Pre-collisional high pressure metamorphism and nappe tectonics at active continental margins: a numerical simulation

The evolution of a subduction channel and orogenic wedge is simulated in 2D for an active continental margin, with P-T paths being displayed for selected markers. In our simulation, subduction erosion affects the active margin and a structural pattern develops within a few tens of millions of years, with four zones from the trench into the forearc: (i) an accretionary complex of low grade metamorphic sedimentary material, (ii) a wedge of nappes with alternating upper and lower crustal provenance, and minor interleaving of oceanic or hydrated mantle material, (iii) a megascale melange composed of high pressure (HP) and ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks extruded from the subduction channel, and (iv) the upward tilted frontal part of the remaining lid. The P–T paths and time scales correspond to those typically recorded in orogenic belts. The simulation shows that HP/UHP metamorphism of continental crust does not necessarily indicate collision, but that the material can be derived from the active margin by subduction erosion and extruded from the subduction channel beneath the forearc during ongoing subduction.     

Offshore granulites from the Bay of Biscay margins: fission tracks constrain a Proterozoic to Tertiary thermal history

Zircon and apatite fission track ages were determined on granulites dredged along the Bay of Biscay margins. A sample from Ortegal Spur (Iberia margin) yielded 725 ± 67 Ma (zircon). A sample from Le Danois Bank (Iberia margin) yielded 284 ± 58 Ma (zircon), indicating post‐Variscan cooling. Apatite from this sample gave 52 ± 2 Ma, interpreted as final cooling after ‘Pyrenean’ thrust imbrication. Two other samples from Le Danois Bank have Early Cretaceous apatite ages (138 ± 7 and 120 ± 8 Ma), interpreted to result from exhumation during rifting. Finally, a granulite from Goban Spur (Armorican margin) gave 212 ± 10 Ma (apatite), coinciding with a precursory rifting phase. Together with published radiometric results, these data indicate a Precambrian high‐grade terrane at the site of the current margins. The distribution of the granulites on the seafloor reflects tectonic and erosional processes related to (a) Mesozoic rifting and (b) Early Tertiary incipient subduction of the Bay of Biscay beneath Iberia.     

Holocene hydrological variability of Lake Ladoga,northwest Russia,as inferred from diatom oxygen isotopes

This article presents a new comprehensive assessment of the Holocene hydrological variability of Lake Ladoga, northwest Russia. The reconstruction is based on oxygen isotopes of lacustrine diatom silica (δ¹⁸O_diatom) preserved in sediment core Co 1309, and is complemented by a diatom assemblage analysis and a survey of modern isotope hydrology. The data indicate that Lake Ladoga has existed as a freshwater reservoir since at least 10.8 cal. ka BP. The δ¹⁸O_diatom values range from +29.8 to +35.0‰, and relatively higher δ¹⁸O_diatom values around +34.7‰ between c. 7.1 and 5.7 cal. ka BP are considered to reflect the Holocene Thermal Maximum. A continuous depletion in δ¹⁸O_diatom since c. 6.1 cal. ka BP accelerates after c. 4 cal. ka BP, indicating Middle to Late Holocene cooling that culminates during the interval 0.8–0.2 cal. ka BP, corresponding to the Little Ice Age. Lake‐level rises result in lower δ¹⁸O_diatom values, whereas lower lake levels cause higher δ¹⁸O_diatom values. The diatom isotope record gives an indication for a rather early opening of the Neva River outflow at c. 4.4–4.0 cal. ka BP. Generally, overall high δ¹⁸O_diatom values around +33.5‰ characterize a persistent evaporative lake system throughout the Holocene. As the Lake Ladoga δ¹⁸O_diatom record is roughly in line with the 60°N summer insolation, a linkage to broader‐scale climate change is likely.     

On some problems connected with the determination of recent vertical crustal movements from repeated levellings and gravity measurements

Besides systematic instrumental and environmental effects in high-precision levellings and gravimetry, some theoretical problems are decisive in the evaluation and interpretation of recent vertical crustal movements. In view of the increased accuracy of recently developed portable instruments for absolute gravity measurements, some global effects on gravity may no longer be neglected, necessitating additional time-dependent reductions for polar motion effects. Another problem concerns the evaluation of recent vertical crustal movements from repeated geodetic measurements: a rigorous treatment of the problem demands both repeated levellings and gravity measurements; only under additional hypotheses can these limitating prerequisites be eliminated.     

Spherically symmetric cosmological perturbations in the de Donder gauge

Cosmological perturbations on a F-R-W background are considered in a modified de Donder gauge. To guarantee the energy-momentum conservation for the perturbations in the de Donder gauge a compatibility condition is obtained. Finally we present the basic equations for the propagation of spherically symmetric perturbations. These equations are the basis for investigating the influence of cosmological epoches on the growing of density contrasts.     

The future of industrial cities and regions in central and eastern Europe

Economic transition in central and eastern Europe (CEE) has had a particularly strong impact on industrial cities and regions. Following their economic collapse, most of them are now confronted with serious problems such as high unemployment and vast ecological damage. The paper presents findings from a pan European research project that investigated the problems of these cities and regions as well as the strategies being adopted to cope with structural change. It examines the differences in approaches and addresses the question whether existing EU policy is suitable for supporting the redevelopment of old industrial cities and regions in CEE countries. The paper concludes with recommendations for future directions in policy making.     

A longer-term perspective on soil moisture,groundwater and stream flow response to the 2018 drought in an experimental catchment in the Scottish Highlands

The drought of summer 2018, which affected much of Northern Europe, resulted in low river flows, biodiversity loss and threats to water supplies. In some regions, like the Scottish Highlands, the summer drought followed two consecutive, anomalously dry, winter periods. Here, we examine how the drought, and its antecedent conditions, affected soil moisture, groundwater storage, and low flows in the Bruntland Burn; a sub-catchment of the Girnock Burn long-term observatory in the Scottish Cairngorm Mountains. Fifty years of rainfall-runoff observations and long-term modelling studies in the Girnock provided unique contextualisation of this extreme event in relation to more usual summer storage dynamics. Whilst summer precipitation in 2018 was only 63% of the long-term mean, soil moisture storage across much of the catchment were less than half of their summer average and seasonal groundwater levels were 0.5 m lower than normal. Hydrometric and isotopic observations showed that ~100 mm of river flows during the summer (May-Sept) were sustained almost entirely by groundwater drainage, representing ~30% of evapotranspiration that occurred over the same period. A key reason that the summer drought was so severe was because the preceding two winters were also dry and failed to adequately replenish catchment soil moisture and groundwater stores. As a result, the drought had the biggest catchment storage deficits for over a decade, and likely since 1975–1976. Despite this, recovery was rapid in autumn/winter 2018, with soil and groundwater stores returning to normal winter values, along with stream flows. The study emphasizes how long-term data from experimental sites are key to understanding the non-linear flux-storage interactions in catchments and the “memory effects” that govern the evolution of, and recovery from, droughts. This is invaluable both in terms of (a) giving insights into hydrological behaviours that will become more common water resource management problems in the future under climate change and (b) providing extreme data to challenge hydrological models.     

Estimating satellite phase fractional cycle biases based on Kalman filter

Phase fractional cycle biases (FCBs) originating from satellites and receivers destroy the integer nature of PPP carrier phase ambiguities. To achieve integer ambiguity resolution of PPP, FCBs of satellites are required. In former work, least squares methods are commonly adopted to isolate FCBs from a network of reference stations. However, it can be extremely time consuming concerning the large number of observations from hundreds of stations and thousands of epochs. In addition, iterations are required to deal with the one-cycle inconsistency among FCB measurements. We propose to estimate the FCB based on a Kalman filter. The large number of observations are handled epoch by epoch, which significantly reduces the dimension of the involved matrix and accelerates the computation. In addition, it is also suitable for real-time applications. As for the one-cycle inconsistency, a pre-elimination method is developed to avoid iterations and posterior adjustments. A globally distributed network consisting of about 200 IGS stations is selected to determine the GPS satellite FCBs. Observations recorded from DoY 52 to 61 in 2016 are processed to verify the proposed approach. The RMS of wide lane (WL) posterior residuals is 0.09 cycles while that of the narrow lane (NL) is about 0.05 cycles, which indicates a good internal accuracy. The estimated WL FCBs also have a good consistency with existing WL FCB products (e.g., CNES-GRG, WHU-SGG). The RMS of differences with respect to GRG and SGG products are 0.03 and 0.05 cycles. For satellite NL FCB estimates, 97.9% of the differences with respect to SGG products are within ±?0.1 cycles. The RMS of the difference is 0.05 cycles. These results prove the efficiency of the proposed approach.     

Trophic interactions of the pelagic ciliate Stentor spp. in North Patagonian lakes

The zooplankton of oligotrophic lakes in North Patagonia is often dominated by mixotrophic ciliates, particularly Stentor amethystinus and Stentor araucanus. Therefore, we tested whether Stentor spp. (i) is an important food for juvenile endemic (Cheirodon australe, Galaxias maculatus, Odontesthes mauleanum, Percichthys trucha) and introduced (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fish species, and (ii) represents a remarkable grazer of bacteria. Ingestion rates of fish estimated by disappearance of Stentor in feeding experiments ranged between 8 (G. maculatus) and 53 (C. australe) ciliates per fish and day, and assimilation rates measured by using radioactively labelled Stentor ranged between 3 (P. trucha) and 52 (C. australe) ciliates per fish and day. However, although we detected the consumption of Stentor by fish, the daily consumption amounted to at most 0.2% of the fish biomass which can not cover the energy requirement of the fish. Furthermore, the daily consumption was equivalent to a maximum of 1.6% of the Stentor standing stock so that fish predation does not seem to be an important mortality factor for the ciliates. The clearance rate of Stentor sp. on natural bacteria was on average 3.8 μl cil⁻¹ h⁻¹. The daily ingestion (mean 3.9 ng C cil⁻¹ d⁻¹) was about 3.5% of the individual biomass of Stentor sp. Therefore, bacteria ingestion might explain a ciliate growth rate of appr. 1% d⁻¹, which was about 17% of the photosynthesis of endosymbiotic algae. The maximum density of Stentor sp. in the lake could ingest about 1 μg C L⁻¹ d⁻¹ bacteria which is only 3% of average bacterial production. Thus, grazing by Stentor sp. does not seem to be a main loss factor for the bacteria.     

A novel time-series station in the Wadden Sea (NW Germany): First results on continuous nutrient and methane measurements

In autumn 2002 a time-series station was installed in the tidal inlet between the Islands of Langeoog and Spiekeroog (Southern North Sea, NW Germany) to continuously measure physical, chemical, and meteorological parameters, even during extreme weather conditions (gale-force storms, drifting ice). Inside the pole of the station sensor tubes are installed in direction of the prevailing tidal currents. The tubes are equipped with hydrographic sensors (pressure, temperature, conductivity) and allow retrieval of water for nutrient analysis by automated instruments located inside the pole. Dissolved methane and the nutrients ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate are measured at the station.