Modeling regional landslide susceptibility using dynamic soil moisture profiles

A landslide susceptibility mapping study was performed using dynamic hillslope hydrology. The modified infinite slope stability model that directly includes vadose zone soil moisture (SM) was applied at Cleveland Corral, California, US and Krishnabhir, Dhading, Nepal. The variable infiltration capacity (VIC-3L) model simulated vadose zone soil moisture and the wetness index hydrologic model simulated groundwater (GW). The GW model predictions had a 75% NASH-Sutcliffe efficiency when compared to California’s in-situ GW measurements. The model performed best during the wet season. Using predicted GW and VIC-3L vadose zone SM, the developed landslide susceptibility maps showed very good agreement with mapped landslides at each study region. Previous quasi-dynamic model predictions of Nepal’s hazardous areas during extreme rainfall events were enhanced to improve the spatial characterization and provide the timing of hazardous conditions.     

Neoarchean suprasubduction zone arc magmatism in southern India: Geochemistry,zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotopes of the Sittampundi Anorthosite Complex

The Sittampundi Anorthosite Complex (SAC) in southern India is one of the well exposed Archean layered anorthosite-gabbro-ultramafic rock associations. Here we present high precision geochemical data for the various units of SAC, coupled with zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotopic data for the anorthosite. The zircon ages define two populations, the older yield a concordia age of 2541 ± 13 Ma, which is interpreted as the best estimate of the magmatic crystallization age for the Sittampundi anorthosite. A high-grade metamorphic event at 2461 ± 15 Ma is suggested by the upper intercept age of the younger zircon population. A Neoproterozoic event at 715 ± 180 Ma resulted in Pb loss from some of the metamorphic zircons. The magmatic age of the anorthosite correlates well with the timing of crystallization of the arc-related ~ 2530 Ma magmatic charnockites in the adjacent Salem Block, while the metamorphic age is synchronous with the regional metamorphic event. The geochemical data suggest that the rocks were derived from a depleted mantle source. Sub-arc mantle metasomatism of slab derived fluids and subsequent partial melting produced hydrous, aluminous basalt magma. The magma fractionated at depth to produce a variety of high-alumina basalt compositions, from which the anorthositic complex with its chromite-rich and amphibole-rich layers formed as cumulates within the magma chamber of a supra-subduction zone arc. The coherent initial¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios and positive εHf values (1.7 – 4.5) of the magmatic zircons in the anorthosite are consistent with derivation of a rather homogeneous juvenile parent magma from a depleted mantle source. Our study further confirms that the southern part of the Dharwar Craton was an active convergent margin during the Neoarchean with the generation and emplacement of suprasubduction zone arc magmas which played a significant role in continental growth.     

The relationship between reference canopy conductance and simplified hydraulic architecture

Terrestrial ecosystems are dominated by vascular plants that form a mosaic of hydraulic conduits to water movement from the soil to the atmosphere. Together with canopy leaf area, canopy stomatal conductance regulates plant water use and thereby photosynthesis and growth. Although stomatal conductance is coordinated with plant hydraulic conductance, governing relationships across species has not yet been formulated at a practical level that can be employed in large-scale models. Here, combinations of published conductance measurements obtained with several methodologies across boreal to tropical climates were used to explore relationships between canopy conductance rates and hydraulic constraints. A parsimonious hydraulic model requiring sapwood-to-leaf area ratio and canopy height generated acceptable agreement with measurements across a range of biomes (r²=0.75)$(r^2=0.75)$. The results suggest that, at long time scales, the functional convergence among ecosystems in the relationship between water-use and hydraulic architecture eclipses inter-specific variation in physiology and anatomy of the transport system. Prognostic applicability of this model requires independent knowledge of sapwood-to-leaf area. In this study, we did not find a strong relationship between sapwood-to-leaf area and physical or climatic variables that are readily determinable at coarse scales, though the results suggest that climate may have a mediating influence on the relationship between sapwood-to-leaf area and height. Within temperate forests, canopy height alone explained a large amount of the variance in reference canopy conductance (r²=0.68)$(r^2=0.68)$ and this relationship may be more immediately applicable in the terrestrial ecosystem models.     

Pennsylvanian carbonate platforms adjacent to deltaic systems in an active marine foreland basin (Escalada Fm., Cantabrian Zone,NW Spain)

The Pennsylvanian marine foreland basin of the Cantabrian Zone (NW Spain) is characterized by the unique development of kilometre‐size and hundred‐metre‐thick carbonate platforms adjacent to deltaic systems. During Moscovian time, progradational clastic wedges fed by the orogen comprised proximal alluvial conglomerates and coal‐bearing deltaic sequences to distal shelfal marine deposits associated with carbonate platforms (Escalada Fm.) and distal clay‐rich submarine slopes. A first phase of carbonate platform development (Escalada I, upper Kashirian‐lower Podolskian) reached a thickness of 400 m, nearly 50 km in width and developed a distal high‐relief margin facing a starved basin, nearly 1000‐m deep. Carbonate slope clinoforms dipped up to 30° and consisted of in situ microbial boundstone, pinching out downslope into calciturbidites, argillaceous spiculites and breccias. The second carbonate platform (Escalada II, upper Podolskian‐lower Myachkovian) developed beyond the previous platform margin, following the basinward progradation of siliciclastic deposits. Both carbonate platforms include: (1) a lower part composed of siliciclastic‐carbonate cyclothems characterized by coated‐grain and ooid grainstones; and (2) a carbonate‐dominated upper part, composed of tabular and mound‐shaped wackestone and algal‐microbial boundstone strata alternating at the decametre scale with skeletal and coated‐grain grainstone beds. Carbonate platforms initiated in distal sectors of the foreland marine shelf during transgressions, when terrigenous sediments were stored in the proximal part, and developed further during highstands of 3rd‐order sequences in a high‐subsidence context. During the falling stage and lowstand systems tracts, deltaic systems prograded across the shelf burying the carbonate platforms. Key factors involved in the development of these unique carbonate platforms in an active foreland basin are: (1) the large size of the marine shelf (approaching 200 km in width); (2) the subsidence distribution pattern across the marine shelf, decreasing from proximal shoreline to distal sectors; (3) Pennsylvanian glacio‐eustacy affecting carbonate lithofacies architecture; and (4) the environmental conditions optimal for fostering microbial and algal carbonate factories.     

2-D deformation analysis of a half-space due to a long dip-slip fault at finite depth

Closed form analytical expressions of stresses and displacements at any field point due to a very long dip-slip fault of finite width buried in a homogeneous, isotropic elastic half-space, are presented. Airy stress function is used to derive the expressions of stresses and displacements which depend on the dip angle and depth of the upper edge of the fault. The effect of dip angle and depth of the upper edge of the fault on stresses and displacements is studied numerically and the results obtained are presented graphically. Contour maps for stresses and displacements are also presented. The results of Rani and Singh (1992b) and Freund and Barnett (1976) have been reproduced.     

Impacts of climate change on building energy demands in the intra-Americas region

It was recently reported a regional warming in the intra-Americas region where sea surface temperature exhibited increases exceeding 0.15 °C/decade and an accelerated air temperature rise that could impact building energy demands per capita (EDC). Reanalysis data is used herein to quantify the impacts of these warming trends on EDC. Results of the analysis depict a Southern Greater Antilles and inland South America with a positive annual EDC rate of 1–5 kWh per year. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6 and 4.5 scenarios were selected to analyze energy demand changes in the twenty-first century. A multi-model ensemble forecasts an EDC increase of 9.6 and 23 kWh/month in the RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 at the end of the twenty-first century, which may increase average building cooling loads in the region by 7.57 GW (RCP2.6) and 8.15 GW (RCP4.5), respectively. Furthermore, 4 of 9 (RCP2.6) and 7 of 9 (RCP4.5) of the major countries in this region have EDCs ranging between 1887 and 2252 kWh/year at the end of this century. Therefore, increased energy production and improved energy infrastructure will be required to maintain ideal indoor building conditions at the end of the twenty-first century in these tropical coastal regions as consequence of a warmer climate.     

Estimates of source parameters of <Emphasis Type=Italic>M</Emphasis>4.9 Kharsali earthquake using waveform modelling

This paper presents the computation of time series of the 22 July 2007 M 4.9 Kharsali earthquake. It occurred close to the Main Central Thrust (MCT) where seismic gap exists. The main shock and 17 aftershocks were located by closely spaced eleven seismograph stations in a network that involved VSAT based real-time seismic monitoring. The largest aftershock of M 3.5 and other aftershocks occurred within a small volume of 4 × 4 km horizontal extent and between depths of 10 and 14 km. The values of seismic moment (M _∘) determined using P-wave spectra and Brune’s model based on f ² spectral shape ranges from 10¹⁸ to 10²³ dyne-cm. The initial aftershocks occurred at greater depth compared to the later aftershocks. The time series of ground motion have been computed for recording sites using geometric ray theory and Green’s function approach. The method for computing time series consists in integrating the far-field contributions of Green’s function for a number of distributed point source. The generated waveforms have been compared with the observed ones. It has been inferred that the Kharsali earthquake occurred due to a northerly dipping low angle thrust fault at a depth of 14 km taking strike N279°E, dip 14° and rake 117°. There are two regions on the fault surface which have larger slip amplitudes (asperities) and the rupture which has been considered as circular in nature initiated from the asperity at a greater depth shifting gradually upwards. The two asperities cover only 10% of the total area of the causative fault plane. However, detailed seismic imaging of these two asperities can be corroborated with structural heterogeneities associated with causative fault to understand how seismogenesis is influenced by strong or weak structural barriers in the region.     

Heat and mass transfer in convective flow of an incompressible rarefied visco-elastic fluid in presence of transverse magnetic field

Analytical study is performed to examine heat and mass transfer characteristics of natural convection flow of an incompressible, rarefied visco-elastic fluid past an infinite vertical porous plate with constant suction in the presence of transverse magnetic field under combined buoyancy force effects of thermal and mass diffusion. The effects of various parameters on mean velocity and mean skin-friction are shown graphically followed by a comparative study of Newtonian and non-Newtonian (visco-elastic). rarefied states.