Surface wave tomography of the Barents Sea and surrounding regions

The goal of this study is to refine knowledge of the structure and tectonic history of the European Arctic using the combination of all available seismological surface wave data, including historical data that were not used before for this purpose. We demonstrate how the improved data coverage leads to better depth and spatial resolution of the seismological model and discovery of intriguing features of upper-mantle structure. To improve the surface wave data set in the European Arctic, we extensively searched for broad-band data from stations in the area from the beginning of the 1970s until 2005. We were able to retrieve surface wave observations from regional data archives in Norway, Finland, Denmark and Russia in addition to data from the data centres of IRIS and GEOFON. Rayleigh and Love wave group velocity measurements between 10 and 150 s period were combined with existing data provided by the University of Colorado at Boulder. This new data set was inverted for maps showing the 2-D group-velocity distribution of Love and Rayleigh waves for specific periods. Using Monte Carlo inversion, we constructed a new 3-D shear velocity model of the crust and upper mantle beneath the European Arctic which provides higher resolution and accuracy than previous models. A new crustal model of the Barents Sea and surrounding areas, published recently by a collaboration between the University of Oslo, NORSAR and the USGS, constrains the 3-D inversion of the surface wave data in the shallow lithosphere. The new 3-D model, BARMOD, reveals substantial variations in shear wave speeds in the upper mantle across the region with a nominal resolution of 1°× 1°. Of particular note are clarified images of the mantle expression of the continent-ocean transition in the Norwegian Sea and a deep, high wave speed lithospheric root beneath the Eastern Barents Sea, which presumably is the remnant of several Palaeozoic collisions.     

Molecular signature and sources of biochemical recalcitrance of organic C in Amazonian Dark Earths

Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE) are a unique type of soils developed through intense anthropogenic activities that transformed the original soils into Anthrosols throughout the Brazilian Amazon Basin. We conducted a comparative molecular-level investigation of soil organic C (SOC) speciation in ADE (ages between 600 and 8700 years B.P.) and adjacent soils using ultraviolet photo-oxidation coupled with ¹³C cross polarization-magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (CP-MAS NMR), synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance (Sr-FTIR-ATR) and C (1s) near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy to obtain deeper insights into the structural chemistry and sources of refractory organic C compounds in ADE. Our results show that the functional group chemistry of SOC in ADE was considerably different from adjacent soils. The SOC in ADE was enriched with: (i) aromatic-C structures mostly from H- and C-substituted aryl-C, (ii) O-rich organic C forms from carboxylic-C, aldehyde-C, ketonic-C and quinine-C, and (iii) diverse group of refractory aliphatic-C moieties. The SOC in adjacent soils was predominantly composed of O-alkyl-C and methoxyl-C/N-alkyl-C structures and elements of labile aliphatic-C functionalities. Our study suggests that the inherent molecular structures of organic C due to selective accumulation of highly refractory aryl-C structures seems to be the key factor for the biochemical recalcitrance and stability of SOC in ADE. Anthropogenic enrichment with charred carbonaceous residues from biomass-derived black C (BC) is presumed to be the precursor of these recalcitrant polyaromatic structures. Our results also highlight the complementary role that might be played by organic C compounds composed of O-containing organic C moieties and aliphatic-C structures that persisted for millennia in these anthropic soils as additional or secondary sources of chemical recalcitrance of SOC in ADE. These organic C compounds could be the products of: (i) primary recalcitrant biomolecules from non-BC sources or (ii) secondary processes involving microbial mediated oxidative or extracellular neoformation reactions of SOC from BC and non-BC sources; and stabilized through physical inaccessibility to decomposers due to sorption onto the surface or into porous structures of BC particles, selective preservation or through intermolecular interactions involving clay and BC particles.     

Measurement of Ambient,Interstitial, and Residual Aerosol Particles on a Mountaintop Site in Central Sweden using an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer and a CVI

The Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (Q-AMS) was coupled with a counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) for the first time to measure cloud droplet residuals of warm tropospheric clouds on Mt. Åreskutan in central Sweden in July 2003. Operating the CVI in different operational modes generated mass concentration and species-resolved mass distribution data for non-refractory species of the ambient, interstitial, and residual aerosol. The ambient aerosol measurements revealed that the aerosol at the site was mainly influenced by long-range transport and regional photochemical generation of nitrate and organic aerosol components. Four different major air masses were identified for the time interval of the experiment. While two air masses that approached the site from northeastern Europe via Finland showed very similar aerosol composition, the other two air masses from polar regions and the British Islands had a significantly different composition. During cloud events the larger aerosol particles were found to be activated into cloud droplets. On a mass basis the activation cut-off diameter was approximately 150 nm for nitrate and organics dominated particles and 200 nm for sulfate dominated particles. Generally nitrate and organics were found to be activated into cloud droplets with higher efficiency than sulfate. While a significant fraction of the nitrate in ambient particles was organic nitrates or nitrogen-containing organic species, the nitrate found in the cloud droplet residuals was mainly ammonium nitrate. After passage of clouds the ambient aerosol size distribution had shifted to smaller particle sizes due to the predominantly activation of larger aerosol particles without a significant change in the relative composition of the ambient aerosol.     

Analysis of the geometric characteristics of clinothems and the relationship with shelf-edge trajectories of the Plio-Pleistocene continental slope in the Qiongdongnan Basin,South China Sea

Based on high-quality two-dimensional seismic profiles and well data, the seismic reflection characteristics from the late Pliocene and Pleistocene succession of the Qiongdongnan Basin in the South China Sea have been analysed. The result will help in understanding the sedimentological development of slope areas. Twenty coeval clinothems are recognized and four major clinothem types are distinguished. In addition, three types of shelf-edge trajectories are recognized. The various parameters of the clinothems are analysed quantitatively and the relationships between the various clinothem types are studied in combination with the controlling roles. It is concluded that: (i) the shelf-edge trajectories are related to the type of clinothem; (ii) fluctuations in the relative sea level, in combination with variations in sediment supply, result in different clinothem types and geometric parameters; these parameters show interdependencies; (iii) the alternations of progradation and aggradation of clinothems may provide information of the relative sea level and changes in sediment supply; (iv) some lowstand fans could develop at the foot of the slope in the central–eastern part of the basin when the relative sea level started to fall or began to rise. The results of the present study are consequently significant for further quantitative analyses of the characteristics and development of the continental slope, not only in the Qiongdongnan Basin, but also in other basins.     

Reworked Middle Jurassic sandstones as a marker for Upper Cretaceous basin inversion in Central Europe—a case study for the U–Pb detrital zircon record of the Upper Cretaceous Schmilka section and their implication for the sedimentary cover of the Lausitz Block (Saxony,Germany)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The Saxonian–Bohemian Cretaceous Basin (Elbsandsteingebirge, E Germany and Czech Republic, Elbtal Group) comprises Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks...     

A ~565 Ma old glaciation in the Ediacaran of peri-Gondwanan West Africa

International Journal of Earth Sciences - In the Cadomian orogen of the NE Bohemian Massif and of SW Iberia, a post-Gaskiers glacial event dated at c. 565 Ma has been detected. Such...     

Loose programming of GIS workflows with geo‐analytical concepts

Loose programming enables analysts to program with concepts instead of procedural code. Data transformations are left underspecified, leaving out procedural details and exploiting knowledge about the applicability of functions to data types. To synthesize workflows of high quality for a geo‐analytical task, the semantic type system needs to reflect knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) at a level that is deep enough to capture geo‐analytical concepts and intentions, yet shallow enough to generalize over GIS implementations. Recently, core concepts of spatial information and related geo‐analytical concepts were proposed as a way to add the required abstraction level to current geodata models. The core concept data types (CCD) ontology is a semantic type system that can be used to constrain GIS functions for workflow synthesis. However, to date, it is unknown what gain in precision and workflow quality can be expected. In this article we synthesize workflows by annotating GIS tools with these types, specifying a range of common analytical tasks taken from an urban livability scenario. We measure the quality of automatically synthesized workflows against a benchmark generated from common data types. Results show that CCD concepts significantly improve the precision of workflow synthesis.     

Three‐dimensional seismic analysis of sediment waves and related geomorphological features on a carbonate shelf exposed to large amplitude internal waves,Browse Basin region,Australia

This study analyses the three‐dimensional geometry of sedimentary features recorded on the modern sea floor and in the shallow subsurface of a shelf to upper slope region offshore Australia that is characterized by a pronounced internal wave regime. The data interpreted comprise an extensive, >12 500 km² industrial three‐dimensional seismic‐reflection survey that images the northern part of the Browse Basin, Australian North West Shelf. The most prominent seismic–morphological features on the modern sea floor are submarine terrace escarpments, fault‐scarps and incised channels, as well as restricted areas of seismic distortion interpreted as mass wasting deposits. Besides these kilometre‐scale sea floor irregularities, smaller bedforms were discovered also, including a multitude of sediment waves with a lateral extent of several kilometres and heights up to 10 m. These sedimentological features generally occur in extensive fields in water depths below 250 m mostly at the foot of submerged terraces, along the scarps of modern faults and along the shelf break between the outer shelf and the upper continental rise. Additional bedforms that characterize the more planar regions of the outer shelf are elongate, north‐west/south‐east oriented furrows and ridges. The formation of both sediment waves and furrow‐ridge systems requires flow velocities between 0·3 m sec^?1 and 1·5 m sec^?1, which could be generated by oceanic currents, gravity currents or internal waves. In the studied setting, these velocities can be best explained as being generated by bottom currents induced by internal waves, an interpretation that is discussed against oceanographic background data and modelling results. In addition to the documentation of three‐dimensional seismic–geomorphological features of the modern sea floor, it was also possible to map kilometre‐scale buried sediment wave fields in the seismic volume down to ca 500 ms two‐way‐time below the present sea floor, indicating the general potential for the preservation of such bedforms in the sedimentary record.