Sea Level Rise in Miami Beach: Vulnerability and Real Estate Exposure

Sea level rise threatens coastal communities throughout the United States, and South Florida is on the front line. The iconic and built-up city of Miami Beach, Florida, has a well-developed, high-value property market, and the municipality has been lauded for proactively taking action to adapt to anticipated sea level rise. Moving beyond hyperbole and piecemeal evidence, we compile a comprehensive inventory of adaptation and mitigation measures implemented by various municipal agencies. We employ these data sets to measure exposure and readiness for the entire city and make a preliminary effort to develop a city vulnerability index. Our findings reveal that exposure throughout the city is high and that readiness is concentrated near stormwater drainage systems, leading to high vulnerability along the coast. When we compare the spatial patterns of the vulnerability index and the residential property values, we find a mismatch. The most vulnerable regions are characterized by high income, transiency, and an apparent unresponsiveness to sea level rise. No doubt our findings illustrate a lag effect, but if sea level rise increases, the real estate market could reach a tipping point unless state and federal agencies also fund more comprehensive adaptation.     

Water quality modeling and sensitivity analysis using Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) in the Shenandoah River watershed

This study used the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) to simulate nutrients, dissolved oxygen (DO), and chlorophyll-a dynamics in the Shenandoah River basin and performed an uncertainty analysis to examine the complexity of these variables in water quality estimation and their influence on the Shenandoah River. Significant progress has been made; however, nutrient loads emitted into the Shenandoah River from nonpoint sources remain high. Modeling of three points on the Shenandoah River in Virginia and West Virginia provides an ideal case study since the river is classified by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality as being impaired. The results of a sensitivity test show that model error decreases with increasing model complexity and sensitivity. The model predicted DO values that tended to be close to the measured data, while total nitrogen and phosphorus tended to be overemphasized. Our results examine the importance of temperature, stream flow, and velocity in influencing water quality between seasons and levels on the different sections of the watershed.     

Stable isotope constraints on the fluid source of hydrothermal breccia pipes in the Tankwa Karoo depocentre,South Africa: Breakdown of authigenic minerals during sill intrusion

The Karoo Basin covers much of South Africa and is an area of prospective shale gas exploration, with the Whitehill Formation the target shale unit. However, the sedimentary succession, including the Whitehill, has been intruded by a series of sills and dykes associated with the Karoo Large Igneous Province (~183 Ma), which are expected to have modified the thermal history of the basin dramatically. Here, we investigate a secondary effect of these intrusions: a series of hydrothermal vent complexes, or breccia pipes, focusing on using O, H, and C isotopes to constrain the origin and evolution of fluids produced during the intrusion of basaltic sills. A cluster of breccia pipes have been eroded down to the level of the Ecca Group at Luiperdskop on the western edge of the Karoo basin; a small isolated pipe of similar appearance crops out 13 km to the east. The Luiperdskop pipes are underlain by a Karoo dolerite sill that is assumed to provide the heat driving fluidization. The pipes consist of fine‐grained matrix and about 8% clasts, on average, of mostly sedimentary material; occasional large rafts of quartzite and dolerite are also present. The presence of clasts apparently from the Dwyka Group is consistent with the depth of formation of the pipes being at, or near, the base of the Karoo Supergroup, between 400 and 850 m below present surface. The presence of chlorite as the dominant hydrous mineral is consistent with an emplacement temperature between 300 and 350°C. The major and trace element, and O‐ and H‐isotope composition of the Tankwa breccias is homogenous, consistent with them being derived from the same source. The δ¹⁸O values (vsVSMOW) of the breccias are relatively uniform (7.1‰–8.7‰), and are similar to that of the country rock shale, and both are lower than expected for shale. The water content of the breccia is between 2.7 and 3.1 wt.% and the δD values range from ?109‰ to ?144‰. Calcite in vesicles has δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O (VSMOW) values of ?4.2‰ and 24.0‰, respectively. The low δD value of the breccia rocks does not appear to be due to the presence of methane in the fluid. Instead, it is proposed that low δD and δ¹⁸O values are the result of the fluid being derived from the breakdown of clay minerals that formed and were deposited at a time of cold climate at ~290 Ma.     

Transitional impact craters on the Moon: Insight into the effect of target lithology on the impact cratering process

We studied a data set of 28 well‐preserved lunar craters in the transitional (simple‐to‐complex) regime with the aim of investigating the underlying cause(s) for morphological differences of these craters in mare versus highland terrains. These transitional craters range from 15 to 42 km in diameter, demonstrating that the transition from simple to complex craters is not abrupt and occurs over a broad diameter range. We examined and measured the following crater attributes: depth (d), diameter (D), floor diameter (D_f), rim height (h), and wall width (w), as well as the number and onset of terraces and rock slides. The number of terraces increases with increasing crater size and, in general, mare craters possess more terraces than highland craters of the same diameter. There are also clear differences in the d/D ratio of mare versus highland craters, with transitional craters in mare targets being noticeably shallower than similarly sized highland craters. We propose that layering in mare targets is a major driver for these differences. Layering provides pre‐existing planes of weakness that facilitate crater collapse, thus explaining the overall shallower depths of mare craters and the onset of crater collapse (i.e., the transition from simple to complex crater morphology) at smaller diameters as compared to highland craters. This suggests that layering and its interplay with target strength and porosity may play a more significant role than previously considered.     

Petrological,petrofabric, and oxygen isotopic study of five ungrouped meteorites related to brachinites

Northwest Africa (NWA) 6112, Miller Range (MIL) 090206 (plus its pairs: MIL 090340 and MIL 090405), and Divnoe are olivine‐rich ungrouped achondrites. We investigated and compared their petrography, mineralogy, and olivine fabrics. We additionally measured the oxygen isotopic compositions of NWA 6112. They show similar petrography, mineralogy, and oxygen isotopic compositions and we concluded that these five meteorites are brachinite clan meteorites. We found that NWA 6112 and Divnoe had a c axis concentration pattern of olivine fabrics using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). NWA 6112 and Divnoe are suggested to have been exposed to magmatic melt flows during their crystallization on their parent body. On the other hand, the three MIL meteorites have b axis concentration patterns of olivine fabrics. This indicates that the three MIL meteorites may be cumulates where compaction of olivine grains was dominant. Alternatively, they formed as residues and were exposed to olivine compaction. The presence of two different olivine fabric patterns implies that the parent body(s) of brachinite clan meteorites experienced diverse igneous processes.     

Highly siderophile element and 187Re‐187Os isotopic systematics of ungrouped achondrite Northwest Africa 7325: Evidence for complex planetary processes

The abundances of highly siderophile elements (HSE; including Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, and Pd) and ¹⁸⁷Re‐¹⁸⁷Os isotopic systematics were determined for two fragments from ungrouped achondrite NWA 7325. Rhenium‐Os systematics are consistent with closed‐system behavior since formation or soon after. The abundances of the HSE were therefore largely unaffected by late‐stage secondary processes such as shock or terrestrial weathering. As an olivine gabbro cumulate, this meteorite has a bulk composition consistent with derivation from a body that produced a core, mantle, and crust. Also consistent with derivation from a body that produced a core, both fragments of NWA 7325 have HSE abundances that are highly depleted compared to bulk chondrites. One fragment has ~0.002× CI chondrite Ir and relative HSE abundances similar to bulk chondrites. The other fragment has ~0.0002× CI chondrite Ir and relative HSE abundances that are fractionated compared to bulk chondrites. The chondritic relative HSE abundances of the fragment characterized by higher HSE abundances most likely reflect the addition of exogenous chondritic material during or after crystallization by surface impacts. The HSE in the other fragment is likely more representative of the parent body crust. One formation model that can broadly account for the HSE abundances in this fragment is multiple episodes of low‐pressure metal‐silicate equilibration, followed by limited late accretion and mantle homogenization. Given the different HSE compositions of the two adjoining fragments, this meteorite provides an example of the overprint of global processes (differentiation and late accretion) by localized impact contamination.     

A comparative analysis of time–depth relationships derived from scientific ocean drilling expeditions

Marine Geophysical Research - Time–depth relationships (TDR) are required for correlating geological information from drill sites with seismic reflection profiles. Conventional...