Book review

Offshore Soil Mechanics edited by Philip George and David Wood. Cambridge University Engineering Department and Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London, 1976. 468 pp. £7.50 + shipping.

Beach Processes and Sedimentation by Paul D. Komar. Prentice‐Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1976. 429 pp., $26.95.     

Water migration coefficients of chemical elements in the hypergenesis zone

The contents of basic salt components in the continental discharge related to weathering processes were calculated taking into account the atmospheric transfer of soluble salts from the ocean and their supply from anthropogenic sources. Real water migration coefficients characterizing the mobility of chemical elements in the hypergenesis zone were calculated on the basis of these data. It has been shown that the water migration coefficient directly depends on the solubility of basic minerals that are stable in the hypergenesis zone.     

Holocene activity of the Scilla Fault, Southern Calabria: Insights from coastal morphological and structural investigations

Integration of on-land and offshore geomorphological and structural investigations coupled to extensive radiometric dating of co-seismically uplifted Holocene beaches allows characterization of the geometry, kinematics and seismotectonics of the Scilla Fault, which borders the eastern side of the Messina Strait in Calabria, Southern Italy. This region has been struck by destructive historical earthquakes, but knowledge of geologically-based source parameters for active faults is relatively poor, particularly for those running mostly offshore, as the Scilla Fault does. The  30 km-long normal fault may be divided into three segments of  10 km individual length, with the central and southern segments split in at least two strands. The central and northern segments are submerged, and in this area marine geophysical data indicate a youthful morphology and locally evidence for active faulting. The on-land strand of the western segment displaces marine terraces of the last interglacial (124 to 83 ka), but seismic reflection profiles suggest a full Quaternary activity. Structural data collected on bedrock faults exposed along the on-land segment provide evidence for normal slip and  NW-SE extension, which is consistent with focal mechanisms of large earthquakes and GPS velocity fields in the region. Detailed mapping of raised Holocene marine deposits exposed at the coastline straddling of the northern and central segments supplies evidence for two co-seismic displacements at  1.9 and  3.5 ka, and a possible previous event at  5 ka. Co-seismic displacements show a consistent site value and pattern of along-strike variation, suggestive of characteristic-type behaviour for the fault. The  1.5–2.0 m average co-seismic slips during these events document M_e  6.9–7.0 earthquakes with  1.6–1.7 ka recurrence time. Because hanging-wall subsidence cannot be included into slip magnitude computation, these slips reflect footwall uplift, and represent minimum average estimates. The palaeoseismological record based on the palaeo-shorelines suggests that the last rupture on the Scilla Fault during the February 6, 1783 M_w = 5.9–6.3 earthquake was at the expected time but it may have not entirely released the loaded stress since the last great event at  1.9 ka. Comparison of the estimated co-seismic extension rate based on the Holocene shoreline record with available GPS velocities indicates that the Scilla Fault accounts for at least  15–20% of the contemporary geodetic extension across the Messina Strait.     

Impact of climate and CO2 on a millennium-long tree-ring carbon isotope record

We present one millennium-long (1171-year), and three 100 year long annually resolved δ¹³C tree-ring chronologies from ecologically varying Juniperus stands in the Karakorum Mountains (northern Pakistan), and evaluate their response to climatic and atmospheric CO₂ changes. All δ¹³C records show a gradual decrease since the beginning of the 19th century, which is commonly associated with a depletion of atmospheric δ¹³C due to fossil fuel burning. Climate calibration of high-frequency δ¹³C variations indicates a pronounced summer temperature signal for all sites. The low-frequency component of the same records, however, deviates from long-term temperature trends, even after correction for changes in anthropogenic CO₂. We hypothesize that these high-elevation trees show a response to both climate and elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration and the latter might explain the offset with target temperature data. We applied several corrections to tree-ring δ¹³C records, considering a range of potential CO₂ discrimination changes over the past 150 years and calculated the goodness of fit with the target via calibration/verification tests (R², residual trend, and Durbin-Watson statistics). These tests revealed that at our sites, carbon isotope fixation on longer timescales is affected by increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations at a discrimination rate of about 0.012‰/ppmv. Although this statistically derived value may be site related, our findings have implications for the interpretation of any long-term trends in climate reconstructions using tree-ring δ¹³C, as we demonstrate with our millennium-long δ¹³C Karakorum record. While we find indications for warmth during the Medieval Warm Period (higher than today’s mean summer temperature), we also show that the low-frequency temperature pattern critically depends on the correction applied. Patterns of long-term climate variation, including the Medieval Warm Period, the Little Ice Age, and 20th century warmth are most similar to existing evidence when a strong influence of increased atmospheric CO₂ on plant physiology is assumed.     

Two stages of high-pressure metamorphism in the Main Uralian Fault area (northern Urals)

Metamorphism in the northern sector of the Main Uralian Fault (MUF) area, northern Urals, is considered by the example of the Salatim glaucophane-schist and Belokamenka kyanite-staurolite complexes. New isotope-geochronological dates for metamorphic rocks of the MUF area are presented. The obtained data evidence the existence of two metamorphic events, of Early and Late Devonian ages, which apparently correspond to the wedging-up of subduction paleozones.     

Tectonic evolution of the Siberian Platform during the Vendian and Phanerozoic

This paper presents characteristics of the structural regions surrounding the Siberian Platform and discusses the Vendian-present time evolution of the Siberian Paleocontinent with the Siberian Craton making up its nucleus. It shows that the paleocontinent underwent significant intraplate compressional deformations with vertical movements and formation of inversion structural features within broad areas. Such epochs of deformation took place at the Riphean-Vendian time boundary, during the Late Paleozoic, Late Triassic, Early Cretaceous, and during the Late Cenozoic. The principal rifting events took place during the Middle-Late Devonian. The paper presents paleotectonic reconstructions of East Siberia at several key time intervals.     

Evolution of zircon deformation mechanisms in a shear zone (Lanzo massif,Western-Alps)

Magmatic zircons within two sheared gabbroic dykes from the peridotitic massif of Lanzo (Western-Alps, Italy) revealed evolution of deformation from crystal plasticity to rigid body rotation during shear zone evolution. This is the first time that multiple zircon grains have been analysed in a kinematic context in a shear zone. Zircon grains recorded crystal plastic deformation activating the commonly inferred <100>{001} and <001>{100} glide-systems to the newly identified <001>{110} glide-system. The exact selection of glide-system could be dependant of deformation conditions such as pressure, temperature, and strain rate. Moreover, the activation of one or several glide-systems within a single grain could be favoured by the primary orientation of the grains combined with a high strain rate. In these sheared gabbros, the deformation mechanisms evolve from plastic deformation at low strain rate conditions to increase strain, strain softening and localisation of deformation. The progressive shear zone development and the softening of the matrix relative to the zircon has lead to a switch from crystal-plasticity to rigid body rotation of zircon. The zircon grains rigid body rotation involved that their long axes became parallel to the lineation of the shear zone, causing reorientation and dispersion of the misorientation axes away from kinematic Y.     

Decomposition of Hudson estuary macrophytes: Photosynthetic pigment transformations and decay constants

Plant pigment decay constants were determined for four macrophytes collected from the Hudson Estuary.Typha angustifolia andScirpus fluviatilis were used as representatives of emergent aquatic vegetation (EAV), andPotamogeton sp. andVallisneria americana were used to represent submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Litter bags were maintained in an environmental chamber in the dark for 104 d. The fastest rate of total mass loss was in the SAVV. americana and slowest in the EAVT. angustifolia. Changes in carotenoid and chloropigment concentration resulting from microbial and meiofaunal heterotrophy in each of the macrophytes were quantified using reverse-phase, high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) techniques. Chlorophyllc and the carotenoid, fucoxanthin, provided useful biomarkers in determining the presence of epiphytic diatom growth, which only occurred on the SAV. The highest concentrations of phaeophorbidea, commonly used as an indication of metazoan grazing, were found in the SAVV. americana. Low concentrations of phaeophorbidea in the SAVPotamogeton sp. indicate inefficient use of this SAV by meiofaunal grazers. Lutein decayed slower than all other carotenoids in both EAV and SAV. Microcosm studies such as this are necessary to further understand the mechanisms and kinetics of photosynthetic pigment transformations in natural systems.     

Probabilistic compressive strength of sound dry granite

Summary The different functions of cumulative probability of fracture that can be used in the Probabilistic Strength of Materials in the case of constant uniaxial compression are described. Sound fine-grained granite was used to study volume influence by fracturing rectangular prisms, and then no noticeable influence was observed. Since this is showing that all the fracture stresses are belonging to a single set they were included in a single group that exhibited two functions of specific risk of fracture. The population with the lesser fracture stress has no critical zone while the other population does have it and a critical zone in the order of 10^–6 m³ is the minimum size exhibiting a complete fracture of the specimen when the same collapses. All the statistical functions were found to be acceptable according to theX ² criterion.