Hydrological effects of within-catchment heterogeneity of drainage density

Local drainage density (dd) has been traditionally defined as the inverse of twice the distance one has to walk before encountering a channel. This formalization easily allows to derive raster-based maps of dd extracted straight off from digital elevation model data. Maps of local dd, which are continuous in space, are able to reveal the appearance of strong heterogeneities in the geological and geomorphological properties of natural landscapes across different scales. In this work we employ the information provided by these spatial maps to study the potential effects of the within-catchment variability of dd on the hydrologic response. A simple power law relationship between runoff yield at the local scale and the value of dd has been adopted; the hypothesis is supported by a large number of past empirical observations and modeling. The novel framework proposed (ddRWF) embeds this spatially variable runoff weight in the well-known Rescaled Width Function (RWF) framework, based on the more general geomorphological theory of the hydrologic response. The model is applied to four sub-basins in the Cascade Range Region (Oregon, USA) where strong contrasts in dissection patterns due the underlain geology have been broadly addressed in previous literature. The ddRWF approach is compared with the classic RWF in terms of shape, moments and peak of the simulated hydrograph response. Results hint that the variability of runoff yield due to the heterogeneity of dd (i.e. of hillslope lengths) determines a more rapid concentration of runoff, which implies shorter lag times, larger skewness and higher peak floods, especially in the case hillslope velocity is much smaller than channel velocity. The potential of the proposed framework relies on accounting for spatially variable losses related to geomorphologic heterogeneity in lumped rainfall–runoff models, still keeping the simple and robust structure of the IUH approach.     

A new species of Baikuris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Sphecomyrminae) in mid-Cretaceous amber from France

A new species of the extinct ant genus Baikuris Dlussky, 1987 (Formicidae: Sphecomyrminae) is described and figured from a male preserved in a piece of ∼100 Myr amber from Charentes, in southwestern France. Baikuris maximus sp. nov., is distinguished from other species notably by its larger size, its forewing with vein 2M+Cu absent and vein 3Cu tubular, and the presence of a subpetiolar process. The diagnosis of the genus is emended, and its distribution during the Cretaceous is briefly discussed.     

Nudging the Impasse? Lessons From the Nationwide Online Wolf Management Forum in Finland

During the early 2010s, Finnish wolf (Canis lupus) policy reached an impasse. Unfavorable conservation status, intensifying wolf–human conflict, civil disobedience, legislative confusion, and administrative frustration characterized the situation. As part of a participatory updating process for the Finnish national wolf management plan in 2014, we organized a nationwide wolf management forum to explore how e-participation could be used to nurture deliberation for improved wolf policy. We present our interactive method and the resulting wolf territory-based solutions to the wolf problems that the participants of a nationwide online forum identified. The theoretical and practical significance of our work is that we ascribe value to the functional features of these solutions as modifications to the action environment, shared by people and wolves. In this vein, we discuss the role of e-deliberation on the path toward an institutional fit, and we consider how local decision making could help to implement promising wolf territory-level policy interventions.     

Magnetostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous strata in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument,southern Utah: The Santonian–Campanian Stage boundary,reassessment of the C33N/C33R magnetochron boundary,and implications for regional sedimentation patterns within the Sevier Foreland Basin

Samples were collected for magnetostratigraphic analysis from the Upper Cretaceous Straight Cliffs and Wahweap formations within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah, in an attempt to locate the C34n–C33r and C33r–C33n boundaries; the former approximates the Santonian–Campanian Stage boundary. Locating both of these horizons within the Monument provides for refined temporal resolution of the many new fossil localities discovered in these units, while also adding to our understanding of the overall Straight Cliffs–Wahweap sequence stratigraphic architecture. Results indicate that the John Henry and Drip Tank members of the Straight Cliffs Formation are of normal polarity, and represent the later part of C34n, the Cretaceous Normal Polarity Super-Chron. The C34n–C33r boundary apparently resides in a significant hiatus determined to occur between the Drip Tank Member of the Straight Cliffs Formation and the lower part of the overlying Wahweap Formation. In stratigraphically ascending order, the informally named lower, middle, and most of the upper members of the Wahweap Formation are of reversed polarity. The C33r–C33n polarity change occurs in the upper part of the upper member, and C33n continues stratigraphically upward through the capping sand member of the Wahweap Formation and into the overlying Kaiparowits Formation. The presence of over 200 m of reversely magnetized strata above a level in the lower part of the middle member dated to 79.9 ± 0.3 Ma, which coincides with the GTS2012 date for the C33r–C33n boundary of 79.9 Ma, suggests that the published age of that boundary may be in error. A new date of approximately 78.91 Ma is proposed, in turn allowing for the thick sequence of reversely magnetized strata above the 79.9 Ma level. Age revision of the Kaiparowits Basin's Late Cretaceous record demonstrates that during late Santonian through early middle Campanian time, except in central Utah, a close correlation in time and facies successions with other successions throughout the Western Interior Basin suggests a eustatic influence on the depositional patterns. Starting in the late middle Campanian, the Kaiparowits record, along with those both to the north and south, appear to diverge in style and facies successions. We consider this to have resulted from a fundamental change in depositional controls triggered by the Laramide Orogeny. The anomalous central Utah record appears to have been profoundly influenced by a massive salient (Nebo-Charleston thrust system) in the Sevier Fold and Thrust belt that was active for much of the Late Cretaceous.     

Spatial distribution,variation and trend of five-day antecedent rainfall in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the spatial distribution, variation and trend of 5-day antecedent rainfall in Singapore based on rainfall data from 22 meteorological stations. The effect of climate was analyzed by dividing the study period into three decades i.e. Decade 1: 1982–1991, Decade 2: 1992–2001 and Decade 3: 2002–2011. Kriging interpolation was used for rainfall mapping. The results show that spatial distribution of 5-day antecedent rainfall does not coincide with that of the annual rainfall. The maximum annual rainfall occurred in the northwestern side of Singapore. On the other hand, the maximum 5-day antecedent rainfall occurred in the north and northeastern sides. The results of this study suggest that the climate change has increased the amount of 5-day antecedent rainfall quite significantly, i.e. from 420.5 (1987) to 592.9 mm (2006), thus affecting the vulnerability of the area with respect to rainfall-induced slope failure. The analyses also showed that most of slope failures were located in the north and northeast of Singapore between December and earlier March. More slope failures were observed in Decade 3 as compared to Decades 1 and 2. In other words, the analysis confirmed that 5-day antecedent rainfall had affected the slope stability in Singapore.     

Wave attenuation and dispersion due to floating ice covers

Experiments investigating the attenuation and dispersion of surface waves in a variety of ice covers are performed using a refrigerated wave flume. The ice conditions tested in the experiments cover naturally occurring combinations of continuous, fragmented, pancake and grease ice. Attenuation rates are shown to be a function of ice thickness, wave frequency, and the general rigidity of the ice cover. Dispersion changes were minor except for large wavelength increases when continuous covers were tested. Results are verified and compared with existing literature to show the extended range of investigation in terms of incident wave frequency and ice conditions.     

Prediction of berm geometry using a set of laboratory tests combined with teaching–learning-based optimization and artificial bee colony algorithms

Understanding sediment movement in coastal areas is crucial in planning the stability of coastal structures, the recovery of coastal areas, and the formation of new coast. Accretion or erosion profiles form as a result of sediment movement. The characteristics of these profiles depend on the bed slope, wave conditions, and sediment properties. Here, experimental studies were performed in a wave flume with regular waves, considering different values for the wave height (H₀), wave period (T), bed slope (m), and mean sediment diameter (d₅₀). Accretion profiles developed in these experiments, and the geometric parameters of the resulting berms were determined. Teaching–learning-based optimization (TLBO) and artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithms were applied to regression functions of the data from the physical model. Dimensional and dimensionless equations were found for each parameter. These equations were compared to data from the physical model, to determine the best equation for each parameter and to evaluate the performances of the TLBO and ABC algorithms in the estimation of the berm parameters. Compared to the ABC algorithm, the TLBO algorithm provided better accuracy in estimating the berm parameters. Overall, the equations successfully determined the berm parameters.     

Formation of methane-related authigenic carbonates in a highly dynamic biogeochemical system in the Krishna–Godavari Basin,Bay of Bengal

We report the abundant occurrence of authigenic Fe-rich carbonate, high Mg-calcite (HMC) and low Mg-calcite from 11 cores recovered from the Krishna–Godavari Basin (K–G Basin), Bay of Bengal. The cores were collected as part of the Indian gas hydrate exploration program on board R/V Marion Dufresne (MD-161: May, 2007) in different environments, including mounds (mud diapirs), mass flows, and hemipelagic sediments over a range of water depths from 647 to 2079 m. Authigenic carbonates range in size from 1 mm to 12 cm and display various morphologies like roundish or platy (micro-) nodules and tube-like forms. From the cores, 173 carbonate samples have been investigated for their depth distribution, mineralogy, geochemical and stable isotopic composition. The stable carbon isotopic composition of 46 out of 88 measured carbonate samples are around −50‰ which allows the differentiation into methane-related carbonates (HMC), especially at Sites 8 and 15, but also in low abundance at Sites 1, 5, 9 and 12. Results indicate that the carbonates at Site 8 and 15 represent paleo methane seepage locations. The Fe-rich carbonates occur abundantly at many sites in the K–G Basin. Their varying carbon isotopic composition indicates that probably not only sulfate reduction through organic matter degradation but also methanogenesis are the responsible processes for their formation.     

A new metallogenic model of the Panzhihua giant V–Ti–iron oxide deposit (Emeishan Large Igneous Province) based on high-Mg olivine-bearing wehrlite and new field evidence

The Panzhihua layered intrusion hosts a giant V–Ti–iron oxide deposit with ore reserves estimated at 1333 Mt. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) U–Pb zircon dating of comagmatic anorthosite yields a crystallization age of 259.77 ± 0.79 million years, coeval with the Emeishan flood basalts. Recently, we identified a small wehrlite dike in microgabbroic rocks and marbles. The wehrlite consists of high-Mg olivine phenocrysts with up to 90.44 wt.% Fo. Incompatible element-normalized patterns between bulk wehrlite and clinopyroxenes in gabbro suggest that they are cogenetic. The Panzhihua parental magma is estimated to have been picritic (～10 wt.% FeO and ～16 wt.% MgO), produced by partial fusion of garnet peridotite. Much of the melting occurred in garnet-facies mantle at an initial melting temperature of about 1530°C and pressure of ～3.4 GPa, suggesting involvement of a mantle plume. The degree of partial melting was rather modest and could have been generated by plume–lithosphere interaction or ascending plume-derived melting contaminated by lithospheric mantle. Field relationships show sharp contacts between the massive ores and gabbro, between wehrlite and fine-grained gabbro, and between disseminated ores and gabbro. Considering the entire intrusion, which is locally cut by dikes or veins of anorthosite, together with the occurrence of a breccia made up of gabbro clasts cemented by disseminated ores, we suggest that different types of magmas were generated by liquid differentiation in a deeper-level chamber. This differentiation could have resulted from double-diffusive convection cells, with melt later intruding into a higher-level chamber, rather than by crystal settling or in situ growth on the floor of the intrusion. However, rhythmic layering produced by in situ crystallization only occurs in the middle of the Panzhihua intrusion and was caused by periodic fluctuation in water pressure.     

Evaluation of the WRF-Lake Model over Two Major Freshwater Lakes in China

This paper evaluates the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model coupled with a lake scheme over the Lake Poyang and Lake Dongting regions. We choose several cases with different weather characteristics, including winter with/without precipitation and summer with/without precipitation, and conduct a series of experiments(without the lake model, with the default lake model, and with a calibrated lake model that adjusts the water absorption, extinction coefficients, and surface roughness length) for each case. The results show that the performance of the lake model is significantly affected by the weather conditions. For the winter with precipitation cases, the performance of the default lake model is even worse than without the lake model, but the calibrated lake model can obviously reduce the biases of 2-m temperature and dew-point temperature. Although the performance of the default and new calibrated models is intricate for other cases, the new calibrated model has prominent advantages for 2-m dew-point temperature. Moreover, a long-term simulation of five months also shows that the new calibrated coupled lake model performs better than the default one. These imply that the new calibrated coupled lake model is more suitable to be used in studies of the effects of Lake Poyang and Lake Dongting on regional weather and climate.