Impact of sampling intervals on the reliability of topographic variables mapped from grid DEMs at a micro-scale

This paper explores the quantitative relation between the reliability of slope aspect, gradient, and form mapped from a gridded DEM and the sampling interval (SI) of elevations. Grid DEMs initially interpolated from digitised contours at 10 m were sampled to five other resolution levels. The topographic variables mapped at these SIs were compared with those at 10 m. It is found that the reliability of mapped slope aspect and form is not significantly affected by SI. By comparison, the reliability of slope gradient is more susceptible to SI, especially if it is derived from a gently rolling terrain. Around 90% of the variation in the mapped slope aspect and gradient are accounted for by the inaccuracy of DEMs. A lower percentage exists for slope form. The stability of the mapped topographic variables can be reliably predicted from SI and terrain complexity.     

Association of proportions

Simple correlation leads to misleading results when applied to the proportions of materials in mixtures, because of the constraint that the total of the proportions is less than one. A simple mainly graphical procedure to determine whether the proportions in mixtures are associated after allowing for the constraint is presented. No assumptions about the form of the underlying probability distributions are required. The technique is extended to problems where other constraints apply.     

Long-term pan evaporation observations as a resource to understand the water cycle trend: case studies from Australia

Abstract

Acceleration of the global water cycle over recent decades remains uncertain because of the high inter-annual variability of its components. Observations of pan evaporation (E_pan), a proxy of potential evapotranspiration (ET_p), may help to identify trends in the water cycle over long periods. The complementary relationship (CR) states that ET_p and actual evapotranspiration (ET_a) depend on each other in a complementary manner, through land–atmosphere feedbacks in water-limited environments. Using a long-term series of E_pan observations in Australia, we estimated monthly ET_a by the CR and compared our estimates with ET_a measured at eddy covariance Fluxnet stations. The results confirm that our approach, entirely data-driven, can reliably estimate ET_a only in water-limited conditions. Furthermore, our analysis indicated that ET_a did not show any significant trend in the last 30 years, while short-term analysis may indicate a rapid climate change that is not perceived in a long-term perspective.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor D. Gerten

Citation Lugato, E., Alberti, G., Gioli. B., Kaplan, J.O., Peressotti, A., and Miglietta, F., 2013. Long-term pan evaporation observations as a resource to understand the water cycle trend: case studies from Australia. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (6), 1287–1296.     

Engineering-geological mapping of tropical soils for land-use planning and geotechnical purposes: A case study from Jamaica, West Indies

An area of a Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits, 100–310 m above sea level and on predominant 20–45°, highly dissected, concave slopes was investigated to assess its geotechnical characteristics and land use planning implications. Lithologies include turbidites, fluvial conglomerates, breccias, sandstones, mudrocks, carbonates, granodiorite, acid dykes, chloritized and epidotized volcanics, andesite and Holocene fluvial deposits. Bedrock is highly fractured and sheared, hydrothermally altered and highly weathered. Soils are quite variable, with a strong geological control on soil properties. Soils are generally sandy to gravely, with local silts and clays in mudrocks, within Holocene alluvium or in hydrothermally altered and sheared granodiorites. The soils are composed of 0.14–80.00% gravel; 5.36–62.50% sand, 2.33–50.55% silt, 0.17–51.50% clay, and total fine content between 2.50 and 94.50%, with natural moisture between 4 and 44% during the dry season, plastic limit between 6 and 35%, liquid limit between 19 and 83% and plasticity index between 1 and 59%. Sandy soils have residual friction angles between 19 and 39°, PI values less than 35% with cohesion between 1.00 and 5.27 KN/m² for cohesive samples. ASTM classification of soils include soil groups GC, GM, GW, GP, SP, SM, SC, SM, SC, ML, CL and CH.

Based on the characteristics of the terrain, the geotechnical and land use planning problems include high landslide frequency and susceptibility, soil erosion, fluvial and reservoir sedimentation, high debris flow hazard, cut slope failures, potentially expansive clays and silts, seepage erosion and soil piping, differential settlement in interlayered competent and incompetent lithologies, high solution erosion and potential subsidence over limestones, waste water disposal problems and groundwater pollution and seismic induced settlement and ground failures. These phenomena suggest that systematic site investigations should be conducted prior to the utilization of these areas for construction and development in order to minimize the deleterious effects resulting from ground failure.     

TOPOGRAPHIC SHADING AND GEOGRAPHICAL PATTERNS OF DIRECT SOLAR RADIATION IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS*

Topographic shading curtails the period and complicates the geographic patterns of insolation in mountainous areas. Maps derived from oblique aerial photographs of shadow lines cast by the irregular, mountainous east horizon in Provo, Utah are used as a case study to illustrate an alternative to existing techniques of solar radiation data collection. For study areas of several hundred square kilometers, this method may be superior in resolution and at the same time more error free and economically feasible than other methods. Measurement of solar inputs received at sample stations scattered through the mapped area show that the phenomenon of topographically delayed sunrise has a distinct effect on daily totals of radiation in the manner suggested by the maps.     

2D magnetic resonance tomography applied to karstic conduit imaging

Karstic conduits play a crucial role for water supply in many parts of the world. However, the imaging of such targets is generally a difficult task for most geophysical methods. Magnetic Resonance Sounding (MRS) is a geophysical method designed for imaging of water bearing structures. Initially, MRS was developed for characterizing horizontally stratified aquifers. However, when applying a 1D MRS measuring setup to the imaging of 2D–3D targets, the size of which may be much smaller than the loop, the accuracy and the lateral resolution may not be sufficient. We have studied the possibility of simultaneously processing several MRS aligned along a profile to perform a Magnetic Resonance Tomography (MRT). This work emphasizes the gain of resolution for 2D–3D imagery of MRT versus the interpolation of 1D inversion results of MRS along the same profile. Numerical modelling results show that the MRT response is sensitive to the size and location of the 2D target in the subsurface. Sensitivity studies reveal that by using the coincident transmitting/receiving (TX/RX) setup and shifting the loop around the anomaly area, the depth, section and position of a single karstic conduit with a size smaller than the MRS loop size can be resolved. The accuracy of the results depends on the noise level and signal level, the latter parameter being linked to the depth and volume of the karstic conduit and the water content in the limestone matrix. It was shown that when applying MRT to the localization of 2D anomalies such as karstic conduits, the inclination of the geomagnetic field, the orientation of the MRT profile and the angle of crossover of the conduit by the MRT profile must be taken into account. Otherwise additional errors in interpretation should be expected. A 2D inversion scheme was developed and tested. Both numerical and experimental results confirm the efficiency of the developed approach.     

Exploration for scheelite in East Greenland — A case study

An intensive scheelite exploration program was carried out in Precambrian crystalline and sedimentary rocks intruded by granites of Precambrian and Caledonian ages in East Greenland (70–74°30′N). Previous heavy-mineral panning (2100 samples within an area of 100,000 km²) formed the basis for selection of scheelite-anomalous subregions (1550 km²)In the subregions, pan-concentrate samples were taken from first- and second-order rivers and from mid and side moraines of active glaciers. All samples were studied in the field under UV light, and scheelite grains were counted. A consideration of the distribution of scheelite in the samples together with the river and glacial drainage systems, led to definition of the potential source areas of the scheelite within localities of 2–5 km².Within the localities, panning of scree fines (samples every 100–200 m along talus slopes) and UV-light traverses at night led to the finding of outcropping or sub-outcropping scheelite mineralisation. Scheelite was observed associated with granite-carbonate contact zones, quartz vein stockworks, and fault zones in limestones, at nine localities within the 300-km-long zone of investigation.The heavy-mineral panning method with the counting of scheelite grains in the field and the subsequent definition of potential scheelite-bearing areas has the advantage that it is possible to execute a program from the subregional to the outcropping mineralisation stage in one field season. The investigation in this case was performed by five geologists during the 1979 2.5-month field season.     

Effect of free surface and strut on fins attached to a strut

An extensive experimental and computational investigation of the combined and separate effects of free surface and body on the lift characteristics of a pair of fins attached to a strut and fin alone is conducted. The results reveal that the free-surface effect becomes significant when the depth of submergence to chord ratio (H/c) is less than three. The effect of the strut is also realized for shallower depth of submergence of the fins through free-surface deformation leading to a significant change in the incidence angle of the flow to the fins. The numerical results based on the Higher Order Boundary Element Method with the linearized free-surface condition show good agreement with the experimental results for fin (foil) alone even at shallow submergence, but some discrepancies appear for the fin attached to the strut at higher speeds mostly due to the neglect of the nonlinear free-surface effect.     

Identification of buried sinkholes using refraction tomography at Ft. Campbell Army Airfield,Kentucky

Karst aquifers are highly susceptible to contamination, with numerous points of entry for contaminants through recharge features such as sinkholes, swallow holes and solutionally enlarged fractures. These recharge features may be filled or obscured at the surface, requiring the use of geophysical or remote sensing techniques for their identification. This study uses seismic refraction data collected at the Ft. Campbell Army Airfield (CAAF), Kentucky, USA, to test the hypothesis that refraction tomography is a useful tool for imaging bedrock depressions beneath thick overburden (greater than 20 m of unconsolidated sediment). Southeast of the main taxiway of CAAF seismic velocity tomograms imaged a bedrock low, possibly a closed depression, at a depth of 25 m that had been earlier identified through delay-time analysis of the same refraction data. Tomography suggests the bedrock low is about 250-m wide by 10-m deep at its widest point. High rates of contaminant vapor extraction over the western extension of this feature suggest a high concentration of contaminants above, and within, this filled bedrock low, the base of which may contain solutionally enlarged fractures (i.e. karst conduits) that could funnel these contaminants to the upper or lower bedrock aquifers. This study thus demonstrates the viability of seismic refraction tomography as a tool for identification of filled sinkholes and bedrock depressions in karst areas.