A factor analytic approach to the identification of geomorphic processes from soil particle size characteristics

Q-mode factor analysis of soil particle size data is used to identify the three dominant geomorphic processes responsible for the spatial variability of particle size in a catchment on the basaltic Darling Downs landsurface. Three factors are shown to account for 95 per cent of the textural variability of a suite of transported and sedentary materials. The spatial characteristics of groups of samples associated with the three factors suggests that the three factors are associated with suspended sediment transport and deposition, weathering, and bedload transport and deposition respectively. These interpretations are supported by the detailed graphical analysis of the cumulative particle size curves. The spatially variable influence of the three factors and related processes is given by their respective factor loadings which are mappable for the surface layer materials.     

A Three-year Study of Nonmethane Hydrocarbons in Surface Air over Saxony (Germany)

Measurements of the nonmethane hydrocarbon (NMHC) mixing ratio over a period of 42 months were carried out for the first time in the air of a research station situated in the former East Germany during the SANA project. Apart from four species, all other species analysed showed a statistically significant downward trend at the 95% significance level. The decrease of the hydrocarbon concentrations was superimposed by seasonal variations. A drop of about 40% of the annual mean values from 1993 to 1995 was observed. This development reflects the dramatic changes in traffic, industry, power economy, and agriculture in Saxony after the reunification of Germany. The remove of two-stroke engined cars is reflected in NMHC mixing ratio changes, as is the removal of obsolete chemical plants. Generally it was not possible to relate causes and effects of a single event, but in some cases major changes in concentrations and NMHC ratios occurred coincidentally with the disappearance of a specific emission source.     

Crack nucleation in saturated porous media

Crack nucleation has been the subject of important contributions in the last two last decades. However, it seems that few attention has been granted to the case of saturated porous media. This is the question addressed in the present paper which is devoted to nucleation in traction mode. From a physical point of view, nucleation is a sudden phenomenon, so that the material response is both adiabatic and undrained. In the spirit of the variational approach, the nucleated crack is viewed as the final state of a region of space in which the material undergoes a full damage process. In traction mode, the opening of a saturated crack in undrained condition induces a drop of fluid pressure. In case of low fluid compressibility, the presence of the fluid delays the brittle failure usually associated with nucleation, as long as the fluid pressure remains above the saturation vapor pressure. Nucleation is therefore possible only if a partial vaporization of the fluid takes place.     

Basalt from Louisiana continental shelf

A basalt outcrop was discovered on Alderdice Bank on the outer Louisiana continental shelf. The basalt shows an age of 76.8 ± 3.3 × 10⁶ years. Textural, mineralogical, and chemical characteristics indicate that it is an alkali basalt of shallow intrusive origin. It was probably brought to the seafloor by salt tectonics and exposed due to salt dissolution.An accurate account of the Mesozoic geologic history of the Gulf of Mexico must consider the apparent consanguinity of all magmatic rocks of the region, including the Alderdice Bank basalt, and the apparent basinward decrease in age of magmatic activities.     

Protecting small cetaceans from coastal development: Impact assessment and mitigation experience in Hong Kong

Since the early 1990s, there has been an active program in Hong Kong to manage and protect local populations of small cetaceans from the effects of massive development in the area. This paper reviews the progress that has been made. Only two species regularly occur there: the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and the finless porpoise. Because most development has occurred in the western waters of Hong Kong, where generally only the humpback dolphin occurs, most of the work has been conducted on that species. Development of large infrastructure projects (such as airports, bridges, expressways, power plants, fuel facilities, and container ports) in Hong Kong often results in land reclamation, dredging and dumping of spoils, pipe and cable laying, percussive and bored piling work, underwater blasting, large increases in vessel traffic, and other impacts. Several mitigation measures have been used with varying levels of success, including bubble curtains/jackets, exclusion zones, ramping up of piling hammers, acoustic decoupling of noisy equipment, vessel speed limits, no-dumping policies, and silt curtains. Baseline, construction-phase, and operational-phase cetacean monitoring is often conducted to evaluate the success of conservation measures put into place. The Environmental Impact Assessment process in Hong Kong has involved cetaceans to a degree perhaps higher than anywhere else in the world, and much can be learned from studying the successes and failures of this situation.     

Burial and degradation of organic carbon in Louisiana shelf/slope sediments

The primary focus of this paper is to better understand carbon burial on the Louisiana continental margin using spatial scales that covered various shelf depositional areas far-field and near-field (sediment and organic carbon inputs relative to river mouth proximity) and covering a variety of sedimentation rates. Box-cores samples were collected in July 2003; cores were collected along two depositional transects extending westward and southward from the Southwest Pass (SW Pass). A key difference between the two transects sampled in this study was the greater occurrence of mobile muds derived from spillover from shallower regions along the westward 50 m isobaths. The dominant mechanism for mixing in the surface active zone (SAZ) on the inner Louisiana shelf was due to physical, not biological, forces. Burial efficiencies for organic carbon (57.2–91.5%) and total nitrogen (44.2–86.9%) ranged widely across all shelf stations. Lower burial efficiencies for bulk organic carbon, total nitrogen, and pigment biomarkers were associated with mobile muds west of Southwest Pass. Chlorophyll a concentrations were significantly higher than pheopigments at depth at the Mississippi River and Southwest Pass stations, making up 40.4 and 77.4% of total pigment concentrations in the (SAZ) and 46.2 and 63.2% in the accumulation zone (AZ), respectively. These results are in agreement with earlier plant pigment studies which showed that a large fraction of the phytodetritus delivered to the inner shelf was derived from coastal and river diatoms. The amount of lignin preserved with depth decreased with increasing residence time in the SAZ and diagenetic zone (DZ) along the canyon transect but not along the western transect. Trends for lignin concentration followed previously identified surface sediment trends indicating overall lower burial of refractory terrestrial material at depth with greater distance offshore.     

Upwelling in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea: Atmospheric forcing and local versus non-local response

The spin up and relaxation of an autumn upwelling event on the Beaufort slope is investigated using a combination of oceanic and atmospheric data and numerical models. The event occurred in November 2002 and was driven by an Aleutian low storm. The wind field was strongly influenced by the pack-ice distribution, resulting in enhanced winds over the open water of the Chukchi Sea. Flow distortion due to the Brooks mountain range was also evident. Mooring observations east of Barrow Canyon show that the Beaufort shelfbreak jet reversed to the west under strong easterly winds, followed by upwelling of Atlantic Water onto the shelf. After the winds subsided a deep eastward jet of Atlantic Water developed, centered at 250 m depth. An idealized numerical model reproduces these results and suggests that the oceanic response to the local winds is modulated by a propagating signal from the western edge of the storm. The disparity in wave speeds between the sea surface height signal—traveling at the fast barotropic shelf wave speed—versus the interior density signal—traveling at the slow baroclinic wave speed—leads to the deep eastward jet. The broad-scale response to the storm over the Chukchi Sea is investigated using a regional numerical model. The strong gradient in windspeed at the ice edge results in convergence of the offshore Ekman transport, leading to the establishment of an anti-cyclonic gyre in the northern Chukchi Sea. Accordingly, the Chukchi shelfbreak jet accelerates to the east into the wind during the storm, and no upwelling occurs west of Barrow Canyon. Hence the storm response is fundamentally different on the Beaufort slope (upwelling) versus the Chukchi slope (no upwelling). The regional numerical model results are supported by additional mooring data in the Chukchi Sea.     

Integrating Uncertainty Theories with GIS for Modeling Coastal Hazards of Climate Change

Prediction of coastal hazards due to climate change is fraught with uncertainty that stems from complexity of coastal systems, estimation of sea level rise, and limitation of available data. In-depth research on coastal modeling is hampered by lack of techniques for handling uncertainty, and the available commercial geographical information systems (GIS) packages have only limited capability of handling uncertain information. Therefore, integrating uncertainty theory with GIS is of practical and theoretical significance. This article presents a GIS-based model that integrates an existing predictive model using a differential approach, random simulation, and fuzzy set theory for predicting geomorphic hazards subject to uncertainty. Coastal hazard is modeled as the combined effects of sea-level induced recession and storm erosion, using grid modeling techniques. The method is described with a case study of Fingal Bay Beach, SE Australia, for which predicted responses to an IPCC standard sea-level rise of 0.86 m and superimposed storm erosion averaged 12 m and 90 m, respectively, with analysis of uncertainty yielding maximum of 52 m and 120 m, respectively. Paradoxically, output uncertainty reduces slightly with simulated increase in random error in the digital elevation model (DEM). This trend implies that the magnitude of modeled uncertainty is not necessarily increased with the uncertainties in the input parameters. Built as a generic tool, the model can be used not only to predict different scenarios of coastal hazard under uncertainties for coastal management, but is also applicable to other fields that involve predictive modeling under uncertainty.