1,690 research outputs found
Geophysical characteristics and crustal structure of greenstone terranes: Canadian Shield
Geophysical studies in the Canadian Shield have provided some insights into the tectonic setting of greenstone belts. Greenstone belts are not rooted in deep crustal structures. Geophysical techniques consistently indicate that greenstones are restricted to the uppermost 10 km or so of crust and are underlain by geophysically normal crust. Gravity models suggest that granitic elements are similarly restricted, although magnetic modelling suggests possible downward extension to the intermediate discontinuity around approx. 18 km. Seismic evidence demonstrates that steeply-dipping structure, which can be associated with the belts in the upper crust, is not present in the lower crust. Horizontal intermediate discontinuities mapped under adjacent greenstone and granitic components are not noticeably disrupted in the boundary zone. Geophysical evidence points to the presence of discontinuities between greenhouse-granite and adjacent metasedimentary erranes. Measured stratigraphic thicknesses of greenstone belts are often twice or more the vertical thicknesses determined from gravity modelling. Explantations advanced for the discrepancy include stratigraphy repeated by thrust faulting and/or listric normal faulting, mechanisms which are consistent with certain aspects of conceptual models of greenstone development. Where repetition is not a factor the gravity evidence points to removal of the root zones of greenstone belts. For one region, this has been attributed to magmatic stopping during resurgent caldera activity
Diagnosing students' difficulties in learning mathematics
This study considers the results of a diagnostic test of student difficulty and contrasts the difference in performance between the lower attaining quartile and the higher quartile. It illustrates a difference in qualitative thinking between those who succeed and those who fail in mathematics, illustrating a theory that those who fail are performing a more difficult type of mathematics (coordinating procedures) than those who succeed (manipulating concepts). Students who have to coordinate or reverse processes in time will encounter far greater difficulty than those who can manipulate symbols in a flexible way. The consequences of such a dichotomy and implications for remediation are then considered
On the Nature of Andromeda IV
Lying at a projected distance of 40' or 9 kpc from the centre of M31,
Andromeda IV is an enigmatic object first discovered during van den Bergh's
search for dwarf spheroidal companions to M31. Being bluer, more compact and
higher surface brightness than other known dwarf spheroidals, it has been
suggested that And IV is either a relatively old `star cloud' in the outer disk
of M31 or a background dwarf galaxy. We present deep HST WFPC2 observations of
And IV and the surrounding field which, along with ground-based long-slit
spectroscopy and Halpha imagery, are used to decipher the true nature of this
puzzling object. We find compelling evidence that And IV is a background galaxy
seen through the disk of M31. The moderate surface brightness (SB(V)~24), very
blue colour (V-I<~0.6), low current star formation rate (~0.001 solar mass/yr)
and low metallicity (~10% solar) reported here are consistent with And IV being
a small dwarf irregular galaxy, perhaps similar to Local Group dwarfs such as
IC 1613 and Sextans A. Although the distance to And IV is not tightly
constrained with the current dataset, various arguments suggest it lies in the
range 5<~D<~8 Mpc, placing it well outside the confines of the Local Group. It
may be associated with a loose group of galaxies, containing major members UGC
64, IC 1727 and NGC 784. We report an updated position and radial velocity for
And IV.Comment: 26 pages, LaTex with 9 figures (including 6 jpg plates). Accepted for
publication in A
Some Curvature Problems in Semi-Riemannian Geometry
In this survey article we review several results on the curvature of
semi-Riemannian metrics which are motivated by the positive mass theorem. The
main themes are estimates of the Riemann tensor of an asymptotically flat
manifold and the construction of Lorentzian metrics which satisfy the dominant
energy condition.Comment: 25 pages, LaTeX, 4 figure
B^F Theory and Flat Spacetimes
We propose a reduced constrained Hamiltonian formalism for the exactly
soluble theory of flat connections and closed two-forms over
manifolds with topology . The reduced phase space
variables are the holonomies of a flat connection for loops which form a basis
of the first homotopy group , and elements of the second
cohomology group of with value in the Lie algebra . When
, and if the two-form can be expressed as , for some
vierbein field , then the variables represent a flat spacetime. This is not
always possible: We show that the solutions of the theory generally represent
spacetimes with ``global torsion''. We describe the dynamical evolution of
spacetimes with and without global torsion, and classify the flat spacetimes
which admit a locally homogeneous foliation, following Thurston's
classification of geometric structures.Comment: 21 pp., Mexico Preprint ICN-UNAM-93-1
The N/O Plateau of Blue Compact Galaxies: Monte Carlo Simulations of the Observed Scatter
Chemical evolution models and Monte Carlo simulation techniques have been
combined for the first time to study the distribution of blue compact galaxies
on the N/O plateau. Each simulation comprises 70 individual chemical evolution
models. For each model, input parameters relating to a galaxy's star formation
history (bursting or continuous star formation, star formation efficiency),
galaxy age, and outflow rate are chosen randomly from ranges predetermined to
be relevant. Predicted abundance ratios from each simulation are collectively
overplotted onto the data to test its viability. We present our results both
with and without observational scatter applied to the model points. Our study
shows that most trial combinations of input parameters, including a simulation
comprising only simple models with instantaneous recycling, are successful in
reproducing the observed morphology of the N/O plateau once observational
scatter is added. Therefore simulations which include delay of nitrogen
injection are no longer favored over those which propose that most nitrogen is
produced by massive stars, if only the plateau morphology is used as the
principal constraint. The one scenario which clearly cannot explain plateau
morphology is one in which galaxy ages are allowed to range below 250 Myr. We
conclude that the present data for the N/O plateau are insufficient by
themselves for identifying the portion of the stellar mass spectrum most
responsible for cosmic nitrogen production.Comment: 41 pages, 15 figures; accepted by ApJ, to appear Aug. 20, 200
The Isotropy of Compact Universes
We discuss the problem of the stability of the isotropy of the universe in
the space of ever-expanding spatially homogeneous universes with a compact
spatial topology. The anisotropic modes which prevent isotropy being
asymptotically stable in Bianchi-type universes with non-compact
topologies are excluded by topological compactness. Bianchi type and type
universes with compact topologies must be exactly isotropic. In the
flat case we calculate the dynamical degrees of freedom of Bianchi-type and
universes with compact 3-spaces and show that type solutions
are more general than type solutions for systems with perfect fluid,
although the type models are more general than type in the vacuum
case. For particular topologies the 4-velocity of any perfect fluid is required
to be non-tilted. Various consequences for the problems of the isotropy,
homogeneity, and flatness of the universe are discussed.Comment: 22 pages in LaTeX2e with the amsmath packag
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