A viscoelastic shear zone model of compressional and extensional plate boundaries

A model is proposed describing the mechanical evolution of a shear zone along compressional and extensional plate boundaries, subject to constant strain rate. The shear zones are assumed as viscoelastic with Maxwell rheology and with elastic and rheological parameters depending on temperature and petrology. Stress and strain are computed as functions of time and depth. For both kinds of boundaries the model reproduces the existence of a shallow seismogenic zone, characterized by a stress concentration. The thickness of the seismogenic layer is evaluated considering the variations of shear stress and frictional strength on faults embedded in the shear zone. Assuming that a fault dislocation takes place, the brittle-ductile transition is assumed to occur at the depth at which the time derivative of total shear stress changes from positive to negative values. The effects of different strain rates and geothermal gradients on the depth of the brittle-ductile transition are studied. The model predictions are consistent with values inferred from seismicity data of different boundary zones.     

Macroalgal survival in ballast water tanks

Despite a large amount of research into invasive species and their introductions, there have been no studies focused on macroalgal transport in ballast water. To address this, we collected replicate samples of ballast water from 12 ships in two Mediterranean harbours (Naples and Salerno). Filtered samples were kept in culture for a month at Mediterranean mean conditions (18 degrees C, 12:12h LD, 60micromol photons m(-2)s(-1)). Fifteen macroalgal taxa were cultured and differed according to the geographic origin of the ballast water. Most of the cultured algae were widely distributed species (e.g. Ulva spp. and Acinetospora-phase). However, Ulva ohnoi Hiraoka and Shimada, described from Japan, was hitherto unknown in the Mediterranean Sea. We show for the first time that ballast water can be an important vector for the transport of microscopic stages of macroalgae and that this can be a vector for the introduction of alien species.     

Plastic litter in sediments from the Croatian marine protected area of the natural park of Telaščica bay (Adriatic Sea)

This paper reports baseline levels of litter (macro, meso and microplastics) in sediments collected from different areas of the Croatian MPA of the Natural Park of Tela??ica bay (Adriatic Sea, GSA n. 17). The distribution of total abundance according to size, for all analysed locations evidences that microplastics are the dominant fraction concerning item's numbers. In all analysed samples no macroplastics were found, while microplastics are 88.71% and mesoplastics are 11.29% of the total.     

Shipping traffic and introduction of non-indigenous organisms: Study case in two Italian harbours

In order to study the role of ballast water in introducing non-indigenous organisms in the Mediterranean Sea, the maritime traffic was analysed in the harbours of Naples and Salerno, which are important commercial ports in southern Italy. The 2001 data concerning the number of ships, the cruises’ length and the source of arrivals, were taken from harbours’ offices logbooks. In both harbours, the Mediterranean traffic was higher compared to the world sea-borne traffic that was mainly coming from North East Atlantic countries. The mean length of travels was of 1 week while the longest voyages were from Australia (3 weeks). A theoretical amount of ballast waters discharged during 1 year was provided by using an European model. A total of 55,738 and 118,339 ton of foreign ballast water are released annually in Naples and Salerno, respectively, to which theoretically correspond the entry of 4,977,403 (Naples) and 10,366,496 (Salerno) phytoplanktonic specimens.     

Effects of geological complexities on coseismic displacement: hints from 2D numerical modelling

By means of a 2D finite‐element procedure, we tested how heterogeneities at the scale of seismogenic fault affect the displacement. We defined one or more slip distributions for two typical normal‐faulting earthquakes in the Central Apennines, computed the displacement occurred within different structures including lateral heterogeneities, and compared the different displacement profiles to isolate the effect of the crustal structure. To understand at what magnitude the heterogeneities affect the observation significantly, we compared the predicted coseismic displacement with GPS and DInSAR data for the Colfiorito 1997 earthquake. We find that heterogeneities significantly affect the observable horizontal coseismic displacement for the larger magnitudes, whereas for smaller quakes, they affect horizontal displacement close to the fault trace only.     

Measuring and modeling vertical gradients in suspended sediments in the Solimões/Amazon River

Accurately measuring sediment flux in large rivers remains a challenge due to the spatial and temporal cross‐sectional variability of suspended sediment concentrations in conjunction with sampling procedures that fail to accurately quantify these differences. This study presents a field campaign methodology that can be used to improve the measurement of suspended sediment concentrations in the Amazon River or similarly large rivers. The turbidity signal and Rouse model are together used in this study to define the spatial distribution of suspended sediment concentrations in a river cross‐section, taking into account the different size fractions of the sediment. With this methodology, suspended sediment fluxes corresponding to each sediment class are defined with less uncertainty than with manual samples. This paper presents an application of this methodology during a field campaign at different gauging stations along a 3,000‐km stretch of the Solimões/Amazon River during low water and flood periods. Vertical concentration profiles and Rouse model applications for distinctive sediment sizes are explored to determine concentration gradients throughout a cross‐section of the river. The results show that coupling both turbidity technology and the Rouse model may improve our understanding of the spatial distribution of different sediments fractions sizes in the Solimões/Amazon River. These data are very useful in defining a pertinent monitoring strategy for suspended sediment concentrations in the challenging context of large rivers.     

Resazurin as an indicator of reducing capacity for analyzing the physiologic status of deep-sea bacterium Photobacterium phosphoreum ANT-2200

Journal of Oceanology and Limnology - Resazurin (RZ) is a weakly fluorescent blue dye and can be reduced irreversibly to highly fluorescent pink resorufin (RF) that is reduced reversibly to...     

r.massmov: an open-source landslide model for dynamic early warning systems

This paper illustrates the main characteristics of the newly developed landslide model r.massmov, which is based on the shallow water equations, and is capable of simulating the landslide propagation over complex topographies. The model is the result of the reimplementation of the MassMov2D into the free and open-source GRASS GIS with a series of enhancements aiming at allowing its possible integration into innovative early warning monitoring systems and specifically into Web processing services. These improvements, finalized at significantly reducing computational times, include the introduction of a new automatic stopping criterion, fluidization process algorithm, and the parallel computing. Moreover, the results of multi-spatial resolution analysis conducted on a real case study located in the southern Switzerland are presented. In particular, this analysis, composed by a sensitivity analysis and calibration process, allowed to evaluate the model capabilities in simulating the phenomenon at different input data resolution. The results illustrate that the introduced modifications lead to important reductions in the computational time (more than 90 % faster) and that, using the lower dataset resolution capable of guaranteeing reliable results, the model can be run in about 1 s instead of the 3.5 h required by previous model with not optimized dataset resolution. Aside, the results of the research are a series of new GRASS GIS modules for conducting sensitivity analysis and for calibration. The latter integrates the automated calibration program “UCODE” with any GRASS raster module. Finally, the research workflow presented in this paper illustrates a best practice in applying r.massmov in real case applications.     

Imaging of the Antarctic ionosphere: Experimental results

Ground-based dual-frequency GPS observations can be used to create images of electron density. This is well established for the Arctic ionosphere; here one of the first results is presented for the Antarctic. In this study, the GPS receivers in the Antarctic are supplemented with another GPS receiver onboard CHAMP. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the technique for investigating geophysical events, for example, an ionospheric disturbance period on 11 February 2004. The images have been validated by in-situ measurements from DMSP and CHAMP satellites, as well as Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) convection patterns, which are able to confirm the location, presence, and transportation of large-scale plasma patches. This study indicates that although the convection still dominates in the high-latitude ionosphere, soft precipitation within the polar cap may play a role in the evolution of the polar patches. It also illustrates the potential for future multi-instrument studies of the Antarctic.     

Steady flows driven by sources of random strength in heterogeneous aquifers with application to partially penetrating wells

Average steady source flow in heterogeneous porous formations is modelled by regarding the hydraulic conductivity K(x) as a stationary random space function (RSF). As a consequence, the flow variables become RSFs as well, and we are interested into calculating their moments. This problem has been intensively studied in the case of a Neumann type boundary condition at the source. However, there are many applications (such as well-type flows) for which the required boundary condition is that of Dirichlet. In order to fulfill such a requirement the strength of the source must be proportional to K(x), and therefore the source itself results a RSF. To solve flows driven by sources whose strength is spatially variable, we have used a perturbation procedure similar to that developed by Indelman and Abramovich (Water Resour Res 30:3385–3393, 1994) to analyze flows generated by sources of deterministic strength. Due to the linearity of the mathematical problem, we have focused on the explicit derivation of the mean head distribution G _d (x) generated by a unit pulse. Such a distribution represents the fundamental solution to the average flow equations, and it is termed as mean Green function. The function G _d (x) is derived here at the second order of approximation in the variance σ² of the fluctuation (where K _A is the mean value of K(x)), for arbitrary correlation function ρ(x), and any dimensionality d of the flow domain. We represent G _d (x) as product between the homogeneous Green function G _d ⁽⁰⁾(x) valid in a domain with constant K _A , and a distortion term Ψ _d (x) = 1 + σ²ψ _d (x) which modifies G _d ⁽⁰⁾(x) to account for the medium heterogeneity. In the case of isotropic formations ψ _d (x) is expressed via one quadrature. This quadrature can be analytically calculated after adopting specific (e.g.. exponential and Gaussian) shape for ρ(x). These general results are subsequently used to investigate flow toward a partially-penetrating well in a semi-infinite domain. Indeed, we construct a σ²-order approximation to the mean as well as variance of the head by replacing the well with a singular segment. It is shown how the well-length combined with the medium heterogeneity affects the head distribution. We have introduced the concept of equivalent conductivity K ^eq(r,z). The main result is the relationship where the characteristic function ψ^(w)(r,z) adjusts the homogeneous conductivity K _A to account for the impact of the heterogeneity. In this way, a procedure can be developed to identify the aquifer hydraulic properties by means of field-scale head measurements. Finally, in the case of a fully penetrating well we have expressed the equivalent conductivity in analytical form, and we have shown that (being the effective conductivity for mean uniform flow), in agreement with the numerical simulations of Firmani et al. (Water Resour Res 42:W03422, 2006).