Iceland has been subjected to destructive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions throughout history. Such events are often preceded
by changes in earthquake activity over varying timescales. Although most seismicity is confined to micro-earthquakes, large
earthquakes have occurred within populated regions. Following the most recent hazardous earthquakes in 2000, the Icelandic
Meteorological Office (IMO) developed an early warning and information system (EWIS) Web-site for viewing near-real-time seismicity
in Iceland. Here we assess Web-site usage data in relation to earthquake activity, as recorded by the South Iceland Lowland
(SIL) seismic network. Between March 2005 and May 2006 the SIL seismic network recorded 12,583 earthquakes. During this period,
the EWIS Web-site logged a daily median of 91 visits. The largest onshore event (ML 4.2) struck 20 km from Reykjavík on 06 March 2006 and was followed by an immediate, upsurge in usage resulting in a total
of 1,173 unique visits to the Web-site. The greatest cluster of large (≥ML 3) events occurred 300 km offshore from Reykjavík in May 2005. Within this swarm, 9 earthquakes ≥ML 3 were detected on 11 May 2005, resulting in the release of a media bulletin by IMO. During the swarm, and following the
media bulletin, the EWIS Web-site logged 1,234 unique visits gradually throughout the day. In summary, the data reveal a spatial
and temporal relationship between Web-site usage and earthquake activity. The EWIS Web-site is accessed immediately after
the occurrence of a local earthquake, whereas distant, unfelt earthquakes generate gradual interest prompted by media bulletins
and, possibly, other contributing factors. We conclude that the Internet is a useful tool for displaying seismic information
in near-real-time, which has the capacity to help increase public awareness of natural hazards. 相似文献
The sedimentary succession of the Col de la Plaine Morte area (Helvetic Alps, central Switzerland) documents the disappearance of the northern Tethyan Urgonian platform in unprecedented detail and suggests stepwise platform demise, with each drowning phase documented by erosion and phosphogenesis. The first identified drowning phase terminated Urgonian carbonate production in a predominantly photozoan mode. Using a correlation of the whole-rock δ13C record with the well-dated record from SE France, its age is inferred to as Middle Early Aptian (near the boundary between the weissi and deshayesi zones). A subsequent drowning phase is dated by ammonites and by a correlation of the whole-rock δ13C record as Late Early Aptian (late deshayesi to early furcata zone). A third drowning phase provides an ammonite-based age of Early Late Aptian (subnodosocostatum and melchioris zones) and is part of a widely recognized phase of sediment condensation and phosphogenesis, which is dated as latest Early to Middle Late Aptian (late furcata zone to near the boundary of the melchioris and nolani zones). The fourth and final drowning phase started in the latest Aptian (jacobi zone) as is also indicated by ammonite findings at the Col de la Plaine Morte. The phases of renewed platform-carbonate production intervening between the drowning phases were all in a heterozoan mode.
During the ultimate drowning phase, phosphogenesis continued until the Early Middle Albian, whereas condensation processes lasted until the Middle Turonian. Coverage of the external margin of the drowned Urgonian platform by a drape of pelagic carbonates started only in the Late Turonian. During the Santonian, the external part of the drowned platform underwent normal faulting and saw the re-exposure of already lithified Urgonian carbonates at the seafloor.
Based on the here-inferred ages, the first drowning phase just precedes oceanic anoxic episode 1a (OAE 1a or “selli event”) in time, and the second drowning phase partly overlaps with OAE 1a. The onset of the third drowning event slightly predates two further periods of increased organic-matter accumulation in the Vocontian Basin (Noir and Fallot levels), and the onset of the fourth and final drowning phase may coincide with two further periods of increased organic-matter accumulation in the Vocontian Basin (Jacob and Kilian levels, part of OAE 1b). These correlations indicate a relationship between the so-called anoxic episodes and the stepwise demise of the Urgonian platform, even if the onset of environmental change is registered earlier on the platform than in basinal sediments. 相似文献
The effects of hydrologic cycle change (caused by human activity and global climate change) on ecosystems attract the increasing attention around the world. As a result of impounding of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD), climate change and sand mining, the dry season of Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake (China’s two largest freshwater lakes) came early after the TGD impoundment. It was the primary cause of the increasing need for sluice/dam construction to store water in the Lakes and attracted increasing attention. In this paper, we compared the landscape pattern between three hydrologic years with early dry season (EY) and three normal hydrologic years (NY) of each lake by remote sensing technology, to reveal the effect of early dry season on landscape pattern. The results showed that early dry season caused expanding of Phalaris to mudflat zone in Poyang Lake, while caused expanding of Carex to Phalaris zone and expanding of Phalaris to mudflat zone in Dongting Lake. In landscape level, there was no significant difference in landscape grain size, landscape grain shape, habitat connectivity and landscape diversity between EY and NY in the two lakes. While in habitat class level, there were significant changes in area of mudflat and Phalaris and grain size of mudflat in Poyang Lake, and in area of Carex, grain size of Phalaris and grain shape of Carex and Phalaris in Dongting Lake. These changes will impact migrating birds of East Asian and migratory fishes of Yangtze River. 相似文献