Refined timing and kinematics for Baltica–Avalonia convergence based on the sedimentary record of a foreland basin

The Caledonian foreland basin of Poland onlaps the SW slope of the East European Craton and is elongated in a NW–SW direction along the margin of the Baltica palaeocontinent. The base of the synorogenic clastic wedge rises in age from Llandovery to Ludlow between NW and SE Poland, respectively. As the initial influx of orogen‐derived detritus can be unequivocally identified, this diachronism documents a southeastward migration of the basin depocentre, parallel to the present‐day Caledonian Deformation Front. Our best‐fit plate model shows an oblique collision of Baltica and Avalonia, the latter initially indenting the Baltica margin in the NW. Afterwards, Baltica was progressively underthrust beneath Avalonia towards the SE in response to the oblique soft‐mode closure of the Tornquist Ocean. The final deformation event within the Caledonian foreland took place in the earliest Devonian as a far‐field effect of sinistral orogen‐parallel displacements along the Iapetus suture.     

Holocene relative shore-level changes and development of the Ģipka lagoon in the western Gulf of Riga

Holocene relative shore-level changes and development of the Ģipka palaeolagoon in the western Gulf of Riga are reconstructed using multiproxy analyses by combining litho-, biostratigraphical and chronological data with remote sensing and geophysical data. The results show the development of the Ģipka basin from the Ancylus Lake/Initial Litorina Sea coastal zone (before c. 9.1 cal. ka BP) to coastal fen (c. 9.1 to 8.4 cal. ka BP) and gradual development of the Litorina Sea lagoon (c. 8.4 to 4.8 cal. ka BP) and its transition to a freshwater coastal lake (c. 4.8 to 4.6 cal. ka BP), fen (c. 4.6 to 4.2 cal. ka BP), and river floodplain (since c. 4.2 cal. ka BP). The highest shorelines of the Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea were mapped at an elevation of 12–11 and 9 m a.s.l., respectively. A new relative shore level (RSL) curve for the western Gulf of Riga was constructed based on RSL data from the Ģipka area and from nearby Ruhnu Island studied earlier. The reconstruction shows that the beginning of the last marine transgression in the western Gulf of Riga started at c. 8.4 cal. ka BP, and concurred with the 1.9 m RSL rise event recorded from the North Sea basin. Diatom analysis results indicate the existence of the Ģipka lagoon between c. 7.7 and 4.8 cal. ka BP, with the highest salinity c. 6.1 cal. ka BP. During the existence of the brackish lagoon, settlement sites of the Neolithic hunter–gatherer groups existed on the shores of the lagoon in the period c. 6.0 to 5.0 cal. ka BP.     

Deep Electrical Resistivity Structure of the European Lithosphere in Poland Derived from 3-D Inversion of Magnetotelluric Data

Surveys in Geophysics - This paper presents a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the resistivity distribution in the European lithosphere at the junction between the East European Craton, the...     

Effectiveness of Random Field Approach in Serviceability Limit State Analysis of Strip Foundation

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - This work conducts a probabilistic inquiry on how the variability of the parameter defining soil deformability affects the settlement of the foundation...     

Peralkaline felsic magmatism at the Nemrut volcano,Turkey: impact of volcanism on the evolution of Lake Van (Anatolia) IV

Nemrut volcano, adjacent to Lake Van (Turkey), is one of the most important peralkaline silicic centres in the world, where magmatism for ~570,000 years has been dominated by peralkaline trachytes and rhyolites. Using onshore and Lake Van drill site tephra samples, we document the phenocryst and glass matrix compositions, confirming a complete spectrum from very rare mafic to dominantly silicic magmas. Magma mixing has been common and, along with the multi-lineage nature of the magmas, indicates that Nemrut has been a very open system where, nevertheless, compositionally zoned caps developed during periods of relative eruptive quiescence. Geothermometry suggests that the intermediate-silicic magmas evolved in an upper crustal magma reservoir at temperatures between 1100 and 750 °C, at fO₂ close to the FMQ buffer. The silicic magmas either were halogen poor or exsolved a halogen-rich phase prior to or during eruption. An unusual Pb-rich phase, with up to 98.78 wt% PbO, is interpreted as having exsolved from the intermediate-rhyolitic magmas.     

Cosmology beyond the standard model: Multi-component dark matter model

We show that both the mass and composition of dark matter (DM) particles strongly influence the formation of low mass DM halos. Comparison of theoretical predictions with observations allows us to select the more promising DM models. More details can be found in our paper arXiv:1404.3362.     

Testing the anelastic nonhydrostatic model EULAG as a prospective dynamical core of a numerical weather prediction model Part II: Simulations of supercell

The anelastic nonhydrostatic model EULAG is a candidate for the future dynamical core of a numerical weather prediction model. Achieving such an objective requires a number of experiments focused on testing correctness of the solutions and robustness of the solver. In the spirit of this idea, a set of tests related to standard atmospheric problems was performed, of which the two regarding development and evolution of a supercell were employed as benchmarks of moist dynamics of the model. Their results are discussed in this paper. Development and evolution of a stormsystem with a set of characteristic features such as stormsplitting along with the generation of horizontal vorticity and cold pool formation is investigated. In addition, the influence of domain geometry, boundary conditions and subgrid-scale mixing is examined.     

Influence of selected fluorescent dyes on small aquatic organisms

Rhodamine B and Rhodamine WT are fluorescent dyes commonly used as tracers in hydrological investigations. Since introducing intensely red substances into rivers raises understandable doubts of ecological nature, the authors aimed at examining the influence of these dyes on small water fauna using bioindication methods. Quantitative results, calculated with the use of Bliss-Weber probit statistical method, were achieved by means of standardized ecotoxicological tests containing ready-to-hatch resting forms of fairy shrimp (Thamnocephalus platyurus). Qualitative studies included observation of water flea crustacean (Daphnia magna) and horned planorbis snail (Planorbis corneus), both typically present in rivers and representative for temperate climate, as well as guppy fish (Poecilla reticulata), paramecium protozoan (Paramaecium caudatum) and the above-mentioned fairy shrimp. The investigation revealed that both dyes in concentrations used for hydrological purposes are low enough to exert almost no toxic impact on water fauna considered.     

Stepwise atmospheric carbon-isotope excursion during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (Early Jurassic,Polish Basin)

During the Mesozoic (250–64 Ma) intervals of about 0.5 Myr were subject to severe environmental changes, including high sea-surface temperature and very low oxygen content of marine water. These Oceanic Anoxic Events, or OAEs, occurred simultaneously with profound disturbance to the carbon cycle. The carbon-isotope anomaly in the Early Jurassic that marks the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) at ~ 182 Ma is characterized in marine sections by a series of dramatic steps towards lighter values. Herein we present new carbon-isotope data from terrestrial organic matter (phytoclast separates), collected through a Late Pliensbachian–Middle Toarcian coastal and marginal marine succession in the Polish Basin, a setting where hinterland climate and sea-level change are well recorded. The results show that the shift to light carbon-isotope values in the woody organic matter, and therefore also in atmospheric carbon dioxide, similarly occurred in major steps. The steps are here correlated with those identified from marine organic matter, where they have previously been attributed to 100 kyr eccentricity forcing of climate. The results provide strong support for orbitally and climatically controlled release of isotopically light carbon from gas hydrates into the ocean–atmosphere system in a series of rapid bursts. Additionally, a link between the carbon-isotope steps and shoreline movements can be demonstrated. Individual peaks of the negative excursion are mostly associated with facies indicative of sea-level rise (flooding surfaces). However, at the same time inferred higher atmospheric carbon-dioxide content may be expected to have resulted in increased rainfall and temperature, leading to accelerated weathering and erosion, and consequently increased sediment supply, progradation and regression, causing some mismatches between isotope shifts and inferred sea-level changes. Enhanced abundance of megaspores derived from hydrophilic plant groups, and marked increase in kaolinite, are coincident with the overall development of the negative isotope excursion. The combined data suggest that each 100-kyr cycle in carbon-isotope values was characterized by increasingly severe palaeoclimatic change, culminating in extremely hot and humid conditions co-incident with the peak of the final most negative carbon-isotope excursion. The chemostratigraphic correlation allows very precise dating of the Late Pliensbachian–Middle Toarcian coastal and marginal marine sedimentary succession in the Polish Basin.