Interwedging and inversion structures around the trans-European suture zone in the Baltic Sea, a manifestation of compressive tectonic phases

During the evolution of continents, compressive tectonic phases can leave certain tectonic patterns in the lithosphere to be observed by reflection seismology. Also, in the area of the trans-European suture zone (TESZ) in the Baltic Sea, several relatively short, but occasionally strong, compressive phases have left their marks in the lithosphere in form of characteristic fault and thrust zones in the rigid parts of crust and mantle, especially clear and well investigated in some sediment troughs. At depth, interwedging processes seem to be generated by colliding tectonic units with different rheology, creating bi-vergent fault structures, possibly—but not necessarily—initiated by a previous subduction of intervening oceanic lithosphere. Near the surface, reactivation and inversion of previous faults are very selective. Transpressional processes and the reduced friction inside the faults are suggested to play a major role. It is assumed that the transfer of plate boundary stressed over long distances is performed mainly through the thick and rigid mantle lid, not through the thin, rigid, and heterogeneous upper crust. This assumption involves mechanisms of a vertical transfer of stresses from the mantle into the inversion area, and some signs of such a process are seen around the Tornquist Zone (TZ). Several examples of compressive transfer of stresses are shown.     

Gondwana break-up and the northern margin of the Saxothuringian belt (Variscides of Central Europe)

At the northwestern edge of the Hercynian Bohemian Massif (Saxothuringian belt) new U-Pb zircon age data from rift-related magmatic rocks indicate that the initiation of Gondwana break-up in this area started during the Middle to Upper Cambrian. Magmatic rocks from a bimodal, MORB- to within-plate volcanic sequence in the Vesser area are dated between ca. 517 and 501 Ma. The volcaniclastic sequences analysed exhibit basal layers of conglomerates and mature sandstones, which can be correlated with a widespread Gondwana-derived onlap horizon of an uppermost Cambrian/Tremadocian age that links the Vesser area with the Saxothuringian continental basin. The association of the Vesser rocks with the Saxothuringian terrane as part of the Armorican terrane assemblage is further demonstrated by a coeval magmatic development and by identical detrital components which are derived from a common Cadomian basement (white mica with a ca. 539 Ma K-Ar minimum age and inherited zircon signatures). The Vesser unit, situated between the NW margin of the Saxothuringian zone and the Mid-German Crystalline Zone, probably represents a N-facing remnant of an ocean-continent transition of the, or within the, Armorican terrane assemblage and involves sections of the early break-up process at the peri-Gondwanan shelf south of the Rheic ocean.     

Isotope (O-Sr-Nd-Pb) and Fluid Inclusion Distributions in the CCSD Main Hole

1. Introduction The main-hole of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project (CCSD) in Donghai of the Dabie-Sulu UHP metamorphic belt in East China has reached its final depth of 5118 m in March 2005. As shown in Fig.     

Policy Contestation over the Ecosystem Services Approach in Sweden

Ecosystem services (ES) is an important approach to biodiversity protection in political rhetoric and policy practice, but it is also highly contested. This paper analyzes the introduction of ES in Swedish environmental policy and how it is contested by key stakeholders and discusses its implications for biodiversity governance. The results show that although ES is widely accepted on an abstract and conceptual level, critical features and functions are highly contested. These primarily concern the valuation of nature, appropriateness of different policy instruments, and institutional structures. The paper concludes that while the controversy surrounding ES fills an important role by reinvigorating debate and stimulating reflections on biodiversity loss, it also illustrates how ES is used to further particular values and beliefs and to challenge traditional biodiversity-protecting strategies. Understanding these policy controversies is central to addressing the challenges of transforming the promises of ES into practical policies.     

An uncertainty parameter of historical earthquakes – the record threshold

In this study we use the term record threshold of a historical earthquake for the seismic intensity (EMS92) in an area where a given percentage P of the serial sources of places have recorded the event as been noticed there. The record threshold is understood as a limiting measure, below which warranted statements about the intensity cannot be given. P defines the acceptable uncertainty and can be chosen according to the demands of the special task, for instance, 10%. It is shown that the record threshold of historical earthquakes is not the same as the human perceptibility threshold of earthquakes of the 20th Century. The historical sources have to be selected using criteria such as completeness and homogenity of data. This demand is approximately met by inquiries for sources covering an area greater than the expected felt area of the historical earthquake.The Friuli event of 25 January 1348 is presented as an example. It is compared with the well known Friuli event of 6 May 1976 in order to calibrate its intensity. The record threshold of the 1348 event was probably IV or less than IV EMS92 for P = 10%. The method, properly modified, can be applied to different cultural epochs and areas. This result throws a light on the possible error in determining the felt area of historical events.     

Spatial patterns of frequent floods in Switzerland

This study investigates the spatial dependence of high and extreme streamflows in Switzerland across different scales. First, using 56 runoff time series from Swiss rivers, we determined the average length of high-streamflow events for different levels of extremeness. Second, a dependence measure that expressed the probability that streamflow peaks would meet or exceed streamflow peaks at a conditioning site was used to describe and map the spatial extent of joint streamflow-peak occurrences across Switzerland. Third, we analysed the spatial patterns of jointly occurring high streamflows using cluster analysis to identify groups that react similarly in terms of flood frequency at different sites. The results indicate that, on a coarse scale, high and extreme streamflows are asymptotically independent in the main Swiss basins. Additionally, mesoscale tributaries in the main basins show distinct flood regions across river systems.     

Extreme flood‐driven fluvial bank erosion and sediment loads: direct process measurements using integrated Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) and hydro‐acoustic techniques

This methods paper details the first attempt at monitoring bank erosion, flow and suspended sediment at a site during flooding on the Mekong River induced by the passage of tropical cyclones. We deployed integrated mobile laser scanning (MLS) and multibeam echo sounding (MBES), alongside acoustic Doppler current profiling (aDcp), to directly measure changes in river bank and bed at high (~0.05 m) spatial resolution, in conjunction with measurements of flow and suspended sediment dynamics. We outline the methodological steps used to collect and process this complex point cloud data, and detail the procedures used to process and calibrate the aDcp flow and sediment flux data. A comparison with conventional remote sensing methods of estimating bank erosion, using aerial images and Landsat imagery, reveals that traditional techniques are error prone at the high temporal resolutions required to quantify the patterns and volumes of bank erosion induced by the passage of individual flood events. Our analysis reveals the importance of cyclone‐driven flood events in causing high rates of erosion and suspended sediment transport, with a c. twofold increase in bank erosion volumes and a fourfold increase in suspended sediment volumes in the cyclone‐affected wet season. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Holocene to Recent aragonite-cemented transgressive lag deposits in the Abu Dhabi lagoon and intertidal sabkha

Modern cemented intervals (beachrock, firmgrounds to hardgrounds and concretionary layers) form in the lagoon and intertidal sabkha of Abu Dhabi. Seafloor lithification actively occurs in open, current-swept channels in low-lying areas between ooid shoals, in the intertidal zone of the middle lagoon, some centimetres beneath the inner lagoonal seafloor (i.e. within the sediment column) and at the sediment surface the intertidal sabkha. The concept of ‘concretionary sub-hardgrounds’, i.e. laminar cementation of sediments formed within the sediment column beneath the shallow redox boundary, is introduced and discussed. Based on calibrated radiocarbon ages, seafloor lithification commenced during the Middle to Late Holocene (ca 9000 cal yr bp ), and proceeds to the present-day. Lithification occurs in the context of the actualistic relative sea-level rise shifting the coastline landward across the extremely low-angle carbonate ramp. The cemented intervals are interpreted as parasequence boundaries in the sense of ‘marine flooding surfaces’, but in most cases the sedimentary cover overlying the transgressive surface has not yet been deposited. Aragonite, (micritic) calcite and, less commonly, gypsum cements lithify the firmground/hardground intervals. Cements are described and placed into context with their depositional and marine diagenetic environments and characterized by means of scanning electron microscope petrography, cathodoluminescence microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The morphology of aragonitic cements changes from needle-shaped forms in lithified decapod burrows of the outer lagoon ooidal shoals to complex columnar, lath and platy crystals in the inner lagoon. Precipitation experiments provide first tentative evidence for the parameters that induce changes in aragonite cement morphology. Data shown here shed light on ancient, formerly aragonite-cemented seafloors, now altered to diagenetic calcites, but also document the complexity of highly dynamic near coastal depositional environments.