Observations of vertical ground accelerations exceeding gravity during the 1997 Umbria-Marche (central Italy) earthquakes

We found extensive evidence that the vertical ground accelerations produced during the largest shock (M = 6.0) of the 1997 Umbria-Marche earthquake sequence exceeded 1g in two areas close to the heavily-damaged villages of Annifo and Colle Croce. This evidence comes from the striking observation of thousands of freshly fractured and broken rocks and stones in these areas. Some of the broken stones lie isolated on soft detritic soil while others had been previously piled up, probably a long time agoto clear the fields for farming. The freshness of the cuts and fractures and the consistency of the observations for thousands of rocks and stones in these areas indicate that these rocks were thrown upwards during the earthquake, with breakage occurring at the time of impact. Ground motion calculations consistent with the static deformation inferred from GPS and interferometry data, show that the broken stones and rocks are found in the zone where the strongest shaking took place during the earthquake and that most of the shaking there was vertical.     

Water relation characteristics ofAlhagi sparsifolia and consequences for a sustainable management

Water relation characteristics of the desert legumeAlhagi sparsifolia were investigated during the vegetation period from April to September 1999 in the foreland of Qira oasis at the southern fringe of the Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The seasonal variation of predawn water potentials and of diurnal water potential indicated thatAlhagi plants were well water supplied over the entire vegetation period. Decreasing values in the summer months were probably attributed to increasing temperatures and irradiation and therefore a higher evapotranspirative demand. Data from pressure-volume analysis confirmed thatAlhagi plants were not drought stressed and xylem sap flow measurements indicated thatAlhagi plants used large amounts of water during the summer months. Flood irrigation had no influence on water relations inAlhagi probably becauseAlhagi plants produced only few fine roots in the upper soil layers. The data indicate thatAlhagi sparsifolia is a drought-avoiding species that utilizes ground water by a deep roots system, which is the key characteristic to adjust the hyper-arid environment. Because growth and survival ofAlhagi depends on ground water supply, it is important that variations of ground water depth are kept to a minimum. The study will provide a theoretical basis for the restoration and management of natural vegetation around oasis in arid regions.

     

Ambient Changes in Tracer Concentrations from a Multilevel Monitoring System in Basalt

Starting in 2008, a 4‐year tracer study was conducted to evaluate ambient changes in groundwater concentrations of a 1,3,6‐naphthalene trisulfonate tracer that was added to drill water. Samples were collected under open borehole conditions and after installing a multilevel groundwater monitoring system completed with 11 discrete monitoring zones within dense and fractured basalt and sediment layers in the eastern Snake River aquifer. The study was done in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy to test whether ambient fracture flow conditions were sufficient to remove the effects of injected drill water prior to sample collection. Results from thief samples indicated that the tracer was present in minor concentrations 28 days after coring, but was not present 6 months after coring or 7 days after reaming the borehole. Results from sampling the multilevel monitoring system indicated that small concentrations of the tracer remained in 5 of 10 zones during some period after installation. All concentrations were several orders of magnitude lower than the initial concentrations in the drill water. The ports that had remnant concentrations of the tracer were either located near sediment layers or were located in dense basalt, which suggests limited groundwater flow near these ports. The ports completed in well‐fractured and vesicular basalt had no detectable concentrations.     

Linking Tarim Basin sea retreat (west China) and Asian aridification in the late Eocene

The Tarim Basin in western China formed the easternmost margin of a shallow epicontinental sea that extended across Eurasia and was well connected to the western Tethys during the Paleogene. Climate modelling studies suggest that the westward retreat of this sea from Central Asia may have been as important as the Tibetan Plateau uplift in forcing aridification and monsoon intensification in the Asian continental interior due to the redistribution of the land‐sea thermal contrast. However, testing of this hypothesis is hindered by poor constraints on the timing and precise palaeogeographic dynamics of the retreat. Here, we present an improved integrated bio‐ and magnetostratigraphic chronological framework of the previously studied marine to continental transition in the southwest Tarim Basin along the Pamir and West Kunlun Shan, allowing us to better constrain its timing, cause and palaeoenvironmental impact. The sea retreat is assigned a latest Lutetian–earliest Bartonian age (ca. 41 Ma; correlation of the last marine sediments to calcareous nannofossil Zone CP14 and correlation of the first continental red beds to the base of magnetochron C18r). Higher up in the continental deposits, a major hiatus includes the Eocene–Oligocene transition (ca. 34 Ma). This suggests the Tarim Basin was hydrologically connected to the Tethyan marine Realm until at least the earliest Oligocene and had not yet been closed by uplift of the Pamir–Kunlun orogenic system. The westward sea retreat at ca. 41 Ma and the disconformity at the Eocene–Oligocene transition are both time‐equivalent with reported Asian aridification steps, suggesting that, consistent with climate modelling results, the sea acted as an important moisture source for the Asian continental interior.     

Das mittlere meridionale Temperaturprofil in der Troposphäre als Effekt von vertikalen und horizontalen Austauschvorgängen und Kondensationswärme

Summary A theoretical account is given for the mean meridional temperature profile in the troposphere (up to 11 km) by the aid of the theorem of turbulent heat conduction introducing the vertical and horizontal coefficients of exchange (Austausch) which show a different order of magnitude. It is necessary, however, to take into consideration the heat of condensation, liberated by condensation of the mean yearly precipitation on the earth and thereby supplied to the troposphere in the different latitudes, in order to obtain a theoretical solution capable of completely explaining the mean meridional temperature profile deduced from former observations in the free atmosphere. The mean temperature distribution on ground has been assumed to be known as it is established by the radiation balance of the ground showing the determined and wellknown zonal distribution. Furthermore, some noticeable details resulting from the theory and concerning the vertical structure of temperature in the troposphere and its state of equilibrium are derived. It is made clear how a temperature gradient <1° C/100 m comes about. Thus the mean meridional temperature profile is shown to be a determined state of equilibrium between vertical and horizontal exchange (Austausch) phenomena and processes of condensation taking place in the troposphere. These latter ones being confined to a certain layer of the lower atmosphere are of essential importance for the upper limitation of the troposphere.

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Résumé On donne une explication théorique du profil méridien moyen de température dans la troposphère (jusqu'à 11 km.) en s'appuyant sur le théorème de la conductibilité turbulente et en introduisant les coefficients d'échange turbulent dont l'ordre de grandeur n'est pas le même dans la verticale et dans l'horizontale. Il faut tenir compte de la chaleur de condensation libérée par les précipitations annuelles moyennes et qui est fournie à la troposphère aux différentes latitudes; alors seulement on arrive à une solution en accord complet avec le profil méridien de température, tel que le fournissent les observations aérologiques. On a considérée comme connue la distribution moyenne de la température au niveau du sol, celle-ci étant déterminée par le bilan radiatif du sol et présentant la répartition zonale bien connue. On expose ensuite thermique verticale de la troposphère et son équilibre, ainsi que l'établissement d'un gradient inférieur à un degré par cent mètres. Le profil méridien moyen de température apparaît alors comme le résultat d'un équilibre entre les processus d'échange turbulent verticaux et horizontaux et des phénomènes de condensation se produisant dans la troposphère. Le fait que ces derniers sont limités à une certaine couche basse de l'atmosphère est une des raisons pour lesquelles la troposphère présente une limite supérieure.

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Mit 4 Textabbildungen.     

Theoretical meteorology and the operational meteorologist

Abstract

Values of incoming solar and long‐wave radiation measured at the vessel Quadra during the three phases of GATE are used to assess the daily performance of three models, one for solar and two for long‐wave radiation. The solar radiation model, which uses data on precipitable water and cloud amount at three levels in the atmosphere performed satisfactorily during the first phase but gave poor results in the other two phases when cumulonimbus became more dominant. Both the flux‐emissivity approach using measured and interpolated Upper air data and Paltridge's empirical procedure produced estimates of long‐wave radiation which compared very closely with the measurements.