Laboratory investigation on measuring suspended sediment by portable laser diffractometer (LISST) focusing on particle shape

This paper deals with a laboratory investigation on measuring suspended sediment volume and mass concentration (SSC) and particle size distribution (PSD) by a portable submersible laser diffractometer (LISST-100X) focusing on effects of particle shape and inversion modes on the results. Experiments were carried out in a mixing tank using suspensions of glass beads, fine quartz sand, feldspar and mica powder particles of spherical, rounded, angular and flaky shapes respectively, at various SSCs. SSCs and PSDs measured by LISST were compared to SSCs from gravimetric analysis and to PSDs obtained from image analysis of dry particles and from a non-portable laser diffractometer. Experiments using spherical and rounded particles showed that LISST with the corresponding inversion modes, i.e. spherical and ‘random shaped’, provides PSD and SSC values similar to reference methods. For angular and flaky particles, however, SSCs were found to be overestimated by factors of 1.5 and 8 respectively. Measurements in a mixture of 70% feldspar and 30% mica powders showed that the SSC overestimation factor for mixed particle-type suspensions can be predicted as the weighted sum of the SSC factors of the components and their mixing ratio. For known highly non-spherical particle types, LISST SSCs can be corrected by a gravimetrically determined or predicted overestimation factor. Moreover, correction of overestimated contributions of lower size bins, the range of measureable SSC and time averaging of LISST measurements are addressed. Further investigations are necessary to assess effects of non-spherical particles and mixtures of various particle types on LISST SSC and PSD estimates.     

Suppression of Periodic Disturbances in Seismic Aftershock Recordings for Better Localisation of Underground Explosions

For precise localisation of a potential underground nuclear explosion, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, during an on-site inspection, can set up seismic sensors to find the very small signals from aftershocks. These signals can be masked by periodic disturbances from, for example, helicopters. We present a new method to characterise every such disturbance by the amplitude, frequency and phase of the underlying sine in the time domain using a mathematical expression for its Hann-windowed discrete Fourier transform. The contributions of these sines are computed and subtracted from the complex spectrum sequentially. Two examples show the performance of the procedure: (1) synthetic sines superposed to a coal-mine induced event, orders of magnitude stronger than the latter, can be removed successfully, (2) removal of periodic content from the signals of a helicopter overflight reduces the amplitude by a factor 3.3 when the frequencies are approximately constant. The procedure cannot yet cope with peaks that change frequency too fast, for example by the Doppler effect when passing, and with peaks that lie too close to each other. Improvement to solve these problems seems possible.     

The Purpose and Age of Underwater Walls in the Bay of Elaia of Western Turkey: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Pergamum (modern: Bergama) was operating an important harbour used by military forces and merchants at the city of Elaia during Hellenistic and Roman Imperial times. Harbour‐related facilities such as warehouses, breakwaters and wharfs document the importance of this harbour site not only for the Pergamenians. This paper focuses on the purpose and age of six submerged wall structures situated approximately 1 km south of the ancient closed harbour basin of Elaia. Geoelectric cross‐sections and semi‐aquatic coring near these walls failed to detect any solid basement under the walls which excludes their possible use as breakwaters or wharfs. Instead, the walls were most likely delineating and separating evaporation ponds of salt works, which compares well with similar structures from other periods and places around the Mediterranean. Combined OSL and ¹⁴C‐dating determined the construction age of the installation between the 4th and 6th centuries A.D. Subsequent (re‐)uses are likely and are in agreement with findings from archaeological surveys.     

Use of Systematic, Palaeoflood and Historical Data for the Improvement of Flood Risk Estimation. Review of Scientific Methods

The catastrophic floods recently occurring in Europe warn of the critical need forhydrologic data on floods over long-time scales. Palaeoflood techniques provideinformation on hydrologic variability and extreme floods over long-time intervals(100 to 10,000 yr) and may be used in combination with historical flood data (last1,000 yr) and the gauge record (last 30–50 yr). In this paper, advantages anduncertainties related to the reconstruction of palaeofloods in different geomorphologicalsettings and historical floods using different documentary sources are described.Systematic and non-systematic data can be combined in the flood frequency analysisusing different methods for the adjustment of distribution functions. Technical toolsintegrating multidisciplinary approaches (geologic, historical, hydraulic and statistical)on extreme flood risk assessment are discussed. A discussion on the potential theoreticalbases for solving the problem of dealing with non-systematic and non-stationary data ispresented. This methodology is being developed using new methodological approachesapplied to European countries as a part of a European Commission funded project (SPHERE).     

A simple DEM assessment procedure for gully system analysis in the Lake Manyara area,northern Tanzania

Gully erosion is a major threat concerning landscape degradation in large areas along the northern Tanzanian Rift valley. It is the dominant erosion process producing large parts of the sediments that are effectively conducted into the river network. The study area is located in the Lake Manyara—Makuyuni River catchment, Arusha, northern Tanzania. During fieldwork, we measured topographic data of eight gully systems close to Makuyuni Town. The main focus of this study is to assess gully erosion dynamics using improved DEMs with original resolutions of 30 and 20 m, respectively. We assessed terrain characteristics to extract information on environmental drivers. To improve the DEM, we integrated information deduced from satellite images as well as from acquired GPS field data. Topographic indices such as Stream Power Index or Transport Capacity Index were derived from the re-interpolated DEM. To evaluate gully evolution, we assessed also the longitudinal slope profiles. Finally, the gully evolution phases of each gully were classified according to the concept proposed by Kosov et al. (Eksperimental’naya geomorfologiya, vol 3. Moscow University, Moskva, pp 113–140, 1978). The re-interpolated DEMs revealed a positive response especially for the more developed gullies. We show that the extraction of information on this spatial process scale based on “low-resolution” data is feasible with little additional fieldwork and image interpretation. In fact, areas identified as having a greater risk of gully erosion have been confirmed by observations and surveys carried out in the field.     

Modeling determinants of urban growth in Dongguan,China: a spatial logistic approach

This paper examines spatial variations of urban growth patterns in Chinese cities through a case study of Dongguan, a rapidly industrializing city characterized by a bottom-up pattern of development based on townships. We have employed both non-spatial and spatial logistic regression models to analyze urban land conversion. The non-spatial logistic regression has found the significance of accessibility, neighborhood conditions and socioeconomic factors for urban development. The logistic regression with spatially expanded coefficients significantly improves the orthodoxy logistic regression with lower levels of spatial autocorrelation of residuals and better goodness-of-fit. More importantly, the spatial logistic model reveals the spatially varying relationship between urban growth and its underlying factors, particularly the local influence of environment protection and urban development policies. The results of the spatial logistic model also provide clear clues for assessing environmental risks to take the local contexts into account.     

Transient electromagnetic field in magneto-viscous medium

When using Transient Geo-Electromagnetics (TEM) unusually slow decaying transients are sometimes observed in the absence of well-conductive objects. Many researchers explain this phenomenon by presence of material with magneto-viscous or superparamagnetic (SPM) properties. The analysis of electromagnetic (EM) field equations in conductive SPM medium is suggested in the present paper. It is shown that in a simplest case of small size single-domain magnetic particles with relative higher potential barrier energy, the SPM-medium is characterized by a very slow decaying exponential transient magnetic field, the level of which is much more as compared to that of due to non-magnetic medium of the same conductivity. This situation is traced up to the late transient time like 0.1 s and more. SPM and Induction fields are in the near zone additive. They depend in a different way on the superparamagnetic and electric properties of the SPM-medium. They also depend in different ways on the transient time and on the size of the transmitter–receiver configuration. These characteristics make it possible to recognize the presence of SPM-effect and to separate these fields.