The structural inventory of a small complex impact crater: Jebel Waqf as Suwwan,Jordan

The investigation of terrestrial impact structures is crucial to gain an in‐depth understanding of impact cratering processes in the solar system. Here, we use the impact structure Jebel Waqf as Suwwan, Jordan, as a representative for crater formation into a layered sedimentary target with contrasting rheology. The complex crater is moderately eroded (300–420 m) with an apparent diameter of 6.1 km and an original rim fault diameter of 7 km. Based on extensive field work, IKONOS imagery, and geophysical surveying we present a novel geological map of the entire crater structure that provides the basis for structural analysis. Parametric scaling indicates that the structural uplift (250–350 m) and the depth of the ring syncline (<200 m) are anomalously low. The very shallow relief of the crater along with a NE vergence of the asymmetric central uplift and the enhanced deformations in the up‐range and down‐range sectors of the annular moat and crater rim suggest that the impact was most likely a very oblique one (~20°). One of the major consequences of the presence of the rheologically anisotropic target was that extensive strata buckling occurred during impact cratering both on the decameter as well as on the hundred‐meter scale. The crater rim is defined by a circumferential normal fault dipping mostly toward the crater. Footwall strata beneath the rim fault are bent‐up in the down‐range sector but appear unaffected in the up‐range sector. The hanging wall displays various synthetic and antithetic rotations in the down‐range sector but always shows antithetic block rotation in the up‐range sector. At greater depth reverse faulting or folding is indicated at the rim indicating that the rim fault was already formed during the excavation stage.     

Asiago Supernova classification program: Blowing out the first two hundred candles

We present the compilation of the first 221 supernovae classified during the Asiago Classification Program (ACP). The details of transients classification and the preliminarily reduced spectra, in fits format, are immediately posted on the Padova‐Asiago SN group web site. The achieved performances for the first 2 years of the ACP are analysed, showing that half of all our classifications were made within 5 days from transient detection. The distribution of the supernova types of this sample resembles the distribution of the general list of all the supernovae listed in the Asiago SN catalog (ASNC, Barbon et al. 1999). Finally, we use our subsample of 78 core‐collapse supernovae, for which we retrieve the host‐galaxy morphology and r ‐band absolute magnitudes, to study the observed subtype distribution in dwarf compared to giant galaxies. This ongoing program will give its contribution to the classification of the large number of transients that will be soon delivered by the Gaia mission. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The 2014 seismic hazard model of the Middle East: overview and results

The Earthquake Model of Middle East (EMME) Project aimed to develop regional scale seismic hazard and risk models uniformly throughout a region extending from the Eastern Mediterranean in the west to the Himalayas in the east and from the Gulf of Oman in the south to the Greater Caucasus in the North; a region which has been continuously devastated by large earthquakes throughout the history. The 2014 Seismic Hazard Model of Middle East (EMME-SHM14) was developed with the contribution of several institutions from ten countries. The present paper summarizes the efforts towards building a homogeneous seismic hazard model of the region and highlights some of the main results of this model. An important aim of the project was to transparently communicate the data and methods used and to obtain reproducible results. By doing so, the use of the model and results will be accessible by a wide community, further support the mitigation of seismic risks in the region and facilitate future improvements to the seismic hazard model. To this end all data, results and methods used are made available through the web-portal of the European Facilities for Earthquake Hazard and Risk (www.efehr.org).     

Dimensional analysis of yielding and pounding structures for records without distinct pulses

The seismic response of two fundamental mechanical configurations of earthquake engineering, the elastic–plastic system and the pounding oscillator, is revisited with the aid of dimensional analysis. Starting from the previous work of the authors which focused on pulse-type excitations, the paper offers an alternative, yet physically motivated, way to present the response of yielding and pounding structures under excitations with arbitrary time history. It is shown, that when the appropriate time and length scales are adopted, dimensional analysis can be implemented and remarkable order emerges in the response. Regardless of the acceleration level and frequency content of the excitation, all response spectra become self-similar and when expressed in dimensionless terms, resulting from dimensional analysis, follow a single master curve. The study proposes such scales together with the associated selection criteria among the available in literature strong ground motion parameters and shows that the proposed approach reduces drastically the scatter in the response.     

Seismic response analysis of an interacting curved bridge–train system under frequent earthquakes

This paper establishes a scheme for the seismic analysis of interacting vehicle–bridge systems. The focus is on (horizontally) curved continuous railway bridges and frequent earthquakes. Main features of the proposed scheme are (i) the treatment of the dynamics in all three dimensions (3D), employing an additional rotating system of reference to describe the dynamics of the vehicles and a realistic 3D bridge model; (ii) the simulation of the creep interaction forces generated by the rolling contact between the wheel and the rail; and (iii) the integration of the proposed scheme with powerful commercial finite element software, during the pre‐processing and post‐processing phases of the analysis. The study brings forward the dynamics of a realistic vehicle–bridge (interacting) system during seismic shaking. For the (vehicle–bridge) case examined, the results verify the favorable damping effect the running vehicles have on the vibration of the deck. By contrast, the study stresses the adverse influence of the earthquake‐induced bridge vibration on the riding comfort but, more importantly, on the safety of the running vehicles. In this context, the paper unveils also a vehicle–bridge–earthquake timing problem, behind the most critical vehicle response, and underlines the need for a probabilistic treatment. Among the 20 sets of historic records examined, the most crucial for the safety of the vehicles are near‐fault ground motions. Finally, the study shows that even frequent earthquakes, of moderate intensity, can threaten the safety of vehicles running on bridges during the ground motion excitation, in accordance with recorded accidents. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate change and agricultural pollution effects on the trophic status of a Mediterranean lake

Trichonis Lake is the largest natural freshwater body in Greece with a surface area of 97 km². It receives pollutants from numerous anthropogenic activities, especially from intensive agricultural practices, urban sewages, stock grazing land and small industries. In this study, hydrologic and chemical parameters are assessed during two periods (1990–1991) and (2001–2002) to evaluate the effects of the climatic changes on phosphorous trends and consequently on the trophic status of Trichonis Lake. Even though large quantities of fertilizers are applied in the lake's catchment, phosphorus loads are still in the permissible level as estimated according to Vollenweider's relationship based on total phosphorus concentration. Due to relatively higher rainfall precipitation during the last years, an increased amount of the phosphorus entering into the lake system is flushed out, thus keeping the trophic status of the lake in oligotrophic levels. In contrast, lower rainfall rates during the first period (1990–1991) have led to the decrease in phosphorus flush out and its detainment into the lake water and sediment resulting to mesotrophic conditions. As the trophic status of the lake is mainly hydrologically dependent and thus unpredictable, effective management plans targeting the elimination of nutrient pollution loadings are necessary.     

Puhimau Thermal Area: A Window into the Upper East Rift Zone of Volcano, Hawaii?

We report the results of two soil CO₂ efflux surveys by the closed chamber circulation method at the Puhimau thermal area in the upper East Rift Zone (ERZ) of volcano, Hawaii. The surveys were undertaken in 1996 and 1998 to constrain how much CO₂ might be reaching the ERZ after degassing beneath the summit caldera and whether the Puhimau thermal area might be a significant contributor to the overall CO₂ budget of . The area was revisited in 2001 to determine the effects of surface disturbance on efflux values by the collar emplacement technique utilized in the earlier surveys. Utilizing a cutoff value of 50 g m⁻² d⁻¹ for the surrounding forest background efflux, the CO₂ emission rates for the anomaly at Puhimau thermal area were 27 t d⁻¹ in 1996 and 17 t d⁻¹ in 1998. Water vapor was removed before analysis in all cases in order to obtain CO₂ values on a dry air basis and mitigate the effect of water vapor dilution on the measurements. It is clear that Puhimau thermal area is not a significant contributor to CO₂ output and that most of CO₂ (8500 t d⁻¹) is degassed at the summit, leaving only magma with its remaining stored volatiles, such as SO₂, for injection down the ERZ. Because of the low CO₂ emission rate and the presence of a shallow water table in the upper ERZ that effectively scrubs SO₂ and other acid gases, Puhimau thermal area currently does not appear to be generally well suited for observing temporal changes in degassing at .     

Implications for eruptive processes as indicated by sulfur dioxide emissions from K lauea Volcano, Hawai‘i, 1979–1997

K lauea Volcano, Hawai‘i, currently hosts the longest running SO₂ emission-rate data set on the planet, starting with initial surveys done in 1975 by Stoiber and his colleagues. The 17.5-year record of summit emissions, starting in 1979, shows the effects of summit and east rift eruptive processes, which define seven distinctly different periods of SO₂ release. Summit emissions jumped nearly 40% with the onset (3 January 1983) of the Pu‘u ‘ ‘ -K paianaha eruption on the east rift zone (ERZ). Summit SO₂ emissions from K lauea showed a strong positive correlation with short-period, shallow, caldera events, rather than with long-period seismicity as in more silicious systems. This correlation suggests a maturation process in the summit magma-transport system from 1986 through 1993. During a steady-state throughput-equilibrium interval of the summit magma reservoir, integration of summit-caldera and ERZ SO₂ emissions reveals an undegassed volume rate of effusion of 2.1×10⁵ m³/d. This value corroborates the volume-rate determined by geophysical methods, demonstrating that, for K lauea, SO₂ emission rates can be used to monitor effusion rate, supporting and supplementing other, more established geophysical methods. For the 17.5 years of continuous emission rate records at K lauea, the volcano has released 9.7×10⁶ t (metric tonnes) of SO₂, 1.7×10⁶ t from the summit and 8.0×10⁶ t from the east rift zone. On an annual basis, the average SO₂ release from K lauea is 4.6×10⁵ t/y, compared to the global annual volcanic emission rate of 1.2×10⁷ t/y.     

Localized climate change scenarios of mean temperature and precipitation over Switzerland

There is a growing need of the climate change impact modeling and adaptation community to have more localized climate change scenario information available over complex topography such as in Switzerland. A gridded dataset of expected future climate change signals for seasonal averages of daily mean temperature and precipitation in Switzerland is presented. The basic scenarios are taken from the CH2011 initiative. In CH2011, a Bayesian framework was applied to obtain probabilistic scenarios for three regions within Switzerland. Here, the results for two additional Alpine sub-regions are presented. The regional estimates have then been downscaled onto a regular latitude-longitude grid with a resolution of 0.02° or roughly 2 km. The downscaling procedure is based on the spatial structure of the climate change signals as simulated by the underlying regional climate models and relies on a Kriging with external drift using height as auxiliary predictor. The considered emission scenarios are A1B, A2 and the mitigation scenario RCP3PD. The new dataset shows an expected warming of about 1 to 6 °C until the end of the 21st century, strongly depending on the scenario and the lead time. Owing to a large vertical gradient, the warming is about 1 °C stronger in the Alps than in the Swiss lowlands. In case of precipitation, the projection uncertainty is large and in most seasons precipitation can increase or decrease. In summer a distinct decrease of precipitation can be found, again strongly depending on the emission scenario.     

Key climate indices in Switzerland; expected changes in a future climate

Climate indices facilitate the interpretation of expected climate change impacts for many sectors in society, economy, and ecology. The new localized data set of climatic change signals for temperature and precipitation presented by Zubler et al. (Clim Change, 2013) is applied for an analysis of frequently used climate indices in Switzerland. The indices considered are: number of summer days and tropical nights, growing season length, number of frost days and ice days, heating and cooling degree days, and the number of days with fresh snow. For the future periods 2020-49, 2045-74 and 2070–2099 the indices are computed using a delta-change approach based on the reference period 1980–2009 for the emission scenarios A1B, A2, and RCP3PD. The scenario data suggest the following relevant findings: (1) a doubling of the number of summer days by the end of the century under the scenarios A1B and A2, (2) an appearance of tropical nights even above 1500 m asl, (3) a possible reduction of the number of frost days by more than 3 months at altitudes higher than 2500 m asl, (4) a decline of heating degree days by about 30 % until the end of the century, and (5) the near disappearance of days with fresh snow at low altitudes. It is also shown that the end-of-the-century projections of all indices strongly depend on the chosen emission scenario.