A New method for identifying possible causal relationships between CO2, total solar irradiance and global temperature change

The study compares two formulas for calculating the daily evapotranspiration ET₀ for a reference crop. The first formula was proposed by Allen et al. (AL), while the second one was proposed by Katerji and Perrier with the addition of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) effect on evapotranspiration (KP). The study analyses the impact of the calculation by the two formulas on the irrigation requirement (IR). Both formulas are based on the Penman-Monteith equation but adopt different approaches for parameterising the canopy resistance r _c . In the AL formula, r _c is assumed constant and not sensitive to climate change, whereas in the KP formula, r _c is first parameterised as a function of climatic variables, then ET₀ is corrected for the air CO₂ concentration. The two formulas were compared in two periods. The first period involves data from two sites in the Mediterranean region within a measured climate change period (1981–2006) when all the input climatic variables were measured. The second period (2070–2100) involves data from a future climate change period at one site when the input climatic variables were forecasted for two future climate scenarios (A2 and B2). The annual cumulated values of ET₀ calculated by the AL formula are systematically lower than those determined by the KP formula. The differences between the ET₀ estimation with the AL and KP formulas have a strong impact on the determination of the IR for the reference crop. In fact, for the two periods, the annual values of IR when ET₀ is calculated by the AL formula are systematically lower than those calculated by the KP formula. For the actual measured climate change period, this reduction varied from 26 to 28 %, while for the future climate change period, it varied based on the scenario from 16 % (A2) to 20 % (B2).     

Provenance of the Lower Triassic Bunter Sandstone Formation: implications for distribution and architecture of aeolian vs. fluvial reservoirs in the North German Basin

Zircon U–Pb geochronometry, heavy mineral analyses and conventional seismic reflection data were used to interpret the provenance of the Lower Triassic Bunter Sandstone Formation. The succession was sampled in five Danish wells in the northern part of the North German Basin. The results show that sediment supply was mainly derived from the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High situated north of the basin and from the Variscan belt located south of the basin. Seismic reflection data document that the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High was a local barrier for sediment transport during the Early Triassic. Hence, the Fennoscandian Shield did not supply much sediment to the basin as opposed to what was previously believed. Sediment from the Variscan belt was transported by wind activity across the North German Basin when it was dried out during deposition of the aeolian part of the Volpriehausen Member (lower Bunter Sandstone). Fluvial sand was supplied from the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High to the basin during precipitation events which occurred most frequently when the Solling Member was deposited (upper Bunter Sandstone). Late Neoproterozoic to Carboniferous zircon ages predominate in the Volpriehausen Member where the dominant age population with a peak age of 337 Ma corresponds to the culmination of Variscan high‐grade metamorphism, whereas a secondary age population with a peak at 300 Ma matches the timing of volcanism and magmatism at the Carboniferous/Permian boundary in the northern Variscan belt. Parts of the basement in the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High were outcropping during the Early Triassic and zircon ages similar to this Mesoproterozoic basement are present in the Bunter Sandstone. The heavy mineral assemblage of the Solling Member is uniform and has a high garnet content compared to the contemporaneous sediments in the Norwegian‐Danish Basin and in the southern part of the North German Basin. This finding confirms that a local source in the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High supplied most of the fluvial sediment in the northern part of the North German Basin. The northernmost part of the Bunter Sandstone is situated on a platform area that is separated from the basin area by a broad WNW–ESE‐oriented fault zone. The most promising reservoir in the basin area is the aeolian Volpriehausen Member since the sandstone has a wide lateral distribution and a constant thickness. The alluvial to ephemeral fluvial Solling Member may be a good reservoir in the platform area and marginal basin area, but the complex sand‐body architecture makes it difficult to predict the reservoir quality.     

Thermal stability of extended clusters in dravite: a combined EMP,SREF and FTIR study

A dravite from Yemen of near end-member composition was treated in air and hydrogen atmospheres at 600–900 °C to reveal changes in Mg and Al order over the octahedrally coordinated Y and Z sites, and to explore related changes in the characteristic vibrational bands in the principal (OH)-stretching frequency. Relevant information was obtained using electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), structural refinement (SREF) and polarized infrared (IR) single-crystal spectroscopy. Overall, the EMPA, SREF and IR data show that only minor changes occur during thermal treatment up to at least 800 °C, including variations in structural parameters, Mg–Al order–disorder and (OH)-stretching bands, indicating limited hydrogen loss. Untreated and treated dravite samples have very similar long-range and short-range atomic structures, which may be related to the occurrence of stable Al–Mg extended clusters around the O1 (=W) and O3 (=V) sites: ^W(F)–^Y(MgMgMg)–^V(OH)₃–^Z[AlAlAlAlAl(Al,Mg)]; ^W(OH)–^Y(MgMgAl)–^V(OH)₃–^Z[AlAlAlAlAl(Al,Mg)]; ^W(O^2–)–^Y(AlAlAl)–^V(OH)₃–^Z[AlAlAlAlAl(Al,Mg)]. These extended clusters remain stable to temperatures close to the observed start of decomposition (~900 °C).     

Geophysical characterization of the lithological control on the kinematic pattern in a large clayey landslide (Avignonet,French Alps)

Lithology variation is known to have a major control on landslide kinematics, but this effect may remain unnoticed due to low spatial coverage during investigation. The large clayey Avignonet landslide (French Alps) has been widely studied for more than 35 years. Displacement measurements at 38 geodetic stations over the landslide showed that the slide surface velocity dramatically increases below an elevation of about 700 m and that the more active zones are located at the bottom and the south of the landslide. Most of the geotechnical investigation was carried out in the southern part of the landslide where housing development occurred on lacustrine clay layers. In this study, new electrical prospecting all across the unstable area revealed the unexpected presence of a thick resistive layer covering the more elevated area and overlying the laminated clays, which is interpreted as the lower part of moraine deposits. The downslope lithological boundary of this layer was found at around 700 m asl. This boundary coincides with the observed changes in slide velocity and in surface roughness values computed from a LiDAR DTM acquired in 2006. This thick permeable upper layer constitutes a water reservoir, which is likely to influence the hydromechanical mechanism of the landslide. The study suggests a major control of vertical lithological variations on the landslide kinematics, which is highlighted by the relation between slide velocity and electrical resistivity.     

Submersible observations of Equatorial Atlantic mantle: The St. Paul Fracture Zone region

The St. Paul F.Z. is a large structural domain made up of multiple transform faults interrupted by several Intra-Transform Ridge (ITR) spreading segments. Two regions were studied in details by submersible: (1) The ITR short (<20 km in length) segment near 0° 37N–25° 27W and 1° N–27° 42W and (2) The St. Peter and St. Paul's Rocks (SPPR) massif located at 29° 25W (¡3700 m depth). (1) The short ITR segments consist of a magma starved rift valley with recent volcanic activities at 4700 m depth. A geological profile made along the rift valley wall showed localized volcanics (basalts and dykes) which are believed to overlay and intrude the ultramafics. The geological setting and the high ultramafic/volcanic ratio suggest an extremely low magmatic supply and crustal-mantle uplift during lithospheric stretching and denudation. (2) The St. Peter and St. Paul's Rocks (SPPR) massif consists of a sigmoidal ridge within the active transform zone. The SPPR is divided into two different geological domains called the North and the South Ridges. The North Ridge consists of strongly tectonized fault scarps composed of banded and mylonitized peridotite, sporadic gabbros (3900–2500 m) and metabasalts (2700–1700 m). The South Ridge is less tectonized with undeformed, serpentinized spinel lherzolite (2000–1400 m) and basalts. Extensional motion and denudation accompanied by diapirism affected the South Ridge within a transform domain. Instead, the North Ridge was formed during an important strike-slip and faulting motion resulting in the uplifted portion of the St. Paul F.Z. transverse ridge. There is a regional compositional variation of the volcanics where E-MORBs and alkali basalts are produced on the SPPR massif and are comparable to the adjacent northern segments of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. On the other hand, N and T- MORBs collected from the eastern part of the St. Paul F.Z. (25° 27W IRT) are similar to the volcanics from the southern segments of the MAR. The peridotites exposed in these provinces (SPPR and ITR) are similar in their REE and trace element distribution. Different degrees (3–15%) of partial melting of a mixed composite mantle consisting of spinel and amphibole bearing lherzolite veined with 5–40% clinopyroxenite gave rise to the observed MORBs and alkali basalts.