Metal concentrations, fluxes, inventories and chronologies in sediments from Sepetiba and Ribeira Bays: A comparative study

Three sediment cores were sampled at Sepetiba Bay and four cores at Ribeira Bay, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Sediment accumulation rates and chronologies were obtained from ²¹⁰Pb activity-depth profiles. Sediment accumulation rates in Ribera Bay ranged from 1.2 mm y⁻¹ in the inner bay to 2.6 mm y⁻¹ close to its entrance. In Sepetiba Bay two sediment accumulation rates were observed: a lower rate of 0.35 cm y⁻¹ before the 1960s and 0.76 cm y⁻¹ since then. The cause of this change is due to the construction of the Santa Cecília impoundment (1955) that brings water from the Paraíba do Sul Basin into the Guandu River, which increased its flow from the original 20 m³ s⁻¹ to 160 m³ s⁻¹. Concentration of 44 elements was obtained by ICP-MS after total dissolution of samples from two selected cores. The relative differences between the concentrations of crustal elements, such as Al, Fe and Ti are only about 20% (p < 0.05). Cd and Zn are 15 and four times larger in Sepetiba Bay than in Ribeira Bay, respectively. Other major and minor elements show lower statistically significant differences. The enrichment factors and metal inventories show that Sepetiba Bay can be considered polluted with Bi, Cd, Cr, Cu, Sb and Zn. Particularly, Cd and Zn present concentrations three and four times higher than the Brazilian existing limits.     

Multidimensional scaling visualization of earthquake phenomena

Earthquakes are associated with negative events, such as large number of casualties, destruction of buildings and infrastructures, or emergence of tsunamis. In this paper, we apply the Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) analysis to earthquake data. MDS is a set of techniques that produce spatial or geometric representations of complex objects, such that, objects perceived to be similar/distinct in some sense are placed nearby/distant on the MDS maps. The interpretation of the charts is based on the resulting clusters since MDS produces a different locus for each similarity measure. In this study, over three million seismic occurrences, covering the period from January 1, 1904 up to March 14, 2012 are analyzed. The events, characterized by their magnitude and spatiotemporal distributions, are divided into groups, either according to the Flinn–Engdahl seismic regions of Earth or using a rectangular grid based in latitude and longitude coordinates. Space-time and Space-frequency correlation indices are proposed to quantify the similarities among events. MDS has the advantage of avoiding sensitivity to the non-uniform spatial distribution of seismic data, resulting from poorly instrumented areas, and is well suited for accessing dynamics of complex systems. MDS maps are proven as an intuitive and useful visual representation of the complex relationships that are present among seismic events, which may not be perceived on traditional geographic maps. Therefore, MDS constitutes a valid alternative to classic visualization tools, for understanding the global behavior of earthquakes.     

Dual-energy computerized tomography in compacted soil

This paper describes an alternative nondestructive technique for bulk density and water content determination in soils using dual-energy computerized tomography. A first generation tomographic system (STAC-1) was used in the analysis of the specimens. The system used ¹³⁷Cs (662 keV), ¹⁹²Ir (316 keV) and ²⁴¹Am (60 keV) as radiation sources and a Sodium Iodine crystal (NaI(Tl)) with photomultiplier tube as the detector. The specimens of soil tested were from different regions, one from São Paulo, and the other from Rio de Janeiro. The bulk density and the water content were determined point by point, in a transverse section of the soil specimens, using a computational algorithm that generated images of bulk density and water content. By utilizing the average pixel values of linear attenuation coefficient in these images, for each specimen, a characteristic curve could be built for each soil. The linear attenuation coefficient values agreed with the expected data. The compaction curves presented good agreement between the tomographic technique and the standard geotechnical method.     

Origin of the Olympus Mons aureole and perimeter scarp

The aureole materials that form an annulus of corrugated terrain surrounding Olympus Mons are considered to be the product of mass movement. The scarp at the mountain's foot formed as a result of this massive removal of material from the volcano's outer flanks. This interpretation is supported by a comparison of the amount of material originally available before scarp formation, and the present volume of aureole materials. On the basis of distribution, surface textures and theoretical considerations it is considered that the aureole was produced by a series of megaslides, rather than by a flow mechanism. Production of the megaslides may have been assisted by a period of widespread melting of permafrost.Paper presented at the European Workshop on Planetary Sciences, organised by the Laboratorio di Astrofisica Spaziale di Frascati, and held between April 23–27, 1979, at the Accademia Nazionale del Lincei in Rome, Italy.     

A multi-scale approach to study the lithospheric structure of the southern Upper Rhine Graben: from seismic tomography through reflection seismics to surface geology

This paper integrates the results of different techniques—local and regional travel time tomography, reflection seismics, and surface geology. With this integration of different techniques, working on different scales, it is possible to derive a comprehensive picture of the present-day structures in the lithosphere of the Upper Rhine Graben. It is shown that the stucture of the lithosphere is dominated by structures related to the Variscan orogeny. Late stage strike-slip reactivation of the internal faults of the Rhine Graben is observed in the field. This reactivation is of dominant influence on the geomorphology in the southern end of the Upper Rhine Graben.     

The volcanic-subvolcanic rocks of the fernando de noronha archipelago,southern atlantic ocean: Mineral chemistry

Fernando de Noronha archipelago presents an older Remédios Formation with subvolcanic intrusions, belonging to two different alkaline series, the sodic (undersaturated: basanites, tephrites, essexites, tephriphonolites, phonolites), and potassic ones (mildly undersaturated to silicic, with alkali basalts, basaltic trachyandesites, trachyandesites, trachytes), and lamprophyres. The upper Quixaba Formation presents nephelinite flows and basanites. A third minor unit, São José, is constituted by basanites carrying mantle xenoliths. Magnesian olivines occur in the Remédios basanites and alkali basalts, and in nephelinites. Melilites are present as groundmass grains in melilite melanephelinites (MEM). Clinopyroxenes (cpx) are mostly salites to titaniferous salites (Remédios sodic series), grading into aegirines in the differentiated aphyric phonolites. Cpx in the lamprophyres show disequilibrium textures. In the Quixaba flows, cpx are salites, enriched in Mg (especially in MEM). Amphiboles, remarkably, are common in tephriphonolites and phonolites and in basaltic trachyandesites, sometimes with disequilibrum zoning textures, and a conspicuous phase in lamprophyres. Dark micas are present as groundmass plates in MEM, OLM and PYM (olivine and pyroxene melanephelinites), with compositional variety (enriched in Ti, Ba, Sr) depending on the composition of the parent rock; BaO can be as high as 16–19%. Feldspars crystallize as calcic plagioclases, sanidines and anorthoclases, depending on the rock types, as phenocrysts and in groundmass, both in Quixaba and Remédios rocks; they are absent in nephelinites. Nephelines are found in Remédios sodic series types and Quixaba rocks. Haüyne and noseane are rarely observed in Remédios rocks.     

The mantle rotation pole position. A solar component

The direction of the Earth's rotation axis with respect to the mantle has been studied for more than a century. The time variation of this direction is generally considered to be the sum of three components: the annual wobble, forced by the atmosphere, the Chandler wobble, a free oscillation with a period of 435 days, and the so-called drift of the mean pole. In the present paper, applying the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) technique, we uncover two more components, with smaller amplitude than the three first ones, but well identified, periodic with periods of 11 and 5.5 years, respectively, undoubtedly linked to solar activity. We interpret them tentatively as the result of an exchange of kinetic angular momentum between the atmosphere, in which a flow would be generated by solar activity, and the mantle. The order of magnitude of the required mean winds in the atmosphere computed in the frame of a schematic model is 1 ms^?1, compatible with the observed values of the meridional mean circulation.