A Comparative Analysis of Weights of Evidence,Evidential Belief Functions,and Fuzzy Logic for Mineral Potential Mapping Using Incomplete Data at the Scale of Investigation

Large amounts of digital data must be analyzed and integrated to generate mineral potential maps, which can be used for exploration targeting. The quality of the mineral potential maps is dependent on the quality of the data used as inputs, with higher quality inputs producing higher quality outputs. In mineral exploration, particularly in regions with little to no exploration history, datasets are often incomplete at the scale of investigation with data missing due to incomplete mapping or the unavailability of data over certain areas. It is not always clear that datasets are incomplete, and this study examines how mineral potential mapping results may differ in this context. Different methods of mineral potential mapping provide different ways of dealing with analyzing and integrating incomplete data. This study examines the weights of evidence (WofE), evidential belief function and fuzzy logic methods of mineral potential mapping using incomplete data from the Carajás mineral province, Brazil to target for orogenic gold mineralization. Results demonstrate that WofE is the best one able to predict the location of known mineralization within the study area when either complete or unacknowledged incomplete data are used. It is suggested that this is due to the use of Bayes’ rule, which can account for “missing data.” The results indicate the effectiveness of WofE for mineral potential mapping with incomplete data.     

Modeling the Population Effects of Hypoxia on Atlantic Croaker (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Micropogonias undulatus</Emphasis>) in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico: Part 1—Model Description and Idealized Hypoxia

We developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model to analyze how hypoxia effects on reproduction, growth, and mortality of Atlantic croaker in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico lead to population-level responses. The model follows the hourly growth, mortality, reproduction, and movement of individuals on a 300 × 800 spatial grid of 1-km² cells for 140 years. Chlorophyll-a concentration, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen (DO) were specified daily for each grid cell and repeated for each year of the simulation. A bioenergetics model was used to represent growth, mortality was assumed stage- and age-dependent, and the movement behavior of juveniles and adults was modeled based on temperature and avoidance of low DO. Hypoxia effects were imposed using exposure effect submodels that converted time-varying exposures to low DO to reduced hourly growth, increased hourly mortality, and reduced annual fecundity. Results showed that 100 years of either mild or intermediate hypoxia produced small reductions in population abundance, while repeated severe hypoxia caused a 19% reduction in long-term population abundance. Relatively few individuals were exposed to low DO each hour, but many individuals experienced some exposure. The response was dominated by a 5% average reduction in annual fecundity of individuals. Under conditions of random sequences of mild, intermediate, and severe hypoxia years occurring in proportion to their historical frequency, the model predicted a 10% decrease in the long-term population abundance of croaker. A companion paper substitutes hourly DO values from a three-dimensional water quality model for the idealized hypoxia and results in a more realistic population reduction of about 25%.     

Floodgate Operations and Fish Communities in Tidal Creeks of the Lower Fraser River (British Columbia,Canada)

Tidal creeks in large coastal deltas can be important habitat for fish but are often highly modified by human activities. Connectivity between tributary creeks and mainstem channels is often constrained by structures such as dikes and floodgates, designed to protect urban and agricultural areas from flooding. While they play important roles in flood mitigation, floodgates can diminish habitat quality and block fish from accessing tidal creeks. It is likely that floodgates differ in their operations and may consequently open for different amounts of time; however, floodgate operations and their effects are not well quantified. We asked the question: how does the mechanical functioning of these floodgates affect fish communities in tidal creeks? We used time-lapse cameras and quantified the timing of gate openings for 22 tributaries of the Lower Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada, and related these operational data to differences in fish communities above and below floodgates. Floodgate operations varied substantially, with some floodgates opening daily while others opened less than 20% of the day, on average. Sites with floodgates that seldom opened were associated with greater differences in fish communities and with reduced upstream native species richness by about one species on average. Where floodgates opened infrequently, we also found lower upstream dissolved oxygen concentrations than at sites where floodgates opened for longer periods of time. Thus, floodgate operations can influence fish communities as well as water quality. These data indicate a large scope for improving floodgate operations for connectivity.     

Developing an algorithm for automated geometric analysis and classification of landslides incorporating LiDAR-derived DEM

Amending landslides inventories is immensely important to policy and decision makers alike. Sliding creates geometric shapes on the Earth’s surface. This study presents the utilization of LiDAR high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) in the Alborz Mountains, Iran to refurbish the existing landslide inventory dataset by implementing the proposed algorithm. The method consists of the automated derivation of landslide geometry (length, width, and area) followed by classification of landslide types considering length, width and flow direction. This study has used the trapezoidal rule for numerical integration to develop the proposed algorithm. The landslides were then classified into four types (very long, long, very wide, and wide) based on slope, length, and width. This geometric classification of landslides is based on the geographical coordinates, slope angle (θ), length (L), and width (W), and further failure flow direction. A total of 95 landslides were updated from the existing inventory database. The proposed method was verified and evaluated by field observations; and 14 samples were tested to determine the relative error. The results demonstrated that the mean percentage relative error is 0.496% in length and width and 0.008% in area, related to the GIS analysis. The accuracy performance of determining the landslide’s type is 92%. The purposefulness of this algorithm is to increase the accuracy performance of landslides geometry analysis and automated measurements associated with the usual GIS platforms such as ArcGIS.     

Composition,Age, and Origin of Cretaceous Granitic Magmatism on the Eastern Chukchi Peninsula

New geochronological and isotopic geochemical data are given, which make it possible to recognize two types of granitic rocks on the eastern Chukchi Peninsula. Early Cretaceous Tkachen and Dolina granitic plutons with zircon ages (U–Pb SIMS) of 119–122 and 131–136 Ma are related to the first type. They cut through Devonian–Lower Carboniferous basement rocks and are overlain by the Aptian–Albian Etelkuyum Formation. Basal units of the latter contain fragments of granitic rocks. Late Cretaceous Provideniya and Rumilet granitic plutons, which contain zircons with ages of 94 and 85 Ma (U–Pb SIMS), respectively, belong to the second type. They cut through volcanic–sedimentary rocks of the Etelkuyum and Leurvaam formations pertaining to the Okhotsk–Chukotka Volcanic Belt. In petrographic and geochemical features, the Early Cretaceous granitic rocks of the Tkachen Pluton are commensurable with I-type granites, while Late Cretaceous granite of the Rumilet Pluton is comparable to A₂-type granite. The Sr–Nd isotopic data provide evidence that from the Early Cretaceous Tkachen and Dolina plutons to the Late Cretaceous Provideniya and Rumilet plutons, the degree of crustal assimilation of suprasubduction mantle-derived melts increases up to partial melting of heterogeneous continental crust enriched in rubidium. An unconformity and various degrees of secondary alteration of volcanic–sedimentary rocks have been established in the Okhotsk–Chukotka Volcanic Belt, and this was apparently caused by transition of the tectonic setting from suprasubduction to a transform margin with local extension.     

The Neogene and Quaternary of England: landscape evolution,tectonics, climate change and their expression in the geological record

During the Neogene and Quaternary, tectonic and climatic processes have had a profound impact upon landscape evolution in England and, perhaps as far back as 0.9 Ma, patterns of early human occupation. Until the Late Miocene, large-scale plate tectonic processes were the principal drivers of landscape evolution causing localised basin inversion and widespread exhumation. This drove, in places, the erosion of several kilometres of Mesozoic cover rocks and the development of a regional unconformity across England and the North Sea Basin. By the Pliocene, the relative influence of tectonics on landscape evolution waned as the background tectonic stress regime evolved and climatic influences became more prominent. Global-scale climate-forcing increased step-wise during the Plio-Pleistocene amplifying erosional and depositional processes that operated within the landscape. These processes caused differential unloading (uplift) and loading (subsidence) of the crust (‘denudational isostasy’) in areas undergoing net erosion (upland areas and slopes) and deposition (basins). Denudational isostasy amplified during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (c.0.9 Ma) as landscapes become progressively synchronised to large-scale 100 ka ‘eccentricity’ climate forcing. Over the past 0.5 Ma, this has led to the establishment of a robust climate record of individual glacial/interglacial cycles enabling comparison to other regional and global records. During the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition and early Holocene (c.16–7 ka), evidence for more abrupt (millennial/centennial) scale climatic events has been discovered. This indicates that superimposed upon the longer-term pattern of landscape evolution is a more dynamic response of the landscape to local and regional drivers.     

Maritime tsunami evacuation guidelines for the Pacific Northwest coast of Oregon

Recent tsunamis affecting the West Coast of the USA have resulted in significant damage to ports and harbors, as well as to recreational and commercial vessels attempting to escape the tsunami. With the completion of tsunami inundation simulations for a distant tsunami originating from the Aleutian Islands and a locally generated tsunami on the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ), the State of Oregon is now able to provide guidance on the magnitudes and directions of the simulated currents for the Oregon coast and shelf region. Our analyses indicate that first wave arrivals for an Aleutian Island event would take place on the north coast,?~?3 h 40 min after the start of the earthquake,?~?20 min later on the southern Oregon coast. The simulations demonstrated significant along-coast variability in both the tsunamis water levels and currents, caused by localized bathymetric effects (e.g., submarine banks and reefs). A locally generated CSZ event would reach the open coast within 7–13 min; maximum inundation occurs at?~?30–40 min. As the tsunami current velocities increase, the potential for damage in ports and harbors correspondingly increases, while also affecting a vessels ability to maintain control out on the ocean. Scientific consensus suggests that tsunami currents?<?1.54 m/s are unlikely to impact maritime safety in ports and harbors. No such guidance is available for boats operating on the ocean, though studies undertaken in Japan suggest that velocities in the region of 1–2 m/s may be damaging to boats. In addition to the effects of currents, there is the added potential for wave amplification of locally generated wind waves interacting with opposing tsunami currents in the offshore. Our analyses explore potential wave amplification effects for a range of generic sea states, ultimately producing a nomogram of wave amplification for a range of wave and opposing current conditions. These data will be useful for US Coast Guard and Port authorities as they evaluate maritime tsunami evacuation options for the Oregon coast. Finally, we identify three regions of hazard (high, moderate, and low) across the Oregon shelf, which can be used to help guide final designation of tsunami maritime evacuation zones for the coast.     

Use of LiDAR-derived DEM and a stream length-gradient index approach to investigation of landslides in Zagros Mountains,Iran

This paper presents an approach to stream length-gradient index analysis to identify tectonic signatures. The graded profile of the Dez River in Zagros Mountains, Iran, indicates that the area has been tectonically disturbed, and it triggers landslide hazards. The high-gradient index shows that a steeper gradient could be potentially a signature for landslides identification. The digital surface models acquired by airborne LiDAR were used in this study to generate the HRDEM. Our result shows a great potential for improving landslide investigations by implementing stream length-gradient index derived from the HRDEM in conjunction with the landslide inventories data-set in the GIS environment. We also identified a correlation between the stream length-gradient index and the graded topographic profile with slopes and landslides. This empirical approach was verified by geodata analytics and landslide inventories data-set in conjunction with field observations. This study has identified the locations of high-gradient indices with susceptible to landslides.