Focal Mechanisms and Stress Field in The Region Vogtland/Western Bohemia

We calculated focal mechanisms for 30 of the strongest events (1.5 M _L 3.3) in distinct subregions of Vogtland/Western Bohemia between 1990 and 1998. Our investigations are concerned with events of the swarms near Bad Elster (1991), Haingrün (1991), Nový Kostel (1994 and 1997) and Zwickau (1998), two events from a group of earthquakes near Klingenthal (1997) and eight single events. Seismograms were provided by the digital station networks of the Geophysical Observatory of the University of Munich, the Technical University of Freiberg, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, the Masaryk University in Brno and some nearby stations of the German Regional Seismic Network (GRSN). To calculate focal mechanisms two inversion methods were applied. The inferred focal mechanisms do not show a simple, uniform pattern of seismic dislocation. All possible dislocation types – strike-slip, normal and thrust faulting - are represented. The prevailing mechanisms are normal and strike-slip faulting. Considerable differences in the fault plane solutions are noted for the individual subregions as well as in some cases among the individual events of a single swarm. For the Nový Kostel area we succeeded to resolve a change in the orientations of the nodal planes for the two successive swarms of December 1994 and January 1997. Besides this we also observe a change in the mechanisms, namely from strike-slip and normal faulting (December 1994) to strike-slip and thrust faulting (January 1997). Based on the inferred focal mechanisms the stress field was estimated. It turned out, that the dominating stress field in the region Vogtland/Western Bohemia does not substantially differ from the known stress field of West and Central Europe, being characterized by a SE-NW direction of the maximum compressive horizontal stress. We conclude that the seismicity in the Vogtland/Western Bohemia region is not predominantly caused by an independent local stress field, but rather controlled by the dominating stress regime in Central Europe.     

Climate change vulnerability of sustainable forest management in the Eastern Alps

Considering climatic uncertainties in management planning is a prerequisite for sustainable forest management (SFM). The aim of the study was to evaluate climate change vulnerability of the current SFM strategy for commercial forests managed by the Austrian Federal Forests. To that end vulnerability indicators were defined in a stakeholder process (selected indicators were productivity, timber and carbon stocks, biodiversity, disturbances, a tree species’ position in fundamental niche space, silvicultural flexibility and cost intensity) and their performance under climate change scenarios assessed with an ecosystem model. Multi criteria analysis techniques were employed in a partial aggregation of indicators to locate forest stands on a vulnerability surface. Results revealed high vulnerability particularly in the second half of the twenty-first century, where 39.6% of the 164.550 ha study area were assessed highly vulnerable to climate change, indicating a strong decline in the functions and services represented by the indicator system. Water-limited sites on calcareous bedrock were most negatively affected whereas assessment units at higher altitudes responded predominately positive to climate warming. The presented approach, transparently integrating multiple management objectives and allowing a quantitative comparison of vulnerabilities between sites and management strategies, contributes to the development of operational and efficient climate change adaptation measures in forest management.     

Relation of surface movements in West Bohemia to earthquake swarms

GPS observations in the Western Bohemia/Vogtland earthquake swarm region revealed indications of horizontal displacements of low amplitude, and no clear long-term trend in 1993–2007. On the other hand, in 1998–2001 there was relatively significant active movement along NNE-SSW oriented line that we called the “Cheb-Kraslice GPS Boundary” (ChKB), identical with an important limitation of earthquake activity. The most impressive were dextral (right-lateral) movements in the 1998–1999 period followed by reverse sinistral (left-lateral) movements in 1999–2000 that correlate with prevailing motion defined by fault plane solutions of the Autumn 2000 earthquake swarm. Before the February 2004 micro-swarm, two points located on opposite sides of the Mariánské Lázně fault showed extension in the order of about 7 mm in the same NNE-SSW direction of ChKB. The new NOKO permanent GPS station in Novy Kostel showed the peak-to-peak vertical changes up to 10 mm before and during the February 2007 micro-swarm. Annual precise levelling campaigns in the local network around Novy Kostel revealed regular vertical displacements during the 1994, 1997 and 2000 earthquake swarms. The points around the Novy Kostel seismological station showed uplift during the active periods, including the micro-swarm February 2004. However, no such indication was observed on levelling points in the period of the February 2007 swarm. Long-term vertical displacements depend on the same direction NNE-SSW (ChKB) as the GPS displacements. Both geodetic techniques have revealed oscillating displacements, GPS horizontal, and levelling vertical, rather than any long-term trends in the study period 1993–2007. The displacements exhibited significant spatial and temporal relation to tectonic activity (earthquake swarms) including their coincidence with the seismologically determined sense of motion along the fault plane during earthquakes.     

Volcanic tremors at etna: a model for hydraulic origin

Spectral analysis of volcanic tremors at Etna reveals 2 characteristic features: (1) The escaping vapor and gas streams drive the magma in random turbulent motion, generating a seismic wave emission according toA ～f ^N · exp (?M ·f ^K), whereA amplitude,f frequency, N, M, K parameters. (2) Sudden transients in the boundary conditions of the piping system generate hydraulic pressure pulses which in the seismogram appear as wave packages. Their monochromatic frequency content suggests that their origin is associated with strong resonance phenomena. It is conclusive that volcanic eruptions may be distinguished and classified according to different eigenfrequencies of the fissure and pipe network involved in the volcanic activity. Furthermore, positions of active dykes may be traced following the amplitude distributions associated with pronounced spectral lines in the tremor spectra.     

Surface-active substances on rainwater and atmospheric particles

The surface tension lowering by surface-active substances has been measured on rainwater, melted snow, and dispersions of atmospheric particles in water, with a film balance and a tensiometer. The precipitation water was sampled during 1979, 1980, and 1981 in the city of Frankfurt/Main. From measurements with the film balance technique, normalized concentrations of insoluble and weakly soluble surface-active substances have been estimated. Soluble surface-active substances were determined from measurements with a tensiometer. It was found that the normalized concentration of theinsoluble and weakly soluble surface-active material on rainwater or melted snow shows a maximum during late spring of about 2.5 · 10⁻⁷ moles/l and a minimum during wintertime of about 5 · 10⁻⁸ moles/l. These concentrations are too low to influence significantly the condensation of water vapour on cloud droplets or the evaporation of water from them. Thesoluble surface-active material on rainwater or melted snow was found to have concentrations of the order of 2 · 10⁻⁶ moles/l. These concentrations are also too small to have a significant influence on cloud physical processes.     

A numerical hydrodynamic study of coalescence in head-on collisions of identical stars

A two-dimensional hydrodynamic code has been developed for numerical studies of stellar collisions. The motivation for the study has been the suggestion by Colgate that collisions among stars in a dense galactic core can lead to growth of stellar masses by coalescence and thus to an enhanced rate of supernova activity. The specific results reported here refer to head-on collisions between identical polytropes of index 3 having solar mass and radius. If the polytropes were initially at rest at infinity, then about five percent of the combined mass is lost by ejection following collision. The volatilized mass fraction rises to about 18% for an initial relative collision velocity of 1000 km s^–1 at infinite separation, and to about 60% for the 2000 km s^–1 case. Since the initial kinetic and gravitational energies balance for a relative velocity of 1512 km s^–1 at infinity, it may be seen that net coalescence persists to velocities somewhat in excess of this figure. Mass ejection takes place in two ways simultaneously: (1) by a rapid sideward expulsion of fluid in a massive lateral sheet normal to the collision axis, and (2) as a result of two recoil shocks which lead momentum flows backwards along this axis. The lateral effect has similarities to the expansion of gas into a vacuum; that is, shocks are not involved. However, the ejection of material from the rear colliding hemisphere due to the recoil shocks predominates at low collision velocities. As the velocity increases, both effects strengthen, but the lateral expulsion intensifies more rapidly than the recoil shocks.     

An empirical test of household identification risk in geomasked maps

ABSTRACT

Geomasking techniques displace point data to new locations in order to protect privacy while maintaining overall spatial distributions. If the end users of geomasked data are unaware that the data are masked, there is a risk that they will incorrectly associate individuals at the new locations with the masked data attributes. The probability of correct and false household identification depends on human understanding of whether maps contain masked coordinates and the spatial relationships of the points to contextual geographic data. Using a map-based experiment, this study finds that confidence in performing a household identification is substantially lowered when masked points are situated equidistantly between residential parcels. Despite initial notifications that data are masked, map users often report confidence in assigning masked points to specific households. Only map users who receive frequent notifications that the points are masked have reduced confidence in associating them with particular households, thereby lowering identification risk.     

Exposure age and erosional history of an upland planation surface in the US Atlantic Piedmont

The upland planation surface in the Piedmont of central New Jersey consists of summit flats, as much as 130 km² in area, that truncate bedding and structure in diabase, basalt, sandstone, mudstone and gneiss. These flats define a low‐relief regional surface that corresponds in elevation to residual hills in the adjacent Coastal Plain capped by a fluvial gravel of late Miocene age. A Pliocene fluvial sand is inset 50 m below the upland features. These associations suggest a late Miocene or early Pliocene age for the surface. To assess exposure age and erosional history, a 4·4 m core of clayey diabase saprolite on a 3 km² remnant of the surface was sampled at six depths for atmospherically produced cosmogenic ¹⁰Be. The measured inventory, assuming a deposition rate of 1·3 × 10⁶ atoms cm⁻² a⁻¹, yields a minimum exposure age of 227 000 years, or, assuming continuous surface erosion, a constant erosion rate of 10 m Ma⁻¹. Because the sample site lies about 60 m above the aggradation surface of the Pliocene fluvial deposit, and itself supports a pre‐Pliocene fluvial gravel lag, this erosion rate is too high. Rather, episodic surface erosion and runoff bypassing probably have produced an inventory deficit. Reasonable estimates of surface erosion (up to 10 m) and bypassing (up to 50 per cent of total precipitation) yield exposure ages of as much as 6·4 Ma. These results indicate that (1) the surface is probably of pre‐Pleistocene age and has been modified by Pleistocene erosion, and (2) exposure ages based on ¹⁰Be inventories are highly sensitive to surface erosion and runoff bypassing. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maximum entropy spectral analysis of volcanic tremor using data from Etna (Sicily) and Merapi (central Java)

The maximum entropy spectral analysis (MESA) method is applied to synthetic and observed tremor time series using autoregressive processes and recordings from the volcanoes Etna (Sicily) and Merapi (central Java). The MESA analysis can be used to estimate power spectra with sharp peaks from short data records. If the tremor source process can be modelled by an autoregressive process, the MESA method is well-suited for determining the coefficients of the underlying difference equations. As in the standard periodogram method of power spectrum estimation, a mesagram estimate using record segmentation and MESA spectrum averaging reduces the variance of the spectral estimator. In combination with periodogram estimates, mesagram estimates confirm that the tremor source may be modelled as an ensemble of randomly excited resonators. Used together, these estimates provide a valuable method for short-term monitoring of volcanic activity. In addition, they can be applied to the determination of new source parameters such as resonator frequencies, damping coefficients, excitation probabilities, correlation of exciting forces, and resonator coupling and in the pattern recognition of source types.     

Fog chemistry during EUMAC Joint Cases: Analysis of routine measurements in southern Germany and model calculations

Summary The role of fog events for acid production and moist deposition in southern Germany during three EUMAC Joint Cases has been investigated by analysis of routine measurements and simulations with a one-dimensional fog-chemistry model. To identify the chemical and meteorological conditions, routine measurements by different institutions have been interpreted. The periods under consideration include a smog episode with low photooxidant concentrations during the Winter Case in February 1982. The Wet Case in spring 1986 represents a period with higher photooxidant concentrations. Conditions which are mostly characterized by low SO₂ and oxidant concentrations and comparatively high pH-values in the fog are given during the SANA 1 case in autumn 1990. Fog mostly occurs as a subscale phenomenon, but sometimes it can also cover large areas and it can contribute significantly to moist deposition.The model results indicate that the liquid phase sulfate production in the fog layer may even exceed the gas phase production during 24 hours within a layer of the same height occasionally. On the other hand, during the SANA 1 case the sulfate production in the fog was extremely low at night due to lack of oxidants and SO₂. Depending on the dissipation time of the fog a remarkable effect on the photolysis rates is possible. Since a significant amount of particulate mass is lost by moist deposition during fog, it is evident that fog events can have a noticeable effect on some of the gas phase constituents which are easily soluble.With 17 Figures