Messinian events in the Sorbas Basin in southeastern Spain and their implications in the recent history of the Mediterranean

The Messinian (Late Miocene) marine stratigraphic record of the Sorbas Basin (S.E. Spain) is well preserved and can be considered as being representative of the entire western Mediterranean. It exhibits a series of features relating to: (1) the composition, characteristics and evolution of coral reefs; (2) changes between temperate and subtropical climates; and (3) the extensive development of microbial carbonates (stromatolites and thrombolites) at the end of the Messinian. Each of these features has global significance.

Porites, which is the major and almost only coral component in reefs, is heavily encrusted with stromatolites. These reefs grew at the edge of the subtropical belt and were totally eliminated at the end of the Messinian because of global cooling.

Lowermost-Messinian carbonate sediments in the Sorbas Basin reflect a temperate climate, whereas those immediately above, which contain bioherms and coastal reefs, are subtropical. The shift from temperate to subtropical conditions during the early Messinian was accompanied by an important change in water circulation within the western Mediterranean. Temperate times were marked by cold surface Atlantic waters entering the Mediterranean, whereas subtropical times coincided with warm surface waters entering the western Mediterranean from the east. The subtropical waters were thermally stratified, which favoured the deposition of euxinic marls and diatomites at the centre of the basin. The upwelling of nutrient-rich water promoted stromatolite development within reefs and Halimeda growth on adjacent slopes.

Lastly, microbial carbonates (stromatolites and thrombolites) attained giant dimensions during the late Messinian, which can be regarded as a measure of their success in occupying a variety of ecological niches. This abundance of available habitats is believed to have resulted from the Messinian “salinity crisis”, which was followed by a re-colonization of the western Mediterranean. In this context stromatolite proliferation was due to opportunism of microbial communities in colonizing the new environments, rather than to a complete absence of other competitive biota. We do not believe that hypersaline conditions were a causal factor in stromatolite development because of the normal-marine biota associated with them.     

Fault dimensions,displacements and growth

Maximum total displacement (D) is plotted against fault or thrust width(W) for 65 faults, thrusts, and groups of faults from a variety of geological environments. Displacements range from 0.4 m to 40 km and widths from 150 m to 630 km, and there is a near linear relationship betweenD andW ². The required compatibility strains (e _s) in rocks adjacent to these faults increases linearly withW and with and ranges frome _s=2×10^–4 toe _s=3×10^–1. These are permanent ductile strains, which compare with values ofe _s=2×10^–5 for the elastic strains imposed during single slip earthquake events, which are characterised by a linear relationship between slip (u) andW.The data are consisten with a simple growth model for faults and thrusts, in which the slip in successive events increases by increments of constant size, and which predicts a relationship between displacement and width of the formD=cW ². Incorporation of constant ductile strain rate into the model shows that the repreat time for slip events remains constant throughout the life of a fault, while the displacement rate increases with time. An internally consistent model withe _s=2×10^–5, giving repeat times of 160 years and instantaneous displacement rates of 0.02 cm/yr, 0.2 cm/yr, and 2.0 cm/yr when total displacement is 1 m, 100 m, and 10 km, and slip increasing by 0.5 mm with each event, gives a good approximation of the data. The model is also applicable to stable sliding, the slip rate varying with ductile strain rate and withW ².     

Understanding the inelastic seismic behaviour of asymmetric-plan buildings

Studied in this paper is the inelastic seismic behaviour of asymmetric-plan buildings using the histories of base shear and torque. The first step in understanding this behaviour is to construct the base shear and torque surface (BST) for the building, which represents all combinations of shear and torque that applied statically lead to collapse of the structure. Several factors controlling the shape of this surface, such as strength eccentricity and bidirectional ground motion, are identified. Also, their effects on the building responses are studied considering several structural configurations. The results obtained show that the BST surface, in conjunction with the base-shear and torque histories, provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding the behaviour of asymmetric systems. Furthermore, using these surfaces, relevant aspects of the behaviour and design of such buildings become apparent even before dynamic analysis of the structure.     

Geochemical Indicators of Intrinsic Bioremediation

A detailed field investigation has been completed at a gasoline-contaminated aquifer near Rocky Point, NC, to examine possible indicators of intrinsic bioremediation and identify factors that may significantly influence the rate and extent of bioremediation. The dissolved plume of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) in ground water is naturally degrading. Toluene and o-xylene are most rapidly degraded followed by m-, p-xylene, and benzene. Ethylbenzene appears to degrade very slowly under anaerobic conditions present in the center of the plume. The rate and extent of biodegradation appears to be strongly influenced by the type and quantity of electron acceptors present in the aquifer. At the upgradient edge of the plume, nitrate, ferric iron, and oxygen are used as terminal electron acceptors during hydrocarbon biodegradation. The equivalent of 40 to 50 mg/I of hydrocarbon is degraded based on the increase in dissolved CO₂ relative to background ground water. Immediately downgradient of the source area, sulfate and iron are the dominant electron acceptors. Toluene and o-xylene are rapidly removed in this region. Once the available oxygen, nitrate, and sulfate are consumed, biodegradation is limited and appears to be controlled by mixing and aerobic biodegradation at the plume fringes.     

Environmental impact in sandy beaches of copper mine tailings at Chañaral, Chile

Since 1938, untreated copper mine tailings of Potrerillos and El Salvador have been disposed into the sea at Chañaral, Chile (26° 21′ Lat. S., 70° 42′ Long. W.). Over 220×10⁶ t of sediments have been dumped. This pollution has caused drastic geomorphological changes in the c. 16 km contaminated area. The occurrence of new artificial beaches and modification of coastal contours are reported. Sandy beach macrofauna monitoring (1975–1982) demonstrated a progressive lowering of density and biomass in those communities affected by copper mine tailings.     

Difference of Ti,Zr, Y and P content in calc-alkaline andesites from island arcs and continental margin (Central Andes)

Ti, Zr, Y and P, known to be chemically immobile elements during alteration and metamorphism, have been ploted in a set of diagrams in order to discriminative between calc-alkaline andesites from island arcs and continental margin. This method may be an appropiate procedure to help in the discrimination between ancient volcanics of both groups.     

关中地区地磁比值Rq的变化与地震关系的分析

应用小波分析空间差分法分析了泾阳台、乾陵台、周至台和郑州台的Z分量的地磁磁静日Rg值的变化规律，结果显示，各台的磁静日Rg值有较一致的年变规律。分析泾阳台与其它各台的磁静日R。差值分析和小波变换，发现1998年1月5日泾阳4．8级地震前4个月内存在较明显的异常变化。可能反映了泾阳地震的震磁效应。对远离泾阳台、乾陵台的青海昆仑山口西8．1级地震，震前也有明显异常变化。     

ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WEST-PACIFIC TYPHOONS AFFECTING THE SEA AREA AROUND THE ISLAND OF TAIWAN

1 INTRODUCTION Inflicting hundreds of millions yuan (RMB) worth of economic losses annually, strong winds and torrential rains caused by tropical cyclones are two of the major meteorological disasters exposed in the southeastern coast of China. Much effort has been devoted to the research on the patterns of TC genesis, evolution and variation.     

A Parametric Approach for Dealing with Compositional Rounded Zeros

In this work, a parametric approach for replacing data below the detection limit, also known as rounded zeros, in compositional data sets is proposed. Compositional rounded zeros correspond to small proportions of some whole that cannot be reliably detected by the analytical instruments under given operating conditions. This kind of zeros appear frequently in the data collection process in geosciences. They must be treated in an adequate way before some multivariate analysis can be applied. Our procedure results from a modification of the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm and is based on the additive log-ratio transformation. Its coherence with the nature of compositional data and with basic operations in the simplex sample space is checked. Using real data sets, we find that this approach improves other parametric and non-parametric techniques for compositional rounded zeros.     

Application of bivariate extreme value distribution to flood frequency analysis: a case study of Northwestern Mexico

In Mexico, poverty has forced people to live almost on the water of rivers. This situation along with the occurrence of floods is a serious problem for the local governments. In order to protect their lives and goods, it is very important to account with a mathematical tool that may reduce the uncertainties in computing the design events for different return periods. In this paper, the Logistic model for bivariate extreme value distribution with Weibull-2 and Mixed Weibull marginals is proposed for the case of flood frequency analysis. A procedure to estimate their parameters based on the maximum likelihood method is developed. A region in Northwestern Mexico with 16 gauging stations has been selected to apply the model and regional at-site quantiles were estimated. A significant improvement occurs, measured through the use of a goodness-of-fit test, when parameters are estimated using the bivariate distribution instead of its univariate counterpart. Results suggest that it is very important to consider the Mixed Weibull distribution and its bivariate option when analyzing floods generated by a␣mixture of two populations.