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Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a method that can provide detailed information about the near subsurface in sedimentary and carbonate environments.
The classical interpretation of GPR data (e.g., based on manual feature selection) often is labor-intensive and limited by the experience of the intercally used for seismic interpretation, can provide faster, more repeatable, and less biased interpretations. We have recorded a 3D GPD data set collected across a paleokarst breccia pipe in the Billefjorden area on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. After performing advanced processing, we compare the results of a classical GPR interpretation to the results of an attribute-based classification.
Our attribute classification incorporates a selection of dip and textural attributes as the input for a k-means clustering approach. Similar to the results of the classical interpretation, the resulting classes differentiate between undisturbed strata and breccias or fault zones.
The classes also reveal details inside the breccia pipe that are not discerned in the classical fer that the intrapipe GPR facies result from subtle differences, such as breccia lithology, clast size, or pore-space filling.
The region of West Bohemia and Upper Palatinate belongs to the West Bohemian Massif. The study area is situated at the junction of three different Variscan tectonic units and hosts the ENE-WSW trending Ohre Rift as well as many different fault systems. The entire region is characterized by ongoing magmatic processes in the intra-continental lithospheric mantle expressed by a series of phenomena, including e.g. the occurrence of repeated earthquake swarms and massive degassing of mantle derived CO2 in form of mineral springs and mofettes. Ongoing active tectonics is mainly manifested by Cenozoic volcanism represented by different Quaternary volcanic structures. All these phenomena make the Ohre Rift a unique target area for European intra-continental geo-scientific research. With magnetotelluric (MT) measurements we image the subsurface distribution of the electrical resistivity and map possible fluid pathways. Two-dimensional (2D) inversion results by Munoz et al. (2018) reveal a conductive channel in the vicinity of the earthquake swarm region that extends from the lower crust to the surface forming a pathway for fluids into the region of the mofettes. A second conductive channel is present in the south of their model; however, their 2D inversions allow ambiguous interpretations of this feature. Therefore, we conducted a large 3D MT field experiment extending the study area towards the south. The 3D inversion result matches well with the known geology imaging different fluid/magma reservoirs at crust-mantle depth and mapping possible fluid pathways from the reservoirs to the surface feeding known mofettes and spas. A comparison of 3D and 2D inversion results suggests that the 2D inversion results are considerably characterized by 3D and off-profile structures. In this context, the new results advocate for the swarm earthquakes being located in the resistive host rock surrounding the conductive channels; a finding in line with observations e.g. at the San Andreas Fault, California.
40Ar/39Ar dating of a hydrothermal pegmatitic buddingtonite–muscovite assemblage from Volyn, Ukraine
(2022)
We determined Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of buddingtonite, occurring together with muscovite, with the laser-ablation method. This is the first attempt to date the NH4-feldspar buddingtonite, which is typical for sedimentary-diagenetic environments of sediments, rich in organic matter, or in hydrothermal environments, associated with volcanic geyser systems. The sample is a hydrothermal breccia, coming from the Paleoproterozoic pegmatite field of the Korosten Plutonic Complex, Volyn, Ukraine. A detailed characterization by optical methods, electron microprobe analyses, backscattered electron imaging, and IR analyses showed that the buddingtonite consists of euhedral-appearing platy crystals of tens of micrometers wide, 100 or more micrometers in length, which consist of fine-grained fibers of <= 1 mu m thickness. The crystals are sector and growth zoned in terms of K-NH4-H3O content. The content of K allows for an age determination with the Ar-40/Ar-39 method, as well as in the accompanying muscovite, intimately intergrown with the buddingtonite. The determinations on muscovite yielded an age of 1491 +/- 9 Ma, interpreted as the hydrothermal event forming the breccia. However, buddingtonite apparent ages yielded a range of 563 +/- 14 Ma down to 383 +/- 12 Ma, which are interpreted as reset ages due to Ar loss of the fibrous buddingtonite crystals during later heating. We conclude that buddingtonite is suited for Ar-40/Ar-39 age determinations as a supplementary method, together with other methods and minerals; however, it requires a detailed mineralogical characterization, and the ages will likely represent minimum ages.
The quantification of spatial propagation of extreme precipitation events is vital in water resources planning and disaster mitigation. However, quantifying these extreme events has always been challenging as many traditional methods are insufficient to capture the nonlinear interrelationships between extreme event time series. Therefore, it is crucial to develop suitable methods for analyzing the dynamics of extreme events over a river basin with a diverse climate and complicated topography. Over the last decade, complex network analysis emerged as a powerful tool to study the intricate spatiotemporal relationship between many variables in a compact way. In this study, we employ two nonlinear concepts of event synchronization and edit distance to investigate the extreme precipitation pattern in the Ganga river basin. We use the network degree to understand the spatial synchronization pattern of extreme rainfall and identify essential sites in the river basin with respect to potential prediction skills. The study also attempts to quantify the influence of precipitation seasonality and topography on extreme events. The findings of the study reveal that (1) the network degree is decreased in the southwest to northwest direction, (2) the timing of 50th percentile precipitation within a year influences the spatial distribution of degree, (3) the timing is inversely related to elevation, and (4) the lower elevation greatly influences connectivity of the sites. The study highlights that edit distance could be a promising alternative to analyze event-like data by incorporating event time and amplitude and constructing complex networks of climate extremes.
A comprehensive workflow to analyze ensembles of globally inverted 2D electrical resistivity models
(2022)
Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) aims at imaging the subsurface resistivity distribution and provides valuable information for different geological, engineering, and hydrological applications. To obtain a subsurface resistivity model from measured apparent resistivities, stochastic or deterministic inversion procedures may be employed. Typically, the inversion of ERT data results in non-unique solutions; i.e., an ensemble of different models explains the measured data equally well. In this study, we perform inference analysis of model ensembles generated using a well-established global inversion approach to assess uncertainties related to the nonuniqueness of the inverse problem. Our interpretation strategy starts by establishing model selection criteria based on different statistical descriptors calculated from the data residuals. Then, we perform cluster analysis considering the inverted resistivity models and the corresponding data residuals. Finally, we evaluate model uncertainties and residual distributions for each cluster. To illustrate the potential of our approach, we use a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to obtain an ensemble of 2D layer-based resistivity models from a synthetic data example and a field data set collected in Loon-Plage, France. Our strategy performs well for both synthetic and field data and allows us to extract different plausible model scenarios with their associated uncertainties and data residual distributions. Although we demonstrate our workflow using 2D ERT data and a PSObased inversion approach, the proposed strategy is general and can be adapted to analyze model ensembles generated from other kinds of geophysical data and using different global inversion approaches.
Deep hydrothermal Mo, W, and base metal mineralization at the Sweet Home mine (Detroit City portal) formed in response to magmatic activity during the Oligocene. Microthermometric data of fluid inclusions trapped in greisen quartz and fluorite suggest that the early-stage mineralization at the Sweet Home mine precipitated from low- to medium-salinity (1.5-11.5 wt% equiv. NaCl), CO2-bearing fluids at temperatures between 360 and 415 degrees C and at depths of at least 3.5 km. Stable isotope and noble gas isotope data indicate that greisen formation and base metal mineralization at the Sweet Home mine was related to fluids of different origins. Early magmatic fluids were the principal source for mantle-derived volatiles (CO2, H2S/SO2, noble gases), which subsequently mixed with significant amounts of heated meteoric water. Mixing of magmatic fluids with meteoric water is constrained by delta H-2(w)-delta O-18(w) relationships of fluid inclusions. The deep hydrothermal mineralization at the Sweet Home mine shows features similar to deep hydrothermal vein mineralization at Climax-type Mo deposits or on their periphery. This suggests that fluid migration and the deposition of ore and gangue minerals in the Sweet Home mine was triggered by a deep-seated magmatic intrusion. The findings of this study are in good agreement with the results of previous fluid inclusion studies of the mineralization of the Sweet Home mine and from Climax-type Mo porphyry deposits in the Colorado Mineral Belt.
A large landslide (frozen debris avalanche) occurred at Assapaat on the south coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula in Central West Greenland on June 13, 2021, at 04:04 local time. We present a compilation of available data from field observations, photos, remote sensing, and seismic monitoring to describe the event. Analysis of these data in combination with an analysis of pre- and post-failure digital elevation models results in the first description of this type of landslide. The frozen debris avalanche initiated as a 6.9 * 10(6) m(3) failure of permafrozen talus slope and underlying colluvium and till at 600-880 m elevation. It entrained a large volume of permafrozen colluvium along its 2.4 km path in two subsequent entrainment phases accumulating a total volume between 18.3 * 10(6) and 25.9 * 10(6) m(3). About 3.9 * 10(6) m(3) is estimated to have entered the Vaigat strait; however, no tsunami was reported, or is evident in the field. This is probably because the second stage of entrainment along with a flattening of slope angle reduced the mobility of the frozen debris avalanche. We hypothesise that the initial talus slope failure is dynamically conditioned by warming of the ice matrix that binds the permafrozen talus slope. When the slope ice temperature rises to a critical level, its shear resistance is reduced, resulting in an unstable talus slope prone to failure. Likewise, we attribute the large-scale entrainment to increasing slope temperature and take the frozen debris avalanche as a strong sign that the permafrost in this region is increasingly at a critical state. Global warming is enhanced in the Arctic and frequent landslide events in the past decade in Western Greenland let us hypothesise that continued warming will lead to an increase in the frequency and magnitude of these types of landslides. Essential data for critical arctic slopes such as precipitation, snowmelt, and ground and surface temperature are still missing to further test this hypothesis. It is thus strongly required that research funds are made available to better predict the change of landslide threat in the Arctic.
Van Allen Probes measurements revealed the presence of the most unusual structures in the ultra-relativistic radiation belts. Detailed modeling, analysis of pitch angle distributions, analysis of the difference between relativistic and ultra-realistic electron evolution, along with theoretical studies of the scattering and wave growth, all indicate that electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves can produce a very efficient loss of the ultra-relativistic electrons in the heart of the radiation belts. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the profiles of phase space densities provides direct evidence for localized loss by EMIC waves. The evolution of multi-MeV fluxes shows dramatic and very sudden enhancements of electrons for selected storms. Analysis of phase space density profiles reveals that growing peaks at different values of the first invariant are formed at approximately the same radial distance from the Earth and show the sequential formation of the peaks from lower to higher energies, indicating that local energy diffusion is the dominant source of the acceleration from MeV to multi-MeV energies. Further simultaneous analysis of the background density and ultra-relativistic electron fluxes shows that the acceleration to multi-MeV energies only occurs when plasma density is significantly depleted outside of the plasmasphere, which is consistent with the modeling of acceleration due to chorus waves.
A novel approach for estimating precipitation patterns is developed here and applied to generate a new hydrologically corrected daily precipitation dataset, called RAIN4PE (Rain for Peru and Ecuador), at 0.1 degrees spatial resolution for the period 1981-2015 covering Peru and Ecuador. It is based on the application of 1) the random forest method to merge multisource precipitation estimates (gauge, satellite, and reanalysis) with terrain elevation, and 2) observed and modeled streamflow data to first detect biases and second further adjust gridded precipitation by inversely applying the simulated results of the ecohydrological model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). Hydrological results using RAIN4PE as input for the Peruvian and Ecuadorian catchments were compared against the ones when feeding other uncorrected (CHIRP and ERA5) and gauge-corrected (CHIRPS, MSWEP, and PISCO) precipitation datasets into the model. For that, SWAT was calibrated and validated at 72 river sections for each dataset using a range of performance metrics, including hydrograph goodness of fit and flow duration curve signatures. Results showed that gauge-corrected precipitation datasets outperformed uncorrected ones for streamflow simulation. However, CHIRPS, MSWEP, and PISCO showed limitations for streamflow simulation in several catchments draining into the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon River. RAIN4PE provided the best overall performance for streamflow simulation, including flow variability (low, high, and peak flows) and water budget closure. The overall good performance of RAIN4PE as input for hydrological modeling provides a valuable criterion of its applicability for robust countrywide hydrometeorological applications, including hydroclimatic extremes such as droughts and floods. Significance StatementWe developed a novel precipitation dataset RAIN4PE for Peru and Ecuador by merging multisource precipitation data (satellite, reanalysis, and ground-based precipitation) with terrain elevation using the random forest method. Furthermore, RAIN4PE was hydrologically corrected using streamflow data in watersheds with precipitation underestimation through reverse hydrology. The results of a comprehensive hydrological evaluation showed that RAIN4PE outperformed state-of-the-art precipitation datasets such as CHIRP, ERA5, CHIRPS, MSWEP, and PISCO in terms of daily and monthly streamflow simulations, including extremely low and high flows in almost all Peruvian and Ecuadorian catchments. This underlines the suitability of RAIN4PE for hydrometeorological applications in this region. Furthermore, our approach for the generation of RAIN4PE can be used in other data-scarce regions.
A review of source models to further the understanding of the seismicity of the Groningen field
(2022)
The occurrence of felt earthquakes due to gas production in Groningen has initiated numerous studies and model attempts to understand and quantify induced seismicity in this region. The whole bandwidth of available models spans the range from fully deterministic models to purely empirical and stochastic models. In this article, we summarise the most important model approaches, describing their main achievements and limitations. In addition, we discuss remaining open questions and potential future directions of development.
Groundwater recharge (GWR) is one of the most challenging water fluxes to estimate, as it relies on observed data that are often limited in many developing countries.
This study developed an innovative water budget method using satellite products for estimating the spatially distributed GWR at monthly and annual scales in tropical wet sedimentary regions despite cloudy conditions.
The distinctive features proposed in this study include the capacity to address 1) evapotranspiration estimations in tropical wet regions frequently overlaid by substantial cloud cover; and 2) seasonal root-zone water storage estimations in sedimentary regions prone to monthly variations.
The method also utilises satellite-based information of the precipitation and surface runoff. The GWR was estimated and validated for the hydrologically contrasting years 2016 and 2017 over a tropical wet sedimentary region located in North-eastern Brazil, which has substantial potential for groundwater abstraction.
This study showed that applying a cloud-cleaning procedure based on monthly compositions of biophysical data enables the production of a reasonable proxy for evapotranspiration able to estimate groundwater by the water budget method.
The resulting GWR rates were 219 (2016) and 302 (2017) mm yr(-1), showing good correlations (CC = 0.68 to 0.83) and slight underestimations (PBIAS =-13 to-9%) when compared with the referenced estimates obtained by the water table fluctuation method for 23 monitoring wells. Sensitivity analysis shows that water storage changes account for +19% to-22% of our monthly evaluation.
The satellite-based approach consistently demonstrated that the consideration of cloud-cleaned evapotranspiration and root-zone soil water storage changes are essential for a proper estimation of spatially distributed GWR in tropical wet sedimentary regions because of their weather seasonality and cloudy conditions.
Different lake systems might reflect different climate elements of climate changes, while the responses of lake systems are also divers, and are not completely understood so far. Therefore, a comparison of lakes in different climate zones, during the high-amplitude and abrupt climate fluctuations of the Last Glacial to Holocene transition provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate distinct natural lake system responses to different abrupt climate changes. The aim of this doctoral thesis was to reconstruct climatic and environmental fluctuations down to (sub-) annual resolution from two different lake systems during the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition (~17 and 11 ka). Lake Gościąż, situated in the temperate central Poland, developed in the Allerød after recession of the Last Glacial ice sheets. The Dead Sea is located in the Levant (eastern Mediterranean) within a steep gradient from sub-humid to hyper-arid climate, and formed in the mid-Miocene. Despite their differences in sedimentation processes, both lakes form annual laminations (varves), which are crucial for studies of abrupt climate fluctuations. This doctoral thesis was carried out within the DFG project PALEX-II (Paleohydrology and Extreme Floods from the Dead Sea ICDP Core) that investigates extreme hydro-meteorological events in the ICDP core in relation to climate changes, and ICLEA (Virtual Institute of Integrated Climate and Landscape Evolution Analyses) that intends to better the understanding of climate dynamics and landscape evolutions in north-central Europe since the Last Glacial. Further, it contributes to the Helmholtz Climate Initiative REKLIM (Regional Climate Change and Humans) Research Theme 3 “Extreme events across temporal and spatial scales” that investigates extreme events using climate data, paleo-records and model-based simulations. The three main aims were to (1) establish robust chronologies of the lakes, (2) investigate how major and abrupt climate changes affect the lake systems, and (3) to compare the responses of the two varved lakes to these hemispheric-scale climate changes.
Robust chronologies are a prerequisite for high-resolved climate and environmental reconstructions, as well as for archive comparisons. Thus, addressing the first aim, the novel chronology of Lake Gościąż was established by microscopic varve counting and Bayesian age-depth modelling in Bacon for a non-varved section, and was corroborated by independent age constrains from 137Cs activity concentration measurements, AMS radiocarbon dating and pollen analysis. The varve chronology reaches from the late Allerød until AD 2015, revealing more Holocene varves than a previous study of Lake Gościąż suggested. Varve formation throughout the complete Younger Dryas (YD) even allowed the identification of annually- to decadal-resolved leads and lags in proxy responses at the YD transitions.
The lateglacial chronology of the Dead Sea (DS) was thus far mainly based on radiocarbon and U/Th-dating. In the unique ICDP core from the deep lake centre, continuous search for cryptotephra has been carried out in lateglacial sediments between two prominent gypsum deposits – the Upper and Additional Gypsum Units (UGU and AGU, respectively). Two cryptotephras were identified with glass analyses that correlate with tephra deposits from the Süphan and Nemrut volcanoes indicating that the AGU is ~1000 years younger than previously assumed, shifting it into the YD, and the underlying varved interval into the Bølling/Allerød, contradicting previous assumptions.
Using microfacies analyses, stable isotopes and temperature reconstructions, the second aim was achieved at Lake Gościąż. The YD lake system was dynamic, characterized by higher aquatic bioproductivity, more re-suspended material and less anoxia than during the Allerød and Early Holocene, mainly influenced by stronger water circulation and catchment erosion due to stronger westerly winds and less lake sheltering. Cooling at the YD onset was ~100 years longer than the final warming, while environmental proxies lagged the onset of cooling by ~90 years, but occurred contemporaneously during the termination of the YD. Chironomid-based temperature reconstructions support recent studies indicating mild YD summer temperatures. Such a comparison of annually-resolved proxy responses to both abrupt YD transitions is rare, because most European lake archives do not preserve varves during the YD.
To accomplish the second aim at the DS, microfacies analyses were performed between the UGU (~17 ka) and Holocene onset (~11 ka) in shallow- (Masada) and deep-water (ICDP core) environments. This time interval is marked by a huge but fluctuating lake level drop and therefore the complete transition into the Holocene is only recorded in the deep-basin ICDP core. In this thesis, this transition was investigated for the first time continuously and in detail. The final two pronounced lake level drops recorded by deposition of the UGU and AGU, were interrupted by one millennium of relative depositional stability and a positive water budget as recorded by aragonite varve deposition interrupted by only a few event layers. Further, intercalation of aragonite varves between the gypsum beds of the UGU and AGU shows that these generally dry intervals were also marked by decadal- to centennial-long rises in lake level. While continuous aragonite varves indicate decadal-long stable phases, the occurrence of thicker and more frequent event layers suggests general more instability during the gypsum units. These results suggest a pattern of complex and variable hydroclimate at different time scales during the Lateglacial at the DS.
The third aim was accomplished based on the individual studies above that jointly provide an integrated picture of different lake responses to different climate elements of hemispheric-scale abrupt climate changes during the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition. In general, climatically-driven facies changes are more dramatic in the DS than at Lake Gościąż. Further, Lake Gościąż is characterized by continuous varve formation nearly throughout the complete profile, whereas the DS record is widely characterized by extreme event layers, hampering the establishment of a continuous varve chronology. The lateglacial sedimentation in Lake Gościąż is mainly influenced by westerly winds and minor by changes in catchment vegetation, whereas the DS is primarily influenced by changes in winter precipitation, which are caused by temperature variations in the Mediterranean. Interestingly, sedimentation in both archives is more stable during the Bølling/Allerød and more dynamic during the YD, even when sedimentation processes are different.
In summary, this doctoral thesis presents seasonally-resolved records from two lake archives during the Lateglacial (ca 17-11 ka) to investigate the impact of abrupt climate changes in different lake systems. New age constrains from the identification of volcanic glass shards in the lateglacial sediments of the DS allowed the first lithology-based interpretation of the YD in the DS record and its comparison to Lake Gościąż. This highlights the importance of the construction of a robust chronology, and provides a first step for synchronization of the DS with other eastern Mediterranean archives. Further, climate reconstructions from the lake sediments showed variability on different time scales in the different archives, i.e. decadal- to millennial fluctuations in the lateglacial DS, and even annual variations and sub-decadal leads and lags in proxy responses during the rapid YD transitions in Lake Gościąż. This showed the importance of a comparison of different lake archives to better understand the regional and local impacts of hemispheric-scale climate variability. An unprecedented example is demonstrated here of how different lake systems show different lake responses and also react to different climate elements of abrupt climate changes. This further highlights the importance of the understanding of the respective lake system for climate reconstructions.
Flood risk management in Germany follows an integrative approach in which both private households and businesses can make an important contribution to reducing flood damage by implementing property-level adaptation measures. While the flood adaptation behavior of private households has already been widely researched, comparatively less attention has been paid to the adaptation strategies of businesses. However, their ability to cope with flood risk plays an important role in the social and economic development of a flood-prone region. Therefore, using quantitative survey data, this study aims to identify different strategies and adaptation drivers of 557 businesses damaged by a riverine flood in 2013 and 104 businesses damaged by pluvial or flash floods between 2014 and 2017. Our results indicate that a low perceived self-efficacy may be an important factor that can reduce the motivation of businesses to adapt to flood risk. Furthermore, property-owners tended to act more proactively than tenants. In addition, high experience with previous flood events and low perceived response costs could strengthen proactive adaptation behavior. These findings should be considered in business-tailored risk communication.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in food systems is becoming more challenging as food is increasingly consumed away from producer regions, highlighting the need to consider emissions embodied in trade in agricultural emissions accounting.
To address this, our study explores recent trends in trade-adjusted agricultural emissions of food items at the global, regional, and national levels.
We find that emissions are largely dependent on a country’s consumption patterns and their agricultural emission intensities relative to their trading partners’.
The absolute differences between the production-based and trade-adjusted emissions accounting approaches are especially apparent for major agricultural exporters and importers and where large shares of emission-intensive items such as ruminant meat, milk products and rice are involved.
In relative terms, some low-income and emerging and developing economies with consumption of high emission intensity food products show large differences between approaches.
Similar trends are also found under various specifications that account for trade and re-exports differently.
These findings could serve as an important element towards constructing national emissions reduction targets that consider trading partners, leading to more effective emissions reductions overall.
Marine sedimentary archives are routinely used to reconstruct past environmental changes. In many cases, bioturbation and sedimentary mixing affect the proxy time-series and the age-depth relationship. While idealized models of bioturbation exist, they usually assume homogeneous mixing, thus that a single sample is representative for the sediment layer it is sampled from.
However, it is largely unknown to which extent this assumption holds for sediments used for paleoclimate reconstructions.
To shed light on
1) the age-depth relationship and its full uncertainty,
2) the magnitude of mixing processes affecting the downcore proxy variations, and
3) the representativity of the discrete sample for the sediment layer, we designed and performed a case study on South China Sea sediment material which was collected using a box corer and which covers the last glacial cycle.
Using the radiocarbon content of foraminiferal tests as a tracer of time, we characterize the spatial age-heterogeneity of sediments in a three-dimensional setup. In total, 118 radiocarbon measurements were performed on defined small- and large-volume bulk samples ( similar to 200 specimens each) to investigate the horizontal heterogeneity of the sediment. Additionally, replicated measurements on small numbers of specimens (10 x 5 specimens) were performed to assess the heterogeneity within a sample volume. Visual assessment of X-ray images and a quantitative assessment of the mixing strength show typical mixing from bioturbation corresponding to around 10 cm mixing depth.
Notably, our 3D radiocarbon distribution reveals that the horizontal heterogeneity (up to 1,250 years), contributing to the age uncertainty, is several times larger than the typically assumed radiocarbon based age-model error (single errors up to 250 years). Furthermore, the assumption of a perfectly bioturbated layer with no mixing underneath is not met.
Our analysis further demonstrates that the age-heterogeneity might be a function of sample size; smaller samples might contain single features from the incomplete mixing and are thus less representative than larger samples.
We provide suggestions for future studies, optimal sampling strategies for quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions and realistic uncertainty in age models, as well as discuss possible implications for the interpretation of paleoclimate records.
Alexander von Humboldt
(2022)
This book aims to view and to understand Alexander von Humboldt from different perspectives and in varying disciplinary contexts. His contributions addressed numerous topics in the earth but also life sciences—spanning from geo-botany, climatology, paleontology, oceanography, mineralogy, resources, and hydrogeology to links between the environmental impact of humans, erosion, and climate change. From the very beginning, he paved the way for a modern, integrated earth system science approach to decipher, characterize, and model the different forcing factors and their feedback mechanisms. It becomes obvious that Humboldt’s holistic approach is far beyond simple description and empiric data collection. As documented and analyzed in the different texts of this volume, he combines observation and analysis with emotions and subjective perceptions in a very affectionate way. However, this publication does not intend to add another encyclopedic text compilation but to observe and critically analyze this unique personality´s relevance in a modern context, particularly in discussing environmental and social key issues in the twenty-first century.
Measuring the variability of incoming neutrons locally would be usefull for the cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) method. As the measurement of high energy neutrons is not so easy, alternative particles can be considered for such purpose. Among them, muons are particles created from the same cascade of primary cosmic-ray fluxes that generate neutrons at the ground. In addition, they can be easily detected by small and relatively inexpensive detectors. For these reasons they could provide a suitable local alternative to incoming corrections based on remote neutron monitor data. The reported measurements demonstrated that muon detection system can detect incoming cosmic-ray variations locally. Furthermore the precision of this measurement technique is considered adequate for many CRNS applications.
Die Hochwasserkatastrophe im Juli 2021 in Westdeutschland erfordert eine kritische Diskussion über die Abschätzung der Hochwassergefährdung, Aktualisierung von Hochwassergefahrenkarten und Kommunikation von extremen Hochwasserszenarien. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Extremwertstatistik für die jährlichen maximalen Spitzenabflüsse am Pegel Altenahr im Ahrtal mit und ohne Berücksichtigung historischer Hochwasser berechnet und verglichen. Die Schätzung der Wiederkehrperiode für das aktuelle Hochwasser mittels Generalisierter Extremwertverteilung (GEV) unter Berücksichtigung historischer Hochwasser schwankt zwischen etwa 2.600 und über 58.700 Jahren (90%-Konfidenzintervall) mit einem Median bei etwa 8.600 Jahren, wogegen die Schätzung, die nur auf der systematisch gemessenen Abflusszeitreihe von 74 Jahren basiert, theoretisch eine Wiederkehrperiode von über 100 Millionen Jahren ergeben würde. Die Berücksichtigung der historischen Hochwasser führt zu einer dramatischen Änderung der Hochwasserquan-
tile, die für eine Gefahrenkartierung zugrunde gelegt werden. Die Anpassung der GEV an die Zeitreihe mit historischen Hochwassern zeigt dennoch, dass das GEV-Modell möglicherweise die Grundgesamtheit der Hochwasser im Ahrtal nicht adäquat abbilden kann. Es könnte sich im vorliegenden Fall um eine gemischte Stichprobe handeln, in der die extremen Hochwasser im Vergleich zu kleineren Ereignissen durch besondere Prozesse hervorgerufen werden. Somit könnten die Wahrscheinlichkeiten von extremen Hochwassern deutlich größer sein, als aus dem GEV-Modell hervorgeht. Hier sollte in Zukunft die Anwendung einer prozessbasierten Mischverteilung
untersucht werden. Der Vergleich von amtlichen Gefahrenkarten zu Extremhochwassern (HQextrem) im Ahrtal mit den Überflutungsflächen vom Juli 2021
zeigt eine deutliche Diskrepanz in den betroffenen Gebieten und die Notwendigkeit, die Grundlagen zur Erstellung der Extremszenarien zu überdenken. Die hydrodynamisch-numerischen Simulationen von 1.000-jährlichen Hochwassern (HQ1000) unter Berücksichtigung historischer Ereignisse und des größten historischen Hochwassers 1804 können die Gefährdung des Juli-Hochwassers 2021 deutlich besser widerspiegeln, wenngleich auch diese beiden Szenarien die Überflutungsflächen unterschätzen. Besondere Effekte wie die Verklausung von Brücken und die geomorphologischen Änderungen im Flussschlauch führten zu noch größeren Überflutungs- flächen im Juli 2021, als die Simulationsergebnisse zeigten. Basierend auf dieser Analyse wird eine einheitliche Festlegung von HQextrem bei Hochwassergefahrenkartierungen in Deutschland vorgeschlagen, die sich an höheren Hochwasserquantilen im Bereich von HQ1000 orientiert. Zusätzlich sollen simulationsbasierte Rekonstruktionen von den größten verlässlich dokumentierten historischen Hochwassern und/oder synthetische Worst-Case-Szenarien in den Hochwassergefahrenkarten gesondert dargestellt werden. Damit wird ein wichtiger Beitrag geleistet, um die potenziell betroffene Bevölkerung und das Katastrophenmanagement vor Überraschungen durch sehr seltene und extreme Hochwasser in Zukunft besser zu schützen.
The main Marmara fault (MMF) extends for 150 km through the Sea of Marmara and forms the only portion of the North Anatolian fault zone that has not ruptured in a large event (Mw >7) for the last 250 yr. Accordingly, this portion is potentially a major source contributing to the seismic hazard of the Istanbul region. On 26 September 2019, a sequence of moderate-sized events started along the MMF only 20 km south of Istanbul and were widely felt by the population. The largest three events, 26 September Mw 5.8 (10:59 UTC), 26 September 2019 Mw 4.1 (11:26 UTC), and 20 January 2020 Mw 4.7 were recorded by numerous strong-motion seismic stations and the resulting ground motions were compared to the predicted means resulting from a set of the most recent ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs). The estimated residuals were used to investigate the spatial variation of ground motion across the Marmara region. Our results show a strong azimuthal trend in ground-motion residuals, which might indicate systematically repeating directivity effects toward the eastern Marmara region.
Extracting information about past tectonic or climatic environmental changes from sedimentary records is a key objective of provenance research. Interpreting the imprint of such changes remains challenging as signals might be altered in the sediment-routing system.
We investigate the sedimentary provenance of the Oligocene/Miocene Upper Austrian Northern Alpine Foreland Basin and its response to the tectonically driven exhumation of the Tauern Window metamorphic dome (28 +/- 1 Ma) in the Eastern European Alps by using the unprecedented combination of Nd isotopic composition of bulk-rock clay-sized samples and partly previously published multi-proxy (Nd isotopic composition, trace-element geochemistry, U-Pb dating) sand-sized apatite single-grain analysis.
The basin offers an excellent opportunity to investigate environmental signal propagation into the sedimentary record because comprehensive stratigraphic and seismic datasets can be combined with present research results. The bulk-rock clay-sized fraction epsilon Nd values of well-cutting samples from one well on the northern basin slope remained stable at similar to-9.7 from 27 to 19 Ma but increased after 19 Ma to similar to-9.1. In contrast, apatite single-grain distributions, which were extracted from 22 drill-core samples, changed significantly around 23.3 Ma from apatites dominantly from low-grade (<upper amphibolite-facies) metamorphic sources with Permo-Mesozoic and late Variscan U-Pb ages and epsilon Nd values of -4.4 to dominantly high-grade metamorphic apatites with late Variscan U-Pb ages and epsilon Nd values of -2.2.
The change in apatite single-grain distributions at 23.3 Ma is interpreted to result from the exposure of a new Upper Austroalpine source nappe with less negative epsilon Nd values triggered by the ongoing Tauern Window exhumation. Combining these data with the clay-sized bulk-rock epsilon Nd values reveals that the provenance changed 4-5 Myrs later at 19 Ma in the clay-sized fraction.
Reasons for the delayed provenance-change recording are rooted in the characteristics of the applied methods.
Whereas single-grain distributions of orogen-wide sediment-routing systems can be dominated by geographically small areas with high erosion and mineral fertility rates, bulk-rock methods integrate over the entire drainage basin, thus diminishing extreme values. Hence, by combining these two methods, spatial information are uncovered, enabling a previously unattained understanding of the underlying environmental change.