Regional gravity investigation of Honduras, Central America

A regional gravity study of Honduras was performed as part of a major study of the geothermal resource potential of Honduras. This study was conducted by Los Alamos National Laboratory, in cooperation with the Honduras government. Regional offshore free-air and onshore Bouguer gravity maps, and residual/isostatic gravity maps of Honduras and surrounding regions were produced. From these data several regional crustal and upper mantle models were produced. These models pass through two local geothermal sites, Platanares and San Ignacio. The regional geologic and tectonic implications of the models and their relevance to the geothermal potential of Honduras and to six well known geothermal sites in particular are examined. No obvious regional structures observed in the gravity data can explain the thermal enhancement in general or the specific geothermal sites. More local tectonic or structural conditions must control the distribution of the thermally enhanced areas.     

The Ivory Coast microtektite strewnfield: new data

Ivory Coast microtektites have recently been found in three piston cores from the Atlantic Ocean. In two of these cores, the microtektites occur in a layer above the base of the Jaramillo geomagnetic event indicating that they fell approximately 0.95 m.y. ago. Major element compositions have been obtained for forty-one of the microtektites by electron microprobe and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The geographic location, stratigraphic age and major element compositions indicate that these microtektites are part of the Ivory Coast tektite strewnfield. Present data suggest that the Ivory Coast strewnfield may cover an area of about 4.5 million square kilometers and contain about 20 million metric tons of microtektites.     

A numerical study of the circulation and monthly-to-seasonal variability in the Caribbean Sea: the role of Caribbean eddies

This study examines the circulation and associated monthly-to-seasonal variability in the Caribbean Sea using a regional ocean circulation model. The model domain covers the region between 99.0 and 54.0°W and between 8.0 and 30.3°N, with a horizontal resolution of 1/6°. The ocean circulation model is driven by 6-hourly atmospheric reanalysis data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction and boundary forcing extracted from 5-day global ocean reanalysis data produced by Smith et al. (Mercator Newsletter 36:39–49, 2010), and integrated for 7 years. A comparison of model results with observations demonstrates that the regional ocean circulation model has skill in simulating circulation and associated variability in the study region. Analysis of the model results, as well as a companion model run that uses steady annual mean forcing, illustrates the role of Caribbean eddies for driving monthly-to-seasonal circulation variability in the model. It is found that vertically integrated transport between Nicaragua and Jamaica is influenced by the interaction between the density perturbations associated with Caribbean eddies and the Nicaraguan Ridge. The impact of Caribbean eddies squeezing through the Yucatan Channel is also discussed.     

Radium in the near-surface Caribbean Sea

Recent radium measurements from the near-surface Caribbean Sea are presented. The surface horizontal and vertical distributions of²²⁶Ra are essentially the same as reported by Szabo et al. (1967) for the early 1960's. The²²⁶Ra activity at the surface is relatively uniform across the Caribbean, with an average of8.2±0.4dpm/100kg. The subsurface distribution to ～200 m averages7.8±0.4dpm/100kg and increases slowly below 200 m. reaching ～9.5 dpm/100 kg at 560 m. In contrast to²²⁶Ra, the surface concentration of²²⁸Ra was much more variable in both time and space. An average increase of 33% was found between 1968 and 1976 in the western Caribbean and during both years an anomalously high²²⁸Ra activity was found in the eastern Caribbean. These data support previous hypotheses that water entering the eastern Caribbean has been enriched in²²⁸Ra prior to entry and that variable mixing of the Atlantic water masses found to the northeast and southeast of the Lesser Antilles may produce temporal variations in the near-surface²²⁸Ra activity. Scatter plots of²²⁸Ra vs. salinity and sigma-t indicate that the near-surface vertical distribution of²²⁸Ra in the Caribbean Sea is predominantly influenced by advection. Thus²²⁸Ra cannot be used to study near-surface vertical mixing rates in this region.     

Coast in California San Diego

正~~     

Structural profile of the northwestern Caribbean

A seismic reflection and gravity profile across the continental margin of the Yucatan Peninsula, Yucatan Basin, Cayman Ridge, and Cayman Trough suggests that sediments in the Yucatan Basin consist of a thick succession of beds dominated by turbidites that overlie a thick but irregular sequence of beds, probably dominated by pelagic deposits. The so-called “Carib beds”, present elsewhere in the Caribbean, are not evident in the part of the basin crossed by this profile. The sedimentary section rests on a acoustic basement that probably represents the top of oceanic layer 2. A gravity model indicates that the crust beneath the Yucatan Basin is thin and therefore probably is oceanic in character. The crust thickens southward under the Cayman Ridge but thins again beneath the Cayman Trough. This local thickening is consistent with the suggestion that the Cayman Ridge is a rifted part of the Nicaraguan Rise.     

Tsunami Probability in the Caribbean Region

We calculated tsunami runup probability (in excess of 0.5 m) at coastal sites throughout the Caribbean region. We applied a Poissonian probability model because of the variety of uncorrelated tsunami sources in the region. Coastlines were discretized into 20 km by 20 km cells, and the mean tsunami runup rate was determined for each cell. The remarkable ~500-year empirical record compiled by O’Loughlin and Lander (2003) was used to calculate an empirical tsunami probability map, the first of three constructed for this study. However, it is unclear whether the 500-year record is complete, so we conducted a seismic moment-balance exercise using a finite-element model of the Caribbean-North American plate boundaries and the earthquake catalog, and found that moment could be balanced if the seismic coupling coefficient is c = 0.32. Modeled moment release was therefore used to generate synthetic earthquake sequences to calculate 50 tsunami runup scenarios for 500-year periods. We made a second probability map from numerically-calculated runup rates in each cell. Differences between the first two probability maps based on empirical and numerical-modeled rates suggest that each captured different aspects of tsunami generation; the empirical model may be deficient in primary plate-boundary events, whereas numerical model rates lack backarc fault and landslide sources. We thus prepared a third probability map using Bayesian likelihood functions derived from the empirical and numerical rate models and their attendant uncertainty to weight a range of rates at each 20 km by 20 km coastal cell. Our best-estimate map gives a range of 30-year runup probability from 0–30% regionally.     

Seasonal variation in cascade‐driven hyporheic exchange,northern Honduras

A characterization of hyporheic exchange for dry and wet season baseflow, as well as partially dewatered discharge, was done in Prieta Creek, a first‐order cascade in northern Honduras. The cascade had discharges from 1 to 15 l s^?1, had average slopes of 12%, pool spacing of 3 m, and shallow substrate of sand and gravel. Tracer tests were conducted in a 15‐m sub‐reach, a length considered to be adequate for the experiment based on the DaI test, a ratio of exchange and transport processes. In the three tests, between 9 and 18% of tracer was not recovered, possibly due to entrainment in flowpaths passing beneath the downstream monitoring location. Tracer data were analysed by the one‐dimensional transport with inflow and storage (OTIS) transient storage model (TSM) to derive standard exchange parameters, and by the solute transport in rivers (STIR) model to examine hyporheic residence time distributions (RTDs). The best fit of the observed tracer breakthrough curves was obtained by using the STIR model with a combination of two exponential RTDs to represent hyporheic retention. With increasing discharge, the OTIS model predicted increasing storage exchange fluxes and exchange coefficients and decreasing storage zone areas and transient storage times, which are trends supported by riparian and streambed piezometric head data. Riparian water levels rose during the transition from the dry to wet season, which could constrict the hyporheic storage zone. Thirteen of the 19 streambed piezometers recorded seasonal changes in hydraulic gradients and flux direction, with fewer yet stronger upwelling zones during higher discharges. The MODFLOW model missed the observed seasonal changes, possibly due to subtle changes in the seasonal change in water surface profiles. We conclude that partially dewatered dry season exchange, compared to wet season exchange, was initiated and terminated with smaller pressure gradients and, in different streambed locations, was smaller in volume, had longer residence times, and may connect with deeper and longer flow paths. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geophysical investigations of the Platanares geothermal site, Honduras, Central America

Geophysical studies were carried out in Platanares in Western Honduras, as part of an investigation of the geothermal resource potential of Honduras by Los Alamos National Laboratory in cooperation with the Honduran government and the U.S. Geological Survey. Geological and geochemical studies later followed by exploratory bore-holes indicate this area of rugged topography has the best geothermal potential in Honduras. In order to better understand the geology of the area, gravity, audiomagnetotelluric and telluric surveys were carried out. The site is in a graben of Tertiary volcanics and Cretaceous red beds, with numerous hot springs along faults in the center of the graben. Gravity mapped the thickness of low-density tuffs and the position of associated normal faults. It also indicated the presence of persuasive, shallow, highly silicified, high-density tuffs and gravels. The electrical surveys mapped shallow, high-resistivity silicified zones and faults as low-resistivity zones. The red beds below the tuffs are considered to contain the geothermal reservoir, but their maximum thickness could not be determined by these surveys due to the lack of density contrast and the high surface electrical conductivities. Three geologic cross-sections constructed by others have been re-evaluated using gravity modeling and analysis of eletrical anomalies, showing general agreement but in detail significant differences.     

Mesoscale eddy variability in the Caribbean Sea

Ocean Dynamics - The spatial distribution, and the monthly and seasonal variability of mesoscale eddy observations derived from the AVISO eddy atlas are assessed in the Caribbean Sea during...     

Slicer Laser Altimetry In The Eastern Caribbean

Data acquired by the airborne Scanning Lidar Imager of Canopies by EchoRecovery (SLICER) laser altimeter provided high-resolution digital topographicdata over Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and several of the Lesser AntillesIslands. The instrument was developed by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.It has the capability of multibeam resolution of ground elevations beneath densecanopy areas. Data, therefore, can be used to generate a more accurate representation of the ground surface by removing the vegetation cover. Although internal precision is high (10 cm to 1 m), absolute accuracy is difficult to evaluate and depends on several factors, including the post-processed kinematic GPS (KGPS) flight path for the aircraft platform and clear identification of ground returns in the SLICER waveform. We compared topographic profiles from USGS 30 m and 1:250K DEMs for Puerto Rico with those generated by SLICER and with spot elevations derived from static and continuous GPS surveys. SLICER and KGPS surveys cross at six points in western Puerto Rico. Agreement between both elevation data sets is excellent and well fit (r = 0.921) by a linear model with a final residual bias of -0.501 m for SLICER ground returns relative to KGPS elevations. The agreement between SLICER and USGS 30 m DEMs is also very good with the largest errors associated with steep slopes and high vegetation cover. Residuals between KGPS and USGS 30 m DEMs are +1 ± 25 m, assuming a fixed uniform offset of +43.23 m between WGS84 and mean sea level.     

Spectral Reflectance Analysis of the Caribbean Sea

Reflectance spectral curves were analysed by a derivative method. Derivative reflectance spectra revealed concealed peaks of both reflectance and absorption curves of Caribbean seawater and elements contained within it. Reflectance curves showed a predominant blue colour (400–500 nm) characteristic of Caribbean oligotrophic waters, conspicuous peaks result from the optical properties of chlorophyll a and seawater. Reflectance curves had a similar spectral response. This paper analyses reflectance spectra of surface seawater at 31 stations in the Caribbean Sea during the summer of 2001.     

Igneous series in island arcs: The northeastern Caribbean compared with worldwide island-arc assemblages

Two major magma series are recognised in the northeastern Carribean island arcs and correlated with numerous examples elsewhere, mainly in the western Pacific. The Primitive Island Arc (PIA) series is apparently the oldest in each of its island-arc occurrences and is followed by the calcalkaline (CA) series, which locally co-occurs with a high-potassium (HK) variety, especially in topographically larger island areas. Also occurring in the northeastern Caribbean are tectonically emplaced examples of metamorphosed mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) and a diabase dike swarm possibly related to a rifting event. PIA series is distinguished from the CA by its lower content of LIL elements, including REE. Th, U, Zr, K, and Ba. The difference is most striking in the abundant siliceous differentiates of this series, in which these elements are scarcely higher in abundance than in mafic examples. The HK series is considered to be a subseries of the CA which is higher in K, Ba, Sr, Mg, and Ni, but has REE, Th, and other element levels very similar to the CA. The PIA series has been confused with MORB but has lower REE (with flatter patterns generally), much lower Ni, lower Ti, Zr, and Mg, and appears to be intrinsically hydrated. The abundance of siliceous differentiates also separates this series from MORB. PIA magma is believed to be generated by massive melting of hydrated mantle which rises in front of the descending snout of a newly subducting slab at the initial stage of island-arc genesis; i.e., before the island-arc platform has formed. CA magma has a different source and is probably the partially fused material of the slab itself, more or less modified by volcanic-sedimentary materials dragged to depth during subduction.