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The Mesoproterozoic Aggeneys-Gamsberg ore district, South Africa, is one of the world´s largest sulfidic base metal concentrations and well-known as a prime example of Broken Hill-type base metal deposits, traditionally interpreted as metamorphosed SEDEX deposits. Within this district, the Gamsberg deposit stands out for its huge size and strongly Zn-dominated ore ( >14 Mt contained Zn). New electron microprobe analyses and element abundance maps of sulfides and silicates point to fluid-driven sulfidation during retrograde metamorphism. Differences in the chemistry of sulfide inclusions within zoned garnet grains reflect different degrees of interaction of sulfides with high metal/sulfur-ratio with a sulfur-rich metamorphic fluid. Independent evidence of sulfidation during retrograde metamorphism comes from graphic-textured sulfide aggregates that previously have been interpreted as quenched sulfidic melts, replacement of pyrrhotite by pyrite along micro-fractures, and sulfides in phyllic alteration zones. Limited availability of fluid under retrograde conditions caused locally different degrees of segregation of Fe-rich sphalerite into Zn-rich sphalerite and pyrite, and thus considerable heterogeneity in sphalerite chemistry. The invoked sulfur-rich metamorphic fluids would have been able to sulfidize base metal-rich zones in the whole deposit and thus camouflage a potential pre-metamorphic oxidation. These findings support the recently established hypothesis of a pre-Klondikean weathering-induced oxidation event and challenge the traditional explanation of Broken Hill-type deposits as merely metamorphosed SEDEX deposits. Instead, we suggest that the massive sulfide deposits experienced a complex history, starting with initial SEDEX-type mineralization, followed by near-surface oxidation with spatial metal separation, and then sulfidation of this oxidized ore during medium- to high-grade metamorphism.
During strong El Niño events, below-average rainfall is expected in large parts of southern Africa. The 1992 El Niño season was associated with one of the worst drought episodes in large parts of South Africa. Using reanalysis data set from NCEP-NCAR, this study examined circulation types (CTs) in Africa south of the equator that are statistically related to the El Niño signal in the southwest Indian Ocean and the implication of this relationship during the 1992 drought episode in South Africa. A statistically significant correlation was found between the above-average Nino 3.4 index and a CT that features widespread cyclonic activity in the tropical southwest Indian Ocean, coupled with a weaker state of the south Indian Ocean high-pressure. During the analysis period, it was found that the El Niño signal enhanced the amplitude of the aforementioned CT. The impacts of the El Niño signal on CTs in southern Africa, which could have contributed to the 1992 severe drought episode in South Africa, were reflected in (i) robust decrease in the frequency of occurrence of the austral summer climatology pattern of atmospheric circulation that favors southeasterly moisture fluxes, advected by the South Indian Ocean high-pressure; (ii) modulation of easterly moisture fluxes, advected by the South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, ridging south of South Africa; (iii) and enhancement of the amplitude of CTs that both enhances subsidence over South Africa, and associated with the dominance of westerlies across the Agulhas current. Under the ssp585 scenario, the analyzed climate models suggested that the impact of radiative heating on the CT significantly related to El Niño might result in an anomalous increase in surface pressure at the eastern parts of South Africa.
Atmospheric circulation is a vital process in the transport of heat, moisture, and pollutants around the globe. The variability of rainfall depends to some extent on the atmospheric circulation. This paper investigates synoptic situations in southern Africa that can be associated with wet days and dry days in Free State, South Africa, in addition to the underlying dynamics. Principal component analysis was applied to the T-mode matrix (variable is time series and observation is grid points at which the field was observed) of daily mean sea level pressure field from 1979 to 2018 in classifying the circulation patterns in southern Africa. 18 circulation types (CTs) were classified in the study region. From the linkage of the CTs to the observed rainfall data, from 11 stations in Free State, it was found that dominant austral winter and late austral autumn CTs have a higher probability of being associated with dry days in Free State. Dominant austral summer and late austral spring CTs were found to have a higher probability of being associated with wet days in Free State. Cyclonic/anti-cyclonic activity over the southwest Indian Ocean, explained to a good extent, the inter-seasonal variability of rainfall in Free State. The synoptic state associated with a stronger anti-cyclonic circulation at the western branch of the South Indian Ocean high-pressure, during austral summer, leading to enhanced low-level moisture transport by southeast winds was found to have the highest probability of being associated with above-average rainfall in most regions in Free State. On the other hand, the synoptic state associated with enhanced transport of cold dry air, by the extratropical westerlies, was found to have the highest probability of being associated with (winter) dryness in Free State.
Die Covid-19-Pandemie gilt in vielen gesellschaftlichen Teilbereichen als Beschleuniger für Transformationsprozesse. Auch im Bereich der Organisation urbaner Logistik und Einzelhandelslandschaften etablieren sich neue Akteur*innen und Funktionen. Logistiker*innen integrieren lokale Onlinemarktplätze in ihre Profile und der stationäre Einzelhandel generiert Wettbewerbsfähigkeit gegenüber großen Onlinehändler*innen über die Nutzung lokaler Radlogistiknetzwerke, mittels derer Lieferungen noch am Tag der Bestellung (Same-Day-Delivery) verteilt werden können. Damit leisten die involvierten Akteur*innen potenziell auch einen Beitrag zur Nachhaltigkeitstransformation im Bereich urbaner Logistiksysteme. Im Fokus steht das Fallbeispiel WüLivery, ein Kooperationsprojekt des Stadtmarketingvereins, der Wirtschaftsförderung, Radlogistiker*innen sowie Einzelhändler*innen in Würzburg, welches während des zweiten coronabedingten Lockdowns im November 2020 umgesetzt wurde. Die entstehenden Dynamiken und Organisationsformen werden auf Basis von 11 Expert*inneninterviews dargestellt und analysiert. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass städtische Akteur*innen grundlegende Mediator*innen für Transformationsprozesse darstellen und Einzelhändler*innen und lokale Onlinemarktplätze als Katalysator*innen fungieren können. Das ist auch vor dem Hintergrund planerischer und politischer Kommunikationsprozesse zur Legitimation neuer Verkehrsinfrastrukturen nutzbar, da die einzelnen Akteur*innengruppen in Austausch kommen und ein gesteigertes Bewusstsein für die jeweiligen Bedarfe entsteht.
The Kunduz River is one of the main tributaries of the Amu Darya Basin in North Afghanistan. Many communities live in the Kunduz River Basin (KRB), and its water resources have been the basis of their livelihoods for many generations. This study investigates climate change impacts on the KRB catchment. Rare station data are, for the first time, used to analyze systematic trends in temperature, precipitation, and river discharge over the past few decades, while using Mann–Kendall and Theil–Sen trend statistics. The trends show that the hydrology of the basin changed significantly over the last decades. A comparison of landcover data of the river basin from 1992 and 2019 shows significant changes that have additional impact on the basin hydrology, which are used to interpret the trend analysis. There is considerable uncertainty due to the data scarcity and gaps in the data, but all results indicate a strong tendency towards drier conditions. An extreme warming trend, partly above 2 °C since the 1960s in combination with a dramatic precipitation decrease by more than −30% lead to a strong decrease in river discharge. The increasing glacier melt compensates the decreases and leads to an increase in runoff only in the highland parts of the upper catchment. The reduction of water availability and the additional stress on the land leads to a strong increase of barren land and a reduction of vegetation cover. The detected trends and changes in the basin hydrology demand an active management of the already scarce water resources in order to sustain water supply for agriculture and ecosystems in the KRB.
Land surface temperature (LST) is a fundamental parameter within the system of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, which can be used to describe the inherent physical processes of energy and water exchange. The need for LST has been increasingly recognised in agriculture, as it affects the growth phases of crops and crop yields. However, challenges in overcoming the large discrepancies between the retrieved LST and ground truth data still exist. Precise LST measurement depends mainly on accurately deriving the surface emissivity, which is very dynamic due to changing states of land cover and plant development. In this study, we present an LST retrieval algorithm for the combined use of multispectral optical and thermal UAV images, which has been optimised for operational applications in agriculture to map the heterogeneous and diverse agricultural crop systems of a research campus in Germany (April 2018). We constrain the emissivity using certain NDVI thresholds to distinguish different land surface types. The algorithm includes atmospheric corrections and environmental thermal emissions to minimise the uncertainties. In the analysis, we emphasise that the omission of crucial meteorological parameters and inaccurately determined emissivities can lead to a considerably underestimated LST; however, if the emissivity is underestimated, the LST can be overestimated. The retrieved LST is validated by reference temperatures from nearby ponds and weather stations. The validation of the thermal measurements indicates a mean absolute error of about 0.5 K. The novelty of the dual sensor system is that it simultaneously captures highly spatially resolved optical and thermal images, in order to construct the precise LST ortho-mosaics required to monitor plant diseases and drought stress and validate airborne and satellite data.
Information about land use/land cover (LULC) and their changes is useful for different stakeholders to assess future pathways of sustainable land use for food production as well as for nature conservation. In this study, we assess LULC changes in the Kilombero catchment in Tanzania, an important area of recent development in East Africa. LULC change is assessed in two ways: first, post-classification comparison (PCC) which allows us to directly assess changes from one LULC class to another, and second, spectral change detection. We perform LULC classification by applying random forests (RF) on sets of multitemporal metrics that account for seasonal within-class dynamics. For the spectral change detection, we make use of the robust change vector analysis (RCVA) and determine those changes that do not necessarily lead to another class. The combination of the two approaches enables us to distinguish areas that show (a) only PCC changes, (b) only spectral changes that do not affect the classification of a pixel, (c) both types of change, or (d) no changes at all. Our results reveal that only one-quarter of the catchment has not experienced any change. One-third shows both, spectral changes and LULC conversion. Changes detected with both methods predominantly occur in two major regions, one in the West of the catchment, one in the Kilombero floodplain. Both regions are important areas of food production and economic development in Tanzania. The Kilombero floodplain is a Ramsar protected area, half of which was converted to agricultural land in the past decades. Therefore, LULC monitoring is required to support sustainable land management. Relatively poor classification performances revealed several challenges during the classification process. The combined approach of PCC and RCVA allows us to detect spatial patterns of LULC change at distinct dimensions and intensities. With the assessment of additional classifier output, namely class-specific per-pixel classification probabilities and derived parameters, we account for classification uncertainty across space. We overlay the LULC change results and the spatial assessment of classification reliability to provide a thorough picture of the LULC changes taking place in the Kilombero catchment.
Illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) in South-Western Ghana has grown tremendously in the last decade and caused significant environmental degradation. Excessive cloud cover in the area has limited the use of optical remote sensing data to map and monitor the extent of these activities. This study investigated the use of annual time-series Sentinel-1 data to map and monitor illegal mining activities along major rivers in South-Western Ghana between 2015 and 2019. A change detection approach, based on three time-series features — minimum, mean, maximum — was used to compute a backscatter threshold value suitable to identify/detect mining-induced land cover changes in the study area. Compared to the mean and maximum, the minimum time-series feature (in both VH and VV polarization) was found to be more sensitive to changes in backscattering within the period of investigation. Our approach permitted the detection of new illegal mining areas on an annual basis. A backscatter threshold value of +1.65 dB was found suitable for detecting illegal mining activities in the study area. Application of this threshold revealed illegal mining area extents of 102 km\(^2\), 60 km\(^2\) and 33 km\(^2\) for periods 2015/2016–2016/2017, 2016/2017–2017/2018 and 2017/2018–2018/2019, respectively. The observed decreasing trend in new illegal mining areas suggests that efforts at stopping illegal mining yielded positive results in the period investigated. Despite the advantages of Synthetic Aperture Radar data in monitoring phenomena in cloud-prone areas, our analysis revealed that about 25% of the Sentinel-1 data, mostly acquired in March and October (beginning and end of rainy season respectively), were unusable due to atmospheric effects from high intensity rainfall events. Further investigation in other geographies and climatic regions is needed to ascertain the susceptibility of Sentinel-1 data to atmospheric conditions.
Many parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are prone to land use and land cover change (LULCC). In many cases, natural systems are converted into agricultural land to feed the growing population. However, despite climate change being a major focus nowadays, the impacts of these conversions on water resources, which are essential for agricultural production, is still often neglected, jeopardizing the sustainability of the socio-ecological system. This study investigates historic land use/land cover (LULC) patterns as well as potential future LULCC and its effect on water quantities in a complex tropical catchment in Tanzania. It then compares the results using two climate change scenarios. The Land Change Modeler (LCM) is used to analyze and to project LULC patterns until 2030 and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is utilized to simulate the water balance under various LULC conditions. Results show decreasing low flows by 6–8% for the LULC scenarios, whereas high flows increase by up to 84% for the combined LULC and climate change scenarios. The effect of climate change is stronger compared to the effect of LULCC, but also contains higher uncertainties. The effects of LULCC are more distinct, although crop specific effects show diverging effects on water balance components. This study develops a methodology for quantifying the impact of land use and climate change and therefore contributes to the sustainable management of the investigated catchment, as it shows the impact of environmental change on hydrological extremes (low flow and floods) and determines hot spots, which are critical for environmental development.
Large-area remote sensing time-series offer unique features for the extensive investigation of our environment. Since various error sources in the acquisition chain of datasets exist, only properly validated results can be of value for research and downstream decision processes. This review presents an overview of validation approaches concerning temporally dense time-series of land surface geo-information products that cover the continental to global scale. Categorization according to utilized validation data revealed that product intercomparisons and comparison to reference data are the conventional validation methods. The reviewed studies are mainly based on optical sensors and orientated towards global coverage, with vegetation-related variables as the focus. Trends indicate an increase in remote sensing-based studies that feature long-term datasets of land surface variables. The hereby corresponding validation efforts show only minor methodological diversification in the past two decades. To sustain comprehensive and standardized validation efforts, the provision of spatiotemporally dense validation data in order to estimate actual differences between measurement and the true state has to be maintained. The promotion of novel approaches can, on the other hand, prove beneficial for various downstream applications, although typically only theoretical uncertainties are provided.
Land cover is a key variable in monitoring applications and new processing technologies made deriving this information easier. Yet, classification algorithms remain dependent on samples collected on the field and field campaigns are limited by financial, infrastructural and political boundaries. Here, animal tracking data could be an asset. Looking at the land cover dependencies of animal behaviour, we can obtain land cover samples over places that are difficult to access. Following this premise, we evaluated the potential of animal movement data to map land cover. Specifically, we used 13 White Storks (Cicona cicona) individuals of the same population to map agriculture within three test regions distributed along their migratory track. The White Stork has adapted to foraging over agricultural lands, making it an ideal source of samples to map this land use. We applied a presence-absence modelling approach over a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series and validated our classifications, with high-resolution land cover information. Our results suggest White Stork movement is useful to map agriculture, however, we identified some limitations. We achieved high accuracies (F1-scores > 0.8) for two test regions, but observed poor results over one region. This can be explained by differences in land management practices. The animals preferred agriculture in every test region, but our data showed a biased distribution of training samples between irrigated and non-irrigated land. When both options occurred, the animals disregarded non-irrigated land leading to its misclassification as non-agriculture. Additionally, we found difference between the GPS observation dates and the harvest times for non-irrigated crops. Given the White Stork takes advantage of managed land to search for prey, the inactivity of these fields was the likely culprit of their underrepresentation. Including more species attracted to agriculture - with other land-use dependencies and observation times - can contribute to better results in similar applications.
Advances in remote inventory and analysis of forest resources during the last decade have reached a level to be now considered as a crucial complement, if not a surrogate, to the long-existing field-based methods. This is mostly reflected in not only the use of multiple-band new active and passive remote sensing data for forest inventory, but also in the methodic and algorithmic developments and/or adoptions that aim at maximizing the predictive or calibration performances, thereby minimizing both random and systematic errors, in particular for multi-scale spatial domains. With this in mind, this editorial note wraps up the recently-published Remote Sensing special issue “Remote Sensing-Based Forest Inventories from Landscape to Global Scale”, which hosted a set of state-of-the-art experiments on remotely sensed inventory of forest resources conducted by a number of prominent researchers worldwide.
The alarming increase in the magnitude and spatiotemporal patterns of changes in composition, structure and function of forest ecosystems during recent years calls for enhanced cross-border mitigation and adaption measures, which strongly entail intensified research to understand the underlying processes in the ecosystems as well as their dynamics. Remote sensing data and methods are nowadays the main complementary sources of synoptic, up-to-date and objective information to support field observations in forest ecology. In particular, analysis of three-dimensional (3D) remote sensing data is regarded as an appropriate complement, since they are hypothesized to resemble the 3D character of most forest attributes. Following their use in various small-scale forest structural analyses over the past two decades, these sources of data are now on their way to be integrated in novel applications in fields like citizen science, environmental impact assessment, forest fire analysis, and biodiversity assessment in remote areas. These and a number of other novel applications provide valuable material for the Forests special issue “3D Remote Sensing Applications in Forest Ecology: Composition, Structure and Function”, which shows the promising future of these technologies and improves our understanding of the potentials and challenges of 3D remote sensing in practical forest ecology worldwide.
Human health is known to be affected by the physical environment. Various environmental influences have been identified to benefit or challenge people's physical condition. Their heterogeneous distribution in space results in unequal burdens depending on the place of living. In addition, since societal groups tend to also show patterns of segregation, this leads to unequal exposures depending on social status. In this context, environmental justice research examines how certain social groups are more affected by such exposures. Yet, analyses of this per se spatial phenomenon are oftentimes criticized for using “essentially aspatial” data or methods which neglect local spatial patterns by aggregating environmental conditions over large areas. Recent technological and methodological developments in satellite remote sensing have proven to provide highly detailed information on environmental conditions. This narrative review therefore discusses known influences of the urban environment on human health and presents spatial data and applications for analyzing these influences. Furthermore, it is discussed how geographic data are used in general and in the interdisciplinary research field of environmental justice in particular. These considerations include the modifiable areal unit problem and ecological fallacy. In this review we argue that modern earth observation data can represent an important data source for research on environmental justice and health. Especially due to their high level of spatial detail and the provided large-area coverage, they allow for spatially continuous description of environmental characteristics. As a future perspective, ongoing earth observation missions, as well as processing architectures, ensure data availability and applicability of ’big earth data’ for future environmental justice analyses.
Estimating penetration-related X-band InSAR elevation bias: a study over the Greenland ice sheet
(2019)
Accelerating melt on the Greenland ice sheet leads to dramatic changes at a global scale. Especially in the last decades, not only the monitoring, but also the quantification of these changes has gained considerably in importance. In this context, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) systems complement existing data sources by their capability to acquire 3D information at high spatial resolution over large areas independent of weather conditions and illumination. However, penetration of the SAR signals into the snow and ice surface leads to a bias in measured height, which has to be corrected to obtain accurate elevation data. Therefore, this study purposes an easy transferable pixel-based approach for X-band penetration-related elevation bias estimation based on single-pass interferometric coherence and backscatter intensity which was performed at two test sites on the Northern Greenland ice sheet. In particular, the penetration bias was estimated using a multiple linear regression model based on TanDEM-X InSAR data and IceBridge laser-altimeter measurements to correct TanDEM-X Digital Elevation Model (DEM) scenes. Validation efforts yielded good agreement between observations and estimations with a coefficient of determination of R\(^2\) = 68% and an RMSE of 0.68 m. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the benefits of X-band penetration bias estimation within the application context of ice sheet elevation change detection.
Invasive plant species are major threats to biodiversity. They can be identified and monitored by means of high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery. This study aimed to test the potential of multiple very high-resolution (VHR) optical multispectral and stereo imageries (VHRSI) at spatial resolutions of 1.5 and 5 m to quantify the presence of the invasive lantana (Lantana camara L.) and predict its distribution at large spatial scale using medium-resolution fractional cover analysis. We created initial training data for fractional cover analysis by classifying smaller extent VHR data (SPOT-6 and RapidEye) along with three dimensional (3D) VHRSI derived digital surface model (DSM) datasets. We modelled the statistical relationship between fractional cover and spectral reflectance for a VHR subset of the study area located in the Himalayan region of India, and finally predicted the fractional cover of lantana based on the spectral reflectance of Landsat-8 imagery of a larger spatial extent. We classified SPOT-6 and RapidEye data and used the outputs as training data to create continuous field layers of Landsat-8 imagery. The area outside the overlapping region was predicted by fractional cover analysis due to the larger extent of Landsat-8 imagery compared with VHR datasets. Results showed clear discrimination of understory lantana from upperstory vegetation with 87.38% (for SPOT-6), and 85.27% (for RapidEye) overall accuracy due to the presence of additional VHRSI derived DSM information. Independent validation for lantana fractional cover estimated root-mean-square errors (RMSE) of 11.8% (for RapidEye) and 7.22% (for SPOT-6), and R\(^2\) values of 0.85 and 0.92 for RapidEye (5 m) and SPOT-6 (1.5 m), respectively. Results suggested an increase in predictive accuracy of lantana within forest areas along with increase in the spatial resolution for the same Landsat-8 imagery. The variance explained at 1.5 m spatial resolution to predict lantana was 64.37%, whereas it decreased by up to 37.96% in the case of 5 m spatial resolution data. This study revealed the high potential of combining small extent VHR and VHRSI- derived 3D optical data with larger extent, freely available satellite data for identification and mapping of invasive species in mountainous forests and remote regions.
Via providing various ecosystem services, the old-growth Hyrcanian forests play a crucial role in the environment and anthropogenic aspects of Iran and beyond. The amount of growing stock volume (GSV) is a forest biophysical parameter with great importance in issues like economy, environmental protection, and adaptation to climate change. Thus, accurate and unbiased estimation of GSV is also crucial to be pursued across the Hyrcanian. Our goal was to investigate the potential of ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1's polarimetric features in combination with Sentinel-2 multi-spectral features for the GSV estimation in a portion of heterogeneously-structured and mountainous Hyrcanian forests. We used five different kernels by the support vector regression (nu-SVR) for the GSV estimation. Because each kernel differently models the parameters, we separately selected features for each kernel by a binary genetic algorithm (GA). We simultaneously optimized R\(^2\) and RMSE in a suggested GA fitness function. We calculated R\(^2\), RMSE to evaluate the models. We additionally calculated the standard deviation of validation metrics to estimate the model's stability. Also for models over-fitting or under-fitting analysis, we used mean difference (MD) index. The results suggested the use of polynomial kernel as the final model. Despite multiple methodical challenges raised from the composition and structure of the study site, we conclude that the combined use of polarimetric features (both dual and full) with spectral bands and indices can improve the GSV estimation over mixed broadleaf forests. This was partially supported by the use of proposed evaluation criterion within the GA, which helped to avoid the curse of dimensionality for the applied SVR and lowest over estimation or under estimation.
Projected climate changes for the 21st century may cause great uncertainties on the hydrology of a river basin. This study explored the impacts of climate change on the water balance and hydrological regime of the Jhelum River Basin using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Two downscaling methods (SDSM, Statistical Downscaling Model and LARS-WG, Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator), three Global Circulation Models (GCMs), and two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) for three future periods (2030s, 2050s, and 2090s) were used to assess the climate change impacts on flow regimes. The results exhibited that both downscaling methods suggested an increase in annual streamflow over the river basin. There is generally an increasing trend of winter and autumn discharge, whereas it is complicated for summer and spring to conclude if the trend is increasing or decreasing depending on the downscaling methods. Therefore, the uncertainty associated with the downscaling of climate simulation needs to consider, for the best estimate, the impact of climate change, with its uncertainty, on a particular basin. The study also resulted that water yield and evapotranspiration in the eastern part of the basin (sub-basins at high elevation) would be most affected by climate change. The outcomes of this study would be useful for providing guidance in water management and planning for the river basin under climate change.
Episodic low oxygenated conditions on the sea-floor are likely responsible for exceptional preservation of animal remains in the upper Amouslek Formation (lower Cambrian, Stage 3) on the northern slope of the western Anti-Atlas, Morocco. This stratigraphic interval has yielded trilobite, brachiopod, and hyolith fossils with preserved soft parts, including some of the oldest known trilobite guts. The "Souss fossil lagerstatte" (newly proposed designation) represents the first Cambrian fossil lagerstatte in Cambrian strata known from Africa and is one of the oldest trilobite-bearing fossil lagerstatten on Earth. Inter-regional correlation of the Souss fossil lagerstatte in West Gondwana suggests its development during an interval of high eustatic levels recorded by dark shales that occur in informal upper Cambrian Series 2 in Siberia, South China, and East Gondwana.
This study examines the relationship between variations of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and black carbon (BC) at 550 nm aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the Western Cape province (WC). Variations of the positive (negative) phase of the SAM are found to be related to regional circulation types (CTs) in southern Africa, associated with suppressed (enhanced) westerly wind over the WC through the southward (northward) migration of Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude cyclones. The CTs related to positive (negative) SAM anomalies induce stable (unstable) atmospheric conditions over the southwestern regions of the WC, especially during the austral winter and autumn seasons. Through the control of CTs, positive (negative) SAM phases tend to contribute to the build-up (dispersion and dilution) of BC in the study region because they imply dry (wet) conditions which favor the build-up (washing out) of pollutant particles in the atmosphere. Indeed, recent years with an above-average frequency of CTs related to positive (negative) SAM anomalies are associated with a high (low) BC AOD over southwesternmost Africa.
Sacred water canals or lakes, which provided water for all kinds of purification rites and other activities, were very specific and important features of temples in ancient Egypt. In addition to the longer-known textual record, preliminary geoarchaeological surveys have recently provided evidence of a sacred canal at the Temple of Bastet at Bubastis. In order to further explore the location, shape, and course of this canal and to find evidence of the existence of a second waterway, also described by Herodotus, 34 drillings and five 2D geoelectrical measurements were carried out in 2019 and 2020 near the temple. The drillings and 2D ERT surveying revealed loamy to clayey deposits with a thickness of up to five meters, most likely deposited in a very low energy fluvial system (i.e., a canal), allowing the reconstruction of two separate sacred canals both north and south of the Temple of Bastet. In addition to the course of the canals, the width of about 30 m fits Herodotus’ description of the sacred waterways. The presence of numerous artefacts proved the anthropogenic use of the ancient canals, which were presumably connected to the Nile via a tributary or canal located west or northwest of Bubastis.
The natural cyclical development of palsas makes it difficult to use visible signs of decay as reference points for environmental change. Thus, to determine the actual development stage of a palsa, investigations of the internal structure are crucial. Our study presents 2‐D and 3‐D electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) and 2‐D ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) results, measurements of surface and subsurface temperatures, and of the soil matric potential from Orravatnsrústir Palsa Site in Central Iceland. By a joint interpretation of the results, we deduce the internal structure (i.e., thickness of thaw zone and permafrost, ice/water content) of five palsas of different size and shape. The results differentiate between initial and mature development stages and show that palsas of different development stages can exist in close proximity. While internal characteristics indicate undisturbed development of four palsas, one palsa shows indications of environmental change. Our study shows the value of the multimethod geophysical approach and introduces measurements of the soil matric potential as a promising method to assess the current state of the subsurface.
Pre‐Klondikean oxidation prepared the ground for Broken Hill‐type mineralization in South Africa
(2021)
New Cu isotope data obtained on chalcopyrite from the Black Mountain and the Broken Hill deposits in the medium‐ to high‐grade metamorphic Aggeneys‐Gamsberg ore district (South Africa) require a revision of our understanding of the genesis of metamorphic Broken Hill‐type massive sulphide deposits. Chalcopyrite from both deposits revealed unusually wide ranges in δ\(^{65}\)Cu (−2.41 to 2.84‰ NIST 976 standard) in combination with distinctly positive mean values (0.27 and 0.94‰, respectively). This is interpreted to reflect derivation from various silicate and oxide precursor minerals in which Cu occurred in higher oxidation states. Together with the observation of a typical supergene base metal distribution within the deposits and their spatial association with an unconformity only meters above the ore horizon, our new data are best explained by supergene oxidation of originally possibly SEDEX deposits prior to metamorphic sulphide formation, between the Okiepian (1,210–1,180 Ma) and Klondikean (1,040–1,020 Ma) orogenic events.
Statistical modeling of phenology in Bavaria based on past and future meteorological information
(2020)
Plant phenology is well known to be affected by meteorology. Observed changes in the occurrence of phenological phases arecommonly considered some of the most obvious effects of climate change. However, current climate models lack a representationof vegetation suitable for studying future changes in phenology itself. This study presents a statistical-dynamical modelingapproach for Bavaria in southern Germany, using over 13,000 paired samples of phenological and meteorological data foranalyses and climate change scenarios provided by a state-of-the-art regional climate model (RCM). Anomalies of severalmeteorological variables were used as predictors and phenological anomalies of the flowering date of the test plantForsythiasuspensaas predictand. Several cross-validated prediction models using various numbers and differently constructed predictorswere developed, compared, and evaluated via bootstrapping. As our approach needs a small set of meteorological observationsper phenological station, it allows for reliable parameter estimation and an easy transfer to other regions. The most robust andsuccessful model comprises predictors based on mean temperature, precipitation, wind velocity, and snow depth. Its averagecoefficient of determination and root mean square error (RMSE) per station are 60% and ± 8.6 days, respectively. However, theprediction error strongly differs among stations. When transferred to other indicator plants, this method achieves a comparablelevel of predictive accuracy. Its application to two climate change scenarios reveals distinct changes for various plants andregions. The flowering date is simulated to occur between 5 and 25 days earlier at the end of the twenty-first century comparedto the phenology of the reference period (1961–1990).
The new ellipsocephaloid trilobite species Kingaspidoides spinirecurvatus has a spectacular morphology because of a unique set of two long and anteriorly recurved spines on the occipital ring and the axial ring of thoracic segment 8. Together with the long genal spines this whimsical dorsally directed spine arrangement is thought to act as a non-standard protective device against predators. This is illustrated by the body posture during different stages of enrolment, contrasting with the more sophisticated spinosities seen in later trilobites, which are discussed in brief. Kingaspidoides spinirecurvatus from the lower–middle Cambrian boundary interval of the eastern Anti-Atlas in Morocco has been known for about two decades, with specimens handled as precious objects on the fossil market. Similar, but far less spectacular, spine arrangements on the thoracic axial rings are known from other ellipsocephaloid trilobites from the Anti-Atlas of Morocco and the Franconian Forest region of Germany. This suggests that an experimental phase of spine development took place within the Kingaspi-doides clade during the early–middle Cambrian boundary interval.
In recent years, the midlatitudes are characterized by more intense heatwaves in summer and sometimes severe cold spells in winter that might emanate from changes in atmospheric circulation, including synoptic‐scale and planetary wave activity in the midlatitudes. In this study, we investigate the heat and momentum exchange between the mean flow and atmospheric waves in the North Atlantic sector and adjacent continents by means of the physically consistent Eliassen–Palm flux diagnostics applied to reanalysis and forced climate model data. In the long‐term mean, momentum is transferred from the mean flow to atmospheric waves in the northwest Atlantic region, where cyclogenesis prevails. Further downstream over Europe, eddy fluxes return momentum to the mean flow, sustaining the jet stream against friction. A global climate model is able to reproduce this pattern with high accuracy. Atmospheric variability related to atmospheric wave activity is much more expressed at the intraseasonal rather than the interannual time‐scale. Over the last 40 years, reanalyses reveal a northward shift of the jet stream and a weakening of intraseasonal weather variability related to synoptic‐scale and planetary wave activity. This pertains to the winter and summer seasons, especially over central Europe, and correlates with changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation as well as regional temperature and precipitation. A very similar phenomenon is found in a climate model simulation with business‐as‐usual scenario, suggesting an anthropogenic trigger in the weakening of intraseasonal weather variability in the midlatitudes.
The heavily debris-covered Inylchek glaciers in the central Tian Shan are the largest glacier system in the Tarim catchment. It is assumed that almost 50% of the discharge of Tarim River are provided by glaciers. For this reason, climatic changes, and thus changes in glacier mass balance and glacier discharge are of high impact for the whole region. In this study, a conceptual hydrological model able to incorporate discharge from debris-covered glacier areas is presented. To simulate glacier melt and subsequent runoff in the past (1970/1971–1999/2000) and future (2070/2071–2099/2100), meteorological input data were generated based on ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 global climate model projections. The hydrological model HBV-LMU was calibrated by an automatic calibration algorithm using runoff and snow cover information as objective functions. Manual fine-tuning was performed to avoid unrealistic results for glacier mass balance. The simulations show that annual runoff sums will increase significantly under future climate conditions. A sensitivity analysis revealed that total runoff does not decrease until the glacier area is reduced by 43%. Ice melt is the major runoff source in the recent past, and its contribution will even increase in the coming decades. Seasonal changes reveal a trend towards enhanced melt in spring, but a change from a glacial-nival to a nival-pluvial runoff regime will not be reached until the end of this century.
Peatlands located on slopes (herein called slope bogs) are typical landscape units in the Hunsrueck, a low mountain range in Southwestern Germany. The pathways of the water feeding the slope bogs have not yet been documented and analyzed. The identification of the different mechanisms allowing these peatlands to originate and survive requires a better understanding of the subsurface lithology and hydrogeology. Hence, we applied a multi-method approach to two case study sites in order to characterize the subsurface lithology and to image the variable spatio-temporal hydrological conditions. The combination of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and an ERT-Monitoring and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), in conjunction with direct methods and data (borehole drilling and meteorological data), allowed us to gain deeper insights into the subsurface characteristics and dynamics of the peatlands and their catchment area. The precipitation influences the hydrology of the peatlands as well as the interflow in the subsurface. Especially, the geoelectrical monitoring data, in combination with the precipitation and temperature data, indicate that there are several forces driving the hydrology and hydrogeology of the peatlands. While the water content of the uppermost layers changes with the weather conditions, the bottom layer seems to be more stable and changes to a lesser extent. At the selected case study sites, small differences in subsurface properties can have a huge impact on the subsurface hydrogeology and the water paths. Based on the collected data, conceptual models have been deduced for the two case study sites.
The use of inverse methods allow efficient model calibration. This study employs PEST to calibrate a large catchment scale transient flow model. Results are demonstrated by comparing manually calibrated approaches with the automated approach. An advanced Tikhonov regularization algorithm was employed for carrying out the automated pilot point (PP) method. The results indicate that automated PP is more flexible and robust as compared to other approaches. Different statistical indicators show that this method yields reliable calibration as values of coefficient of determination (R-2) range from 0.98 to 0.99, Nash Sutcliffe efficiency (ME) range from 0.964 to 0.976, and root mean square errors (RMSE) range from 1.68 m to 1.23 m, for manual and automated approaches, respectively. Validation results of automated PP show ME as 0.969 and RMSE as 1.31 m. The results of output sensitivity suggest that hydraulic conductivity is a more influential parameter. Considering the limitations of the current study, it is recommended to perform global sensitivity and linear uncertainty analysis for the better estimation of the modelling results.
Estimating flood risks and managing disasters combines knowledge in climatology, meteorology, hydrology, hydraulic engineering, statistics, planning and geography - thus a complex multi-faceted problem. This study focuses on the capabilities of multi-source remote sensing data to support decision-making before, during and after a flood event. With our focus on urbanized areas, sample methods and applications show multi-scale products from the hazard and vulnerability perspective of the risk framework. From the hazard side, we present capabilities with which to assess flood-prone areas before an expected disaster. Then we map the spatial impact during or after a flood and finally, we analyze damage grades after a flood disaster. From the vulnerability side, we monitor urbanization over time on an urban footprint level, classify urban structures on an individual building level, assess building stability and quantify probably affected people. The results show a large database for sustainable development and for developing mitigation strategies, ad-hoc coordination of relief measures and organizing rehabilitation.
The 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano was characterized by pulsating activity. Discrete ash bursts merged at higher altitude and formed a sustained quasi-continuous eruption column. High-resolution near-field videos were recorded on 8-10 May, during the second explosive phase of the eruption, and supplemented by contemporary aerial observations. In the observed period, pulses occurred at intervals of 0.8 to 23.4 s (average, 4.2 s). On the basis of video analysis, the pulse volume and the velocity of the reversely buoyant jets that initiated each pulse were determined. The expansion history of jets was tracked until the pulses reached the height of transition from a negatively buoyant jet to a convective buoyant plume about 100 m above the vent. Based on the assumption that the density of the gas-solid mixture making up the pulse approximates that of the surrounding air at the level of transition from the jet to the plume, a mass flux ranging between 2.2 and 3.5 . 10\(^4\) kg/s was calculated. This mass eruption rate is in good agreement with results obtained with simple models relating plume height with mass discharge at the vent. Our findings indicate that near-field measurements of eruption source parameters in a pulsating eruption may prove to be an effective monitoring tool. A comparison of the observed pulses with those generated in calibrated large-scale experiments reveals very similar characteristics and suggests that the analysis of near-field sensors could in the future help to constrain the triggering mechanism of explosive eruptions.
No abstract available.
Dans le Niger oriental, des phénomenes karstiques sont fréquents dans les roches siliceuses: gres, silcretes, croûtes ferrugineuses, roches cristallines. A partir des études géomorphologiques et micromorphologiques, on peut conclure a une kartsification, au sense de production de formes par dissolution. Les résultats permettent de dater du Tertiaire inférieur la principale période de karstification. La répartition régionale des formes induites par cette karstification indique une dépendance probable des conditions paléoclimatiques. Actuellement le karst influe encore sur le développement des autres formes de relief.
A 42 m drilling was pertormed in the depresalon of Bilma, Xawar, NE-Niger. The sediment and pollen records show that after an initial deposition of dune sands there were repeated lake phases which terminated by desiccation and consolidation of spring mounds. The pollen record indicates a continuous presence of savanna vegetation. The record probably covers the period between the Upper Pleistocene and the Late Holocene. The climate was characterised by a monssonal summer rain regime giving effective rain fall of about 450-500 mm per year. Groundwater recharge was possible but estimates of the amount of water resources are difficult because of the karstic system of the escarpment and the nearly unknown hydrogeological situation.
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The overarching goal of this research was to explore accurate methods of mapping irrigated crops, where digital cadastre information is unavailable: (a) Boundary separation by object-oriented image segmentation using very high spatial resolution (2.5–5 m) data was followed by (b) identification of crops and crop rotations by means of phenology, tasselled cap, and rule-based classification using high resolution (15–30 m) bi-temporal data. The extensive irrigated cotton production system of the Khorezm province in Uzbekistan, Central Asia, was selected as a study region. Image segmentation was carried out on pan-sharpened SPOT data. Varying combinations of segmentation parameters (shape, compactness, and color) were tested for optimized boundary separation. The resulting geometry was validated against polygons digitized from the data and cadastre maps, analysing similarity (size, shape) and congruence. The parameters shape and compactness were decisive for segmentation accuracy. Differences between crop phenologies were analyzed at field level using bi-temporal ASTER data. A rule set based on the tasselled cap indices greenness and brightness allowed for classifying crop rotations of cotton, winter-wheat and rice, resulting in an overall accuracy of 80 %. The proposed field-based crop classification method can be an important tool for use in water demand estimations, crop yield simulations, or economic models in agricultural systems similar to Khorezm.
Wetlands in West Africa are among the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change. West African wetlands are often freshwater transfer mechanisms from wetter climate regions to dryer areas, providing an array of ecosystem services and functions. Often wetland-specific data in Africa is only available on a per country basis or as point data. Since wetlands are challenging to map, their accuracies are not well considered in global land cover products. In this paper we describe a methodology to map wetlands using well-corrected 250-meter MODIS time-series data for the year 2002 and over a 360,000 km2 large study area in western Burkina Faso and southern Mali (West Africa). A MODIS-based spectral index table is used to map basic wetland morphology classes. The index uses the wet season near infrared (NIR) metrics as a surrogate for flooding, as a function of the dry season chlorophyll activity metrics (as NDVI). Topographic features such as sinks and streamline areas were used to mask areas where wetlands can potentially occur, and minimize spectral confusion. 30-m Landsat trajectories from the same year, over two reference sites, were used for accuracy assessment, which considered the area-proportion of each class mapped in Landsat for every MODIS cell. We were able to map a total of five wetland categories. Aerial extend of all mapped wetlands (class “Wetland”) is 9,350 km2, corresponding to 4.3% of the total study area size. The classes “No wetland”/“Wetland” could be separated with very high certainty; the overall agreement (KHAT) was 84.2% (0.67) and 97.9% (0.59) for the two reference sites, respectively. The methodology described herein can be employed to render wide area base line information on wetland distributions in semi-arid West Africa, as a data-scarce region. The results can provide (spatially) interoperable information feeds for inter-zonal as well as local scale water assessments.
The mineralogical and chemical characteristics of fulgurites ( = natural glasses forrned by lightning strikes to the ground) from the southern Centrat Sahara (Niger) are presented. The fulgurites are indicators of thunderstorms. The northernmost important fulgurite formation in the study area reached up to about l8°N, with decreasing fulgurite concentration from south to north. Their distribution pattern and the relative dating of their formation in relation to Iandscape history from the Late Pleistocene onwards (e.g., palaeolakes, palaeosols), and to Neolithic settlement reveals their value as palaeoenvironmental indicators. They indicate: (1) local palaeoenvironmental conditions depending on the topographical situation in a complex dune relief; (2) climatic change during the mid-Holocene from northerly rains to southerly rains; and (3) the northernmost Iimit of important thunderstorrns and rainfall activity since this time in the southern Centrat Sahara.
Die Arbeit beschreibt im ersten Teil die Auswirkung der Sandstein- und Eisenkrustenverkarstung auf das Plateaurelief des östlichen Niger. Angesprochen werden die abflußlosen Karstdepressionen auf den Plateaudachflächen, die Rolle intensiver Verkarstung bei der Herauspräparierung von Sandsteinsäulen an Hängen, von Plateauspornen und Inselbergen, die Mitwirkung bei der Talbildung sowie Einsturzdolinen an Hängen. Im zweiten Teil wird die Mikromorphologie von Karsthöhlenüberzügen aus der Endphase der phreatischen Karstlösung beschrieben. Oberflächennahe Körner weisen starke Korrosion auf. Phosphor in der wiederausgefällten Matrix und eingekieselte Bakterien deuten auf eine organische Komponente bei der Ausbildung des tertiären Silikatkarsts.
Vorgestellt werden Lösungsformen in karbonatfreien Sandsteinen und Eisenkrusten der östlichen Republik Niger. Diese Formen haben eine außerordentlich weite Verbreitung und sind wesentliche Elemente der Landschaft. Beschrieben werden sowohl auf den Dachflächen der südsaharisch/sahelischen Schichtstufen entwickelte Depressionen mit subterraner Entwässerung als auch an Wadi hängen und steilen Stufenabschnitten gekappte, horizontal bis schräg verlaufende Höhlen und Röhren. Viele dieser Lösungsformen sind zumindest in Resten noch von einer Eisen- oder Kieselkruste ausgekleidet, die u.a. als Indiz für eine Entstehung der Formen im Grundwasserbereich angesehen werden kann. Die Anlage der Karstformen wäre demnach noch vor die Herauspräparierung der Stufen und Inselberge im ausgehenden Tertiär zu stellen. Die Karstformen in nichtkarbonatischen Gesteinen gleichen bis ins Detail denen des Karbonatkarstes. Eine initiale Formung durch äolische oder fluviatile Prozesse oder durch Piping kann ausgeschlossen werden.
Der größte Teil des zentralsaharischen Reliefs ist unter dem Einfluß nicht-arider Klimate gebildet worden. Andererseits gab es im Pleistozän äolisch geprägte aride Phasen, die extremer als heutige gewesen sind. Der Kenntnisstand zur Reliefgeschichte erlaubt es, daraus die Grundzüge der Klimageschichte eines großen Teils der südlich-zentralen Sahara abzuleiten.
Die Karstdepressionen auf den Dachflächen der Schichtstufen in Sahara und Sahel sind im allgemeinen von allochthonen quartären Lockermaterialien verfüllt. Die tieferen Verfüllungsschichten zeigen eine von Norden nach Süden zunehmende Überprägung durch Verwitterungs- und Bodenbildungsprozesse. Die obersten ca. 10 cm der Verfüllungen sind dagegen im ganzen Untersuchungsgebiet relativ uniform ausgebildet. Sie repräsentieren die äolischen Ablagerungen seit der mittelholozänen Aridisierung. Drei Verfiillungsprofile (Seggedim, Termit-Dougoule und Koutous) werden vorgestellt und hinsichtlich ihrer paläoklimatischen Aussagekraft überprüft.
Silicate and iron crust karst pits and sinkholes in eastern Niger are filled with reworked lateritic sediments or with unconsolidated palaeosoils and aeolian deposits. The fillings facies depend on the environmental conditions during deposition. Geomorphological and sedimentological studies on the karst fillings and the interpretation of various karst/filling associations allow an approach to the chronology of landscape development in eastern Niger plateaus.
Der vorliegende Beitrag faßt den derzeitigen Stand der Untersuchungen von Hangrutschungen im Bereich der Frankenhöhe, die im Rahmen des EPOCH-Programmes durchgeführt wurden, zusammen. Nach einer Inventarisierung der regionalen Rutschungsereignisse wird die Rutschung bei Obergailnau in einer geomorphologischen Detailkartierung vorgestellt. Für die Auslösung der Rutschung kommen mehrere Faktoren in Betracht: neben einer erhöhten Rutschungsanfälligkeit aufgrund der geologisch-tektonischen Verhältnisse muß v.a. auch eine Einflußnahme durch die Landnutzung mit berücksichtigt werden. Dazu zählen Steinbrucharbeiten in unmittelbarer Nähe der Rutschung, aber auch Wasserbaumaßnahmen am Schloßberg. In diesem potentielllabilisierten Gebiet kam es nach überdurchschnittlichen Niederschlägen Anfang 1958 zu einer Überschreitung der Belastungsgrenze des Hanges, die sich in einer großflächigen Rutschung äußerte. Die weiteren Untersuchungen sollen zeigen, ob sich die für Obergailnau herausgestellten Faktorenkomplexe im regionalen Rahmen verifizieren lassen.
Am Beispiel von vier Koris l) (Téloua, Barghot, Tazolé, Oufaguédout) des südlichen Air-Vorlandes werden Beobachtungen zum aktuellen morphodynamischen Geschehen dieser Region vorgestellt. Durch die regionalen Unterschiede der durchschnittlichen jährlichen Niederschlagshöhen und durch unterschiedliche Charakteristika ihrer Einzugsgebiete können diese vier Koris als typische Vertreter verschiedener fluviatil/äolischer Formungsgruppen angesehen werden. Der Übergang von vorherrschend fluviatiler zu vorherrschend äolischer Formung liegt dabei im Bereich des Kori Oufaguédout, im östlichen Teil des Untersuchungsraumes. Hier konnte durch mehrere Schürfe auch der zeitliche Übergang zwischen beiden Formungskreisen in der jüngeren Reliefgeschichte nachgewiesen werden.
Calc-silicate rocks occur as elliptical bands and boudins intimately interlayered with eclogites and high-pressure gneisses in the Munchberg gneiss complex of NE Bavaria. Core assemblages of the boudins consist of grossular-rich garnet, diopside, quartz, zoisite, clinozoisite, calcite, rutile and titanite. The polygonal granoblastic texture commonly displays mineral relics and reaction textures such as postkinematic grossular-rich garnet coronas. Reactions between these mineral phases have been modelled in the CaO-Al203-Si02-C02-H2 0 system with an internally consistent thermodynamic data base. High-pressure metamorphism in the calc-silicate rocks has been estimated at a minimum pressure of 31 kbar at a temperature of 630°C with X^oSQ.Gi. Small volumes of a C02-N2-rich fluid whose composition was buffered on a local scale were present at peak-metamorphic conditions. The P-T conditions for the onset of the amphibolite facies overprint are about 10 kbar at the same temperature. A'co., of the H20-rich fluid phase is regarded to have been <0.03 during amphibolite facies conditions. These P-T estimates are interpreted as representing different stages of recrystallization during isothermal decompression. The presence of multiple generations of mineral phases and the preservation of very high-pressure relics in single thin sections preclude pervasive post-peak metamorphic fluid flow as a cause of a re-equilibration within the calc-silicates. The preservation of eclogite facies, very high-pressure relics as well as amphibolite facies reactions textures in the presence of a fluid phase is in agreement with fast, tectonically driven unroofing of these rocks.
No abstract available
An Metabasiten der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß, der Erbendorfer Grünschieferzone und der Zone Tirschenreuth-Mähring wurden petrographische, geochemische und phasenpetrologische Untersuchungen sowie K-Ar-Mineraldatierungen durchgeführt. In der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß treten in regionaler Abhängigkeit drei Haupttypen von Metabasiten auf: 1. Flaseramphibolite mit der Paragenese Hornblende + Oligoklas/ Andesin + Granat ± Salit und mit Plagioklas- und / oder Kalksilikat-reichen Flasern findet man hauptsächlich im nördlichen und zentralen Teil der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß. Geochemisch zeigen sie eine deutliche Anreicherung der inkompatiblen Elemente und der leichten Seltenerdelemente und sind vergleichbar mit modernen Tholeiiten von ozeanischen Inseln oder anomalen Abschnitten mittelozeanischer Rükken. Ein kontinentaler Intraplatten-Charakter scheint nicht gegeben. In der Kontaktaureole von Windisch-Eschenbach wurde ein Teil der Flaseramphibolite kontaktmetamorph überprägt. 2. Schiefrige, teils streifige Amphibolite mit der Paragenese Hornblende + Andesin / Labrador ± Salit dominieren im Süd teil der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß, erscheinen aber in einzelnen Ausstrichen auch im Norden. Die Streifung entsteht durch Plagioklas- und / oder Kalksilikat-reiche Zwischenlagen. Geochemisch sind diese Amphibolite bei flachen Spurenelement- und Seltenerdelement- Mustern vergleichbar mit modernen Tholeiiten von normalen Abschnitten mittelozeanischer Rücken. Sowohl Flaseramphibolite als auch schiefrige, teils streifige Amphibolite zeigen Übergänge zu massigen, homogenen Amphiboliten. 3. Metagabbros mit der Paragenese Hornblende + Plagioklas ± Biotit und einer grobkörnigen, gabbro iden Textur treten hauptsächlich im Bereich der Schuppenzone Michldorf-Kaimling (VOLL 1960) auf. Geochemisch nehmen sie bei einer schwachen Anreicherung der inkompatiblen Elemente eine Zwischenstellung zwischen Flaseramphiboliten und schiefrigen, teils streifigen Amphiboliten ein. In der Erbendorfer Grünschieferzone treten Metagabbros und schiefrige, teils gestreifte Amphibolite mit der Paragenese Hornblende + Oligoklas ± Epidot ± Chlorit auf. Die Amphibolite wurden z. T. stark retrograd überprägt und dabei auch deformiert. Dies wird auf größere, post-regionalmetamorphe, tektonische Bewegungen, möglicherweise Deckenüberschiebungen zurückgeführt. Geochemisch sind die Metabasite der Erbendorfer Grünschieferzone mit modernen tholeiitischen bis kalkalkalischen, subduktionsgebundenen Basalten vergleichbar. Sie unterscheiden sich damit völlig von den südlich angrenzenden Flaseramphiboliten der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß und den nördlich benachbarten Amphiboliten des Fichtelgebirges. Dies unterstreicht die Stellung der Erbendorfer Grünschieferzone als eigenständige tektonische Einheit. Im Vergleich mit dem Münchberger Komplex zeigt die Erbendorfer Grünschieferzone große Ähnlichkeit mit der Prasinit-Phyllit-Serie hinsichtlich der tektonischen Stellung, der Lithologie und insbesondere des geochemischen Charakters der Metabasite. Zwischen der Zone Erbendorf-Vohen-strauß und den Münchberger Serien konnten bezüglich der Metabasite dagegen keine Parallelen festgestellt werden. Schiefrige, teils streifige Amphibolite der Zone Tirschenreuth-Mähring mit der Paragenese Hornblende + Andesin ± Salit (± Granat) und hellen Plagioklas- oder Kalksilikat-reichen Lagen sind geochemisch mit modernen Basalten normaler mittel ozeanischer Rücken vergleichbar. Die untersuchten Metabasite dürften die Zusammensetzung des basaltischen Ausgangsmaterials zumindest annähernd wiedergeben. In einigen Fällen wurde jedoch eine sekundäre Mobilisation von Elementen festgestellt: Die kontaktmetamorphe Überprägung eines Teils der Flaseramphibolite in der Kontaktaureole von Windisch-Eschenbach führte zu einer deutlichen Anreicherung von Rb, Li und K und zu einer Abreicherung von Ca, Sr und V, insbesondere aber von Cr und Ni. Die sog. immobilen Elemente Nb, Ce, (P), Zr, Ti, Y, Sc streuen in einem deutlich breiteren Bereich als bei den nicht kontaktmetamorphen Flaseramphiboliten. In einer Probe sind die Seltenerdelemente insgesamt angereichert. Eine Mobilisation von P20 S und den leichten Seltenerdelementen in einigen schiefrigen, teils streifigen Amphiboliten der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß und in einigen kontaktmetamorphen Flaseramphiboliten wird auf einen Abbau von Apatit im Zuge einer post-regionalmetamorphen, möglicherweise postgranitischen, hydrothermalen Überprägung zurückgeführt. Mineralchemische Untersuchungen ergaben für die Zusammensetzung der Hornblenden aus Amphiboliten der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß deutliche regionale Unterschiede, die weitgehend unabhängig von der regionalen Verteilung der einzelnen Metabasit-Haupttypen sind. Vergleichende Untersuchungen an Granat untermauern eine vermutete, frühere, eklogitfazielle Überprägung eines Granatamphibolits vom Nordrand der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß bei Hauxdorf. K-Ar-Altersdatierungen an Hornblende- und Glimmerkonzentraten belegen, daß das letzte, (Mitteldruck-) metamorphe Ereignis im Westteil der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß vor etwa 380 Ma beendet war. Dieses Alter wird korreliert mit einer letzten Metamorphose der höhermetamorphen Serien des Münchberger Komplexes zur gleichen Zeit. Im Ostteil der Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauß treten jüngere Altersdaten mit einem Schwerpunkt bei 324 Ma auf, die entweder auf einen Einfluß der etwa gleichalten Niederdruck-Metamorphose im unmittelbar benachbarten Moldanubikum i. e. S. oder auf die Intrusion des 324 Ma alten (KÖHLER et al. 1974) Leuchtenberger Granits zurückzuführen sind. Im Übergangsbereich vom Saxothuringikum zum Moldanubikum bei Mähring zeigen Altersdaten um 320Ma das Ende der letzten (Niederdruck-)Metamorphose an.
The Ringgold Knoll pegmatite, a late-stage member of the Granite Harbour Intrusives, crosscuts high-grade Wilson gneisses of the Oates Coast, which forms the westernmost part of the Wilson Terrane at the Pacific end of the Cambro-Ordovician Ross orogenic belt in West Antarctica. The pegmatite mineral assemblage consists of K-feldspar, plagioclase, quartz, garnet (almandinespessartine-pyrope), dark tourmaline (schorl-dravite), muscovite, apatite, monazite, zircon, blue AI-rich tourmaline and dumortierite in order of decreasing abundances. Major, minor and rare earth elements are reported for the greater part of the mineral assemblage. The time of pegmatite emplacement is constrained by Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isochron ages of 492 ± 8 (2a) Ma and 500 ± 40 (2a) Ma, respectively. High initial 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7315 ± 0.0003 and low E Nd,t of -8.7 ± 1.2 strongly support an origin of the magma from highly evolved crustal source rocks. K-Ar and Ar-Ar model ages of about 470 to 475 Ma for igneous muscovite indicate that the pegmatite together with its wall rocks spent a prolonged period at elevated temperatures before final cooling below about 350 °C. The muscovite dates may give an estimate for the time of exhumation of the Oates Coast crystalline basement along two major late Ross orogenic detachment zones within the Wilson Terrane i.e. the Wilson and the Exiles thrusts (c.f. FLÖTTMANN and KLEINSCHMIDT, 1991).
Die Kupfer-Zink-Lagerstätte von Kupferberg-Neufang im Bereich der Münchberger Deckenstruktur besteht aus einem etwa 4 km langen Zug einzelner stratiformer Vererzungslinsen, der in NW-SE-Richtung vom anchimetamorphen Paläozoikum "Bayerischer" Faziesentwicklung in die Prasinit-Phyllit-Serie hinüberzieht. Bisherige lagerstättenkundliche Untersuchimgen interpretierten die gesamte Lagerstätte als einheitliche, submarin-exhalativ entstandene stratiforme Bildung in Zusammenhang mit ordovizischem basischem Vulkanismus, der in den Rahmengesteinen der Lagerstätte durch die Diabase der anchimetamorphen Randschieferserie bzw. die Prasinite der Prasinit-Phyllit-Serie dokumentiert ist. Diese Vorstellung steht jedoch in deutlichem Widerspruch zu den Ergebnissen neuerer geochemischer und biostratigraphischer Untersuchungen, die für die Diabase und Prasinite eine völlig unterschiedliche Zusammensetzung ergaben und die zeigten, daß die Prasinit-Phyllit-Serie schon im Oberproterozoikum, die erzführenden Schichten im anchimetamorphen Paläozoikum aber erst im Unterdevon sedimentiert wurden. Für eine Klärung der Situation sind weitere Untersuchungen im Bereich der Lagerstätte erforderlich.
No abstract available