Tectonothermal evolution of a foreland fold and thrust belt: the Cantabrian Zone (Iberian Variscan belt,NW Spain)

Analysis of the conodont colour alteration index and the Kübler index of illite allowed us the characterization of four types of very low‐ or low‐grade metamorphism in the Cantabrian Zone (CZ) and determination of their regional and temporal distribution. These types are: (1) an orogenic Variscan metamorphism present only in restricted areas of the western and north‐western parts of the CZ where epizonal conditions are reached; (2) a burial metamorphism that appears in the basal part of some nappes, where anchizonal conditions are sometimes achieved; the thermal peak preceded emplacement of the nappes; (3) a late‐Variscan metamorphism in the southern and south‐eastern parts of the CZ; a cleavage, cutting most of the Variscan folds, is associated with this metamorphism, which has been related to an extensional episode; (4) a contact metamorphism and hydrothermal activity associated with minor intrusive bodies. The extension continued after the Variscan deformation giving rise to hydrothermal activity during Permian times.     

Trajectories of the local centroids in a two-component stellar system near the sun

In a stellar system in nonsteady states and according to Chandrasekhar's axially-symmetric model, the general trajectory of a local centroid is determined. In the neighbourhood of the Sun, a two-component stellar system is adopted to explain the kinematic behaviour of the stellar samples. Depending on the kinematic parameters of each subsystem, the trajectories of every local subcentroid are shown.Life is long for the wise stars but short for the giddy ones Some Seneca-like words about De breviate vitaePaper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

The Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect as a cosmological discriminator

We show how future measurements of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect (SZE) can be used to constrain the cosmological parameters. We combine the SZ information expected from the Planck full-sky survey, N ( S ), where no redshift information is included, with the N ( z ) obtained from an optically identified SZ-selected survey covering less than 1 per cent of the sky. We demonstrate how with a small subsample (≈300 clusters) of the whole SZ catalogue observed optically it is possible to reduce the degeneracy among the cosmological parameters drastically. We have studied the requirements for performing the optical follow-up and we show the feasibility of such a project. Finally, we have compared the cluster expectations for Planck with those expected for Newton–XMM during their lifetimes. It is shown that, owing to its larger sky coverage, Planck will detect a factor of ∼5 times more clusters than Newton–XMM and also provide a larger redshift coverage.     

Identifying non-stationary and long-term river–aquifer interactions as a response to large climatic patterns and anthropogenic pressures using wavelet analysis (Mancha Oriental Aquifer,Spain)

The objective of this study was to analyse periodicities and the long-term variability of monthly Júcar River–Mancha Oriental Aquifer interactions (RAI) and regionally measured precipitation (PP) with special focus on the correlations between these local hydrological variables and the large climatic patterns governing the Iberian Peninsula, represented by their teleconnection indices – the North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAOi) and the Western Mediterranean Oscillation index (WeMOi). To that end, wavelet analysis has been applied since it not only provides insight into the time-series dynamics but also permits statistical interpretation and correlation analysis. As a result, several periodicities have been detected: intermittent semi-annual periodicity in PP and the NAOi and annual periodicity in the RAI, NAOi and WeMOi time series. Long cycles (approximately 14 years) are also observed in the PP and WeMOi time series. The cross-wavelet spectra show a correlation between the RAI and the rest of the variables on the semi-annual and the annual scales, while wavelet coherence detects common behaviour with longer cycles – 5–6 years between the NAOi and the RAI and cycles of both 1–5 years and 7–10 years between PP and the RAI. Furthermore, results show that the periodicities in the teleconnection indices and precipitation propagate into the RAI with certain lead times: 3 months between the RAI and PP and 6 months between the RAI and the NAOi. The results indicate that the detected periodicities and the coherence between the studied variables could have applications in strategic planning on a river basin scale, taking into account the propagation times and the frequency scale. This methodological approach can be applied into strategic water resource planning independently of the geographical location of the hydrogeological system, the basin size and the climate region.     

SHRIMP U–Pb detrital zircon dating to check subdivisions in metamorphic complexes: a case of study in the Nevado–Filábride complex (Betic Cordillera,Spain)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - U–Pb dating on inherited detrital zircons has been applied to obtain the probable maximum age of deposition of the detrital protolith of the...     

Inverse modeling for seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers: Insights about parameter sensitivities,variances, correlations and estimation procedures derived from the Henry problem

Inverse modeling studies employing data collected from the classic Henry seawater intrusion problem give insight into several important aspects of inverse modeling of seawater intrusion problems and effective measurement strategies for estimation of parameters for seawater intrusion. Despite the simplicity of the Henry problem, it embodies the behavior of a typical seawater intrusion situation in a single aquifer. Data collected from the numerical problem solution are employed without added noise in order to focus on the aspects of inverse modeling strategies dictated by the physics of variable-density flow and solute transport during seawater intrusion. Covariances of model parameters that can be estimated are strongly dependent on the physics. The insights gained from this type of analysis may be directly applied to field problems in the presence of data errors, using standard inverse modeling approaches to deal with uncertainty in data.