InterPreting effects of TOCinert organic content on source rock Potential using S2 vs. TOC graPh in Maamba Coalfield,southern Zambia

The authors Present the effects of the total organic carbon( TOCinert )during Pyrolysis and how it overall affects the estimates of the hydrocarbon index( HI)using the cross Plot S2 vs. TOC graPh. A to...     

Salt-marsh foraminifera in Ho Bugt,western Denmark,and their use as sea-level indicators

Twenty-seven surface samples were collected from the Kjelst Enge salt marsh in Ho Bugt, Jutland, to investigate the potential use of salt-marsh foraminifera as sea-level indicators in Holocene intertidal deposits. Previous work from many coastlines around the world has shown that the vertical distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera is strongly controlled by the duration of tidal flooding (or height relative to tide level). Concentrations of foraminifera in Kjelst Enge salt marsh are low, especially in the high marsh, but a strong correlation was found between relative abundances of foraminiferal species and tidal elevation for 16 samples containing more than 30 specimens per 5 cc of sediment (r² = 0.80, root mean square error = 0.16 m). Sediment pH also has a strong influence on the distribution of the foraminifera, but salinity appears to be insignificant.     

10Be surface exposure dating reveals unexpected high deformation rates in the central Andean wedge interior

Understanding deformation associated with active thrust wedges is essential to evaluate seismic hazards. In this study, we investigate the spatial distribution, timing, and rates of deformation across the central Andean backarc of Argentina, where deformation and shortening have been assumed to occur within a narrow wedge‐front zone. The combined results of our geomorphic mapping, topographic surveying, and ¹⁰Be exposure dating demonstrate that fault activity related to the growth of the Andean orogenic wedge is not only limited to a narrow thrust front zone but also occurs in the Andean wedge interior. There, internal structures with deformation rates of ca. 1.3 mm/year have been active during the last ~140 ka. Widely distributed deformation implies that seismic hazards may have been underestimated in the internal part of the Andean orogen.     

Spectral analysis for a semi‐active–passive net‐zero base‐shear design concept

Passive high force‐to‐volume (HF2V) dampers offer significant displacement reduction and energy dissipation, but cannot customise overall response. Semi‐active resettable devices offer adaptive, custom hysteresis loops that reduce displacement and base shear, but have limited dissipation. This paper presents a new, combined concept to maximise displacement reduction without increasing base shear – a net‐zero base‐shear concept. HF2V devices, up to a maximum of 10% structural weight, are combined with fixed stiffness resettable devices. Spectral analyses are run for the three SAC ground motion suites that iteratively size the HF2V device at each structural period to achieve maximum displacement reductions without increasing median base shear. HF2V velocity dependence and the need to scale HF2V capacity to spectral velocity are examined in terms of their impact on the results of these analyses. The net‐zero approach reduces base shear by up to 50% and displacements by 30–70% over all ground motions, exceeding reductions obtained by either device separately by 30–50% (relative). The net‐zero condition is not reached within the device limits defined, except at relatively long periods (>3.5 s) because of a virtuous circle of reduced displacement from the resettable and HF2V devices outweighing the increased base shear from the HF2V devices alone. These results are independent of HF2V device scaling, design and velocity dependence. The overall net‐zero concept offers a significant advantage in a combination that cannot be achieved by passive or semi‐active solutions alone. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coseismic slip model of the 2007 August Pisco earthquake (Peru) as constrained by Wide Swath radar observations

The Pisco earthquake ( M _w 8.0; 2007 August 15) occurred offshore of Peru's southern coast at the subduction interface between the Nazca and South American plates. It ruptured a previously identified seismic gap along the Peruvian margin. We use Wide Swath InSAR observations acquired by the Envisat satellite in descending and ascending orbits to constrain coseismic slip distribution of this subduction earthquake. The data show movement of the coastal regions by as much as 85 cm in the line-of-sight of the satellite. Distributed-slip model indicates that the coseismic slip reaches values of about 5.5 m at a depth of ∼18–20 km. The slip is confined to less than 40 km depth, with most of the moment release located on the shallow parts of the interface above 30 km depth. The region with maximum coseismic slip in the InSAR model is located offshore, close to the seismic moment centroid location. The geodetic estimate of seismic moment is 1.23 × 10²¹ Nm ( M _w 8.06), consistent with seismic estimates. The slip model inferred from the InSAR observations suggests that the Pisco earthquake ruptured only a portion of the seismic gap zone in Peru between 13.5° S and 14.5° S, hence there is still a significant seismic gap to the south of the 2007 event that has not experienced a large earthquake since at least 1687.     

Stochastic rainfall-runoff forecasting: parameter estimation,multi-step prediction,and evaluation of overflow risk

Probabilistic runoff forecasts generated by stochastic greybox models can be notably useful for the improvement of the decision-making process in real-time control setups for urban drainage systems because the prediction risk relationships in these systems are often highly nonlinear. To date, research has primarily focused on one-step-ahead flow predictions for identifying, estimating, and evaluating greybox models. For control purposes, however, stochastic predictions are required for longer forecast horizons and for the prediction of runoff volumes, rather than flows. This article therefore analyzes the quality of multistep ahead forecasts of runoff volume and considers new estimation methods based on scoring rules for k-step-ahead predictions. The study shows that the score-based methods are, in principle, suitable for the estimation of model parameters and can therefore help the identification of models for cases with noisy in-sewer observations. For the prediction of the overflow risk, no improvement was demonstrated through the application of stochastic forecasts instead of point predictions, although this result is thought to be caused by the notably simplified setup used in this analysis. In conclusion, further research must focus on the development of model structures that allow the proper separation of dry and wet weather uncertainties and simulate runoff uncertainties depending on the rainfall input.     

Specific angular momentum of disc merger remnants and the λR-parameter

We use two-dimensional kinematic maps of simulated binary disc mergers to investigate the  λ_R  -parameter, which is a luminosity-weighted measure of projected angular momentum per unit mass. This parameter was introduced to subdivide the SAURON sample of early-type galaxies in so-called fast  λ_R > 0.1  and slow rotators  λ_R < 0.1  . Tests on merger remnants reveal that  λ_R  is a robust indicator of the true angular momentum content in elliptical galaxies. We find the same range of  λ_R  values in our merger remnants as in the SAURON galaxies. The merger mass ratio is decisive in transforming fast rotators into slow rotators in a single binary merger, the latter being created mostly in an equal-mass merger. Slow rotators have a  λ_R  which does not vary with projection. The confusion rate with face-on fast rotators is very small. Mergers with a gas component form slow rotators with smaller ellipticities than collisionless merger remnants have, and are in much better agreement with the SAURON slow rotators. Remergers of merger remnants are slow rotators, but tend to have too high ellipticities. Fast rotators maintain the angular momentum content from the progenitor disc galaxy if merger mass ratio is high. Some SAURON galaxies have values of  λ _R   as high as our progenitor disc galaxies.     

Tracking the fate of dung-derived carbohydrates in a temperate grassland soil using compound-specific stable isotope analysis

Carbohydrates are major organic components of dung and are likely to contribute substantially to increased carbon stocks in manured soils. To investigate this hypothesis, a field-scale experiment was conducted on a temperate grassland site in Devon, UK. C₄ dung (bulk δ¹³C value ?12.6‰) was applied to a temperate grassland C₃ soil (bulk δ¹³C value ?30.3‰) in April and the surface soil beneath cow pats sampled at seven dates over a year. Total carbohydrates were extracted as their monosaccharide components and analysed as the alditol acetates using gas chromatography. The δ¹³C values of the major monosaccharides glucose (?11.5 ±0.6‰), xylose (?10.4 ±0.4‰), arabinose (?10.4 ±0.5‰) and galactose (?8.3 ±1.6‰) extracted from the C₄ dung via acid hydrolysis were indicative of their source. Their weighted mean δ¹³C value was ?10.8‰, 1.8‰ more ¹³C-enriched than the bulk dung value. The δ¹³C values of individual monosaccharides recovered by acid hydrolysis in the 0–1 cm and 1–5 cm soil horizons beneath C₄ cow pats, compared with control soils determined over 372 days, allowed assessment of the extent of incorporation and fluxes of dung-derived monosaccharides. A maximum of 60% of the dung C in soil was derived from carbohydrates after 56 days, declining to around 20% after 372 days. Incorporation dynamics varied between monosaccharide species. Glucose, xylose and arabinose behaved in a similar manner because of their predominantly plant cell wall derived provenance in the dung, whilst dung-derived galactose and mannose appeared to have a microbial source in the soil. The dynamics of total dung-derived monosaccharides in the top 5 cm was comparable to incorporation and flux of bulk dung C, previously estimated using bulk δ¹³C values. The movement of dung-derived carbohydrates into the soil was inequivalent between the 0–1 cm and 1–5 cm horizons. The lack of a significant difference in concentration, but the evidence for the persistence of dung-derived monosaccharides in soil based on δ¹³C values, indicated replacement of existing pools in the soil, suggesting that the ability of this particular soil to sequester further C derived from carbohydrates was limited.