Thrust faulting and crust—upper mantle structure in East Australia

Summary. The mid-crustal earthquake of 1973 March 9 (m_b= 5.5, h ≤ 20 km) located 60 km south-west of Sydney, Australia, provides unambiguous evidence of contemporary thrust faulting in South-eastern Australia — a region of high heat flow and Cenozoic basaltic volcanism. Aftershock locations suggest a steeply dipping fault in the depth range from 8 to 24 km with a lateral extent of about 8 km. The mechanism solution is consistent with a tectonic stress field that is dominated by east—west horizontal compression. A seismic moment of 5.7 ± 10²³± 20 per cent dyne-cm was computed from surface-wave amplitudes. Minimum values of slip and stress drop, 2 cm and 1 bar respectively, were estimated from the moment and a fault size taken' from aftershock locations.
Refinement modelling by a controlled Monte Carlo technique was used to provide unbiased models directly from multimode group velocities. The dispersion of fundamental and higher mode surface waves recorded at the digital high-gain station at Charters Towers, Queensland, and the WWSSN station at Adelaide, South Australia, is satisfied by crust- and upper-mantle models which have neither pronounced S-wave low-velocity zones nor thick high-velocity lids within 140 km of the Earth's surface. These models have subcrustal shear velocities of 4.20–4.32 km/s which are 0.4–0.5 km/s slower than Canadian shield shear velocities (CANSD).     

Comparison of approaches of geographic partitioning for data anonymization

Journal of Geographical Systems - Given the large volumes of detailed data now being collected, there is a high demand for the release of this data for research purposes. In particular,...     

Air photo approach to inventory of urban land use in central area case study — Kanpur

The case study of Kanpur demonstrates the use of air photo approach to collect physical data, mainly landuse in central area. The study reveals that very less percentage of vacant land exists in central area for future development. Though this area consist CBD, even then commercial landuse accounts to be only 10% of total area. Selective landuse inventory analysis was carried out for the landuse categories, commercial, industrial and vacant. Reliability of aerial photo-interpretation of over all landuse map found to be 91–95% and each sub-class of landuse reliability for omission and commission error found to be within limits for planning and design purpose.     

Origin of crystalline,cold desert salts in the McMurdo region,Antarctica

The distribution of crystalline salt minerals in deposits in the McMurdo region of Antarctica has been examined to study the origin of these salts. Sulphate, chloride, sodium and calcium salts are most frequently encountered. Salts containing chloride and sodium ions become less common away from the coast. Sulphate salts are more regularly distributed but tend to be related isotopically to sea water sulphate. Salts containing magnesium ion tend to exist mainly on substrates composed of basic igneous rocks, whereas calcium and carbonate salts are present on all rock types in the region.These distributions show that salts of marine origin are regionally and quantitatively most important but that chemical weathering of mafic materials in rocks and soils is also significant. However, biological, volcanic and hydrothermal processes are or have been active contributing to salts in local areas, that include penguin rookeries and eastern Taylor Valley, the summit area of Erebus Volcano, and subsurface rocks, respectively.     

Non-annual cycles of varve-like sedimentation in Walensee,Switzerland*

Dating of recent varve-like sediments from the perialpine Lake of Walenstadt (=Walensee) indicates that the number of laminae deposited in the 165 years between 1811 and 1976 ranges from 300 to 360 depending on sample location. Direct evidence that up to five graded laminae may be deposited during one year was found in 1912 by an engineer of the Swiss Federal Hydrological Agency who was using sediment traps to determine the annual accumulation rate. These layers are considered to be deposits of continuous-fed turbidity currents generated by hyperpycnal inflow during river-flood stages. Current measurements revealed that these underflows can occur sporadically throughout the year, but are especially common during the snow-melting season and after heavy rainfalls. Currents with bottom-velocities up to 50 cm s^?1 were detected during summertime when the lake is thermally stratified, indicating that such stratification is no obstacle to the generation of turbidity underflows. The laminated sediments of the Walensee do not represent deposition of annual cycles and these non-annual varve-like sediments seem to be less regularly rhythmic than the annual varves of Lake Zurich.     

Formation and seasonal evolution of Atlantic menhaden juvenile nurseries in coastal estuaries

A hypothesis on the formation and seasonal evolution of Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) juvenile nurseries in coastal estuaries is described. A series of cruises were undertaken to capture postmetamorphic juvenile menhaden and to characterize several biological and physical parameters along estuarine gradients. The two study systems, the Neuse and Pamlico rivers in North Carolina, contain important menhaden nursery grounds. Juvenile menhaden abundance was found to be associated with gradients of phytoplankton biomass as evidenced by chlorophylla levels in the upper water column. Fish abundances were only secondarily associated with salinity gradients as salinity was a factor that moderated primary production in the estuary. The persistence of spatial and temporal trends in the distribution of phytoplankton in the Neuse and Pamlico estuaries was reviewed. The review suggested that postmetamorphic juvenile menhaden modify their distribution patterns to match those created by phytoplankton biomass, which in turn makes them most abundant in the phytoplankton maxima of estuaries. Because the location of these maxima varies with the mixing and nutrient dynamics of different estuaries, so will the location of the nursery.     

An Interpretation of ISO Guidelines for the Certification of Geological Reference Materials

Recommendations for the certification of reference materials, as published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), are reviewed and proposals made as to how they can be adapted for the certification of new geological reference materials. Whilst acknowledging the important contribution made by the large number of existing matrix-matched geological reference materials, it is recommended that future characterisation programmes should follow the ISO guidelines for certification, not the least so that laboratories can readily use the resultant samples to establish the traceability of geoanalytical results.