A 60-year record of rainfall from the sediments of Jinheung Pond,Jeongeup, Korea

This paper describes mean grain-size data from the ¹³⁷Cs- and ²¹⁰Pb-dated sediment core BS-3 (33-cm long) recovered from Jinheung Pond, located in the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. Grain-size analysis of the Jinheung Pond sediments shows a clear signal for changes in annual precipitation over the past 60 years. Instrumental records of annual precipitation (AP) and the annual summation of the precipitation of >50 mm per day (AP50), which reflects the energy available for sediment transport, correlate well with the mean grain-size distributions measured in the core. The most plausible mechanism for this response in mean grain size is variations in the annual amount and intensity of precipitation. Heavy precipitation enhances soil erosion over the catchment area and increases the transport capacity of streams and rivers. Thus, coarser mean grain size should reflect higher precipitation, and smaller mean grain size should reflect lower rainfall. In the data from core BS-3, however, grain-size peaks attributed to increased annual precipitation are not prominent. This is because a dam prevents removal of fine particles from the pond via the outflow. Therefore, the mean grain-size value represents somewhat larger sediments together with fine clays. The results of this study show that sediments of dammed lakes and ponds are well suited for high-resolution environmental investigations, especially for records of changes in precipitation over time.     

A changing nutrient regime in the Gulf of Maine

Recent oceanographic observations and a retrospective analysis of nutrients and hydrography over the past five decades have revealed that the principal source of nutrients to the Gulf of Maine, the deep, nutrient-rich continental slope waters that enter at depth through the Northeast Channel, may have become less important to the Gulf's nutrient load. Since the 1970s, the deeper waters in the interior Gulf of Maine (>100 m) have become fresher and cooler, with lower nitrate (NO₃) but higher silicate (Si(OH)₄) concentrations. Prior to this decade, nitrate concentrations in the Gulf normally exceeded silicate by 4–5 μM, but now silicate and nitrate are nearly equal. These changes only partially correspond with that expected from deep slope water fluxes correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation, and are opposite to patterns in freshwater discharges from the major rivers in the region. We suggest that accelerated melting in the Arctic and concomitant freshening of the Labrador Sea in recent decades have likely increased the equatorward baroclinic transport of the inner limb of the Labrador Current that flows over the broad continental shelf from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to the Gulf of Maine. That current system now brings a greater fraction of colder and fresher deep shelf waters into the Gulf than warmer and saltier offshore slope waters which were previously thought to dominate the flux of nutrients. Those deep shelf waters reflect nitrate losses from sediment denitrification and silicate accumulations from rivers and in situ regeneration, which together are altering the nutrient regime and potentially the structure of the planktonic ecosystem.     

Understanding of the Common Land Model performance for water and energy fluxes in a farmland during the growing season in Korea

The Common Land Model (CLM) is one of the most widely used land surface models (LSMs) due to the practicality of its simple parameterization scheme and its versatility in embracing a variety of field datasets. The improved assessment of land surface water and energy fluxes using CLM can be an alternative approach for understanding the complex land–atmosphere interactions in data‐limited regions. The understanding of water and energy cycles in a farmland is crucial because it is a dominant land feature in Korea and Asia. However, the applications of CLM to farmland in Korea are in paucity. The simulations of water and energy fluxes by CLM were conducted against those from the tower‐based measurements during the growing season of 2006 at the Haenam site (a farmland site) in Korea without optimization. According to the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP) land cover classification, a homogeneous cropland was selected initially for this study. Although the simulated soil moisture had a similar pattern to that of the observed, the former was relatively drier (at 0·1 m³ m^?3) than the latter. The simulated net radiation showed good agreement with the observed, with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 41 W m^?2, whereas relatively large discrepancies between the simulation and observation were found in sensible (RMSE of 66 W m^?2) and latent (RMSE of 60 W m^?2) heat fluxes. On the basis of the sensitivity analysis, soil moisture was more receptive to land cover and soil texture parameterizations when compared to soil temperature and turbulent fluxes. Despite the uncertainty in the predictive capability of CLM employed without optimization, the initial performance of CLM suggests usefulness in a data‐limited heterogeneous farmland in Korea. Further studies are required to identify the controls on water and energy fluxes with an improved parameterization. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From the editors

<正>Dear JEEEV Contributors, Readers and Friends,This issue of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration (Vol. 9, No. 3) includes five papers that were presented at the 4th     

Soft‐sediment deformation structures in Cretaceous non‐marine deposits of southeastern Gyeongsang Basin,Korea: Occurrences and origin

A variety of soft‐sediment deformation structures formed during or shortly after deposition occurs in the Cretaceous Seongpori and Dadaepo Formations of the southeastern Gyeongsang Basin exposed along coastal areas of southeastern Korean Peninsula for 0.5–2 km. These are mostly present in a fluvial plain facies, with interbedded lacustrine deposits. In this study, the features of different kinds of soft‐sediment deformation structures have been interpreted on the basis of sedimentology of structure‐bearing deposits, comparison with normal sedimentary structures, timing and mechanism of deformation, and triggering mechanisms. The soft‐sediment deformation structures can be classified into four morphological groups: (i) load structures (load casts, ball‐and‐pillow structures); (ii) soft‐sediment intrusive structures (dish‐and‐pillars, clastic dykes, sills); (iii) ductile disturbed structures (convolute folds, slump structures); and (iv) brittle deformation structures (syndepositional faulting, dislocated breccia). The most probable triggering mechanisms resulting in these structures were seismic shocks. These interpretations are based on the following field observations: (i) location of the study area within tectonically active fault zone reactivated several times during the Cretaceous; (ii) deformation structures confined to single stratigraphic levels; (iii) lateral continuity and occurrences of various soft‐sediment deformation structures in the deformed level over large areas; (iv) absence of depositional slope to indicate gravity sliding or slumping; and (v) similarity to the structures produced experimentally. The soft‐sediment deformation structures in the study areas are thus interpreted to have been generated by seismic shocks with an estimated magnitude of M > 5, representing an intermittent record of the active tectonic and sedimentary processes during the development and evolution of two formations from the late Early Cretaceous to the Late Cretaceous.     

Climatology of total electron content near the dip equator under geomagnetic quiet-conditions

This study analyzes the TEC data during 1998–2007, observed by the AREQ (16.5°S, 71.5°W) GPS station to investigate the equatorial ionospheric variations under geomagnetic quiet-conditions. The diurnal TEC values generally have a maximum value between 1330 and 1500 LT and a minimum around 0500 LT. For the seasonal variation, the semi-annual variation apparently exists in the daytime TEC with two peaks in equinoctial months. In contrast, this semi-annual variation is not found in the nighttime. Furthermore, the results of the annual variation show that the correlation between the daytime TEC value and the solar activity factor is highly positive.     

High Purge Volume Sampling—A New Paradigm for Subslab Soil Gas Monitoring

Subslab soil gas sampling and analysis is a common line of evidence for assessing human health risks associated with subsurface vapor intrusion to indoor air for volatile organic compounds; however, conventional subslab sampling methods have generated data that show substantial spatial and temporal variability, which often makes the interpretation difficult. A new method of monitoring has been developed and tested that is based on a concept of integrating samples over a large volume of soil gas extracted from beneath the floor slab of a building to provide a spatially averaged subslab concentration. Regular field screening is also conducted to assess the trend of concentration as a function of the volume removed to provide insight into the spatial distribution of vapors at progressive distances away from the point of extraction. This approach minimizes the risk of failing to identify the areas of elevated soil vapor concentrations that may exist between discrete sample locations, and can provide information covering large buildings with fewer holes drilled through the floor. The new method also involves monitoring the extraction flow rate and transient vacuum response for mathematical analysis to help interpret the vapor concentration data and to support an optimal design for any subslab venting system that may be needed.     

Application of bivariate frequency analysis to the derivation of rainfall–frequency curves

Bivariate distributions have been recently employed in hydrologic frequency analysis to analyze the joint probabilistic characteristics of multivariate storm events. This study aims to derive practical solutions of application for the bivariate distribution to estimate design rainfalls corresponding to the desired return periods. Using the Gumbel mixed model, this study constructed rainfall–frequency curves at sample stations in Korea which provide joint relationships between amount, duration, and frequency of storm events. Based on comparisons and analyses of the rainfall–frequency curves derived from univariate and bivariate storm frequency analyses, this study found that conditional frequency analysis provides more appropriate estimates of design rainfalls as it more accurately represents the natural relationship between storm properties than the conventional univariate storm frequency analysis.     

From the editors

<正>Dear JEEEV Contributors,Readers and Friends,The world community was shocked and deeply saddened two years ago by the 512 disaster and massive losses in Sichuan caused by the Wenchuan earthquake.To commemorate