Forest Fire Alert System: a Geo Web GIS prioritization model considering land susceptibility and hotspots – a case study in the Carajás National Forest,Brazilian Amazon

To increase the monitoring potential of forest fires, an alert classification methodology using satellite-mapped hotspots has been established to help forest managers in the prioritization of which hotspot to be verified in the field, thus potentially improving the distribution of fire-fighting resources. A computer application was developed based on web-distributed geographical information technology whose main function is to interact automatically generated satellite hotspots and risk areas indicated in fire-susceptibility maps and classify them into five alert levels. The location of the hotspots is available continuously every 4 h, and a susceptibility map is produced daily through map algebra algorithm, which uses static (topography, vegetation and land use) and dynamic (weather) variables. Every process runs through automated geoprocessing routines. The methodology was tested during the dry period of 2007 in the Carajás National Forest, in the Brazilian Amazon, within an area of 400,000 ha. It is a critical area constantly threatened by fires caused by invasions and deforestation owing to intense agribusiness advances and mining activities in its surroundings. This situation results in observations of many hotspots inside the study area for the same day and almost the same time period, in places of extreme opposites, demanding complex rapid analysis and hindering the decision of the displacement of fire-fighting teams. Further, a major mining company operates within the National Forest area, maintaining actions of protection as part of its environmental mining license. Results are presented under three aspects: (i) the credibility of the daily susceptibility map (algorithm), which showed strong correlation between areas of greatest risks and the confirmed forest fires; (ii) the reliability of hotspots (alert levels), confirming 71% of fires; (iii) accuracy in the decision of which hotspot to be checked, which revealed the same number of verifications at different alert levels, 82% confirmed alert 5 hotspots (maximum) and only 50% from alert 1 (minimum), resulting in faster fire-fighting actions, minimizing burned areas and, in some cases, allowing fire control before its spreading. Therefore, the methodology demonstrated that GIS routines are able to determine the relationship between a reality-based, interpreted susceptibility map of the area and satellite-generated hotspots, highlighting the ones of highest hazard level through the alert classification, becoming an important tool to help decisions from the fire-control center, especially for high-risk regions. The methodology may be extrapolated to other forested areas.     

The ages of pre-main-sequence stars

The position of pre-main-sequence or protostars in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram is often used to determine their mass and age by comparison with pre-main-sequence evolution tracks. On the assumption that the stellar models are accurate, we demonstrate that, if the metallicity is known, the mass obtained is a good estimate. However, the age determination can be very misleading, because it is significantly (generally different by a factor of 2 to 5) dependent on the accretion rate and, for ages less than about 10⁶ yr, the initial state of the star. We present a number of accreting protostellar tracks that can be used to determine age if the initial conditions can be determined and the underlying accretion rate has been constant in the past. Because of the balance established between the Kelvin–Helmholtz, contraction time-scale and the accretion time-scale, a pre-main-sequence star remembers its accretion history. Knowledge of the current accretion rate, together with an HR-diagram position, gives information about the rate of accretion in the past, but does not necessarily improve any age estimate. We do not claim that ages obtained by comparison with these particular accreting tracks are likely to be any more reliable than those from comparisons with non-accreting tracks. Instead, we stress the unreliability of any such comparisons, and use the disparities between various tracks to estimate the likely errors in age and mass estimates. We also show how a set of coeval accreting objects do not appear coeval when compared with non-accreting tracks. Instead, accreting pre-main-sequence stars of around a solar mass are likely to appear older than those of either smaller or larger mass.     

Groundwater chemistry of strike slip faulted aquifers: the case study of Wadi Zerka Ma’in aquifers, north east of the Dead Sea

Wadi Zerka Ma’in catchment area is located to the north east of the Dead Sea. It has two types of aquifers: (a) an upper unconfined aquifer and (b) a lower confined aquifer. The two aquifers are separated by a marl aquiclude. A major strike slip fault passes perpendicularly through the two aquifers and the aquiclude layer with embedded normal faults. The aim of the study was to specify the effect of the major strike slip fault on the groundwater chemistry. The spatial variability of the hydrochemical compositions and physiochemical parameters of the groundwater were investigated. It was found that the embedded normal faults, of the strike slip fault, form conduits that allow groundwater to flow from the lower aquifer to the upper aquifer, resulting in mixed groundwater. The ratio of mixing was estimated to be 94 % groundwater from the upper aquifer and 6 % from the lower aquifer. Since groundwater in the lower aquifer is around three times more saline than the upper aquifer, water mixing into the upper water aquifer generates a salinity hazard.     

Comparison of four meteorite penetration funnels in the Campo del Cielo crater field,Argentina

Abstract– More craters may be discovered in the future, but as it is currently known, the Campo del Cielo crater field is 18 km long by 4 km at its widest point. Such a distribution of craters suggests that the parent meteoroid entered and traversed the atmosphere at a very low angle relative to horizontal. The crater field contains at least 20 small craters produced by the larger fragments of the parent meteoroid. Four of these are explosion analog craters and the rest are penetration funnels. During four field seasons, we have constructed topographic and magnetic maps of four of the penetration funnels as found, and then dug trenches across them to learn their original structures and recover meteorites preserved within them. Structures of these penetration funnels indicate very low angles of impact, i.e., 9–16° relative to horizontal. This supports the idea that the parent meteoroid traversed the atmosphere at a low angle. Data given here for the four penetration funnels include projectile masses, lengths, widths, depths, and estimates of impact angles and azimuths. One of the penetration funnels described here (No. 6) can almost be classified as an explosion analog crater.     

Plio-pleistocene volcanism in the Andean Cordillera of Central Chile (33∘ – 40∘ S. L.)

Recent field studies in the Andean Cordillera of Central Chile (33–40 S. L.) have shown a widespread distribution around the Chile-Argentina border of pliopleistocene volcanic and pyroclastic flow (5-1 m. y. K/Ar). The older ages are found in Rio Blanco (Santiago) area and the younger in the Cola de Zorro area. They cover horizontal to sub-horizontally, with strong unconformity their meso-cenozoic basement.In the Rio Blanco area the most silicic rocks are dactic and rhyolitic ignimbrites and lava flows. They are similar to the Rhyolitic Formation (Zeil andPichler, 1967) of northern Chile.South of 36 S. L. most of the rocks are calcalkaline basalts and andesites except for the samples from the Pino Hachado area, which plot nearRittman's alkaline field. Chemical inhomogenety of the plio-pleistocene volcanic rocks is thus present in the Andes of Central Chile.

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Zusammenfassung Neue Arbeiten über die Geologie der Cordillera de los Andes im zentralen Abschnitt Chiles (33–40 S) haben eine enorme Verbreitung von plio/pleistozänen Vulkaniten (5-1 m. a.) vor allem in der Grenzregion mit Argentinien ergeben. Die höheren Alter fand man im Gebiet von Rio Blanco (Santiago) und die jüngsten im Gebiet von Cola de Zorro.Die Vulkanite bedecken mit einer horizontalen bis subhorizontalen Verbreitung und mit einer scharfen Diskordanz alle Gesteinsserien des Mesozoikums und Känozoikums.Im Gebiet von Rio Blanco handelt es sich um Ignimbrite rhyolitischer und dacitischer Zusammensetzung. Die kieselsäurereichsten Proben sind ähnlich den Gesteinen der Rhyolit-Formation vonZeil &Pichler (1967) in Nordchile.Südlich von 36 S hat die Mehrheit der Proben eine andesitische und basaltische Zusammensetzung. Es sind kalkalkaline Gesteine mit Ausnahme der Proben von Pino Hachado, die einen starken alkalinen Trend nach dem Diagramm vonRittmann haben. Auf diese Weise ergibt sich eine chemische Inhomogenität bei den plio/pleistozänen Vulkaniten von Zentralchile.

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Resumen Los más recientes trabajos de geología de campo en la Cordillera de los Andes de Chile Central (33–40 L. S.) han evidenciado enormes extensiones de rocas volcánicas pliopleistocénicas (5-1 m. a.) sobre todo en el área limítrofe con Argentina. Las mayores edades fueron encontradas en el area de Rio Blanco (Santiago) y las más jóvenes en el area de Cola de Zorro.Las rocas volcánicas plio-pleistocénicas cubren con disposición horizontal a subhorizontal y con fuerte discordancia a todas las rocas subyacentes del Meso y Cenozoico.En el area de Río Blanco las rocas son ignimbritas de composición riolítica a dacítica y corresponden a las muestras más silícicas similar a rocas de la Formación Riolítica del norte de Chile deZeil yPichler (1967).Al sur del paralelo 36 S la mayoría de las muestras son de composición andesítica y basáltica de naturaleza calcoalcalina excepto las muestras de Pino Hachado que presentan fuerte afînidad alcalina según el diagrama deRittmann. De esta manera se muestra que existe inhomogeneidad química en las rocas volcánicas plios-pleistocénicas de Chile Central.

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Seismic stratigraphy of Lago Puyehue (Chilean Lake District): new views on its deglacial and Holocene evolution

Prior to the collection of a series of sediment cores, a high- and very-high-resolution reflection seismic survey was carried out on Lago Puyehue, Lake District, South-Central Chile. The data reveal a complex bathymetry and basin structure, with three sub-basins separated by bathymetric ridges, bedrock islands and interconnected channels. The sedimentary infill reaches a thickness of >200 m. It can be sub-divided into five seismic-stratigraphic units, which are interpreted as: moraine, ice-contact or outwash deposits (Unit I), glacio-lacustrine sediments rapidly deposited in a proglacial or subglacial lake at the onset of deglaciation (Unit II), lacustrine fan deposits fed by sediment-laden meltwater streams in a proglacial lake (Unit III), distal deposits of fluvially derived sediment in an open, post-glacial lake (Unit IV) and authigenic lacustrine sediments, predominantly of biogenic origin, that accumulated in an open, post-glacial lake (Unit V). This facies succession is very similar to that observed in other glacial lakes, and minor differences are attributed to an overall higher depositional energy and higher terrigenous input caused by the strong seismic and volcanic activity in the region combined with heavy precipitation. A long sediment core (PU-II core) penetrates part of Unit V and its base is dated as 17,915 cal. yr. BP. Extrapolation of average sedimentation rates yields an age of ca. 24,750 cal. yr. BP for the base of Unit V, and of ca. 28,000 cal. yr. BP for the base of Unit IV or for the onset of open-water conditions. This is in contrast with previous glacial-history reconstructions based on terrestrial records, which date the complete deglaciation of the basin as ca. 14,600 cal. yr. BP. This discrepancy cannot be easily explained and highlights the need for more lacustrine records from this region. This is the second in a series of eight papers published in this special issue dedicated to the 17,900 year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue, Chilean Lake District. The papers in this special issue were collected by M. De Batist, N. Fagel, M.-F. Loutre and E. Chapron.     

Qanat is not a hazard

Comments are presented on the article by Abbasnejad et al. (Environ Earth Sci 75:1306, 2016) dealing with qanat and hazards in Iran. My rebuttal starts from the direct attribution of the described hazards to qanat and addresses the importance in the correct use of terminology for geological hazards. All of the problems pointed out in Iran (subsidence, sinkholes, pollution) have, to me, an anthropogenic origin and cannot be directly ascribed to qanat. Eventually, I present some additional elements to highlight the remarkable importance of qanat systems and their influence on the development of similar underground structures in many countries of the Mediterranean Basin. This remarks the relevance of qanat as cultural heritage sites and the need for their preservation and valorization.     

An Albian–Cenomanian unconformity in the northern Andes: Evidence and tectonic significance

The Villeta Group of Colombia and equivalent stratigraphic units of Venezuela and Ecuador comprise marine sequences ranging from Albian to Santonian in age. Deposition of the Villeta Group was presumed to take place entirely in quiet tectonic conditions in a passive margin setting that occupied NW South America. From a large database of 2D/3D seismic, well, surface geology, and biostratigraphic data, we present evidence for intra-Villeta (mostly late Albian–Cenomanian) deformation in parts of the Upper Magdalena Valley and Eastern Cordillera of Colombia, controlled by transpressional fault reactivation, produced by transpressional fault reactivation and thrusting that resulted in an angular unconformity. This event has been largely unnoticed in the literature, but previously scattered evidence supports our observations, suggesting regionally extensive tectonism. Published fission-track age determinations and other geologic evidence from Colombia and Venezuela suggest significant uplifts around 80–100 m.y., which may reflect changes in the subduction regime, with compressional deformation in certain regions and extensional deformation in others. A late Albian onset of compressional deformation along the Colombian and Peruvian segments of the Andes may be related to the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean at equatorial latitudes. Identification of tectonic activity with development of an unconformity in intra-Villeta times provides new insights into understanding the evolution of the Upper Magdalena Valley and adjacent areas of Colombia and western Venezuela and creates new possibilities for hydrocarbon exploration, with additional trapping phases, better reservoir preservation by early migration and secondary porosity, and ultimately facies changes with stratigraphic potential.