Rockfall in the Port Hills of Christchurch: Seismic and non‐seismic fatality risk on roads

Numerous rockfalls released during the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence affected vital road sections for local commuters. We quantified rockfall fatality risk on two main routes by adapting a risk approach for roads originally developed for snow avalanche risk. We present results of the collective and individual fatality risks for traffic flow and waiting traffic. Waiting traffic scenarios particularly address the critical spatial‐temporal dynamics of risk, which should be acknowledged in operational risk management. Comparing our results with other risks commonly experienced in New Zealand indicates that local rockfall risk is close to tolerability thresholds and likely exceeds acceptable risk.     

An Alternative Embedding Method for Thin Section Preparation of Lake Sediments

Embedding soil samples with Vestopal (Chemische Werke Hüls) or Palatal (BASF) polyester resin was described by Altemüller (1974), Altemüller and Vorbach (1987), or Tippkötter (1986). We have modified this method and applied it to lake sediments. The following steps are necessary: dehydration by acetone, replacement of acetone by Palatal, hardening of Palatal, sawing, polishing, and mounting on glass slides. The advantages compared to other methods are very good embedding qualities of different sediments and moderate costs of the embedding resin. The expensive and slow dehydration with acetone and the time consuming embedding are the disadvantages of this method.     

Chronostratigraphy of a sediment record from the Hajar mountain range in north Oman: Implications for optical dating of insufficiently bleached sediments

In this study we report on optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of quartz extracted from a sedimentary record in the N-Oman mountain range. Equivalent dose (D_E) distributions derived from single aliquot measurements (SAR) of small aliquots (ca. 200 grains) were investigated to test whether the skewness and broadness of the dose distribution can be used as criteria for the identification of insufficient bleaching. Furthermore, the methods proposed by Lepper and McKeever [2002 An objective methodology for dose distribution analysis. Radiation Protection Dosimetry 101 (1–4), 349-352]. Singhvi [Juyal, N., Chamyal, L.S., Bhandari, S., Bushan, R., Singhvi, A.K., in press. Continental record of the southwest monsoon during the last 130 ka: evidence from the southern margin of the Thar Desert, India. Quaternary Science Review] and Fuchs and Lang [2001 Fuchs, M., Lang, A., 2001. OSL dating of coarse-grain fluvial quartz using single-aliquot protocols on sediments from NE Peloponnese, Greece. Quaternary Science Review 20, 783–787.] to derive D_E's from insufficiently bleached sediments were compared. At first, the investigations were carried out on artificially bleached, irradiated and mixed quartz material from the Oman study area to simulate insufficiently bleached sediments. Then, the various statistical methods for identifying insufficient bleaching and D_E derivation were applied to the natural samples from the study area, where 18 samples were measured. For the identification of insufficient bleaching the preferential parameter is the broadness of a distribution. For D_E calculation, both the Singhvi method and the Fuchs and Lang method produce similar results, which are consistent with the stratigraphic order. A drawback of both methods is their sensitivity to low outliers. The Lepper and McKeever method was not applied to the natural samples, due to limitations in its application to a small number of aliquots and due to the ambiguous identification of the rising limb of the dose distributions.     

Measuring streambank erosion due to ground water seepage: correlation to bank pore water pressure,precipitation and stream stage

Limited information exists on one of the mechanisms governing sediment input to streams: streambank erosion by ground water seepage. The objective of this research was to demonstrate the importance of streambank composition and stratigraphy in controlling seepage flow and to quantify correlation of seepage flow/erosion with precipitation, stream stage and soil pore water pressure. The streambank site was located in Northern Mississippi in the Goodwin Creek watershed. Soil samples from layers on the streambank face suggested less than an order of magnitude difference in vertical hydraulic conductivity (K_s) with depth, but differences between lateral K_s of a concretion layer and the vertical K_s of the underlying layers contributed to the propensity for lateral flow. Goodwin Creek seeps were not similar to other seeps reported in the literature, in that eroded sediment originated from layers underneath the primary seepage layer. Subsurface flow and sediment load, quantified using 50 cm wide collection pans, were dependent on the type of seep: intermittent low‐flow (LF) seeps (flow rates typically less than 0·05 L min^?1), persistent high‐flow (HF) seeps (average flow rate of 0·39 L min^?1) and buried seeps, which eroded unconsolidated bank material from previous bank failures. The timing of LF seeps correlated to river stage and precipitation. The HF seeps at Goodwin Creek began after rainfall events resulted in the adjacent streambank reaching near saturation (i.e. soil pore water pressures greater than ?5 kPa). Seep discharge from HF seeps reached a maximum of 1·0 L min^?1 and sediment concentrations commonly approached 100 g L^?1. Buried seeps were intermittent but exhibited the most significant erosion rates (738 g min^?1) and sediment concentrations (989 g L^?1). In cases where perched water table conditions exist and persistent HF seeps occur, seepage erosion and bank collapse of streambank sediment may be significant. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The loess sequence of Dolní Věstonice,Czech Republic: A new OSL‐based chronology of the Last Climatic Cycle

The Dolní Věstonice loess section in the Czech Republic is well known for its high‐resolution loess–palaeosol sequence of the last interglacial–glacial climatic cycle (Upper Pleistocene). The loess section is situated in a climatic transition zone between oceanic and continental climates and is therefore of great value in reconstructing past regional climate conditions and their interaction with climate systems, in particular that of the North Atlantic. Based on a combination of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages, stratigraphic field observations and magnetic susceptibility measurements, a chrono‐climatic interpretation of the Dolní Věstonice loess section is presented. To establish a reliable Upper Pleistocene chronology, a quartz OSL approach was applied for equivalent dose (D_e) determination. Monomineralic quartz extracts of three distinct grain sizes, fine (4–11 μm), middle (38–63 μm) and coarse (90–200 μm), were used and compared. Within error limits, the calculated OSL ages are the same for the different grain sizes, and the OSL ages are in stratigraphic order. The established OSL chronology is in agreement with a Weichselian litho‐ and pedostratigraphy. The Dolní Věstonice loess section is characterized by four pedosedimentary subsequences. At the base of the profile, subsequence I is characterized by a distinct Early Glacial soil complex, OSL‐dated to c. 110 to 70 ka, representing one of the most complete records of environmental change in the European loess belt. Subsequence II is allocated to the Lower Pleniglacial and is characterized by laminated sandy loess. Middle Pleniglacial subsequence III is represented by a brown soil complex, and is followed by the uppermost subsequence IV, characterized by a thick body of laminated sandy loess, indicating strong wind activity and a high sedimentation rate of more than ～1 mm a^?1 during the Upper Pleniglacial. According to the OSL chronology, as well as to the sedimentological and palaeopedological investigations, it is likely that the sequence at Dolní Věstonice has recorded most of the climatic events expressed in the NGRIP δ¹⁸O reference record between 110 and 70 ka.     

Aircraft icing in visual meterological conditions below low stratus clouds

There are many reports about icing slightly below stratus clouds in visual meteorological conditions (VMC), which obviously occurs very often but not only in polar regions and over the sea. Calculations of the ice shape at the leading edge of aircraft wings and the main rotor blades of helicopters by computers of GMGO (German Military Geophysical Office) and DLR (Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft- and Raumfahrt) show, that this specific ice accretion, which often accumulates to severe icing, depends mostly on two meteorological parameters: liquid water content (LWC) and air temperature, but does not depend on the size of the drizzle droplets in the case of helicopters.     

Constraints on Europa’s rotational dynamics from modeling of tidally-driven fractures

Cycloids, arcuate features observed on Europa’s surface, have been interpreted as tensile cracks that form in response to diurnal tidal stress caused by Europa’s orbital eccentricity. Stress from non-synchronous rotation may also contribute to tidal stress, and its influence on cycloid shapes has been investigated as well. Obliquity, fast precession, and physical libration would contribute to tidal stress but have often been neglected because they were expected to be negligibly small. However, more sophisticated analyses that include the influence of Jupiter’s other large satellites and the state of Europa’s interior indicate that perhaps these rotational parameters are large enough to alter the tidal stress field and the formation of tidally-driven fractures. We test tidal models that include obliquity, fast precession, stress due to non-synchronous rotation, and physical libration by comparing how well each model reproduces observed cycloids. To do this, we have designed and implemented an automated parameter-searching algorithm that relies on a quantitative measure of fit quality, which we use to identify the best fits to observed cycloids. We then apply statistical techniques to determine the tidal model best supported by the data. By incorporating obliquity, fits to observed southern hemisphere cycloids improve, and we can reproduce equatorial and equator-crossing cycloids. Furthermore, we find that obliquity plus physical libration is the tidal model best supported by the data. With this model, the obliquities range from 0.32° to 1.35°. The libration amplitudes are 0.72–2.44°, and the libration phases are −6.04° to 17.72° with one outlier at 84.5°. The variability in obliquity is expected if Europa’s ice shell is mechanically decoupled from the interior, and the libration amplitudes are plausible in the presence of a subsurface ocean. Indeed, the presence of a decoupling ocean may result in feedbacks that cause all of these rotational parameters to become time-variable.     

Progress report on rhenish massif seismic experiment

This paper presents some data and results from a seismic refraction experiment, completed mainly in 1979 in the Rhenish Massif, Federal Republic of Germany and extending through Luxembourg and Belgium into the Paris Basin in France.Velocity-depth functions have been derived for each record section independently, based on the assumption that velocity varies only with depth: these models are being improved upon by time-term and ray-tracing methods capable of handling laterally varying velocity structures and by calculating synthetic seismograms.The P_g phase which is observed very clearly on all record sections represents a refracted wave, with velocity generally > 6 km/s, from depths below 1.5–5.5 km. Along the 600 km long main profile one intracrustal reflection can usually be recognized, while from the three shorter crossing profiles in the massif two intracrustal reflectors can always be seen. Beneath much of the main profile the crust-mantle boundary is either a first order discontinuity or thin (< 1 km) transition zone at ~30 km depth. However, beneath the Ardennes and West Eifel there is a 6–12 km thick transition zone before a velocity of 8.1 km/s is reached at ~36 km depth. Beneath the crossing profiles, there is generally a transition zone < 3 km thick between crust and mantle. In some cases, there can be recognized at the top of the mantle a thin high velocity layer which is underlain by a low velocity layer which, in turn, is underlain by a reflector 4–11 km below the crust-mantle boundary.