Geological development of Heard Island,Central Kerguelen Plateau

We report ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar laser step-heating age determinations on 15 stratigraphically controlled lava flows and intrusive rocks from Heard Island, Central Kerguelen Plateau (Indian Ocean). The island history began with uplift of pelagic limestone intruded by 22 Ma gabbro sills. Subaerial and wave erosion levelled the early island, producing an unconformity onto which pillow lavas, tuffaceous sediments and shallow-water, fossiliferous marine siltstone (Drygalski Formation) were deposited, beginning in late Miocene time. Two volcanic systems then formed in the late Quaternary. Big Ben dominates the larger southeast part of the island, while Mount Dixon occupies the northwest Laurens Peninsula. Feeder dykes and the early lava flows in both systems are 400–200 ka. Lava flows with evolved compositions (trachytes, trachyandesites) erupted 100–20 ka. Well-preserved parasitic cones exposed at low elevations are 15–10 ka and younger. Mawson Peak, near the summit of Big Ben, has erupted lava flows as recently as 2007. Heard Island, and nearby active McDonald Island, are subaerial features of a larger Neogene volcanic region of Central Kerguelen Plateau that includes several large sea knolls and recently identified submarine fields of small cones. This broadly distributed volcanic activity is linked to incubation of plume material at the base of the nearly stationary overlying Central Kerguelen Plateau.     

Storm surge induced flux through multiple tidal passes of Lake Pontchartrain estuary during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike

In September 2008, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike generated major storm surges which impacted the Lake Pontchartrain estuary in Louisiana. This paper presents analyses of in situ measurements acquired during these storm events. The main data used in the analyses were from three bottom mounted moorings equipped with conductivity, temperature, and depth sensors, acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), and a semi-permanent laterally mounted horizontal acoustic Doppler profiler (ADP). These moorings were deployed in the three major tidal channels that connect Lake Pontchartrain with the coastal ocean. A process similar to tidal straining was observed: the vertical shear of the horizontal velocity was negligible during the inundation stage, but a shear of 0.8 m/s over a less than 5 m water column was recorded during the receding stage, 2–3 times the normal tidal oscillations. The surge reached its peak in the Industrial Canal 1.4–2.1 h before those in the other two channels. The inward flux of water lasted for a shorter time period than that of the outward flux. The inward flux was also observed to have much smaller magnitude than the outward flux (∼960–1200 vs. 2100–3100 million m³). The imbalance was believed to have been caused by the additional water into Lake Pontchartrain through some small rivers and inundation over the land plus rainfall from the hurricanes. The flux through the Industrial Canal was 8–12%, while the flux through the other two tidal passes ranged between 17% and 70% of the total, but mostly split roughly half-half of the remaining (∼88–92% of the total).     

Field survey of the 1994 Mindoro Island,Philippines tsunami

This is a report of the field survey of the November 15, 1994 Mindoro Island, Philippines, tsunami generated by an earthquake (M=7.0) with a strike-slip motion. We will report runup heights from 54 locations on Luzon, Mindoro and other smaller islands in the Cape Verde passage between Mindoro and Luzon. Most of the damage was concentrated along the northern coast of Mindoro. Runup height distribution ranged 3–4 m at the most severely damaged areas and 2–4 in neighboring areas. The tsunami-affected area was limited to within 10 km of the epicenter. The largest recorded runup value of 7.3 m was measured on the southwestern coast of Baco Island while a runup of 6.1 m was detected on its northern coastline. The earthquake and tsunami killed 62 people, injured 248 and destroyed 800 houses. As observed in other recent tsunami disasters, most of the casualties were children. Nearly all eyewitnesses interviewed described the first wave as a leading-depression wave. Eyewitnesses reported that the main direction of tsunami propagation was SW in Subaang Bay, SE in Wawa and Calapan, NE on Baco Island and N on Verde Island, suggesting that the tsunami source area was in the southern Pass of Verde Island and that the wave propagated rapidly in all directions. The fault plane extended offshore to the N of Mindoro Island, with its rupture originating S of Verde Island and propagating almost directly south to the inland of Mindoro, thereby accounting for the relatively limited damage area observed on the N of Mindoro.     

Assessing spatial and attribute errors in large national datasets for population distribution models: a case study of Philadelphia county schools

Geospatial technologies and digital data have developed and disseminated rapidly in conjunction with increasing computing efficiency and Internet availability. The ability to store and transmit large datasets has encouraged the development of national infrastructure datasets in geospatial formats. National datasets are used by numerous agencies for analysis and modeling purposes because these datasets are standardized and considered to be of acceptable accuracy for national scale applications. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory a population model has been developed that incorporates national schools data as one of the model inputs. This paper evaluates spatial and attribute inaccuracies present within two national school datasets, Tele Atlas North America and National Center of Education Statistics (NCES). Schools are an important component of the population model, because they are spatially dense clusters of vulnerable populations. It is therefore essential to validate the quality of school input data. Schools were also chosen since a validated schools dataset was produced in geospatial format for Philadelphia County; thereby enabling a comparison between a local dataset and the national datasets. Analyses found the national datasets are not standardized and incomplete, containing 76 to 90 percent of existing schools. The temporal accuracy of updating annual enrollment values resulted in 89 percent inaccuracy for 2003. Spatial rectification was required for 87 percent of NCES points, of which 58 percent of the errors were attributed to the geocoding process. Lastly, it was found that by combining the two national datasets, the resultant dataset provided a more useful and accurate solution.     

The U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program: A Successful State–Federal Partnership

The U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) is a State/Federal partnership created to reduce tsunami hazards along U.S. coastlines. Established in 1996, NTHMP coordinates the efforts of five Pacific States: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington with the three Federal agencies responsible for tsunami hazard mitigation: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In the 7 years of the program it has, 1. established a tsunami forecasting capability for the two tsunami warning centers through the combined use of deep ocean tsunami data and numerical models; 2. upgraded the seismic network enabling the tsunami warning centers to locate and size earthquakes faster and more accurately; 3. produced 22 tsunami inundation maps covering 113 coastal communities with a population at risk of over a million people; 4. initiated a program to develop tsunami-resilient communities through awareness, education, warning dissemination, mitigation incentives, coastal planning, and construction guidelines; 5. conducted surveys that indicate a positive impact of the programs activities in raising tsunami awareness. A 17-member Steering Group consisting of representatives from the five Pacific States, NOAA, FEMA, USGS, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) guides NTHMP. The success of the program has been the result of a personal commitment by steering group members that has leveraged the total Federal funding by contributions from the States and Federal Agencies at a ratio of over six matching dollars to every NTHMP dollar. Twice yearly meetings of the steering group promote communication between scientists and emergency managers, and among the State and Federal agencies. From its initiation NTHMP has been based on the needs of coastal communities and emergency managers and has been results driven because of the cycle of year-to-year funding for the first 5 years. A major impact of the program occurred on 17 November 2003, when an Alaskan tsunami warning was canceled because real-time, deep ocean tsunami data indicated the tsunami would be non-damaging. Canceling this warning averted an evacuation in Hawaii, avoiding a loss in productivity valued at $68M.     

Formation events of shoreline sand waves on a gravel beach

Kilometric-scale shoreline sand waves (KSSW) have been observed in the north-east flank of the Dungeness Cuspate Foreland (southeastern coast of the UK). They consist of two bumps separated by embayments with a 350–450-m spacing. We have analysed 36 shoreline surveys of 2-km length using the Discrete Fourier Transformation (DFT), from 2005 to 2016, and seven topographic surveys encompassing the intertidal zone, from 2010 to 2016. The data set shows two clear formation events. In order to test the role of high-angle waves on the KSSW formation, the 10-year wave series is propagated from the wave buoy located at 43 m depth up to a location in front of the undulations at 4 m depth using the SWAN wave model. The dominating SW waves arrive with a very high incidence angle (～ 80°) while the NE waves arrive almost shore normal. The ratio R, which measures the degree of dominance of high-angle waves with respect to low-angle waves, correlates well with the shoreline DFT magnitude values of the observed wavelength undulations. In particular, the highest R values coincide with the formation events. Finally, a linear stability model based on the one-line approximation is applied to the Dungeness profile and the 10-year propagated wave series. It predicts accurately the formation moments, with positive growth rates in the correct order of magnitude for wavelengths similar to the observed ones. All these results confirm that the shoreline undulations in Dungeness are self-organized and that the underlying formation mechanism is the high-angle wave instability. The two detected formation events provide a unique opportunity to validate the existing morphodynamic models that include such instability.     

Induced Temperature Gradients to Examine Groundwater Flowpaths in Open Boreholes

Techniques for characterizing the hydraulic properties and groundwater flow processes of aquifers are essential to design hydrogeologic conceptual models. In this study, rapid time series temperature profiles within open‐groundwater wells in fractured rock were measured using fiber optic distributed temperature sensing (FO‐DTS). To identify zones of active groundwater flow, two continuous electrical heating cables were installed alongside a FO‐DTS cable to heat the column of water within the well and to create a temperature difference between the ambient temperature of the groundwater in the aquifer and that within the well. Additional tests were performed to examine the effects of pumping on hydraulic fracture interconnectivity around the well and to identify zones of increased groundwater flow. High‐ and low‐resolution FO‐DTS cable configurations were examined to test the sensitivities of the technique and compared with downhole video footage and geophysical logging to confirm the zones of active groundwater flow. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of this new technique for rapid characterization of fracture zones in open boreholes. The combination of the FO‐DTS and heating cable has excellent scope as a rapid appraisal tool for borehole construction design and improving hydrogeologic conceptual models.     

Dynamic responses of two buildings connected by viscoelastic dampers under bidirectional earthquake excitations

In this study,dynamic responses of two buildings connected by viscoelastic dampers under bidirectional excitations are extensively investigated.The two buildings are a 10-story building and a 16-story building,with the shorter building on the left.Viscoelastic dampers are installed at all fl oors of the shorter building.Equations of motion are formulated using a fractional derivative model to represent the viscoelastic dampers.Three cases are considered with mass eccentricities at 0,10% and-10% with respect to the dimensions of the buildings.The responses of the buildings are numerically predicted at different damper properties.The simulation results indicated that the maximum horizontal responses of the buildings without eccentricities are signifi cantly mitigated.However,torsional effects are adversely increased.For asymmetric buildings,the effectiveness of the connecting dampers is affected by building eccentricities.As a result,mass eccentricities must be taken into account in damper selection.When compared with vibrations induced by unidirectional excitations,bidirectional excitations can increase the responses of coupled asymmetric buildings.In addition,installing dampers only at the top fl oor of the shorter building may cause a sudden change in lateral stiffness of the taller building.Consequently,the story shear envelopes of the taller building are changed.     

Late Eocene foraminifers and palaeoenvironment,Cascade Seamount,southwest Pacific Ocean: implications for seamount subsidence and Australia Antarctica Eocene correlation

A Late Eocene foraminiferal fauna of free specimens is recorded from Cascade Seamount, a feature of volcanic origin, whose age and fauna were previously studied only in thin section. The fauna is of Late Eocene (P15) age because of the presence of Globigerapsis index, Globigerapsis rubriformis, Subbotina linaperta, Subbotina angiporoides and Chiloguembelina cubensis. Many typical Eocene indicators, such as Hantkenina, Pseudohastigerina and key globorotaliids, are absent. The age is a little older than that estimated for previous samples from the seamount. The fauna is dominated (78%) by benthic species, especially species of Cibicides that have greater affinities with New Zealand faunas than with coeval southern Australian faunas. The sediment and its fauna accumulated near the lower limits of wave activity, off the coast of a volcano that probably stood at least 400 m above sea level. The location has subsided nearly 1000 m over the past 40 million years to its present water depth of 1000 m, suggesting that the entire East Tasman Plateau was approximately 1000 m above its current depth at the time. Conditions were cool temperate and the fauna lacks any warm water indices, consistent with a palaeolatitude of 55–60°S, but also with cool waters at a time of oscillating conditions in southern Australia and also in Antarctica. There is essentially no infauna and the waters were highly oxygenated in the turbulent zone.     

Aquifer responses to El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Southwest British Columbia

We used climatological composite analysis to investigate El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signals in long-term shallow ground water level observations from four wells in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia. Significance of differences between warm-phase, cold-phase, and neutral climate states was assessed with a Monte Carlo bootstrap technique. We also considered time series of local precipitation and streamflow for comparison. Composite annual hyetographs suggest that ENSO precipitation impacts are largely limited to winter and spring, with higher and lower rainfall occurring, respectively, under cold-phase and warm-phase episodes. This is consistent with prior work in the region and is found to be directly reflected in both streamflow and ground water level data. The mean magnitude of ENSO terrestrial hydrologic anomalies can be up to approximately 50% of the average seasonal cycle amplitude. ENSO does not appear to systematically affect annual hydrometeorological cycle timing in this study area. However, relative to the surface hydrologic systems considered, aquifers are observed to retain a stronger memory of seasonal ENSO-related precipitation anomalies, with changes potentially extending through the following summer, presumably reflecting storage effects. Most responses appear to be somewhat nonlinear.