Nutrient transports in a Swedish estuary

Himmerfjärd is a Swedish estuary bordering on the Baltic. The estuary lacks astronomical tides and its circulation is driven by winds and freshwater runoff. Because of a tertiary sewage treatment plant located at its inner end, the estuary is becoming increasingly eutrophic. A field study was carried out for a 78-day period in late summer and early fall of 1977 to determine rates of nutrient transport and to construct nutrient budgets. Since physical parameters (current velocity, temperature, salinity, winds and water level changes) were measured more frequently than nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, nitrite and ammonium) it was necessary to develop a suitable method to calculate nutrient flux time series and net nutrient fluxes. Over the study period, Himmerfjärd imported phosphorus and exported nitrogen. Direction of nutrient fluxes and changes in flux direction were consistent with the structure of the baroclinic currents.     

Tephrochronology and tephrostratigraphy of two Pleistocene continental fossiliferous successions from central Italy

The stratigraphical context of two Middle Pleistocene fossiliferous palaeosols from Central Italy (Abruzzo and Tuscany) have been studied. Small mammals and molluscs occur in both palaeosols, which are covered by tephra layers that were analysed using an interdisciplinary approach. Application of fission‐track dating to apatites separated from the Case Picconetto tephra (Pescara, Abruzzo), yielded an age of 0.48 ± 0.04 Ma, indistinguishable from those previously determined for the Campani Quarry (Lower Valdarno, Tuscany) (0.46 ± 0.05 Ma and 0.48 ± 0.05 Ma). Geochemical and petrographic investigations indicate that these tephra originated from different volcanoes, the Alban Hills Volcanic Complex and the Vico Volcano (Latium) respectively. Small mammal and mollusc assemblages indicate different palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental conditions for the Case Picconetto and Campani Quarry palaeosols. Warm and humid conditions can be inferred for the Campani Quarry site, whereas open and cold conditions can be inferred for Case Picconetto. On the basis of faunal data, fission‐track dates and attribution of tephra to specific volcanic eruptions, we suggest a correlation of these faunas with marine oxygen isotope stage 14 (Case Picconetto) and with marine oxygen isotope stage 11 (Campani Quarry), respectively. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of soft clays on the response spectra for structures in eastern Canada

The 1990 edition of the National Building Code of Canada (Associate Committee of the National Building Code, National Research Council, Ottawa, 1990) makes a clear distinction between eastern and western Canada in terms of seismic acceleration and velocity zones. While it is well established that ground motions can be amplified significantly through loose clay deposits, no results are available that take into consideration the typical high frequency content of ground motions in eastern Canada. This paper develops ground amplification curves for clays having depths between 10 and 70 m excited by typical eastern Canadian ground motions scaled to two different values of peak horizontal accelerations. Simplified free-field spectral design curves, which could be used by structural designers, are proposed. The curves show that maximum spectral accelerations occur for structural periods between 0.2 and 0.5 s. In addition, soil depth does not appear to be an important parameter controlling the response of typical clay deposits in eastern Canada.     

On salinity regimes and the vertical structure of residual flows in narrow tidal estuaries

An examination is made of the circulation in narrow estuaries subject to a predominant tidal forcing. Velocity structures are derived separately for residual flow components associated with (a) river flow, (b) wind stress, (c) a well-mixed longitudinal density gradient and (d) a fully stratified saline wedge. Dimensionless parameters are introduced to indicate the magnitude of each component and these parameters are evaluated for 9 major estuaries, thereby revealing their sensitivity to each component.For a channel of constant breadth and depth, formulae are deduced for the length of saline intrusion, L. Comparisons with observed data show that such formulae may be used with confidence to predict changes in L arising from variations in river flow, tidal range or channel depths.The level of stratification is shown to be related to a product of two parameters, one associated with velocity structure and a second involving the square of the ‘flow ratio’ $\text{u}\text{u}\text{?}$ (i.e. residual velocity/amplitude of the tidal velocity). This relationship provides a simple classification system for estuarine stratification which can be used to indicate the sensitivity of any particular estuary to changing conditions.     

The Statistical Analysis of Migration of Strong Earthquakes-Taking the North China Region as an Example

The migration of strong earthquakes is an important research topic because the migration phenomena reflect partly the seismic mechanism and involve the prediction of tendency of seismic activity. Research on migration of strong earthquakes has mostly focused on finding the phenomena. Some attempts on getting regularity were comparatively subjective. This paper suggests that there should be indices of migration in earthquake dataset and the indexes should have statistical meaning if there is regularity in the migration of strong earthquakes. In this study, three derivative attributes of migration, i.e., migration orientation, migration distance and migration time interval, were statistically analyzed. Results in the North China region show that the migration of strong earthquakes has statistical meaning. There is a dominant migration orientation (W by S to E by N), a dominant distance (≤100km and on the confines of 300～700km), and a dominant time interval (≤1a and on the confines of 3～4a). The results also show that the migration will differ slightly with different magnitude range or earthquake activity phase.     

The intertidal erosion rate of cohesive sediment: a case study from Long Island Sound

Over the past decades, many attempts have been made to generate useful bottom erosion models for the study of cohesive sediment movement. This study addresses some of the key questions involved in determining the functional relationship between erosion rate and bottom shear stress. Current, wave, and turbidity data were collected from a bottom mounted instrument array in a moderately energetic estuarine environment. The bottom shear stress was calculated from a wave–current interaction model. The erosion rate was derived from the observed sediment concentration using a vertical mixing model. Examination of the relationship between erosion rate and bottom stress showed that the erosion rate varied at intertidal frequency. When averaged over the tidal fluctuation, the erosion rate remained approximately constant at low stress, but increased sharply when the shear stress rose above a critical value. This suggests two-stage erosion. The bed has a layered structure, in which a thin layer of loose, high water content material overlies a more consolidated bed. The top layer of high water content material (fluff) was easily disturbed and re-suspended by tidal currents, but the consolidated bottom layer was eroded only under conditions of high shear stress.     

三维地震小面元采集技术在晋城矿区的应用

依托“西部煤炭资源高精度三维地震勘探技术”工程,对晋城矿区进行了旨在提高小断层,小陷落柱探测能力的高密度三维地震勘探。根据面元选择因素及该区地质任务,采用5m×5m网格进行野外数据采集;考虑炮检距、方位角、覆盖次数、排列片横纵比及煤层埋深（350～500m）等因素,采用中点放炮、60道接收,24次覆盖（横向4次,纵向6次）的8线16炮束状观测系统,基岩中激发。原始资料经同一处理流程后,获得5m×5m×1ms、5m×10m×1ms、10m×10m×1ms及2.5m×2.5m×1ms不同单元的三维数据体多个,通过对比可以发现小断层,小陷落柱在其小面元叠加时间剖面、顺层切片及相干切片都有清晰的反映。实例说明,小面元采集技术可以提高对小构造的纵、横向分辨能力,满足山区对三维地震精确勘探的要求。     

小面元三维地震勘探技术在西山屯兰矿南五采区的应用

屯兰矿南五采区地形复杂,最大高差达271m,地表大面积为第四系黄土覆盖,激发困难。为探索研究小面元三维地震勘探技术的应用效果。在常规三维地震勘区域内划出1km^2,采用5m×5m小面元进行采集。在地震数据采集过程中,采取了加大激发井深、提高覆盖次数、减小CMP面元网格和加大接收排列等技术措施,做到“四小三高、二中一深、两个等高面”。通过插值、抽线及扩大面元处理。获得2．5m×2．5m×1ms、5m×5m×1ms、5m×10m×1ms、10m×10m×1ms以及不同叠加次数的三维数据体。资料解释工作主要是在5m×5m×1ms、2．5m×2．5m×1ms两个数据体上进行,解释落差大于或等于5m的断层6条,落差3～5m的断层8条;查明长轴直径20～30m的陷落柱4个。30～100m的陷落柱1个,大于100m的陷落柱3个。与相邻区常规三维地震比较,小面元三维地震勘探有利于对小陷落柱、小断层的控制和解释。     

A way to synchronize models with seismic faults for earthquake forecasting: Insights from a simple stochastic model

Numerical models are starting to be used for determining the future behaviour of seismic faults and fault networks. Their final goal would be to forecast future large earthquakes. In order to use them for this task, it is necessary to synchronize each model with the current status of the actual fault or fault network it simulates (just as, for example, meteorologists synchronize their models with the atmosphere by incorporating current atmospheric data in them). However, lithospheric dynamics is largely unobservable: important parameters cannot (or can rarely) be measured in Nature. Earthquakes, though, provide indirect but measurable clues of the stress and strain status in the lithosphere, which should be helpful for the synchronization of the models.The rupture area is one of the measurable parameters of earthquakes. Here we explore how it can be used to at least synchronize fault models between themselves and forecast synthetic earthquakes. Our purpose here is to forecast synthetic earthquakes in a simple but stochastic (random) fault model. By imposing the rupture area of the synthetic earthquakes of this model on other models, the latter become partially synchronized with the first one. We use these partially synchronized models to successfully forecast most of the largest earthquakes generated by the first model. This forecasting strategy outperforms others that only take into account the earthquake series. Our results suggest that probably a good way to synchronize more detailed models with real faults is to force them to reproduce the sequence of previous earthquake ruptures on the faults. This hypothesis could be tested in the future with more detailed models and actual seismic data.