Spatial assessment of fishing effort around European marine reserves: implications for successful fisheries management

We examined the spatial dynamic of artisanal fishing fleets around five European marine protected areas (MPAs) to derive general implications for the evaluation of MPAs as fisheries management tools. The coastal MPAs studied were located off France, Malta and Spain and presented a variety of spatial designs and processes of establishment. We developed a standardized methodology to define factors influencing effort allocation and to produce fishing effort maps by merging GIS with geostatistical modelling techniques. Results revealed that in most cases the factors “distance to the no-take”, “water depth”, and “distance to the port” had a significant influence on effort allocation by the fishing fleets. Overall, we found local concentration of fishing effort around the MPA borders. Thus, neglecting the pattern of fishing effort distribution in evaluating MPA benefits, such as spillover of biomass, could hamper sound interpretation of MPAs as fisheries management tools.     

Sediment accumulation in embayments controlled by bathymetric slope and wave energy: Implications for beach formation and persistence

High energy, rocky coastlines often feature sandy beaches within headland‐bound embayments. Not all such embayments have beaches however, and beaches in embayments can be removed by storms and may subsequently reform. What dictates the presence or absence of an embayed beach and its resilience to storms? In this paper, we explore the effect of offshore slope and wind conditions on nearshore sediment transport within idealised embayments to give insight into nearshore sediment supplies. We use numerical simulations to show that sand can accumulate near shore if the offshore slope is >0.025 m/m, but only under persistent calm conditions. Our modelling also suggests that if sediment in an embayment with an offshore gradient steeper than 0.025 m/m is removed during a period of persistent stormy conditions, it will be unlikely to return in sub‐decadal timescales. In contrast, sediment located in embayments with shallower gradients can reform swiftly in both calm and stormy conditions. Our findings have wide implications for contemporary coastal engineering in the face of future global climate change, but also for Quaternary environmental reconstruction. Our simple method to predict beach stability based on slope can be used to interpret differing responses of embayments to periods of changing coastal storminess such as the medieval climate anomaly‐little ice age (MCA‐LIA) transition. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

High-resolution modelling of a coastal harbour in the presence of strong tides and significant river runoff

Ocean Dynamics - In the context of Canada’s Ocean Protection Plan (OPP), improved coastal and near-shore modelling is needed to enhance marine safety and emergency response capacity in the...     

Numerical modelling of stream–aquifer interaction: Quantifying the impact of transient streambed permeability and aquifer heterogeneity

Stream–aquifer interaction plays a vital role in the water cycle, and a proper study of this interaction is needed for understanding groundwater recharge, contaminants migration, and for managing surface water and groundwater resources. A model‐based investigation of a field experiment in a riparian zone of the Schwarzbach river, a tributary of the Rhine River in Germany, was conducted to understand stream–aquifer interaction under alternative gaining and losing streamflow conditions. An equivalent streambed permeability, estimated by inverting aquifer responses to flood waves, shows that streambed permeability increased during infiltration of stream water to aquifer and decreased during exfiltration. Aquifer permeability realizations generated by multiple‐point geostatistics exhibit a high degree of heterogeneity and anisotropy. A coupled surface water groundwater flow model was developed incorporating the time‐varying streambed permeability and heterogeneous aquifer permeability realizations. The model was able to reproduce varying pressure heads at two observation wells near the stream over a period of 55 days. A Monte Carlo analysis was also carried out to simulate groundwater flow, its age distribution, and the release of a hypothetical wastewater plume into the aquifer from the stream. Results of this uncertainty analysis suggest (a) stream–aquifer exchange flux during the infiltration periods was constrained by aquifer permeability; (b) during exfiltration, this flux was constrained by the reduced streambed permeability; (c) the effect of temporally variable streambed permeability and aquifer heterogeneity were found important to improve the accurate capture of the uncertainty; and (d) probabilistic infiltration paths in the aquifer reveal that such pathways and the associated prediction of the extent of the contaminant plume are highly dependent on aquifer heterogeneity.     

High-precision Nd/Nd measurements in terrestrial rocks: Constraints on the early differentiation of the Earth’s mantle

We present new ultra-high precision ¹⁴²Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd measurements of early Archaean rocks using the new generation thermal ionization mass spectrometer Triton. Repeated measurements of the Ames Nd standard demonstrate that the ¹⁴²Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio can be determined with external precision of 2 ppm (2σ), allowing confident resolution of anomalies as small as 5 ppm. A major analytical improvement lies in the elimination of the double normalization procedure required to correct our former measurements from a secondary mass fractionation effect. Our new results indicate that metasediments, metabasalts, and orthogneisses from the 3.6 to 3.8 Ga West Greenland craton display positive ¹⁴²Nd anomalies ranging from 8 to 15 ppm. Using a simple two-stage model with an initial ε¹⁴³Nd value of 1.9 ± 0.6 ε-units, coupled ¹⁴⁷Sm-¹⁴³Nd and ¹⁴⁶Sm-¹⁴²Nd chronometry constrains mantle differentiation to 50-200 Ma after formation of the solar system. This chronological constraint is consistent with differentiation of the Earth’s mantle during the late stage of crystallization of a magma ocean. We have developed a two-box model describing ¹⁴²Nd and ¹⁴³Nd isotopic evolution of depleted mantle during the subsequent evolution of the crust-mantle system. Our results indicate that early terrestrial protocrust had a lifetime of ca. 0.7-1 Ga in order to produce the observed Nd isotope signature of Archaean rocks. In the context of this two box mantle-crust system, we model the evolution of isotopic and chemical heterogeneity of depleted mantle as a function of the mantle stirring time. Using the dispersion of ¹⁴²Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios observed in early Archaean rocks, we constrain the stirring time of early Earth’s mantle to 100-250 Ma, a factor of 5 shorter than the stirring time inferred from modern oceanic basalts.     

Analysis of collaboration networks in OpenStreetMap through weighted social multigraph mining

This paper aims to qualify the behaviour of contributors to OpenStreetMap (OSM), a volunteered geographic information (VGI) project, through a multigraph approach. The main purpose is to reproduce contributor’s interactions in a more comprehensive way. First, we define a multigraph that combines existing spatial collaboration networks from the literature with new graphs that illustrate collaboration based on specific aspects of the VGI modes of contribution through semantics, geometry and topology. Indeed, the ways that contributors interact with one another through editing, completion, or even consumption may provide additional information on each user’s operation mode and therefore, on the quality of the contributed data. Social collaborations drawn from indirect criteria – for example, comparisons between contributors’ activity areas – can also be contemplated under another network. Second, the resulting multigraph is analysed using data mining approaches to characterise individuals and identify behavioural groups. The implementation of a multiplex network based on an OSM data sample and an initial analysis make it possible to identify useful behaviours for data qualification. The initial results characterise some contributors as pioneers, moderators and truthful contributors, according to their special roles in the graphs. Mapping elements that include these contributors’ participation are likely to be reliable data     

Anharmonicity and high-temperature heat capacity of crystals: the examples of Ca2GeO4, Mg2GeO4 and CaMgGeO4 olivines

Drop-calorimetry determinations of the isobaric heat capacity (C_P) of Mg₂GeO₄, Ca₂GeO₄ and CaMgGeO₄ have been made up to 1700 K. The thermal expansion coefficient (α) of these olivine germanates has been determined from high-temperature X-ray measurements up to 1500 K. From these measurements and available compressibility data, one calculates that the isochoric heat capacity (C_V) exceeds the harmonic limit of Dulong and Petit above 1000–1200 K. Such an intrinsic anharmonic behaviour can be accounted for by introducing anharmonic parameters a_i=(? ln v _i/?T)_V in vibrational modelling of C_V. These parameters are calculated from pressure and temperature shifts of the vibrational frequencies as measured by Raman spectroscopy up to 10 GPa at room temperature and up to 1300 K at 1 bar. A comparison of the Raman spectra of the three germanates with those of natural olivines justifies once again the use of germanates as silicate analogues. Extensive Ca,Mg disordering likely takes place in CaMgGeO₄, beginning at about 1100 K and leading to unusually high increases of the heat capacity and thermal expansion coefficient.     

Further developments of a transient Poisson-cluster model for rainfall

Stochastic point processes for rainfall are known to be able to preserve the temporal variability of rainfall on several levels of aggregation (e.g. hourly, daily), especially when the cluster approach is used. One major assumption in most of the applications todate is the stationarity of the rainfall properties in time, which must be reconsidered under a climate change hypothesis. Here, we propose new theoretical developments of a Poisson-based model with cluster, namely the Neyman–Scott Rectangular Pulses Model, which treats storm frequency as a nonstationary function. In this paper, storm frequency is modelled as a linear function of time in order to reproduce an increase (or decrease) of the mean annual precipitation. The basic theory is reconsidered and the moments are derived up to the third order. Then, a calibration method based on the generalized method of moments is proposed and discussed. An application to a rainfall time series from Uccle illustrates how this model can reproduce a trend for the average rainfall. This work opens new avenues for future developments on transient stochastic rainfall models and highlights the major challenges linked to this approach.     

Mesozoic–Cenozoic multistage tectonic evolution of the Pamir: Detrital fission-track constraints from the Tajik Basin

Knowledge of the tectonic history of the Pamir contributes to our understanding of both the evolution of collisional orogenic belts as well as factors controlling Central Asian aridification. It is, however, not easy to decipher the Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonics of the Pamir due to extensive Neogene deformation in an orogen that remains largely understudied. This study reports detrital apatite and zircon fission-track (FT) ages from both the eastern Tajik Basin sedimentary rocks and Pamir modern river sands. These FT data, supported by vitrinite reflectance and zircon and apatite U–Pb double dating, suggest that the majority of the FT ages are unreset and record exhumation stages of the Pamir, which has served as the source terrane of the Tajik Basin since the Cretaceous. Furthermore, we combine the new data with a compilation of published detrital apatite and zircon FT data from both the Tajik Basin sedimentary rocks and Pamir modern river sands, to explore the Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonic history of Pamir. Deconvolved FT Peak Ages document two major Mesozoic exhumation events associated with the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic Cimmerian orogeny that reflects accretion of the Pamir terranes, as well as the Early–early Late Cretaceous deformation associated with the northward subduction of the Neo-Tethys Ocean beneath Pamir. The compiled data also show significant Late Eocene–Neogene exhumation associated with the ongoing formation of the Pamir, which peaks at ca. 36, 25, 14 and 7 Ma.