Use of SPOT 5 and IKONOS imagery for mapping biocenoses in a Tunisian Coastal Lagoon (Mediterranean Sea)

Mapping marine biocenoses is an efficient method for providing useful data for the management and conservation of Mediterranean lagoons. Fused images from two satellites, SPOT 5 and IKONOS, were tested as management tools for identifying specific ecosystems in the El Bibane lagoon, situated in southern Tunisia near the Libyan border. The objectives of this study were to provide a precise map of the entire El Bibane lagoon using fused images from SPOT 5 and to compare fused images from SPOT 5 and IKONOS over a test-area. After applying a supervised classification, pixels are automatically classified in four classes: low seagrass cover, high seagrass cover, superficial mobile sediments and deep mobile sediments. The maps of the lagoon revealed and confirmed an extremely wide distribution of seagrass meadows within the lagoon (essentially Cymodocea nodosa; 19 546 ha) and a large area of mobile sediments more or less parallel to the shore (3 697 ha). A direct comparison of overall accuracy between SPOT 5 over the entire area, SPOT 5 over the test-area and IKONOS over the test-area revealed that these tools provided accurate mapping of the lagoon environment (83.25%, 85.91% and 73.41% accuracy, respectively). The SPOT 5 images provided greater overall accuracy than the IKONOS image, but did not take into account the heterogeneous spatial structure of the seagrasses and sediments present in the lagoon environment. Although IKONOS imagery provided lower overall accuracy than SPOT 5, it proved a very useful tool for the mapping of heterogeneous structures as it enabled the patchiness of formations to be better taken into account. The use of SPOT 5 and IKONOS fused images appears to be very promising for completing the mapping of lagoons in other regions and countries of the Mediterranean Sea.     

Impact of fish farming facilities on Posidonia oceanica meadows: a review

The impact of fish farming facilities on Posidonia oceanica meadows was assessed from studies of intensive facilities carried out over the last few years. The disturbances caused by these fish farms were measured by means of both abiotic (light, sediment, interstitial water) and biotic variables (meadow density, leaf biometry, lepidochronology, primary production, epiphytes, reserve carbohydrates in the rhizomes), in function of increasing distance from cages and/or inside a geographically close reference site. The results showed significant degradation of these seagrass meadows in all the sectors investigated. When fish farming cages were placed above a P. oceanica bed, the meadow was severely degraded or disappeared and the sediment showed a strong increase in organic matter that could lead to anoxia phenomena. The irreversible impact of fish farming projects on P. oceanica meadows requires the application of the precautionary principle. Several recommendations (site selection, preliminary studies and monitoring over time) are suggested in order to enable piscicultural activities to be incorporated in a global process of Integrated Coastal Zone Management.     

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis at a strategic site in the Bay of Bengal

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) along the route of an offshore pipeline for the transport of oil in the Bay of Bengal has been performed, in order to set up design parameters and identify possible geohazards. The complexity of geological and seismotectonic setting of the region where the pipeline is planned to be installed is the result of the interaction of the Indian, Eurasian and Burmese tectonic plates. In order to properly account for the intricate way by which these plates interact, a large area extending 450 km from the pipeline route has been considered for the compilation of a comprehensive earthquake catalogue, spanning the period 1663–2012 AD. Differently from earlier PSHA analyses conducted in the region based on assuming two-dimensional polygons as seismogenic provinces, this study adopted a seismotectonic source model which also includes for the first time a linear tectonic lineament representing the northward extension of the Sunda mega thrust, responsible for the large Sumatra–Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004. Hazard computations have been performed over a grid of sites spaced 0.045° covering a rectangular area which contains the pipeline. Epistemic uncertainty in the hazard computations has been taken into account by a logic tree framework, incorporating different seismotectonic source models, maximum cut-off magnitude and ground-motion prediction equations. Horizontal median uniform hazard spectra and median uniform hazard spectra plus and minus one sigma on stiff ground have been calculated at the selected sites for different return periods. Peak ground acceleration with 10 % probability of exceedance in 50 years has been compared with values from previous hazard studies available for Bangladesh.     

Re-analysis of Lepping’s Fitting Method for Magnetic Clouds: Lundquist Fit Reloaded

The three-dimensional morphology and direction of propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are essential information for identifying their source on the solar disk, for understanding the processes of their ejection and propagation in the corona, and for forecasting their possible impact with the Earth or any other objects in the solar system. The polarization of the Thomson scattering by an electron is known to provide information on its position with respect to the plane of the sky. This polarimetric technique is applied to reconstruct 15 CMEs on the basis of white-light polarized images obtained with the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) C2, which have been extensively corrected for instrumental effects. It does provide valuable results in spite of the time delays between the three observations required to build the polarization maps. Most of these CMEs exhibit complex structures making a classification in terms of simple shapes such as arcade of loops or flux rope difficult or even questionable. Three of these CMEs benefited from multiple observations allowing us to follow their three-dimensional development as they propagated outward. All CMEs are tracked back to the solar surface and in several instances, active regions are identified as the probable sources. Finally, the projected speeds and masses derived from white-light unpolarized observations have been corrected for the projection angle to produce unbiased values.

     

Provenance and Evolution of the Guarguariiz Complex, Cordillera Frontal, Argentina

The Guarguardz Complex, basement of the Cordillera Frontal, included in the proposed Chilenia Terrane, consists of metasedimentary rocks deposited in clastic and carbonatic platforms. Turbiditic sequences point out to slope or external platform environments. According to geochemical data, the sedimentary protoliths derived through erosion of a mature cratonic continental basement. Volcanic and subvolcanic rocks with N and E-MORB signature were interbeded in the metasedimentary rocks during basin development. A compressional stage, starting with progressive deformation and metamorphism, followed this extensional stage. Continuing deformation led to the emplacement of slices of oceanic crust, conforming an accretionary prism during Late Devonian. The Guarguardz Complex and equivalent units in western Precordillera and also in the Chilean Coastal Cordillera share common evolutional stages, widely represented along the western Gondwana margin. These evidences imply that Chilenia is not an allochthonous terrane to Gondwana, but a portion of its Early Paleozoic margin. Regional configuration indicates that the Guarguardz Complex and equivalent units represent the accretionary prism of the Famatinian arc (Middle Ordovician-Late Devonian).