Late Cretaceous extension overprinting a steep belt in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Schesaplana, R?tikon, Switzerland and Austria)

The Triassic to Cretaceous sediment succession of the Lechtal Nappe in the western part of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) has been deformed into large-scale folds and crosscut by thrust and extensional faults during Late Cretaceous (Eoalpine) and Tertiary orogenic processes. The following sequence of deformation is developed from overprinting relations in the field: (D1) NW-vergent folds related to thrusting; (D2) N–S shortening leading to east–west-trending folds and to the formation of a steep belt (Arlberg Steep Zone) along the southern border of the NCA; (D3) E–W to NE–SW extension and vertical shortening, leading to low-angle normal faulting and recumbent “collapse folds” like the Wildberg Syncline. D1 and D2 are Cretaceous in age and predate the Eocene emplacement of the Austroalpine on the Penninic Nappes along the Austroalpine basal thrust; the same is probably true for D3. Finally, the basal thrust was deformed by folds related to out-of-sequence thrusting. These results suggest that the NCA were at least partly in a state of extension during the sedimentation of the Gosau Group in the Late Cretaceous.     

The Arctic Coastal Dynamics Database: A New Classification Scheme and Statistics on Arctic Permafrost Coastlines

Arctic permafrost coasts are sensitive to changing climate. The lengthening open water season and the increasing open water area are likely to induce greater erosion and threaten community and industry infrastructure as well as dramatically change nutrient pathways in the near-shore zone. The shallow, mediterranean Arctic Ocean is likely to be strongly affected by changes in currently poorly observed arctic coastal dynamics. We present a geomorphological classification scheme for the arctic coast, with 101,447?km of coastline in 1,315 segments. The average rate of erosion for the arctic coast is 0.5?m? year^?1 with high local and regional variability. Highest rates are observed in the Laptev, East Siberian, and Beaufort Seas. Strong spatial variability in associated database bluff height, ground carbon and ice content, and coastline movement highlights the need to estimate the relative importance of shifting coastal fluxes to the Arctic Ocean at multiple spatial scales.     

Sensitivity Analysis of Selected Input Parameters for an Advanced Constitutive Model

Experimental results and simulated behavior of a medium plasticity clay were compared to investigate the performance of an advanced soil constitutive model. The soil model employed for this study was the 3-SKH model. The performance of this model was compared to the performance of two other critical state models; the Cam Clay (CC) and Modified Cam Clay (MCC) models. In addition, the influences of some of the input parameters on the performance of the 3-SKH model were investigated by performing sensitivity analyses. The comparisons demonstrated that the CC model was able to predict normally consolidated compressive behavior of the remolded medium plasticity clay. The compression behavior of overconsolidated clay was better captured by both the 3-SKH and CC models. For extension behavior of the normally consolidated samples, the MCC model performed better than the CC and 3-SKH models in predicting the stress path. The 3-SKH model was found to be very sensitive to varying the exponent in the hardening function. In particular, a difference between the evaluated values as small as 0.01 had a noticeable effect on the predicted stress–strain values for the overconsolidated compression and extension samples.     

OpenGeoSys-ChemApp: a coupled simulator for reactive transport in multiphase systems and application to CO2 storage formation in Northern Germany

Sequestration of CO₂ into a deep geological reservoir causes a complex interaction of different processes such as multiphase flow, phase transition, multicomponent transport, and geochemical reactions between dissolved CO₂ and the mineral matrix of the porous medium. A prognosis of the reservoir behaviour and the feedback from large-scale geochemical alterations require efficient process-based numerical models. For this purpose, the multiphase flow and multicomponent transport code OpenGeoSys-Eclipse have been coupled to the geochemical model ChemApp. The newly developed coupled simulator was successfully verified for correctness and accuracy of the implemented reaction module by benchmarking tests. The code was then applied to assess the impact of geochemical reactions during CO₂ sequestration at a hypothetical but typical Bunter sandstone formation in the Northern German Basin. Injection and spreading of 1.48 × 10⁷ t of CO₂ in an anticline structure of the reservoir were simulated over a period of 20 years of injection plus 80 years of post-injection time. Equilibrium geochemical calculations performed by ChemApp show only a low reactivity to the geochemical system. The increased acidity of the aqueous solution results in dissolution of small amounts of calcite, anhydrite, and quartz. Geochemical alterations of the mineral phase composition result in slight increases in porosity and permeability, which locally may reach up to +0.02 and 0.1 %, respectively.     

Determination of first-order degradation rate constants from monitoring networks

In this article, different strategies for estimating first-order degradation rate constants from measured field data are compared by application to multiple, synthetic, contaminant plumes. The plumes were generated by numerical simulation of contaminant transport and degradation in virtual heterogeneous aquifers. These sites were then individually and independently investigated on the computer by installation of extensive networks of observation wells. From the data measured at the wells, that is, contaminant concentrations, hydraulic conductivities, and heads, first-order degradation rates were estimated by three 1D centerline methods, which use only measurements located on the plume axis, and a two-dimensional method, which uses all concentration measurements available downgradient from the contaminant source. Results for both strategies show that the true rate constant used for the numerical simulation of the plumes in general tends to be overestimated. Overestimation is stronger for narrow plumes from small source zones, with an average overestimation factor of about 5 and single values ranging from 0.5 to 20, decreasing for wider plumes, with an average overestimation factor of about 2 and similar spread. Reasons for this overestimation are identified in the velocity calculation, the dispersivity parameterization, and off-centerline measurements. For narrow plumes, the one- and the two-dimensional strategies show approximately the same amount of overestimation. For wider plumes, however, incorporation of all measurements in the two-dimensional approach reduces the estimation error. No significant relation between the number of observation wells in the monitoring network and the quality of the estimated rate constant is found for the two-dimensional approach.     

Dissolved iron(III) speciation in the high latitude North Atlantic Ocean

On voyages in the Iceland Basin in 2007 and 2009, we observed low (ca. 0.1 nM) total dissolved iron concentrations [dFe] in surface waters (<150 m), which increased with depth to ca. 0.2–0.9 nM. The surface water [dFe] was low due to low atmospheric Fe inputs combined with biological uptake, with Fe regeneration from microbial degradation of settling biogenic particles supplying dFe at depth. The organic ligand concentrations [L_T] in the surface waters ranged between 0.4 and 0.5 nM, with conditional stability constants (log K′_FeL) between 22.6 and 22.7. Furthermore, [L_T] was in excess of [dFe] throughout the water column, and dFe was therefore largely complexed by organic ligands (>99%). The ratio of [L_T]/[dFe] was used to analyse trends in Fe speciation. Enhanced and variable [L_T]/[dFe] ratios ranging between 1.6 and 5.8 were observed in surface waters; the ratio decreased with depth to a more constant [L_T]/[dFe] ratio in deep waters. In the Iceland Basin and Rockall Trough, enhanced [L_T]/[dFe] ratios in surface waters resulted from decreases in [dFe], likely reflecting the conditions of Fe limitation of the phytoplankton community in the surface waters of the Iceland Basin and the high productivity in the Rockall Trough.Below the surface mixed layer, the observed increase in [dFe] resulted in a decrease of the [L_T]/[dFe] ratios (1.2–2.6) with depth. This indicated that the Fe binding ligand sites became occupied and even almost saturated at enhanced [dFe] in the deeper waters. Furthermore, our results showed a quasi-steady state in deep waters between dissolved organic Fe ligands and dFe, reflecting a balance between Fe removal by scavenging and Fe supply by remineralisation of biogenic particles with stabilisation through ligands.     

On the Relationship Between the Jets from X-Ray Binaries and Agn

The scale invariance model (Heinz, S. and Sunyaev, R.A.: 2003, MNRAS 343, L59) can be used to derive robust scaling relations between the radio luminosity from accreting black holes and the black hole mass and accretion rate. These relations agree well with the recently found “fundamental plane” of black hole activity (Merloni, A., Heinz, S. and Di Matteo, T.: 2003, MNRAS 345, 1057). This relation provides a new, powerful tool for the comparison of jets from black holes of different masses and accretion rates. The regression coefficients of this relation contain information about the nature of the X-ray emission mechanism driving the correlation. We argue that X-ray synchrotron emission from the base of the jets is unlikely to be the dominant contribution to the X-ray spectrum in most of the sources.     

Hydrological heterogeneity of an alpine stream–lake network in Switzerland

Water source and lake landscape position can strongly influence the physico‐chemical characteristics of flowing waters over space and time. We examined the physico‐chemical heterogeneity in surface waters of an alpine stream‐lake network (>2600 m a.s.l.) in Switzerland. The catchment comprises two basins interspersed with 26 cirque lakes. The larger lakes in each basin are interconnected by streams that converge in a lowermost lake with an outlet stream. The north basin is primarily fed by precipitation and groundwater, whereas the south basin is fed mostly by glacial melt from rock glaciers. Surface flow of the entire channel network contracted by ～60% in early autumn, when snowmelt runoff ceased and cold temperatures reduced glacial outputs, particularly in the south basin. Average water temperatures were ～4 °C cooler in the south basin, and temperatures increased by about 4–6 °C along the longitudinal gradient within each basin. Although overall water conductivity was low (<27 µS cm^?1) because of bedrock geology (ortho‐gneiss), the south basin had two times higher conductivity values than the north basin. Phosphate‐phosphorus levels were below analytical detection limits, but particulate phosphorus was about four times higher in the north basin (seasonal average: 9 µg l^?1) than in the south basin (seasonal average: 2 µg l^?1). Dissolved nitrogen constituents were around two times higher in the south basin than in the north basin, with highest values averaging > 300 µg l^?1 (nitrite + nitrate‐nitrogen), whereas particulate nitrogen was approximately nine times greater in the north basin (seasonal average: 97 µg l^?1) than in the south basin (seasonal average: 12 µg l^?1). Total inorganic carbon was low (usually <0·8 mg l^?1), silica was sufficient for algal growth, and particulate organic carbon was 4·5 times higher in the north basin (average: 0·9 mg l^?1) than in the south basin (average: 0·2 mg l^?1). North‐basin streams showed strong seasonality in turbidity, particulate‐nitrogen and ‐phosphorus, and particulate organic carbon, whereas strong seasonality in south‐basin streams was observed in conductivity and dissolved nitrogen. Lake position influenced the seasonal dynamics in stream temperatures and nutrients, particularly in the groundwater/precipitation‐fed north‐basin network. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The hydrodynamics of dead radio galaxies

We present a numerical investigation of dead, or relic, radio galaxies and the environmental impact that radio galaxy activity has on the host galaxy or galaxy cluster. We perform axisymmetric hydrodynamical calculations of light, supersonic, back-to-back jets propagating in a β -model galaxy/cluster atmosphere. We then shut down the jet activity and let the resulting structure evolve passively. The dead source undergoes an initial phase of pressure driven expansion until it achieves pressure equilibrium with its surroundings. Thereafter, buoyancy forces drive the evolution and lead to the formation of two oppositely directed plumes that float high into the galaxy/cluster atmosphere. These plumes entrain a significant amount of low entropy material from the galaxy/cluster core and lift it high into the atmosphere. An important result is that a large fraction (at least half) of the energy injected by the jet activity is thermalized in the interstellar medium (ISM)/intracluster medium (ICM) core. The whole ISM/ICM atmosphere inflates in order to regain hydrostatic equilibrium. This inflation is mediated by an approximately spherical disturbance which propagates into the atmosphere at the sound speed. The fact that such a large fraction of the injected energy is thermalized suggests that radio galaxies may have an important role in the overall energy budget of rich ISM/ICM atmospheres. In particular, they may act as a strong and highly time-dependent source of negative feedback for galaxy/cluster cooling flows.