Nitrate source and fate at the catchment scale of the Vibrata River and aquifer (central Italy): an analysis by integrating component approaches and nitrogen isotopes

The aim of this study is to apply an integrated approach to determine nitrate sources and fate in the alluvial aquifer of the River Vibrata (Abruzzi, central Italy) by coupling the Isotope and the Component approaches. Collected data include concentration and nitrogen isotope composition of groundwater samples from the alluvial aquifer and nitrogen loads arising from agricultural and non-agricultural sources. The adopted methodology identified synthetic fertilizers as main sources of nitrate in the Vibrata alluvial aquifer. At the catchment scale, two different zones have been identified: the Upper Valley, where infiltration to groundwater is dominant and nitrogen easily migrates into the aquifer; in this area, nitrate content in groundwater is stable and normally higher than EU requirements. Moreover, streamwaters are fed by groundwater with a nitrate content likely lowered by denitrification processes occurring in the hyporheic zone. In the Lower Valley, runoff processes dominate and the nitrate content in surface waters is higher. Nevertheless, groundwater is locally affected by denitrification that breaks down the nitrate content, which often reaches values consistent with law limits.     

多级次地下水流系统的最小能耗率原理初探

20世纪60年代初期,Tóth基于定水头上边界条件推导出解析解,得出多级次地下水流系统,是水文地质学里程碑式的突破,成功地解决了一系列理论和实际问题.但T6th解析解存在的缺陷也长期沿袭:单纯重视数学模拟而忽视物理机制;将地形控制地下水位看成是普适性规律;忽视给定水头上边界数学模拟的失真.这些缺陷,尤其是忽视物理机制探...     

北斗系统及GNSS多星座组合导航性能研究

针对北斗、GPS、GLONASS和GALILEO等单星座系统定位中存在的定位精度不足、可见星不多、定位可靠性不强等问题,研究了一种利用北斗、GPS、GLONASS和GALI—LEO多星座信息在统一坐标系中采用最小二乘法进行组合导航定位的方法。仿真结果表明：北斗与GPS双系统的定位精度优于单纯的北斗系统精度,而采用北斗／GPS／GLONASS／GALILEO多星座组合导航定位能够有效提高用户的定位精度和可靠性,研究成果对北斗系统的精度验证和多星座接收机的实现具有参考意义。     

Automatic interpretation of digital maps

In the past, the availability and/or the acquisition of spatial data were often the main problems of the realization of spatial applications. Meanwhile this situation has changed: on one hand, comprehensive spatial datasets already exist and on the other hand, new sensor technologies have the ability to capture fast and with high quality large amounts of spatial data. More and more responsible for the increasing accessibility of spatial data are also collaborative mapping techniques which enable users to create maps by themselves and to make them available in the internet. However, the potential of this diversity of spatial data can only hardly be utilized. Especially maps in the internet are represented very often only with graphical elements and no explicit information about the map’s scale, extension and content is available. Nevertheless, humans are able to extract this information and to interpret maps. For example, it is possible for a human to distinguish between rural and industrial areas only by looking at the objects’ geometries. Furthermore, a human can easily identify and group map objects that belong together. Also the type, scale and extension of a map can be identified under certain conditions only by looking at the objects’ geometries. All these examples can be subsumed under the term “map interpretation”. In this paper it is discussed how map interpretation can be automated and how automatic map interpretation can be used in order to support other processes. The different kinds of automatic map interpretation are discussed and two approaches are shown in detail.     

Analysis of a regional change in the sign of the SAM�Ctemperature relationship in Antarctica

This study examines regional atmospheric circulation changes associated with a reversal in the sign of the relationship between the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and near-surface temperatures at Halley station, East Antarctica, during the 1980s. We show that the key factor affecting the regional SAM?Ctemperature relationship (STR) is the relative magnitude of two climatological low pressure centres to the west and east of the area, which determines the source region of air masses advected into the locality. The principal difference affecting the STR is shown to be a trend towards a significantly weaker climatological low (higher pressure) at ~20°E during a positive phase of the SAM. Specifically, it is variations in the phase and magnitude of the wave number three patterns of atmospheric circulation, the non-annular component of the SAM, which are the principal factors governing the regional STR. A similar reversal is observed in the sign of the correlation between the SAM and oxygen-isotope values from an ice core located some 1,200?km east of Halley. This relationship is examined throughout the 20th Century, by comparing the isotope data to SAM reconstructions, and demonstrates marked decadal variability. Thus, these data suggest that switches in the STR are more likely to reflect natural variability in the long-wave patterns over the Southern Ocean rather than the influence of an anthropogenic forcing. This finding is important when considering the potential utility of Antarctic isotope data as a proxy for the SAM.     

重庆春播期间降水特征及其与北太平洋海温的关系

运用NCEP/NCAR全球高度场再分析资料、美国NOAA全球海温资料以及重庆34个站春播期间降水资料,对重庆春播期间降水特征及其与前期秋季海温场的关系进行分析。结果表明：重庆春播期间降水与前期秋季北太平洋暖流附近（20°～40°N、165°E～140°W）的海温有显著负相关关系,而与北太平洋阿拉斯加暖流附近（40°～60°N、165°E～140°W）的海温则有显著正相关关系,即南、北海温呈现相反的相关性。当前期秋季北太平洋副热带地区海温异常偏高,中高纬度地区海温异常偏低时,后期重庆春播期间降水将异常偏多;反之,北太平洋副热带地区海温异常偏低,中高纬度地区海温异常偏高时,重庆春播期间降水将异常偏少。针对秋季北太平洋南、北海温异常的反相分布特征定义了用于诊断和预测重庆春播期间降水的判别指数,该指数代表了北太平洋海温异常南北反相的分布特征。该前期判别指数具有重要的天气气候学意义和一定的指示和预测能力。其代表的北太平洋海温异常与西太平洋区域500 hPa高度场有密切联系,其可使大气环流场产生持续性的异常,大气环流的异常特征能一直持续到春播期间,将影响重庆春播期间降水变化。     

The impact of dredge-fill on Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows: regression and patterns of recovery

Posidonia oceanica meadows can be severely damaged by dredge-fill operations. We report on the construction of gas pipelines that occurred between 1981 and 1993 in SW Sicily, Italy. A large portion of the meadow was mechanically removed, and the excavated trench was filled with a mosaic of substrates, ranging from sand to consolidated rock debris. Meadow loss and recovery were quantified over 7 years after the end of operations. We recorded an overall loss of 81.20 ha of meadow. Substrate strongly affected recovery as the percent cover by P. oceanica consistently increased on calcareous rubble, reaching values of 44.37 ± 3.05% in shallow sites after 7 years, whereas no significant increase occurred on other substrates. As in the Mediterranean Sea exploitation of coastal areas continues to grow with consequent impacts on P. oceanica meadows, this case study illustrates how artificial rubble-like materials could be employed to support the restoration of damaged meadows.     

Ostreopsis cf. ovata bloom in the northern Adriatic Sea during summer 2009: ecology, molecular characterization and toxin profile

Intense blooms of the benthic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata have occurred in the northern Adriatic Sea since 2006. These blooms are associated with noxious effects on human health and with the mortality of benthic organisms because of the production of palytoxin-like compounds. The O. cf. ovata bloom and its relationships with nutrient concentrations at two stations on the Conero Riviera (northern Adriatic Sea) were investigated in the summer of 2009. O. cf. ovata developed from August to November, with the highest abundances in September (1.3 × 10⁶ cells g⁻¹ fw corresponding to 63.8 × 10³ cells cm⁻²). The presence of the single O. cf. ovata genotype was confirmed by a PCR assay. Bloom developed when the seawater temperature was decreasing. Nutrient concentrations did not seem to affect bloom dynamics. Toxin analysis performed by high resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed a high total toxin content (up to 75 pg cell⁻¹), including putative palytoxin and all the ovatoxins known so far.     

Fault Roughness at Seismogenic Depths from LIDAR and Photogrammetric Analysis

Fault surface roughness is a principal factor influencing earthquake mechanics, and particularly rupture initiation, propagation, and arrest. However, little data currently exist on fault surfaces at seismogenic depths. Here, we investigate the roughness of slip surfaces from the seismogenic strike-slip Gole Larghe Fault Zone, exhumed from ca. 10 km depth. The fault zone exploited pre-existing joints and is hosted in granitoid rocks of the Adamello batholith (Italian Alps). Individual seismogenic slip surfaces generally show a first phase of cataclasite production, and a second phase with beautifully preserved pseudotachylytes of variable thickness. We determined the geometry of fault traces over almost five orders of magnitude using terrestrial laser-scanning (LIDAR, ca. 500 to <1 m scale), and 3D mosaics of high-resolution rectified digital photographs (10 m to ca. 1 mm scale). LIDAR scans and photomosaics were georeferenced in 3D using a Differential Global Positioning System, allowing detailed multiscale reconstruction of fault traces in Gocad^®. The combination of LIDAR and high-resolution photos has the advantage, compared with classical LIDAR-only surveys, that the spatial resolution of rectified photographs can be very high (up to 0.2 mm/pixel in this study), allowing for detailed outcrop characterization. Fourier power spectrum analysis of the fault traces revealed a self-affine behaviour over 3–5 orders of magnitude, with Hurst exponents ranging between 0.6 and 0.8. Parameters from Fourier analysis have been used to reconstruct synthetic 3D fault surfaces with an equivalent roughness by means of 2D Fourier synthesis. Roughness of pre-existing joints is in a typical range for this kind of structure. Roughness of faults at small scale (1 m to 1 mm) shows a clear genetic relationship with the roughness of precursor joints, and some anisotropy in the self-affine Hurst exponent. Roughness of faults at scales larger than net slip (>1–10 m) is not anisotropic and less evolved than at smaller scales. These observations are consistent with an evolution of roughness, due to fault surface processes, that takes place only at scales smaller or comparable to the observed net slip. Differences in roughness evolution between shallow and deeper faults, the latter showing evidences of seismic activity, are interpreted as the result of different weakening versus induration processes, which also result in localization versus delocalization of deformation in the fault zone. From a methodological point of view, the technique used here is advantageous over direct measurements of exposed fault surfaces in that it preserves, in cross-section, all of the structures which contribute to fault roughness, and removes any subjectivity introduced by the need to distinguish roughness of original slip surfaces from roughness induced by secondary weathering processes. Moreover, offsets can be measured by means of suitable markers and fault rocks are preserved, hence their thickness, composition and structural features can be characterised, providing an integrated dataset which sheds new light on mechanisms of roughness evolution with slip and concomitant fault rock production.     

Principal Slip Zones in Limestone: Microstructural Characterization and Implications for the Seismic Cycle (Tre Monti Fault, Central Apennines, Italy)

Earthquakes in central Italy, and in other areas worldwide, often nucleate within and rupture through carbonates in the upper crust. During individual earthquake ruptures, most fault displacement is thought to be accommodated by thin principal slip zones. This study presents detailed microstructural observations of the slip zones of the seismically active Tre Monti normal fault zone. All of the slip zones cut limestone, and geological constraints indicate exhumation from <2?km depth, where ambient temperatures are ?100°C. Scanning electron microscope observations suggest that the slip zones are composed of 100% calcite. The slip zones of secondary faults in the damage zone contain protocataclastic and cataclastic fabrics that are cross-cut by systematic fracture networks and stylolite dissolution surfaces. The slip zone of the principal fault has much more microstructural complexity, and contains a 2?C10?mm thick ultracataclasite that lies immediately beneath the principal slip surface. The ultracataclasite itself is internally zoned; 200?C300???m-thick ultracataclastic sub-layers record extreme localization of slip. Syn-tectonic calcite vein networks spatially associated with the sub-layers suggest fluid involvement in faulting. The ultracataclastic sub-layers preserve compelling microstructural evidence of fluidization, and also contain peculiar rounded grains consisting of a central (often angular) clast wrapped by a laminated outer cortex of ultra-fine-grained calcite. These ??clast-cortex grains?? closely resemble those produced during layer fluidization in other settings, including the basal detachments of catastrophic landslides and saturated high-velocity friction experiments on clay-bearing gouges. An overprinting foliation is present in the slip zone of the principal fault, and electron backscatter diffraction analyses indicate the presence of a weak calcite crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) in the fine-grained matrix. The calcite c-axes are systematically inclined in the direction of shear. We suggest that fluidization of ultracataclastic sub-layers and formation of clast-cortex grains within the principal slip zone occurred at high strain rates during propagation of seismic ruptures whereas development of an overprinting CPO occurred by intergranular pressure solution during post-seismic creep. Further work is required to document the range of microstructures in localized slip zones that cross-cut different lithologies, and to compare natural slip zone microstructures with those produced in controlled deformation experiments.