Land use and topography as predictors of nutrient levels in a tropical catchment

The influence of landscape on nutrient concentration and yield was analyzed in a tropical catchment, the Guare River in northern Venezuela. Spatial and temporal variation in nitrate, SRP and total P were determined in 15 sites located along the river mainstem and tributaries. Higher nitrate concentrations and yields were reported from upper sites and both decreased in the downstream direction along the river mainstem. These trends appear to be related to more pronounced slopes and larger proportions of agricultural and forest lands in subcatchments located in the upper part of the basin, and dense algal mats in the lower reaches. Nitrate values were higher during periods of high discharge, suggesting that nitrate is primarily transported by shallow subsurface flow. SRP represented between 60 and 80% of total P. Phosphorus concentrations were homogeneous along the river mainstem and showed little seasonal variation, while yields were higher in the upper basin. Multiple regression identified slope, runoff and agriculture as primary predictors of nitrate and phosphorus across the watershed, which suggests that both natural and anthropogenic landscape characteristics have a strong influence on nutrient levels in the Guare catchment.     

IM‐based and EDP‐based decision models for the verification of the seismic collapse safety of buildings

Decision models for the verification of seismic collapse safety of buildings are introduced. The derivations are based on the concept of the acceptable (target) annual probability of collapse, whereas the decision making involves comparisons between seismic demand and capacity, which is familiar to engineering practitioners. Seismic demand, which corresponds to the design seismic action associated with a selected return period, can be expressed either in terms of an intensity measure (IM) or an engineering demand parameter (EDP). Seismic capacity, on the other hand, is defined by dividing the near‐collapse limit‐state IM or EDP by an appropriate risk‐targeted safety factor (γ _im or γ _edp ), which is the only safety factor used in the proposed decision model. Consequently, the seismic performance assessment of a building should be based on the best possible estimate. For a case study, it is shown that if the target collapse risk is set to 10^?4 (0.5% over a period of 50 years), and if the seismic demand corresponds to a return period of 475 years (10% over a period of 50 years), then it can be demonstrated that γ _im is approximately equal to 2.5 for very stiff buildings, whereas for buildings with long periods the value of γ _im can increase up to a value of approximately 5. The model using γ _edp is equal to that using γ _im only if it can be assumed that displacements, with consideration of nonlinear behavior, are equal to displacements from linear elastic analysis.     

Determination of Geopotential Differences between Local Vertical Datums and Realization of a World Height System

The methodology developed for connecting Local Vertical Datums (LVD) was applied to the Australian Height Datum (AHD) and the North American Vertical Datum (NAVD88). The geopotential values at AHD and NAVD88 were computed and the corresponding vertical offset of 974 mm with rms 51 mm was obtained between the zero reference surfaces defined by AHD and NAVD88. The solution is based on the four primary geodetic parameters, the GPS/levelling sites and the geopotential model EGM96. The Global Height System (or the Major Vertical Datum) can be defined by a geoidal geopotential value used in the solution as the reference value, or by the geopotential value of the LVD, e.g. NAVD88.     

Palynology suggests hydrocarbon mobilization in Ordovician of Kasba Tadla Basin,Morocco

Palynological analysis of twelve wells shows that the metamorphic gradient of the pre-Mesozoic in the Kasba Tadla Basin of Morocco increases rapidly northwest-, southeast-, and eastward, from the center of the Basin. In the center, the Ordovician may still be releasing mobile hydrocarbons.

---

Zusammenfassung Eine palynologische Untersuchung von zwölf Bohrungen zeigt, daß der thermale Gradient sich im Premesozoikum des Kasba-Tadla-Beckens in Marokko vom Zentrum des Beckens aus nach Nordwesten, Südosten und Osten schnell vergrößert. Es ist sehr wohl möglich, daß das Ordovizium des Beckenzentrums noch flüssige und gasförmige Kohlenwasserstoffverbindungen abgibt.

---

Résumé L'analyse palynologique de 12 sondages montre que le gradient métamorphique du pré-Mésozoïque dans le Basin du Kasba Tadla, au Maroc, augmente à partir du centre du Bassin vers le nordouest, le sudest et vers l'est. Il est possible que l'Ordovicien de la partie centrale du Bassin produise encore des hydrocarbures liquides et gaseux.

---

12 , Kasba Tadla -, - . , .

---

---

The authors gratefully acknowledge support of this project through Grant GF-32510-X from the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.     

Modeling spatial landslide susceptibility in volcanic terrains through continuous neighborhood spatial analysis and multiple logistic regression in La Ciénega watershed,Nevado de Toluca,Mexico

Natural Hazards - Little study has been done on the effect of the pixel neighborhood information when modeling landslide susceptibility using multiple logistic regression (MLR). The present...     

From emplacement to unroofing: thermal history of the Jiazishan gabbro, Sulu UHP terrane, China

On the eastern extremity of the Jiaodong peninsula, China, shoshonitic magmas have been injected into the supracrustal rocks of the Sulu ultra-high pressure (UHP) terrane during the crustal exhumation phase. These granitoids (collectively termed the Shidao igneous complex or Jiazishan alkaline complex) show geochemical and isotopic signatures of an enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle and intruded soon after the subducted Yangtze crust had reached peak metamorphic pressure conditions (240–220 Ma). We have applied various geochronometers to an alkali-gabbro sample from the Jiazishan pluton and the results allow reconstruction of the Triassic-to-present thermal history. Initial rapid cooling of the gabbro at crustal depths is indicated by the close agreement between the Sm-Nd mineral isochron age (228?±?36 Ma) and the Rb-Sr biotite age (207?±?1) Ma. This interpretation is confirmed by previously published U-Pb zircon ages (225–209 Ma), and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar amphibole and K-feldspar ages (～214 Ma) from the Jiazishan syenites. A titanite fission-track age of 166?±?8 Ma (closure temperature range 285–240°C) records widespread Jurassic magmatism in the Jiaodong peninsula, indicating that the gabbro reached upper crustal levels before it was reheated by nearby Jurassic plutons. A subsequent cooling and reheating event is indicated by an apatite fission-track age of 106?±?6 Ma which coincides with the emplacement of the adjacent Weideshan pluton (108?±?2 Ma) and postdates a period of regional lithospheric thinning beneath eastern China. A period of slow cooling (or thermal stability) from late Cretaceous to early Tertiary, documented by an apatite (U-Th)/He age of 39?±?5 Ma, was followed by a final stage of more enhanced cooling since the late Eocene. Results of this work imply that the eastern Sulu terrane has experienced a complex cooling and reheating history. Our data are consistent with a model of initial rapid cooling (sudden exhumation) of the UHP terrane, driven by the release of buoyancy forces, followed by two progressively slower cooling intervals (both after renewed crustal reheating) during the Jurassic and Cretaceous.     

Local and global diffusion in the Arnold web of a priori unstable systems

Using the numerical techniques developed by Froeschlé et al. (Science 289 (5487): 2108–2110, 2000) and by Lega et al. (Physica D 182: 179–187, 2003) we have studied diffusion and stochastic properties of an a priori unstable 4D symplectic map. We have found two different kinds of diffusion that coexist for values of the perturbation below the critical value for the Chirikov overlapping of resonances. A fast diffusion along some resonant lines that exist already in the unperturbed case and a slow diffusion occurring in regions of the phase space far from such resonances. The latter one, although the system does not satisfy the Nekhoroshev hypothesis, decreases faster than a power law and possibly exponentially. We compare the diffusion coefficient to the indicators of stochasticity like the Lyapunov exponent and filling factor showing their behavior for chaotic orbits in regions of the Arnold web where the secondary resonances appear, or where they overlap.     

Questions concerning the existence of sympathetic flares

Earlier results concerning sympathetic flares - physically related flares occurring in different active regions practically in the same time - and time-correlated radio bursts are compared with magnetic situation in active regions with related flaring and with the history and dynamics of its development. We found observational evidence abou the reality of sympathetic flares, demonstrating also that active regions in which they appear are physically related through common dynamical elements in which the evolution of their magnetic fields goes parallel. Such a process may sometimes occupy a very large volume of the photosphere and we believe that it might be related to the large-scale convective motions.