Morphosedimentary features and recent depositional architectural model of the Cantabrian continental margin

Multibeam bathymetry, high (sleeve airguns) and very high resolution (parametric system-TOPAS-) seismic records were used to define the morphosedimentary features and investigate the depositional architecture of the Cantabrian continental margin. The outer shelf (down to 180–245 m water depth) displays an intensively eroded seafloor surface that truncates consolidated ancient folded and fractured deposits. Recent deposits are only locally present as lowstand shelf-margin deposits and a transparent drape with bedforms. The continental slope is affected by sedimentary processes that have combined to create the morphosedimentary features seen today. The upper (down to 2000 m water depth) and lower (down to 3700–4600 m water depth) slopes are mostly subject to different types of slope failures, such as slides, mass-transport deposits (a mix of slumping and mass-flows), and turbidity currents. The upper slope is also subject to the action of bottom currents (the Mediterranean Water — MW) that interact with the Le Danois Bank favouring the reworking of the sediment and the sculpting of a contourite system. The continental rise is a bypass region of debris flows and turbidity currents where a complex channel-lobe transition zone (CLTZ) of the Cap Ferret Fan develops.The recent architecture depositional model is complex and results from the remaining structural template and the great variability of interconnected sedimentary systems and processes. This margin can be considered as starved due to the great sediment evacuation over a relatively steep entire depositional profile. Sediment is eroded mostly from the Cantabrian and also the Pyrenees mountains (source) and transported by small stream/river mountains to the sea. It bypasses the continental shelf and when sediment arrives at the slope it is transported through a major submarine drainage system (large submarine valleys and mass-movement processes) down to the continental rise and adjacent Biscay Abyssal Plain (sink). Factors controlling this architecture are tectonism and sediment source/dispersal, which are closely interrelated, whereas sea-level changes and oceanography have played a minor role (on a long-term scale).     

Diagnosis of trace metal contamination in sediments: the example of Ensenada and El Sauzal, two harbors in Baja California, Mexico

Total metal concentrations in sediments from within Ensenada and El Sauzal Harbors are generally higher than at the mouths. Grain-size analyses suggested that this enrichment could be due to the presence of fine-grained sediments in the inner part of the harbors rather than to anthropogenic perturbations. The (Me/Al)(sample) ratios for Pb, Co, Ni and Fe were significantly higher for Ensenada Harbor relative to El Sauzal Harbor, whereas the ratios for Cd, Mn, Zn and Cu were statistically equivalent for both harbors. Calculated enrichment factors [EF(Me)=(Me/Al)(sample)/(Me/Al)(shale)] indicated that the metals showing slight enrichment were those associated with anthropogenic contamination (Pb, Zn), or probably related to primary productivity in the water column (Cd, Co). The levels of most of the metals were not greatly enriched, a consideration that is of the utmost importance when contamination issues are at stake.     

Reduction and relative equilibria for the two-body problem on spaces of constant curvature

We consider the two-body problem on surfaces of constant nonzero curvature and classify the relative equilibria and their stability. On the hyperbolic plane, for each \(q>0\) we show there are two relative equilibria where the masses are separated by a distance q. One of these is geometrically of elliptic type and the other of hyperbolic type. The hyperbolic ones are always unstable, while the elliptic ones are stable when sufficiently close, but unstable when far apart. On the sphere of positive curvature, if the masses are different, there is a unique relative equilibrium (RE) for every angular separation except \(\pi /2\). When the angle is acute, the RE is elliptic, and when it is obtuse the RE can be either elliptic or linearly unstable. We show using a KAM argument that the acute ones are almost always nonlinearly stable. If the masses are equal, there are two families of relative equilibria: one where the masses are at equal angles with the axis of rotation (‘isosceles RE’) and the other when the two masses subtend a right angle at the centre of the sphere. The isosceles RE are elliptic if the angle subtended by the particles is acute and is unstable if it is obtuse. At \(\pi /2\), the two families meet and a pitchfork bifurcation takes place. Right-angled RE are elliptic away from the bifurcation point. In each of the two geometric settings, we use a global reduction to eliminate the group of symmetries and analyse the resulting reduced equations which live on a five-dimensional phase space and possess one Casimir function.     

The last deglaciation in the Picos de Europa National Park (Cantabrian Mountains,northern Spain)

A sedimentological and geochemical study of the Lago Enol sequence (Cantabrian Mountains, northern Spain), together with detailed geomorphological mapping, provides a first record of glacier evolution and climate change over the last 40 ka in the Picos de Europa National Park. The Enol glacier retreated from its maximum extent prior to 40 ka BP as demonstrated by the onset of proglacial lacustrine sedimentation in two glaciated depressions: the Comella hollow to the north (before 40 ka BP) and the Lago Enol (before 38 ka BP). These results support previous evidence that the maximum extent of southern European glaciers occurred earlier than in northern Europe. Alternation of homogeneous and laminated proglacial sediments during the glacier retreat illustrate a dynamic glacial evolution during the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (40–26 ka BP). A slight warming is detected at 26 ka ago with the change from proglacial sediments (in a lake located in contact to the glacier) to glaciolacustrine sedimentation (in a non‐contact or distal lake). Finally, the onset of organic‐rich sediments took place at 18 ka ago. This last transition occurred in two phases, similarly to the North Atlantic Last Termination, suggesting a link between North Atlantic Deep Water formation oscillations and palaeohydrological variability in the Cantabrian Mountains. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of seismic hazard parameters in TERESA test areas

A general overview of some of the problems involved in earthquake catalogue handling is given as part of the works carried out into the ESC/SC8-TERESA project related with the seismic hazard assessment in two selected test areas: Sannio-Matese in Italy and the northern Rhine region (BGN). Furthermore, the necessary input data to be used in the calculation of seismic hazard has been obtained, including earthquake source zones and their seismic hazard parameters.The importance is pointed out of detailed analysis of seismic catalogues, mainly in relation to the use of aftershock information, the historical records of the region, and the possible temporal and spatial variation of seismicity, which could have an important influence on short-term hazard assessment.     

Assessment of seismic hazard for the Sannio-Matese area of Southern Italy — A summary

The working group on Test Regions for Evaluation of Methods for Seismic Hazard Assessment in Europe (TERESA), consisted of 15 members from 10 different European countries. Methods and experience gathered in these countries have been compared and discussed for two test areas in Europe: the Sannio-Matese region, Southern Italy, with high seismic activity, and the border region between Belgium, The Netherlands, and Federal Republic of Germany, with low activity.This paper summarizes the results for one of the test areas, Sannio-Matese. Most of the participants used statistical procedures to assess earthquake hazard, receiving results in terms of probability of occurrence for intensity as the ground-motion parameter. It was found that careful preparation of input data and parameters is the major influencing factor, therefore most of the efforts of the working group was devoted to this task.The scatter of the obtained results of the group is considerable, mainly because of the uncertainties in the data and the subjectiveness involved in the procedures. For better control of both factors, more objective methods have to be developed.     

Seismic hazard computations for regions with low earthquake activity — A case study for the Belgium,The Netherlands and NW Germany area

The algorithms to evaluate seismic hazard, used and/or developed by five teams participating in the TERESA project, applied to the low seismicity area Belgium, The Netherlands and NW Germany are compared. The main differences in the results can be explained by the majority criterion of Egozcue et al. (1989), the differences in the upper bound and zonification and, in some cases, by a higher attenuation.     

Seismic activity related to the 1991 eruption of Colima Volcano,Mexico

Ten years after the last effusive eruption and at least 15 years of seismic quiescence, volcanic seismic activity started at Colima volcano on 14 February 1991, with a seismic crisis which reached counts of more than 100 per day and showed a diversity of earthquake types. Four other distinct seismic crises followed, before a mild effusive eruption in April 1991. The second crisis preceded the extrusion of an andesitic scoriaceous lava lobe, first reported on 1 March; during this crisis an interesting temporary concentration of seismic foci below the crater was observed shortly before the extrusion was detected. The third crisis was constituted by shallow seismicity, featuring possible mild degassing explosion-induced activity in the form of hiccups (episodes of simple wavelets that repeat with diminishing amplitude), and accompanied by increased fumarolic activity. The growth of the new lava dome was accompanied by changing seismicity. On 16 April during the fifth crisis which consisted of some relatively large, shallow, volcanic earthquakes and numerous avalanches of older dome material, part of the newly extruded dome, which had grown towards the edge of the old dome, collapsed, producing the largest avalanches and ash flows. Afterwards, block lava began to flow slowly along the SW flank of the volcano, generating frequent small incandescent avalanches. The seismicity associated with the stages of this eruptive activity shows some interesting features: most earthquake foci were located north of the summit, some of them relatively deep (7–11 km below the summit level), underneath the saddle between the Colima and the older Nevado volcanoes. An apparently seismic quiet region appears between 4 and 7 km below the summit level. In June, harmonic tremors were detected for the first time, but no changes in the eruptive activity could be correlated with them. After June, the seismicity decreasing trend was established, and the effusive activity stopped on September 1991.     

Factors affecting arsenic concentration in groundwaters from Northwestern Chaco-Pampean Plain,Argentina

The concentration of arsenic measured in groundwater from three aquifers in the study area located in the Eastern Tucuman province, Argentina, mostly depends on the lithology, but the spatial and temporal variations of concentrations seem to be also controlled by pH changes, climatic factors, and human perturbations. The highest concentrations of As (more than 1,000 μg L⁻¹) were found in the shallow aquifer, made of As-rich loess, while the lowest concentrations were measured in the deep confined aquifer, consisting of alternating layers of alluvial sands/gravels and clays. Intermediate values were measured in the semiconfined aquifer made of the fluvial sediments deposited in the Salí River valley, that alternate in the upper part of the sedimentary sequence with layers of loess. Because most of As in the loess is considered to be adsorbed onto Fe-oxyhydroxide coatings, the increase of pH in the flow direction (west-east) leads to increasing arsenic concentrations towards the eastern border of the study area. The decomposition of organic wastes poured into the Salí River or associated with local and diffuse sources of contamination in the eastern part of the study area depletes dissolved oxygen, which leads to the reductive dissolution of Fe and Mn oxyhydroxides, and to the subsequent release of the adsorbed and co-precipitated As. This process mainly affects shallow groundwater and the upper part of the semiconfined aquifer. Geochemical and hydrological data also suggest that rising water table levels at the end of the wet season may also lead to reductive dissolution of As-rich Fe oxyhydroxides in the shallow aquifer.     

Paleolimnological assessment of human impacts on an urban South African lake

North End Lake is a polluted and eutrophic freshwater system located in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Since the lake is expected to be used for recreational/tourist purposes by 2010, a rehabilitation program will have to be designed. For this reason, we retrieved a sediment core from the central region of the lake to decipher the effect of historical human impacts on the water body. Pre-disturbance paleolimnological inferences indicate that the lake was likely mesotrophic. After ∼1831, when sheep farming activities were undertaken in the catchment, increases in trophic state and changes in sediment composition were observed. After ∼1937, increases in trace metal levels, organic matter, spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP) and changes in sediment composition were recorded. The system became eutrophic as indicated by the dominance of the diatom Actinocyclus normanii, a cosmopolitan species often observed in systems where water quality has been dramatically degraded. The conditions worsened after 1986 because of the construction of a storm-water retention system, which intentionally channeled storm-water runoff into the lake. Because of this, extremely high values of fecal coliforms (i.e. 2 × 10⁶ every 100 ml) have been measured in the water column. The paleolimnological information identified the sharp increase in organic content in the uppermost section of the core, and this could be correlated to the operation of the storm-water retention system. Therefore, as an immediate management measure, we suggest that the storm-water retention system should either no longer be utilized, or the storm-water runoff should be treated before disposal into the lake. In addition, an effective sewage system has to be constructed.