Revision of the Carboniferous cystoporate bryozoan Fistulipora incrustans (Phillips, 1836), with remarks on the type species of Fistulipora M'Coy, 1849

The type species of the Palaeozoic cystoporate bryozoan genus Fistulipora M'Coy, 1849 is redescribed. Fistulipora minor M'Coy, 1849 is the type species, and was the first species described under the genus Fistulipora. Quantitative assessment of type and figured specimens of Calamopora incrustans Phillips, 1836 and F. minor has shown them to fall within the range of morphological variation exhibited by abundant comparative material collected at several horizons and they are referable to one morphologically variable taxon. F. minor is the junior subjective synonym of C. incrustans and the form can be quoted as F. minor M'Coy, 1849 = C. incrustans Phillips, 1836 with a valid name of F. incrustans (Phillips, 1836). However, this does not alter the name of the type species, which is F. minor M'Coy, 1849. The type specimen of Berenicea megastoma M'Coy, 1844 has also been examined, and this form is also conspecific with F. minor M'Coy, 1849 = C. incrustans Phillips, 1836. Examination of the type specimen of F. major M'Coy (1849) has shown it to be referable to the tabulate coral genus Chaetetes. A lectotype and paralectotypes are designated for F. minor and the status of the type specimens of F. incrustans is clarified.     

Diel variation of benthic respiration in a coral reef sediment (Reunion Island,Indian Ocean)

Oxygen and total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fluxes at the water–sediment interface were measured using benthic chambers to assess the short-term variations of community respiration (CR) in the back reef sediments of Reunion Island (Indian Ocean). Benthic CR had a daily cycle of minimal (6:00 AM) and maximal values (6:00 PM), showing increases of oxygen and DIC fluxes of 2.8- and 3.8-fold, respectively. Average CR values were observed at midday and midnight. The evolution of fluxes was positively related to oxygen concentration in ambient water, but not to temperature changes. In the study area, high daytime primary production augments the amount of energy available for community metabolism and increases benthic respiration. The benthic communities are therefore subjected to short-term variable environmental conditions with oxygen supersaturation during the day, and moderately hypoxic conditions at the end of the night.     

Collapsing supra-massive magnetars: FRBs,the repeating FRB121102 and GRBs

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) last for \(\sim \) few milli-seconds and, hence, are likely to arise from the gravitational collapse of supra-massive, spinning neutron stars after they lose the centrifugal support (Falcke & Rezzolla 2014). In this paper, we provide arguments to show that the repeating burst, FRB 121102, can also be modeled in the collapse framework provided the supra-massive object implodes either into a Kerr black hole surrounded by highly magnetized plasma or into a strange quark star. Since the estimated rates of FRBs and SN Ib/c are comparable, we put forward a common progenitor scenario for FRBs and long GRBs in which only those compact remnants entail prompt \(\gamma \)-emission whose kick velocities are almost aligned or anti-aligned with the stellar spin axes. In such a scenario, emission of detectable gravitational radiation and, possibly, of neutrinos are expected to occur during the SN Ib/c explosion as well as, later, at the time of magnetar implosion.     

Fraile Detection of Solar $$-Modes by Fossat et al.

The internal gravity modes of the Sun are notoriously difficult to detect, and the claimed detection of gravity modes presented by Fossat et al. (Astron. Astrophys.604, A40, 2017) is thus very exciting. Given the importance of these modes for understanding solar structure and dynamics, the results must be robust. While Fossat et al. described their method and parameter choices in detail, the sensitivity of their results to several parameters was not presented. Therefore, we test the sensitivity of the results to a selection of the parameters. The most concerning result is that the detection vanishes when we adjust the start time of the 16.5-year velocity time-series by a few hours. We conclude that this reported detection of gravity modes is extremely fragile and should be treated with utmost caution.     

Late Pleistocene to Holocene sedimentation and hydrocarbon seeps on the continental shelf of a steep,tectonically active margin,southern California,USA

Small, steep, uplifting coastal watersheds are prolific sediment producers that contribute significantly to the global marine sediment budget. This study illustrates how sedimentation evolves in one such system where the continental shelf is largely sediment-starved, with most terrestrial sediment bypassing the shelf in favor of deposition in deeper basins. The Santa Barbara–Ventura coast of southern California, USA, is considered a classic area for the study of active tectonics and of Tertiary and Quaternary climatic evolution, interpretations of which depend upon an understanding of sedimentation patterns. High-resolution seismic-reflection data over >570 km² of this shelf show that sediment production is concentrated in a few drainage basins, with the Ventura and Santa Clara River deltas containing most of the upper Pleistocene to Holocene sediment on the shelf. Away from those deltas, the major factor controlling shelf sedimentation is the interaction of wave energy with coastline geometry. Depocenters containing sediment 5–20 m thick exist opposite broad coastal embayments, whereas relict material (bedrock below a regional unconformity) is exposed at the sea floor in areas of the shelf opposite coastal headlands. Locally, natural hydrocarbon seeps interact with sediment deposition either to produce elevated tar-and-sediment mounds or as gas plumes that hinder sediment settling. As much as 80% of fluvial sediment delivered by the Ventura and Santa Clara Rivers is transported off the shelf (some into the Santa Barbara Basin and some into the Santa Monica Basin via Hueneme Canyon), leaving a shelf with relatively little recent sediment accumulation. Understanding factors that control large-scale sediment dispersal along a rapidly uplifting coast that produces substantial quantities of sediment has implications for interpreting the ancient stratigraphic record of active and transform continental margins, and for inferring the distribution of hydrocarbon resources in relict shelf deposits.     

Spurious diapycnal mixing in terrain-following coordinate models: The problem and a solution

In this paper, we identify a crucial numerical problem in sigma coordinate models, leading to unacceptable spurious diapycnal mixing. This error is a by-product of recent advances in numerical methods, namely the implementation of high-order diffusive advection schemes. In the case of ROMS, spurious mixing is produced by its third-order upwind advection scheme, but our analysis suggests that all diffusive advection schemes would behave similarly in all sigma models. We show that the common idea that spurious mixing decreases with resolution is generally false. In a coarse-resolution regime, spurious mixing increases as resolution is refined, and may reach its peak value when eddy-driven lateral mixing becomes explicitly resolved. At finer resolution, diffusivities are expected to decrease but with values that only become acceptable at resolutions finer than the kilometer. The solution to this problem requires a specifically designed advection scheme. We propose and validate the RSUP3 scheme, where diffusion is split from advection and is represented by a rotated biharmonic diffusion scheme with flow-dependent hyperdiffusivity satisfying the Peclet constraint. The rotated diffusion operator is designed for numerical stability, which includes improvements of linear stability limits and a clipping method adapted to the sigma-coordinate. Realistic model experiments in a southwest Pacific configuration show that RSUP3 is able to preserve low dispersion and diffusion capabilities of the original third-order upwind scheme, while preserving water mass characteristics. There are residual errors from the rotated diffusion operator, but they remain acceptable. The use of a constant diffusivity rather than the Peclet hyperdiffusivity tends to increase these residual errors which become unacceptable with Laplacian diffusion. Finally, we have left some options open concerning the use of time filters as an alternative to spatial diffusion. A temporal discretization approach to the present problem (including implicit discretization) will be reported in a following paper.     

Mixed terrigenous—Carbonate sedimentation in the Hispaniola—Caicos turbidite basin

Sedimentation in the 9500 km², 4100 m deep Hispaniòla—Caicos Basin is dominated by turbidity currents. Carbonate turbidites originate from the Bahama Islands, Great Inagua and Caicos at the north end of the basin. Mixed carbonate—non-carbonate flows come from Hispaniola and perhaps Cuba. Most flows originate on insular slopes rather than in shallow water. The relatively low CaCO₃ content of hemipelagic sequences throughout the entire basin reveals that the influence of non-carbonate Hispaniola—Cuba sources is widespread.The basin was sampled with closely spaced piston cores. Sand-layer isopach and frequency maps reveal four or five major basin entry points for turbidity currents. Flow size is proportional to the size of source areas. Average volumes of flows originating from Hispaniola—Cuba, the largest source, are 10⁹ m³. This compares to an average flow volume of 10⁶ m³ for flows derived from the smallest source area, the Southeastern Caicos Bank. Measures of turbidity-current activity, such as thickness and frequency, change in a regular fashion away from each entry point. Average lutite thickness (combining hemipelagic and turbiditic lutite) are greatest near the basin entry points. On the abyssal plain occupying the south half of the basin, Bouma turbidite sedimentary structure sequences tend to be complete. However, on the Caicos Fan, the sedimentary structure sequences in turbidites are characterized by missing or repeated units. Six radiocarbon dates of two widespread presumed pelagic units in the basin yielded younger dates in stratigraphically older positions. The reversed dates are assumed to reflect storm erosion of older sediment on adjacent insular shelves.Consideration of a north—south reflection seismic profile over the basin indicates that the present sediment regimen has pertained through much of the Neogene. The coherence, convergence and termination of reflections in the seismic section are consistent with and tend to confirm conclusions based on the core study regarding the greater extent and volume of sediment deposits derived from the Hispaniola source area.     

Better air for better health: Forging synergies in policies for energy access,climate change and air pollution

Air pollution and its related health impacts are a global concern. This paper addresses how current policies on air pollution, climate change and access to clean cooking fuels can effectively reduce both outdoor and household air pollution and improve human health. A state of the art modeling framework is used that combines an integrated assessment model and an atmospheric model to estimate the spatial extent and distribution of outdoor air pollution exposures. Estimates of household energy access and use are modeled by accounting for heterogeneous household energy choices and affordability constraints for rural and urban populations spanning the entire income distribution. Results are presented for 2030 for a set of policy scenarios on air pollution, climate change and energy access and include spatially explicit emissions of air pollutants; ambient concentrations of PM2.5; and health impacts in terms of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) from both ambient and household air pollution. The results stress the importance of enforcing current worldwide air quality legislation in addressing the impacts of outdoor air pollution. A combination of stringent policies on outdoor air pollution, climate change and access to clean cooking fuels is found to be effective in achieving reductions in average ambient PM2.5 exposures to below World Health Organization recommended levels for a majority of the world's population and results in a significant decline in the global burden of disease from both outdoor and household air pollution.     

Seismic stability analysis of piled embankments: A multiphase approach

The seismic stability analysis of an embankment lying over a soft foundation soil reinforced by a group of vertical piles is performed within the framework of the upper bound kinematic approach of yield design. The analysis is based on a previously developed ‘multiphase’ model of the reinforced ground, which explicitly accounts for the shear and bending resistances of the piles. Making use of appropriate failure mechanisms involving shear zones across which the reinforcements are continuously deforming, along with ‘plastic hinge’ surfaces, upper bound estimates to the critical seismic coefficient of the structure are derived. The results, which are confirmed by the simulations obtained from a finite element elastoplastic code, give clear evidence of the key role played by the bending strength capacities of the piles in ensuring the stability of the pile reinforced embankment. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.