Accidents longitudinaux dans la Molasse rouge auct. et dans son substratum sur le versant oriental du Salève (Haute-Savoie, France)

A detailed mapping of the Salève Mountains reveals tectonically important new Molasse rouge auct. outcrops on the NW side of the Petit Salève and on the SE flank of the Grand Salève. On the SE flank the various dips indicate faults, kinks and folds that can be followed up to 5 km long and parallel to the axis of the chain and also affecting the Cretaceous substratum. This demonstrate a more complex connection of the eastern flank of the Salève Mountains with the adjacent plateau des Bornes than was previously supposed.     

The effect of global warming on mortality

There is a significant relationship between ambient temperature and mortality. In healthy individuals with no underlying co-morbid conditions, there is an efficient heat regulation system which enables the body to effectively handle thermal stress. However, in vulnerable groups, especially in elderly over the age of 65 years, infants and individuals with co-morbid cardiovascular and/or respiratory conditions, there is a deficiency in thermoregulation. When temperatures exceed a certain limit, being cold winter spells or heat waves, there is an increase in the number of deaths. In particular, it has been shown that at temperatures above 27 °C, the daily mortality rate increases more rapidly per degree rise compared to when it drops below 27 °C.This is especially of relevance with the current emergency of global warming. Besides the direct effect of temperature rises on human health, global warming will have a negative impact on primary producers and livestock, leading to malnutrition, which will in turn lead to a myriad of health related issues. This is further exacerbated by environmental pollution.Public health measures that countries should follow should include not only health-related information strategies aiming to reduce the exposure to heat for vulnerable individuals and the community, but improved urban planning and reduction in energy consumption, among many others. This will reduce the carbon footprint and help avert global warming, thus reducing mortality.     

Geology and biostratigraphy of the Jurassic and lower cretaceous series to the north of the Lhasa Block (Tibet,China)

Abstract

— The Lhasa Block (s.l.) is bounded to the South by the Tertiary Yarlung Zangbo suture zone and to the North by the terminal Jurassic/earliest Cretaceous Bangong Nu Jiang suture zone. Several tectonostratigraphic units have been recognized in the central-northern part of the Lhasa Block. These are from bottom to top : 1) a thick turbiditic series with a few lenses of allodapic limestones which have yielded an Aalenian — Bajocian foraminiferal assemblage. This series is tectonieally overlain by the Donqiao ophiolite; 2) the continental to shallow marine late Malm to lowermost Cretaceous Zigetang Formation which disconformably overlies the Donqiao ophiolite and 3) continental red detrital rocks or marine Early/Late Aptian boundary to Early Albian foraminifera-rich bedded limestones in which some volcanic rocks are locally interbedded.

We discuss the palaeogeographical distribution and biostratigraphical meaning of some foraminifera (Gutnicella cayeuxi (LUCAS), Palorbitolina fen<ícu/o?(Bl .LMKNBACIl), Praeorbitolina cormyi SCHROEDER and Palor-bilolmoides hedini CHREREHI and ScilKOKDK.lt) and their bearing on the radiometric age of the Aptian-Albian boundary.     

Castiglione (Oletta,Corsica): relationships between phenomena of calcification and tectonic fossiliferous fracture dating

Abstract

Six cavities have been discovered in the Oletta massif. The massif, today constitued of Schistes lustrés with several metres of calcareous layers above them, has undergone intense fracturing. The networks of cavities are organised along north-south and subequatorial directions, and form a narrow bayonnet-network. All the elements in the galleries appear to be karstic: stalagmites, stalactites and calcitic deposits along the walls; but no trace of dissolution or excavation was found. Thus, the origin of the galleries is only tectonic, while the calcitic deposits result from the dissolution of the old, thick calcareous layers above, which are no longer present. The thickness and the volume of the calcitic deposits, which is variable depending on the galleries, indicates the chronology of the different tectonic periods which have fractured the massif. Five tectonic and successsive events have been detected. Calcitic datings confirm the timing of successional fracturing, indicating also the variable age of the fossiliferous Middle Pleistocene deposits found in these cavities. © 1999 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS     

Measurement of Aureole and Suppression of Internal Stray Light of Aureole Photometer

A modern aureole photometer (AP) was developed for the site survey inWest China, in preparation for the installation of future large solar equipments. The performance of this new AP was tested in preliminary observations, and a lot of sky brightness data were accumulated at a few sites in Yunnan Province. The result of data analysis shows that the aureole near the noon time on Jiaozi Snow Mountain is as low as a few millionths of the intensity at the solar disk center, indicating the low internal stray light level of our instrument. The internal stray light of the AP comes mainly from two parts: the edge diffraction of the ferrule for fixing the ND4 filter in the front end of the telescope tube, causing the stray light distributed in the inner region of the field of view, and the edge diffractions of the diaphragms placed inside the telescope tube, causing the stray light distributed in the outer region of the field of view. In order to suppress the stray light of the latter part, the experiment to change the aperture size of an additional diaphragm was performed. The result shows that the stray light in the outer region of the field of view can be effectively suppressed by reducing properly the aperture size of the diaphragm.     

Warm brine lakes in craters of active mud volcanoes,Menes caldera off NW Egypt: evidence for deep-rooted thermogenic processes

The Menes caldera is a fault-controlled depression (~8 km in diameter) at ~3,000 m water depth in the western province of the Nile deep-sea fan off NW Egypt, comprising seven mud volcanoes (MVs) of which two are active. Based on multichannel and chirp seismic data, temperature profiles, and high-resolution bathymetric data collected during the 2000 Fanil, 2004 Mimes and 2007 Medeco2 expeditions, the present study investigates factors controlling MV morphology, the geometry of feeder channels, and the origin of emitted fluids. The active Cheops and Chephren MVs are 1,500 m wide with subcircular craters at their summits, about 250 m in diameter, generally a few tens of metres deep, and filled with methane-rich muddy brines with temperatures reaching 42 °C and 57 °C respectively. Deployments of CTDs and corers with attached temperature sensors tracked these warm temperatures down to almost 0.5 km depth below the brine lake surface at the Cheops MV, in a feeder channel probably only a few tens of metres wide. Thermogenic processes involve the dissolution of Messinian evaporites by warm fluids likely sourced even deeper, i.e. 1.7 and 2.6 km below the seabed at the Cheops and Chephren MVs respectively, and which ascend along listric faults. Seepage activity appears broadly persistent since the initiation of mud volcanism in the Early Pliocene, possibly accompanied by lateral migration of feeder channels.     

Twin Tsunamis Triggered by the 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake

On 12 January 2010, a magnitude M _w 7.0 earthquake occurred 25 km west–southwest of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince causing an estimated 316,000 fatalities, thereby exceeding any previous loss of life from a similar size earthquake. In addition, tsunami waves triggered by the earthquake caused at least three fatalities at Petit Paradis due to a complete lack of tsunami awareness. The International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST) was deployed within weeks of the event and covered the greater Bay of Port-au-Prince and more than 100 km of Hispaniola’s southern coastline. The collected survey data include more than 21 tsunami heights along with observations of coastal land level change. Maximum tsunami heights of 3 m have been measured for two independently triggered tsunamis.     

Geospatial method for computing supplemental multi-decadal US coastal land use and land cover classification products,using Landsat data and C-CAP products

This paper discusses the development and implementation of a method that can be used with multi-decadal Landsat data for computing general coastal US land use and land cover (LULC) maps consisting of seven classes. With Mobile Bay, Alabama as the study region, the method that was applied to derive LULC products for nine dates across a 34-year time span. Classifications were computed and refined using decision rules in conjunction with unsupervised classification of Landsat data and Coastal Change and Analysis Program value-added products. Each classification’s overall accuracy was assessed by comparing stratified random locations to available high spatial resolution satellite and aerial imagery, field survey data and raw Landsat RGBs. Overall classification accuracies ranged from 83 to 91% with overall κ statistics ranging from 0.78 to 0.89. Accurate classifications were computed for all nine dates, yielding effective results regardless of season and Landsat sensor. This classification method provided useful map inputs for computing LULC change products.