Coastal flooding in Scotland: towards national-level hazard assessment

This study investigated contributory factors to flood hazard around Scotland. There is a need to develop preliminary assessments of areas potentially vulnerable to flooding for compliance with the European Union Directive on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risks (2007/60/EC). Historical accounts of coastal flood events in Scotland, notably in a storm in January 2005, had shown that estimates of risk based on still water levels required further information to identify sites at which waves and surges could combine. Additionally, it was important to add the effect of future sea-level rise and other drivers from published sources. Analysis of multiple years’ tidal data at seven sites, including estuaries, compared recorded water levels at high-return periods to those derived from a spatially interpolated numerical model contained within a publicly available flood risk map. For gauges with the longest records, increases were seen over time that reflected rises in mean sea level. Exposure to wave energy was computed from prevailing wind strength and direction at 36 stations, related to wave fetch and incident wind direction. Although the highest wave exposure was at open coast locations exposed to the long Atlantic fetch, GIS analysis of coastal rasters identified other areas in or close to estuaries that also had high exposure. Projected sea-level change, when added to the surge and wave analyses, gives a spatially extensive structured variable flood risk assessment for future coastal flood hazard to complement the public flood risk map. Such tools can help fulfil the requirements of the EC Directive and may be a useful approach in other regions with high spatial variability in coastal flood risk related to exposure to waves and wind.     

Seismogravitational oscillations and a change in the Earth’s rotation rate in a period range from 1 to 5 h in December 2004

The observations carried out using a seismogravimeter in St. Petersburg simultaneously with the variations of the Earth’s rotation rate determined based on the results of observations with radiotelescopes located at large distances from each other at the surface of the Earth are compared with each other. It is found that the simultaneous observations agree with each other in the daily variation dynamics. It is also found that the distribution of spectral components along the frequency axis in the spectra of these observations in a period range from 1 to 5 h corresponds to a long-known distribution of frequencies at which the Earth’s oscillations arise most often. It is also shown that the spectra in a period range from 1 to 5 h obtained in different years using the astronomical data, the superconducting gravimeter observations, and the seismogravimeter observations at points located at large distances from each other agree with each other very well. Individual oscillation components have comparable amplitudes and may not be of a tidal nature. An explanation that allows one to examine the entire body of obtained results from a unified perspective is proposed.     

Management of shock loads wastewater produced from water heaters industry

Water heater manufacturing represents one sector of household electrical appliance industry. It includes several batch processes which resulted in a highly polluted wastewater as shock loads. The objective of this study was to manage the shock loads wastewater with a simple and cost-effective approach prior to final discharge into municipality. To achieve this objective, two approaches were studied. The first approach was the chemical treatment of the accumulated shock loads wastewater using alum and an anionic polymer. Although this approach produced a very high-quality effluent, it was economically and technically infeasible. The second approach was a controlled release of the shock loads to the normal daily discharge in a way that guarantees the compliance of the end-off-pipe with the National Regulatory Standards. This solution required establishment of an equalization tank for normal daily flow and a holding tank for controlled release of the shock loads. Mathematical calculations were carried out to determine the most violating parameters in order to calculate the mixing ratio the of shock loads with the normal daily flow. Full engineering design of the proposed solution was carried out. This approach was implemented and proved to be simple, easy to operate, cost-effective and can be replicated in similar batch processing manufacturing plants.     

Investigating the molecular systematic relationships amongst selected Plesionika (Decapoda: Pandalidae) from the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea

Despite the high number of species and ecological diversity of pandalid shrimps, there has been no previous attempt to resolve evolutionary relationships of several genera using molecular tools. Although mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) is widely used in barcoding studies to delimit species boundaries, additional insights into phylogenetic affinities can be obtained, especially when used in combination with data from additional genes. The knowledge of molecular diversity is essential to understand phylogenetic relationships and will help systematic clarifications. Based on partial fragments of the 16S and COI genes, we have focused specifically on addressing the systematic relationships of the economically and ecologically important shrimp genus Plesionika within a framework of five genera from within the Pandalidae. Our results showed that species within Plesionika are substantially divergent when compared with other genera, exhibiting the highest average nucleotide divergence, with 0.1123 and 0.0846 in COI and 16S genes, respectively. In addition, sequence divergence was found to vary greatly within the genus Plesionika (COI/16S): 0.0247/0.0016 between Plesionika antigai and Plesionika heterocarpus and 0.1616/0.098 between Plesionika heterocarpus and Plesionika edwardsii. We did not find amino acid sequence divergence between P. heterocarpus and P. antigai compared with P. heterocarpus and P. edwardsii (8.10%, K2P distance). Three species of Plesionika (P. antigai, P. heterocarpus and Plesionika scopifera) appear well separated from other Plesionika species in both maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. The present study confirms the utility of COI over 16S as a genetic marker to resolve relationships between different species of Plesionika from the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, in addition to species delimitation. The findings highlight the need to further review paraphyly within Plesionika in an attempt to recognize a concordance in the evolutionary history of Plesionika with major ecological and geological events.     

青海地区钻孔应变干扰及异常分析

简要叙述了青海地区6个钻孔应变台站的观测概况,通过分析,认为主要存在观测技术系统和观测环境变化这两类干扰。在排除各类干扰后,发现只有乐都台和湟源台在汶川地震前出现了前兆异常。     

Giant Barkhausen jumps in Kamchatka basaltic lavas

Igneous rocks are shown to possess a magnetic fabric that admits the occurrence of giant Barkhausen jumps. It is also demonstrated that magnetic minerals of rocks can preserve information on a few magnetic fields (differing even in origin) and a few thermal magnetization temperatures.     

Redefinition of Lemanskiite: New Mineralogical Data,Crystal Structure,and Revised Formula NaCaCu5(AsO4)4Cl · 3H2O

Geology of Ore Deposits - The crystal structure of lemanskiite is determined for the first time (R = 0.019) and the mineral is redefined. Its chemical formula, crystal system, space group and...     

On the transport of small river run off by an alongshore baroclinic sea current

A numerical simulation has been undertaken to study the process of the transport of small river runoff by alongshore baroclinic sea currents. The study is based on the implementation of the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) under the conditions of a circular stratified basin whose surface is exposed to a transient tangential wind stress to form an alongshore baroclinic current. A baroclinic current of the downwelling type (in the Northern Hemisphere directed to the left to a sea-viewing observer) was shown to provide the carrying out of the river discharge from estuary’s vicinity more effectively than that of the upwelling type (in the Northern Hemisphere directed to the right to a sea-viewing observer).     

Tertiary compressional structures on the Faroe–Rockall Plateau in relation to northeast Atlantic ridge-push and Alpine foreland stresses

A number of compressional anticlinal structures are identified in the western and northern part of the Faroe–Rockall Plateau. These structures occur on that part of the Faroe–Rockall Plateau which was above sea level during the latest phase of Paleocene plateau basalt extrusion. Three post-basalt compressional phases have affected the plateau. Most of the compressional structures in the northern part of the plateau are related to NE–SW- to ENE–WSW-oriented stress which we date to Late Paleocene–Early Eocene. The Oligocene phase is interpreted as resulting from N–S-directed compressional stress which also mainly affected the compressional structures on the northern part of the plateau. Compressional stress from the northwest seemed to affect the whole of the Faroe–Rockall Plateau and we suggest it to be of Miocene age. It is proposed that during the Late Paleocene–Early Eocene phase of compression local structure, and anomalously oriented gravitational ridge-push from the now extinct Aegir Axis contributed to a local NE–SW compressional stress system. The two later deformation phases were apparently connected to the regional northwest European stress system with small local modifications.