Der permische Vulkanismus in Sardinien

Zusammenfassung Der permische Vulkanismus hat in Sardinien zuerst basische Laven und nur zum Schluß saure Typen gefördert. Echte Ergüsse sind verhältnismäßig selten; lokal ist die Tuff- und Breccienbildung stark entwickelt. In allen Fällen liegen die pyroklastischen Sedimente (Tuffe und Breccien) auf den Konglomeraten, Sandsteinen und Tonen des Rotliegenden und sind am besten in den kleinen Becken des varistischen Festlandes erhalten.

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Riassunto Con la venuta del plutone ercinico in Sardegna si stabiliscono condizioni d'ambiente continentale, documentate dalla facies di Verrucano del Permico inferiore.Questi depositi clastici sono più vari e potenti (fino a 200 m circa) entro piccoli bacini lacustri antracitiferi con flora autuniana aWalchia (Rotliegend).I bacini pare coincidano di preferenza con le originarie depressioni sinclinali di quel ciclo orogenetico.Entro questi bacini si incontrano, superiormente interstratificati, tufi e brecce vulcaniche nonchè conglomerati di lava. Dapprima prevalgono lave basiche (porfiriti e andesiti) e la loro eruzione è stata localmente preceduta da violente esplosioni. Le successive eruzioni di porfidi quarziferi sono invece meno frequenti. Lave a pasta felsitica e tessitura fluidale, a cpmposizione riolitica o trachitica, formano più spesso riempimenti di camini vulcanici; solo raramente si notano espandimenti di piccola estensione. Composizione e aspetto di molte di queste lave sono simili ai prodotti del vulcanismo terziario della regione, con i quali potrebbero essere confuse.Le manifestazioni vulcaniche del Permico sono meglio conservate e più evidenti nel settore schistoso (filladi siluriche prevalenti) a S del Gennargentu, dal bacino dell'Alto e Medio Flumendosa fino alla costa del Mare Tirreno (Barbagia, Ogliastra, Gerrei). Ne incontriamo anche sotto la coltre mesozoica nell'entroterra del Golfo di Orosei, a N di Baunei e presso Galtelli. Pure sopra i limitati settori schistosi della Sardegna settentrionale (Nurra e Gallura) si conoscono depositi in facies di Verrucano attraversati e in parte coperti dai porfidi del Permico.Probabilmente sono manifestazioni coeve quelle della Sardegna sud-occidentale, dove però la mancanza di depositi permici a contatto con le lave porfiriche (Iglesiente) e porfiritiche (Sulcis) non acconsente una precisazione cronologica.Certamente pre-permici sono invece i porfidi grigi del Sarrabus e i porfiroidi del Gerrei e di altre parti della Sardegna.

     

Reliability of Building Inventories in Seismic Prone Regions

A study on uncertainties in building inventory and vulnerability assessment for the city of Basel, Switzerland a moderate hazard but high-risk area is presented. Emphasis is put on the special conditions and demands on the data assessment procedure in such an environment. The building information was assessed from the sidewalk using a method similar to that proposed in FEMA-154. With only three persons working for two weeks, about 10% of the citys building stock was assessed. The quality of the dataset was tested by using pre-existing reference data. These tests revealed patterns of misinterpreted structural information; important features like the floor type in URM buildings were difficult to identify.Six methods are proposed to derive building vulnerability from the collected structural information using the definitions of EMS98. The variation between the individual results was investigated in detail. A sample earthquake scenario with intensity IX in the city of Basel is used to demonstrate the influence of uncertainty in the inventory on the scenario results. The range of variation in the results is huge. Overall damage in the six scenarios differed by up to 27%. The amount of collapsed buildings in the historical part of the city comprised between 28% in the worst case and 3% in the best. There is a distinct influence of the inspectors opinion visible in the scenario results, which introduces a remarkable uncertainty. This emphasizes the importance of reliable inventory assessments and makes uncertainty analysis in earthquake scenarios indispensable – especially in areas of moderate seismicity where observational data from earthquake damage is missing.     

Fast Solar Wind Velocity in a Polar Coronal Hole during Solar Minimum

We present a study of the outflow velocity of the fast wind in the northern polar coronal hole observed on 21 May 1996, during the minimum of solar activity, in the frame of a joint observing program of the SOHO (Solar Heliospheric Observatory) mission. The outflow velocity is inferred from an analysis of the Doppler dimming of the intensities of the Ovi 1032, 1037 and Hi L 1216 lines observed between 1.5 R and 3.5 R with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS), operating onboard SOHO. The analysis shows that for a coronal plasma characterized by low density, as derived for a polar hole at solar minimum by Guhathakurta et al. (1999), and low temperature, as directly measured at the base of this coronal hole by David et al. (1998), the oxygen outflow speed derived spectroscopically is consistent with that implied by the proton flux conservation. The hydrogen outflow is also consistent with flux conservation if the deviation from isotropy of the velocity distribution of the hydrogen atoms is negligible. Hence, for this cool and tenuous corona, the oxygen ions and neutral hydrogen atoms flow outward roughly at the same speed, which increases from 40 km s^–1 at 1.5 R to 360 km s^–1 at 3.1 R , with an average acceleration of the order of 4.5×10³ cm s^–2. The highly anisotropic velocity distributions of the Ovi ions found in the analysis confirm that the process which is heating the oxygen ions acts preferentially across the magnetic field.     

Assessing climate change impacts on the Iberian power system using a coupled water-power model

Climate change is expected to have a negative impact on the power system of the Iberian Peninsula; changes in river runoff are expected to reduce hydropower generation, while higher temperatures are expected to increase summer electricity demand, when water resources are already limited. However, these impacts have not yet been evaluated at the peninsular level. We coupled a hydrological model with a power market model to study three impacts of climate change on the current Iberian power system: changes in hydropower production caused by changes in precipitation and temperature, changes in temporal patterns of electricity demand caused by temperature changes, and changes in irrigation water use caused by temperature and precipitation changes. A stochastic dynamic programming approach was used to develop operating rules for the integrated system given hydrological uncertainty. We found that changes in precipitation will reduce runoff, decrease hydropower production (with accompanying increases in thermal generation), and increase irrigation water use, while higher temperatures will shift power demand from winter to summer months. The combined impact of these effects will generally make it more challenging to balance agricultural, power, and environmental objectives in the operation of Iberian reservoirs, though some impacts could be mitigated by better alignment between temporal patterns of irrigation and power demands.     

European blocking and Atlantic jet stream variability in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and the CMCC-CMS climate model

The relationship between atmospheric blocking over Europe and the Atlantic eddy-driven jet stream is investigated in the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis and in a climate model. This is carried out using a bidimensional blocking index based on geopotential height and a diagnostic providing daily latitudinal position and strength of the jet stream. It is shown that European Blocking (EB) is not decoupled from the jet stream but it is mainly associated with its poleward displacements. Moreover, the whole blocking area placed on the equatorward side of the jet stream, broadly ranging from Azores up to Scandinavia, emerges as associated with poleward jet displacements. The diagnostics are hence applied to two different climate model simulations in order to evaluate the biases in the jet stream and in the blocking representation. This analysis highlights large underestimation of EB, typical feature of general circulation models. Interestingly, observed blocking and jet biases over the Euro-Atlantic area are consistent with the blocking-jet relationship observed in the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis. Finally, the importance of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) is investigated showing that realistic SSTs can reduce the bias in the jet stream variability but not in the frequency of EB. We conclude highlighting that blocking-related diagnostics can provide more information about the Euro-Atlantic variability than diagnostics simply based on the Atlantic jet stream.     

Morphology and geology of the continental shelf and upper slope of southern Central Chile (33°S–43°S)

The continental shelf and slope of southern Central Chile have been subject to a number of international as well as Chilean research campaigns over the last 30 years. This work summarizes the geologic setting of the southern Central Chilean Continental shelf (33°S–43°S) using recently published geophysical, seismological, sedimentological and bio-geochemical data. Additionally, unpublished data such as reflection seismic profiles, swath bathymetry and observations on biota that allow further insights into the evolution of this continental platform are integrated. The outcome is an overview of the current knowledge about the geology of the southern Central Chilean shelf and upper slope. We observe both patches of reduced as well as high recent sedimentation on the shelf and upper slope, due to local redistribution of fluvial input, mainly governed by bottom currents and submarine canyons and highly productive upwelling zones. Shelf basins show highly variable thickness of Oligocene-Quaternary sedimentary units that are dissected by the marine continuations of upper plate faults known from land. Seismic velocity studies indicate that a paleo-accretionary complex that is sandwiched between the present, relatively small active accretionary prism and the continental crust forms the bulk of the continental margin of southern Central Chile.     

The Serra da Graciosa A-type Granites and Syenites, southern Brazil: Part 2: Petrographic and mineralogical evolution of the alkaline and aluminous associations

The Serra da Graciosa Granites and Syenites comprise five distinct plutons in the Brasiliano/Pan-African Graciosa A-type Province, southern Brazil. Six petrographic series can be identified in these plutons: (1) Alkaline series 1, composed of amphibole-bearing alkali feldspar syenites with varied mafic mineralogy and quartz contents, from alkali feldspar syenites with calcic amphibole, clinopyroxene, olivine and allanite to alkali feldspar quartz syenites with sodic–calcic amphibole and chevkinite–perrierite and to alkali feldspar granites with sodic amphibole; (2) Alkaline series 2, characterized by amphibole-bearing alkali feldspar granites, with limited modal variations but amphibole compositions also varying from calcic to sodic; (3) Alkaline series 3, of limited occurrence, which includes alkali feldspar syenites with olivine and clinopyroxene and no amphibole; (4) Aluminous series 1, of widespread occurrence, with various petrographic facies of biotite granites with amphibole; (5) Aluminous series 2, characterized by alkali feldspar granites with biotite and only minor amphibole; (6) Monzodiorites, typically with biotite, calcic amphibole and augitic clinopyroxene, partially mingled with granitic magmas. The mafic minerals present are, in general, Fe-rich with correspondingly low Mg and Al contents. In Alkaline series 1, amphiboles crystallized in progressively more oxidizing and alkaline conditions, while in Alkaline series 2, the initial conditions were somewhat more oxidizing and shifted to reducing in the final stages. In Aluminous series 1 and Aluminous series 2, amphiboles are calcic and comparatively homogeneous. The amphiboles in the monzodioritic rocks, while also homogeneous, are more Mg-rich and show compositions quite distinct from the calcic varieties in the other associations, and this is also the case for clinopyroxene. Mg# in biotite decreases from the monzodioritic rocks to Aluminous series 1 and further to Aluminous series 2. Contrasting evolution of the various associations suggests that several coeval magmatic series are present in the Serra da Graciosa granites.