Geodetic and Structural Research in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain: 1992–2007 Results

We review the results of the geodetic and structural studies carried out on La Palma Island using geodetic and geophysical data during the period 1992–2007. InSAR and GPS observation techniques were applied to study the existence of deformation on the island and gravity observations were carried out for structural studies. Gravity data were inverted using a nonlinear three-dimensional gravity inversion approach to obtain the geometry of the anomalous bodies constructed in a random growth process with respect to an exponentially stratified background. The main structural feature is a large central body (under the Caldera de Taburiente) with high density, which was interpreted as the Pliocene-age uplifted seamount and a relatively dense intrusive plutonic complex/magma body. The Cumbre Vieja series is characterized by elongated minima distributed according to the rift structure. InSAR results show a clear subsidence located on the Teneguía volcano, where the last eruption took place in 1971. A thermal source is the most probable origin for this deformation. A GPS network composed of 26 stations covering the total island surface was set up. Vertical displacements determined comparing the GPS coordinates obtained in 2007 with coordinates determined in 1994 are consistent with the InSAR results obtained in the southern part of the island. This is not the case for the northern part. From the comparison of 2006 and 2007 coordinates it is clear that more time is needed to obtain significant displacements, but observed trends are also consistent with InSAR results. All the observed significant displacements are in stations located outside of the large high-density central body.     

Fire regime changes in the Western Mediterranean Basin: from fuel-limited to drought-driven fire regime

Wildfires are an integral part of Mediterranean ecosystems; humans impact on landscapes imply changes in fuel amount and continuity, and thus in fire regime. We tested the hypothesis that fire regime changed in western Mediterranean Basin during the last century using time series techniques. We first compiled a 130-year fire history for the Valencia province (Spain, Eastern Iberian Peninsula, Western Mediterranean Basin) from contemporary statistics plus old forest administration dossiers and newspapers. We also compiled census on rural population and climatic data for the same period in order to evaluate the role of climate and human-driven fuel changes on the fire regime change. The result suggested that there was a major fire regime shift around the early 1970s in such a way that fires increased in annual frequency (doubled) and area burned (by about an order of magnitude). The main driver of this shift was the increase in fuel amount and continuity due to rural depopulation (vegetation and fuel build-up after farm abandonment) suggesting that fires were fuel-limited during the pre-1970s period. Climatic conditions were poorly related to pre-1970s fires and strongly related to post-1970s fires, suggesting that fire are currently less fuel limited and more drought-driven than before the 1970s. Thus, the fire regime shift implies also a shift in the main driver for fire activity, and this has consequences in the global change agenda.     

On the Vp/Vs–Mg# correlation in mantle peridotites: Implications for the identification of thermal and compositional anomalies in the upper mantle

We use thermodynamically self-consistent and hybrid methods to analyze the correlation of important physical parameters (e.g. bulk density, elastic moduli) with bulk Mg# and modal composition in mantle peridotites at upper mantle conditions. Temperature (anharmonic and anelastic), pressure and compositional derivatives for all these parameters are evaluated. The results show that the widely used correlations between Vp/Vs and Mg# in peridotites are strictly valid only for garnet-bearing assemblages at temperatures < 900 °C. The correlation breaks down when: i) spinel is the stable Al-rich phase in the assemblage and ii) when anelastic attenuation of seismic velocities becomes important (T ? 900 °C). This implies that the range of applicability of published Vp/Vs–Mg# correlations for the upper mantle is limited to a depth interval between the spinel–garnet phase transition and the 900 °C isotherm. We use numerical simulations to show that this depth interval is virtually nonexistent in lithospheres thinner than ～ 140 km and can comprise up to ～ 50% of the lithospheric mantle in thick (> 220 km) lithospheric domains. In addition, we show that for most of the upper mantle the expected Δ(Vp/Vs) values associated with compositional variations are smaller than the resolution limit of current seismological methods. All these considerations suggest that the Vp/Vs ratio is not a reliable measure of compositional variations and that for large parts of the upper mantle compositional anomalies cannot be separated from thermal anomalies on the basis of seismological studies only. We further confirm that the only reliable indicator of compositional anomalies in a peridotitic mantle is the ratio of density to shear wave velocities (ρ/Vs). Our results demonstrate that geophysical–petrological models (forward or inverse) that model these two fields (i.e. density and Vs) self-consistently within a robust thermodynamic framework are necessary for characterizing the small-scale thermal and compositional structure of the lithosphere and sublithospheric upper mantle.     

Insights in the exhumation history of the NW Zagros from bedrock and detrital apatite fission‐track analysis: evidence for a long‐lived orogeny

We present the first fission‐track (FT) thermochronology results for the NW Zagros Belt (SW Iran) in order to identify denudation episodes that occurred during the protracted Zagros orogeny. Samples were collected from the two main detrital successions of the NW Zagros foreland basin: the Palaeocene–early Eocene Amiran–Kashkan succession and the Miocene Agha Jari and Bakhtyari Formations. In situ bedrock samples were furthermore collected in the Sanandaj‐Sirjan Zone. Only apatite fission‐track (AFT) data have been successfully obtained, including 26 ages and 11 track‐length distributions. Five families of AFT ages have been documented from analyses of in situ bedrock and detrital samples: pre‐middle Jurassic at ～171 and ～225 Ma, early–late Cretaceous at ～91 Ma, Maastrichtian at ～66 Ma, middle–late Eocene at ～38 Ma and Oligocene–early Miocene at ～22 Ma. The most widespread middle–late Eocene cooling phase, around ～38 Ma, is documented by a predominant grain‐age population in Agha Jari sediments and by cooling ages of a granitic boulder sample. AFT ages document at least three cooling/denudation periods linked to major geodynamic events related to the Zagros orogeny, during the late Cretaceous oceanic obduction event, during the middle and late Eocene and during the early Miocene. Both late Cretaceous and early Miocene orogenic processes produced bending of the Arabian plate and concomitant foreland deposition. Between the two major flexural foreland episodes, the middle–late Eocene phase mostly produced a long‐lasting slow‐ or nondepositional episode in the inner part of the foreland basin, whereas deposition and tectonics migrated to the NE along the Sanandaj‐Sirjan domain and its Gaveh Rud fore‐arc basin. As evidenced in this study, the Zagros orogeny was long‐lived and multi‐episodic, implying that the timing of accretion of the different tectonic domains that form the Zagros Mountains requires cautious interpretation.     

A rootless suture and the loss of the roots of a mountain chain: The Variscan belt of NW Iberia

Ophiolites of different Paleozoic ages occur in North-West (NW) Iberia in a rootless suture representing the remnants of the Rheic Ocean. Associated allochthonous terranes in the hanging- and foot-walls of the suture derive from the former margins, whereas the relative autochthon corresponds to the Paleozoic passive margin of northern Gondwana. The Paleozoic tectonic evolution of this part of the circum-Atlantic region is deduced from the stratigraphical, petrological, structural and metamorphic evolution of the different units and their ages. The tectonic reconstruction covers from Cambro-Ordovician continental rifting and the opening of the Rheic Ocean to its Middle to Upper Devonian closure. Then, the Variscan Laurussia–Gondwana convergence and collision is briefly described, from its onset to the late stages of collapse associated with the demise of the orogenic roots.     

Changes in solar irradiance and atmospheric turbidity in Costa Rica during the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991

Solar global radiation was measured in several places in Costa Rica during the total solar eclipse that occurred on July 11, 1991. In two of these places, Puntarenas and Santa Cruz, measurements in the ultraviolet range (295–385 nm) were also taken. In Santa Cruz, a normal incidence pyrheliometer with Schott filters OG530 and RG630 was used to measure direct solar radiation in its whole range, and in the 530–2800 nm and 630–2800 wavebands respectively. Global radiation, and consequently direct, diffuse and irradiance in any of the wavebands considered, decreased gradually as the sun was being eclipsed and reached zero during the totality, then increased to their normal values. Data registered in Santa Cruz were used to determine Ångstrom's atmospheric turbidity parameters and. Computations show that between 13:00 and 14:30 LT (local time), decreased and increased significantly. This indicates that atmospheric turbidity was high and large particles were more abundant than small ones. The size of hygroscopic particles increased during the eclipse when temperature decreased and relative humidity increased in a comparatively short time.     

Determination of the rotational excitation temperature in solar type stars

The OH molecular spectrum has been identified in three solar type stars, Com, CVn, and Cet. The rotational excitation temperature from molecular line intensities of OH has been determined for these stars. The observations in high resolution were made by use of the IUE satellite.Based on observations by the International Ultraviolet Explorer collected at the Villafranca Satellite Tracking Station of the European Space Agency.