Rare Snapshot Research Articles

Obliquity Constraints for the Extremely Eccentric Sub-Saturn Kepler-1656 b

The orbits of close-in exoplanets provide clues to their formation and evolutionary history. Many close-in exoplanets likely formed far out in their protoplanetary disks and migrated to their current orbits, perhaps via high-eccentricity migration (HEM), a process that can also excite obliquities. A handful of known exoplanets are perhaps caught in the act of HEM, as they are observed on highly eccentric orbits with tidal circularization timescales shorter than their ages. One such exoplanet is Kepler-1656 b, which is also the only known nongiant exoplanet (<100 M ⊕) with an extreme eccentricity (e = 0.84). We measured the sky-projected obliquity of Kepler-1656 b by observing the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect during a transit with the Keck Planet Finder. Our data are consistent with an aligned orbit but are also consistent with moderate misalignment with λ < 50° at 95% confidence, with the most likely solution of 35.0−21.6+14.9 deg. A low obliquity would be an unlikely outcome of most eccentricity-exciting scenarios, but we show that the properties of the outer companion in the system are consistent with the coplanar HEM mechanism. Alternatively, if the system is not relatively coplanar (≲20° mutual inclination), Kepler-1656 b may be presently at a rare snapshot of long-lived eccentricity oscillations that do not induce migration. Kepler-1656 b is only the fourth exoplanet with e > 0.8 to have its obliquity constrained; expanding this population will help establish the degree to which orbital misalignment accompanies migration. Future work that constrains the mutual inclinations of outer perturbers will be key for distinguishing plausible mechanisms.

Elasmobranch assemblages from a bathyal environment spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in Austria

Abstract Extensive bulk-sampling of the continuous Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary section at Gams (Styria, Austria) allows for the first time the description of the elasmobranch communities inhabiting the bathyal environment of this well-known section. The sampled succession comprises six horizons from the uppermost Maastrichtian (upper part of Nephrolites frequens Zone CC26) and five horizons from the lowermost Danian (Zone NP1), which yielded a total of 1852 elasmobranch teeth. Although the majority of the teeth are not well preserved, this study enabled the description of at least 16 taxa of the orders Hexanchiformes, Squaliformes, Orectolobiformes, Lamniformes and Carcharhiniformes, providing a rare snapshot of elasmobranch diversity of this specific environmental setting. Beside minor diversity fluctuations between the assemblages, the extensive bulk-sampling of this section did not reveal a marked diversity decline related to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event. However, a noteworthy correlation between the deepening upward trend of the section with the appearance of frilled and goblin sharks points to changes in palaeobathymetry, which is also reflected in the increase of the total proportion of squaliform teeth in the uppermost sampled horizon. Furthermore, teeth of the extinct triakid Palaeogaleus were recovered exclusively from the Danian deeper deposits, expanding the palaeoecological range of the genus down to fairly deep marine environments. In addition, this study provides the first record of the lamniform Cretolamna ex gr. borealis from the Danian of the Tethyan Realm expanding the palaeogeographic distribution of this group.

“CROPPING THE MARGINS”: NEW EVIDENCE FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT MID-3RDMILLENNIUM B.C.E. TELL BRAK, SYRIA

The excavation of a large administrative building at the city of Tell Brak in northern Syria saw the recovery of a considerable quantity of charred cereals dated to the mid-third millennium B.C.E. This remarkable discovery provides a rare snapshot into the nature of agriculture in Upper Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age. The material has been studied using a combination of primary archaeobotanical analysis, crop stable isotope determinations, and functional weed ecology to deliver new insights into cultivation strategies at Tell Brak as well as to contribute to the wider debate regarding trade and crop importation in this region. Specific crop regime choices also reveal how the farmers of Tell Brak were able to reduce the overall risk of crop failure by careful water management, a vitally important factor in this semi-arid region, with potential implications for the analysis of other large-scale urban agro-economies in the Middle East and beyond.

The dynamics of the endothelial glycocalyx: a rare snapshot by electron microscopy.

The dynamics of the endothelial glycocalyx: a rare snapshot by electron microscopy.

Earth's earliest hydrosphere recorded by the oldest hydrothermally-altered oceanic crust: Triple oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in the 4.3-3.8 Ga Nuvvuagittuq belt, Canada

The origin, evolution, and the state of Earth's hydrosphere are relevant for the timing, style, and intensity of plate tectonics, continental and submarine weathering, and the emergence of the continents. We here present a study of triple oxygen isotopes of hydrothermally altered oceanic crust from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt (NGB) in Canada (4.3-3.8 Ga), which provides a rare snapshot of the Earth's earliest hydrosphere on a planet without modern-style plate tectonics. High δ18O = 8-12‰, Δ′17O=-0.02 to −0.05‰, and δD of −30-40‰ values measured in the NGB metavolcanic rocks are interpreted to indicate that they represent the upper section of ancient oceanic crust (pillows, sediments) altered at low-temperature by seawater similar to modern submarine oceanic sections. Hydrothermal alteration was accompanied by silicification at low temperature (50-150°C) as evidenced by a positive correlation of δ18O with silica, elevated Δ′17O values, and triple oxygen isotope thermometry. We discuss the effects of 2.7 Ga metamorphism on the preservation of triple oxygen isotope compositions and show that the hydrothermal alteration is protolithic and predated metamorphism. Triple oxygen isotopes allow reconstruction of the isotopic compositions of seawater and suggest that the δ18O of the early oceans could have been comparable to that of the modern to perhaps −5‰ but silica-saturated. Models with an ancient ocean with δ18O of +3‰ or <−5‰ seawater result in worse fits to the data. Submarine weathering and hydrothermal silicification could have played a more important role in Eoarchean world with subdued role of subaerial weathering due to insignificant continental exposure that helped balancing seawater δ18O values to near modern values.

Reactivity of a Chloride Decorated, Mixed Valent CeIII/IV38-Oxo Cluster.

A cerium-oxo nanocluster capped by chloride ligands, [CeIV38-nCeIIInO56-(n+1)(OH)n+1Cl51(H2O)11]10- (n = 1-24), has been isolated from acidic chloride solutions by using potassium counterions. The crystal structure was elucidated using single crystal X-ray diffraction. At the center of the cluster is a {Ce14} core that exhibits the same fluorite-type structure as bulk CeO2, with eight-coordinate Ce sites bridged by tetrahedral oxo anions. The {Ce14} is further surrounded by a peripheral shell of six tetranuclear {Ce4} subunits that are located on each of the faces of the core to yield the {Ce38} cluster. The surface of the cluster is capped by 51 bridging/terminal chloride ligands and 11 water molecules; the anionic cluster is charge balanced by potassium counterions that exist in the outer coordination sphere. While assignment of the Ce oxidation state by bond valence summation was ambiguous, Ce L3-edge X-ray absorption, X-ray photoelectron, and UV-vis-NIR absorption results were consistent with a CeIII/CeIV cluster. Systematic changes in the XANES and UV-vis-NIR absorption spectra over time pointed to reactivity of the cluster upon exposure to air. These changes were examined using single crystal X-ray diffraction, and a clear single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation was captured; an overall loss of surface-bound chlorides and water molecules as well as new μ2-OH sites was observed on the cluster surface. This work provides a rare snapshot of metal oxide cluster reactivity. The results may hold implications for understanding the physical and chemical properties of ceria nanoparticles and provide insight into the behavior of other metal-oxo clusters of significant technological and environmental interest.

Binational Gatekeepers

While the 1891 and 1893 Immigration Acts established inspection protocols that remained in place for decades, less is known about how US agents initially translated gatekeeping laws into the durable policy directives that had a profound effect on the migration of working-class people. Before the “qualitative” restriction of specific racial, social, and economic conditions transitioned to a period of “quantitative” or enumerated exclusion by the 1920s, the US government had to establish a structure to carry out the work of exclusion, but this early era of qualitative gatekeeping is less understood. Italian encounters with federal agents at Ellis Island show how the 1891 and 1893 laws empowered the administrative state to carry out the work of exclusion shadowed by the banality of bureaucratic decision-making. The records of the short-lived Office of Labor Information and Protection for Italians (1894–99), the only outpost of a foreign government allowed to operate in the main processing building on Ellis Island, offers a rare snapshot of the gatekeeping process in its crucial early years. Given that Italians were the single largest ethnic group to be processed at Ellis Island over its sixty-two-year history and the primary target of inspectors in the station’s first decade, their experiences with bureaucratic exclusion illuminate how the United States moved to systematically control working-class migration.

Settlement, landscape and land-use change at a Pictish Elite Centre: Assessing the palaeoecological record for economic continuity and social change at Rhynie in NE Scotland

The first millennium AD was a transformative period when many of the medieval kingdoms of Europe began to take shape, but despite recent advances in palaeoecological and archaeological research there remains a shortage of interdisciplinary collaborative research targeting this period. For some regions we know relatively little about the societies who lived during this formative period. This current investigation focusses on an early medieval elite centre near to Rhynie in NE Scotland; an important power-centre during the fourth–seventh centuries AD as evidenced by a remarkable series of Class I Pictish symbol stones, fortified enclosures at Cairn more, Tap o’ Noth and the Craw-Stane, as well as high status metal-working and a range of continental imports from the Craw-Stane enclosure. However, by the end of the seventh century AD, elite focus appears to have shifted elsewhere with the Craw-Stane and Cairn More enclosures all being abandoned. By combining paleoenvironmental analysis with available historical and archaeological archives this paper provides new insights into societal change during the first Millennium AD, with focus on the economic, social and environmental impacts caused by the rise and subsequent abandonment of elite nodes of power. A calibrated age of AD 260–415, near the base of the core, coincides with the earliest dates for the Craw-Stane complex and pre-dates the construction of the nearby Cairn More enclosure. The results provide a rare snapshot of the Late Roman Iron Age to Medieval environment of Northeast Scotland. This centre appears to have been supported by a rich agricultural landscape, with evidence of pastoral and arable farming, and potential metal working. One of the most significant findings of this study has revealed that despite abandonment of these elite enclosed sites by the seventh century AD, people continued to utilise the surrounding landscape and available resources right through until modern times.

Diamondiferous lamproites of the Luangwa Rift in central Africa and links to remobilized cratonic lithosphere

Mesozoic diamondiferous lamproite pipes occur along the Kapamba River within the Luangwa Valley of eastern Zambia, which is a ca. 300–200 Ma old Karoo-age precursor branch to the East African Rift System. The Luangwa Rift developed above a reactivated mega-shear zone that cuts through the Proterozoic Irumide Belt between the Congo-Tanzania-Kalahari cratons and thus it provides a rare snapshot of early-stage cratonic rift evolution.The primary mineralogy of the fresh volcanic rocks suggests that they represent a continuum between primitive olivine lamproites and slightly more evolved olivine-leucite lamproites. Mineral compositions and evolutionary trends, such as the strong Al-depletion at Ti-F enrichment in groundmass phlogopite and potassic richterite, resemble those of classic lamproite provinces in circum-cratonic settings (e.g., the Leucite Hills of Wyoming and the West Kimberley field in Australia). However, there are some similarities to orangeites from the Kaapvaal craton (formerly Group-2 kimberlites), type kamafugites from the East African Rift, and ultramafic lamprophyres from a key region of the rifted North Atlantic craton, which implies a complex interplay between source-forming and tectonic processes during Karoo-age lamproite magma formation beneath south-central Africa.The bulk compositions of the Kapamba volcanic rocks fall within the range of ‘cratonic’ low-silica lamproites, but there is overlap with orangeites, in particular with the more evolved leucite- and sanidine-bearing orangeite varieties. Modelling of the process by which most of the original leucite was transformed into analcime suggests that the primitive alkaline magmas at Kapamba contained ~6–9 wt% K2O and had high K2O/Na2O ratios between ~1.6–6.2 at >10 wt% MgO – confirming the ultrapotassic nature of the mantle-derived magmatism beneath the Luangwa Rift. The virtually CO2-free, H2O-F-rich Kapamba lamproites present an extension of the geochemical continuum displayed by the members of the CO2-H2O-rich kamafugite/ultramafic lamprophyre group. Hence, we suggest that the Kapamba lamproites and the type kamafugites, located within separate branches of the East African Rift System, represent melting products of similar K-metasomatized cratonic mantle domains, but their formation occurred under contrasting volatile conditions at different stages during rift development (i.e., incipient versus slightly more advanced rifting).Temperature estimates for peridotite-derived olivine xenocrysts from the Kapamba lamproites suggest that the Luangwa Valley is an aborted cratonic rift that retained a relatively cold (≤42 mW/m2) lithospheric mantle root down to ~180–200 km depth during the Mesozoic. Olivine major and trace element compositions support the presence of an Archean mantle root (up to 92.4 mol% forsterite contents) that is progressively metasomatized toward its base (e.g., increasing Ti-Cu contents with depth). For south-central Africa, it appears that significant volumes of Archean cratonic mantle domains ‘survived’ beneath strongly deformed and granite-intruded Proterozoic terranes, which suggests that the continental crust is more strongly impacted during collisional or rift tectonics than the ‘stabilizing’ mantle lithosphere.

The networks of human rights and climate change: The State of the Netherlands v Stichting Urgenda, Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 20 December 2019 (19/00135)

Climate change litigators are increasingly relying on a range of different jurisdictional avenues and legal regimes. The recent Urgenda decision by the Dutch Supreme Court provides a surprisingly rare snapshot of the relevance of human rights law to climate change litigation. Focusing on the Supreme Court's reliance on the environmental rights case law from the ECHR, this case note argues that climate change and human rights adjudications takes the form of an adjudicatory network. This network creates spaces for domestic courts to develop contingent responses to emerging climate change claims.

Neogene marine sediments and biota encapsulated between lava flows on Santa Maria Island (Azores, north‐east Atlantic): An interplay between sedimentary, erosional and volcanic processes

AbstractSedimentary rocks are rarely preserved on reefless volcanic oceanic islands because their sediments are mostly exported from coastal areas towards the deep sea and such islands typically undergo subsidence. In contrast, the exceptional geological record of the uplifted Santa Maria Island (Azores) provides a unique opportunity to gain insight on such coastal systems. This study focuses on a locality at Ponta do Cedro (eastern Santa Maria Island), which features a series of marine fossiliferous sediments wedged between steep lava deltas. As demonstrated by local structure, these sediments correspond to clinoforms deposited on the steep submarine slope of an active volcanic island, implying transport from shallow waters to greater depths and subsequent colonization by benthic communities. Rapid volcanic progradation eventually sealed the deposits, allowing for their preservation and providing a rare snapshot of the ecology during those intervals, in addition to insights on sedimentary dynamics along submarine island slopes. This study reveals spatial relationships between wedges of sedimentary bodies encapsulated by lavas in the Ponta do Cedro section, and interprets depositional processes preserved in those strata based on sedimentological and palaeontological data. The dynamics of the environment are mostly related to relative sea‐level changes, intense volcanic activity and regional uplift during the Neogene.

The Counter-Roll in Science

A controlled experiment, everyone learns early in school, is the hallmark of good science. But what, exactly, is the hallmark of a controlled experiment? For many people, a controlled experiment is, straightforwardly, one “controlled” by the scientist. If you can “control” the variables and produce a predicted result (based on your hypothesis), then you seem to have proved cause and effect. Scientific credibility seems to emerge from the power of demonstration and technology. However, this widespread view of the core meaning of control in science – this month's Sacred Bovine – is mistaken (Boring, 1954, 1969). It thus fosters a misleading impression of what makes scientific claims reliable. Here, I journey through the history of the term control and show how the concept contributes to the distinctive nature of scientific reasoning. The origin of the modern term control may seem surprising. Yet it is also informative. It comes from the French contre-rolle , translated as “counter-roll.” No one uses counter-rolls today. But historically (beginning at least by the 12th century), royal household expenditures were documented on paper rolls. Later, rolls recorded other business, trade, and tax accounts (Figure 1). In some cases, the transactions were recorded on two rolls simultaneously. The duplicate roll – the counter -roll – was kept independently by a trusted officer. The copy could later be consulted when auditing the accounts, allowing one to detect any illicit tampering with the original records. Basically, the counter-roll was a parallel reference copy for comparison, a method to identify and thereby limit errors. The method helped to guarantee reliability in accounting (see Hoskin & Macve, 1994, p. 76). Eventually, the person who managed the counter-roll became known as the comptroller – a term still used today for someone who manages and monitors the finances of a business …

Changes and consistencies in marine and coastal bird numbers on Kidney Island (Falkland Islands) over half a century

Detecting change is necessary for effective ecosystem management, yet temporal data on key ecosystem components are lacking for many polar and subpolar regions. For example, although the Falkland Islands hosts internationally important marine and coastal bird populations, few of these were surveyed until the late twentieth century. The avifauna of one small island, Kidney Island, was surveyed between 1958 and 1963, however. This typical tussac-covered island has remained free of non-native predators, so changes in its avifauna may reflect variation in the wider marine environment. In order to obtain a rare snapshot of such changes, we re-surveyed Kidney Island’s avifauna between 2017 and 2019, counting either individuals, breeding pairs or nest sites of marine and coastal waterbirds. Waterfowl, waders and cormorant populations were broadly stable, but several populations showed profound differences over the six decades between surveys. In particular, Southern Rockhopper penguins Eudyptes chrysocome collapsed from > 3000 to 200 pairs, while Sooty Shearwaters Ardenna grisea expanded by two orders of magnitude. Due to its isolation and tight fisheries management, the Falklands marine environment is assumed to be relatively pristine. Our limited results suggest that sufficient changes may nevertheless have occurred in the region’s marine ecosystem to have detectable impacts on breeding seabirds.

Synthesis and Reactivity of an Early-Transition-Metal Alkynyl Cubane Mn4 C4 Cluster.

While the coordination chemistry of monometallic complexes and the surface properties of extended metal particles are well understood, the control of metal nanocluster formation has remained challenging. The isolation of discrete metal clusters provides an especially rare snapshot at the nanoscale of cluster growth. The synthesis and full characterization of the first early-transition-metal alkynyl cubane and the first μ3 -alkynyl Mn3 motif are reported.

Synthesis and Reactivity of an Early‐Transition‐Metal Alkynyl Cubane Mn4C4 Cluster

AbstractWhile the coordination chemistry of monometallic complexes and the surface properties of extended metal particles are well understood, the control of metal nanocluster formation has remained challenging. The isolation of discrete metal clusters provides an especially rare snapshot at the nanoscale of cluster growth. The synthesis and full characterization of the first early‐transition‐metal alkynyl cubane and the first μ3‐alkynyl Mn3 motif are reported.

Sabkha Facies and the Preservation of A Falling-Stage Systems Tract At the Sauk II–III Supersequence Boundary In the Late Cambrian Eilean Dubh Formation, NW Scotland

The Durness Group of northwest Scotland represents a nearly one-kilometer-thick succession of mid-Cambrian to lower Middle Ordovician carbonates. These rocks crop out in a narrow belt along the foreland of the Caledonian orogen and in the Moine Thrust zone, stretching some 170 km from Loch Eriboll southwestwards to the Isle of Skye. The Cambrian parts of the succession represent deposition on a paleo-southeast-facing, low-latitude, passively subsiding continental margin, situated at around 20° S. Carbonate deposition in Scotland formed part of the extensive Great American Carbonate Bank. The Sauk II–III supersequence boundary occurs above an interval of thin, meter-scale shallowing-upward peritidal cycles containing intraclast dolorudstones, stromatolites, tepees, siliciclastic sand, and surface karst. Evidence of former evaporites in the succession comprises pseudomorphs of nodular and bedded anhydrite, crystal-shaped calcite-filled vugs representing growth of sulfate, dissolution breccias, and local halite casts. These features represent sabkha facies arranged into cycles that constitute a preserved falling-stage systems tract (FSST). The top of the FSST is marked by a pronounced karst surface of sandstone-filled fissures. The section preserves a rare snapshot of a seldom-preserved environment on the Cambrian Laurentian margin. Its preservation during a time of falling relative sea level under slow tectonic subsidence is discussed.

In-situ assimilation of mantle minerals by kimberlitic magmas — Direct evidence from a garnet wehrlite xenolith entrained in the Bultfontein kimberlite (Kimberley, South Africa)

The lack of consensus on the possible range of initial kimberlite melt compositions and their evolution as they ascend through and interact with mantle and crustal wall rocks, hampers a complete understanding of kimberlite petrogenesis. Attempts to resolve these issues are complicated by the fact that kimberlite rocks are mixtures of magmatic, xenocrystic and antecrystic components and, hence, are not directly representative of their parental melt composition. Furthermore, there is a lack of direct evidence of the assimilation processes that may characterise kimberlitic melts during ascent, which makes understanding their melt evolution difficult.In this contribution we provide novel constraints on the interaction between precursor kimberlite melts and lithospheric mantle wall rocks. We present detailed textural and geochemical data for a carbonate-rich vein assemblage that traverses a garnet wehrlite xenolith [equilibrated at ~1060°C and 43kbar (~140–145km)] from the Bultfontein kimberlite (Kimberley, South Africa). This vein assemblage is dominated by Ca–Mg carbonates, with subordinate oxide minerals, olivine, sulphides, and apatite. Vein phases have highly variable compositions indicating formation under disequilibrium conditions. Primary inclusions in the vein minerals and secondary inclusion trails in host wehrlite minerals contain abundant alkali-bearing phases (e.g., Na–K bearing carbonates, Mg-freudenbergite, Na-bearing apatite and phlogopite). The Sr-isotope composition of vein carbonates overlaps those of groundmass calcite from the Bultfontein kimberlite, as well as perovskite from the other kimberlites in the Kimberley area. Clinopyroxene and garnet in the host wehrlite are resorbed and have Si-rich reaction mantles where in contact with the carbonate-rich veins. Within some veins, the carbonates occur as droplet-like, globular segregations, separated from a similarly shaped Si-rich phase by a thin meniscus of Mg-magnetite. These textures are interpreted to represent immiscibility between carbonate and silicate melts.The preservation of reaction mantles, immiscibility textures and disequilibrium in the vein assemblage, suggests quenching, probably triggered by entrainment and rapid transport toward the Earth's surface in the host kimberlite magma. Based on the Sr-isotope systematics of vein carbonate minerals, and the close temporal relationship between carbonate-rich metasomatism and kimberlite magmatism, we suggest that the carbonate-rich vein assemblage was produced by the interaction between a melt genetically related to the Bultfontein kimberlite and wehrlitic mantle wall rock. If correct, this unique xenolith sample provides a rare snapshot of the assimilation processes that might characterise parental kimberlite melts during their ascent through the lithospheric mantle.

Viking Age Fences and Early Settlement Dynamics in Iceland

Abstract Soon after the settlement of Iceland in the late 9th and early 10th century, an extensive system of turf walls was erected and was functional for about 200 years. After its collapse in the 12th century, few if any walls were built until the late 18th century. The remnants of this Viking Age fence system have been mapped in northeast Iceland, revealing enclosures with a characteristic geometry, broadly reflecting property boundaries. The fences are the product of a pastoral society, which then as now was based on dispersed farmsteads subsisting on animal husbandry. There was a strong seasonal component, most notably a need for harvesting and storing winter fodder. The short-lived fence system offers a rare snapshot of the division of a newly colonized landscape into functional units. This paper presents a framework for evaluating those units based on current thinking in behavioral ecology. The settlement of Iceland by the Viking Age colonists may be described by principles of habitat-selection the...

Clinical Assessment and Management of Spondyloarthritides in the Middle East: A Multinational Investigation.

Data on spondyloarthritis (SpA) from the Middle East are sparse and the management of these diseases in this area of the world faces a number of challenges, including the relevant resources to enable early diagnosis and referral and sufficient funds to aid the most appropriate treatment strategy. The objective was to report on the characteristics, disease burden, and treatment of SpA in the Middle East region and to highlight where management strategies could be improved, with the overall aim of achieving better patient outcomes. This multicenter, observational, cross-sectional study collected demographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment data on 169 consecutive SpA patients at four centers (Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia). The data collected presents the average time from symptom onset to diagnosis along with the presence of comorbidities in the region and comparisons between treatment with NSAIDs and biologics. In the absence of regional registries of SpA patients, the data presented here provide a rare snapshot of the characteristics, disease burden, and treatment of these patients, highlighting the management challenges in the region.

EXTENDED STRUCTURE AND FATE OF THE NUCLEUS IN HENIZE 2-10

We investigate the structure and nuclear region of the black hole (BH) hosting galaxy Henize2-10. Surface brightness (SB) profiles are analyzed using Magellan/Megacam $g$- and $r$-band images. Excluding the central starburst, we find a best-fit two component S\'ersic profile with $n_{\rm in} \sim 0.6$, $r_{\text{eff,in}} \sim$ 260~pc, and $n_{\rm out}\sim 1.8$, $r_{\text{eff, out}}\sim$ 1 kpc. Integrating out to our outer most data point (100 arc sec $\sim$ 4.3 kpc), we calculate $M_g=-19.2$ and $M_r=-19.8$. The corresponding enclosed stellar mass is $M_{\star}\sim(10\pm3)\times10^9$ M$_\odot$, $\sim3\times$ larger than previous estimates. Apart from the central $\lesssim$500 pc, with blue colors and an irregular morphology, the galaxy appears to be an early-type system. The outer color is quite red, $(g-r)_0=0.75$, suggesting a dominant old population. We study the nuclear region of the galaxy using archival Gemini/NIFS $K$-band adaptive optics spectroscopy and {\it Hubble Space Telescope} imaging. We place an upper limit on the BH mass of $\sim10^7M_{\odot}$ from the NIFS data, consistent with that from the $M_{\rm BH}$-radio-X-ray fundamental plane. No coronal lines are seen, but a Br$\gamma$ source is located at the position of the BH with a luminosity consistent with the X-ray emission. The starburst at the center of Henize 2-10 has led to the formation of several super star clusters, which are within $\sim$100 pc of the BH. We examine the fate of the nucleus by estimating the dynamical masses and dynamical friction timescales of the clusters. The most massive clusters ($\sim 10^6 M_\odot$) have $\tau_{\rm dyn} \lesssim 200$ Myr, and thus Henize 2-10 may represent a rare snapshot of nuclear star cluster formation around a pre-existing massive BH.