Are burnt sediments reliable recorders of geomagnetic field strength?     

Manuel Calvo-Rathert  Ángel Carrancho  Florian Stark  Juan José Villalaín  Mimi Hill 《Quaternary Research》2012,77(2):326-330

This study tests if burnt soils and sediments can provide reliable records of geomagnetic field strength at the time of burning by carrying out an experiment to reproduce the prehistoric use of fire on a clayish soil substratum. Rock magnetic experiments showed that in the upper 0–1 cm of the central part of the burnt surface, remanence is a thermoremanent magnetization carried by single-domain magnetite and that samples are thermally stable. Fourteen specimens from that area were subjected to paleointensity experiments with the Coe method (1967). An intensity of 42.9 ± 5.7 μT was estimated below 440°C, whereas at higher temperatures magneto-mineralogical alterations were observed. Corresponding successful microwave intensity determinations from two specimens gave a mean value of 47.6 μT. Both results are in reasonable agreement with the expected field value of 45.2 μT. Burnt soils of archeological fires thus have the potential to record accurately the paleofield strength and may be useful targets for archeointensity investigations. Coincident results obtained from two different paleointensity determination methods support this conclusion.  相似文献   

Multispecies Mortality Patterns of Commercial Bivalves in Relation to Estuarine Salinity Fluctuation     

José Manuel Parada  José Molares  Xusto Otero 《Estuaries and Coasts》2012,35(1):132-142

Fluctuations in salinity may cause huge economic losses in estuaries with exploited commercial bivalves owing to their effect on mortality of these species. However, the same decrease in salinity does not affect all species in the same way, so it is interesting to study the effect of salinity from a multispecies standpoint. In the management of exploited bivalve beds, it is important to know the tolerance thresholds of the species, not only in cases of extremely low salinities but also over prolonged periods when salinities are low but not extreme. An analysis of mortality episodes of commercial bivalves in the Ulla River estuary (Galicia, NW Spain) from 1977 to 2009 revealed two mortality patterns related to how greatly the different species were affected. A mathematical model was designed to estimate salinity in the estuary based on weather conditions and tidal amplitude. By applying this model, it was possible to deduce the intensity and duration of the salinity decrease in the days prior to each mortality episode with the goal of relating these factors to mortality patterns. The two parameters found to be sufficient to explain the mortality observed were the minimum salinity at high tide and the number of consecutive days below a specific salinity threshold.  相似文献   

Optimization of chlorination boosters in drinking water distribution network for Al-Khobar City in Saudi Arabia     

Muhammad Nadeem Sharif  Ashraf Farahat  Muhammad A. Al-Zahrani  Nilufar Islam  Manuel J. Rodriguez  Rehan Sadiq 《Arabian Journal of Geosciences》2016,9(9):546

Water quality management in distribution networks is directly related to spatial distribution of chlorine boosters and its dosages. Water chlorination is essential to reduce the effects of bacterial and other microbiological contaminants. A higher dosage of chlorine generates harmful by-products in addition to changes in drinking water’s taste and odor. The optimization of chlorine dosage is necessary to decrease the microbial contaminants that affect water quality. Once the chlorine threshold is determined for microbial contaminant, it will help decision makers suggest optimal values. These decisions can rely on the estimated water quality index (WQI). WQI is an index to evaluate water quality and can be linked to adequate residual chlorine with optimal booster dosage, numbers, and locations in water distribution network (WDN). The city of Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia’s WDN was selected to validate the application of this study. Based on geographic location, the city Al-Khobar water network was divided into five zones. The initial temporal and spatial analysis pointed out poor water quality zones. EPANET, a modeling and simulating software, was applied to evaluate the WQI. Those EPANET results were then integrated with an optimization model. The optimization model suggested new chlorine booster locations to improve water quality in the city of Al-Khobar water distribution network.  相似文献   

A unified assessment of marine Mediterranean assemblages: a lesson from benthic hydroids          下载免费PDF全文

Manuel M. González‐Duarte  Cesar Megina  Doris De Vito  Cristina Goia Di Camillo  Stefania Puce  Stefano Piraino 《Marine Ecology》2016,37(1):155-163

Hydroids are important components of the communities of rocky bottom shallow coastal areas. The hydrozoan fauna of the Mediterranean Sea is probably one of most investigated in the world, with lots of faunistic and biogeographical studies. However, quantitative studies using the same sampling methodology and controlled sampling effort have been restricted to areas in the Western and Central Mediterranean. We compared hydroid assemblages in four areas of the Mediterranean Sea, from the Gulf of Cádiz to the South Adriatic Sea, following the same sampling and quantification methodology. Our analysis showed the dominant Atlantic character of the assemblages of the Gulf of Cádiz and the South Alboran Sea because of the influence of the inflowing Atlantic waters. Conversely, the hydroid assemblages of the North Alboran Sea were more similar to the assemblages in the Ligurian and in the South Adriatic, and with a number of species ranking between the observed in these two Mediterranean zones. Fourteen species were identified as making the most significant contributions to characterizing the Mediterranean hydroid species pool from a quantitative point of view. These taxa include species previously named as typical components of the Mediterranean hydroid fauna as well as those only recently recorded in the region (Eudendrium moulouyensis) and invaders such as Clytia hummelincki.  相似文献   

Time‐geographic Derivation of Feasible Co‐presence Opportunities from Network‐constrained Episodic Movement Data     

Mathias Versichele  Tijs Neutens  Manuel Claeys Bouuaert  Nico Van de Weghe 《Transactions in GIS》2014,18(5):687-703

Certain datasets on moving objects are episodic in nature – that is, the data is characterized by time gaps during which the position of the object is unknown. In this article, a model is developed to study the sparsely sampled network‐constrained movement of several objects by calculating both potential and feasible (i.e. more likely) co‐presence opportunities over time. The approach is applied to the context of a static sensor network, where the location of an object is only registered when passing a sensor location along a road network. Feasibility is incorporated based on the deviation from the shortest path. As an illustration, the model is applied to a large Bluetooth tracking dataset gathered at a mass event. The model output consists of maps showing the temporal evolution of the distribution of feasible co‐presence opportunities of tracked visitors over the network (i.e. the number of visitors that could have been present together). We demonstrate the model's usefulness in studying the movement and distribution of a crowd over a study area with relatively few sampling locations. Finally, we discuss the results with a special emphasis on the distinction between feasible and actual presence, the need for further validation and calibration, and the performance of the implementation.  相似文献   

Analysis of Titan CH₄ 3.3 μm upper atmospheric emission as measured by Cassini/VIMS     

Maya García-Comas  Manuel López-Puertas  Bianca M. Dinelli  Alberto Adriani  Angioletta Coradini 《Icarus》2011,214(2):571-583

After molecular nitrogen, methane is the most abundant species in Titan’s atmosphere and plays a major role in its energy budget and its chemistry. Methane has strong bands at 3.3 μm emitting mainly at daytime after absorption of solar radiation. This emission is strongly affected by non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) in Titan’s upper atmosphere and, hence, an accurate modeling of the non-LTE populations of the emitting vibrational levels is necessary for its analysis. We present a sophisticated and extensive non-LTE model which considers 22 CH₄ levels and takes into account all known excitation mechanisms in which they take part. Solar absorption is the major excitation process controlling the population of the v₃-quanta levels above 1000 km whereas the distribution of the vibrational energy within levels of similar energy through collisions with N₂ is also of importance below that altitude. CH₄-CH₄ vibrational exchange of v₄-quanta affects their population below 500 km. We found that the ν₃ → ground band dominates Titan’s 3.3 μm daytime limb radiance above 750 km whereas the ν₃ + ν₄ → ν₄ band does below that altitude and down to 300 km. The ν₃ + ν₂ → ν₂, the 2ν₃ → ν₃, and the ¹³CH₄ν₃ → ground bands each contribute from 5% to 8% at regions below 800 km. The ν₃ + 2ν₄ → 2ν₄and ν₂ + ν₃ + ν₄ → ν₂ + ν₄ bands each contribute from 2% to 5% below 650 km. Contributions from other CH₄ bands are negligible. We have used the non-LTE model to retrieve the CH₄ abundance from 500 to 1100 km in the southern hemisphere from Cassini-VIMS daytime measurements near 3.3 μm. Our retrievals show good agreement with previous measurements and model results, supporting a weak deviation from well mixed values from the lower atmosphere up to 1000 km.  相似文献   

Implementation and integrated numerical modeling of a landslide early warning system: a pilot study in Colombia   总被引：3，自引：2，他引：1  

Christian Huggel  Nikolay Khabarov  Michael Obersteiner  Juan Manuel Ramírez 《Natural Hazards》2010,52(2):501-518

Landslide early warning systems (EWS) are an important tool to reduce landslide risks, especially where the potential for structural protection measures is limited. However, design, implementation, and successful operation of a landslide EWS is complex and has not been achieved in many cases. Critical problems are uncertainties related to landslide triggering conditions, successful implementation of emergency protocols, and the response of the local population. We describe here the recent implementation of a landslide EWS for the Combeima valley in Colombia, a region particularly affected by landslide hazards. As in many other cases, an insufficient basis of data (rainfall, soil measurements, landslide event record) and related uncertainties represent a difficult complication. To be able to better assess the influence of the different EWS components, we developed a numerical model that simulates the EWS in a simplified yet integrated way. The results show that the expected landslide-induced losses depend nearly exponentially on the errors in precipitation measurements. Stochastic optimization furthermore suggests an increasing adjustment of the rainfall landslide-triggering threshold for an increasing observation error. These modeling studies are a first step toward a more generic and integrated approach that bears important potential for substantial improvements in design and operation of a landslide EWS.  相似文献   

Uranium minerals from the San Marcos District, Chihuahua, Mexico   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Manuel Reyes-Cortés  Luis Fuentes-Cobas  Enrique Torres-Moye  Hilda Esparza-Ponce  María Elena Montero-Cabrera 《Mineralogy and Petrology》2010,99(1-2):121-132

The mineralogy of the two uranium deposits (Victorino and San Marcos I) of Sierra San Marcos, located 30 km northwest of Chihuahua City, Mexico, was studied by optical microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction with Rietveld analysis, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, inductively coupled plasma spectrometry, and gamma spectrometry. At the San Marcos I deposit, uranophane Ca(UO₂)₂Si₂O₇·6(H₂O) (the dominant mineral at both deposits) and metatyuyamunite Ca(UO₂)(V₂O₈)·3(H₂O) were observed. Uranophane, uraninite (UO_2+x), masuyite Pb(UO₂)₃O₃(OH)·3(H₂O), and becquerelite Ca(UO₂)₆O₄(OH)₆ ·(8H₂O) are present at the Victorino deposit. Field observations, coupled with analytical data, suggest the following sequence of mineralization: (1) deposition of uraninite, (2) alteration of uraninite to masuyite, (3) deposition of uranophane, (4) micro-fracturing, (5) calcite deposition in the micro-fractures, and (6) formation of becquerelite. The investigated deposits were formed by high-to low-temperature hydrothermal activity during post-orogenic evolution of Sierra San Marcos. The secondary mineralization occurred through a combination of hydrothermal and supergene alteration events. Becquerelite was formed in situ by reaction of uraninite with geothermal carbonated solutions, which led to almost complete dissolution of the precursor uraninite. The Victorino deposit represents the second known occurrence of becquerelite in Mexico, the other being the uranium deposits at Peña Blanca in Chihuahua State.  相似文献   

Effects of length and application rate of rice straw mulch on surface runoff and soil loss under laboratory simulated rainfall   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Misagh Parhizkar  Mahmood Shabanpour  Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja  Demetrio Antonio Zema  Siyue Li  Nobuaki Tanaka  Artemio Cerdà 《国际泥沙研究》2021,36(4):468-478

Forest land affected by deforestation yields high soil and water losses.Suitable management practices need to be found that can reduce these losses and achieve ecological and hydrological sustainability of the deforested areas.Mulch has been found to be effective in reducing soil losses;straw mulch is easy to apply,contributes soil organic matter,and is efficient since the day of application.However,the complex effects of rice straw mulch with different application rates and lengths on surface runoff and soil loss have not been clarified in depth.The current paper evaluates the efficiency of rice straw mulch in reducing the hydrological response of a silty clay loam soil under high intensity and low frequency rainfall events(tap water with total depth of 49 mm and intensity of 98 mm/h)simulated in the laboratory.Surface runoff and soil loss at three lengths of the straw(10,30,and 200 mm)and three application rates(1,2,and 3 Mg/ha)were measured in 50 cm(width)×100 cm(length)×10 cm(depth)plots with disturbed soil samples(aggregate soil size<4 mm)collected in a deforested area.Bare soil was used as control experiment.Runoff volume and erosion were significantly(at p<0.05)lower in mulched soils compared to control plots.These reductions were ascribed to the water absorption capacity of the rice straw and the protection cover of the mulch layer.The minimum runoff was observed for a mulch layer of3 Mg/ha of straw with a length of 200 mm.The lowest soil losses were found with straw length of10 mm.The models developed predict runoff and erosion based on simple linear functions of mulch application rate and length,and can be used for a suitable hydrological management of soil.It is concluded that,thanks to rice straw mulch used as an organic soil conditioner,soil erosion and surface runoff are significantly(at p<0.05)reduced,and the mulch protection contributes to reduce the risk of soil degradation.Further research is,however,needed to analyze the upscaling of the hydrological effects of mulching from the plot to the hillslope scale.  相似文献   

Hydrogeological origin of the CO2-rich mineral water of Vilajuïga in the Eastern Pyrenees (NE Catalonia,Spain)     

Mas-Pla  Josep  Brusi  David  Roqué  Carles  Soler  David  Menció  Anna  Costa  Josep M  Zamorano  Manuel  Meredith  Warren 《Hydrogeology Journal》2023,31(3):661-684

The mineral water of Vilajuïga village in Alt Empordà (NE Catalonia, Spain) owes its uniqueness to an emanation of geogenic CO₂ that modifies groundwater hydrochemistry to produce a differentiated HCO₃–Na- and CO₂-rich groundwater among the usual Ca–HCO₃ type found in this region. A hydrogeological conceptual model attributes its occurrence to the intersection of two faults: La Valleta and Garriguella-Roses. The former provides a thrust of metamorphic over igneous rocks, formed during the Paleozoic, over a layer of ampelitic shale that, from a hydrogeological perspective, acts as a confining layer. The Garriguella-Roses normal fault, which originated during the Neogene, permits the degassing of geogenic CO₂ that is attributed to volcanic activity occurring in the Neogene. Groundwater mixing from the metamorphic and igneous rock units plus the local occurrence of CO₂ creates a HCO₃–Na water that still holds free-CO₂ in solution. Interaction with the gas phase is restricted at the intersection of the two faults. Radiocarbon dating, after correcting for geogenic dead carbon, estimates an age of 8,000 years BP. The low tritium content (0.7 TU) indicates that Vilajuïga water is a mix of “older” groundwater recharged in the metamorphic rocks of the Albera range and “younger” groundwater from the igneous rocks of the Rodes range, over a recharge area of 45 km² and a maximum elevation of 600 m. Given its origin as rare groundwater in the southern slope of the Eastern Pyrenees, purposeful monitoring is necessary to evaluate the groundwater vulnerability and anticipate impacts from nearby wells and climate-change effects.

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