The Alabama man who is suspected of taking a young boy hostage had only lived in the area a few years and kept to himself, according to neighbors and officials.
Sources close to the investigation in the Dale County Sheriff's Office identified the suspect to NBC News as Jimmy Lee Dykes, age 65.
Police in the small town of Midland City, Ala. scrambled Tuesday afternoon after a gunman shot a local school bus driver and took a boy, age 5 or 6, hostage.
Local NBC station WSFA reported on Wednesday that the suspect was talking to police through a PVC pipe from an underground bunker where the man kept the boy captive overnight.
But before the dramatic events of the past two days, neighbors were worried about Jimmy Lee Dykes.
Dykes missed a bench hearing on a misdemeanor charge of menacing at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dale County Court Circuit Clerk Delores Woodham told NBC News.
That charge is related to an allegation by a James E. Davis, Jr., who said that on Dec. 10 Dykes threatened him with a pistol and then fired at Davis? truck as he pulled away, according to a document filed in Dale County District Court on Dec. 26, 2012,
The sources close to the investigation told NBC News that police did not know if the missed court appearance had anything to do with Dykes' motive.
Deputies from the county sheriff?s office had arrested Dykes on the charge of menacing. He was placed in Dale County Jail on Dec. 22 and bond was set at $500, according to the documents. No employment was listed on the documents. Dykes was bonded out that same day by D&D Bonding Co., Woodham said.
Neighbor Danny Dean, 57, said that he saw Dykes working in his yard most of the time.
?He's always got a shovel,? said Dean, who had lived in the neighborhood for about twelve years. ?He loved to shovel for some damn reason.?
Dean said that Dykes only moved into the area about a year and a half ago. A property tax clerk for Dale County confirmed that Dykes has paid his taxes on his 1.5 acre property on time for the past two years.
Boy held hostage in bunker after being snatched from school bus
Dean, whose property is about three-tenths of a mile from Dykes? home, said that he did not know the man well, but that no one else seemed to, either.
?He just works in the yard constantly,? Dean said of Dykes, who dug his own driveway. ?As far as passing, he?s always been a friendly fellow.?
Another neighbor, Claudia Davis, told the Associated Press that she had seen a darker side of Dykes.
?Before this happened, I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me,? Davis, 54, told the AP. ?On Monday I saw him at a laundry mat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck, and he just stared and stared at me.?
Tim Byrd, a chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff?s Office, told the Southern Poverty Law Center?s Hatewatch that Dykes was a ?survivalist? with ?anti-American? views.
?His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD,? Byrd told the SPLC. ?He was standoffish, didn?t socialize or have any contact with anybody.?
?He?s the type that thinks the government?s out to get him,? neighbor Michael Creel told local paper the Dothan Eagle. ?He?s not right in the head.?
Another man who said he lives near Dykes told the AP that the man had once threatened his children after Smith?s dogs went on to Dykes? property. Smith told the AP that his son and daughter were on the school bus during the shooting in Midland City on Tuesday.
?He?s very paranoid,? Smith told the AP. ?He goes around in his yard at night with a flashlight and a shotgun.?
Eva Syples, a clerk for the Dale County Probate Office, said she has lived in the area since 1968 and the small town has never seen anything like the situation that developed Tuesday. She said most people just stop at the fresh fruit and vegetable stands and barbecue joints that dot Highway 231 on their way by the town to Montgomery or the beaches of Panama City, Florida.
It?s the kind of small town where people extend an unasked for hand, Syples said: ?They have true southern hospitality down here. We go above and beyond to help your neighbor.?
The owner of one of those nearby barbecue stands, Charlie Webb, said his restaurant sits on Highway 231 about 300 yards from the property where law enforcement converged on Tuesday afternoon.
?Most people just pulled up in the parking lot wanting to know what was going on,? Webb, 59, said of the people that pulled into his Webb?s 231 Bar-B-Q last night to watch the police lights. ?They?re all just pretty shocked.?
NBC News correspondent Gabe Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Geomancer job is leaving Final Fantasy V and coming to Final Fantasy XI as part of the Seekers of Adoulin expansion pack. Gemonacers use Geomancy to buff party members and debilitate monsters.
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Geomancers have two kinds of geomancy magic. Indicolure spells are magical auras that affect party members and enemies nearby.
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Here are some examples of Indicolure spells:
Indi-Voidance: Enhances evasion for party members near the caster. Indi-Acumen: Enhances magic attack for party members near the caster. Indi-Gravity: Weighs down enemies near the caster and lowers their movement speed. Indi-Paralysis: Paralyzes enemies near the caster. Indi-Regen: Gradually restores HP for party members near the caster.
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Geocolure spells can only be used when a character?s main class is set as Geomancer. Geomancers have to place a Luopan which emanates a field that acts as the center of a Gecolure spell.
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Here are some examples of Geocolure spells:
Geo-Fury: Enhances attack for party members within area of effect. Geo-Focus: Enhances magic accuracy for party members within area of effect. Geo-Malaise: Reduces magic defense for enemies within area of effect. Geo-Torpor: Reduces evasion for enemies within area of effect. Geo-Poison: Poisons enemies within area of effect and gradually reduces their HP.
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Geomancers can equip handbells which can enhance the effect of geomancy magic. Bastard!! manga artist Kazushi Hagiwara made handbells for Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin.
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Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin has new enemies designed to challenge high level players called The Naakuals.
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Tchakka, the Riptide Naakual (Rockfin family)
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Achuka, the Firebrand Naakual (Gabbrath Family)
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Colkhab, the Matriarch Naakual (Bztavian Family)
Video game stories from other sites on the web. These links leave Siliconera.
Applications are invited by WWF-Pakistan?from qualified and experienced candidates for the job/vacancy of?Project Officer ? Technical. The locations of this position will be based in?Lahore.?
Selection Criteria
Candidates for the position of Project Officer ? Technical should ideally have;
1. A post-graduate qualification in Environmental Management, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Engineering or any other relevant field;
2. At least 2 year of relevant work experience.
3. Excellent presentation and interpersonal communication skills
4. Experience in the corporate development sector will be useful;
5. Other Skills and Abilities:
Aptitude for team work;
Good English Language (reading, writing and speaking skills);
Proficiency in computers particularly Microsoft Office;
Problem-solving skills and results orientation;
Sensitivity to gender and other current social issues in Pakistan?
WWF-Pakistan is an equal opportunity employer. WWF-Pakistan reserves the right to amend and upgrade these ToRs from time to time, as may be required in the interests of the organization.
GEOLOGY starts 2013 with 25 new articles posted online ahead of printPublic release date: 30-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org 303-357-1057 Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - Geology content posted online 4 through 25 January 2013 cover topics from greenhouse gas emissions to video observations of erupting geysers in Russia and from the age of Earth to the age of Grand Canyon. Highlights and detailed information about each article are listed below.
1. Earth is mostly flat
2. Age maps of early Earth
3. Sagaing fault, Indo-Burmese wedge
4. Anthropogenic lead
5. The growth of a newly born submarine volcano
6. The Hemlo gold deposit, Ontario, Canada
7. Reptile and mammal fossils in the Karoo Basin, South Africa
8. Retrieving glacial meltwater isotope signatures in deep Earth history
9. 12 million years of vegetation change in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya
10. GPS and intra-continental earthquakes
11. Recycling Earth
12. Retrodeforming the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone
13. The 11 April 2012 magnitude 8.6 Sumatran earthquake
14. 3.8-billion-year-old volcanic rocks from Innersuartuut, southwest Greenland
15. Some of the lowest denudation rates in the world
16. Gravity causes large volcanoes to spreading or sag volcanoes under their own weight
17. Oldest biomarker molecules extracted from fossils in Indiana
18. Examining how monsoon rainfall differed on the Tibetan Plateau 10,000 years ago
19. Exploration of the continental shelf offshore Latium (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)
20. Results showing that the Grand Canyon was cut within the last six million years
21. The missing Nb paradox
22. Video of interior conduit systems for four erupting geysers in Geyser Valley, Kamchatka, Russia
23. Tristan-Gough, the first chemically zoned plume to be recognized overlying the African superplume
24. The "Messinian gap"
25. A field of pockmarks buried ~4 km deep in the Levant Basin
Highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. All abstracts are open-access at http://geology.gsapubs.org/; representatives of the media may obtain complimentary GEOLOGY articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Earth is (mostly) flat: Apportionment of the flux of continental sediment over millennial time scales Jane K. Willenbring et al., Dept. of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA, and National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics, 2 Third Ave. SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33918.1.
Although churning smokestacks and gasoline-burning vehicles are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, some natural processes do the reverse by pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. One of these processes is chemical weathering, which occurs when rock turns into soil. Carbon dioxide molecules and rain combine and dissolve rocks; the weathering products eventually become sequestered in the ocean. For years, geologists believed that mountains, due to their steep slopes and high rates of erosion, were large contributors to this "carbon drawdown" effect. Here, Jane K. Willenbring and colleagues suggest that mountains do not play a significant role in this activity. They analyzed published cosmogenic nuclide-derived erosion rates from around the world and extrapolated rates to unmeasured watersheds to determine where most sediment was produced. Their findings show that even the steepest, most erosion-prone slopes make up only a small fraction of Earth's surface. So, while mountains may have very high rates of erosion and soil production per unit area, they are far outstripped by the much more abundant expanses of gently sloping land. This result challenges previous studies, which suggested that mountainous rivers contribute most of the sediment to the oceans and that recent mountain uplift cooled the planet via weathering and carbon dioxide drawdown.
Mobilization of radiogenic Pb in zircon revealed by ion imaging: Implications for early Earth geochronology Monika A. Kusiak et al., Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
Dept. of Applied Geology, Curtin University, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33920.1.
The isotopic disturbance of zircons from ~3.4 billion-year-old Archean high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Napier Complex, Antarctica, has been known for many years. Here, Monika Kusiak and colleagues use a novel high spatial resolution ion imaging technique to generate Pb-isotopic "age maps" for these zircons. These record patchy variations in the isotopic ratios that result in spurious ages, including some that are Hadean (older than 4.0 billion years). These data provide the first unambiguous demonstration of the distribution of unsupported ancient radiogenic lead in zircon. The authors relate this feature to the ultrahigh temperature metamorphism (UHT) in this region which occurred about 2.5 billion years ago. Their results raise the possibility that other old ages from zircon subject to similar metamorphism may be erroneous. Given that zircon is the only direct sample we have of the Hadean (e.g. the well-known Jack Hills detrital zircons), many models for Earth's earliest evolution critically depend on the veracity of ages obtained using an ion microprobe.
Aseismic plate boundary in the Indo-Burmese wedge, northwest Sunda Arc Vineet K Gahalaut et al., CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500606, Andhra Pradesh, India. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33771.1.
Plate motion, crustal deformation, and earthquake occurrence processes in the northwest Sunda Arc, which includes the Indo-Burmese wedge (IBW) in the forearc and the Sagaing fault in the backarc, are very poorly constrained. Plate reconstruction models and geological structures in the region suggest that subduction in the IBW occurred in the geological past, but whether it is still active and how the plate motion between the India and Sunda plates is partitioned between motion in the IBW and Sagaing fault is largely unknown. Vineet K. Gahalaut and colleagues report results from a dense GPS network in the IBW that has operated since 2004. Their analysis of these measurements and the seismicity of the IBW suggest that the steeply dipping Churachandpur-Mao fault in the IBW accommodates the remaining motion between the India and Sunda plates through dextral strike-slip motion, and this motion occurs predominantly through velocity strengthening frictional behavior, i.e., aseismic slip. The aseismic motion on this plate boundary fault significantly lowers the seismic hazard due to major and great interplate earthquakes along this plate boundary.
Anthropogenic lead as a tracer of rock varnish growth: Implications for rates of formation Michael N. Spilde et al., Institute of Meteoritics, MSC03-2050, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33514.1.
Rock varnish is a thin dark coating best known from deserts, and is believed to grow extremely slowly. Varnish samples from near Socorro, New Mexico (United States), contain as much as 3.7% lead oxide, derived from nearby smelters operating from A.D. 1870 to 1931. Additional varnish indicates continued growth from 1931 to 2003. Comparison with other varnish confirms that the lead is not an artifact. Based on Pb layer thickness, and the period of smelter operation, these very young rock varnishes yield growth rates of 28 to 639 microns per thousand year, substantially higher than previously documented fastest rates. These rates imply that the average rate for older varnish is not the active growth rate. Rather, it is a long-term value including periods of nondeposition, erosion, and active growth. Therefore, models of rock varnish formation should be reevaluated with consideration of much faster maximum growth rates.
Construction of an oceanic island: Insights from the El Hierro (Canary Islands) 2011-2012 submarine volcanic eruption J. Rivera et al. (M. Canals, corresponding), Instituto Espaol de Oceanografa, Corazn de Mara 8, Madrid E-28002, Spain. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33863.1.
J. Rivera and colleagues present the first continuous monitoring of the growth of a newly born submarine volcano while erupting in an ocean island flank. The eruption occurred south of El Hierro Island in the Canaries, off Northwest Africa, from 10 October 2011 to 5 March 2012 and was marked by earth tremors, stained waters, and dead fish. An unprecedented high-frequency, high-resolution bathymetric monitoring allowed calculating changes in eruption rates. The first survey, 15 days after the eruption's onset, showed a cone topping at 205 m depth. 137 days later, the cone had developed into a fissure eruption with four associated vents, the shallowest topping at only 89 m of water depth. Despite the fact that the eruption added about 0.006% to the volume of the overall edifice only, the shallow depth reached by the growing volcano raised serious concern since shallow water volcanism may lead to explosive eruptions and tsunami generation. This small, geologically frequent growth episode contrasts with the destruction by large-scale catastrophic flank collapses that affect most volcanic islands. The most recent giant debris avalanche in El Hierro, which occurred 13 to 134-thousand ago, mobilized in a single event a volume equivalent to 450 to 550 eruptions similar in size to the one described. This seems to be the fate of ocean islands.
Synchronous vertical and horizontal tectonism at late stages of Archean cratonization and genesis of Hemlo gold deposit, Superior craton, Ontario, Canada Shoufa Lin, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada; and School of Resources and Environment, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230026, P.R. China; and Gary P. Beakhouse. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33887.1.
The tectonic processes in modern Earth are characterized by large scale horizontal motion (plate tectonics, a form of horizontal tectonism), whereas those at the early stages of Earth's evolution were probably very different and dominated by vertical motion (vertical tectonism). The transition from dominant vertical to dominant horizontal tectonism took place about 2.7 to 2.6 billion years ago in the Superior craton in Canada and is characterized by the synchronous and interactive operation of vertical and horizontal tectonism. Such a transitional process is important for gold mineralization. The world-class Hemlo gold deposit in Ontario (containing more than 700 tons of gold) formed as a result of the process.
High-precision temporal calibration of Late Permian vertebrate biostratigraphy: U-Pb zircon constraints from the Karoo Supergroup, South Africa Bruce S. Rubidge et al. (Jahandar Ramezani, corresponding), Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa; and Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33622.1.
The continental sedimentary rocks deposited in the Karoo Basin of South Africa preserve a remarkable fossil record of reptile and mammal ancestors that elucidate the evolutionary and biodiversity changes in the crucial geologic period between the Permian and the Jurassic (270-180 million years ago). Stratigraphic zonations based on the South African tetrapod fossils have global applicability in correlating continental deposits throughout the Pangean supercontinent. A major limiting factor, however, has been a lack of independent and reliable age constraints for the Karoo biozones. Bruce S. Rubidge and colleagues report on the discovery of volcanic ash deposits interbedded with four lower Permian biozones of the Karoo Supergroup and their geochronology based on high-precision U-Pb analyses by the CA-TIM method. The calibrated biostratigraphy improves understanding of basin development, as well as rates of vertebrate evolution at a time when the earliest reptile lineages were being established. It also allows correlation to the marine realm with enormous implications for global patterns of faunal evolution, including mass extinction events of the Permian Period and their possible driving mechanisms.
Oxygen isotope composition of meltwater from a Neoproterozoic glaciation in South China Yongbo Peng et al. (Huiming Bao, corresponding), Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-4101, USA; and Dept. of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 East 10th Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47405-1405, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33830.1.
Climate information associated with a glaciation, such as temperature or moisture source, is recorded by the oxygen isotope composition of its ice. Unfortunately, few glacial ices on Earth have survived for more than 1 million years. The oxygen isotope composition of older glacial ices must be found indirectly via oxygen-bearing minerals that formed in the glacial meltwater. This is difficult because of the scarcity of suitable minerals and deposits formed and preserved in meltwater environments. Yongbo Peng and colleagues show that sulfate minerals (barite and malachite) in the immediate vicinity of chalcocite clasts in a Neoproterozoic diamictite from South China bear extremely negative oxygen isotope values. The low oxygen isotope sulfate minerals are best explained by formation via chalcocite oxidation in glacial meltwater. The data suggest that the diamictite was deposited on land in Neoproterozoic glacial meltwater that had almost the same oxygen isotope value as modern glaciers in Antarctica. This study opens up a new possibility for retrieving glacial meltwater isotope signatures in deep Earth history.
Northeast African vegetation change over 12 m.y. Sarah J. Feakins et al., Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, California 90089-0740, USA. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33845.1.
This study by Sarah J. Feakins and colleagues reports vegetation change over 12 million years in northeast Africa (specifically Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya). Nearby marine sediments act as a trap for dust, including waxy molecules from plant leaves and pollen grains, blowing off the continent. The waxy molecules record the types of plants that were present -- based on signals locked in when the plant synthesized its first sugar with either three (C3) or four carbon (C4) atoms. The C4 plants are found only amongst grasses and shrubs that like warm-season precipitation and low carbon dioxide levels and are also commonly drought tolerant; the C3 category includes most other plants. The authors added pollen evidence for proportions of grasses versus trees to build a complete picture of the changing landscape. They found that rainforests were not present in the source region at any time in the last 12 million years. Instead, the landscape was surprisingly open, with C4 grasses and shrubs increasing at 10 million years, replacing earlier C3 grasslands. These ecosystem changes may have shaped faunal evolution: landscapes were open much earlier than previously thought and the timing of the C4 rise confirms the fast uptake of this new foodstuff by the ancestors of modern horses.
Contrasting strike-slip motions on thrust and normal faults: Implications for space-geodetic monitoring of surface deformation Andrea Hampel et al., Institut fr Geologie, Leibniz-Universitt Hannover, Callinstrasse 30, 30167 Hannover, Germany. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33927.1.
Global positioning system (GPS) measurements are important tools for monitoring seismically active faults in Earth's crust. Both the abrupt surface motions during the earthquake and the slower postseismic movements over years to decades after the earthquake can be determined. Among the first intra-continental earthquakes recorded by GPS are the 2009 L'Aquila (Italy) and 2003 Chengkung (Taiwan) earthquakes. In contrast to the common notion, these dip-slip faults showed hitherto unexplained differences in the direction and velocity of the coseismic and postseismic surface movements parallel to the fault trace. Using three-dimensional numerical models, Andrea Hampel and colleagues demonstrate that the observed contrasting fault-parallel slip patterns are characteristic features of the two different fault types and that they are also evident in field data of coseismic and long-term cumulative fault slip. During the postseismic phase, viscous flow in the lower crust induces fault-parallel surface displacements, which have the same direction as the coseismic displacements but are distributed over a much larger area. In order to detect this signal, future studies require GPS stations to be placed in the prolongation of the fault trace, in addition to those positioned near the fault.
Delamination in the Betic Range: Deep structure, seismicity, and GPS motion Flor de Lis Mancilla et al., Instituto Andaluz de Geofsica, Universidad de Granada, 18071-Granada, Spain. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33733.1.
A significant portion of Earth's lithosphere is recycled into the deeper mantle. The two principal mechanisms for recycling are subduction and delamination. While the areas where subduction processes are taking place are well recognize and its mechanisms well understood, delamination processes are not completely revealed mainly because they are more difficult to detect. In this study, Flor de Lis Mancilla and colleagues provide important evidence of crustal delamination in the Western Mediterranean region from different datasets. The whole underthrusted Iberia crust is delaminated beneath part of the Betic mountain range, still connected to the foreland lithosphere on one side, and displaced along a tear fault along the other side.
Retrodeforming the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone: Age of collision versus magnitude of continental subduction Nadine McQuarrie (corresponding) and Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen, Dept. of Geology and Planetary Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33591.1.
Two first-order questions seem to defy consensus along the Alpine-Himalayan orogen: When did continents initially collide? Where is deformation partitioned as continents continue to converge? These that these questions remain because of difficulty in identifying geologic markers that require collision. N. McQuarrie and van Hinsbergen examine the medial portion of this collision zone where Arabia has collided with Eurasia. Sedimentary rocks from Eurasia, deposited on the Arabian plate are indisputable evidence of Eurasia-Arabia collision; however, several authors have argued for a collision age that is 10-15 million years earlier. This 10 to 15 million-year difference is important because the Arabia-Eurasia collision has been linked to global cooling, the slowing of Africa, Mediterranean extension, the rifting of the Red Sea, an increase in exhumation and sedimentation on the Eurasian plate, and the slowing and deformation of the Arabian plate, features that require a collision about 35 million years ago. Collision at this time would require subduction of ~400-600 km of unaccounted for Arabian continental crust. McQuarrie and van Hinsbergen argue that remnants of oceanic crust preserved on Arabia (similar to the Semail Ophiolite in Oman) limit the amount of subduction of additional continental crust to 180 km. This suggests collision is no older than 27 million years.
Mw 8.6 Sumatran earthquake of 11 April 2012: Rare seaward expression of oblique subduction Miaki Ishii et al., Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33783.1.
The largest known strike-slip earthquake of magnitude 8.6 occurred on 11 April 2012 off the northwestern coast of Sumatra. This earthquake ruptured within the Indo-Australian plate, and the slip propagation is shown to be primarily southeast to northwest using seismological and tsunami data. This trend is almost parallel to the nearby trench where the 2004 magnitude 9 Sumatran earthquake occurred. These megathrust events are known to promote subsequent failures within the subducting plate, suggesting that the great earthquake in 2012 is a consequence of the devastating 2004 Sumatran earthquake. Furthermore, this region is characterized by oblique plate convergence, and the trench-parallel component is thought to be taken up by the Great Sumatran Fault on the island of Sumatra. There have been rising concerns that the expected slip from the plate convergence rate is much larger than the observed slip on the Great Sumatran Fault, which has been interpreted as a sign of an impending large earthquake. We propose that the missing slip is mostly accounted for by the magnitude 8.6 earthquake in 2012. If such partitioning of slip between two plates occurs along other oblique subduction zones, the hazard potential of the faults on over-riding plates must be reevaluated.
Eoarchean within-plate basalts from southwest Greenland F.E. Jenner et al., Dept. of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road Northwest, Washington, DC 20015, USA; and Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33787.1.
Previous geochemical studies have used the similarities in geochemistry of magmas erupted 3.8 billion years ago and modern subduction zone magmas to argue for subduction-style tectonics early in the Earth's history. However, the lack of evidence for non-subduction related volcanic rocks older than 3 billion years, such as mid-ocean ridge and/or oceanic island magmas, may instead indicate that the subduction-like compositions of these ancient volcanic suites resulted from early chemical differentiation of the Earth and/or crustal contamination instead of modern-style tectonic processes. New analyses of a suite of 3.8-billion-year-old volcanic rocks from the island of Innersuartuut, southwest Greenland, show no evidence for crustal contamination or subduction-related magmatism. Instead, their compositions are comparable to those erupting at modern oceanic islands, such as Hawaii. These new data can be used to demonstrate that the range in tectonic settings 3.8 billion years ago was comparable to present. This new finding strengthens previous arguments that subduction of oceanic crust into the mantle has been taking place for at least 3.8 billion years.
Strong rocks sustain ancient postorogenic topography in southern Africa
Taryn E. Scharf et al., Earth Surface Geochemistry, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ), Potsdam D-14478, Germany; and Africa Earth Observatory Network (AEON), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth 6031, South Africa. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33806.1.
The Cape Mountains of southern Africa exhibit an alpine-like topography in conjunction with some of the lowest denudation rates in the world. This presents an exception to the often-cited coupling of topography and erosion and suggests that steep slopes alone are not sufficient to incite the high erosion rates with which they are commonly associated. Taryn E. Scharf and colleagues attribute the maintenance of rugged topography and suppression of erosion rates primarily to the presence of physically robust and chemically inert quartzites that constitute the backbone of the mountains. The low erosion rates they determine using cosmogenic isotopes are in agreement with the low erosion rates estimated for southern Africa during the late-Cenozoic using a variety of other techniques. Accumulatively, these data suggest that the coastal hinterland of the subcontinent may have experienced relative tectonic stability throughout the Cenozoic.
A sagging-spreading continuum of large volcano structure P.K. Byrne et al., Dept. of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5240 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, USA; and Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, Universit Blaise-Pascal, 5 Rue Kessler, 63038 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex, France. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33990.1.
Gravity can cause large volcanoes to deform under their own weight. Such volcanoes can either spread outward along their underlying "basement" rocks, or they can sag downward into their basement. These deformation processes strongly affect the structural stability and eruptive behavior of the volcano. Using scaled "sand-box" simulations, P.K. Byrne and colleagues identify a continuum of deformation styles, from pure spreading to pure sagging. They explore how volcano-basement coupling and basement rigidity control the position of a given volcano along this continuum. For example, this study shows how a combination of spreading and sagging can explain many enigmatic features of Olympus Mons on Mars, the largest volcano in the Solar System. More broadly, their results can help volcano hazard studies by showing how spreading promotes, but sagging reduces, the risk of catastrophic landslides or sector collapses.
Isolation and characterization of the earliest taxon-specific organic molecules (Mississippian, Crinoidea)
Christina E. O'Malley et al. (William I. Ausich, corresponding), School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, 155 South Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33792.1.
The oldest biomarker molecules extracted directly from individual fossils are reported from Lower Mississippian (340-million-year-old) crinoids from Indiana. Here, as in many other well-preserved crinoid occurrences, crinoid specimens of the same species are preserved in calcite of different colors. Thus, the isolated biomarkers represent some attribute intrinsic to each species. Biomarker molecules are reported from three species that occur in the same sedimentary bed. Extracted molecules preserve a phylogenetic signal, with the two more closely related species having more similar biomarkers compared with a third, more distantly related taxon. These biomarker molecules resemble aromatic or polyaromatic quinones based upon ultraviolet visible light spectroscopy (UV-Vis), fluorescence excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (EEMs), and electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS), which are similar in structure to echinochromes, spinochromes, and gymnochromes that occur in living echinoderms. Results suggest that the preservation of diagnostic organic molecules is much more common that previously realized and that preserved organic molecules may provide an independent method to unravel phylogenetic relationships among echinoderms and, perhaps, other fossilized organisms.
Long-term east-west asymmetry in monsoon rainfall on the Tibetan Plateau Adam M. Hudson (corresponding) and Jay Quade, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33837.1.
Adam Hudson and Jay Quade compare the modern lake areas of 130 closed basin lake systems on the Tibetan Plateau to the areas they occupied during the past warm period of the early Holocene. Past lake areas were calculated using abandoned shoreline features deposited around the lakes. Closed basin lakes have no outflowing rivers, so their surface area is directly related to the amount of precipitation and evaporation happening in their drainage basins. Hudson and Quade use this relationship to reconstruct the magnitude of rainfall increase associated with the intensification of the Asian summer monsoon in the region ~10,000 years ago. By comparing the past lake areas to the modern lake areas for lakes across the Tibetan Plateau, they take a regional look at how monsoon rainfall differed relative to today. They found that lakes located at the far western edge of the plateau increased fourfold to sixfold in area, but this expansion decreased to only about twofold in the center and eastern edge. This shows that rainfall in western Tibet increased more than to the east. This is in contrast to today, where the western plateau is much drier than the east. This difference indicates that monsoon rainfall may change asymmetrically during warmer climate.
Very high-resolution seismic stratigraphy of Pleistocene eustatic minima markers as a tool to reconstruct the tectonic evolution of the northern Latium shelf (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) S. Fraccascia et al., MARUM, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33868.1.
S. Fraccascia and colleagues explore the characteristics of paleo-shelf break and lowstand submerged depositional terraces along the continental shelf offshore Latium (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). Using very high resolution seismic stratigraphy, the study reconstructed the distribution of uplift and subsidence in the area for the past 500 thousand years, in good agreement with earlier studies on land.
Detrital zircons indicate no drainage link between southern California rivers and the Colorado Plateau from mid-Cretaceous through Pliocene Raymond V. Ingersoll et al., Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Dr. East, Los Angeles, California 90095-1567, USA. Posted online 25 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33807.1.
Upper Cretaceous to Pliocene (two million to 100 million year old) sandstone in coastal southern California contains almost no detrital zircon with the distinctive age signature of Colorado Plateau strata. These results presented by Raymond V. Ingersoll and colleagues conflict with the hypothesis that a major river draining the Colorado Plateau (and cutting an ancestral Grand Canyon) flowed to coastal California during the Paleogene (23 to 65 million years ago). Their results are consistent with the hypothesis that Grand Canyon was cut during the latest Miocene to present (0 to 6 million years ago) by the integrated Colorado River draining into the Gulf of California.
Fractionation of Nb and Ta by biotite and phengite: Implications for the "missing Nb paradox" Aleksandr S. Stepanov (corresponding) and Jrg Hermann, Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Posted online 25 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33781.1.
The subchondritic niobium/tantalum in both the continental crust and the depleted mantle remains enigmatic and is called the "missing Nb paradox." Aleksandr Stepanov and Jrg Hermann present partitioning data between biotite and granitic melt for experimental and natural samples that provide evidence that Nb is compatible in biotite and phengite. Nb can thus be enriched in the residue during partial melting of crustal rocks. Additionally, biotite and phengite in equilibrium with granitic melts preferentially incorporate Nb over Ta. Therefore, incipient partial melting of biotite-rich crustal rocks produces restites with high Nb/Ta. Progressive melting of such rocks leads to the consumption of biotite and the formation of peritectic rutile or ilmenite, which retain the high-Nb/Ta signature. Stepanov and Hermann suggest that such mid to lower crustal granulites could represent an important Nb-rich reservoir with high Nb/Ta. Similarly, high-Ti phengite that is present in deeply subducted sediments preferentially incorporates Nb over Ta. High-pressure incipient partial melting in the presence of residual phengite thus also produces restites with high Nb/Ta that could be subducted to the deeper mantle.
Video observations inside conduits of erupting geysers in Kamchatka, Russia, and their geological framework: Implications for the geyser mechanism
A. Belousov et al., Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Piip Boulevard 9, Petropavlovsk 683006, Russia. Posted online 25 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33366.1.
Several models have been proposed to explain periodic eruptions of geysers. In essence, the models all use two principally different types of geyser plumbing configurations, dealing with two different physical mechanisms. Here A. Belousov and colleagues present data on direct video observations of interior conduit systems for four erupting geysers in Geyser Valley, Kamchatka, Russia. The video footage reveals highly contorted water-filled conduits that periodically discharge voluminous parcels of steam bubbles during eruptions. These observations do not favor the models that use the most popular long vertical conduit type of plumbing, where eruptions are caused by sudden flashing of superheated water into steam. In contrast, these data fit the models using the less-explored type of plumbing, where pressurized steam gradually accumulates in an underground cavity (bubble trap) and periodically erupts through a water-filled, highly contorted conduit with the configuration of an inverted siphon. Conduits of the studied geysers were developed from erosion by ascending geothermal water in landslide deposits having chaotic internal structures. Belousov and colleagues suggest that geyser fields are rare on Earth because they require the combination of hydrothermal discharge and geological formations having specific mechanical properties and structures (that facilitate the generation of highly contorted conduits).
70 Ma chemical zonation of the Tristan-Gough hotspot track Joana Rohde et al., GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, 24148 Kiel, Germany. Posted online 25 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33790.1.
Hotspot tracks are age-progressive chains of volcanoes that form as lithosphere moves over a mantle plume. Some Pacific hotspot tracks display a spatial geochemical zonation with distinct isotopic domains attributed to their location above the margin of the Pacific superplume, a large-scale low-shear velocity province in the lower mantle beneath the southern Pacific. Joana Rohde and colleagues investigate geochemical variations along the Tristan-Gough hotspot track in the South Atlantic to evaluate if such spatial compositional heterogeneities also exist in the Atlantic. They observe that the isotopic compositions display a bilateral zonation with two distinct mantle source compositions, making Tristan-Gough the first chemically zoned plume to be recognized overlying the African superplume. Moreover, the zonation is traced for at least 70 million years, four times longer than recognized for any zoned hotspot track in the Pacific thus far. The southeastern Gough subtrack is chemically more enriched and may reflect the composition of the African superplume, whereas the more depleted northwestern Tristan subtrack could be derived through mixing of the ambient depleted mantle with the enriched material. Finally it appears that seismic anomalies are not simply thermal but also chemical in nature and that chemical zonation of hotspots could map out chemical heterogeneities in the lower mantle.
Refining the Mediterranean "Messinian gap" with high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology, central and northern Italy Domenico Cosentino et al., Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Universit degli Studi Roma Tre, 00154 Rome, Italy; and Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria-CNR, 00138 Rome, Italy. Posted online 25 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33820.1.
At the end of Miocene (5.96-5.33 million years ago) the progressive closure of the Atlantic-Mediterranean connection induced a major evaporative event known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), which lead to the near complete desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea and the deposition of thick evaporite layers. Astronomical tuning of the precessionally modulated sedimentary cycles deposited during the MSC has indicated and approx. 90-thousand-year "Messinian gap," corresponding to the evaporative drawdown of the Mediterranean following complete closure of the Mediterranean-Atlantic gateway.
Evidence for large-scale methane venting due to rapid drawdown of sea level during the Messinian Salinity Crisis Claudia Bertoni et al. (Joseph Cartwright, corresponding), School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK. Posted online 25 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33987.1.
Claudia Bertoni and colleagues report the discovery, from three-dimensional seismic mapping, of a field of pockmarks buried at present depths of ~4 km in the Levant Basin (southeastern Mediterranean). The pockmarks cover an area of ~1000 square kilometers, have diameters as great as 2 km, and erode as much as 200 m into their substrate of deep-water clastic sediments, which immediately predate the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, about 5.5 to 6.2 million years ago). These craters are filled by the basal units of the Messinian evaporites, thus implying they formed at or close to the time of the earliest major drawdown of sea level. All the pockmarks are developed at a single, regionally correlatable surface, Horizon N, which is observed throughout the Mediterranean to coincide with the onset of the MSC. Bertoni and colleagues propose that a rapid basinal drawdown led to a dramatic increase of the shallow subsurface pore-fluid overpressure regime in the mostly fine-grained pre-Messinian sediments. Subsequent pressure release then resulted in high flux fluid venting, sediment remobilization, and pockmark formation. The spatial association of the craters with an underlying canyon suggests that their formation is linked to biogenic methane generation. The model of drawdown-induced overpressuring and remobilization may be applicable to many other evaporitic basins, and represents a novel mechanism for inducing large-scale sediment remobilization of shallow buried depositional systems at the earliest stages of salt basin development.
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GEOLOGY starts 2013 with 25 new articles posted online ahead of printPublic release date: 30-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org 303-357-1057 Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - Geology content posted online 4 through 25 January 2013 cover topics from greenhouse gas emissions to video observations of erupting geysers in Russia and from the age of Earth to the age of Grand Canyon. Highlights and detailed information about each article are listed below.
1. Earth is mostly flat
2. Age maps of early Earth
3. Sagaing fault, Indo-Burmese wedge
4. Anthropogenic lead
5. The growth of a newly born submarine volcano
6. The Hemlo gold deposit, Ontario, Canada
7. Reptile and mammal fossils in the Karoo Basin, South Africa
8. Retrieving glacial meltwater isotope signatures in deep Earth history
9. 12 million years of vegetation change in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya
10. GPS and intra-continental earthquakes
11. Recycling Earth
12. Retrodeforming the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone
13. The 11 April 2012 magnitude 8.6 Sumatran earthquake
14. 3.8-billion-year-old volcanic rocks from Innersuartuut, southwest Greenland
15. Some of the lowest denudation rates in the world
16. Gravity causes large volcanoes to spreading or sag volcanoes under their own weight
17. Oldest biomarker molecules extracted from fossils in Indiana
18. Examining how monsoon rainfall differed on the Tibetan Plateau 10,000 years ago
19. Exploration of the continental shelf offshore Latium (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)
20. Results showing that the Grand Canyon was cut within the last six million years
21. The missing Nb paradox
22. Video of interior conduit systems for four erupting geysers in Geyser Valley, Kamchatka, Russia
23. Tristan-Gough, the first chemically zoned plume to be recognized overlying the African superplume
24. The "Messinian gap"
25. A field of pockmarks buried ~4 km deep in the Levant Basin
Highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. All abstracts are open-access at http://geology.gsapubs.org/; representatives of the media may obtain complimentary GEOLOGY articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Earth is (mostly) flat: Apportionment of the flux of continental sediment over millennial time scales Jane K. Willenbring et al., Dept. of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA, and National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics, 2 Third Ave. SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33918.1.
Although churning smokestacks and gasoline-burning vehicles are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, some natural processes do the reverse by pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. One of these processes is chemical weathering, which occurs when rock turns into soil. Carbon dioxide molecules and rain combine and dissolve rocks; the weathering products eventually become sequestered in the ocean. For years, geologists believed that mountains, due to their steep slopes and high rates of erosion, were large contributors to this "carbon drawdown" effect. Here, Jane K. Willenbring and colleagues suggest that mountains do not play a significant role in this activity. They analyzed published cosmogenic nuclide-derived erosion rates from around the world and extrapolated rates to unmeasured watersheds to determine where most sediment was produced. Their findings show that even the steepest, most erosion-prone slopes make up only a small fraction of Earth's surface. So, while mountains may have very high rates of erosion and soil production per unit area, they are far outstripped by the much more abundant expanses of gently sloping land. This result challenges previous studies, which suggested that mountainous rivers contribute most of the sediment to the oceans and that recent mountain uplift cooled the planet via weathering and carbon dioxide drawdown.
Mobilization of radiogenic Pb in zircon revealed by ion imaging: Implications for early Earth geochronology Monika A. Kusiak et al., Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
Dept. of Applied Geology, Curtin University, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33920.1.
The isotopic disturbance of zircons from ~3.4 billion-year-old Archean high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Napier Complex, Antarctica, has been known for many years. Here, Monika Kusiak and colleagues use a novel high spatial resolution ion imaging technique to generate Pb-isotopic "age maps" for these zircons. These record patchy variations in the isotopic ratios that result in spurious ages, including some that are Hadean (older than 4.0 billion years). These data provide the first unambiguous demonstration of the distribution of unsupported ancient radiogenic lead in zircon. The authors relate this feature to the ultrahigh temperature metamorphism (UHT) in this region which occurred about 2.5 billion years ago. Their results raise the possibility that other old ages from zircon subject to similar metamorphism may be erroneous. Given that zircon is the only direct sample we have of the Hadean (e.g. the well-known Jack Hills detrital zircons), many models for Earth's earliest evolution critically depend on the veracity of ages obtained using an ion microprobe.
Aseismic plate boundary in the Indo-Burmese wedge, northwest Sunda Arc Vineet K Gahalaut et al., CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500606, Andhra Pradesh, India. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33771.1.
Plate motion, crustal deformation, and earthquake occurrence processes in the northwest Sunda Arc, which includes the Indo-Burmese wedge (IBW) in the forearc and the Sagaing fault in the backarc, are very poorly constrained. Plate reconstruction models and geological structures in the region suggest that subduction in the IBW occurred in the geological past, but whether it is still active and how the plate motion between the India and Sunda plates is partitioned between motion in the IBW and Sagaing fault is largely unknown. Vineet K. Gahalaut and colleagues report results from a dense GPS network in the IBW that has operated since 2004. Their analysis of these measurements and the seismicity of the IBW suggest that the steeply dipping Churachandpur-Mao fault in the IBW accommodates the remaining motion between the India and Sunda plates through dextral strike-slip motion, and this motion occurs predominantly through velocity strengthening frictional behavior, i.e., aseismic slip. The aseismic motion on this plate boundary fault significantly lowers the seismic hazard due to major and great interplate earthquakes along this plate boundary.
Anthropogenic lead as a tracer of rock varnish growth: Implications for rates of formation Michael N. Spilde et al., Institute of Meteoritics, MSC03-2050, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33514.1.
Rock varnish is a thin dark coating best known from deserts, and is believed to grow extremely slowly. Varnish samples from near Socorro, New Mexico (United States), contain as much as 3.7% lead oxide, derived from nearby smelters operating from A.D. 1870 to 1931. Additional varnish indicates continued growth from 1931 to 2003. Comparison with other varnish confirms that the lead is not an artifact. Based on Pb layer thickness, and the period of smelter operation, these very young rock varnishes yield growth rates of 28 to 639 microns per thousand year, substantially higher than previously documented fastest rates. These rates imply that the average rate for older varnish is not the active growth rate. Rather, it is a long-term value including periods of nondeposition, erosion, and active growth. Therefore, models of rock varnish formation should be reevaluated with consideration of much faster maximum growth rates.
Construction of an oceanic island: Insights from the El Hierro (Canary Islands) 2011-2012 submarine volcanic eruption J. Rivera et al. (M. Canals, corresponding), Instituto Espaol de Oceanografa, Corazn de Mara 8, Madrid E-28002, Spain. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33863.1.
J. Rivera and colleagues present the first continuous monitoring of the growth of a newly born submarine volcano while erupting in an ocean island flank. The eruption occurred south of El Hierro Island in the Canaries, off Northwest Africa, from 10 October 2011 to 5 March 2012 and was marked by earth tremors, stained waters, and dead fish. An unprecedented high-frequency, high-resolution bathymetric monitoring allowed calculating changes in eruption rates. The first survey, 15 days after the eruption's onset, showed a cone topping at 205 m depth. 137 days later, the cone had developed into a fissure eruption with four associated vents, the shallowest topping at only 89 m of water depth. Despite the fact that the eruption added about 0.006% to the volume of the overall edifice only, the shallow depth reached by the growing volcano raised serious concern since shallow water volcanism may lead to explosive eruptions and tsunami generation. This small, geologically frequent growth episode contrasts with the destruction by large-scale catastrophic flank collapses that affect most volcanic islands. The most recent giant debris avalanche in El Hierro, which occurred 13 to 134-thousand ago, mobilized in a single event a volume equivalent to 450 to 550 eruptions similar in size to the one described. This seems to be the fate of ocean islands.
Synchronous vertical and horizontal tectonism at late stages of Archean cratonization and genesis of Hemlo gold deposit, Superior craton, Ontario, Canada Shoufa Lin, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada; and School of Resources and Environment, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230026, P.R. China; and Gary P. Beakhouse. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33887.1.
The tectonic processes in modern Earth are characterized by large scale horizontal motion (plate tectonics, a form of horizontal tectonism), whereas those at the early stages of Earth's evolution were probably very different and dominated by vertical motion (vertical tectonism). The transition from dominant vertical to dominant horizontal tectonism took place about 2.7 to 2.6 billion years ago in the Superior craton in Canada and is characterized by the synchronous and interactive operation of vertical and horizontal tectonism. Such a transitional process is important for gold mineralization. The world-class Hemlo gold deposit in Ontario (containing more than 700 tons of gold) formed as a result of the process.
High-precision temporal calibration of Late Permian vertebrate biostratigraphy: U-Pb zircon constraints from the Karoo Supergroup, South Africa Bruce S. Rubidge et al. (Jahandar Ramezani, corresponding), Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa; and Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33622.1.
The continental sedimentary rocks deposited in the Karoo Basin of South Africa preserve a remarkable fossil record of reptile and mammal ancestors that elucidate the evolutionary and biodiversity changes in the crucial geologic period between the Permian and the Jurassic (270-180 million years ago). Stratigraphic zonations based on the South African tetrapod fossils have global applicability in correlating continental deposits throughout the Pangean supercontinent. A major limiting factor, however, has been a lack of independent and reliable age constraints for the Karoo biozones. Bruce S. Rubidge and colleagues report on the discovery of volcanic ash deposits interbedded with four lower Permian biozones of the Karoo Supergroup and their geochronology based on high-precision U-Pb analyses by the CA-TIM method. The calibrated biostratigraphy improves understanding of basin development, as well as rates of vertebrate evolution at a time when the earliest reptile lineages were being established. It also allows correlation to the marine realm with enormous implications for global patterns of faunal evolution, including mass extinction events of the Permian Period and their possible driving mechanisms.
Oxygen isotope composition of meltwater from a Neoproterozoic glaciation in South China Yongbo Peng et al. (Huiming Bao, corresponding), Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-4101, USA; and Dept. of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 East 10th Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47405-1405, USA. Posted online 4 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33830.1.
Climate information associated with a glaciation, such as temperature or moisture source, is recorded by the oxygen isotope composition of its ice. Unfortunately, few glacial ices on Earth have survived for more than 1 million years. The oxygen isotope composition of older glacial ices must be found indirectly via oxygen-bearing minerals that formed in the glacial meltwater. This is difficult because of the scarcity of suitable minerals and deposits formed and preserved in meltwater environments. Yongbo Peng and colleagues show that sulfate minerals (barite and malachite) in the immediate vicinity of chalcocite clasts in a Neoproterozoic diamictite from South China bear extremely negative oxygen isotope values. The low oxygen isotope sulfate minerals are best explained by formation via chalcocite oxidation in glacial meltwater. The data suggest that the diamictite was deposited on land in Neoproterozoic glacial meltwater that had almost the same oxygen isotope value as modern glaciers in Antarctica. This study opens up a new possibility for retrieving glacial meltwater isotope signatures in deep Earth history.
Northeast African vegetation change over 12 m.y. Sarah J. Feakins et al., Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, California 90089-0740, USA. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33845.1.
This study by Sarah J. Feakins and colleagues reports vegetation change over 12 million years in northeast Africa (specifically Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya). Nearby marine sediments act as a trap for dust, including waxy molecules from plant leaves and pollen grains, blowing off the continent. The waxy molecules record the types of plants that were present -- based on signals locked in when the plant synthesized its first sugar with either three (C3) or four carbon (C4) atoms. The C4 plants are found only amongst grasses and shrubs that like warm-season precipitation and low carbon dioxide levels and are also commonly drought tolerant; the C3 category includes most other plants. The authors added pollen evidence for proportions of grasses versus trees to build a complete picture of the changing landscape. They found that rainforests were not present in the source region at any time in the last 12 million years. Instead, the landscape was surprisingly open, with C4 grasses and shrubs increasing at 10 million years, replacing earlier C3 grasslands. These ecosystem changes may have shaped faunal evolution: landscapes were open much earlier than previously thought and the timing of the C4 rise confirms the fast uptake of this new foodstuff by the ancestors of modern horses.
Contrasting strike-slip motions on thrust and normal faults: Implications for space-geodetic monitoring of surface deformation Andrea Hampel et al., Institut fr Geologie, Leibniz-Universitt Hannover, Callinstrasse 30, 30167 Hannover, Germany. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33927.1.
Global positioning system (GPS) measurements are important tools for monitoring seismically active faults in Earth's crust. Both the abrupt surface motions during the earthquake and the slower postseismic movements over years to decades after the earthquake can be determined. Among the first intra-continental earthquakes recorded by GPS are the 2009 L'Aquila (Italy) and 2003 Chengkung (Taiwan) earthquakes. In contrast to the common notion, these dip-slip faults showed hitherto unexplained differences in the direction and velocity of the coseismic and postseismic surface movements parallel to the fault trace. Using three-dimensional numerical models, Andrea Hampel and colleagues demonstrate that the observed contrasting fault-parallel slip patterns are characteristic features of the two different fault types and that they are also evident in field data of coseismic and long-term cumulative fault slip. During the postseismic phase, viscous flow in the lower crust induces fault-parallel surface displacements, which have the same direction as the coseismic displacements but are distributed over a much larger area. In order to detect this signal, future studies require GPS stations to be placed in the prolongation of the fault trace, in addition to those positioned near the fault.
Delamination in the Betic Range: Deep structure, seismicity, and GPS motion Flor de Lis Mancilla et al., Instituto Andaluz de Geofsica, Universidad de Granada, 18071-Granada, Spain. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33733.1.
A significant portion of Earth's lithosphere is recycled into the deeper mantle. The two principal mechanisms for recycling are subduction and delamination. While the areas where subduction processes are taking place are well recognize and its mechanisms well understood, delamination processes are not completely revealed mainly because they are more difficult to detect. In this study, Flor de Lis Mancilla and colleagues provide important evidence of crustal delamination in the Western Mediterranean region from different datasets. The whole underthrusted Iberia crust is delaminated beneath part of the Betic mountain range, still connected to the foreland lithosphere on one side, and displaced along a tear fault along the other side.
Retrodeforming the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone: Age of collision versus magnitude of continental subduction Nadine McQuarrie (corresponding) and Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen, Dept. of Geology and Planetary Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. Posted online 17 Jan. 2013; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33591.1.
Two first-order questions seem to defy consensus along the Alpine-Himalayan orogen: When did continents initially collide? Where is deformation partitioned as continents continue to converge? These that these questions remain because of difficulty in identifying geologic markers that require collision. N. McQuarrie and van Hinsbergen examine the medial portion of this collision zone where Arabia has collided with Eurasia. Sedimentary rocks from Eurasia, deposited on the Arabian plate are indisputable evidence of Eurasia-Arabia collision; however, several authors have argued for a collision age that is 10-15 million years earlier. This 10 to 15 million-year difference is important because the Arabia-Eurasia collision has been linked to global cooling, the slowing of Africa, Mediterranean extension, the rifting of the Red Sea, an increase in exhumation and sedimentation on the Eurasian plate, and the slowing and deformation of the Arabian plate, features that require a collision about 35 million y
Let me make this clear: I don?t have a problem with dating a divorced man. No problem at all.
What I?do?have a problem with is when a divorced man isn?t up front about it.
Menfolk of the world, I?m going to lay down some real talk right now: if your online dating profile doesn?t disclose that you are divorced, the moment you explain you are really ?divorced? and not just ?single,? I immediately think you are acting shady. Even if you?weren?t?trying to hide it! Even if you just married her so she could get a green card! Even if you have been divorced so long you?ve forgotten her middle name!
Finding out that ?single? signifier on his online dating profile actually should have read ?divorced? has happened to me a grand total of FIVE times. I shit you not! Yes, all the guys listed themselves as ?single? online, but mentioned their divorces at some point on the first date during the whole ?this is my whole resume and life recap? bit. One guy referred to an ex as his ?ex-girlfriend? first before letting it slip that they had been married. And an honorable mention goes to O?Ex-Boyfriend who dated me exclusively for two whole months before he let it drop that he wasn?t actually legally divorced yet, only separated. Oh, did you just happen to?forget to mention it?!?
Some of these men probably think they shouldn?t be?defined?by their divorce. That?s true, of course. People have long-term relationships and broken engagements and they don?t disclose those on their profiles. However, I would challenge men to assume why they think being divorced is automatically a negative on the dating market. For many women, it?s not a negative at all: a man who has a proven willingness to commit is actually an asset. But my concern is more psychologically paranoid. Nondisclosure of a piece of information so huge ??they once legally bound themselves to another person, promising ??til death do us part??? makes it seem like there?s a?reason?they?re not being up front. And if he?s not being up front about something major like his marital status, what?else?isn?t he being up front about?
Here?s two other facts you?must?disclose in your online dating profile:
Kids:?Men are generally better about disclosing their children than their divorces. Why is that? It?s so strange, because arguably children are a bigger dealbreaker. Some women are cool with dating a man with kids, some women are not.?It presents a unique set of circumstances. You should be up front from the get-go, so a lady knows whether your couch will have crushed Cheerios between the sheets.
STD Status:?Ami and I disagree on this one. She doesn?t think that going on a date with someone means there?s a presumption that sex will take place and that people should disclose once it?s clear sex is going to occur. Meanwhile, I say that you should at the very least?obliquely indicate?your STD status in some way prior to meeting a person for two reasons. One, so other people wirh similar STDs who may want to date someone who knows what they?re dealing with can find you, and two, so someone for whom an STD is a dealbreaker knows whether to to invest the time. For example, I was once chatting with a guy online who revealed to me that he had genital herpes. I wasn?t surprised at that disclosure, because he had indicated in his profile that he was willing to date someone who had an STD and I assumed (correctly) that meant he had one himself. We never ended up going out on a date for a reason unrelated to the herpes, but I thought he had an immense amount of integrity for fully informing me. And that immense amount of integrity only made me like him more.
What other facts do you think people should be open and honest about in their online dating profiles? Tell me what you think in the comments.
This post?originally appeared?on?The Frisky. Republished with permission.
BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A retired U.S. Army sergeant who underwent a double arm transplant after losing both arms and both legs in Iraq was discharged from The Johns Hopkins Hospital on Tuesday, saying he was anxious to get back to an active life.
Sgt. Brendan Marrocco, 26, of Staten Island, New York, had the successful bilateral arm transplant surgery six weeks ago at the renowned Baltimore hospital.
"I feel like I'm getting a second chance to start over," Marrocco said at a news conference announcing his discharge. "I'm just looking forward to everything I would have wanted to do over the last four years."
Driving, swimming and hand cycling top his list, he said.
A roadside bomb attack in Iraq in 2009 cost him all four limbs.
"I hated having no arms," Marrocco said. "I was alright with having no legs."
Double-arm transplant surgery is rare, and doctors said this was the first such successful procedure to be conducted at Johns Hopkins. Also, officials have said Marrocco is the first U.S. soldier in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to survive losing all four limbs.
W.P. Andrew Lee, the doctor who headed the transplant team, said although the surgery was successful, it will be a few years before Marrocco's nerves regenerate and he regains significant use of his arms.
"The progress will be slow, but the outcome will be rewarding," Lee said.
Dr. Jamie Shores, an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery and a member of the surgical team, said Marrocco had exceeded doctors' hopes by finding creative ways to use his new limbs despite the medical team's cautious expectations for his mobility at this stage.
"We're the ones holding him back at this point," Shores said.
Marrocco wheeled himself into the news conference, during which he pushed his hair back several times with his left arm. He said his right arm and both hands have little or no feeling or movement.
"We'll get there," Marrocco said. Visibly in high spirits, the war veteran laughed and joked and said a positive attitude and stubborn nature helped sustain him through his ordeal.
"If it really meant something to me, I would go through hell to do it," he said.
Marrocco's family said that besides his pain, he has been upbeat.
"He really hasn't had any low points," said Michael Marrocco, his brother.
Doctors said Marrocco will spend up to six hours a day in physical therapy.
The rare surgery took 13 hours and involved 16 doctors who volunteered from plastic surgery, orthopedics and other disciplines, the hospital said.
It was largely funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, with the remainder of the cost contributed by the hospital, according to Lee.
Designing a website is quite a difficult task as the designers need to bear in mind a lot of things for coming up with a perfect website. One additional feature that the designers need to focus on these days is to make it responsive along with making it attractive and fully functional.
A responsive website can be seen from different kinds of devices having different resolution and screen size. This innovation was introduced after mobile internet browsing became extremely rampant among users from all over the world.
Though most of the platforms present on the internet may not yet be responsive, it is time for the webmaster to pull up their socks and take some serious steps to make their websites responsive. This will not only increase the number of hits in the website but at the same time increase the revenue generating capacity from it. This is especially needed for the ecommerce site, as online shopping is in boom these days.
In responsive web design fluid layouts, fonts and pictures are present that make the websites easily accessible from different smart phones and tablets. Moreover, responsive web designs are being designed in such a way so that the mobile users can navigate through it from the small screen of a mobile device with ease.
Responsive Web Designs for Inspiration
Design Crowd DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.
Oliver Russell Oliver Russell builds brands for new ventures and for companies that differentiate through acts of good.
JCHEBLY JCHEBLY first started their activities as a company that sell advertising space at airports.
Gravitate Design Gravitate is a company that provide services from design to marketing.
Palantir Palantir is a full-service design, development, and strategy firm that uses open source technologies to help enable people to share information in new and exciting ways.
Naomi Atkinson Design Naomi Atkinson design is a small design studio passionate about brand, the web, and mobile.
Made by Splendid Splendid Digital Creative Ltd is created by Gary Aston.
Gary Garside Gary Garside is a creative web designer & developer based in Warwickshire, UK.
10 K Apart 10 k Apart is an app creation contest.
Bluegg Bluegg is a branding, design and web development agency.
See Spark Box Sparkbox has a team of seven people working in a renovated space in Dayton, Ohio.
Spigot Designs Spitgot Designs have a team of doers, thinkers and creators that design and develop websites.
Unmatched Designs CSSOff is a responsive event landing page that have yet to launch.
Thrive Solo Thrive Solo is a project management tool for the modern freelancer.
Fork Fork is an open source CMS that will rock your world.
Upstatement Upstatement is a small, cross-disciplinary firm that solves problems through design, code, and rapid prototyping.
Stephen Caver Stephen Caver is a designer and developer that has been interested in the inner workings of the web since he was a kid.
Rally Interactive Rally Interactive is headquartered in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.
3200 Tigers This campaign was created by WWF France to help to save tigers in the world.
Barak Obama Website of the current president of the United State.
Dust and Mold Dust and Mold was created by web designer - Kevin Finlayson.
Boston Globe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Wear you Belong Belong hand print beautifully designed t-shirts for others to enjoy.
Rachel Nabors Rachel Nabors is an award-winning cartoonist and UI Engineer.
Performance Marketing The official page for performance marketing awards.
Conclusion
We have listed twenty five kickass responsive web designs from which designers can draw inspiration for their future projects. Make the best use of these examples to create an attractive and responsive website. Enjoy and share your valuable comments.
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2013
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Let me make this clear: I don?t have a problem with dating a divorced man. No problem at all.
