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Detailed Interpretation (detailed + interpretation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	75%

Selected Abstracts

Geophysical exploration of Guajará, a prehistoric earth mound in Brazil

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2003
Bruce W. Bevan
An interdisciplinary team studied Guajará, a prehistoric artificial mound in the Brazilian Amazon. The geophysical surveys and excavations were interactive;this interaction furnished more information than either geophysics or excavation alone could have provided. While seven different geophysical methods were applied, the magnetic survey reported here was particularly valuable. A detailed interpretation of this survey quantified the magnetic material in the mound, and this furnished an initial estimate of the number of cooking hearths in the mound. Ten test excavations were concentrated at magnetic anomalies. These excavations located cooking hearths and burial urns. A reevaluation of the magnetic survey was then done in order to refine the estimate of the number of hearths in the mound; this yielded an estimate of 2200 hearths. This allowed the population of the site to be approximated at 78,156 people. The geophysical survey and excavations also identified possible locations for subsequent broad-area excavations. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Trends in precipitation on the wettest days of the year across the contiguous USA

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 15 2004
Patrick J. Michaels
Abstract Over the course of the 20th century, average annual precipitation for the contiguous USA has increased by nearly 10%. This increase has been described as being dominated by ,disproportionate' increases in extreme precipitation events. However, methodological constraints have confounded detailed interpretation of such results. Here, we briefly describe those limitations and re-evaluate the nature of the observed precipitation changes using a method that allows for a more accurate examination of changes in the proportion of precipitation delivered in extreme daily events. We focus our analysis only on the trends in precipitation on the 10 wettest days of the year and compare the trends observed on those days with the trend in overall precipitation. When averaged across the USA, we find that the precipitation trends on the 10 wettest days of the year are not significantly different from the trend in total overall precipitation. On a regional level, in the northeast and southeast there is some evidence that the rate of precipitation increase on the wettest days exceeds that of total precipitation, whereas in the rest of the country the precipitation on the wettest days is increasing at a rate less than the increase in total precipitation. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society [source]

Optical spectra and covalent chemistry of fulleropyrrolidines

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 14 2007
B. S. Razbirin
Abstract Low-temperature vibronic spectra of two fulleropyrrolidines (1-methyl-3,4-FP and 1-methyl-2(4-pyridine)-3,4-FP) embedded in crystalline toluene matrix have been studied. Two-component composition of the spectra has been established and charge-transfer-excitation origin of the structureless component has been suggested. Fine-structured Shpol'skii spectra were observed for 1-methyl-3,4-FP, which made possible to perform the vibrational analysis of its vibronic spectra. General similarities of the absorption spectra of fulleropyrrolidines and C60 molecules along with significant difference in their details have been discussed. A detailed interpretation of the C60 spectra serves as a basis for analyzing the spectra of the derivatives. Quantum-chemical study is based on the effectively-unpaired-electron concept for the fullerene molecule. Computations have been performed for the singlet states of the molecules in unrestricted Hartree,Fock approximation implemented in AM1 semiempirical quantum chemical codes of the CLUSTER-Z1 software. The population of the HOMO and LUMO of the molecules under study alongside with the lowering of the molecules symmetry have been proposed to explain the spectral features observed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007 [source]

Depositional environments and chronology of Late Weichselian glaciation and deglaciation in the central North Sea

BOREAS, Issue 3 2010
ALASTAIR G. C. GRAHAM
Graham, A.G.C., Lonergan, L. & Stoker, M.S. 2010: Depositional environments and chronology of Late Weichselian glaciation and deglaciation in the central North Sea. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 471,491. 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2010.00144.x. ISSN 0300-9483. Geological constraints on ice-sheet deglaciation are essential for improving the modelling of ice masses and understanding their potential for future change. Here, we present a detailed interpretation of depositional environments from a new 30-m-long borehole in the central North Sea, with the aim of improving constraints on the history of the marine Late Pleistocene British,Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. Seven units characterize a sequence of compacted and distorted glaciomarine diamictons, which are overlain by interbedded glaciomarine diamictons and soft, bedded to homogeneous marine muds. Through correlation of borehole and 2D/3D seismic observations, we identify three palaeoregimes. These are: a period of advance and ice-sheet overriding; a phase of deglaciation; and a phase of postglacial glaciomarine-to-marine sedimentation. Deformed subglacial sediments correlate with a buried suite of streamlined subglacial bedforms, and indicate overriding by the SE,NW-flowing Witch Ground ice stream. AMS 14C dating confirms ice-stream activity and extensive glaciation of the North Sea during the Last Glacial Maximum, between c. 30 and 16.2 14C ka BP. Sediments overlying the ice-compacted deposits have been reworked, but can be used to constrain initial deglaciation to no later than 16.2 14C ka BP. A re-advance of British ice during the last deglaciation, dated at 13.9 14C ka BP, delivered ice-proximal deposits to the core site and deposited glaciomarine sediments rapidly during the subsequent retreat. A transition to more temperate marine conditions is clear in lithostratigraphic and seismic records, marked by a regionally pervasive iceberg-ploughmarked erosion surface. The iceberg discharges that formed this horizon are dated to between 13.9 and 12 14C ka BP, and may correspond to oscillating ice-sheet margins during final, dynamic ice-sheet decay. [source]