Holocene vegetation history and sea level changes in the SE corner of the Caspian Sea: Relevance to SW Asia climate

The palynological investigation of core TM (27.7 m long) taken in a dried out lagoon reveals both Holocene vegetation history in the north-eastern foothills of the Alborz Mountains and past water level changes of the Caspian Sea (CS). The delay in woodland expansion at the beginning of the Holocene, which is typical of eastern Turkey, the Iranian plateau and recorded in the CS south basin, is only weakly felt as the region is close to glacial refugia of trees. The succession of the main trees out of their refugia has been established as deciduous Quercus, Carpinus betulus, Parrotia persica, and Fagus orientalis-Pterocarya fraxinifolia, presenting therefore close affinities to south European interglacials of the Early Pleistocene. This suggests a similarity in climate. A Pterocarya decline is observed after AD 495. The studied region is close to the easternmost tree distribution; this could explain why it has been affected earlier than elsewhere in the northern Alborz and the Caucasus. In addition human activities during the Sasanian Empire and the subsequent drying of the climate contributed to weakening the spread of this tree. A maximal sea level occurs in the first part of the Holocene from 10.6 to 7.2 cal. ka. It is suggested that the CS levels were significantly influenced by the monsoon precipitations over the western Himalayas (via the Uzboy inflow). This is followed by low levels from 7.2 to 3.5 cal. ka with a minimum at 3.9 cal. ka. The Neocaspian period should be considered a biozone rather than a chronozone, as the environmental conditions reconstructed from dinocyst assemblages are different in shallow shelf waters and in the deep basins.Geoscience & EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Investigation of Thermal Properties of High-Density Polyethylene/Aluminum Nanocomposites by Photothermal Infrared Radiometry

In this study, thermal properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) filled with nanosized Al particles (80nm) were investigated. Samples were prepared using melt mixing method up to filler volume fraction of 29%, followed by compression molding. By using modulated photothermal radiometry (PTR) technique, thermal diffusivity and thermal effusivity were obtained. The effective thermal conductivity of nanocomposites was calculated directly from PTR measurements and from the measurements of density, specific heat capacity (by differential scanning calorimetry) and thermal diffusivity (obtained from PTR signal amplitude and phase). It is concluded that the thermal conductivity of HDPE composites increases with increasing Al fraction and the highest effective thermal conductivity enhancement of 205% is achieved at a filler volume fraction of 29%. The obtained results were compared with the theoretical models and experimental data given in the literature. The results demonstrate that Agari and Uno, and Cheng and Vachon models can predict well the thermal conductivity of HDPE/Al nanocomposites in the whole range of Al fractions