Biostratigraphy and Sedimentary Settings of the Middle Devonian Succession of the Yuryung-Tumus Peninsula,Khatanga Gulf of the Laptev Sea

The age of the Paleozoic sedimentary successions of the Yuryung-Tumus Peninsula in the Khatanga Gulf is determined as Middle Devonian, late Eifelian, and the beginning of the early Givetian on the basis of the study of brachiopods, ammonoids, nautiloids, bactritoids, gastropods, and conodonts, and in the terminology of the standard conodont succession, these deposits are not older than the late Eifelian Tortodus kockelianus Zone, but include the terminal Eifelian Polygnathus ensensis Zone and the first Givetian Polygnathus hemiansatus Zone and are no younger than the beginning of the early Givetian Polygnathus varcus Zone. The Middle Devonian sedimentary successions of the Yuryung-Tumus Peninsula show the level of the global sedimentary Ka?ak Event. The areas of distribution of the Devonian sedimentary deposits in the Yuryung-Tumus Peninsula in the Khatanga Gulf should be considered as one of the fragments of the regional geological structures of a remote (isolated?) region of the Taymyr Fold System rather than a component of the structures of the northern Siberian Platform.     

Age and Provenance Areas of Terrigenous Rocks of the Dzhida Terrane: Results of U—Th—Pb (LA-ICP-MS) Geochronological Study of Detrital Zircons

The results of U—Th—Pb (LA-ICP-MS) geochronological studies of detrital zircons from terrigenous rocks of the Dzhida terrane of the Central Asian Fold Belt (CAFB) are presented. The data obtained allow us to distinguish the following age maxima (Ma): 578 and 634 (Vendian); 720, 823, and 919 (Late Riphean); 1922, 2090, 2225, and 2321 (Early Proterozoic). A number of zircons have Late Archean age in the interval of 2670–2980 Ma. Taking into account Late Cambrian age (504–506 Ma) of intrusive rocks that intruded the Dzhida terrane, a possible sedimentation period of sequences of this terrane is estimated to be in the interval of 580–510 Ma (from Vendian to Late Cambrian). The possible provenance areas of terrigenous sediments are proposed and the previously proposed models of geodynamic evolution of the Dzhida terrane are correlated with new geochronological data.     

Ziminaite,Fe3+VO4, a new howardevansite-group mineral from the Bezymyannyi volcano,Kamchatka, Russia

Mineralogy and Petrology - The new mineral ziminaite, ideally Fe3+VO4, was found in fumarole sublimates at the Bezymyannyi volcano, Kamchatka, Russia. Ziminaite occurs as lamellar, tabular or...     

Empirical seismic vulnerability,deterministic risk and monetary loss assessment in Fira (Santorini,Greece)

A deterministic seismic risk and monetary loss model is presented for the capital of Santorini volcanic Island, the town of Fira, on a building block scale. A local seismic source of M5.6 inferred from a recent volcano unrest in 2011–2012, detailed seismic vulnerability of 435 buildings and site conditions deduced from free-field ambient noise measurements were combined toward assessing the EMS-98 damage grade and its probability to occur. The seismic scenario yielded no damage or slight damage for 84% of the buildings, 16% of the constructions are expected to present moderate-to-heavy damage, while the economic loss amounts to 4 million euros. Although the model predicts low damage and direct economic loss, interaction with the touristic business activities might produce cascade side effects for the economy of the island and consequently Greece’s GDP, an important part of which emanates from Santorini.     

The present-day active deformation in the central and northern parts of the Gulf of Suez area,Egypt, from earthquake focal mechanism data

The average seismic strain rate is estimated for the seismotectonic zone of the northern/central parts of the Gulf of Suez. The principal strain rate tensor and velocity tensor were derived from a combination of earthquake focal mechanisms data and seismic moment of small-sized earthquakes covering a time span of 13 years (1992–2004). A total of 17 focal mechanism solutions have been used in the calculation of the moment tensor summation. The local magnitudes (MLs) of these events range from 2.8 to 4.7. The analysis indicates that the dominant mode of deformation in the central and northern parts of the Gulf of Suez is extension at a rate of 0.008 mm/year in N28°E direction and a small crustal thinning of 0.0034 mm/year. This low level of strain means that this zone experienced a little seismic deformation. There is also a right lateral shear motion along the ESE–WNW direction. This strain pattern is consistent with the predominant NW–SE normal faulting and ESE–WNW dextral transtensive faults in this zone. Comparing the results obtained from both stress and strain tensors, we find that the orientations of the principal axes of both tensors have the same direction with a small difference between them. Both tensors show a predominantly extensional domain. The nearly good correspondence between principal stress and strain orientations in the area suggests that the tectonic strength is relatively uniform for this crustal volume.     

Hazard assessment of volcanic ballistic impacts at Mt Chihshin,Tatun Volcano Group,northern Taiwan

The assessment of vulnerability provides valuable knowledge in the risk assessment steps of a risk governance process. Given the multiscale, multilevel, and multisectorial aspects of flood risk, the diversified entities that directly and indirectly intervene in risk management require specific outputs from the assessment studies. Urban areas in estuarine margins are particularly exposed and vulnerable to flooding. Such interface conditions are found in the Old City Centre of the Seixal, located in the Tagus estuary, Portugal. Here, two distinct methodologies were applied for the assessment of territorial vulnerability. A regional, lower-scale, methodology explores the application of the statistical procedure based on the SoVI^® at the statistical block level. A second, local and higher-scale, methodology is based in data collected through field matrices at the building and statistical sub-block level. Comparison of results revealed that the lower-scale assessment provides information on the vulnerability drivers at the regional and municipal level. Nevertheless, only at a higher-scale, it is possible to characterize and differentiate the smaller geographical units of analysis that compose the Old City Centre of Seixal. The lower-scale vulnerability assessment allows a strategic response, based on adaptation measures such as spatial planning, institutional capacity building and public awareness. The local level assessment provides more accurate knowledge to support local emergency planning and the allocation of operational and material resources at the urban level. Nevertheless, rather than antagonistic, both models can be considered as complementary, having in mind the requirements of an holistic flood risk governance model.     

Assessing soil salinity using WorldView-2 multispectral images in Timpaki,Crete, Greece

Salinization is one of the major soil degradation threats occurring worldwide. This study evaluates the feasibility of operational surface soil salinity mapping based on state-of-the-art Earth Observation (EO) products captured by sensors on-board WorldView-2 (WV2) and Landsat 8 satellites. The proposed methods are tested in Timpaki, south-central Crete,Greece, where brackish water irrigation puts soil health at risk of soil salinization. In all cases, EO products are calibrated against soil samples collected from bare soil locations. Results indicate a moderate correlation of observed EC_e values with the investigated remote sensing parameters. Regarding sensitivity to saline soil, the yellow band displays higher values. Comparison between methods used in the literature shows that those developed specifically for soil salinity, and especially index S5, perform better. The proposed ‘detection index’ and 3D PCA transformation methodology perform reasonably well in detecting areas with high EC_e values and provide a simple and effective operational alternative for saline topsoil detection and mapping.     

Novel fusion approach on automatic object extraction from spatial data: case study Worldview-2 and TOPO5000

The automatic extraction of information content from remotely sensed data is always challenging. We suggest a novel fusion approach to improve the extraction of this information from mono-satellite images. A Worldview-2 (WV-2) pan-sharpened image and a 1/5000-scaled topographic vector map (TOPO5000) were used as the sample data. Firstly, the buildings and roads were manually extracted from WV-2 to point out the maximum extractable information content. Subsequently, object-based automatic extractions were performed. After achieving two-dimensional results, a normalized digital surface model (nDSM) was generated from the underlying digital aerial photos of TOPO5000, and the automatic extraction was repeated by fusion with the nDSM to include individual object heights as an additional band for classification. The contribution was tested by precision, completeness and overall quality. Novel fusion technique increased the success of automatic extraction by 7% for the number of buildings and by 23% for the length of roads.     

Fuel type mapping using object-based image analysis of DMC and Landsat-8 OLI imagery

Efficient forest fire management requires precise and up-to-date knowledge regarding the composition and spatial distribution of forest fuels at various spatial and temporal scales. Fuel-type maps are essential for effective fire prevention strategies planning, as well as the alleviation of the environmental impacts of potential wildfire events. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the potential of Disaster Monitoring Constellation and Landsat-8 OLI satellite images (Operational Land Imager), combined with Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA), in operational mapping of the Mediterranean fuel types at a regional scale. The results showcase that although the images of both sensors can be used with GEOBIA analysis for the generation of accurate fuel-type maps, only the OLI images can be considered as applicable for regional mapping of the Mediterranean fuel types on an operational basis.     

‘Filament’ marker beds in the Karababa-A Member (Turonian) of the Arabian platform,SE Turkey: Palaeo-environmental significance,stratigraphy and correlation potential

A ‘filament’ event bed/level corresponds to the occurrence of thin elongate calcitic, shells, or plates of pelagic, bivalve or crinoidal, origin, within pelagic, laminated and organic-matter rich limestones. These organic-rich limestones had been generally deposited under hypoxic/anoxic conditions in an outer-ramp environment. These thin elongate, bivalve shells, or crinoidal plates, are found broken in small pieces, disintegrated, or simply preserved parallel to bedding as almost complete specimens. Such ‘filament’ beds were spotted in SE Turkey in deposits, namely the Karababa-A Member, around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary (C/TB) and above. On a global scale, these filament event beds illustrate sea-level rise related to eustacy and/or climatic change. The abundance of filaments close to the C/TB is a biological marker of high organic productivity resulting from a climatic change to warmer conditions. The prevailing higher sea-level conditions were then favourable to the accumulation and preservation of organic-rich facies, characteristic of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2). Using both biostratigraphic and carbon isotopic data, those deposits were dated from the latest Cenomanian-Turonian age. ‘Filament’ event beds were recorded in the same order, except for some small differences. A good number of these bio-events are global. Consequently, on a global scale, they are susceptible to constrain the C/TB, especially the base of the Turonian stage, with a significant degree of confidence.