Development of a methodology for assessing the environmental impact of radioactivity in Northern Marine environments

The requirement to assess the impacts of radioactivity in the environment explicitly and transparently is now generally accepted by the scientific community. A recently developed methodology for achieving this end for marine ecosystems is presented within this paper. With its clear relationship to an overarching system, the marine impact assessment is built around components of environmental transfer, ecodosimetry and radiobiological effects appraisal relying on the use of "reference organisms". Concentration factors (CFs), dynamic models and, in cases where parameters are missing, allometry have been employed in the consideration of radionuclide transfer. Dose conversion coefficients (DCCs) have been derived for selected flora and fauna using, inter alia, dose attenuation and chord distribution functions. The calculated dose-rates can be contextualised through comparison with dose-rates arising from natural background and chronic dose-rates at which biological effects have been observed in selected "umbrella" endpoints.     

Aggregate settling velocity of combined sewage overflow

In order to better model the fate and transport of material in a combined sewer overflow (CSO), hydrologic and geochemical measurements were made during a storm event in Flushing Bay, NY, USA. Particle size, total suspended solids concentrations, and CSO solid density are used to calculate the settling velocity of aggregates of the CSO material. Roughly half of the material that is discharged from the outfall sinks rapidly to the bottom, while the other half forms a turbid surface plume in fresher water. The dry solid density of the CSO material was 1589 kg m(-3) and the volume fraction of solid material to total aggregate volume ranged from 0.1 to 1.0. The settling velocity estimates of aggregated material in the surface plume ranged from about 0.5 to 9.0 mm s(-1) with a median settling velocity of 2.9 mm s(-1). A strong inverse relationship between the size of the aggregates and the aggregate density resulted in a fractal dimension of the aggregates of 2.3.     

Short-term effects of the prestige oil spill on the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus)

We have monitored the distribution, population status, breeding success, turnover rate and diet of a Peregrine Falcon population in Bizkaia (North of Spain) since 1997. On the 13th November 2002, the tanker Prestige sunk off La Coruña (NW Spain) causing an oil spill that affected the whole of the Cantabrian Coast and the Southwest of France. The total number of birds affected by the Prestige oil spill was expected to be between 115,000 and 230,000, some of them raptors. The loss of clutches during the incubation period increased significantly and was correlated with the loss of females. Moreover, the turnover rate of the population increased from 21% to 30%. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in the eggs, collected from five nests after they were deserted, ranged from 21.20 ng/g to 461.08 ng/g, values which are high enough to cause the death of the embryos and poisoning of adult birds. The effects of pollution reached inland since some inland-breeding falcons prey on shorebirds that use rivers during their migratory flights. As the Prestige oil spill has clearly resulted in increased rates of adult mortality and reduced fertility, we suggest that the environmental authorities urgently undertake measures aimed at protecting the Peregrine Falcon in Bizkaia.     

东喜马拉雅构造结新生代地壳缩短量的估算及其地质依据

发生在始新世((45±5) Ma)的印度板块和欧亚大陆之间的碰撞和持续的陆内汇聚作用使得青藏高原及其周边地区的地壳缩短了大约2 000~2 500 km. 印度板块在东喜马拉雅构造结深深地插入青藏高原之中, 造成地壳的大规模缩短和抬升. 分布在青藏高原南部, 内部仅遭受了轻弱的新生代变形的各构造地层单元, 包括北喜马拉雅岩带、拉萨以及羌塘地块, 向东延伸到该地区时, 总宽度由700 km剧减至200 km, 其内部的变形程度也随之加强. 初步的研究表明, 这些构造单元的宽度变化是地壳水平缩短的结果, 缩短量为500 km, 缩短是通过地壳碎片的冲断、褶皱和侧向逃逸完成的. 尽管在该地区地壳缩短量是如此之大, 但是这些构造地层单元仍然是连续的, 向南东方向一直可以追索到云南西部.     

利用震源特有台站项得到的南加利福尼亚的地震定位

为了提高相对定位精度，我们用空间上变化的台站项对南加州地震台网（SCSN）1975－1998年记录的297400个地震进行了重新定位。我们的方法应用了已有的SCSN的P波和S波到时，平滑一维速度模型和基于L1范数的迭代网格搜索方法。通过计算作为震源位置函数而连续变化的台站到时校正。我们对三维结构应用了经验校正。通过将地震活动性在天然邻区进行棋盘形布量来平滑相邻地震的残差，获得每个地震的台站项，然后进行迭代直到得到一组稳定的地震位置和台站项。该方法得到的相对定位精度在局部上与主震方法相当，但同样能用于较大范围，我们最终定位的中值估计标准误差，水平位置上为328m，深度上为741m。我们的定位显示出，与SCSN目录相比，离散要小得多，特别是在深度上，而且显示出能说明断层结构的排成线性和平面特征的更大趋势。我们的结果和先前SCSN用联合震源－速度反演技术重新定位的结果相当。且在某些情况下更好。白天与夜间的事件对比图能分辨出天然地震和人工地震群。我们没有观察到地震活动的最大深度和地表地质间有简单关系。     

环太平洋会聚带的长期地震预报

对大陆274个孕震区地震活动性的时间相关研究表明，每个地区的浅源强地震显示出遵循幂定律时间分布的短期和中期的震群特征（时间长达几年）。然而，主震显示出准周期特征，遵循“区域时间和震级可预报地震活动模式”。该模式由下列公式表示：logTt=0.19Mmin 0.33Mp-0.39logm0 q Mf=0.73Mmin-0.28Mp 0.40logm0 m 该公式将孕震区的后续主震面波震级Mf地震之间的时间Tt与认为是最小的主震震级Mmin，前至的主震震级MP和地震矩速率相联系。不同地区的q和m值是不同的。本文描述了该模式的基本特征并且讨论了与其物理意义相关的问题。这些关系中的第一关系式已被用于计算1993－2002年期间141个孕震区的下一次大震的重复概率。在这些孕震区中，环太平洋会聚带已被分离，并引入一个假设，即T／Tt比率遵循对数正态分布，其中T为观测到的地震之间的时间，第二个关系已被用于估计各地区的主震震级。