Spatial video data collection in a post-disaster landscape: The Tuscaloosa Tornado of April 27th 2011

Fine scale disaster response and recovery data suitable for spatial analysis are still relatively rare. This is unfortunate as insight into spatial patterns of recovery could be invaluable in predicting the reestablishment of homes, streets and neighborhoods. The purpose of this paper is to show how fine scale geographic data can be collected in near real-time for the intermediate phase between response and recovery. These data will initially be used to assess the degree of damage (with relation to the Enhanced F scale) while also establishing a baseline for subsequent recovery monitoring. A spatial video system is used to collect data from the post-disaster landscape of Tuscaloosa which was hit by a large tornado in April 2011. This video, once processed, can be viewed within a Geographic Information System which combines street-level images with exact location. These data can be used to support ongoing recovery efforts, while also archiving a dataset suitable for the spatial analysis of the changing post-disaster landscape.     

Turkey Lakes Watershed,Ontario, Canada: 40 years of interdisciplinary whole-ecosystem research

The Turkey Lakes Watershed (TLW) study is a federal, interdepartmental study established in 1979 to investigate the effects of acid rain on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The 10.5 km² watershed, located in the Eastern Temperate Mixed Forest on the Canadian Shield, has been the site of multidisciplinary studies on biogeochemical and ecological processes conducted across plot to catchment scales. The whole-ecosystem investigative approach was adopted from the outset and has allowed research to evolve from its original (and continuing) acidification focus to include investigations on the effects of climate change, forest harvesting and other forest ecosystem perturbations. The extensive scientific and support infrastructure allows for collection of a comprehensive data record essential for understanding long-term environmental trends. Data include atmospheric deposition, meteorology, stream hydrology and chemistry, soil, pore and ground water properties, understory and overstory vegetation, lake and outflow physical and chemical properties, and aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish community composition and abundance. These data have contributed to over 400 published research papers and graduate theses. The watershed has also figured prominently in many continent-wide comparisons advancing fundamental watershed theory. The knowledge gained at TLW has influenced pollutant emission and natural resource management policies provincially, nationally and internationally.     

Basaltic thermals and Subplinian plumes: Constraints from acoustic measurements at Shishaldin volcano, Alaska

The 1999 basaltic eruption of Shishaldin volcano (Alaska, USA) included both Strombolian and Subplinian activity, as well as a “pre-Subplinian” phase interpreted as the local coalescence within a long foam in the conduit. Although few visual observations were made of the eruption, a great deal of information regarding gas velocity, gas flux at the vent and plume height may be inferred by using acoustic recordings of the eruption. By relating acoustic power to gas velocity, a time series of gas velocity is calculated for the Subplinian and pre-Subplinian phases. These time series show trends in gas velocity that are interpreted as plumes or, for those signals lasting only a short time, thermals. The Subplinian phase is shown to be composed of a thermal followed by five plumes with a total expelled gas volume of .The initiation of the Subplinian activity is probably related to the arrival of a large overpressurised bubble close to the top of the magma column. A gradual increase in low-frequency (0.01–0.5 Hz) signal prior to this “trigger bubble” may be due to the rise of the bubble in the conduit. This delay corresponds to a reservoir located at ≈3.9 km below the surface, in good agreement with studies on other volcanoes.The presence of two thermal phases is also identified in the middle of the pre-Subplinian phase with a total gas release of and . Gas velocity at the vent is found to be and for the Subplinian plumes and the pre-Subplinian thermals respectively.The agreement is very good between estimates of the gas flux from modelling the plume height and those obtained from acoustic measurements, leading to a new method by which eruption physical parameters may be quantified. Furthermore, direct measurements of gas velocity can be used for better estimates of the flux released during the eruption.     

New isotopic ages and the timing of orogenic events in the Cordillera Darwin,southernmost Chilean Andes

The Cordillera Darwin, a structural culmination in the Andes of Tierra del Fuego, exposes an orogenic core zone that has undergone polyphase deformation and metamorphism. Some of the classic problems of orogenic zones have remained unanswered in the Cordillera Darwin: the age of deformed plutonic rocks, the distinction of structurally reactivated basement and metamorphosed cover rocks, and the timing of orogenic events. This study addresses and partially answers these questions.A well-constrained Rb-Sr isochron age of157±8m.y. and an initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.7087 obtained from a pre-tectonic granitic suite suggest a genetic relation between this suite and Upper Jurassic silicic volcanic rocks in the cover sequence (Tobifera Formation), and also suggest involvement of continental crust in formation of these magmas. A poorly constrained Rb-Sr isochron age of240±40m.y. obtained from supposed basement schists is consistent with field relations in the area which suggest a late Paleozoic/early Mesozoic metamorphism for these pre-Late Jurassic rocks. However, because of scatter in the data and the uncertainties involved in dating metasedimentary rocks, the significance of the isotopic age is dubious. Compilation of previously published ages in the area [9] with new mineral ages reported here indicate that “early Andean” orogenic events occurred between 100 and 84 m.y. ago, and that subduction-related magmatism has contributed, probably discontinuously, to the crustal evolution of the region throughout the Mesozoic.     

Petrology of the Chilliwack batholith,North Cascades,Washington: generation of calc-alkaline granitoids by melting of mafic lower crust with variable water fugacity

Calc-alkaline granitoid rocks of the Oligocene-Pliocene Chilliwack batholith, North Cascades, range from quartz diorites to granites (57–78% SiO₂), and are coeval with small gabbroic stocks. Modeling of major element, trace element, and isotopic data for granitoid and mafic rocks suggests that: (1) the granitoids were derived from amphibolitic lower crust having REE (rare-earth-element) and Sr-Nd isotopic characteristics of the exposed gabbros; (2) lithologic diversity among the granitoids is primarily the result of variable water fugacity during melting. The main effect of f_{H 2 O} variation is to change the relative proportions of plagioclase and amphibole in the residuum. The REE data for intermediate granitoids (quartz diorite-granodiorite; Eu/Eu^*=0.84–0.50) are modeled by melting with f_{H 2 O}<1 kbar, leaving a plagioclase + pyroxene residuum. In contrast, data for leucocratic granitoids (leuco-granodiorites and granites; Eu/Eu^* =1.0–0.54) require residual amphibole in the source and are modeled by melting with f_{H 2 O}=2–3 kbar. Consistent with this model, isotopic data for the granitoids show no systematic variation with rock type (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_i =0.7033–0.7043; Nd(0)=+3.3 to +5.5) and overlap significantly with data for the gabbroic rocks (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_i =0.7034–0.7040; Nd(0)=+3.3 to +6.9). The f_{H 2 O} variations during melting may reflect additions of H₂O to the lower crust from crystallizing basaltic magmas having a range of H₂O contents; Chillwack gabbros document the existence of such basalts. One-dimensional conductive heat transfer calculations indicate that underplating of basaltic magmas can provide the heat required for large-scale melting of amphibolitic lower crust, provided that ambient wallrock temperatures exceed 800°C. Based on lithologic and geochemical similarities, this model may be applicable to other Cordilleran batholiths.     

Heavy metal anomalies in the Tinto and Odiel River and estuary system,Spain

The Tinto and Odiel rivers drain 100 km from the Rio Tinto sulphide mining district, and join at a 20-km long estuary entering the Atlantic Ocean. A reconnaissance study of heavy metal anomalies in channel sand and overbank mud of the river and estuary by semi-quantitative emission dc-arc spectrographic analysis shows the following upstream to downstream ranges in ppm (μg g^?1): As 3,000 to <200, Cd 30 to <0.1, Cu 1,500 to 10, Pb 2,000 to <10, Sb 3000 to <150, and Zn 3,000 to <200. Organic-rich (1.3–2.6% total organic carbon, TOC), sandysilty overbank clay has been analyzed to represent suspended load materials. The high content of heavy metals in the overbank clay throughout the river and estuary systems indicates the importance of suspended sediment transport for dispersing heavy metals from natural erosion and anthropogenic mining activities of the sulfide deposit. The organic-poor (0.21–0.37% TOC) river bed sand has been analyzed to represent bedload transport of naturally-occurring sulfide minerals. The sand has high concentrations of metals upstream but these decrease an order of magnitude in the lower estuary. Although heavy metal contamination of estuary mouth beach sand has been diluted to background levels estuary mud exhibits increased contamination apparently related to finer grain size, higher organic carbon content, precipitation of river-borne dissolved solids, and input of anthropogenic heavy metals from industrial sources. The contaminated estuary mud disperses to the inner shelf mud belt and offshore suspended sediment, which exhibit metal anomalies from natural erosion and mining of upstream Rio Tinto sulphide lode sources (Pb, Cu, Zn) and industrial activities within the estuary (Fe, Cr, Ti). Because heavy metal contamination of Tinto-Odiel river sediment reaches or exceeds the highest levels encountered in other river sediments of Spain and Europe, a detailed analysis of metals in water and suspended sediment throughout the system, and epidemiological analysis of heavy metal effects in humans is appropriate.