Imbalance in the carbonate budget of surficial sediments in the North Atlantic Ocean: variations over the last millenium?

Fluxes contributing to the particulate carbonate system in deep-sea sediments were investigated at the BENGAL site in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (Northeast Atlantic). Deposition fluxes were estimated using sediment traps at a nominal depth of 3000 m and amounted to 0.37±0.1 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹. Dissolution of carbonate was determined using flux of total alkalinity from in situ benthic chambers, is 0.4±0.1 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹. Burial of carbonate was calculated from data on the carbonate content of the sediment and sedimentation rates from a model age based on ¹⁴C dating on foraminifera (0.66±0.1 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹). Burial plus dissolution was three times larger than particle deposition flux which indicates that steady-state is not achieved in these sediments. Mass balances for other components (BSi, ²¹⁰Pb), and calculations of the focusing factor using ²³⁰Th, show that lateral inputs play only a minor role in this imbalance. Decadal variations of annual particle fluxes are also within the uncertainty of our average. Long-term change in dissolution may contribute to the imbalance, but can not be the main reason because burial alone is greater than the input flux. The observed imbalance is thus the consequence of a large change of carbonate input flux which has occured in the recent past. A box model is used to check the response time of the solid carbonate system in these sediments and the time to reach a new steady-state is in the order of 3 kyr. Thus it is likely that the system has been perturbed recently and that large dissolution and burial rates reflect the previously larger particulate carbonate deposition rates. We estimate that particulate carbonate fluxes have certainly decreased by a factor of at least 3 and that this change has occurred during the last few centuries.     

青藏高原羌塘盆地东部鄂尔陇巴组火山岩的锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年龄及其地质意义

藏北羌塘盆地东部地区三叠系巴贡组之上沉积超覆了一套火山岩-火山碎屑岩. 该套地层下部玄武岩的锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年龄明显可以分为2组,一组年龄相对年轻 （220.4Ma±2.3Ma）,代表了羌塘东部地区鄂尔陇巴组火山岩的喷发年龄;另外一组 年龄相对较老（241.4Ma±3.6Ma）,可能与中三叠世羌塘地区普遍存在的碰撞隆升事 件有关。羌塘中生代（晚三叠世—早白垩世）盆地演化早期的沉积作用经历了由陆相 至海相的超覆过程,沉积超覆作用从冲洪积相开始,伴随着岩浆侵入、火山爆发及火 山碎屑沉积作用,总体上表现为一个向上变深的海侵序列,显示裂谷盆地的特征。     

The plan shape of current ripples in relation to flow conditions

Two sets of empirical data on the relationship of the plan shape of current ripples to flow conditions previously thought incompatible are reconciled by taking explicit and necessary account of the effects of flow width relative to flow depth. The aspects of plan shape considered are the mean streamwise ripple wavelength and the wavelength, measured across the flow, of longitudinal features due to centrifugal instability formed on the backs of the ripples. A regression analysis connecting these attributes with flow conditions including the width-effect shows that the amount of unexplained variability is of the same order as the accumulated experimental errors, and suggests that the two sets of data are in excellent agreement. The relationship of the plan geometry to flow conditions is less simple than has sometimes been supposed, but ways are suggested in which the experimental results can be used to establish the hydraulics of past environments.     

A coupled hydro-mechanical model for subsurface erosion with analyses of soil piping and void formation

Acta Geotechnica - A coupled hydro-mechanical erosion model is presented that is used for studying soil piping and erosion void formation under practical, in-situ conditions. The continuum model...     

FluBiDi – a model to estimate flood based on runoff: validation using extreme and natural basin conditions

FluBiDi is a two-dimensional model created to simulate real events that can take days and months, as well as short events (minutes or hours) and inclusive laboratory tests. To verify the robustness of FluBiDi, it was tested using a previous study with both designed and real digital elevation models. The results highlight good agreement between the models (i.e. Mike Flood, SOBEK, ISIS 2D, and others) tested and FluBiDi (around 90% for a specific instant and 95% for the complete time simulation). In the simulated hydrographs, the discharge peak value, time to peak, and water level results were accurate, reproducing them with an error of less than 5%. The velocity differences observed in a couple of tests in FluBiDi were associated with very short periods of time (seconds). However, FluBiDi is highly accurate for simulating floods under real topographical conditions with differences of around 2 cm when water depth is around 150 cm. The average water depth and velocities are precise, and the model describes with high accuracy the pattern and extent of floods. FluBiDi has the capability to be adjusted to different types of events and only requires limited input data.     

A generalized geo-hazard warning system

An automated geo-hazard warning system is the need of the hour. It is integration of automation in hazard evaluation and warning communication. The primary objective of this paper is to explain a geo-hazard warning system based on Internet-resident concept and available cellular mobile infrastructure that makes use of geo-spatial data. The functionality of the system is modular in architecture having input, understanding, expert, output and warning modules. Thus, the system provides flexibility in integration between different types of hazard evaluation and communication systems leading to a generalized hazard warning system. The developed system has been validated for landslide hazard in Indian conditions. It has been realized through utilization of landslide causative factors, rainfall forecast from NASA??s TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) and knowledge base of landslide hazard intensity map and invokes the warning as warranted. The system evaluated hazard commensurate with expert evaluation within 5?C6?% variability, and the warning message permeability has been found to be virtually instantaneous, with a maximum time lag recorded as 50?s, minimum of 10?s. So it could be concluded that a novel and stand-alone system for dynamic hazard warning has been developed and implemented. Such a handy system could be very useful in a densely populated country where people are unaware of the impending hazard.