A model for the growth and development of wave-dominated deltas fed by small mountainous rivers: Insights from the Elwha River delta,Washington

Observations from ground-penetrating radar, sediment cores, elevation surveys and aerial imagery are used to understand the development of the Elwha River delta in north-western Washington, USA, which prograded as a result of two dam removals in late 2011. Swash-bar, foreshore and swale depositional elements are recognized within ground-penetrating radar profiles and sediment cores. A model for the growth and development of small mountainous river wave-dominated deltas is proposed based on observation of both the fluvial and deltaic settings. If enough sediment is available in the fluvial system, mouth-bars form after higher than average river discharge events, creating a large platform seaward of the subaqueous delta plain. Swash-bars form concurrently or within a month of mouth-bar deposition as a result of wave action. Fair-weather waves drive swash-bar migration landward and in the direction of littoral drift. The signature of swash-bar welding to the shoreline is landward-dipping reflections, as a result of overwash processes and slipface migration. However, most swash-bars are eroded by the river mouth, as only 10 of the 37 swash-bars that formed between August 2011 and July 2016 survived within the Elwha River delta. The swash-bars that do survive either amalgamate onto the shoreline or an earlier deposited swash-bar, forming a single larger barrier at the delta front. In asymmetrical deltas, the signature of swash-bar welding is more likely to be preserved on the downdrift side of the delta, where formation is more likely and accommodation behind newer swash-bars preserves older deposits. On small mountainous river deltas, welded swash-bars may be more indicative of a large sediment pulse to the system, rather than large hydrological events.     

New insights into Southern Caucasian glacial–interglacial climate conditions inferred from Quaternary gastropod fauna

In the present study, we performed gastropod analyses on loess–palaeosol sequences from northeast Armenia (Southern Caucasia) covering at least three glacial–interglacial cycles. The elaborated ecostratigraphy shows significant patterns of species composition related to the succession of pedocomplexes and loess, respectively. Pedocomplexes included species that can be associated with high-grass to forest-steppe biomes, indicating increased humidity for these sections compared to the loess layers. In contrast, loess layers that relate to glacial periods are associated with gastropod species of semidesert environments with shrub- and shortgrass-steppes, indicating semiarid to arid conditions. Furthermore, the loess deposits do not show any evidence for cold-adapted gastropod species. Therefore, we suggest that average July temperatures in the study area were above 10 °C, even during periods of loess deposition. Consequently, we propose that the limiting factor for tree growth during glacial periods was aridity, rather than temperature. In addition, we observe environmental differences between the various glacial times, with our results indicating a trend towards steadily increasing aridity in Southern Caucasia across the Middle to Late Pleistocene.     

An intergranular strain concept for material models formulated as rate equations

The intergranular strain concept was originally developed to capture the small-strain behaviour of the soil with hypoplastic models. A change of the deformation direction leads to an increase of the material stiffness. To obtain elastic behaviour for smallstrains, only the elastic part of the material stiffness matrix is used. Two different approaches for an application of this concept to nonhypoplastic models are presented in this article. These approaches differ in the determination of the elastic stress response, which is used for reversible deformations. The first approach determines an elastic response from the original material model, and the second one uses an additional elastic model. Both approaches are applied on barodesy. The simulations are compared with experimental results and with simulations using hypoplastic models with the original intergranular strain concept.     

Modeling permafrost distribution over the river basins of Mongolia using remote sensing and analytical approaches

The Editors-in-Chief of Environmental Earth Sciences are issuing an editorial expression of concern to alert readers that this article.     

Designed for failure: A critique of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) of the European Union has neither lived up to its aim of enhancing the sustainability of fish stocks nor that of improving the economic competitiveness of the fishing industry. This paper discusses the failure of the CFP from a biological, economical, legal and political perspective.     

Considerations on the squat of unevenly trimmed ships

In existing publications about empirical studies of ship squat trim is only dealt with implicitly by focussing the concern on the maximum squat. This restriction is only sufficient if a non-zero static trim is always increased dynamically, which, however, turns out to be wrong. Instead of maximum squat, we suggest a more suitable definition of the quantity relevant for under-keel clearance. In an example, it is shown that a non-zero static trim can actually be reduced dynamically, indicating a possible optimisation of trim. For a correct estimation of the squat effect on under-keel clearance, trim must be treated as an explicit parameter. Our arguments are based on full-scale experiments as well as results from numerical simulations.     

High-resolution records of the response of coastal wetland systems to long-term and short-term sea-level variability

While it is well known that coastal systems respond to long-term sea-level changes, the importance of short-term sea-level dynamics is often overlooked. Year-to-year variability in annual mean sea level along the North American Atlantic coast is part of a regionally consistent pattern that is coupled to low atmospheric pressure and high wind field anomalies persisting over 100s to 1000s of km. These short-term sea-level dynamics, along with long-term sea-level changes are shown to be closely coupled to a set of high resolution excess ²¹⁰Pb geochronologies from four physiographically distinct salt marsh estuaries surrounding Long Island, NY, USA. However, the degree to which a marsh responds to either forcing depends on its physiographic setting. Accretion and mineral deposition rates in marshes situated in embayments with long fetches and low-tidal ranges are shown to respond most to the short-term dynamically driven changes in sea level. On the other hand, accretion and mineral deposition in a marsh in an embayment with a high-tidal range and reduced fetch best track the long-term changes in mean sea level, presumably because the physiography limited the meteorological drivers of short-term sea-level change. The close coupling between marsh accretion, physiographic setting and indices of sea-level change indicates that these coastal system respond both differently and rapidly (2–5 yr) to climate variability.     

利用GPS形变资料研究天山及邻近地区地壳水平位移与应变特征

以天山及邻近地区的230个GPS观测站长期水平运动速率为基础, 计算并绘制了该地区GPS站速度场及地壳水平应变场分布图, 得到了以下结论: 在以欧亚板块为参考基准的背景下, 天山及邻近地区GPS速度场表明, 天山地壳缩短方式由南向北, 以东经77deg;plusmn;1deg;（北纬38deg;~42deg;）为界向两侧逐渐递减; 同时表明,板块的推挤作用力随着天山的褶皱变形减小相应趋缓. 天山及邻近地区的主压应变方向分布近北北西向, 基本与天山山体走向正交. 反映了在印度板块碰撞推挤的强烈构造运动影响下天山及邻近地区的最大主应力分布与变化情况. 其最大剪应变场集中分布在两个区域: 北天山的吉尔吉斯斯坦依赛克湖附近; 南天山伽师与帕米尔弧形断裂交会地带. 整个地区多年来的地震震中分布, 反映了该区域大地震通常发生在剪应变高值区或其边缘地带.      

黄龙与黄石钙华微生物沉积作用比较研究

本文通过调查黄龙风景区水体的环境地质特征与微生物群落结构及多样性,并与黄石公园对比分析,探讨了两种特殊地理环境下的微生物群落结构和多样性及其对钙华沉积的影响.结果表明:黄龙沟泉水属于地下冷泉,且景区内覆盖着大量植被,水体中有大量藻类和细菌;黄石公园猛犸象温泉区泉水属于地下热泉,植被覆盖率很低,泉水中微生物多为嗜热菌,藻...