Dynamics of coastline changes in Mexico

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The goal of our work was to locate and quantify changes that occurred in 66% of the Mexican coastline, based on four land cover maps generated by the Mexican...     

Studying Resource-Dependent Communities Through a Social-Ecological Lens? Examining Complementarity with Existing Research Traditions in Canada

This article explores the suitability of Ostrom and colleagues' social-ecological systems framework (SESF) for the study of resource-dependent communities in Canada. Through a broad literature about resource-dependent communities in Canada, three main approaches are identified, named staples research, rural development, and sustainability studies. Each of these research traditions is analyzed with regards to a common set of criteria – focus, scale, methods, treatment of institutions, and treatment of environmental dimensions. Research in each category is compared and contrasted with the SESF approach, to identify areas of overlap and divergence. Results indicate that the SESF is unlikely to provide additional benefit in terms of in-depth of social analysis, however, it does provide a unique contribution in terms of its coupled approach to conceiving social and ecological systems and its ability to operationalize these relationships through structured variables.     

A Road to Conflict: Stakeholder’s and Social Network Analysis of the Media Portrayals of a Social-Environmental Conflict in Bolivia

Society’s understanding of a conflict is mediated by information provided in mass media, for which researchers stress the importance of analyzing media portrays of stakeholders in a conflict. We analyze information from the Bolivian press regarding the construction of a road crossing the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS). Using stakeholder’s and social network analyses, we explore stakeholder’s positions and alliances as represented in the media and contrast it with previous scholarly work. We found that some actors cited as central in scholar analyses of the conflict are largely absent in the media (e.g., private investors, conservationist sector) and that the media tend to present stakeholders as having more homogeneous positions than the academic literature does while also neglecting some important alliances in their account. The media also suggests that Indigenous communities are forging stronger alliances with urban sectors and civil society, alliances not stressed by researchers.     

Pilot Point Optimization of Mining Boundaries for Lateritic Metal Deposits: Finding the Trade-off Between Dilution and Ore Loss

Natural Resources Research - Geological contacts in lateritic metal deposits (footwall topographies) often delineate the orebody boundaries. Spatial variations seen in such contacts are frequently...     

Synergetic efficiency of Lidar and WorldView-2 for 3D urban cartography in Northeast Mexico

Three-dimensional urban cartography is needed for city changes’ assessment. The variety of studies using 3D calculations of urban elements grows each year. Building and vegetation volumes are necessary to assess and understand spatio-temporal urban changeable environments. However, there are technical questions as to which method can improve 3D urban cartographic accuracy. The innovative part of this current study is the creation of a six-band hybrid obtained from LIDAR and WorldView2 synergy. Two different enhancement algorithms demonstrated the most important spectral features for the urban development and vegetation classes. Results indicated an improvement in accuracy by up to 21.3%, according to the Kappa coefficient. Both infra-red band and intensity band were the most significant, according to the principal components analysis. The synergy delimited classes and polygons, as well as the direct display of information regarding heights of elements and improving the extraction of roads, buildings and vegetation classes.     

Definition of the Spatial Propagator and Implications for Magnetic Field Properties

Solar Physics - We study a quiet-Sun blowout jet which was observed on 2014 May 16 by the instruments on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We find the twin CME as jet-like and bubble-like...     

Geometry and kinematics of brittle deformation in the Central Cameroon Shear Zone (Kékem area): Implication for gold exploration within the Central Africa Fold Belt in Cameroon

The Central Africa Fold Belt (CAFB) is a collision belt endowed with gold deposits in Eastern Cameroon area mined for about 50 years. However, favorable areas for gold exploration are poorly known. This paper presents (1) the kinematics of the brittle deformation in the Kékem area in the SW portion of the Central Cameroon Shear Zone and (2) constraints gold mineralization events with respect to the collisional evolution of the CAFB. The authors interpret that the conjugate ENE to E and NNW to NW trending lineament corresponds to the synthetic (R) and the antithetic (R’) shears, which accompanied the dextral slip along the NE to ENE striking shear. The latter coincides with the last 570–552 Ma D₃ dextral simple shear-dominated transpression, which is parallel to the Bétaré Oya shear zone hosting gold deposits. Gold mineralizations, which mainly occurred during the last dextral shearing, are disseminated within quartz veins associated to Riedel’s previous structures reactivated due to late collisional activities of the CAFB as brittle deformation. Gold mineralizations occurred mainly during the 570–552 Ma D₃ event. The reactivation, which might be due to dextral simple shear during mylonitzation, plausibly remobilized the early gold deposits hosted in syn-compressional rocks and/or possibly focused deep-sourced fluid mixed with those released by dehydration. Therefore, the Central Cameroon Shear Zone where Kékem is located, and which shows similar petrographical and structural features to those controling Batouri gold district, is a target area for gold exploration in Cameroon.     

Tectono-sedimentary evolution of Jurassic–Cretaceous diapiric structures: Miravete anticline,Maestrat Basin,Spain

Integration of extensive fieldwork, remote sensing mapping and 3D models from high-quality drone photographs relates tectonics and sedimentation to define the Jurassic–early Albian diapiric evolution of the N–S Miravete anticline, the NW-SE Castel de Cabra anticline and the NW-SE Cañada Vellida ridge in the Maestrat Basin (Iberian Ranges, Spain). The pre shortening diapiric structures are defined by well-exposed and unambiguous halokinetic geometries such as hooks and flaps, salt walls and collapse normal faults. These were developed on Triassic salt-bearing deposits, previously misinterpreted because they were hidden and overprinted by the Alpine shortening. The Miravete anticline grew during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous and was rejuvenated during Cenozoic shortening. Its evolution is separated into four halokinetic stages, including the latest Alpine compression. Regionally, the well-exposed Castel de Cabra salt anticline and Cañada Vellida salt wall confirm the widespread Jurassic and Early Cretaceous diapiric evolution of the Maestrat Basin. The NE flank of the Cañada Vellida salt wall is characterized by hook patterns and by a 500-m-long thin Upper Jurassic carbonates defining an upturned flap, inferred as the roof of the salt wall before NE-directed salt extrusion. A regional E-W cross section through the Ababuj, Miravete and Cañada-Benatanduz anticlines shows typical geometries of salt-related rift basins, partly decoupled from basement faults. These structures could form a broader diapiric region still to be investigated. In this section, the Camarillas and Fortanete minibasins displayed well-developed bowl geometries at the onset of shortening. The most active period of diapiric growth in the Maestrat Basin occurred during the Early Cretaceous, which is also recorded in the Eastern Betics, Asturias and Basque-Cantabrian basins. This period coincides with the peak of eastward drift of the Iberian microplate, with speeds of 20 mm/year. The transtensional regime is interpreted to have played a role in diapiric development.     

The thermal maturity of sedimentary basins as revealed by magnetic mineralogy

The thermal evolution of sedimentary basins is usually constrained by maturity data, which is interpreted from Rock-Eval pyrolysis and vitrinite reflectance analytical results on field or boreholes samples. However, some thermal evolution models may be inaccurate due to the use of elevated maturities measured in samples collected within an undetected metamorphic contact aureole surrounding a magmatic intrusion. In this context, we investigate the maturity and magnetic mineralogy of 16 claystone samples from Disko-Svartenhuk Basin, part of the SE Baffin Bay volcanic margin. Samples were collected within thermal contact metamorphic aureoles near magma intrusions, as well as equivalent reference samples not affected by intrusions. Rock-Eval pyrolysis (T_max), and vitrinite reflectance (Ro) analysis were performed to assess the thermal maturity, which lies in the oil window when 435°C ≤ T_max ≤ 470°C and 0.6%–0.7% ≤ Ro ≤ 1.3%. In addition, we performed low- (<300K) and high-temperature (>300K) investigations of isothermal remanent magnetization to assess the magnetic mineralogy of the selected samples. The maturity results (0.37% ≤ Ro ≤ 2%, 22°C ≤ T_max ≤ 604°C) show a predominance of immature to early mature Type III organic matter, but do not reliably identify the contact aureole when compared to the reference samples. The magnetic assemblage of the immature samples consists of iron sulphide (greigite), goethite and oxidized or non-stoichiometric magnetite. The magnetic assemblage of the early mature to mature samples consists of stoichiometric magnetite and fine-grained pyrrhotite (<1 μm). These results document the disappearance of the iron sulphide (greigite) and increase in content of magnetite during normal burial. On the other hand, magnetite is interpreted to be the dominant magnetic mineral inside the contact aureole surrounding dyke/sill intrusions where palaeotemperatures indicate mature to over-mature state. Interestingly, the iron sulphide (greigite) is still detected in the contact aureole where palaeotemperatures exceeded 130°C. Therefore, the magnetic mineralogy is a sensitive method that can characterize normal burial history, as well as identify hidden metamorphic contact aureoles where the iron sulphide greigite is present at temperatures beyond its stability field.