ALBERT

Description: Adequate characterization of depositional architecture is of great importance when studying fluvial outcrops as reservoir analogs. The complex three-dimensional (3D) distribution and lateral and vertical relationships of sandstone bodies require a high degree of stratigraphic control in order to make a proper assessment of the distribution and connectivity of the reservoir facies. This assessment demands the use of reliable correlation datums. Unfortunately, clear marker beds (e.g., ash layers, coal beds, and paleosols) are not always available in fluvial outcrops, and when present, they are often covered by vegetation or debris that prevents their tracking over long distances. A new method to achieve highly accurate and semiautomatic correlations within fluvial digital outcrop models (DOMs) is presented in response to the need for further correlation procedures, especially in the absence of suitable datums. The method is based on the hypothesis that the average depositional paleosurface of a sedimentary system can be represented by a plane at outcrop scale. If this assumption is valid, this plane can be used as a virtual datum to identify along the DOM the sediments that were deposited simultaneously. The method was tested and applied successfully within two kilometer-scale outcrops of the Huesca fluvial fan (Early Miocene, northern Spain), where the virtual datum provided accurate correlations regardless of stratigraphic or topographical complexities. Moreover, all the sedimentary successions of the outcrops could be automatically subdivided into the desired stratigraphic intervals by only moving the virtual datum vertically. These intervals can be subsequently isolated to facilitate the detection of subtle variations and trends of their fluvial properties. Consequently, a virtual datum is the equivalent of having a marker bed crossing the stratigraphic succession of an outcrop at any desired position. The advantages provided by a virtual datum prove to be especially useful in large and topographically complex outcrops that previously could not have been studied with such a high degree of 3D stratigraphic control.

Description: The dependence of Spin Seebeck effect (SSE) with the thickness of the magnetic materials is studied by means of incoherent thermal excitation. The SSE voltage signal in Fe 3 O 4 /Pt bilayer structure increases with the magnetic material thickness up to 100 nm, approximately, showing signs of saturation for larger thickness. This dependence is well described in terms of a spin current pumped in the platinum film by the magnon accumulation in the magnetic material. The spin current is generated by a gradient of temperature in the system and detected by the Pt top contact by means of inverse spin Hall effect. Calculations in the frame of the linear response theory adjust with a high degree of accuracy the experimental data, giving a thermal length scale of the magnon accumulation (Λ) of 17 ± 3 nm at 300 K and Λ = 40 ± 10 nm at 70 K.

Description: The effects of intensive banana production with high mineral-fertilizer application and of extensive pastures were compared regarding water quality in a lowland region of SE Mexico. We monitored NO , NO , and PO 4 3– concentrations in groundwater (80 m depth), subsurface water (5 m depth), and surface water (open-ditch drainage) at monthly intervals for a one-year period. Irrespective of the land use, the NO concentrations in all water bodies were lower than the threshold value for drinking water and aquatic life. Particularly in areas with intense banana production, the NO contents in water exceeded the safety thresholds for drinking water of 1.0 mg L –1 ( WHO , 2006) and aquatic ecosystems of 0.2 mg L –1 ( OATA , 2008). Water from pastureland showed significantly higher PO 4 3– concentration than that from the banana plantation, indicating a high risk of eutrophication. There is a need to provide recommendations for optimal time and amount of N application in commercial banana production and for limitation of P inputs in pasturelands to avoid further contamination of water bodies.

Description: Biological production in heterologous hosts is of interest for the production of the C4 alcohol (butanol) and other chemicals. However, some hurdles need to be overcome in order to achieve an economically viable process; these include avoiding the consumption of butanol and maintaining tolerance to this solvent during production. Pseudomonas putida is a potential host for solvent production; in order to further adapt P. putida to this role, we generated mini-Tn 5 mutant libraries in strain BIRD-1 that do not consume butanol. We analyzed the insertion site of the mini-Tn 5 in a mutant that was deficient in assimilation of butanol using arbitrary PCR followed by Sanger sequencing and found that the transposon was inserted in the malate synthase B gene. Here, we show that in a second round of mutagenesis a double mutant unable to take up butanol had an insertion in a gene coding for a multisensor hybrid histidine kinase. The genetic context of the histidine kinase sensor revealed the presence of a set of genes potentially involved in butanol assimilation; qRT-PCR analysis showed induction of this set of genes in the wild type and the malate synthase mutant but not in the double mutant.

Description: Author(s): R. Ramos, T. Kikkawa, M. H. Aguirre, I. Lucas, A. Anadón, T. Oyake, K. Uchida, H. Adachi, J. Shiomi, P. A. Algarabel, L. Morellón, S. Maekawa, E. Saitoh, and M. R. Ibarra Spin Seebeck effects (SSEs) have been investigated in highly crystalline magnetic multilayer [ Fe 3 O 4 / Pt ] n films. Voltage as well as power generated by the SSE were found to be significantly enhanced with increasing the number of layers n . This voltage enhancement defies the simple understanding of th… [Phys. Rev. B 92, 220407(R)] Published Fri Dec 11, 2015

Description: The build-up of large magmatic complexes can proceed piecemeal over periods of several million years through sequences of complex processes of magma production, differentiation, assimilation, final crystallization and subsequent metasomatic modification. All these stages can produce or modify minerals used as geochronometers, such as zircon, monazite and titanite. The present study exemplifies such complex relationships, also demonstrating how a systematic approach with comprehensive sampling and careful high-resolution U–Pb analyses can yield a coherent picture of the entire magmatic process. The study was conducted on the Pavia pluton, an elongated Variscan intrusion in the Ossa–Morena Zone of Portugal. The geochronological data show that the Pavia pluton was emplaced by the amalgamation of multiple magma pulses into the crust, over a period of c . 11 Myr. An early event at ~340 Ma, revealed by xenocrystic zircon, preceded the magmatic activity at the exposed level of the pluton, but is recognized as the main magmatic event elsewhere in the Ossa–Morena Zone. A second event at 328 Ma formed tonalite, trondhjemite and granodiorite, and subordinate differentiates in the central domains of the pluton (units I and II). A third event at c . 324 Ma emplaced granodiorite in the flanking domains III–V and the contemporaneous and widespread two-mica granite in domain VI, together with late rhyodacite porphyries, microgranodiorites, aplite–pegmatite and pegmatite dikes. A fourth event at 319–317 Ma was characterized by the emplacement of some microgranites and pegmatite dikes. These two last magmatic events also had an effect on the previously emplaced rocks, causing local overgrowths and isotopic resetting of minerals. The occurrence of a fifth magmatic event at depth at 313 Ma is the inferred cause of the hydrothermal activity responsible for local zircon, monazite and titanite resorption and/or recrystallization and for some of the textures exhibited by the main rock-forming minerals. The magmatic episodes were interspersed with periods of quiescence; this cyclicity presumably reflects an external control by the transtensional tectonic regime of the Ossa–Morena Zone.

Description: Author(s): T. A. Girard, M. Felizardo, A. C. Fernandes, J. G. Marques, and A. R. Ramos A Reply to the Comment by C. E. Dahl et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 259002] Published Fri Jun 22, 2012

Description: Author(s): M. Felizardo, T. A. Girard, T. Morlat, A. C. Fernandes, A. R. Ramos, J. G. Marques, A. Kling, J. Puibasset, M. Auguste, D. Boyer, A. Cavaillou, J. Poupeney, C. Sudre, H. S. Miley, R. F. Payne, F. P. Carvalho, M. I. Prudêncio, A. Gouveia, and R. Marques (The SIMPLE Collaboration) We report the final results of the Phase II SIMPLE measurements, comprising two run stages of 15 superheated droplet detectors each, with the second stage including an improved neutron shielding. The analyses include a refined signal analysis, and revised nucleation efficiency based on a reanalysis ... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 201302] Published Fri May 18, 2012

Description: Author(s): Mercedes Gabás, Piero Torelli, Nicholas T. Barrett, Maurizio Sacchi, Fabien Bruneval, Ying Cui, Laura Simonelli, Pilar Díaz-Carrasco, and José R. Ramos Barrado [Phys. Rev. B 84, 153303] Published Wed Oct 19, 2011

Description: Crystalline hydrous zirconia (ZrO 2 ·2H 2 O) with volume-weighted average domain size of 1.5 nm was obtained by soaking zirconium tungstate (α-ZrW 2 O 8 ) in boiling 1 M NaOH solution for 5 h. The selected area electron diffraction pattern of hydrous zirconia particles could be indexed according to a tetragonal lattice with a =1.463(4) Å and c =2.535(6) Å. Upon heating to 60°C under a vacuum of 10 −5 mbar, hydrous zirconia dehydrates reversibly. Further heating to 850° and 1000°C resulted in the formation of tetragonal and monoclinic zirconia, respectively. Some of the nanocrystalline hydrous zirconia produced from zirconium tungstate coalesced into transparent, nearly pore-free aggregates. The formation of these almost fully densified aggregates of hydrous zirconia, and the observed dehydration under very mild conditions, suggests that it could be possible to obtain transparent bodies of zirconia, with unprecedented small crystallite size, with the controlled deposition of the extremely small hydrous zirconia nanoparticles from a water-based suspension.