Modelling increased soil cohesion due to roots with EUROSEM

As organic root exudates cause soil particles to adhere firmly to root surfaces, roots significantly increase soil strength and therefore also increase the resistance of the topsoil to erosion by concentrated flow. This paper aims at contributing to a better prediction of the root effects on soil erosion rates in the EUROSEM model, as the input values accounting for roots, presented in the user manual, do not account for differences in root density or root architecture. Recent research indicates that small changes in root density or differences in root architecture considerably influence soil erosion rates during concentrated flow. The approach for incorporating the root effects into this model is based on a comparison of measured soil detachment rates for bare and for root‐permeated topsoil samples with predicted erosion rates under the same flow conditions using the erosion equation of EUROSEM. Through backwards calculation, transport capacity efficiencies and corresponding soil cohesion values can be assessed for bare and root‐permeated topsoils respectively. The results are promising and present soil cohesion values that are in accordance with reported values in the literature for the same soil type (silt loam). The results show that grass roots provide a larger increase in soil cohesion as compared with tap‐rooted species and that the increase in soil cohesion is not significantly different under wet and dry soil conditions, either for fibrous root systems or for tap root systems. Power and exponential relationships are established between measured root density values and the corresponding calculated soil cohesion values, reflecting the effects of roots on the resistance of the topsoil to concentrated flow incision. These relationships enable one to incorporate the root effect into the soil erosion model EUROSEM, through adapting the soil cohesion input value. A scenario analysis shows that the contribution of roots to soil cohesion is very important for preventing soil loss and reducing runoff volume. The increase in soil shear strength due to the binding effect of roots on soil particles is two orders of magnitude lower as compared with soil reinforcement achieved when roots mobilize their tensile strength during soil shearing and root breakage. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Volcanology,history and myths of the Lake Albano maar (Colli Albani volcano,Italy)

The polygenetic Albano maar is the most recent centre of the Colli Albani volcano, located just few kilometres to the south-east of Roma. Presently the maar hosts a 167.5 m deep crater lake, the deepest in Europe. The maar is to be considered quiescent, as phreatic activity is documented throughout the Holocene. This paper illustrates the close relationships between the activity of the maar and the history of settlement in the Roman region as recorded in the geology, archaeology, history and legends of the area. Severe fluctuations of the groundwater table and catastrophic overflows of the Lake Albano from the maar rim had occurred prior to and after the early prehistoric settlements dated in the maar area at the Eneolithic times (ca. III millennium B.C.). Repeated lahars occurred along the northwestern slope of the maar filling in the paleodrainage network and forming a vast plain. Paleohydraulic analyses on fluvial and lahar deposits originated from the Holocene phreatic activity of the Albano maar indicate sediment–water flows in excess of hundreds of cubic metres per second. Absolute age determinations of the paleosoil underlying one of the most recent deposits of the lahar succession at 5800 ± 100 yr B.P. (¹⁴C CAL) are in perfect agreement with the age of the overlying Eneolithic age settlements. The last catastrophic overflow is described in the Roman literature as a consequence of the anger of Poseidon against the Romans in 398 B.C. for their war against the Etruscans. In 394 B.C. the Romans decided to prevent the repetition of such events by the excavation through the maar crater wall of a 1.5 km long drain tunnel, which is still operational, keeping the lake 70 m below the lowest point of the maar rim. This tunnel drain may be regarded as the first prevention device for volcanic hazard in history and shows an unprecedented development of the engineering technology under the pressure of hazard perception. The surprising and still largely unknown results of this study are very important to redefine the hazard of the Roman region.     

On love wave dispersion in a homogeneous layer lying over a laterally heterogeneous half-space

A method is proposed for the determination of the dispersion equation of Love waves propagating in a homogeneous layer lying over a laterally inhomogeneous half-space. The proposed method can be made to work only when the lateral inhomogeneities in the lower half-space are finite in nature so that their Fourier transforms are available. As an illustration the dispersion equation of Love waves is obtained for one of such media in which the shear-wave velocity and the rigidity in the lower half-space either increases or decreases along the direction of propagation of waves according as the parameter of heterogeneity is positive or negative.     

Crustal and upper mantle structures of the brazilian coast

The Rayleigh wave phase and group velocities in the period range of 24–39 sec, obtained from two earthquakes which occurred in northeastern brazil and which were recorded by the Brazilian seismological station RDJ (Rio de Janeiro), have been used to study crustal and upper mantle structures of the Brazilian coastal region. Three crustal and upper mantle models have been tried out to explain crustal and upper mantle structures of the region. The upper crust has not been resolved, due basically to the narrow period range of the phase and group velocities data. The phase velocity inversions have exhibited good resolutions for both lower crust and upper mantle, with shear wave velocities characteristic of these regions. The group velocity data inversions for these models have showed good results only for the lower crust. The shear wave velocities of the lower crust (3.86 and 3.89 km/sec), obtained with phase velocity inversions, are similar to that (=3.89 km/sec) found byHwang (1985) to the eastern South American region, while group velocity inversions have presented shear velocity (=3.75 km/sec) similar to that (=3.78 km/sec) found byLazcano (1972) to the Brazilian shield. It was not possible to define sharply the crust-mantle transition, but an analysis of the phase and group velocity inversions results has indicated that the total thickness of the crust should be between 30 and 39 km. The crustal and upper mantle model, obtained with phase velocity inversion, can be used as a preliminary model for the Brazilian coast.     

Field observations on hyperconcentrated flows in mountain torrents

Field observations on hydraulics and sediment dynamics during extreme floods in two mountain torrents show the influence of man-made constructions such as bridges and check dams, in addition to the sediment supplied naturally by the basin and the channel network, on the formation of hyperconcentrated flows. In the Pyrenean Arás basin, hyperconcentrated flow occurred after collapse of a bridge, which in turn mobilized large volumes of sediment from the stream channel and, subsequently, destroyed a series of check dams. Boulders up to several metres in size were transported in a mixture of sand and fine material. A minimum of 100000 tonnes of sediment were deposited on the alluvial fan during the event. Prior to bridge destruction, mean bedload transport rates had reached 0.4t m⁻¹ s⁻¹ upstream. In the alpine Lainbach basin, the flood was characterized by transportation of large amounts of slope material, including debris flows. Along its main tributary an intensive hyperconcentrated flow occurred during the rising stage, whereas in the main valley smaller flows occurred after failure of check dams. The depth of coarse material deposited reached 80 cm. The effectiveness of the Aràs and Lainbach floods was attained due to exceptional rates of energy expediture. Flood power ranged from 20000 W m⁻² to 40000 W m⁻² on average. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite strain theory of love waves

Summary The propagation of Love waves is discussed on the basis of finite strain theory. The primary Love wave is found to be associated with a secondary Rayleigh wave and a tertiary Love wave. Numerical calculations are presented for two values of the wave-velocity; the results show that the theory of Love waves based on infinitesimal strain, is not applicable to short period waves.     

Comparative sensitivity of harbour and grey seals to several environmental contaminants using in vitro exposure

In this study, we investigated the effects of cadmium chloride (CdCl₂), mercury chloride (HgCl₂), methylmercury chloride (CH₃HgCl), and PCBs on lymphocyte proliferation in phocids. PBMCs isolated from harbour and grey seals were exposed in vitro to varying concentrations of contaminants. A reduction of viability occurred when cells were exposed to 10⁻⁴ M HgCl₂ or CH₃HgCl or to 50 ppm of Aroclor 1254. In both grey and harbour seals, T-lymphocyte proliferation was suppressed when their cells were incubated with 5 × 10⁻⁵ M CdCl₂ or 10⁻⁴ M HgCl₂. An inhibition of proliferation occurred with CH₃HgCl from 10⁻⁶ M in grey seals and from 10⁻⁵ M in harbour seals. In grey seals, Aroclor 1254 reduced lymphocyte proliferation at 15 ppm. In both harbour and grey seals, CH₃HgCl was ten times more immunotoxic that HgCl₂. From IC₅₀, chemicals were ranked in terms of toxicity as followed: CH₃HgCl > CdCl₂ > HgCl₂ > Aroclor 1254.     

Mechanical Behavior of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation Cemented Sand

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - New sustainable ground improvement techniques have been recently required for applications in onshore and offshore geotechnical structures. The...