Relating hydrogeomorphic properties to stream buffering chemistry in the Neversink River watershed,New York State,USA

Monitoring the effects of acidic deposition on aquatic ecosystems in the Northeastern US has generally required regular measurements of stream buffering chemistry (i.e. acid‐neutralizing capacity (ANC) and calcium Ca²⁺), which can be expensive and time consuming. The goal of this paper was to develop a simple method for predicting baseflow buffering chemistry based on the hydrogeomorphic properties of ten nested watersheds in the Neversink River basin (2·0–176·0 km²), an acid‐sensitive basin in the Catskill Mountains, New York State. The tributaries and main reach watersheds have strongly contrasting mean baseflow ANC values and Ca²⁺ concentrations, despite rather homogeneous vegetation, bedrock geology, and soils. A stepwise regression was applied to relate 13 hydrogeomorphic properties to the mean baseflow ANC values and Ca²⁺ concentrations. The regression analysis showed that watersheds with lower ANC values had a higher mean ratio of ‘quickflow’ runoff to precipitation during 20 non‐snowmelt runoff events (referred to as mean runoff ratio). The mean runoff ratio could explain at least 80% of the variability in mean baseflow ANC values and Ca²⁺ concentrations among the ten watersheds. Greater mean runoff ratios also correlated with steeper slopes and greater drainage densities, thus allowing the prediction of baseflow ANC values (r² = 0·75) and Ca²⁺ concentrations (r² = 0·77) with widely available spatial data alone. These results indicate that hydrogeomorphic properties can predict a watershed's sensitivity to acid deposition in regions where the spatial sources of stream buffering chemistry from the bedrock mineralogy and soils are fairly uniform. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Einwände der Geographie gegen die Wegenersche Theorie der Kontinentalverschiebungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Modulation of the inflow into the Caribbean Sea by North Brazil Current rings

A two-year long record from a triangular mooring array between the Lesser Antilles islands Tobago, Barbados, and St. Lucia is used to investigate the inflow into the Caribbean Sea, the amount of South Atlantic Water (SAW) carried with the inflow, and the role of North Brazil Current (NBC) rings in the observed variability. The data set consists of time series from temperature/conductivity recorders and current meters in the moorings, bottom-mounted inverted echo sounders at the Tobago and St. Lucia mooring positions, and supplementary shipboard measurements. The acoustic travel time measurements of the inverted echo sounders and the conductivity/temperature time series are used for continuous estimation of dynamic height profiles and geostrophic currents between the surface and 1000 dbar as well as the amount of SAW found at the mooring positions.The observations show a domination of intraseasonal variability between 0 and 15 Sv, superimposed on the long-term fluctuations. With time scales of one to three months, these represent the signature of the NBC rings. The baroclinic transport time series shows nine periods of increased variability, indicative of the rings interacting with the Lesser Antilles island arc; with the exception of one, these periods were associated with corresponding sea surface height anomalies. No marked seasonality was observed in the transport variability or the ring frequency.The arrival of individual rings leads to a weakening of the inflow into the Caribbean. Nevertheless, the rings carry large amounts of SAW into the area, and the immediate increase of the transport towards the end of a ring event suggests a subsequent flow of this SAW-rich water into the Caribbean. At St. Lucia, rings sometimes cause a short-term decrease of SAW content, indicative of an influx of northern hemispheric water and a blocking situation. The average transport of SAW into the Caribbean south of St. Lucia during the observations amounted to 5.5 Sv, with no significant seasonal cycle, but a small positive trend in SAW fraction as well as in transport of about 15% and 1 Sv, respectively; a corresponding trend in the baroclinic volume transport was not observed.     

Facies architecture and sedimentology of a meandering fluvial system: a Palaeogene example from the Weisselster Basin, Germany

The Schleenhain open pit coal mine, located 30 km south of Leipzig, Germany, exposes Upper Eocene and Oligocene non-marine strata representing fluvial deposition in the centre of the Weisselster Basin. Active mining and successive cuts provided the rare opportunity to obtain a three-dimensional perspective of laterally extensive surface outcrops. These were used to construct a detailed fence diagram, which provided the basis for recognition of key architectural elements in the weakly consolidated meandering stream deposits. In addition to the eight basic architectural elements of Miall (1985 ), the element SL (shallow lake deposits) was newly defined and the element CH (channel) was subdivided into CHg (palaeo-river system) and CHk (small channel). The profiles contain parts of two fining-upward cycles, which are separated by an unconformity spanning the Early Oligocene. Deposits of the first cycle begin with transverse sand bars (downstream accretion deposits-DA) and point bars (lateral accretion deposits-LA). The upper part of the cycle is represented by overbank fines (OF) and the element SL, which consists of laterally discontinuous lenses of dark, plant-bearing, kaolinite-rich clays, that were deposited in shallow lakes adjacent to the active channel. Coal seams interlayered with palaeosols are the main constituents of element OF. Sheetlike bodies of medium to fine gravels (gravel bars and bedforms-GB) on an erosive coal surface mark the beginning of the second cycle. Dissolution of underlying Permian salts and sulphates prior to, during, and after the deposition of the Palaeogene strata caused the development of two synclines within the outcrop. Coal seams and clay horizons which thicken and dip towards the centre of the synclines, provide evidence for their chronological development.     

Resolution of Seamount Geoid Anomalies Achieved by the SARAL/AltiKa and Envisat RA2 Satellite Radar Altimeters

The resolution of seamount geoid anomalies by the SARAL/AltiKa Ka-band radar altimeter is compared with the Envisat RA2 Ku-band altimeter using cross-spectral analysis of exact-repeat profiles. Noise spectra show white noise floors at root-mean-square levels around 8 mm per root-Hz for AltiKa and 19 mm per root-Hz for RA2, and are colored at wavelengths longer than a few km, with a spectral hump similar to that seen in Jason-2 data. The AltiKa noise level is lower than the RA2 noise level by more than one would expect from the ratio of their pulse repetition frequencies. Large outliers are present in data from both altimeters, always of one sign (range too long), and show little correlation with rain or other error flags. Seamount anomaly signal to noise ratios are 30 to 10 dB for AltiKa and 3 to 8 dB less for RA2, decreasing as seamount size decreases. Seamounts as small as 1.35 km tall are resolved by both instruments, with significantly better performance by AltiKa due to its lower noise level. If AltiKa can fly a geodetic mission, it will find many presently unknown seamounts.     

Probing the Earth’s Interior with the LENA Detector

A future large-volume liquid scintillator detector such as the proposed 50 kton LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) detector would provide a high-statistics measurement of terrestrial antineutrinos originating from β-decays of the uranium and thorium chains. Additionally, the neutron is scattered in the forward direction in the detection reaction . Henceforth, we investigate to what extent LENA can distinguish between certain geophysical models on the basis of the angular dependence of the geoneutrino flux. Our analysis is based on a Monte-Carlo simulation with different levels of light yield, considering an unloaded PXE scintillator. We find that LENA is able to detect deviations from isotropy of the geoneutrino flux with high significance. However, if only the directional information is used, the time required to distinguish between different geophysical models is of the order of severals decades. Nonetheless, a high-statistics measurement of the total geoneutrino flux and its spectrum still provides an extremely useful glance at the Earth’s interior.     

Early Holocene dune activity linked with final destruction of Glacial Lake Minong, eastern Upper Michigan, USA

The early Holocene final drainage of glacial Lake Minong is documented by 21 OSL ages on quartz sand from parabolic dunes and littoral terraces and one radiocarbon age from a lake sediment core adjacent to mapped paleoshorelines in interior eastern Upper Michigan. We employ a simple model wherein lake-level decline exposes unvegetated littoral sediment to deflation, resulting in dune building. Dunes formed subsequent to lake-level decline prior to stabilization by vegetation and provide minimum ages for lake-level decline. Optical ages range from 10.3 to 7.7 ka; 15 ages on dunes adjacent to the lowest Lake Minong shoreline suggest final water-level decline ∼ 9.1 ka. The clustering of optical ages from vertically separated dunes on both sides of the Nadoway-Gros Cap Barrier around 8.8 ka and a basal radiocarbon date behind the barrier (8120 ± 40 ¹⁴C yr BP [9.1 cal ka BP]) support the hypothesis that the barrier was breached and the final lake-level drop to the Houghton Low occurred coincident with (1) high meltwater flux into the Superior basin and (2) an abrupt, negative shift in oxygen isotope values in Lake Huron.     

Geochemistry of highly saline fluids in siliciclastic sequences: genetic implications for post-Variscan fluid flow in the Moravosilesian Palaeozoic of the Czech Republic

Ubiquitous post-Variscan dolomites occur in Zn–Pb–Cu veins at the Nízký Jeseník Mountains and the Upper Silesian Basin (Lower and Upper Carboniferous siliciclastics at the eastern part of the Bohemian Massif). Crush–leach, stable isotope (oxygen and carbon) and microthermometry analysis of the fluid inclusions in dolomites enable understanding the geochemistry, origin and possible migration pathways of the fluids. Homogenisation temperatures of fluid inclusions range between 66 and 148°C, with generally higher temperatures in the Nízký Jeseník Mountains area than in the Upper Silesian Basin. The highest homogenisation temperatures (up to 148°C) have been found near major regional faults and the lowest in a distant position or at higher stratigraphic levels. Highly saline (16.6–28.4 eq. wt% NaCl) H₂O–NaCl–CaCl₂ ± MgCl₂ fluids occur in inclusions. Na–Cl–Br systematics of trapped fluids and a calculated oxygen isotopic fluid composition between ?0.9 and +3.0‰ V-SMOW indicate that the fluid was derived from evaporated seawater. Stable isotopic modelling has been used to explain stable isotopic trends. Isotopic values (δ¹³C = ?6.0/+2.0‰ V-PDB, δ¹⁸O = +15.5/+22.5‰ V-SMOW of dolomites) resulted from fractionation and crystallisation within an open system at temperatures between 80 and 160°C. Rock-buffering explains the isotopic composition at low w/r ratios. Organic matter maturation caused the presence of isotopically light carbon in the fluids and fluid–rock interactions largely controlled the fluid chemistry (K, Li, Br and Na contents, K/Cl, I/Cl and Li/Cl molar ratios). The fluid chemistry reflects well the interaction between the fluid and underlying limestones as well as with clay- and organic-rich siliciclastics. No regional trends in temperature or fluid geochemistry favour a fluid migration model characterised by an important vertical upward migration along major faults. A permeable basement and fractured sedimentary sequence enhanced the general nature of the fluid system. Fluid characteristics are comparable with the main post-Variscan fluid flow systems in the Polish (Cracow-Silesian ore district) and German sedimentary basins.     

Toward an early warning system for dengue prevention: modeling climate impact on dengue transmission

Dengue fever is the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease of humans in tropical lands. As an efficient vaccine is not yet available, the only means to prevent epidemics is to control mosquito populations. These are influenced by human behavior and climatic conditions and thus, need constant effort and are very expansive. Examples of succeeded prevention are rare because of the continuous reintroduction of virus or vector from outside, or growing resistance of mosquito populations to insecticides. Climate variability and global warming are other factors which may favour epidemics of dengue. During a pilot study in Claris EC project, a model for the transmission of dengue was built, to serve as a tool for estimating the risk of epidemic transmission and eventually forecasting the risk under climatic change scenarios. An ultimate objective would be to use the model as an early warning system with meteorological forecasts as input, thus allowing better decision making and prevention.