Legacy soil data have been produced over 70 years in nearly all countries of the world. Unfortunately, data, information and knowledge are still currently fragmented and at risk of getting lost if they remain in a paper format. To process this legacy data into consistent, spatially explicit and continuous global soil information, data are being rescued and compiled into databases. Thousands of soil survey reports and maps have been scanned and made available online. The soil profile data reported by these data sources have been captured and compiled into databases. The total number of soil profiles rescued in the selected countries is about 800,000. Currently, data for 117, 000 profiles are compiled and harmonized according to GlobalSoilMap specifications in a world level database (WoSIS). The results presented at the country level are likely to be an underestimate. The majority of soil data is still not rescued and this effort should be pursued. The data have been used to produce soil property maps. We discuss the pro and cons of top-down and bottom-up approaches to produce such maps and we stress their complementarity. We give examples of success stories. The first global soil property maps using rescued data were produced by a top-down approach and were released at a limited resolution of 1km in 2014, followed by an update at a resolution of 250m in 2017. By the end of 2020, we aim to deliver the first worldwide product that fully meets the GlobalSoilMap specifications.
•Re-dating the basal ages of the DSDP Site 534A and ODP Site 801C.•Demonstrating a common pattern in the Middle Oxfordian δ¹³Ccarb variation.•Fine dating the opening of the Hispanic corridor.
•Fire history of Mount Kenya is mapped for the past 16 years using MODIS satellite data.•Fire severity of five moorland fires over this period are mapped with Landsat satellite data.•Fire is a major force in Mount Kenya and is characterized by frequent, small fires with low to moderate severity.•There are indications that the fire regime may be changing, with seasonal alterations and more inter-annual variability.
The Graham Bank is a broad and relatively shallow relief located off the SW coast of Sicily. This area hosts, among other submarine edifices, the ephemeral Ferdinandea Island, created in 1831 by an explosive eruption - the only well-documented event occurred in the study area - and rapidly dismantled by erosional processes. In the Graham Bank and its vicinity, three red coral deposits have been discovered and extensively exploited commercially during the last part of the 19th century, and were quickly depleted after discovery, since no living coral populations survived or repopulated the area after geological events that caused the massive die off. The coral deposits lay on a muddy sea-floor alongside some volcanic reliefs, and consisted of mostly dead corals, intermingled with volcanic and biogenic debris. Here, we describe these deposits and propose a model for their evolutionary history through palaeoecological analyses of their faunistic content, radiocarbon dating, Remotely Operated Vehicle sea-floor observations, and seismic profiles. Overall presented data suggest that these deposits have accumulated primarily (or even partially) as a consequence of volcanic activity dislodging living (or dead) corals from the steep flanks of volcanoes on which they lived. Periodic collapses of the friable pyroclastic walls of these edifices and landslides may have been triggered by repeated submarine eruptions, possibly associated with small earthquakes.
Coastal habitats in India, including estuaries, creeks and bays, have degraded to varying degrees, depending on the fluxes of pollutants and flushing characteristics of the area. Bioindicators can provide consistent evidence for degradation or recovery and have proven particularly useful in monitoring and assessment of coastal ecosystems. This paper examines and reviews recent research on modern foraminifers in coastal ecosystems of India. Most of the studies discuss methodologies employed with respect to sampling devices, sample storage, treatment, faunal analysis and documentation. A major goal of this review is to highlight the results of investigations on recent foraminifera carried out to date, and to identify minimally studied topics and geographic regions to thereby recommend areas for future study of coastal environments of the Indian Subcontinent.
Lime stabilization has been widely used in civil engineering to improve soils properties. A major shortcoming of lime is that it increases the soil brittleness. Thus, the aim of this research is to study the effect of lime along with geogrids on unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and modulus of elasticity (Es) of the stabilized soil. Atterberg limits, XRF, and pH tests were performed to determine the optimal percentage of lime. Then, different percentages of lime were added to the soil to study strength, stress, and strain of specimens using UCS tests. Also, the effect of inclusion of geogrid on the lime stabilized soil was studied by adding four layers of geogrid in the soil at constant intervals. By increasing the percentages of lime, brittleness index, UCS, and Es increased and deformability index decreased. Moreover, applying geogrids led to increasing deformability and failure strain. Based on SEM tests, an addition of lime caused fewer voids led to increasing UCS and Es. A phenomenological model was used to develop equations for predicting UCS, Es, brittleness, and deformability indexes for the stabilized soil. The results showed that there was a good correlation between the measured values and the estimated values given by the predicted equations.
•Islands in the Pacific region are rich in biodiversity with high levels of endemism.•Climate change impacts on threatened biodiversity of 23 Pacific countries were assessed.•Thirty islands with three or more threatened species were identified.•None of the thirty islands were covered under the global protected area network.•Prioritization programmes for biodiversity on identified islands are recommended.
Analog archival data can supplement modern digital research, but only if those data are preserved, described, and migrated to appropriate formats. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) is responsible for managing, archiving, and disseminating cryospheric and polar data. The clear majority of these data are digital, but the NSIDC also houses a collection of historical archival materials that include measurements related to the earth's glaciated regions prior to the development of modern instrumentation. Their formats, however, are not conducive to contemporary analysis, rendering them ostensibly “lost” to research. This paper describes a series of efforts to provide access to these collections that date back to their original acquisition, as long ago as the mid-nineteenth century, with focus primarily on activities over the last 15 years. The most recent effort was funded by the Council on Library & Information Resources and won the 2016 International Data Rescue Award. The intent is to highlight key challenges, and our proposed own solutions to those challenges, in designing a digitization project centered on providing online access to analog data in glaciological, geomorphological, and related research.
Time-series profiles derived from temperature proxies such as tree rings can provide information about past climate. Signal analysis was undertaken of six such datasets, and the resulting component sine waves used as input to an artificial neural network (ANN), a form of machine learning. By optimizing spectral features of the component sine waves, such as periodicity, amplitude and phase, the original temperature profiles were approximately simulated for the late Holocene period to 1830 CE. The ANN models were then used to generate projections of temperatures through the 20th century. The largest deviation between the ANN projections and measured temperatures for six geographically distinct regions was approximately 0.2 °C, and from this an Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) of approximately 0.6 °C was estimated. This is considerably less than estimates from the General Circulation Models (GCMs) used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and similar to estimates from spectroscopic methods.
•Pottery samples come from 300–500 BC rare archaeological site in southern India.•Rock magnetic properties confirmed SD/PSD type of ferrimagnetic mineral.•New Archeointensity and Virtual Axial Dipole Model results are present.•New results are compared with recently updated GEOMAGIA.V3 database.
•Precence of charcoal in the Tunas Formation, in the Claromecó Basin, Permian of Gondwana.•The coal petrographic analysis allows to determine the depositional environment and the diagenesis level.•The Tunas Formation was deposited in a wet swampy forest with rises and decreases of the phreatic level.•The vitrinite reflectance values allow classification of the coals as semiantracitic to low volatile bituminous, with temperatures reached values between 140 °C and 190 °C.•The data indicate that the Tunas Formation reaches a catagenesis to metagenesis range related to the organic matter diagenesis.•The presence of charcoal indicates the presence of wildfires.
•Intense bacterial degradation takes place in the EIO sediments.•Phytane-total alkane (Talk) relationship is a proxy of G-IG red-ox changes.•The C37:C38 alkane ratio can capture coccolith contribution in phytoplankton.•Land input during Interglacials is behind enhanced Corg and coccolith production.•Alkanes reveal a hitherto unknown feature of MIS 7 centering ∼200 kyr BP.
•Western Interior Seaway oceanography is reconstructed for the first time using GIS.•Foraminiferal occurrences are tied to water depth, silt and carbonate contents.•The area of north-south water mixing may be larger than previously thought.•Fuzzy sets and DS theory are viable, quantitative methods for paleontological data.•New regions are identified for meaningful data collection to understand the seaway.
A new integrated and generic Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) is presented based on a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Multicriteria Decision Analysis techniques. The approach proposed is developed to address commonly faced spatial decision problems of site selection, site ranking, impact assessment and spatial knowledge discovery under one system. The site selection module utilises a theme-based Analytical Hierarchy Process. Two novel site ranking techniques are introduced. The first is based on a systematic neighbourhood comparison of sites with respect to key datasets (criterions). The second utilises multivariate ordering capability of one-dimensional Self-Organizing Maps. The site impact assessment module utilises a new spatially enabled Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix. A spatial variant of General Regression Neural Networks is developed for Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) and prediction analysis. The developed system is proposed as a useful modern tool that facilitates quantitative and evidence based decision making in multicriteria decision environment. The intended users of the system are decision makers in government organisations, in particular those involved in planning and development when taking into account socio-economic, environmental and public health related issues.
Recent studies have revealed that in high-altitude mountain environments the global warming trend over the last few decades tends to be strongly amplified. However, few attempts have been made to monitor the possible effects of such climate changes on high-altitude rock glaciers. In this paper, we provide a geomorphic analysis of the Varas rock glacier, and present the first observations of rock glacier temperature (air and ground) and surface velocities in the Andes of northwestern Argentina. A network of 30 boulders was monitored every year between 2012 and 2016 using a differential Global Positioning System. Over the observational period, the Varas active rock glacier registered velocities between 125 and 5 cm/yr, except for four boulders which did not shift. Over the five years of monitoring, the mean annual air and ground (at 5 and 50 cm depth) temperature remained above 0 °C. A long-term instrumental weather dataset (106 years), located ∼130 km from the Varas rock glacier, at La Quiaca station, reveals a warming trend of 0.8 °C during the last century, with a steep increase during the last two and half decades. The warming trend recorded in the region may have produced or facilitated the inactivity of the more-exposed sectors of the Varas active rock glacier. However, there also may be a delay in the relatively slow and full response of rock glaciers to the last few decades of warming. Finally, the observations allow us to propose a formation sequence in the Varas rock glacier valley, since postglacial time.
The Fusagasuga megafan is located in the Sumapaz River catchment (main tributary of the Magdalena River) which drains into the Sumapaz moorland. The soils show non consistent hydromorphic palaeofeatures that may be related to recent tectonics, therefore a study was conducted to gain insight into the paleoenvironment of the area, in particular the paleohydrology. We studied 6 profiles under 4 different geomorphological positions: structural eroded mountain, axis, length and base of the alluvial megafan (depositional foothills). Medium-textured Lithic Melanudands are located in a steep high mountain (anticline structural slope), Silty loam Ultic Melanudands are developed from volcanic ashes over thick medium-grained sandstones in the transition mountain to alluvial megafan, very fine-textured Typic Paleudalfs with Bt Horizons (42–85% clay) are found around the middle and proximal parts of the megafan, that become Typic Haplustalfs at the distal parts of the megafan. Kaolinite is the dominant clay in all soils, followed by halloisite, goethite and traces of vermiculite and quartz. Quartz and feldspars dominate the sand fraction, together with amphiboles and volcanic glass chemically weathered epidote in small quantities. Soils are mainly acidic, with a high Al saturation and a low base saturation. Clay illuviation is shown by hypocoatings and microlaminated clay coatings. Different degrees of hydromorphism are observed with gleyic to stagnic patterns. Some of the redoximorphic features are related to the current pore system and others to palaeoenvironmental conditions often associated to old clay coatings. The most clayey soils show striated, undifferenciated, speckled b-fabrics and frequent coatings, and some others point to ferrolysis as iron-depleted hypocoatings and low anisotropic clay coatings along pores, an observation supported by mineralogical data. The morphological and micromorphological redoximorphic features allow us to explain the paleoevolution of the alluvial megafan.
The low operating cost and flexibility of sUAS enables repeated surveys of study sites to monitor annual coastal changes and investigate the impacts of individual storms. The majority of damage along the coast of Prince Edward Island occurs during storm events which are expected to increase in frequency and severity and presents one of the biggest challenges faced by residents due to climate change. This study completes a comparative analysis between a fixed wing and quadcopter unmanned aerial system. The impact of using ground control points during image processing resulted in an average image marker to ground control point coordinates difference of 0.1m and 0.03m for the fixed wing and quadcopter respectively. Coastal delineation from orthomosaics compared to a ground truth coastal trace using survey grade GPS resulted in an average difference of 0.25m and 0.21m for the fixed wing and quadcopter systems respectively. Elevation comparison of the resulting digital surface models to a ground truth GPS survey resulted in -0.117m average difference for the fixed wing and 0.0224m average difference for the quadcopter. Furthermore, consideration of cost, time, and ambient factors are addressed. Finally, sUAS technology is seen to have the potential to revolutionize the field of environmental monitoring in low capacity regions, building local knowledge capital for better planning and adapting to the impacts of climate change.
This study aims at developing an internally consistent 3D network of brittle structures for the Kevitsa open pit Ni–Cu sulphide mine hosted by a Palaeoproterozoic mafic-ultramafic layered intrusion. The used approach involves compilation of depth and data-dependent three-dimensional geological sub-models at smaller depths, and their subsequent correlation with rock quality data, and reflection seismic structural models at greater depths. The work aims at bridging the characteristic gaps within and between the used geological–geophysical datasets, caused by the variable scales, coverages and resolutions. The second aim of the work is to provide a tectonic model explaining the generation of the major brittle structures within the area. The used data include digital elevation models, fracture and rock quality data from drill holes and 3D-photogrammetry, and seismic interpretations from previous investigations. The results show that the most distinct fracture zones dip gently towards WNW, steeply towards SE and sub-vertically, with NNW-SSE strikes. The gently WNW-dipping fracture zone shows the largest spatial extent and is clearly recognisable in all the source data sets. A kinematic model containing the gently WNW-dipping structures as major thrust zones, and smaller structures as second order structures is inferred. This work shows how surface and sub-surface data from various sources and depths are successfully integrated into high confidence structural models, which can be used as input data in future slope stability studies of the Kevitsa open pit.
•Embedded reefal limestone development in Sinai contains profuse fossil encrusting foraminifera.•The planorbulinid Tayamaia marianensis (Hanzawa) is the main component in the reef growth.•Encrusting foraminifera inhabited different paleoenvironments; reef-flat, fore-reef and back-reef lagoonal conditions.•Encrusting foraminifera from Sinai indicates strong paleobiogeographic affiliation to the West Pacific region.•A prior west-east water connection across Asia to W. Pacific is proposed to permit the copious faunal exchange.
The concept of superficial structure relates to surficial deformations that are determined neither by tectonic deformation nor by surface geomorphic processes sensu stricto. This work addresses two mechanisms leading to structural surface disturbances in the Lutetian strata of the Eocene plateaux of the eastern Paris Basin. Firstly, mechanical release which is associated with stress-relief during Quaternary valley downcutting. It results in lateral spreading of the middle Lutetian limestone, and subsequent sub-erosion of underlying sands may cause valley-side cambering. Secondly, ghost-rock karstification in the phreatic zone which is leading to surficial collapse of the upper Lutetian cover. Geological structure (thickness and porosity of the middle Lutetian limestone) and valley-side slopes stratigraphy (position of the upper Ypresian sand) control the spatial distribution of these processes. Ghost-rock karstification, conditioned by tectonic joints is confined to the west; to the east, cambering processes occur where upper Ypresian sand aquifer and alluvial aquifer are connected. During the Quaternary, periglacial conditions account for cambering processes and also for a second phase of karstification within an aquifer perched in the active layer, and from mechanical release joints. Resultant morphological features are then inherited and cambering is even a fossil process where upper Ypresian sand crops out above the valley floor. Consequently, large-scale landforms, derived from the superficial structure, are essentially inactive.
