Structural evolution of the Feda Graben area – A new model

The pre-Cretaceous basin evolution of the Feda Graben area in the vicinity of the Norwegian-Danish basin has been reconstructed utilizing geological and structural interpretation. The analysis reveals that the basin was faulted at its borders prior to the salt deposition in the Late Permian. Salt movement was initiated in Late Triassic and thick Triassic and Lower Jurassic pods were deposited in the graben area due to this movement. Salt pillows were developing along the Feda Graben bordering faults until Middle Jurassic when the pillows were collapsed. Salt diapirs within the study area preferentially occupy the crest of the Feda Graben and their occurrence is controlled by the underlying faulted topography. The diapirs were fed by salt from the central and southern parts of the basin and were developed by different processes i.e. upbuilding, downbuilding. Various raft structures were developed in the graben area hanging wall while some uplift occurred in the footwall during Mesozoic rifting. The Feda Graben area experienced rifting from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. The most pronounced subsidence episode related with this rifting in the Feda Graben area took place along the eastern bounding Gert Fault. The Mesozoic rifting event is marked by a major unconformity on the seismic sections throughout the study area. Furthermore, the region experienced basin inversion in Late Cretaceous. The effects of inversion are more pronounced in the western part and along the Gert Fault. The inversion phenomenon can be properly understood only when considered together with the geometry of the Late Jurassic half-graben. Due to some inconsistencies in the previously proposed models for the development of the Feda Graben, a new conceptual model has been constructed.     

Regolith thickness modeling using a GIS approach for landslide distribution analysis,NW Himalayas

Regolith thickness is considered as a contributing factor for the occurrence of landslides. Although, mostly it is ignored because of complex nature and as it requires more time and resources for investigation. This study aimed to appraise the role of regolith thickness on landslide distribution in the Muzaffarabad and surrounding areas, NW Himalayas. For this purpose regolith thickness samples were evenly collected from all the lithological units at representative sites within different slope and elevation classes in the field. Topographic attributes (slope, aspect, drainage, Topographic Wetness Index, elevation and curvature) were derived from the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (12.5 m resolution). ArcGIS Model Builder was used to develop the regolith thickness model. Stepwise regression technique was used to explore the spatial variation of regolith thickness using topographic attributes and lithological units. The derived model explains about 88% regolith thickness variation. The model was validated and shows good agreement (70%) between observed and predicted values. Subsequently, the derived regolith model was used to understand the relationship between regolith thickness and landslide distribution. The analysis shows that most of the landslides were located within 1–5 m regolith thickness. However, landslide concentration is highest within 5–10 m regolith thickness, which shows that regolith thickness played a significant role for the occurrence of landslide in the studied area.     

Whose sustainability? Top–down participation and emergent rules in marine protected area management in Indonesia

A review of a major community-based marine protected area programme (CB-MPA) in an Indonesian island archipelago is the point of departure for this article. Despite a well-designed institutional structure to facilitate local participation, local knowledge about the CB-MPA is found to be low and resource access and influence on decision-making in the programme is negligible for the majority of islanders. At the same time, most of those who know about the programme consider it as pertaining to the public authority only. These findings stand in contrast to evidence on non-formal ways of protecting and managing marine areas in the same geographical area but outside the formal MPA institutional framework. In particular, the article identifies a number of emergent rules-in-use in marine management, which operate parallel to legally established MPAs. It is argued that emergent forms of marine area protection such as non-formal self-organising island exclusion zones (IEZ) offer as yet mostly unused potentials for formal MPA development, particularly in those coastal and marine areas without traditional forms of marine and coastal management.