Towards a spatial data infrastructure for technological disasters: an approach for the road transportation of hazardous materials

Spatial data have been used for the environmental monitoring of the consequences of accidents that involve the transportation of hazardous chemical products. This spatial data infrastructure (SDI), which was created for the sharing and use of spatial data, is limited by the absence of policies to support its establishment. The main objective of this study was to explore the use of social network analysis (SNA) as a tool to identify spatial data sharing between organizations involved in the management of accidents related to road transport of hazardous materials (RTHM). In addition, to discuss the existing policies and institutional agreements, and to initiate a conceptual SDI framework for RTHM sector. In this context, the institutions that are involved with RTHM were identified and information concerning their interest in the use and sharing of spatial data via a SDI was collected through interviews and consolidated. The interviews were at 39 institutions with representative employees. The interview data were tabulated and entered into the UCINET software (2000 version) to calculate metrics of centrality. From the SNA, the flow of data among the participating institutions was identified through the visual representation of the spatial data sharing and use networks. Subsequently, the existing institutional agreements for spatial data sharing were analyzed and discussed. The compiled results enabled the proposal of a conceptual SDI framework to support the management of disasters involving RTHM, based on the application of SNA theory, and the development of a methodology that supports the analysis of interactions among the various actors of an SDI. The purpose is to facilitate the formulation of policies for the sharing of spatial data for decision-making and preventive disaster management. The results indicate that the 39 institutions share spatial data, but this sharing is not always predetermined by formal agreements. Furthermore, there is a strong demand, by the institutions involved in the management of RTHM accidents, regarding legal mechanisms governing the sharing of data for the purpose of producing maps that help to describe actions of preparedness, prevention, management and immediate relief involving RTHM incidents. Finally, it was possible to propose a conceptual framework with data that is considered essential for creating an SDI for RTHM.     

Analysis of Environmental Bonding System for Oil and Gas Projects

This paper is concerned with potential financial impacts of different bonding instruments on oil and gas projects. An algorithm was prepared in order to assist decision makers, both regulators and industry, evaluate potential Net Present Value (NPV) impacts of financial instruments used to satisfy bonding requirements. Instrument option is the main variable for the proposed model. The user will be able to select between four instruments (Letters of Credit, Prepaid Collateral Closure Accounts, Leasing Specific Closure Accounts, and Ex-post Insurance Policies). This study includes simulations for three producing fields of different economically recoverable reserves (9 MMbbl, 53 MMbbl, and 148 MMbbl⁵), where four financial instruments, in addition to a no instrument scenario, are tested under a proposed bonding regime. Sensitivity analysis of NPV and Government Take (GT) value indicate ex-post insurance policies and letters of credit cause fewer impacts yielding significantly better payoffs. Preliminary simulations also confirm that small projects, around 9 MMbbl, can be severely affected when collateral account instruments are used.     

Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchung von Nadeleisenerzooiden in Pulverpräparaten und Dünnschnitten

Zusammenfassung Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen isolierter Nadeleisenerzooide in Ultradünnschnitten und Pulverpräparaten zeigen; daß das Nadeleisenerz hier in Form sechsseitiger rhombischer Blättchen (Durchmesser in der Größenordnung von 100–300 Å) vorliegt. Dünnschnittbilder lassen eine lageweise Anordnung der Blättchen im Ooid erkennen.     

Identification of Anthropogenic Features Through Application of Principal Component Analysis to Hydrochemical Data from the Sines Coastal Aquifer, SW Portugal

The Sines coastal sedimentary basin, a tectonic trough with a NE-SW orientation filled with Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits, has two hydrogeological systems: the Mio-Pliocene and the Jurassic. Both systems are supplying water to the entire region with highly populated and industrialized areas. The aquifers are recharged in the outcrop areas, although the Jurassic aquifer also receives some contribution from the overlying Miocene rocks. The main groundwater flow direction in the Jurassic aquifer is E to W towards the Atlantic Ocean. In order to understand the influence of anthropogenic activities on the water quality, a statistical principal components analysis (PCA) was performed on the physical–chemical data from groundwater samples in both aquifers. Four components were obtained in the Jurassic and three in the Miocene. The principal components analyses indicate water–rock interactions as the major mechanism responsible for the groundwater solutes (mainly calcium-bicarbonate type), from the calcareous and dolomitic units. Anthropogenic contamination was identified in the influence of the water compositions, corresponding to local polluting inputs. These were magnesium, sulfate, nitrate, iron and copper for PC 3 in the Jurassic and sodium, chloride, nitrate and manganese for PC 2 in the Miocene. These account for about 13% of the system total variance in the Jurassic aquifer and near 23% in the Miocene one.     

Early Holocene M~6 explosive eruption from Plosky volcanic massif (Kamchatka) and its tephra as a link between terrestrial and marine paleoenvironmental records

We report tephrochronological and geochemical data on early Holocene activity from Plosky volcanic massif in the Kliuchevskoi volcanic group, Kamchatka Peninsula. Explosive activity of this volcano lasted for ~1.5 kyr, produced a series of widely dispersed tephra layers, and was followed by profuse low-viscosity lava flows. This eruptive episode started a major reorganization of the volcanic structures in the western part of the Kliuchevskoi volcanic group. An explosive eruption from Plosky (M~6), previously unstudied, produced tephra (coded PL2) of a volume of 10–12 km³ (11–13 Gt), being one of the largest Holocene explosive eruptions in Kamchatka. Characteristic diagnostic features of the PL2 tephra are predominantly vitric sponge-shaped fragments with rare phenocrysts and microlites of plagioclase, olivine and pyroxenes, medium- to high-K basaltic andesitic bulk composition, high-K, high-Al and high-P trachyandesitic glass composition with SiO₂ = 57.5–59.5 wt%, K₂O = 2.3–2.7 wt%, Al₂O₃ = 15.8–16.5 wt%, and P₂O₅ = 0.5–0.7 wt%. Other diagnostic features include a typical subduction-related pattern of incompatible elements, high concentrations of all REE (>10× mantle values), moderate enrichment in LREE (La/Yb ~ 5.3), and non-fractionated mantle-like pattern of LILE. Geochemical fingerprinting of the PL2 tephra with the help of EMP and LA-ICP-MS analyses allowed us to map its occurrence in terrestrial sections across Kamchatka and to identify this layer in Bering Sea sediment cores at a distance of >600 km from the source. New high-precision ¹⁴C dates suggest that the PL2 eruption occurred ~10,200 cal BP, which makes it a valuable isochrone for early Holocene climate fluctuations and permits direct links between terrestrial and marine paleoenvironmental records. The terrestrial and marine ¹⁴C dates related to the PL2 tephra have allowed us to estimate an early Holocene reservoir age for the western Bering Sea at 1,410 ± 64 ¹⁴C years. Another important tephra from the early Holocene eruptive episode of Plosky volcano, coded PL1, was dated at 11,650 cal BP. This marker is the oldest geochemically characterized and dated tephra marker layer in Kamchatka to date and is an important local marker for the Younger Dryas—early Holocene transition. One more tephra from Plosky, coded PL3, can be used as a marker northeast of the source at a distance of ~110 km.     

A GIS-based analysis of constraints on pedestrian tsunami evacuation routes: Cascais case study (Portugal)

Tsunami hazard in coastal areas susceptible to flooding, although reduced (in terms of probability of occurrence), may pose a high risk. Therefore, in these areas, a detailed evacuation planning of the affected population is required as a risk mitigation measure. The knowledge and enforcement of evacuation routes may reduce the population vulnerability, making it more resilient and reducing risk. This paper presents a GIS approach for modelling evacuation routes based on the optimal path search problem, of the graph theory, which is implemented on ArcCasper tool. The methodology proposed considers the elements involved in the evacuation process, the worst credible tsunami inundation scenario (hazard extent and travel time), the number of people that needs to be evacuated in different time scenarios, the safe areas or destination points of the evacuation routes, the roads network characteristics and finally the time available to evacuate. The knowledge of those elements allows predicting some possible outcomes of the evacuation, such as the arrival time of the evacuees to a shelter and the identification of congestion hot spots resulting from the application of a flocking model which simulates the path to be used by evacuees avoiding obstacles. The municipality of Cascais was used to test the methodology proposed in this study. Cascais is one of the largest urban centres located about 25 km west of Lisbon, Portugal, with a high density of infrastructure along the coastline whereby most of the population and economic activities are exposed to a tsunami. The results, presented in the form of maps, allow identifying the optimal evacuation routes as well as the unfeasible routes. This crucial information could be used to the evacuation optimization regarding the location of meeting points and vertical shelters as well as to improve the accessibility of the areas to be evacuated.     

The Santa Filomena meteorite shower: Trajectory,classification, and opaque phases as indicators of metamorphic conditions

On August 19, 2020, at 13:18—UTC, a meteor event ended as a meteorite shower in Santa Filomena, a city in the Pernambuco State, northeast Brazil. The heliocentric orbital parameters resulting from images by cameras of the weather broadcasting system were semimajor axis a = 2.1 ± 0.1 au, eccentricity e = 0.55 ± 0.03, and inclination i = 0.15^o ± 0.05. The data identified the body as an Apollo object, an Earth-crossing object with a pericenter interior to the Earth's orbit. The chemical, mineralogical, and petrological evaluations, as well as the physical analysis, followed several traditional techniques. The meteorite was identified as a H5-6 S4 W0 ordinary chondrite genomict breccia. The large amount of metal in the meteorite made a metallographic evaluation based on the opaque phases possible. The monocrystalline kamacite crystals suggest a higher petrological type and the distorted Neumann lines imply at least two different shock events. The absence of the plessite phase shows that the meteorite did not reach the highest shock levels S5 and S6. The well-defined polycrystalline taenite is indicative of petrologic types 4 and 5 due to the conserved internal tetrataenite rim at the boundaries. The presence of polycrystalline taenites and the characteristics of the Agrell Effect suggest that the Santa Filomena meteorite did not reheat above 700°C. The absence of martensite confirms reheating temperatures <800°C and a slow cooling rate. The Ni contents and sizes of the zoned taenite particles indicate a slow cooling rate ranging from 1 to 10 K Myr⁻¹.     

Geochemical comparison of waters and stream sediments close to abandoned Sb-Au and As-Au mining areas,northern Portugal

Waters from abandoned Sb-Au mining areas have higher Sb (up to 2138 μg L⁻¹), As (up to 1252 μg L⁻¹) and lower Al, Zn, Li, Ni and Co concentrations than those of waters from the As-Au mining area of Banjas, which only contain up to 64 μg L⁻¹ As. In general, Sb occurs mainly as SbO₃⁻ and As H₂AsO₄⁻. In general, waters from old Sb-Au mining areas are contaminated in Sb, As, Al, Fe, Cd, Mn, Ni and NO₂⁻, whereas those from the abandoned As-Au mining area are contaminated in Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cd and rarely in NO₂⁻. Waters from the latter area, immediately downstream of mine dumps are also contaminated in As. In stream sediments from Sb-Au and As-Au mining areas, Sb (up to 5488 mg kg⁻¹) and As (up to 235 mg kg⁻¹) show a similar behaviour and are mainly associated with the residual fraction. In most stream sediments, the As and Sb are not associated with the oxidizable fraction, while Fe is associated with organic matter, indicating that sulphides (mainly arsenopyrite and pyrite) and sulphosalts containing those metalloids and metal are weathered. Arsenic and Sb are mainly associated with clay minerals (chlorite and mica; vermiculite in stream sediments from old Sb-Au mining areas) and probably also with insoluble Sb phases of stream sediments. In the most contaminated stream sediments, metalloids are also associated with Fe phases (hematite and goethite, and also lepidocrocite in stream sediments from Banjas). Moreover, the most contaminated stream sediments correspond to the most contaminated waters, reflecting the limited capacity of stream sediments to retain metals and metalloids.