Assessing storm surge impacts on coastal inundation due to climate change: case studies of Baltimore and Dorchester County in Maryland

Natural Hazards - Hurricane Isabel (2003) generated record flooding around Chesapeake Bay and caused extensive damage in rural Eastern Shore of Maryland and metropolitan cities like Baltimore....     

Validating the ability of the discontinuous deformation analysis method to model normal P‐wave propagation across rock fractures

The effects of fractures on wave propagation problems are increasingly abstracting the attention of scholars and engineers in rock engineering field. This study aims to fully validate the ability of discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) to model normal P‐wave propagation across rock fractures. The effects of a single fracture and multiple parallel fractures are all tested. The results indicate that DDA can accurately reflect the fracture effects, including the fractures stiffness, the fracture spacing and the fracture number, and the effects of incident wave frequency on one‐dimensional P‐wave propagation problems. Thus, DDA is able to deal well with normal incident P‐wave propagation problems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluid generation and evolution during exhumation of deeply subducted UHP continental crust: Petrogenesis of composite granite–quartz veins in the Sulu belt,China

Composite granite–quartz veins occur in retrogressed ultrahigh pressure (UHP) eclogite enclosed in gneiss at General's Hill in the central Sulu belt, eastern China. The granite in the veins has a high‐pressure (HP) mineral assemblage of dominantly quartz+phengite+allanite/epidote+garnet that yields pressures of 2.5–2.1 GPa (Si‐in‐phengite barometry) and temperatures of 850–780°C (Ti‐in‐zircon thermometry) at 2.5 GPa (~20°C lower at 2.1 GPa). Zircon overgrowths on inherited cores and new grains of zircon from both components of the composite veins crystallized at c. 221 Ma. This age overlaps the timing of HP retrograde recrystallization dated at 225–215 Ma from multiple localities in the Sulu belt, consistent with the HP conditions retrieved from the granite. The ε_Hf(t) values of new zircon from both components of the composite veins and the Sr–Nd isotope compositions of the granite consistently lie between values for gneiss and eclogite, whereas δ¹⁸O values of new zircon are similar in the veins and the crustal rocks. These data are consistent with zircon growth from a blended fluid generated internally within the gneiss and the eclogite, without any ingress of fluid from an external source. However, at the peak metamorphic pressure, which could have reached 7 GPa, the rocks were likely fluid absent. During initial exhumation under UHP conditions, exsolution of H₂O from nominally anhydrous minerals generated a grain boundary supercritical fluid in both gneiss and eclogite. As exhumation progressed, the volume of fluid increased allowing it to migrate by diffusing porous flow from grain boundaries into channels and drain from the dominant gneiss through the subordinate eclogite. This produced a blended fluid intermediate in its isotope composition between the two end‐members, as recorded by the composite veins. During exhumation from UHP (coesite) eclogite to HP (quartz) eclogite facies conditions, the supercritical fluid evolved by dissolution of the silicate mineral matrix, becoming increasingly solute‐rich, more ‘granitic’ and more viscous until it became trapped. As crystallization began by diffusive loss of H₂O to the host eclogite concomitant with ongoing exhumation of the crust, the trapped supercritical fluid intersected the solvus for the granite–H₂O system, allowing phase separation and formation of the composite granite–quartz veins. Subsequently, during the transition from HP eclogite to amphibolite facies conditions, minor phengite breakdown melting is recorded in both the granite and the gneiss by K‐feldspar+plagioclase+biotite aggregates located around phengite and by K‐feldspar veinlets along grain boundaries. Phase equilibria modelling of the granite indicates that this late‐stage melting records P–T conditions towards the end of the exhumation, with the subsolidus assemblage yielding 0.7–1.1 GPa at <670°C. Thus, the composite granite–quartz veins represent a rare example of a natural system recording how the fluid phase evolved during exhumation of continental crust. The successive availability of different fluid phases attending retrograde metamorphism from UHP eclogite to amphibolite facies conditions will affect the transport of trace elements through the continental crust and the role of these fluids as metasomatic agents interacting with the mantle wedge in the subduction channel.     

Semi‐analytical solution to one‐dimensional consolidation for unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loading

This paper presents semi‐analytical solutions to Fredlund and Hasan's one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loadings. Two variables are introduced to transform two coupled governing equations of pore‐water and pore‐air pressures into an equivalent set of partial differential equations, which are easily solved by the Laplace transform. The pore‐water pressure, pore‐air pressure and settlement are obtained in the Laplace domain. Crump's method is adopted to perform the inverse Laplace transform in order to obtain semi‐analytical solutions in time domain. It is shown that the present solutions are more general and have a good agreement with the existing solutions from literatures. Furthermore, the current solutions can also be degenerated into conventional solutions to one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with homogeneous boundaries. Finally, several numerical examples are provided to illustrate consolidation behavior of unsaturated soils under four types of time‐dependent loadings, including instantaneous loading, ramp loading, exponential loading and sinusoidal loading. Parametric studies are illustrated by variations of pore‐air pressure, pore‐water pressure and settlement at different values of the ratio of air–water permeability coefficient, depth and loading parameters. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A real-time inertial-aided cycle slip detection method based on ARIMA-GARCH model for inaccurate lever arm conditions

GPS Solutions - The GPS satellite transmitter antenna phase center offsets (PCOs) can be estimated in a global adjustment by constraining the ground station coordinates to the current International...     

Impacts of groundwater flow on the evolution of a thermokarst lake in the permafrost–dominated region on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau

As a result of global warming induced permafrost degradation in recent decades, thermokarst lakes in the Qinghai–Tibet plateau (QTP) have been regulating local hydrological and ecological processes. Simulations with coupled moisture–heat numerical models in the Beiluhe basin (located in the hinterland of permafrost regions on the QTP) have provided insights into the interaction between groundwater flow and the freeze–thaw process. A total of 30 modified SUTRA scenarios were established to examine the effects of hydrodynamic forces, permeability, and climate on thermokarst lakes. The results indicate that the hydrodynamic condition variables regulate the permafrost degradation around the lakes. In case groundwater recharges to the lake, a low–temperature groundwater flow stimulates the expansion of the surrounding thawing regions through thermal convection. The thawing rate of the permafrost underlying the lake intensifies when groundwater is discharged from the lake. Under different permeability conditions, spatiotemporal variations in the active layer thickness significantly influence the occurrence of an open talik at the lake bottom. A warmer and wetter climate will inevitably lead to a sharp decrease in the upper limit of the surrounding permafrost, with a continual decrease in the duration of open talik events. Overall, our results underscore that comprehensive consideration of the relevant hydrologic processes is critical for improving the understanding of environmental and ecological changes in cold environments.     

Chemical weathering and CO2 consumption in the glaciated Karuxung River catchment,Tibetan Plateau

Climate factors play critical roles in controlling chemical weathering, while chemically weathered surface material can regulate climate change. To estimate global chemical weathering fluxes and CO₂ balance, it is important to identify the characteristics and driving factors of chemical weathering and CO₂ consumption on the Tibetan Plateau, especially in glaciated catchments. The analysis of the hydro-geochemical data indicated that silicate weathering in this area was inhibited by low temperatures, while carbonate weathering was promoted by the abundant clastic rocks with fresh surfaces produced by glacial action. Carbonate weathering dominated the riverine solute generation (with a contribution of 58%, 51%, and 43% at the QiangYong Glacier (QYG), the WengGuo Hydrological Station (WGHS), and the lake estuary (LE), respectively). The oxidation of pyrite contributed to 35%, 42%, and 30% of the riverine solutes, while silicate weathering contributed to 5%, 6%, and 26% of the riverine solutes at the QYG, WGHS, and LE, respectively. The alluvial deposit of easily weathering fine silicate minerals, the higher air temperature, plant density, and soil thickness at the downstream LE in comparison to upstream and midstream may lead to longer contact time between pore water and mineral materials, thus enhancing the silicate weathering. Because of the involvement of sulfuric acid produced by the oxidation of pyrite, carbonate weathering in the upstream and midstream did not consume atmospheric CO₂, resulting in the high rate of carbonate weathering (73.9 and 75.6 t km⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively, in maximum) and potential net release of CO₂ (with an upper constraint of 35.6 and 35.2 t km⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively) at the QYG and WGHS. The above results indicate the potential of the glaciated area of the Tibetan Plateau with pyrite deposits being a substantial natural carbon source, which deserves further investigation.     

A tree‐ring width based drought reconstruction for southeastern China: links to Pacific Ocean climate variability

We present a drought reconstruction for southeastern China based on a tree‐ring width chronology of Cryptomeria fortunei developed from two sampling sites in central Fujian. A reconstruction of July–February drought variability, spanning AD 1855–2011, was developed by calibrating total tree‐ring width data with the self‐calibrating Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI). The reconstruction was verified against an independent data set, and accounts for 36% of the actual scPDSI variance during the period 1955–2011. Relatively dry intervals were reconstructed between AD 1859–1880, 1899–1911, 1927–1933, 1946–1959, 1964–1970 and 1987–1997. Relatively wet conditions prevailed during 1855–1858, 1881–1898, 1912–1926, 1934–1945, 1960–1963, 1971–1986 and 1998–2011. Comparisons between our scPDSI reconstruction and a moisture‐sensitive tree‐ring width record from Vietnam revealed consistencies between the two data sets, suggesting similar drought regimes. Spectral peaks of 2.2–6.4 years may be indicative of El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity, as also suggested by the significant correlations with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the eastern equatorial and southeastern Pacific Ocean and an extreme event analysis. The analysis of links between our scPDSI reconstruction and the large‐scale regional climatic variation shows that there is a relationship between regional drought variation and East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) intensity.