Sources of dissolved REE in mountainous streams draining granitic rocks, Sierras Pampeanas (Córdoba, Argentina)

Stream waters draining granitic terrains from the highest part (850 to 2200 m a.s.l.) of Sierras Pampeanas (Córdoba, Argentina, ∼32°S, ∼65°W) were sampled in order to define sources and distribution of dissolved rare earth elements (REE), and to describe the geochemical processes that govern their mobility. The contribution of the regional granite to the dissolved REE pool in stream water is limited due to the physical conditions predominating in the area (i.e., steep slopes and semiarid climate). Therefore, precipitation is considered a seasonally significant source controlling REE concentration in stream water. Dissolved REE concentrations are inversely correlated with monthly precipitation and rainfall frequency. During the rainy season (i.e., the austral summer) REE concentrations in stream water are lower than during the dry season (i.e., austral winter). Such low concentrations reflect the balance between the REE input from precipitation and their removal by adsorption. In contrast, during the dry season, the longer residence time of water within fractures and colluvium determines an increased REE concentration in the base flow. Lower pH values also contribute to raise REE concentration through desorption from mineral surfaces.     

Application of wavelet transform analysis to landslide generated waves

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the results of a preliminary study on aerial landslide-generated waves, which has been mainly intended to establish a method for analyzing water surface records. Some simple physical experiments, reproducing the Scott Russell's wave generator, were carried out in a small two-dimensional wave flume; the Wavelet Transform (WT) is applied to analyze wave measurements and it is shown that useful information can be obtained by means of this technique. The celerity of impulsively generated waves, reflection by an overflow structure and seiching phenomena of the flume are studied. A discussion of the results along with some remarks about ongoing research is also given.     

Catastrophic fragmentation and formation of families: Preliminary results from a new numerical model

Preliminary results of an improved version of the semiempirical model for catastrophic break up processes developed by Paolicchi et al., (1989) are presented. Among the several changes with respect to the old version, the most important seem to be related to the new treatment of gravitational effects, including self-compression and reaccumulation of fragments. In particular, the new model is able to analyze processes involving both cm-sized objects, like those studied by means of laboratory experiments, as well as much larger bodies, for which self-gravitational effects are dominant; moreover, in this latter case the model seems in principle adequate to describe with the same physics very different phenomena, like the formation of plausible asteroid families and the creation of single, rapidly spinning, objects. This fact, if confirmed by refined analyses, may be of high importance for our general understanding of asteroid collisional evolution.     

Distinct metamorphic evolution of alternating silica-saturated and silica-deficient microdomains within garnet in ultrahigh-temperature granulites: An example from Sri Lanka

Here we report the occurrence of garnet porphyroblasts that have overgrown alternating silica-saturated and silica deficient microdomains via different mineral reactions. The samples were collected from ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metapelites in the Highland Complex, Sri Lanka. In some of the metapelites, garnet crystals have cores formed via a dehydration reaction, which had taken place at silica-saturated microdomains and mantle to rim areas formed via a dehydration reaction at silica-deficient microdomains. In contrast, some other garnets in the same rock cores had formed via a dehydration reaction which occurred at silica-deficient microdomains while mantle to rim areas formed via a dehydration reaction at silica-saturated microdomains. Based on the textural observations, we conclude that the studied garnets have grown across different effective bulk compositional microdomains during the prograde evolution. These microdomains could represent heterogeneous compositional layers (paleobedding/laminations) in the precursor sediments or differentiated crenulation cleavages that existed during prograde metamorphism. UHT metamorphism associated with strong ductile deformation, metamorphic differentiation and crystallization of locally produced melt may have obliterated the evidence for such microdomains in the matrix. The lack of significant compositional zoning in garnet probably due to self-diffusion during UHT metamorphism had left mineral inclusions as the sole evidence for earlier microdomains with contrasting chemistry.     

Hysteretic cyclic response of concrete columns reinforced with smooth bars

The application of smooth (plain) bars in reinforced concrete (RC) construction has been abandoned since the 1970s; however, there are many old reinforced concrete buildings in the world whose construction is based on this old style that are now in need of structural seismic rehabilitation according to the requirements of present day seismic rehabilitation codes. The focus of this study concerns the investigation of the hysteretic cyclic response of RC columns with smooth bars. The results of six column specimens having a variety of details for overlapping splices of longitudinal bars while experiencing two different levels of axial loads under cyclic loading reversals are presented. Through analysis of test observations and the obtained experimental results, it is attempted to clarify major aspects of hysteretic response for RC columns with smooth bars, from a seismic assessment point of view. The hysteretic force–drift responses of columns are deeply investigated and a new concept explaining the flag shape form of the hysteretic response is presented. Furthermore, the rocking response of columns is predicted with a new formulation that assumes an internal compression strut inside the column body as a consequence of rocking that originated from high base rotations. Finally, a simple hysteresis rule is proposed which is the result of considering the combination of two springs in parallel to provide the total hysteretic response as the summation of rocking hysteretic and bottom anchor (smooth bar) hysteretic responses.     

Syn-thrust deformation across a transverse zone: the Grem–Vedra fault system (central Southern Alps, N Italy)

The lateral continuity of the E?CW trending thrust sheets developed within the Lower to Middle Triassic cover of the central Southern Alps (Orobic belt) is disturbed by the occurrence of several N?CS trending transverse zones, such as the poorly known Grem?CVedra Transverse Zone (GVTZ). The GVTZ developed during the emplacement of the up to six S-verging thrust sheets consisting of Lower to Middle Triassic units, occurring immediately south of the Orobic Anticlines. The transverse zone, active during thrust emplacement related to the early Alpine compressions which pre-date the Adamello intrusion, includes three major vertical shear zones, the Grem, Pezzel and Zuccone faults. The major structure of the transverse zone is the dextral Grem fault, forming a deep lateral ramp between thrust sheets 3 and 5. A similar evolution also occurred along the Zuccone and Pezzel faults, which show a left-lateral displacement of syn-thrust folds. The Grem fault was later reactivated as an oblique tear fault during the emplacement of the Orobic Anticlines, due to back-thrusting along out-of-sequence thrust surfaces (Clusone fault). Transpressional deformations along the fault zone are recorded by the rotation of major syn-thrust folds, which also suggest a horizontal offset close to 0.5?km. Records of the first stage of evolution of the Grem fault are better preserved along its northern segment, and structural relationships suggest that it propagated southward and downward in the growing thrust stack. The study of the meso and megascopic structures developed along the GVTZ constrains the evolution of the transverse zone, illustrating the complex deformational phenomena occurring in a transpressional regime. The GVTZ probably reflects the existence of pre-existing tectonic lineaments with a similar orientation. Evidence of pre-existing structures are not preserved in the exposed units, nevertheless the N?CS extensional fault systems that characterize the Norian to Jurassic rifting history of the Lombardian basin are valid candidates.     

Comparison of ladderane phospholipid and core lipids as indicators for anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in marine sediments

We investigated anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in continental shelf and slope sediments of the Irish and Celtic Seas by using anammox specific ladderane biomarker lipids. We used the presence of an intact ladderane phospholipid as a direct indicator for living anammox bacteria, and compared it with the abundance of ladderane core lipids derived from both living and dead bacterial biomass. All investigated sediments contained ladderane core lipids as well as the intact ladderane phospholipid, in agreement with ¹⁵N-labeling experiments, which revealed anammox activity at all sites. Ladderane core lipid and intact ladderane phospholipid concentrations were significantly correlated (R² = 0.957 and 0.464, respectively) with anammox activity over the transect of the continental shelf and slope sediments. In the Irish Sea (50-100 m water depth) highest abundances of the intact ladderane phospholipid were found in the upper 2 cm of the sediment, indicating a zone of active anammox. A sharp decline further down-core suggested a strong decrease in anammox biomass and rapid degradation of the intact lipids. In comparison, ladderane core lipids were 1-2 orders of magnitude higher in concentration than the intact ladderane phospholipid and accumulated as dead cell remnants with depth. In the slope sediments of the Celtic Sea both ladderane core lipids and the intact ladderane phospholipid were found in sediments at water depths ranging from 500 to 2000 m. Here, anammox seemed to be active at greater depths of the sediment (>2 cm). Mean abundances of both intact and core ladderane lipids in whole sediment cores increased downslope, indicating an increasing importance of anammox in deeper slope sediments.     

Symmetries and Rank Deficiency in the Orbit Determination Around Another Planet

We study the possible degeneracies for the normal matrix of the observations from the Earth of the motion of a satellite around a planet, and give the possible solutions to the loss of precision in the orbit determination caused by the rank deficiency. Finally we discuss the methods available to control the instability in the orbit determination resulting from the degeneracy.     

SVME: an ensemble of support vector machines for detecting oil spills from full resolution MODIS images

This paper addresses oil spill detection from remotely sensed optical images. In particular, it focuses on the automatic classification of regions of interest (ROIs) in two classes, namely oil spills or look-alikes. Candidate regions and the corresponding boundaries have been manually identified from full resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer images, related to the Mediterranean Sea over the years 2008 and 2009. Then, a set of features has been extracted from each ROI, allowing to formulate the oil spill detection problem as a two-class classification task on the provided regions (i.e. using a supervised learning strategy). Since ROI classification is challenging, some desired characteristics for the classification algorithm are first identified, such as accuracy, robustness, etc. Then, a solution (called SVME) is provided: it is based on an ensemble of incremental/decremental cost-oriented Support Vector Machines, aggregated with the Receiving Operating Characteristic (ROC) convex hull method in the ROC space. Such a solution addresses all the desired characteristics. Finally, the results obtained on the collected dataset are shown. The importance of this study is the devising of a powerful classification technique that may have an impact on optical oil spill detection from space, especially if fused with satellite synthetic aperture radar data. Moreover, it is shown how the proposed system can be used as a decision support tool, to help a junior operator in making more reliable detections.     

Doubtful Events Reported in Current Italian Earthquake Catalogues: The Medieval Earthquakes of Subiaco (Central Italy)

Within the framework of a study of the seismicity of the Aniene Valley (Central Italy), we analysed the medieval earthquakes of Subiaco (1216, 1227, 1299), the largest events reported for the area. Our main goal was to investigate some doubtful events reported in earthquake catalogues and, as such, currently utilised for seismic hazard estimates. A careful screening of the oldest available sources and their filiation pattern up to the present pointed out the uncertainty on the date and nature of these phenomena. A multidisciplinary approach based on the joint analysis of archaeological, geomorphologic and historical evidence allowed us to propose new interpretations concerning these events and their significance for the assessment of seismic hazard in the Aniene Valley. The main conclusion is that the dates of the 1216 and 1227 events are fairly unsupported. In particular, the 1216 earthquake could be dated back to between AD 1159 and 1181.