Deep two-dimensional turbulence: An idealized model for atmospheric jets of the giant outer planets

The present paper proposes a new type of two–dimensional turbulence with a deep configuration as an idealization of the dynamics of the global circulations of the Jovian atmospheres under the constraint of the Taylor–Proudman theorem. A major difference of the deep two-dimensional turbulence from a standard shallow version is that the former reverses the sign of the planetary β-effect, leading to an opposite sign for the equatorial jet under the homogenization tendency of the potential vorticity. As a result, a westerly (prograde) equatorial jet is generated, which contrasts with the easterly (retrograde) equatorial jet obtained using the shallow configuration. The results suggest that the zonal flows of Jupiter and Saturn are probably of deep origin, whereas those of Uranus and Neptune are likely to be of shallow origin.     

Laboratory Investigation on High Values of Restitution Coefficients

Restitution coefficients are used to quantify the energy dissipation upon impact when predicting rock fall events. These coefficients can be determined in situ or in the laboratory. In any case, the usual values for the normal restitution coefficient k _n are below unity. Values greater than one are quite rare, seen as unusual and barely explained. Previous experimental research conducted in Australia has shown consistent and systematic values of the normal restitution coefficient greater than one. This was tentatively explained by a combination of parameters such as low impacting angle, rotational energy and block angularity. The study presented in this paper aims at (1) identifying the critical parameters conducting to high k _n values and (2) at explaining the associated motion mechanisms. The objective was reached with values of k _n up to almost 2. In addition, the study has confirmed the significance of low impacting angle, rotational energy and block shape in this context.     

7000 years of paleostorm activity in the NW Mediterranean Sea in response to Holocene climate events

A high-resolution record of paleostorm events along the French Mediterranean coast over the past 7000 years was established from a lagoonal sediment core in the Gulf of Lions. Integrating grain size, faunal analysis, clay mineralogy and geochemistry data with a chronology derived from radiocarbon dating, we recorded seven periods of increased storm activity at 6300–6100, 5650–5400, 4400–4050, 3650–3200, 2800–2600, 1950–1400 and 400–50 cal yr BP (in the Little Ice Age). In contrast, our results show that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (1150–650 cal yr BP) was characterised by low storm activity.The evidence for high storm activity in the NW Mediterranean Sea is in agreement with the changes in coastal hydrodynamics observed over the Eastern North Atlantic and seems to correspond to Holocene cooling in the North Atlantic. Periods of low SSTs there may have led to a stronger meridional temperature gradient and a southward migration of the westerlies. We hypothesise that the increase in storm activity during Holocene cold events over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean regions was probably due to an increase in the thermal gradient that led to an enhanced lower tropospheric baroclinicity over a large Central Atlantic–European domain.     

Evolution of silicic magmas in the Kos-Nisyros volcanic center,Greece: a petrological cycle associated with caldera collapse

Multiple eruptions of silicic magma (dacite and rhyolites) occurred over the last ~3 My in the Kos-Nisyros volcanic center (eastern Aegean sea). During this period, magmas have changed from hornblende-biotite-rich units with low eruption temperatures (≤750–800°C; Kefalos and Kos dacites and rhyolites) to hotter, pyroxene-bearing units (>800–850°C; Nisyros rhyodacites) and are transitioning back to cooler magmas (Yali rhyolites). New whole-rock compositions, mineral chemistry, and zircon Hf isotopes show that these three types of silicic magmas followed the same differentiation trend: they all evolved by crystal fractionation and minor crustal assimilation (AFC) from parents with intermediate compositions characterized by high Sr/Y and low Nb content, following a wet, high oxygen fugacity liquid line of descent typical of subduction zones. As the transition between the Kos-Kefalos and Nisyros-type magmas occurred immediately and abruptly after the major caldera collapse in the area (the 161 ka Kos Plateau Tuff; KPT), we suggest that the efficient emptying of the magma chamber during the KPT drew out most of the eruptible, volatile-charged magma and partly solidified the unerupted mush zone in the upper crust due to rapid unloading, decompression, and coincident crystallization. Subsequently, the system reestablished a shallow silicic production zone from more mafic parents, recharged from the mid to lower crust. The first silicic eruptions evolving from these parents after the caldera collapse (Nisyros units) were hotter (up to >100°C) than the caldera-forming event and erupted from reservoirs characterized by different mineral proportions (more plagioclase and less amphibole). We interpret such a change as a reflection of slightly drier conditions in the magmatic column after the caldera collapse due to the decompression event. With time, the upper crustal intermediate mush progressively transitioned into the cold-wet state that prevailed during the Kefalos-Kos stage. The recent eruptions of the high-SiO₂ rhyolite on Yali Island, which are low temperature and hydrous phases (sanidine, quartz, biotite), suggest that another large, potentially explosive magma chamber is presently building under the Kos-Nisyros volcanic center.     

Four remarks on the growth of channel networks

Networks fed by subsurface flow are a natural, but dynamically simple, system in which to consider general problems of network growth. Here we present four examples in which this dynamic simplicity can be used to develop a quantitative understanding of a natural kilometer-scale network of streams. In these four sections, we investigate the relation between the position of a spring in the network and the groundwater flux into it, the flow of water through streams and the stream shape, and the influence of solar radiation on the rate of sediment transport around the streams. In each case, a quantitative comparison is made between theory and observation.     

Assessing physical vulnerability in large cities exposed to flash floods and debris flows: the case of Arequipa (Peru)

Understanding the physical vulnerability of buildings and infrastructure to natural hazards is an essential step in risk assessment for large cities. We have interpreted high spatial resolution images, conducted field surveys, and utilized numerical simulations, in order to assess vulnerability across Arequipa, south Peru, close to the active El Misti volcano. The emphasis of this study was on flash floods and volcanic or non-volcanic hyperconcentrated flows, which recur on average every 3.5 years across the city. We utilized a geographic information system to embed vulnerability and hazard maps as a step to calculate risk for buildings and bridges along the Río Chili valley and two tributaries. A survey of ~1,000 buildings from 46 city blocks, different in age, construction materials, and land usage, provided architectural and structural characteristics. A similar survey of twenty bridges across the three valleys was based on structural, hydraulic, and strategic parameters. Interpretation of high spatial resolution (HSR) satellite images, which allows for quick identification of approximately 69 % of the structural building types, effectively supplemented field data collection. Mapping vulnerability has led us to pinpoint strategic areas in case of future destructive floods or flows. Calculated vulnerability is high if we examine structural criteria alone. We further consider physical setting with the most vulnerable city blocks located on the lowermost terraces, perpendicular or oblique to the flow path. Statistical analysis conducted on 3,015 city blocks, considering nine criteria identified from HSR images, indicated that building-type heterogeneity and the shape of the city blocks, along with building and street network density, are the most discriminant parameters for assessing vulnerability.     

Origin of the giant Allard Lake ilmenite ore deposit (Canada) by fractional crystallization,multiple magma pulses and mixing

The late-Proterozoic Allard Lake ilmenite deposit is located in the Havre-Saint-Pierre anorthosite complex, part of the allochtonous polycyclic belt of the Grenville Province. Presently the world's largest Fe–Ti oxide deposit, it had a pre-mining amount in excess of 200 Mt at grades over 60 wt.% hemo-ilmenite. The main ore body is a funnel-shaped intrusion, measuring 1.03 × 1.10 km and 100–300 m-thick. Two smaller bodies are separated by faults and anorthosite. The ore is an ilmenite-rich norite (or ilmenitite) made up of hemo-ilmenite (Hem_22.6–29.4, 66.2 wt.% on average), andesine plagioclase (An_45–50), aluminous spinel and locally orthopyroxene. Whole-rock chemical compositions are controlled by the proportions of ilmenite and plagioclase ± orthopyroxene which supports the cumulate origin of the deposit. Ore-forming processes are further constrained by normal and reverse fractionation trends of Cr concentration in cumulus ilmenite that reveal multiple magma emplacements and alternating periods of fractional crystallization and magma mixing. Mixing of magmas produced hybrids located in the stability field of ilmenite resulted in periodic crystallization of ilmenite alone. The unsystematic differentiation trends in the Allard Lake deposit, arising from a succession of magma pulses, hybridisation, and the fractionation of hemo-ilmenite alone or together with plagioclase suggest that the deposit formed within a magma conduit. This dynamic emplacement mechanism associated with continuous gravity driven accumulation of Fe–Ti oxides and possibly plagioclase buoyancy in a fractionating ferrobasalt explains the huge concentration of hemo-ilmenite. The occurrence of sapphirine associated with aluminous spinel and high-alumina orthopyroxene (7.6–9.1 wt.% Al₂O₃) lacking exsolved plagioclase supports the involvement of a metamorphic overprint during the synchronous Ottawan orogeny, which is also responsible for strong textural equilibration and external granule of exsolved aluminous spinel due to slow cooling.     

Numerical study of the soil–structure interaction within mining subsidence areas

Structures affected by mining subsidence are exposed to heavy damage potential in relation to the induced tensile or compressive horizontal ground strains. This study intends to specify and compare the mining subsidence effect in terms of building transmitted movements or induced stresses, given the soil–structure interaction phenomena produced at the interface between a “stiff” elastic structure and a “flexible” elastoplastic soil.     

Dehydration of dioctahedral aluminous phyllosilicates: thermodynamic modelling and implications for thermobarometric estimates

We propose a solid-solution model for dioctahedral aluminous phyllosilicates accounting for the main compositional variations, including hydration, observed in natural smectites, interlayered illite/smectite, illites, and phengites from diagenetic to high-grade metamorphic conditions. The suggested formalism involves dehydrated micas and hydrated pyrophyllite-like thermodynamic end-members. With these end-members, the equilibrium conditions of quartz + water + K-bearing mica-like phyllosilicates of fixed 2:1 composition are represented by a line in P–T space along which the interlayer water content varies. The relevant thermodynamic properties required for the calculation of equilibrium conditions were derived using a set of 250 natural data of known maximal temperature and pressure conditions, which covers a range between 25°C and few MPa to 800°C and 5 GPa. The temperatures calculated at fixed pressure with our model are in fair agreement with those reported in the literature for the 250 natural data. At low temperature and pressure, the amount of interlayer water in K-deficient phengite and illite is predicted to reach 100% of the apparent vacancies, which is consistent with previous values reported in the literature. Although the amount of interlayer water is predicted to decrease with pressure and temperature, it is calculated to be significant in K-deficient phengite from LT–HP pelites metamorphosed at about 350°C, 10 kbar. The presence of molecular water in the interlayer site of such phengites has been confirmed by FTIR mapping. Its implications for P–T estimates are discussed.     

Hydraulic conductivity distribution in crystalline rocks, derived from inflows to tunnels and galleries in the Central Alps, Switzerland

Inflow data from 23 tunnels and galleries, 136 km in length and located in the Aar and Gotthard massifs of the Swiss Alps, have been analyzed with the objective (1) to understand the 3-dimensional spatial distribution of groundwater flow in crystalline basement rocks, (2) to assess the dependency of tunnel inflow rate on depth, tectonic overprint, and lithology, and (3) to derive the distribution of fracture transmissivity and effective hydraulic conductivity at the 100-m scale. Brittle tectonic overprint is shown to be the principal parameter regulating inflow rate and dominates over depth and lithology. The highest early time inflow rate is 1,300 l/s and has been reported from a shallow hydropower gallery intersecting a 200-m wide cataclastic fault zone. The derived lognormal transmissivity distribution is based on 1,361 tunnel intervals with a length of 100 m. Such interval transmissivities range between 10^?9 and 10^?1 m²/s within the first 200–400 m of depth and between 10^?9 and 10^?4 m²/s in the depth interval of 400–1,500 m below ground surface. Outside brittle fault zones, a trend of decreasing transmissivity/hydraulic conductivity with increasing depth is observed for some schistous and gneissic geological units, whereas no trend is identified for the granitic units.