A new Jurassic cow shark (Chondrichthyes,Hexanchiformes) with comments on Jurassic hexanchiform systematics

A new taxon, ?Crassodontidanus gen. nov. of Hexanchiformes (cow sharks) from the Jurassic of Germany is described. It is characterized by peculiar teeth combining apomorphic (serrated mesial cutting edge of the main cusp) and plesiomorphic features (deep root with convex mesial and distal margins in labial and lingual views; protruding lingual root bulge). This character combination readily distinguishes members of the new taxon from all other known extant (Heptranchias, Hexanchus, Notorynchus) and extinct (?Gladioserratus, ?Notidanodon, ?Notidanoides, ?Pachyhexanchus, ?Paraheptranchias, ?Weltonia) hexanchiforms. Currently, two species, ?C. serratus (type species; Late Jurassic, Late Kimmeridgian of Nusplingen, South Germany) and ?C. wiedenrothi (Early Jurassic, Early Pliensbachian of Gretenberg (Hanover), North Germany) are assigned to this taxon. ?Crassodontidanus gen. nov. is member of ?Crassonotidae fam. nov. and sister to ?Notidanoides Maisey, 1986 and ?Pachyhexanchus Cappetta, 1990. We consider ?Notidanus amalthei Oppel, 1854 from the Pliensbachian of South Germany, ?Notidanus insignis Seguenza, 1887 from the Oxfordian of Sicily (Italy) and ?Notidanus wagneri Agassiz, 1843 from the Early Tithonian of Solnhofen (South Germany) nomina dubia and nomina nuda, respectively. The family ?Crassonotidae comprises plesiomorphic hexanchiforms ranging from the Sinemurian (Early Jurassic) to the Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous).     

An enhanced SMA based SCS-CN inspired model for watershed runoff prediction

Incorporation of initial soil moisture (V ₀) in the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) methodology helps to avoid the sudden jumps in Curve Number (CN) and, in turn, in computed runoff. It invoked the development of an enhanced (yet simple) Soil Moisture Accounting (SMA) procedure-based-SCS-CN inspired model, by incorporating initial moisture (V ₀). Its performance is tested using a dataset of 152 small to large watersheds of USDA (total 38,169 storm events), and compared with original SCS-CN method, Mishra and Singh (Acta Geophys Polon 50(3):457–477, 2002), Michel et al. (Water Resour Res 41(2):W02011, 2005) and Singh et al. (Water Resour Manag 29(11): 4111–4127, 2015) model using four statistical indices (RMSE, R ², PBIAS and NSE) and rank grading system (RGS). The proposed model scores highest (= 691 marks out of maximum 2280 marks) (Rank I) followed by Singh et al. (Water Resour Manag 29(11):4111–4127, 2015) model with 642 marks (Rank II), Michel et al. (Water Resour Res 41(2):W02011, 2005) model with 376 marks (Rank III) and Mishra and Singh model with 362 marks (= Rank IV). The original SCS-CN model, however, performs the poorest of all with 209 marks (Rank V).     

Discussion of “From saturated to unsaturated conditions and vice versa” by Martí Lloret-Cabot,Simon J. Wheeler,Jubert A. Pineda,Enrique Romero,and Daichao Sheng (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-017-0577-6)

The authors (Lloret-Cabot et al. in Acta Geotech 1–23, 2017) applied the glasgow coupled model (GCM), originally proposed by Wheeler et al. (Géotechnique 53(1):41–54, 2003), to the simulation of several experimental tests that involve transition between saturated and unsaturated states. The authors show qualitatively, but not quantitatively, predictions of GCM for shrinkage during air drying of normally consolidated samples (Fig. 13) under low mechanical stress conditions, without presenting the material parameters. The discussers, who have worked with GCM to model multilayer deposition of tailings/soft soils (Qi in Numerical investigation for slope stability of expansive soils and large strain consolidation of soft soils. Doctoral dissertation, University of Ottawa, 2017; Qi et al. in J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 143(7):04017018, 2017, Qi et al. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 143(7):04017019, 2017), have made quantitative predictions of similar cases. Satisfactory simulations of such cases using GCM are sensitive to the selection of the coupling parameters k₁ and k₂. By considering an alternative analytical form of GCM, an analytical procedure can be derived for calibrating the coupling parameters for problems involving virgin drying.     

Simultaneous inversion application for characterizing Hamra Quartzite tight sand reservoir: a case study from Hassi Messaoud (Algeria)

Channel sand acts as a stratigraphic trap for hydrocarbon accumulation in many parts of the world. Delineation of this type of reservoir is crucial as channel sand may be scarce, and inaccurate location of the drilling wells could lose a huge currency. The Hassi Messaoud (HMD) field was subjected to multiphase tectonic events, where deep-seated structures were rejuvenated leading to intensive fault complexity. The main effective tectonic events upon the studied area are the Hercynian compression and deep erosion till the Ordovician Hamra Quartzite (HQZ) oil reservoir, followed by active Triassic rifting and filling the deeply eroded areas or the graben areas by eruptive volcanic rocks at Triassic time. Hercynian erosion and volcanic rocks distribution introduce a big uncertainty to the reservoir structural model. Amplitude versus offset (AVO) method is used as a helpful tool to differentiate channel sand from surrounding formations. Several attributes (P-impedance, S-impedance, longitudinal velocity Vp, shear velocity Vs and density ρ) are estimated from pre-stack seismic inversion. They have different sensitivity to the reservoir properties. Derived attributes such as Lamé parameters, incompressibility × density (λρ) and rigidity × density (μρ) can provide key lithology and fluid indicators (Goodway et al. 1997, Goodway CSEG Rec 26(6):39-60 2001). Petrophysically relating AVO attributes both to λρ and μρ and to each other in Lambda–Mu–Rho (LMR) cross-plot space can be a good tool for AVO interpretation (Rutherford and Williams Geophysics 54:680–688 1989 and Castagna and Swan Lead Edge 16(4):337–342 1997). After proper data conditioning, simultaneous inversion of pre-stack angle gathers is performed to get acoustic wave impedance (P-impedance), elastic wave impedances (S-impedance) and density ρ, then to calculate λρ and μρ volumes. In the studied area, λρ and μρ are used as a very important key to separate reservoir sands. The λρ and μρ curves are generated at each well location. Cross plots showed a fair separation of sand in the formation, i.e. higher μρ and lower λρ can detect sand. The output λρ and μρ volumes after simultaneous inversion follow the distribution of the sand which is consistent with the wells penetrating the target reservoir. This finding on the extension of the sand reservoir in terms of λρ and μρ. 3D cross-plot zonations are used for lithology discrimination. In this study, well logs were used to constrain lithology and to control the zonation filters by reducing the limits ambiguity. Other types of advanced attributes are calculated and tested. The obtained (μρ–λρ) volume acts as a good indicator for the sand distribution. It was finally used as sand presence index in the area. Also μρ has shown a good linear relationship with porosity. To note that the porosity volume is created based on the linear relationship with μρ. A product of derived porosity and the sand presence index (μρ–λρ) provides a good tool for reservoir characterization and lead to reservoir management, future planning of the field, and setting location for new wells.     

Permian macro- and miofloral diversity,palynodating and palaeoclimate implications deduced from the coal-bearing sequences of Singrauli coalfield,Son–Mahanadi Basin,central India

The coal-bearing sequences of Barakar and Raniganj formations exposed in Bina and Jhingurdah open-cast collieries, respectively, are analysed for their macro- and miofloral content. The sediment successions primarily comprise of sandstones, shales, claystones and coal seams. In addition to the diverse glossopterid assemblage, four palynoassemblage zones, namely Zones I and II in Bina Colliery and Zones III and IV in Jhingurdah Colliery, have also been recorded in the present study. The megafossil assemblage from the Barakar strata of Bina Colliery comprises of three genera, namely Gangamopteris, Glossopteris and cf. Noeggerathiopsis. Palynoassemblage-I is characterised by the dominance of non-striate bisaccate pollen genus Scheuringipollenites and subdominance of striate bisaccate Faunipollenites and infers these strata to be of Early Permian (Artinskian) age (Lower Barakar Formation). The palynoassemblage has also yielded a large number of naked fossil spore tetrads, which is the first record of spore tetrads from any Artinskian strata in the world and has a significant bearing on the climatic conditions. The palynoassemblage-II is characterised with the dominance of Faunipollenites over Scheuringipollenites and is indicative of Kungurian age (Upper Barakar Formation). The megafossil assemblage from the Raniganj Formation of Jhingurdah Colliery comprises of five genera with 26 species representing four orders, viz., Equisetales, Cordaitales, Cycadales and Glossopteridales. The order Glossopteridales is highly diversified with 23 taxa and the genus Glossopteris, with 22 species, dominates the flora. The mioflora of this colliery is represented by two distinct palynoassemblages. The palynoassemblage-III is correlatable with the palynoflora of Early Permian (Artinskian) Lower Barakar Formation. The assemblage suggests the continuity of older biozones into the younger ones. The palynoassemblage-IV equates the beds with composition V: Striatopodocarpites–Faunipollenites–Gondisporites assemblage zone of Tiwari and Tripathi (1992) of Late Permian (Lopingian) Raniganj Formation in Damodar Basin. The FAD’s of Alisporites, Klausipollenites, Falcisporites, Arcuatipollenites pellucidus and Playfordiaspora cancellosa palynotaxa in this assemblage enhance the end Permian level of the Jhingurdah Top seam, as these elements are the key species to mark the transition of Permian into the Lower Triassic.     

Disaster prevention,disaster preparedness and local community resilience within the context of disaster risk management in Cameroon

This paper presents a simulation of three components of near-field ground shaking recorded during the main shock at three stations of the September 16, 1978, Tabas (M _w = 7.4), Iran, earthquake, close to the causative fault. A hybrid method composed of a discrete wavenumber method developed by Bouchon (Bouchon in Bull Seismol Soc Am 71:959–971, 1981; Cotton and Coutant in Geophys J Int 128:676–688, 1997) and a stochastic finite-fault modeling based on a dynamic corner frequency proposed by Motazedian and Atkinson (Bull Seismol Soc Am 95:995–1010, 2005), modified by Assatourians and Atkinson (Bull Seismol Soc Am 97:935–1949, 2007), is used for generating the seismograms at low (0.1–1.0 Hz) and high frequencies (1.0–20.0 Hz), respectively. The results are validated by comparing the simulated peak acceleration, peak velocity, peak displacement, Arias intensity, the integral of velocity squared, Fourier spectrum and acceleration response spectrum on a frequency-by-frequency basis, the shape of the normalized integrals of acceleration and velocity squared, and the cross-correlation with the observed time-series data. Each characteristic is compared on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being perfect agreement. Also, the results are validated by comparing the simulated ground motions with the modified Mercalli intensity observations reported by reconnaissance teams and showed reasonable agreement. The results of the present study imply that the damage distribution pattern of the 1978 Tabas earthquake can be explained by the source directivity effect.     

Equation of state of synthetic qandilite Mg<Subscript>2</Subscript>TiO<Subscript>4</Subscript> at ambient temperature

Using a diamond-anvil cell and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, the compressional behavior of a synthetic qandilite Mg_2.00(1)Ti_1.00(1)O₄ has been investigated up to about 14.9 GPa at 300 K. The pressure–volume data fitted to the third-order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state yield an isothermal bulk modulus (K _T0) of 175(5) GPa, with its first derivative \(K_{T0}^{{\prime }}\) attaining 3.5(7). If \(K_{T0}^{{\prime }}\) is fixed as 4, the K _T0 value is 172(1) GPa. This value is substantially larger than the value of the adiabatic bulk modulus (K _S0) previously determined by an ultrasonic pulse echo method (152(7) GPa; Liebermann et al. in Geophys J Int 50:553–586, 1977), but in general agreement with the K _T0 empirically estimated on the basis of crystal chemical systematics (169 GPa; Hazen and Yang in Am Miner 84:1956–1960, 1999). Compared to the K _T0 values of the ulvöspinel (Fe₂TiO₄; ~148(4) GPa with \(K_{T0}^{{\prime }} = 4\)) and the ringwoodite solid solutions along the Mg₂SiO₄–Fe₂SiO₄ join, our finding suggests that the substitution of Mg²⁺ for Fe²⁺ on the T sites of the 4–2 spinels can have more significant effect on the K _T0 than that on the M sites.     

Ultimate Bearing Capacity Prediction of Eccentrically Inclined Loaded Strip Footings

Extensive laboratory model tests have been carried out on a strip footing resting over dry sand bed subjected to eccentrically inclined load to determine the ultimate bearing capacity (Patra et al. in Int J Geotech Eng 6(3):343–352, 2012a.  https://doi.org/10.3328/IJGE.2012.06.03.343-352, Int J Geotech Eng 6(4):507–514, b.  https://doi.org/10.3328/IJGE.2012.06.04.507-514). Similarly, lower bound calculations based on finite element method were performed to compute the bearing capacity of a strip footing subjected to an eccentric and inclined load lying over a cohesionless soil with varying embedment depth and relative density (Krabbenhoft et al. in Int J Geomech ASCE, 2014.  https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000332). The load may be applied in two ways namely, towards the center line and away from the center line of the footing. Based on the results (both experimental and numerical analyses), a neural network model is developed to predict the reduction factor that will be used in computing the ultimate bearing capacity of an eccentrically inclined loaded strip footing. This reduction factor (RF) is the ratio of the ultimate bearing capacity of the footing subjected to an eccentrically inclined load to the ultimate bearing capacity of the footing subjected to a centric vertical load. A thorough sensitivity analysis is carried out to evaluate the parameters affecting the reduction factor. Based on the weights of the developed neural network model, a neural interpretation diagram is developed to find out whether the input parameters have direct or inverse effect on the output. A prediction model equation is framed with the trained weights of the neural network as the model parameters. The predictions from ANN, and those from other approaches, are compared with the results computed from both experimentation and FEM analyses. The ANN model results are found to be more accurate and well matched with other results.     

Si and O self-diffusion in hydrous forsterite and iron-bearing olivine from the perspective of defect chemistry

We discuss the experimental results of silicon and oxygen self-diffusion coefficients in forsterite and iron-bearing olivine from the perspective of defect chemistry. Silicon diffusion is dominated by V_O ^··-associated V_Si″″, whereas oxygen diffusion is dominated by hopping of V_O ^·· under anhydrous conditions, and by (OH)_O ^· under hydrous conditions. By considering the charge neutrality condition of [(OH)_O ^·] = 2[V_Me″] in hydrous forsterite and iron-bearing olivine, we get D _Si ∝ (\(C_{{{\text{H}}_{2} {\text{O}}}}\))^1/3 and D _O ∝ (\(C_{{{\text{H}}_{2} {\text{O}}}}\))⁰, which explains the experimental results of water effects on oxygen and silicon self-diffusion rates (Fei et al. in Nature 498:213–215, 2013; J Geophys Res 119:7598–7606, 2014). The \(C_{{{\text{H}}_{2} {\text{O}}}}\) dependence of creep rate in the Earth’s mantle should be close to that given by Si and O self-diffusion coefficients obtained under water unsaturated conditions.     

Garnet–orthopyroxene (GOPX) geothermometer: a comparative study

The garnet–orthopyroxene pairs are commonly found in the assemblages of basic granulites/charnockite and hence are suitable for estimating equilibrium temperature of these metamorphic rocks. At present, there are many calibrations of garnet–orthopyroxene thermometer that may confuse geologists in choosing a reliable thermometer. To test the accuracy of the garnet–orthopyroxene thermometers, we have applied 14 models formulated by a number of workers since 1980 to date. We have collated 51 samples from the literature all over the world, which has been processed through the “Gt-Opx.EXE” software. Based on the present study, we have identified a set of the best among all the 14 models which were considered under this comparative study. We have concluded that the five garnet–orthopyroxene (Gt-Opx) thermometers are the most valid and reliable of this kind of thermometer: Aranovich and Berman (Am Mineral 82:345–353, 1997), Raith et al. (Earth Sci 73:211–244, 1983), Harley (Contrib Mineral Petrol 86:359–373, 1984), Nimis and Grütter (Contrib Mineral Petrol 159:411–427, 2010), and Sen and Bhattacharya (Contrib Mineral Petrol 88:64–71, 1984).     

Multiscale model reduction for shale gas transport in fractured media

In this paper, we develop a multiscale model reduction technique that describes shale gas transport in fractured media. Due to the pore-scale heterogeneities and processes, we use upscaled models to describe the matrix. We follow our previous work (Akkutlu et al. Transp. Porous Media 107(1), 235–260, 2015), where we derived an upscaled model in the form of generalized nonlinear diffusion model to describe the effects of kerogen. To model the interaction between the matrix and the fractures, we use Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method (Efendiev et al. J. Comput. Phys. 251, 116–135, 2013, 2015). In this approach, the matrix and the fracture interaction is modeled via local multiscale basis functions. In Efendiev et al. (2015), we developed the GMsFEM and applied for linear flows with horizontal or vertical fracture orientations aligned with a Cartesian fine grid. The approach in Efendiev et al. (2015) does not allow handling arbitrary fracture distributions. In this paper, we (1) consider arbitrary fracture distributions on an unstructured grid; (2) develop GMsFEM for nonlinear flows; and (3) develop online basis function strategies to adaptively improve the convergence. The number of multiscale basis functions in each coarse region represents the degrees of freedom needed to achieve a certain error threshold. Our approach is adaptive in a sense that the multiscale basis functions can be added in the regions of interest. Numerical results for two-dimensional problem are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of proposed approach.     

The vulnerability of the European air traffic network to spatial hazards

The 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano had a devastating effect on the European air traffic network, preventing air travel throughout most of Europe for 6 days (Oroian in ProEnvironment 3:5–8, 2010). The severity of the disruption was surprising as previous research suggests that this type of network should be tolerant to random hazard (Albert et al. in Nature 406(6794):378–382, 2000; Strogatz in Nature 410(6825):268–276, 2001). The source of this hazard tolerance lies in the degree distribution of the network which, for many real-world networks, has been shown to follow a power law (Albert et al. in Nature 401(6749):130–131, 1999; Albert et al. in Nature 406(6794):378–382, 2000). In this paper, we demonstrate that the ash cloud was unexpectedly disruptive because it was spatially coherent rather than uniformly random. We analyse the spatial dependence in air traffic networks and demonstrate how the combination of their geographical distribution and their network architectures jeopardises their inherent hazard tolerance.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Suraqalatia brasieri</Emphasis> n.gen., n.sp. (larger foraminifera) from the Maastrichtian of Sulaimani area in northern Iraq

Suraqalatia brasieri n.gen., n.sp. from the family Dicyclinidae Loeblich and Tappan 1964 occurs on the Maastrichtian carbonate platform of northern Iraq. The new genus is recognizable by its large very compressed conical test, up to 55–70 mm in diameter, to 0.3–1.6 mm in thickness, planspiral cooling having very small proloculus in the initial part and later circular chambers including numerous chamberlets with an agglutinated wall. Suraqalatia brasieri n.gen., n.sp. is associated with textulariids, miliolids and rotaliids as Loftusia elongata Cox, L. morgani Douvillé, Orbitoides medius d’Archiac, O. megaloformis Papp & Kupper, O. gruenbachensis Papp, O. apiculatus Schlumberger, Omphalocyclus macroporus (Lamarck), Siderolites calcitrapoides Lamarck, Sirtina orbitoidiformis Brönnimann & Wirz. The associated macrofauna comprises large and rich giant rudists (Preradiolites sp.), other bivalves (Gryphaea sp. and Glycymeris sp.), gastropods (Acteonella sp.), echinoderms and corals. The fauna indicates shallow marine carbonate platform conditions within the Maastrichtian green house. It is also worth mentioning that the new genus has only been recorded from the Maastrichtian age.     

Qanat: a resource or a hazard? Rebuttal to “Qanat is not a hazard” by Parise (Environ Earth Sci 2016 75: 1476)

A reply essay is presented on the rebuttal article by Parise (Environ Earth Sci 75(23):1476, 2016) suggesting that qanat is not a hazard. It is presented as a refutation on the paper by Abbasnejad et al. (Environ Earth Sci 75:1306, 2016) in which the authors have explained the etiology, the impacts and remedies of a qanat hazard in Iranian urban areas. Since the majority of qanats in Iranian urban areas are abandoned, useless and threatening, according to definition and in comparison with similar features introduced as a hazard, they are considered as a hazard too. However, this does not mean, and Abbasnejad et al. (in Environ Earth Sci 75:1306, 2016) have not claimed, that all qanats are hazardous. In addition, the authors who have studied qanats in Iranian urban areas, before Abbasnejad et al. (in Environ Earth Sci 75:1306, 2016), have also considered qanats as a hazard.     

Shell concentrations from the Miocene Ar Rajmah Group at Soluq-Al Abyar road cut,southern Al Jabal Al Akhdar,NE Libya

The Miocene Ar Rajmah Group, exposed along the Soluq-Al Abyar road cut in southern Al Jabal Al Akhdar, NE Libya, is very rich in both micro- and macrofossils, especially molluscs and echinoids. Seven shell concentrations were recognized of which four from the Benghazi Formation; pectinids–small oyster concentration (BSC1), Echinolampas sp.–Clypeaster cf. martini concentration (BSC2), molluscan shell concentration (BSC3), and Echinolampas cf. amplus–Clypeaster acclivis concentration (BSC4). Three shell concentrations occur in the Wadi Al Qattarah Formation; large oyster concentration (QSC1), Crassostrea gryphoides–Chlamys zitteli concentration (QSC2), and Cubitostrea digitalina concentration (QSC3). The main factors controlling the formation of the shell concentrations were storm-induced waves and currents, reduced sediment input, settling behavior of benthic macro-invertebrates, and productivity.     

Poisson distribution of the Iranian declustered earthquake catalog

Two main goals are considered in this paper: (1) modification and computation of the local coefficients of the space-time windows in the well-known declustering algorithm introduced by Gardner and Knopoff (1974) and (2) checking the independence of the Iranian mainshocks obtained from applying the new modified model. First, 21 of the well-documented earthquake sequences of Iran in the time period of 1972 to 2008 with the mainshock magnitude ranged from M _w = 5.4–7.1 were used to define the new local space-time windows of declustering. Generally, using these Iranian earthquake sequences led to introduce bigger space-time windows for the new model in comparison to the Gardner and Knopoff’s (1974) windows. In the next step, to control the independence of Iranian mainshocks, the events of the Iranian earthquake catalog in the time span of 1964–2010 with moment magnitude of M _w = 3.5–7.4 were used. In this respect, dependent events corresponding to the seven seismotectonic zones of Iran were removed using the new modified space-time windows. After declustering, the mainshock catalog was examined by the Kolmogorov–Smirnov goodness-of-fit test, and it was found to follow a Poisson distribution in all the studied seismotectonic zones of Iran. The same test on times between successive declustered events shows that the inter-event times of all catalogs follow an exponential distribution.     

SWAT hydrological model as a DaaS cloud service

Earth Science community depends on the exploration, analysis and reprocessing of high volumes of data as well as the modeling and simulation of complex coupled systems on multiple scales. The main aim of this article is to introduce a new hydrological modeling service based on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) (Arnold et al. J American Water Resour Assoc 34(1), 73–89, 1998 ; Arnold and Fohrer Hydrol Process 19(3), 563–572, 2005) model using high efficiency, resource sharing and low cost cloud computing resources (Astsatryan et al. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research 1(1), 1130–1133, 2014). Such a Desktop as a Service (DaaS) approach allowing users to work from anywhere, and gives centralized desktop management and great performance. Within the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and cloud platform, the DaaS service gives secure access to the model and a centralized data storage to get a SWAT model input. The article illustrates the analyses of the implementation of the SWAT model for the Sotk watershed of Lake Sevan in Armenia (Sargsyan 2007).     

Visualizing flood risk,enabling participation and supporting climate change adaptation using the Geoweb: the case of coastal communities in Nova Scotia,Canada

Impacts of climate change have been observed in natural systems and are expected to intensify in future decades (IPCC in Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPPC, Geneva, 2014). Governments are seeking to establish adaptive measures for minimizing the effects of climate change on vulnerable citizen groups, economic sectors and critical infrastructure (Adger et al. in Global Environ Change 15(2):77–86, 2005. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2004.12.005; Smit and Wandel in Global Environ Change 16(3):282–292, 2006. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.008). Coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to changing conditions due to rising sea levels and storm event intensification that produce new flood exposures (Richards and Daigle in Government of Prince Edward Island, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2011 http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ccscenarios.pdf). However, communities oftentimes lack access to locally-relevant climate change information that can support adaptation planning. This research introduces the use of a Geoweb tool for supporting local climate change adaptation efforts in coastal Canadian communities. The Geoweb tool (called “AdaptNS”) is a web-based visualization tool that displays interactive flood exposure maps generated using local climate change projections of sea level rise and storm surge impacts between the years 2000 and 2100. AdaptNS includes participatory features that allow users to identify and share specific locations to protect against present and future coastal flood events. By soliciting feedback from community members, AdaptNS is shown to support local adaptation through the provision of flood exposure visuals, as a platform for identifying adaptation priorities, and as an avenue to communicate local risks to external entities that could facilitate local adaptation initiatives (e.g. upper levels of government). Future Geoweb research directions include improving the visualization of climate change projection uncertainties, the expansion of informational and participation capabilities, and understanding the potential for long-term adoption of Geoweb tools in adaptation decision-making.     

Optimum level of insulation for energy efficient envelope of office buildings

Building envelope plays an important role in energy efficiency of the buildings as it is the only permanent source of energy efficiency. A well-designed building envelope reduces the demand of HVAC and lighting load. When insulation is provided in the building envelope, it further enhances the energy efficiency. Therefore, it is important to create thermal resistant building envelope considering both the energy consumption and the associated costs. Thermal insulation has a considerable positive effect on reducing the heating and cooling energy demand. It is seen from the tests conducted by Nasrollahi and Nooraei (2013) for design of energy efficient and cost-effective office buildings that initial increase in insulation reduces the heating/cooling load but beyond a certain limit, there is no substantial effect of reduction in heating/cooling load with increase in insulation indicating that there is an optimum value beyond which insulation has no substantial effect on reduction in heating/cooling load. Therefore, the paper attempts to find out this optimum level of insulation so that the building envelope is cost-effective and energy efficient. Three case studies of energy efficient LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)/GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) certified buildings have been considered to determine the optimum level of insulation. In the analysis, comparison has been made between U-values of various components of the building envelopes of three case studies with the U-values prescribed by Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC)-2007 for various components of the building envelopes based on daytime or 24-h usage, and location of the buildings in composite/warm and humid climate zones. Thereafter, results obtained from the analysis have been compared with the optimum U-values derived from the tests conducted by Nasrollahi and Nooraei (2013) to arrive at the optimum level of insulation. The optimum level of insulation has been found to be 30% above U-values prescribed by Energy Conservation Building Code.     

Microbiostratigraphy of the Upper Paleocene to Middle Eocene Jahrum Formation in the Folded Zagros Zone,SW Iran

The Jahrum Formation (Upper Paleocene to Middle Eocene) is composed of carbonate and dolomitic carbonate rocks in the Zagros Basin. The Zagros is located at the boundary between the Arabian and Eurasian lithosphere plates and represent the orogenic response to a collision between Eurasia and advancing Arabia during the Cenozoic. The study area is located in the northern part of Kuh-E-Tudej, ~175 km southeast of Shiraz in the Folded Zagros Zone. The Jahrum Formation at Kuh-E-Tudej, with a thickness of 190 m, consists of medium to massive bedded limestone. The following foraminiferal index species are identified in the studied section: Fallotella alavensis, Kathina sp., Miscellanea sp., Lockhartia sp.,Orbitolites shirazeinsis, Nummulites sp., Opertorbitolites sp., Dictyoconus cf. egyptiensis, Orbitolites cf. complanatus, Dictyoconus sp., Coskinolina sp., Somalina stefaninii, Discocyclina sp., Praerhapydionina sp., Coskinolina cf. liburnica, Nummulites cf. globulus, Nummulites cf. aturicus, and Alveolina sp. The age of the studied sediments ranges from Upper Paleocene to Middle Eocene. The microbiostratigraphic studies revealed four biozones based on the foraminifers identified in the studied section.