Ecological niches and areas of overlap of the squat lobster ‘munida’ (Pleuroncodes monodon) and anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) off Peru

The world’s largest mono-specific fishery, the Peruvian anchovy or anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) fishery, has been the subject of many studies since the 1960s. Details of its relationship with other species have mainly focused on alternations with sardine, Sardinops sagax, and little effort has so far been paid to interactions with other species sharing the same ecosystem. This is the case for Pleuroncodes monodon, the crustacean squat lobster or ’munida’, which has become highly abundant along the Peruvian coast since the mid-1990s. Munida is now an important prey for seabirds, mammals and coastal predatory fish. Knowledge of patterns of distribution and ecological niche of munida is scarce however off Peru. Here we describe and compare spatial patterns of distribution of anchoveta and munida and their ecological niches based on data from 26 acoustic surveys performed along the Peruvian coast between 1998 and 2006. The results indicate that munida and anchoveta share ecological niches but that munida is restricted to the coldest part of the productive cold coastal waters whereas anchoveta do not present any temperature preference over a large range (14–23 °C). The recent increase in munida abundance off Peru is concomitant with colder conditions; with their onset munida extended its range from central Chile northwards. Off Peru the very shallow oxycline keeps munida from its usual bottom habitat and has forced it to adopt pelagic behaviour.     

Surface ozone measurements in the Venezuelan tropical savannah

A one-year set of surface ozone measurements in a four-station network located in the Venezuelan savannah is reported. The diurnal ozone variation is typical of continental stations with a maximum in the afternoon, when vertical turbulent mixing is strongest. The annual O₃ average concentration, based on the monthly averages of daily maxima, was 17±2 ppb, which is in good agreement with values reported for similar latitudes. The boundary-layer ozone levels did not fall below 8 ppb, in contrast with previous sporadic measurements made in tropical latitudes. No evidence was found that mesoscale O₃ downdrafts in the ITCZ in the South American continent are an important source of surface ozone. Finally, it is suggested that the relatively high ozone levels observed at the end of the dry season are probably of photochemical origin.     

Study of the earthquake of the January 23, 1880, in San Cristóbal,Cuba and the Guane fault

All available data on the January 23, 1880, earthquake near San Cristobal, Western Cuba, are compiled and presented here. The earthquake reached a maximum intensity of eight degrees (MSK) and caused three fatalities. It was accompanied by 65 aftershocks and was felt as far away as the Florida Keys. Twentieth century specialists has associated this event, in its day the strongest recorded (Ms = 6.2) in the region, with the Pinar fault. The Pinar fault is well expressed topographically as the boundary between the Guaniguanico Range in the north and an alluvial plain to the south. Most of the major damage caused by the earthquake was located on the alluvial plain, which in consequence has been considered the epicenter area. In the study presented here, the data compiled from the first reports of Father Benito Vines Martorell, S.J., and Pedro Salteraín y Legarra, indicate that the seismic structure was located in the alluvial plain, and that it was the Guane fault, and not the Pinar fault, that was responsible for the earthquake. The Guane fault, found below the alluvial sediments, extends NE-SW for over 110 km. Its eastern extreme, near San José de las Lajas (La Habana), is linked to another active fault which represents a seismoactive knot responsible for the earthquake of March 9, 1995 (I = 5 degrees, MSK). Seismic events of the Western Cuban region are related to the transpressive interaction of the North American and Caribbean Plates, damped by oceanic structures.     

Ti K-edge XANES study on the coordination number and oxidation state of Titanium in pyroxene,olivine, armalcolite,ilmenite, and silicate glass during mare basalt petrogenesis

Lunar mare basalts are a product of partial melting of the lunar mantle under more reducing conditions when compared to those expected for the Earth’s upper mantle. Alongside Fe, Ti can be a major redox sensitive element in lunar magmas, and it can be enriched by up to a factor of ten in lunar basaltic glasses when compared to their terrestrial counterparts. Therefore, to better constrain the oxidation state of Ti and its coordination chemistry during lunar magmatic processes, we report new X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy measurements for a wide range of minerals (pyroxene, olivine, Fe–Ti oxides) and basaltic melt compositions involved in partial melting of the lunar mantle. Experiments were conducted in 1 bar gas-mixing furnaces at temperatures between 1100 and 1300 °C and oxygen fugacities (fO₂) that ranged from air to two orders of magnitude below the Fe–FeO redox equilibrium. Run products were analysed via electron microprobe and XANES Ti K-edge. Typical run products had large (>?100 µm) crystals in equilibrium with quenched silicate glass. Ti K-edge XANES spectra show a clear shift in energy of the absorption edge features from oxidizing to reducing conditions and yield an average valence for Fe–Ti oxides (armalcolite and ilmenite) of 3.6, i.e., a 40% of the overall Ti is Ti³⁺ under fO₂ conditions relevant to lunar magmatism (IW ??1.5 to ??1.8). Pyroxenes and olivine have average Ti valence of 3.75 (i.e., 25% of the overall Ti is trivalent), while in silicate glasses Ti is exclusively tetravalent. Pre-edge peak intensities also indicate that the coordination number of Ti varies from an average V-fold in silicate glass to VI-fold in the Fe–Ti oxides and a mixture between IV and VI-fold coordination in the pyroxenes and olivine, with up to 82% ^[IV]Ti⁴⁺ in the pyroxene. In addition, our results can help to better constrain the Ti³⁺/∑Ti of the lunar mantle phases during magmatic processes and are applied to provide first insights into the mechanisms that may control Ti mass-dependent equilibrium isotope fractionation in lunar mare basalts.     

Low resistivity zones at contacts of igneous intrusions emplaced in organic-rich formations and their implications on fluid flow and petroleum systems: A case study in the northern Neuquén Basin,Argentina

Igneous sills and laccoliths emplaced in sedimentary basins may significantly impact petroleum systems, both positively and negatively. Igneous intrusions provide heat to maturate regionally immature organic-rich host rocks, act as fractured reservoirs hosting commercial accumulations of hydrocarbons, and form structures affecting fluid flow and trapping at different scales. Nevertheless, the petrophysical implications of igneous intrusions on their host rock are poorly known. In this study, we analyse 200 wells in the Río Grande Valley oil field, Neuquén basin, Argentina, where the main reservoirs are in fractured igneous sills. This dataset represents a globally unique possibility to characterize the igneous–host rock interaction using both wireline logs and core material. We identify a systematic Contact Low Resistivity Zone (CLRsZ) at both the upper and lower contacts of the sills emplaced in the organic-rich Vaca Muerta and Agrio Formations. We characterize the nature of these CLRsZ and their petrophysical properties by integrating resistivity and gamma ray well logs, petrographic analyses, petrophysical tests and geochemical analyses. The low resistivity signal of the CLRsZ is dominantly carried by massive-sulphide deposits, mainly pyrite, observed both in the host rock and the chilled margin of the sills. Well log images and porosity-permeability analysis on core plugs show that both the sills and their associated CLRsZ can act as carrier for fluid flow and reservoir for hydrocarbons storage. The thickness of the upper and lower CLRsZ correlates linearly with the thickness of the sill, and the volume of both the upper and lower CLRsZ represents ca. 40% with respect to the volume of their associated sill. The thickness of the CLRsZ represents ca. 13% of the thickness of contact aureole induced by the sills. In the CLRsZ, a great proportion of kerogen was transformed to hydrocarbon, so that CLRsZ were restricted to the innermost contact aureole of the sills. Our results show that the CLRsZ can have major implications on fluid flow and should be considered in reservoir models in volcanic basins hosting sills emplaced in organic-rich formations.     

Toward reduction of artifacts in fused images

Most fusion satellite image methodologies at pixel-level introduce false spatial details, i.e. artifacts, in the resulting fused images. In many cases, these artifacts appears because image fusion methods do not consider the differences in roughness or textural characteristics between different land covers. They only consider the digital values associated with single pixels. This effect increases as the spatial resolution image increases. To minimize this problem, we propose a new paradigm based on local measurements of the fractal dimension (FD). Fractal dimension maps (FDMs) are generated for each of the source images (panchromatic and each band of the multi-spectral images) with the box-counting algorithm and by applying a windowing process. The average of source image FDMs, previously indexed between 0 and 1, has been used for discrimination of different land covers present in satellite images. This paradigm has been applied through the fusion methodology based on the discrete wavelet transform (DWT), using the à trous algorithm (WAT). Two different scenes registered by optical sensors on board FORMOSAT-2 and IKONOS satellites were used to study the behaviour of the proposed methodology. The implementation of this approach, using the WAT method, allows adapting the fusion process to the roughness and shape of the regions present in the image to be fused. This improves the quality of the fused images and their classification results when compared with the original WAT method.     

Local Habitat Influences on Feeding and Respiration of the Intertidal Mussels <Emphasis Type="Italic">Perumytilus purpuratus</Emphasis> Exposed to Increased <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Levels

Coastal ecosystems are exposed to changes in physical-chemical properties, such as those occurring in upwelling and freshwater-influenced areas. In these areas, inorganic carbon can influence seawater properties that may affect organisms and populations inhabiting benthic habitats such as the intertidal mussel Perumytilus purpuratus. Feeding and metabolic responses were measured in adult mussels from two geographic regions (central and southern Chile) and two local habitats (river-influenced and non-river-influenced) and three pCO₂ levels (380, 750, and 1200 μatm pCO₂ in seawater). The feeding rates of mussels tend to increase at high pCO₂ levels in seawater; however this response was variable across regions and local habitats. In contrast, there was no difference in the respiratory rate of mussels between geographic areas, but there was a significant reduction of oxygen consumption at intermediate and high levels of pCO_2. The results indicate that river-influenced organisms compensate for reductions in metabolic cost at elevated pCO₂ levels by having their energy demands met, in contrast with non-river-influenced organisms. The lack of regional-scale variability in the physiological performance of mussels may indicate physiological homogeneity across populations and thus potential for local adaptation. However, the local-scale influences of river- and non-river-influenced habitats may counterbalance this regional response promoting intra-population variability and phenotypic plasticity in P. purpuratus. The plasticity may be an important mechanism that allows mussels to confront the challenges of projected ocean acidification scenarios.     

The August 20, 1852 earthquake in Santiago de Cuba

On August 20, 1852, an earthquake caused widespread destruction in the city of Santiago de Cuba and its surroundings. A comprehensive search for contemporary documentation was made. The information gathered was used for a detailed analysis of the damage from and characteristics of the earthquakes. Intensities were evaluated at 45 localities, and an isoseismal scheme has been drawn. Maximum intensity reached 8 degrees (MSK), and 6.4 was the estimated magnitude. Damage to the city of Santiago de Cuba has been studied in detail. The low quality of construction aggravated the damage. The total number of casualties was two dead and approximately 200 injured. The shock was felt within 80,000 km². The epicenter was determined as 19.75º N, 75.32º W, h = 30 km. This study shows that contemporary Cuban documents must be studied with care in their historical and cultural background to avoid overestimating earthquake intensities.     

Microseismicity, tectonics and seismic potential in southern Caribbean and northern Venezuela

Approximately one thousand microearthquakes with body-wave magnitude mb have been located in northern Venezuela and the southern Caribbean region (9–12° N; 64–70° W) since the installation in 1980 of the Venezuelan Seismological Array, together with forty events of mb 4, one of them with surface-wave magnitude Ms 6. Focal depths are in the range of 0 to <15 km. This geologically complex region is part of the boundary between the Caribbean and the South American Plates. Epicentral locations indicate that this E–W oriented portion of the boundary is formed by two 400 km long subparallel fault zones: San Sebastián fault zone (SSF), 20 km north of Caracas along the coast; and La Victoria fault zone (LVF), 25 km south of the city. They are clearly delineated by the microseismicity. New composite focal mechanism solutions (CFMS) along these faults show right-lateral strike-slip (RLSS) motion on nearly E–W oriented fault planes. NW-striking subsidiary active faults occur in the region and intercept the two main E–W fault zones. These interceptions show high levels of microearthquake activity and seismic moment release when compared to other portions of both, the main and subsidiary faults. New CFMS at those fault crossing sites show NW-striking RLSS motion and normal faulting, in an en-echelon-like structural behavior. Geological data and quantitative comparisons with other transcurrent plate boundaries in the world suggest that the rate of plate motion in this area is on the order of 20 mm/y. Several moderate and large shocks have occurred along the SSF and LVF since 1640, including an Ms 7.6 event in 1900 on SSF. Although the region may be relatively far from a repeat of this earthquake, seismicity data indicate that strong shocks could take place along segments of the seismically active faults identified in this study.