Das Gondwana-Inlandeis in Südbrasilien

Zusammenfassung Entgegen den früheren Annahmen wird gezeigt, daß das südbrasilianische Gondwana-Inlandeis vom Süden (Riograndensischer Schild) stammt. Die mächtige, weder durch Glazialstauchungen noch durch glaziale oder interglaziale Erosion gestörte und unterbrochene Ablagerungsfolge, die damit ein vom europäischen Glazialdiluvium völlig abweichendes Verhalten zeigt, ist dadurch bedingt, daß das Eis in ein weiträumiges, fortschreitende epirogene Absenkung zeigendes Becken hineinfloß.Mit Unterstützung des Conselho Nacional d. Pesquisas, Rio de Janeiro.     

Exploring socio-hydrological determinants of crop yield in under-performing irrigation schemes: pathways for sustainable intensification

ABSTRACT

Understanding the human–water–food–climate nexus is central to achieving sustainable intensification (SI) in agriculture. This research uses a socio-hydrological approach to understand the underpinning for implementing SI in the Gezira Irrigation Scheme, Sudan, by integrating vegetation indices derived from remote sensing, ancillary, gridded soil and precipitation data, supplemented by interviews with 393 farmers. The productivity gap was estimated as the difference between the potential and actual productivities. Based upon data on farmers’ socio-economic status and field practices, a regression tree model was built to determine the factors that control the sorghum yield. The model revealed that the financial status of farmers and access to water are the most influential factors on sorghum yield. A conceptual framework that elucidates SI and its bi-directional feedback to the environment, society and the economy is proposed. Implementing SI in the scheme has implications on water and food security in Sudan and beyond its borders.     

The impact of decadal fluctuations in mean precipitation and temperature on runoff: A sensitivity study over the United States

The nature of climate variability is such that decadal fluctuations in average temperature (up to 1 °C annually or 2 °C seasonally) and precipitation (approximately 10% annually), have occurred in most areas of the United States during the modern climate record (the last 60 years). The impact of these fluctuations on runoff was investigated, using data from 82 streams across the United States that had minimal human interference in natural flows. The effects of recent temperature fluctuations on streamflow are minimal, but the impact of relatively small fluctuations in precipitation (about 10%) are often amplified by a factor of two or more, depending on basin and climate characteristics. This result is particularly significant with respect to predicted changes in temperature due to the greenhouse effect. It appears that without reliable predictions of precipitation changes across drainage basins, little confidence can be placed in hypothesized effects of the warming on annual runoff.     

The 1991 eruption of Hekla,Iceland

The eruption that started in the Hekla volcano in South Iceland on 17 January 1991, and came to an end on 11 March, produced mainly andesitic lava. This lava covers 23 km² and has an estimated volume of 0.15 km³. This is the third eruption in only 20 years, whereas the average repose period since 1104 is 55 years. Earthquakes, as well as a strain pulse recorded by borehole strainmeters, occurred less than half an hour before the start of the eruption. The initial plinian phase was very short-lived, producing a total of only 0.02 km³ of tephra. The eruption cloud attained 11.5 km in height in only 10 min, but it became detached from the volcano a few hours later. Several fissures were active during the first day of the eruption, including a part of the summit fissure. By the second day, however, the activity was already essentially limited to that segment of the principal fissure where the main crater subsequently formed. The average effusion rate during the first two days of the eruption was about 800 m³ s^–1. After this peak, the effusion rate declined rapidly to 10–20 m³ s^–1, then more slowly to 1 m³ s^–1, and remained at 1–12 m³ s^–1 until the end of the eruption. Site observations near the main crater suggest that the intensity of the volcanic tremor varied directly with the force of the eruption. A notable rise in the fluorine concentration of riverwater in the vicinity of the eruptive fissures occurred on the 5th day of the eruption, but it levelled off on the 6th day and then remained essentially constant. The volume and initial silica content of the lava and tephra, the explosivity and effusion rate during the earliest stage of the eruption, as well as the magnitude attained by the associated earthquakes, support earlier suggestions that these parameters are positively related to the length of the preceeding repose period. The chemical difference between the eruptive material of Hekla itself and the lavas erupted in its vicinity can be explained in terms of a density-stratified magma reservoir located at the bottom of the crust. We propose that the shape of this reservoir, its location at the west margin of a propagating rift, and its association with a crustal weakness, all contribute to the high eruption frequency of Hekla.     

Aquifer chemistry of four high-temperature geothermal systems in Iceland

The deep water feeding wet-steam wells in four high-temperature geothermal areas in Iceland have highly variable salinity as reflected in the chlorine concentrations which vary from 20 to 19000 ppm. Using available values for equilibrium constants, the activities of 26 chemical species involving the major components of the reservoir water have been calculated and quantitative evaluations of solute/ solute, mineral/solute chemical equilibria in these geothermal systems have been made.The unflashed reservoir water is just saturated with calcite. The saline geothermal waters, which represent heated sea-water, are just saturated with anhydrite, but the dilute waters, which are of meteoric origin, are somewhat undersaturated with this mineral. The fluoride mobility is thought to be limited by an ionic exchange reaction where F^? replaces some of the OH^? in the layered silicates. The pH of the unflashed reservoir water is governed by ionic exchange equilibrium in which all the major cations participitate. At a given temperature it seems likely that the activity of one cation fixes the activities of all the other major cations and hydrogen ion. If this is so and we take all the other chemical equilibria which have been demonstrated to exist for granted, it turns out that the major element composition of the unflashed high-temperature geothermal waters is controlled by two independent variables only. These variables are the temperature and the supply to the water of the incompatible element chlorine, incompatible indicating that this element is not incorporated in the geothermal minerals.     

Temperature and pressure determinations in the Venus atmosphere by means of high-resolution spectra from 1 to 2.5 μm

Twenty-one bands of CO₂ and the 2-0 band of CO were analyzed for best temperature and pressure fits from Venus spectra obtained with the “Connes” interferometer at the Steward Observatory 2.25-m telescope during the spring of 1971. An average temperature of 241 ± 7°K, an effective pressure of 0.12 ± 0.06 atm, and an average two-way transmission abundance of 3 km-amagat were determined. No difference in temperature or pressure between hot bands, a double hot band, and regular bands was found. Our results were compared to model calculations for a reflecting layer and scattering atmosphere. The results indicate that, most likely, spectroscopic line formation occurs in a relatively clear space above a scattering cloud layer with a reasonably well-defined upper boundary.