3D-electrical resistivity tomography monitoring of salt transport in homogeneous and layered soil samples

Monitoring transport of dissolved substances in soil deposits is particularly relevant where safety is concerned, as in the case of geo-environmental barriers. Geophysical methods are very appealing, since they cover a wide domain, localising possible preferential flow paths and providing reliable links between geophysical quantities and hydrological variables. This paper describes a 3D laboratory application of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) used to monitor solute transport processes. Dissolution and transport tests on both homogeneous and heterogeneous samples were conducted in an instrumented oedometer cell. ERT was used to create maps of electrical conductivity of the monitored domain at different time intervals and to estimate concentration variations within the interstitial fluid. Comparisons with finite element simulations of the transport processes were performed to check the consistency of the results. Tests confirmed that the technique can monitor salt transport, infer the hydro-chemical behaviour of heterogeneous geomaterials and evaluate the performances of clay barriers.     

Comparison of two bias correction methods for precipitation simulated with a regional climate model

This study evaluates the performance of two bias correction techniques—power transformation and gamma distribution adjustment—for Eta regional climate model (RCM) precipitation simulations. For the gamma distribution adjustment, the number of dry days is not taken as a fixed parameter; rather, we propose a new methodology for handling dry days. We consider two cases: the first case is defined as having a greater number of simulated dry days than the observed number, and the second case is defined as the opposite. The present climate period was divided into calibration and validation sets. We evaluate the results of the two bias correction techniques using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov nonparametric test and the sum of the differences between the cumulative distribution curves. These tests show that both correction techniques were effective in reducing errors and consequently improving the reliability of the simulations. However, the gamma distribution correction method proved to be more efficient, particularly in reducing the error in the number of dry days.

     

Comparisons among the five ground-motion models developed using RESORCE for the prediction of response spectral accelerations due to earthquakes in Europe and the Middle East

This article presents comparisons among the five ground-motion models described in other articles within this special issue, in terms of data selection criteria, characteristics of the models and predicted peak ground and response spectral accelerations. Comparisons are also made with predictions from the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) models to which the models presented here have similarities (e.g. a common master database has been used) but also differences (e.g. some models in this issue are nonparametric). As a result of the differing data selection criteria and derivation techniques the predicted median ground motions show considerable differences (up to a factor of two for certain scenarios), particularly for magnitudes and distances close to or beyond the range of the available observations. The predicted influence of style-of-faulting shows much variation among models whereas site amplification factors are more similar, with peak amplification at around 1s. These differences are greater than those among predictions from the NGA models. The models for aleatory variability (sigma), however, are similar and suggest that ground-motion variability from this region is slightly higher than that predicted by the NGA models, based primarily on data from California and Taiwan.     

Intraseasonal predictability of the duration of flooding above National Weather Service flood warning levels across the U.S. Midwest

Unpreparedness is often the main cause of the economic and social damages caused by floods. To mitigate these impacts, short-term forecasting has been the focus of several studies during the past decades; however, less effort has been paid to flood predictions at longer lead times. Here, we use forecasts by six models from the North American Multi-Model Ensemble project with a lead time from 0.5 to 9.5 months to predict the seasonal duration of floods above four National Weather Service flood categories (“action,” “flood,” “moderate” and “major”). We focus on 202 U.S. Geological Survey gage stations across the U.S. Midwest and use a statistical framework which considers precipitation, temperature, and antecedent wetness conditions as predictors. We find that the prediction skill of the duration of floods for the “action” and “flood” categories is overall low, largely because of the low accuracy of the climate forecasts rather than of the errors introduced by the statistical models. The prediction skill slightly improves when considering the shortest lead times (i.e., from 0.5 to 2.5 months) during spring in the Northern Great Plains, where antecedent wetness conditions play an important role in influencing the generation of floods. It is very difficult to draw strong conclusions with respect to the “moderate” and “major” flood categories because of the limited number of available events.     

Iron local structure in tektites and impact glasses by extended X-ray absorption fine structure and high-resolution X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy

The local structure of iron in three tektites has been studied by means of Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and high-resolution X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy in order to provide quantitative data on <Fe-O> distance and Fe coordination number. The samples studied are a moldavite and two australasian tektites. Fe model compounds with known Fe oxidation state and coordination number were used as standards in order to extract structural information from the XANES pre-edge peak. EXAFS-derived grand mean <Fe-O> distances and Fe coordination numbers for the three tektite samples are constant within the estimated error (<Fe-O > =2.00 Å ± 0.02 Å, CN = 4.0 ± 0.4). In contrast to other data from the literature on Fe-bearing silicate glasses, the tektites spectra could not be fitted with a single Fe-O distance, but rather were fit with two independent distances (2 × 1.92 Å and 2 × 2.08 Å). High-resolution XANES spectra of the three tektites display a pre-edge peak whose intensity is intermediate between those of staurolite and grandidierite, thus suggesting a mean coordination number intermediate between 4 and 5. Combining the EXAFS and XANES data for Fe, we infer the mean coordination number to be close to 4.5.Comparison of the tektites XANES spectra with those of a suite of different impact glasses clearly shows that tektites display a relatively narrow range of Fe oxidation state and coordination numbers, whereas impact glasses data span a much wider range of Fe oxidation states (from divalent to trivalent) and coordination numbers (from tetra-coordinated to esa-coordinated). These data suggest that the tektite production process is very similar for all the known strewn fields, whereas impact glasses can experience a wide variety of different temperature-pressure-oxygen fugacity conditions, leading to different Fe local structure in the resulting glasses. These data could be of aid in discriminating between tektite-like impact glasses and impact glasses sensu strictu.     

Use of NTv2 transformation grids in engineering applications

This paper describes a technique to transform coordinates between map references based on NTv2 format grids. Using the grids rather than carrying out a transformation allows to avoid map archives doubling, thereby easing “on the fly” transformation between different map representations. The paper also includes a case-study on a highway stretch currently under construction, the ‘Pedemontana Lombarda’ highway.     

U–Pb zircon dating and nature of metavolcanics and metarkoses from the Monte Grighini Unit: new insights on Late Ordovician magmatism in the Variscan belt in Sardinia, Italy

In the external units of the Sardinian Variscides Nappe Zone, volcanic and volcanoclastic successions of Middle Ordovician age follow Lower Paleozoic calc-alkaline magmatism developed at the northern Gondwana margin. We present geochemical and zircon U–Pb isotopic data for the Truzzulla Formation, a low-to-medium-grade metamorphic volcanic–volcanoclastic succession belonging to the Monte Grighini Unit, the deepest unit in the Nappe Zone. Geochemical and radiometric data allow us to define a Late Ordovician (Katian) magmatic (volcanic) event of calc-alkaline affinity. These new data, in conjunction with previously published data, indicate that in the Sardinian Variscides, the age of Lower Paleozoic Andean-type calc-alkaline magmatism spans from Middle to Late Ordovician. Moreover, the age distribution of calc-alkaline volcanics and volcanoclastic rocks in the Nappe Zone is consistent with a diachronous development of Middle–Late Ordovician Andean-type magmatic arc through the portion of the northern Gondwanian margin now represented by the Sardinian Variscides. This reconstruction of the Sardinian Variscides reflects the complex magmatic and tectonic evolution of the northern margin of Gondwana in the Lower Paleozoic.     

Size-dependent, Spatial, and Temporal Variability of Juvenile Walleye Pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) Feeding at a Structural Front in the Southeast Bering Sea

Abstract. The waters surrounding the Pribilof Islands are an important nursery ground for juvenile walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), an important forage fish in the pelagic food web of the productive Bering Sea shelf region. The diet of juvenile pollock was studied in two consecutive years along a transect line crossing from a well‐mixed coastal domain, through a frontal region to stratified water farther offshore. Variability in stomach fullness was high and evidence for increased feeding intensity in the front was weak. Prey diversity and prey size generally increased with increasing fish size, shifting from predominantly small copepods to larger, more evasive prey items such as euphausiids, crab megalopae and fish. The diet of the fish reflected changes in the relative abundance of copepods and euphausiids in the prey fields between years. Juvenile pollock showed increased feeding rates at dusk, and stomach fullness as well as prey condition were generally lowest just before sunrise; however, the proportion of euphausiids increased in the diet of pollock caught at night, suggesting that some food was also ingested during darkness. Juvenile pollock and their euphausiid prey both vertically migrated above the thermocline at night, although each had a different daytime depth.