| 1. |
- Muller, Joanne, et al.
(författare)
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The use of principle component analyses in characterising trace and major elemental distribution in a 55 kyr peat deposit in tropical Australia: Implications to paleoclimate
- 2008
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Ingår i: Geochimicia et Cosmochimica Acta. ; 72, s. 449-463
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Lynch's Crater peat deposit in NE-Australia is a sensitive environmental archive located in the tropical Southern Hemisphere. This unique deposit illustrates that local and regional changes had a profound effect on the local Australian ecosystem over the past 55 kyr. To obtain a proxy of past climate changes, trace and major element geochemistry analyses were applied to a 13 m peat core from the crater. Principle component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the main factors that control elemental distribution in the peat and to add interpretative strength to the geochemical behavior of selected major and trace elements. For example, Sc, Al, Cu, and Pb were found to be related to increased erosion of the basin soils, and from this, several periods of significant flux from atmospheric input and/or terrigenous run-off were identified. Geochemically mobile elements during rock weathering and pedogenesis, such as Mg, Ca, and Sr helped to identify the peat ombrotrophic-minerotrophic boundary at ~1.5 m depth and offered important information about fluxes of these nutrients to the mire and their dynamics within the deposit. Arsenic and V comparisons between the peat record (high concentrations in some peat sections) and in local basin rocks (very low concentrations), suggested the presence of a long range, atmospheric dust source early in the formation of the mire. The Lynch's Crater peat record presents a continuous record of environmental change in tropical Australia and contributes new understanding to geochemical processes in peatlands.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Kylander, Malin E., et al.
(författare)
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A rapid and reliable method for Pb isotopic analysis of peat and lichens by laser ablation-quadrupole-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for biomonitoring and sample screening
- 2007
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Ingår i: Analytica Chimica Acta. - : Elsevier BV. - 0003-2670. ; 582:1, s. 116-124
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- An analytical protocol for rapid and reliable laser ablation-quadrupole (LA-Q)- and multi-collector (MC-) inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of Pb isotope ratios (207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb) in peats and lichens is developed. This technique is applicable to source tracing atmospheric Pb deposition in biomonitoring studies and sample screening. Reference materials and environmental samples were dry ashed and pressed into pellets for introduction by laser ablation. No binder was used to reduce contamination. LA-MC-ICP-MS internal and external precisions were <1.1% and <0.3%, respectively, on both 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb ratios. LA-Q-ICP-MS internal precisions on 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb ratios were lower with values for the different sample sets <14.3% while external precisions were <2.9%. The level of external precision acquired in this study is high enough to distinguish between most modern Pb sources. LA-MC-ICP-MS measurements differed from thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) values by 1% or less while the accuracy obtained using LA-Q-ICP-MS compared to solution MC-ICP-MS was 3.1% or better using a run bracketing (RB) mass bias correction method. Sample heterogeneity and detector switching when measuring 208Pb by Q-ICP-MS are identified as sources of reduced analytical performance.
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| 4. |
- Pivnenko, M.N., et al.
(författare)
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Optical and electro-optical properties of bimesogenic organosiloxane antiferroeletric liquid crystals with molecular tilt approaching 45 degrees
- 2005
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Ingår i: Liquid Crystals. - 0267-8292. ; 32, s. 173-181
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have studied the optical and electro-optical properties of three different bimesogenic siloxane materials. The dimers are symmetrical and the two mesogenic groups are connected by a siloxane unit containing three Si atoms and methylene spacers. The mesogens contain F, Cl and Br substituents, respectively, laterally attached to the phenyl ring lying closest to the chiral centre of the mesogen. These materials each exhibited a broad temperature range antiferroelectric phase and large molecular tilt, which is almost temperature-independent. We have shown that, at low temperatures, the molecular tilt in the antiferroelectric phase is the same as the apparent molecular tilt in the field-induced ferroelectric state and is close to 45°. It was found that the antiferroelectric phase of these compounds, aligned in such way that the dimeric molecules were lying in a plane parallel to the confining substrates, exhibited very low in-plane birefringence. For this reason, samples of the compounds inserted between crossed polarizers in the antiferroelectric state exhibited an extremely dark state, with contrast ratios as high as 1000:1, which did not change noticeably on rotating the sample between the crossed polarizers. It was shown that the optically isotropic siloxane moiety did not contribute to the optical properties, viz. birefringence or tilt angle, but served to enhance the promotion of the antiferroelectric phase and the temperature independent properties. We also showed the existence of a linear electro-optic response in the pretransitional region of the antiferroelectric phase of these compounds over a moderate range of fields.
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