Lithologische Studien und zyklische Sedimentation in der helvetischen Zone der Schweizeralpen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Results from a Multi-disciplinary Sedimentary Pilot Study of Tectonic Lake Iznik (NW Turkey) – Geochemistry and Paleolimnology of the Recent Past

A limnogeological reconnaissance study was carried out on Lake Iznik, located in the southeast of the Marmara region of Turkey, involving a seismic survey and collection of short sediment cores. This lake is located on the middle branch of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), a transform plate boundary between the Eurasian and Anatolian Plates. It is, therefore, tectonically active and offers an opportunity to investigate the interplay of sedimentary and seismo-tectonic processes, as well as climate change and human impact in the region. Short cores of the three sub-basins, maximum length of 35.5 cm, recovered non-laminated, blackish clays and silts with varying amounts of biogenic and minerogenic (allochthonous, autochthonous) material, which documented almost the last 80 years of deposition and environmental history. High sedimentation rates in the deeper core sections are accompanied by changes in land use (conversion of woodland to farmland) in the northern areas of Lake Iznik, which caused the deposition of more weathered material (high K/Na ratios) and higher contents of Mn in the lake. A tendency towards eutrophic conditions within the last 20 years is indicated by high nutrient content (N, TOC, P), decreasing C/N-ratios, and characteristic diatom and cladoceran associations. Also increased pollution is revealed by higher Pb, Cu, and Zn contents and increased supply of human and animal faeces (high coprostanol content) during the last two decades. But simultaneous lower sedimentation rates towards the core tops complicate the reconstruction of recent and past eutrophication and pollution states of Lake Iznik. This requires an extension of the pilot study and deeper sediment cores, to recover non-anthropogenic influenced sediment levels.     

Estimating reliability and resolution of probability forecasts through decomposition of the empirical score

Proper scoring rules provide a useful means to evaluate probabilistic forecasts. Independent from scoring rules, it has been argued that reliability and resolution are desirable forecast attributes. The mathematical expectation value of the score allows for a decomposition into reliability and resolution related terms, demonstrating a relationship between scoring rules and reliability/resolution. A similar decomposition holds for the empirical (i.e. sample average) score over an archive of forecast–observation pairs. This empirical decomposition though provides a too optimistic estimate of the potential score (i.e. the optimum score which could be obtained through recalibration), showing that a forecast assessment based solely on the empirical resolution and reliability terms will be misleading. The differences between the theoretical and empirical decomposition are investigated, and specific recommendations are given how to obtain better estimators of reliability and resolution in the case of the Brier and Ignorance scoring rule.     

Wind shear at tilted inversions

Vertical wind shear at a temperature inversion can be caused by baroclinicity associated with a tilt of the inversion. Four observational cases of tilted inversions are presented. The tilts on horizontal scales of 20–100 km range from 2–10 × 10^-3 and the vertical wind shear is between 1 and 25 m/s per 100 m. In general, there is remarkable agreement between observed and geostrophic wind shear.The observations show that the inversion tilt is particularly strong at the edges of mesoscale cloud fields. The Richardson number can reach subcritical values. Cloud fields may be surrounded by a cyclonically rotating wind field and cloud gaps by an anticyclonically rotating wind field.     

The mantle rock (“laterite”) of the Gold Coast and its origin

Zusammenfassung Der Verwitterungsmantel (Laterit s. l.) der südlichen Goldküste besteht aus Horizonten, die sowohl verschiedene Entstehungsart als verschiedenes Alter haben. Brekzien oder Steinschichten sind unter aridem Klima als Wüstenpflaster entstanden. Zonen chemisch verwitterten Felses, Horizonte von lehmigem Sand (an deren Aufbau Termiten wesentlich beteiligt sind) und Konkretionen haben sich unter feuchtem Klima gebildet. Harte limonitische Oberflächen-Krusten deuten auf progressive Austrocknung hin. Unter diesen drei klimatischen Bedingungen gebildete Horizonte wiederholen sich mehrfach im Verwitterungsmantel der Goldküste. Ein junger, unvollständiger Zyklus ist weit verbreitet, ein älterer Zyklus tritt nur in begrenzten Vorkommen auf, und ein dritter Zyklus ist fast nur noch in aufgearbeiteten, limonitisierten Bruchstücken erhalten. Die wiederholten Klimaschwankungen machen es wahrscheinlich, daß der Verwitterungsmantel zeitlich dem größeren Teil des Quartärs entspricht. Wahrscheinlich können die Ergebnisse auf weit größere Gebiete angewandt werden.     

Four thousand years of atmospheric lead pollution in northern Europe: a summary from Swedish lake sediments

This paper presents a large palaeolimnological study of the pre-industrial and industrial history of atmospheric lead pollution deposition in Sweden. Both lead concentrations and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios have been analysed in 31 lakes covering most of Sweden, plus one lake in north-west Russia. Four of the lakes have varved (annually-laminated) sediments. Isotope analysis is a sensitive and effective method to distinguish pollution lead from natural catchment lead and to detect early pollution influence, because the ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio in unpolluted background sediments in Sweden was > 1.3, while that of lead from pollution, derived from ores and coal, was < 1.2. The sediments show a consistent picture of past temporal changes in atmospheric lead pollution. These changes include: the first traces of pollution 3,500-3,000 yrs ago; a pollution peak in Greek-Roman Times (about 0 AD); lower lead fall-out between 400 and 900 AD; a significant and permanent increase in atmospheric lead fall-out from about 1000 AD; an increase with the Industrial revolution; a major increase following World War II; the maximum peak in the 1970s; and decreasing fall-out over the last decades. The four varved sediments provide high-resolution records of atmospheric pollution. They reveal pollution peaks about 1200 and 1530 AD which match the history of metal production in Europe. According to the varve records the lead pollution level in the late 1990s had decreased beneath the level of the 1530s. The pollution level 1200 AD was about 35% of the 1980s, when lead pollution was still near its all time high. About 50% of the total accumulated atmospheric lead pollution deposition through time was deposited in the pre-industrial period. The sediments also show a consistent picture of the geographic distribution of atmospheric lead deposition over time, with higher deposition in south Sweden and declining levels to the north, which supports the hypothesis that the main sources of pre-industrial atmospheric lead pollution in Sweden were cultural areas in mainland Europe and Great Britain.     

How a court, a commissioner and a lobby group brought European transport policy to life in 1985

Until the mid-1980s, transport policy was considered by many as one of the least successful domains of the European integration project. However, from the early 1990s onwards, there are clear signs of a single European transport policy, along with the accompanying implementation of infrastructure projects. What is the explanation for such a change in pace? This paper aims to offer insight in these processes by looking at the mechanisms which form and transform this policy domain. To understand the state of a policy domain and its dynamics over time an institutional approach is taken. Two concepts in political science, ‘policy arrangements’ and ‘supranational governance’ are combined and used as a framework to analyse the European transport policy domain. This analysis describes the development of several elements: organisations, rules, the transnational society, power, resources, and the central transport discourse. It demonstrates that all of these elements have developed from an intergovernmental setting towards a more supranational one. This development was slow in the first decennia when European transport policy was rather passive, but it picked up speed in the 1980s and 1990s. In the pivotal year of 1985, pressure from the transnational society resulted in a rapid change of the rules, the resources and the discourse.     

Local traditions as a means for commercial production of historical beers: The case of Vossaøl,Norway

The aim of the article is to analyse challenges facing the commercial production of historical beers, which are ‘extinct’ beers. The concept of ‘fictive terroir’ is introduced to emphasize these challenges. The author addresses the following questions: What kind of knowledge is needed to produce historical beers? How can this knowledge be acquired? How can it be used commercially in craft breweries? The studied case is Vossaøl, a craft beer imitation of a beer produced in the early 19th century. The data were obtained from written sources and interviews with local home brewers and brewers at Voss Brewery in Norway. The study revealed the need to reconstruct the terroir in the early 19th century. Additionally, Voss Brewery had to acquire knowledge about how to process and combine the ingredients, which included the traditional yeast (kveik). Involving traditional home brewers was crucial to determine how ingredients could be combined to produce Vossaøl. The author concludes that a synthetic knowledge base was a useful point of departure in this respect. Participation in the traditional culture of brewing proved an important means when working with this knowledge base. The results are interesting in the broader context of the reconstruction of beverages and food.     

Digital mapping of coastal boulders – high-resolution data acquisition to infer past and recent transport dynamics

Coastal boulder fields provide clues to long-term frequency-magnitude patterns of coastal flooding events and have the potential to play an important role in coastal hazard assessment. Mapping boulders in the field is time and labour-intensive, and work on intertidal reef platforms, as in the present study, is physically challenging. By addressing coastal scientists who are not specialists in remote sensing, this contribution reports on the possibilities and limitations of digital applications in boulder mapping in Eastern Samar, Philippines, where recent supertyphoons Haiyan and Hagupit induced high waves, coastal flooding and boulder transport. It is demonstrated how satellite imagery of sub-metre resolution (from Pléiades and WorldView-3 imagery) enables efficient analysis of transport vectors and distances of larger boulders, reflecting variation in latitudes of both typhoon tracks and approaching angles of typhoon-generated waves. During the investigated events, boulders with a-axes of up to 8 m were clearly identified to have been shifted for up to 32 m, mostly along the seaward margin of the boulder field. It is, however, hard to keep track of smaller boulders, and the length of a-axes and b-axes including their orientation is often impossible to map with sufficient accuracy. Orthophotographs and digital surface models created through the application of an unmanned aerial vehicle and the ‘Structure from Motion’ technique provide ultra-high-resolution data, and have the potential to not only improve the results of satellite image analysis, but also those from field mapping and may significantly reduce overall time in the field. Orthophotographs permit unequivocal mapping of a-axes and b-axes including their orientation, while precise values for c-axes can be derived from the respective digital surface models. Volume of boulders is best inferred from boulder-specific Structure from Motion-based three-dimensional models. Battery power, flight speed and altitude determine the limits of the area covered, while patches shielded by the boulders are difficult to resolve. For some tasks, field mapping remains mandatory and cannot be replaced by currently available remote sensing tools: for example, sampling for rock type, density and age dating, recording of lithological separation of boulders from the underlying geological unit and of geomorphic features on a millimetre to decimetre-scale, or documentation of fine-grained sediment transport in between the boulders in supratidal settings. In terms of future events, the digital products presented here will provide a valuable reference to track boulder transport on a centimetre to decimetre-scale and to better understand the hydrodynamics of extreme-wave events on a fringing reef coastline.     

Neoproterozoic and Cambro-Ordovician magmatism in the Variscan Kłodzko Metamorphic Complex (West Sudetes,Poland): new insights from U/Pb zircon dating

The Kodzko Metamorphic Complex (KMC) in the Central Sudetes consists of meta-sedimentary and meta-igneous rocks metamorphosed under greenschist to amphibolite facies conditions. They are comprised in a number of separate tectonic units interpreted as thrust sheets. In contrast to other Lower Palaeozoic volcano-sedimentary successions in the Sudetes, the two uppermost units (the Orla-Googowy unit and the Kodzko Fortress unit) of the KMC contain meta-igneous rocks with supra-subduction zone affinities. The age of the KMC was previously assumed to be Early Palaeozoic–Devonian, based on biostratigraphic findings in the lowermost tectonic unit. Our geochronological study focused on the magmatic rocks from the two uppermost tectonic units, exposed in the SW part of the KMC. Two orthogneiss samples from the Orla-Googowy unit yielded ages of 500.4±3.1 and 500.2±4.9 Ma, interpreted to indicate the crystallization age of the granitic precursors. A plagioclase gneiss from the same tectonic unit, intimately interlayered with metagabbro, provided an upper intercept age of 590.1±7.2 Ma, which is interpreted as the time of igneous crystallization. From the topmost Kodzko Fortress unit, a metatuffite was studied, which contains a mixture of genetically different zircon grains. The youngest ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages, which cluster at ca. 590-600 Ma, are interpreted to indicate the maximum depositional age for this metasediment. The results of this study are in accord with a model that suggests a nappe structure for the KMC, with a Middle Devonian succession at the base and Upper Proterozoic units at structurally higher levels. It is suggested here that the KMC represents a composite tectonic suture that juxtaposes elements of pre-Variscan basement, intruded by the Lower Ordovician granite, against a Middle Palaeozoic passive margin succession. The new ages, combined with the overall geochemical variation in the KMC, indicate the existence of rock assemblages representing a Gondwana active margin. The recognition of Neoproterozoic subduction-related magmatism provides additional arguments for the hypothesis that equivalents of the Teplá-Barrandian domain are exposed in the Central Sudetes.