992 research outputs found

    Paleomagnetism of Coastal California and Baja California: Alternatives to Large-scale Northward Transport

    Get PDF
    Paleomagnetic data from the Santa Lucia-Orocopia (SLOA) and Baja-Borderland (BBA) allochthons of coastal California and Baja California have been interpreted to indicate up to 2500 km of post-mid-Cretaceous northward transport of these regions with respect to interior North America. However, with Neogene strike-slip offsets taken into account, geological interpretations correlate basement rocks of the coastal allochthons with continental basement rocks directly across the San Andreas and related fault systems. We have examined paleomagnetic data from SLOA and BBA and conclude that apparent discordances can be explained without large-scale pre-Neogene tectonic transport. Three major observations are fundamental to this analysis: (1) Paleolatitudes derived from volcanic rocks of the Jurassic Eugenia Formation of BBA and Coast Range ophiolite of SLOA are concordant when compared to revised Jurassic reference paleomagnetic poles from interior North America. (2) Isotopic and paleobarometric data from the Peninsula Ranges batholith in southern California indicate that the batholith has been tilted northeast-side-up by an amount that can account for discordant paleomagnetic directions observed in plutonic rocks of the batholith without large-scale northward transport. (3) Literal interpretation of the paleolatitudes determined from paleomagnetic directions in Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene marine sedimentary rocks of SLOA and BBA requires north-then-south-then-north transport and a complex motion history between the two allochthons. However, concordant paleolatitudes are indicated by some sedimentary rocks while coeval or younger sedimentary rocks of the same allochthon have discordant paleolatitudes. Coupled with recent documentations of compaction shallowing of paleomagnetic inclination in other marine sedimentary rocks, these inconsistencies suggest that paleolatitudes derived from most of the marine sedimentary rocks of SLOA and BBA are biased towards low paleolatitudes by compaction shallowing

    Superhumps in Cataclysmic Binaries. XXIII. V442 Ophiuchi and RX J1643.7+3402

    Full text link
    We report the results of long observing campaigns on two novalike variables: V442 Ophiuchi and RX J1643.7+3402. These stars have high-excitation spectra, complex line profiles signifying mass loss at particular orbital phases, and similar orbital periods (respectively 0.12433 and 0.12056 d). They are well-credentialed members of the SW Sex class of cataclysmic variables. Their light curves are also quite complex. V442 Oph shows periodic signals with periods of 0.12090(8) and 4.37(15) days, and RX J1643.7+3402 shows similar signals at 0.11696(8) d and 4.05(12) d. We interpret these short and long periods respectively as a "negative superhump" and the wobble period of the accretion disk. The superhump could then possibly arise from the heating of the secondary (and structures fixed in the orbital frame) by inner-disk radiation, which reaches the secondary relatively unimpeded since the disk is not coplanar. At higher frequencies, both stars show another type of variability: quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with a period near 1000 seconds. Underlying these strong signals of low stability may be weak signals of higher stability. Similar QPOs, and negative superhumps, are quite common features in SW Sex stars. Both can in principle be explained by ascribing strong magnetism to the white dwarf member of the binary; and we suggest that SW Sex stars are borderline AM Herculis binaries, usually drowned by a high accretion rate. This would provide an ancestor channel for AM Hers, whose origin is still mysterious.Comment: PDF, 41 pages, 4 tables, 16 figures; accepted, in press, to appear December 2002, PASP; more info at http://cba.phys.columbia.edu

    \u3ci\u3eProsopis glandulosa\u3c/i\u3e persistence is facilitated by differential protection of buds during low- and high-energy fires

    Get PDF
    Rangelands worldwide have experienced significant shifts from grass-dominated to woody-plant dominated states over the past century. In North America, these shifts are largely driven by overgrazing and landscape-scale fire suppression. Such shifts reduce productivity for livestock, can have broad-scale impacts to biodiversity, and are often difficult to reverse. Restoring grass dominance often involves restoring fire as an ecological process. However, many resprouting woody plants persist following disturbance, including fire, by resprouting from protected buds, rendering fire ineffective for reducing resprouting woody plant density. Recent research has shown that extreme fire (high-energy fires during periods of water stress) may reduce resprouting capacity. This previous research did not examine whether high-energy fires alone would be sufficient to cause mortality. We created an experimental framework for assessing the “buds-protection-resources” hypothesis of resprouting persistence under different fire energies. In July–August 2018 we exposed 48 individuals of a dominant resprouting woody plant in the region, honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), to two levels of fire energy (high and low) and root crown exposure (exposed vs unexposed) and evaluated resprouting capacity. We censused basal and epicormic resprouts for two years following treatment. Water stress was moderate for several months leading up to fires but low in subsequent years. Epicormic and basal buds were somewhat protected from lowand high-energy fire. However, epicormic buds were protected in very few mesquites subjected to high-energy fires. High-energy fires decreased survival, caused loss of apical dominance, and left residual dead stems, which may increase chances of mortality from future fires. Basal resprout numbers were reduced by high-energy fires, which may have additional implications for long-term mesquite survival. While the buds, protection, and resources components of resprouter persistence all played a role in resprouting, high-energy fire decreased mesquite survival and reduced resprouting. This suggests that high-energy fires affect persistence mechanisms to different extents than low-energy fires. In addition, high-energy fires during normal rainfall can have negative impacts on resprouting capacity; water stress is not a necessary precursor to honey mesquite mortality from highenergy fire

    Provenance of Cretaceous through Eocene strata of the Four Corners region: Insights from detrital zircons in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado

    Get PDF
    Cretaceous through Eocene strata of the Four Corners region provide an excellent record of changes in sediment provenance from Sevier thin-skinned thrusting through the formation of Laramide block uplifts and intra-foreland basins. During the ca. 125–50 Ma timespan, the San Juan Basin was flanked by the Sevier thrust belt to the west, the Mogollon highlands rift shoulder to the southwest, and was influenced by (ca. 75–50 Ma) Laramide tectonism, ultimately preserving a >6000 ft (>2000 m) sequence of continental, marginal-marine, and offshore marine sediments. In order to decipher the influences of these tectonic features on sediment delivery to the area, we evaluated 3228 U-Pb laser analyses from 32 detrital-zircon samples from across the entire San Juan Basin, of which 1520 analyses from 16 samples are newly reported herein. The detrital-zircon results indicate four stratigraphic intervals with internally consistent age peaks: (1) Lower Cretaceous Burro Canyon Formation, (2) Turonian (93.9–89.8 Ma) Gallup Sandstone through Campanian (83.6–72.1 Ma) Lewis Shale, (3) Campanian Pictured Cliffs Sandstone through Campanian Fruitland Formation, and (4) Campanian Kirtland Sandstone through Lower Eocene (56.0–47.8 Ma) San Jose Formation. Statistical analysis of the detrital-zircon results, in conjunction with paleocurrent data, reveals three distinct changes in sediment provenance. The first transition, between the Burro Canyon Formation and the Gallup Sandstone, reflects a change from predominantly reworked sediment from the Sevier thrust front, including uplifted Paleozoic sediments and Mesozoic eolian sandstones, to a mixed signature indicating both Sevier and Mogollon derivation. Deposition of the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone at ca. 75 Ma marks the beginning of the second transition and is indicated by the spate of near-depositional-age zircons, likely derived from the Laramide porphyry copper province of southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Paleoflow indicators suggest the third change in provenance was complete by 65 Ma as recorded by the deposition of the Paleocene Ojo Alamo Sandstone. However, our new U-Pb detrital-zircon results indicate this transition initiated ∼8 m.y. earlier during deposition of the Campanian Kirtland Formation beginning ca. 73 Ma. This final change in provenance is interpreted to reflect the unroofing of surrounding Laramide basement blocks and a switch to local derivation. At this time, sediment entering the San Juan Basin was largely being generated from the nearby San Juan Mountains to the north-northwest, including uplift associated with early phases of Colorado mineral belt magmatism. Thus, the detrital-zircon spectra in the San Juan Basin document the transition from initial reworking of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic cratonal blanket to unroofing of distant basement-cored uplifts and Laramide plutonic rocks, then to more local Laramide uplifts.National Science Foundation (NSF grant EAR-1649254

    High-Redshift Extremely Red Objects in the Hubble Space Telescope Ultra Deep Field Revealed by the GOODS Infrared Array Camera Observations

    Get PDF
    Using early data from the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope, taken for the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), we identify and study objects that are well detected at 3.6 m but are very faint (and in some cases, invisible) in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) ACS and NICMOS images andinverydeepVLT Ks-band imaging. We select a sample of 17 objects with f(3:6 m)=f(z850) > 20. The analysis of their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from 0.4 to 8.0 m shows that the majority of these objects cannot be satisfactorily explained without a well-evolved stellar population.We find thatmost of themcan be well fitted by a simple two-component model, where the primary component represents a massive, old population that dominates the strong IR emission, while the secondary component represents a low-amplitude, on-going star formation process that accounts for the weak optical fluxes. Their estimated photometric redshifts (zp) range from 1.6 to 2.9 with the median at zp ¼ 2:4. For the simple star formation histories considered here, their corresponding stellarmasses range from (0.1–1.6) ; 1011 M for a Chabrier initialmass function ( IMF). Their median rest-frame Ks-band absolute magnitude is 22.9 maginthe AB system,or 1:5 ; L(K) for present-day elliptical galaxies. In the scenario of pure luminosity evolution, such objects may be direct progenitors for at least 14%–51% of the local population of early type galaxies. Because of the small cosmic volume of the HUDF, however, this simple estimate could be affected by other effects, such as cosmic variance and the strong clustering of massive galaxies. A full analysis of the entire GOODS area is now under way to assess such effects

    Creation of an NCI comparative brain tumor consortium: informing the translation of new knowledge from canine to human brain tumor patients

    Get PDF
    On September 14–15, 2015, a meeting of clinicians and investigators in the fields of veterinary and human neuro-oncology, clinical trials, neuropathology, and drug development was convened at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting served as the inaugural event launching a new consortium focused on improving the knowledge, development of, and access to naturally occurring canine brain cancer, specifically glioma, as a model for human disease. Within the meeting, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) assessment was undertaken to critically evaluate the role that naturally occurring canine brain tumors could have in advancing this aspect of comparative oncology aimed at improving outcomes for dogs and human beings. A summary of this meeting and subsequent discussion are provided to inform the scientific and clinical community of the potential for this initiative. Canine and human comparisons represent an unprecedented opportunity to complement conventional brain tumor research paradigms, addressing a devastating disease for which innovative diagnostic and treatment strategies are clearly needed

    The Science Case for an Extended Spitzer Mission

    Full text link
    Although the final observations of the Spitzer Warm Mission are currently scheduled for March 2019, it can continue operations through the end of the decade with no loss of photometric precision. As we will show, there is a strong science case for extending the current Warm Mission to December 2020. Spitzer has already made major impacts in the fields of exoplanets (including microlensing events), characterizing near Earth objects, enhancing our knowledge of nearby stars and brown dwarfs, understanding the properties and structure of our Milky Way galaxy, and deep wide-field extragalactic surveys to study galaxy birth and evolution. By extending Spitzer through 2020, it can continue to make ground-breaking discoveries in those fields, and provide crucial support to the NASA flagship missions JWST and WFIRST, as well as the upcoming TESS mission, and it will complement ground-based observations by LSST and the new large telescopes of the next decade. This scientific program addresses NASA's Science Mission Directive's objectives in astrophysics, which include discovering how the universe works, exploring how it began and evolved, and searching for life on planets around other stars.Comment: 75 pages. See page 3 for Table of Contents and page 4 for Executive Summar

    Clustering of the IR Background Light with Spitzer: Contribution from Resolved Sources

    Get PDF
    We describe the angular power spectrum of resolved sources at 3.6 microns (L-band) in Spitzer imaging data of the GOODS HDF-N, the GOODS CDF-S, and the NDWFS Bootes field in several source magnitude bins. We also measure angular power spectra of resolved sources in the Bootes field at K_S and J-bands using ground-based IR imaging data. In the three bands, J, K_S, and L, we detect the clustering of galaxies on top of the shot-noise power spectrum at multipoles between ell ~ 10^2 and 10^5. The angular power spectra range from the large, linear scales to small, non-linear scales of galaxy clustering, and in some magnitude ranges, show departure from a power-law clustering spectrum. We consider a halo model to describe clustering measurements and to establish the halo occup ation number parameters of IR bright galaxies at redshifts around one. We also extend our clustering results and completeness-corrected faint source number counts in GOODS fields to understand the underlying nature of unresolved sources responsible for IR background (IRB) anisotropies that were detected in deep Spitzer images. While these unresolved fluctuations were measured at sub-arcminute angular scales, if a high-redshift diffuse component associated with first galaxies exists in the IRB, then it's clustering properties are best studied with shallow, wide-field images that allow a measurement of the clustering spectrum from a few degrees to arcminute angular scales.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Accepted version in press with ApJ. Revised version includes conditional luminosity function models for IR galaxy LFs, counts and clustering spectra. The faint, unresolved galaxy counts in these models can reproduce excess anisotropy fluctuations reported in astro-ph/0511105. Conditional luminosity function code is available at http://www.cooray.org/lumfunc.html V3: Includes all data from astro-ph/0511105 in revised Fig.8 and minor changes to tex
    corecore