Distinguishing extensive and intensive properties for meaningful geocomputation and mapping

A most fundamental and far-reaching trait of geographic information is the distinction between extensive and intensive properties. In common understanding, originating in Physics and Chemistry, extensive properties increase with the size of their supporting objects, while intensive properties are independent of this size. It has long been recognized that the decision whether analytical and cartographic measures can be meaningfully applied depends on whether an attribute is considered intensive or extensive. For example, the choice of a map type as well as the application of basic geocomputational operations, such as spatial intersections, aggregations or algebraic operations such as sums and weighted averages, strongly depend on this semantic distinction. So far, however, the distinction can only be drawn in the head of an analyst. We still lack practical ways of automation for composing GIS workflows and to scale up mapping and geocomputation over many data sources, e.g. in statistical portals. In this article, we test a machine-learning model that is capable of labeling extensive/intensive region attributes with high accuracy based on simple characteristics extractable from geodata files. Furthermore, we propose an ontology pattern that captures central applicability constraints for automating data conversion and mapping using Semantic Web technology.     

Geology of the Acropolis prospect,South Australia,constrained by high-precision CA-TIMS ages

Abstract

Acropolis is an Fe-oxide–copper–gold prospect ～20?km from Olympic Dam, South Australia, and marked by near-coincident gravity and magnetic anomalies. Prospective Fe-oxide–apatite?±?sulfide veins occur in Mesoproterozoic and Paleoproterozoic volcanic and granitoid host units beneath unmineralised sedimentary formations. We have produced a geological map and history of the prospect using data from 16 diamond drill holes, including LA-ICPMS and high-precision CA-TIMS ages. The oldest unit is megacrystic granite of the Donington Suite (ca 1850?Ma). A non-conformity spanning ca 250 My separates the Donington Suite and felsic lavas and ignimbrites of the Gawler Range Volcanics (GRV; 1594.03?±?0.68?Ma). The GRV were intruded by granite of the Hiltaba Suite (1594.88?±?0.50?Ma) and felsic dykes (1593.88?±?0.56?Ma; same age as the Roxby Downs Granite at Olympic Dam). The felsic dykes are weakly altered and lack Fe-oxide–apatite–sulfide veins, suggesting that they post-date the main hydrothermal event. If correct, this relationship implies that the main hydrothermal event at Acropolis was ca 1594?Ma and pre-dated the main hydrothermal event at Olympic Dam. The GRV at Acropolis are the same age as the GRV at Olympic Dam and ca 3–7 My older than the GRV exposed in the Gawler Ranges. The gravity and magnetic anomalies coincide with sections through the GRV, Hiltaba Suite and Donington Suite that contain abundant, wide, Fe-oxide veins. The GRV, Hiltaba Suite and Donington Suite are unconformably overlain by the Mesoproterozoic Pandurra Formation or Neoproterozoic Stuart Shelf sedimentary formations. The Pandurra Formation shows marked lateral variations in thickness related to paleotopography on the underlying units and post-Pandurra Formation pre-Neoproterozoic faults. The Stuart Shelf sedimentary formations have uniform thicknesses.

1. KEY POINTS

2. Fe-oxide–apatite?±?sulfide veins are hosted by the Gawler Range Volcanics (1594.03?±?0.68?Ma), the Hiltaba Suite granite (1594.88?±?0.50?Ma) and Donington Suite granite (ca 1850?Ma).

3. The age of felsic dykes (1593.88?±?0.56?Ma) interpreted to be post-mineralisation implies that the main hydrothermal event at Acropolis was ca 1594?Ma.

4. The Gawler Range Volcanics at Acropolis are the same age as the Gawler Range Volcanics at Olympic Dam and ca 3 to 7 My older than the Gawler Range Volcanics exposed in the Gawler Ranges.

     

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics modelling of soil–water mixing and resulting changes in average strength

Soil–water interaction is a pivotal process in many underwater geohazards such as underwater landslides where soil sediments gradually evolve into turbidity currents after interactions with ambient water. Due to the large deformations, multiphase interactions and phase changes this involves, investigations from numerical modelling of the transition process have been limited so far. This study explores a simple numerical replication of such soil–water mixing with respect to changes in average strength using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). A uniform viscoplastic model is used for both the solid-like and fluid-like SPH particles. The proposed numerical solution scheme is verified by single-phase dam break tests and multiphase simple shear tests. SPH combinations of solid-like and fluid-like particles can replicate the clay–water mixture as long as the liquidity index of the solid-like particles is larger than unity. The proposed numerical scheme is shown to capture key features of an underwater landslide such as hydroplaning, water entrainment and wave generation and thus shows promise as a tool to simulate the whole process of subaquatic geohazards involving solid–fluid transition during mass transport.     

Sedimentary and tectonic evolution of Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania)

Lake Ohrid, located on the Balkan Peninsula within the Dinaride–Albanide–Hellenide mountain belt, is a tectonically active graben within the South Balkan Extensional Regime (SBER). Interpretation of multichannel seismic cross sections and bathymetric data reveals that Lake Ohrid formed during two main phases of deformation: (1) a transtensional phase which opened a pull‐apart basin, and (2) an extensional phase which led to the present geometry of Lake Ohrid. After the initial opening, a symmetrical graben formed during the Late Miocene, bounded by major normal faults on each side in a pull‐apart type basin. The early‐stage geometry of the basin has a typical rhomboidal shape restricted by two sets of major normal faults. Thick undisturbed sediments are present today at the site where the acoustic basement is deepest, illustrating that Lake Ohrid is a potential target for drilling a long and continuous sediment core for studying environmental changes within the Mediterranean region. Neotectonic activity since the Pliocene takes place along the roughly N–S‐striking Eastern and Western Major Boundary Normal Faults that are partly exposed at the present lake floor. The tectono‐sedimentary structure of the basin is divided into three main seismic units overlying the acoustic basement associated with fluvial deposits and lacustrine sediments. A seismic facies analysis reveals a prominent cyclic pattern of high‐ and low‐amplitude reflectors. We correlate this facies cyclicity with vegetation changes within the surrounding area that are associated with glacial/interglacial cycles. A clear correlation is possible back to ca. 450 kyrs. Extrapolation of average sedimentation rates for the above mentioned period results in age estimate of ca. 2 Myrs for the oldest sediments in Lake Ohrid.     

A Segment-Based Speckle Filter Using Multisensoral Remote Sensing Imagery

In the proposed approach, the well-known enhanced Lee filter is modified to allow the integration of feature outlines-previously extracted from segmented optical images. The filter is applied to several ENVISAT ASAR images that cover urban, agricultural, and forest areas during different plant phenological stages. The performance of this segment-based speckle filter is compared to those of other filters using ratio images, visual interpretation, and statistical indexes. The approach reduces the loss of radiometry and spatial information. It performs comparable to more complex methods and outperforms common techniques     

Stratigraphy,structure and geochronology of ore leads in the Matsitama Schist belt of Northern Botswana

The Matsitama schist belt in northeastern Botswana comprises an area of metasediments, notably quartzites, limestones, shales and amphibolites that are bounded by granites and gneisses. The belt lies southwest of the Rhodesian cration and north of the Limpopo mobile belt.Stratigraphic, structural and lead isotopic evidence indicates that the Matsitama metasediments are equivalent to the Shashi metasediments in the Limpopo belt. There is strong evidence that the Matsitama and Shashi metasediments stratigraphically underlie volcanic rocks of the Tati belt which have been correlated with Archaean schist belts of about 2700 Ma of Rhodesia. Therefore, the Matsitama and Shashi rocks are at least as old as the schist belts of the Rhodesian craton and may represent a shallow-water facies that occurs only in the Limpopo area.There is no structural evidence that the Matsitama and Shashi metasediments were deposited unconformably on basement rocks, although the presence of gneiss, amphibolite and ironstone pebbles in a Matsitama conglomerate, as well as the presence of orthoquartzites, shows the existence of a basement source region. However, the surrounding granites intrude the Matsitama and Shashi metasediments and all underwent several deformation phases.The structural history of the Matsitama rocks can be described in terms of five phases of deformation. The main cleavage-producing deformation phase, F₂, folded the rocks into a major synform and intensely deformed them. Before this, however, the rocks had been folded and thrust so that part of the succession shows downward-facing F₂ structures and there are possibly repetitions of the stratigraphy due to imbrication. Structures of the F₃ and F₄ phases fold the main cleavage but locally are sufficiently intense to modify the shape of the finite strain ellipsoid. There is a major ductile shear zone of F₄ age, south of which F₄ folds are tight, while to the north, F₄ deformation is negligible. All of these structures can be correlated with deformation phases in the Tati schist belt to the east and in the northern part of the Limpopo mobile belt.Lead isotope evidence suggests that mineralization in the Matsitama metasediments occurred at least 2200 Ma ago, and that leads from Dihudi/Thakadu and Messina, in the centre of the Limpopo belt, underwent a two-stage history of events at 2600–2700 Ma and 2000–2100 Ma ago, agreeing with other geochronological evidence. The leads from Matsitama and Messina are isotopically distinct from leads from the Rhodesian schist belts, which show evidence of transfer to the crust some 3500 Ma ago. The absence of this 3500 Ma-old lead from the Matsitama and Messina environments may indicate different crustal conditions and possibly the absence of the Rhodesian-type early basement.     

Investigation of a group of rapidly rotating a stars having an emission excess at iras wavelengths

IRAS data on 13 normal and 4 shell A stars are analyzed to detect circumstellar matter around them. Most of the stars rotate rapidly; five of them have been studied before. By comparing the observed fluxes, IUE and ground-based, with Kurucz’s models in the 0.17-0.9 µm range, the stars’ parameters were determined ( $$T_{\hbox{\ \hbox{$\mid$}\kern -1em\lower .5em \hbox{$\leftarrow$}}} g_{\hbox{\ \hbox{$\mid$}\kern -1em\lower .5em \hbox{$\leftarrow$}}} $$ , and angular diameter), which were used to find the IR flux excesses over the photospheric emission. Infrared excesses were found in 15 of the stars. The excesses themselves are interpreted as thermal emission from dust particles with an effective temperature in the range from 70 to 200 K. The effective radius of the circumstellar disk is estimated to be from 7 to 400 R_*,     

Refining the ice flow chronology and subglacial dynamics across the migrating Labrador Divide of the Laurentide Ice Sheet with age constraints on deglaciation

The Laurentide Ice Sheet was characterized by a dynamic polythermal base. However, important data and knowledge gaps have led to contrasting reconstructions in areas such as the Labrador Ice Divide. In this study, detailed fieldwork was conducted at the southeastern edge of a major landform boundary to resolve the relative ice flow chronology and constrain the evolution of the subglacial dynamics, including the migration and collapse of the Labrador Ice Divide. Surficial mapping and analysis of 94 outcrop‐scale ice flow indicators were used to develop a relative ice flow chronology. ¹⁰Be exposure ages were used with optical ages to confine the timing of deglaciation within the study area. Four phases of ice flow were identified. Flow 1 was a northeasterly ice flow preserved under non‐erosive subglacial conditions associated with the development of an ice divide. Flow 2 was a northwest ice flow, which we correlate to the Ungava Bay Ice Stream and led to a westward migration of the ice divide, preserving Flow 2 features and resulting in Flow 3's eastward‐trending indicators. Flow 4 is limited to sparse fine striations within and around the regional uplands. The new optical ages and ¹⁰Be exposure ages add to the regional geochronology dataset, which further constrains the timing of ice margin retreat in the area to around 8.0 ka. Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Boundary-layer depth and entrainment zone characterization with a boundary-layer profiler

A technique for determining the height of the convective atmospheric boundary layer (CBL) with a 915 MHz boundary-layer profiler is discussed. The results are compared with CBL heights determined from radiosonde measurements. The profiler provides continuous CBL height measurements with very good time resolution (30 minutes or less), allowing for detailed understanding of the growth and fluctuations of the CBL. In addition, the profiler provides information about the degree of definition of the CBL top and the thickness of the entrainment zone. The measurements discussed were taken during the Rural Oxidants in the Southern Environment II (ROSE II) experiment.