Computational study of tetrahedral Al–Si and octahedral Al–Mg ordering in phengite

 As part of a wider study of the nature and origins of cation order–disorder in micas, a variety of computational techniques have been used to investigate the nature of tetrahedral and octahedral ordering in phengite, K₂ ^[6](Al₃Mg)^[4](Si₇Al)O₂₀(OH)₄. Values of the atomic exchange interaction parameters J _n used to model the energies of order–disorder were calculated. Both tetrahedral Al–Si and octahedral Al–Mg ordering were studied and hence three types of interaction parameter were necessary: for T–T, O–O and T–O interactions (where T denotes tetrahedral sites and O denotes octahedral sites). Values for the T–T and O–O interactions were taken from results on other systems, whilst we calculated new values for the T–O interactions. We have demonstrated that modelling the octahedral and tetrahedral sheets alone and independently produces different results from modelling a whole T–O–T layer, hence justifying the inclusion of the T–O interactions. Simulations of a whole T–O–T layer of phengite indicated the presence of short-range order, but no long-range order was observed. Received: 8 August 2002 / Accepted: 14 February 2003 Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to EPSRC (EJP) and the Royal Society (CIS) for financial support. Monte Carlo simulations were performed on the Mineral Physics Group's Beowulf cluster and the University of Cambridge's High Performance Computing Facility.     

Validation of Landslide Susceptibility Maps; Examples and Applications from a Case Study in Northern Spain

A procedure for validating landslide susceptibility maps wasapplied in a study area in northern Spain and the results obtained compared. Validationwas used to carry out sensitivity analysis for individual variables and combinationsof variables. The validity of different map-making methods was tested, as well as theutility of different types of Favourability Functions. The results obtained show thatvalidation is essential to determine the predictive value of susceptibility maps. Italso helps to better select the most suitable function and significant variables, thus improving the efficiency of the mapping process. Validation based on a temporal strategy makes it possible to derive hazard maps from susceptibility maps.     

Influence of the Load Wavelength on the Permeability of a Viscosity Interface in the Mantle

Assuming a radially stratified Newtonian mantle in a steady-state approximation, we demonstrate that the permeability of a viscosity interface at 660-km depth strongly depends on the wavelength of buoyancy forces driving the flow. The flow induced by long-wavelength loads penetrates through the boundary freely even if the viscosity increases by two orders. In contrast, the boundary is practically impermeable for short-wavelength loads located in the upper mantle. Thus, a stepwise increase of viscosity is a significant obstacle for small descending features in the upper mantle, but huge upper mantle downwellings, or upwellings formed in the-lower mantle can overcome it easily. This indicates that certain care is necessary in interpreting the seismic structure of the mantle by means of flow models. The global tomographic image includes only the first few degrees of the harmonic series and, consequently, its interpretation in terms of a present-day flow field results in a predominantly whole-mantle circulation even for extreme viscosity contrasts.     

Remote sensing detection of atmospheric pollutants by differential absorption LIDAR 510M/SODAR PA2 mobile system

Summary Air pollution problem in the Czech Republic is very complex due to large number of factors as turbulent dispersion and chemical reactions concurring in the status of the PBL. For this 3D distribution of pollutants is a key information that cannot be given by conventional monitoring stations. Combined use of DIAL lidar and sodar can give access to such information. Case studies of air pollutants transport are presented using 3D concentration fields of NO₂ and ozone measured by lidar and meteorological conditions monitored by Doppler Sodar.     

Upper Pleistocene and Holocene paleosalinity and trophic state changes in relation to sea level variation in Rocha Lagoon, southern Uruguay

Paleolimnological data are presented on trophic development in relation to sea level variation in Rocha Lagoon, a 72 km² coastal lagoon in southern Uruguay. Using sediment cores that extended to ∼20,000 yr BP, analyses of grain size, organic matter, carbonate, total carbon, nutrients, and diatoms allowed us to infer changes in trophic state and paleosalinities, which were closely related to Holocene relative sea level variation. Higher trophic states were observed during regressive events, most probably due to increases in runoff and erosion as regressions progressed. Diatom Association Zones (DAZ) were identified in both cores. Those DAZ corresponding to transgressive events were dominated by marine/brackish taxa and relatively low organic matter and nutrient values, while those DAZ corresponding to regressive events showed increases in brackish/freshwater diatoms and both organic matter and nutrients. Although the lagoon formed after the first Holocene marine transgression, our data indicate the existence of a marine/brackish aquatic system during upper Pleistocene (i.e., before 15,000 yr BP), but by ∼20,000 yr BP, the system was still likely to be a semi-arid terrestrial system.     

23,000 yr of vegetation history of the Upper Lerma, a tropical high-altitude basin in Central Mexico

Pollen analysis on a 9.54-m sediment core from lake Chignahuapan in the upper Lerma basin, the highest intermontane basin in Central Mexico (2570 m asl), documents vegetation and limnological changes over the past ∼23,000 ¹⁴C yr. The core was drilled near the archaeological site of Santa Cruz Atizapán, a site with a long history of human occupation, abandoned at the end of the Epiclassic period (ca. 900 AD). Six radiocarbon AMS dates and two well-dated volcanic events, the Upper Toluca Pumice with an age of 11,600 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and the Tres Cruces Tephra of 8500 ¹⁴C yr B.P., provide the chronological framework for the lacustrine sequence. From ca. 23,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. to ca. 11,600 ¹⁴C yr B.P. the plant communities were woodlands and grasslands based on the pollen data. The glacial advances MII-1 and MII-2 correlate with abundant non-arboreal pollen, mainly grasses, from ca. 21,000 to 16,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., and at ca. 12,600 ¹⁴C yr B.P. During the late Pleistocene, lake Chignahuapan was a shallow freshwater lake with a phase of lower level between 19,000 and 16,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. After 10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., tree cover in the area increased, and a more variable lake level is documented. Late Holocene (ca. 3100 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) deforestation was concurrent with human population expansion at the beginning of the Formative period (1500 B.C.). Agriculture and manipulation of the lacustrine environment by human lakeshore populations appear at 1200 ¹⁴C yr B.P. (550 A.D.) with the appearance of Zea mays pollen and abundant charcoal particles.     

Long-term deforestation in NW Spain: linking the Holocene fire history to vegetation change and human activities

The Holocene fire regime is thought to have had a key role in deforestation and shrubland expansion in Galicia (NW Spain) but the contribution of past societies to vegetation burning remains poorly understood. This may be, in part, due to the fact that detailed fire records from areas in close proximity to archaeological sites are scarce. To fill this gap, we performed charcoal analysis in five colluvial soils from an archaeological area (Campo Lameiro) and compared the results to earlier studies from this area and palaeo-ecological literature from NW Spain. This analysis allowed for the reconstruction of the vegetation and fire dynamics in the area during the last ca 11 000 yrs. In the Early Holocene, Fabaceae and Betula sp. were dominant in the charcoal record. Quercus sp. started to replace these species around 10 000 cal BP, forming a deciduous forest that prevailed during the Holocene Thermal Maximum until ～5500 cal BP. Following that, several cycles of potentially fire-induced forest regression with subsequent incomplete recovery eventually led to the formation of an open landscape dominated by shrubs (Erica sp. and Fabaceae). Major episodes of forest regression were (1) ～5500–5000 cal BP, which marks the mid-Holocene cooling after the Holocene Thermal Maximum, but also the period during which agropastoral activities in NW Spain became widespread, and (2) ～2000–1500 cal BP, which corresponds roughly to the end of the Roman Warm Period and the transition from the Roman to the Germanic period. The low degree of chronological precision, which is inherent in fire history reconstructions from colluvial soils, made it impossible to distinguish climatic from human-induced fires. Nonetheless, the abundance of synanthropic pollen indicators (e.g. Plantago lanceolata and Urtica dioica) since at least ～6000 cal BP strongly suggests that humans used fire to generate and maintain pasture.     

The use of the exponent K(q) function to delimit homogeneous regions in regional frequency analysis of extreme annual daily rainfall

The regional frequency analysis of extreme annual rainfall data is a useful methodology in hydrology to obtain certain quantile values when no long data series are available. The most crucial step in the analysis is the grouping of sites into homogeneous regions. This work presents a new grouping criterion based on some multifractal properties of rainfall data. For this purpose, a regional frequency analysis of extreme annual rainfall data from the Maule Region (Chile) has been performed. Daily rainfall data series of 53 available stations have been studied, and their empirical moments scaling exponent functions K(q) have been obtained. Two characteristics parameters of the K(q) functions (γ_max and K(0)) have been used to group the stations into three homogeneous regions. Only five sites have not been possible to include into any homogenous regions, being the local frequency analysis of extreme daily rainfall the most appropriate method to be used at these locations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low-order stabilized finite element for the full Biot formulation in soil mechanics at finite strain

This article presents a novel finite element formulation for the Biot equation using low-order elements. Additionally, an extra degree of freedom is introduced to treat the volumetric locking steaming from the effective response of the medium; its balance equation is also stabilized. The accuracy of the proposed formulation is demonstrated by means of numerical analyses.