Multiarchive paleoseismic record of late Pleistocene and Holocene strong earthquakes in Switzerland

A multiarchive approach has been applied to the investigation of the late Pleistocene and Holocene record of strong earthquakes in Switzerland. The geological archives used for this study include active faults, lake deposits, slope instabilities, and caves. In the Basle area, eight trenches were opened across the Basle–Reinach fault, nearby rockfall deposits were systematically investigated, sediment cores were taken from two lakes, and nine caves were studied. In Central Switzerland, five lakes were investigated by means of high-resolution seismic lines and sediment cores. Furthermore, three caves were studied in Central Switzerland. Altogether, the investigations are based on more than 350 km of high-resolution reflection seismic lines, 450 m of core samples, 260 m of trenches, and 245 radiocarbon age determinations. The measured co-seismic displacements along the Basle–Reinach fault supply independent information for the magnitude of the AD 1356 Basle earthquake exclusively based on geological evidence. Deformation features related to three well-documented strong historic earthquake shocks were identified. Deformation features of the AD 1774 Altdorf and AD 1601 Unterwalden earthquakes can be used to calibrate paleoseismic evidence in Central Switzerland. Altogether, traces of 13 earthquakes could be found in the two study areas, all of them with magnitudes M_w  6 or greater. For the first time, the earthquake catalogue for Switzerland can be extended back beyond historic records, into the late Pleistocene, spanning 15,000 years.     

Drying of salt-contaminated masonry: MRI laboratory monitoring

Drying of masonry specimens was monitored by means of a two-dimensional (2D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique. The external surfaces stayed wet for longer if NaCl was present instead of pure water only. This corroborates many practical observations that salts aggravate dampness in masonry. A slower evaporation process and not hygroscopicity was the cause. That suggests that salt-induced dampness may, in general, arise simply from changes in the drying process of masonry materials. That also implies that the height and depth at which crystallization occurs in walls may depend on the relative equilibrium humidity (RHeq) and other properties of salts that influence drying of porous materials. Evaporation rates of free surfaces of pure water and saturated NaCl solution were measured by a gravimetric technique. The results indicate that slow drying of salt-contaminated materials is not due only to the lower RHeq of salt solutions. The effective surface of evaporation is likely to be reduced perhaps due to blocking of pores by salt crystals. Final salt-distribution maps of the specimens show that: (a) salts may affect the inner materials of the masonry, even in evaporation-induced processes that lead crystallization to occur predominantly on the external surface; (b) distinct internal distribution patterns occur if masonry composition varies. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

Calculating derivatives for automatic history matching

Automatic history matching is based on minimizing an objective function that quantifies the mismatch between observed and simulated data. When using gradient-based methods for solving this optimization problem, a key point for the overall procedure is how the simulator delivers the necessary derivative information. In this paper, forward and adjoint methods for derivative calculation are discussed. Procedures for sensitivity matrix building, sensitivity matrix and transpose sensitivity matrix vector products are fully described. To show the usefulness of the derivative calculation algorithms, a new variant of the gradzone analysis, which tries to address the problem of selecting the most relevant parameters for a history matching, is proposed using the singular value decomposition of the sensitivity matrix. Application to a simple synthetic case shows that this procedure can reveal important information about the nature of the history-matching problem.     

Age and magnetic fabric of the Três Córregos granite batholith: evidence for Ediacaran transtension in the Ribeira Belt (SE Brazil)

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and U–Pb (SHRIMP) zircon ages in the eastern part of the Três Córregos batholith (Ribeira belt, SE Brazil) indicate a well-defined fabric pattern acquired between 600 and 595 Ma. The batholith consists mostly of porphyritic granites distributed in the Ribeirão Branco, Barra do Chapéu and Itaóca plutons. Late fluorite-bearing alkaline granites, some containing Sn-polymetallic greisen-type deposits, intruded the Ribeirão Branco pluton and the low-grade metasedimentary host rocks. The magnetic fabric of the Ribeirão Branco granite is dominantly oblate and oblique to the pluton elongation while that in Barra do Chapéu is mostly concentric. On both plutons, AMS records the preferred orientation of coarse, homogeneous Ti-poor magnetite grains. Such fabric patterns indicate a partitioned strain field dominated by strike-slip left-lateral shear deformation in the Ribeirão Branco and extension in the Barra do Chapéu pluton. The zircon ages of these plutons are 600 ± 6 Ma and 595 ± 4 Ma. Likewise, the ages of alkaline plutons were in the range of 597 and 595 Ma, registering a fast transition between the typical syntectonic batholithic magmatism to the late, highly evolved and specialized magmas. These results indicate that the Ribeira belt was deformed by transtension in the Middle Ediacaran. The geological setting is consistent with a continental arc with the Três Córregos batholith emplacing at the middle-upper crust.     

Radiocarbon chronology of occupation of the site Chicha and Bayesian statistics for the assessment of a discontinuous transition from Late Bronze to Early Iron Age (West Siberia)

The Late Bronze to Iron Age transition in West Siberia involved significant cultural and political changes, which were reflected in the emergence of protourban settlements in the forest-steppe zone. The transition is roughly dated to the turn from the 2nd to the 1st mil. BC, mainly based on archaeological artefacts and on the general sociocultural development. A more precise radiocarbon dating for this transition was problematic mainly because of the general lack of data for West Siberia. This paper analyzes the chronology of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition at Chicha, a reference site in the region for this period. The assessment of a possible hiatus between the Late Bronze Age and the following transitional period at Chicha is the key issue of our paper, as its presence may have far reaching cultural implications. To increase the precision of the radiocarbon chronology with focus on the possible hiatus, the samples from well-defined stratigraphic contexts were analyzed using Bayesian modeling incorporating stratigraphic information. The performed chronological modeling supports existing archaeological hypothesis of a hiatus at the very end of the 2nd mil. BC, just before the regular emergence of a new protourban settlement at the site of an abandoned Late Bronze settlement. A sensitivity analysis including the simulated hiatus confirms the reliability of the model. A complete population change seems to be plausible. The protourban settlement of Chicha, typical of the Transitional period, did not exist very long. With the emergence of the early nomadic cultures in the South Siberian steppes at the beginning of the 1st mil. BC, it most probably stopped functioning. The cultural development of that time, former believed to be continuous, was deeply interrupted several times.     

Complex Oceanological Research during the 59th Cruise of the Research Vessel Akademik Ioffe in the Eastern North Atlantic (September–October 2021)

Oceanology - During the 59th cruise of the P/V Akademik Ioffe (September–October 2021), geophysical, sedimentological, hydrological, hydrochemical, and biological studies were carried out in...     

Climate change hotspots over South America: from CMIP3 to CMIP5 multi-model datasets

This study identifies possible hotspots of climate change in South America through an examination of the spatial pattern of the Regional Climate Change Index (RCCI) over the region by the end of the twenty-first century. The RCCI is a qualitative index that can synthesize a large number of climate model projections, and it is suitable for identifying those regions where climate change could be more pronounced in a warmer climate. The reliability and uncertainties of the results are evaluated by using numerous state-of-the-art general circulation models (GCMs) and forcing scenarios from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phases 3 and 5. The results show that southern Amazonia and the central-western region and western portion of Minas Gerais state in Brazil are persistent climate change hotspots through different forcing scenarios and GCM datasets. In general, as the scenarios vary from low- to high-level forcing, the area of high values of RCCI increase and the magnitude intensify from central-western and southeast Brazil to northwest South America. In general, the climatic hotspots identified in this study are characterized by an increase of mean surface air temperature, mainly in the austral winter; by an increase of interannual temperature variability, predominantly in the austral summer; and by a change in the mean and interannual variability of precipitation during the austral winter.     

Measuring Artificial Recharge with Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing

Heat was used as a tracer to measure infiltration rates from a recharge basin. The propagation of diurnal oscillation of surface water temperature into the basin bed was monitored along a transect using Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (FODTS). The propagation rate was related to downward specific discharge using standard theory of heat advection and dispersion in saturated porous media. An estimate of the temporal variation of heat propagation was achieved using a wavelet transform to find the phase lag between the surface temperature diurnal oscillation and the correlated oscillation at 0.33 and 0.98 m below the bed surface. The wavelet results compared well to a constant velocity model of thermal advection and dispersion during periods of relatively constant discharge rates. The apparent dispersion of heat was found to be due primarily to hydrodynamic mechanisms rather than thermal diffusion. Specific discharge estimates using the FODTS technique also compared well to water balance estimates over a four month period, although there were occasional deviations that have yet to be adequately explained. The FODTS technique is superior to water balance in that it produces estimates of infiltration rate every meter along the cable transect, every half hour. These high resolution measurements highlighted areas of low infiltration and demonstrated the degradation of basin efficiency due to source waters of high suspended solids. FODTS monitoring promises to be a useful tool for diagnosing basin performance in an era of increasing groundwater demand.     

Effect of support rotation on triple friction pendulum bearing behavior

This paper presents numerical modeling techniques to capture the behavior of the triple friction pendulum (TFP) isolation bearing when rotation is permitted about the horizontal axes of the top and bottom components. This paper builds on a previous model for the TFP bearing presented by the authors that is based on the kinematic and constitutive relationships of the individual components of the TFP bearing. The effect of rotation on cyclic bearing behavior and seismic system behavior are investigated numerically for two cases: constant support rotation and variable support rotation. It is found that constant support rotations should be limited in amplitude to ensure standard TFP bearing behavior. Results suggest that flexible supports may not have a large effect on global structure performance as long as typical deformation limits for the supporting members are met. In cases of both constant support rotations and flexible supports, the hardening stages of TFP bearing behavior are diminished. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HPLC separation of higher fullerenes in the synthetical “graphite smokes” soot

Higher fullerenes(C84,C90,C92,C94 and C96) were successfully isolated from the Soxhlet extract of the synthetical "Graphote Smokes" soot(GS sample) by using a big Cosmosil Buckysep(Phenomenex) column(250 mm × 10 mm) with a large injection.The fractions isolated have been determined by high performance liquid chro-matography(HPLC) and laser desorption mass spectrometry(LDMS).It is found that there are different fullerenes molecules in different fractions with retention time.The result indicates that fullerenes do exist in GS samples.Also,it excludes the suspicion to some extent that fullerene molecules might be generated by the laser desorption process in the LDMS.In addition,it also provides the experimental basis for the study of natural higher fullerenes and might be helpful to figure out the question if higher fullerenes do exist in the natural samples.