Evaluating coastal scenery using fuzzy logic: Application at selected sites in Western Black Sea coastal region of Turkey

Coastal areas of the world are under treat due to the conflicting requirements of functions such as habitation and/or recreation, which affect the strategic asset of coastal scenery itself. Coastal managers, together with planners, need coastal landscape inventories, where the quality of coastal scenery is a part of the inventory. In order to provide an evidence-based approach for sound coastal management decisions, [Ergin et al., 2004] and [Ergin et al., 2006] developed a novel technique ‘coastal scenic evaluation’ (CSE), which addresses the evaluation of coastal scenery. The CSE technique utilizes fuzzy logic to derive values obtained from a checklist of 26 physical and human parameters. The methodology enables the calculation of an evaluation index (D), which categorizes the scenic values of coastal sites into five distinct classes. Using this technique, coastal scenic evaluations were carried out at 34 selected sites on the Western Black Sea coast of Turkey. Based on the calculated D values, a five-class differentiation was obtained for the selected sites, to provide baseline information for any envisaged subsequent management plans for these areas.     

Physical determinants of intertidal communities on dissipative beaches: Implications of sea-level rise

Sea-level rise is likely to cause significant changes in the morphodynamic state of beaches in the higher latitudes, resulting in steeper beaches with larger particle sizes. These physical changes have implications for beach invertebrate communities, which are determined largely by sediment particle size, and hence for ecosystem function. Previous studies have explored the relationships between invertebrate communities and environmental variables such as particle size, beach slope and exposure to wave action, and often these physical variables can be integrated in various indices of morphodynamic state. Most of these studies incorporated a full range of beach types that included wave-dominated surf beaches, where the wave action is harsh enough to enable reliable estimates of breaker height, a parameter included in several of the indices, and concluded that more dissipative beaches with gentler slopes and finer particle sizes often support a higher number of species and greater abundance than more reflective beaches. Whether these predictions remain valid for less wave-dominated beaches, where breaker height is more difficult to determine, is uncertain. In the present study, the abundance of meio- and macrofauna was quantified across a range of beaches in the UK, which are generally towards the lower energy end of the morphodynamic gradient, and their relationships with beach physical properties explored. No significant relationships were found between abundance and the standard morphodynamic indices, but significant relationships were found for both macro- and meiofaunal abundance when these indices were combined with an exposure index (derived from velocity, direction, duration and the effective fetch). All the relationships identified between abundance and combined morphodynamic indices indicated a higher abundance of both macro- and meiofauna on the more dissipative beaches. The reverse was however found for species richness. If predictions that accelerated sea-level rise will move beaches towards a more reflective morphodynamic state are correct, this could lead to declines in the abundance of meio- and macrofauna, with potential adverse consequences for ecosystem functioning.     

GIS-based assessment of landslide susceptibility on the base of the Weights-of-Evidence model

The major scope of the study is the assessment of landslide susceptibility of Flysch areas including the Penninic Klippen in the Vienna Forest (Lower Austria) by means of Geographical Information System (GIS)-based modelling. A statistical/probabilistic method, referred to as Weights-of-Evidence (WofE), is applied in a GIS environment in order to derive quantitative spatial information on the predisposition to landslides. While previous research in this area concentrated on local geomorphological, pedological and slope stability analyses, the present study is carried out at a regional level. The results of the modelling emphasise the relevance of clay shale zones within the Flysch formations for the occurrence of landslides. Moreover, the distribution of mass movements is closely connected to the fault system and nappe boundaries. An increased frequency of landslides is observed in the proximity to drainage lines, which can change to torrential conditions after heavy rainfall. Furthermore, landslide susceptibility is enhanced on N-W facing slopes, which are exposed to the prevailing direction of wind and rainfall. Both of the latter geofactors indirectly show the major importance of the hydrological conditions, in particular, of precipitation and surface runoff, for the occurrence of mass movements in the study area. Model performance was checked with an independent validation set of landslides, which are not used in the model. An area of 15% of the susceptibility map, classified as highly susceptible, “predicted” 40% of the landslides.     

Pressure and temperature dependence of cation distribution in Mg-Mn olivine

Synthetic (Mg_0.51, Mn_0.49)₂SiO₄ olivine samples are heat-treated at three different pressures; 0, 8 and 12 GPa, all at the same temperature (～500° C). X-ray structure analyses on these single crystals are made in order to see the pressure effect on cation distribution. The intersite distribution coefficient of Mg and Mn in M1 and M2 sites, K _D = (Mn/Mg) _M1/(Mn/Mg) _M2, of these samples are 0.192 (0 GPa), 0.246 (8 GPa) and 0.281 (12 GPa), indicating cationic disordering with pressure. The small differences of cell dimensions between these samples are determined by powder X-ray diffraction. Cell dimensions b and c decrease, whereas a increases with pressure of equilibration. Cell volume decreases with pressure as a result of a large contraction of the b cell dimension. The effect of pressure on the free energy of the cation exchange reaction is evaluated by the observed relation between the cell volume and the site occupancy numbers. The magnitude of the pressure effect on cation distribution is only a fifth of that predicted from the observed change in volume combined with thermodynamic theory. This phenomenon is attributed to nonideality in this solid solution, and nonideal parameters are required to describe cation distribution determined in the present and previous experiments. We use a five-parameter equation to specify the cationic equilibrium on the basic of thermodynamic theory. It includes one energy parameter of ideal mixing, two parameters for nonideal effects, one volume parameter, and one thermal parameter originated from the lattice vibrational energy. The present data combined with some of the existing data are used to determine the five parameters, and the cation distribution in Mg-Mn olivine is described as a function of temperature, pressure, and composition. The basic framework of describing the cationic behavior in olivine-type mineral is worked out, although the result is preliminary: each of the determined parameters is not accurate enough to enable us to make a reliable prediction.     

Structural change of GeO2 under pressure

Pressure-induced amorphization of α-quartz type GeO₂ was studied with a newly developed X-ray diffraction system which consists of a 4-circle goniometer and a curved position sensitive detector. Single-crystal diffraction was measured under pressurs up to 7.3 GPa at room temperature in order to investigate pretransitional phenomena. Diffraction intensity and line width of the diffraction profiles showed no remarkable change up to 5.9 GPa. However, no sharp diffraction line was observed at pressures over 6.5 GPa. The bulk modulus at 0.1 MPa and its pressure derivative of α-quartz type GeO₂ were determined to be K _T =32.8(3.3) GPa and K′ _T =6.0(2.0), respectively. In situ microscopic observations of the amorphization transformation was also performed. The large volume change due to amorphization was observed and estimated to be about 10%.     

Depositional mechanics of turbulent nuées ardentes (surges) from their grain sizes

The ability of turbulent nuées ardentes (surges) to transport coarse pyroclasts has been questioned on the basis that settling velocities of coarse fragments in the deposits are much too high for them to have been supported by turbulence in a dilute gas suspension. A computer model is used to evaluate the settling velocity of pyroclasts in suspensions of varying concentration and temperature. Since suspension of grains in low-concentration surges occurs if the shear velocity exceeds the settling velocity, the shear velocities related to the 16th and 84th percentiles, and the mean of the grain-size distribution are compared in surge deposits of the Vulsini, with the shear velocity necessary to move the coarsest grain on the bed surface (the Shields criterion). The results show that the settling velocities do not vary significantly in gaseous suspensions having volume concentrations lower than 15%, and that an increase in concentration to 25% is not sufficient to decrease the settling velocity of the coarser fraction, if it represents flow shear velocity. It is shown that the settling velocity of the mean grain size (M _z ) best depicts the shear velocity of a dilute turbulent suspension. Applying the results to the May 1902 paroxysmal nuées ardentes of Mount Pelée shows that the estimated mean velocities are well within the observed velocities, and sufficient to support all the clasts in dilute, turbulent suspensions.     

Element Mobility During Incipient Granulite Formation at Kabbaldurga, Southern India

At Kabbaldurga, infiltration of carbonic fluids along a systemof ductile shears and foliation planes has led to partial transformationof Archaean grey biotite–hornblende gneiss to coarse-grainedmassive charnockite at about 2.5 b.y. ago. The dehydration ofthe gneiss assemblage was induced by a marked metasomatic changeof the reacting system from granodioritic to granitic, and obviouslytook place under conditions of an open system at 700–750?C and 5–7 kb. Extensive replacement of plagioclase (An_16–30)by K-feldspar through Na, Ca–K exchange reactions withthe ascending carbonic fluids led to strong enrichment in K,Rb, Ba, and SiO₂, and to a depletion in Ca. Progressive dissolutionof hornblende, biotite, magnetite, and the accessory mineralsapatite and zircon resulted in a marked depletion in Fe, Mg,Ti, Zn, V, P, and Zr. Most important is the recognition of REEmobility: with advancing charnockitization, the moderately fractionatedREE distribution patterns of the grey gneisses (La_N270; La_N/Yb_N= 5–20; Eu_N27; Eu/Eu^* = 0.6–0.3) give way to stronglyfractionated REE patterns with a positive Eu-anomaly (La_N200;La_N/Yb_N = 20–80; Eu_N22; Eu/Eu^* = 0.6–1.8). The systematicdepletion especially in the HREE is due to the progressive dissolutionof zircon, apatite (and monazite), which strongly concentratethe REE. Stable isotope data (¹⁸O of 6.9–8.0 per mille for gneissesand charnockites; ¹³C of –8.5 and –6.5 per millefor late carbonate) indicate a magmatogenic source for the carbonicfluids. In contrast to the currently favoured derivation ofcarbonic fluids by decarbonation of the upper mantle or degassingof underplated basaltic intrusions, it is discussed here thatabundant fluid inclusions in lower crustal charnockites providedan extensive reservoir of ‘fossil’ carbonic fluids.Shear deformation has tapped this reservoir and generated thechannel-ways for fluid ascent. Charnockitization of the Kabbaldurgatypethus appears to be a metasomatic process which is tectonicallycontrolled and restricted to the crustal level of the amphiboliteto granulite transition.