Dynamics of an active rock glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria)

The rock glacier Innere Ölgrube, located in a small side valley of the Kauner Valley (Ötztal Alps, Austria), consists of two separate, tongue-shaped rock glaciers lying next to each other. Investigations indicate that both rock glaciers contain a core of massive ice. During winter, the temperature at the base of the snow cover (BTS) is significantly lower at the active rock glacier than on permafrost-free ground adjacent to the rock glacier. Discharge is characterized by strong seasonal and diurnal variations, and is strongly controlled by the local weather conditions. Water temperature of the rock glacier springs remains constantly low, mostly below 1°C during the whole melt season. The morphology of the rock glaciers and the presence of meltwater lakes in their rooting zones as well as the high surface flow velocities of >1 m/yr point to a glacial origin. The northern rock glacier, which is bounded by lateral moraines, evolved from the debris-covered tongue of a small glacier of the Little Ice Age with its last highstand around A.D. 1850. Due to the global warming in the following decades, the upper parts of the steep and debris-free ice glacier melted, whereas the debris-covered glacier tongue transformed into an active rock glacier. Due to this evolution and due to the downslope movement, the northern rock glacier, although still active, at present is cut off from its ice and debris supply. The southern rock glacier has developed approximately during the same period from a debris-covered cirque glacier at the foot of the Wannetspitze massif.     

Eocene-Pliocene time scale and stratigraphy of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) and the Swiss Molasse Basin (SMB)

We present a general stratigraphic synthesis for the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) and the Swiss Molasse Basin (SMB) from Eocene to Pliocene times. The stratigraphic data were compiled both from literature and from research carried out by the authors during the past 6 years ; an index of the stratigraphically most important localitites is provided. We distinguish 14 geographical areas from the Helvetic domain in the South to the Hanau Basin in the North. For each geographical area, we give a synthesis of the biostratigraphy, lithofacies, and chronostratigraphic ranges. The relationships between this stratigraphic record and the global sea-level changes are generally disturbed by the geodynamic (e.g., subsidence) evolution of the basins. However, global sea-level changes probably affected the dynamic of transgression–regression in the URG (e.g., Middle Pechelbronn Beds and Serie Grise corresponding with sea-level rise between Ru1/Ru2 and Ru2/Ru3 sequences, respectively) as well as in the Molasse basin (regression of the UMM corresponding with the sea-level drop at the Ch1 sequence). The URGENT-project (Upper Rhine Graben evolution and neotectonics) provided an unique opportunity to carry out and present this synthesis. Discussions with scientists addressing sedimentology, tectonics, geophysics and geochemistry permitted the comparison of the sedimentary history and stratigraphy of the basin with processes controlling its geodynamic evolution. Data presented here back up the palaeogeographic reconstructions presented in a companion paper by the same authors (see Berger et al. in Int J Earth Sci 2005).     

Satellite estimates and subpixel variability of rainfall in a semi-arid grassland

卫星估雨精度的不确定性受到当地降雨类型和像元内降雨非均匀性影响,而结合这两个关键因素开展半干旱草原卫星估雨的研究有限.2009年夏,我们在中国锡林郭勒半干旱草原用多部微雨雷达和雨量计构建了9 km卫星像元降雨观测网,观测了像元内降雨非均匀性(空间变异系数CV),并评估了卫星估雨精度.结果表明:(1)CV值受像元内平均降雨量,降雨类型,降雨云面积及移向等影响,如高Cv值的降雨过程大多为平均降雨量小,对流性降雨过程,降雨云边缘像元CV值较高;(2)TRMM 3B42V7卫星估雨产品适用性较好,CMORPH和PERSIANN次之,但TRMM 3B42V7易在半干旱草原湖泊处高估降雨.     

Magnetic Helicity as a Predictor of the Solar Cycle

It is well known that the polar magnetic field is at its maximum during solar minima, and that the behaviour during this time acts as a strong predictor of the strength of the following solar cycle. This relationship relies on the action of differential rotation (the Omega effect) on the poloidal field, which generates the toroidal flux observed in sunspots and active regions. We measure the helicity flux into both the northern and the southern hemispheres using a model that takes account of the Omega effect, which we apply to data sets covering a total of 60 years. We find that the helicity flux offers a strong prediction of solar activity up to five years in advance of the next solar cycle. We also hazard an early guess as to the strength of Solar Cycle 25, which we believe will be of similar amplitude and strength to Cycle 24.     

Leachable particulate iron in the Columbia River,estuary, and near-field plume

This study examines the distribution of leachable particulate iron (Fe) in the Columbia River, estuary, and near-field plume. Surface samples were collected during late spring and summer of 2004–2006 as part of four River Influence on Shelf Ecosystems (RISE) cruises. Tidal amplitude and river flow are the primary factors influencing the estuary leachable particulate Fe concentrations, with greater values during high flow and/or spring tides. Near the mouth of the estuary, leachable particulate Fe [defined as the particulate Fe solubilized with a 25% acetic acid (pH 2) leach containing a weak reducing agent to reduce Fe oxyhydroxides and a short heating step to access intracellular Fe] averaged 770 nM during either spring tide or high flow, compared to 320 nM during neap tide, low flow conditions. In the near-field Columbia River plume, elevated leachable particulate Fe concentrations occur during spring tides and/or higher river flow, with resuspended shelf sediment as an additional source to the plume during periods of coastal upwelling and spring tides. Near-field plume concentrations of leachable particulate Fe (at a salinity of 20) averaged 660 nM during either spring tide or high flow, compared to 300 nM during neap tide, low flow conditions. Regardless of tidal amplitude and river flow, leachable particulate Fe concentrations in both the river/estuary and near-field plume are consistently one to two orders of magnitude greater than dissolved Fe concentrations. The Columbia River is an important source of reactive Fe to the productive coastal waters off Oregon and Washington, and leachable particulate Fe is available for solubilization following biological drawdown of the dissolved phase. Elevated leachable Fe concentrations allow coastal waters influenced by the Columbia River plume to remain Fe-replete and support phytoplankton production during the spring and summer seasons.     

Two-step deglaciation: 14C-Dated high-resolution δ18O records from the tropical Atlantic Ocean

Eight box cores from the tropical Atlantic were studied in detail with regard to foraminiferal oxygen isotopes, radiocarbon, and Globorotalia menardii abundance. A standard Atlantic oxygen-isotope signal was reconstructed for the last 20,000 yr. It is quite similar to the west-equatorial Pacific signal published previously. Deglaciation is seen to occur in two steps which are separated by a pause. Onset of deglaciation is after 15,000 yr B.P. The pause is centered between 11,000 and 12,000 yr B.P., but may be correlative with the Younger Dryas (10,500 yr B.P.) if allowance is made for a scale shift due to mixing processes on the sea floor. Step 2 is centered near 10,000 yr B.P. and is followed by a brief excursion toward light oxygen values. This excursion (the M event) may correlate with the Gulf of Mexico meltwater spike.     

Folding of passive layers and forms of minor structures near terminations of blind thrust faults—application to the central Appalachian blind thrust

The existence of detachment surfaces or décollement zones beneath folded rocks of the Valley and Ridge and Plateau provinces of the Appalachians has been recognized as an important condition of folding. Large folds at the border between the two provinces resulted primarily from repetition of strata by thrusting of blocks over ramp faults that connect detachement surfaces at different horizons. Some investigators have suggested that folds in the Plateau province of Pennsylvania were produced by splay faults arising from detachment surfaces, but field observations and theoretical analyses by Sherwin and by Wiltschko & Chapple suggest that the folds are a result of buckling of multilayered rocks above a décollement. An exception may be the Burning Springs anticline in West Virginia, which appears to have formed at the termination of a detachment surface.Investigation of the translation of an homogenous, viscous material above a flat detachment surface that terminates laterally indicates that the termination produces a broad, low-amplitude anticline in passive layering as a result of thickening induced by a gradient of shear stresses in the vertical direction. This thickening above the termination of a detachment is a mechanism of folding. If the viscous fluid contained mechanical layering, the fold would become amplified by buckling. Computations of stresses in the material indicate that minor faults should be generated first near the termination of the flat detachment surface. The Burning Springs anticline probably was initiated by termination of a detachment surface and subsequently amplified by buckling.