Measurement of radon gas on major faults in California,USA

ＭｅａｓｕｒｅｍｅｎｔｏｆｒａｄｏｎｇａｓｏｎｍａｊｏｒｆａｕｌｔｓｉｎＣａｌｉｆｏｒｎｉａ，ＵＳＡＷｅｉＺＨＡＮＧ（张炜）ａｎｄＣｈｉ－ＹｕＫＩＮＧ（金继宇）（ＣｅｎｔｅｒｆｏｒＡｎａｌｙｓｉｓａｎｄＰｒｅｄｉｃｔｉｏｎ，ＳｔａｔｅＳｅｓｉｍｏｌｏ...     

Abrupt shift in δ18O values at Medicine Lake Volcano (California, USA)

 Oxygen-isotope analyses of lavas from Medicine Lake volcano (MLV), in the southern Cascade Range, indicate a significant change in δ¹⁸O in Holocene time. In the Pleistocene, basaltic lavas with <52% SiO₂ averaged +5.9‰, intermediate lavas averaged +5.7‰, and silicic lavas (≥63.0% SiO₂) averaged +5.6‰. No analyzed Pleistocene rhyolites or dacites have values greater than +6.3‰. In post-glacial time, basalts were similar at +5.7‰ to those erupted in the Pleistocene, but intermediate lavas average +6.8‰ and silicic lavas +7.4‰ with some values as high as +8.5‰. The results indicate a change in the magmatic system supplying the volcano. During the Pleistocene, silicic lavas resulted either from melting of low-¹⁸O crust or from fractionation combined with assimilation of very-low-¹⁸O crustal material such as hydrothermally altered rocks similar to those found in drill holes under the center of the volcano. By contrast, Holocene silicic lavas were produced by assimilation and/or wholesale melting of high-¹⁸O crustal material such as that represented by inclusions of granite in lavas on the upper flanks of MLV. This sudden shift in assimilant indicates a fundamental change in the magmatic system. Magmas are apparently ponding in the crust at a very different level than in Pleistocene time. Received: 6 March 1997 / Accepted: 12 January 1998     

The idea and project of the “Medium-Scale Experiment Field for Earthquake Prediction”

A brief account of the development of the research on mining earthquakes and the general situation of the Mentougou Coal Mine medium-scale experiment field for earthquake prediction and the project of monitor and prediction is given. The differences of waveforms between mining earthquakes and natural earthquakes is discussed. The magnitude-frequency distribution of the 79 000 mining earthquakes of overM _l 1. 0 from 1984 to 1995 is summarized. Finally, taking PH and PV, the principal compressive stress components of the focal mechanism of the mining earthquakes, as the criteria, analyses the stress background of the 12 large mining earthquakes.     

A reviews of: “Theory of stellar pulsation”, “Nonradial oscillations of stars”, and “Nonradial and nonlinear stellar pulsation,proceedings of a workshop in Tucson,Arizona, March 12–16, 1979”

Abstract

By John P. Cox. Princeton University Press, 1980. xiv+380 pp. (Hard cover £40; paperback £13.50). (ISBN Hard cover 0691 08252 9, Paperback 0 691 08253 7.)

By Wasaburo Unno, Yoji Osaki, Hiroyasu Ando and Hiromoto Shibihashi. University of Tokyo Press, 1979. ix + 323 pp. (¥5800) (ISBN 0 86008 258 X.)

Edited by H. A. Hill and W. Dziembowski. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. Heidelberg, New York, 1980. viii+497 pp. (Soft cover DM57; approx $33.70 (ISBN 3 54009994 8 and 0 387 09994 8.)     

Can the benefits of physical seabed restoration justify the costs? An assessment of a disused aggregate extraction site off the Thames Estuary,UK

Physical and biological seabed impacts can persist long after the cessation of marine aggregate dredging. Whilst small-scale experimental studies have shown that it may be possible to mitigate such impacts, it is unclear whether the costs of restoration are justified on an industrial scale. Here we explore this question using a case study off the Thames Estuary, UK. By understanding the nature and scale of persistent impacts, we identify possible techniques to restore the physical properties of the seabed, and the costs and the likelihood of success. An analysis of the ecosystem services and goods/benefits produced by the site is used to determine whether intervention is justified. Whilst a comparison of costs and benefits at this site suggests restoration would not be warranted, the analysis is site-specific. We emphasise the need to better define what is, and is not, an acceptable seabed condition post-dredging.     

Effects of Harbor Modification on Crescent City, California��s Tsunami Vulnerability

More damaging tsunamis have impacted Crescent City, California in historic times than any other location on the West Coast of the USA. Crescent City??s harbor has undergone significant modification since the early 20th century, including construction of several breakwaters, dredging, and a 200?×?300?m² small boat basin. In 2006, a M _w 8.3 earthquake in the Kuril Islands generated a moderate Pacific-wide tsunami. Crescent City recorded the highest amplitudes of any tide gauge in the Pacific and was the only location to experience structural damage. Strong currents damaged docks and boats within the small boat basin, causing more than US?$20 million in damage and replacement costs. We examine how modifications to Crescent City??s harbor may have affected its vulnerability to moderate tsunamis such as the 2006 event. A bathymetric grid of the basin was constructed based on US Army Corps of Engineers soundings in 1964 and 1965 before the construction of the small boat basin. The method of splitting tsunamis was used to estimate tsunami water heights and current velocities at several locations in the harbor using both the 1964?C1965 grid and the 2006 bathymetric grid for the 2006 Kuril event and a similar-sized source along the Sanriku coast of Japan. Model velocity outputs are compared for the two different bathymetries at the tide gauge location and at six additional computational sites in the harbor. The largest difference between the two grids is at the small boat basin entrance, where the 2006 bathymetry produces currents over three times the strength of the currents produced by the 1965 bathymetry. Peak currents from a Sanriku event are comparable to those produced by the 2006 event, and within the boat basin may have been higher. The modifications of the harbor, and in particular the addition of the small boat basin, appear to have contributed to the high current velocities and resulting damage in 2006 and help to explain why the 1933 M _w 8.4?C8.7 Sanriku tsunami caused no damage at Crescent City.     

Temporal variations of C,N, δC,and δN in organic matter collected by a sediment trap at Cuenca Alfonso,Bahía de La Paz,SW Gulf of California

To monitor the composition and the vertical flux of particulate matter from the sea surface, a sediment trap was moored in Cuenca Alfonso, Bahía de La Paz, a zone of high productivity in the southwestern Gulf of California. Carbonate-free samples from 2002 to 2005 were analyzed for C_org, N, δ¹³C, and δ¹⁵N. The results show seasonal and interannual variability, with the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values larger in spring and summer than in fall and winter. The C:N ratio and δ¹³C increased by 1.5 units from 2002 to 2003–2005, suggesting a change in the supply of organic matter and-or the use or preferential degradation of N_org. There was no interannual variation in δ¹⁵N. The occasional high δ¹⁵N values suggest that physical mechanisms, such as the shoaling and advection into the bay of ¹⁵N-rich subsurface equatorial water, occur over short time periods. The latter is presumed to be related to the periodic development of a significant cyclonic gyre in the southern Gulf.     

Controls on large boulder mobility in an ‘auto-naturalized’ constructed step-pool river: San Clemente Reroute and Dam Removal Project,Carmel River,California, USA

A 1200 m-long river segment of Carmel River (California) was constructed to bypass trapped reservoir sediment when San Clemente Dam was removed from the Carmel River in 2015. Hundreds of large boulders were used to construct 53 steps in an 800 m-long reach of the project. Nearly all the boulders were scattered to new locations in high flows of 2017, and have been relatively stable since that time. We analysed the causes of incipient motion and distance travelled for 226 randomly selected large boulders (0.5–1.8 m) impacted by a flood event in winter of 2019. Channel width, water depth, and isolation from neighbouring boulders were the main variables controlling individual large boulder incipient motion during a 10-year peak flow event in the ‘auto-naturalized’ constructed step-pool river in 2019. There is weak statistical evidence that a combination of shear stress and the presence of boulders located laterally downstream of the subject boulder controlled the distance the boulder moved. Frequentist statistics and Akaike information criterion model comparison determined that boulder size, boulder shape, boulder roundness, and local thalweg slope were not good predictors of large boulder incipient motion or distance transported. Average dimensionless critical shear value for the four largest mobilized boulders (1.5–1.6 m) was 0.014. We describe the geomorphic history of the site and use our results to discuss potential causes of unanticipated large boulder transport at the site that occurred in a <2-year peak flow of winter 2016 soon after step construction. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing “Urban Karst” Effects from Groundwater–Storm Sewer System Interaction in a Till Aquitard

Storm sewer systems and their associated utility trenches may strongly influence the effects of urbanization on a groundwater system. This study was undertaken to identify the causes of district-wide basement infiltration in an aquitard system. It comprised widespread continuous monitoring of utility trench wells and dye tracing from storm sewer system exfiltration tests. The results indicate that a major effect of urbanization on shallow groundwater is related to storm sewer system exfiltration, which is marked by a characteristic pattern of head variations in the aquitard unrelated to distributed surface infiltration. The aquitard constrains flow from storm sewer system exfiltration to the utility trench, creating an urban flow path for groundwater discharge. Temporary buildup of water levels in the utility trench drives relatively high-velocity flow through the permeable sewer bedding material of the utility trench to a separate foundation drainage collector system, ultimately causing a severe “urban karst” effect that produces system surcharging and widespread basement water infiltration. The main conditions causing the “urban karst” are the large hydraulic conductivity ratio between the utility trench material and the aquitard, and the shallow depth and low gradient of the storm sewer system imposed by a very flat drainage basin.     

Modeling urban land use conversion of Daqing City,China: a comparative analysis of “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches

During the past decades, Daqing City, China has experienced unprecedented urban expansion due to the rapid development of petroleum industry. With rapid urbanization and lack of strategic planning, Daqing is facing many socio-economic and environmental problems, and it is essential to examine the process of urbanization, and to develop policy recommendations for sustainable development. To address this problem, this paper examined the urbanization process of Daqing City through developing two multi-level models: an integrated system dynamic (SD) and CLUE-S model (SD-CLUES), and an integrated SD and stochastic cellular automata model (SD-CA). Analysis of results suggests that these two models generate significantly different results. With the SD-CLUES model, new urban developments are clustered in the downtown area or along major transportation networks, indicating exogenous driving forces playing an important role in shaping urban spatial dynamics. With the SD-CA model, on the contrary, the resultant new urban cells are spread over the entire study area, and associated with existing urban areas. Further, visual comparisons and validations indicate that the SD-CA model is a better alternative in explaining the urbanization mechanism of Daqing City. In addition, analysis of results suggests that the stochastic factor in the CA model has significant impact on the modeling accuracy.     

The initial subevent of the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake: Is earthquake size predictable?

We examine the initial subevent (ISE) of the M 6.7, 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake in order to discriminate between two end-member rupture initiation models: the preslip and cascade models. Final earthquake size may be predictable from an ISE's seismic signature in the preslip model but not in the cascade model. In the cascade model ISEs are simply small earthquakes that can be described as purely dynamic ruptures. In this model a large earthquake is triggered by smaller earthquakes; there is no size scaling between triggering and triggered events and a variety of stress transfer mechanisms are possible. Alternatively, in the preslip model, a large earthquake nucleates as an aseismically slipping patch in which the patch dimension grows and scales with the earthquake's ultimate size; the byproduct of this loading process is the ISE. In this model, the duration of the ISE signal scales with the ultimate size of the earthquake, suggesting that nucleation and earthquake size are determined by a more predictable, measurable, and organized process. To distinguish between these two end-member models we use short period seismograms recorded by the Southern California Seismic Network. We address questions regarding the similarity in hypocenter locations and focal mechanisms of the ISE and the mainshock. We also compare the ISE's waveform characteristics to those of small earthquakes and to the beginnings of earthquakes with a range of magnitudes. We find that the focal mechanisms of the ISE and mainshock are indistinguishable, and both events may have nucleated on and ruptured the same fault plane. These results satisfy the requirements for both models and thus do not discriminate between them. However, further tests show the ISE's waveform characteristics are similar to those of typical small earthquakes in the vicinity and more importantly, do not scale with the mainshock magnitude. These results are more consistent with the cascade model.     

Relationship between metal enrichments and a biological adverse effects index in sediments from Todos Santos Bay, northwest coast of Baja California, México

In 1992 and 2004, heavy metals concentrations were measured in surficial sediments from Todos Santos Bay, located in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. The aim was to search for relationships between metal enrichment factors and a biological adverse effects index. Unlike Ni, the elements Cd, Cu and Zn showed significant correlations (p<0.05) between enrichment factors and the biological adverse effects index. Cu showed a 0.74:1 relationship, which means that any enrichment above 0.74 could represent biological adverse effects. On the other hand, Cd and Zn enrichments must be >5.5 and >1.5, respectively, in order for the sediments to be considered toxic. In general, data showed that most of the metal concentrations in Todos Santos Bay sediments could not cause adverse effects to biota. Only Ensenada's harbor and the zone next to a dredging dumping site showed metal enrichments that could be toxic.     

Assessing spatial likelihood of flooding hazard using naïve Bayes and GIS: a case study in Bowen Basin,Australia

Flooding hazard evaluation is the basis of flooding risk assessment which has significances to natural environment, human life and social economy. This study develops a spatial framework integrating naïve Bayes (NB) and geographic information system (GIS) to assess flooding hazard at regional scale. The methodology was demonstrated in the Bowen Basin in Australia as a case study. The inputs into the framework are five indices: elevation, slope, soil water retention, drainage proximity and density. They were derived from spatial data processed in ArcGIS. NB as a simplified and efficient type of Bayesian methods was used, with the assistance of remotely sensed flood inundation extent in the sampling process, to infer flooding probability on a cell-by-cell basis over the study area. A likelihood-based flooding hazard map was output from the GIS-based framework. The results reveal elevation and slope have more significant impacts on evaluation than other input indices. Area of high likelihood of flooding hazard is mainly located in the west and the southwest where there is a high water channel density, and along the water channels in the east of the study area. High likelihood of flooding hazard covers 45 % of the total area, medium likelihood accounts for about 12 %, low and very low likelihood represents 19 and 24 %, respectively. The results provide baseline information to identify and assess flooding hazard when making adaptation strategies and implementing mitigation measures in future. The framework and methodology developed in the study offer an integrated approach in evaluation of flooding hazard with spatial distributions and indicative uncertainties. It can also be applied to other hazard assessments.     

Assessing the status of an artisanal shrimp fishery in a Ramsar wetland in Jamaica: The effects of seasonality,extreme La Niña episodes and elevated temperature on landings

An invasive crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, and several native shrimp species (Macrobrachium acanthurus, Macrobrachium faustinum, Macrobrachium carcinus, Xiphocaris elongata, and Atyidae sp.) found in the Black River Lower Morass (BRLM), a Ramsar Wetland in Jamaica, support subsistence and artisanal fisheries. Management of this fishery requires information on factors that influence their abundance. Consequently, we assessed the effects of seasonality, extreme and double La Niña episodes (in 2011) and elevated atmospheric temperature (in 2011 and 2012) on weekly Decapoda landing data, collected over a period of two years (2010–2012). The catch of native species showed a cyclical trend every 6 months, coinciding with the dry and wet seasons. The invasive crayfish landing showed a reverse trend during the first year, after which no pattern could be discerned. A dynamic factor analysis (DFA) model with two common trends and four explanatory variables (conductivity, mean weekly number of traps hauled, weekly mean water level, and mean dissolved oxygen) was the optimal model to characterize the variation in wet-weight landings. A generalized additive mixed model with an auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) error structure was used to show that the extreme and double La Niñas were associated with lower monthly atmospheric temperature. Sea surface temperature anomaly in region 3 (a proxy to ENSO) and the trend in temperature were then used to predict the wet weight of native shrimp (U-shaped relationship) and the invasive crayfish (reverse-j shaped relationship), respectively. The native shrimp (mean sustainable yield, MSY = 3469 kg and mean catch per fisher = 2.67 kg) and invasive crayfish (MSY = 11 kg and mean catch per fisher = 0.67 kg) are under fished, although populations of the native shrimp are possibly declining, whereas that of the invasive crayfish may be growing. The declining trend may have adverse implications for the stock of the native shrimp species, which has a higher economic value, if fishing pressure is not reduced/restricted or increased on the invasive crayfish, especially during seasonal and/or ENSO related declines in native shrimp stocks.     

Structure,and origin by injection of lava under surface crust,of tumuli, “lava rises”, “lava-rise pits”, and “lava-inflation clefts” in Hawaii

Tumuli are positive topographic features that are common on Hawaiian pahoehoe lava flow fields, particularly on shallow slopes, and 75 measured examples are presented here to document the size range. Tumuli form by up-tilting of crustal plates, without any crustal shortening, and are thus distinguished from pressure ridges which are up-buckled by laterally directed pressure. The axial or star-like systems of deep clefts that characterize tumuli are defined here as lava-inflation clefts; their tips advanced into red-hot lava and they widened as uplift proceeded and while the lava crust was thickening. Flat-surfaced uplifts, formed like tumuli by injection of lava under a surface crust, were previously called pressure plateaus, but lava rise is proposed instead. The pits that abound among lava rises, previously attributed to collapse or subsidence, are generally formed because the lava around them rose, and the name lava-rise pit is proposed. Unique examples of tumuli and lava rises, from which lava drained out under a surface crust 1.5 to 2.5 m thick, are described from Kilauea caldera. These examples show that in tumuli and lava rises the crust floats on considerable bodies of fluid lava, and is able to do so because of its higher vesicle content: the fluid lava loses many of its gas bubbles during residence beneath the crust. The bulk densities of samples from tumuli show a general downward increase. The form of the density profile is consistent with the relationship that for any given crustal thickness the density of fluid lava closely matched the average density of that crust, suggesting that the lava was stably density-stratified. It is inferred that stable stratification was regulated by out-flows of the more vesicular lava fractions, loss of bubbles through the lava-inflation clefts, and entry of injected lava at its level of neutral buoyancy. Below the uppermost meter the downward decrease in vesicularity closely conforms with that expected by compression of a uniform mass of gas per unit mass of lava.     

Moreton wave, “EIT wave”, and type II radio burst as manifestations of a single wave front

We show that a Moreton wave, an “EIT wave,” and a type II radio burst observed during a solar flare of July 13, 2004, might have been a manifestation of a single front of a decelerating shock wave, which appeared in an active region (AR) during a filament eruption. We propose describing a quasi-spheroidal wave propagating upward and along the solar surface by using relations known from a theory of a point-like explosion in a gas whose density changes along the radius according to a power law. By applying this law to fit the drop in density of the coronal plasma enveloping the solar active region, we first managed to bring the measured positions and velocities of surface Moreton wave and “EIT wave” into correspondence with the observed frequency drift rate of the meter type II radio burst. The exponent of the vertical coronal density falloff is selected by fitting the power law to the Newkirk and Saito empirical distributions in the height range of interest. Formal use of such a dependence in the horizontal direction with a different exponent appears to be reasonable up to distances of less than 200 Mm around the eruption center. It is possible to assume that the near-surface shock wave weakens when leaving this radius and finally the active region, entering the region of the quiet Sun where the coronal plasma density and the fast-mode speed are almost constant along the horizontal.