Negotiating conflict resolution mechanisms for transboundary water treaties: A transaction cost approach

Conflict resolution mechanisms are recognised as indispensable constituting elements of transboundary water agreements. Earlier studies confirm, however, that such mechanisms are either incomplete, unsophisticated or absent from treaties. We argue that transaction costs, which occur during treaty negotiation, may constitute a barrier to the adoption of conflict resolution mechanisms in water treaties. Transaction costs are never equal and depend largely on the context in which negotiations take place. A content analysis of the treaties in the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database demonstrates that the adoption of conflict resolution mechanisms to transboundary water treaties is not random, but may be affected by external factors that influence the transaction cost of negotiating such mechanisms. Water scarcity and a history of cooperative hydro-relations are factors that coincide with the presence of conflict resolution mechanisms in treaties and are therefore considered to lower transaction costs. External resource dependency is believed to stir transaction costs to such an extent that it prevents the adoption of mature mechanisms. The same goes for political freedom, political heterogeneity and the presence of colonial signatories as these factors correlate with mechanism absence and the adoption of a low number of conflict resolution mechanisms per treaty. The effect of hydrological variability resulted insignificant, indicating that variability remains largely ignored by negotiators of transboundary water treaties. Our research further shows that if a mechanism for conflict resolution contains one element of maturity (e.g. institutionalisation or an activation procedure based on a unilateral rule) other elements of maturity are also likely to be present, providing negotiators with an incentive to negotiate conflict resolution mechanisms with at least one mature characteristic. Finally, the adoption of a high number of mechanisms coincides with the presence of institutionalised forms for conflict resolution, supporting the incentive of negotiating more than two mechanisms per treaty.     

The sedimentology of an ephemeral fluvial–aeolian succession

Ephemeral fluvial systems are commonly associated with arid to semi-arid climates. Although their complex sedimentology and depositional settings have been described in much detail, depositional models depicting detailed lateral and vertical relationships, and interactions with coeval depositional environments, are lacking compared to well-recognized meandering and braided fluvial systems. This study critically evaluates the applicability of current models for ephemeral fluvial systems to an ancient arid fluvial example of the Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation of the Colorado Plateau, USA. The study employs detailed sedimentary logging, palaeocurrent analysis and photogrammetric panels across the regional extent of the Kayenta. A generic model that accounts for the detailed sedimentology of a sandy arid ephemeral fluvial system (drawing upon both ancient and geomorphological studies) is developed, along with analysis of the spatial and temporal interactions with the aeolian setting. Results show that the ephemeral system is dominated by laterally and vertically amalgamated, poorly channelized to sheet-like elements, with abundant upper flow regime flat beds and high sediment load structures formed between periods of lower flow regime conditions. Through interaction with a coeval aeolian system, most of the fluvial deposits are dominated by sand-grade sediment, unlike many modern ephemeral fluvial systems that contain a high proportion of conglomeratic and/or finer grained mudstone and siltstone deposits. During dominantly fluvial deposition, high width to thickness ratios are observed for channelized and sheet-like elements. However, with increasing aridity, the aeolian environment becomes dominant and fluvial deposition is restricted to interdune corridors, resulting in lower width to thickness ratio channels dominated by flash-flood and debris-flow facies. The data presented here, coupled with modern examples of ephemeral systems and flood regimes, suggest that ephemeral flow produces and preserves distinctive sedimentological traits that can not only be recognized in outcrops, but also within core.     

Numerical implementation and sensitivity analysis of a wave energy converter in a time-dependent mild-slope equation model

Several Wave Energy Converters (abbreviated as WECs) have intensively been studied and developed during the last decade and currently small farms of WECs are getting installed. WECs in a farm are partly absorbing, partly redistributing the incident wave power. Consequently, the power absorption of each individual WEC in a farm is affected by its neighbouring WECs. The knowledge of the wave climate around the WEC is needed to predict its performance in the farm. In this paper a technique is developed to implement a single and multiple WECs based on the overtopping principle in a time-dependent mild-slope equation model. So far, the mild-slope equations have been widely used to study wave transformations around coastal and offshore structures, such as breakwaters, piles of windmills and offshore platforms. First the limitations of the WEC implementation are discussed through a sensitivity analysis. Next the developed approach is applied to study the wave height reduction behind a single WEC and a farm. The wake behind an isolated WEC is investigated for uni- and multidirectional waves; it is observed that an increase of the directional spread leads to a faster wave redistribution behind the WEC. Further the wake in the lee of multiple WECs is calculated for two different farm lay-outs, i.e. an aligned grid and a staggered grid, by adapting the performance of each WEC to its incident wave power. The evolved technique is a fast tool to find the optimal lay-out of WECs in a farm and to study the possible influence on surrounding activities in the sea.     

Basement control on oblique thrust sheet evolution: seismic imaging of the active deformation front of the Central Andes in Bolivia

In the area of the Bolivian Orocline, we examine the deformation pattern associated with the active development of a new thrust sheet. A dense grid of reprocessed 2-D seismic lines from hydrocarbon exploration industry is interpreted and a 3-D simplified structural and kinematic model is deduced. In the Boomerang Hills, onlapping Paleozoic and foredeep sediments are detached from the underlying S-dipping basement. They are thrust northeastwards by less than 2 km. Two zones can be differentiated along the Andean deformation front: (1) a W–E to NW–SE striking frontal segment of predominantly orthogonal shortening, comprising a thrust and anticline system; (2) a WSW–ENE striking lateral zone of oblique shortening within a complex system of thin-skinned strike–slip faults and minor folds. The deformation front always follows a pronounced edge in the topography of the top basement surface close to the boundary of the Paleozoic basin. The observed deformation pattern indicates intensified strain partitioning caused by the interaction of contraction direction and basement topography, which provides a near oblique ramp for the onlapping wedge of sediments. The SW–NE thrusting direction is divided into orthogonal and tangential components. These are accommodated by convergent and strike–slip structures, respectively, which sole into a common detachment horizon. The structural evolution of the new thrust sheet in the Bolivian Orocline is primarily controlled by the paleorelief of the Brazilian Shield because: (1) the shape of the basement affects the taper of the thrust wedge and localizes the deformation front and (2) small asperities in/close to the top of the basement promote fault localization. The coincidence of a relatively high basement position and a structural high of the Eastern Cordillera leads to the conclusion that the shape of the Brazilian Shield also controls the structural evolution of the pronounced eastern border of the Bolivian Orocline.     

Xenobiotic-induced immunomodulation in the European flat oyster,Ostrea edulis

The presence of chemical contaminants in marine coastal waters is a major subject of concern since many molecules are potentially immunotoxic, even at low concentration. During the last decade, studies in sentinel species, such as the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, or the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, have revealed that immunosuppressive responses can be related to xenobiotic exposure, in the laboratory and in the field. In the present study, European flat oysters were experimentally exposed to heavy metals, to investigate possible alterations of their immune function. Several hematological and functional parameters of hemocytes were measured by flow cytometry, a technique allowing rapid, sensitive, cell-by-cell measurements in large cell populations. Results reveal a depression of phagocytosis and several subcellular, physiological changes in oysters exposed to cadmium alone or to cadmium and copper, suggesting an overall alteration of the phagocytic function.     

An analogue experimental model of depth fluctuations in lava lakes

Lava lakes, consisting of molten degassing lava in summit craters of active basaltic volcanoes, sometimes exhibit complex cycles of filling and emptying on time-scales of hours to weeks such as recorded at Pu’u’O’o in Hawaii and Oldoinyo Lengai in Tanzania. Here we report on a new series of analogue laboratory experiments of two-phase flow in a reservoir-conduit-lava lake system which spontaneously generates oscillations in the depth of liquid within the lake. During the recharge phase, gas supplied from a subsurface reservoir of degassing magma drives liquid magma up the conduit, causing the lake to fill. As the magmastatic pressure in the lake increases, the upward supply of magma, driven by the gas bubbles, falls. Eventually the upflow becomes unstable, and liquid drains downwards from the lake, driven by the magmastatic pressure of the overlying lake, suppressing the ascent of any more bubbles from the chamber. At a later stage, once the lake has drained sufficiently, the descent speed of liquid through the conduit decreases below the ascent speed of the bubbles, and the recharge cycle resumes. Application of a quantitative model of the experiments to the natural system is broadly consistent with field data.     

Effective Roughness Calculated from Satellite-Derived Land Cover Maps and Hedge-Information used in a Weather Forecasting Model

In numerical weather prediction, climate and hydrologicalmodelling, the grid cell size is typically larger than the horizontal length scales of variations in aerodynamicroughness, surface temperature and surface humidity. These local land cover variations give rise to sub-gridscale surface flux differences. Especially the roughness variations can give a significantly differentvalue between the equilibrium roughness in each of the patches as compared to the aggregated roughness value,the so-called effective roughness, for the grid cell. The effective roughness is a quantity that secures thephysics to be well-described in any large-scale model. A method of aggregating the roughness step changesin arbitrary real terrain has been applied in flat terrain (Denmark) where sub-grid scale vegetation-drivenroughness variations are a dominant characteristic of the landscape. The aggregation model is a physicaltwo-dimensional atmospheric flow model in the horizontal domain based on a linearized version of theNavier Stoke equation. The equations are solved by the Fast Fourier Transformation technique, hence the codeis very fast. The new effective roughness maps have been used in the HIgh Resolution Limited Area Model(HIRLAM) weather forecasting model and the weather prediction results are compared for a number of casesto synoptic and other observations with improved agreement above the predictions based on currentstandard input. Typical seasonal springtime bias on forecasted winds over land of +0.5 m s^-1 and-0.2 m s^-1 in coastal areas is reduced by use of the effective roughness maps.