Crustal volatile release at Merapi volcano; the 2006 earthquake and eruption events

High‐temperature gas in volcanic island arcs is widely considered to originate predominantly from the mantle wedge and from subducted sediments of the down‐going slab. Over the decade (1994–2005) prior to the 2006 eruption of Merapi volcano, summit fumarole CO₂ gas δ¹³C ratios are relatively constant at ?4.1 ± 0.3‰. In contrast, CO₂ samples taken during the 2006 eruption and after the May 26th 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake (M6.4) show a dramatic increase in carbon isotope ratios to ?2.4 ± 0.2‰. Directly following the earthquake (hypocentre depth 10–15 km), a 3–5‐fold increase in eruptive intensity was observed. The elevated carbon isotope gas data and the mid‐crustal depth of the earthquake source are consistent with crustal volatile components having been added during the 2006 events, most probably by the thick local limestone basement beneath Merapi. This ‘extra’ crustal gas likely played an important role in modifying the 2006 eruptive behaviour at Merapi and it appears that crustal volatiles are able to intensify and maintain eruptions independently of traditional magmatic recharge and fractionation processes.     

Glacier fluctuations between 1975 and 2008 in the Greater Himalaya Range of Zanskar, southern Ladakh

Glaciers in the Himalaya are often heavily covered with supraglacial debris,making them difficult to study with remotely-sensed imagery alone.Various methods such as band ratios can be used effectively to map clean-ice glaciers;however,a thicker layer of debris often makes it impossible to distinguish between supraglacial debris and the surrounding terrain.Previously,a morphometric mapping approach employing an ASTER-derived digital elevation model has been used to map glaciers in the Khumbu Himal and the Tien Shan.This study on glaciers in the Greater Himalaya Range in Zanskar,southern Ladakh,aims (i) to use the morphometric approach to map large debris-covered glaciers;and (ii) to use Landsat and ASTER data and GPS and field measurements to document glacier change over the past four decades.Field work was carried out in the summers of 2008.For clean ice,band ratios from the ASTER dataset were used to distinguish glacial features.For debris-covered glaciers,topographic features such as slope were combined with thermal imagery and supervised classifiers to map glacial margins.The method is promising for large glaciers,although problems occurred in the distal and lateral parts and in the fore field of the glaciers.A multi-temporal analysis of glaciers in Zanskar showed that in general they have receded since at least the mid-to late-1970s.However,some few glaciers that advanced or oscillated - probably because of specific local environmental conditions - do exist.     

The HLMA project: determination of high Δm LMA mixing parameters and constraint on |Ue3| with a new reactor neutrino experiment

In the forthcoming months, the KamLAND experiment will probe the parameter space of the solar large mixing angle MSW solution as the origin of the solar neutrino deficit with ’s from distant nuclear reactors. If however the solution realized in nature is such that Δm²_sol2×10⁻⁴ eV² (thereafter named the HLMA region), KamLAND will only observe a rate suppression but no spectral distortion and hence it will not have the optimal sensitivity to measure the mixing parameters. In this case, we propose a new medium baseline reactor experiment located at Heilbronn (Germany) to pin down the precise value of the solar mixing parameters. In this paper, we present the Heilbronn detector site, we calculate the interaction rate and the positron spectrum expected from the surrounding nuclear power plants. We also discuss the sensitivity of such an experiment to |U_e3| in both normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchy scenarios. We then outline the detector design, estimate background signals induced by natural radioactivity as well as by in situ cosmic ray muon interaction, and discuss a strategy to detect the anti-neutrino signal ‘free of background’.     

A borehole investigation of zircon radiation damage annealing

This contribution reports Raman radiation damage measurements of zircons from the Kontinentale Tiefbohrung, on the western border of the Bohemian Massif. The mean wavenumbers (ω₃) and widths (Γ₃) of the ν₃(SiO₄) Raman band are constant down to 3 km, decrease (ω₃) resp. increase (Γ₃) between 3 and 5 km, and are again constant between 5 and 7 km. Uniform high Γ₃ values associated with ω₃ values close to those of undamaged zircon between 5 and 7 km are interpreted as due to residual damage predating the exhumation of the Bohemian Massif. A superimposed post‐exhumation signal indicates full damage retention down to 3 km depth, partial annealing between 3 and 5 km, and zero retention at greater depth. An attempt to calculate radiation damage ages gives results of a meaningful order of magnitude but also exposes difficulties associated with dating basement samples with complex damage accumulation and annealing histories.     

GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake region

The M_w 7.6 October 8, 2005 Kashmir earthquake triggered several thousand landslides throughout the Himalaya of northern Pakistan and India. These were concentrated in six different geomorphic–geologic–anthropogenic settings. A spatial database, which included 2252 landslides, was developed and analyzed using ASTER satellite imagery and geographical information system (GIS) technology. A multi-criterion evaluation was applied to determine the significance of event-controlling parameters in triggering the landslides. The parameters included lithology, faults, slope gradient, slope aspect, elevation, land cover, rivers and roads. The results showed four classes of landslide susceptibility. Furthermore, they indicated that lithology had the strongest influence on landsliding, particularly when the rock is highly fractured, such as in shale, slate, clastic sediments, and limestone and dolomite. Moreover, the proximity of the landslides to faults, rivers, and roads was also an important factor in helping to initiate failures. In addition, landslides occurred particularly in moderate elevations on south facing slopes. Shrub land, grassland, and also agricultural land were highly susceptible to failures, while forested slopes had few landslides. One-third of the study area was highly or very highly susceptible to future landsliding and requires immediate mitigation action. The rest of the region had a low or moderate susceptibility to landsliding and remains relatively stable. This study supports the view that (1) earthquake-triggered landslides are concentrated in specific zones associated with event-controlling parameters; and (2) in the western Himalaya deforestation and road construction contributed significantly to landsliding during and shortly after earthquakes.     

Use of Chemical and Isotopic Signatures to Distinguish Between Uranium Mill‐Related and Naturally Occurring Groundwater Constituents

Chemical and isotopic signatures were determined in groundwater samples to aid in distinguishing the source of contamination in three desert arroyos and a buried channel (the swale) near Shiprock, New Mexico. The contamination in the swale and one of the arroyos, Many Devils Wash, was previously attributed to a former uranium mill site because of the similar suite of contaminants (nitrate, selenium, sulfate, and uranium) and the close (0.8 km) proximity. The other two arroyos are far removed from the mill site and could not have received contamination from it. Principal component and cluster analysis indicated similarities in groundwater chemistry among the swale and the three arroyos that contrasted with groundwater chemistry at the disposal cell. Disposal cell groundwater is characterized by high uranium and bicarbonate concentrations, whereas that in remaining study areas is characterized by high sodium and sulfate, but lower uranium concentrations. Mancos Shale forms the bedrock in the region and contains elevated concentrations of the same chemical constituents that appear in the swale and arroyo groundwater. Dissolved sulfate in arroyo groundwater was depleted in sulfur‐34, in contrast to mill‐derived sulfate with more enriched sulfur‐34. Uranium‐234 to uranium‐238 activity ratios (ARs) were near the secular equilibrium value of 1 in mill site groundwater, whereas ARs in all arroyo groundwater samples exceeded 2. Elevated tritium activities present in mill site groundwater (49 to 142 pCi/L) are attributed to the mill being operated during atomic bomb testing in the 1950s and 1960s. The combined chemical and isotopic results indicate that groundwater in Many Devils Wash and the swale was likely derived from the Mancos Shale and not from the milling operation.     

An innovative artificial fog production device improved in the European project “FOG”

Transport safety is a major goal in the European Union. Low visibility conditions, especially due to fog, increase the risk of major accidents (chain collision). Innovative products have been developed by the automotive industry, including equipment manufacturers, to increase the level of safety of car passengers and drivers. Testing of these products requires the simulation or artificial reproduction of low visibility (fog) conditions with good stability and reproducibility characteristics. We report on the results of the European Union funded “FOG” project to improve road transport safety through fog production in an experimental test chamber located at the Clermont-Ferrand laboratory for research on road safety and visibility. The project developed a prototype of a small-scale climatic chamber, an improved fog production spraying device, a laser-based visibility measurement device, a reduced scale transmissometer, and a combined indoor climate-fog production simulation software. The ability of the fog chamber to test for driver reaction was also investigated. Recent developments include a device able to produce stable visibility levels and homogeneous fog, representative of various types of natural water droplet distribution. The fog characteristics were determined and compared to natural fog. Results are presented for a selection of conditions including stabilized visibility levels for dense fog and two kinds of droplet distributions.     

Europa’s ridged plains and smooth low albedo plains: Distinctive compositions and compositional gradients at the leading side-trailing side boundary

This investigation uses linear mixture modeling employing cryogenic laboratory reference spectra to estimate surface compositions and water ice grain sizes of Europa’s ridged plains and smooth low albedo plains. Near-infrared spectra for 23 exposures of ridged plains materials are analyzed along with 11 spectra representing low albedo plains. Modeling indicates that these geologic units differ both in the relative abundance of non-ice hydrated species and in the abundance and grain sizes of water ice. The background ridged plains in our study area appear to consist predominantly of water ice (∼46%) with approximately equal amounts (on average) of hydrated sulfuric acid (∼27%) and hydrated salts (∼27%). The solutions for the smooth low albedo plains are dominated by hydrated salts (∼62%), with a relatively low mean abundance of water ice (∼10%), and an abundance of hydrated sulfuric acid similar to that found in ridged plains (∼27%). The model yields larger water ice grain sizes (100 μm versus 50-75 μm) in the ridged plains. The 1.5-μm water ice absorption band minimum is found at shorter wavelengths in the low albedo plains deposits than in the ridged plains (1.498 ± .003 μm versus 1.504 ± .001 μm). The 2.0-μm band minimum in the low albedo plains exhibits a somewhat larger blueshift (1.964 ± .006 μm versus 1.983 ± .006 μm for the ridged plains).The study area spans longitudes from 168° to 185°W, which includes Europa’s leading side-trailing side boundary. A well-defined spatial gradient of sulfuric acid hydrate abundance is found for both geologic units, with concentrations increasing in the direction of the trailing side apex. We associate this distribution with the exogenic effects of magnetospheric charged particle bombardment and associated chemical processing of surface materials (the radiolytic sulfur cycle). However, one family of low albedo plains exposures exhibits sulfuric acid hydrate abundances up to 33% lower than found for adjacent exposures, suggesting that these materials have undergone less processing, thus implying that these deposits may have been emplaced more recently.Modeling identifies high abundances (to 30%) of magnesium sulfate brines in the low albedo plains exposures. Our investigation marks the first spectroscopic identification of MgSO₄ brine on Europa. We also find significantly higher abundances of sodium-bearing species (bloedite and mirabilite) in the low albedo plains. The results illuminate the role of radiolytic processes in modifying the surface composition of Europa, and may provide new constraints for models of the composition of Europa’s putative subsurface ocean.