Flexural and gravity modelling of the Mérida Andes and Barinas–Apure Basin, Western Venezuela

The kinematic evolution of the Barinas–Apure Basin and the southern Mérida Andes from Lower Miocene to the Present is numerically modelled using flexural isostatic theory and geophysical and geological data. Two published regional transects are used to build up a reference section, which is then used to constrain important parameters (e.g. shortenings and sedimentary thicknesses) for the flexural modelling. To control the location of the main fault system in the flexural model earthquake information is also used. The estimated flexural elastic thickness of the South American lithosphere beneath the Barinas–Apure Basin and the Mérida Andes Range is 25 km. The value for the final total shortening is 60 km. The flexural isostatic model shows that the Andean uplift has caused the South American lithosphere subsidence and the development of the Barinas–Apure Basin.In addition, gravity modelling was used to understand deep crustal features that could not be predicted by flexural theory. Consequently, the best-fit flexural model is used to build a gravity model across the Mérida Andes and the Barinas–Apure Basin preserving the best-controlled structural features from the flexural modelling (e.g. basin wavelength and depth) and slightly changing the main bodies density values and deep crustal structures. The final gravity model is intended to be representative of the major features affecting the gravity field in the study area. The predicted morphology in the lower crustal level of the final gravity model favours the hypothesis of a present delamination or megathrust of the Maracaibo crust over the South American Shield. This process would use the Conrad discontinuity as a main detachment surface within an incipient NW dipping continental subduction.     

Soil liquefaction during the Arequipa Mw 8.4, June 23, 2001 earthquake, southern coastal Peru

The Arequipa June 23, 2001, earthquake with a moment magnitude of Mw 8.4 struck southern Peru, northern Chile and western Bolivia. This shallow (29 km deep) interplate event, occurring in the coupled zone of the Nazca subduction next to the southeast of the subducting Nazca ridge, triggered very localized but widely outspread soil liquefaction. Although sand blows and lateral spreading of river banks and road bridge abutments were observed 390 km away from the epicenter in the southeast direction (nearing the town of Tacna, close to the Chile border), liquefaction features were only observed in major river valleys and delta and coastal plains in the meizoseismal area. This was strongly controlled by the aridity along the coastal strip of Southern Peru. From the sand blow distribution along the coastal area, a first relationship of isolated sand blow diameter versus epicentral distance for a single event is ever proposed. The most significant outcome from this liquefaction field reconnaissance is that energy propagation during the main June 23, 2001, event is further supported by the distribution and size of the isolated sand blows in the meizoseismal area. The sand blows are larger to the southeast of the epicenter than its northwestern equivalents. This can be stated in other words as well. The area affected by liquefaction to the northwest is less spread out than to the southeast. Implications of these results in future paleoliquefaction investigations for earthquake magnitude and epicentral determinations are extremely important. In cases of highly asymmetrical distribution of liquefaction features such as this one, where rupture propagation tends to be mono-directional, it can be reliably determined an epicentral distance (between earthquake and liquefaction evidence) and an earthquake magnitude only if the largest sand blow is found. Therefore, magnitude estimation using this uneven liquefaction occurrence will surely lead to underrating if only the shortest side of the meizoseismal area is unluckily studied, which can eventually be the only part exhibiting liquefaction evidence, depending on the earthquake location and the distribution of liquefaction-prone environments.     

Kamafugitic diatremes: their textures and field relationships with examples from the Goiás alkaline province, Brazil

Kamafugitic rocks intruded the Precambrian basement and Phanerozoic sediments at the northeast border of the Paraná basin as part of the Late Cretaceous Goiás alkaline province (GAP). Plutonic complexes dominate the north of the province, whereas lavas and pyroclastic rocks prevail in the south. The central GAP is characterized by kamafugitic diatremes, which may crop out continuously for up to 850 m and consist of a central breccia body, surrounded and overlain by lava flows and crosscut by dykes. The breccias contain some special spheroidal juvenile fragments—namely, accretionary and armored lapilli, frozen droplets, spinning droplets, and wrapped fragments—whose textural and mineralogical aspects are described in detail. Irregularly shaped tuff pockets that occur within the breccias contain textures and structures similar to those of subaerial surge deposits and formed in confined, high gas to solid+liquid ratio domains in the conduit. Diatreme emplacement affected the country rock through thermal metamorphism, development of columnar jointing, and formation of peperite-like mixtures. There is no evidence of phreatomagmatic activity in the diatremes, and CO₂, rather than H₂O, seems to have been the major volatile component of the kamafugitic magmas. This finding implies that features such as accretionary lapilli and peperites are not exclusively associated with H₂O-dominated processes.     

Relationship between DOC photochemistry and mercury redox transformations in temperate lakes and wetlands

We compared diurnal variations in dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) concentration and in losses of dissolved organic carbon fluorescence (DOCF) in four boreal Canadian Shield lakes, in one beaver pond, and in filtered and unfiltered water from a wetland in Lake St. Pierre, a fluvial lake of the St. Lawrence River. These systems were chosen to represent a spectrum of DOC. We also determined the contribution of UVB, UVA and visible light on DGM photo-induced production in the four lakes. Our results showed a strong relationship between DGM concentrations and light intensity and between DGM production and losses in DOCF, in all study sites. We also observed higher rates of DGM formation and of DOCF bleaching in the presence of UV radiation. Under UVB light, production of DGM was higher in clear lakes than in the humic ones. Inversely, in the UVA range, DGM production tended to be higher in humic lakes. We suggest that DOCF bleaching can be used as a proxy for the rate of formation of reactive species that may alter the redox state of mercury in surface waters. We also have indications that DGM production is more important in clear than in humic waters.     

Likely effects of climate change on groundwater availability in a Mediterranean region of Southeastern Spain

Groundwater resources are typically the main fresh water source in arid and semi‐arid regions. Natural recharge of aquifers is mainly based on precipitation; however, only heavy precipitation events (HPEs) are expected to produce appreciable aquifer recharge in these environments. In this work, we used daily precipitation and monthly water level time series from different locations over a Mediterranean region of Southeastern Spain to identify the critical threshold value to define HPEs that lead to appreciable aquifer recharge in this region. Wavelet and trend analyses were used to study the changes in the temporal distribution of the chosen HPEs (≥20 mm day^?1) over the observed period 1953–2012 and its projected evolution by using 18 downscaled climate projections over the projected period 2040–2099. The used precipitation time series were grouped in 10 clusters according to similarities between them assessed by using Pearson correlations. Results showed that the critical HPE threshold for the study area is 20 mm day^?1. Wavelet analysis showed that observed significant seasonal and annual peaks in global wavelet spectrum in the first sub‐period (1953–1982) are no longer significant in the second sub‐period (1983–2012) in the major part of the ten clusters. This change is because of the reduction of the mean HPEs number, which showed a negative trend over the observed period in nine clusters and was significant in five of them. However, the mean size of HPEs showed a positive trend in six clusters. A similar tendency of change is expected over the projected period. The expected reduction of the mean HPEs number is two times higher under the high climate scenario (RCP8.5) than under the moderate scenario (RCP4.5). The mean size of these events is expected to increase under the two scenarios. The groundwater availability will be affected by the reduction of HPE number which will increase the length of no aquifer recharge periods (NARP) accentuating the groundwater drought in the region. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of Distributed Temperature Sensing for coupled mapping of sedimentation processes and spatio‐temporal variability of groundwater discharge in soft‐bedded streams

The delineation of groundwater discharge areas based on Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) data of the streambed can be difficult in soft‐bedded streams where sedimentation and scouring processes constantly change the position of the fibre optic cable relative to the streambed. Deposition‐induced temperature anomalies resemble the signal of groundwater discharge while scouring will cause the cable to float in the water column and measure stream water temperatures. DTS applied in a looped layout with nine fibre optic cable rows in a 70 × 5 m section of a soft‐bedded stream made it possible to detect variability in streambed temperatures between October 2011 and January 2012. Detailed monthly streambed elevation surveys were carried out to monitor the position of the fibre optic cable relative to the streambed and to quantify the effect of sedimentation processes on streambed temperatures. Based on the simultaneous interpretation of streambed temperature and elevation data, a method is proposed to delineate potential high‐groundwater discharge areas and identify deposition‐induced temperature anomalies in soft‐bedded streams. Potential high‐discharge sites were detected using as metrics the daily minimum, maximum and mean streambed temperatures as well as the daily amplitude and standard deviation of temperatures. The identified potential high‐discharge areas were mostly located near the channel banks, also showing temporal variability because of the scouring and redistribution of streambed sediments, leading to the relocation of pool‐riffle sequences. This study also shows that sediment deposits of 0.1 m thickness already resulted in an increase in daily minimum streambed temperatures and decrease in daily amplitude and standard deviation. Scouring sites showed lower daily minimum streambed temperatures and higher daily amplitude and standard deviation compared with areas without sedimentation and scouring. As a limitation of the approach, groundwater discharge occurring at depositional and scouring areas cannot be identified by the metrics applied. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improved algorithms for generalized finite element simulations of three-dimensional hydraulic fracture propagation

This paper reports improvements to algorithms for the simulation of 3-D hydraulic fracturing with the Generalized Finite Element Method (GFEM). Three optimizations are presented and analyzed. First, an improved initial guess based on solving a 3-D elastic problem with the pressure from the previous step is shown to decrease the number of Newton iterations and increase robustness. Second, an improved methodology to find the time step that leads to fracture propagation is proposed and shown to decrease significantly the number of iterations. Third, reduced computational cost is observed by properly recycling the linear part of the coupled stiffness matrix. Two representative examples are used to analyze these improvements. Additionally, a methodology to include the leak-off term is presented and verified against asymptotic analytical solutions. Conservation of mass is shown to be well satisfied in all examples.     

Coastal Occupations in Tierra del Fuego,Southernmost South America: A Late Holocene Hunter‐Gatherer Context at Marazzi 2

This paper focuses on the late Holocene occupation of hunter‐gatherers at the Marazzi 2 site located on the northwestern steppe of Tierra del Fuego, Chile. Our aim is to understand stratigraphy, formation processes, and pedogenesis with respect to human occupation over the last 3000 years. Based on archaeological excavations on a fluvial terrace of the Torcido River, we integrate soil micromorphology, mineralogy, geochemistry, magnetic susceptibility, and geomorphology, as well as the micro‐ and macrofrequency distributions of archaeological material. A micro‐taphonomical perspective is also applied to anthropogenic components recorded in sedimentary thin sections. We discuss various events in the interplay between soil development and human occupation through time. Marazzi 2 was witness to aggradation and pedogenesis with an episode of surface stability coincident with a phase of more intense human occupation at about 860 BC. Taphonomic analysis suggests that there are multiple occupation events mixed together, probably by biomechanical processes, resulting in a palimpsest with poor temporal resolution.