Tectonics of southwestern Mexico,isotopic evidence,nuclear Central America,Late Cretaceous break up

In the paleogeographic reconstruction of Mexico and northern Central America, an ever-increasing amount of evidence shows that the entire region is a collage of suspect terranes transported from abroad, whose timing and sense of motion are now beginning to be understood. Among these, the Chortis block (nuclear Central America) and the Baja California Peninsula have been proposed as pieces of continent separated from the Pacific coast of southwestern Mexico, that have moved either southeastward by the Farallon plate or northwestward by the Kula plate. Previous studies mainly confined to the northern margin of the Chortis block, confirmed a left-lateral displacement of 130 km in Neogene time. Further studies made northwestward along the Mexican coast provided a better understanding of magmatic and metamorphic processes in the area, and suggested times of detachment increased to 30 Ma, 40 Ma, and 66 Ma. The pre-detachment westernmost position of the block has changed, depending on the model chosen, from Puerto Vallarta and beyond, to the current position. Here we show that the isotopic mineral ages from coastal granites along the coast from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco (80 Ma) to Puerto Angel, Oaxaca (11 Ma) record systematic decrease of cooling ages from NW to SE. This pattern is interpreted to result from the progressive uplift of rocks exposed at the present-day coast in that direction, such uplift occurred in response to the development of the Middle America Trench at the newly formed continental margin when the Chortis block was sliding at an average rate of 1.5 cm/year in a sinistral sense to its present position. Our results also constrain the position of the Kula-Farallon spreading axis north of Puerto Vallarta. These observations led us to conclude that several indicators point to this time and region for the onset of strike-slip drifting of the Chortis block toward its current position. Here, we also present several view points in terms of other possilble interpretations to different tectonic, geologic and isotopic data sets published recently by different authors.     

Artificial light at night: implications for early life stages development in four temperate freshwater fish species

Flora and fauna have both evolved under a natural cycle of light and dark. But especially in urban areas, the night is now increasingly disturbed by artificial light. Many traits and behaviours in fish are triggered by a circadian clock, for example hatching and swim bladder inflation, which predominantly take place at dusk or night. As lighting becomes brighter and extends farther into rural areas, the distinction between day and night becomes increasingly blurred. Therefore, the loss of diurnal trigger by artificial light at night was hypothesized having deleterious effects on these traits and impact fish reproduction. To assess these effects, eggs of four native freshwater fishes, Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis, roach Rutilus rutilus, bleak Alburnus alburnus and chub Leuciscus cephalus, were incubated under two different light conditions: a photoperiod of 14 h light:10 h darkness (LD) and continuous illumination (LL). The time to hatch and swim bladder inflation was recorded. The species showed inconsistent reactions to the light treatments. In roach and bleak, the time to 50% hatch was longer in LL, whereas continuous lighting had an accelerating effect in chub. Incubation in LL elongated the hatching period in perch and roach and, in perch, the onset of darkness seemed to trigger hatching. The swim bladder inflation was significantly promoted by continuous light in chub and bleak but was not affected in roach. In conclusion, nocturnal artificial illumination could have an effect on hatching and initial swim bladder filling by masking the day–night-change and thereby diminish the trigger effect. However, the reactions were species specific and the increase in variation indicated a lack of diurnal triggering, whilst a general deleterious effect of artificial light at night has not been identified on early life stages.     

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley as a risk area

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, granted the status of a World Heritage site, is well known for its unique inner narrow valley of Quaternary age with its historical legacy of numerous medieval castles and old towns. Less known is that this has always been a risk area of floods and gravitative mass movements. Up to the recent past, mainly ice floods caused enormous damage. The inhabitants of the valley were well aware that they lived in a risk area, but they had learned to handle the flood hazard. With the demise of ice floods over the last 40 years, due to climate change and because of the additional heating of the river water by power plants, the awareness of flood hazards has been much diminished, in contrast to that of potential damage by rockfalls and landslides which were also much feared in the past, though at the local level only. Still in the people’s memory is the Kaub catastrophe of March 10, 1876, when 28 persons were killed by a landslide. Nowadays, even minor rockfalls are a major threat, as they will affect the much-used traffic lines on both banks of the river, in particular the railroads. Therefore, since 2002, on behalf of German Rail (Deutsche Bahn, DB), all problematic slopes have been protected by costly steel-ring nets, although they are an aesthetic problem by UNESCO standards. The feeling of absolute safety created among the public is only subjective, though, as planners are well aware of. Moreover, the impact of modern climate change on slope stability is nearly unknown. Therefore, it is still necessary to develop a risk map for the narrow valley, with emphasis on gravitational hazards.     

Climatic and geographic factors affect ecosystem multifunctionality through biodiversity in the Tibetan alpine grasslands

Ecosystem multifunctionality(EMF), the simultaneous provision of multiple ecosystem functions, is often affected by biodiversity and environmental factors. We know little about how the interactions between biodiversity and environmental factors affect EMF. In this case study, a structural equation model was used to clarify climatic and geographic pathways that affect EMF by varying biodiversity in the Tibetan alpine grasslands. In addition to services related to carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling, forage supply, which is related to plantproductivity and palatability, was included in the EMF index. The results showed that 72% of the variation in EMF could be explained by biodiversity and other environmental factors. The ratio of palatable richness to all species richness explained 8.3% of the EMF variation. We found that air temperature, elevation, and latitude all affected EMF, but in different ways. Air temperature and elevation impacted the aboveground parts of the ecosystem, which included plant height, aboveground biomass, richness of palatable species, and ratio of palatable richness to all species richness. Latitude affected EMF by varying both aboveground and belowground parts of the ecosystem, which included palatable speciesrichness and belowground biomass. Our results indicated that there are still uncertainties in the biodiversity–EMF relationships related to the variable components of EMF, and climatic and geographic factors. Clarification of pathways that affect EMF using structural equation modeling techniques could elucidate the mechanisms by which environmental changes affect EMF.     

Automated mapping of rock slope geometry,kinematics and stability with RSS-GIS

A GIS-implemented, deterministic approach for the automated spatial evaluation of geometrical and kinematical properties of rock slope terrains is presented. Based on spatially distributed directional information on planar geological fabrics and DEM-derived topographic attribute data, the internal geometry of rock slopes can be characterized on a grid cell basis. For such computations, different approaches for the analysis and regionalization of available structural directional information applicable in specific tectonic settings are demonstrated and implemented in a GIS environment. Simple kinematical testing procedures based on feasibility criteria can be conducted on a pixel basis to determine which failure mechanisms are likely to occur at particular terrain locations. In combination with hydraulic and strength data on geological discontinuities, scenario-based rock slope stability evaluations can be performed. For conceptual investigations on rock slope failure processes, a GIS-based specification tool for a 2-D distinct element code (UDEC) was designed to operate with the GIS-encoded spatially distributed rock slope data. The concepts of the proposed methodology for rock slope hazard assessments are demonstrated at three different test sites in Germany.     

The determination of potential difference by the joint application of measured and synthetical gravity data: a case study in Hungary

In an elementary approach every geometrical height difference between the staff points of a levelling line should have a corresponding average g value for the determination of potential difference in the Earth’s gravity field. In practice this condition requires as many gravity data as the number of staff points if linear variation of g is assumed between them. Because of the expensive fieldwork, the necessary data should be supplied from different sources. This study proposes an alternative solution, which is proved at a test bed located in the Mecsek Mountains, Southwest Hungary, where a detailed gravity survey, as dense as the staff point density (~1 point/34 m), is available along a 4.3-km-long levelling line. In the first part of the paper the effect of point density of gravity data on the accuracy of potential difference is investigated. The average g value is simply derived from two neighbouring g measurements along the levelling line, which are incrementally decimated in the consecutive turns of processing. The results show that the error of the potential difference between the endpoints of the line exceeds 0.1 mm in terms of length unit if the sampling distance is greater than 2 km. Thereafter, a suitable method for the densification of the decimated g measurements is provided. It is based on forward gravity modelling utilising a high-resolution digital terrain model, the normal gravity and the complete Bouguer anomalies. The test shows that the error is only in the order of 10⁻³mm even if the sampling distance of g measurements is 4 km. As a component of the error sources of levelling, the ambiguity of the levelled height difference which is the Euclidean distance between the inclined equipotential surfaces is also investigated. Although its effect accumulated along the test line is almost zero, it reaches 0.15 mm in a 1-km-long intermediate section of the line.     

Using gravity and topography-implied anomalies to assess data requirements for precise geoid computation

Many regions around the world require improved gravimetric data bases to support very accurate geoid modeling for the modernization of height systems using GPS. We present a simple yet effective method to assess gravity data requirements, particularly the necessary resolution, for a desired precision in geoid computation. The approach is based on simulating high-resolution gravimetry using a topography-correlated model that is adjusted to be consistent with an existing network of gravity data. Analysis of these adjusted, simulated data through Stokes’s integral indicates where existing gravity data must be supplemented by new surveys in order to achieve an acceptable level of omission error in the geoid undulation. The simulated model can equally be used to analyze commission error, as well as model error and data inconsistencies to a limited extent. The proposed method is applied to South Korea and shows clearly where existing gravity data are too scarce for precise geoid computation.     

A hierarchical model for estimating methane emission from wetlands using MODIS data and ARIMA modeling

A three-step hierarchical Semi Automated Empirical Methane Emission Model (SEMEM) has been used to estimate methane emission from wetlands and waterlogged areas in India using Moderate Resolution Imagine Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor data onboard Terra satellite. Wetland Surface Temperature (WST), methane emission fluxes and wetland extent have been incorporated as parameters in order to model the methane emission. Analysis of monthly MODIS data covering the whole of India from November 2004 to April 2006 was carried out and monthly methane emissions have been estimated. Interpolation techniques were adopted to fill the data gaps due to cloudy conditions during the monsoon period. AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model has been fitted to estimate the emitted methane for the months of May 2006 to August 2006 using SPSS software.     

Spatial-Correlation Based Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Study for Ground Deformation

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), nowadays, is a precise technique for monitoring and detecting ground deformation at a millimetric level over large areas using multi-temporal SAR images. Persistent Scatterer Interferometric SAR (PSInSAR), an advanced version of InSAR, is an effective tool for measuring ground deformation using temporally stable reference points or persistent scatterers. We have applied both PSInSAR and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) methods, based on the spatial correlation of interferometric phase, to estimate the ground deformation and time-series analysis. In this study, we select Las Vegas, Nevada, USA as our test area to detect the ground deformation along satellite line-of-sight (LOS) during November 1992–September 2000 using 44 C-band SAR images of the European Remote Sensing (ERS-1 and ERS-2) satellites. We observe the ground displacement rate of Las Vegas is in the range of ?19 to 8 mm/year in the same period. We also cross-compare PSInSAR and SBAS using mean LOS velocity and time-series. The comparison shows a correlation coefficient of 0.9467 in the case of mean LOS velocity. Along this study, we validate the ground deformation results from the satellite with the ground water depth of Las Vegas using time-series analysis, and the InSAR measurements show similar patterns with ground water data.     

Ionospheric and receiver DCB-constrained multi-GNSS single-frequency PPP integrated with MEMS inertial measurements

Single-frequency precise point positioning (SF-PPP) is a potential precise positioning technique due to the advantages of the high accuracy in positioning after convergence and the low cost in operation. However, there are still challenges limiting its applications at present, such as the long convergence time, the low reliability, and the poor satellite availability and continuity in kinematic applications. In recent years, the achievements in the dual-frequency PPP have confirmed that its performance can be significantly enhanced by employing the slant ionospheric delay and receiver differential code bias (DCB) constraint model, and the multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) data. Accordingly, we introduce the slant ionospheric delay and receiver DCB constraint model, and the multi-GNSS data in SF-PPP modular together. In order to further overcome the drawbacks of SF-PPP in terms of reliability, continuity, and accuracy in the signal easily blocking environments, the inertial measurements are also adopted in this paper. Finally, we form a new approach to tightly integrate the multi-GNSS single-frequency observations and inertial measurements together to ameliorate the performance of the ionospheric delay and receiver DCB-constrained SF-PPP. In such model, the inter-system bias between each two GNSS systems, the inter-frequency bias between each two GLONASS frequencies, the hardware errors of the inertial sensors, the slant ionospheric delays of each user-satellite pair, and the receiver DCB are estimated together with other parameters in a unique Kalman filter. To demonstrate its performance, the multi-GNSS and low-cost inertial data from a land-borne experiment are analyzed. The results indicate that visible positioning improvements in terms of accuracy, continuity, and reliability can be achieved in both open-sky and complex conditions while using the proposed model in this study compared to the conventional GPS SF-PPP.