Influence of seismograph characteristics on the accuracy of focal mechanism determination

Summary An attempt was made to verify the possible influence of seismograph characteristics on the first displacement in the P wave. The signals recorded by the broadband seismic channels at Kaperské Hory were treated by a set of pass-band filters, three of them simulating the usual types of seismographs.     

Solution of the one-dimensional inverse magnetotelluric problem

Summary Methods of solving the inverse magnetotelluric problem are compared. Basic relations for Newton's method, the least-squares method and Marquardt's method are presented and the convergence properties of these methods are studied. The high effectiveness of Marquardt's method is demonstrated and its application to practical magnetotelluric data is discussed.     

Numerical Simulations of Tsunami Waves and Currents for Southern Vancouver Island from a Cascadia Megathrust Earthquake

The 1700 great Cascadia earthquake (M = 9) generated widespread tsunami waves that affected the entire Pacific Ocean and caused damage as distant as Japan. Similar catastrophic waves may be generated by a future Cascadia megathrust earthquake. We use three rupture scenarios for this earthquake in numerical experiments to study propagation of tsunami waves off the west coast of North America and to predict tsunami heights and currents in several bays and harbours on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, including Ucluelet, located on the west coast of the island, and Victoria and Esquimalt harbours inside Juan de Fuca Strait. The earthquake scenarios are: an 1100-km long rupture over the entire length of the subduction zone and separate ruptures of its northern or southern segments. As expected, the southern earthquake scenario has a limited effect over most of the Vancouver Island coast, with waves in the harbours not exceeding 1 m. The other two scenarios produce large tsunami waves, higher than 16 m at one location near Ucluelet and over 4 m inside Esquimalt and Victoria harbours, and very strong currents that reach 17 m/s in narrow channels and near headlands. Because the assumed rupture scenarios are based on a previous earthquake, direct use of the model results to estimate the effect of a future earthquake requires appropriate qualification.     

Layered Velocity Models of the Western Bohemia Region

A new robust and effective optimization algorithm – isometric algorithm – was used for the inversion of layered velocity models, with constant gradient in each layer, to find suitable 1-D models for the location of microearthquakes in the individual four subregions of the West Bohemian earthquake swarm region. Models which are considered as optimal yield the minimum sum of the absolute values of the travel-time residua in locating the whole group of earthquakes in the given subregion. The results obtained from the inversion of P and S waves and from P waves only are shown. For comparison, optimum homogeneous models derived by the grid search method, again using both P and S waves and P waves only, are given. The computations indicate that the models for the individual subregions differ from each other. For layered models the differences are more pronounced, as expected, in the upper parts, down to depths of about 5 km. In comparison with the subregions Nový Kostel and Plesná, the P and S wave velocities for subregion Lazy are relatively higher and the P and S velocities for subregion Klingenthal relatively lower. In the lower parts the differences are smaller and the velocities have practically identical gradients. The highest velocities were obtained for subregion Lazy and the lowest velocities for subregion Klingenthal, as well for the homogeneous models. The model that represents the whole swarm region was determined in a similar way. This model is compared with the previously published velocity-depth distribution, obtained from DSS profile VI/70 in the vicinity of the area under study.     

Use of mathematical modeling to investigate inter-aquifer contamination by organic-rich water through an unplugged well (central Wielkopolska, Poland)

Hydrogeological research was performed to establish the origin of organic-rich water in a Quaternary aquifer (Wielkopolska Buried Valley aquifer, Poland). The spatial distribution of such water was determined by means of multilevel sampling with a packer. The nature, spatial distribution and chemistry of the organic-rich water suggest hydraulic connection between the Quaternary aquifer and the underlying Neogene aquifer. This connection may be enabled by an old abandoned, improperly plugged well, and must therefore be considered as an artificial hydraulic connection between hydrogeologically separated aquifers. For the verification of this hypothesis, a groundwater contaminant transport model was constructed. The results of contaminant transport modeling allow the contaminant transport parameters (transverse and longitudinal dispersivity) to be identified in the field. The numerical groundwater model was used for the prognosis of organic-rich water remediation, and for specification of water-resource management principles in the region where organic-rich water occurs. The results of this research enable the verification of assumptions regarding complex groundwater flow conditions in the boundary zone of a buried valley.     

Highly reducing conditions during Alpine metamorphism of the Malenco peridotite (Sondrio,northern Italy) indicated by mineral paragenesis and H2 in fluid inclusions

During regional metamorphism of the Malenco serpentinized peridotite (Sondrio, northern Italy), the mineral assemblage pentlandite-awaruite-magnetite-native copper-antigorite-brucite-olivine-diopside is formed. The opaque assemblage indicates very reduced fluids with fO₂ values 4 log units below QFM. Primary fluid inclusions were trapped in diopside overgrowth, contemporaneous with the opaque assemblage. These metamorphic fluids are saline aqueous solutions (about 10.4 mol% NaCl equivalent) and contain molecular H₂ of approximately 1 mol%, as shown by micro-Raman analysis and microthermometry. The fluids are interpreted to have been formed during deserpentinization at the olivine-in isograd under strong reducing conditions.     

Chinese tombs oriented by a compass: Evidence from paleomagnetic changes versus the age of tombs

Extant written records indicate that knowledge of an ancient type of compass in China is very old — dating back to before the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) to at least the 4th century BC. Geomancy (feng shui) was practised for a long time (for millenia) and had a profound influence on the face of China’s landscape and city plans. The tombs (pyramids) near the former Chinese capital cities of Xi’an and Luoyang (together with their suburban fields and roads) show strong spatial orientations, sometimes along a basic South-North axis (relative to the geographic pole), but usually with deviations of several degrees to the East or West. The use of the compass means that the needle was directed towards the actual magnetic pole at the time of construction, or last reconstruction, of the respective tomb. However the magnetic pole, relative to the nearly ‘fixed’ geographic pole, shifts significantly over time. By matching paleomagnetic observations with modeled paleomagnetic history we have identified the date of pyramid construction in central China with the orientation relative to the magnetic pole positions at the respective time of construction. As in Mesoamerica, where according to the Fuson hypothesis the Olmécs and Maya oriented their ceremonial buildings and pyramids using a compass even before the Chinese, here in central China the same technique may have been used. We found a good agreement of trends between the paleodeclinations observed from tomb aligments and the available global geomagnetic field model CALS7K.2.     

Diurnal dynamics of streamflow in an upland forested micro‐watershed during short precipitation‐free periods is altered by tree sap flow

Diurnal variations in streamflow are becoming acknowledged as a way of analysing how changing climatic conditions and land use affects watersheds but also as a way to understand watersheds as a whole. Yet not many studies from uplands below 900 mm mean annual precipitation zone are available from European countries. During the 2012 growing season, a sampling campaign took place in an upland forested micro‐watershed, Czech Republic (65 ha). Tree sap flow, rainfall and temperature were measured continuously, while streamflow at the discharge point and soil moisture were estimated from short‐term measurements. Short precipitation‐free periods lasting several days were identified for evaluation of trends in diurnal dynamics of both sap flow and streamflow. The results demonstrated that during these periods, the main factor altering streamflow was almost exclusively tree sap flow. A decrease in streamflow was observed during the day and an increase at night. The decline in sap flow after sunset was accompanied by a continuous increase in streamflow throughout the night up to its initial maximum in the morning. The amplitude in diurnal variations reached 18%. The observed time lag between the diurnal variations of sap flow and streamflow was approximately 2 h. Relatively low changes in diurnal dynamics of streamflow pointed out a strong regulatory role of the forest in buffering water discharge from the catchment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electromagnetic measurements in the vicinity of the KTB drill site. Part II. Magnetotelluric results

Summary In addition to the magnetovariational measurements across an array in Western Bohemia, close to the KTB ultradeep borehole (Germany), discussed in part I of this paper [1], magnetotelluric results from pivot sounding point Ostrvek within the array are presented here. Good quality of long-period magnetotelluric data (period range from 30 s to about 1 hour) allowed structural dimensionality of the medium to be analysed in detail. The geoelectrical structure was identified as a slightly distorted two-dimensional regional substratum, with dominating E - W strike, overlaid by a heterogeneous subsurface layer with extremely strong and anisotropic galvanic distortion effect on the magnetotelluric data. Estimating the total static shift distortion tensor by fitting the local magnetotelluric curve to the curve of the global magnetovariational soundings (for the European continent), the static distortions were identified as of generally multidirectional origin. The resulting telluric ellipse is, however, strongly anisotropic, indicating an approximately SW - NE apparent local strike, which is in the approximate agreement with remote reference magnetovariational results. Finally, the magnetotelluric results from the station Ostrvek are compared with long-period data from the immediate neighbourhood of the KTB borehole on the German territory.     

Combined solar and QBO effects on the modes of low-frequency atmospheric variability in the Northern Hemisphere

We examine joint effects of the solar activity and phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) on modes of low-frequency variability of tropospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere in winter. The winter months (December–March) are stratified by the solar activity into two (below/above median) classes, and each of these classes is subdivided by the QBO phase (west or east). The variability modes are determined by rotated principal component analysis of 500 hPa heights separately in each class of solar activity and QBO phase. Detected are all the modes known to exist in the Northern Hemisphere. The solar activity and QBO jointly affect the shapes, spatial extent, and intensity of the modes; the QBO effects are, however, generally weaker than those of solar activity. For both solar maxima and minima, there is a tendency to the east/west phase of QBO to be accompanied by a lower/higher activity of zonally oriented modes and increased meridionality/zonality of circulation. This means that typical characteristics of circulation under solar minima, including a more meridional appearance of the modes and less activity of zonal modes, are strengthened during QBO-E; on the other hand, circulation characteristics typical of solar maxima, such as enhanced zonality of the modes and more active zonal modes, are more pronounced during QBO-W. Furthermore, the zonal modes in the Euro-Atlantic and Asian sectors (North Atlantic Oscillation, East Atlantic pattern, and North Asian pattern) shift southwards in QBO-E, the shift being stronger in solar maxima.