Combining airborne and terrestrial laser scanning for quantifying erosion and deposition by a debris flow event

We quantified the sediment volume transported by a major debris flow event in the Halltal, Austrian Alps, using a combination of terrestrial (TLS) and airborne laser scanning (ALS) which has rarely been carried out before. A digital terrain model (DTM) derived from ALS data (pre-event surface) was combined with a DTM derived from TLS data (post-event surface). Both datasets were aligned and compared in a cut and fill analysis estimating differential volumes.The main focus lay on the evaluation and accuracy assessment of the applied method. Tie-point based registration of both datasets proved to be insufficient; additional alignment by Multi Station Adjustment was necessary to minimise the averaged height error between both datasets, amounting for a volumetric error of less than 10% which is comparable to pure ALS-campaigns. Larger errors were estimated for complex terrain with low scanning resolutions. A particular problem in data processing was the low and dense shrub vegetation in the study area which required a specifically adapted filter algorithm. An insufficient ground representation was observed for the ALS-data overestimating ground heights for averaged 70 cm. Despite these limitations, the approach proved to be suitable for accurate extreme event quantification.The starting zones of the debris flows lie at the bedrock-debris interface where runoff is concentrated. Volumes of 5000 to 12,000 m³ were assessed. Volume estimation worked better for the erosional than for the depositional features; this is because the erosional gullies are relatively deep and the calculation is not affected by pre-event vegetation. While erosion and sedimentation are balanced for one of the three catchments investigated, the deposited volumes are higher than the detected eroded volumes for the other two. The reasons are not fully understood. The magnitude of the flows was determined by catchment size, topographical characteristics and deforestation by a major wildfire in 1946.     

Phantom midge-based models for inferring past fish abundances

We sampled living and subfossil phantom midge (Diptera: Chaoboridae) larvae from surface sediments of 21 small lakes in Southern Sweden to examine the influence of fish and selected abiotic variables on the abundance and species composition of chaoborid assemblages. We expected total Chaoborus abundance to be inversely correlated with fish abundance and Chaoborus species most sensitive to fish predation to be found only in fishless lakes. We aimed to use the observed relationships to develop models to reconstruct past fish abundances from chaoborid remains and the abiotic environment. C. flavicans occurred in almost every lake, whereas subfossil C. obscuripes were found in the surface sediments of only one fishless lake. The density of living C. flavicans larvae correlated negatively with fish abundance, lake order and size. The concentration of C. flavicans subfossils was negatively associated with pH, lake size, water transparency and fish abundance. Regression models that included lake morphometry and landscape position as additional predictors of fish abundance performed better than models that used only Chaoborus predictors. The explained variance in fish abundance varied from 52 to 86%. Leave-one-out cross-validation indicated moderate performance of the two best models. These models explained 51 and 56% of the observed untransformed fish density and biomass, respectively. In addition, all Chaoborus models were unbiased in closely following the 1:1 reference line in plots of observed versus predicted values. These results are a promising step in developing midge-based paleolimnological reconstructions of past fish abundance, and the approach might be improved by including chironomid remains in the models.     

Efficiency of mixing by a turbulent jet in a stably stratified fluid

Mixing in a two-layer stably stratified fluid by a turbulent jet was studied by a laboratory experiment. A non-swirling jet was discharged vertically downwards in a confined fluid system consisting initially of a top layer of fresh water and a bottom layer of salt water. In total, 16 experimental cases were considered, where the diameter and exit velocity of the jet were varied together with the density difference between the top and bottom layer. Vertical density profiles were determined from conductivity measurements. A three-layer density structure developed in all cases with an intermediate layer that grew in size with time elapsed as fresh and salt water were mixed. The mixing efficiency, defined as the percentage of the supplied kinetic jet energy that is used for increasing the potential energy of the fluid system, was related to a densimetric Froude number based on the intermediate layer depth. Overall, the calculated jet mixing efficiency displayed higher values than comparable efficiencies for destratification with air-bubble plumes.     

Dioxin-like compounds in HPLC-fractionated extracts of marine samples from the east and west coast of Sweden: Bioassay- and instrumentally-derived TCDD equivalents

Lipophilic extracts of sediment, settling particulate matter (SPM) and blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) samples, collected at coastal locations on the east and west coast of Sweden, were HPLC-separated into three fractions containing 1. monoaromatic/aliphatic, 2. diaromatic (e.g. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/Fs)), and 3. polyaromatic compounds (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)). The fractions were tested for dioxin-like effects using a sensitive bioassay, based on EROD-induction in cultured chicken embryo livers. The concentrations of PCDDs/Fs, PCBs and 15 PAHs in the samples were also determined. The polyaromatic fractions of the sediment samples were more potent as EROD-inducers than the diaromatic fractions. Only a small part of the EROD-induction caused by the polyaromatic fractions could be explained by the analysed PAHs in the samples, indicating presence of non-quantified polyaromatic EROD-inducing compounds in the samples. A greater pollution by EROD-inducing diaromatic and polyaromatic compounds on the east coast site than on the west coast site was seen. The filtration activities and faeces production of the mussels on the east coast experimental site increased the sedimentation of PCDDs/Fs, PCBs and PAHs. The described bioassay proved very useful in the assessment of dioxin-like compounds in both abiotic and biotic samples from the marine environment.     

Structural analysis of a transform fault-rift zone junction in North Iceland

On the north coast of Iceland, the rift zone in North Iceland is shifted about 120 km to the west where it meets with, and joins, the mid-ocean Kolbeinsey ridge. This shift occurs along the Tjörnes fracture zone, an 80-km-wide zone of high seismicity, which is an oblique (non-perpendicular) transform fault. There are two main seismic lineaments within the Tjörnes fracture zone, one of which continues on land as a 25-km-long WNW-trending strike-slip fault. This fault, referred to as the Husavik fault, meets with, and joins, north-trending normal faults of the Theistareykir fissure swarm in the axial rift zone. The most clear-cut of these junctions occurs in a basaltic pahoehoe lava flow, of Holocene age, where the Husavik fault joins a large normal fault called Gudfinnugja. At this junction, the Husavik fault strikes N55°W, whereas Gudfinnugja strikes N5°E, so that they meet at an angle of 60°. The direction of the spreading vector in North Iceland is about N73°W, which is neither parallel with the strike of the Husavik fault nor perpendicular to the strike of the Gudfinnugja fault. During rifting episodes there is thus a slight opening on the Husavik fault as well as a considerable dextral strike-slip movement along the Gudfinnugja fault. Consequently, in the Holocene lava flow, there are tension fractures, collapse structures and pressure ridges along the Husavik fault, and pressure ridges and dextral pull-apart structures subparallel with the Gudfinnugja fault. The 60° angle between the Husavik strike-slip fault and the Gudfinnugja normal fault is the same as the angle between the Tjörnes fracture zone transform fault and the adjacent axial rift zones of North Iceland and the Kolbeinsey ridge. The junction between the faults of Husavik and Gudfinnugja may thus be viewed as a smaller-scale analogy to the junction between this transform fault and the nearby ridge segments. Using the results of photoelastic and finite-element studies, a model is provided for the tectonic development of these junctions. The model is based on an analogy between two offset cuts (mode I fractures) loaded in tension and segments of the axial rift zones (or parts thereof in the case of the Husavik fault). The results indicate that the Tjörnes fracture zone in general and the Husavik fault in particular, developed along zones of maximum shear stress. Furthermore, the model suggests that, as the ridge-segments propagate towards a zero-underlapping configuration, the angle between them and the associated major strike-slip faults gradually increases. This conclusion is supported by the trends of the main seismic lineaments of the Tjörnes fracture zone.     

A Mössbauer investigation of natural troilite from the Agpalilik meteorite

Troilite close to FeS, with 0.17 weight percent Cr as main impurity, was obtained from the Agpalilik meteorite. Powder Mössbauer spectroscopy was made in the temperature range 77–645 K. The full Hamiltonian was applied in the fittings. Assuming the asymmetry parameter η to be constant on passing from the high-temperature NiAs-type structure to the medium-temperature MnP-type structure yields a quadrupole splitting (dq=0.5e² qQ(1+(η²)/3)^1/2) value of ?0.25(2) mm/s for these phases. In low-temperature troilite |dq|=0.85 mm/s at room temperature. The combinations of (η, θ, φ) in troilite giving identical spectra range from (0, 49°, -) to (1, 45°, 50°) for negative V _zz or from (0.3, 57°, 78°) to (1, 58°, 54°) for positive V _zz . Assuming a negative V _zz and B‖c gives a θ value in agreement with the shortest Fe-S join being the V _zz orientation. The magnetic spin flip of 90° is proposed to occur in the MnP-phase only. The MnP phase-troilite transition occurs at lower temperatures and is more sluggish than in pure FeS.     

Effects of groundwater extraction from crystalline hard rock on water chemistry in an acid forested catchment at Gårdsjön,Sweden

Atmospheric deposition of S in Sweden has decreased by some 80% over the last 15 a, resulting in a general reduction of SO₄ concentrations in ground and surface water. This project, however, shows that artificial hydrological alteration in an acid wetland can reverse this trend and increase acidity and SO₄ concentrations. The experiment involved the monitoring of two catchments in relatively virgin conditions. In one of the catchments, an experiment with intensive groundwater extraction from the bedrock was carried out. During the experiment, the runoff from the catchment decreased by 50%. Furthermore, the extraction of groundwater resulted in increased seasonal aeration of the centrally located wetland, leading to oxidation of reduced S bound to the soil layers of the wetland. The S changed to solute SO₄, with a subsequent SO₄ surge. Thus, the experiment resulted in an induced acidification of the wetland and runoff waters. The extraction of groundwater significantly increased the recharge of water from the overburden, glacial till and organic soils to groundwater in the bedrock, which in turn reduced the retention time in the bedrock aquifer. These changes resulted in the chemical signature of the groundwater in the bedrock becoming similar to those of the wetland. The findings revealed deterioration in the water quality in the bedrock due to increased concentrations of dissolved organic C and SO₄, as well as a decrease in pH.     

All about water and land? Resource-related conflicts in East and West Africa revisited

Recent years have seen an upsurge in the numbers of studies investigating the potential link between climate variability and conflict—and particularly so quantitative studies of this relationship—without reaching any consensus on causal pathways or main findings. This study sets out to explore what the main causes of conflict between resource-user groups in arid and semi-arid areas in Sub-Saharan Africa are, with a particular focus on renewable-resource scarcity. We conduct a comparative analysis of eleven high-quality case studies of the escalation into violence of disputes between pastoralists and farmers or pastoralists in the Western Sahel and East Africa. This enables us to identify the mechanisms underpinning the actors’ motivations. Our analysis shows that the nature of these conflicts is complex. They cannot be reduced to a stimulus (resource scarcity)–response (violence) relationship. We find that drought is a contributing factor in four of the conflicts, and that a poor rainy season plays a role in a fifth one. However, resource scarcity is never the most important cause and it does not explain well the differences in conflict intensity. The most important contributor to explaining different levels of intensity is when local autochthonous and exclusionary claims are coupled with national-level political processes.