THE COMPLEX OF ANCIENT OBSERVATORIES ON THE TABLE MOUNTAIN IN INGUSHETIA

The proximity of the three ancient sanctuaries to each other on the flat top of the Table Mountain against the background of the sacred peaks of Kazbek and Tsey-Loam, the opportunity to observe the sunrises and sunsets in the highlands of the Caucasus, cosmogonic myths, all this gave an assumption about the astronomical functions of these sanctuaries. The purpose of the study was to prove that these ancient sanctuaries were used by the priests to determine the key moments in the annual cycle of the Sun and were a calendar. This is proved by using special computer programs and calculators that determine the azimuth and altitude of the Sun; instrumental observations and measurements on the ground. It is established that the shrines of Myat-Seli and Myater-Dyal on Table Mountain in Ingushetia are a complex of medieval solar near-horizon observatories. And it is hypothesized that these sanctuaries were built on the site from which solar cycles were observed from about the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. This work also provides prerequisites for determining various astronomical observations from sanctuaries and the presence of other ancient observatories in the Caucasus. A method has been developed for searching for prehistoric solar, lunar and stellar near-horizon observatories.

Diurnal variability of stratospheric column NO₂ measured using direct solar and lunar spectra over Table Mountain, California (34.38° N)

A full diurnal measurement of stratospheric column NO2 has been made over the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Table Mountain Facility (TMF) located in the mountains above Los Angeles, California, USA (2.286 km above mean sea level, 34.38∘ N, 117.68∘ W). During a representative week in October 2018, a grating spectrometer measured the telluric NO2 absorptions in direct solar and lunar spectra. The stratospheric column NO2 is retrieved using a modified minimum-amount Langley extrapolation, which enables us to accurately treat the non-constant NO2 diurnal cycle abundance and the effects of tropospheric pollution near the measurement site. The measured 24 h cycle of stratospheric column NO2 on clean days agrees with a 1-D photochemical model calculation, including the monotonic changes during daytime and nighttime due to the exchange with the N2O5 reservoir and the abrupt changes at sunrise and sunset due to the activation or deactivation of the NO2 photodissociation. The observed daytime NO2 increasing rate is (1.34±0.24)×1014 cm−2 h−1. The observed NO2 in one of the afternoons during the measurement period was much higher than the model simulation, implying the influence of urban pollution from nearby counties. A 24 h back-trajectory analysis shows that the wind first came from inland in the northeast and reached southern Los Angeles before it turned northeast and finally arrived at TMF, allowing it to pick up pollutants from Riverside County, Orange County, and downtown Los Angeles.

Geology of the Sirius Group at Mount Feather and Table Mountain, South Victoria Land, Antarctica

<p>The Sirius Group comprises of wet based glacial and related deposits found at high elevations throughout the Transantarctic Mountains. The discovery of marine Pliocene diatoms from within glacial till by Harwood (1983) led Webb et al. (1984) to propose that they were sourced from diatom bearing sediment eroded by glaciers from middle Pliocene marine basins inland of the Transantarctic Mountains. Others consider that temperatures during middle Pliocene times were not high enough to melt back the Antarctic ice sheet and expose these inland basins. They support the long held view of a stable Antarctic ice sheet since middle Miocene times, and insist that the Sirius Group is much older, explaining the diatoms as wind blown. This study was undertaken in order to determine whether the diatoms were incorporated into Sirius Group tills during or after their deposition. Sites were sampled at Mount Feather and Table Mountain in South Victoria Land. The distribution of diatoms through the upper 37 cm of the till were documented. Samples were also taken in snow and from other non Sirius Group surfaces (regolith) for comparison purposes. The geomorphic setting of the Sirius Group tills at Mt. Feather and Table Mountain suggests that their deposition predated the deep valleys that now run through the Transantarctic Mountains. Diatom abundances from within the tills are low (averaging about 1 diatom diatom per gram) and highly variable from site to site. Initially 184 diatoms were recovered from 10 samples at Mt. Feather and less than 7 diatoms were found from 4 samples of till at Table Mountain. At Mount Feather diatoms are concentrated in the surface few centimetres of the till and numbers generally decrease with depth. The pore size within the tills is highly variable but is on average ten times the size of the average diatom (10-15 microns) from within the deposits, allowing at least some diatoms to work their way into the tills from the surface. Diatoms from the snow and regolith from other rock surfaces have a similar diatom assemblage to the Sirius tills, containing many of the same common forms. Some non Sirius Group regolith samples have much larger concentrations of diatoms suggesting they have a much better trapping ability than the Sirius Group tills. These data indicate that most diatoms from the Sirius Group tills have been introduced from the atmosphere and have worked their way into the till. Thus the Sirius diatoms record not Pliocene marine basins of the Antarctic interior and subsequent extensive over riding glaciation, but the atmospheric transport and collection of both modern and ancient diatom bearing dust from within and beyond the continent. The Sirius Group tills do however have a phytolith (siliceous clasts from the cells of plant tissue) flora of glaciogenic origin, indicated by the lack of a vertical trend in abundance and very low levels of phytoliths in nearby snow and regolith samples.</p>

Geology of the Sirius Group at Mount Feather and Table Mountain, South Victoria Land, Antarctica

<p>The Sirius Group comprises of wet based glacial and related deposits found at high elevations throughout the Transantarctic Mountains. The discovery of marine Pliocene diatoms from within glacial till by Harwood (1983) led Webb et al. (1984) to propose that they were sourced from diatom bearing sediment eroded by glaciers from middle Pliocene marine basins inland of the Transantarctic Mountains. Others consider that temperatures during middle Pliocene times were not high enough to melt back the Antarctic ice sheet and expose these inland basins. They support the long held view of a stable Antarctic ice sheet since middle Miocene times, and insist that the Sirius Group is much older, explaining the diatoms as wind blown. This study was undertaken in order to determine whether the diatoms were incorporated into Sirius Group tills during or after their deposition. Sites were sampled at Mount Feather and Table Mountain in South Victoria Land. The distribution of diatoms through the upper 37 cm of the till were documented. Samples were also taken in snow and from other non Sirius Group surfaces (regolith) for comparison purposes. The geomorphic setting of the Sirius Group tills at Mt. Feather and Table Mountain suggests that their deposition predated the deep valleys that now run through the Transantarctic Mountains. Diatom abundances from within the tills are low (averaging about 1 diatom diatom per gram) and highly variable from site to site. Initially 184 diatoms were recovered from 10 samples at Mt. Feather and less than 7 diatoms were found from 4 samples of till at Table Mountain. At Mount Feather diatoms are concentrated in the surface few centimetres of the till and numbers generally decrease with depth. The pore size within the tills is highly variable but is on average ten times the size of the average diatom (10-15 microns) from within the deposits, allowing at least some diatoms to work their way into the tills from the surface. Diatoms from the snow and regolith from other rock surfaces have a similar diatom assemblage to the Sirius tills, containing many of the same common forms. Some non Sirius Group regolith samples have much larger concentrations of diatoms suggesting they have a much better trapping ability than the Sirius Group tills. These data indicate that most diatoms from the Sirius Group tills have been introduced from the atmosphere and have worked their way into the till. Thus the Sirius diatoms record not Pliocene marine basins of the Antarctic interior and subsequent extensive over riding glaciation, but the atmospheric transport and collection of both modern and ancient diatom bearing dust from within and beyond the continent. The Sirius Group tills do however have a phytolith (siliceous clasts from the cells of plant tissue) flora of glaciogenic origin, indicated by the lack of a vertical trend in abundance and very low levels of phytoliths in nearby snow and regolith samples.</p>

Supplemental Material: Trachyandesite of Kennedy Table, its vent complex, and post–9.3 Ma uplift of the central Sierra Nevada

Table S1: Data for full topographic profile up Table Mountain and McKenzie Table Sections highlighted in red show significant erosion; Methodology for Meander-Tilt Analysis.

Supplemental Material: Trachyandesite of Kennedy Table, its vent complex, and post–9.3 Ma uplift of the central Sierra Nevada

Table S1: Data for full topographic profile up Table Mountain and McKenzie Table Sections highlighted in red show significant erosion; Methodology for Meander-Tilt Analysis.