Tide-Induced Variations in the Fatty Acid Composition of Estuarine Particulate Organic Matter

The particulate organic matter (POM) in hydrodynamically variable habitats such as the lower reaches of estuaries can change in its content and quality on very short time scales (example, hourly), and these changes can potentially influence higher-level consumers in river-estuary-marine systems. Estuarine water samples were collected hourly for 12 h downstream in a small river to evaluate the fatty acid composition of POM over a tidal cycle. Fatty acid constituents of POM collected during the flood tide were dominated by the saturated, higher plant and bacterial fatty acids, whereas unsaturated, polyunsaturated, essential, and diatom-associated fatty acids dominated the POM collected during the ebb tide. Elevated algal biomass (as indicated by high chlorophyll a concentrations), diatom, and freshness indices in the POM indicated enhanced fresh autochthonous-origin materials that dominated the mixed organic pool during the ebb tide compared to more degraded detritus during the flood tide. Tidal retention of organic matter and algal primary production were the most influential factors that differentiated the fatty acid composition of estuarine POM over the short time scale. The results of this study have important implications on the quality of POM at the time of sampling, especially in estuaries where mixed organic pools have multiple inputs and are strongly influenced by tidal cycles.     

Sources and behavior of arsenic and trace elements in groundwater and surface water in the Poopó Lake Basin,Bolivian Altiplano

Water management in semiarid and arid catchments such as the Poopó Lake Basin requires improved understanding of the complex behavior of the various contaminants, which affect the drinking water quality and considered as crucial for sustainable development of the region. Mechanisms of arsenic (As) release in the surface and groundwater were studied. Hydrochemical data for surface water (4 samples) and groundwater (28 samples) were collected in a small watershed in the Poopó catchment at the highland of the Bolivian Andes (Altiplano). All of them show high electrical conductivity values and moderately oxidizing conditions. The surface water contains high concentration of sulfate and the trace elements As, Zn and Pb in the zone affected by acid mine drainage. There is a large variability of the concentration of As and of the trace elements in the groundwater in the five different regions within the Poopó catchment. The metal concentrations sensitive to changes of redox state and results of speciation modeling suggest that As (V) is a predominant aqueous species, which conforms to the prevailing oxidizing conditions in the shallow groundwater environment. Two generalized trends for As distribution were identified in groundwater: (a) high concentrations are found in the arid zone (100–250 μg/L) in the southern (region III) and in the northwestern (region V) regions, and (b) low concentrations (<50 μg/L) are found in the remaining part of the basin (region I, II and IV). However, the spatial distribution within these regions needs to be investigated further. A conclusion from the present study is that there are multiple sources of As as well as other trace elements (such as Cd, Mn and Zn) in the Poopó Lake Basin. Among the sources and the processes which led to the mobility of As and other trace metals in the region are: (a) weathering of sulfide minerals, (b) oxidation of pyrite and/or arsenopyrite in mineralized areas and (c) desorption from hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) surfaces. In non-mining areas, volcanic ash is suggested to be a significant source of As.     

Delineation of Rajmahal basaltic flows,inter-trappeans and associated coal layers using Audio-magneto-telluric method

The extensive volcanic activity of Rajmahal occurred during early Cretaceous (~117 Ma). Potentially perspective Gondawana sediments containing coal seam is partially covered by these basalts. Basalts as well as coal are already known to be of immense economic importance over Rajmahal traps. The present study mainly deals with delineation of basaltic lava flows and associated coal layers using the Audio-magneto-telluric (AMT) study in the south central region of Rajmahal traps near Suri, West Bengal, India. Initially, the field situations have been simulated using forward model with top alluvium cover followed by basaltic lava flows, a wedge shaped inter-trappean sedimentary formation with second basaltic lava flows and basement at the bottom. The model was constrained using available litholog. The model study reveals the presence of moderately resistive basalts, relatively conductive inter-trappeans and the basement, except the top alluvium layer and thin inter-trappeans. Subsequently, threeAMT sounding have been carried out over Cholaguria, Hatgacha and Pachami, Suri, West Bengal. The field AMT study reveals three basaltic lava flows with varying thickness from ~40m to ~350m and composite thickness of ~620m to ~640m, which match well with the published borehole litholog. The inter-trappeans have been identified at 500m to 620m, 310m to 400m and 500m to 640m depths over Cholaguria, Hatgacha and Pachami, respectively. It is interesting to mention that the identified inter-trappeans are inferred to be coal/shaly-coal which are matching very well with the published borehole lithologs.     

Development of extended WRF variational data assimilation system (WRFDA) for WRF non-hydrostatic mesoscale model

The paper intends to present the development of the extended weather research forecasting data assimilation (WRFDA) system in the framework of the non-hydrostatic mesoscale model core of weather research forecasting system (WRF-NMM), as an imperative aspect of numerical modeling studies. Though originally the WRFDA provides improved initial conditions for advanced research WRF, we have successfully developed a unified WRFDA utility that can be used by the WRF-NMM core, as well. After critical evaluation, it has been strategized to develop a code to merge WRFDA framework and WRF-NMM output. In this paper, we have provided a few selected implementations and initial results through single observation test, and background error statistics like eigenvalues, eigenvector and length scale among others, which showcase the successful development of extended WRFDA code for WRF-NMM model. Furthermore, the extended WRFDA system is applied for the forecast of three severe cyclonic storms: Nargis (27 April–3 May 2008), Aila (23–26 May 2009) and Jal (4–8 November 2010) formed over the Bay of Bengal. Model results are compared and contrasted within the analysis fields and later on with high-resolution model forecasts. The mean initial position error is reduced by 33% with WRFDA as compared to GFS analysis. The vector displacement errors in track forecast are reduced by 33, 31, 30 and 20% to 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr forecasts respectively, in data assimilation experiments as compared to control run. The model diagnostics indicates successful implementation of WRFDA within the WRF-NMM system.     

Numerical analysis for random temperature fields of embankment in cold regions

The stochastic finite element equations for random temperature are obtained using the first-order per-turbation technique taking into account the random thermal properties and boundary condition, based on heat transfer variational principle. The local average method for 2-D is used to discretize random fields. Then, the random temperature fields of embankment in cold regions are investigated on condi-tion that the thermal properties and boundary condition are taken as random fields, respectively, by using the program, which is written by the methods. The expected value of temperature field and the standard deviation of the temperature field of embankment in cold regions are obtained and analyzed.     

Ar-Ar geochronology of Late Mesozoic volcanic rocks from the Yanji area, NE China and tectonic implications

Ar-Ar dating results of late Mesozoic-Cenozoic volcanic rocks from the Yanji area, NE China provide a new volcano-sedimentary stratigraphic framework. The previously defined “Triassic-Jurassic” volcanic rocks (including those from Sanxianling, Tuntianying, Tianqiaoling and Jingouling Fms.) were erupted during 118―106 Ma, corresponding to Early Cretaceous. The new eruption age span is slightly younger than the main stage (130―120 Ma) of the extensive magmatism in the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt and its adjacent regions. Subduction-related adakites occurring in the previously defined Quanshuicun Fm. were extruded at ca. 55 Ma. Based on these new Ar-Ar ages, the late Mesozoic to Palaeocene volcano-sedimentary sequences is rebuilt as: Tuopangou Fm., Sanxianling/Tuntianying Fm. (118―115 Ma), Malugou/Tianqiaoling Fm. (K1), Huoshanyan/Jingouling Fm. (108―106 Ma), Changcai Fm. (K2), Quanshuicun Fm. (~55 Ma) and Dalazi Fm. Our results suggest that subduction of the Pa- laeo-Pacific Ocean beneath the East Asian continental margin occurred during 106 to 55 Ma, consistent with the paleomagnetic observations and magmatic records which indicated that the Izanagi-Farallon ridge subduction beneath the southwestern Japan took place during 95―65 Ma.     

Variations in dust event frequency over the past century reflected by ice-core and lacustrine records in north China

In this paper, we analyzed the variations of dust proxies in the Dunde, Malan and Chongce ice cores from the northern Tibetan Plateau and the Hongjiannao lacustrine sediment core from north Shaanxi Province, and found that they all showed a general decrease trend over the past century. Owing to the fact that all these ice cores and lacustrine core were retrieved from the margins and/or the leeward sides of the major areas of dust events in north China, their records could suggest that the dust event frequency in north China declined over the study period. This decrease trend might be attributed to increasing precipitation and weakening westerly. However, human activities have made the areal extent of desertification expand acceleratingly in north China. This status could make it possible that dust events would occur on a large spatial scale under the future climate change, which would be a big environmental issue we shall face.     

The mean value concept in mono-linear regression of multi-variables and its application to trace studies in geosciences

The "mean value concept" in a mono-linear regression of multi-variables is clarified.Its applications to reconstruction of the past 90-year salinity of the sea surface water in Xisha Islands and to tracing the past 80 ka paleo-geomagnetic events from the Luochuan loess 10Be record are introduced in detail,which show the significance and the potential of the "mean value concept" in geoscience research.     

Evolution of vegetation and climate since the last glacial maximum recorded at Dahu peat site, South China

Sporopollen analysis on a 346 cm peat record at Dahu, Jiangxi, chronologically constrained by 16 AMS 14C datings, provides an opportunity to reconstruct the vegetation evolution stages responding to cli-mate change in South China since the last glacial maximum. The result shows that during 18330-15630 cal a B.P., broad-leaved forest dominated the area, corresponding to mild, cool and fairly humid climate. At the interval of 15630-11600 cal a B.P., several evergreen broad-leaved species appeared within the broad-leaved forest, indicating moderate and humid condition. During early Holocene, broad-leaved evergreen forest community was constructed as Castanopsis/Lithorcarpus principally developed, suggesting a warm and humid scenario until 6000 cal a B. P. Since 6000 cal a B. P., abrupt forest deterioration happened with an contemporary increase of fern and herb communities, repre-senting a turnover to relatively cool and dry condition and as well, possible impact from human activi-ties. Meanwhile, several relatively cool and dry events can be identified in the sporopollen record, they can be correlated to the North Atlantic Heinrich event, YD and Holocene millennial-scale oscillations, implying that the low latitude climate was coupled with high latitude influences. Moreover, the varia-tions of temperature and humidity since LGM at Dahu were much smaller when compared with the re-cords in north monsoonal China.     

Strong motion uncertainty determined from observed records by dense network in Japan

The variation of ground motions at specific stations from events in six narrow areas was inspected by using K-NET and KiK-net records. A source-area factor for individual observation stations was calculated by averaging ratios between observed values for horizontal peak acceleration and velocity, as well as acceleration response spectra for 5% damping, and predicted values using a ground-motion model (usually known as an attenuation relation) by Kanno et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am, 96:879–897, 2006). Standard deviations between observed and predicted amplitudes after the correction factor are less than 0.2 on the logarithmic scale and decrease down to around 0.15 in the short-period range. Intra-event standard deviation clearly increases with decreasing distance due to differing paths around near source area. Standard deviations may increase with amplitude or decrease with magnitude; however, both amplitude and magnitude of the data are strongly correlated with distance. The standard deviation calculated in this study is obviously much smaller than that of the original ground-motion model, as epistemic uncertainties are minimized by grouping ground motions at specific stations. This result indicates that the accuracy of strong ground motion prediction could be improved if ground-motion models for specified region are determined individually. For this to be possible, it is necessary to have dense strong-motion networks in high-seismicity regions, such as K-NET and KiK-net.