Size-segregated characterization of PM10 at the EMEP site Melpitz (Germany) using a five-stage impactor: a six year study

Size-segregated particle samples were collected using a Berner 5-stage impactor (stages 1?C5: 0.05?C0.14?C0.42?C1.2?C3.5?C10???m aerodynamic diameter). The means for all 169?days and for different categories of days were used for a characterization. The sorting criteria were (a) the distinction between winter (Wi, November to April) and summer (Su, May to October), (b) the distinction between air mass inflow from a sector West (W, 210?°?C320?°) and from a sector East (E, 35?°?C140?°). For the assignment of the air mass origin 96-h backward trajectories were used and four categories (WiW, WiE, SuW and SuE) with 48, 18, 42 and 29?days were established. The lowest mean particle mass concentrations were found for SuW and the highest for WiE with relative mass concentration distributions of 5.9, 28.2, 36.5, 18.0, and 11.4?% and 3.5, 22.7, 52.6, 16.7, and 4.5?% for stages 1?C5, respectively. The mass closure for water soluble ions, water, organic material (OM) and elemental carbon (EC) accounts for 81?C99?% of the gravimetric mass in Wi and for 60?C81?% for Su, depending on the stage. The fractions of nitrate were relatively high for WiW while sulphate fractions are high for WiE. The estimated concentrations of secondary organic carbon (SOA) on stage 3 for WiW, WiE, SuW and SuE were 0.32, 1.25, 0.27 and 0.58???gm^?3, respectively. The highest amount of SOA is found for WiE, representing 59?% of organic carbon (OC). The highest difference in the percentages of SOA in OC was found between winter (WiW 55?%, WiE 59?%) and summer (SuW and SuE 74?%) indicating photochemical processes during long-range transport. The mean Carbon Preference Indices (CPI) are highest for SuE (stage 4: 7.57 and stage 5: 9.82) resulting mainly from plant wax abrasion in the surrounding forests. For WiE the mean PAH concentration on stage 3 (9.7?ngm^?3) is about five times higher than for WiW, indicating long range transport following domestic heating and other combustion processes.     

Palaeomagnetism of the central Cuban Cretaceous Arc sequences and geodynamic implications

A detailed palaeomagnetic study of Cretaceous age volcanic and sedimentary arc rocks from central Cuba has been carried out. Samples from 32 sites (12 localities) were subjected to detailed demagnetisation experiments. Nineteen sites from the Los Paso, Mataguá, Provincial and Cabaiguán Formations yielded high unblocking temperature, dual polarity directions of magnetisation which pass the fold tests with confidence levels of 95% or more and are considered to be primary in origin. The palaeomagnetic inclinations are equivalent to palaeolatitudes of 9°N for the Aptian, 18°N for the Albian. A synfolding remanence identified in 5 sites from the younger Hilario Formation indicates a late Cretaceous remagnetisation at a palaeolatitude of 16°N. Our results are in good agreement with previous palaeogeographic models and provide the first high quality palaeomagnetic data demonstrating the gradual northward movement of the Cretaceous Volcanic Arc throughout the Cretaceous. The declination values obtained all indicate significant and similar amounts of anticlockwise rotation from the oldest sequences studied through to the late Cretaceous remagnetisation. This rotation is most likely related to collision of the arc with the North American plate and transpressional strike slip movement along the northern margin of the Caribbean plate as it progressed eastwards into the large Proto-Caribbean basin.     

Splash detachment of sand particles under varying contact stress field of wind-driven raindrop impact

The effects of wind-driven rain (WDR) on sand detachment were studied under various raindrop obliquities. Results suggested a significant reduction in compressive stress on sand surfaces for a two-dimensional experimental set-up in a wind tunnel. During experiments, sand particles in splash cups were exposed to both wind-free rain (WFR) and WDR driven by horizontal winds of 6.4, 8.9 and 12.8 m s⁻¹ and rainfall intensities of 50, 60, 75 and 90-mm h⁻¹ to assess the sand detachment rate (D, in g m⁻² s⁻¹). The effects of sand moisture state (dry and wet) on the detachment of different-sized particles (0.20–0.50 and 0.50–2.00 mm, respectively) were also tested. Factorial analysis of variance showed that shear and compressive stress components evaluated by horizontal and vertical kinetic energy flux terms (KE_x and KE_y, respectively, in J m⁻² s⁻¹) along with their vector sum (KE_r, in J m⁻² s⁻¹) explained the variation in D. Neither sand size nor sand moisture was statistically significant alone although binary interactions of KE_r, KE_x and KE_y with the sand size and three-way interaction of KE_x, sand size and moisture were statistically significant. These results can be explained by size-dependent variation in sand compressibility and surface friction related to the total stress field developed by a given partition of shear and compressive stresses of wind-driven oblique raindrops (KE_x/KE_y). Further analysis of the variation of the unit sand detachment rate (D_u = D/KE_r = g J⁻¹) with rain inclination (α, in degrees) better revealed the effect of WDR obliquity on D_u that further changed with sand size class and moisture state. Finally, the difference in the resulting stress field differentiable by the oblique raindrop trajectories of the experiment over sand surface significantly affected the non-cohesive particle detachment rates, to some extent interacted with size-dependent compressibility and interface shear strength of sand grains.     

Spatial variability in the chemical composition of the snowcover at high alpine sites

Summary For a comparison of snow chemistry data from different glaciers or snow fields it is important to have informations about the spatial representativeness of the data from each of the individual sites. In order to assess the representativeness of concentration data of major ions (volume weighted means of the winter accumulation) from glacier fields we investigated the variability in the average concentration of major ions from parallel samples within one snow pit and from different pits within one glacier field. The variabilities in the average concentrations of NO ₃ ^- , SO ₄ ^2- and NH ₄ ⁺ for three parallel profiles within one snow pit at Goldbergkees (Austria) were 1.2, 3.3 and 2.0% (coefficient of variation). Cl^– and Na⁺ showed larger variations (6.6 and 56.6%) possibly originating from contaminations. The variability of average concentration data from different snow pits within one glacier field was studied at La Grave (France) and at Goldbergkees (Austria). At La Grave 3 pits and at Goldbergkees 4 pits at distance of several hundred meters were sampled. Variabilities for SO ₄ ^2- and NO ₃ ^- were quite similar for the two sites (17% for both ions at La Grave, 12% and 15% at Goldbergkees). Whereas variabilities for Na⁺, NH ₄ ⁺ , Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Cl^– were quite low at La Grave ( 12% and 27% for Cl^–), higher values were obtained at Goldbergkees for these ions (17–56%). Likely reasons for the higher variability observed at Goldbergkees are a) higher spatial variability of crustal aerosol species (Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺), b) problems with the detection limit of the analytical method (Ca²⁺), c) contaminations (Na⁺, Cl^–).With 4 Figures     

Secondary copper enrichment in tailings at the Laver mine, northern Sweden

 Field and laboratory studies of the sulphide-bearing tailings at Laver, northern Sweden, show that the present release of metals from the tailings is low, especially with regard to Cu. A large part of the Cu released by sulphide oxidation is enriched in a distinct zone just below the oxidation front. The enrichment zone occurs almost all over the tailings area except in areas with a shallow groundwater table. The Cu enrichment is caused by formation of covellite and adsorption onto mineral surfaces. The transport of Zn, Co, Cd, Ni and S seems to be controlled mainly by adsorption. No secondary zone or secondary minerals containing these metals have been found. Just below the groundwater table, metals are released into solution when the enrichment zone reaches the groundwater due to the low pH. An increased release of metals, especially Cu, can be expected in the future, since the enrichment zone is moving towards the groundwater table. Received: 4 December 1997 · Accepted: 17 December 1998     

An improved earthquake catalogue (<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis> ≥ 4.0) for Turkey and its near vicinity (1900–2012)

Many catalogues, agency reports and research articles have been published on seismicity of Turkey and its surrounding since 1950s. Given existing magnitude heterogeneity, erroneous information on epicentral location, event date and time, this past published data however is far from fulfilling the required standards. Paucity of a standardized format in the available catalogues have reinforced the need for a refined and updated catalogue for earthquake related hazard and risk studies. During this study, ~37,000 earthquakes and related parametric data were evaluated by utilizing more than 41 published studies and, an integrated database was prepared in order to analyse all parameters acquired from the catalogues and references for each event. Within the scope of this study, the epicentral locations of M ≥ 5.0 events were firstly reappraised based on the updated Active Fault Map of Turkey. An improved catalogue of 12.674 events for the period 1900–2012 was as a result recompiled for the region between 32–45N° and 23–48E° by analyzing in detail accuracy of all seismological parameters available for each event. The events consist of M ≥ 4.0 are reported in several magnitude scales (e.g. moment magnitude, M_w; surface wave magnitude, M_S; body-wave magnitude m_b; local magnitude M_L and duration magnitude M_d) whereas the maximum focal depth reaches up to 225-km. In order to provide homogenous data, the improved catalogue is unified in terms of M_w. Fore-and aftershocks were also removed from the catalogue and completeness analyses were performed both separately for various tectonic sources and as a whole for the study region of interest. Thus, the prepared homogenous and declustered catalogue consisting of 6573 events provides the basis for a reliable input to the seismic hazard assessment studies for Turkey and its surrounding areas.