Mineralogical signatures and sources of recent sediment in a large tropical lake

Two lead-210 (²¹⁰Pb) dated sediment cores from Chapala Lake were studied to identify the mineral composition of the sediments and to discuss its relation with trace metals. Minerals and trace metals reflected the domain of volcanic rocks (i.e. basalts, rhyolite and andesite) that characterize Chapala Lake and the Lerma River watershed. Redundancy analyses (RDA) were used to identify the sedimentary variables (magnetic susceptibility, organic matter, sand content, and mineral composition) that could be related to elemental composition. Despite the distance between the two cores (7.3 km) and hydrodynamic circulation the RDA showed that the main mechanism that controls the input of mineral species, and, therefore, element distributions in the lacustrine sediment of Chapala Lake, is related to the weathering of volcanic rocks in the Lerma-Chapala watershed, the consequent runoff and transport of fine grained catchment materials, and later in-lake processes. These findings highlight the importance of controlling watershed erosion to contribute to the improvement of the environmental quality of the lake.     

New application of open source data and Rock Engineering System for debris flow susceptibility analysis

This research describes a quantitative,rapid,and low-cost methodology for debris flow susceptibility evaluation at the basin scale using open-access data and ge...     

Stratigraphic evolution of the Triassic–Jurassic succession in the Western Southern Alps (Italy): the record of the two-stage rifting on the distal passive margin of Adria

The Triassic–Lower Jurassic succession of the Southern Alps is characterized by rapid thickness changes, from an average of about 5000 m east of Lago Maggiore to about 500 m in the Western Southern Alps. The stratigraphy reflects the Triassic evolution of the Tethyan Gulf and the Early Jurassic rifting responsible for the Middle Jurassic break‐up of Adria from Europe. The succession of the Western Southern Alps starts with Lower Permian volcanics directly covered by Anisian sandstones. The top of the overlying Ladinian dolostones (300 m) records subaerial exposure and karstification. Locally (Gozzano), Upper Sinemurian sediments cover the Permian volcanics, documenting pre‐Sinemurian erosion. New biostratigraphic data indicate a latest Pliensbachian–Toarcian age for the Jurassic synrift deposits that unconformably cover Ladinian or Sinemurian sediments. Therefore, in the Western Southern Alps, the major rifting stage that directly evolved into the opening of the Penninic Ocean began in the latest Pliensbachian–Toarcian. New data allowed us to refine the evolution of the two previously recognized Jurassic extensional events in the Southern Alps. The youngest extensional event (Western Southern Alps) occurred as tectonic activity decreased in the Lombardy Basin. During the Sinemurian the Gozzano high represents the western shoulder of a rift basin located to the east (Lombardy). This evolution documents a transition from diffuse early rifting (Late Hettangian–Sinemurian), controlled by older discontinuities, to rifting focused along a rift valley close to the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary. This younger rift bridges the gap between the Hettangian–Sinemurian diffuse rifting and the Callovian–Bathonian break‐up. The late Pliensbachian–Toarcian rift, which eventually lead to continental break‐up, is interpreted as the major extensional episode in the evolution of the passive margin of Adria. The transition from diffuse to focused extension in the Southern Alps is comparable to the evolution of the Central Austroalpine during the Early Jurassic and of the Central and Northern Atlantic margins.     

Potential vorticity estimates of absolute velocities on the Ross Sea shelf

We analyze absolute velocities on the continental shelf off Cape Adare, in the western sector of the Ross Sea (Antarctica). Such a velocity field is here inferred by using a novel inverse method of absolute velocity determination, namely the tracer PV method, related to potential vorticities of temperature and salinity. This theoretical choice allows us to directly use in situ temperature and salinity data. Moreover, it avoids high-order derivatives, which can give large uncertainties that affect estimates made using previous approaches. The tracer PV method also allows us to separately estimate the steady and non-diffusive component and the unsteady and diffusive components of the flow. The western sector of the Ross Sea is characterized by a surface layer of Antarctic Surface Water over layers of Low Salinity Shelf Water and High Salinity Shelf Water, flowing northward with average velocities ～6–7 cm/s. At ～200 m depth an intrusion of warmer and saltier Circumpolar Deep Water is also evident in our data. The steady absolute velocities are in good agreement with those obtained from the classical Margules equation, in particular regarding the northward flux of the High Salinity Shelf Water. Furthermore, velocities due to diffusive processes and mesoscale activity are discussed. Finally, a steady “thermal” approximation is discussed; it allows for a qualitative check of the results by means of temperature horizontal sections only.     

Grains accretion processes in a protoplanetary nebula: Effects of the presence of liquid drops

The temporal behaviour of the mass distribution function of iron solid and/or liquid grains is studied in the inner regions of the solar nebula during its gravitational collapse. At distances from the centre of the nebula equal to 0.2 AU, 0.5 AU and 0.7 AU a mass limit for the accretionary process equal, respectively, to 17.6 g, 5.2 g and 3×10^–3 g is obtained in a reasonable time interval. The importance of a drop phase during the growth of the particles and of the sedimentation of the grains during the disk phase is underlined.     

Seismic analysis of the Asinelli Tower and earthquakes in Bologna

The existence of a valuable historical heritage of the Medieval age in Bologna has motivated a deeper study on the seismic behaviour of the Asinelli Tower, which, beyond being the town symbol, has a structural configuration prone to seismic damage. Accordingly, in the present paper, the seismicity of Bologna is reviewed and a synthesis of the damage observed in the urban area, based on an accurate historical research, is given, with the objective of evaluating the behavior of the Asinelli Tower within the framework of the effects localized in the municipality. An assessment of the tower's stability with respect to compatible seismic events, at least qualitatively, with the region seismicity is then carried out by means of a non-linear dynamic analysis on a simplified model.     

Grains accretion processes in a protoplanetary nebula: Conducting and insulating materials

In a previous work the authors estimated cross-sections for constructive and destructive collisions (‘constructive’ and ‘destructive’ cross-sections) related to silica grains embedded in a protoplanetary nebula. The outstanding point of the problem has induced the authors to examine more closely the physical conditions in which the accretion processes occur, and their dependence on the materials, by which the particles are probably made. In this paper the interaction processes among conducting grains (iron, graphite) and among the insulating (silica) ones have been considered. The following results have been obtained: (1) insulating grains have smaller constructive crossections than conducting; and (2) conducting grains show very large cross-sections for masses up to about 10^?9 g.     

Impact of Monthly Radioxenon Source Time-Resolution on Atmospheric Concentration Predictions

The general characterisation of the global radioxenon background is of interest for the verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Since the major background sources are only a few isotope production facilities, their source term has an emphasized influence on the worldwide monitoring process of radioxenon. In this work, two different datasets of source terms are applied through atmospheric transport modelling, to estimate the concentration at two radioxenon detection stations in Germany and Sweden. One dataset relies on estimated average annual emissions; the other includes monthly resolved measurements from an isotope production facility in Fleurus, Belgium. The quality of the estimations is then validated by comparing them to the radioxenon concentrations that have been sampled at two monitoring stations over the course of 1 year.     

Inversion of potential field data using the structural index as weighting function rate decay

Nonparametric inverse methods provide a general framework for solving potential‐field problems. The use of weighted norms leads to a general regularization problem of Tikhonov form. We present an alternative procedure to estimate the source susceptibility distribution from potential field measurements exploiting inversion methods by means of a flexible depth‐weighting function in the Tikhonov formulation. Our approach improves the formulation proposed by Li and Oldenburg (1996, 1998) , differing significantly in the definition of the depth‐weighting function. In our formalism the depth weighting function is associated not to the field decay of a single block (which can be representative of just a part of the source) but to the field decay of the whole source, thus implying that the data inversion is independent on the cell shape. So, in our procedure, the depth‐weighting function is not given with a fixed exponent but with the structural index N of the source as the exponent. Differently than previous methods, our choice gives a substantial objectivity to the form of the depth‐weighting function and to the consequent solutions. The allowed values for the exponent of the depth‐weighting function depend on the range of N for sources: 0 ≤N≤ 3 (magnetic case). The analysis regarding the cases of simple sources such as dipoles, dipole lines, dykes or contacts, validate our hypothesis. The study of a complex synthetic case also proves that the depth‐weighting decay cannot be necessarily assumed as equal to 3. Moreover it should not be kept constant for multi‐source models but should instead depend on the structural indices of the different sources. In this way we are able to successfully invert the magnetic data of the Vulture area, Southern Italy. An original aspect of the proposed inversion scheme is that it brings an explicit link between two widely used types of interpretation methods, namely those assuming homogeneous fields, such as Euler deconvolution or depth from extreme points transformation and the inversion under the Tikhonov‐form including a depth‐weighting function. The availability of further constraints, from drillings or known geology, will definitely improve the quality of the solution.     

Land Changes Fostering Atlantic Forest Transition in Brazil: Evidence from the Paraíba Valley

The Atlantic Forest biome has only 13 percent of its pristine vegetation cover left. This article analyzes the consequences of land changes on forest cover in the Paraíba Valley, São Paulo state, Brazil, from 1985 to 2011. Multitemporal satellite image classifications were carried out to map eight land use and land cover classes. The forest cover increased from 2,696 km² in 1985 to 4,704 km² in 2011, mostly over areas of degraded pastures. The highest rates of afforestation were observed within protected areas around eucalyptus plantations. On the other hand, deforestation processes were concentrated on areas covered by secondary forests. Socioeconomic changes taking place in particular Brazilian settings, such as industrialization and agricultural modernization, allied to the Paraíba Valley's natural biophysical constraints for agricultural production, have led the region to experience a remarkable case of forest transition.