Self-Similarity Properties of the Kerch Peninsula Stream Network and Their Comparison with the Results of Structural and Geomorphological Analysis

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The results of the fractal analysis of a drainage network reconstructed using a digital elevation model and the structural and geomorphological analysis...     

REDUCE programs for algebraic computation in general relativity

REDUCE programs for algebraic computation in General Relativity are presented which use the metric tensor as input. The programs calculate — according to the user's option — the CHRISTOFFEL symbols, the RIEMANN tensor, the RICCI tensor, the RICCI scalar, the EINSTEIN tensor and the WEYL tensor.     

Considerations on Parallelizing Nonnegative Matrix Factorization for Hyperspectral Data Unmixing

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is a recently developed linear unmixing technique that assumes that the original sources and transform were positively defined. Given that the linear mixing model (LMM) for hyperspectral data requires positive endmembers and abundances, with only minor modifications, NMF can be used to solve LMM. Traditionally, NMF solutions include an iterative process resulting in considerable execution times. In this letter, we provide two novel algorithms aimed at speeding the NMF through parallel processing: the first based on the traditional multiplicative solution and the second modifying an adaptive projected gradient technique known to provide better convergence. The algorithms' implementations were tested on various data sets; the results suggest that a significant speedup can be achieved without decrease in accuracy. This supports the further use of NMF for linear unmixing.     

Use of SPOT 5 and IKONOS imagery for mapping biocenoses in a Tunisian Coastal Lagoon (Mediterranean Sea)

Mapping marine biocenoses is an efficient method for providing useful data for the management and conservation of Mediterranean lagoons. Fused images from two satellites, SPOT 5 and IKONOS, were tested as management tools for identifying specific ecosystems in the El Bibane lagoon, situated in southern Tunisia near the Libyan border. The objectives of this study were to provide a precise map of the entire El Bibane lagoon using fused images from SPOT 5 and to compare fused images from SPOT 5 and IKONOS over a test-area. After applying a supervised classification, pixels are automatically classified in four classes: low seagrass cover, high seagrass cover, superficial mobile sediments and deep mobile sediments. The maps of the lagoon revealed and confirmed an extremely wide distribution of seagrass meadows within the lagoon (essentially Cymodocea nodosa; 19 546 ha) and a large area of mobile sediments more or less parallel to the shore (3 697 ha). A direct comparison of overall accuracy between SPOT 5 over the entire area, SPOT 5 over the test-area and IKONOS over the test-area revealed that these tools provided accurate mapping of the lagoon environment (83.25%, 85.91% and 73.41% accuracy, respectively). The SPOT 5 images provided greater overall accuracy than the IKONOS image, but did not take into account the heterogeneous spatial structure of the seagrasses and sediments present in the lagoon environment. Although IKONOS imagery provided lower overall accuracy than SPOT 5, it proved a very useful tool for the mapping of heterogeneous structures as it enabled the patchiness of formations to be better taken into account. The use of SPOT 5 and IKONOS fused images appears to be very promising for completing the mapping of lagoons in other regions and countries of the Mediterranean Sea.     

Peculiarities of Polluted Water Spreading from a Submarine Source in Stratified Coastal Environment

We study the spreading of wastewaters from an underwater source in a stratified coastal environment using the results of satellite monitoring and mathematical modeling. The problem is considered as applied to deepwater discharge in the region of Golubaya Bay of the Black Sea near Sebastopol. The main factors preventing upwelling of pollution to the sea surface are analyzed on the basis of a numerical model. It is shown that peculiarities of wastewater spreading depend on the character of stratification and velocity of the background current. The main factor influencing the uplift of these waters to the surface is the existence of water layers with high vertical gradients of water density. We reveal the structure of the wastewater field consisting of a plume and a jet extended in the direction of the background current, which is located in the density interface. If stratification is weak, the plume may reach the sea surface and form a local region of water pollution, which is recorded in multispectral satellite images. It is found that the mass of polluted waters is characterized by negative anomalies of temperature and salinity.     

Regional variations in cleavage and fold development in North Wales

The arcuate pattern of the main Caledonian cleavage and associated fold axial plane traces in North Wales is due partly to NW-SE compression with tectonic transport to the southeast against the concealed crop of the Tan y grisiau Microgranite. Low-angle cleavage close to the microgranite is shown to be a local variant of the regional cleavage formed during the main deformation and not an earlier phase as previously supposed. Transcurrent movements along several major fault systems are also related to compression around the microgranite and the Harlech Dome block.     

Lower riphean low-carbonaceous shales in the southern urals: Raw material for the manufacture of porous rubble

A property of swelling on heating to yield firm lightweight granules has first been revealed for lowcarbonaceous shales (LCS) from the Riphean stratotype in the Bashkirian Megaanticlinorium, Southern Urals. These granules possess all technological properties of “keramzite” or claydite (an artificial, expanded clayey material) and can successfully substitute this material. Moreover, the procedure of their manufacture, analogous to the manufacture of “shungizite” (an artificial carbonaceous-clayey material) from Lower Proterozoic clayey rocks of Karelia, is more economical than that for keramzit. Productive beds of the homogeneous LCS make up extended bodies tens of meters thick. At the present time, they can be used as cover rocks during the exploitation of the Bakal siderite deposits. The LCS represent fine-grained quartz-chlorite-sericite aggregates (with variable relationships between the major components), bearing fine-dispersed shungite in amounts of 0.5–1.0%. High-quality raw material of this kind is characterized by a fine-dispersed admixture of a mixed-layer clayey material bearing montmorillonite and vermiculite. Geological, lithological, mineralogical, and chemical prognostic criteria have been developed for the shungizite raw material. It has been concluded that this construction material, new for the Urals, is promising for industrial use