2018 International Summer School on rockslides and related phenomena in the Kokomeren River valley (Kyrgyzstan)

Information about the next Kokomeren Summer School that will take place on August 15–30, 2018, is provided.     

The Starzach site in Southern Germany: a site with naturally occurring CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions recovering from century-long gas mining as a natural analog for a leaking CCS reservoir

In this paper, we present the Starzach site, a region featuring numerous natural CO₂ emission spots, such as mofettes, that reappeared after a longer period of extensive industrial CO₂ mining. We discuss the results of a detailed literature study on the geological setting and the activities related to the gas mining in combination with own measurements to introduce the site as an example on how gas leakage from an insecure CCS reservoir could manifest at the surface. The site is in particular interesting for such investigations as the CO₂ emissions started to replenish after the end of the CO₂ mining and offers the unique possibility to investigate an increase in degassing activity as it might be expected for an active CCS site where leakage is suspected. Based on the geological setting and soil, gas emission, and isotope investigations, we further discuss the source of the CO₂ emission and the gas ascent to the ground surface via deep-reaching faults, latter being so far excluded by previous work. The combination of our extensive literature review and recent field investigations allowed us to draw new geological conclusions for the site that were under discussion for a long time and to give insight into the site’s potential for CCS-related analog studies in the future.     

Carbon and nitrogen isotope,and mineral inclusion studies on the diamonds from the Pozanti–Karsanti chromitite,Turkey

The Pozanti–Karsanti ophiolite (PKO) is one of the largest oceanic remnants in the Tauride belt, Turkey. Micro-diamonds were recovered from the podiform chromitites, and these diamonds were investigated based on morphology, color, cathodoluminescence, nitrogen content, carbon and nitrogen isotopes, internal structure and inclusions. The diamonds recovered from the PKO are mainly mixed-habit diamonds with sectors of different brightness under the cathodoluminescence images. The total δ¹³C range of the PKO diamonds varies between ??18.8 and ??28.4‰, with a principle δ¹³C mode at ??25‰. Nitrogen contents of the diamonds range from 7 to 541 ppm with a mean value of 171 ppm, and the δ¹⁵N values range from ??19.1 to 16.6‰, with a δ¹⁵N mode of ??9‰. Stacking faults and partial dislocations are commonly observed in the Transmission Electron Microscopy foils whereas inclusions are rather rare. Combinations of (Ca_0.81Mn_0.19)SiO₃, NiMnCo-alloy and nano-sized, quenched fluid phases were observed as inclusions in the PKO diamonds. We believe that the ¹³C-depleted carbon signature of the PKO diamonds derived from previously subducted crustal matter. These diamonds may have crystallized from C-saturated fluids in the asthenospheric mantle at depth below 250 km which were subsequently carried rapidly upward by asthenospheric melts.     

Opportunities provided by geographic information systems and volunteered geographic information for a timely emergency response during flood events in Cologne,Germany

The occurrence of disasters such as extreme flooding in urban environments has severe consequences, not only on the human population but also on critical infrastructures such as the road networks, which are of vital importance for everyday living and particularly for emergency response. In this article, our main goal is to present-conceptually and in praxis-a model that could be used from the emergency responders for timely and efficient emergency management and response in an urban complex environment. For the city of Cologne in Germany, we aim to indicate possible ways to decrease the emergency response time during an extreme flood scenario through the development of an accessibility indicator, which consists of different components. Therefore, we will investigate the opportunities that occur, in a flood risk scenario, from the use of geographic information in different forms such as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and open-source data in an ArcGIS environment, to increase urban resilience through the decreasing emergency response time. We will focus on network analysis for the fire brigades (first acting emergency responders) during a flood scenario to calculate their emergency response ranges and emergency response routes through flooded road networks, for the assistance of the possibly affected hospitals, refugee homes and fire brigades, which can be flooded. At the end of the paper, we suggest that the vulnerable community of the refugees could be taken into consideration as a new source of VGI, as an additional component that would lead to the decrease in the emergency response time. The geo-located information that could be provided by the refugee community can be very useful in emergency situations, such as those examined in this article where timely information can be forwarded to the proper authorities for a more focused and timely emergency response, increasing the resilience of the urban population and their community.     

SensePlace3: a geovisual framework to analyze place–time–attribute information in social media

SensePlace3 (SP3) is a geovisual analytics framework and web application that supports overview + detail analysis of social media, focusing on extracting meaningful information from the Twitterverse. SP3 leverages social media related to crisis events. It differs from most existing systems by enabling an analyst to obtain place-relevant information from tweets that have implicit as well as explicit geography. Specifically, SP3 includes not just the ability to utilize the explicit geography of geolocated tweets but also analyze implicit geography by recognizing and geolocating references in both tweet text, which indicates locations tweeted about, and in Twitter profiles, which indicates locations affiliated with users. Key features of SP3 reported here include flexible search and filtering capabilities to support information foraging; an ingest, processing, and indexing pipeline that produces near real-time access for big streaming data; and a novel strategy for implementing a web-based multi-view visual interface with dynamic linking of entities across views. The SP3 system architecture was designed to support crisis management applications, but its design flexibility makes it easily adaptable to other domains. We also report on a user study that provided input to SP3 interface design and suggests next steps for effective spatiotemporal analytics using social media sources.     

Built environment and agricultural value at risk from Hurricane Irma flooding in Florida (USA)

Natural Hazards - Flooding is the most costly type of natural disaster, as well as the most frequent. To provide risk-based flood insurance, providers must be able to accurately determine an...     

Age and origin of groundwater resources in the Ararat Valley,Armenia: a baseline study applying hydrogeochemistry and environmental tracers

Within the Ararat Valley (Armenia), a continuously growing water demand (for irrigation and fish farming) and a simultaneous decline in groundwater recharge (due to climate change) result in increasing stress on the local groundwater resources. This detrimental development is reflected by groundwater-level drops and an associated reduction of the area with artesian conditions in the valley centre. This situation calls for increasing efforts aimed at more sustainable water resources management. The aim of this baseline study was the collection of data that allows for study on the origin and age distribution of the Ararat Valley groundwater based on environmental tracers, namely stable (δ²H, δ¹⁸O) and radioactive (³⁵S, ³H) isotopes, as well as physical-chemical indicators. The results show that the Ararat Valley receives modern recharge, despite its (semi-)arid climate. While subannual groundwater residence times could be disproved (³⁵S), the detected ³H pattern suggests groundwater ages of several decades, with the oldest waters being recharged around 60 years ago. The differing groundwater ages are reflected by varying scatter of stable isotope and hydrochemical signatures. The presence of young groundwater (i.e., younger that the 1970s), some containing nitrate, indicates groundwater vulnerability and underscores the importance of increased efforts to achieve sustainable management of this natural resource. Since stable isotope signatures indicate the recharge areas to be located in the mountains surrounding the valley, these efforts must not be limited to the central part of the valley where most of the abstraction wells are located.

     

A refractory inclusion with solar oxygen isotopes and the rarity of such objects in the meteorite record

NASA's Genesis mission revealed that the Sun is enriched in ¹⁶O compared to the Earth and Mars (the Sun's Δ¹⁷O, defined as δ¹⁷O–0.52×δ¹⁸O, is –28.4 ± 3.6‰; McKeegan et al. 2011). Materials as ¹⁶O‐rich as the Sun are extremely rare in the meteorite record. Here, we describe a Ca‐Al‐rich inclusion (CAI) from a CM chondrite that is as ¹⁶O‐enriched as the Sun (Δ¹⁷O = –29.1 ± 0.7‰). This CAI also has large nucleosynthetic anomalies in ⁴⁸Ca and ⁵⁰Ti (δ‐values are –8.1 ± 3.3 and –11.7 ± 2.4‰, respectively) and shows no clear evidence for incorporation of live ²⁶Al; (²⁶Al/²⁷Al)₀ = (0.03 ± 0.11) × 10^–5. Due to their anomalous isotopic characteristics, the rare CAIs consistent with the Genesis value could be among the first materials that formed in the solar system. In contrast to the CAI studied here, the majority of CAIs formed in or interacted with a reservoir characterized by a Δ¹⁷O value near –23.5‰. Combined with ²⁶Al‐²⁶Mg systematics, the oxygen isotopic compositions of FUN (fractionation and unidentified nuclear effects), UN, and normal CAIs suggest that nebular conditions were favorable for solids to inherit this value for an extended period of time. Many later‐formed materials, such as chondrules, planetesimals, and terrestrial planets, formed in reservoirs with Δ¹⁷O near 0‰. The distribution could be easier to explain if the common CAI value of –23.5‰, which is consistent with the Genesis value within 3σ, represented the average composition of the protoplanetary disk.