Vesicle paleobarometry in the Pongola Supergroup: A cautionary note and guidelines for future studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-104
Author(s):  
E.A. Goosmann ◽  
R. Buick ◽  
D.C. Catling ◽  
C. Luskin ◽  
N. Nhleko

Abstract Earth’s global barometric pressure, currently 1 bar at sea level, may have changed over its 4.5-billion-year history. Proxy measurements, including N2/36Ar ratios in ~3.5 to 3.0 Ga hydrothermal quartz, ~2.7 Ga raindrop imprints, and ~2.7 Ga vesicle sizes in subaerial basalt lava flows indicate Archean air pressure could have been between 0.1 and 1.2 bar. However, some models argue air pressure in the Archean should have been much higher than now and could allow pressure broadening of greenhouse gas absorption lines to counteract the “Faint Young Sun”. Thus, additional paleobarometric measurements would be useful to further constrain Earth’s atmospheric evolution. We attempted to use vesicle sizes in lavas erupted near sea-level from the ~2.9 Ga Pongola Supergroup from Mahlangatsha and Mooihoek, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) and the White Mfolozi River gorge of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to provide further Archean paleobarometric data. However, reliable results were unobtainable due to small and scarce amygdales, irregular vesicle morphologies and metamorphic mineralogical homogenization preventing the use of X-ray Computed Tomography for accurate vesicle size determination. Researchers attempting paleobarometric analysis using lava vesicle sizes should henceforth avoid these areas of the Pongola Supergroup and instead look at other subaerially emplaced lava flows. With this being only the second time this method has been used on Precambrian rocks, we provide a list of guidelines informed by this study to aid future attempts at vesicular paleobarometry.

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-104
Author(s):  
Fitroh Amaluddin ◽  
Andy Haryoko

Tsunamis are natural events that can occur any time without prior warning. Some mitigation efforts both through physical construction consist of sea wave height detection sensors such as DT-Sense Barometric Pressure & Temperature sensors, Infrared sensors, and ultrasonic sensors. However, the sensors have a low accuration and difficult installation. Therefore a device designed to provide temperature and air pressure data based on a microcontroller with higher accuracy, and easier installation. The device are made using a DS18B20 temperature sensor, then air pressure using BMP180 sensor. Sea wave height measurement system based on the working principle of air pressure at sea level. This tool is able to work well at altitudes with a minimum temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. Based on the results of air trials on water levels obtained every 0.1 meter increase in sea air, air pressure increases by 0.02 mb (millibar) or 0.12 mb / meter. While testing the air pressure against the temperature obtained is higher, the air temperature at sea level will increase. Each time the air pressure changes by 1.00 mb, the air temperature at sea level will change an average of around 0.46 degrees Celsius. In other words if the temperature decreases around 1 degree Celsius, then the air pressure also drops by 2.00 mb or around 16.67 meters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 437
Author(s):  
Hongxia Qi ◽  
Yunjia Wang ◽  
Jingxue Bi ◽  
Hongji Cao ◽  
Shenglei Xu

Floor positioning is an important aspect of indoor positioning technology, which is closely related to location-based services (LBSs). Currently, floor positioning technologies are mainly based on radio signals and barometric pressure. The former are impacted by the multipath effect, rely on infrastructure support, and are limited by different spatial structures. For the latter, the air pressure changes with the temperature and humidity, the deployment cost of the reference station is high, and different terminal models need to be calibrated in advance. In view of these issues, here, we propose a novel floor positioning method based on human activity recognition (HAR), using smartphone built-in sensor data to classify pedestrian activities. We obtain the degree of the floor change according to the activity category of every step and determine whether the pedestrian completes floor switching through condition and threshold analysis. Then, we combine the previous floor or the high-precision initial floor with the floor change degree to calculate the pedestrians’ real-time floor position. A multi-floor office building was chosen as the experimental site and verified through the process of alternating multiple types of activities. The results show that the pedestrian floor position change recognition and location accuracy of this method were as high as 100%, and that this method has good robustness and high universality. It is more stable than methods based on wireless signals. Compared with one existing HAR-based method and air pressure, the method in this paper allows pedestrians to undertake long-term static or round-trip activities during the process of going up and down the stairs. In addition, the proposed method has good fault tolerance for the misjudgment of pedestrian actions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire de Bisschop ◽  
Jean-Benoit Martinot ◽  
Gil Leurquin-Sterk ◽  
Vitalie Faoro ◽  
Hervé Guénard ◽  
...  

Lung diffusing capacity has been reported variably in high-altitude newcomers and may be in relation to different pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Twenty-two healthy volunteers were investigated at sea level and at 5,050 m before and after random double-blind intake of the endothelin A receptor blocker sitaxsentan (100 mg/day) vs. a placebo during 1 wk. PVR was estimated by Doppler echocardiography, and exercise capacity by maximal oxygen uptake (V̇o2 max). The diffusing capacities for nitric oxide (DLNO) and carbon monoxide (DLCO) were measured using a single-breath method before and 30 min after maximal exercise. The membrane component of DLCO (Dm) and capillary volume (Vc) was calculated with corrections for hemoglobin, alveolar volume, and barometric pressure. Altitude exposure was associated with unchanged DLCO, DLNO, and Dm but a slight decrease in Vc. Exercise at altitude decreased DLNO and Dm. Sitaxsentan intake improved V̇o2 max together with an increase in resting and postexercise DLNO and Dm. Sitaxsentan-induced decrease in PVR was inversely correlated to DLNO. Both DLCO and DLNO were correlated to V̇o2 max at sea level ( r = 0.41–0.42, P < 0.1) and more so at altitude ( r = 0.56–0.59, P < 0.05). Pharmacological pulmonary vasodilation improves the membrane component of lung diffusion in high-altitude newcomers, which may contribute to exercise capacity.


1988 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 2592-2597 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Bender ◽  
B. M. Groves ◽  
R. E. McCullough ◽  
R. G. McCullough ◽  
S. Y. Huang ◽  
...  

Residence at high altitude could be accompanied by adaptations that alter the mechanisms of O2 delivery to exercising muscle. Seven sea level resident males, aged 22 +/- 1 yr, performed moderate to near-maximal steady-state cycle exercise at sea level in normoxia [inspired PO2 (PIO2) 150 Torr] and acute hypobaric hypoxia (barometric pressure, 445 Torr; PIO2, 83 Torr), and after 18 days' residence on Pikes Peak (4,300 m) while breathing ambient air (PIO2, 86 Torr) and air similar to that at sea level (35% O2, PIO2, 144 Torr). In both hypoxia and normoxia, after acclimatization the femoral arterial-iliac venous O2 content difference, hemoglobin concentration, and arterial O2 content, were higher than before acclimatization, but the venous PO2 (PVO2) was unchanged. Thermodilution leg blood flow was lower but calculated arterial O2 delivery and leg VO2 similar in hypoxia after vs. before acclimatization. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and total peripheral resistance in hypoxia were greater after, than before, acclimatization. We concluded that acclimatization did not increase O2 delivery but rather maintained delivery via increased arterial oxygenation and decreased leg blood flow. The maintenance of PVO2 and the higher MAP after acclimatization suggested matching of O2 delivery to tissue O2 demands, with vasoconstriction possibly contributing to the decreased flow.


1991 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 2650-2655 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. McKenzie ◽  
L. S. Goodman ◽  
C. Nath ◽  
B. Davidson ◽  
G. O. Matheson ◽  
...  

Six male Quechua Indians (34.0 +/- 1.1 yr, 159.5 +/- 2.1 cm, 60.5 +/- 1.6 kg), life-long residents of La Raya, Peru (4,350-m altitude with an average barometric pressure of 460 Torr), were studied using noninvasive methods to determine the structural and functional changes in the cardiovascular system in response to a 6-wk deacclimation period at sea level. Cardiac output, stroke volume, and left ventricular ejection fractions were determined using radionuclide angiographic techniques at rest and during exercise on a cycle ergometer at 40, 60, and 90% of a previously determined maximal O2 consumption. Subjects at rest were subjected to two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiograms and a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram. Hemoglobin and hematocrit were measured on arrival at sea level by use of a Coulter Stacker S+ analyzer. After a 6-wk deacclimation period, all variables were remeasured using the identical methodology. Hemoglobin values decreased significantly over the deacclimation period (15.7 +/- 1.1 to 13.5 +/- 1.2 g/dl; P less than 0.01). The results indicate that the removal of these high-altitude-adapted natives from 4,300 m to sea level for 6 wk results in only minor changes to the cardiac structure and function as measured by these noninvasive techniques.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Murcia ◽  
Károly Németh

The study of monogenetic volcanism around Earth is rapidly growing due to the increasing recognition of monogenetic volcanic edifices in different tectonic settings. Far from the idea that this type of volcanism is both typically mafic and characteristic from intraplate environments, it occurs in a wide spectrum of composition and geological settings. This volcanism is widely known by the distinctive pyroclastic cones that represent both magmatic and phreatomagmatic explosive activity; they are known as scoria or spatter cones, tuff cones, tuff rings, maars and maar-diatremes. These cones are commonly associated with lava domes and usually accompanied by lava flows as part of their effusive eruptive phases. In spite of this, isolated effusive monogenetic emissions also appear around Earth’s surface. However, these isolated emissions are not habitually considered within the classification scheme of monogenetic volcanoes. Along with this, many of these effusive volcanoes also contrast with the belief that this volcanism is indicative of rapidly magma ascent from the asthenosphere, as many of the products are strongly evolved reflecting differentiation linked to stagnation during ascent. This has led to the understanding that the asthenosphere is not always the place that directly gives rise to the magma batches and rather, they detach from a crustal melt storage. This chapter introduces four singular effusive monogenetic volcanoes as part of the volcanic geoforms, highlights the fact that monogenetic volcanic fields can also be associated with crustal reservoirs, and outlines the processes that should occur to differentiate the magma before it is released as intermediate and acidic in composition. This chapter also provides an overview of this particular volcanism worldwide and contributes to the monogenetic comprehension for future studies.


Author(s):  
Andrew Craig Kerr

AbstractThe early Tertiary Mull-Morvern lava succession, NW Scotland, represents the thickest continuous section (1000 m from sea level to the top of Ben More) of Tertiary lavas exposed in the UK. This succession has been sampled and geochemically analysed, on a flow-by-flow basis, throughout the lava succession. Field observations during the course of this sampling suggest that the early lava flows (the Staffa Magma sub-Type) ponded in palaeovalleys along with interlava sediments. In the main part of the Mull lava succession (the Mull Plateau Group) the lava flows are on average ∼ 5 m thick. Most previous Hebridean workers have assumed that the red horizons commonly found between these later lava flows, represent weathered flow tops. However, this study has shown that in some places these red ‘boles’ appear to be a combination of both volcanic ash and weathered basalt.Chemically distinctive units of flows have been found throughout the succession. The two most abundant magma sub-types of the Mull Plateau Group, primitive (>9wt% MgO) basalts with Ba/Nb» 15 and more evolved (<9wt% MgO) basalts-hawaiites with Ba/Nb<15, form packets of flow units which can be up to 200 m thick. These chemically distinctive flow units have been correlated across the lava succession. However, the correlation of individual lava flows has proved difficult. The Mull Plateau Group lavas generally become more evolved and less contaminated with continental crust towards the top of the succession, culminating in the trachytes of the Pale Group on Ben More. Basaltic lavas above the Pale Group have markedly different trace element ratios, and seem to represent shallower, more extensive asthenospheric melting than the Mull Plateau Group.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document