Observations from 145 submersible dives are used to create a database of mid-ocean ridge scarp topography and lithology. Seafloor lithologies are classified into extrusives, basaltic talus, dykes, gabbros and serpentinites, and the dive locations are broadly classified according to whether they are close to transform valleys and as a function of ridge spreading rate. The database is used to det...

Newly discovered xenoliths within Pliocene and Quaternary intermediate volcanic rocks from southern Peru permit examination of lithospheric processes by which thick crust (60–70 km) and high average elevations (3–4 km) resulted within the Altiplano, the second most extensive orogenic plateau on Earth. The most common petrographic groups of xenoliths studied here are igneous or meta-igneous rock...

The Lonar impact crater in the Deccan Traps of the Indian peninsula provides unique opportunities to study physical and chemical processes of impact cratering on basaltic targets, because terrestrial impact craters on basalts are extremely rare. Such studies are needed for determining provenance and other parameters of the excavated rocks and the cratering phenomenon that may have implications ...

The physico-chemical properties of serpentine soils lead to strong selection of plant species. Whereas many studies have described the serpentine flora, little information is available on the fungal communities dwelling in these sites. Asbestos minerals, often associated with serpentine rocks, can be weathered by serpentine-isolated fungi, suggesting an adaptation to this substrate. In this stu...

A bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) program on a MATLAB platform was effectively used to handle gravity signals for the Tongshi gold field. This yielded a two-dimensional intrinsic mode function (IMF3) image that meticulously depicts the spatial distribution relationship between various gold deposits and the different geological units of the gold field. By combining the IMF3 ima...

Formica neorufibarbis Emery is a dominant alpine ant in North America. Above timberline, colonies nest under rocks, placing brood against the rock surface to warm during the day. We tested the hypothesis that nest rock preference represents a mechanism of behavioral thermoregulation and used a demographic model to explore its impact on the species' altitudinal range. Under sunny conditions roc...

rocks of the Stuhuni and King Salmon Groups; a pre-.Middlm: Triassic unconformity is found througbmt the North American Cordillera (Read and Okulitch, 1977, Siberling, 1973:. In the Stikine Terrane, late Triassic volcanic rocks ar: dominantly fragmental andcommonly alkalic. Based on bul:: rock chemistry, both extensional, ba:k-arc, and Fore-ar: tectonic settings have been suggested tor these r...

Rho-associated kinases (ROCKs), the immediate downstream targets of RhoA, are ubiquitously expressed serine-threonine protein kinases that are involved in diverse cellular functions, including smooth muscle contraction, actin cytoskeleton organization, cell adhesion and motility, and gene expression. Recent studies have shown that ROCKs may play a pivotal role in cardiovascular diseases such as...

Most paleo-episodes of ocean acidification (OA) were either too slow or too small to be instructive in predicting near-future impacts. The end-Cretaceous event (66 Mya) is intriguing in this regard, both because of its rapid onset and also because many pelagic calcifying species (including 100% of ammonites and more than 90% of calcareous nannoplankton and foraminifera) went extinct at this tim...

This work presents the provisional results of the IUGS Subcommission on the Systematics of Metamorphic Rocks in respect to impactites. It is proposed to distinguish between impactites resulting from a single impact (e.g., at terrestrial impact craters) and those resulting from multiple impacts (e.g., lunar rocks or meteorites). The former are subdivided into two major groups: Proximal and dista...