calculated as the difference between glacier wide surface mass balance and geodetically determined volume change

upper palaeozoic basins of the british isles caledonide inheritance versus hercynian plate margin processes hypotheses to explain the origin and location of upper palaeozoic sedimentary basins are presented group a basins were those old red sandstone basins whose location and subsidence were controlled by caledonide features including active and remnant fore arc basins midland valley and major transcurrent movements orcadian basin newer granite plutonic magmas in the southern uplands subduction complex post dated subduction and resulted from post collision cratonization processes as yet little understood group b basins were those whose initial positions in space were controlled by palaeo plate factors in particular the location of granitoid plutons but whose subsidence was controlled by active hercynian neoplate processes some group a basins were regenerated by this process midland valley a new hypothesis is presented to account for the origin of a carboniferous rift to sag trend similar to that proven in modern continental margin basins such as the north sea the hypothesis is an adaptation of mckenzie9s lithospheric stretching model some of whose major features are well shown in the carboniferous history of the north and central british isles group b processes were controlled by ligurian bretonic plate consumption in the s brittany massif central vosges areas group c basins in the rheno hercynian zone also owe their location and origin to back arc rifting and continental crustal oceanization processes caused by liguro bretonic subduction

exposure histories of lunar meteorites alha81005 mac88104 mac88105 and y791197 the cosmogenic radionuclides sup 41 ca sup 36 cl sup 26 al and sup 10 be in the allan hills 81005 macalpine hills 88104 macalpine hills 88105 and yamato 791197 meteorites were measured by accelerator mass spectrometry ams sup 53 mn in allan hills 81005 and yamato 791197 was measured by activation these four lunar meteorites experienced similar histories they were ejected from near the surface of the moon ranging in depth down to 400 g cm sup 2 and had very short transition times less than 0 1 ma from the moon to the earth a comparison of the cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in macalpine hills 88104 and macalpine hills 88105 clearly indicates that they are a pair from the same fall

climate sensitivity of glaciers in southern norway application of an energy balance model to nigardsbreen hellstugubreen and alfotbreen three glaciers in southern norway with very different massbalance characteristics are studied with an energy balance model of the ice snow surface the model simulates the observed mass balance profiles in a satisfactory way and can thus be used with some confidence in a study of climate sensitivity calculated changes in equilibrium line altitude for a 1 k temperature increase are 110 108 and 135 in for nigardsbreen hellstugubreen and alfotbreen respectively the corresponding changes in mass balance averaged over the entire glacier area are 0 88 0 715 and 1 11 in year water equivalent runs with an ice flow model for nigardsbreen to which calculated mass balance profiles are imposed predict that the front will advance by 3 km for a 1 k cooling and will retreat by as much as 6 5 km for a 1 k warming the response to a 10 increase in precipitation would be a 2 km advance of the snout whereas a 4 km retreat is predicted for a 10 decrease this large sensitivity as compared to many other glaciers is to a large extent due to the geometry of nigardsbreen

climate at the equilibrium line of glaciers the relationships between temperature precipitation and radiation on glacier equilibrium lines are investigated using 70 glaciers for which the mass balance and meteorological observations have been carried out for sufficiently long periods it is found that the characteristic climate at glacier equilibrium lines can be described using the summer 3 months temperature in a free atmosphere annual total precipitation and the sum of global and long wave net radiation all of these are measured at or very near the equilibrium line altitudes then it is shown how the shift of the equilibriumline will occur as a result of a climatic change finally the effect of the shift of the equilibrium line on the annualmean specific mass balance is analytically derived and compared with observations the present results make it possible to identify the altitudes in climate models where glacierization should begin and to evaluate the mass balance changes as a result of possible future changes in the climate

estimating south cascade glacier washington u s a mass balance from a distant radiosonde and comparison with blue glacier a simple flux model using twice daily measurements of wind humid ity and temperature from standard upper air levels in a distant radiosonde estimated winter balance of south cascade glacier over 1959 98 with error 0 24 m w e correla tion between net and winter balance is strong the model estimates net balance with error 0 53 m w e over the past 40 years average net balance of south cascade glacier has been strongly negative 0 46 m w e and it has been shrinking steadily in com parison 200 km wsw at blue glacier the average balance has been less negative 0 13 m w e that glacier has undergone little change over the 40 years balance histories of the two glaciers are positively correlated r 0 54 and south cascade has been more out of balance than blue presumably because it is still adjusting to climate change since the little ice age recent warming and drying has made the net balance of both glaciers strongly negative since 1976 0 84 m w e at south cascade 0 56 m w e at blue if south cascade glacier were in balance with the 1986 1998 climate it would be about 1 4 of its present area if conditions persist retreat of both glaciers is inevitable

mac88105 a regolith breccia from the lunar highlands mineralogical petrological and geochemical studies abstract the new large lunar meteorite mac88105 is a dense breccia with lithic and mineral clasts and fragments set into a welded matrix it is a regolith breccia which shows some recrystallization and evidence for a late shock event during which anorthositic glass veins were formed shock effects most probably due to the impact ejection from the moon are present throughout the sample and require a shock pressure of about 25 30 gpa in agreement with observations made on other lunar meteorites some components of mac88105 have been subjected to a shock pressure of about 40 45 gpa as evident from melt pockets in a clast the population of lithic clasts in mac88105 is similar to other lunar highland breccias vitric breccias are more abundant than granulitic breccias and plutonic rock fragments the presence of devitrified glass spheres and shards supports a regolith origin most common are metameltbreccias consisting of abundant anorthitic plagioclase clasts and a dense fine grained matrix some fine grained hornfelsic to granulitic metabreccias are also present lithic clast compositions are predominantly anorthositic noritic or noritic anorthositic and anorthositic troctolitic spinel bearing rocks are present but do not belong to the spinel troctolite group a spinel bearing clast in mac88105 consists of anorthite pigeonite spinel and indicates a different heritage possibly similar to spinel cataclasites described from apollo 17 the pyroxenes in mac88105 have somewhat unusual compositions orthopyroxenes and augites appear to be rare most lithologies breccias and igneous rocks contain solely pigeonite we have found one igneous mafic rock a gabbro which has a low mg number and is possibly of mare origin a metal grain of a composition similar to metal in h chondrites supports the interpretation of mac88105 as a regolith breccia the bulk composition of mac88105 is similar to the other lunar highland meteorites the ree contents are slightly higher than for the other anorthositic meteorites with a smaller positive eu anomaly this is in agreement with a possible kreep contribution possibly introduced from glasses macs 8105 is a mixture of rocks with a predominant contribution from the anorthosite suite and small admixtures from other rock types mare basalt mg suite which becomes obvious in plots of molar mg or sm content vs the ti sm ratio the siderophile element abundances in mac88105 are similar to other highland meteorites and show the characteristic co excess and a au ir ratio similar to the other anorthositic meteorites and lower than the hyperchondritic ratio in apollo 16 rocks thus support the notion that the lunar meteorites are a more representative sample of the lunar highlands than the apollo samples the chemistry and mineralogy of mac88105 is different from that of the other lunar meteorites and suggests a different source which is supported by cosmic ray and noble gas data at this time it seems likely that about four individual impact events have been responsible for delivering the seven highland meteorites mac88105 and other lunar meteorites are important as they are probably random samples from the lunar surface and may thus be more representative than the apollo and luna rocks which come from only a small area of the moon

mass balance gradients and climatic change it is generally assumed that the mass balance gradient on glaciers is more or less conserved under climatic change in studies of the dynamic response of glaciers to climatic change one of the following assumptions is normally made i the mass balance perturbation is independent of altitude or ii the mass balance profile does not change it simply shifts up and down observational evidence for such an approach is not convincing on some glaciers the inter annual changes in mass balance seem to be independent of altitude on others not at all moreover it is questionable whether inter annual variation can be projected on different climatic states to see what a physical approach might contribute we developed an altitude dependent mass balance model it is based on the energy balance of the ice snow surface where precipitation is included in a parameterized form and numerical integrations are done through an entire balance year with a 30 min time step atmospheric temperature snowfall and atmospheric transmissivity for solar radiation are all dependent on altitude so a mass balance profile can be calculated slope and exposure of the ice snow surface are taken into account and the effects of these parameters studied in general the calculations were done for 100 m elevation intervals climatological data from the sonnblick observatory austria 3106 m a s l and from vent 2000 m a s l oetztal alps austria served as input for a number of runs simulation of the mass balance profiles for hinterseisferner north easterly exposure and kesselwandferner southeasterly exposure yields reasonable results the larger balance gradient on kesselwandferner is produced by the model so exposure appears to be an important factor here sensitivity of mass balance profiles to shading effects different slope and exposure are systematically studied another section deals with the sensitivity to climatic change perturbations of air temperature cloudiness albedo and precipitation are imposed to see their effects on the mass balance profiles the results clearly show that in general mass balance perturbations depend strongly on altitude they generally increase down glacier and are not always symmetric about the reference state for typical climatic conditions in the alps we found that a 1 k temperature change leads to a change in equilibrium line altitude of 130 m three factors contribute to this large value turbulent heat flux longwave radiation from the atmosphere and fraction of precipitation falling as snow here the albedo feed back increases the sensitivity in a significant way

exposure histories of the lunar meteorites mac88104 mac88105 y791197 and y86032 four lunar meteorites macalpine hills mac 88104 macalpine hills 88105 yamato y 791197 and yamato 86032 were analyzed for the cosmogenic radionuclides 10be 26al 36cl and 41ca from these and published data histories of exposure to cosmic rays were modelled in terms of two stage irradiations each with a long first stage on the moon lasting a time t2 5 ma at a burial depth d2 gcm2 followed by a second stage in space i e the transit time between the moon and the earth lasting a time t4 ma in a body of typical meteoroidal size the terrestrial age tt ma gives the time elapsed between meteorite fall and recovery in antarctica the following sets of parameters were obtained mac88104 5 390 d2 500 0 04 t4 0 11 0 10 tt 0 19 y791197 d2 1000 t4 10 2 0 08 tt 0 12 from the number and exposure histories of lunar meteorites we infer a production rate on the order of 5 ma 1 and an arrival rate worldwide of about 3 106 meteorites ma 1 these results suggest that each impact event large enough to produce lunar meteorites sends a large number of them to the earth

the sedimentary record of carboniferous rivers continuing influence of land plant evolution on alluvial processes and palaeozoic ecosystems abstract evidence from modern rivers and the deep time geological record attests to the fundamental importance of plant life for the construction of physical habitats within fluvial environments data from an extensive literature review and original fieldwork demonstrates that many landforms and geomorphic features of modern river systems appear in the palaeozoic stratigraphic record once terrestrial vegetation had adopted certain evolutionary advances for example stable point bars are associated with the onset of rooted plants in the siluro devonian and avulsive and anabranching fluvial systems become common at the same time as extensive arborescent vegetation in the carboniferous in this paper we demonstrate a correlation between the diversification of physical fluvial environments and the expansion of terrestrial fauna and flora with an emphasis on the culmination of these trends within carboniferous alluvial systems many extrinsic factors have been considered as possible controls on the evolutionary timelines of terrestrialization for organisms however a fundamental prerequisite for achieving terrestrial biodiversity was the variety of physical habitats especially riparian systems available for newly evolved organisms in association with abundant lowland meandering systems the widespread appearance across carboniferous alluvial plains of fixed channel and anabranching reaches created further physical landforms for colonization and would have promoted increasingly complex hyporheic flow regimes furthermore the associated increase in arborescent vegetation and supply of large woody debris to inland and coastal rivers would have created a wealth of microhabitats for continental organisms we argue that the expanding extent and diversity of physical alluvial niches during the palaeozoic is an underappreciated driver of the terrestrialization of early continental life the study of the deep time fossil and stratigraphic record also illustrates that vegetation is a fundamental prerequisite for the creation of biogeomorphic alluvial landforms and physical habitats and microhabitats

glacier status and contribution to streamflow in the olympic mountains washington usa the olympic peninsula washington usa currently holds 184 alpine glaciers larger than 0 01 km 2 and their combined area is 30 2 0 95 km 2 only four glaciers are 1 km 2 and 120 of the others are 2 this represents a loss of 82 glaciers and a 34 decrease in combined area since 1980 with the most pronounced losses occurring on south facing aspects and in the more arid northeastern part of the range annual rate of loss in glacier area for seven of the largest glaciers accelerated from 0 26 km 2 a 1 1900 80 to 0 54 km 2 a 1 1980 2009 thinning rates on four of the largest glaciers averaged nearly 1 ma 1 from 1987 to 2010 resulting in estimated volume losses of 17 24 combined glacial snow firn and ice melt in the hoh watershed is in the range 63 79 7 10 6 m 3 or 9 15 of total may september streamflow in the critical august september period the glacial fraction of total basin runoff increases to 18 30 with one third of the water directly from glacial ice i e not snow and firn glaciers in the elwha basin produce 12 15 1 3 10 6 m 3 2 5 4 0 while those in the dungeness basin contribute 2 5 3 1 0 28 10 6 m 3 3 0 3 8

the macalpine hills lunar meteorite and implications of the lunar meteorites collectively for the composition and origin of the moon the mac88104 mac88105 meteorite is a lunar highlands regolith breccia even more anorthositic than previously available samples of highlands regolith clasts studied include two unusual pristine rocks one a 2 5 mm slightly granulitic clast rated as probably pristine contains extraordinarily fe rich fo40 olivine the other a 5 mm clast with clear vestiges of a poikilitic cumulate texture has silicate compositions that extend the range of the mg suite in the direction of the high mg end of the ferroan anorthositic suite the pyroxene of the latter clast is relatively ca rich and poorly equilibrated by lunar cumulate standards suggesting that it may have formed in an uncommonly shallow intrusion the four lunar highlands meteorites are all regolith breccias or in one case a marginal type between regolith breccia and ordinary polymict breccia and they probably represent three to four separate lunar source craters the proportion of regolith breccias is higher among lunar highlands meteorites than among rock samples from the classic highlands site apollo 16 9 regolith breccias for the majorelement composition of the crust the highlands meteorites confirm that the two low th central nearside sites luna 20 and especially apollo 16 are approximately representative the consistently high al2o3 composition indicated for the upper crust supports the magmasphere hypothesis for the trace element composition of the crust the highlands meteorites indicate that the central nearside apollo and luna sites are in several respects grossly unrepresentative concentrations of siderophile elements are far lower in highlands meteoritic regolith breccias than in their central nearside counterparts the high overall siderophile levels and hyperchondritic niir and auir ratios characteristic of highlands materials from apollo 16 and apollo 14 are evidently idiosyncracies of the central nearside concentrations of incompatible elements including k th and u are far lower in the highlands meteorites than in regolith samples from the central nearside this trend implies that certain lower limits on the bulk moon content of u and associated refractory lithophile elements should be relaxed models of lunar origin implying large enrichments of refractory lithophile elements are not favored by the new constraints from these meteorites

an extremely low source in the moon uthpb smnd rbsr and isotopic systematics and age of lunar meteorite asuka 881757 abstract we have undertaken u th pb sm nd rb sr and 40 ar 39 ar isotopic studies on asuka 881757 a coarse grained basaltic lunar meteorite whose chemical composition is close to low ti and very low ti vlt mare basalts the pb pb internal isochron obtained for acid leached residues of separated mineral fractions yields an age of 3940 28 ma which is similar to the u pb 3850 150 ma and th pb 3820 290 ma internal isochron ages the sm nd data for the mineral separates yield an internal isochron age of 3871 57 ma and an initial 143 nd 144 nd value of 0 50797 10 the rb sr data yield an internal isochron age of 3840 32 ma 87 rb 1 42 10 11 yr 1 and a low initial 87 sr 86 sr ratio of 0 69910 2 the 40 ar 39 ar age spectra for a glass fragment and a maskelynitized plagioclase are relatively flat and give a weighted mean plateau age of 3798 12 ma we interpret these ages to indicate that the basalt crystallized from a melt 3 87 ga ago the sm nd age and an impact event disturbed the rb sr system and completely reset the k ar system at 3 80 ga the slightly higher pb pb age compared to the sm nd age could be due to the secondary pb from terrestrial and or lunar surface pb contamination that remained in the residues after acid leaching alternatively the following interpretation is also possible the meteorite crystallized at 3 94 ga the pb pb age and the sm nd rb sr and k ar systems were disturbed by an impact event at 3 80 ga the crystallization age obtained here is older than those reported for low ti basalts 3 2 3 5 ga and for vlt basalts 3 4 ga but similar to ages of some mare basalts indicating that the basalt may have formed from a magma related to a basin forming event imbrium the age span for vlt basalts from different sampling sites suggest that they were erupted over a wide area during an interval of at least 500 million years the impact event that thermally reset the k ar system of asuka 881757 must have been post imbrium perhaps orientale in age the lead isotopic composition of asuka 881757 is nonradiogenic compared with typical apollo mare basalts and the estimated 238 u 204 pb value for the basalt source is 10 3 this source value is the lowest so far measured for lunar rocks a large positive nd value 7 4 0 5 and the time averaged 147 sm 144 nd ratio for the basalt source are similar to those for some apollo 12 15 and 17 basalts suggesting a lree depleted mantle which is consistent with the global magma ocean hypothesis the u th pb sm nd and rb sr data on asuka 881757 suggest that the basalt was derived from a low u pb low rb sr and high sm nd source region mainly composed of olivine and orthopyroxene with minor amounts of plagioclase or clinopyroxene and with sulfides enriched in volatile chalcophile elements the basalt source may be deep in origin and different in chemistry from those previously estimated from studies of apollo and luna mare basalts indicating heterogeneous sources for mare basalts

constraints on formation and evolution of the lunar crust from feldspathic granulitic breccias nwa 3163 and 4881 abstract lunar granulitic meteorites provide new constraints on the composition and evolution of the lunar crust as they are potentially derived from outside the apollo and luna landing sites northwest africa nwa 3163 the focus of this study and its paired stones nwa 4881 and nwa 4483 are shocked granulitic noritic anorthosites they are petrographically and compositionally distinct from the apollo granulites and noritic anorthosites northwest africa 3163 is ree depleted by an order of magnitude compared to apollo granulites and is one of the most trace element depleted lunar samples studied to date new in situ mineral compositional data and rb sr ar ar isotopic systematics are used to evaluate the petrogenetic history of nwa 3163 and its paired stones within the context of early lunar evolution and the bulk composition of the lunar highlands crust the nwa 3163 protolith was the likely product of reworked lunar crust with a previous history of heavy ree depletion the bulk feldspathic and pyroxene rich fragments have 87sr 86sr that are indistinguishable and average 0 699282 0 000007 2 a calculated source model sr trd age of 4 340 0 057 ga is consistent with 1 the recently determined young fas ferroan anorthosite age of 4 360 0 003 ga for fas 60025 2 142nd model ages for the closure of the sm nd system for the mantle source reservoirs of the apollo mare basalts 4 355 4 314 ga and 3 a prominent age peak in the apollo lunar zircon record c 4 345 ga these ages are 100 myr younger than predicted timescales for complete lmo crystallization 10 myrs after moon formation elkins tanton et al 2011 this supports a later major event during lunar evolution associated with crustal reworking due to magma ocean cumulate overturn serial magmatism or a large impact event leading to localized or global crustal melting and or exhumation the ar ar isotopic systematics on aliquots of paired stone nwa 4881 are consistent with an impact event at 3 5 ga this is inferred to record the event that induced granularization of nwa 3163 and paired rocks a later event is also recorded at 2 ga by ar ar isotopes is consistent with an increase in the number of impacts on the lunar surface at this time fernandes et al 2013 northwest africa 3163 and its paired stones therefore record a c 2 4 gyr record of lunar crustal production metamorphism brecciation impacts and eventual ejection from the lunar surface

modern pearl river delta and permian huainan coalfield china a comparative sedimentary facies study abstract sedimentary facies types of the pleistocene deposits of the modern pearl river delta in guangdong province china and permian member d deposits in huainan coalfield in anhui province are exemplified by depositional facies of anastomosing fluvial systems in both study areas sand sandstone and mud mudstone dominated facies types formed in diverging and converging coeval fluvial channels laterally juxtaposed with floodplains containing ponds lakes and topogenous mires the mires accumulated thin to thick peat coal deposits that vary in vertical and lateral distribution between the two study areas this difference is probably due to attendant sedimentary processes that affected the floodplain environments the ancestral floodplains of the modern pearl river delta were reworked by combined fluvial and tidal and estuarine processes in contrast the floodplains of the permian member d were mainly influenced by freshwater fluvial processes in addition the thick laterally extensive coal zones of the permian member d may have formed in topogenous mires that developed on abandoned courses of anastomosing fluvial systems this is typified by seam 13 1 which is a blanket like body that thickens to as much as 8 m but also splits into thinner beds this seam overlies deposits of diverging and converging coeval fluvial channels of the sandstone d 3 and associated overbank floodplain deposits the limited areal extent of lenticular pleistocene peat deposits of the modern pearl river delta is due to their primary accumulation in topogenous mires in the central floodplains that were restricted by contemporaneous anastomosing channels

sensitivity of mass balance of five swiss glaciers to temperature changes assessed by tuning a degree day model a degree day model is used to assess the sensitivity of the mass balance of five swiss glaciers to temperature changes the model uses temperature data extrapolated from nearby climate stations and is tuned by varying precipitation to make the model fit the observed distribution of mass balance with altitude once the model is tuned the effect of temperature change is simulated by recalculating the mass balance with the same parameters as before but with a temperature increase of 1 c throughout the year the largest mass balance changes involving increased ablation of 1 m w e a 1 c 1 occur at the snout with a progressively smaller increase with altitude the area averaged sensitivities for the five glaciers are 0 7 to 0 9 m w e a 1 c 1 if annual precipitation also increased by 20 it would partly offset the effect of the 1 c higher temperatures but could not compensate for it