Scale-dependent correlations between soil heavy metals and As around four coal-fired power plants of northern Greece

We analyse the concentration of five trace elements (As, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the topsoil of the Kozani-Ptolemais basin where four coal-fired power plants run to provide almost 47.8 % of electricity requirements in Greece. We assume that if the power plants have altered the spatial (co)variation of the analysed elements through their toxic by-products, their effect would be observable only on a small spatial scale, since deposition of airborne pollutants is more evident if it is near the emission source. We used Factorial Cokriging to estimate the small-scale correlations among soil elements and to compare them to large spatial-scale correlations. Soil samples were collected from 92 sites. Given the low concentrations in soil heavy metals and As, we observed no serious soil contamination risk. We estimated correlations among the analysed elements on two spatial scales. On the larger scale, Ni and As exhibited higher correlation and received higher weights for the first regionalized factor, contrary to Cu, Pb and Zn which weighted more for the second regionalized factor. On the small spatial scale As associated with neither Ni nor other heavy metals. We conclude that soil arsenic has been altered by enrichment caused by some power plants through fly ash deposition and/or disposal. However, enrichment of soil elements was detectable only on the smaller spatial scale because anthropogenic inputs in soil through airborne emissions and subsequent deposition are evident only in the vicinity of the emission source.     

Chemical and structural relations of epitaxial xenotime and zircon substratum in sedimentary and hydrothermal environments: a TEM study

Xenotime overgrowths on detrital zircon in siliciclastic sediments have been reported in numerous studies. However, in natural samples, solid solution of zircon and xenotime is limited to near-end-member compositions. In order to characterize the interface region between both minerals and to draw inferences on the growth mechanisms of authigenic xenotime, we studied xenotime overgrowths on detrital zircon grains from two Phanerozoic sandstone samples with contrasting post-depositional histories. In one sample, the small (≤10 μm), pyramidal xenotime overgrowths are of diagenetic origin and grew without major discontinuity on the detrital zircon grain. The second sample shows up to >50-μm-wide, porous and inclusion-rich, hydrothermal xenotime overgrowths on detrital zircon, whereas the transition zone between both minerals is accompanied by large pore volume. Chemical compositions of the xenotime precipitates from the two samples differ particularly in Y, REE, Th and Sc concentrations, whereas high MREE availability in the diagenetic sample and the presence of Sc in the hydrothermal sample, respectively, appear to have promoted xenotime growth. Transmission electron microscopy on electron-transparent foils cut from the interface region shows that both the diagenetic xenotime and the hydrothermal xenotime are crystalline and grew in optical and crystallographic continuity to their detrital zircon substrata. Only a narrow transition zone (≤90 nm—diagenetic sample, 200–300 nm—hydrothermal sample) between zircon and xenotime is in part made up of nanometre-scale crystalline domains that are slightly distorted and may have formed from dissolution–re-precipitation processes at the zircon rim along with precipitation from the respective fluid.     

Biogeographical affinities of marine algae in the Saronikos Gulf,Athens, Greece

Hard substrate photophilius marine algae species of the Saronikos Gulf amount to 197. Of them, 42 were Atlantic subtropical, 36 Atlantic tropical, and just 19 Atlantic boreal and 11 Boreal. The R/P ratio was 3.22. This shows the Atlantic subtropical character of the marine flora.     

Probable evidence for periodicities in global seismic energy release

A complete data set of globally distributed shallow (h , 60 Km) earthquakes have been used for first time to test the possible existence of periodicities in the seismic energy release. Only main shocks of magnitude,M 7.0 were considered, which occurred in the whole Earth during 1898–1985. These magnitudes are converted in seismic energy, which is released during the occurrence of earthquakes, through Bath's formula. The detection of such kind of periodicities is important in seismology, because these patterns may lead to the prediction of large earthquakes. Statistical techniques, such as Maximum Entropy (ME), and two Fourier approaches, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Power Spectrum (PS) of truncated subrecords of the whole time series have been applied to examine the possible existence of such periodicities in seismic energy release. Furthermore, the even-spacing technique is used to validate our results and a type-curve has been constructed for the data set.The results exhibit a network of periodicities with predominant periods at 3(±0.5), 4.5, 6.5, 8–9, 14–20, and 31–34 years. Some periods were occasionally interrupted. The latter implies that our time-series is not stationary, in that, the spectral peaks drift when the data are viewed through different time windows. The fact that the signal is weak and embedded in less accurate older data could contribute to this effect. The question of stability/validity of the apparently cyclic behaviour of the annual global seismic energy release, is one which requires further investigation.     

A Probabilistic Estimation of Strong Earthquakes'''' Occurrence in Aeghion Area, Central Greece

INTRODUCTIONTheexaminedareaislocatedintheGulfofCorinthandhasbeenrecognizedasoneofthemostactiveriftsinthewholeAegeanSea .Itsquaternarynormalfaulting (Sebriere ,1 977)anditshighseismicity (PapazachosandPapazachou ,1 997;AmbraseysandJackson ,1 990 )makeitaphysicallaboratorywithintheMediterraneanarea ,wherethephysicalprocessrelatedtotheseismiccyclecouldbestudied .ThecityofAeghionexperiencedastrong (MW =6 4 )earthquakeinJune 1 995,whichcausedseveredamage (Tselentis ,etal.,1 996 ) .Twent…     

A coupled-mode model for water wave scattering by horizontal, non-homogeneous current in general bottom topography

A coupled-mode model is developed for treating the wave–current–seabed interaction problem, with application to wave scattering by non-homogeneous, steady current over general bottom topography. The vertical distribution of the scattered wave potential is represented by a series of local vertical modes containing the propagating mode and all evanescent modes, plus additional terms accounting for the satisfaction of the free-surface and bottom boundary conditions. Using the above representation, in conjunction with unconstrained variational principle, an improved coupled system of differential equations on the horizontal plane, with respect to the modal amplitudes, is derived. In the case of small-amplitude waves, a linearised version of the above coupled-mode system is obtained, generalizing previous results by Athanassoulis and Belibassakis [J Fluid Mech 1999;389:275–301] for the propagation of small-amplitude water waves over variable bathymetry regions. Keeping only the propagating mode in the vertical expansion of the wave potential, the present system reduces to an one-equation model, that is shown to be compatible with mild-slope model concerning wave–current interaction over slowly varying topography, and in the case of no current it exactly reduces to the modified mild-slope equation. The present coupled-mode system is discretized on the horizontal plane by using second-order finite differences and numerically solved by iterations. Results are presented for various representative test cases demonstrating the usefulness of the model, as well as the importance of the first evanescent modes and the additional sloping-bottom mode when the bottom slope is not negligible. The analytical structure of the present model facilitates its extension to fully non-linear waves, and to wave scattering by currents with more general structure.     

Monotonic and cyclic tests on kaolin: a database for the development,calibration and verification of constitutive models for cohesive soils with focus to cyclic loading

A database with about 60 undrained monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests on kaolin is presented. In the monotonic tests, the influences of consolidation pressure, overconsolidation ratio, displacement rate and sample cutting direction have been studied. In the cyclic tests, the stress amplitude, the initial stress ratio and the control (stress vs. strain cycles) have been additionally varied. Isotropic consolidation leads to a failure due to large strain amplitudes with eight-shaped effective stress paths in the final phase of the cyclic tests, while a failure due to an excessive accumulation of axial strain and lens-shaped effective stress paths was observed in the case of anisotropic consolidation with \(q^{\text{ ampl }}< |q^{\text{ av }}|\). The rate of pore pressure accumulation grew with increasing amplitude and void ratio (i.e. decreasing consolidation pressure and overconsolidation ratio). The “cyclic flow rule” well known for sand has been confirmed also for kaolin: With increasing value of the average stress ratio \(|\eta ^{\text{ av }}| = |q^{\text{ av }}|/p^{\text{ av }}, \) the accumulation of deviatoric strain becomes predominant over the accumulation of pore water pressure. The tests on the samples cut out either horizontally or vertically revealed a significant effect of anisotropy. In the cyclic tests, the two kinds of samples exhibited an opposite inclination of the effective stress path. Furthermore, the horizontal samples showed a higher stiffness and could sustain a much larger number of cycles to failure. All data of the present study are available from the homepage of the first author. They may serve for the examination, calibration or improvement in constitutive models dedicated to cohesive soils under cyclic loading, or for the development of new models.