Móron fault zone,north-central Venezuelan borderland: Identification,definition, and neotectonic character

Location of the southern Caribbean plate boundary has been hindered mainly because it is in large part submerged. Analysis of 28 acoustic reflection profiles along the north-central Venezuelan borderland, and a review of published data, suggest that this borderland is the site of a complex fault zone, formally defined as the Morón fault zone, which encompasses the nodal region of the Boconó-Oca-El Pilar fault system. The Morón fault zone consists of: (1) an eastward extension of the Oca-Chirinos fault zone at about 10° 50′ N latitude; (2) a probable eastward continuation of the Boconó-Morón faults along the Venezuelan coast, which splits into the Avila and Macuto faults, north and east of Caracas; (3) the Tacagua fault, which is a southeastward trending splinter fault of the Oca-Chirinos fault zone; (4) and the westward extension of the Cariaco pull-apart basin and the El Pilar fault zone. All of these faults and fault zones are active, as shown by offset sea bottom, offset Pleistocene-Holocene features, and seismicity. It is suggested that the Oca-Chirinos fault zone represents a formerly more active part of the plate boundary. Since the Late Tertiary (?) or Quaternary, the Boconó fault zone was incorporated into the plate boundary, and the northwestern block (Bonaire block) was thrust northeastward over the Caribbean crust.     

A method to measure suspended load transports in estuaries

It is shown that an optical beam-attenuance meter integrated into an Aanderaa current meter is a suitable device for measuring time series of fluxes of suspended material in turbid estuarine water. Some typical applications are presented.     

Reflections on integrating operation and maintenance activities of offshore wind farms and mariculture

Offshore waters are in a process of transition, revealing diverse and heterogenic interests in marine resources. This increasing complexity leads to limits in developing and managing the different and often spatially overlapping maritime activities independently of one another. On a showcase basis we discuss ways and manners as well as the preconditions of an offshore co-management approach for the fledgling actor groups offshore wind farmers and mariculturists. Both groups may benefit through the integration of operation and maintenance (O&M) activities. Their resources in terms of offers, needs and constraints characteristics and thereof deduced potentialities for interaction is a prerequisite for initiating a co-management process. This process is more likely to develop and succeed if an interface management that acts as a moderator, disclosing the interests of the actor groups and offering possibilities for concerted action, guides it. It is concluded that such an institutional arrangement may in the long term contribute to a sound methodological tool for a co-management approach between different offshore maritime sectors.     

Evidence of correlations between nuclear decay rates and Earth–Sun distance

Unexplained periodic fluctuations in the decay rates of ³²Si and ²²⁶Ra have been reported by groups at Brookhaven National Laboratory (³²Si), and at the Physikalisch–Technische–Bundesanstalt in Germany (²²⁶Ra). We show from an analysis of the raw data in these experiments that the observed fluctuations are strongly correlated in time, not only with each other, but also with the time of year. We discuss both the possibility that these correlations arise from seasonal influences on the detection system, as well as the suggestion of an annual modulation of the decay rates themselves which vary with Earth–Sun distance.     

Basin-wide hydrological system assessment under climate change scenarios through conceptual modelling

ABSTRACT

Mediterranean region is identified as a primary hot-spot for climate change due to the expected temperature and rainfall changes. Understanding the potential impacts of climate change on the hydrology in these regions is an important task to develop long-term water management strategies. The aim of this study was to quantify the potential impacts of the climate changes on local hydrological quantities at the Goksu Watershed at the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey as a case study. A set of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios were used as drivers for the conceptual hydrological model J2000 to investigate how the hydrological system and the underlying processes would respond to projected future climate conditions. The model was implemented to simulate daily hydrological quantities including runoff generation, Actual Evapotranspiration (AET) and soil-water balance for present (2005–2015) and future (up to 2100). The results indicated an increase of both precipitation and runoff throughout the region from January to March. The region showed a strong seasonally dependent runoff regime with higher flows during winter and spring and lower flows in summer and fall. The study provides a comparative methodology to include meteorological-hydrological modelling integration that can be feasible to assess the climate change impacts in mountainous regions.