Coseismic reactivation of the Samambaia fault, Brazil

Northeastern Brazil is, within the present knowledge of historical and instrumental seismicity, one the most seismic active areas in intraplate South America. Seismic activity in the region has occurred mainly around the Potiguar basin. This seismicity includes earthquake swarms characterized by instrumentally-recorded events ≤ 5.2 m_b and paleoseismic events ≥ 7.0. Our study concentrates in the João Câmara (JC) epicentral area, where an earthquake swarm composed of more than 40,000 aftershocks occurred mainly from 1986 to 1990 along the Samambaia fault; 14 of which had m_b > 4.0 and two of which had 5.1 and 5.0 m_b. We describe and compare this aftershock sequence with the present-day stress field and the tectonic fabric in an attempt to understand fault geometry and local control of seismogenic faulting. Earthquake data indicate that seismicity decreased steadily from 1986 to 1998. We selected 2,746 epicenters, which provided a high-quality and precise dataset. It indicates that the fault trends 37° azimuth, dips 76°–80° to NW, and forms an alignment  27 km long that cuts across the NNE–SSW-trending ductile Precambrian fabric. The depth of these events ranged from  1 km to  9 km. The fault forms an echelon array of three main left-bend segments: one in the northern and two in the southern part of the fault. A low-seismicity zone, which marks a contractional bend, occurs between the northern and southern segments. Focal mechanisms indicate that the area is under an E–W-oriented compression, which led to strike–slip shear along the Samambaia fault with a small normal component. The fault is at 53° to the maximum compression and is severely misoriented for reactivation under the present-day stress field. The seismicity, however, spatially coincides with a brittle fabric composed of quartz veins and silicified-fault zones. We conclude that the Samambaia fault is a discontinuous and reactivated structure marked at the surface by a well-defined brittle fabric, which is associated with silica-rich fluids.     

Geographical location in the information age: from destiny to opportunity?

This article argues for a possibly new significance of geographical location in the information age, a significance amounting to more than mere spatial anchoring, on the one hand, and to less and different than absolute destiny, on the other. Hence, we show a possible change in the significance of geographical location from destiny in the industrial age to potential opportunity in the information age, a transition which applies to geographical units (i.e. cities, regions) and to individuals. First we discuss geographical location as destiny in the industrial age for both geographical entities and individuals. Second, we highlight a transitional period spanning through the 1970s and 1980s during which geographical location lost much of its absolute nature, becoming more of an anchor. Third, we present a conceptual framework for geographical location possibly turning into opportunity in the information age, again for both geographical units and individuals. We demonstrate that this potential opportunity has only partially materialized by individuals in the international use of online shopping, showing that their adoption is wider in North America, and differentiated in Europe. We further demonstrate a partial dissemination of opportunities for cities and regions by focusing on FDI. Finally, in the fourth and concluding section, we briefly discuss pertaining policy issues for the enhancement of locational opportunities.     

Rare earth elements as tracers of sediment contamination by phosphogypsum in the Santos estuary,southern Brazil

In the Cubatão region, southern Brazil, sediments are transported by several rivers from the Serra do Mar Ridge into the Santos estuary. Fertilizer plants have been operating along the margins of one of these rivers (Mogi River) producing a large volume of phosphogypsum, which is stockpiled in nearby areas. Surface sediments of the Mogi River were sampled upstream and downstream in relation to the point where the effluents of the phosphogypsum piles flow into the drainage system. In the vicinity of this point one sediment core was collected. Results show that REE, Ba, Zr and Th concentrations in the non-contaminated sediments are of the same order as those present in the upper continental crust. The contaminated samples present a composition affected by that of the phosphogypsum, marked by a higher concentration of these elements and a stronger degree of REE fractionation. These phosphogypsum characteristics are inherited from the Catalão igneous phosphate ore and were moderately modified by the industrial process of phosphoric acid production. The phosphogypsum signal decreases rapidly downstream, pointing to a limited area of influence of the stacks. The deepest sediments of the core are also free of contamination, representing a time interval prior to the deposition of phosphogypsum wastes on the banks of the estuary.     

Hydrologic response of upland catchments to wildfires

To which extent do wildfires affect runoff production, soil erosion and sediment transport in upland catchments? This transient effect is investigated here by combining data of long term precipitation, sediment yield and wildfire records with a fine resolution spatially distributed modeling approach to flow generation and surface erosion. The model accounts for changes in the structure and properties of soil and vegetation cover by combining the tube-flux approach to topographic watershed partition with a parsimonious parametrization of hydrologic processes. This model is used to predict hydrologic and sediment fluxes for nine small catchments in Saint Gabriel mountains of southern California under control (pre-fire) and altered (post-fire) conditions. Simulation runs using a 45 years record of hourly precipitation show the passage of fire to significantly modify catchment response to storms with a major effect on erosion and flood flows. The probability of occurrence of major floods in the post-fire season is shown to increase up to an order of magnitude under same precipitation conditions. Also, the expected anomaly of sediment yield can increase dramatically the desertification hazard in upland wildfire prone areas. One should further consider the role of firefloods produced by the combined occurrence of wildfires and storms as a fundamental source of non-stationarity in the assessment of hydrologic hazard.     

The KS-transformation in hypercomplex form

In this note the KS-transformation introduced by Kustaanheimo and Stiefel into Celestial Mechanics is formulated in terms of hypercomplex numbers as the product of a quaternion and its antiinvolute. Therefore it represents a particular morphism of the real algebra of quaternions-having for image a three-dimensional real linear subspace-and also anatural generalization of the Levi-Civita transformation. The quaternion matrix of the product leads to the KS-matrix; the bilinear relation and the two identities which play a central role in the KS-theory are easily derived. A suitable quaternion gauge-transformation is given which leads to the well-known fibration of the four-dimensional space. In addition several geometrical interpretations are brought out.     

Secular effects of tidal friction on the planet-satellite systems of the solar system

We separate the tidal evolution of a planet-satellite system with zero eccentricity in two phases:phase 1—from the formation of the system to satellite's corotation (satellite's corotation means that its spin angular velocity equals the orbital angular velocity);phase 2—after satellite's corotation.We study the planet-satellite system during phase 1 with Darwin's graphical method and obtain an upper limit to satellite'sQ which discloses whether or not it is corotating. Moreover we obtain some qualitative information about the future evolution of the corotating satellites.The present work does not give any new result for the Earth-Moon case and for the Neptune-Triton case.     

Arsenic incorporation into FeS2 pyrite and its influence on dissolution: A DFT study

FeS₂ pyrite can incorporate large amounts of arsenic (up to ca. 10 wt%) and hence has a strong impact on the mobility of this toxic metalloid. Focussing on the lowest arsenic concentrations for which the incorporation occurs in solid solution, the substitution mechanisms involved have been investigated by assuming simple incorporation reactions in both oxidising and reducing conditions. The solution energies were calculated by Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and we predict that the formation of AsS dianion groups is the most energetically favourable mechanism. The results also suggest that the presence of arsenic will accelerate the dissolution and thus the generation of acid drainage, when the crystal dissolves in oxidising conditions.     

Oxygen isotope ratios of cellulose-derived phenylglucosazone: An improved paleoclimate indicator of environmental water and relative humidity

Oxygen atoms within fossil wood provide high-resolution records of climate change, particularly for the Quaternary. However, current analysis methods of fossil cellulose do not differentiate between different positions of the oxygen atoms. Here, we propose a refinement to tree-cellulose paleoclimatology modeling, using the cellulose-derived compound phenylglucosazone as the isotopic substrate. Stem samples from trees were collected at northern latitudes as low as 24°37′N and as high as 69°00′N. We extracted stem water and cellulose from each stem sample and analyzed them for their ¹⁸O content. In addition, we derived the cellulose to phenylglucosazone, a compound which lacks the oxygen attached to the second carbon of the cellulose-glucose moieties. Oxygen isotope analysis of phenylglucosazone allowed us to calculate the ¹⁸O content of the oxygen attached to the second carbon of the cellulose-glucose moieties. By way of these analyses, we tested two hypotheses: first, that the ¹⁸O content of the oxygen attached to second carbon will more closely reflect the ¹⁸O content of the stem water, and will not resemble the ¹⁸O content of either cellulose or its derivative phenylglucosazone. Second, tree-ring models that incorporate the variable oxygen isotope fractionation shown here and elsewhere are more accurate than those that do not. Our first hypothesis was rejected on the basis that the oxygen isotope ratios of the oxygen attached to the second carbon of the glucose moieties had a noisy isotopic signal with a large standard deviation and gave the poorest correlation with the oxygen isotope ratios of stem water. Related to this isotopic noise, we observed that the correlation between oxygen isotope ratios of phenylglucosazone with both stem water and relative humidity were higher than those observed for cellulose. Our hypothesis about tree-ring models which account for changes in the oxygen isotopic fractionation during cellulose synthesis was consistent only for the ¹⁸O content of phenylglucosazone. We showed that the tree-ring model based on the ¹⁸O content of phenylglucosazone was an improvement over existing models that are based on whole cellulose. Additionally, this approach may be used in other cellulose based archives such as peat deposits and lacustrine sediments.     

The surface energy balance and the mixing height in urban areas—activities and recommendations of COST-Action 715

The specific problems of determining and simulating the surface energy balance (SEB) and the mixing height (MH) over urban areas are examined. The SEB and MH are critical components of algorithms and numerical models for the urban boundary layer, though the constituent parts of the SEB and the MH are not routinely measured by national weather services. Parameterisations are thus needed in applications. In this investigation, several recently developed algorithms and models for estimating the SEB and MH were applied to new datasets and assessed. Results are discussed in terms of the need for spatial resolution and the parameters needed to describe the urban atmosphere. Limitations of models are identified and recommendations for further development and observations are given. Having identified gaps in knowledge, key findings from new urban experiments and numerical modelling for the SEB and MH are given. The diurnal cycle for the SEB is significantly different from rural conditions—urban heat storage is needed in urban parameterisations. The urban MH is increased over the rural MH, as shown by several numerical schemes and careful sodar analyses. This work has been carried out within the COST-715 Action “Meteorology applied to urban air pollution problems (1998–2004). COST 715 reached a consensus proposing representatively sited measurements of meteorological parameters and turbulent fluxes above roof-tops, and recognised that such data are needed to improve numerical models of the urban surface processes.