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.     

Late Hercynian U-vein mineralization in the Alps: fluid inclusion and C,O, H isotopic evidence for mixing between two externally derived fluids

Late Hercynian U-bearing carbonate veins within the metamorphic complex of La Lauzière are characterized by two parageneses. The first is dominated by dolomite or ankerite and the second by calcite and pitchblende. Fluids trapped in the dolomites and ankerites at 350–400° C are saline waters (20 to 15 wt % eq. NaCl) with D –34 to –49. In the calcite they are less saline (17 to 8 wt % eq. NaCl) and trapped at 300–350° C with D –50 to –65. All fluids contain trace N₂, CO₂ and probably CH₄. The carbonates have ¹³C –8 to –14. and derived their carbon from organic matter. Evolution of the physico-chemical conditions from dolomite (ankerite) to calcite deposition was progressive.H and O-isotope studies indicate the involvement of two externally derived fluids during vein development. A D-rich ( –35) low fO₂, saline fluid is interpreted to have come from underlying sediments and entered the hotter overlying metamorphic slab and mixed with more oxidizing and less saline U bearing meteoric waters during regional uplift. This evidence for a sedimentary formation water source for the deep fluid implies that the metamorphic complex overthrusted sedimentary formations during the Late-Hercynian.     

Rapid changes in the sodium exosphere of Mercury

We imaged Mercury in sodium D₁ and D₂ emission for 6 days during the period 13–20 November 1997 using a 10×10-arc s aperture image slicer coupled to a high-resolution spectrograph. We corrected the sodium images for smearing by the terrestrial atmosphere by computing the actual seeing function from surface reflection images, and used this function to correct the sodium images. During the period of observation, large daily changes took place in both the total amount of sodium and its distribution over the planet. Total sodium increased by a factor of about 3 during this period. The sodium emission was brightest at longitudes near the subsolar longitude in the range 130–150°, with excess sodium at northern latitudes on some days, and excess sodium at southern latitudes on other days. There are no obviously outstanding geologic features at this longitude. The rapid changes observed during this period suggest a connection with solar activity, since the planet itself is apparently geologically inactive. The F10.7 cm solar flux during this period varied only slightly, with an increase of about 15%, probably insufficient to account for the observed changes. However, there were a number of coronal mass ejection (CME) events, some of which were directed towards the general area of Mercury. We suggest that the changes in the visible neutral sodium atmosphere might be a result of the effect of CMEs on Mercury.     

210Pb and 7Be as Tracers for Aerosol Transfers at Center Guizhou，China：Ⅰ．The Explanation by Weekly Interval

It′s essential to measure air concentrations and depositional fluxes of environmental radionuclides in different regions for modeling global contamination transfer and validation, tracing deposition process and dating, referencing watershed erosion trace and assessing natural radiation of ecosystem. This study introduces the research background and methods and explains weekly variations of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be concentrations in surface air and precipitation at Mt. Guanfeng/Guiyang since 2001. The results indicate that ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be concentrations in surface air fluctuate periodically at 2~6 week interval because of the meteorological condition changes. The annual trend in ²¹⁰Pb air concentration is overall influenced by air temperature variation and periodical rainfall. ⁷Be air concentration varies up and down regualarly. The synchronization of low concentrations for both ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be in surface air and high ratio (²¹⁰Pb/⁷Be ≥ 0.8) indicate oceanic poor ²¹⁰Pb-⁷Be air mass invasion. The synchronization of high concentrations of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be in surface air and low ratio (²¹⁰Pb/⁷Be ≤ 0.7) implies rich ⁷Be air mass invasion from altostratus atmosphere. Weekly concentrations of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be in precipitation and the K_d coefficients are high in late Autumn to Spring, and low in late Spring to Autumn. Although ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be concentrations vary seasonally, their weekly concentrations in precipitation increase with that of air concentration. The ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be weekly concentrations for seasonal division is about 0.2 Bq/L and 1 Bq/L, respectively. However, the K_d coefficient decreases when ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be air concentrations increase. Deposition of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be with precipitation mainly take place in Spring and Summer; The weekly fallout of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be increases with increasing precipitation; the increase of ⁷Be is triple of that of ²¹⁰Pb and 2.5 when precipitation nears to zero. The weekly-high fallout of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be with precipitation corresponds with the dramatic decrease of their air concentrations within or vicinal weeks. The ratio of ²¹⁰Pb to ⁷Be in rainfall is overall ≤ 0.5 and varies synchronously with the ratio in surface air, indicating that the two radionuclides are cleaned by precipitation from air at close speed. In the extreme freezing disaster in 2008, both ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be air concentrations were low and coupling with coexist of low concentration of aerosol and high nuclides activities. Weekly concentration of ⁷Be in surface air at Mt. Guanfeng demonstrates the anticipated concentration level in the low-latitude and high-elevation region; the short-term fluctuations of ⁷Be concentration indicated the hysteresis was influcenced by the strong air current submersion and the low-elevation air mass rising differently at Mt. Guanfeng and Mt. Waliguan.      

Size distribution of iron and manganese species in freshwaters

A recently established technique for size fractionation of particulate matter in freshwaters, based on low volume filtration through Nuclepore filters in the field, has been applied to the study of Fe and Mn species in 3 freshwater lakes and a stream feeding one of the lakes. The technique has also been used in a series of laboratory experiments to provide further insight into the process of particle formation. The results are complemented with scanning electron microscope examination of the particles.The raw data are transformed into mass size distributions, which are generally unimodal, with the major part of the mass confined to a single log unit size range. These size distributions are compared and contrasted with a theoretical model of particle behaviour in a lake. The results suggest that particulate Fe and Mn behave according to particle theory. The observed size distributions represent a balance between hydraulic input/output, aggregation, and gravitational settling, as well as chemical precipitation and dissolution processes. Overall particle aggregation is shown to be a slow process in the waters examined, with a time constant of the order of days. There is evidence for a fairly stable particle regime in the 0.05–0.4 μm size range.Deviations from the unimodal distribution in the epilimnion of the lakes indicate the association of Fe, but not Mn, with phytoplankton. In the waters examined Mn was most frequently found in solution, while Fe was predominantly particulate. These findings are interpreted in terms of the differing redox behaviour of the metals.     

Optical properties of particulates

Optical properties of small particles of olivine (less than 0.1 μ) have been studied in the ultraviolet as an example of an insulating solid. Very little structure survives in the ultraviolet extinction curves for such small particles. By contrast ‘surface modes’, observed for graphite small particles in the ultraviolet and for olivine particles in the infrared, produce dominant and persistent structure in extinction. The general trend of optical properties of graphite is surprisingly similar to the behavior required to explain all features of the interstellar extinction and albedo curves from near visible to 1000 Å. Measured extinction of small olivine particles in the infrared agrees with calculations based on newly measured optical constants, but dominant sharp structure in the 10μ region still presents a bit of a problem in explaining ‘silicate’ features in astronomical data.     

Euro-politics of scale: competing visions of the region in eastern Germany

As John Agnew (Political geography: a reader, 1997) has argued, political and economic change often occasions competing visions of the scales that are appropriate for organizing particular political and economic activities. Nowhere is this more evident than in the European Union, and eastern Germany offers compelling evidence of the contested nature of contemporary scalar politics. Yet a recent debate in human geography (see, e.g. Marston et al., Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 30:416–432, 2005) calls into question the very concept of scale and rejects its hierarchical conceptualization. In light of this debate, it is appropriate to draw on real-world case studies to examine the ways in which geography figures into policy. Drawing on field work in Saxony, evidence is offered in the form of competing visions of regionalism in the EU context. The evidence presented complicates both hierarchical and flat notions of scale. The current process of querying space to identify those scales that are best-suited for the globalized economy offers insights into both the socially constructed nature of scale as well as the ways in which scalar lenses help to illuminate the geographical aspects (and consequences) of strategies for coping with structural changes.