Joint Consistent Mapping of High-Dimensional Geochemical Surveys

Geochemical surveys often contain several tens of components, obtained from different horizons and with different analytical techniques. These are used either to obtain elemental concentration maps or to explore links between the variables. The first task involves interpolation, the second task principal component analysis (PCA) or a related technique. Interpolation of all geochemical variables (in wt% or ppm) should guarantee consistent results: At any location, all variables must be positive and sum up to 100 %. This is not ensured by any conventional geostatistical technique. Moreover, the maps should ideally preserve any link present in the data. PCA also presents some problems, derived from the spatial dependence between the observations, and the compositional nature of the data. Log-ratio geostatistical techniques offer a consistent solution to all these problems. Variation-variograms are introduced to capture the spatial dependence structure: These are direct variograms of all possible log ratios of two components. They can be modeled with a function analogous to the linear model of coregionalization (LMC), where for each spatial structure there is an associated variation matrix describing the links between the components. Eigenvalue decompositions of these matrices provide a PCA of that particular spatial scale. The whole data set can then be interpolated by cokriging. Factorial cokriging can also be used to map a certain spatial structure, eventually projected onto those principal components (PCs) of that structure with relevant contribution to the spatial variability. If only one PC is used for a certain structure, the maps obtained represent the spatial variability of a geochemical link between the variables. These procedures and their advantages are illustrated with the horizon C Kola data set, with 25 components and 605 samples covering most of the Kola peninsula (Finland, Norway, Russia).     

A Spectral Analysis Based Methodology to Detect Climatological Influences on Daily Urban Water Demand

Urban water demand (UWD) is highly dependent on interacting natural and socio-economic factors, and thus a wide range of data analysis and forecasting methods are required to fully understand the issue. This study applies, for the first time, the continuous wavelet transform to determine changes in the temporal pattern of UWD and its potential meteorological drivers for three major Canadian cities: Calgary, Montreal, and Ottawa. This analysis is complemented by Fourier and cross-spectral analysis to determine inter-relationships and the significance of the patterns detected. The results show that the annual (365 days) cycle provides the most consistent and significant relationship between UWD and meteorological drivers. Wavelet analysis shows that UWD is only sensitive to air temperature in the summer months when mean daily temperatures are greater than 10 to 12 °C. For the three cities studied, the UWD increases by between 10 ML (Montreal) and 50 ML (Calgary) per day with every 1 °C increase in air temperature. In an area with low precipitation (Calgary), there is an inverse relationship between UWD and precipitation during summer months. Wavelet transform and Fourier analysis also detected a 7-day cycle in UWD, particularly in the more industrialized city of Montreal, which is related to the working week. In general, applying the season dependent linear relationships between UWD and temperature is suggested as perhaps being more appropriate and potentially successful for forecasting, rather than continuous complex nonlinear algorithms that are designed to explain variability in the entire UWD record.     

Middle-Late Alpine thermotectonic evolution of the southern Rhodope Massif,Greece

Abstract

The transition from the Alpine tectonic assembly to the exhumation of the units in the Rhodope metamorphic province in northernmost Greece has been refined by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar laserprobe mica analyses. Preservation of pre-Alpine (~ 280 Ma and 145 Ma) muscovite cooling ages at the western margin of the Rhodope indicate that subsequent events failed to reset the argon system thermally in white mica in the outcropping basement of this region. The central and eastern Rhodope are characterized by white mica cooling ages of 40–35 Ma with ages gradually decreasing to ca. 15 Ma near the eastern margin of the Strymon Valley. The Eo-Oligocene ages reflect the regional exhumation of the metamorphosed units to shallow crustal levels, with corresponding temperatures below ca. 350 °C, by 40–35 Ma. The younger cooling ages are attributed to the initiation and subsequent operation of the Strymon-Thasos detachment system since ca. 30 Ma. This study provides a crucial contribution to future regional tectonic models for the Rhodope region as it recognizes an early stage of development of the Strymon-Thasos detachment system, and has constrained the regional exhumation of the Rhodope metamorphic province since 40 Ma indicating that the regionally observed amphibolite facies metamorphism had terminated by this time. © 2000 Editions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS     

No evidence for an early seventeenth‐century Indian sighting of Kepler's supernova (SN1604)

In a recent paper in this journal, Sule et al. (2011) argued that an early 17th‐century Indian mural of the constellation Sagittarius with a dragon‐headed tail indicated that the bright supernova of 1604 was also sighted by Indian astronomers. In this paper it will be shown that this identification is based on a misunderstanding of traditional Islamic astrological iconography and that the claim that the mural represents an early 17th‐century Indian sighting of the supernova of 1604 has to be rejected. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Response and recovery of the Eel River, California, and its tributaries to floods in 1955, 1964, and 1997

Northwestern California is prone to regional, high magnitude winter rainstorms, which repeatedly produce catastrophic floods in the basins of the northern Coast Ranges. Major floods on the Eel River in 1955 and 1964 resulted in substantial geomorphic changes to the channel, adjacent terraces, and tributaries. This study evaluated the changes and the effects of a moderate flood in 1997 through field observations and examination of aerial photographs that spanned from 1954 to 1996. The purpose was to document the nature and magnitude of geomorphic responses to these three floods and assess the rates and controls on the recovery of the Eel River and its tributaries. Channel widening from extensive bank erosion was the dominant geomorphic change along the lower Eel River during major floods. As a result of the 1964 flood, the largest amount of widening was 195 m and represented an 80% change in channel width. Channel narrowing characterized the periods after the 1955 and 1964 floods. More than 30 years after the 1964 flood, however, the river had not returned to pre-flood width, which suggests that channel recovery required decades to complete. A long recovery time is unusual given that the Eel River is located in an area with a “superhumid” climate and has an exceptionally high sediment yield. This long recovery time may reflect highly seasonal precipitation and runoff, which are concentrated in 3–5 months each winter. In contrast to the main stem of the Eel River, the dominant effects of floods on the tributaries of the Eel River were rapid aggradation of channel bed and valley floor followed by immediate downcutting. Dendrogeomorphic data, aerial photographs, and field observations indicate that thick wedges of gravel, derived largely from hillslope failures in upper reaches of the tributaries, are deposited at and immediately upstream of the mouths of tributaries as the stage of the Eel River exceeded that of the tributaries during major floods. In the waning stages of the flood, the tributaries cut through the gravel at a rate equal to the lowering of the Eel and generated unpaired terraces and nickpoints. The complete process of deposition and incision can occur within a few days of peak discharge. Although reworking of some sediment on the valley floor may continue for years after large floods, channel morphology in the tributaries appears to be a product of infrequent, high magnitude events. The morphology of the tributary channel also appears to be greatly influenced by the frequency and magnitude of mass wasting in headwater areas of small basins.     

采点和去趋势方法对天山西部云杉上树线树轮宽度年表相关性及其气候信号的影响

针对新疆天山西部伊犁、博州三大山体北坡云杉上树线树木年轮资料,采用区域曲线、负指数曲线、样条函数三种不同生长去趋势方法,研制树轮宽度年表,分析不同采点和树轮去趋势方法对树轮宽度年表在不同频域的相关性及气候信号的影响发现：①采点间的距离和是否位于同一气候区是影响云杉上树线树轮宽度年表间相关性的首要因子。三个采点间的树轮宽度变化,在高频变化方面最为相似,低频变化存在着较大差异,表明它们在揭示和重建大范围的高频气候变化方面可能具有较大的应用潜力。②三种不同去趋势方法对天山西部山脉北坡上树线的云杉树轮宽度年表的研制具有一定影响,负指数和样条函数去趋势方法研制的树轮年表较为相似,而区域曲线去趋势方法研制的树轮宽度年表中则可保留较多的轮宽低频变化信息。③降水是天山西部云杉上树线的树轮宽度生长的主要限制因子,且树轮宽度生长对降水的响应具有显著的滞后性。④在天山西部的云杉上树线采点,使用区域曲线去趋势方法有利于在树轮宽度年表中保留较多的与水分有关的气候信息。     

Critical soil conditions for oxygen stress to plant roots: Substituting the Feddes-function by a process-based model

Effects of insufficient soil aeration on the functioning of plants form an important field of research. A well-known and frequently used utility to express oxygen stress experienced by plants is the Feddes-function. This function reduces root water uptake linearly between two constant pressure heads, representing threshold values for minimum and maximum oxygen deficiency. However, the correctness of this expression has never been evaluated and constant critical values for oxygen stress are likely to be inappropriate. On theoretical grounds it is expected that oxygen stress depends on various abiotic and biotic factors. In this paper, we propose a fundamentally different approach to assess oxygen stress: we built a plant physiological and soil physical process-based model to calculate the minimum gas filled porosity of the soil (_{gas_min}) at which oxygen stress occurs.First, we calculated the minimum oxygen concentration in the gas phase of the soil needed to sustain the roots through (micro-scale) diffusion with just enough oxygen to respire. Subsequently, _{gas_min} that corresponds to this minimum oxygen concentration was calculated from diffusion from the atmosphere through the soil (macro-scale).We analyzed the validity of constant critical values to represent oxygen stress in terms of _{gas_min}, based on model simulations in which we distinguished different soil types and in which we varied temperature, organic matter content, soil depth and plant characteristics. Furthermore, in order to compare our model results with the Feddes-function, we linked root oxygen stress to root water uptake (through the sink term variable F, which is the ratio of actual and potential uptake).The simulations showed that _{gas_min} is especially sensitive to soil temperature, plant characteristics (root dry weight and maintenance respiration coefficient) and soil depth but hardly to soil organic matter content. Moreover, _{gas_min} varied considerably between soil types and was larger in sandy soils than in clayey soils. We demonstrated that F of the Feddes-function indeed decreases approximately linearly, but that actual oxygen stress already starts at drier conditions than according to the Feddes-function. How much drier is depended on the factors indicated above. Thus, the Feddes-function might cause large errors in the prediction of transpiration reduction and growth reduction through oxygen stress.We made our method easily accessible to others by implementing it in SWAP, a user-friendly soil water model that is coupled to plant growth. Since constant values for _{gas_min} in plant and hydrological modeling appeared to be inappropriate, an integrated approach, including both physiological and physical processes, should be used instead. Therefore, we advocate using our method in all situations where oxygen stress could occur.     

Spatial variability of N2O concentrations and of denitrification-related factors in the surficial groundwater of a catchment in Northern Germany

N₂O concentrations and denitrification-related factors (NO₃, SO₄, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and CO₂) were investigated in the surface groundwater of a catchment in northern Germany, the Fuhrberger Feld Aquifer (FFA). We sampled 79 plots that were selected according to the three criteria of land use, historical land use conversion (1954–1995) and groundwater level. We sampled three sites within each plot. The sampling depth was 0.5 m below the groundwater surface.We found no indication for the occurrence of autotrophic denitrification in the surface groundwater. Heterotrophic denitrification was identified as the main process for N₂O accumulation. The variability of N₂O concentrations on the plot-scale was extremely high and was poorly explained by the three sampling criteria. Other denitrification-related variables such as NO₃, SO₄ and DOC were less variable. The selection criteria land use and groundwater level clearly influenced the order of magnitude of N₂O concentrations in the surface groundwater. Under arable land, high NO₃ concentrations resulted in high N₂O concentrations. The surface groundwater under forest and pasture was almost NO₃-free and had also very small N₂O concentrations. Plots where the distance from the soil surface to the groundwater surface was large (>1 m up to 3.4 m) showed higher N₂O concentrations in the surface groundwater than plots where the distance was small (<1 m). A larger distance from the soil surface to the groundwater leads to a longer residence time and more decomposition of DOC in the soil. Consequently the less bioavailable DOC could inhibit the efficiency of the heterotrophic denitrification in the groundwater, yielding more N₂O. Elevated organic carbon levels in plots with historic land use conversion (pasture to arable) were very stable and did not influence N₂O concentrations. The high within plot variability showed that an upscaling of N₂O from the plot-scale to the catchment-scale is possible as long as the groundwater level regime and the land use do not change.     

Using a groundwater quality negotiation support system to change land-use management near a drinking-water abstraction in the Netherlands

A negotiation support system (NSS) was developed to solve groundwater conflicts that arose during land-use management. It was set up in cooperation with the stakeholders involved to provide information on the impact of land use, e.g., agriculture, nature (forested areas), recreation, and urban areas, on the quality of both infiltrating and abstracted groundwater. This NSS combined simulation programs that calculate (1) the concentrations of nitrate in shallow groundwater for each land-use area and (2) the transport of nitrate in the groundwater-saturated zone. The user interface of the NSS enabled scenario analyses. The NSS was validated at a drinking-water abstraction near Holten (the Netherlands) using a spatial planning process aimed at sustainable land-use and groundwater-resource management. Two land-use scenarios were considered: a base scenario reflecting the autonomous development and an adapted land-use scenario. The calculated results for shallow groundwater provided an explicit spatial overview of the impact of historical land use and N application on the quality of abstracted groundwater as well as insight into the impact of changes in land use and N application. Visualization of the conflicting interests of agriculture and the drinking-water abstraction helped all stakeholders accept the necessary changes in land use identified by the adapted land-use scenario of the NSS. These changes were included in the preferred land-use management option in the regional planning process, which has since been formalized. The NSS provided system insight, scoping analyses, and education, in addition to generating quantitative information on the impact of land-use functions on groundwater quality.