Hazard assessment of volcanic ballistic impacts at Mt Chihshin,Tatun Volcano Group,northern Taiwan

The assessment of vulnerability provides valuable knowledge in the risk assessment steps of a risk governance process. Given the multiscale, multilevel, and multisectorial aspects of flood risk, the diversified entities that directly and indirectly intervene in risk management require specific outputs from the assessment studies. Urban areas in estuarine margins are particularly exposed and vulnerable to flooding. Such interface conditions are found in the Old City Centre of the Seixal, located in the Tagus estuary, Portugal. Here, two distinct methodologies were applied for the assessment of territorial vulnerability. A regional, lower-scale, methodology explores the application of the statistical procedure based on the SoVI^® at the statistical block level. A second, local and higher-scale, methodology is based in data collected through field matrices at the building and statistical sub-block level. Comparison of results revealed that the lower-scale assessment provides information on the vulnerability drivers at the regional and municipal level. Nevertheless, only at a higher-scale, it is possible to characterize and differentiate the smaller geographical units of analysis that compose the Old City Centre of Seixal. The lower-scale vulnerability assessment allows a strategic response, based on adaptation measures such as spatial planning, institutional capacity building and public awareness. The local level assessment provides more accurate knowledge to support local emergency planning and the allocation of operational and material resources at the urban level. Nevertheless, rather than antagonistic, both models can be considered as complementary, having in mind the requirements of an holistic flood risk governance model.     

Assessing soil salinity using WorldView-2 multispectral images in Timpaki,Crete, Greece

Salinization is one of the major soil degradation threats occurring worldwide. This study evaluates the feasibility of operational surface soil salinity mapping based on state-of-the-art Earth Observation (EO) products captured by sensors on-board WorldView-2 (WV2) and Landsat 8 satellites. The proposed methods are tested in Timpaki, south-central Crete,Greece, where brackish water irrigation puts soil health at risk of soil salinization. In all cases, EO products are calibrated against soil samples collected from bare soil locations. Results indicate a moderate correlation of observed EC_e values with the investigated remote sensing parameters. Regarding sensitivity to saline soil, the yellow band displays higher values. Comparison between methods used in the literature shows that those developed specifically for soil salinity, and especially index S5, perform better. The proposed ‘detection index’ and 3D PCA transformation methodology perform reasonably well in detecting areas with high EC_e values and provide a simple and effective operational alternative for saline topsoil detection and mapping.     

Novel fusion approach on automatic object extraction from spatial data: case study Worldview-2 and TOPO5000

The automatic extraction of information content from remotely sensed data is always challenging. We suggest a novel fusion approach to improve the extraction of this information from mono-satellite images. A Worldview-2 (WV-2) pan-sharpened image and a 1/5000-scaled topographic vector map (TOPO5000) were used as the sample data. Firstly, the buildings and roads were manually extracted from WV-2 to point out the maximum extractable information content. Subsequently, object-based automatic extractions were performed. After achieving two-dimensional results, a normalized digital surface model (nDSM) was generated from the underlying digital aerial photos of TOPO5000, and the automatic extraction was repeated by fusion with the nDSM to include individual object heights as an additional band for classification. The contribution was tested by precision, completeness and overall quality. Novel fusion technique increased the success of automatic extraction by 7% for the number of buildings and by 23% for the length of roads.     

Fuel type mapping using object-based image analysis of DMC and Landsat-8 OLI imagery

Efficient forest fire management requires precise and up-to-date knowledge regarding the composition and spatial distribution of forest fuels at various spatial and temporal scales. Fuel-type maps are essential for effective fire prevention strategies planning, as well as the alleviation of the environmental impacts of potential wildfire events. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the potential of Disaster Monitoring Constellation and Landsat-8 OLI satellite images (Operational Land Imager), combined with Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA), in operational mapping of the Mediterranean fuel types at a regional scale. The results showcase that although the images of both sensors can be used with GEOBIA analysis for the generation of accurate fuel-type maps, only the OLI images can be considered as applicable for regional mapping of the Mediterranean fuel types on an operational basis.     

‘Filament’ marker beds in the Karababa-A Member (Turonian) of the Arabian platform,SE Turkey: Palaeo-environmental significance,stratigraphy and correlation potential

A ‘filament’ event bed/level corresponds to the occurrence of thin elongate calcitic, shells, or plates of pelagic, bivalve or crinoidal, origin, within pelagic, laminated and organic-matter rich limestones. These organic-rich limestones had been generally deposited under hypoxic/anoxic conditions in an outer-ramp environment. These thin elongate, bivalve shells, or crinoidal plates, are found broken in small pieces, disintegrated, or simply preserved parallel to bedding as almost complete specimens. Such ‘filament’ beds were spotted in SE Turkey in deposits, namely the Karababa-A Member, around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary (C/TB) and above. On a global scale, these filament event beds illustrate sea-level rise related to eustacy and/or climatic change. The abundance of filaments close to the C/TB is a biological marker of high organic productivity resulting from a climatic change to warmer conditions. The prevailing higher sea-level conditions were then favourable to the accumulation and preservation of organic-rich facies, characteristic of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2). Using both biostratigraphic and carbon isotopic data, those deposits were dated from the latest Cenomanian-Turonian age. ‘Filament’ event beds were recorded in the same order, except for some small differences. A good number of these bio-events are global. Consequently, on a global scale, they are susceptible to constrain the C/TB, especially the base of the Turonian stage, with a significant degree of confidence.     

Trend Analysis of Polynomial Surfaces and Surface Dynamics (TAPS‒SDs): A Paradigm from (MMT‒NPHMZ) in the Northwestern Himalayas,Pakistan

Geotectonics - Generation and interpretation of geomorphometric maps through remote sensing and GIS techniques are significant platforms for the investigations of neotectonics. This investigation...     

Geological Conditions of the Formation and Dissociation of Gas Hydrates in the Sea of Okhotsk: Tectonic and Genetic Aspects

Lithology and Mineral Resources - The paper is dedicated to gas hydrate fields and active underwater gas seeps found in the Sea of Okhotsk. The study of geological conditions of the generation and...     

Relationship between Strong Earthquakes and Activation of Deep Faults in Central Asia (Uzbekistan): Numerical Simulation of Stress Field Variations

Geotectonics - The results of analyzing the data on strong М ≥ 5 earthquakes in Central Asia for 1901–2013 are presented. A statistical method for studying the influence of the...     

Neotectonics and the Upper Mantle Structure of Central Asia

Geotectonics - Studies carried out by the authors show that the uplift of Central Asia situated between the eastern Alpine–Himalayan and western Altai–Stanovoy orogenic belts formed in...     

Tectonic Position of the South Anyui Suture

Geotectonics - The South Anyui Fold System was formed at the end of the Early Cretaceous at the site of a closed oceanic basin as a result of the collision of the Chukotka microcontinent with the...