Canada has given its approval to takeover bids of its firms by Asian energy giants China?s CNOOC (NYSE:$CEO) and Malaysia?s Petronas. CNOOC will be taking over Nexen Inc (NYSE:$NXY) for $15.1 billion while Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) will assume the control of Progress Energy Resources Corp for $5.2 billion. In an apparent tit-for-tat move, China also gave approval for Swiss based Glencore International Plc to acquire the Canadian firm Viterra Inc for $6 billion. Viterra has a canola crushing plant in China and therefore the deal needed approval from Chinese regulators.
CNOOC is the third of the three large Chinese oil companies. Its $15 billion acquisition will be the biggest ever by any Chinese firm of a foreign company.? Nexen is the owner of Canada?s largest oil sands field and has significant operations in the U.K. North Sea. CNOOC currently has a 35% stake in Nexen?s Long Lake oil sands facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Around 8% of Nexen?s total production comes from U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Nexen also has a 20% stake in Usan project in offshore Nigeria which is operated by Total S.A (NYSE:$TOT). Less than a month ago, Total sold its $2.5 billion stake in Usan to China?s biggest refiner Sinopec (NYSE:$SNP).
Meanwhile, Canada is aiming to become one of the leading energy exporters of the world. Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited China a few months ago in an attempt to show his support for the Chinese investment in the Canadian economy which is considered vital for the country to achieve its global energy ambitions. The country?s exports contribute one-third to the economic output while almost a quarter of the total exports are energy products. Harper also wants to diversify the nation?s energy exports that are currently focused on the U.S. ?As a general rule, the Canadian government will not go for a controlling stake in their oil sands projects except under ?exceptional circumstances?.
Since Nexen has significant operations in Europe and the U.S. as well, the deal also requires the approval from EU and U.S. regulators. CNOOC has revealed that E.U. has also given its nod but the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S has so far remained silent. That committee, chaired by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and as such is not directly seen as a political entity, but nothing in Washington D.C. is immune to politics.
Unlike CNOOC or Sinopec, Petronas is an LNG behemoth that is the owner of one of the world?s biggest LNG producing facility at Sarawak, Malaysia while its subsidiary MISC Berhad is the owner and operator of world?s biggest LNG fleet. Following the approval, Petronas now plans to construct a ~$10 billion LNG export facility along the coast of British Columbia. The company has privately held and is wholly owned by the government of Malaysia.
Due to intensive regulatory oversight, the Chinese oil companies have preferred oil investments in Africa (Nigeria) and South America (Brazil, Venezuela) over North America or Europe. Since CNOOC?s 2005 failed bid to acquire Unocal Corp for $18.5 billion, Chinese companies have preferred minority stakes in the U.S. CNOOC is currently working on the $2.5 billion drilling stakes of Devon Energy Corp. Besides that, it has also bought minority stakes from Statoil?s Gulf of Mexico assets in 2009 and Chesapeake Energy?s shale assets in 2010-11.
?
CNOOC
Nexen
Sinopec
Total
Stock YTD
+24.10%
+47.82%
+4.61%
-2.64%
P/E
9.72
32.44
11.21
8.21
EPS
22.3
0.73
9.8
6.06
Yield
1.60%
0.90%
2.50%
5.20%
ROA
13.33%
6.09%
5.10%
9.11%
ROE
23.71%
4.42%
11.00%
15.35%
?
The shares of both CNOOC and Nexen are up 24.10% and 47.82% since the beginning of the current year. The shares of Nexen in particular had jumped by as much as 50% in the last week of July when the news of CNOOC?s bid was revealed.
CNOOC may be overpaying for Nexen in the short run but for the future of Chinese economic growth the resources have immense future value.? As an investor, valuing these deals at today?s prices is a mistake.? The marginal demand for oil and gas in Asia will be tremendous as this growth plays out and for the price of these assets to remain the same would mean holding demand and production in balance when it is demonstrably becoming more difficult to replenish reserves every year.? Peak oil is not the problem.? Peak oil at $40-50 per barrel is history.?? Deals like the Nexen and Progress acquisitions will become more common at valuations that will be even more shocking by today?s standards.
The gravel shipment was part of the cease-fire deal brokered between Israel and Gaza last month, and may be followed with additional building materials.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi,?Reuters / December 30, 2012
An Israeli boy holds a fist full of gravel in 2010. For the first time since the cease-fire between Israel and Gaza, Israel is allowing gravel to be shipped to Gaza.
Baz Ratner/Reuters
Enlarge
Israel?eased its blockade of?Gaza?today, allowing a shipment of gravel for private construction into the Palestinian territory for the first time since?Hamas?seized control in 2007.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
A Palestinian official with knowledge of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended eight days of fighting last month between?Israel?and?Gaza?militants said the move had been expected as part of the deal.
"This is the first time gravel has been allowed into?Gaza?for the Palestinian private sector since the blockade," said?Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian official overseeing the shipment of 20 truckloads of the material.
Israel?tightened the blockade after?Hamas, an Islamist group that refuses to recognise the Jewish state, took power five years ago. But under international pressure,?Israel?began to ease the restrictions in 2010 and has allowed international aid agencies to import construction material.
Therefore, said Arthur unto Sir Bedivere, take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder water side, and when thou comest there I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come again and tell me what thou there seest. My lord, said Bedivere, your commandment shall be done, and lightly bring you word again.
- Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d?Arthur, Book XXI, Chapter V (1485)
?Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.?
- Dennis (Michael Palin) ? Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Who knew King Arthur was so dark?
My kids are incredible readers of actual books. They will sit in the car, both of their faces planted between the pages of some story, and devour them in hours. I, on the other hand, was a reluctant reader much of my life, until now. But while I currently have the motivation, I lack the time. Life is ironic like that. I do not lack in good material, however, as I am a prolific book buyer; constantly buying books that look great, and then proceeding to never read them. Eventually, when things slow down for me in a few decades, I will have come serious catching up to do.
My mother and grandmother were big readers as well. One of the books I remember my mother reading when I was much younger was T.H. White?s ?The Once and Future King.? A modern day telling (it was written in the late 1930s) of the Arthurian Legend. Because of her great love for the book, and its subject matter, I was exposed to tales of knights and damsels and magical swords and wizards. While I liked the Arthurian stories, for me, it was cooler to read Tolkien because there wasn?t so much kiss-y-face. That was, until my mom and grandmother took me to see Excalibur. An early cable TV staple, I must have watched it 150 times before I turned 13. What nerdy child of the 70s didn?t know by heart the incantation Merlin invoked to unleash all measure of nastiness upon Avalon: ?An?il nathrach, ortha bh?is is beatha, do ch?al d?anaimh.?
Pretty box and components.
Arthur and his retinue have since held sway with me as part of that primordial-melting-pot-formative-back-story that underlies my interests in fantasy fiction and gaming. However, surprisingly, I have been reluctant to delve into any Arthur-themed gaming material until recently, when I picked up Days Of Wonder?s Shadows Over Camelot, The Card Game. I thought it would be a good entr?e to its source material, the board game, at a very reasonable price point of $25.00. The kids and I broke it out and played quite a few games, and I have to admit, I am hooked.
Background/Story of the Game
The sons and daughters of the original Knights of the Round Table must assemble, Avengers! Style, to protect King Arthur?s realm from numerous threats. The players must work together to complete quests before the game?s danger level gets too high. But alas, they are beset by a traitor amongst their number who secretly works against them to bring about their ultimate ruin. The ?quests,? include quelling internal rebellions from the Saxons and Picts, regaining Excalibur, slaying a deadly dragon, or going on the ultimate quest?for the Holy Grail itself!
Object of the Game
The ultimate goal is to collect seven ?white swords,? representative of successful quests, whereby the players will have cooperatively won the game. If instead, the players amass seven ?black swords,? they failed the kingdom and their ancestors, and all of them lose, unless one of their number was a traitor, in which case, that player is the winner.
The game comes in a small box with a plastic insert that holds all the components neatly. The main cards in the game, the Rumor Cards, are square shaped, and so, cannot be readily sleeved. This is somewhat of a negative, as I obsessively protect and preserve all my game components. The other cards are more traditionally shaped, however, and can be sleeved, although they do not see the same amount of action as the Rumor deck.
In addition, there are 16 cardboard punch-piece swords, with white/black sides, used to track players? successes or failures, and chits used to track certain in-game card effects.
Gameplay
Knights go on quests, and that is the core theme of this game. ?Quests? are represented by five types/suits of cards (in the ?rumor deck?). Each card bears a number from 1 to 4 or a question mark (whose value is set by the number of other ??? cards in the same suit), representing the ?Rumor Value? of the card, as well as 1-3 swords, representing the level of difficulty and resulting victory points for a successful run. These rumor cards cards are shuffled together with Morgan (le Fay) cards (which make the quests harder to keep track of, represented by ?curses? on the players), and Merlin cards (which provide a benefit to the players, removing some aspects of curses). The Rumor Cards form the main deck used by the players in the game, which is set in the center of the table.
At the start of the game, each player receives a secret loyalty card which may cast one of them as traitor. From there, on their turn, each player either: (1) reveals a rumor card; (2) attempts a quest; or (3) accuses a fellow knight as being the traitor.
Rumor cards for Dragons and Picts. Note the rumor value and rewards differ.
To reveal a rumor card, the top card of the rumor deck is placed face up onto a revealed stack of cards. If a quest card, players must keep track of the total rumor value of cards from that suit. You may not look at any cards other than the top card of the discard pile. Players try to attempt a quest when the total rumor value of cards in that suit is 11, 12 or 13. Any lower, and they arrived too soon; any higher, and they arrived too late, and the quest has failed.
To attempt a quest on their turn, the player ?runs? the quest determined by the suit of the top card of the rumor deck?s discard stack. The player reveals all cards in the deck, and if the sum of that specific suit/quest is 11-13, then the players succeed, dispelling the rumors, and receive 1-3 white swords, as shown on the specific quest cards. If the rumor value is lower than 11, they receive one black sword for their embarrassing failure. If higher than 13, they get a number of black swords based on the success value of the suit. All other quests in the stack are checked to see whether the players allowed them to fester too long, and if any of their values total over 13, the players receive another ?failure? black sword.
Morgana and Vivian ?special? cards from the Rumor Deck add flavor and increase the difficulty of quests.
But, it is not just simple card memory at work. The Morgan and Merlin cards will make the quests much harder, or easier, either by multiplying the values of the quest cards? rumor value, or taking out the highest value card in a particular suit, depending on the numerous different Morgan/Merlin cards in the game, among many other nefarious or beneficent effects.
Once at least three swords have been claimed, whatever the color, a player may accuse another player of being the traitor, winning a reward of one white sword if correct and a penalty of one black sword if not. Also, there are ?Knights to the Rescue? cards, representing the personas of the original Round Table members, Arthur, Galahad, Gawain, and others, who provide great aid to the players after a failed quest.
Thoughts/Opinions
For fans of ?semi-cooperative with a twist,? this game delivers. The memory skills required to track the various different types of quests, special Merlin and Morgan cards, and the face values on the cards themselves is challenging, whether for three or four people, or more. Add to that the suspicion your neighbor knights are possibly traitors, and you are constantly on your toes. Like classic suit based games where card memory skills are rewarded, the game tests the memory banks, and keeps players engaged cooperatively. Players must develop a system to deal with the rumor cards, keep score of the accumulating values in differing suits and the Merlin/Morgan effects, yet still avoid exposure to a cunning schemer amongst their number who makes it appear they were all merely unlucky with a minor bookkeeping error that resulted in a failed quest.
The game plays through in about 15-30 minutes, and is demanding at first, then gets very strategic with repeat plays. There is just enough mental calculus to make it a challenge, yet not an insurmountable one. The Arthurian theme plays well with the rumor deck and quests, and the ?Knight to the Rescue? cards add a great deal of flavor, depth and advanced gameplay. The art is good and the components are all high quality.
Conclusion
Having played the card game, and other Days of Wonder offerings, I am definitely going to give the board game a look. Days of Wonder have a solid record of producing quality products, and this one is no different. I will definitely share my thoughts on the board game once I have a chance to pull my credit card from the stone known as ?Christmas Spending.? Happy holiday season and New Year every one!
Private Label Articles - Get More Useful Content At Low Cost and Effort
Private label rights (PLR) are one of the hottest things in Internet marketing today. Everybody wants to know what they are and, more importantly, what benefits they can get out of them.
In essence, PLR is a kind of license you acquire for material, which allows you to change and edit existing material and call it your own. Without having to do a lot of work, you could be credited as the author of the material and not have to worry about any violations in copyright.
Not a lot of people know about the PLR articles, much less why they should pay attention to them. Give yourself the edge and find out why you should know all you can about PLR and how you can profit from them in the most efficient and effective way possible.
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3. Saves you money. This point requires a different point from saving time and effort simply because of economics. Hiring writers to create content for your website averages about $15 per article. If your site were to hold even just 20 articles that you need to update regularly (say every two weeks), you'd see how the bill could add up.
But if you were to acquire PLR for a set of articles, you could save money because of the economics of scale. Articles are bought at bulk and as such it is possible to get your hands on 200 articles for only less than $30.
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5. Create a brand for yourself. Today, it's all about distinguishing yourself from the rest. PLR articles allow you to provide content that is both relevant and updated. By doing so you build a reputation with your target audience as an expert. And since people would much rather go with someone they trust, your chances of return visitors increases significantly.
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With one set of PLR articles and some creativity on your part, you can extend the life of the articles to the point where the content has more than paid for itself. So when sourcing out a supplier for PLR articles, ask for sample works to demonstrate the quality of articles you would be purchasing.
Now that you know why you should seriously consider getting PLR articles, here are some ways to get you started on profiting from them.
1. Compile a list or report. You can consolidate a series of articles of a similar theme and package them as a report or listing of information. While you may think that anyone can do this, you'd be surprised how little of this is done.
Many people don't have the time to read or the willingness to read several articles at different times. Providing them a simplified version of the information they want will be a welcome offer for your visitors. You can either give away the report for free, sell it as your own product or use it as content on your website.
2. Use PLR content to create a series of small articles This is especially useful when producing material for an email campaign. A series is by far, one of the more effective ways to create a following with your audience.
Give enough to allow them a feel for what you're offering and hint at giving more of the same if they will subscribe to your mailing list. In turn, your emails promote your website by inviting them to visit you on a more regular basis.
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Since you have created an entirely new product you could repackage this and sell this with your own resale rights. Just like you, there are people who are looking for material they can use for their own promotion needs so cater to this market as they are increasingly growing in number.
As you can see, using PLR articles are not only effective in providing truly useful content. They are also cost and labor-efficient, which means you can focus more of your time to more important matters, whether they are for business or otherwise.
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This article originally appeared on Dr. Mahaney?s?The Daily Vet?column on petMD.
I have some product suggestions for you to consider while shopping for gifts for your pets this season, which I have chosen based on their ability to enhance pet well-being or safety. In 2011 I took a more species specific approach in writing?Dr. Patrick?s Top Five Canine Holiday Gifts. This year, I am considering both the needs of our companion canine?and?felines.
Tr?ff?
The?Tr?ff?hydration pouch promotes pet-safe hydration in a manner that reduces the likelihood that your pet will consume sources of hydration that are potentially contaminated with pathogens or illness causing agents ? such as random bowls, public water sources, or puddles. Tr?ff has a gentle stream flowing out of a unique, twist off, one-way valve (patent pending). Tr?ff shares some key facts on pet hydration:
?Every dog requires one to three ounces of water per pound of body weight each day. Water makes up 70%of an adult dog and approximately 84% of a newborn puppy?s body. A dog can lose all of its fat and half of its protein and live. A simple 10% loss of body water will cause a serious state of dehydration.?
Consistent hydration can improve our pets? health regardless of the harshness of their climate, degree of activity, or stage of illness or wellness.
The Tr?ff is especially beneficial for pet owners who travel. Whether you are hiking with Fido or flying with Fluffy, Tr?ff helps to ensure that hydration is maintained during times of stress, activity, or illness.
When empty, Tr?ff rolls up or folds for easy storage. The Tr?ff pouch is also eco-friendly, as each 17oz pouch is made from BPA free, FDA approved materials, and is reusable.
Doodie (Duty) Pack
As an advocate of veterinary and human public health, I?m especially focused on responsible pet ownership as it pertains to proper waste disposal. Cardiff and I are frequent hikers in Los Angeles?s many canyons and I am frustrated by owners either not picking up their dog?s poop, or doing so, yet leaving behind the bag with the intent to pick it up on their return journey (yeah right!).
Fortunately,?Doodie Pack?exists to help relieve your need to carry your dog?s poop bag in your hand or pocket during a walk or hike. Additionally, Doodie Pack allows your dog to transport some supplies (extra poop bags, medications, snacks, etc.) which is useful during outdoor excursions. It could even hold your keys or cell phone.
Doodie Pack also provides coverage of the top and sides of your pet?s thorax (chest), which can lend a calming effect in stressful situations, or even help reduce anxious tendencies.
?Walk In Sync
Who loves when an out of control dog pulls you in all directions during a walk? Not me! Fortunately, I started Cardiff?s training at an early age and taught him how to heel. Yet, as I am no longer Cardiff?s only regular caretaker, rules are not always so well enforced during Cardiff?s urban trek outings. So, I was enthused to learn of and demo the?Walk In Sync?humane dog walking and training system, and to meet its creator, Alecia Evans, at?BlogPaws 2012. The novel design comfortably straps around and under a dog?s chest and neck while protecting the neck?s delicate structures (trachea, esophagus, nerves, etc.). Additionally, the location of the clip to which the leash attaches is located in front of the dog?s sternum (breast bone) and causes the body to turn to the side should your pooch pull ahead.
My clients who use the Walk In Sync harness have given positive reports as to the new-found joy in walking a calm canine.
PetSafe Lickety Stick
With nearly 54 percent of dogs and cats in the United States being overweight or obese according to the?Association For Pet Obesity Prevention?(APOP), it?s vital that owners consider the adverse health effects that excess calorie consumption has for our companion canine and felines.
Often, when offering treats, pet owners don?t recognize how easy it is to exceed a pet?s caloric needs when not closely paying attention to recommended portion size. This is where the PetSafe?Lickety Stick?comes in as a healthy alternative, as it provides only 1 calorie in 10 or 20 feline licks.
It is a U.S.A. manufactured treat that contains all-natural ingredients and comes in a variety of tasty flavors for both cats and dogs. The Lickety Stick is portable and can easily travel with canine or feline owners seeking to capture their pet?s attention in a stimulating environment.
The Lickety Stick has been helpful in my practice to distract a patient that is not readily settling down for a physical exam, acupuncture treatment, or injection.
?PetHub
As you all know, I am a big advocate of pet safety and strive to spread this message through my writing and other media projects. Yet, sometimes even I slip up. See?Chocolate Toxicity Hits Home.
Properly identifying your pet with a collar, tag, and microchip is a basic tenet of responsible pet ownership. Being easily able to discern information about whom to contact should a pet get lost should always be prominently displayed on our pets, both inside and outside the confines of our homes.
This is where?PetHub?comes in, as each custom tag features a QR code that, when scanned, starts a series of events that increases the likelihood your pet will safely be returned. ?When the tag is scanned with a smart-phone, the Good Samaritan sees all the information you have made public on your pet?s profile,? and progresses to more direct contact pending your level of PetHub subscription.
In using PetHub to identify a pet, your privacy is maintained, while vital contact information that is key to promoting your pet?s safe return is revealed.
That?s all for my perspective on 2012?s top holiday pets gifts. Have a safe and fun winter holiday season.
?
Dr. Patrick Mahaney
Thank you for reading this article. ?Your questions and comments are completely welcome (I?ll respond).
Please feel free to communicate with me through Twitter (@PatrickMahaney) and follow my adventures in veterinary medicine by liking?Patrick Mahaney: Veterinarian Acupuncture Pain Management for Your Pets?on Facebook.
Copyright of this article (2012) is owned by Dr Patrick Mahaney, Veterinarian and Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist. Republishing any portion of this article must first be authorized by Dr Patrick Mahaney. Requests for republishing must be approved by Dr Patrick Mahaney and received in written format.
Tagged as: doodie duty pack, holiday gifts for your pet, pet hub, pet safe lickety stick, troff hydration pouch, Walk In Sync
Cell Phone Spy Software Reviews. If you want to spy on and track someones cell phone learn which spy and tracking programs for cell phone are the best quality at the lowest price.
To make sure you select a mobile spyware program that is going to meet your needs you have to consider what features each of the phone spy programs have, how much you're willing to spend, and how important is technical support. Fortunately there are two or three cell phone surveillance programs that score A+ in all areas including price, technical support, satisfaction guarantee, spying features, as well as ease of install and use.
At the other end of the spectrum the absolute worst mobile phone spyware software is the least expensive at $15 (don't be too enticed by the price these two cell phone spy programs I am referring to have absolutely no money back guarantee and absolutely no technical support whatsoever) Case in point the two best spy phone programs, mobile spy and phone Sheriff, had a 60 day money back guarantee and a toll-free 800 number for customer help. The two worst cell mobile spy software apps have no technical support and offer no form of a money back guarantee whatsoever.
note: This posting on cell phone spyware reviews is a very shortened version of the full report which can be found at /mobiletelephonespyarticles/best-cell-phone-spy-software-review.htm
So here's a rundown of the different mobile spy programs that are best in several different categories.
Can you afford about .10 a day for a mobile spy? Both spy bubble($49 one time) and phone Sheriff($49 one year) cost this much.
If you have ever had bad experience with a phone spy app in the past then you'll be pleased to know Mobile Spy and Mobile Spy are two phone spy software programs that absolutely steal the award for the best and most comprehensive technical support including live chat as well as the ability to talk on the telephone with a live person should you need help. Cell spy programs with the most spying features include Mobistealth and CellControl.
Overall, in all categories, the absolute best cell spy programs are mobilespy, phonesheriff and spybubble. Ignore certain web sites claiming phone spy product x, y, or z, is a scam because this is biased information provided by shady affilates wanting to sway your decisions in favor of their making a commission on THEIR phone spy product affiliation.
2 cups fresh sweet cherries, pitted 1 cup sugar snap peas 1 cucumber, seeded and sliced 1 cup radishes, sliced 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions:
Fill a medium saucepan with water. Place over high heat and bring to a rapid boil. Add the sugar snap peas and blanch 1 minute. Remove from heat and rinse with cold water to cool. Drain well. Place the drained sugar snap peas in a large mixing bowl. Add the cherries, cucumbers and radishes and toss to combine. In a separate bowl pour both vinegars together. Add the sesame oil. Stir slightly to combine. Stir in the sesame seeds. Sprinkle in the pepper and stir well. Pour over the top of the vegetables and cherries. Cover tightly and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours. Stir to combine the flavors before serving.
Tip: The cherries not only add a little sweet to the vegetables but they are a good source of the vitamins needed in a daily diet.
Nutritional Information (Approximate Values):
119 calories, 4 g protein, 2 g fat, 22 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 2 mg cholesterol and 474 g sodium per serving.
Free PDF Health Ebook...
Stop Anxiety Attacks In Their Tracks
? ? Simply right click the ebook title above, and choose Save As to save to your desktop!? You can find more FREE Natural Health, Wellness and Pet Ebooks at Remedies4.com!
About Dee Braun
Dee is an Adv. Certified Aromatherapist, Reiki Master, Adv. Color/Crystal Therapist, Herbalist, Dr. of Reflexology and single mom who is dedicated to helping others any way she can. One way she chooses to help is by offering information on the benefits and uses of natural health and healing methods for the well-being of both people and pets. Dee also teaches Aromatherapy, Reflexology and Color/Crystal Therapy at the Alternative Healing Academy
Geosphere covers Grand Canyon, deep drill coring, Death Valley, and morePublic release date: 28-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Articles posted online 13-17 Dec. 2012
Boulder, Colo., USA New Geosphere articles include additions to several special issues "Results of IODP Exp313: The History and Impact of Sea-level Change Offshore New Jersey"; "The ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf (MIS) and Southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) Drilling Projects"; "Exploring the Deep Sea and Beyond: Contributions to Marine Geology in Honor of William R. Normark"; and "CRevolution 2: Origin and Evolution of the Colorado River System II."
Topics include
1. Sonograms of Earth.
2. Study of an 1138-m-long drill core, representing the last 20 million years of glacial history.
3. Greenhouse-icehouse oscillations as a natural consequence of plate tectonics operating in the presence of continental masses.
4. An alternative hypothesis for the origin of Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA).
5. Determination of spring-water origins and pathways in the Cuatrocinegas Basin, Mexico.
6. Ancient interactions between the ice sheet and the ocean at the Ross Sea continental shelf.
7. The misconception about the evolution of the northern Rio Grande Rift, Gore Range, Colorado.
8. Solving the debate over Death Valley.
Abstracts for these and other Geosphere papers are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of Geosphere 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 Geosphere 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.
Pleistocene sequence stratigraphy of the shallow continental shelf, offshore New Jersey: Constraints of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Leg 313 core holes
Kenneth G. Miller et al., Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00795.1.
The Pleistocene epoch (the past 2.55 million years) was marked by large (>100 m) sea-level rises and falls that controlled deposition and erosion of sediment. Geologists' understanding of the relationship between sea level and the sediment record has been limited by the ability to recognize and date Pleistocene packages of sediments called sequences that are bracketed by sea-level falls. In this paper, Kenneth G. Miller and colleagues integrate data from core samples obtained by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 313 with new seismic stratigraphic data ("sonograms of the Earth") to interpret Pleistocene sea-level changes on the inner to middle continental shelf and the Hudson shelf valley. Improved age control allows recognition and dating of six Pleistocene sequences. Miller and colleagues suggest that sequences were preserved only during peak high global sea-level events except for a few low stand deposits preserved in eroded (incised) valleys. Incised valleys document more southerly courses of the paleo-Hudson Valleys compare to the modern.
Lithostratigraphy determined from downhole logs in the AND-2A borehole, southern Victoria Land Basin, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
Sabine Hunze et al. (Thomas Wonik, corresponding author), Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00774.1.
During the 2007-2008 austral spring season, the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project recovered an 1138-m-long core, representing the last 20 million years of glacial history. An extensive downhole logging programme was successfully carried out. The aim of these analyses was to use detailed interpretation of the downhole logs to obtain a description of the lithologies and their specific physical properties that is independent of the core descriptions. Sabine Hunze and colleagues use statistical analyses to establish an independent lithological column and to identify boundaries of change in sediment composition, provenance, and/or environmental conditions, and the uranium content in the downhole logs to determine hiatuses. The main purpose of this paper is to provide important new constraints on lithostratigraphy (Plio-Pleistocene sediment composition and paleoenvironment) that have general bearing for understanding the climatic evolution of the Victoria Land Basin within the West Antarctic Rift. Some remarkable results could be achieved from the downhole logging data of AND-2A borehole although the boundary conditions for interpretation were far from ideal: (1) there is no great variability in the lithology of the AND-2A core, (2) the cementation occur over various lithology and changes the physical parameters of each lithology significantly. All results presented in this paper show the benefit of downhole logging for the overall understanding of the ANDRILL geological setting.
Continental arc-island arc fluctuations, growth of crustal carbonates, and long-term climate change
Cin-Ty A. Lee et al., Dept. of Earth Science, MS-126, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00822.1.
The Cretaceous to early Paleogene (50 to 140 million years ago) was characterized by a greenhouse baseline climate, driven by elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Hypotheses for the elevated CO2 concentrations invoke an increase in volcanic CO2 production due to higher oceanic crust production rates, higher frequency of large igneous provinces, or increases in pelagic carbonate deposition, the last leading to enhanced carbonate subduction into the mantle source regions of arc volcanoes. However, these are not the only volcanic sources of CO2 during this time interval. Cin-Ty A. Lee and colleagues show that ocean-continent subduction zones, manifested as a global chain of continental arc volcanoes, were as much as 200% longer in the Cretaceous and early Paleogene than in the late Paleogene to present, when a cooler climate prevailed. They suggest that greenhouse-icehouse oscillations are a natural consequence of plate tectonics operating in the presence of continental masses, serving as a large capacitor of carbonates that can be episodically purged during global flare-ups in continental arcs. Importantly, they note that if the global crustal carbonate reservoir has grown with time, as might be expected because platform carbonates on continents do not generally subduct, the greenhouse-driving potential of continental arcs would have been small during the Archean, but would have increased in the Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic after a significant reservoir of crustal carbonates had formed in response to the evolution of life and the growth of continents.
Rejection of the lake spillover model for initial incision of the Grand Canyon, and discussion of alternatives
William R. Dickinson, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00839.1.
Almost 150 years after John Wesley Powell first ran its rapids, geologists still cannot agree about the origin of the Grand Canyon of Arizona. All agree that the canyon was cut by the Colorado River, but why the river cut the canyon exactly where it did and when it did is fiercely debated. This paper by William R. Dickinson considers and rejects the hypothesis that incision of the Grand Canyon was initiated by spillover of water from a supposedly deep lake that formed in north-central Arizona east of the Kaibab-Coconino Plateau and was filled by inflow of water from the upper Colorado River in Utah. Consideration of the morphology and history of the Colorado River drainage system as a whole supports the alternative hypothesis that an ancestral Miocene Colorado River cut a shallow canyon through the Kaibab-Coconino Plateau but exited into the Virgin River drainage north of the mouth of the present Grand Canyon. Subsequent headward erosion upstream from the Grand Wash Cliffs was capable of carving the lower Grand Canyon to capture the ancestral Colorado River near the geographic center of the modern Grand Canyon, thereby integrating the courses of the upper and lower Colorado Rivers for the first time near the Miocene-Pliocene time boundary some five million years ago. Thereafter, river flow along its present course deepened and widened the full Grand Canyon.
Identifying origins of and pathways for spring waters in a semiarid basin using He, Sr, and C isotopes: Cuatrocinegas Basin, Mexico
B.D. Wolaver et al., Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00849.1.
This study by B.D. Wolaver and colleagues presents the first dissolved noble gas and He isotopic data from northeastern Mexico. Helium, carbon, and strontium isotopes are used to infer spring sources in a water-stressed area. Spring-water origins and pathways in the Cuatrocinegas Basin are revealed by linking structure and geochemistry via regionally extensive fault networks. Basement involved faults with complex reactivation histories are important in northeastern Mexico tectonics and affect hydrogeologic systems. The importance of faults as conduits for northeastern Mexico volcanism is recognized, but connections between faulting and the hydrogeologic system have not been extensively investigated. This research tests the hypothesis that Cuatrocinegas Basin springs are divided into two general classes based upon discharge properties: (1) regional carbonate aquifer discharge (mesogenic) mixed with contributions from deeply sourced (endogenic) fluids containing 3He and CO2 from the mantle that ascend along basement-involved faults; and (2) carbonate aquifer discharge mixed with locally recharged (epigenic) mountain precipitation. This study demonstrates the presence of mantle derived 3He and deeply sourced CO2 that ascend along basement-penetrating faults and mix with Cupido aquifer groundwater before discharging in Cuatrocinegas Basin springs.
Orbitally paced shifts in the particle size of Antarctic continental shelf sediments in response to ice dynamics during the Miocene climatic optimum
S. Passchier et al., Dept. of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, 252 Mallory Hall, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey 07043, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00840.1.
Drillholes within sediment archives on the Antarctic continental margin shed light on changes in ice cover during past warm periods. By analyzing the changes in the seafloor sediment composition in an ANDRILL core from the Ross Sea continental shelf, S. Passchier and colleagues investigate the interactions between the ice sheet and the ocean. They discuss how, over time, ice growth and decay control the available wave energy recorded in the grain size of the seafloor sediment and conclude that although melt at the top of the ice sheet may have been limited over the past 18 million years, warm ocean currents may have melted a large proportion of the ice that is in contact with the ocean during past warm periods.
(U-Th)/He thermochronologic constraints on the evolution of the northern Rio Grande Rift, Gore Range, Colorado, and implications for rift propagation models
Rachel L. Landman and Rebecca M. Flowers, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. Posted online 17 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00826.1.
The Rio Grande rift system is a zone of intracontinental extension that tapers northward into the center of the southern Rocky Mountains. Near its northern end, the rift is located in a region that contains some of the highest peaks in the Rockies. However, relationships between the rifting process and development of the Rocky Mountains are not well understood. The notion persists that the Rio Grande rift propagated northward in late Cenozoic time, with this propagation proposed as a possible cause of late Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains. This study by Rachel Landman and Rebecca Flowers of the University of Colorado Boulder uses low-temperature thermochronology to constrain the uplift and exhumation history of the Gore Range, a rift-flank uplift at the northern end of the rift in central Colorado. Their results show that the mid-Tertiary and younger history of the Gore Range area is similar to histories inferred along the rest of the rift to the south, suggesting that the onset and evolution of the Rio Grande rift were roughly synchronous along its length. This conclusion demonstrates that the idea of a northward propagating rift is a misconception.
Detrital zircon age distributions as a discriminator of tectonic versus fluvial transport: An example from the Death Valley, USA, extended terrane
Nathan A. Niemi, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. Posted online 17 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00820.1.
The Basin and Range Province of the western United States is perhaps the premier example of a continental extensional orogen on Earth today. Nonetheless, the amount of extension that has occurred across the Basin and Range, and the mechanisms that accommodate it, remain strongly debated. This is particularly true in the Death Valley region, where up to 400% crustal extension has been proposed in the last ~15 million years. In part, this debate hinges on the interpretation of fluvial sediments located on the eastern side of Death Valley, which contain unique clasts derived from a source ~80 km to the WNW on the western side of Death Valley, with one interpretation positing that most of the transport of the clasts from source to sink was accomplished by tectonic processes, and another that the transport is primarily due to sedimentologic processes. In this paper, Nathan A. Niemi describes a new method to quantitatively assess the transport distance of fluvial sediments using the dilution of distinct detrital zircon U-Pb age populations. Detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra from sedimentary rocks on the east of Death Valley contain a Jurassic age peak that is similar in age and magnitude to unique plutonic source rocks in western Death Valley, supporting an interpretation of large-magnitude extension across Death Valley. The proposed methodology is applicable for discriminating tectonic versus sedimentary transport in any orogenic system in which a unique zircon source population can be identified.
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Geosphere covers Grand Canyon, deep drill coring, Death Valley, and morePublic release date: 28-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Articles posted online 13-17 Dec. 2012
Boulder, Colo., USA New Geosphere articles include additions to several special issues "Results of IODP Exp313: The History and Impact of Sea-level Change Offshore New Jersey"; "The ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf (MIS) and Southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) Drilling Projects"; "Exploring the Deep Sea and Beyond: Contributions to Marine Geology in Honor of William R. Normark"; and "CRevolution 2: Origin and Evolution of the Colorado River System II."
Topics include
1. Sonograms of Earth.
2. Study of an 1138-m-long drill core, representing the last 20 million years of glacial history.
3. Greenhouse-icehouse oscillations as a natural consequence of plate tectonics operating in the presence of continental masses.
4. An alternative hypothesis for the origin of Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA).
5. Determination of spring-water origins and pathways in the Cuatrocinegas Basin, Mexico.
6. Ancient interactions between the ice sheet and the ocean at the Ross Sea continental shelf.
7. The misconception about the evolution of the northern Rio Grande Rift, Gore Range, Colorado.
8. Solving the debate over Death Valley.
Abstracts for these and other Geosphere papers are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of Geosphere 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 Geosphere 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.
Pleistocene sequence stratigraphy of the shallow continental shelf, offshore New Jersey: Constraints of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Leg 313 core holes
Kenneth G. Miller et al., Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00795.1.
The Pleistocene epoch (the past 2.55 million years) was marked by large (>100 m) sea-level rises and falls that controlled deposition and erosion of sediment. Geologists' understanding of the relationship between sea level and the sediment record has been limited by the ability to recognize and date Pleistocene packages of sediments called sequences that are bracketed by sea-level falls. In this paper, Kenneth G. Miller and colleagues integrate data from core samples obtained by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 313 with new seismic stratigraphic data ("sonograms of the Earth") to interpret Pleistocene sea-level changes on the inner to middle continental shelf and the Hudson shelf valley. Improved age control allows recognition and dating of six Pleistocene sequences. Miller and colleagues suggest that sequences were preserved only during peak high global sea-level events except for a few low stand deposits preserved in eroded (incised) valleys. Incised valleys document more southerly courses of the paleo-Hudson Valleys compare to the modern.
Lithostratigraphy determined from downhole logs in the AND-2A borehole, southern Victoria Land Basin, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
Sabine Hunze et al. (Thomas Wonik, corresponding author), Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00774.1.
During the 2007-2008 austral spring season, the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project recovered an 1138-m-long core, representing the last 20 million years of glacial history. An extensive downhole logging programme was successfully carried out. The aim of these analyses was to use detailed interpretation of the downhole logs to obtain a description of the lithologies and their specific physical properties that is independent of the core descriptions. Sabine Hunze and colleagues use statistical analyses to establish an independent lithological column and to identify boundaries of change in sediment composition, provenance, and/or environmental conditions, and the uranium content in the downhole logs to determine hiatuses. The main purpose of this paper is to provide important new constraints on lithostratigraphy (Plio-Pleistocene sediment composition and paleoenvironment) that have general bearing for understanding the climatic evolution of the Victoria Land Basin within the West Antarctic Rift. Some remarkable results could be achieved from the downhole logging data of AND-2A borehole although the boundary conditions for interpretation were far from ideal: (1) there is no great variability in the lithology of the AND-2A core, (2) the cementation occur over various lithology and changes the physical parameters of each lithology significantly. All results presented in this paper show the benefit of downhole logging for the overall understanding of the ANDRILL geological setting.
Continental arc-island arc fluctuations, growth of crustal carbonates, and long-term climate change
Cin-Ty A. Lee et al., Dept. of Earth Science, MS-126, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00822.1.
The Cretaceous to early Paleogene (50 to 140 million years ago) was characterized by a greenhouse baseline climate, driven by elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Hypotheses for the elevated CO2 concentrations invoke an increase in volcanic CO2 production due to higher oceanic crust production rates, higher frequency of large igneous provinces, or increases in pelagic carbonate deposition, the last leading to enhanced carbonate subduction into the mantle source regions of arc volcanoes. However, these are not the only volcanic sources of CO2 during this time interval. Cin-Ty A. Lee and colleagues show that ocean-continent subduction zones, manifested as a global chain of continental arc volcanoes, were as much as 200% longer in the Cretaceous and early Paleogene than in the late Paleogene to present, when a cooler climate prevailed. They suggest that greenhouse-icehouse oscillations are a natural consequence of plate tectonics operating in the presence of continental masses, serving as a large capacitor of carbonates that can be episodically purged during global flare-ups in continental arcs. Importantly, they note that if the global crustal carbonate reservoir has grown with time, as might be expected because platform carbonates on continents do not generally subduct, the greenhouse-driving potential of continental arcs would have been small during the Archean, but would have increased in the Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic after a significant reservoir of crustal carbonates had formed in response to the evolution of life and the growth of continents.
Rejection of the lake spillover model for initial incision of the Grand Canyon, and discussion of alternatives
William R. Dickinson, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00839.1.
Almost 150 years after John Wesley Powell first ran its rapids, geologists still cannot agree about the origin of the Grand Canyon of Arizona. All agree that the canyon was cut by the Colorado River, but why the river cut the canyon exactly where it did and when it did is fiercely debated. This paper by William R. Dickinson considers and rejects the hypothesis that incision of the Grand Canyon was initiated by spillover of water from a supposedly deep lake that formed in north-central Arizona east of the Kaibab-Coconino Plateau and was filled by inflow of water from the upper Colorado River in Utah. Consideration of the morphology and history of the Colorado River drainage system as a whole supports the alternative hypothesis that an ancestral Miocene Colorado River cut a shallow canyon through the Kaibab-Coconino Plateau but exited into the Virgin River drainage north of the mouth of the present Grand Canyon. Subsequent headward erosion upstream from the Grand Wash Cliffs was capable of carving the lower Grand Canyon to capture the ancestral Colorado River near the geographic center of the modern Grand Canyon, thereby integrating the courses of the upper and lower Colorado Rivers for the first time near the Miocene-Pliocene time boundary some five million years ago. Thereafter, river flow along its present course deepened and widened the full Grand Canyon.
Identifying origins of and pathways for spring waters in a semiarid basin using He, Sr, and C isotopes: Cuatrocinegas Basin, Mexico
B.D. Wolaver et al., Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00849.1.
This study by B.D. Wolaver and colleagues presents the first dissolved noble gas and He isotopic data from northeastern Mexico. Helium, carbon, and strontium isotopes are used to infer spring sources in a water-stressed area. Spring-water origins and pathways in the Cuatrocinegas Basin are revealed by linking structure and geochemistry via regionally extensive fault networks. Basement involved faults with complex reactivation histories are important in northeastern Mexico tectonics and affect hydrogeologic systems. The importance of faults as conduits for northeastern Mexico volcanism is recognized, but connections between faulting and the hydrogeologic system have not been extensively investigated. This research tests the hypothesis that Cuatrocinegas Basin springs are divided into two general classes based upon discharge properties: (1) regional carbonate aquifer discharge (mesogenic) mixed with contributions from deeply sourced (endogenic) fluids containing 3He and CO2 from the mantle that ascend along basement-involved faults; and (2) carbonate aquifer discharge mixed with locally recharged (epigenic) mountain precipitation. This study demonstrates the presence of mantle derived 3He and deeply sourced CO2 that ascend along basement-penetrating faults and mix with Cupido aquifer groundwater before discharging in Cuatrocinegas Basin springs.
Orbitally paced shifts in the particle size of Antarctic continental shelf sediments in response to ice dynamics during the Miocene climatic optimum
S. Passchier et al., Dept. of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, 252 Mallory Hall, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey 07043, USA. Posted online 13 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00840.1.
Drillholes within sediment archives on the Antarctic continental margin shed light on changes in ice cover during past warm periods. By analyzing the changes in the seafloor sediment composition in an ANDRILL core from the Ross Sea continental shelf, S. Passchier and colleagues investigate the interactions between the ice sheet and the ocean. They discuss how, over time, ice growth and decay control the available wave energy recorded in the grain size of the seafloor sediment and conclude that although melt at the top of the ice sheet may have been limited over the past 18 million years, warm ocean currents may have melted a large proportion of the ice that is in contact with the ocean during past warm periods.
(U-Th)/He thermochronologic constraints on the evolution of the northern Rio Grande Rift, Gore Range, Colorado, and implications for rift propagation models
Rachel L. Landman and Rebecca M. Flowers, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. Posted online 17 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00826.1.
The Rio Grande rift system is a zone of intracontinental extension that tapers northward into the center of the southern Rocky Mountains. Near its northern end, the rift is located in a region that contains some of the highest peaks in the Rockies. However, relationships between the rifting process and development of the Rocky Mountains are not well understood. The notion persists that the Rio Grande rift propagated northward in late Cenozoic time, with this propagation proposed as a possible cause of late Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains. This study by Rachel Landman and Rebecca Flowers of the University of Colorado Boulder uses low-temperature thermochronology to constrain the uplift and exhumation history of the Gore Range, a rift-flank uplift at the northern end of the rift in central Colorado. Their results show that the mid-Tertiary and younger history of the Gore Range area is similar to histories inferred along the rest of the rift to the south, suggesting that the onset and evolution of the Rio Grande rift were roughly synchronous along its length. This conclusion demonstrates that the idea of a northward propagating rift is a misconception.
Detrital zircon age distributions as a discriminator of tectonic versus fluvial transport: An example from the Death Valley, USA, extended terrane
Nathan A. Niemi, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. Posted online 17 Dec. 2012; http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GES00820.1.
The Basin and Range Province of the western United States is perhaps the premier example of a continental extensional orogen on Earth today. Nonetheless, the amount of extension that has occurred across the Basin and Range, and the mechanisms that accommodate it, remain strongly debated. This is particularly true in the Death Valley region, where up to 400% crustal extension has been proposed in the last ~15 million years. In part, this debate hinges on the interpretation of fluvial sediments located on the eastern side of Death Valley, which contain unique clasts derived from a source ~80 km to the WNW on the western side of Death Valley, with one interpretation positing that most of the transport of the clasts from source to sink was accomplished by tectonic processes, and another that the transport is primarily due to sedimentologic processes. In this paper, Nathan A. Niemi describes a new method to quantitatively assess the transport distance of fluvial sediments using the dilution of distinct detrital zircon U-Pb age populations. Detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra from sedimentary rocks on the east of Death Valley contain a Jurassic age peak that is similar in age and magnitude to unique plutonic source rocks in western Death Valley, supporting an interpretation of large-magnitude extension across Death Valley. The proposed methodology is applicable for discriminating tectonic versus sedimentary transport in any orogenic system in which a unique zircon source population can be identified.
###
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Petal the Owl Colours is a sweet little ebook following Petal the nature owl, as she learns about colours around her. It is a great little first reader ebook for young ones learning their basics. Colours cover Brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink and white. Ages 3-6.
Umm, no. Maximum energy gain for a gravitational assist is a slingshot maneuver where you narrowly miss a head on collision with the planet, you will then be whipped around on a parabolic path and depart in the opposite direction with twice the planet's velocity added to your own. The "gravitational tugboat" maneuver you describe is great for minor boosts and course corrections, but is unlikely to be used for speed unless a slingshot maneuver is incompatible with reaching the desired destination. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist [wikipedia.org]
As for a solar slingshot, yeah it's pretty pointless for in-system travel - it's hard to get close (not to mention survive the passing), and since it's basically the "stationary point" for the solar system you can't steal much speed from it, so once you reach your starting distance you'll have roughly* the same velocity as when you started with. Unless you just want to briefly go really fast for some reason, or are on an interstellar vessel seeking a gravity assist on your way to somewhere else in the galaxy, the sun is pretty useless for gravity boosts.
* You won't leave a solar slingshot with exactly the same velocity because the sun itself is orbiting the solar-system's barycenter, typically between about 1/2 and 1 solar-diameter from the sun's center and constantly moving as the orbiting of the outer planets shift the system's center of mass. So there will be some velocity transfer, just not enough to be actually useful.
I've been wanting to take a family photo and we finally did it last weekend... but now it's a little late to be sending Christmas cards so I guess I'll just share it with all of you. I usually use a tripod to get a family pic in December, but this time I set up the camera and had my dad take it while we were visiting. He only took seven shots (I take way more!), but luckily we got one I liked. I hope you all are enjoying the holidays! We had a nice Christmas and I'm enjoying having all my guys off from school/work for a little while!
It's time to link up again... I'd love to see what you've been shooting! There are just a few rules.
submit the url of your blog post, not your home page
link up a photo that was taken by you
include a link back to my blog in your post (you can use the button or a text link if you prefer)
visit a few other blogs and leave some comment love?
Dec. 24, 2012 ? When heart attack patients present in the emergency department with some degree of anemia, or anemic patients have a heart attack, physicians have a tendency, but not much guidance, about whether to provide a blood transfusion. The idea is that a transfusion could help more oxygen get to the heart. Recent national guidelines suggested that there simply isn't good evidence to encourage or discourage the common practice, but a new meta-analysis of 10 studies involving more than 203,000 such patients comes down on the side of it increasing the risk of death.
The next step for determining when the practice could be appropriate needs rigorous randomized trials that will generate more decisive, high-quality data, said lead author Dr. Saurav Chatterjee, a cardiology fellow at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Providence VA Medical Center.
For the analysis published Dec. 24 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Chatterjee and his co-authors combined and analyzed data from studies in which anemia patients with heart attacks either received "liberal" transfusions or received more restricted versions of the treatment or no transfusions at all. Liberal transfusions were defined as cases in which patients either received two units of blood or more or had a transfusion even with a hematocrit reading (a measure of red blood cell concentration) higher than 30 percent (normal is in the low 40s).
What the researchers found, after statistical adjustments to control for important medical factors, was that the risk of death was 12 percent higher for people who received the liberal transfusions than those who did not. Moreover, the group that received liberal transfusions had twice the odds of having another heart attack.
"What we found is that the possibility of real harm exists with transfusion," Chatterjee said. "It is practiced in emergency departments all across the United States. I think it is high time that we need to answer the question definitively with a randomized trial."
Of the 10 papers that Chatterjee and his co-authors reviewed, all but one were observational studies. The only randomized trial was a small pilot experiment.
Searching for an answer
Chatterjee began the study when he was a resident at Maimonides Medical Center in New York. He noticed a paper by the AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks) in which the association said there was not enough clinical evidence for or against transfusions in heart attack patients.
For clinicians, the practice has always been a tough judgment call. Some transfusions are clearly necessary, for example when a patient's troubles include not just a heart attack but also severe ongoing bleeding, Chatterjee said. But transfusions also create health risks, such as an increase in potential clotting because platelets may clump together more, or from an inflammatory immune response to the introduction of blood of a "foreign" source into the body.
Chatterjee and his co-authors decided to comb the literature to determine whether, if properly combined and analyzed, existing data could provide some insight. They found 729 potentially relevant studies, but only 10 that had the right data to help answer the question.
Few as they were, Chatterjee said, the studies all told much the same story.
"One of the things that struck us is that there were very few studies in evidence of transfusion at all," Chatterjee said. "In our case, though, we found that the effect was pretty consistently harmful across the spectrum of studies, spectrum of time, and spectrum of patients that were enrolled in the individual studies."
Chatterjee said the study should not be taken to mean that transfusions should be stopped altogether for anemic heart attack patients. Instead, he said, doctors must continue exercising their clinical judgment, at least until results from a large, well-designed randomized trial can be produced. Mindful of the risk his study found, however, they might just want to shift their thinking about where the border is among borderline cases.
"Before a definitive trial is out there, we should be conservative, especially considering the high risk of harm," he said.
In addition to Chatterjee, the paper's other authors are Jorn Wetterslev of the Centre for Clinical Intervention Research in Copenhagen, Denmark; Abhishek Sharma and Edgar Lichstein of Maimonedes Medical Center; and Debabrata Mukherjee of Texas Tech University.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.
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Journal Reference:
Chatterjee S, Wetterslev J, Sharma A, Lichstein E, Mukherjee D. Association of Blood Transfusion With Increased Mortality in Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-analysis and Diversity-Adjusted Study Sequential Analysis. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2012; DOI: 10.1001/2013.jamainternmed.1001
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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Having played the card game, and other Days of Wonder offerings, I am definitely going to give the board game a look. Days of Wonder have a solid record of producing quality products, and this one is no different. I will definitely share my thoughts on the board game once I have a chance to pull my credit card from the stone known as ?Christmas Spending.? Happy holiday season and New Year every one!
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Public release date: 28-Dec-2012
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