Seasonal temperature responses to land-use change in the western United States

In the western United States, more than 79 000 km² has been converted to irrigated agriculture and urban areas. These changes have the potential to alter surface temperature by modifying the energy budget at the land–atmosphere interface. This study reports the seasonally varying temperature responses of four regional climate models (RCMs) – RSM, RegCM3, MM5-CLM3, and DRCM – to conversion of potential natural vegetation to modern land-cover and land-use over a 1-year period. Three of the RCMs supplemented soil moisture, producing large decreases in the August mean (− 1.4 to − 3.1 °C) and maximum (− 2.9 to − 6.1 °C) 2-m air temperatures where natural vegetation was converted to irrigated agriculture. Conversion to irrigated agriculture also resulted in large increases in relative humidity (9% to 36% absolute change). Modeled changes in the August minimum 2-m air temperature were not as pronounced or consistent across the models. Converting natural vegetation to urban land-cover produced less pronounced temperature effects in all models, with the magnitude of the effect dependent upon the preexisting vegetation type and urban parameterizations. Overall, the RCM results indicate that the temperature impacts of land-use change are most pronounced during the summer months, when surface heating is strongest and differences in surface soil moisture between irrigated land and natural vegetation are largest.     

Landslides induced by the April 2007 Aysén Fjord earthquake, Chilean Patagonia

On the 21st of April 2007, the Aysén Fjord earthquake (Mw 6.2) in southern Chile (45.3° S, 73.0° W) triggered hundreds of landslides in the epicentral area along the fjord coast and surroundings. Some of these landslides induced large tsunami waves within the fjord causing fatalities and damaging several salmon farms, the most important economic activity of the area. The landslides included rock slides and avalanches, rock falls, shallow soil and soil–rock slides, and debris flows. The earthquake was the climax of a seismic swarm that began 3 months earlier. The seismicity is associated with tectonic activity along the Liquiñe–Ofqui fault zone (LOFZ), a major structural feature of the region. The earthquake-induced landslides were mapped and classified from field observations and remote sensing analysis. The landslide areas and epicentral distances are within the expected range for the earthquake magnitude according to worldwide data, while the position of landslides on the slopes strongly suggests topographic amplification effects in triggering the failures. The location of the landslides is also clearly related to some of the main fault branches of the LOFZ. The seismic event has configured a new situation of seismic and landslide hazard in the Aysén region and along the LOFZ, where the presence of towns and economic infrastructure along the coasts of several fjords constitutes a potential risk that was not considered before this seismic event.     

The chronostratigraphy of the latest Middle Pleistocene aeolian and alluvial activity on the Island of Hvar,eastern Adriatic,Croatia

Pleistocene aeolian sands and alluvial deposits can frequently be traced along the Mediterranean coast. Such deposits also exist along the eastern Adriatic coast and the nearby islands. Four stratigraphical sections of these deposits were studied on the Island of Hvar with the purpose of establishing a chronological framework of the aeolian–alluvial depositional system, using luminescence dating and magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy. Luminescence dating was applied on coarse‐grained feldspar and quartz grains separated from the sands. Both quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and feldspar post‐IR infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR) age estimates are in good agreement, with values ranging between 167±24 to 120±12 ka (OSL) and 179±18 to 131±18 ka (pIRIR measured at 290 °C) after a fading correction for the pIRIR signal. The results can be clearly correlated to around the end of oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 6 and the beginning of OSI 5, indicating that the aeolian accumulation of sands was a result of the Penultimate Glacial and climate fluctuations at the beginning of the Last Interglacial. Variations in magnetic susceptibility (MS) data can be interpreted alongside these dating results; several stronger peaks detected at the very end of the Penultimate Glacial and the initial stage of the Last Interglacial cycle most probably indicates more intensive pedogenesis resulting from a more favourable climate, probably because of climate changes. Breccias related to major bounding surfaces in association with evidence of soil formation and bioturbation could be the result of more favourable climate conditions and changes during the transition from OIS 6 to OIS 5 (Penultimate Glacial–Last Interglacial). These results are in agreement with similar data from the wider Mediterranean area.     

The Northern Cordilleran Mid-Cretaceous Plutonic Province: Ilmenite/Magnetite-series Granitoids and Intrusion-related Mineralisation

Abstract. Twenty-five Early and mid-Cretaceous (145–90 Ma) plutonic suites and belts are defined across Alaska and Yukon, in the northern North American Cordillera, on the basis of lithological, geochemical, isotopic, and geochronometric similarities. These features are combined with aeromagnetic characteristics, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and whole-rock ferric: ferrous ratios to ascertain the distribution of magnetite- and ilmenite-series plutonic belts. Magnetite-series plutonic belts are dominantly associated with the older parts of the plutonic episode and comprise subduction-generated metaluminous plutons that are distributed preferentially in the more seaward localities dominated by primitive tectonic elements. Ilmenite-series plutonic belts comprise slightly younger, slightly peraluminous plutons in more landward localities in pericratonic to continental margin settings. They were likely initiated in response to crustal thickening following terrane collision. The youngest plutonic belt forms a small, but significant, magnetite-series belts in the farthest inboard position, associated with alkalic plutons that were emplaced during weak extension.
Intrusion-related metallogenic provinces with distinctive metal associations are distributed, largely in accord with classical redox-sensitive granite-series. Copper, Au, and Fe mineralisation are associated with magnetite-series plutons and tungsten mineralisation associated with ilmenite-series plutons. However, there are some notable deviations from expected associations, as intrusion-related Ag-Pb-Zn deposits are few, and significant tin mineralisation is rare. Most significantly, many gold deposits and occurrences are associated with ilmenite-series plutons: these form the basis for the newly recognized reduced intrusion-related gold deposit model.     

Quaternary interaction of cryospheric and oceanographic processes along the central‐east Greenland margin

The east Greenland margin has been influenced by oceanographic and cryospheric processes since the late Miocene, when the southwards flow of the East Greenland Current (EGC) initiated and ice sheets first advanced across the margin. However, the relative importance of these processes, and their influence on the sedimentation of the margin through time remains poorly understood. High‐resolution single‐channel seismic, chirp sub‐bottom profiles and swath bathymetry data were acquired along the middle/lower slope and proximal basinal area off Liverpool Land, central‐east Greenland margin. In this study, seismic‐stratigraphical and morphological analyses allowed us to distinguish between the major sedimentary processes that influenced this margin during the Quaternary. The stratigraphical architecture reveals mass transport deposits (MTDs) related to glacially influenced down‐slope sedimentation. These are intercalated with buried contourite systems associated with bottom‐current controlled along‐slope sedimentation. The distribution of the MTDs suggests the influence of two distinct ice‐stream systems. Initial phases of down‐slope deposition during the early‐middle Quaternary appears to be related to distal deposition fed by an ice stream from the Scoresby Sund area in the south. Shallow sedimentary processes, together with morphological analysis of the sea floor, show that the most recent activity of down‐slope processes during the latest Quaternary has occurred in the north, linked to an ice stream from the Kong Oscar Fjord area. These observations document a temporal shift in the relative dominance of the Scoresby Sund and Kong Oscar Fjord ice‐stream systems. The glacial influence on the margin has been interrupted by periods of stronger activity of along‐slope bottom‐current flow, demonstrating that the EGC periodically controlled sedimentation on the continental margin.     

Triterpenols in mangrove sediments as a proxy for organic matter derived from the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle)

Mangroves are the dominant type of vegetation along many tropical coasts. Organic matter (OM) derived from mangrove leaf litter and root material is stored in sediments and is a major contributor to the amount and chemical composition of sedimentary OM. A set of organic biomarkers in sediments was applied as a palaeo-indicator for the Holocene dynamics of a mangrove Estuary (Rio Caeté, Pará, Brazil). Six sediment cores were collected perpendicular to the present coast line and analysed for triterpenols and sitosterol. The influence of microbial biomarker degradation was implemented from a previous study. Biomarker profiles were validated with pollen data and multivariate statistics to test whether these compounds were suitable indicators for the palaeo-vegetation. Sediments deposited up to 2 Ma BP showed biomarker assemblages similar to those of recent surface sediment. In two cores, the biomarker composition revealed a transition from marsh to mangrove vegetation. Taraxerol, germanicol and β-amyrin provided the most significant chemotaxonomical information and, especially in combination, served as reliable proxies for OM from Rhizophora mangle in northern Brazil. The maximum age of the mangrove system ranged between 1000 and 5100 yr depending on the topographic elevation of the drilling location.     

A Straightforward Random Walk Model for Fast Push‐Pull Tracer Test Evaluation

In this article, we present a straightforward random walk model for fast evaluation of push‐pull tracer tests. By developing an adaptive algorithm, we overcome the problem of manually defining how many particles have to be used to simulate the transport problem. Beside this, we validate the random walk model by evaluating a push‐pull tracer test with drift phase and confirm the results with MT3DMS. The random walk model took less than 1% of computational time of MT3DMS, thus allowing a remarkable faster evaluation of push‐pull tracer tests.     

Detrital Cr-spinel in the Šambron–Kamenica Zone (Slovakia): evidence for an ocean-spreading zone in the Northern Vardar suture?

The Šambron–Kamenica Zone is situated on the northern margin of the Levočské vrchy mountains and Šarišskà vrchovina Highland, where the Central Carpathian Paleogene joins the Pieniny Klippen Belt. Sandstone outcrops in this area. From Cretaceous to Late Oligocene in age, these sediments suggest transport directions from S and SE. The heavy mineral assemblages of this sandstone include Cr-spinel grains, mainly displaying types II and III alpine-peridotite affinities, and are representative of Ocean Island Basalt volcanism. A sample from Upper Eocene sediments at Vit’az shows a clear change in Cr-spinel composition, which turns out to have types I and II peridotite affinities, and to derive from arc and Middle Ocean Ridge Basalt volcanism, with sediment transport directions from SW and WSW. These data indicate major variations in the Upper Eocene tectonic setting, giving constraints to paleogeographic reconstruction of the Slovak Central Carpathians.     

On the compositions and characteristics of the mare basalt magmas and their source regions

Based on a synthesis of available mare basalt data, it is shown that the samples which were returned to Earth via the various Apollo and Luna missions were derived from at least 16 separate eruptive events. The currently published data are sufficient to allow reasonably good estimates of the compositions of the parental magmas of 12 of these units to be made. At the present, only first order estimates of the compositions of the magmas of the remaining four units are possible.It is further shown that, when these 16 magmas are plotted on the pseudo-ternary phase diagram for the system anorthite-olivine-quartz and the quaternary phase diagrams for the systems which include augite or ilmenite, the magmas all lie along a common, equilibrium melting path. This path is defined by the high aluminum basalt magmas and the majority of the high TiO₂ basalt magmas which plot near the 5kb olivine-pyroxene cotectic and by the high olivine magmas which plot along or near a single olivine control line. The fact that all the high olivine magmas plot near a single olivine control line is a direct consequence of the equilibrium partial melting of an olivine dominated mantle, but is statistically very unlikely (1 chance in 10⁶) if the mantle is dominated by pyroxene as is widely accepted. Based on the reasonable assumption that the degree of partial melting which produced the magmas was no greater than 50%, and noting that the composition of the mantle is constrained to lie on the olivine control line around which the high olivine magmas plot in the ternary and quaternary phase diagrams, then the normative composition of the lunar upper mantle must be about 64% olivine (Fo₇₀), 23% pyroxene, 9% anorthite, and 4% ilmenite - though olivine richer models are possible. This composition is essentially the same as that for pyrolite, the proposed composition of the Earth's mantle. This observation is taken to add further support for the fission origin of the Moon.