Diopatra neapolitana and Diopatra marocensis from the Portuguese coast: Morphological and genetic comparison

This paper reports the presence of Diopatra marocensis in European waters, for which Diopatra neapolitana was the only species recognized until recently. Both species coexist in transitional waters, where D. marocensis may be mistaken for young specimens of D. neapolitana. The population of D. marocensis studied in the coastal shelf can be traced back to 1997 and is increasing in density, apparently benefiting from a local anthropogenic organic enrichment source.     

An isopycnal view of the Nordic Seas hydrography with focus on properties of the Lofoten Basin

Few basins in the world exhibit such a wide range of water properties as those of the Nordic Seas with cold freshwaters from the Arctic in the western basins and warm saline waters from the Atlantic in the eastern basins. In this study we present a 50-year hydrographic climatology of the Nordic Seas in terms of depth and temperature patterns on four upper ocean specific volume anomaly surfaces. This approach allows us to better distinguish between change due to variations along such surfaces and change due to depth variations of the stratified water column. Depth variations indicate changes in the mass field while property variations along isopycnals give insight into isopycnal advection and mixing, as well as diapycnal processes. We find that the warmest waters on each surface are found in the north, close to where the isopycnal outcrops, a clear indication of downward mixing of the warmer, more saline waters on shallower isopycnals due to convective cooling at the surface. These saline waters come from the Norwegian Atlantic Slope Current by means of a very high level of eddy activity in the Lofoten Basin.The isopycnal analyses further show that the principal water mass boundary between the waters of Arctic origin in the west and Atlantic waters in the east aligns quite tightly with the Jan Mayen, Mohn, Knipovich Ridge system suggesting little cross-ridge exchange. Instead, the main routes of exchange between the eastern and western basins appear to be limited to the northern and southern ends of ridge system: Atlantic waters into the Greenland Sea in the Fram St and Artic waters into the southern Norwegian Sea just north of the Iceland-Faroe Ridge.Analysis of a representative isopycnal in the main pycnocline shows it to be stable over time with only small variations with season (except where it outcrops in winter in the Greenland and Iceland Seas). However, two very cold winters, 1968–1969, led to greater than average heat losses across the entire Lofoten Basin that eroded away much of the Lofoten eddy and induced the greatest temperature anomaly in the entire 50-year record. Interannual variations in isopycnal layer temperature correlate with the NAO index such that waters in the Iceland Sea become warmer than average with warming air temperatures and conversely in the Lofoten Basin.     

Malleable disc base for direct infiltration measurements using the tension infiltrometry technique

The correct use of the tension disc infiltrometer requires the membrane of the disc base to be completely in contact with the soil surface. To achieve this contact, a thick layer of sand is commonly placed between the soil surface and the disc base. This paper presents an alternative disc (M_DB), which, by incorporating a malleable membrane, allows direct infiltration measurements without using a contact sand layer. Infiltration curves obtained with this new design in a soil under three different tillage management treatments were compared with the corresponding curves obtained with a conventional disc (C_DB) that uses a contact sand layer. The cumulative infiltration curves measured with C_DB were analysed by the differentiated linearization (DL) method, and the corresponding curves obtained with M_DB were analysed using both the DL and the cumulative linearization (CL) models. The values of hydraulic conductivity (K₀) and sorptivity (S₀) estimated with C_DB were also compared with those obtained with M_DB. Finally, the cumulative infiltration curves measured with C_DB and M_DB were compared with the corresponding modelled function for the respective K₀ and S₀ values calculated with the CL and DL models. The results show that, compared with C_DB without a contact sand layer, M_DB allows complete soil surface wetting even when non‐smoothed soil surfaces are used. The C_DB, which yielded average K₀ values 18% lower than those estimated with M_DB, gave the highest values of standard error for the hydraulic parameters calculated. Furthermore, the subjective method employed in the C_DB‐DL technique, which requires the first points of the differential infiltration line corresponding to the sand layer to be manually removed, introduces additional uncertainties in estimating S₀ and K₀. Comparison between the modelled and measured infiltration curves demonstrates that the DL or CL methods applied to M_DB gave excellent estimates of S₀ and K₀. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

3D Marchenko applications: implementation and examples

We implement the 3D Marchenko equations to retrieve responses to virtual sources inside the subsurface. For this, we require reflection data at the surface of the Earth that contain no free-surface multiples and are densely sampled in space. The required 3D reflection data volume is very large and solving the Marchenko equations requires a significant amount of computational cost. To limit the cost, we apply floating point compression to the reflection data to reduce their volume and the loading time from disk. We apply the Marchenko implementation to numerical reflection data to retrieve accurate Green's functions inside the medium and use these reflection data to apply imaging. This requires the simulation of many virtual source points, which we circumvent using virtual plane-wave sources instead of virtual point sources. Through this method, we retrieve the angle-dependent response of a source from a depth level rather than of a point. We use these responses to obtain angle-dependent structural images of the subsurface, free of contamination from wrongly imaged internal multiples. These images have less lateral resolution than those obtained using virtual point sources, but are more efficiently retrieved.     

Archaean Kuru-Vaara eclogites in the northern Belomorian Province,Fennoscandian Shield: crustal architecture,timing, and tectonic implications

This paper addresses the relationships between relic amphibole-eclogite facies (AE) eclogites and their host units, Archaean amphibolites, enveloped by Archaean tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) gneisses, in the Kuru-Vaara study area in the northern Belomorian Province. According to observational constraints, the crystallization of the relic peak omphacite + Mg-garnet ± kyanite assemblage and the subsequent replacement of omphacite by clinopyroxene–plagioclase symplectite occurred before the earliest deformational, metamorphic, and migmatization events that are recorded in the amphibolites. The amphibolites and their TTG hosts have a shared deformational and metamorphic history that is composed of the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic periods. This history favours the conclusion that the AE metamorphism recorded in the relic eclogites within the amphibolites occurred during the Mesoarchaean to Neoarchaean periods. The deformation and metamorphism of the amphibolite facies of the second period resulted from the Lapland–Kola collisional orogeny at 1.91–1.93 Ga, which led to eclogite–high-pressure granulite (E–HPG) facies conditions in the lowermost portions of the over-thickened crust in Belomorian Province (the southwestern foreland of the Lapland–Kola collisional orogen). The Palaeoproterozoic E–HPG overprint was reported from the Palaeoproterozoic Gridino mafic dikes. Although the ages of the oldest low Th/U zircons are close to the time of the Lapland–Kola collision, the low Th/U 1.9–1.8 Ga zircons reflect a zircon response to regional fluid infiltration in the eclogites during slow exhumation following the Lapland–Kola orogeny and do not record any metamorphic event. Contrary to the Palaeoproterozoic E–HPG overprint, the areal occurrence of the 2.7–2.8 Ga AE eclogites with mid-ocean ridge basalt-like chemistry and their paragenetic link with the TTG gneisses suggest a tectonic regime that involves subduction. This research favours concepts suggesting that the modern-style plate tectonics has operated in some places, at least since the late Mesoarchaean.     

Micrometeorological Conditions for Dust-Devil Occurrence in the Atacama Desert

We report on field observations in January 2009 (austral summer) of atmospheric dust devils in the northern part of the Atacama Desert in South America (≈20^◦S). An extremely high level of dust-devil activity over the study site has been observed, dependent on local meteorological conditions. We found a high correlation between the dust-devil frequency of occurrence and the Obukhov length scale, L, calculated from meteorological gradient measurements, with a clear tendency for this frequency to increase with decreasing −L. The upper threshold values of −L ≈ 20–30 m, and the 2-m mean wind speed, V ₂ ≈ 8m s⁻¹, for dust-devil occurrence have been found, but the minimal V ₂ threshold was not observed. Parallel routine meteorological measurements enabled us to calculate the main constituents of the surface energy balance, to obtain direct estimates of the surface albedo (α ≈ 0.21 at the solar noon) and to summarize the local conditions.     

Earthquake deformation in the northwestern Sierras Pampeanas of Argentina based on seismic waveform modelling

We investigate the seismic properties of modern crustal seismicity in the northwestern Sierras Pampeanas of the Andean retroarc region of Argentina. We modelled the complete regional seismic broadband waveforms of two crustal earthquakes that occurred in the Sierra de Velasco on 28 May 2002 and in the Sierra de Ambato on 7 September 2004. For each earthquake we obtained the seismic moment tensor inversion (SMTI) and tested for its focal depth. Our results indicate mainly thrust focal mechanism solutions of magnitudes M_w 5.8 and 6.2 and focal depths of 10 and 8 km, respectively. These results represent the larger seismicity and shallower focal depths in the last 100 years in this region. The SMTI 2002 and 2004 solutions are consistent with previous determinations for crustal seismicity in this region that also used seismic waveform modelling. Taken together, the results for crustal seismicity of magnitudes ≥5.0 in the last 30 years are consistent with an average P-axis horizontally oriented by an azimuth of 125° and T-axis orientation of azimuth 241° and plunge 58°. This modern crustal seismicity and the historical earthquakes are associated with two active reverse faulting systems of opposite vergences bounding the eastern margin of the Sierra de Velasco in the south and the southwestern margin of the Sierra de Ambato in the north. Strain recorded by focal mechanisms of the larger seismicity is very consistent over this region and is in good agreement with neotectonic activity during the last 11,000 years by Costa (2008) and Casa et al. (in press); this shows that the dominant deformation in this part of the Sierras Pampeanas is mainly controlled by contraction. Seismic deformation related to propagation of thrusts and long-lived shear zones of this area permit to disregard previous proposals, which suggested an extensional or sinistral regime for the geomorphic evolution since Pleistocene.     

Distribution, magnitude and characterization of the toxicity of Ukrainian estuarine sediments

During the Soviet era, Ukraine was an important industrial and agricultural region of the Soviet Union. This industrial and agricultural activity resulted in contamination of Ukraine’s estuaries with legacy anthropogenic pollutants. Investigations on the toxicological effects of this estuarine contamination have been limited. For this research, we measured the toxicity of contaminated sediments from four Ukrainian estuaries to several aquatic organisms over 3 years. Sediment chemical analyses and whole sediment toxicity identification evaluations (TIEs) were also performed to determine the classes of contaminants contributing to toxicity. Toxic sediments were observed in several of the Ukrainian estuaries and chemical analyses of the sediments demonstrated anthropogenic contaminants were widely distributed. Contaminants were also detected in macrobenthic organisms collected from the sediments. Several lines of evidence, including TIEs, indicated hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) were contributing substantially to observed toxicity. This information can guide environmental managers to prioritize portions of the estuaries requiring remediation.