Mineralogical and chemical characterization of historical mortars from military fortifications in Lisbon harbour (Portugal)

Historical mortars from sixteenth to seventeenth century military forts located at the mouth of the Tagus River in Lisbon have been characterized by polarized light microscopy (PLM), thermal analysis (TG/DTA), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy + energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM + EDS). The results indicate that the mortars used were all hydraulic lime-based. The presence of well-rounded lime lumps indicates a limited use of water during the lime hydration process. The detection of hydrated calcium chloroaluminate and carboaluminate compounds mostly at binder-aggregate interfaces provides evidence for the onset of pozzolanic reactions during mortar production as further confirmed by the presence of ceramic fragments in the aggregate fractions intentionally added by the fort builders to increase the hydraulic properties of the mortars. The higher mechanical strength and greater resistance to degradation processes imparted by these pozzolanic compounds could explain why, despite the extreme proximity of the investigated sites to the sea, salt weathering processes do not appear to have significantly affected the studied mortars.     

Hydrothermal faunal assemblages and habitat characterisation at the Eiffel Tower edifice (Lucky Strike,Mid‐Atlantic Ridge)

The Eiffel Tower edifice is situated in the Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field at a mean depth of 1690 m on the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge (MAR). At this 11‐m‐high hydrothermal structure, different faunal assemblages, varying in visibly dominant species (mussels and shrimp), in mussel size and in density of mussel coverage, were sampled biologically and chemically. Temperature and sulphide (∑S) were measured on the different types of mussel‐based assemblages and on a shrimp‐dominated assemblage. Temperature was used as a proxy for calculating total concentrations of CH₄. Based on the physico‐chemical measurements, two microhabitats were identified, corresponding to (i) a more variable habitat featuring the greatest fluctuations in environmental variables and (ii) a second, more stable, habitat. The highest temperature variability and the highest maximum recorded temperatures were found in the assemblages visibly inhabited by alvinocaridid shrimp and dense mussel beds of large Bathymodiolus azoricus, whereas the less variable habitats were inhabited by smaller‐sized mussels with increasing bare surface in between. Larger mussels appeared to consume more ∑S compared with smaller‐sized (<1 cm) individuals and thus had a greater influence on the local chemistry. In addition, the mussel size was shown to be significantly positively correlated to temperature and negatively to the richness of the associated macrofauna. The presence of microbial mats was not linked to specific environmental conditions, but had a negative effect on the presence and abundance of macro‐fauna, notably gastropods. Whereas some taxa or species are found in only one of the two microhabitats, others, such as polychaetes and Mirocaris shrimp, cross the different microhabitats. Temperature was proposed to be a more limiting factor in species distribution than ∑S.     

Larval growth,size, stage duration and recruitment success of a temperate reef fish

Understanding the causes of variation in recruitment of marine fishes has been a central goal for marine ecologists, fishery scientists and resource managers over the last century. Although the idea that recruitment variability is linked to the pelagic environmental conditions that enhance larval growth, survival, and/or delivery is consensual, such relationship is poorly known for most species. In this study we analyzed patterns of recruitment and early life history of a temperate reef fish, Coris julis from the Azores archipelago to test the relationships between early life history and recruitment success over two consecutive years. Growth from hatch to larval age 30 d was the best predictor of recruitment, implying that fast growing larger-at-age larvae have a survival advantage and contribute more to high recruitment, supporting the “bigger-is-better” hypothesis. The “stage-duration” hypothesis and the predictions regarding the relationships between size at age (SAA), size at settlement (SAS) and recruit abundance were also partially supported. The results presented in this study highlight the importance of understanding the early life traits that determine recruitment and larval-survivorship patterns, especially early larval growth, as this may provide a basis for prediction of recruitment and thus management of resources.     

Exploring spatial relationships between stream channel features,water depths and flow velocities during flash floods using HEC-GeoRAS and Geographic Information Systems

Journal of Geographical Sciences - Water depths and flow velocities decisively influence the damage caused by flash floods. Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful and useful tool,...     

Analyzing GNSS data in precise point positioning software

This work demonstrates that precise point positioning (PPP) can be used not only for positioning, but for a variety of other tasks, such as signal analysis. The fact that the observation model used for accurate error modeling has to take into consideration the several effects present in GPS signals, and that observations are undifferenced, makes PPP a powerful data analysis tool sensitive to a variety of parameters. The PPP application developed at the University of New Brunswick, which is called GAPS (GPS Analysis and Positioning Software), has been designed and built in order to take advantage of available precise products, resulting in a data analysis tool for determining parameters in addition to position, receiver clock error, and neutral atmosphere delay. These other estimated parameters include ionospheric delays, code biases, satellite clock errors, and code multipath among others. In all cases, the procedures were developed in order to be suitable for real-time as well as post-processing applications. One of the main accomplishments in the development described here is the use of very precise satellite products, coupled with a very complete observation error modeling to make possible a variety of analyses based on GPS data. In this paper, several procedures are described, their innovative aspects are pointed out, and their results are analyzed and compared with other sources. The procedures and software are readily adaptable for using data from other global navigation satellite systems.     

An Analytical Model for Hydraulic Fracturing in Shallow Bedrock Formations

A theoretical method is proposed to estimate post‐fracturing fracture size and transmissivity, and as a test of the methodology, data collected from two wells were used for verification. This method can be employed before hydrofracturing in order to obtain estimates of the potential hydraulic benefits of hydraulic fracturing. Five different pumping test analysis methods were used to evaluate the well hydraulic data. The most effective methods were the Papadopulos‐Cooper model (1967), which includes wellbore storage effects, and the Gringarten‐Ramey model (1974), known as the single horizontal fracture model. The hydraulic parameters resulting from fitting these models to the field data revealed that as a result of hydraulic fracturing, the transmissivity increased more than 46 times in one well and increased 285 times in the other well. The model developed by dos Santos (2008) , which considers horizontal radial fracture propagation from the hydraulically fractured well, was used to estimate potential fracture geometry after hydrofracturing. For the two studied wells, their fractures could have propagated to distances of almost 175 m or more and developed maximum apertures of about 2.20 mm and hydraulic apertures close to 0.30 mm. Fracturing at this site appears to have expanded and propagated existing fractures and not created new fractures. Hydraulic apertures calculated from pumping test analyses closely matched the results obtained from the hydraulic fracturing model. As a result of this model, post‐fracturing geometry and resulting post‐fracturing well yield can be estimated before the actual hydrofracturing.     

Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) in the marine environment: prioritizing HNS that pose major risk in a European context

Increases in the maritime transportation of Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS), alongside the need for an effective response to HNS spills have led environmental managers and the scientific community to focus attention on HNS spill preparedness and responsiveness. In the context of the ARCOPOL project, a weight-of-evidence approach was developed aimed at prioritizing HNS that pose major environmental risks to European waters. This approach takes into consideration the occurrence probability of HNS spills in European Atlantic waters and the severity of exposure associated with their physico-chemical properties and toxicity to marine organisms. Additionally, a screening analysis of the toxicological information available for the prioritization of HNS was performed. Here we discuss the need for a prioritization methodology to select HNS that are likely to cause severe marine environmental effects as an essential step towards the establishment of a more effective preparedness and response to HNS incidents.     

Evolution of Relative Magnetic Helicity: Method of Computation and Its Application to a Simulated Solar Corona above an Active Region

For a better understanding of solar magnetic field evolution it is appropriate to evaluate the magnetic helicity based on observations and to compare it with numerical simulation results. We have developed a method for calculating the vector potential of a magnetic field given in a finite volume; the method requires the magnetic flux to be balanced on all the side boundaries of the considered volume. Our method uses a fast Laplace/Poisson solver to obtain the vector potentials for a given magnetic field and for the corresponding potential (current-free) field. This allows an efficient calculation of the relative magnetic helicity in a finite 3D volume. We tested our approach on a theoretical model (Low and Lou, Astrophys. J. 352, 343, 1990) and also applied our method to the magnetic field above active region NOAA 8210 obtained by a photospheric-data-driven MHD model. We found that the amount of accumulated relative magnetic helicity coincides well with the relative helicity inflow through the boundaries in the ideal and non-ideal cases. The temporal evolution of relative magnetic helicity is consistent with that of magnetic energy. The maximum value of normalized helicity, H _m/Φ²=0.0298, is reached just before a drastic energy release by magnetic reconnection. This value is close to the corresponding value inferred from the formula that connects the magnetic flux and the accumulated magnetic helicity based on the observations of solar active regions.