Surface heat fluxes and thermohaline variability in the Ross Sea and in Terra Nova Bay polynya

The Ross Sea is an important area for the ventilation of the deep layers of the Southern Ocean (e.g. [Jacobs, S.S., Fairbanks, R.G., Horibe, Y., 1985. Origin and evolution of water masses near the Antarctic continental margin: evidence from H218O/H216O ratios in seawater. In: Jacobs, S.S. (Ed.), Oceanology of the Antarctic Continental Shelf. Antarctic Research Series, vol. 43. pp. 59–85; Orsi, A.H., Johnson, G.C., Bullister, J.L., 1999. Circulation, mixing, and the production of Antarctic bottom water. Progress in Oceanography 109, 43–55]). These processes are driven by the atmospheric forcing which, at high latitude, plays a key role in the formation and thickness of sea ice. In order to investigate the effect of the atmospheric forcing variability at different time scales, we analysed the surface heat budget over the Ross Sea continental shelf and in Terra Nova Bay (TNB) polynya, using analyses for the period 1990–2006 provided by European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). This study was also performed using thermohaline data collected within the activities of Climatic Long-term Interaction for the mass-balance in Antarctica project of the Italian National Programme for Antarctic Research for the summer periods from 1994 until 2001.The annual average of the heat budget over the continental shelf of the Ross Sea estimated in the period 1990–2006 shows an interannual variability ranging between −97 and −123 W m⁻². Assuming that the heat loss must be compensated by the sensible heat carried by the Circumpolar Deep Water we estimated its transport (3.1 Sv) and its variability (0.2 Sv). Similarly in the TNB polynya the heat loss reaches its maximum in 2003 (−313 W m⁻²) and its minimum (−58 W m⁻²) in 1996. The related production of sea ice and the High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW) were also estimated. The HSSW production switched from the lowest values during the first 10 years of the investigated period (1990–2000) to the highest values for the remaining period (2001–2006).The thermohaline characteristics of the water column in TNB show a general decrease in salinity with a superimposed variability. Comparison between the estimated HSSW production and the salinity observed within the TNB water column show similar tendency in the last years after 2002, while during the period 1995–1998 the behaviour is different. Our hypothesis concern a possible role of the CDW inflow in the TNB area and our results could be explained by a different contribution of CDW transport and HSSW production to the salt content within the water column.     

Synthetic ANaB(Na x Li1 − x Mg1)CMg5Si8O22(OH)2 (with x = 0.6, 0.2 and 0) P21/m amphiboles at high pressure: a synchrotron infrared study

The high-pressure behavior of three synthetic amphiboles crystallized with space group P2₁/m at room conditions in the system Li₂O–Na₂O–MgO–SiO₂–H₂O has been studied by in situ synchrotron infrared absorption spectroscopy. The amphiboles have compositions ^ANa ^B(Na _x Li_1 − x Mg₁) ^CMg₅ Si₈ O₂₂(OH)₂ with x = 0.6, 0.2 and 0.0, respectively. The high-P experiments up to 32 GPa were carried out on the U2A beamline at Brookhaven National Laboratory (NY, USA) using a diamond anvil cell under non-hydrostatic or quasi-hydrostatic conditions. The two most intense absorption bands in the OH-stretching infrared spectra can be assigned to two non-equivalent O–H dipoles in the P2₁/m structure, bonded to the same local environment ^M1M3Mg₃–OH–^ANa, and pointing toward two differently kinked tetrahedral rings. In all samples these bands progressively merge to give a unique symmetrical absorption with increasing pressure, suggesting a change in symmetry from P2₁/m to C2/m. The pressure at which the transition occurs appears to be linearly correlated to the aggregate B-site dimension. The infrared spectra collected for amphibole ^B(Na_0.2Li_0.8Mg₁) in the frequency range 50 to 1,400 cm⁻¹ also show a series of changes with increasing pressure. The data reported here support the inference of Iezzi et al. (Am Miner 91:479–482, 2006a) regarding a new high-pressure amphibole polymorph.     

The topographic signature of a major typhoon

In August 2009, the typhoon Morakot, characterized by a cumulative rainfall up to 2884 mm in about three days, triggered thousands of landslides in Taiwan. The availability of LiDAR surveys before (2005) and after (2010) this event offers a unique opportunity to investigate the topographic signatures of a major typhoon. The analysis considers the comparison of slope–area relationships derived by LiDAR digital terrain models (DTMs). This approach has been successfully used to distinguish hillslope from channelized processes, as a basis to develop landscape evolution models and theories, and understand the linkages between landscape morphology and tectonics, climate, and geology. We considered six catchments affected by a different degree of erosion: three affected by shallow and deep‐seated landslides, and three not affected by erosion. For each of these catchments, 2 m DTMs were derived from LiDAR data. The scaling regimes of local slope versus drainage area suggested that for the catchments affected by landslides: (i) the hillslope‐to‐valley transitions morphology, for a given value of drainage area, is shifted towards higher value of slopes, thus indicating a likely migration of the channelized processes and erosion toward the catchment boundary (the catchment head becomes steeper because of erosion); (ii) the topographic gradient along valley profiles tends to decrease progressively (the valley profile becomes gentler because of sediment deposition after the typhoon). The catchments without any landslides present a statistically indistinguishable slope–area scaling regime. These results are interesting since for the first time, using multi‐temporal high‐resolution topography derived by LiDAR, we demonstrated that a single climate event is able to cause significant major geomorphic changes on the landscape, detectable using slope–area scaling analysis. This provides new insights about landscape evolution under major climate forcing. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bank erosion in agricultural drainage networks: new challenges from structure‐from‐motion photogrammetry for post‐event analysis

Drainage channels are an integral part of agricultural landscapes, and their impact on catchment hydrology is strongly recognized. In cultivated and urbanized floodplains, channels have always played a key role in flood protection, land reclamation, and irrigation. Bank erosion is a critical issue in channels. Neglecting this process, especially during flood events, can result in underestimation of the risk in flood‐prone areas. The main aim of this work is to consider a low‐cost methodology for the analysis of bank erosion in agricultural drainage networks, and in particular for the estimation of the volumes of eroded and deposited material. A case study located in the Veneto floodplain was selected. The research is based on high‐resolution topographic data obtained by an emerging low‐cost photogrammetric method (structure‐from‐motion or SfM), and results are compared to terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data. For the SfM analysis, extensive photosets were obtained using two standalone reflex digital cameras and an iPhone5® built‐in camera. Three digital elevation models (DEMs) were extracted at the resolution of 0.1 m using SfM and were compared with the ones derived by TLS. Using the different DEMs, the eroded areas were then identified using a feature extraction technique based on the topographic parameter Roughness Index (RI). DEMs derived from SfM were effective for both detecting erosion areas and estimating quantitatively the deposition and erosion volumes. Our results underlined how smartphones with high‐resolution built‐in cameras can be competitive instruments for obtaining suitable data for topography analysis and Earth surface monitoring. This methodology could be potentially very useful for farmers and/or technicians for post‐event field surveys to support flood risk management. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical identification of soil-structure interaction pressures

A numerical approach is presented for the ‘identification’ (or back calculation) of the earth pressure acting on embedded or retaining structures. The procedure is applicable to structures of any shape and requires a set of in situ measurements that may include displacements of points on the structure, values of concentrated forces, values of distributed loads at some locations, etc. Possible limiting values of the unknown loads, non-linear structural behaviour, varying accuracies of the input data are accounted for in the problem formulation. Depending upon the type of problem, the solution is reached by means of the unconstrained or constrained minimization of a suitably defined error function. As an example, the proposed approach is applied to the identification of the earth pressure acting on some typical geotechnical engineering structures.     

Geophysical interpretation of a high-resolution seismic refraction profile in the Northern Apennines

A combined seismic and gravimetric interpretation in the Northern Apennines area (Italy) is presented. To the knowledge of the authors, this is one of the few attempts to apply tomographic methodology to a seismic refraction profile. This procedure, together with the classical interpretation for defining lower reflectors, led to the formulation of quite an accurate model of the upper crust. A gravity analysis was performed concurrently taking into account the seismic results at different depths which correspond to different frequency domains in the gravity signal. While the medium- and high-frequency patterns have been solved by trial-and-error, the regional trend has been modelled applying the collocation procedure to the gravity data.     

Petrogenesis of the Paleoproterozoic basalt–andesite–rhyolite dyke association in the Carajás region, Amazonian craton

Paleoproterozoic basaltic, andesitic and rhyolitic dykes crosscut the Archaean Carajás basement. Basalts are distinguished into a high and a low TiO₂ group (HTi and LTi), each group consisting of geochemically distinct NE- and NW-trending swarms. The HTi dykes are evolved transitional basalts having essentially EMORB-type geochemistry. The LTi basalts are tholeiites (NE-trending swarm) and high-Al basalts (NW-trending swarm) displaying incompatible trace elements patterns with variably negative Nb anomaly, enrichment in Rb, Ba, K (LILE) and La, Ce and Nd (LREE) and positive Sr anomaly. With respect to orogenic analogues, andesites have lower Al₂O₃, CaO and Ni, higher FeO, LILE, LREE, Nb, Zr and Ti and negative Sr anomaly. Rhyolites have geochemical characteristics comparable with those of A-type granites. At 1.8 Ga, ranges from 0.700 to 0.705 in the HTi basalts and from 0.700 to 0.704 in the LTi group. Andesites define an isochron of 1874±110 Ma (Sr_o=0.7038±0.0010). Rhyolites from Southern and Northern Carajás define two isochrons of 1802±130 Ma (Sr_o=0.7062±0.0046) and 1535±82 Ga (Sr_o=0.7625) respectively, the younger date being interpreted as resetting of the Rb–Sr isotopic system. We propose a petrogenetic model relating LTi basalts with melting of lithospheric mantle metasomatized by acid melts derived from incipient melting of eclogites, representing in turn the subsolidus product of basaltic batches trapped in the mantle. The HTi basalts are explained by melting of the lithospheric mantle containing the complementary residual eclogite. Andesite petrogenesis is consistent with crystal fractionation from a high-Mg andesite parent derived from a mantle source more extensively metasomatized by eclogite-derived melts. Rhyolite composition is consistent with low melting degree of the basement rocks. The basalt–andesite–rhyolite dykes may represent the effects of crustal extension and arching in Carajás, which produced the anorogenic acid to intermediate magmatism (Uatumã group) and affecting a large part of the Amazon craton between 1.85 and 1.7 Ga.