Experimental study of the response of a gravel streambed to increased sediment supply

If increased sediment supply to a river channel exceeds its transport capacity, deposition necessarily occurs as the bed adjusts to accommodate the increased supply. Both the mean and spatial patterns in bed elevation and grain size may change and an ability to understand their relative importance is needed to predict bed response. We report on an experiment in a field‐scale flume in which sediment supply is increased to a gravel bed with alternate bars. Sediment was recirculated in the experiments, but augmented in two steps, after which the bed was allowed to reach a new steady state. The transport rate at the end of the experiment was three times larger than at the start. High‐resolution sediment flux and topographic measurements, grain size derived from photographs, and hydrodynamic modeling allow us to document the topographic and textural response of the bed to increased sediment supply. The spatial patterns of bed topography and texture were forced by the flume setup and the initial and final steady states included long stationary alternate bars with associated grain size sorting. The transient bed contained several scales of shorter wavelength migrating bedforms superimposed on, and temporarily replacing the stationary alternate bars. Bed topography and textural patterns adjusted to increased sediment supply over different timescales. Bed slope and mean stress increased directly with sediment supply rate to produce a new transport steady state in a time about 2.5 times the minimum needed to deposit the required sediment wedge, indicating a trap efficiency of about 40% for the aggrading wedge. Adjustments in local topography and sorting, primarily in the form of smaller, migrating bars, continued for a period approximately equal to that required to initially reach transport steady state. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

B.—U. N. E. S. C. O.

ABSTRACT

Sir Charles Cotton (1964) has pointed out that in an earlier paper (Carlston, 1963) which related drainage density to hydrology, there was insufficient emphasis on the role of climate in its effect on drainage density. Re-examination of the relation of drainage density to base flow in the 15 basins originally described has revealed additional evidence that base flow is affected by precipitation or recharge (a climatic variable), while varying inversely with drainage density.

Within the climatic region studied in the earlier paper (the Humid Subtropical Climate of the eastern U. S.), no evidence could be found that amount or intensity of rainfall affected the intensity of flood runoff or the scale of drainage density. In comparison with other climates, however, such as the Marine West Coast Climate, it is possible that the less intense precipitation of a marine climate may result in lower runoff intensities and lower drainage densities, however the lower mean temperatures of such climates may develop soils of generally higher infiltration capacity which would produce lower drainage densities.

A progressive increase in aridity results in a decrease in soil and vegetal cover which greatly magnifies the range of drainage densities characteristic of semi-arid regions. In such regions, where the land sur-face has a good infiltration capacity rainfall sinks readily into the dry soil (although recharge to ground water may be negligible), and runoff is virtually zero, as is drainage density, Impermeable terranes devoid of vegetal and soil cover reject the rain, runoff is briefly total and drainage density may be greatly magnified, as in the South Dakota Badlands, where drainage density runs into the hundreds. Arid or Desert Climates should produce erosional landforms with generally high drainage densities, though not reaching the magnitudes of drainage density found in the semi-arid badlands where rainfall intensities are much higher.     

CHARACTERIZATION OF ALPINE SOILS,EAGLE CAP,WALLOWA MOUNTAINS,OREGON

This study examines alpine soil development along a toposequence on Eagle Cap, Wallowa Mountains, northeast Oregon. Soils studied are from Wind Blown (WB) and Minimal Snow Cover (MSC) sites in the Ridge-Top Tundra geomorphic province. The soils are predominantly loamy sands, and exhibit minimal structural development. Soil pH ranges from 6.5 to 7.3 increasing with depth, and organic carbon ranges from 3.9% in the A horizon to 0.8% in the C horizon. The soils display significant input from Cascade volcanic ash infall and eolian influx from the weathered marble nearby. It is postulated that the ash content in the soils originates from Mazama Ash deposits. Though Eagle Cap soils have developed for the most part on granodiorite, the strong influence of the volcanic ash on pedogenesis leads to a preliminary classification of Andisols, most probably Typic and Lithic Haplocryands. [Key words: Alpine soils, Andisols, Wallowa Mountains.]     

Jacques Bertin’s legacy in information visualization and the reorderable matrix

ABSTRACT

Jacques Bertin’s legacy extends beyond the domain of cartography, and in particular to the field of information visualization where he continues to inspire researchers and practitioners. Although in the late twentieth century his books were out of print, their reedition around 2010 has steered a renewed interest and inspired new generations of researchers to reinterpret the principles of Semiology of Graphics and La Graphique in a time of interactive computers. In particular, the work of Jacques Bertin on the reorderable matrix has been very challenging in his time, and the quest to its automation has not been satisfactory to him. This article summarizes Bertin’s approach to the reorderable matrix, underlines the limitations of fully automated reordering methods, and introduces Bertifier, a hybrid system to reorder matrices using a combination of machine assistance and human control.     

Numerical Modelling of Neutral Boundary-layer Flow Across a Forested Ridge

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - Forest canopies have been shown to alter the dynamics of flows over complex terrain. Deficiencies have been found when tall canopies are represented in numerical...     

Sixty thousand years of magmatic volatile history before the caldera-forming eruption of Mount Mazama, Crater Lake, Oregon

The well-documented eruptive history of Mount Mazama, Oregon, provides an excellent opportunity to use pre-eruptive volatile concentrations to study the growth of an explosive silicic magmatic system. Melt inclusions (MI) hosted in pyroxene and plagioclase crystals from eight dacitic–rhyodacitic eruptive deposits (71–7.7?ka) were analyzed to determine variations in volatile-element concentrations and changes in magma storage conditions leading up to and including the climactic eruption of Crater Lake caldera. Temperatures (Fe–Ti oxides) increased through the series of dacites, then decreased, and increased again through the rhyodacites (918–968 to ~950 to 845–895?°C). Oxygen fugacity began at nickel–nickel-oxide buffer (NNO) +0.8 (71?ka), dropped slightly to NNO +0.3, and then climbed to its highest value with the climactic eruption (7.7?ka) at NNO +1.1 log units. In parallel with oxidation state, maximum MI sulfur concentrations were high early in the eruptive sequence (~500?ppm), decreased (to ~200?ppm), and then increased again with the climactic eruption (~500?ppm). Maximum MI sulfur correlates with the Sr content (as a proxy for LREE, Ba, Rb, P₂O₅) of recharge magmas, represented by basaltic andesitic to andesitic enclaves and similar-aged lavas. These results suggest that oxidized Sr-rich recharge magmas dominated early and late in the development of the pre-climactic dacite–rhyodacite system. Dissolved H₂O concentrations in MI do not, however, correlate with these changes in dominant recharge magma, instead recording vapor solubility relations in the developing shallow magma storage and conduit region. Dissolved H₂O concentrations form two populations through time: the first at 3–4.6 wt% (with a few extreme values up to 6.1 wt%) and the second at ≤2.4 wt%. CO₂ concentrations measured in a subset of these inclusions reach up to 240?ppm in early-erupted deposits (71?ka) and are below detection in climactic deposits (7.7?ka). Combined H₂O and CO₂ concentrations and solubility models indicate a dominant storage region at 4–7?km (up to 12?km), with drier inclusions that diffusively re-equilibrated and/or were trapped at shallower depths. Boron and Cl (except in the climactic deposit) largely remained in the melt, suggesting vapor–melt partition coefficients and gas fractions were low. Modeled Li, F, and S vapor–melt partition coefficients are higher than those of B and Cl. The decrease in maximum MI CO₂ concentration following the earliest dacitic eruptions is interpreted to result from a broadening of the shallow storage region to greater than the diameter of subjacent feeders, so that greater proportions of reservoir magma were to the side of CO₂-bearing vapor bubbles ascending vertically from the locus of recharge magma injection, thereby escaping recarbonation by streaming vapor bubbles. The Mazama melt inclusions provide a picture of a growing magma storage region, where chemical variations in melt and magma occur due to changes in the nature and supply rate of magma recharge, the timing of degassing, and the possible degree of equilibration with gases from below.     

Transverse Mercator with an accuracy of a few nanometers

Implementations of two algorithms for the transverse Mercator projection are described; these achieve accuracies close to machine precision. One is based on the exact equations of Thompson and Lee and the other uses an extension of Krüger’s series for the mapping to higher order. The exact method provides an accuracy of 9 nm over the entire ellipsoid, while the errors in the series method are less than 5 nm within 3900 km of the central meridian. In each case, the meridian convergence and scale are also computed with similar accuracy. The speed of the series method is competitive with other less accurate algorithms and the exact method is about five times slower.     

Moisture transport and intraseasonal variability in the South America monsoon system

This paper examines moisture transport on intraseasonal timescales over the continent and over the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ) during the South America (SA) summer monsoon. Combined Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis (EOFc) of Global Precipitation Climatology Project pentad precipitation, specific humidity, air temperature, zonal and meridional winds at 850?hPa (NCEP/NCAR reanalysis) are performed to identify the large-scale variability of the South America monsoon system and the SACZ. The first EOFc was used as a large-scale index for the South American monsoon (LISAM), whereas the second EOFc characterized the SACZ. LISAM (SACZ) index showed spectral variance on 30?C90 (15?C20) days and were both band filtered (10?C100?days). Intraseasonal wet anomalies were defined when LISAM and SACZ anomalies were above the 75th percentile of their respective distribution. LISAM and SACZ wet events were examined independently of each other and when they occur simultaneously. LISAM wet events were observed with the amplification of wave activity in the Northern Hemisphere and the enhancement of northwesterly cross-equatorial moisture transport over tropical continental SA. Enhanced SACZ was observed with moisture transport from the extratropics of the Southern Hemisphere. Simultaneous LISAM and SACZ wet events are associated with cross-equatorial moisture transport along with moisture transport from Subtropical Southwestern Atlantic.     

Stochastic simulations of the Madden�CJulian oscillation activity

The Madden?CJulian oscillation (MJO) is the most prominent form of tropical intraseasonal variability. This study investigated the following questions. Do interannual-to-decadal variations in tropical sea surface temperature (SST) lead to substantial changes in MJO activity? Was there a change in the MJO in the 1970s? Can this change be associated to SST anomalies? What was the level of MJO activity in the pre-reanalysis era? These questions were investigated with a stochastic model of the MJO. Reanalysis data (1948?C2008) were used to develop a nine-state first order Markov model capable to simulate the non-stationarity of the MJO. The model is driven by observed SST anomalies and a large ensemble of simulations was performed to infer the activity of the MJO in the instrumental period (1880?C2008). The model is capable to reproduce the activity of the MJO during the reanalysis period. The simulations indicate that the MJO exhibited a regime of near normal activity in 1948?C1972 (3.4?events?year^?1) and two regimes of high activity in 1973?C1989 (3.9 events) and 1990?C2008 (4.6 events). Stochastic simulations indicate decadal shifts with near normal levels in 1880?C1895 (3.4 events), low activity in 1896?C1917 (2.6 events) and a return to near normal levels during 1918?C1947 (3.3 events). The results also point out to significant decadal changes in probabilities of very active years (5 or more MJO events): 0.214 (1880?C1895), 0.076 (1896?C1917), 0.197 (1918?C1947) and 0.193 (1948?C1972). After a change in behavior in the 1970s, this probability has increased to 0.329 (1973?C1989) and 0.510 (1990?C2008). The observational and stochastic simulations presented here call attention to the need to further understand the variability of the MJO on a wide range of time scales.     

Organic micropollutants in marine plastics debris from the open ocean and remote and urban beaches

To understand the spatial variation in concentrations and compositions of organic micropollutants in marine plastic debris and their sources, we analyzed plastic fragments (∼10 mm) from the open ocean and from remote and urban beaches. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), alkylphenols and bisphenol A were detected in the fragments at concentrations from 1 to 10,000 ng/g. Concentrations showed large piece-to-piece variability. Hydrophobic organic compounds such as PCBs and PAHs were sorbed from seawater to the plastic fragments. PCBs are most probably derived from legacy pollution. PAHs showed a petrogenic signature, suggesting the sorption of PAHs from oil slicks. Nonylphenol, bisphenol A, and PBDEs came mainly from additives and were detected at high concentrations in some fragments both from remote and urban beaches and the open ocean.