Long-term seismological sea-bottom monitoring using autonomous bottom stations

Merits and demerits of recording of seismic signals at the bottom of water areas are considered. It is shown that long-term seismological monitoring systems should be placed in the regions of industrial development of the shelf and continental slope and in the areas of high seismic and tsunami hazard of oceans and seas. The results obtained during expeditions of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the use of broadband bottom seismographs are reported. Autonomous bottom seismographs with long-term operation at the bottom and operative communication via satellite and radio channels are proposed for the formation of a marine seismological network.     

Ambient Changes in Tracer Concentrations from a Multilevel Monitoring System in Basalt

Starting in 2008, a 4‐year tracer study was conducted to evaluate ambient changes in groundwater concentrations of a 1,3,6‐naphthalene trisulfonate tracer that was added to drill water. Samples were collected under open borehole conditions and after installing a multilevel groundwater monitoring system completed with 11 discrete monitoring zones within dense and fractured basalt and sediment layers in the eastern Snake River aquifer. The study was done in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy to test whether ambient fracture flow conditions were sufficient to remove the effects of injected drill water prior to sample collection. Results from thief samples indicated that the tracer was present in minor concentrations 28 days after coring, but was not present 6 months after coring or 7 days after reaming the borehole. Results from sampling the multilevel monitoring system indicated that small concentrations of the tracer remained in 5 of 10 zones during some period after installation. All concentrations were several orders of magnitude lower than the initial concentrations in the drill water. The ports that had remnant concentrations of the tracer were either located near sediment layers or were located in dense basalt, which suggests limited groundwater flow near these ports. The ports completed in well‐fractured and vesicular basalt had no detectable concentrations.     

Correction: Guidelines and pitfalls of refraction microtremor surveys

Journal of Seismology -     

Thunderstorm activity according to VLF observations at Kamchatka

The azimuthal distribution of lightning discharges and cyclone epicenters at a distance of up to 4000 km from the observation point at Kamchatka is given. The azimuths of lightning discharges were determined using an ELF finder, and the cyclone epicenters were determined from meteorological maps. Time dependences of the distribution of received radiations from lightning discharges have been obtained.     

Data reporting norms for 40Ar/39Ar geochronology

Data reported in ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology studies are commonly insufficient to allow computation of ages. This deficiency renders it difficult to compare ages based on different standards or constants, and often hinders critical evaluation of the results. Herein are presented an enumeration of the data that should be reported in all ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar studies, including a discussion in support of these requirements. The minimum required data are identified and distinguished from parameters that are useful but may be derived from them by calculation. Finally, recommendations are made for metadata needed to document age calculations (e.g., from age spectrum or isochron analyses).     

Magnetic properties of basalts and geodynamics of the rift zone in the southern Red Sea

Magnetic properties of young rift basalts in the southern Red Sea are studied in detail. It is found that basalt samples dredged in the rift zone are characterized by a large spread in magnetic parameters. The magnetic properties of the basalts are shown to indicate a complex evolution of the Red Sea rift zone. Titanomagnetite grains of the basalts are mostly affected by single-phase oxidation processes and have preserved paleomagnetic information. However, basalts discovered near the rift axis yield evidence of multiphase oxidation of titanomagnetite grains, which is untypical of young oceanic basalts. These basalts have high Curie points and large values of the natural remanent magnetization and Koenigsberger parameter. The corresponding samples were taken in nontransform zones where rocks have experienced the action of significant tectonic forces and, moreover, anomalous geomagnetic field patterns correlate with the position of these zones. Using the magnetic properties of the basalts, the northern segment of the rift axis is relocated.     

Model study of the effect of the main ionospheric trough on oblique HF radiowave propagation

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of the main ionospheric trough location on the form of oblique sounding ionograms on the Murmansk-St. Petersburg subauroral radio path. Using a mathematical model of the high-latitude ionosphere, we have calculated four different distributions of electron density along the radio path. One of the distributions has been obtained when the trough is absent, and the remaining three distributions contain troughs of approximately identical depth and width but located at different distances from the ends of the radio path. Using the program of two-dimensional ray tracing, we numerically synthesized oblique-incidence ionograms for each of the four obtained distributions of electron density. The calculations have shown that the location of the main ionospheric trough affects considerably the shape of oblique-incidence ionograms.     

Konzepte zur Mobilitätsabschätzung von Schadstoffen in Boden- und Abfallmaterialien

Concepts for the Evaluation of Contaminant Mobility in Soil and Waste Materials Elution tests (S4, pH_stat, and SDS test) are presented, enabling the evaluation of the mobility of hydrophilic/hydrophobic and inorganic/organic contaminants in soil and waste materials. While elution tests for estimation of the mobilization potential of hydrophilic substances are performed following the pH_stat method, for hydrophobic species surfactant-containing eluents are used. The individual parameters of the elution process are selected assuming a "worst-case" scenario. In principle, because of economic reasons, detailed analytical investigations should be preceded by relevant screening tests.