All Figures

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=15cm,clip]{aa3000f1.eps} \end{figure}$ Figure 1: Normalized flux and $1 \sigma$ VLT FORS2 spectrum of CTQ 247 at FWHM =3 Å resolution showing the Ly $\alpha$ and Ly $\beta$ lines of the triple DLA. Overlaid is a synthetic Voigt profile of three systems with N(H I) = 10^21.13, 10^21.09, and 10^20.47 cm^-2, centered at $z_{\rm abs}=2.5505$ , 2.5950, and 2.6215. The dotted lines are $\pm$ 0.1 dex deviations for all N(H I) values.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=7.7cm,clip]{fig_Anew.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 2: UVES spectrum showing nonsaturated transitions in CTQ247A ( $z_{\rm abs}=2.5505$ ). The solid line in the P II and Mn II panels indicates the velocity region used for the AODM.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=7.5cm,clip]{fig_B.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 3: Same as in Fig. 2 but for CTQ247B ( $z_{\rm abs}=2.5950$ ).
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.5cm,clip]{fig_C.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 4: UVES spectrum showing nonsaturated transitions in CTQ247C ( $z_{\rm abs}=2.6215$ ).
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.8cm,clip]{alpha_with_errors.ps.2} \end{figure}$ Figure 5: Relative ratios of $\alpha$ /Fe for MDLAs (solid circles), the DLAs toward Q0201+1120 and Q0000-262 (solid triangles) and DLAs taken from the literature (stars). All ratios have been corrected to the following solar values: log (S/H) $_{\odot }=-4.80$ , log (Si/H) $_{\odot }=-4.44$ , log (Fe/H) $_{\odot }=-4.50$ (Grevesse & Sauval 1998). The data points shown in this plot are listed in Table 3.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[angle=-90,width=8.8cm,clip]{s_si.ps.3} \end{figure}$ Figure 6: [S/Si] vs. [S/Fe] in MDLAs (circles), single DLAs (stars), and in the DLA toward Q0000-262 (triangle).
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.8cm,clip]{aa3000f7.eps} \end{figure}$ Figure 7: Ratio of doubly to singly ionized species as a function of ionization parameter U from CLOUDY models with a Haardt & Madau (Haardt & Madau 1996) ionizing spectrum. Top panel: model with log N(H I)=21.1 and gas metallicity $\log Z=\log Z_{\hbox{$\odot$ }} - 1.5$ compared with data points for CTQ247A (open square) and CTQ247B (filled squares). Middle panel: the measured Al III/Al II ratio for CTQ247C, and a model using log N(H I)=20.5 and metallicity $\log Z=\log Z_{\hbox{$\odot$ }} - 2.5$ . Bottom panel: a model using log N(H I)=20.0, the column density cutoff in our definition of MDLAs, and metallicity $\log Z=\log Z_{\hbox{$\odot$ }} - 1.5$ . In all panels the dashed lines indicate solar-corrected ratios while the solid lines are for column density ratios.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=7cm,clip]{aa3000f8.eps} \end{figure}$ Figure 8: Simulated [S/Fe] and [Si/Fe] distributions (top panel) and difference between their scatters (bottom panel). The solid (dotted) histogram shows DLA simulations drawn from a sample of DLAs with $-4<\log U<-3$ ( $-4<\log U <-2$ ).
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.8cm,clip]{NO_sara.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 9: The N/ $\alpha$ ratio in MDLAs (circles), "field'' DLAs (stars) and H II regions (dots; see Pettini et al. 2002 for references). The triangles are for the 2 DLAs with companion LBGs.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=15cm,clip]{aa3000f1.eps} \end{figure}$	Figure 1: Normalized flux and $1 \sigma$ VLT FORS2 spectrum of CTQ 247 at FWHM =3 Å resolution showing the Ly $\alpha$ and Ly $\beta$ lines of the triple DLA. Overlaid is a synthetic Voigt profile of three systems with N(H I) = 10^21.13, 10^21.09, and 10^20.47 cm^-2, centered at $z_{\rm abs}=2.5505$ , 2.5950, and 2.6215. The dotted lines are $\pm$ 0.1 dex deviations for all N(H I) values.
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=7.7cm,clip]{fig_Anew.ps} \end{figure}$	Figure 2: UVES spectrum showing nonsaturated transitions in CTQ247A ( $z_{\rm abs}=2.5505$ ). The solid line in the P II and Mn II panels indicates the velocity region used for the AODM.
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=7.5cm,clip]{fig_B.ps} \end{figure}$	Figure 3: Same as in Fig. 2 but for CTQ247B ( $z_{\rm abs}=2.5950$ ).
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.5cm,clip]{fig_C.ps} \end{figure}$	Figure 4: UVES spectrum showing nonsaturated transitions in CTQ247C ( $z_{\rm abs}=2.6215$ ).
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[angle=-90,width=8.8cm,clip]{s_si.ps.3} \end{figure}$	Figure 6: [S/Si] vs. [S/Fe] in MDLAs (circles), single DLAs (stars), and in the DLA toward Q0000-262 (triangle).
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=7cm,clip]{aa3000f8.eps} \end{figure}$	Figure 8: Simulated [S/Fe] and [Si/Fe] distributions (top panel) and difference between their scatters (bottom panel). The solid (dotted) histogram shows DLA simulations drawn from a sample of DLAs with $-4<\log U<-3$ ( $-4<\log U <-2$ ).
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.8cm,clip]{NO_sara.ps} \end{figure}$	Figure 9: The N/ $\alpha$ ratio in MDLAs (circles), "field'' DLAs (stars) and H II regions (dots; see Pettini et al. 2002 for references). The triangles are for the 2 DLAs with companion LBGs.
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