Real-time cycle slip detection in triple-frequency GNSS

The modernization of the global positioning system and the advent of the European project Galileo will lead to a multifrequency global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The presence of new frequencies introduces more degrees of freedom in the GNSS data combination. We define linear combinations of GNSS observations with the aim to detect and correct cycle slips in real time. In particular, the detection is based on five geometry-free linear combinations used in three cascading steps. Most of the jumps are detected in the first step using three minimum-noise combinations of phase and code observations. The remaining jumps with very small amplitude are detected in the other two steps by means of two-tailored linear combinations of phase observations. Once the epoch of the slip has been detected, its amplitude is estimated using other linear combinations of phase observations. These combinations are defined with the aim of discriminating between the possible combinations of jump amplitudes in the three carriers. The method has been tested on simulated data and 1-second triple-frequency undifferenced GPS data coming from a friendly multipath environment. Results show that the proposed method is able to detect and repair all combinations of cycle slips in the three carriers.     

Tides and mixing in the northwestern East China Sea Part I: Rotating and reversing tidal flows

Bottom-mounted ADV and ADCP instruments in combination with CTD profiling measurements taken along the Chinese coast of the East China Sea were used to study the vertical structure of temperature, salinity, and velocity in reversing tidal currents on a shallow inner shelf and in rotating tidal flows over a deeper sloping bottom of the outer shelf. These two regimes of barotropic tide affect small-scale dynamics in the lower part of the water column differently. The reversing flow was superimposed by seiches of ∼2.3 h period generated in semienclosed Jiaozhou Bay located nearby. As the tidal vector rotates over the sloping bottom, the height of the near-bottom logarithmic layer is subjected to tidal-induced variations. A maximum of horizontal velocity U_max appears at the upper boundary of the log layer during the first half of the current vector rotation from the minor to the major axis of tidal ellipse. In rotating tidal flow, vertical shear generated at the seafloor, propagated slowly to the water interior up to the height of U_max, with a phase speed of ∼5 m/h. The time-shifted shear inside the water column, relative to the shear at the bottom, was associated with periodically changing increases and decreases of the tidal velocity above the log layer toward the sea surface. In reversing flows, the shear generated near the bottom and the shear at the upper levels were almost in phase.     

Fire severity and surface rock fragments cause patchy distribution of soil water repellency and infiltration rates after burning

Although fire‐induced soil water repellency (SWR) and its effects on soil hydrology and geomorphology have been studied in detail, very few studies have considered the effect of rock fragments resting on the soil surface or partly embedded in soil. In this research, we have studied the effect of rock fragments on the strength and spatial distribution of fire‐induced SWR at different fire severities. A fire‐affected area was selected for this experiment and classified into different zones according to fire severity (unburned, low, moderate and high) and rock fragment cover (low, <20% and high, >60%). During 7 days after fire, SWR and infiltration rates were assessed in the soil surface covered by individual rock fragments and in the midpoint between two adjacent rock fragments (with maximum spacing of 20 cm). SWR increased with fire severity. Rock fragments resting on the soil surface increased the heterogeneity of the spatial distribution of fire‐induced SWR. SWR increased significantly with rock fragment cover in bare areas under moderate and high fire severity, but quantitatively important changes were only observed under high fire severity. In areas with a low rock fragment cover, water repellency from soil surfaces covered by rock fragments increased relative to bare soil surfaces, with increasing SWR. In areas with a high rock fragment cover, SWR increased significantly from non‐covered to covered soil surfaces only after low‐severity burning. Rock fragment cover did not affect infiltration rates, although it decreased significantly in soil surfaces after high‐severity burning in areas under low and high rock fragment cover. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geochemical and mineralogical evidence of tectonic and sedimentary factors controlling the origin of ferromanganese crusts associated to stratigraphic discontinuities (Betic Cordilleras, SE of Spain)

Ferromanganese crusts were found in carbonates of tectonostratigraphic units located in the northern and southern areas of the eastern External Subbetic of the Betic Cordilleras (SE Spain). The crusts are associated with four stratigraphic discontinuities of the Jurassic pelagic swells sequences: D1 (Late Carixian-Early Domerian), D2 (Middle Toarcian-Early Bajocian), D3 (Middle Bathonian-Middle Oxfordian), D4 (Early Tithonian-Late Albian). Two main textural types of crusts are distinguished. Type I crusts are thin and characterized by the presence of goethite, quartz, albite and phyllosilicates. Moreover, they show Si, Al, Mg, Na, Ti and K contents close to the European Shale Composite contents and Fe/Mn ratios (>350) higher than type II crusts. Type II crusts occur as thicker banded laminae and/or macrooncoids. They consist mainly of goethite and Mn-oxyhydroxides, which are enriched in REE, Co, Ni and Cu and show a strong Ce positive anomaly. After stratigraphical, mineralogical and geochemical data, the crust formation would be produced by the exposition of bottom sediments during long periods to a thin layer of oxidizing sea and porewater enriched in metallic elements. The textural and compositional variations between crusts can be explained by taking into account the bathymetric conditions. In shallower swells, the precipitation of a thick layer of banded type II crusts and in deeper areas, thin type I crusts were formed. Organic influence was only important in crusts from D3 of the northern area where textural evidence indicates the existence of seasonal periodically alternation between organism accretion and fine sedimentation. These were preceded and followed by phases in which the inorganic precipitation of oxides prevailed together with the fine sedimentation.     

Supportive elements to the decision-making process in the emergency planning of the Angra dos Reis Nuclear Power Complex,Brazil

Accidents in nuclear power plants are problems of great complexity, mainly due to their consequences, such as the population evacuation from the enterprise influence area. The decision-making and emergency plans must be well articulated and require good local geographic space knowledge and the interactions of their environments. This study is a contribution to the emergency plans for the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Nuclear Power Plant, currently the only nuclear complex in Brazil, located in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro. The study confirmed the region’s main geoenvironmental aspects as winds and rainfall, landslides and population density were evaluated as important elements in the local emergency process. Their integrated analysis supported scenario identification and critical regional points and highlighted population evacuation escape routes. These important results characterized the support to local emergency management actions and guidelines. Furthermore, the geographic information systems was configured as an integrated spatial and temporal analysis platform to associate meteorological, geological/geomorphological and socio-economic data, playing a key role to support the evacuation planning in the event of nuclear power plant accidents.     

The crystal chemistry of lithium and Fe3+ in synthetic orthopyroxene

Lithian ferrian enstatite with Li₂O = 1.39 wt% and Fe₂O₃ 7.54 wt% was synthesised in the (MgO–Li₂O–FeO–SiO₂–H₂O) system at P = 0.3 GPa, T = 1,000°C, fO₂ = +2 Pbca, and a = 18.2113(7), b = 8.8172(3), c = 5.2050(2) Å, V = 835.79(9) Å³. The composition of the orthopyroxene was determined combining EMP, LA-ICP-MS and single-crystal XRD analysis, yielding the unit formula ^M2(Mg_0.59Fe _0.21 ²⁺ Li_0.20) ^M1(Mg_0.74Fe _0.20 ³⁺ Fe _0.06 ²⁺ ) Si₂O₆. Structure refinements done on crystals obtained from synthesis runs with variable Mg-content show that the orthopyroxene is virtually constant in composition and hence in structure, whereas coexisting clinopyroxenes occurring both as individual grains or thin rims around the orthopyroxene crystals have variable amounts of Li, Fe³⁺ and Mg contents. Structure refinement shows that Li is ordered at the M2 site and Fe³⁺ is ordered at the M1 site of the orthopyroxene, whereas Mg (and Fe²⁺) distributes over both octahedral sites. The main geometrical variations observed for Li-rich samples are actually due to the presence of Fe³⁺, which affects significantly the geometry of the M1 site; changes in the geometry of the M2 site due to the lower coordination of Li are likely to affect both the degree and the kinetics of the non-convergent Fe²⁺-Mg ordering process in octahedral sites.     

Increase in Dissolved Silica of Rivers Due to a Volcanic Eruption in an Estuarine Bay (Sorsogon Bay,Philippines)

Mount Bulusan, the Philippines’ fourth most active volcano, erupted in February 21, 2011, sending volcanic ash and pyroclastic materials to its surrounding rivers. The waters drained into the estuary of harmful algal blooms plagued Sorsogon Bay. We aim to determine the impact of the 2011 volcanic eruption and the preceding volcanic ash emissions to the dissolved silica concentration of rivers draining the flanks of Mt. Bulusan and its possible implications to the phytoplankton assemblage of the bay. Six river water sampling periods from August 2010 to October 2012 overlapped with Mt. Bulusan’s active phase of volcanism. Our data shows that mean river silica from pre-eruption levels of ~?500 μM increased by more than 200% during and post-eruption. Highest Si concentration of 2270 μM was measured from Cadacan River in August 2011. Here, we argue that the sustained general increase of dissolved silica is due to the silica-containing materials from Mt. Bulusan’s eruption and that their concentration in river waters is also a function of watershed lithology and precipitation. Increase in dissolved silica and other nutrients caused a shift to diatom domination and, possibly, termination of Pyrodinium bahamense var. compressum blooms. Silica load increase in embayments is a natural process that controls the dominance of algae. Our study also highlights the importance of Philippine rivers to the global ocean silica budget as a function of high precipitation, tectonics in general, and volcanism in particular.     

Active surface faulting or landsliding in the Lower Tagus Valley (Portugal)? A solved controversy concerning the Vila Chã de Ourique site

The Lower Tagus Valley has experienced significant (M 6–7) historical seismicity, evidencing the presence of seismogenic faults. These are still deficiently known due to the low strain rates and the recent alluvial sedimentation of the Tagus River that buries most of the structures, though Paleoseismic evidence was allegedly found by a research team in the Tagus valley, at a site 60 km N of Lisbon, near Vila Chã de Ourique (VCO). According to this team, trenching at the VCO site exposed an active thrust fault, evidencing the surface rupture of a large earthquake that occurred in 1531. Our studies performed at this site, comprising field observations with a reappraisal of the trench outcrops previously excavated, borehole drilling, soil mechanics laboratory testing, and seismic reflection acquisition, pointed to the alternative interpretation that the outcropping structures are gravitational and not of tectonic origin. The interpretation of new outcrops crosscutting the structures exposed at the trenches, as well as newly acquired high-resolution seismic reflection data, definitely exclude the active thrust fault explanation and support a gravitational slip model for all the observed structures. Gravitational slip in the river bank slope was promoted by low shear strength clays and high pore water pressure coupled with slope toe river erosion. Gravitational slides must have occurred prior to development of the present sedimentation level of the Tagus alluvial plain, which was attained in the last few thousand years as indicated by borehole data and estimations of sedimentation rates.