Flow dynamics at the origin of thin clayey sand lacustrine turbidites: Examples from Lake Hazar,Turkey

Turbidity currents and their deposits can be investigated using several methods, i.e. direct monitoring, physical and numerical modelling, sediment cores and outcrops. The present study focused on thin clayey sand turbidites found in Lake Hazar (Turkey) occurring in eleven clusters of closely spaced thin beds. Depositional processes and sources for three of those eleven clusters are studied at three coring sites. Bathymetrical data and seismic reflection profiles are used to understand the specific geomorphology of each site. X‐ray, thin sections and CT scan imagery combined with grain‐size, geochemical and mineralogical measurements on the cores allow characterization of the turbidites. Turbidites included in each cluster were produced by remobilization of surficial slope sediment, a process identified in very few studies worldwide. Three types of turbidites are distinguished and compared with deposits obtained in flume studies published in the literature. Type 1 is made of an ungraded clayey silt layer issued from a cohesive flow. Type 2 is composed of a partially graded clayey sand layer overlain by a mud cap, attributed to a transitional flow. Type 3 corresponds to a graded clayey sand layer overlain by a mud cap issued from a turbulence‐dominated flow. While the published experimental studies show that turbulence is damped by cohesion for low clay content, type 3 deposits of this study show evidence for a turbulence‐dominated mechanism despite their high clay content. This divergence may in part relate to input variables, such as water chemistry and clay mineralogy, that are not routinely considered in experimental studies. Furthermore, the large sedimentological variety observed in the turbidites from one coring site to another is related to the evolution of a sediment flow within a field‐scale basin made of a complex physiography that cannot be tackled by flume experiments.     

Towards a conjoint-based, context-dependent model of task allocation in activity settings: Some numerical experiments

 None of the currently developed activity-based models of transport demand explicitly models task allocation among household members. To fill this gap, the present paper suggests to complement activity-based models of activity scheduling with a context-dependent model of task allocation. That is, it is assumed that the allocation of tasks within households is partly based on such contextual variables as the amount of time a member has to spend on mandatory activities and car availability. In particular, the paper advocates a conjoint-based approach, based on an assignment task as opposed to the traditional ranking, rating or choice response formats. By definition, an assignment task involves a combinatorial explosion of choice alternatives, implying that additional operational decisions to estimate the context-dependent model are required. This study presents the results of various numerical experiments, conducted to better understand the impacts of those decisions on the degree of bias in the parameter estimates of the choice model. The results of these simulations indicate that under particular assumptions, the development and estimation of a conjoint-based, context-dependent model of task allocation within households is feasible. Received: March 1999 / Accepted: June 2001     

Porosity and size gradation of saturated gravel with percolated fines

Fine particles may infiltrate through coarse alluvial beds and eventually saturate the subsurface pore space. It is essential to understand the conditions that lead to bed saturation, and to forecast the packing characteristics of saturated beds to assess the effect of excess fine sediment supply on a number of processes that occur in the stream–sediment boundary. To address this problem, in this study, a new method is introduced to predict the grain‐size distribution for the saturated condition, and the resulting porosity decrease, given the characteristics of the bed and the supplied sediments. The new method consists of the numerical aggregation of infilling fines in a finite bed volume, during which the bed properties change to affect further infilling. An existing semi‐empirical, particle packing model is implemented to identify these properties. It is shown that these types of models are adequate to describe regimes of natural sediment fabric quantitatively, and are thus useful tools in the analysis of sediment infiltration processes. Unlike previous developments to quantify saturated bed conditions, which assume that the supplied material is uniform and finer than the bed pore openings, the method developed herein considers poorly sorted fines, and can identify size fractions that are able to ingress into the bed due to being smaller than the particles that form the bed structure. Application of the new method to published experimental data showed that the final content of infiltrated fines is strongly sensitive to the initial bed packing density, highlighting the need to measure and understand open‐work gravel deposits. In addition, the new method was shown to be suitable for assessing the degree of bed saturation, when it was applied to a published data set of field samples.     

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.     

Theory and simulation of solar system plasmas

Foreword: Special Topic

Theory and simulation of solar system plasmas     

Gliding and overthrust nappe tectonics in the Barberton Greenstone Belt

Regional recumbent folds, inverted stratigraphy, nappes and olistostromes are described from the southern part of the 3.3–3.5 Ga Barberton Greenstone Belt. Overthrusting of thin rigid silicified slabs with minimum dimensions of 25 km² and up to 500 m in thickness, occurred over minimum distances of 86 km. More ductile and coherent units were overfolded up to at least 2 km during their emplacement. The glide planes on which these nappes travelled were zones of high fluid pressures related to hydrothermal fluid circulation patterns, driven by heat sources from igneous intrusions. The upwelling areas of the geothermal convection cells were sites of mud-pools and hydrothermal vents which may mark the trailing edges (pull aparts) of the overthrust units. Progressive silica and carbonate precipitation due to decreasing temperatures, within the zones of fluid migration distant from the areas of high heat flow, probably acted as built-in braking systems below the travelling slabs. Active sedimentation and metasomatism during this tectonism indicates a protracted history for the evolution of the greenstone belt. The recognition of nappe and overthrust tectonics in the Barberton Belt, processes which may have been commonplace in Archaean terrains, necessitates a re-evaluation of the stratigraphy of this belt.     

Changing trends in tropospheric methane and carbon monoxide: A sensitivity analysis of the OH-radical

A sensitivity analysis is performed in order to study recently observed changes in atmospheric methane and carbon monoxide trends. For the analysis we have adapted a one-dimensional transport/chemistry model in order to comply with changes in vertical transport, stratosphere-troposphere flux of ozone, the water vapour cycle and the short-wave radiative transfer. In addition we have formulated an improved relationship which expresses the steady state OH concentration in terms of longer lived compounds which has a fair agreement with the one-dimensional model results. An analysis of the observed changes and trends in methane and carbon monoxide shows that both emissions and changes in global OH concentrations can be main causes for the observed changes. Average methane emissions have slowed down, particularly in the NH, in the last five years, though perhaps not very significantly. Carbon monoxide emissions are decreasing faster in the last couple of years than in the period 1983–1990. The study suggests that climate fluctuations (tropospheric water vapour, temperature and convective activity) and the stratospheric ozone depletion (tropospheric UV radiation) have a significant influence on tropospheric composition and thus on trends in methane and carbon monoxide concentrations.The IMAU is partner in the Netherlands Centre for Climate Research (CCR).