Continental magnetic anomalies and the evolution of the Scotia arc

Linear belts 50–100 km in width of long-wavelength positive magnetic anomalies exceeding 500 nT are observed on continental blocks of the Scotia arc. The most developed is the West Coast Magnetic Anomaly which may be traced for more than 1300 km along the Antarctic Peninsula. Comparison of magnetic profile data after low-pass filtering and reduction to pole reveals a striking similarity between the individual anomaly belts. Correlation of the anomalies with positive gravity anomalies, seismic refraction data and geology indicates that the sources are linear batholiths intruded during Mesozoic/Cenozoic subduction. The anomaly belts are truncated at the block margins reflecting Cenozoic fragmentation of a cuspate convergent margin. An early Cenozoic reconstruction, based on the assumption that the batholiths once formed a continuous curvilinear feature, shows a good alignment of Mesozoic strato-tectonic terrains and is compatible with the known history of Scotia Sea opening.     

The construction of extreme compositions

If a geochemical compositional dataset X (n×p)is a realization of a physical mixing process, then each of its sample (row) vectors will approximately be a convex combination (mixture) of a fixed set of (l×p)extreme compositions termed endmembers. The kpoints in p-space corresponding to a specified set of k (klinearly independent endmember estimates associated with a p-variate (n×p)compositional dataset X,define the vertices of a (k–1)dimensional simplex H.The nestimated mixtures X (n×p)which together account for the systematic variation in the dataset X,should each be convex combinations of the kfixed endmember estimates. Accordingly,the npoints in p-space which represent these mixtures should be interior points of the simplex H.Otherwise, for each sample point which lies outside H,at least one of the mixture coefficients (endmember contributions) will be negative. The purpose of this paper is to describe procedures for expanding H in the situation that its vertices are not a set of extreme points for the set which represents the mixtures.     

On the Statistics of Wind Gusts

Wind measurementsnear the North Seaborder of Northern Germany andvelocity measurements under localisotropic conditions of a turbulent wakebehind a cylinder are compared. It is shownthat wind gusts, measured by means ofvelocity increments, do show similar statisticsto the laboratory data if they are conditionedon an averaged wind speed value.Clear differences between the laboratory dataand the atmospheric measurements arefound for the waiting time statistics betweensuccessive gusts above acertain threshold.     

Rock Mechanical Characterization of an Argillaceous Host Rock of a Potential Radioactive Waste Repository

Summary The physical properties of foliated marls and shales from the Swiss Central Alps were investigated in the laboratory as part of the site characterization of a potential low and intermediate level radioactive waste repository. The rocks were first characterized by density, porosity and water content, then P-wave velocity measurements and uniaxial compression tests were conducted on samples oriented parallel, perpendicular and ∼45° inclined to the foliation. Correlations between P-wave velocities, Young's moduli, and uniaxial strengths and directional dependence of compressibility and permeability (determined at elevated hydrostatic pressures) revealed that two distinct families of microcracks cause the significant anisotropy. The pressure and time dependence of strength was then measured in triaxial compression, creep, and relaxation tests. In triaxial compression at room temperature, confining pressures up to 90 MPa and strain-rates as low as 10⁻⁸ s⁻¹ failure occured after small inelastic strains. Failure strength exhibits a strong pressure and a weak strain-rate dependence. The low friction coefficient of clay minerals appears to dominate the bulk frictional properties. Micromechanical modeling of triaxial compression, creep, and relaxation tests suggests that inelastic deformation is accommodated by subcritical crack growth.     

Flow and Transport in the Obstacle Layer: First Results of the Micro-Scale Model MITRAS

A new atmospheric micro-scale chemistry, transport and stream model, MITRAS, has been developed within the Tropospheric Research Program (TFS). MITRAS is an obstacle resolving model solving simultaneously the governing equations for chemistry, pollutant transport including soot as well as for the flow and temperature field. The chemical reaction module is based on a simplified RACM mechanism. MITRAS has been tested against quality ensured wind tunnel data. The model results on soot and ozone concentrations as well as on the spatial representativeness of measurement sites underline the necessity for high-resolution flow simulations for case studies on close-to-source chemistry and pollutant transport within the urban canopy layer.     

Grain growth and inclusion formation in partially molten carbonate rocks

To learn more about the kinetics and mechanisms of coarsening and melt inclusion formation, we investigated the effects of melt content, viscosity, and topology on the microstructural evolution of partially molten and melt-free calcite aggregates. Synthetic marbles with eutectic melts were produced by annealing mixtures of calcite and either calcium hydroxide or lithium carbonate for up to 80 h at a confining pressure of 300 MPa and temperatures of 973-1,023 K. The melts produced in the two systems are expected to differ significantly in viscosity. Generally, coarsening rates decrease with increasing melt fraction, probably because the diffusion length across melt pockets increases. Analysis of grain shapes in the samples with about 40% melt indicated that coarsening was accommodated by agglomeration in the samples of the calcium/lithium carbonate system. In the calcium carbonate/hydroxide system, classical Ostwald ripening occurred. For melt contents about 10% and below, melt-filled pores are either dropped from or dragged along with migrating grain boundaries, depending on the pore size and the grain boundary curvature. These data can be used to constrain the conditions where fluid or melt inclusions form under natural conditions. Combining our results and previous studies illustrates a systematic relation between the grain boundary mobility in calcite aggregates and the diffusion kinetics associated with second phases residing on the grain boundaries. In particular, boundaries with no porosity are most mobile, those boundaries dragging melt-filled pores are slower, those with gas-filled pores are slower yet, and those containing solid phases are slowest or may even be motionless.     

Heavy-metal pollution of sediments from the Polish exclusive economic zone,southern Baltic Sea

Analysis of 59 surface sediment samples from the Polish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) shows that Szczecin Lagoon sediments are the most polluted by heavy metals and that the degree of heavy-metal pollution decreases substantially on passing from the Szczecin Lagoon to the Pomeranian Bay and the inner shelf area and then on passing to the Bornholm Deep and Słupsk Furrow. Heavy-metal pollution in the sediments of the western part of the Polish EEZ therefore appears to follow the dispersion of the Oder River. Fluffy material from the Oder estuary appears to be the main source of heavy metals in the muddy sediments of the Bornholm Deep. The formation of sulphides is therefore not the principal factor controlling the enrichment of heavy metals in the sediments of this anoxic basin, although it may be responsible for the uptake of Mo, Sb and As. Two main factors control the distribution of the rare earth elements (REE) in sediments of the Polish EEZ: the input of Fe-organic colloids from rivers and the presence of detrital material in the sediments.     

Probabilistic GIS-based method for delineation of urban flooding risk hotspots

Identifying urban flooding risk hotspots is one of the first steps in an integrated methodology for urban flood risk assessment and mitigation. This work employs three GIS-based frameworks for identifying urban flooding risk hotspots for residential buildings and urban corridors. This is done by overlaying a map of potentially flood-prone areas [estimated through the topographic wetness index (TWI)], a map of residential areas and urban corridors [extracted from a city-wide assessment of urban morphology types (UMT)], and a geo-spatial census dataset. A maximum likelihood method (MLE) is employed for estimating the threshold used for identifying the flood-prone areas (the TWI threshold) based on the inundation profiles calculated for various return periods within a given spatial window. Furthermore, Bayesian parameter estimation is employed in order to estimate the TWI threshold based on inundation profiles calculated for more than one spatial window. For different statistics of the TWI threshold (e.g. MLE estimate, 16th percentile, 50th percentile), the map of the potentially flood-prone areas is overlaid with the map of urban morphology units, identified as residential and urban corridors, in order to delineate the urban hotspots for both UMT. Moreover, information related to population density is integrated by overlaying geo-spatial census datasets in order to estimate the number of people affected by flooding. Differences in exposure characteristics have been assessed for a range of different residential types. As a demonstration, urban flooding risk hotspots are delineated for different percentiles of the TWI value for the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.