Water reservoirs and the risk of accidental flood occurrence. Case study: Stanca–Costesti reservoir and the historical floods of the Prut river in the period July–August 2008, Romania

In the summer of 2008 the Prut river recorded a historical flow of 7140 m³/s at its entrance into Romania. This flow was the highest ever recorded of any Romanian river. The high value was generated by high amounts of rainfall recorded first on the territory of Ukraine and then in Romania. Unfortunately, there were some discrepancies between the data transmitted and intercepted from the Meteorology National Agency and Hydrology and Water Management National Agency. This is why the amount of precipitation which fell over the territory of Ukraine could not be monitored in time and punctually. Nor could the high flood wave moving rapidly from the upper basin to the lower basin. The high flow of the upper Prut caused the accumulation of an immense quantity of water in the Stanca–Costesti reservoir. Under the conditions of precipitation occurring in the lower river basin as well, the levels reached the flood quota and the reservoir reached the maximum accepted capacity, with 0·1% insurance. The release of supplementary water quantities from the reservoir would have produced catastrophic floods downstream. Keeping the water in the reservoir could have broken it and the flooding, through backwater eddies, or the riverbank settlements. In such a case, it would have produced the greatest tragedy in the hydrological history of Europe. The most significant damage was produced upstream of the barrage, next to the localities of Radauti Prut and Baranca–Hudesti, as well as in the area of the reservoir, as a result of the phenomenon known as ‘remuu’, or backwater eddies. The floods of the Prut river occurred between the end of July and the end of August. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Land tenure and REDD+: The good,the bad and the ugly

A number of international donors, national governments and project proponents have begun to lay the groundwork for REDD+, but tenure insecurity – including the potential risks of land grabbing by outsiders and loss of local user rights to forests and forest land – is one of the main reasons that many indigenous and other local peoples have publicly opposed it. Under what conditions is REDD+ a threat to local rights, and under what conditions does it present an opportunity? This article explores these issues based on available data from a global comparative study on REDD+, led by the Center for International Forestry Research, which is studying national policies and processes in 12 countries and 23 REDD+ projects in 6 countries. The article analyses how tenure concerns are being addressed at both national and project level in emerging REDD+ programs. The findings suggest that in most cases REDD+ has clearly provided some new opportunities for securing local tenure rights, but that piecemeal interventions by project proponents at the local level are insufficient in the absence of broader, national programs for land tenure reform. The potential for substantial changes in the status quo appear unlikely, though Brazil – the only one with such a national land tenure reform program – offers useful insights. Land tenure reform – the recognition of customary rights in particular – and a serious commitment to REDD+ both challenge the deep-rooted economic and political interests of ‘business as usual’.     

The Kepler problem: A unifying view

This paper is an attempt to bring unity in the study of the classical Kepler problem by combining, through simple vectorial and quaternionic techniques, its two peculiar aspects: the determination of the constants of the motion and the regularization at the origin.Research supported by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy (C.N.R.-G.N.F.M.).     

Estimation of net accumulation rate at a Patagonian glacier by ice core analyses using snow algae

Snow algae in a 45.97-m-long ice core from the Tyndall Glacier (50°59′05″S, 73°31′12″W, 1756 m a.s.l.) in the Southern Patagonian Icefield were examined for potential use in ice core dating and estimation of the net accumulation rate. The core was subjected to visual stratigraphic observation and bulk density measurements in the field, and later to analyses of snow algal biomass, water isotopes (¹⁸O, D), and major dissolved ions. The ice core contained many algal cells that belonged to two species of snow algae growing in the snow near the surface: Chloromonas sp. and an unknown green algal species. Algal biomass and major dissolved ions (Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻) exhibited rapid decreases in the upper 3 m, probably owing to melt water elution and/or decomposition of algal cells. However, seasonal cycles were still found for the snow algal biomass, ¹⁸O, D-excess, and major ions, although the amplitudes of the cycles decreased with depth. Supposing that the layers with almost no snow algae were the winter layers without the melt water essential to algal growth, we estimated that the net accumulation rate at this location was 12.9 m a^− 1 from winter 1998 to winter 1999, and 5.1 m from the beginning of winter to December 1999. These estimates are similar to the values estimated from the peaks of ¹⁸O (17.8 m a^− 1 from summer 1998 to summer 1999 and 11.0 m from summer to December 1999) and those of D-excess (14.7 m a^− 1 from fall 1998 to fall 1999 and 8.6 m a^− 1 from fall to December 1999). These values are much higher than those obtained by past ice core studies in Patagonia, but are of the same order of magnitude as those predicted from various observations at ablation areas of Patagonian glaciers.     

Intermediate Alkali-Alumino-silicate Aqueous Solutions Released by Deeply Subducted Continental Crust: Fluid Evolution in UHP OH-rich Topaz-Kyanite Quartzites from Donghai (Sulu, China)

Minerals, fluid inclusions and stable isotopes have been studiedin ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) OH-rich topaz–kyanite quartzitesfrom Hushan (west of Dongai), in southern Sulu (China). Thequartzites underwent a metamorphic evolution characterized bya peak stage (3·5 GPa and 730–820°C) with theanhydrous assemblage coesite + kyanite I, followed by an earlynear-isothermal decompression stage (2·9 GPa and 705–780°C)with growth of kyanite II, muscovite, and OH-rich topaz, andby decompression-cooling stages, represented by paragonite (1·9GPa and 700–780°C) and pyrophyllite (0·3 GPaand 400°C) on kyanite (I and II) and OH-rich topaz, respectively.These rocks may exhibit unusually low ¹⁸O and D values acquiredbefore undergoing UHP metamorphism. Five distinct fluid generationsare recognized. Type I: concentrated peak solutions rich inSi, Al, and alkalis, present within multiphase inclusions inkyanite I. Type II: CaCl₂-rich brines present during the growthof early retrograde OH-rich topaz. Type III, IV, and V: lateaqueous fluids of variable salinity, and rare CO₂ present duringamphibolite- and late greenschist-facies conditions. A numberof conclusions may be drawn from these relationships that havean effect on fluid evolution in deeply subducted continentalrocks. (1) At a pressure of about 3·5 GPa alkali–alumino-silicateaqueous solutions, with compositions intermediate between H₂Ofluid and melt (H₂O > 25 and 50 wt %) evolved from quartzites,probably generated by dehydration reactions. (2) During earlydecompression stages, at the transition from UHP to high-pressure(2·9 GPa) conditions, brines of external origin withhigher water contents (82 wt % H₂O) initiated the growth ofOH-rich topaz and muscovite. (3) The subsequent decompression,at P <2 GPa, was defined by a limited circulation of NaClaqueous fluids, and CO₂ infiltration. Overall, fluid inclusionsand stable isotopes highlight a metamorphic fluid–rockinteraction characterized by internally derived intermediateaqueous solutions at UHP, followed by infiltration of Cl-richbrines with higher water activities. KEY WORDS: ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism; OH-rich topaz; fluid inclusions; stable isotopes; supercritical liquids     

Conditioning clayey soils with a dispersant agent for Deep Soil Mixing application: laboratory experiments and artificial neural network interpretation

Acta Geotechnica - Plasticity of clays makes Deep Soil Mixing (DSM)&nbsp;problematic due to the tendency of the material to congest the rotating blades, reduce mixing efficiency and remain...     

Consolidation properties and structural alteration of Old Alluvium

Acta Geotechnica - We present experimental observations and a conceptual model for understanding the compression and swelling characteristics of Old Alluvium (OA) from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Prior...     

Assessment of WRF numerical model forecasts using different lead time initializations during extreme precipitation events over Macaé city,Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Natural Hazards - The ability to forecast extreme precipitation events has become increasingly important over the last decades due to their significant impacts on society and properties. In this...     

On the Use of Random Material in Dam Cores: Case of the Manso Dam,Brazil

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - The Manso Dam, in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso, intended for flood control and electricity generation, was built by a state-owned energy company in...     

Getting Lost in Cities: Spatial Patterns of Phonetically Confusing Street Names

A large street network is likely to contain duplicated or similar sounding street names. These conflicts can cause confusion in communication between people or in machine‐human interaction. Municipal authorities have begun to see the importance of uncovering these existing street name conflicts and mitigating future ones, for improved record keeping, emergency response, etc. However the commonly used Soundex phonetic algorithm is generally considered to produce poor similarity results in terms of uncovering street name conflicts. This study reports on a new fusion algorithm that combines phonetic methods and approximate string matching for street names, weighted by street type suffix (Avenue, Boulevard, Court, etc.), to quantitatively measure the collision/confusion potential presented by a pair of streets. This algorithm is then applied to the entire street network in Greater Melbourne, Australia, and the pattern of collisions at various spatial scales, and within municipalities, is mapped. The goal of this work is to produce better tools that can aid policy makers, administrators and industries dealing with location‐based services to make better decisions when assigning and disambiguating street names.