Croatia — a coastal and maritime country

Croatia, through its geographic position, is a Mediterranean/Adriatic and Central European/Danube state. As an Adriatic coastal state, it has a long maritime tradition, which is apparent in its well-developed shipping (2.4 million GT), the high-quality ship-building industry (among the top six in the world) and through its numerous sea ports, of which many were established in ancient times. The leading national port is Rijeka, which is at the same time an important transit port for Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.The exceptionally indented Croatian Adriatic coast with its attractive archipelagos and favorable climatic and oceanographic conditions in the coastal sea offers very advantageous conditions for comprehensive tourist utilization. This is particularly true of nautical tourism, which is complimented by a larger number of constructed and well-equipped yachting ports/marinas on the coast and islands.     

Repeated Geodetic Measurements in the West Bohemia Seismoactive Region: Period 1993 - 1996

The western part of the Bohemian Massif is characterized by repeated occurrences of intraplate earthquake swarms. To study surface deformations of this anomalous region, a network covering about 2000 square kilometres for repeated geodetic measurements was established in 1993 - 1994. The positions of the individual points of the network were carefully picked with respect to local tectonic structure and earthquake foci distribution. GPS and precise levelling measurements were performed 1-2 times a year. The GPS data were processed by Bernese GPS software. No tendency to any displacement - either horizontal or vertical - of geological blocks was derived from the geodetic data for the period 1993 - 96. Only displacements of less than 5 mm/year in average could occur in the whole region in that period; larger displacements would have been revealed by our measurements.     

Remote sensing detection of atmospheric pollutants by differential absorption LIDAR 510M/SODAR PA2 mobile system

Summary Air pollution problem in the Czech Republic is very complex due to large number of factors as turbulent dispersion and chemical reactions concurring in the status of the PBL. For this 3D distribution of pollutants is a key information that cannot be given by conventional monitoring stations. Combined use of DIAL lidar and sodar can give access to such information. Case studies of air pollutants transport are presented using 3D concentration fields of NO₂ and ozone measured by lidar and meteorological conditions monitored by Doppler Sodar.     

Lead-arsenic soil geochemical study as an exploration guide over the Killik volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, Northeastern Turkey

A mountainous terrain, the eastern Pontide tectonic belt, located in northeastern Turkey, contains more than 60 known volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits that differ in reserves (0.1–30 million tonnes) and grades. Soil geochemistry is conventionally used in exploration programs to discover concealed VMS deposits in the region. In the present study, Pb and As element pair were used as pathfinder elements to investigate the relationship of their anomalies to a completely delineated ore deposit (Killik VMS deposit) in an orientation survey that served as a natural physical model. Two hundred forty soil samples were analyzed in the present study. The two elements, which represent the opposite ends of the mobility range, revealed high contrast and overlapped each other at the location of the ore deposit due to enhancement of the anomalies by hydromorphic dispersion, which is an indication that soil samples would produce reliable results. The successful delineation of the deposit is remarkable considering the rough topography and the climatic limitations. Previously the extremely moist and temperate climate was thought to cause excessive leaching of the trace element pathfinders from the ore deposits to produce extensive anomalies usually extending away from the mineralization thus, leading to erroneous results and/or extensive anomalous areas. But the present research has shown that the method can be used effectively if the sampling and data evaluation is carefully conducted.     

The response in floodplain respiration of an alpine river to experimental inundation under different temperature regimes

The respiratory potential [i.e. electron transport system activity (ETSA)] of soils and sediments from five floodplain habitats (channel, gravel, islands, riparian forest and grassland) of the Urbach River, Switzerland, and actual respiration rate (R) of the same samples exposed to experimental inundation were measured. Measurements were carried out at three incubation temperatures (4°C, 12°C and 20°C), and ETSA/R ratios (i.e. exploitation of the overall metabolic capacity) were investigated to better understand the effects of temperature and inundation on floodplain functional heterogeneity. Furthermore, ETSA/R ratios obtained during experimental inundation were compared with ETSA/R ratios from field measurements to investigate the exploitation in total metabolic potential at different conditions. Lowest ETSA and R were measured in samples from channel and gravel habitats, followed by those from islands. Substantially higher values were measured in soils from riparian forest and grassland. Both ETSA and R increased with increasing temperature in samples from all habitats, while the ETSA/R ratio decreased because of a rapid response in microbial community respiration to higher temperatures. The metabolic capacity exploitation (i.e. ETSA/R) during experimental inundation was lowest in predominantly terrestrial samples (riparian forest and grassland), indicating the weakest response to wetted conditions. Comparison of experimentally inundated and field conditions revealed that in rarely flooded soils, the metabolic capacity was less exploited during inundation than during non‐flooded conditions. The results suggest high sensitivity in floodplain respiration to changes in temperature and hydrological regime. ETSA/R ratios are considered good indicators of changes in metabolic activity of floodplain soils and sediments, and thus useful to estimate the impact of changes in hydrological regime or to evaluate success of floodplain restoration actions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.