Modelling surface runoff to evaluate the effects of wildfires in multiple semi‐arid,shrubland‐dominated catchments

Wildfires change the infiltration properties of soil, reduce the amount of interception and result in increased runoff. A wildfire at Northeast Attica, Central Greece, in August 2009, destroyed approximately one third of a study area consisting of a mixture of shrublands, pastures and pines. The present study simultaneously models multiple semi‐arid, shrubland‐dominated Mediterranean catchments and assesses the hydrological response (mean annual and monthly runoff and runoff coefficients) during the first few years following wildfires. A physically based, hydrological model (MIKE SHE) was chosen. Calibration and validation results of mean monthly discharge presented very good agreement with the observed data for the pre‐wildfire and post‐wildfire period for two subcatchments (Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency coefficient of 79.7%). The model was then used to assess the pre‐wildfire and post‐wildfire runoff responses for each of seven catchments in the study area. Mean annual surface runoff increased for the first year and after the second year following the wildfires increased by 112% and 166%, respectively. These values are within the range observed in similar cases of monitored sites. This modelling approach may provide a way of prioritizing catchment selection with respect to post‐fire remediation activities. Additionally, this modelling assessment methodology would be valuable to other semi‐arid areas because it provides an important means for comprehensively assessing post‐wildfire response over large regions and therefore attempts to address some of the scaled issues in the specific literature field of research. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Star-formation modes in the solar neighborhood

We perform a study into the spatial and kinematical distribution of young open clusters in the solar neighborhood, distinguishing between Gould Belt and local Galactic disk members. We use a previous estimate of the structural parameters of both systems obtained from a sample of O to B6 stars from Hipparcos. The two star-forming regions that dominate and give the Gould Belt its characteristic inclined shape show a striking difference in their content of star clusters: while Ori OB1 is richly populated by open clusters, not a single one can be found within the boundaries of Sco OB2. This is mirrored in velocity space, translating again into an abundance of clusters in the region of the kinematic space populated by the members of Ori OB1, and a marginal number of them associated with Sco OB2. We interpret all these differences by characterizing the Orion region as a cluster complex typically surrounded by a stellar halo, and the Sco-Cen region as an OB association in the outskirts of the complex. The different contents of star clusters, the different heights above the Galactic plane and the different residual velocities of Ori OB1 and Sco OB2 can be explained in terms of their relative position with respect to the density maximum of the Local Arm in the solar neighborhood. The origin of this feature could have been the interaction of a density wave with the local interstellar medium close to the Galactic co-rotation radius.     

The mutual climatic range method of palaeoclimate reconstruction based on insect fossils: New applications and interhemispheric comparisons

The Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) method of palaeoclimate reconstruction has been employed in Europe for the last decade. A quantitative, calibrated method, MCR has many advantages over qualitative methods. More recent applications deal with eastern and central North America, and the method is also being developed for desert and arctic faunas. The climate envelopes for North American beetles have been compiled using a 25-km gridded North American climate database that pairs climate parameters with modern collection sites. Modern tests of the reliability of the MCR method for North American species yielded similar results to prior European tests. Linear regressions of predicted on observed values yielded equations used to calibrate the MCR estimates. Work is under way to develop MCR estimates of mean annual precipitation for fossil assemblages from the desert southwest, where moisture conditions may play a more important role in determining beetle species' ranges.An examination of British and North American mean July temperature reconstructions during the Late Wisconsinan glacial interval compares and contrasts three sets of records. The North American records show no indication of the Younger Dryas cooling that is clearly marked in records from northwest Europe. The MCR method adds vigour to our reconstructions, and allows us to compare between regions and with other palaeoenvironmental methods.     

North American transect of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in water beetles from a museum collection

Museum collections contain a wealth of insect remains originating from a wide geographic range, which can be used to investigate their utility as a proxy for environmental isotope ratios. Chitinous remains of insects such as beetles (Coleoptera) are chemically stable and their stable isotope composition is strongly related to that of environmental water in the period of cuticle formation. We present a dataset of chitin ??D and ??¹⁸O in two genera of water beetles from a museum collection containing 40 locations for Helophorus (water scavenging beetles) and 48 locations for Hydroporus (predaceous diving beetles) that were selected from latitudes 27?C82°N in North America. Only two genera were used to minimize inter-sample variation caused by species-specific differences in metabolic effects, feeding strategy, habitat, and life cycle. The isotopic composition of water beetle exoskeletons had a strong latitudinal trend (North?CSouth) from ?160 to +65??? for ??D and from 7 to 34??? for ??¹⁸O, paralleling gradients of isotopes in precipitation. Strong relationships were observed between isotopic composition of beetles and modelled July precipitation (0.71?<?R ²?<?0.82, p?<?0.001). The relationship between ??D and ??¹⁸O in the beetle samples had a systematic offset from the global meteoric water line, which was likely caused by metabolic effects during chitin formation. The offset between ??D values in beetles and in modelled precipitation was 33??? larger, on average, for Hydroporus compared with Helophorus, suggesting fractionation of hydrogen isotopes during passage through the food chain. This trophic level effect was not observed for stable oxygen isotopes. Furthermore, the observed deviations between isotopic composition of water beetles and modelled precipitation at collection sites were not constant and indicated local hydrological deviations from modelled precipitation. The largest deviations were observed for sites in the Southern US and the Arctic that are highly evaporative and at sites in the Rocky Mountains and Coastal Mountains that were fed by snow melt. Our results indicated that the isotopic composition of water beetles from a museum collection was systematically related to ??D and ??¹⁸O values of precipitation at the collection site.     

Dimensional analysis of the earthquake‐induced pounding between adjacent structures

In this paper the dynamic response of two and three pounding oscillators subjected to pulse‐type excitations is revisited with dimensional analysis. Using Buckingham's Π‐theorem the number of variables that govern the response of the system is reduced by three. When the response is presented in the dimensionless Π‐terms remarkable order emerges. It is shown that regardless of the acceleration level and duration of the pulse all response spectra become self‐similar and follow a single master curve. This is true despite the realization of finite duration contacts with increasing durations as the excitation level increases. All physically realizable contacts (impacts, continuous contacts, and detachments) are captured via a linear complementarity approach. The study confirms the existence of three spectral regions. The response of the most flexible among the two oscillators amplifies in the low range of the frequency spectrum (flexible structures); whereas, the response of the most stiff among the two oscillators amplifies at the upper range of the frequency spectrum (stiff structures). Most importantly, the study shows that pounding structures such as colliding buildings or interacting bridge segments may be most vulnerable for excitations with frequencies very different from their natural eigenfrequencies. Finally, by applying the concept of intermediate asymptotics, the study unveils that the dimensionless response of two pounding oscillators follows a scaling law with respect to the mass ratio, or in mathematical terms, that the response exhibits an incomplete self‐similarity or self‐similarity of the second kind with respect to the mass ratio. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rocking amplification and strong‐motion duration

This paper characterizes the ability of natural ground motions to induce rocking demands on rigid structures. In particular, focusing on rocking blocks of different size and slenderness subjected to a large number of historic earthquake records, the study unveils the predominant importance of the strong‐motion duration to rocking amplification (ie, peak rocking response without overturning). It proposes original dimensionless intensity measures (IMs), which capture the total duration (or total impulse accordingly) of the time intervals during which the ground motion is capable of triggering rocking motion. The results show that the proposed duration‐based IMs outperform all other examined (intensity, frequency, duration, and/or energy‐based) scalar IMs in terms of both “efficiency” and “sufficiency.” Further, the pertinent probabilistic seismic demand models offer a prediction of the peak rocking demand, which is adequately “universal” and of satisfactory accuracy. Lastly, the analysis shows that an IM that “efficiently” captures rocking amplification is not necessarily an “efficient” IM for predicting rocking overturning, which is dominated by the velocity characteristics (eg, peak velocity) of the ground motion.     

Pollutant concentrations in fog and low cloud water at selected sites of the Czech Republic

In this paper, the basic composition of fog and low cloud water are presented, resulting from the analyses of water samples from 111 fog/cloud events. The samples were collected at five sites located in various regions of the Czech Republic. Two sampling sites are in mountainous regions and three sites represent various urban areas. The mountain stations are located in two regions of the Czech Republic with different industry types. At all the sites, active fog collectors were employed. In the water samples, the conductivity, acidity (pH), cations (H⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, NH₄⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺) and anions (F⁻, Cl⁻, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻) were determined.A mean pH value of about 4.5 was obtained at mountain sites whereas the measurements in urban areas showed mean pH values from 4.9 to 6.4. The mean conductivity values in the samples from the two mountain stations were 137 and 191.5 μS cm⁻¹. The samples from urban sites showed mean values between 127.7 and 654.4 μS cm⁻¹. The maximum concentration means for the three dominant pollutants (expressed by the ratio mountain sites/urban sites) are 32.9/99.6 mg l⁻¹ for NO₃⁻, 32.5/192.9 mg l⁻¹ for SO₄²⁻ and 18.5/52.7 mg l⁻¹ for NH₄⁺. As expected, we found higher ion concentrations in the northern part of the Czech Republic where larger numbers of lignite-burning power plants, chemical factories and opencast lignite mines are located. A decrease in ion concentrations was observed at higher altitude sites, probably reflecting at least in part higher liquid water contents at these locations.     

Cementation of kerogen-rich marls by alkaline fluids released during weathering of thermally metamorphosed marly sediments. Part I: Isotopic (C,O) study of the Khushaym Matruk natural analogue (central Jordan)

The Khushaym Matruk site in central Jordan may represent a natural analogue depicting the interaction of alkaline solutions with a clayey sedimentary formation or with clay-rich confining barriers at the interface with concrete structures in waste disposal sites. In this locality, past spontaneous combustion of organic matter in a clayey biomicritic formation produced a ca. 60 m-thick layer of cement-marble containing some of the high-temperature phases usually found in industrial cements (e.g., spurrite, brucite, and Ca-aluminate). A vertical cross-section of the underlying sediments was used in order to study the interaction between cement-marbles and neighbouring clayey limestones under weathering conditions. A thermodynamic approach of the alteration parageneses (calcite–jennite–afwillite–brucite and CSH phases) in the cement-marbles constrains the interacting solutions to have had pH-values between 10.5 and 12. Over 3 m, the sediments located beneath the metamorphic unit were compacted and underwent carbonation. They display large C and O isotopic variations with respect to “pristine” sediments from the bottom of the section. Low δ¹³C-values down to −31.4‰/PDB show the contribution of CO₂ derived from the oxidization of organic matter and from the atmosphere to the intense carbonation process affecting that particular sedimentary level. The size of the C isotopic anomalies, their geometrical extent and their coincidence with the variations of other markers like the Zn content, the structure of organic matter, the mineralogical composition, all argue that the carbonation process was induced by the percolation of high pH solutions which derived from the alteration of cement-marbles. The temperature of the carbonation process remains conjectural and some post-formation O isotopic reequilibration likely affected the newly-formed carbonate. Carbonation induced a considerable porosity reduction, both in fractures and matrixes. The Khushaym Matruk site may have some bearing to the early life of a repository site, when water saturation of the geological formations hosting the concrete structures is incomplete, enabling simultaneous diffusion of alkaline waters and gaseous CO₂ in the near field.