The response of coastal marshes to sea-level rise: Survival or submergence?

In order to maintain an elevation in the intertidal zone at which marsh vegetation can survive, vertical accretion of the marsh surface must take place at a rate at least equal to the rate of relative sea-level rise. Net vertical accretion of coastal marshes is a result of interactions between tidal imports, vegetation and depositional processes. All of these factors are affected, directly or indirectly, by alterations in marsh hydrology which might occur as a result of sea-level rise. The overall response of coastal marshes to relative sea-level rise depends upon the relative importance of the inorganic and organic components of the marsh soil and the impact of increased hydroperiod on net accumulation. The varied combination of factors contributing to sediment supply, and their complexity at the scale of individual marshes, means that predicting the response of suspended sediment concentration in marsh floodwater to any changes which may occur as a result of sea-level rise, at anything other than the local scale is unlikely to be accurate. The impact of sea-level rise on net below-ground production is also complex. The sensitivity of certain species to waterlogging and soil chemical changes could result in a change in species composition or the migration of vegetation zones. Consequently, predicting the net impact of sea-level rise on organic matter accumulation is fraught with difficulties and requires improved understanding of interactions between vegetation, soil and hydrologic processes.     

伊通－舒兰断裂分段及地震危险性探讨

本文用地震活动性参数等地震学方法和用时间域小地震地震图测量震源物理参数及介质Ｑ值等震源参数方法，对伊通－舒兰断裂进行分段及地震危险性探讨。初步研究结果表明该断裂乌拉街－舒兰段（北段）、伊通－双阳段（南段）存在明显差异，北段介质强度大，易积累能量而发生较大地震。     

Comparison of three types of laser optical disdrometers under natural rainfall conditions

ABSTRACT

Optical disdrometers can be used to estimate rainfall erosivity; however, the relative accuracy of different disdrometers is unclear. This study compared three types of optical laser-based disdrometers to quantify differences in measured rainfall characteristics and to develop correction factors for kinetic energy (KE). Two identical PWS100 (Campbell Scientific), one Laser Precipitation Monitor (Thies Clima) and a first-generation Parsivel (OTT) were collocated with a weighing rain gauge (OTT Pluvio²) at a site in Austria. All disdrometers underestimated total rainfall compared to the rain gauge with relative biases from 2% to 29%. Differences in drop size distribution and velocity resulted in different KE estimates. By applying a linear regression to the KE–intensity relationship of each disdrometer, a correction factor for KE between the disdrometers was developed. This factor ranged from 1.15 to 1.36 and allowed comparison of KE between different disdrometer types despite differences in measured drop size and velocity.     

Continental deposits and archaeological data in the Trieste Karst area (north-east Italy: evidence of sea-level changes and possible tectonic activity in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene

The relationships between the land and sea in the northern Adriatic at the Pleistocene—Holocene boundary are examined by considering sea-level curves and archaeological data. Changes in the Mesolithic (Early Holocene) economy of the inhabitants can be interpreted as a result of palaeoecological variations due to glacioecustatic sea-level changes and recent tectonics. This hypothesis is also supported by evidence of older tectonic movements which may have continued until the end of the Pleistocene.     

A simple field-portable rainfall simulator for difficult terrain

A small portable rainfall simulator is described which is inexpensive to construct and use and which requires relatively little water. Although drops are produced by drop-formers a satisfactory drop-size distribution is obtained by allowing the drops to break-up by falling onto a 3 mm wire mesh. The kinetic energy of the simulated rain is lower than that of natural rainfall because of the low fall height. Characteristics of the simulated rain are described and the use of the simulator briefly illustrated by results obtained from forested areas in Luxembourg.     

Geodynamic significance of localized spasmodic rapid-subsidence rates within the Cretaceous of central North America

On the basis of spatial-time analyses, rates of subsidence within 5 Ma intervals in Montana, Wyoming, and adjacent areas, are mapped on the basis of thicknesses of the dominantly shallow-water sedimentary rocks; this is possible by using (a) existing detailed radiometric (mainly for abundant bentonites) and biostratigraphic chronology, and (b) published details of several hundred well logs and measured outcrop sections. Nine 5 Ma-interval maps for Montana and Wyoming show that, in general, as in eastern U.S.A. and eastern Brazil, subsidence rates tend to be low (< 50 m/Ma and commonly < 25 m/Ma) and monotonous in space and time. However, a few localized domains are characterized by significantly higher sedimentation and subsidence rates (> 100 m/Ma and very locally > 200 m/Ma or even > 300 m/Ma); these domains are sharply defined in both space and time. Domains of very high rates sometimes partially overlap areally in successive 5 Ma intervals, but they do not do so in all cases.The well-documented Cretaceous global marine transgressions are complicated by these differential-downwarp events of the “basement”. The broadly analogous patterns documented in the Western Interior Basin, eastern U.S.A., and eastern Brazil militate against special localized explanations (e.g. a shallowly subducted plate). Analogies with major cratonic basins and geodynamic implications are reviewed briefly.     

Modelling tidally induced sediment-transport paths over the northwest European shelf: the influence of sea-level reduction

A three-dimensional model covering the northwest European Shelf and part of the adjacent Atlantic Ocean is used to examine the influence of water depth change upon the distribution of maximum tidal bed stress. The direction of bed stress is an indicator of sediment movement as bed load and various regions of convergence and divergence in good agreement with observations are identified. Calculations are performed with water depths reduced by 35 m, corresponding to 10 000 years before present (B.P.). Initially, the model is forced by only the M₂ tide, although subsequently five constituents, namely M₂, S₂, N₂, K₁ and O_1, are used for tidal forcing. Although the distribution of extreme bed stresses computed with only M₂ tidal forcing is comparable to that computed with five tides, the additional tidal constituents modify the magnitude of the bed stress. In particular the diurnal tides show regions of local enhanced current amplitude in the shelf-edge region with corresponding changes in bed stress. When water depths are reduced such that the North Sea and English Channel are separated, then there is a significant change in the tidal distribution in the shallow Southern Bight which influences bed-stress distributions and hence bed-load sediment transport in the area. Besides changes in shallow regions, the distribution of tides at the shelf edge is affected. A discussion of the limitations of the present coarse-grid model in shelf-edge regions and how it can be used to provide boundary conditions for limited-area three-dimensional models that can include stratification is presented. Also the importance of stratification for sediment movement at the shelf edge is briefly discussed.Responsible Editor: Phil Dyke     

Variation of stress during the rupture process of the 1995 M_L=4.1 Shacheng, Hebei, China, earthquake sequence

Introduction An earthquake could be caused by the failure of focal material or fast slip on the pre-existed faults under the tectonic stress based on the understanding of the occurrence process of earth-quakes in which the stress change could play a key role. Therefore to examine the stress change is beneficial to understanding the physic process actually occurring in the source region deeply. The apparent stress is defined as the product of seismic efficiency and the average stress on the foc…     

Empirical relationships between aftershock area dimensions and magnitude for earthquakes in the Mediterranean Sea region

Fault dimension estimates derived from the aftershock area extent of 36 shallow depth (≤ 31 km) earthquakes that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea region have been used in order to establish empirical relationships between length, width, area and surface-wave/moment magnitude. This dataset consists of events whose aftershock sequence was recorded by a dense local or regional network and the reported location errors did not exceed on average 3–5 km. Surface-wave magnitudes for these events were obtained from the NEIC database and/or published reports, while moment magnitudes as well as focal mechanisms were available from the Harvard/USGS catalogues. Contrary to the results of some previously published studies we found no evidence in our dataset that faulting type may have an effect on the fault dimension estimates and therefore we derived relationships for the whole of the dataset. Comparisons, by means of statistical F-tests, of our relationships with other previously published regional and global relationships were performed in order to check possible similarities or differences. Most such comparisons showed relatively low significance levels (< 95%), since the differences in source dimension estimates were large mainly for magnitudes lower than 6.5, becoming smaller with increasing magnitude. Some degree of similarity, however, could be observed between our fault length relationship and the one derived from aftershock area lengths of events in Greece, while a difference was found between our regional and global fault length relationships. A calculation of the ratio defined as the fault length, derived from our relationships, to the length estimated from regional empirical relationships involving surface ruptures showed that it can take a maximum value of about 7 for small magnitudes while it approaches unity at Ms 7.2. When calculating the same ratio using instead global empirical relationships we see the maximum value not exceeding 1.8, while unity is reached at Mw 7.8, indicating the existence of a strong regional variation in the fault lengths of earthquakes occurring in the Mediterranean Sea region. Also, a relationship between the logarithms of the rupture area and seismic moment is established and it is inferred that there is some variation of stress drop as a function of seismic moment. In particular, it is observed that for magnitudes lower than 6.6 the stress drop fluctuates around 10 bar, while for larger magnitudes the stress drop reaches a value as high as 60 bar.     

Mesh area vis-à-vis blast performance in a limestonequarry of the Philippines

The present research paper is a case study in a limestone quarry in the Philippines where major problems in terms of improper fragmentation (large boulder count and poor pay-loader performance), poor wall control, and poor heave characteristics of the muck pile were witnessed. The paper highlights the role of modifying the firing pattern and, also, the application of stemming plug without incorporating any change in the stemming column length due to which incremental expansion in the mesh area could be implemented to determine the optimum mesh area. The optimum mesh area, due to the said changes in the blast design, was considerably larger in comparison to the pre-existing mesh area. The study has also highlighted the importance of indirect methods for characterizing and precisely adjudging the blast performance.