Fluvial sediment transport and deposition following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo generated extreme sediment yields from watersheds heavily impacted by pyroclastic flows. Bedload sampling in the Pasig–Potrero River, one of the most heavily impacted rivers, revealed negligible critical shear stress and very high transport rates that reflected an essentially unlimited sediment supply and the enhanced mobility of particles moving over a smooth, fine-grained bed. Dimensionless bedload transport rates in the Pasig–Potrero River differed substantially from those previously reported for rivers in temperate regions for the same dimensionless shear stress, but were similar to rates identified in rivers on other volcanoes and ephemeral streams in arid environments. The similarity between volcanically disturbed and arid rivers appears to arise from the lack of an armored bed surface due to very high relative sediment supply; in arid rivers, this is attributed to a flashy hydrograph, whereas volcanically disturbed rivers lack armoring due to sustained high rates of sediment delivery. This work suggests that the increases in sediment supply accompanying massive disturbance induce morphologic and hydrologic changes that temporarily enhance transport efficiency until the watershed recovers and sediment supply is reduced.     

Geophysical systems of landscapes

The concept of geophysical systems of landscapes is suggested. This study identifies the energy components of the geophysical system of landscape and the most important functions that derive from them, which determine the boundaries and individuality of landscapes, and their differences in the rate of matter moisture transport. A methodological solution is suggested for the metric characteristic of landscapes from the system of intervals of basic hydrothermal indicators that control the rate of matter moisture transport and are used as a standard of functional stability of landscapes.     

THE DEMOGRAPHIC CONSEQUENCES OF METROPOLITAN POPULATION DECONCENTRATION IN THE U.S.

Although the recent growth in the nonmetropolitan population of the U.S. is now well documented, little attention has been given to the consequences these trends will have on the future composition and growth of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions. This paper discusses the feedback effects of migration on the future age structure and population growth of both regions during the period 1975–2000.     

Estimating proximate populations for an extensive set of locations in Australia

"The paper reports the use of Australian Resources Information System to calculate two proximate populations (people living within (i) 150 and (ii) 500 km) for the centroids of each of 3,000 half by half degree geodetic grid cells covering Australia. The use of proximate population data is exemplified by computing a map of the eighteen regions collectively containing a maximum fraction of the Australian population." The data used are from the 1981 census.     

Salt tectonics in a double salt‐source layer setting (Eastern Persian Gulf,Iran): Insights from interpretation of seismic profiles and sequential cross‐section restoration

Salt tectonics in the Eastern Persian Gulf (Iran) is linked to a unique salt‐bearing system involving two overlapping ‘autochthonous’ mobile source layers, the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian Hormuz Salt and the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene Fars Salt. Interpretations of reflection seismic profiles and sequential cross‐section restorations are presented to decipher the evolution of salt structures from the two source layers and their kinematic interaction on the style of salt flow. Seismic interpretations illustrate that the Hormuz and Fars salts started flowing in the Early Palaeozoic (likely Cambrian) and Early Miocene, respectively, shortly after their deposition. Differential sedimentary loading (downbuilding) and subsalt basement faults initiated and localized the flow of the Hormuz Salt and the related salt structures. The resultant diapirs grew by passive diapirism until Late Cretaceous, whereas the pillows became inactive during the Mesozoic after a progressive decline of growth in the Late Palaeozoic. The diapirs and pillows were then subjected to a Palaeocene–Eocene contractional deformation event, which squeezed the diapirs. The consequence was significant salt extrusion, leading to the development of allochthonous salt sheets and wings. Subsequent rise of the Hormuz Salt occurred in wider salt stocks and secondary salt walls by coeval passive diapirism and tectonic shortening since Late Oligocene. Evacuation and diapirism of the Fars Salt was driven mainly by differential sedimentary loading in annular and elongate minibasins overlying the salt and locally by downslope gliding around pre‐existing stocks of the Hormuz Salt. At earlier stages, the Fars Salt flowed not only towards the pre‐existing Hormuz stocks but also away from them to initiate ring‐like salt walls and anticlines around some of the stocks. Subsequently, once primary welds developed around these stocks, the Fars Salt flowed outwards to source the peripheral salt walls. Our results reveal that evolving pre‐existing salt structures from an older source layer have triggered the flow of a younger salt layer and controlled the resulting salt structures. This interaction complicates the flow direction of the younger salt layer, the geometry and spatial distribution of its structures, as well as minibasin depocentre migration through time. Even though dealing with a unique case of two ‘autochthonous’ mobile salt layers, this work may also provide constraints on our understanding of the kinematics of salt flow and diapirism in other salt basins having significant ‘allochthonous’ salt that is coevally affected by deformation of the deeper autochthonous salt layer and related structures.     

Static Reservoir Modeling of the Eocene Clastic Reservoirs in the Q-Field,Niger Delta,Nigeria

Natural Resources Research - This work integrates seismic and well log data to establish a 3D reservoir model of the Q-Field, which is a prolific onshore hydrocarbon field situated in the Central...     

A comparative allometric study of the morphometry of the gills of an alkalinity adapted cichlid fish,Oreochromis alcalicus grahami,of Lake Magadi,Kenya

A morphometric analysis of the gills ofOreochromis alcalicus grahami has been carried out on specimens from ecologically distinct lagoons and a water-holding tank of Lake Magadi, a highly alkaline salt lake situated in a volcanically active region of the southern part of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. The data were compared with those fromOreochromis niloticus, a close relative that lives in fresh water and with data from other fresh water and marine fish. Our primary goal was to identify the possible adaptive features which enable the fish to survive in an environment characterized by severely fluctuating levels of oxygen, a condition exacerbated by factors such as high temperature, alkalinity and osmolarity. The specimens ofO. a. grahami from the south-western lagoons of the lake had gills better adapted for gas exchange with a body mass specific diffusing capacity for oxygen which was about 2 times greater than that of the gills of the specimens from the fish spring lagoons and 2.5 times that of those from the water-holding tanks. Some parameters of the gills ofO. a. grahami, e.g. the gill filament length and number of gill filaments are significantly greater than those ofO. niloticus but the number of secondary lamellae, area of secondary lamellae and the diffusing capacity of the gills are similar in the two species. Compared with most other fish, the gills ofO. a. grahami appear to be particularly well adapted for gas exchange especially by having a thin water-blood barrier. Perhaps in no other extant fish have the gills had to be so exquisitely designed to meet environmental extremes and regulate complex and at times conflicting functions such as gas exchange, iono-regulation, acid-base balance and nitrogenous waste excretion as inO. a. grahami     

Preliminary study on radiocarbon AMS dating of pollen

17 samples were collected from aeolian and lacustrine profiles within the environment sensitive zone of the Loess Plateau, and an experimental method was established which is suitable for pollen extraction from aeolian sediment. A comparative study of pollen dating was carried out using the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)¹⁴C dating of known age samples, and then an experiment with the pollen concentrates was performed. The results indicate that pollen that has been deposited simultaneously with sediment in a stable environment can provide reliable ages. This technique will provide a way of improving the chronological framework for the Loess Plateau since the late Pleistocene. The^I4c dating was combined with field investigations, and from the geological record within this zone, evidence was extracted of four major monsoon precipitation changes during the transition from the late Pleistocene to Holocene. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 49894170, 49725308), Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nos. KZ-951-A1-402& KZ-952-S1-419), and State Committee of Science and Technology of China.     

Reunion hotspot activitity through tertiary time: Initial results from the ocean drilling program, leg 115

Leg 115 of the Ocean Drilling Program recovered basaltic rocks from four sites along the ancient trail of the Réunion hotspot. The age of volcanism, determined from biostratigraphic data at the four sites, increases to the north and records the motion of India away from the Réunion hotspot through Tertiary time. Hotspot activity began with the eruption of the Deccan flood basalt flows at the time of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. The Réunion hotspot has been stationary with respect to other hotspots in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean basins through Tertiary time. The geochemical compositions of the drilled basalts differ according to the relative contributions of magmas from hotspot and MORB mantle sources.     

Δx≠Δy in 3D depth migration via McClellan transformations

An intuitive method is presented for extending Hale–McClellan migration operators to handle surveys binned and stacked with in‐line and cross‐line spacings unequal. This avoids re‐interpolating the input to 3D migration, either externally or internally. The algorithm does not require an integer or rational ratio between the in‐line and cross‐line spacings in order to be applied nor does it deliberately introduce artificial aliasing by interleaving subsampled grids along the more finely sampled axis. Examples of its impulse response and application to the SEG–EAGE salt model are shown.