Polymorphic Zooids in Deitaic Species Populations of Conopeum seurati (CANU, 1928) (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata)

Abstract. Deltaic populations of Conopeum seurati from diverse environmental settings have variable phenotypes related to strong competitive regimes and to dissolved oxygen minima. Under extremely stressful conditions, the poorly canalized phenotype of C. seurati displays new additional features such as kleistozooids ( kleistós = closed) and chaotic celleporoid layers. Kleistozooids are clearly distinguishable polymorphs characterized by the presence of a compact, imperforate frontal membrane and by a strongly reduced lumen of the "opesium". They commonly aggregate in clusters of regularly-arranged individuals that store a large quantity of proteic material. The inferred function of these cell-like structures is to supply nutrients for basic colony activities. Celleporoid layers are, possibly, a developmental relaxation of the colony of C. seurati for a more efficient use of space in competitive interactions.
Both celleporoid layers and kleistozooids reveal the magnitude of intracolony variability of a widespread opportunistic bryozoan species.     

Implicit integration of a mixed isotropic–kinematic hardening plasticity model for structured clays

In recent years, a number of constitutive models have been proposed to describe mathematically the mechanical response of natural clays. Some of these models are characterized by complex formulations, often leading to non‐trivial problems in their numerical integration in finite elements codes. The paper describes a fully implicit stress‐point algorithm for the numerical integration of a single‐surface mixed isotropic–kinematic hardening plasticity model for structured clays. The formulation of the model stems from a compromise between its capability of reproducing the larger number of features characterizing the behaviour of structured clays and the possibility of developing a robust integration algorithm for its implementation in a finite elements code. The model is characterized by an ellipsoid‐shaped yield function, inside which a stress‐dependent reversible stiffness is accounted for by a non‐linear hyperelastic formulation. The isotropic part of the hardening law extends the standard Cam‐Clay one to include plastic strain‐driven softening due to bond degradation, while the kinematic hardening part controls the evolution of the position of the yield surface in the stress space. The proposed algorithm allows the consistent linearization of the constitutive equations guaranteeing the quadratic rate of asymptotic convergence in the global‐level Newton–Raphson iterative procedure. The accuracy and the convergence properties of the proposed algorithm are evaluated with reference to the numerical simulations of single element tests and the analysis of a typical geotechnical boundary value problem. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A unified framework for earthquake risk assessment of transportation networks and gross regional product

Natural threats like earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis have had serious impacts on communities. In the past, major earthquakes in the United States like Loma Prieta 1989, Northridge 1994, or recent events in Italy like L’Aquila 2009 or Emilia 2012 emphasized the importance of preparedness and awareness to reduce social impacts. In addition to that, earthquake damaged businesses dramatically reduced the gross regional product. Generating scenario earthquakes in a proper way is important to suitably assess the risk in bridge networks and social losses in terms of gross regional product reduction. Seismic hazard is traditionally assessed by means of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). Although PSHA well represents the hazard at a specific location it is not suitable for spatially distributed systems. Scenario earthquakes can overcome this problem; they represent the actual distribution of ground shaking for a spatially distributed system while being hazard consistent. In this work a methodology to generate scenario earthquakes has been proposed using a novel approach with the aim of being the basic step for investigating possible earthquake consequences in seismic areas and contributing to reduce losses.     

A Bayesian hierarchical approach for spatial analysis of climate model bias in multi-model ensembles

Coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models are key tools to investigate climate dynamics and the climatic response to external forcings, to predict climate evolution and to generate future climate projections. Current general circulation models are, however, undisputedly affected by substantial systematic errors in their outputs compared to observations. The assessment of these so-called biases, both individually and collectively, is crucial for the models’ evaluation prior to their predictive use. We present a Bayesian hierarchical model for a unified assessment of spatially referenced climate model biases in a multi-model framework. A key feature of our approach is that the model quantifies an overall common bias that is obtained by synthesizing bias across the different climate models in the ensemble, further determining the contribution of each model to the overall bias. Moreover, we determine model-specific individual bias components by characterizing them as non-stationary spatial fields. The approach is illustrated based on the case of near-surface air temperature bias in the tropical Atlantic and bordering regions from a multi-model ensemble of historical simulations from the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. The results demonstrate the improved quantification of the bias and interpretative advantages allowed by the posterior distributions derived from the proposed Bayesian hierarchical framework, whose generality favors its broader application within climate model assessment.     

A new versatile constitutive law for modelling the monotonic response of soft rocks and structured fine-grained soils

This paper deals with a new critical state–based constitutive model for soft rocks and fine-grained soils. The model, formulated in the single-surface plasticity framework, is characterised by the following main features: (i) a generalised three-invariant yield surface capable of reproducing a wide set of well-known criteria, (ii) the dependency of the elastic stiffness on the current stress state by means of a hyperelastic formulation, (iii) the ability of simulating the plastic strain–driven structure degradation processes by a set of appropriate isotropic hardening laws, and (iv) a nonassociate flow rule in the meridian plane. The adopted formulation is hierarchical, such that the various features of the model can be activated or excluded depending on the specific kind of geomaterial to be modelled and on the quality and quantity of the related available experimental results. The constitutive model was implemented in a commercial finite element code by means of an explicit modified Euler scheme with automatic substepping and error control. The procedure does not require any form of stress correction to prevent drift from the yield surface. The performance of the model is first analysed by means of a wide set of parametric analyses, in order to highlight the main features and to evaluate the sensitivity of the formulation with reference to the input parameters. The model is then adopted to simulate the experimental response observed on three different geomaterials, ranging from soft clays to soft rocks.     

Speleogenesis of an exhumed hydrothermal sulphuric acid karst in Cambrian carbonates (Mount San Giovanni,Sardinia)

In the past few years the systematic study of caves intercepted by mine workings in southwest Sardinia has permitted us to observe morphologies due to rare speleogenetic and minerogenetic processes related to ancient hydrothermal activity. These relic morphologies are slowly being overprinted by recent speleogenetic processes that tend to obscure the hypogene origin of these caves. A combined geomorphological and mineralogical investigation has permitted a fairly detailed reconstruction of the various phases of evolution of these caves. Cave formation had already started in Cambrian times, but culminated in the Carboniferous, when most of the large voids still accessible today were formed. A key role in carbonate dissolution was played by sulphuric acid formed by the oxidation of the polymetallic ores present in the rocks since the Cambrian. During the Quaternary a variety of minerals formed inside the caves: calcite and aragonite, that yielded sequences of palaeo‐environmental interest, and also barite, phosgenite, hydrozincite, hemimorphite and many others. These minerals are in part due to a phreatic thermal hypogenic cave forming phase, and in part to later epigene overprinting in an oxidizing environment rich in polymetallic ores. Massive gypsum deposits, elsewhere typical of this kind of caves, are entirely absent due to dissolution during both the phreatic cave formation and the later epigenic stage. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution and depositional environments of the Eberswalde fan delta, Mars

The Eberswalde crater and its contributing basins have been analyzed in detail in order to reconstruct the geological evolution of the water-related landforms with particular focus on the Eberswalde delta-like feature. Based on a complex strata organization characterized by a topset-foreset-bottomset geometry, typical of delta progradation on Earth, we interpret the Eberswalde feature to be a fan delta associated with a lacustrine system. Depositional sub-environments have been recognized and mapped and the sedimentary processes discussed. A sequence stratigraphy approach has been used to evaluate the system, which we interpret to result from three depositional sequences. These sequences suggest relative water level fluctuations and a longer trend over time towards decreasing water content inside the basin.     

Source ambiguity from an estimation of the scaling exponent of potential field power spectra

An analysis of the field scaling power spectrum yields useful information about the source distribution, but it is uncertain whether deterministic, random, fractal or mixed approaches have to be used for the interpretation. To this end, the scaling properties of potential field spectra are analysed for a number of different source models of geological interest. Besides the models of Naidu (purely random sources) and Spector and Grant (gross block statistical ensembles) we consider other types of density and magnetization distributions with spectral exponents in the fractal range, such as a single homogeneous body with a random white source distribution. Spectral slopes in the fractal range are obtained.
We also study the effects of important natural sources, such as salt domes and sedimentary basins, representing them with simple Gaussians or combinations of Gaussian signals. The same spectral slopes as for gravity signals generated by 3-D fractal source distributions are found for them. Hence the power law decay of the field is not a characteristic only of fractal source models.
If a 3-D fractal source distribution is assumed a priori , a way of verifying the goodness of the model is to examine the whitened field at source level. The probability that the whitened field derives from a random white population is estimated for synthetic and real anomalies by applying the usual statistical tests.     

Thermal springs,fumaroles and gas vents of continental Yemen: Their relation with active tectonics,regional hydrology and the country’s geothermal potential

Most thermal springs of continental Yemen (about 65 emergences at 48 sampling sites) and a couple of fumaroles and boiling water pools have been sampled and analyzed for chemical and isotopic composition in the liquid phase and the associated free-gas phase. Whatever the emergence, all the water discharges have an isotopic signature of meteoric origin. Springs seeping out from high altitudes in the central volcanic plateau show a prevalent Na–HCO₃-composition, clearly affected by an anomalous flux of deep CO₂ deriving from active hydrothermal systems located in the Jurassic Amran Group limestone sequence and/or the Cretaceous Tawilah Group, likely underlying the 2000–3000 m thick volcanic suite. At lower elevations, CO₂ also affects the composition of some springs emerging at the borders of the central volcanic plateau.     

The macrozoobenthos of the Karavasta lagoon system (Albania): local assemblages and geographical comparisons

The macrozoobenthic assemblage from the Karavasta lagoon system, the main wetland of Albania, was studied on soft bottoms and artificial hard substrates. Three different communities were identified: the typical ‘brackish‐water community’, an ‘outlet community’ dominated by filter‐feeders, and a typical ‘marine community’, inhabiting fine sandy bottoms, where polychaetes are dominant, together with a few species of tunicates and bivalves, which colonize hard substrates. The occurrence of build‐ups of the bryozoan Conopeum seurati, settled on the upper portion of long submerged wooden poles, was the main feature of faunistic interest. The faunistic affinity between the zoobenthic assemblage recorded in the hyperhaline lagoon of Karavasta and the assemblages from two Italian lagoons, the brackish Lake of Lesina and the euhaline Lake of Fogliano, was considered according to the different hydrological conditions and the geographical location. Hydrological confinement and salinity were likely to be the leading factors influencing the benthic community composition in the Karavasta wetland area. Therefore, on a vaster spatial scale, the isolation and geographical proximity of the ecosystems and colonizing ability and dispersal changes of the species appear to be the main factors liable to produce faunal variations.