The double solid reactant method: II. An application to the shallow groundwaters of the Porto Plain,Vulcano Island (Italy)

This paper presents an example of application of the double solid reactant method (DSRM) of Accornero and Marini (Environmental Geology, 2007a), an effective way for modeling the fate of several dissolved trace elements during water–rock interaction. The EQ3/6 software package was used for simulating the irreversible water–rock mass transfer accompanying the generation of the groundwaters of the Porto Plain shallow aquifer, starting from a degassed diluted crateric steam condensate. Reaction path modeling was performed in reaction progress mode and under closed-system conditions. The simulations assumed: (1) bulk dissolution (i.e., without any constraint on the kinetics of dissolution/precipitation reactions) of a single solid phase, a leucite-latitic glass, and (2) precipitation of amorphous silica, barite, alunite, jarosite, anhydrite, kaolinite, a solid mixture of smectites, fluorite, a solid mixture of hydroxides, illite-K, a solid mixture of saponites, a solid mixture of trigonal carbonates and a solid mixture of orthorhombic carbonates. Analytical concentrations of major chemical elements and several trace elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Sr and Ba) in groundwaters were satisfactorily reproduced. In addition to these simulations, similar runs for a rhyolite, a latite and a trachyte permitted to calculate major oxide contents for the authigenic paragenesis which are comparable, to a first approximation, with the corresponding data measured for local altered rocks belonging to the silicic, advanced argillic and intermediate argillic alteration facies. The important role played by both the solid mixture of trigonal carbonates as sequestrator of Mn, Zn, Cu and Ni and the solid mixture of orthorhombic carbonates as scavenger of Sr and Ba is emphasized.

Spatial data for landslide susceptibility, hazard, and vulnerability assessment: An overview

The aim of this paper is to discuss a number of issues related to the use of spatial information for landslide susceptibility, hazard, and vulnerability assessment. The paper centers around the types of spatial data needed for each of these components, and the methods for obtaining them. A number of concepts are illustrated using an extensive spatial data set for the city of Tegucigalpa in Honduras. The paper intends to supplement the information given in the “Guidelines for Landslide Susceptibility, Hazard and Risk Zoning for Land Use Planning” by the Joint ISSMGE, ISRM and IAEG Technical Committee on Landslides and Engineered Slopes (JTC-1). The last few decades have shown a very fast development in the application of digital tools such as Geographic Information Systems, Digital Image Processing, Digital Photogrammetry and Global Positioning Systems. Landslide inventory databases are becoming available to more countries and several are now also available through the internet. A comprehensive landslide inventory is a must in order to be able to quantify both landslide hazard and risk. With respect to the environmental factors used in landslide hazard assessment, there is a tendency to utilize those data layers that are easily obtainable from Digital Elevation Models and satellite imagery, whereas less emphasis is on those data layers that require detailed field investigations. A review is given of the trends in collecting spatial information on environmental factors with a focus on Digital Elevation Models, geology and soils, geomorphology, land use and elements at risk.     

Contribution of the SISCam Web-based GIS to the seismotectonic study of Campania (Southern Apennines): an example of application to the Sannio-area

In this article the implementation and potential of the Seismotectonic Information System of the Campania Region (SISCam) are described, in particular an application of this Web-based GIS system to the seismotectonic analysis of the Sannio area (Southern Apennines) is performed. WEB-GIS technologies greatly contribute to both the environmental monitoring and the disaster management of areas affected by high natural risks. Specifically the SISCam system has been developed with the aim of providing easy access and fast diffusion, through Internet technology, of the most significant geological, geophysical, and territorial data relative to the Campania Region. The Sannio area has been selected as our application example because it is among the most active seismic regions in Italy. This portion of the Southern Apennines which was hit by the June 5, 1688 strong earthquake (M _W = 6.7, CPTI 1999) and by some low- and moderate-energy seismic sequences (1990–1992, 1997), is characterized by a complex inherited tectonic setting and low-tectonic deformation rates that hide the seismogenic sources position. Since this case study turned out to be complicated, the use of the SIScam WEB-GIS has become indispensable because it allowed us to visualize, integrate and analyze all the data available, in order to obtain an accurate and direct picture of the seismotectonic setting of the area. Moreover, a different approach of data analysis was necessary, due to the lack of up-to-date neotectonic and structural data; therefore, the operation of this GIS system enabled us to process and generate some original informative layers, through image analysis, such as new structural lineaments represented on a map of the potential active faults of the area, which has been the final result of our application, as a contribution to new knowledge about the local seismic risk parameters.     

Analysis of the 2003 Varunawat Landslide,Uttarkashi, India using Earth Observation data

Mass movements such as landslides in mountainous terrains are natural degradation processes and one of the most important landscape-building factors. Varunawat Parbat overlooking Uttarkashi town witnessed a series of landslides on 23 September 2003 and the debris slides and rock falls continued for 2 weeks. This landslide complex was triggered due to the incessant rainfall prior to the event, and its occurrence led to the blockage of the pilgrim route to Gangotri (source of the Ganges river) and evacuation of thousands of people to safer places. Though there was no loss of lives due to timely evacuation, heavy losses to the property were reported. High-resolution stereoscopic earth observation data were acquired after the incidence to study the landslide in detail with emphasis on the cause of the landslide and mode of failure. Areas along the road and below the Varunawat foothill region are mapped for landslide risk. It was found that the foothill region of the Varunawat Parbat was highly disturbed by man-made activities and houses are dangerously located below steep slopes. The potential zones for landslides along with the existing active and old landslides are mapped. These areas are critical and their treatment with priority is required in order to minimise further landslide occurrences.     

三峡库区生基包滑坡监测及成果分析

生基包滑坡监测属于三峡库区奉节县三期地质灾害监测预警项目之一,该滑坡位于长江左岸,临近人口稠密的安坪乡集镇,地理位置重要。三峡水库175 m蓄水后,其变形破坏特征有何表现？对航道安全运营有无潜在威胁？是否会对滑坡体上的重要建筑及村民生产生活构成危害？针对这些问题,首先分析了滑坡的工程地质特征及主要的影响因素;其次,确立以4种监测手段为主、人工巡查为辅的监测方案;通过对大地变形GPS、深部位移、滑坡推力等几种监测方法的运用及对其成果进行分析研究,以实例说明其在滑坡监测中的应用;再次,结合宏观人工巡查进行对照分析,以充分说明大地变形、深部位移和滑坡推力监测在实际运用中的可行性;最后,根据监测结论提出对生基包滑坡防治的建议。     

Predictability of Interannual Variability in the Kuroshio Transport South of Japan Based on Wind Stress Data over the North Pacific

It is expected that a roughly two-year forecast of the Kuroshio transport variation can be made from a past record of wind stress data over the ocean, since it takes nearly ten years for the first-mode baroclinic Rossby wave to traverse the entire basin in the midlatitude North Pacific (∼30°N). We therefore investigated the predictability using an ocean general circulation model driven by the wind stress data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis. Referring to a hindcast experiment as the control run, we carried out fifteen forecast experiments, the initial conditions of which are taken from the hindcast experiment at intervals of two years during the period from the end of 1969 to the end of 1997. Each of the forecast experiments is driven only by wind stress in the year preceding each experiment. The forecasted Kuroshio transport anomaly south of Japan agrees better with the hindcasted one during the first two years of the forecast in most cases. In some cases, however, significant disagreements occur, most of which are likely due to larger unpredictable variations caused by wind stress anomalies near Japan. At the end of forecast year 2, the anomaly correlation coefficient is about 0.7, and rms of the forecast error is smaller than rms of the hindcasted anomaly. These results indicate that the prediction of the interannual variability in the Kuroshio transport could be made two years in advance at a statistically significant level. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Field observations of waves generated by passing ships: A note

This short contribution reports the results of a field study on the nearshore characteristics of waves generated by both conventional and high speed passenger ferries. The field observations took place in the late summer of 2005, at a beach close to the port of Mytilene (Island of Lesbos, Greece), and involved the visual observation of ship waves, using digital video recordings and image processing techniques. The results showed that passage of the fast ferry was associated with a longer, more complex and energetic nearshore event; this event not only did include higher nearshore waves (up to 0.74 m) and was organised in different wave packets, but it was also an order of magnitude longer (∼ 680 s) than the conventional ferry event. Regarding the effects on beach sediment dynamics, the fast ferry waves were estimated to be very efficient in mobilising the nearshore sediments in contrast to those of the conventional ferry. The fast ferry service appears to generate daily prolonged nearshore events, which contain waves with higher energy than those expected from the normal summer wind wave regime of the area; these events also include some high and very steep waves, which can be particularly erosive. Therefore, fast ferry wakes may have considerable impacts on the seasonal beach sediment dynamics/morphodynamics and the nearshore benthic ecology, as well as they may pose significant risks to bathers, affecting the recreational use of the beaches exposed to fast ferry traffic. Finally, the study has shown that satisfactory field observations of the nearshore characteristics of ship-generated (and wind) waves can be obtained using inshore deployments of calibrated poles, digital video cameras and appropriate image processing algorithms.     

E1 Nio phenomenon in simple ocean data assimilation data

1 IntroductionIt is well known that interaction between the trop-ical ocean and atmosphere produces the largest inter-annual climate signal, El Nino-Southern Oscillation(ENSO). In past decades many efforts have been madein understanding and predicting ENSO: such as the hy-pothesis of Bjerknes (1969) that ENSO arises as aself-sustained cycle in which SSTA in the Pacific O-cean causes the trade winds to strengthen or slackenand that this in turn drives the ocean circulation changesthat …     

The Agulhas Ridge, South Atlantic: The Peculiar Structure of a Fracture Zone

The Agulhas Ridge is a prominent topographic feature that parallels the Agulhas-Falkland Fracture Zone (AFFZ). Seismic reflection and wide angle/refraction data have led to the classification of this feature as a transverse ridge. Changes in spreading rate and direction associated with ridge jumps, combined with asymmetric spreading within the Agulhas Basin, modified the stress field across the fracture zone. Moreover, passing the Agulhas Ridge’s location between 80 and 69 Ma, the Bouvet and Shona Hotspots may have supplied excess material to this part of the AFFZ thus altering the ridge’s structure. The low crustal velocities and overthickened crust of the northern Agulhas Ridge segment indicate a possible continental affinity that suggests it may be formed by a small continental sliver, which was severed off the Maurice Ewing Bank during the opening of the South Atlantic. In early Oligocene times the Agulhas Ridge was tectono-magmatically reactivated, as documented by the presence of basement highs disturbing and disrupting the sedimentary column in the Cape Basin. We consider the Discovery Hotspot, which distributes plume material southwards across the AAFZ, as a source for the magmatic material.     

新型波浪采集系统平台设计

主要介绍了新型波浪采集系统的设计思想与主要参数，采集、存储、运算和电源控制部分的结构与组成，以及各部分的特点和关键技术。