A new type of submarine chimneys built of halite.

In contrast to the subaquatic sulphide and carbonate chimneys, which are known from Mid Ocean Ridges and abyssal submarine volcanoes, chimneys built of salts have not been described yet. Here we present such halite chimneys as a new form of cold-water smokers in hypersaline environments. The here described structures rise up from the bottom of the Dead Sea and result from the submarine discharge of saturated halite-dissolution brines into the salt lake, which is at halite saturation and holds remarkable chloride excess.

Transport of dust across the Solar System: Constraints on the spatial origin of individual micrometeorites from cosmic-ray exposure.

The origin of micrometeorites (MMs) from asteroids and comets is well-established, but the relative contribution from these two classes remains poorly resolved. Likewise, determining the precise origin of individual MMs is an open challenge. Here, cosmic-ray exposure ages are used to resolve the spatial origins of 12 MMs collected from urban areas and Antarctica.

Which is the best Be carrier for Be/Be accelerator mass spectrometry?

Commercial Be solutions used for chemical preparation of samples for accelerator mass spectrometry contain the cosmogenic long-lived radionuclide Be at elevated but different Be/Be levels. Within a systematic study of recently produced solutions, comparison to published data and new data on customised solutions from minerals, we recommend - if no customised solution is available - the Be solutions from Australian Chemical Reagents (ACR) or from LGC. They contain Be/Be at the 3.

Fe deposition during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene echoes past supernova activity.

Nuclides synthesized in massive stars are ejected into space via stellar winds and supernova explosions. The solar system (SS) moves through the interstellar medium and collects these nucleosynthesis products. One such product is Fe, a radionuclide with a half-life of 2.

Perceptual evaluation of bracewood and soundboard wood variations on the preference of a steel-string acoustic guitar.

The wood of the spruce tree (Picea spp.) has been valued for centuries as an ideal soundboard for stringed instruments due to its material acoustic properties. There is large variability in these properties between individual trees of the same species and even within an individual log.

Interstellar ^{60}Fe in Antarctica.

Earth is constantly bombarded with extraterrestrial dust containing invaluable information about extraterrestrial processes, such as structure formation by stellar explosions or nucleosynthesis, which could be traced back by long-lived radionuclides. Here, we report the very first detection of a recent ^{60}Fe influx onto Earth by analyzing 500 kg of snow from Antarctica by accelerator mass spectrometry. By the measurement of the cosmogenically produced radionuclide ^{53}Mn, an atomic ratio of ^{60}Fe/^{53}Mn=0.

Limits on Supernova-Associated ^{60}Fe/^{26}Al Nucleosynthesis Ratios from Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Measurements of Deep-Sea Sediments.

We searched for the presence of ^{26}Al in deep-sea sediments as a signature of supernova influx. Our data show an exponential dependence of ^{26}Al with the sample age that is fully compatible with radioactive decay of terrigenic ^{26}Al. The same set of samples demonstrated a clear supernova ^{60}Fe signal between 1.

Feldspar flotation as a quartz-purification method in cosmogenic nuclide dating: A case study of fluvial sediments from the Pamir.

Cosmogenic nuclide (CN) dating relies on specific target minerals such as quartz as markers to identify geologic events, including the timing of landscape evolution. The presence of feldspar in sediment samples poses a challenge to the separation of quartz and affects the chemical procedures for extracting the radioactive CNs Be and Al. Additionally, feldspar contamination reduces the Al/Al ratio, thus hinders the accurate determination of Al by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).

Time-resolved 2-million-year-old supernova activity discovered in Earth's microfossil record.

Massive stars ([Formula: see text]), which terminate their evolution as core-collapse supernovae, are theoretically predicted to eject [Formula: see text] of the radioisotope (60)Fe (half-life 2.61 Ma). If such an event occurs sufficiently close to our solar system, traces of the supernova debris could be deposited on Earth.

Recent near-Earth supernovae probed by global deposition of interstellar radioactive (60)Fe.

The rate of supernovae in our local Galactic neighbourhood within a distance of about 100 parsecs from Earth is estimated to be one every 2-4 million years, based on the total rate in the Milky Way (2.0 ± 0.7 per century).

Repeated catastrophic valley infill following medieval earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya.

Geomorphic footprints of past large Himalayan earthquakes are elusive, although they are urgently needed for gauging and predicting recovery times of seismically perturbed mountain landscapes. We present evidence of catastrophic valley infill following at least three medieval earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya. Radiocarbon dates from peat beds, plant macrofossils, and humic silts in fine-grained tributary sediments near Pokhara, Nepal's second-largest city, match the timing of nearby M > 8 earthquakes in ~1100, 1255, and 1344 C.

Speciation of iodine isotopes inside and outside of a contaminant plume at the Savannah River Site.

A primary obstacle in understanding the fate and transport of the toxic radionuclide (129)I (a thyroid seeker) is an accurate method to distinguish it from the stable isotope, (127)I, and to quantify the various species at environmentally relevant concentrations (~10(-8) M). A pH-dependent solvent extraction and combustion method was paired with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to measure ambient levels of (129)I/(127)I isotope ratios and iodine speciation (iodide (I(-)), iodate (IO3(-)), and organo-I (OI)) in aquatic systems. The method exhibited an overall uncertainty of 10% or less for I(-) and IO3(-), and less than 30% for OI species concentrations and enabled (129)I measurements as low as 0.

Stable platinum isotope measurements in presolar nanodiamonds by TEAMS.

Nanodiamonds are stardust grains commonly found in primitive meteorites. They survived the formation of the solar system and kept their own individuality. Measurements of trace-element isotopic signatures in these grains will help understanding heavy element nucleosynthesis in massive stars and dust formation from their ejecta.

Electrotactile Feedback for Handheld Devices with Touch Screen and Simulation of Roughness.

We present a novel electrotactile display that can be integrated into current handheld devices with touch screens. In this display, tactile information is presented to the fingertip of the user by transmitting small currents through electrodes. Experiments were conducted to investigate the perception of simulated textures using this electrotactile display technique.

Ultra-trace analysis of 36Cl by accelerator mass spectrometry: an interlaboratory study.

A first international (36)Cl interlaboratory comparison has been initiated. Evaluation of the final results of the eight participating accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) laboratories on three synthetic AgCl samples with (36)Cl/Cl ratios at the 10(-11), 10(-12), and 10(-13) level shows no difference in the sense of simple statistical significance. However, more detailed statistical analyses demonstrate certain interlaboratory bias and underestimation of uncertainties by some laboratories.

Determination of nitrogen in boron carbide by instrumental photon activation analysis.

Boron carbide is widely used as industrial material, because of its extreme hardness, and as a neutron absorber. As part of a round-robin exercise leading to certification of a new reference material (ERM-ED102) which was demanded by the industry we analysed nitrogen in boron carbide by inert gas fusion analysis (GFA) and instrumental photon activation analysis (IPAA) using the 14N(gamma,n)13N nuclear reaction. The latter approach is the only non-destructive method among all the methods applied.