Recent climatic trends and linkages to river discharge in Central Vietnam

In this study, change in rainfall, temperature and river discharge are analysed over the last three decades in Central Vietnam. Trends and rainfall indices are evaluated using non‐parametric tests at different temporal levels. To overcome the sparse locally available network, the high resolution APHRODITE gridded dataset is used in addition to the existing rain gauges. Finally, existing linkages between discharge changes and trends in rainfall and temperature are explored. Results are indicative of an intensification of rainfall (+15%/decade), with more extreme and longer events. A significant increase in winter rainfall and a decrease in consecutive dry days provides strong evidence for a lengthening wet season in Central Vietnam. In addition, trends based on APHRODITE suggest a strong orographic signal in winter and annual trends. These results underline the local variability in the impacts of climatic change at the global scale. Consequently, it is important that change detection investigations are conducted at the local scale. A very weak signal is detected in the trend of minimum temperature (+0.2°C/decade). River discharge trends show an increase in mean discharge (31 to 35%/decade) over the last decades. Between 54 and 74% of this increase is explained by the increase in precipitation. The maximum discharge also responds significantly to precipitation changes leading to a lengthened wet season and an increase in extreme rainfall events. Such trends can be linked with a likely increase in floods in Central Vietnam, which is important for future adaptation planning and management and flood preparedness in the region. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of moisture content in alpine rockwalls during freeze–thaw events

Rock moisture during freeze–thaw events is a key factor for frost weathering. Data on moisture levels of natural rockwalls are scarce and difficult to obtain. To close this gap, we can benefit from the extensive knowledge of moisture‐related phenomena in building materials, which is incorporated into simulation software, for example the WUFI® package of the Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics. In this paper we applied and adapted this type of simulation to natural rockwalls to gain new insights on which moisture‐related weathering mechanisms may be important under which conditions. We collected the required input data on physical rock properties and local climate for two study areas in the eastern European Alps with different elevation [Sonnblick, 3106 m above sea level (a.s.l.) and Johnsbach, 700 m a.s.l.] and different lithologies (gneiss and dolomite, respectively). From this data, moisture profiles with depth and fluctuations in the course of a typical year were calculated. The results were cross‐checked with different thermal conditions for frost weathering reported in the literature (volumetric expansion and ice segregation theories). The analyses show that in both study areas the thresholds for frost cracking by volumetric expansion of ice (90% pore saturation, temperature < ?1 °C) are hardly ever reached (in one year only 0.07% of the time in Johnsbach and 0.4% at Sonnblick, mostly in north‐exposed walls). The preconditions for weathering by ice segregation (?3 to ?8 °C, > 60% saturation) prevail over much longer periods; the time spent within this ‘frost cracking window‘ is also higher for north‐facing sites. The influence of current climate warming will reduce effective frost events towards 2100; however the increase of liquid precipitation and rock moisture will promote weathering processes like ice segregation at least at the Sonnblick site. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatio‐temporal variability of water and energy fluxes – a case study for a mesoscale catchment in pre‐alpine environment

Water and energy fluxes at and between the land surface, the subsurface and the atmosphere are inextricably linked over all spatio‐temporal scales. Our research focuses on the joint analysis of both water and energy fluxes in a pre‐alpine catchment (55 km²) in southern Germany, which is part of the Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO). We use a novel three‐dimensional, physically based and distributed modelling approach to reproduce both observed streamflow as an integral measure for water fluxes and heat flux and soil temperature measurements at an observation location over a period of 2 years. While heat fluxes are often used for comparison of the simulations of one‐dimensional land surface models, they are rarely used for additional validation of physically based and distributed hydrological modelling approaches. The spatio‐temporal variability of the water and energy balance components and their partitioning for dominant land use types of the study region are investigated. The model shows good performance for simulating daily streamflow (Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency > 0.75). Albeit only streamflow measurements are used for calibration, the simulations of hourly heat fluxes and soil temperatures at the observation site also show a good performance, particularly during summer. A limitation of the model is the simulation of temperature‐driven heat fluxes during winter, when the soil is covered by snow. An analysis of the simulated spatial fields reveals heat flux patterns that reflect the distribution of the land use and soil types of the catchment. The water and energy partitioning is characterized by a strong seasonal cycle and shows clear differences between the selected land use types. Copyright © 2016 The Authors Hydrological Processes Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Flow banding in basaltic pillow lavas from the Early Archean Hooggenoeg Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Well-preserved pillow lavas in the uppermost part of the Early Archean volcanic sequence of the Hooggenoeg Formation in the Barberton Greenstone Belt exhibit pronounced flow banding. The banding is defined by mm to several cm thick alternations of pale green and a dark green, conspicuously variolitic variety of aphyric metabasalt. Concentrations of relatively immobile TiO₂, Al₂O₃ and Cr in both varieties of lava are basaltic. Compositional differences between bands and variations in the lavas in general have been modified by alteration, but indicate mingling of two different basalts, one richer in TiO₂, Al₂O₃, MgO, FeO^t and probably Ni and Cr than the other, as the cause of the banding. The occurrence in certain pillows of blebs of dark metabasalt enclosed in pale green metabasalt, as well as cores of faintly banded or massive dark metabasalt, suggest that breakup into drops and slugs in the feeder channel to the lava flow initiated mingling. The inhomogeneous mixture was subsequently stretched and folded together during laminar shear flow through tubular pillows, while diffusion between bands led to partial homogenisation. The most common internal pattern defined by the flow banding in pillows is concentric. In some pillows the banding defines curious mushroom-like structures, commonly cored by dark, variolitic metabasalt, which we interpret as the result of secondary lateral flow due to counter-rotating, transverse (Dean) vortices induced by the axial flow of lava towards the flow front through bends, generally downward, in the tubular pillows. Other pillows exhibit weakly-banded or massive, dark, variolitic cores that are continuous with wedge-shaped apophyses and veins that intrude the flow banded carapace. These cores represent the flow of hotter and less viscous slugs of the dark lava type into cooled and stiffened pillows.     

The Sukari Gold Mine,Eastern Desert—Egypt: structural setting,mineralogy and fluid inclusion study

The Sukari gold mine (18.8 Mt @ 2.14 g/t Au) is located 15 km west of the Red Sea coast in the southern central Eastern Desert of Egypt. The vein-type deposit is hosted in Late Neoproterozoic granite that intruded island-arc and ophiolite rock assemblages. The vein-forming process is related to overall late Pan-African shear and extension tectonics. At Sukari, bulk NE–SW strike-slip deformation was accommodated by a local flower structure and extensional faults with veins that formed initially at conditions of about 300 °C and 1.5–2 kbar. Gold is associated with sulfides in quartz veins and in alteration zones. Pyrite and arsenopyrite dominate the sulfide ore beside minor sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena. Gold occurs in three distinct positions: (1) anhedral grains (GI) at the contact between As-rich zones within the arsenian pyrite; (2) randomly distributed anhedral grains (GII) and along cracks in arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite, and (3) large gold grains (GIII) interstitial to fine-grained pyrite and arsenopyrite. Fluid inclusion studies yield minimum vein-formation temperatures and pressures between 96 and 188 °C, 210 and 1,890 bar, respectively, which is in the range of epi- to mesothermal hydrothermal ore deposits. The structural evolution of the area suggests a long-term, cyclic process of repeated veining and leaching followed by sealing, initiated by the intrusion of granodiorite. This cyclic process explains the mineralogical features and is responsible for the predicted gold reserves of the Sukari deposits. A characteristic feature of the Sukari gold mineralization is the co-precipitation of gold and arsenic in pyrite and arsenopyrite.Editorial handling: H. Frimmel     

Carbon,sulfur, oxygen and strontium isotope records,organic geochemistry and biostratigraphy across the Permian/Triassic boundary in Abadeh,Iran

Pelagic deposits at Abadeh represent a complete biostratigraphic record across the Permian/Triassic boundary (PTB). The presumed water depth during deposition of these sediments was between 60 and 90 m. Similar to other Permian/Triassic boundary sections, the succession at Abadeh is characterised by a negative carbon isotope shift of approximately 4. The values start to decrease in the lower C. changxingensis - C. deflecta s.l. Zone, reach –0.12 (V-PDB) in the uppermost Permian just below the PTB, remain low to the early I. isarcica Zone (–0.32) and increase subsequently in the upper I. isarcica Zone. For the time interval of the PTB negative carbon isotope excursion, between the C. iranica and the I. isarcica Zones, no correlation exists between the ¹³C_carb and the ¹⁸O_carb. The above observations argue against the conclusion of Heydari et al. (2001) that the carbon isotope event at the P/T transition is an alteration artefact and not a global signal. The decrease in ¹³C_carb is accompanied by a ~5 (and potentially up to 10) increase in ³⁴S_SSS. Together, these features are thought to reflect a complex global event, notably the development of widespread anoxic oceans with anoxic bottom layers rising onto the shelves. For the carbon isotope drop, other factors, such as the collapse of ocean primary productivity may also have played a role. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of Dzhulfian seawater show only a minor increase from 0.70705 to 0.70710, reaching 0.70720 in the Dorashamian. The increase becomes steeper in the Early Triassic reaching 0.70754 in the N. dieneri Zone. The rise of the strontium isotope values is thought to be related to enhanced continental weathering under humid climatic conditions in the uppermost Permian (C. meishanensis - H. praeparvus Zone) and the lack of a dense land vegetation in the Early Triassic, prior to the Spathian (Upper Olenekian).     

Water use by intensively cultivated willow using estimated stomatal parameter values

Large land areas in Sweden are planned to be planted with high producing, short rotation forest stands of willow in the beginning of the 1990s. Since willow is a highly hydrophilic species, this new land use may have strong implications on water resources. To assess these implications, evaporation of Salix viminalis and Salix viminalis x caprea stands in lysimeters was analysed with the simple, yet physically realistic KAUSHA model. Parameter values for the Lohammar equation were deduced (b = 100 m³ kg^?1, k_max = 0.01 m s^?1), believed to be applicable to other sites. Simulated evaporation during the 1980 growth season for a normal stand with a production of 12 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per season was 526 mm, of which 375 mm was transpiration, 56 mm interception evaporation, and 95 mm soil evaporation. For an optimally irrigated 20-tonnes stand, the total evaporation was 584 mm, of which 430 mm was transpiration. As a comparison, Penman open water evaporation was 430 mm. To avoid soil water stress in the 20-tonnes stand, 140 mm was needed as irrigation, equivalent to 25 per cent of the mean annual precipitation. Since intensively cultivated willow plantations seemed to be using much water, it was concluded that introduction of this agri-forestry practice must be carefully planned to make use of this property, e.g. in biological filters or in reclaiming water-logged land.     

Impact-generated dust clouds around planetary satellites: model versus Galileo data

This paper focuses on tenuous dust clouds of Jupiter's Galilean moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. In a companion paper (Srem?evi? et al., Planet. Space Sci. 51 (2003) 455-471) an analytical model of impact-generated ejecta dust clouds surrounding planetary satellites has been developed. The main aim of the model is to predict the asymmetries in the dust clouds which may arise from the orbital motion of the parent body through a field of impactors. The Galileo dust detector data from flybys at Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are compatible with the model, assuming projectiles to be interplanetary micrometeoroids. The analysis of the data suggests that two interplanetary impactor populations are most likely the source of the measured dust clouds: impactors with isotropically distributed velocities and micrometeoroids in retrograde orbits. Other impactor populations, namely those originating in the Jovian system, or interplanetary projectiles with low orbital eccentricities and inclinations, or interstellar stream particles, can be ruled out by the statistical analysis of the data. The data analysis also suggests that the mean ejecta velocity angle to the normal at the satellite surface is around 30°, which is in agreement with laboratory studies of the hypervelocity impacts.