MAROS: a decision support system for optimizing monitoring plans

The Monitoring and Remediation Optimization System (MAROS), a decision-support software, was developed to assist in formulating cost-effective ground water long-term monitoring plans. MAROS optimizes an existing ground water monitoring program using both temporal and spatial data analyses to determine the general monitoring system category and the locations and frequency of sampling for future compliance monitoring at the site. The objective of the MAROS optimization is to minimize monitoring locations in the sampling network and reduce sampling frequency without significant loss of information, ensuring adequate future characterization of the contaminant plume. The interpretive trend analysis approach recommends the general monitoring system category for a site based on plume stability and site-specific hydrogeologic information. Plume stability is characterized using primary lines of evidence (i.e., Mann-Kendall analysis and linear regression analysis) based on concentration trends, and secondary lines of evidence based on modeling results and empirical data. The sampling optimization approach, consisting of a two-dimensional spatial sampling reduction method (Delaunay method) and a temporal sampling analysis method (Modified CES method), provides detailed sampling location and frequency results. The Delaunay method is designed to identify and eliminate redundant sampling locations without causing significant information loss in characterizing the plume. The Modified CES method determines the optimal sampling frequency for a sampling location based on the direction, magnitude, and uncertainty in its concentration trend. MAROS addresses a variety of ground water contaminants (fuels, solvents, and metals), allows import of various data formats, and is designed for continual modification of long-term monitoring plans as the plume or site conditions change over time.     

The Scale of VGI in Map Production: A Perspective on European National Mapping Agencies

The perspective of European National Mapping Agencies (NMA) on the role of citizen sensing in map production was explored. The NMAs varied greatly in their engagement with the community generating volunteered geographic information (VGI) and in their future plans. From an assessment of NMA standard practices, it was evident that much VGI was acquired with a positional accuracy that, while less than that typically acquired by NMAs, actually exceeded the requirements of the nominal data capture scale used by most NMAs. Opportunities for VGI use in map revision and updating were evident, especially for agencies that use a continuous rather than cyclical updating policy. Some NMAs had also developed systems to engage with citizen sensors and examples are discussed. Only rarely was VGI used to collect data on features beyond the standard set used by the NMAs. The potential role of citizen sensing and so its current scale of use by NMAs is limited by a series of concerns, notably relating to issues of data quality, the nature and motivation of the contributors, legal issues, the sustainability of data source, and employment fears of NMA staff. Possible priorities for future research and development are identified to help ensure that the potential of VGI in mapping is realized.     

Phase equilibria modelling and LASS monazite petrochronology: P–T–t constraints on the evolution of the Priest River core complex,northern Idaho

Phase equilibria modelling, laser‐ablation split‐stream (LASS)‐ICP‐MS petrochronology and garnet trace‐element geochemistry are integrated to constrain the P–T–t history of the footwall of the Priest River metamorphic core complex, northern Idaho. Metapelitic, migmatitic gneisses of the Hauser Lake Gneiss contain the peak assemblage garnet + sillimanite + biotite ± muscovite + plagioclase + K‐feldspar ± rutile ± ilmenite + quartz. Interpreted P–T paths predict maximum pressures and peak metamorphic temperatures of ~9.6–10.3 kbar and ~785–790 °C. Monazite and xenotime ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th dates from porphyroblast inclusions indicate that metamorphism occurred at c. 74–54 Ma. Dates from HREE‐depleted monazite formed during prograde growth constrain peak metamorphism at c. 64 Ma near the centre of the complex, while dates from HREE‐enriched monazite constrain the timing of garnet breakdown during near‐isothermal decompression at c. 60–57 Ma. Near‐isothermal decompression to ~5.0–4.4 kbar was followed by cooling and further decompression. The youngest, HREE‐enriched monazite records leucosome crystallization at mid‐crustal levels c. 54–44 Ma. The northernmost sample records regional metamorphism during the emplacement of the Selkirk igneous complex (c. 94–81 Ma), Cretaceous–Tertiary metamorphism and limited Eocene exhumation. Similarities between the Priest River complex and other complexes of the northern North American Cordillera suggest shared regional metamorphic and exhumation histories; however, in contrast to complexes to the north, the Priest River contains less partial melt and no evidence for diapiric exhumation. Improved constraints on metamorphism, deformation, anatexis and exhumation provide greater insight into the initiation and evolution of metamorphic core complexes in the northern Cordillera, and in similar tectonic settings elsewhere.     

A New GIScience Application for Visualized Natural Resources Management and Decision Support

This article presents two decision support plug‐ins in free GIS software: ArcGIS Explorer Desktop. The ubiquitous WebGIS Analysis Toolkit for Extensive Resources (uWATER) focuses on providing GIS analysis functions: spatial and attribute queries in the public services tool for users with limited access to commercial GIS software. The interface of uWATER is general enough to support decision‐making in numerous management issues in natural resources, economics and agriculture. The uWATER‐Pumping Assessment (uWATER‐PA) toolkit, on the other hand, is an extended package targeting the specific environmental issue of groundwater pumping impacts. The uWATER‐PA package is an excellent alternative to evaluating complex groundwater pumping assessment issues before investing significant time, labor, and funds in monitoring and detailed scientific study. It incorporates simulation of the physics of groundwater flow and user interaction into GIS software. A graphical user interface makes both data entry and interpretation of results intuitive to non‐technical individuals. Results are presented as colored drawdown maps and can be saved in GIS format for future dissemination. The impact of drawdown on existing wells can be characterized and mapped, through the use of uWATER's spatial query capabilities and the drawdown maps generated by uWATER‐PA.     

Fatigue-Damage Evolution Characteristics of Interbeded Marble Subjected to Dynamic Uniaxial Cyclic Loads

In this work, uniaxial fatigue tests combined with post-test X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning were conducted on marble samples with different interbed orientations, in order to reveal the anisotropic damage evolution characteristics during rock failure. The dynamic elastic modulus, damping ratio, fatigue deformation, damage evolution, accumulative damage modeling and crack pattern were systematically analyzed. The testing results indicate that the interbed structure in marble affects the damage evolution and the associated dynamic mechanical behaviors. The damage curve in “S” style indicates three-stage trend, namely, initial damage stage, steady damage stage and the accelerated damage stage. The damage index during cyclic deformation for marble presents obvious discrepancy. In addition, a fatigue damage prediction models was employed numerically as double-term power equations based on the experimental data. It is found that the selected damage model is suitable in modeling the rapid damage growth in the early and final stage of rock fatigue lifetime. Moreover, post-test CT scanning further reveals the anisotropic damage characteristics of marble, the crack pattern in the fractured sample is controlled by the interbed structure. What is more, the most striking founding is that the fracture degree is in consistent with the damage accumulation within the steady damage stage. Through a series of damage mechanical behavior analysis, the internal mechanism of the effect of interbed orientation on damage evolution of marble is firstly documented.

     

A chemostratigraphic method to determine the end of impact‐related sedimentation at marine‐target impact craters (Chesapeake Bay,Lockne, Tvären)

Abstract– To better understand the impact cratering process and its environmental consequences at the local to global scale, it is important to know when in the geological record of an impact crater the impact‐related processes cease. In many instances, this occurs with the end of early crater modification, leaving an obvious sedimentological boundary between impactites and secular sediments. However, in marine‐target craters the transition from early crater collapse (i.e., water resurge) to postimpact sedimentation can appear gradual. With the a priori assumption that the reworked target materials of the resurge deposits have a different chemical composition to the secular sediments we use chemostratigraphy (δ¹³C_carb, %C_org, major elements) of sediments from the Chesapeake Bay, Lockne, and Tvären craters, to define this boundary. We show that the end of impact‐related sedimentation in these cases is fairly rapid, and does not necessarily coincide with a visual boundary (e.g., grain size shift). Therefore, in some cases, the boundary is more precisely determined by chemostratigraphy, especially carbonate carbon isotope variations, rather than by visual inspection. It is also shown how chemostratigraphy can confirm the age of marine‐target craters that were previously determined by biostratigraphy; by comparing postimpact carbon isotope trends with established regional trends.     

Poincarè Chaos and the Dynamical Evolution of Systems of Gravitating Bodies

Some general laws of evolution of a system of a large number of gravitating bodies are discussed. If in the initial stage the dynamics of the system is determined by large-scale perturbations of the gravitational potential associated with excitations of a few collective degrees of freedom, then one can assume, by analogy with chaos in the several-body problem (Poincarè chaos), that randomization will occur in the system over several average crossing times. In the next stage of evolution, the energy of collective modes should be transferred by the cascade mechanism to ever smaller scales, down to invididual particles. Numerical experiments and gross-dynamical considerations that could verify this picture and bring out details are discussed.     

Optical flares from the faint mid‐dM star 2MASS J00453912+4140395

We present B and V light curves of a large stellar flare obtained with the Wide Field Camera at the Isaac Newton 2.5‐m telescope (La Palma). The source object is a faint (m_V = 21.38) foreground star in the field of the Andromeda galaxy, with its most probable spectral type being dM4. We provide an estimate of the total flare energy in the optical range and find it to be of the order of 1035 erg. The cooling phase of the large flare shows three additional weak flare‐like events, which we interpret as results of a triggering mechanism also observed on the Sun during large coronal mass ejections. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)