Water balance variability in the confined Aba’ala limestone graben at the western margin of the Danakil depression,northern Ethiopia

Marginal grabens are major development corridors in Ethiopia, and need to be understood for proper assessment of the hydrological budget. This study investigates the water balance of the Aba’ala graben (553 km²) in the period 2015–2016 under the challenge of data scarcity. We measured the rainfall and river discharge in order to analyse the runoff components of the graben. The rainfall volume in the Aba’ala graben showed erratic behaviour, which led to rapid flood runoff of the major river into the graben bottom. The average annual inflow and outflow of the graben bottom for the period 2015–2016 amounted to 364 and 254 hm³, respectively. However, flood runoff and evapotranspiration had a marked effect on water availability. Water storage took 36% of the water inflow into the graben bottom. Sustainable water management could reduce the temporal variation of the water storage in Aba’ala graben.     

Holocene environment and subsistence patterns near the Tree Shelter, Red Sea Mountains, Egypt

The Tree Shelter site dates to the Early to Mid-Holocene (8000 to 4900 ¹⁴C yr BP). Present conditions around the site are hyperarid, but charcoal remains indicate less severe aridity at the time of its occupation. The environment around the site then supported a rich wadi vegetation, which allowed hunting during the Epipaleolithic and herding during the Neolithic occupation. Although more favorable than today, the environmental conditions also displayed a desert character and seem to have limited the range of domestic herbivores introduced in the area.     

Interpreting maps through the eyes of expert and novice users

The experiments described in this article combine response time measurements and eye movement data to gain insight into the users' cognitive processes while working with dynamic and interactive maps. Experts and novices participated in a user study with a ‘between user’ design. Twenty screen maps were presented in a random order to each participant, on which he had to execute a visual search. The combined information of the button actions and eye tracker reveals that both user groups showed a similar pattern in the time intervals needed to locate the subsequent names. From this pattern, information about the users' cognitive load could be derived: use of working memory, learning effect and so on. Moreover, the response times also showed that experts were significantly faster in finding the names in the map image. This is further explained by the eye movement metrics: experts had significantly shorter fixations and more fixations per second meaning that they could interpret a larger part of the map in the same amount of time. As a consequence, they could locate objects in the map image more efficiently and thus faster.     

华北克拉通东南缘新元古代凤台组冰期沉积序列及演化

新元古代冰期事件作为一个显著的沉积记录,广泛留存在各个古克拉通。新元古代凤台组肉红色冰碛杂岩仅发育在华北克拉通东南缘,以单一的碳酸盐成分为主要鉴定特征。本文通过细致研究,认为华北克拉通东南缘在新元古代中晚期为陡坡镶边碳酸盐台地环境,受到海洋型冰川作用,形成了凤台组为代表的大陆边缘型冰川沉积地层。冰川运动仅局限于大陆边缘而未引入腹地陆源碎屑,导致凤台组冰碛杂岩中的基质和角砾基本来源于下伏碳酸盐岩地层,并具有冰碛沉积和重力流沉积特征。结合前人的研究资料和成果,凤台组的发育时限为埃迪卡拉纪,可对比关联华北克拉通南缘罗圈组和西缘正目观组,从而在华北克拉通周缘形成了显著的埃迪卡拉纪冰川沉积。另外,凤台组包含多套冰期—间冰期的沉积地层,应指示着次一级的冷暖气候周期,可能记录着埃迪卡拉纪冰期的完整沉积记录。厘清凤台组的沉积序列及演化过程,有利于研究碳酸盐台地在冰期—间冰期的沉积历史,继而完善不同古地理背景下的冰期沉积类型,并补充低纬度地区的冰川作用案例。