Pigment characterization for the 2011 bloom in Qinhuangdao implicated "brown tide" events in China

A large-scale bloom occurred from May to June in 2011 in sea area near Qinhuangdao of the Bohai Sea, leading to huge damage of the scallop culture industry. Similar blooms have been observed in this region for three years. The causative species of the bloom, which dominated the phytoplankton community with the maximum cell density around 109 cell/L, could not be identified with morphological features due to the small cell size (~2 mm). A pigment analytical method was then adopted to analyze the pigment profile of the phytoplankton samples collected from the blooming sea area. It was found that pico-sized (<2 mm), nano-sized (2-20 mm), and bulk phytoplankton samples had similar pigment profile, representing the pigment signature of the bloom-causative species. The major pigments detected included 19-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin (But-fuco), fucoxanthin (Fuco), diadinoxanthin (Diad) and chlorophyll a (Chl a), and high content of But-fuco was the most significant characteristics of the phytoplankton samples. Based on the pigment composition and content, the bloom-causative species could be tentatively identified as pelagophyte, "type 8" group of haptophyte, or silicoflagellate. Some unique features of the bloom, such as the extremely high cell density, small-sized and But-fuco containing cells, occurring in early summer, and the feeding-cessation effects on scallops, suggest it be a "brown tide" event similar to those reported in the east coast of the United States of America. The recurrent "brown tide" events and their dramatic impacts on the shellfish mariculture industry in Qinhuangdao need close attention in the coming years.     

Impoverishment of recent floodplain forest mollusc fauna in the lower Ohře River (Czech Republic) as a result of prehistoric human impact

Analyses of fossil mollusc successions have rarely been used to study the development of floodplain forests during the Holocene. The Oh?e River, located in a prehistorically settled chernozem area in the Czech Republic, is partly situated in Cretaceous marlstones, yielding sediments suitable for fossilization directly in floodplain deposits. We analysed five fossil mollusc successions situated in the lower stretch of the Oh?e River and compared the results with recent mollusc assemblages studied along the entire 256 km of the river. Fossil samples were composed mostly of open‐country species throughout the Holocene or the whole preserved succession. Only some samples also contained woodland assemblages, but these were always greatly impoverished, with a very low frequency of strictly woodland species. Although the natural‐looking appearance of the present‐day floodplain forests of the lower river stretch has resulted in its being declared a nature reserve, modern floodplain forest mollusc assemblages there are also impoverished. This reduction in the distribution of strictly woodland species compared with modern assemblages in the upper stretch of the river seems to be the result of an ancient human settlement and continuous disturbances of the floodplain forest development since the Neolithic. Thus, fully developed floodplain forest assemblages occur recently only in the upper non‐impacted stretch of the river. Based on the studied fossil successions we can conclude that the lower Oh?e River floodplain was probably a mosaic of open and disturbed forest habitats throughout the Holocene. This area is part of a central European landscape island, where forests probably never fully developed and open patches from the early Holocene continually developed into an agricultural landscape.     

GIS-based assessment of landslide susceptibility on the base of the Weights-of-Evidence model

The major scope of the study is the assessment of landslide susceptibility of Flysch areas including the Penninic Klippen in the Vienna Forest (Lower Austria) by means of Geographical Information System (GIS)-based modelling. A statistical/probabilistic method, referred to as Weights-of-Evidence (WofE), is applied in a GIS environment in order to derive quantitative spatial information on the predisposition to landslides. While previous research in this area concentrated on local geomorphological, pedological and slope stability analyses, the present study is carried out at a regional level. The results of the modelling emphasise the relevance of clay shale zones within the Flysch formations for the occurrence of landslides. Moreover, the distribution of mass movements is closely connected to the fault system and nappe boundaries. An increased frequency of landslides is observed in the proximity to drainage lines, which can change to torrential conditions after heavy rainfall. Furthermore, landslide susceptibility is enhanced on N-W facing slopes, which are exposed to the prevailing direction of wind and rainfall. Both of the latter geofactors indirectly show the major importance of the hydrological conditions, in particular, of precipitation and surface runoff, for the occurrence of mass movements in the study area. Model performance was checked with an independent validation set of landslides, which are not used in the model. An area of 15% of the susceptibility map, classified as highly susceptible, “predicted” 40% of the landslides.     

Stick-slip unstable shear failure as a source of high frequency elastic radiation

Summary The results of laboratory measurements on square perspex models with a stress concentrator under uniaxial compression are presented. An attempt was made to interpret these results in order to determine the mutual relations between the mechanical parameters characterizing the treated models, including their focal zones, parameters of model loading, parameters of seismogenic displacement and parameters of radiated elastic pulses. Particular attention was given to the study of slip displacement, slip velocity, rupture velocity, nucleation points of rupture propagation, nucleation points of elastic radiation and to the frequency analysis of radiated pulses. Measurements of the displacement in the focal zone enabled us to determine the source function, to construct theoretical seismograms in a far field and to compare them with the real pulses from ultrasonic transducers located there. This allowed testing theoretical and experimental approaches to the study of how slip displacement, slip velocity and rupture velocity are related to the parameters of radiated pulses.     

Statistical analysis of values measured in condensating geodetic nets

Summary Procedure for verifying the agreement between parameters common to the basic and connecting trigonometric net. Procedure of determining the accuracy of the connecting net. This determination concerns not only the relativized accuracy of the points of the connecting network, but also the mutual accuracy of the points of the basic net relative to the points of the connecting net and the global accuracy of the resultant net. The procedure takes into account the accuracy of the points of the basic net which remain unchanged in computing the coordinates of new points.

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Modelling magnetization processes in single-and multi-domain rock samples using the preisach diagram

Summary The paper presents the results of identifying a model of the Preisach type for haematite grains of the single-domain as well as multi-domain size. Due to the phenomenological conception of the model, the relations between the parameters of the model and actual parameters are very complex, however, impressive accuracy and stability of the modified model indicate the need to resume studies of this problem. The model parameters also confirm the adequate properties of the vibrating-sample magnetometr (VSM) used and developed in our laboratories.     

Depositional mechanics of turbulent nuées ardentes (surges) from their grain sizes

The ability of turbulent nuées ardentes (surges) to transport coarse pyroclasts has been questioned on the basis that settling velocities of coarse fragments in the deposits are much too high for them to have been supported by turbulence in a dilute gas suspension. A computer model is used to evaluate the settling velocity of pyroclasts in suspensions of varying concentration and temperature. Since suspension of grains in low-concentration surges occurs if the shear velocity exceeds the settling velocity, the shear velocities related to the 16th and 84th percentiles, and the mean of the grain-size distribution are compared in surge deposits of the Vulsini, with the shear velocity necessary to move the coarsest grain on the bed surface (the Shields criterion). The results show that the settling velocities do not vary significantly in gaseous suspensions having volume concentrations lower than 15%, and that an increase in concentration to 25% is not sufficient to decrease the settling velocity of the coarser fraction, if it represents flow shear velocity. It is shown that the settling velocity of the mean grain size (M _z ) best depicts the shear velocity of a dilute turbulent suspension. Applying the results to the May 1902 paroxysmal nuées ardentes of Mount Pelée shows that the estimated mean velocities are well within the observed velocities, and sufficient to support all the clasts in dilute, turbulent suspensions.