T-phases from Atlantic earthquakes

Summary Underwater sound waves from earthquakes or so-calledT-waves are investigated for the Atlantic-Arctic area for the years 1953–1968, mainly from Swedish seismograph records, and for comparison also from an earthquake in the equatorial Atlantic withT-waves recorded on both sides of the ocean. The waves travel as sound waves through water, and asPg, Sg andRg over the land path. The North Atlantic source area of theT-waves, recorded at Scandinavian stations, is very well limited in extent with a strong concentration northeast of Jan Mayen, probably due to favourable bottom topography. The calculated sound velocities in water are 1.43 km/sec for the Arctic case and 1.52 km/sec for the equatorial one. TheT-waves exhibit a clear inverse dispersion. The dispersion explains their long duration. The duration of theT-phase increases logarithmically with the maximum amplitudes within theT-wave group and decreases linearly with distance over the land path, corresponding to a quality factor of about 700. Propagation across the ocean by multiple reflections between surface and bottom appears as the most probable mechanism. The particle motion ofT Sg is dominantly transverse horizontal, which is explained by refraction when the waves are transmitted to land. TheT-wave spectra at two different localities show clear relations, depending upon the ocean depths.     

Hydrologic response of a Hawaiian watershed to future climate change scenarios

The impact of potential future climate change scenarios on streamflow and evapotranspiration (ET) in a mountainous Hawaii watershed was studied using the distributed hydrology soil vegetation model (DHSVM). The hydrologic response of the watershed was simulated for 43 years for different levels of atmospheric CO₂ (330, 550, 710 and 970 ppm), temperature (+1.1 and + 6.4 °C) and precipitation (±5%, ±10% and ±20%) on the basis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR4 projections under current, B1, A1B1 and A1F1 emission scenarios. Vegetation leaf conductance and leaf area index were modified to reflect the increase in CO₂ concentration. The relative departure of streamflow and ET from their levels during the reference scenarios was calculated on a monthly and annual basis. Results of this study indicate that the streamflow and ET are less sensitive to changes in temperature compared with changes in precipitation. However, temperature increase coupled with precipitation showed significant effect on ET and streamflow. Changes in leaf conductance and leaf area index with increasing CO₂ concentration under A1F1 scenario had a significant effect on ET and subsequently on streamflow. Evapotranspiration is less sensitive than streamflow for a similar level of change in precipitation. On the basis of a range of climate change scenarios, DHSVM predicted a change in ET by ±10% and streamflow between ?51% and 90%. From the six ensemble mean scenarios for AR4 A1B, simulations suggest reduction in streamflow by 6.7% to 17.2%. These reductions would produce severe impact on water availability in the region. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An ontological structure for semantic interoperability of GIS and environmental modeling

Service-oriented architecture in a distributed computing environment, with loosely coupled geo-services is a new approach for using GIS services in environmental modeling. The messages exchanged must follow a set of standard protocols which support syntactic interoperability, but do not address application semantics.     

Comparing different statistical models for assessing Fe-contaminated soils based on VNIR/SWIR spectral data

Two statistical models including partial least squares regression (PLSR) and principal component regression were comparatively utilized to determine the predictive accuracy of visible–near-infrared and short-wave infrared reflectance spectroscopy in quantifying the Fe concentration in contaminated soils. Two scenarios were applied to select the best model: Scenario I included all wavelengths (400–2450 nm) and Scenario II encompassed characteristic bands of Fe. Pre-processing techniques used to select the best model included: first and second derivatives (FD and SD), multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) and standard normal variate. The abilities of the predictive models were evaluated by splitting soil samples into two random groups (80 and 20%). The first group (80%) was used to evaluate calibration and validation sets by employing the cross‐validation method, and the second group (20%) was applied to test the models. The coefficient of determination (R ²), root mean square error and residual prediction deviation were calculated to evaluate the models. Applying Scenario I indicated that the PLSR model with SD pre-processing was a more accurate technique for predicting the Fe concentration, whereas in the Scenario II, the PLSR model with MSC pre-processing had a better performance. Comparing Scenarios I and II indicated that the more reliable models for predicting the soil Fe content could be constructed by the PLSR model with the SD pre-processing techniques and all wavelengths. The modeling results produced by the PLSR model with the SD pre-processing could be used to detect, map and monitor Fe-contaminated soils by proximal and remote sensing in the mining areas.     

Estimating magnitudes of prehistoric earthquakes and seismic capability of fault from landslide data in Noor valley (central Alborz,Iran)

Detecting the paleoseismological specifications as well as seismic capability of faults has specific importance in estimating the earthquake hazard in any region. The geomorphic indices are used as indirect procedures in the mountainous area. They are appropriate and applicable methods in recognizing the specifications of active tectonics and evaluating fault seismicity in the mountainous areas. In this regard, giant landslides can be pointed out as proper indices. These landslides are usually related to tectonics and triggered by earthquakes in many cases. In this research, giant landslides existed in Noor valley (central Alborz) have been considered as geomorphological indices for recognizing the seismicity of the region and the seismic capability of its faults. There are four giant landslides in this region (Baladeh, Razan, Vakamar, and Iva) used for the mentioned purpose. No historical earthquake has been reported around Noor valley. However, the existence of giant and old landslides, related to earthquake, indicates the occurrence of numerous prehistoric earthquakes. In this research, three different age classes have been determined (Late Holocene, Early Holocene, and Late Pleistocene) for landslides. By the way, the possibility of identifying multiple earthquakes is provided in this area. The magnitudes of earthquakes are estimated as 7.7 ± 0.49 to 7.9 ± 0.49 based on their relations with maximum volume of displaced material. Regarding the distribution of landslides and other evidences, the eastern segment of Baladeh fault has probably been the main cause of the earthquakes.     

J-Type Shock Chemistry for the W3 IRS5 Region

A chemical evolution of W3 IRS5 have been studied during J-type shock. We modified our code of for one-dimensional J-type shock to satisfy the physical conditions of W3 IRS5. The chemical rate equations and the hydrodynamics of shocks are integrated simultaneously. We find that, a shock of speed V _s = 10 km s^-1 and magnetic induction B=4.1×10^-6 Gauss, propagate into molecular gas density of n=10⁴cm^-3, and with initial temperature of 30 K (pre shock) satisfy the physical conditions of W3 IRS5. The results using the extensive chemical network with the most updating reaction rates show that the calculated fractional abundances are in agreement with observation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A hybrid method for grade estimation using genetic algorithm and neural networks

In the present paper, a new hybrid method is proposed for grade estimation. In this method, the multilayer perceptron (MLP) network is trained using the combination of the Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) method and genetic algorithm (GA). Having a few samples for grade estimation, it is difficult to get a proper result using some function approximation methods like neural networks or geostatistical methods. The neural network training methods are very sensitive to initial weight values when there are a few samples as a training dataset. The main objective of the proposed method is to resolve this problem. Here, our method finds the optimal initial weights by combining GA and LM method. Having the optimal initial values for weights, the local minima are avoided in the training phase and subsequently the neural network sustainability is trained optimally. Furthermore, the hybrid method is applied for grade estimation of Gol-e-Gohar iron ore in south Iran. The proposed method shows significant improvements compared to both conventional MLP and Kriging method. The efficiency of the proposed method gets more highlighted when the training data set is small.     

Paleoseismological Analysis Along the Astara Fault System (Talesh Mountain, North Iran)

The Astara Fault System(AFS) is located in the northwest Alborz, east of Talesh Mountain(TM) and west of the South Caspian Basin(SCB). The AFS is one of the basement rock faults in Iran that is heavily involved in seismotectonic activity of the Talesh region, and to which subsidence of the SCB is attributed. There is little information available concerning previous AFS seismic activities and its properties. In order to elucidate the seismic behavior and activities of the AFS, we conducted a research study on paleoseismology of the fault. Based on paleoseismic evidence, two scenarios could be taken into consideration, one of which has three and another has four seismic events with magnitudes Mw in the range of 6.7 to 7.2. Evidence of these seismic events is within sedimentary succession as they have occurred during the past 3 ka(this age is determined based on the deposition rate of the region). Six carbon samples were taken for C~(14) age determination tests, the results of which clearly demonstrated that the EvIV(scenario A) and EvⅢ(scenario B) had occurred before 27,444 cal BP, while other events occurred in the time period between 27,444 cal BP and 3 ka ago. If we consider the occurrence of three or four seismic events(based on the two scenarios) to be between 27,444 cal BP and 3 ka ago, the average recurrence interval is 7,119 ± 1,017, but evidence for these events has been removed. If we assume EvI to be the youngest event(in both scenarios), the minimum elapsed time is therefore 3 ka.     

U, Th, K and Cs activity concentrations along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, Iran

The determination of activity concentrations of the radioactive elements ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs was performed on grab samples taken from a polluted environment. The samples were sliced into strata from 5 cm depth, dried and ground to sieved through a 170 mesh size prior to the analysis. Activity concentration was quantified using gamma spectroscopy. The results showed that the concentrations of activity in the sediment samples are 177 ± 12.4, 117 ± 11.5, 1085 ± 101.6 and 131 ± 4.8 Bq kg⁻¹ for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs, respectively. In general, the distribution of activity concentrations along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea area exceeded international limits. The hazard index of the samples was 0.19-0.88, with an average of 0.49. The mean values of radium equivalent activity and dose rate are 176 Bq kg⁻¹ and 63 nGy h⁻¹, respectively.