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Earth and environmental sciences cover all planetary and Earth science aspects, including solid Earth processes, development of Earth, environmental issues, ecology, marine and freshwater systems, as well as the human interaction with these systems.
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Abstract
Ferromagnetic grains in airborne dust are important indicators of vehicle traffic, some industrial sources and combustion/heating. Settled dust consists mainly of diamagnetic material; therefore accessory ferromagnetic grains are readily indicated by magnetic measurements. In this paper settled dust samples collected on a monthly basis in the years 2008–2011 were studied. Non-destructive magnetic measurements were followed by geochemical and mineralogical analyses. In selected samples we identified airborne anthropogenic materials (e.g. silicate and magnetite spherules), minerals from the natural environment and organic material. Seasonally appearing materials (e.g. soot in winter, plant fragments and pollen in summer) increased the mass of the settled dust, but not the magnetic susceptibility. Thus, we realized that the generally interpreted mass susceptibility in environmental magnetic studies would not always appropriately characterize the magnetic pollution. In the interpretation we gave preference to total susceptibility because of its direct connection to the pollution, except in comparison with metal concentrations.
Trends in magnetic pollution were eventually analyzed for 19 sampling sites. Irrespective of the degree and source of the pollution the monthly variation curves of magnetic susceptibility exhibit a general maximum (March-April), followed by gradual decrease. A corresponding peak is observed in the amounts of dust. Both can be explained by re-suspension of dust settled in winter. The additional maxima in the mass of the dust (June and August, respectively) are probably due to contribution from vegetation and/or an artifact from algaecide. For three key sampling sites comparison was made between the concentrations of 12 metals and the respective mass susceptibilities and good linear correlation was found for Fe, Mn and Zn for all, for Cr, Cu, Pb, V, Ba, Sr and Zr for two sampling sites. Cd, which is enriched in all samples, does not correlate with the magnetic susceptibility.
Abstract
There is little data on the mineralogy of carbonate pedofeatures in the calcareous soils in Hungary which belong to the European prairie ecodivision. The aim of the present study is to enrich these data.
The mineralogical composition of the carbonate pedofeatures from characteristic profiles of the calcareous soils in Hungary was studied by X-ray diffractometry, thermal analysis, SEM combined with microanalysis, and stable isotope determination.
Regarding carbonate minerals only aragonite, calcite (+ magnesian calcite) and dolomite (+proto-dolomite) were identified in carbonate grains, skeletons and pedofeatures.
The values relating, respectively, to stable isotope compositions (C13, O18) of carbonates in chernozems and in salt-affected soils were in the same range as those for recent soils (latter data reported earlier). There were no considerable differences between the values for the carbonate nodules and tubules from the same horizons, nor were there significant variations between the values of the same pedofeatures from different horizons (BC-C) of the same profile. Thus it can be assumed that there were no considerable changes in conditions of formation.
Tendencies were recognized in the changes of (i) carbonate mineral associations, (ii) the MgCO3 content of calcites, (iii) the corrected decomposition temperatures, and (iv) the activation energies of carbonate thermal decompositions among the various substance-regimes of soils.
Differences were found in substance-regimes types of soils rather than in soil types.
Abstract
Stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of living Unio shells and oxygen isotope compositions of water samples were determined in order to demonstrate how the shells' compositions can reflect environmental conditions. With this information in hand, fossil shell fragments from a sedimentary section at Tiszapüspöki covering the period of about 3.5 to 10 ky BP were analyzed for their stable isotope as well as trace element compositions. Beside the determination of sedimentary facies effects on the geochemical compositions, the combined evaluation of isotopic and trace element records allowed us to detect past environmental changes at a millennial scale. The data indicate that the period of 6 to 8 ky BP was characterized by humid summers that — on the basis of comparison with an Alpine speleothem record — was associated with a generally warmer climate and increased winter precipitation in the Alps.
Abstract
In this paper we present sedimentological and geochemical data for a section of fluvial deposits from SE Hungary covering the period from about 20 to 5 ky BP. Major and trace element geochemistry of bulk sediments as well as stable C and O isotope compositions of the carbonate content indicate significant changes in depositional facies and/or sediment provenance as well as climate conditions. Variations in bulk sediment Sr, TiO2 and P2O5 concentrations were correlated with major climate change events following the Late Glacial Maximum that support the age model established on the basis of AMS 14C age data. Bulk sediment Sr concentrations and stable C and O isotope compositions of bulk sediment carbonate were determined by changes in denudation of carbonate rocks in the recharge area. The Sr and C-O isotope patterns show correlations with global temperature changes during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. However, TiO2 and P2O5 contents show correspondence with humidity changes, suggesting variations in chemical weathering. In addition to the sedimentological effects, C and O isotope compositions of Unio crassus shell fragments show strong changes at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, indicating that the bivalve shells can reflect climate conditions. On the other hand, shorter climate change events were difficult to track in the isotope records due to the competing fractionation processes. The combined evaluation of chemical and isotopic compositions revealed that beside the globally important Younger Dryas and Bølling/Allerød periods, the Ságvár-Lascaux interstadial was of local importance, in accordance with earlier studies.
In the present study the crustal structures of Nile Delta, including Greater Cairo province, and its surroundings, were evaluated using 3D forward gravity and magnetic modeling. The interpretation is also based on the seismic reflection results, well logs data and previous density models. The present results allow to improve the understanding of both the crustal thicknesses and density distributions between the sedimentary cover and the upper mantle in the study area.The high Bouguer anomalies near the Mediterranean coast are mainly caused by deep-seated structures. The crust beneath the Mediterranean coastal region is typically continental, with a thickness of 24 km beneath Rositta and Damitta branches, which increases toward the south. The Greater Cairo province has been modeled with maximum crustal thickness of ca. 34 km. The negative gravity anomalies with minimum values are due to the effect of sedimentary cover and/or basement relief geometry.The main results of this work suggest that the study area could be divided into three different distinctive tectonic zones according to their Moho depth and crustal structures. The southern zone (unstable shelf zone) which covers the Greater Cairo province is characterized by maximum crustal modeled thickness. It also represents the most seismically active tectonic zone in the study area. On the contrary the middle and northern zones show a thinned crustal layer and a correspondingly thicker sedimentary cover.Furthermore, the magnetic anomalies along the Greater Cairo, as deduced from the 3D magnetic modeling, are mainly caused by the upper crustal structures. In particular, the high magnetic anomalies of the southern part of the studied area are interpreted as related to variation in the basement relief near the surface, resulting from block faulting and/or compressional folds.In the northern region near the Mediterranean coastal area the highest magnetic susceptibility anomaly values is affected by the shallow smooth relief of the lower crustal layer. Finally, limited, shallow-seated basaltic intrusions were modeled beneath the western side of Nile Delta. The existence of these basaltic intrusions suggests that the study area was influenced by the opening of the Red Sea and/or Gulf of Suez during the Oligocene time.
In connection with the EURISGIC WP2 project the authors present those procedures which have been used to construct a map in cells on the electrical resistivity distribution in Europe at least till to the asthenosphere. The data are based on the deep magnetotelluric soundings published in the international literature. This map is the basis of the calculation of the induction risk endangering the electric network and communication systems.
This paper presents a new approach for precision estimation for algebraic ellipse fitting based on combined least squares method. Our approach is based on coordinate description of the ellipse geometry to determine the error distances of the fitting method. Since it is an effective fitting algorithm the well-known Direct Ellipse Fitting method was selected as an algebraic method for precision estimation. Once an ellipse fitted to the given data points, algebraic distance residuals for each data point and fitting accuracy can be computed. Generally, the adopted approach has revealed geometrical aspect of precision estimation for algebraic ellipse fitting. The experimental results revealed that our approach might be a good choice for precision estimation of the ellipse fitting method.
A new probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for Albania is carried out using the smoothed gridded seismicity approach. Albania’s earthquake catalogue is already revised and expanded, covering a study area limited by 38 − 44.5°N Latitude and 18 − 24°E Longitude, and the time period from 58BC to 31/12/2008. The ground motion hazard map is presented over a 10 km grid in terms of peak ground acceleration for 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years, corresponding to 475-year return period. The reference site condition is firm rock, defined as having an average shear-wave velocity in the upper 30 m of the crust of 800 m/sec. It is the standard reference site condition used by the European seismic code (Eurocode 8) for seismic zonation and building codes. The main finding is that if this map is accepted as a reference indicator to establish a new regulatory national seismic zonation, design acceleration will be much higher than that applied in the current regulation. This implies that the competent authorities should take into consideration the obtained results to improve the existing design code in a more reliable and realistic basis in order to increase the safety level of constructions in the country.
The gravimetric model of the Moho discontinuity is usually derived based on isostatic adjustment theories considering floating crust on the viscous mantle. In computation of such a model some a priori information about the density contrast between the crust and mantle and the mean Moho depth are required. Due to our poor knowledge about them they are assumed unrealistically constant. In this paper, our idea is to improve a computed gravimetric Moho model, by the Vening Meinesz-Moritz theory, using the seismic model in Fennoscandia and estimate the error of each model through a combined adjustment with variance component estimation process. Corrective surfaces of bi-linear, bi-quadratic, bi-cubic and multi-quadric radial based function are used to model the discrepancies between the models and estimating the errors of the models. Numerical studies show that in the case of using the bi-linear surface negative variance components were come out, the bi-quadratic can model the difference better and delivers errors of 2.7 km and 1.5 km for the gravimetric and seismic models, respectively. These errors are 2.1 km and 1.6 km in the case of using the bi-cubic surface and 1 km and 1.5 km when the multi-quadric radial base function is used. The combined gravimetric models will be computed based on the estimated errors and each corrective surface.
The laws of nature in general, and the relations and laws in geodesy in particular can be expressed in most cases by nonlinear equations which are in general solved by transforming them to linear form and applying iteration. The process of bringing the equations to linear form implies neglections and approximation. In certain cases it is possible to obtain exact, correct solutions for nonlinear problems. In the present work we introduce parameters into the rotation matrix, and using this we derive solutions for the 2D and 3D similarity transformations. This method involves no iteration, and it does not require the transformation of the equations to linear form. The scale parameter is determined in both cases by solving a polynomial equation of second degree. This solution is already known, but our derivation is worth consideration because of its simple nature.
