Objectives of fisheries management: case studies from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark

The main objectives of fisheries management are generally similar throughout the world. These are often stated in policy documents such as the Common Fisheries Policy and the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. However, at the local level often the key objectives of management are more detailed, characterised by both the overriding management structure and the status and type of fishery concerned. In this paper, we consider case study fisheries from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark to compare some of the various types of fisheries and fisheries management systems that exist in the European Union. From this, we define the key objectives for each management system.     

Upscaling permeability for three-dimensional fractured porous rocks with the multiple boundary method

Upscaling permeability of grid blocks is crucial for groundwater models. A novel upscaling method for three-dimensional fractured porous rocks is presented. The objective of the study was to compare this method with the commonly used Oda upscaling method and the volume averaging method. First, the multiple boundary method and its computational framework were defined for three-dimensional stochastic fracture networks. Then, the different upscaling methods were compared for a set of rotated fractures, for tortuous fractures, and for two discrete fracture networks. The results computed by the multiple boundary method are comparable with those of the other two methods and fit best the analytical solution for a set of rotated fractures. The errors in flow rate of the equivalent fracture model decrease when using the multiple boundary method. Furthermore, the errors of the equivalent fracture models increase from well-connected fracture networks to poorly connected ones. Finally, the diagonal components of the equivalent permeability tensors tend to follow a normal or log-normal distribution for the well-connected fracture network model with infinite fracture size. By contrast, they exhibit a power-law distribution for the poorly connected fracture network with multiple scale fractures. The study demonstrates the accuracy and the flexibility of the multiple boundary upscaling concept. This makes it attractive for being incorporated into any existing flow-based upscaling procedures, which helps in reducing the uncertainty of groundwater models.     

Geochemical environment of Cenomanian - Turonian black shale deposition at Wunstorf (northern Germany)

Major- and minor- element determinations were carried out on a high-resolution sample set obtained from a sediment drill core at Wunstorf (N. Germany). This study interval includes the black shale-bearing Hesseltal Formation associated with the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2), also referred to as Cenomanian-Turonian Boundary Event (CTBE). Seven black shale packages, each containing several black shale layers, were defined by elevated TOC values, with black shale packages 1-4 deposited during OAE 2. Packages 5-7 extend above the level of the positive carbon-isotope excursion defining OAE 2, indicating that conditions favouring organic carbon burial must have prevailed longer in the Wunstorf Basin than elsewhere. Geochemical analyses revealed no significant differences between black shale packages deposited during and after OAE 2. Enrichment patterns of sulphur, iron and redox-sensitive and sulphide-forming trace metals point to suboxic to anoxic conditions existing at the sediment-water interface during black shale deposition, whereas sulphidic conditions prevailed deeper in the sediment. Variations in element/Al ratios follow cyclic patterns which are interpreted to represent climatically-induced changes in sediment supply. Reduced vertical mixing led to water-column stratification and caused black shale deposition.     

GPS radio holography as a tool for remote sensing of the atmosphere, mesosphere, and terrestrial surface from space

GPS radio occultation (RO) signals are highly coherent and precise, and thus sufficient for holographic investigation of the atmosphere, ionosphere, and the Earth's surface from space. In principle, three-dimensional radio-holographic remote sensing is possible by using new radio holographic equations to retrieve the radio field within the atmosphere from a radio field known at some interface outside the atmosphere. A simplified two-dimensional form of the radio-holographic equations which are developed under an assumption of local spherical symmetry can be used to obtain two-dimensional radio images of the atmosphere and terrestrial surface. To achieve this, radio holograms recorded by a GPS receiver onboard a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite at two GPS frequencies can be used and focused synthetic aperture principle applied. Analysis of GPS/MET RO data is presented to show the effectiveness of a radio-holographic approach. It is shown that the amplitude of GPS radio signals (in addition to phase data) can be used to obtain detailed altitude profiles of the vertical gradient of refractivity in the atmosphere and electron density in the mesosphere. The results demonstrate the applicability of GPS radio holography for a detailed global study of the natural processes in the atmosphere and mesosphere. Electronic Publication     

Gold partitioning in melt-vapor-brine systems

We used laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to measure the solubility of gold in synthetic sulfur-free vapor and brine fluid inclusions in a vapor + brine + haplogranite + magnetite + gold metal assemblage. Experiments were conducted at 800°C, oxygen fugacity buffered at Ni-NiO (NNO), and pressures ranging from 110 to 145 MPa. The wt% NaCl eq. of vapor increases from 2.3 to 19 and that of brine decreases from 57 to 35 with increasing pressure. The composition of the vapors and brines are dominated by NaCl + KCl + FeCl₂ + H₂O. Gold concentrations in vapor and brine decrease from 36 to 5 and 50 to 28 μg/g, respectively, and the calculated vapor:brine partition coefficients for gold decrease from 0.72 to 0.17 as pressure decreases from 145 to 110 MPa. These data are consistent with the thermodynamic boundary condition that the concentration of gold in the vapor and brine must approach a common value as the critical pressure is approached along the 800°C isotherm in the NaCl-KCl-FeCl₂-HCl-H₂O system.We use the equilibrium constant for gold dissolution as AuOH⁰, extrapolated from lower temperature and overlapping pressure range, to calculate expected concentrations of AuOH⁰ in our experimental vapors. These calculations suggest that a significant quantity of gold in our experimental vapors is present as a non-hydroxide species. Possible chloridogold(I) species are hypothesized based on the positively correlated gold and chloride concentrations in our experimental vapors. The absolute concentration of gold in our synthetic vapor, brine, and melt and calculated mass partition coefficients for gold between these physicochemically distinct magmatic phases suggests that gold solubility in aqueous fluids is a function of aqueous phase salinity, specifically total chloride concentration, at magmatic conditions. However, though we highlight here the effect of salinity, the combination of our data with data sets from lower temperatures evinces a significant decrease in gold solubility as temperature drops from 800°C to 600°C. This decrease in solubility has implications for gold deposition from ascending magmatic fluids.     

Microstructural observations on natural syntectonic fibrous veins: implications for the growth process

Syntectonic antitaxial and ataxial fibrous veins were investigated using SEM, microprobe, cathodoluminescence (CL) and optical microscopy. In antitaxial calcite veins, fibres and surrounding selvage grew simultaneously, with similar growth rates of crystallographically differently oriented grains. New material precipitated at the vein margin in antitaxial and bi-mineralic ataxial microstructures. Bridges of country rock material formed during vein growth in an initial en-echelon vein system. In our antitaxial and bi-mineralic ataxial samples, the spacing of solid inclusions does not reflect individual crack-seal openings.     

Zur Geologie der Danakil-Senke

Geological and geophysical investigations in the Northern part of Afar-Region were carried out by a group of scientists in 1967 and 1968. The Afar-structure is framed by the Ethiopian Highland in the West, the Somali Plateau in the South and the Danakil horst in the E. Its northern part is occupied by the NNW trending Danakil Depression (Danakil Graben), a branch of the NW trending Red Sea-Graben. The block mosaic border land in the West as well as the Danakil Alps consist of basement overlain by unfolded Mesozoic strata. Within the Afar Depression the pre-Tertiary formations are covered by limnic-fluviatile — in upper portions marine — sediments, Miocene and Pliocene in age, thickening towards the centre of the Depression. These basin fillings indicate a major phase of rift faulting prior to and during their deposition. Marginal extensions of these “Danakil-Formation” on both flanks of the Depression accompany the structural borders of the Danakil Graben, coinciding with the “outer rift structural margin” (Mohr 1967). Evaporites occupy the deepest part of the structure, “the inner Danakil Graben”, downfaulted or opened by major rift movements during Pliocene. A NW trending fault zone cutting through the flat plain north of Dallol covered by gypsum beds, seems to form the Eastern margin of the inner Danakil Graben. In its southeastern prolongation the fault and fissure system of the Amarti Volcanic Range is situated. Still active rift faulting during Quaternary caused the present topographic form of the region. These movements were followed by a marine ingression. Its sediments (Zariga-Formation, 14 C Modell ages 25 000–34 000 y) ring the depression and pass into gypsum beds towards the centre of the basin. The deepest parts of the Depression are hidden beneath the Afrera-Formation (14 C Modell ages 5800 y) framing the Lake Assale/Bakili and the Lake Afrera (soft limestones, clay and gypsum beds). The rift-forming movements in the northern Afar were accompanied by strong volcanic activity. Besides different igneous rocks intruding the pre-Tertiary and Tertiary strata of the rift margin, extensive basaltic lava flows intercalate and locally underly the Danakil-Formation. Potassium-argon age determinations on these “Afar Basalts” yielded Miocene to Pliocene age. In the southern area of the Danakil Graben the Upper Tertiary sedimentary basin fillings are replaced by “Afar Basalts” (plateau-forming flood basalt) flows. They are succeeded by scoriaceous fissure alkali-olivine-basalts and their differentiated lavas forming huge volcanoes aligned parallel to the rift structures. The Central Volcanic Range (Erta Ale volcanic chain) marking the central part of the Danakil Graben, remains active today. Besides the basaltic activity, numerous huge volcanoes display rhyolitic rocks with strong alkaline affinity.     

Heat Transport Processes in the Earth’s Crust

The heat of the Earth derives from internal and external sources. A heat balance shows that most of the heat provided by external sources is re-emitted by long-wavelength heat radiation and that the dominant internal sources are original heat and heat generated by decay of unstable radioactive isotopes. Understanding of the thermal regime of the Earth requires appreciation of properties and mechanisms for heat generation, storage, and transport. Both experimental and indirect methods are available for inferring the corresponding rock properties. Heat conduction is the dominant transport process in the Earth’s crust, except for settings where appreciable fluid flow provides a mechanism for heat advection. For most crustal and mantle rocks, heat radiation becomes significant only at temperatures above 1200°C.