A virtual laboratory for stability tests of rubble-mound breakwaters

The prediction of rubble-mound breakwater damage under wave action has usually relied on costly and time-consuming physical model tests. In this work, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are applied to estimate the outcome of a physical model throughout an experimental campaign comprising of 127 stability tests. In order to choose the network best suited to the problem data, five different activation function options and 38 network architectures are compared. The good agreement found between the physical model and the neural network shows that an ANN may well serve as a virtual laboratory, reducing the number of physical model tests necessary for a project.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000310

This paper presents a compilation of recent U-Pb(zircon) ages of late Carboniferous—early Permian(LCEP) calc-alkaline batholiths from Iberia,together with a petrogenetic interpretation of magma generation based on comparisons with Mesozoic and Tertiary Cordilleran batholiths and experimental melts.Zircon U-Pb ages distributed over the range ca.315—280 Ma,indicate a linkage between calc-alkaline magmatism,Iberian orocline generation and Paleotethys subduction.It is also shown that Iberian LC-EP calcalkaline batholiths present unequivocal subduction-related features comparable with typical Cordilleran batholiths of the Pacific Americas active margin,although geochemical features were partially obscured by local modifications of magmas at the level of emplacement by country rock assimilation.When and how LC-EP calc-alkaline batholiths formed in Iberia is then discussed,and a new and somewhat controversial interpretation for their sources and tectonic setting(plume-assisted relamination) is suggested.The batholiths are proposed to have formed during the subduction of the Paleotethys oceanic plate(Pangaea self-subduction) and,consequently,they are unrelated to Variscan collision.The origin of the Iberian batholiths is related to the Eurasian active margin and probably represents the inception of a Paleotethyan arc in the core of Pangaea.     

Mean Flow and Turbulence Statistics Over Groups of Urban-like Cubical Obstacles

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent flow over regular arrays of urban-like, cubical obstacles are reported. Results are analysed in terms of a formal spatial averaging procedure to enable interpretation of the flow within the arrays as a canopy flow, and of the flow above as a rough wall boundary layer. Spatial averages of the mean velocity, turbulent stresses and pressure drag are computed. The statistics compare very well with data from wind-tunnel experiments. Within the arrays the time-averaged flow structure gives rise to significant ‘dispersive stress’ whereas above the Reynolds stress dominates. The mean flow structure and turbulence statistics depend significantly on the layout of the cubes. Unsteady effects are important, especially in the lower canopy layer where turbulent fluctuations dominate over the mean flow.     

Tourmaline composition and boron isotopes record lateritic weathering during the Great Oxidation Event

Identifying evidence of oxidative weathering in the geological record is essential to trace the evolution of Earth's atmosphere oxygenation. Metamorphosed residues of lateritic weathering have been identified as two rock types in the 2.1‐Ga‐old Cercadinho Formation, Piracicaba Group, Quadrilátero Ferrífero of Minas Gerais. One is tourmaline–hematite–sillimanite–kyanite quartzite; the other is rutile–tourmaline–hematite–muscovite phyllite. Both rocks have abundant tourmaline with δ¹¹B values between about ?17‰ and ?13‰. The Cercadinho tourmaline is roughly parallel to the povondraite–“oxy‐dravite” join of meta‐evaporitic tourmaline, in its more aluminous segment, offset to higher contents of iron. These compositional and isotopic characteristics of the Cercadinho tourmaline indicate that continental evaporitic brines interacted with aluminium‐ and iron‐rich residues of lateritic weathering. The abundance of disseminated tourmaline, a mineral poorly reported from palaeosols worldwide, implies a boron‐rich brine overprint on the lateritic profile before the onset of metamorphism, reflecting a climatic change from humid to arid conditions in a continental setting. The recognition of lateritic weathering in the Cercadinho Formation contributes to the amount of evidence for increased levels of atmospheric oxygen between 2.22 and 2.06 Ga ago.     

Origin of the Submillimeter Radio Emission During the Time-Extended Phase of a Solar Flare

Solar flares observed in the 200 – 400 GHz radio domain may exhibit a slowly varying and time-extended component which follows a short (few minutes) impulsive phase and can last for a few tens of minutes to more than one hour. The few examples discussed in the literature indicate that such long-lasting submillimeter emission is most likely thermal bremsstrahlung. We present a detailed analysis of the time-extended phase of the 27 October 2003 (M6.7) flare, combining 1 – 345 GHz total-flux radio measurements with X-ray, EUV, and Hα observations. We find that the time-extended radio emission is, as expected, radiated by thermal bremsstrahlung. Up to 230 GHz, it is entirely produced in the corona by hot and cool materials at 7 – 16 MK and 1 – 3 MK, respectively. At 345 GHz, there is an additional contribution from chromospheric material at a few 10⁴ K. These results, which may also apply to other millimeter–submillimeter radio events, are not consistent with the expectations from standard semiempirical models of the chromosphere and transition region during flares, which predict observable radio emission from the chromosphere at all frequencies where the corona is transparent.     

Hominin variability,climatic instability and population demography in Middle Pleistocene Europe

We propose a population model for Middle Pleistocene Europe that is based on demographic “sources” and “sinks”. The former were a small number of “core” or populations in glacial refugia in southern Europe from which hominins expanded northwards in interstadial and interglacial periods; occupation outside glacial refugia would have been restricted to warm or temperate periods, and populations at the northern limit of the Middle Pleistocene range would have been “sink” populations in that they depended upon recruitment from source populations further south. Southwest Asia would also have been a likely source of immigrant, source populations. We argue as an alternative to an “ebb and flow” model in which groups retreated to refugia when conditions worsened that local extinction outside refugia would have been frequent. In extreme situations, Europe may have been a population “sink” (i.e. unpopulated) that was replenished from source populations in Southwest Asia. We suggest that this pattern of repeated colonisation and extinction may help explain the morphological variability of European Middle Pleistocene hominins, particularly Homo heidelbergensis and its apparent non-lineal evolution towards Homo neanderthalensis.     

Predicting the future climatic suitability for cocoa farming of the world’s leading producer countries, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire

Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are the world’s leading cocoa (Thebroma cacao) producing countries; together they produce 53 % of the world’s cocoa. Cocoa contributes 7.5 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Côte d’Ivoire and 3.4 % of that of Ghana and is an important cash crop for the rural population in the forest zones of these countries. If progressive climate change affected the climatic suitability for cocoa in West Africa, this would have implications for global cocoa output as well as the national economies and farmer livelihoods, with potential repercussions for forests and natural habitat as cocoa growing regions expand, shrink or shift. The objective of this paper is to present future climate scenarios for the main cocoa growing regions of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and to predict their impact on the relative suitability of these regions for growing cocoa. These analyses are intended to support the respective countries and supply chain actors in developing strategies for reducing the vulnerability of the cocoa sector to climate change. Based on the current distribution of cocoa growing areas and climate change predictions from 19 Global Circulation Models, we predict changes in relative climatic suitability for cocoa for 2050 using an adapted MAXENT model. According to the model, some current cocoa producing areas will become unsuitable (Lagunes and Sud-Comoe in Côte d’Ivoire) requiring crop change, while other areas will require adaptations in agronomic management, and in yet others the climatic suitability for growing cocoa will increase (Kwahu Plateu in Ghana and southwestern Côte d’Ivoire). We recommend the development of site-specific strategies to reduce the vulnerability of cocoa farmers and the sector to future climate change.     

Thermal Stratification Effects on Flow Over a Generic Urban Canopy

The influence of local surface heating and cooling on flow over urban-like roughness is investigated using large-eddy simulations. By adjusting the incoming or outgoing heat flux from the ground surface, various degrees of local thermal stratification, represented by a Richardson number \((Ri_\tau )\) , were attained. Drag and heat transfer coefficients, turbulence structure, integral length scales, and the strength of quadrant events that contribute to momentum and heat fluxes were obtained and are compared with locally stable, neutral and unstable flows. With increasing \(Ri_\tau \) , or equivalently as the flow characteristics change from local thermal instability to stability, a gradual decline in the drag and heat transfer coefficients is observed. These values are found to be fairly independent of the type of thermal boundary condition (constant heat flux or constant temperature) and domain size. The maps of anisotropy invariants showed that for the values of \(Ri_\tau \) considered, turbulence structures are almost the same in shape for neutral and unstable cases but differ slightly from those in the stable case. The degree of anisotropy is found to decrease as \(Ri_\tau \) increases from \(-2\) to 2.5. Compared to the neutral case, the integral length scales are shortened in the streamwise and vertical direction by ground cooling, but enhanced in the vertical direction with ground heating. Quadrant analysis showed that an increase in floor heating increases the strength of ejections above the canopy. However, the contributions of updrafts or downdrafts to the heat flux are found not to be significantly influenced by the type of local thermal stratification for the values of \(Ri_\tau \) considered. From the octant analysis, the transport mechanisms of momentum and heat above the canopy are found to be very similar in both locally unstable and stable flows.     

Regional oxygen isotope systematics of felsic volcanics; a potential exploration tool for volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in the Iberian Pyrite Belt

Regional oxygen isotopic sytematics have been performed mainly on the felsic volcanic footwall rocks of the orebodies but also on purple schist characteristic of the hanging wall series, around two giant VMS deposits in the Spanish Iberian Pyrite Belt, Riotinto and La Zarza. As the terranes of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, these two giant deposits have been affected by the Hercynian tectono-metamorphic events, strongly modifying their geometry. About 60 and 40 samples were collected over a 10×4 km² area at Riotinto and a 3×2 km² area at La Zarza, respectively. Whole-rock powders were analysed for oxygen by CO₂-laser fluorination. At both sites, a same type of low-δ¹⁸O anomaly down to +3.6‰, well differentiated from the regional background (up to 20‰), was identified near the orebodies. The lowest δ¹⁸O values (+4 to +11‰) correspond to the chlorite hydrothermal halo, essentially restricted to the feeder zones of the orebody. Intermediate δ¹⁸O values (+9 to +15‰) correspond to the sericite hydrothermal halo, mostly developed laterally to the orebody until 0.5–1 km. The regional background (+16 to +20‰) is represented by spilitised volcanic rocks. A same kind of low anomaly, but with less contrast, was defined in purple schist in the immediate hanging wall of the orebodies. All these results demonstrate that, despite high geometrical modifications of the orebodies related to the Hercynian tectonics, oxygen isotopic anomalies recorded by volcanic host rocks during the emplacement of the mineralising hydrothermal systems are still identified. This strongly suggests that oxygen isotopic systematics could be useful to identify target areas in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, as already demonstrated on other VMS targets in the world.