Evacuation behaviour of households and drivers during a tornado

With increasing concerns over the possibility of tornadoes in highly populated areas in Canada, emergency managers are looking into ways to mitigate the impacts of tornadoes. Given that tornadoes can cause enormous destruction, early warnings and proper evacuation actions are critically important in helping save lives. In this paper, a survey was conducted to analyse the evacuation behaviour of households and drivers during a hypothetical tornado warning situation in the city of Calgary, Alberta. Nearly 500 Calgarians took part in the online survey and provided information on how they would respond to tornado warnings after receiving them. This paper presents the results of the survey. Using probit models, the factors influencing these evacuation decisions are identified and discussed in detail. The results of the household evacuation model show the importance of improving awareness about the safest locations during a tornado. It further highlights the need for targeting the population under the age of 30, who are more likely to take unsafe evacuation actions. The model for evacuation of drivers shows that several factors, such as knowing the difference between a watch and a warning, awareness of safe cover, receipt of warnings through natural environmental cues and the level of education, trigger evacuation actions in avoiding a tornado threat.     

Effects of spatial data resolution on runoff predictions by the BASINS model

The BASINS model, developed by the United States EPA, is a popular simulation tool for predicting watershed responses, such as runoff, pollution exports, and water quality. It requires large amounts of data to set parameters. Many studies state that model input is a major source of model uncertainty. Thus, improvements to the quality and completeness of the data will improve the certainty of the model. The objective of this study is to discuss the effects of spatial data, including digital elevation models (DEMs) and spatial rainfall records, on predictions of runoff from the BASINS model. The result shows that both DEMs and rainfall data can significantly influence peak flow and runoff volume. Rainfall input has more influence on the curve shape of hydrograph than DEM resolution. DEM resolution can have more impact on peak flow predictions than rainfall input. Because the model uncertainties from DEMs and rainfall records influence each other, the prediction error does not always decrease when DEM resolution increases. The present results show that the BASINS model produces reliable answers in the case area when the grid size is less than 100 m × 100 m and the precipitation records from the Bihu Rainfall Station are correct and complete.     

Isotope Characteristics of Carbonates from Rocks of Greenstone Belts as an Indicator of a Possible Source of Fluids in Precambrian Granulite Complexes: An Example from the Giyani Greenstone Belt and the Limpopo Granulite Complex,South Africa

Doklady Earth Sciences - Data on the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of carbonates from the rocks of the Giyani greenstone belt, Kaapvaal craton, South Africa are presented. This belt is...     

Hydrogeochemical Precursors in Kamchatka (Russia) Related to the Strongest Earthquakes in 1988–1997

The Kamchatka peninsula, located in the far east of Russia, is a geologically active margin where the Pacific plate subducts beneath the North American and Eurasia plates. This area is characterised by frequent and strong seismic activity (magnitudes up to 8.5) and epicentres are generally distributed offshore along the eastern coast of the peninsula. For many years, hydrogeochemicals have been collected with a mean sampling frequency of three days in the form of the flow rate and the most common ions and gases in the groundwater of three deep wells in the southern area of the Kamchatka peninsula, where the capital city Petropavlovsk is located. Beginning in 1988, five earthquakes with M > 6.5 occurred in this area. These earthquakes were powerful enough to be considered as potential precursor sources in the sense that the stresses and strains building up before them might be expected to cause precursory activity. In order to reveal any possible precursors of these earthquakes, we analysed the hydrogeochemical data collected. We considered any signal having an amplitude three times the standard deviation to be an irregularity and we defined as an anomaly the existence of an irregularity occurring simultaneously in more than one parameter at each well. Then, on the basis of the worldwide past results and the time recurrence of the quoted earthquakes, we chose 158 days as the maximum temporal window between a possible anomaly and the subsequent earthquake. We identified some premonitory anomalies in hydrogeochemical parameters at different wells. On the basis of these results some earthquake forecasting criteria in southern Kamchatka may be tentatively formulated     

An Eocene magmatic belt across central Tibet: mantle subduction triggered by the Indian collision?

Mountain domes rising to ≈ 6600 m along Tibet's Tanggula range herald the Eocene intrusion of calcalkaline granites into terranes accreted much earlier. Together with coeval, cogenetic volcanics, such intrusives, which have similar crystallization and cooling ages, may be part of an ESE-trending belt cutting central Tibet in half. This magmatic belt may have marked a former northern boundary of the plateau, testifying to S-directed subduction of the Asian mantle. Such subduction would have developed soon after India's collision but long before the rise of the plateau's present rims, along one of central Tibet's Mesozoic sutures.     

辽宁本溪晶花洞碳酸钙沉积物颜色多样性分析

辽宁本溪晶花洞发育于中奥陶统马家沟组(O2m)中厚层白云质灰岩中,洞内碳酸钙沉积物具有白色、黄色、肉红色、浅蓝色和黑褐色等多种原生色彩。在洞穴考察的基础上,通过对围岩和洞穴碳酸钙沉积物X荧光分析以及显微镜薄片鉴定,认为洞穴中白色的次生化学沉积物主要由质纯的CaCO3形成;浅蓝色、黑褐色的形成则多由沉积物含有铜、锶和锰、锌所致;而黄色、红色则为不同环境下铁、锰等变价元素所产生。      

GEOLOGY OF KENKOU ON THE HUNAN-KWANGTUNG BORDER AND ITS BEARING TO THE OROGENY OF THE NANLING RANGES

INTRODUCTION In the winter of 1932 and the spring of 1933, the Nanling Mountain ranges covering the borders of Hunan, Kwangtung, Kwangsi and Kueichou were studied by the members of the National Research Institute of Geology,     

Petrological and geochronological constraints on the origin of the Palimé–Amlamé granitoids (South Togo, West Africa): A segment of the West African Craton Paleoproterozoic margin reactivated during the Pan-African collision

The Palimé–Amlamé Pluton (PAP) in southern Togo, consists of silica-rich to intermediate granitoids including enclaves of mafic igneous rocks and of gneisses. They are commonly called the “anatectic complex of Palimé–Amlamé” and without any convincing data, they were interpreted either as synkinematic Pan-African granitoids or as reworked pre Pan-African plutons. New field and petrological observations, mineral and whole-rock chemical analyses together with U–Pb zircon dating, have been performed to evaluate the geodynamic significance of the PAP within the Pan-African orogenic belt. With regard to these new data, the granitoids and related enclaves probably result from mixing and mingling processes between mafic and silicic magmas from respectively mantle and lower crust sources. They display Mg–calc-alkaline chemical features and present some similarities with Late Archaean granites such as transitional (K-rich) TTGs and sanukitoids.

The 2127 ± 2 Ma age obtained from a precise U/Pb concordia on zircon, points out a Paleoproterozoic age for the magma crystallization and a lower intercept at 625 ± 29 Ma interpreted as rejuvenation during Pan-African tectonics and metamorphism. Based on these results, a Pan-African syn to late orogenic setting for the PAP, i.e. the so-called “anatectic complex of Palimé–Amlamé”, can be definitively ruled out. Moreover according to its location within the nappe pile and its relationships with the suture zone, the PAP probably represents a fragment of the West African Craton reactivated during the Pan-African collision.