Scheme for development of monitoring networks for springs in Bavaria, Germany

The present groundwater monitoring network in Bavaria consists mostly of wells and only a small number of natural groundwater springs, all of which are analyzed for mainly the common physical and chemical constituents in groundwater. In order to develop a long-term groundwater management plan for all the groundwater resources of Bavaria, the Bavarian State Office for Water Management intends to establish a separate spring-monitoring network throughout the 11 groundwater provinces of the state. As a first step, significant physicochemical parameters that show considerable annual fluctuation (after monitoring 1–3 years) were determined at 21 springs or spring systems to create a basic data set to guide future monitoring. A selection procedure was developed around four parameters: (1) geological units, which includes the principal aquifers; (2) rate of spring discharge; (3) land utilization within a catchment; and (4) approximate size of the subterranean catchment. However, in the initial phase of the study, only the first three parameters were investigated. These parameters established a matrix for evaluating each groundwater region of Bavaria to aid in the selection of additional springs for the proposed monitoring network. Electronic Publication     

Subnational Credit Ratings – penetrating the cultural haze

The credit ratings of US states, German Länder and Russian oblasty are evaluated in the light of different institutional settings and rating principles. The implicit weight given to these principles varies widely depending on the particular institutional framework and social values.     

The discrepancy in PAMINA between the European image of a cross-border region and cross-border behaviour

Subsidizing cross-border regions is a method to close the gap between citizens and the European Union. This analysis of PAMINA, a cross-border region in the Rhine Valley near Karlsruhe, discusses some of the difficulties of this policy. There are structural mismatches between the scales of different cross-border relations. These vertical mismatches are linked to the differences in the horizontal logics of economic and administrative cross-border relations. Especially cross-border commuting, made possible by European economic integration, has improved the daily life of many inhabitants of this region. Paradoxically this regional success of European economic integration is disconnected from the EU funded cross-border region. They not only relate to different scales, but the same spatial asymmetry generating this cross-border behaviour hinders administrative cross-border cooperation in PAMINA.

SOLAR ACTIVITY VARIATIONS RECORDED IN VARVED SEDIMENTS FROM THE CRATER LAKE OF HOLZMAAR – A MAAR LAKE IN THE WESTEIFEL VOLCANIC FIELD, GERMANY

Annually laminated sediments from Lake Holzmaar (Germany) provide high resolution sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental data of the last 22,500 years. Weichselian periglacial varves and Holocene organic varves indicate different depositional environments. For the best preserved sections from both parts, spectral analyses were performed in order to detect cyclic fluctuations in varve thickness. Weichselian varves are dominated by an 88 year periodicity. Linear spectral analysis of Holocene varves provides no significant cyclicity. But, supposing nonlinear transformations of the solar signal through the Lake Holzmaar ecosystem during the Holocene, an adequate nonlinear spectral analysis method was able to detect periodicities of 11, 88, and 208 years. The existence of these cyclicities, comparable to the solar activity fluctuations, give further evidence for the existence of a sun-climate relationship, based on a not yet completely understood mechanism.     

The Mesoproterozoic basement in the southern Baltic Sea: insights from the G 14–1 off-shore borehole

The continuation of the Mesoproterozoic basement of the southern Fennoscandian Shield is documented in the G 14–1 off-shore borehole, northeast of the island of Rügen, where crystalline rocks of monzogranitic composition occur beneath flat-lying early Palaeozoic sediments at a depth of approximately 2,000 m. The greenish-grey, or partly reddish-grey, granites show a slightly porphyritic texture marked by plagioclase crystals or aggregates in a groundmass dominated by fresh microcline. Chloritized biotite occurs as a subordinate mafic phase. Ductile and brittle deformation is indicated by a weak foliation and the occurrence of several cataclastic zones, respectively. Major and trace element geochemistry suggest that these rocks are K-rich calc-alkaline granites and represent a restite-poor melting product of a granodioritic protolith. The low MgO, Cr, Ni and Co concentrations and relatively high content of accessory phases (apatite, zircon) point to formation of water undersaturated, high temperature (>900 °C) melts at low degrees of partial melting. Although the G 14 granite lacks hornblende, in contrast to most of the granites from Bornholm, it seems geochemically related to them. Analysed samples mostly fit an intermediate position between the Rønne and Vang granitoids, which both belong to a group of Mesoproterozoic intrusions showing partial ductile deformation. (Y+Nb) vs. Rb plots suggest that all these granitic rocks were generated in intracratonic conditions. A genetic relationship between them and contemporaneously intruded Karlshamn-group granites in Blekinge, eastern Scania and Småland is supported by intrusion age of 1,460±3 Ma obtained from Pb-Pb isotope ratios measured on single zircons of the G 14 granite.     

Population shifts and local democratic representation in Eastern Germany

The shift to market forces in East Germany has fundamentally reconfigured its social and economic geography. In particular, spatial inequalities between localities and regions have re-emerged forcefully in response to new values, expectations and preferences. Increased mobility through private transport, changing job opportunities, educational choices and desire for new housing qualities have inter alia created new parameters for the population's lives. The responses i.a. in the form of migration have altered demographic structures and spatial patterns of the population considerably, often varying significantly over relatively short distances within and between regions. After initial population losses generally through outmigration from East to West Germany, population losses in cities occurred in favour of suburban areas, and rural depopulation in favour of the cities; creating a highly differentiated basis for future development through new urban-rural contrasts and differences between urban regions. This paper will outline some of these processes and demonstrate their effects on the already-considerable inequalities inherited from communism. Attention will also be given to the effects of changing population structures and patterns on local government and the future prospects for an indigenously supported, sustainable economic development for regions and the likely pathways of transformation and adjustment. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

地面核磁共振找水仪及其在水文地质调查工作中的应用研究

本文概要介绍了地面核磁共振找水方法的原理和世界上最新的直接探查地下水的仪器设备--地面核磁感应系统的特点,并以实例说明了NMR找水方法的应用效果,提出了关于提高NUMIS系统抗干扰能力、完善解释方法、研制系列仪器等方面的建议.     

Approaches to dynamic equilibrium in theoretical simulations of slope development

The model SLOP3D is used to identify characteristic aspects of slope development under different conditions. A series of slopes along the Kall valley in the northern Eifel is reproduced by a developmental sequence of model slopes. The spatial and temporal variations of the components of slope development systems (relief, slope form, weathering rates, denudation rates) are discussed by means of mass movement and wash denudation models. The negative feedbacks between system components create a tendency towards the establishment of a dynamic equilibrium which is reached, however, only if the endogenic and exogenic conditions remain constant for the required relaxation time. The latter is shown to be a function of slope length, of the rate of uplift, of the denudational process type, and of the intensity of exogenic inputs (e.g. precipitation). Varying rock resistance leads to the development of shield inselbergs only if the rate of denudation becomes higher than the maximum possible weathering rate of the resistant bedrock.     

Assessment of river habitat in Brandenburg, Germany

A habitat assessment of 1,707 km of rivers in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany, was undertaken using the desk-based ‘overview method’. This method includes the analysis of different sources such as topographic and thematic maps, reports, remote sensing data, and interviews with authorities. It compares actual habitat conditions with natural conditions, and assesses the human disturbances using a seven-step scale. Results show, that in Brandenburg more than 50% of surveyed river units are heavily (class 5) to totally disturbed (class 7) and only slightly more than 20% are undisturbed (class 1) to little disturbed (class 2). Main human disturbances are canalization, bank stabilizations, flood control, migration barriers, and agricultural and urban development in the floodplain. All survey data and maps are embedded in a geographical information system (GIS) that not only allows future analysis and use in river restoration management by experts, but also serves as information for the public. The river habitat map of Brandenburg is part of the river habitat map of the entire Germany.     

Preliminary Archaeomagnetic Results from a Floor Sequence of a Bread Kiln in Lübeck (Germany)

A sequence of 25 bread-kiln floors was sampled for archaeomagnetic measurements in a bakehouse in the old town of Lübeck, Germany. Due to archaeological dating this kiln floor sequence has been built up presumably from the late 13 ^th to the 18 ^th century. The primary magnetisation component is carried by magnetite (maghemite) and is very stable. Small viscous magnetisation components could be removed easily. The preliminary results of characteristic remanent magnetisation for 23 of the kiln-floor layers show clearly the trend of the geomagnetic secular variation expected for that time interval. By comparison with French and British master curves, the kiln-floor sequence started around 1425 and lasted until 1775 AD. Presently, confidence circles are relatively large and need refineing by measuring more samples, which have already been collected. Together with ¹⁴ C dating that can be determined from the charcoals found in the lowest layers and thermoluminescence dating of the layers, we expect to obtain, for the first time, a secular variation curve for Northern Germany covering the time interval from 1400 to 1800 years AD.