A biogeographic regionalisation of the Andean region is proposed as a hierarchical classification of sub-regions, provinces, sub-provinces and districts. It is based on biogeographic analyses of terrestrial plant and animal taxa, and seeks to provide universality, objectivity and stability. The Andean region is currently comprised of the Central Chilean, Subantarctic and Patagonian sub-regions ...

Seismic waves that traverse Earth's inner core along north-south paths produce unusually broad pulse shapes at long periods (compared with waves along east-west paths) and reflections from below the inner core boundary at short periods. The observations provide compelling evidence for a seismic velocity discontinuity along north-south paths about 200 kilometers below the inner core boundary sep...

Receiver functions derived from teleseismic body waves recorded by ocean-bottom seismometers on the southern East Pacific Rise reveal shear waves converted from compressional waves at the mantle discontinuities near 410- and 660-kilometer depth. The thickness of the mantle transition zone between the two discontinuities is normal relative to the global average and indicates that upwelling benea...

The 660-kilometer discontinuity, which separates Earth's upper and lower mantle, has been detected routinely on a global scale in underside reflections of precursors to SS shear waves. Here, we report observations of this discontinuity in many different regions, using precursors to compressional PP waves. The apparent absence of such precursors in previous studies had posed major problems for m...

PURPOSE The authors directly compared 3 frequently used methods of heart-rate-based training-intensity-distribution (TID) quantification in a large sample of training sessions performed by elite endurance athletes. METHODS Twenty-nine elite cross-country skiers (16 male, 13 female; 25 ± 4 y; 70 ± 11 kg; 76 ± 7 mL · min-1 · kg-1 VO2max) conducted 570 training sessions during a ~14-d altitude-t...

Article history: Seismic and mineral physic Received 24 April 2008 Received in revised form 10 October 2008 Accepted 21 November 2008 Available online 13 January 2009