Transformation of social capital during and after a disaster event: the cases Chañaral and Diego de Almagro,Atacama Region,Chile

Natural Hazards - This article analyzes the impact of socio-natural disasters on social capital at a local level, studying the cases of the communities of Chañaral and Diego de Almagro after...     

Increasing Use of Human-Dominated Habitats as CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Emissions Warm and Acidify Oceans

Urban and artificial structures are increasingly added to the world’s coasts during a time in which changing climate is forecast to drive shifts in naturally occurring habitats. We ask whether the role of artificial structures as marine habitats will increase in importance relative to their natural counterparts, particularly as natural habitats are negatively affected by ocean warming and acidification. To evaluate this model, we contrasted use of natural (kelp forest and turfing algae) and artificial habitat (plastic pier-piling) by a nest-building amphipod (Cymadusa pemptos) under current and future climate conditions of CO₂ and temperature. Under future conditions, amphipod populations in mesocosms increased, but this did not lead to greater proportional colonization of kelp and turf. Instead, colonization doubled in artificial habitats, and there was increasing production and occupation of nests on artificial habitats relative to natural habitats. In an age when human modification of natural substrata is increasingly cited as an agent of wildlife decline, understanding the future role of artificial habitats as replacement dwellings for natural habitats is critical. We pioneer an understanding of the future role of natural and artificial habitats, identifying the possibility that the role of urban structures as marine habitats may only increase.     

新疆叶城晚新生代山前盆地演化与青藏高原北缘的隆升--Ⅱ沉积相与沉积盆地演化

叶城盆地属于塔里木盆地的西南坳陷 ,在晚新生代沉积了巨厚的磨拉石建造。盆地的演化具有阶段性 ,反映了西昆仑山不断的隆升。中新世 ,盆地的沉积环境为曲流河和辨状河等河湖相环境 ,到上新世早期变为冲积扇的远端。晚上新世 (～ 3.6 Ma)开始 ,盆地的沉积环境发生了质的变化 ,沉积物以粗颗粒砾岩为主 ,沉积环境为干旱气候条件下的冲 -洪积扇近端。沉积相的变化 ,反映了昆仑山在晚上新世有强烈的隆升。     

Re-examination of the formation ages of the Apollo 16 regolith breccias

The lunar regolith is exposed to irradiation from the solar wind and to bombardment by asteroids, comets and inter-planetary dust. Fragments of projectiles in the lunar regolith can potentially provide a direct measure of the sources of exogenous material being delivered to the Moon. Constraining the temporal flux of their delivery helps to address key questions about the bombardment history of the inner Solar System.Here, we use a revised antiquity calibration (after Eugster et al., 2001) that utilises the ratio of trapped ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar (‘parentless’ ⁴⁰Ar derived from radioactive decay of ⁴⁰K, against solar wind derived ³⁶Ar) to semi-quantitatively calculate the timing of the assembly of the Apollo 16 regolith breccias. We use the trapped ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar ratios reported by McKay et al. (1986). Our model indicates that the Apollo 16 ancient regolith breccia population was formed between ∼3.8 and 3.4 Ga, consistent with regoliths developed and assembled after the Imbrium basin-forming event at ∼3.85 Ga, and during a time of declining basin-forming impacts. The material contained within the ancient samples potentially provides evidence of impactors delivered to the Moon in the Late-Imbrian epoch. We also find that a young regolith population was assembled, probably by local impacts in the Apollo 16 area, in the Eratosthenian period between ∼2.5 and 2.2 Ga, providing insights to the sources of post-basin bombardment. The ‘soil-like’ regolith breccia population, and the majority of local Apollo 16 soils, were likely closed in the last 2 Ga and, therefore, potentially provide an archive of projectile types in the Eratosthenian and Copernican periods.     

Bedding Angle Identification from BIF Marker Shales via Modified Dynamic Time Warping

Mathematical Geosciences - When modelling a stratified orebody, accurately representing the dip and dip direction is important for accurate resource estimation. In the banded iron formation-hosted...     

Phytoplankton community composition and size distribution in the Langat River estuary,Malaysia

Phytoplankton patchiness, as expressed by community composition and size distribution, during the rainy season in the Langat River estuary (Malaysia) is described. Four sites in the estuary were sampled on two different occasions. The sampling area covered a stretch of the river from upstream to downstream of aquaculture activities (shrimp farms). Water samples from a shrimp farm outlet were also analyzed for nutrient and phytoplankton content. Differences in community structure between stations were found by means of multivariate procedures. Genera composition and total biomass were related to environmental factors, revealing salinity, light, and nutrients as important explaining factors. Elevated phytoplankton biomass and total phosphorus concentration, as well as lower inorganic nitrogen: phosphorus ratios, were found downstream of the shrimp farming activities. The size distribution spectrum of the phytoplankton population downstream of the shrimp farms was significantly different from that at the other stations but not different than that found in the sampled effluent from the shrimp farms, where phytoplankton biomass was also high. Twenty-two of the 24 recorded genera from the shrimp farm outlet were also found downstream of the farming activities. A number of different environmental factors potentially alter conditions for phytoplankton in the lower reaches of the estuary as compared to the upper regions. A cause and effect relationship explaining the differences noted between the upper and lower reaches of the estuary cannot be established. This study suggests that nutrient enrichment from the shrimp farming activities is of a magnitude that may contribute to the phytoplankton community changes observed in the lower reaches of the estuary.     

Complex changes in eruption dynamics during the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius

The 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius included 8 eruption units (EU1–8) and several complex transitions in eruptive style. This study focuses on two important transitions: (1) the abrupt change from white to gray pumice during the Plinian phase of the eruption (EU2 to EU3) and (2) the shift from sustained Plinian activity to the onset of caldera collapse (EU3 to EU4). Quantification of the textural features within individual pumice clasts reveals important changes in both the vesicles and groundmass crystals across each transition boundary. Clasts from the white Plinian fall deposit (EU2) present a simple story of decompression-driven crystallization followed by continuous bubble nucleation, growth and coalescence in the eruptive conduit. In contrast, pumices from the overlying gray Plinian fall deposit (EU3) are heterogeneous and show a wide range in both bubble and crystal textures. Extensive bubble growth, coalescence, and the onset of bubble collapse in pumices at the base of EU3 suggest that the early EU3 magma experienced protracted vesiculation that began during eruption of the EU2 phase and was modified by the physical effects of syn-eruptive mingling-mixing. Pumice clasts from higher in EU3 show higher bubble and crystal number densities and less evidence of bubble collapse, textural features that are interpreted to reflect more thorough mixing of two magmas by this stage of the eruption, with consequent increases in both vesiculation and crystallization. Pumice clasts from a short-lived, high column at the onset of caldera collapse (EU4) continue the trend of increasing crystallization (enhanced by mixing) but, unexpectedly, the melt in these clasts is more vesicular than in EU3 and, in the extreme, can be classified as reticulite. We suggest that the high melt vesicularity of EU4 reflects strong decompression following the partial collapse of the magma chamber.Editorial responsibility: D.B. Dingwell     

Spectral filtering as a method of visualising and removing striped artefacts in digital elevation data

Spectral filtering was compared with traditional mean spatial filters to assess their ability to identify and remove striped artefacts in digital elevation data. The techniques were applied to two datasets: a 100 m contour derived digital elevation model (DEM) of southern Norway and a 2 m LiDAR DSM of the Lake District, UK. Both datasets contained diagonal data artefacts that were found to propagate into subsequent terrain analysis. Spectral filtering used fast Fourier transformation (FFT) frequency data to identify these data artefacts in both datasets. These were removed from the data by applying a cut filter, prior to the inverse transform. Spectral filtering showed considerable advantages over mean spatial filters, when both the absolute and spatial distribution of elevation changes made were examined. Elevation changes from the spectral filtering were restricted to frequencies removed by the cut filter, were small in magnitude and consequently avoided any global smoothing. Spectral filtering was found to avoid the smoothing of kernel based data editing, and provided a more informative measure of data artefacts present in the FFT frequency domain. Artefacts were found to be heterogeneous through the surfaces, a result of their strong correlations with spatially autocorrelated variables: landcover and landsurface geometry. Spectral filtering performed better on the 100 m DEM, where signal and artefact were clearly distinguishable in the frequency data. Spectrally filtered digital elevation datasets were found to provide a superior and more precise representation of the landsurface and be a more appropriate dataset for any subsequent geomorphological applications. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beach Morphodynamics influenced by an ebb‐tidal delta on the north Florida Atlantic coast

Tidal inlets interrupt longshore sediment transport, thereby exerting an influence on adjacent beach morphology. To investigate the details and spatial extent of an inlet's influence, we examine beach topographic change along a 1.5 km coastal reach adjacent to Matanzas Inlet, on the Florida Atlantic coast. Analyses of beach morphology reveal a behavioral change between 0.64 and 0.86 km from the inlet channel centerline, interpreted to represent the spatial extent of inlet influence. Beyond this boundary, the beach is narrow, exhibits a statistically significant inverse correlation of shoreline position with offshore wave conditions, and has a uniform alongshore pattern in temporal behavior, as determined from empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. On the inlet side of the boundary, the beach experiences monotonic widening (with proximity to the inlet), lacks spatial consistency in correlation between shoreline position and wave conditions, and exhibits an irregular pattern in spatial EOF modes. We augment the field observations with numerical modeling that provides calculations of wave setup and nearshore current patterns near the inlet, highlighting the effects of the ebb‐tidal delta on the assailing waves. The modeling results are verified by a natural experiment that occurred during May 2009, when a storm‐produced sedimentary mass accreted to the lower beach, then subsequently split into two oppositely directed waves of sediment that migrated away from the initial accretion site in the subsequent months. Our results suggest that the ebb‐tidal delta produces a pattern of wave setup that creates a pressure gradient driving an alongshore flow that opposes the longshore currents derived from breaking of obliquely oriented incident waves. The resulting recirculation pattern on the margin of the ebb‐tidal delta provides a mechanism through which the inlet influences adjacent barrier island beach morphology. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.