Seismic hazard analysis in zones of time and space interdependence: An application to São Miguel Island,Azores

The Azores Islands are located in the mid-Atlantic region near the triple junction where the Euro-Asiatic-African-American plates join together. Seismic activity in the area is very high, as can be observed either from historical events since the fifteenth century, from present day microseismicity, and from direct and indirect measurements of recent tectonic deformation. Volcanic activity is also present throughout the region. All available information, even data exhibiting low quality, was used to develop hazard models of São Miguel Island. Source zones were established based on both the global tectonic behaviour of the region and on the local active fault structures. Recurrence laws for São Miguel Island, for which historical information seemed quite incomplete, were obtained from the large events in the entire archipelago and from their remarkable pattern of time and space dependence, and complimented by information on long-term fault deformation (for the longer recurrence periods) and on high precision instrumental network (for the very short recurrence periods). Attenuation laws were derived from data on events felt and/or recorded in the Island. Hazard maps were obtained through a modified version of McGuire's algorithm for several geometries of source areas and results compared with the maximum observed intensity of historical events.     

Trophic Assessment in Chinese coastal systems-review of methods and application to the Changjiang (Yangtze) Estuary and Jiaozhou Bay

Coastal eutrophication has become one of the main threats to Chinese coastal areas during the last two decades. High nutrient loads from human activities have modified the natural background water quality in coastal water bodies, resulting in a range of undesirable effects. There is a need to assess the eutrophic level in coastal systems and to identify the extent of this impact to guide development of appropriate management efforts. Traditional Chinese assessment methods are discussed and compared with other currently-used methods, such as the Oslo-Paris Convention for the Protection of the North Sea (OSPAR) Comprehensive Procedure and Assessment of Estuarine Trophic Status (ASSETS). The ASSETS method and two Chinese methods were tested on two Chinese systems: the Changjiang (Yangtze) Estuary and Jiaozhou Bay. ASSETS is process based, and uses a pressure-state-response model based on three main indices: Influencing Factors, Overall Eutrophic Condition, and Future Outlook. The traditional methods are based on a nutrient index. ASSETS was successfully applied to both systems, classifying the Changjiang Estuary as Bad (high eutrophication) and Jiaozhou Bay as High (low eutrophication). The traditional methods led to ambiguous results, particularly for Jiaozhou Bay, due to the high spatial variability of data and a failure to assess the role of shellfish aquaculture in nutrient control. An overview of the Chinese coastal zone identifies 50 estuaries and bays that should form part of a national assessment. A comparison of methods and results suggests that ASSETS is a promising tool for evaluating the eutrophication status of these systems.     

Long-term global sea surface temperature fluctuations and their possible influence on atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Changes of atmospheric CO₂ concentration since 1958 are shown to be related to sea surface temperature changes. The largest contribution to changes arises from the Pacific equatorial upwelling region, with the Indian Ocean and Atlantic contributing only small fractions to the variance. It is hypothesized that the observed relationship is related to the nutrients that are brought up by upwelling cold water, with photosynthesis contributing to a lowering of the partial pressure of CO₂ in the sea and thus to a greater tendency for a flux from the air to the sea.Possible longer term variations of sea temperature and CO₂ are discussed.     

Spatial and temporal variations in aboveground and belowground biomass of Spartina maritima (small cordgrass) in created and natural marshes

Spartina species are commonly used for salt marsh manipulative projects, where aboveground and belowground biomasses are functional traits that play important roles, showing high spatial and temporal variations. This work analyses variations in AGB and BGB of Spartina maritima and abiotic environmental parameters along a chronosequence of six marshes created from 1997 to 2003 with disparate sediment dynamics, and adjacent natural marshes and unvegetated tidal flats. S. maritima behaved as an autogenic engineer, as its colonization of bare sediments yielded abiotic environmental changes: specifically, bed level rise accompanied by higher oxygenation and salinity. These modifications of the environment were site-specific, depending mainly on sedimentary dynamics. At the same time, abiotic environmental changes determined biomass production rates of S. maritima that were higher in more-accreting marshes; however, AGB was kept constant from early in its development (2 years). The increase in BGB with elevation seemed to be related to the inhibition of subsurface tissue development in anoxic sediments. Biomass accumulation and production varied markedly, depending on the spatial scale, indicating the relevance of the plot size chosen for the analysis of biomass of cordgrasses. Our results show that managers of salt marshes should consider sedimentary dynamics carefully when setting realistic expectations for success criteria of created and restored wetlands.     

Direct evidence of Middle Oligocene extension in the Calabria–Peloritani terrane from co-seismic faulting: the pseudotachylyte-bearing shear zones of Palmi (southern Calabria, Italy)

The Variscan crystalline basement of the Calabria–Peloritani terrane (CPT) in southern Italy was partly reworked by ductile and brittle shear zones throughout the Alpine tectonic evolution (from thickening to exhumation). Although evidence of extensional tectonics in the CPT has already been found and roughly constrained to the Oligocene onward, no attempt has ever been made to directly date brittle fault movements. Structural (meso- and micro-scale), kinematic and petrographic analyses and ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar laser experiments reveal that the pseudotachylyte-bearing shear zones of the Palmi area in southern Calabria formed in response to extensional shearing ∼33.5 Ma ago and overprinted compressional tectonic structures. Results provide the first direct evidence of Middle Oligocene co-seismic faulting in the area and confirm the role of extensional tectonics in promoting the Oligocene exhumation of the Calabria basement.     

Vorticity analysis of the Palmi shear zone mylonites: new insights for the Alpine tectonic evolution of the Calabria–Peloritani terrane (southern Italy)

New microstructural data on the mylonites from the well‐exposed Palmi shear zone (southern Calabria) are presented with the aim to shed light on both the kinematics and the geometry of the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt during Eocene. In the study area, located between the Sardinia–Corsica block and the Calabria–Peloritani terrane, previous large‐scale geodynamic reconstructions suggest the presence of strike–slip or transform fault zones dissecting the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt. However, there are no field data supporting the occurrence of these structures. This paper uses vorticity analysis technique based on the aspect ratio and the long axis orientation of rigid porphyroclasts in mylonitic marbles and mylonitic granitoids, to estimate the contribution of pure and simple shear of deformation during the movement of the Palmi shear zone. Porphyroclasts aspect ratio and orientation were measured on thin sections using image analysis. Estimates of the vorticity number, W_m, indicate that the Palmi shear zone recorded general shear with a contribution of pure shear of c. 65%. Then, the Palmi shear zone can be interpreted as a segment of a left‐lateral transpressive bend along the southern termination of the Eocene Alpine front. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trace-element study and uranium-lead dating of perovskite from the Afrikanda plutonic complex, Kola Peninsula (Russia) using LA-ICP-MS

The U-Pb geochronology of perovskite is a powerful tool in constraining the emplacement age of silica-undersaturated rocks. The trace-element and U-Pb isotopic compositions of perovskite from clinopyroxenite and silicocarbonatite from the Afrikanda plutonic complex (Kola, Russia) were determined by laser-ablation inductively-coupled mass-spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). In addition, the Sr isotopic composition of perovskite was measured by isotope-dilution mass-spectrometry to better constrain the relations between its host rocks. Perovskite from the two rock types shows a different degree of enrichment in Na, Mg, Mn, Pb, Fe, Al, V, rare-earth elements, Zr, Hf, Th, U and Ta. The perovskite ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values are within analytical uncertainty of one another and fall within the range of mantle values. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages (corrected for common lead using ²⁰⁷Pb-method) of perovskite from silicocarbonatite statistically yield a single population with a weighted mean of 371?±?8 Ma (2σ; MSWD?=?0.071). This age is indistinguishable, within uncertainty, to the clinopyroxenite weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 374?±?10 Ma (2σ; MSWD?=?0.18). Our data are in good agreement with the previous geochronological study of the Afrikanda complex. The observed variations in trace-element composition of perovskite from silicocarbonatite and clinopyroxenite indicate that these rocks are not related by crystal fractionation. The Sr isotopic ratios and the fact that the two rocks are coeval suggest that they were either produced from a single parental melt by liquid immiscibility, or from two separate magmas derived at different degrees of partial melting from an isotopically equilibrated, but modally complex mantle source.