The Risk Atlas of Mexico City,Mexico: a tool for decision-making and disaster prevention

Natural Hazards - We present a Risk Atlas of Mexico City based on a Geographical Information System (RA-GIS). We identified the prevalent social risk to the more relevant hazards in Mexico City...     

Field accumulative behavior of organochlorine pesticides. The role of crabs and sediment characteristics in coastal environments

The influence of intertidal crab beds on the concentrations of organochlorine (OC) pesticides in sediment was studied in two different coastal environments in Argentina. Samples of male burrowing crabs (Chasmagnathus granulatus) were collected for this study. Our field data showed lower bioaccumulation of OC pesticides in crabs from sediments with a higher total organic carbon (TOC) and higher clay content. Thus, concentrations in crabs depend on the physico-chemical characteristics of the sediment where they live more than on the OC pesticide concentrations in the environment. The distribution patterns in sediment from inside and outside crab burrows were similar for both coastal areas being HCHs  γ-chlordane > p,p′-DDE for San Antonio Bay (SAO), and HCHs > p,p′-DDE  γ-chlordane for Mar Chiquita (MCh) coastal lagoon. OC pesticide concentrations in sediment were significantly lower inside than outside crab burrows, irrespective of the sediment physico-chemical characteristics due to the bioturbation activity of C. granulatus.     

Influence of pore morphology on the durability of sedimentary building stones from Aragon (Spain) subjected to standard salt decay tests

The aim of the present article is to identify the influence of the pore morphology on the physical behaviour and durability of natural stone. Fifteen sedimentary rocks commonly used in the cultural and architectural heritage of Aragon (Spain) were characterized. The petrography, porous structure, fluid transport properties and durability of these rocks were analysed. They were classified into two different groups according to the results of the different tests. For each of these groups the physical behaviour was established. A principal components analysis was used in order to examine the correlation between pore structure, hydric properties and durability. The results show that the percentage of pore throats <0.1 μm control the fluid transport properties, have an important influence on stone durability, and can be used to predict resistance to salt decay while the average pore size does not. Stones with a high percentage of pore throats <0.1 μm are less susceptible to salt decay than stones with higher pore size if their pore network is characterized by high tortuosity and low connectivity.     

Oscillatoria rubescens D.C. as an Indicator of Lago Maggiore Eutrophication

Zusammenfassung In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Auftreten vonOscillatoria rubescens D.C. im Lago Maggiore behandelt, welche Alge seit langem als biologischer Indikator für Trophiever?nderungen des Süsswassers gilt. Probenahmen an verschiedenen Stellen des Sees und aus bis 50 m Tiefe zeigen, dass die Art seit 10 Jahren betr?chtlich zugenommen hat, wobei im Herbst und Winter jeweils ein Maximum erreicht wird. Die Entwicklung vonOscillatoria rubescens D.C. weist auf eine Eutrophierung des Lago Maggiore durch h?usliche und industrielle Abw?sser hin.

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Résumé Mise en évidence de l'envahissement du Lac Majeur (Lago Maggiore) parOscillatoria rubescens D.C., qui depuis longtemps est considérée comme un indicateur biologique du changement des conditions trophiques des eaux douces. Des collections en différents points du lac et jusqu'à une profondeur de 50 m montrent un accroissement considérable de cette espèce depuis 10 ans, avec un maximum en automne et en hiver. Le développement de cette algue prouve une eutrophisation du Lac Majeur due à des pollutions domestiques et industrielles.

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This publication is contribution No. 395 of the Euratom Biology Division.     

A statistical study of the cliff top slumps in part of the christchurch bay coastal cliffs

A distinction is made between slumping and spalling. Slumping involves a compound slide with rotation and translation: the latter along one of the bedding plane shear surfaces in the Barton Beds. Spalling is an isolated failure of the exposed cliff face due to weathering. Where slumping is the dominant mode of cliff top recession, the latter is an incremental process with the increments being equal to the breadth of the slumps. A statistical study has been made of the breadth, length and plan area of 42 slumps observed over a 2 km stretch of the Christchurch Bay coastal cliffs and significant trends deduced.     

The melting relationships of a madupite from the Leucite Hills,Wyoming, to 30 Kb

The water-undersaturated melting relationships of a mafic, peralkaline, potassic madupite (with about 3% H₂O as shown by chemical analysis) from the Leucite Hills, Wyoming, have been studied at pressures up to 30 kb. At low pressures (<5 kb) leucite is the dominant liquidus phase, but it is replaced at higher pressures by clinopyroxene plus olivine (<5–7 kb), clinopyroxene (7–12.5 kb), clinopyroxene plus minor spinel (12.5–17.5 kb), and clinopyroxene alone (17.5–> 30 kb). At all pressures there is a reaction relationship with falling temperature between melt, olivine and probably clinopyroxene to yield phlogopite. Apatite is stable within the melting interval to pressures above 25 kb. Electron microprobe analyses demonstrate that the clinopyroxene is diopsidic, with low aluminium and titanium contents. Pressure has relatively little effect on the composition of the pyroxene. Phlogopite is also aluminium-poor and has only a moderate titanium content. The experimental results indicate that madupite is not the partial melting product of hydrous lherzolite or garnet lherzolite in the upper mantle and it seems improbable that it is derived by melting of mantle peridotite with a mixed H₂O-CO₂ volatile component. Madupite could, however, be the partial melting product of mica-pyroxenite or mica-olivine-pyroxenite in the upper mantle. It is pointed out that the chemistry of some potassium-rich volcanics may have been affected by volatile transfer and other such processes during eruption and that experimental studies of material affected in this way have little bearing upon the genesis of potassic magmas. Finally, the experimental results enable constraints to be placed upon the P-T conditions of the formation of richterite-bearing mica nodules found in kimberlites and associated rocks. Maximum conditions are 25 kb and 1,100 ° C.     

Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the middle Pleistocene (Ensenadan) Tarija Formation of southern Bolivia

The Tarija Formation of southern Bolivia, which is well known for its classic vertebrate faunas, is of prime importance in understanding of the chronology of the Ensenadan Land Mammal Age. This formation consists of well-exposed and relatively fossiliferous sections of clays, clayey silts, sands, gravels, and tuffs which were deposited in a predominately fluviatile regime in a Pleistocene structural basin. Four stratigraphic sections, each measuring 110 m or less, were studied to establish a magnetic polarity stratigraphy. Paleomagnetic samples were collected from the finer-grained sediments at 100 sites spaced at stratigraphic intervals of 5 m or less. All paleomagnetic specimens were demagnetized in alternating fields of least 250 oersteds (oe). Some specimens were also thermally demagnetized at 200°C or more. Of the 100 sites, 77 were ultimately used to determine the magnetic polarity zonation. Based on the four sections sampled, the Tarija Formation spans a time interval from about 1 my to about 0.7 my B.P. or perhaps younger. The lower half of the composite section is of reversed polarity punctuated by a short normal event. This sequence probably represents the late Matuyama chron with the Jaramillo subchron. The upper part of the section is of normal polarity and represents early Brunhes time. A tuffaceous unit 43 m above the Brunhes-Matuyama boundary yielded a fission track (zircon) age of 0.7 ± 0.2 by B.P. These data indicate that the classic Tarija fauna is middle Pleistocene Ensendan in age.     

Combined structure and velocity stacks via the tau–p transform

Reflection and refraction data are normally processed with tools designed to deal specifically with either near- or far-offset data. Furthermore, the refraction data normally require the picking of traveltimes prior to analysis. Here, an automatic processing algorithm has been developed to analyse wide-angle multichannel streamer data without resorting to manual picking or traveltime tomography. Time–offset gathers are transformed to the tau–p domain and the resulting wavefield is downward continued to the depth–p domain from which a velocity model and stacked section are obtained. The algorithm inputs common-depth-point (CDP) gathers and produces a depth-converted stacked section that includes velocity information. The inclusion of long-offset multichannel streamer data within the tau–p transformation enhances the signal from high-velocity refracted basalt arrivals. Downward continuation of the tau–p transformed wavefield to the depth–p domain allows the reflection and refraction components of the wavefield to be treated simultaneously. The high-slowness depth–p wavefield provides the velocity model and the low-slowness depth–p wavefield may be stacked to give structural information. The method is applied to data from the Faeroe Basin from which sub-basalt velocity images are obtained that correlate with an independently derived P-wave model from the line.     

Salt-water intrusion and nitrate contamination in the Valley of Hermosillo and El Sahuaral coastal aquifers, Sonora, Mexico

 The Valley of Hermosillo coastal aquifer, state of Sonora, northwestern Mexico, has been over-exploited for the last four decades, in order to maintain agricultural activity in one of the most important irrigation districts of the Mexican Republic. The over-exploitation has resulted in the development of several drawdown cones and in the lowering of the water table to as much as 50 m below mean sea level. Contamination of the aquifer in the form of salt-water intrusion from the Gulf of California and high nitrate concentrations is the consequence of human activities. A hydrogeochemical zonation of the aquifer, based on the presence of different water families, led to the identification of a coastal band approximately 30 km wide that is affected by salt-water intrusion. Conductivity of the sampled water and the interpretation of the ratio Na/Cl×1000 was used to identify the location of three major intrusion plumes in this coastal band. The background nitrate contamination of the aquifer is about 4 ppm, but contents as great as about 17 ppm occur in some wells. Irrigation with raw sewage and movement of contaminants in areas of high hydraulic gradients within the drawdown cones probably are responsible for localized peaks of the nitrate concentration. Received, October 1996 Revised, September 1997, May 1998 Accepted, July 1998