ALBERT

Description: The anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and other climate-active gases lead to a steep increase of global temperatures. Global climate change is particularly amplified in the Arctic (e.g., Serreze et al., 2009; Serreze and Barry, 2011). Increasing temperatures and the rapid sea ice decline have shown profound effects on life in the Arctic ecosystem (Wassmann et al., 2011). Climate model predictions suggest a seasonally sea ice-free Arctic well before the first half of this century (Overland and Wang, 2013; Docquier and Koenigk, 2021). The composition, structure and function of the Arctic microbiome will be altered with distinct effects on the marine system, on primary productivity, carbon fluxes and food web structures. Changes in the composition and structure of primary producers were already observed in Fram Strait (Nöthig et al., 2015), the boundary and highly dynamic zone between the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. These changes were reflected in the export flux of particulate organic matter (Lalande et al., 2013), also observable in the benthic communities (Jacob, 2014). Thus, understanding how the microbial communities changed over time under different environmental conditions is a scientific task needed to assess future changes in the Arctic ecosystem. This thesis aimed to understand the composition, distribution and function of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotic communities in Fram Strait across different spatial and temporal scales and their relationship with environmental variables. The overall objective was to identify signature groups and key factors of change, to provide a baseline to the effects of climate change and sea ice retreat. It provides a comprehensive overview of the Arctic microbiome by the incorporation of seawater, sinking particles and sea ice samples to identify key microbial indicators of change and environmental drivers in these communities. Samples were obtained in the frame work of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site HAUSGARTEN and the FRontiers in Marine Monitoring (FRAM) program. The results of Chapter I and Chapter II highlight the usage of methods free of compositional- bias and meta’omics approaches necessary to understand the role of microbial communities. The observations in Chapter I revealed that different water masses characterized by different physicochemical conditions harboured different active microbial communities. A late phytoplankton bloom dominated by diatoms in the surface waters of the eastern Fram Strait was identified, where members of the Bacteroidetes, Alteromonadales, Oceanospirillales and Rhodobacterales were significantly active. Abundant transcripts of transporters and fundamental cellular functions supported the degradation of organic matter. The deeper waters of Atlantic origin were marked by strong chemolithotrophic activities by members of Thaumarchaeota. In Chapter II I analysed bacterial and archaeal groups in deep-sea waters that benefitted from a phytoplankton bloom at the surface. Chapter III studied the development of microbial composition of sinking particles using a 12-year time-series study. The presence of sea ice and the passing warm anomaly were the drivers of change in these communities. In Chapter IV, microcosm experiments revealed bacterial taxa that responded to eukaryotes and substrates sourced from the sea ice during sea ice melt in seawater. Altogether, the results of this thesis provide baseline knowledge to better assess the effects of climate change on the Arctic microbiome and the consequences for ecosystem functioning and carbon cycling.

Description: The global climate change has an unprecedented impact on the Arctic Ocean, resulting in warming of the Arctic surface air at much faster rates than the global average. The warming temperatures lead to constantly declining Arctic sea ice cover, which reached in September 2018 the sixth lowest summertime minimum extent in the satellite record (since the late 1970s). Shrinking sea ice has a strong impact on the entire Arctic marine ecosystem, through alterations of the primary production, grazers communities, and subsequently the biological carbon pump. Current predictions of entirely sea-ice free summers in the Arctic Ocean already in the second half of this century urges the need to understand the ongoing oceanographic and biological processes in order to predict how the Arctic ecosystem will respond to further environmental changes. The differentiation between natural temporal ecosystem variability and anthropogenically-induced impact of the climate change requires long-term observations. The Ocean Observing System FRAM (FRontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring), which was established in 2014, is an Arctic long-term observatory for investigating the impact of changing ocean properties and sea ice conditions of the Arctic Ocean on its marine ecosystem. The starting point for the FRAM project was the already existing long-term observatory HAUSGARTEN, situated in the main gateway between the Arctic and the Atlantic Oceans - the Fram Strait. To date, despite their importance for the biogeochemical cycling, very little is known regarding the diversity and function of microbial communities in the Arctic Ocean in general, and specifically in the Fram Strait. In the framework of FRAM, a Molecular Observatory was established, for conducting standardized molecular-based high-resolution observations of the Arctic microbial communities. This thesis was conducted as part of the FRAM Molecular Observatory, and as part of the establishment process of the observatory it contributes to the methodological and procedural standardization required for long-term microbial observations. This thesis provides a first comprehensive overview of currently existing long-term microbial observatories around the world, it provides guidelines for initial steps towards establishing a community network between them, and stresses the urgent need in community efforts towards methods standardization. Furthermore, as part of the methods standardization for long-term microbial observations, this thesis includes a performance comparison between two, broadly used in microbial oceanography, 16S rRNA gene primer sets. The main focus of the thesis is on the ecology of pelagic bacterial and archaeal communities in the Fram Strait. Its overall objective was to investigate the distribution of these communities in the Fram Strait, and to identify environmental drivers of their diversity. The observations of this thesis reveal that sea ice has a strong impact on the development of the seasonal phytoplankton bloom during the summer. As a result, sea ice conditions are affecting the bacterial diversity in surface water, and are leading to a distinct community in sea-ice free and sea-ice covered regions of the Fram Strait. However, the impact of the sea ice is not limited to the surface ocean, as it also heavily affects the vertical export of aggregated organic matter to the deep ocean. The results of this thesis also show that aggregates formed under the sea ice sink faster, and by that provide a stronger vector for transport of bacterial and archaeal taxa to the deep ocean, compared to ice-free waters. Altogether, this thesis contributes to the baseline knowledge needed for further long-term observations of pelagic microbial communities in the Arctic marine ecosystem. Furthermore, it provides an important insight into the strong impact of the sea ice on bacterial and archaeal communities throughout the entire water column, underlining the potential impact of further environmental changes on the Arctic Ocean in the light of prevalent global warming and climate change.

Description: In the race against time, the European Union must move swiftly to navigate the green transition. This imperative isn't just about staying ahead in the global green technology competition; it is about securing the future of Europe's economy while combating climate change. Ahead of the EU elections looming, the urgency of this dual challenge cannot be overstated. With a new pro-EU Polish government in place, the Weimar Triangle - a trilateral forum that brings together Poland, France and Germany - could provide the ideal place to offer a new bold industrial policy leadership in Europe.

Description: The Mekong River drains a catchment of over 800,000 km2 and is the world's 12th longest river (4800 km), the 8th largest water discharge (470 × 106 m3/year), and the 10th largest sediment load (160 × 106 tons/year). The Mekong starts on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau with a maximal elevation of 5220 m, flows through six countries (China with 16% of its basin, Myanmar with 5% of its basin, Laos with 35% of its basin, Thailand with 18% of its basin, Cambodia with 18% of its basin, and Vietnam with 11% its basin), and empties into the Vietnam East Sea (South China Sea). The Mekong River basin (MRB) has the world's most diverse river ecosystem. It is the world's largest inland fishery. Its biodiversity is fundamental to agricultural production and the food security of 90 million people in the Lower Mekong basin, including about 18 million people in the Vietnamese Mekong delta.

Description: Biodiversity generally increases productivity in ecosystems; however, this is mediated by the specific functional traits that come with biodiversity loss or gain and how these traits interact with environmental conditions. Most biodiversity studies evaluate the effects of species richness alone, despite our increasing understanding that intraspecific diversity can have equally strong impacts. Here, we manipulate both species richness and intraspecific richness (i.e., number of distinct strains) in marine diatom communities to explicitly test the relative importance of species and strain richness for biomass and trait diversity in six distinct temperature/nutrient environments. We show that species and strain richness both have significant effects on biomass and growth rates, but more importantly, they interact with each other, indicating that cross-species diversity effects depend on within-species diversity and vice versa. This intertwined relationship thus calls for more integrative approaches quantifying the relative importance of distinct biodiversity components and environmental context on ecosystem functioning.

Description: Solar-driven seawater electrolysis for hydrogen fuel production holds an outstanding potential towards the development of a carbon-neutral and sustainable energy infrastructure, but the development of green, efficient and stable photoelectrocatalysts selectively promoting oxygen evolution remains a formidable challenge. Motivated by this issue, in this work we propose a tailored combination of two economically viable materials, α-Fe2O3 and graphitic carbon nitride (gCN), to fabricate promising anodes – eventually decorated with cobalt phosphate (CoPi) particles – for alkaline seawater photosplitting. The target systems were fabricated via an original multi-step route, involving the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of iron(III) oxide on conducting glasses, the introduction of gCN in very small amounts by a rapid and facile electrophoretic process, and final annealing in air. A comprehensive characterization revealed the successful fabrication of composites featuring a tailored surface defectivity, a controlled nano-organization, and a close Fe2O3/gCN interfacial contact. After decoration with CoPi, the best performances corresponded to a Tafel slope of ≈100 mV dec−1 and overpotential values enabling us to rule out the competitive hypochlorite formation. In addition, photocurrent densities at 1.23 V vs. RHE showed a nearly 7-fold increase upon Fe2O3 functionalization with both gCN and CoPi. These amenable results, directly dependent on the electronic interplay at Fe2O3/gCN heterojunctions and on CoPi beneficial effects, are accompanied by a remarkable long-term stability, and may open up attractive avenues for clean energy production using natural resources.

Description: New records of rare water mites mostly from interstitial habitat of New Zealand are presented. One new genus, Zelandostygolimnochares n. gen. (Piersigiidae) with the type species Z. curtipalpis n. sp. is described. Zelandobates occidentalis Smit & Pešić, 2020 is synonymized with Z. tongariro Smit & Pešić, 2020. The male is for the first time described for Zelandotonia orion Cook, 1992, and the female is for the first time described for Aciculacarus amalis Cook, 1983. New records of a number of rare species are presented.

Description: Type material of some South American species in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, belonging to different families is documented. It includes 16 species: Bulimus cuneus L. Pfeiffer, 1854, Bulimus proteus Broderip, 1832, Bulimus scalarioides L. Pfeiffer, 1867, Bulimus similaris J. Moricand, 1856, Andinia (Ehrmanniella) dedicata Weyrauch & Zilch, 1954, Helix hettneriana E. von Martens, 1897, Eurycampta hidalgonis Döring, 1877, Helix aequatoris L. Pfeiffer, 1860, Helix bituberculata L. Pfeiffer, 1853, Helix bourcieri L. Pfeiffer, 1853, Helix neogranadensis L. Pfeiffer, 1845, Cyclostoma (Cyclophorus) bourcieri L. Pfeiffer, 1854, and Helix platygyra Albers, 1857. The concept of the “salvation” of type material is explained.

Description: Here we report a well-preserved isolated physeteroid tooth of Late Miocene age from Liessel, the Netherlands. The presence of several morphological features allows attribution to the macroraptorial physeteroids. Size and morphology are to some extent comparable to Zygophyseter and almost identical to the primarily tooth-based Tortonian taxon Scaldicetus caretti. However, the genus Scaldicetus was declared unutilizable, which is supported here with an overview of modern classifications of Scaldicetus species and specimens. Despite the restrictions, the type species S. caretti is still valid, although the name is to be restricted to the type material. Based on its morphological resemblance, the tooth is identified as Physeteroidea indet. cf. Scaldicetus caretti.

Description: Currently there are several problems with the genus-level taxa within the Scolodontidae. Multiple type-species designations have been proposed for some genera, type species are poorly described, and in some cases no clear decisions have been made in cases of homonymy or synonymy. This has resulted in wrongly identified species and genera within this group, which, among other problems, hinders the discovery and description of new species as well as the identification of known species. This paper is the first in a series in which all scolodontid genera will be redescribed based on type materials, starting with Happia Bourguignat, 1890 and its allies. Nomenclatural issues are resolved where possible. One new genus and a new species are described: Luteostriatella gen. nov. and Austroselenites pichinchense sp. nov. The following new combinations are made: Happia andia (Pilsbry, 1932) comb. nov., Systrophiella altivaga (Crawford, 1939) comb. nov., Systrophiella cayennensis (L. Pfeiffer, 1842) comb. nov., Systrophiella pygmea (Spix in Spix & Wagner, 1827) comb. nov., Systrophiella snethlagei (F. Baker, 1913) comb. nov., Systrophiella vitrina ( J.A. Wagner in Spix & Wagner, 1827) comb. nov., and Luteostriatella variegata (F. Haas, 1949) comb. nov.

Description: Heterozygous mutations in COL10A1 lead to metaphyseal chondrodysplasia type Schmid (MCDS), a skeletal disorder characterized by epiphyseal abnormalities. Prior analysis revealed impaired trimerization and intracellular retention of mutant collagen type X alpha 1 chains as cause for elevated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. However, how ER stress translates into structural defects remained unclear. We generated a medaka (Oryzias latipes) MCDS model harboring a 5 base pair deletion in col10a1, which led to a frameshift and disruption of 11 amino acids in the conserved trimerization domain. col10a1D633a heterozygotes recapitulated key features of MCDS and revealed early cell polarity defects as cause for dysregulated matrix secretion and deformed skeletal structures. Carbamazepine, an ER stress -reducing drug, rescued this polarity impairment and alleviated skeletal defects in col10a1D633a heterozygotes. Our data imply cell polarity dysregulation as a potential contributor to MCDS and suggest the col10a1D633a medaka mutant as an attractive MCDS animal model for drug screening.

Description: The 9th Data Science Symposium was in Bremen, 4.-5. May 2024

Description: The thermokarst lakes of permafrost regions play a major role in the global carbon cycle. These lakes are sources of methane to the atmosphere although the methane flux is restricted by an ice cover for most of the year. How methane concentrations and fluxes in these waters are affected by the presence of an ice cover is poorly understood. To relate water body morphology, ice formation and methane to each other, we studied the ice of three different water bodies in locations typical of the transition of permafrost from land to ocean in a continuous permafrost coastal region in Siberia. In total, 11 ice cores were analyzed as records of the freezing process and methane composition during the winter season. The three water bodies differed in terms of connectivity to the sea, which affected fall freezing. The first was a bay underlain by submarine permafrost (Tiksi Bay, BY), the second a shallow thermokarst lagoon cut off from the sea in winter (Polar Fox Lagoon, LG) and the third a land-locked freshwater thermokarst lake (Goltsovoye Lake, LK). Ice on all water bodies was mostly methane-supersaturated with respect to atmospheric equilibrium concentration, except for three cores from the isolated lake. In the isolated thermokarst lake, ebullition from actively thawing basin slopes resulted in the localized integration of methane into winter ice. Stable δ13C-CH4 isotope signatures indicated that methane in the lagoon ice was oxidized to concentrations close to or below the calculated atmospheric equilibrium concentration. Increasing salinity during winter freezing led to a micro-environment on the lower ice surface where methane oxidation occurred and the lagoon ice functioned as a methane sink. In contrast, the ice of the coastal marine environment was slightly supersaturated with methane, consistent with the brackish water below. Our interdisciplinary process study shows how water body morphology affects ice formation which mitigates methane fluxes to the atmosphere.

Description: The subglacial landscape of Antarctica records and influences the behaviour of its overlying ice sheet. However, in many places, the evolution of the landscape and its control on ice sheet behaviour have not been investigated in detail. Using recently released radio-echo sounding data, we investigate the subglacial landscape of the Evans–Rutford region of West Antarctica. Following quantitative analysis of the landscape morphology under ice-loaded and ice-unloaded conditions, we identify 10 flat surfaces distributed across the region. Across these 10 surfaces, we identify two distinct populations based on clustering of elevations, which potentially represent remnants of regionally coherent pre-glacial surfaces underlying the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The surfaces are bounded by deeply incised glacial troughs, some of which have potential tectonic controls. We assess two hypotheses for the evolution of the regional landscape: (1) passive-margin evolution associated with the break-up of the Gondwana supercontinent or (2) an extensive planation surface that may have been uplifted in association with either the West Antarctic Rift System or cessation of subduction at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. We suggest that passive-margin evolution is the most likely of these two mechanisms, with the erosion of glacial troughs adjacent to, and incising, the flat surfaces likely having coincided with the growth of the WAIS. These flat surfaces also demonstrate similarities to other identified surfaces, indicating that a similar formational process may have been acting more widely around the Weddell Sea embayment. The subsequent fluctuations of ice flow, basal thermal regime, and erosion patterns of the WAIS are therefore controlled by the regional tectonic structures.

Description: Research data and software are widely accepted as an outcome of scientific work. However, in comparison to text-based publications, there is not yet an established process to assess and evaluate quality of research data and research software publications. This paper presents an attempt to fill this gap. Initiated by the Working Group Open Science of the Helmholtz Association, the Task Group Helmholtz Quality Indicators for Data and Software Publications currently develops a quality indicator for research data and research software publications to be used within the Association. This report summarizes the vision of the group of what all contributes to such an indicator. The proposed approach relies on generic well-established concepts for quality criteria, such as the FAIR Principles and the COBIT Maturity Model. It does – on purpose – not limit itself to technical implementation possibilities to avoid using an existing metric for a new purpose. The intention of this paper is to share the current state for further discussion with all stakeholders, particularly with other groups also working on similar metrics but also with entities that use the metrics.

Description: Cyanobacteria are major contributors to algal blooms in inland waters, threatening ecosystem function and water uses, especially when toxin-producing strains dominate. Here, we examine 140 hyperspectral (HS) images of five representatives of the widespread, potentially toxin-producing and bloom-forming genera Microcystis, Planktothrix, Aphanizomenon, Chrysosporum and Dolichospermum, to determine the potential of utilizing visible and near-infrared (VIS/NIR) reflectance for their discrimination. Cultures were grown under various light and nutrient conditions to induce a wide range of pigment and spectral variability, mimicking variations potentially found in natural environments. Importantly, we assumed a simplified scenario where all spectral variability was derived from cyanobacteria. Throughout the cyanobacterial life cycle, multiple HS images were acquired along with extractions of chlorophyll a and phycocyanin. Images were calibrated and average spectra from the region of interest were extracted using k-means algorithm. The spectral data were pre-processed with seven methods for subsequent integration into Random Forest models, whose performances were evaluated with different metrics on the training, validation and testing sets. Successful classification rates close to 90 % were achieved using either the first or second derivative along with spectral smoothing, identifying important wavelengths in both the VIS and NIR. Microcystis and Chrysosporum were the genera achieving the highest accuracy (〉95 %), followed by Planktothrix (79 %), and finally Dolichospermum and Aphanizomenon (〉50 %). The potential of HS imagery to discriminate among toxic cyanobacteria is discussed in the context of advanced monitoring, aiming to enhance remote sensing capabilities and risk predictions for water bodies affected by cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms.

Description: Observations of rift and rifted margin architecture suggest that significant spatial and temporal structural heterogeneity develops during the multiphase evolution of continental rifting. Inheritance is often invoked to explain this heterogeneity, such as pre‐existing anisotropies in rock composition, rheology, and deformation. Here, we use high‐resolution 3D thermal‐mechanical numerical models of continental extension to demonstrate that rift‐parallel heterogeneity may develop solely through fault network evolution during the transition from distributed to localized deformation. In our models, the initial phase of distributed normal faulting is seeded through randomized initial strength perturbations in an otherwise laterally homogeneous lithosphere extending at a constant rate. Continued extension localizes deformation onto lithosphere‐scale faults, which are laterally offset by 10’s of km and discontinuous along‐strike. These results demonstrate that rift‐ and margin‐parallel heterogeneity of large‐scale fault patterns may in‐part be a natural byproduct of fault network coalescence.

Description: Continental rifting is responsible for the generation of major sedimentary basins, both during rift inception and during the formation of rifted continental margins. Geophysical and field studies revealed that rifts feature complex networks of normal faults but the factors controlling fault network properties and their evolution are still matter of debate. Here, we employ high-resolution 2D geodynamic models (ASPECT) including two-way coupling to a surface processes code (FastScape) to conduct 12 models of major rift types that are exposed to various degrees of erosion and sedimentation. We further present a novel quantitative fault analysis toolbox (Fatbox), which allows us to isolate fault growth patterns, the number of faults, and their length and displacement throughout rift history. Our analysis reveals that rift fault networks may evolve through five major phases: 1) distributed deformation and coalescence, 2) fault system growth, 3) fault system decline and basinward localization, 4) rift migration, and 5) breakup. These phases can be correlated to distinct rifted margin domains. Models of asymmetric rifting suggest rift migration is facilitated through both ductile and brittle deformation within a weak exhumation channel that rotates subhorizontally and remains active at low angles. In sedimentation-starved settings, this channel satisfies the conditions for serpentinization. We find that surface processes are not only able to enhance strain localization and to increase fault longevity but that they also reduce the total length of the fault system, prolong rift phases and delay continental breakup.

Description: Over the past few decades, azimuthal seismic anisotropy measurements have been widely used proxy to study past and present‐day deformation of the lithosphere and to characterize convection in the mantle. Beneath continental regions, distinguishing between shallow and deep sources of anisotropy remains difficult due to poor depth constraints of measurements and a lack of regional‐scale geodynamic modeling. Here, we constrain the sources of seismic anisotropy beneath Madagascar where a complex pattern cannot be explained by a single process such as absolute plate motion, global mantle flow, or geology. We test the hypotheses that either Edge‐Driven Convection (EDC) or mantle flow derived from mantle wind interactions with lithospheric topography is the dominant source of anisotropy beneath Madagascar. We, therefore, simulate two sets of mantle convection models using regional‐scale 3‐D computational modeling. We then calculate Lattice Preferred Orientation that develops along pathlines of the mantle flow models and use them to calculate synthetic splitting parameters. Comparison of predicted with observed seismic anisotropy shows a good fit in northern and southern Madagascar for the EDC model, but the mantle wind case only fits well in northern Madagascar. This result suggests the dominant control of the measured anisotropy may be from EDC, but the role of localized fossil anisotropy in narrow shear zones cannot be ruled out in southern Madagascar. Our results suggest that the asthenosphere beneath northern and southern Madagascar is dominated by dislocation creep. Dislocation creep rheology may be dominant in the upper asthenosphere beneath other regions of continental lithosphere.

Description: The Mekong River Basin: Ecohydrological Complexity from Catchment to Coast, Volume Three presents real facts, data and predictions for quantifying human-induced changes throughout the Mekong watershed, including its estuaries and coasts, and proposes solutions to decrease or mitigate the negative effect and enable sustainable development. This is the first work to link socio–ecological interaction study over the whole Mekong River basin through the lens of ecohydrology. Each chapter is written by a leading expert, with coverage on climate change, groundwater, land use, flooding drought, biodiversity and anthropological issues. Human activities are enormous in the whole watershed and are still increasing throughout the catchment, with severe negative impacts on natural resources are emerging. Among these activities, hydropower dams, especially a series of 11 dams in China, are the most critical as they generate massive changes throughout the system, including in the delta and to the livelihoods of millions of people and they threaten sustainability.

Description: Lower crustal flow in regions of post-orogenic extension has been inferred to explain the exhumation of metamorphic core complexes and associated low-angle normal (detachment) fault systems. However, the origin of detachment faults, whether initially formed as high-angle or low-angle shear zones, and the extension is symmetric or asymmetric remains enigmatic. Here, we use numerical modeling constrained by geophysical and geological data to show that symmetric extension in the central Menderes Massif of western Anatolia is accommodated by the crustal flow. Our geodynamic model explains how opposite dipping Gediz and Büyük Menderes detachment faults are formed by ∼40° footwall rotation. Model predictions agree with seismic tomography data that suggests updoming of lower crust beneath the exhumed massifs, represented as “twin domes” and a flat Moho. Our work helps to account for the genetic relation between the exhumation of metamorphic core complexes and low-angle normal faulting in both Cordillera and Aegean orogenic regions and has important implications on crustal dynamics in extensional provinces.

Description: In this work, IMF By effects on field-aligned currents (FACs) are examined in different local time sectors, seasons, and hemispheres. At dusk and 09–14 MLT, when the eastward polar electrojet (PEJ) prevails, the northern FACp (poleward side FACs) are stronger when IMF By 〈 0 than when IMF By 〉 0. Conversely, at dawn, 21–02 MLT, and 09–14 MLT with westward PEJ, the northern FACp are stronger with IMF By 〉 0 compared to IMF By 〈 0. The southern FACp shows a reversed relationship with IMF By direction. The dependence of FACe (equatorward side FACs) on IMF By is weaker, except for the midday FACe, which shows opposite variations with respect to IMF By when compared to FACp. Stronger IMF By effect is observed in local summer in most of local times. The northern FACs are located at higher latitude for IMF By 〉 0 than for IMF By 〈 0 in local times with eastward PEJ, while the opposite trend is observed in other local times and in the Southern Hemisphere. The hemispheric difference in the peak latitude of FACs demonstrates an inverse relationship with its intensity, with stronger FACs located at lower latitudes. Overall, the local time and hemispheric differences in FACs strength and latitude are discussed in the context of interhemispheric field-aligned currents linked to IMF By.

Description: Kimberlites are volatile-rich, occasionally diamond-bearing magmas that have erupted explosively at Earth’s surface in the geologic past1,2,3. These enigmatic magmas, originating from depths exceeding 150 km in Earth’s mantle1, occur in stable cratons and in pulses broadly synchronous with supercontinent cyclicity4. Whether their mobilization is driven by mantle plumes5 or by mechanical weakening of cratonic lithosphere4,6 remains unclear. Here we show that most kimberlites spanning the past billion years erupted about 30 million years (Myr) after continental breakup, suggesting an association with rifting processes. Our dynamical and analytical models show that physically steep lithosphere–asthenosphere boundaries (LABs) formed during rifting generate convective instabilities in the asthenosphere that slowly migrate many hundreds to thousands of kilometres inboard of rift zones. These instabilities endure many tens of millions of years after continental breakup and destabilize the basal tens of kilometres of the cratonic lithosphere, or keel. Displaced keel is replaced by a hot, upwelling mixture of asthenosphere and recycled volatile-rich keel in the return flow, causing decompressional partial melting. Our calculations show that this process can generate small-volume, low-degree, volatile-rich melts, closely matching the characteristics expected of kimberlites1,2,3. Together, these results provide a quantitative and mechanistic link between kimberlite episodicity and supercontinent cycles through progressive disruption of cratonic keels.

Description: Soil organic carbon (SOC) distribution and interaction with light is influenced by soil texture parameters (clay, silt and sand), which makes SOC prediction complicated, especially in samples with considerable pedological variability. Hence, understanding the relationship between SOC and soil texture is important within the context of SOC prediction using remote sensing data. The main objective of this study was to find the impact of soil texture on the performance of local SOC prediction models that were developed on Sentinel-2 (S2) multispectral and CASI/SASI (CS) hyperspectral airborne data as the main predictor variables. One approach to that objective was to lowering the texture variance by stratification of the samples. Therefore, soil samples collected from four agricultural sites in the Czech Republic were segregated based on the i) site-based and ii) texture-based stratification strategies. Random forest (RF) models were then developed on all stratified classes with and without considering the soil texture parameters as predictor variables and results were compared with those obtained by the RF models developed on the non-stratified (NS) samples. Both stratification strategies provided more homogeneous classes, which enhanced the accuracy of SOC prediction, compared to using the NS samples. In addition, the texture-based RF models yielded higher accuracy predictions than the site-based ones. Except sand, adding texture parameters to the main predictors improved accuracy of the models, so that the highest prediction performance was obtained by a texture-based model developed on clay added CS data. Overall, texture-based stratification could significantly enhance the SOC prediction, when the texture parameters were added to the S2 and CS data as the main predictor variables.

Description: Sahara sands have been proposed to result from the extensive and repetitive recycling of much older sedimentary rocks -- a necessary mechanism to explain their petrographic maturity and the similarity of their detrital zircon populations at continental scale. Where and how this recycling occurs today remain poorly understood. This study investigates the source of modern sands from the southeastern Sahara by leveraging on a large (n 〉 7800) new dataset of detrital zircon ages from source rocks, modern and ancient dune fields in Chad and Cameroon. We show that zircon age populations show noticeable regional differences when analyzing a large n amount of ages, questioning the similarity of detrital zircon populations in Saharan sands. Dune fields from the driest parts of our sampling area have distinct age distributions that imply discrete sources with differences in bedrock zircon age populations at regional (several 100 km) scale. In the wetter, Sahelian part of our sampling area, the zircon age distribution of dune fields is best-explained by a significant contribution of recent alluvium from local wadis and rivers to the aeolian sedimentary budget. The origin of aeolian sands in the southeastern Sahara is thus local and polygenetic. Recycling of older sedimentary rocks via physical abrasion is only prominent in the driest parts of our sampling area and does not result in the homogenization of Saharan sands.

Description: The present work proposes a simulation-based Bayesian method for parameter estimation and fragility model selection for mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE) damage states. This method uses an adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation (MCMC) based on likelihood estimation using point-wise intensity values. It identifies the simplest model that fits the data best, among the set of viable fragility models considered. The proposed methodology is demonstrated for empirical fragility assessments for two different tsunami events and different classes of buildings with varying numbers of observed damage and flow depth data pairs. As case studies, observed pairs of data for flow depth and the corresponding damage level from the South Pacific tsunami on 29 September 2009 and the Sulawesi–Palu tsunami on 28 September 2018 are used. Damage data related to a total of five different building classes are analysed. It is shown that the proposed methodology is stable and efficient for data sets with a very low number of damage versus intensity data pairs and cases in which observed data are missing for some of the damage levels.

Description: The Mekong Delta is affected by annual seasonal salinity intrusion in December–May. In this season, the discharge of the Mekong is low, and high tidal water levels cause a deep intrusion of saline water. Critical salt concentrations can be observed 50–80 km deep during high tides. These high salt concentrations cause severe problems in terms of fresh irrigation and drinking water. A quantitative knowledge of the current and likely future salinity intrusion is thus urgently required to develop adaptation plans and mitigation measures. This chapter quantifies the current salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta, as well as a model-based estimation of the possible future salinity intrusion. The different factors affecting salinity intrusion—changing river discharge by climate change and dam development, changes in effective tidal water levels, changing ocean salinity—and their impacts are quantified by hydraulic modeling. Based on the modeling results, recommendations for future planning are derived.

Description: Due to the difficulties in estimating groundwater recharge and cross-boundary nature of many aquifers, estimating groundwater recharge at large scale has been called upon. Process-based models as well as data-driven models have been established to meet this need. Meanwhile, with the advent of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods, data-driven machine learning models can take advantage of enhanced explainability while keeping the strength of high flexibility. In this study, an ensemble neural network model was built to check the suitability of the model to predict groundwater recharge and the possibility to gain new insights from large data set. Recent large inputs of groundwater recharge data and additional input for the Arabian Peninsula collated in this study were fed to the model with multiple predictors related to climatology considering seasonality, soil and plant characteristics, topography, and hydrogeology. The model showed higher performance (adjusted R2: 0.702, RMSE: 193.35 mm yr−1) than a recent global process-based model in predicting groundwater recharge. Using XAI methods as individual conditional expectations and Shapley Additive Explanation interaction values, the model behavior was analyzed and possible linear and non-linear relationships between the predictors and the groundwater recharge rate were found. Long-term averaged precipitation and enhanced vegetation index showed non-linear relationships with groundwater recharge rate, while slope, compound topographic index, and water table depth showed low importance to the model results. Most model behaviors followed the domain knowledge, while multi-correlation between predictors and data skewness hindered the model from learning.

Description: During February 2023, a total of 32 individual distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) systems acted jointly as a global seismic monitoring network. The aim of this Global DAS Month campaign was to coordinate a diverse network of organizations, instruments, and file formats to gain knowledge and move toward the next generation of earthquake monitoring networks. During this campaign, 156 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or larger were reported by the U.S. Geological Survey and contributors shared data for 60 min after each event’s origin time. Participating systems represent a variety of manufacturers, a range of recording parameters, and varying cable emplacement settings (e.g., shallow burial, borehole, subaqueous, and dark fiber). Monitored cable lengths vary between 152 and 120,129 m, with channel spacing between 1 and 49 m. The data has a total size of 6.8 TB, and are available for free download. Organizing and executing the Global DAS Month has produced a unique dataset for further exploration and highlighted areas of further development for the seismological community to address.

Description: The local-inertial approximations of the shallow water equations (SWEs) have been used for flood forecasting at larger spatial scales owing to the improved computational efficiency and similar accuracy compared to the full 2D SWEs. With the availability of high-resolution elevation data, the complex terrain of urban areas with various small-scale features is represented well. Even for a local-inertial model, utilizing such high-resolution elevation data in flood simulations of urbanized areas increases the computational cost. A subgrid-based local-inertial formulation that permits large numerical grid size for computations while preserving the within-grid topography is proposed to circumvent this. The subgrid topography can be incorporated into the coarse numerical grid computations by estimating the hydraulic properties, namely, volume and face area, based on water surface elevation variations of the associated high-resolution terrain. The pre-stored hydraulic properties are then used to dynamically update the hydraulic variables during the execution of the local-inertial model. Idealized and real-world test cases were simulated to illustrate the advantages of the proposed model. The proposed subgrid model performs better in capturing flood depth around subgrid-scale features such as streets, highways, minor canals, etc., than the simple grid-averaged local-inertial models of the same grid size. The proposed model is faster than the existing local-inertial model (e.g., LISFLOOD-FP) (∼21–34 times) and the full 2D model (e.g., HEC-RAS 2D) (∼361–660 times) of similar accuracy in the slow-rising flood applications. Thus, the subgrid local-inertial model holds promise in real-time flood inundation forecasting, resolving smaller urban features.

Description: Continental microplates are enigmatic plate boundary features, which can occur in extensional and compressional regimes. Here we focus on microplate formation and their temporal evolution in continental rift settings. To this aim, we employ the geodynamic finite element software ASPECT to conduct 3D lithospheric‐scale numerical models from rift inception to continental breakup. We find that depending on the strike‐perpendicular offset and crustal strength, rift segments connect or interact through one of four regimes: (1) an oblique rift, (2) a transform fault, (3) a rotating continental microplate or (4) a rift jump. We highlight that rotating microplates form at offsets 〉200 km in weak to moderately strong crustal setups. We describe the dynamics of microplate evolution from initial rift propagation, to segment overlap, vertical‐axis rotation, and eventually continental breakup. These models may explain microplate size and kinematics of the Flemish Cap, the Sao Paulo Plateau and other continental microplates that formed during continental rifting worldwide.

Description: The lithosphere is often assumed to reside in a thermal steady‐state when quantitatively describing the temperature distribution in continental interiors and sedimentary basins, but also at active plate boundaries. Here, we investigate the applicability limit of this assumption at slowly deforming continental rifts. To this aim, we assess the tectonic thermal imprint in numerical experiments that cover a range of realistic rift configurations. For each model scenario, the deviation from thermal equilibrium is evaluated. This is done by comparing the transient temperature field of every model to a corresponding steady‐state model with identical structural configuration. We find that the validity of the thermal steady‐state assumption strongly depends on rift type, divergence velocity, sample location and depth within the rift. Maximum differences between transient and steady‐state models occur in narrow rifts, at the rift sides, and if the extension rate exceeds 0.5‐2 mm/a. Wide rifts, however, reside close to thermal steady‐state even for high extension velocities. The transient imprint of rifting appears to be overall negligible for shallow isotherms with a temperature less than 100°C. Contrarily, a steady‐state treatment of deep crustal isotherms leads to underestimation of crustal temperatures, especially for narrow rift settings. Thus, not only relatively fast rifts like the Gulf of Corinth, Red Sea, and Main Ethiopian Rift, but even slow rifts like the Kenya Rift, Rhine Graben, and Rio Grande Rift must be expected to feature a pronounced transient component in the temperature field and to therefore violate the thermal steady‐state assumption for deeper crustal isotherms.

Description: We combine numerical modeling of lithospheric extension with analysis of seismic moment release and earthquake b‐value in order to elucidate the mechanism for deep crustal seismicity and seismic swarms in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). We run 2D numerical simulations of lithospheric deformation calibrated by appropriate rheology and extensional history of the MER to simulate migration of deformation from mid‐Miocene border faults to ~30 km wide zone of Pliocene to recent rift floor faults. While the highest strain rate is localized in a narrow zone within the rift axis, brittle strain has been accumulated in a wide region of the rift. The magnitude of deviatoric stress shows strong variation with depth. The uppermost crust deforms with maximum stress of 80 MPa, at 8‐14 km depth stress sharply decreases to 10 MPa and then increases to a maximum of 160 MPa at ~18 km depth. These 2 peaks at which the crust deforms with maximum stress of 80 MPa or above correspond to peaks in the seismic moment release. Correspondingly, the drop in stress at 8‐14 km correlates to a low in seismic moment release. At this depth range, the crust is weaker and deformation is mainly accommodated in a ductile manner. We therefore see a good correlation between depths at which the crust is strong and elevated seismic deformation, while regions where the crust is weaker deform more aseismically. Overall the bimodal depth distribution of seismic moment release is best explained by rheology of the deforming crust.

Description: Strike-slip faults are classically associated with pull-apart basins where continental crust is thinned between two laterally offset fault segments. We propose a subsidence mechanism to explain the formation of a new type of basin where no substantial segment offset or syn-strike-slip thinning is observed. Such “flexural strike-slip basins” form due to a sediment load creating accommodation space by bending the lithosphere. We use a two-way coupling between the geodynamic code ASPECT and surface-processes code FastScape to show that flexural strike-slip basins emerge if sediment is deposited on thin lithosphere close to a strike-slip fault. These conditions were met at the Andaman Basin Central fault (Andaman Sea, Indian Ocean), where seismic reflection data provide evidence of a laterally extensive flexural basin with a depocenter located parallel to the strike-slip fault trace.

Description: Silicic caldera volcanoes present major volcanic and seismic hazards but also host dynamic hydrothermal and groundwater systems and a rich but largely unexplored subsurface biosphere. Many of these volcanoes are hosted in rift settings. The intricate connections and feedbacks among magmatism, rifting, hydrothermal processes, and the biosphere in these complex systems remain poorly understood, necessitating subsurface joint observations that are only enabled by scientific drilling. The CALDERA (Connections Among Life, geo-Dynamics and Eruptions in a Rifting Arc caldera) project workshop funded by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) gathered multi-disciplinary international experts in January 2023 to advance planning of a scientific drilling project within one of these dynamic, rift-hosted calderas, the Okataina Volcanic Centre (OVC), Aotearoa New Zealand. The OVC's high eruption rate, frequent unrest events and earthquake swarms, location in a densely faulted rapidly extending rift, abundant groundwater–geothermal fluid circulations, and diverse surface hot spring microbiota make it an ideal location for exploring a connected geo-hydro-biosphere via scientific drilling and developing a test bed for novel volcano monitoring approaches. Drilling configurations with at least two boreholes (∼ 200 and ∼ 1000–1500 m deep) were favoured to achieve the multi-disciplinary objectives of the CALDERA project. Decadal monitoring including biosphere activity and composition has the potential to evaluate the response of the hydro-bio system to volcano-tectonic activity. In addition to the OVC caldera-scale datasets already available, site surveys will be conducted to select the best drilling locations. The CALDERA project at the OVC would provide, for the first time, an understanding of volcanic–tectonic–hydrological–biological connections in a caldera–rift system and a baseline for global comparisons with other volcanoes, rifts, and hydrothermal systems. CALDERA would serve as an unprecedented model system to understand how and how quickly the subsurface biosphere responds to geologic activities. Discoveries will improve assessment of volcanic and seismic hazards, guide the sustainable management and/or conservation of groundwater and geothermal resources and microbial ecosystems, and provide a forum for interweaving mātauranga Māori and Western knowledge systems.

Description: Global coupled climate models are in continuous need for evaluation against independent observations to reveal systematic model deficits and uncertainties. Changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) as measured by satellite gravimetry missions GRACE and GRACE-FO provide valuable information on wetting and drying trends over the continents. Challenges arising from a comparison of observed and modelled water storage trends are related to gravity observations including non-water related variations such as, for example, glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). Therefore, correcting secular changes in the Earth's gravity field caused by ongoing GIA is important for the monitoring of long-term changes in terrestrial water from GRACE in particular in former ice-covered regions. By utilizing a new ensemble of 56 individual realizations of GIA signals based on perturbations of mantle viscosities and ice history, we find that many of those alternative GIA corrections change the direction of GRACE-derived water storage trends, for example, from gaining mass into drying conditions, in particular in Eastern Canada. The change in the sign of the TWS trends subsequently impacts the conclusions drawn from using GRACE as observational basis for the evaluation of climate models as it influences the dis-/agreement between observed and modelled wetting/drying trends. A modified GIA correction, a combined GRACE/GRACE-FO data record extending over two decades, and a new generation of climate model experiments leads to substantially larger continental areas where wetting/drying trends currently observed by satellite missions coincide with long-term predictions obtained from climate model experiments.

Description: Although many collisional orogens form after subduction of oceanic lithosphere between two continents, some orogens result from strain localization within a continent via inversion of structures inherited from continental rifting. Intracontinental rift-inversion orogens exhibit a range of structural styles, but the underlying causes of such variability have not been extensively explored. We use numerical models of intracontinental rift inversion to investigate the impact of parameters including rift structure, rift duration, post-rift cooling, and convergence velocity on orogen structure. Our models reproduce the natural variability of rift-inversion orogens and can be categorized using three endmember styles: asymmetric underthrusting (AU), distributed thickening (DT), and localized polarity flip (PF). Inversion of narrow rifts tends to produce orogens with more localized deformation (styles AU and PF) than those resulting from wide rifts. However, multiple combinations of the parameters we investigated can produce the same structural style. Thus, our models indicate no unique relationship between orogenic structure and the conditions prior to and during inversion. Because the style of rift-inversion orogenesis is highly contingent upon the rift history prior to inversion, knowing the geologic history that preceded rift inversion is essential for translating orogenic structure into the processes that produced that structure.

Description: The investigation of key minerals including zircon, apatite, titanite, rutile, monazite, xenotime, allanite, baddeleyite and garnet can retain critical information about petrogenetic and geodynamic processes and may be utilized to understand complex geological histories and the dynamic evolution of the continental crust. They act as small but often robust petrochronological capsules and provide information about crustal evolution, from local processes to plate tectonics and supercontinent cycles. They offer us insights into processes of magmatism, sedimentation, metamorphism and alteration, even when the original protolith is not preserved. In situ techniques have enabled a more in-depth understanding of trace element behaviour in these minerals within their textural context. This has led to more meaningful ages for many stages of geological events. New developments of analytical procedures have further allowed us to expand our petrochronological toolbox while improving precision and accuracy. Combining multiple proxies with multiple minerals has contributed to new interpretations of the crustal history of our planet.

Description: GPS satellite observations indicate that in the tectonically complex eastern Mediterranean and east African regions microplates rotate counterclockwise with respect to the neighboring African plate. Using 3D numerical models, Glerum relates these observations of crustal deformation to the dynamics of the lithosphere and the underlying mantle that may cause this deformation. Glerum first describes her additions to the ASPECT software necessary for numerically modeling the upper mantle and lithosphere dynamics of convergent and divergent plate boundaries. These additions include the tracking of multiple materials with different physical properties and nonlinear viscous as well as viscoplastic rheologies. The implementations of complex, multi-material rheologies are verified with well-known 2D benchmarks and multi-material viscoplasticity is applied in 3D time-dependent thermomechanical models of oceanic subduction. Subsequently, Glerum uses ASPECT to investigate the sensitivity of horizontal surface motions to individual geodynamic processes in the eastern Mediterranean. Identification of all mantle drivers that should participate in modeling attempts to explain observations of crustal flow is essential to fully exploit the information contained by surface motions about their driving processes. Glerum therefore employs 3D data-driven instantaneous dynamics models of compressible flow including a complete set of possible mantle drivers of surface deformation. The reference instantaneous flow model results indicate that mantle processes can explain a large part of the crustal motion of the Aegean-Anatolian microplate. Subsequent systematic perturbations of model properties with respect to this reference model help estimate the individual contributions of tectonic plate motions, slab pull and trench suction, and density-induced mantle flow interacting with the slab and overlying plates while moderated by the mantle’s bulk viscosity. In order of regional importance, the predicted crustal flow of the Aegean-Anatolian region is most sensitive to slab pull, followed by slab-mantle interaction and basal drag, mantle rheology, and the absolute plate motion reference frame. Lastly, Glerum demonstrates a possible mechanism for the counterclockwise rotation of the Victoria microplate in the East African Rift System, which is in striking contrast to the clockwise motion of the surrounding plates. 3D models of the divergent system show that Victoria’s rotation can be caused by the drag of the African and Somalian plates along the strong edges of the microplate, while the rift segments along inherited lithospheric weaknesses facilitate Victoria’s rotation. The amount of rotation is therefore primarily controlled by the distribution of preexisting stronger regions and the weaker Precambrian mobile belts that surround Victoria. The induced counterclockwise rotation of the microplate leads to a clockwise shift of the local extension direction from E-W to more WNW-ESE along the overlapping rift branches. Comparison of the resulting predicted stress field and tectonic regimes to observations helps to elucidate the interpretation of local stress and strain indicators and to reconcile different opening models used to interpret the East African Rift System.

Description: Silicon isotope fractionation during silicification is poorly understood and impedes our ability to decipher paleoenvironmental conditions from Si isotopes in ancient cherts. To investigate isotope fractionation during silica-for‑carbonate replacement we analyzed the microscale Si and O isotope composition in different silica phases in a silicified zebra dolostone as well as their bulk δ18O and Δ’17O compositions. The subsequent replacement of carbonate layers is mimicked by decreasing δ18O and δ30Si. The textural relationship and magnitude of Si and O isotope fractionation is best explained by near-quantitative silica precipitation in an open system with finite Si. A Rayleigh model for silicification suggests positive Ɛ30/28Si during silicification, conforming with predictions for isotope distribution at chemical equilibrium from ab-initio models. Application of the modelled Ɛ30Si-T relationship yields silicification temperatures of approx. 50 °C. To reconcile the δ18Ochert composition with these temperatures, the δ18O of the fluid must have been between −2.5 and − 4 ‰, compositions for which the quartz phases fall close to the oxygen equilibrium fractionation line in three-isotope space. Diagenetic silica replacement appears to occur in O and Si isotopic equilibrium allowing reconstructions of temperatures of silicification from Si isotopes and derive the δ18O composition of the fluid – a highly desired value needed for accurate reconstructions of the temperature- and δ18O histories of the oceans.

Description: Sea‐floor spreading at slow rates can be accommodated on large‐offset oceanic detachment faults (ODFs), that exhume lower crustal and mantle rocks in footwall domes termed oceanic core complexes (OCCs). Footwall rocks experience large rotation during exhumation, yet important aspects of the kinematics ‐ particularly the relative roles of solid‐block rotation and flexure ‐ are not clearly understood. Using a high‐resolution numerical model, we explore the exhumation kinematics in the footwall beneath an emergent ODF/OCC. A key feature of the models is that footwall motion is dominated by solid‐block rotation, accommodated by the non‐planar, concave‐down fault interface. A consequence of this fault shape is that curvature measured along the ODF is representative of a neutral stress configuration, rather than a ‘bent one. Instead, it is in the subsequent process of ‘apparent unbending that significant flexural stresses are developed in the model footwall. The brittle strain associated with apparent unbending is produced dominantly in extension, beneath the OCC, consistent with earthquake clustering observed in the Trans‐Atlantic Geotraverse at the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge.

Description: The Victoria microplate between the Eastern and Western Branches of the East African Rift System is one of the largest continental microplates on Earth. In striking contrast to its neighboring plates, Victoria rotates counterclockwise with respect to Nubia. The underlying cause of this distinctive rotation has remained elusive so far. Using 3D numerical models, we investigate the role of pre-existing lithospheric heterogeneities in continental microplate rotation. We find that Victoria’s rotation is primarily controlled by the distribution of rheologically stronger zones that transmit the drag of the major plates to the microplate and of the mechanically weaker mobile belts surrounding Victoria that facilitate rotation. Our models reproduce Victoria’s GPS-derived counterclockwise rotation as well as key complexities of the regional tectonic stress field. These results reconcile competing ideas on the opening of the rift system by highlighting differences in orientation of the far-field divergence, local extension, and the minimum horizontal stress.

Description: Complex, time‐dependent, asymmetric rift geometries are observed throughout the East African Rift System (EARS) and are well documented, for instance, in the Kenya Rift. To unravel asymmetric rifting processes in this region, we conduct 2D geodynamic models. We use the finite element software ASPECT employing visco‐plastic rheologies, mesh‐refinement, distributed random noise seeding, and a free surface. In contrast to many previous numerical modeling studies that aimed at understanding final rifted margin symmetry, we explicitly focus on initial rifting stages to assess geodynamic controls on strain localization and fault evolution. We thereby link to geological and geophysical observations from the Southern and Central Kenya Rift. Our models suggest a three‐stage early‐rift evolution that dynamically bridges previously inferred fault‐configuration phases of the eastern EARS branch: (1) accommodation of initial strain localization by a single border fault and flexure of the hanging‐wall crust, (2) faulting in the hanging‐wall and increasing upper‐crustal faulting in the rift‐basin center, and (3) loss of pronounced early‐stage asymmetry prior to basinward localization of deformation. This evolution may provide a template for understanding early extensional faulting in other branches of the East African Rift and in asymmetric rifts worldwide. By modifying the initial random noise distribution that approximates small‐scale tectonic inheritance, we show that a spectrum of first‐order fault configurations with variable symmetry can be produced in models with an otherwise identical setup. This approach sheds new light on along‐strike rift variability controls in active asymmetric rifts and proximal rifted margins.

Description: Continental rifts evolve by linkage and interaction of adjacent individual segments. As rift segments propagate, they can cause notable re-orientation of the local stress field so that stress orientations deviate from the regional trend. In return, this stress re-orientation can feed back on progressive deformation and may ultimately deflect propagating rift segments in an unexpected way. Here, we employ numerical and analog experiments of continental rifting to investigate the interaction between stress re-orientation and segment linkage. Both model types employ crustal-scale two-layer setups wherein pre-existing linear heterogeneities are introduced by mechanical weak seeds. We test various seed configurations to investigate the effect of (i) two competing rift segments that propagate unilaterally, (ii) linkage of two opposingly propagating rift segments, and (iii) the combination of these configurations on stress re-orientation and rift linkage. Both the analog and numerical models show counterintuitive rift deflection of two sub-parallel propagating rift segments competing for linkage with an opposingly propagating segment. The deflection pattern can be explained by means of stress analysis in numerical experiments wherein stress re-orientation occurs locally and propagates across the model domain as rift segments propagate. Major stress re-orientations may occur locally, which means that faults and rift segment trends do not necessarily align perpendicularly to far-field extension directions. Our results show that strain localization and stress re-orientation are closely linked, mutually influence each other, and may be an important factor for rift deflection among competing rift segments as observed in nature.

Description: Geodynamic modelling provides a powerful tool to investigate processes in the Earth's crust, mantle, and core that are not directly observable. However, numerical models are inherently subject to the assumptions and simplifications on which they are based. In order to use and review numerical modelling studies appropriately, one needs to be aware of the limitations of geodynamic modelling as well as its advantages. Here, we present a comprehensive yet concise overview of the geodynamic modelling process applied to the solid Earth from the choice of governing equations to numerical methods, model setup, model interpretation, and the eventual communication of the model results. We highlight best practices and discuss their implementations including code verification, model validation, internal consistency checks, and software and data management. Thus, with this perspective, we encourage high-quality modelling studies, fair external interpretation, and sensible use of published work. We provide ample examples, from lithosphere and mantle dynamics specifically, and point out synergies with related fields such as seismology, tectonophysics, geology, mineral physics, planetary science, and geodesy. We clarify and consolidate terminology across geodynamics and numerical modelling to set a standard for clear communication of modelling studies. All in all, this paper presents the basics of geodynamic modelling for first-time and experienced modellers, collaborators, and reviewers from diverse backgrounds to (re)gain a solid understanding of geodynamic modelling as a whole.

Description: The steel and chemical production industries are the largest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases in the European Union, together accounting for half of the EU’s industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A promising strategy for achieving deep GHG emissions reductions is the electrification of these two industries, which would depend on the rapid expansion of renewable electricity supply. Such electrification can be direct, where electrical appliances replace fossil fuel powered ones, or indirect, using renewable hydrogen produced from water by electricity. Both methods of electrification represent a systemic shift for these industrial systems and require a major wave of investment into new process technologies, as well as access to renewable electricity and green hydrogen. Old industrial structures could become stranded as a consequence of shifting energy and feedstock supply in this way. The thesis focuses geographically on the major region for EU steel and chemical production: the area between the two North Sea ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam in the west and the Rhine-Ruhr area in the east. It studies the technical and economic feasibility of electrification in the steel and chemical production industries (specifically petrochemicals), followed by an analysis of the impact on locational factors and possible spatial reconfigurations of the production system. The analysis builds on scenario methodology with extensive stakeholder engagement and uses different quantitative bottom-up models developed during several projects. To accelerate and facilitate the transformation of the two focal industries in the region, the thesis identifies strategic options for policy makers, steel and petrochemical companies, as well as for infrastructure providers such as port authorities and network operators. The results obtained demonstrate the feasibility of electrification and its potential to play a crucial role in the defossilised production of steel and petrochemicals, even in a region with a relatively low renewable electricity potential (such as the one studied). The transformation requires a hydrogen infrastructure for steel and petrochemical clusters and increased circularity, especially in the petrochemical industry. Some production steps in the value chain, such as iron making or chemical feedstock production, will have strong incentives to relocate (either partially or fully). However, other factors, such as the benefits of existing assets and the advantages of vertical integration in existing clusters, may discourage the total relocation of entire production chains.

Description: Energy performance contracting (EPC) as a market instrument has been effective in promoting energy efficiency worldwide, but it has encountered many insurmountable obstacles in rural energy management. In this study, based on the characteristics of energy management in rural areas, three EPC modes are designed and tested in 24,000 rural households. The test results show that two adapted EPC modes of local government involvement and energy payment directly from the national grid can effectively overcome the barriers encountered in the traditional EPC modes and work well under the economic and social environmental conditions in rural areas. The key to the adaptation of the traditional EPC modes is the introduction of the local government as the third party. Participation of the third party can effectively reduce and remove the barriers and risks and increase the mutual trust between the clients (households) and the energy service companies (ESCOs). Based on the testing results, this study suggests that governmental departments should formulate relevant EPC policies and technical guidelines within the rural context. This research recommends that farmers should not manage their energy services by themselves and it is suggested to out-contracting ESCOs by applying the modes developed and tested by this paper.

Description: In Germany, there are over 32,000 schools, representing great potential for climate protection. On the one hand, this applies to educational work, as understanding the effects of climate change and measures to reduce GHG emissions is an important step to empower students with knowledge and skills. On the other hand, school buildings are often in bad condition, energy is wasted, and the possibilities for using renewable energies are hardly used. In our "Schools4Future" project, we enabled students and teachers to draw up their own CO2 balances, identify weaknesses in the building, detect wasted electricity, and determine the potential for using renewable energies. Emissions from the school cafeteria, school trips, and paper consumption could also be identified. The fact that the data can be collected by the students themselves provides increased awareness of the contribution made to the climate balance by the various school areas. The most climate-friendly school emits 297 kg whilst the school with the highest emissions emits over one ton CO2 per student and year. Our approach is suitable to qualify students in the sense of citizen science, carry out a scientific investigation, experience self-efficacy through one's own actions, and engage politically regarding their concerns.

Description: Agriculture is a major sector responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. Local food production can contribute to reducing transport-related emissions. Since most of the worldwide population lives in cities, locally producing food implies practicing agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas. Exemplary, we analyze the potential to produce fresh vegetables within Berlin, Germany. We investigate the spatial extent of five different urban spaces for soil-based agriculture or gardening, i.e., non-built residential areas, allotment gardens, rooftops, supermarket parking lots, and cemeteries. We also quantify inputs required for such food production in terms of water, human resources, and investment. Our findings highlight that up to 82% of Berlin’s vegetable demand could be produced within the city, based on a reasonable validation of existing areas. Meeting this potential requires 42 km2 of urban spaces for cultivation, a considerable amount of irrigation water, around 17 thousand gardeners, and over 750 million EUR of initial investments. The final vegetable cost would be around 2 EUR to 10 EUR per kg without any profit margin. We conclude that it is realistic to produce a significant amount of Berlin's vegetable demand within the city, even if it comes with great challenges.

Description: Eine neue digital-ökologische Staatskunst ist die unverzichtbare Voraussetzung für wirksames staatliches Handeln zur sozial-ökologischen Gestaltung der digitalen Transformation. Der Bericht beschreibt am Beispiel der Plattformökonomie die Herausforderungen, Ansatzpunkte und mögliche Maßnahmen.

Description: This paper positions possibilities for human geographies of the sea. The growing volume of work under this banner has been largely qualitative in its approach, reflecting, in turn, the questions posed by oceanic scholars. These questions necessitate corresponding methods. Whilst this is not necessarily a problem, and the current corpus of work has offered many significant contributions, in making sense of the human dimensions of maritime worlds, other questions—and methods—may generate knowledge that is useful within this remit of work. This paper considers the place of quantitative approaches in posing lines of enquiry about shipping, one of the prominent areas of concern under the banner of ‘human geographies of the seas’. There is longstanding work in transport geographies concerned with shipping, logistics, freight movement and global connections, which embraces quantitative methods which could be bridged to ask fresh questions about oceanic spatial phenomena past and present. This paper reviews the state of the art of human geographies of the sea and transport geographies and navigates how the former field may be stimulated by some of the interests of the latter and a broader range of questions about society-sea-space relations. The paper focuses on Automatic Identification Systems (or AIS) as a potentially useful tool for connecting debates, and deepening spatial understandings of the seas and shipping beyond current scholarship. To advance the argument the example of shipping layups is used to illustrate or rather, position, the point.

Description: The jumbo squid, Dosidicus gigas, can survive extended forays into the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Previous studies have demonstrated reduced oxygen consumption and a limited anaerobic contribution to ATP production, suggesting the capacity for substantial metabolic suppression during hypoxic exposure. Here, we provide a more complete description of energy metabolism and explore the expression of proteins indicative of transcriptional and translational arrest that may contribute to metabolic suppression. We demonstrate a suppression of total ATP demand under hypoxic conditions (1% oxygen, PO2=0.8 kPa) in both juveniles (52%) and adults (35%) of the jumbo squid. Oxygen consumption rates are reduced to 20% under hypoxia relative to air-saturated controls. Concentrations of arginine phosphate (Arg-P) and ATP declined initially, reaching a new steady state (~30% of controls) after the first hour of hypoxic exposure. Octopine began accumulating after the first hour of hypoxic exposure, once Arg-P breakdown resulted in sufficient free arginine for substrate. Octopine reached levels near 30 mmol g−1 after 3.4 h of hypoxic exposure. Succinate did increase through hypoxia but contributed minimally to total ATP production. Glycogenolysis in mantle muscle presumably serves to maintain muscle functionality and balance energetics during hypoxia. We provide evidence that post-translational modifications on histone proteins and translation factors serve as a primary means of energy conservation and that select components of the stress response are altered in hypoxic squids. Reduced ATP consumption under hypoxia serves to maintain ATP levels, prolong fuel store use and minimize the accumulation of acidic intermediates of anaerobic ATP-generating pathways during prolonged diel forays into the OMZ. Metabolic suppression likely limits active, daytime foraging at depth in the core of the OMZ, but confers an energetic advantage over competitors that must remain in warm, oxygenated surface waters. Moreover, the capacity for metabolic suppression provides habitat flexibility as OMZs expand as a result of climate change.

Description: The copepod Calanus finmarchicus is a dominant zooplankter in the north Atlantic and is spreading northward into the Arctic due to ocean warming. The copepods life is characterized by diel vertical migration as well as a seasonal cycle with overwintering in deep waters. Although both phenome have been studied for more than a century, the exact factors controlling these rhythms are still unclear. Molecular techniques have precisely described genetic clockworks in several, mostly terrestrial species and there is clear evidence that clock genes are not only involved in the regulation of diel 24h rhythms, but can also play an important role in the synchronisation (entrainment) of the seasonal cycle. We present first records of clock gene expression in Calanus finmarchicus from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard and compare gene activity between specimen in the early and late phase of overwintering. Copepods were sampled from overwintering depth (〉220 m) in September 2014 when day length was about 10 hours and during polar night in January 2015. The results show clear 24h oscillations in most genes for September, whereas gene expression is generally lower and almost completely arrhythmic during the polar night. The results strongly point towards the existence of a light-entrained genetic clock in Calanus finmarchicus. As the regulators of seasonal timing in this species are still unclear, understanding the mechanism of the clock could help assessing the adaptability of this boreal species to the strongly fluctuating light conditions at high latitudes. This could be crucial in predicting future seasonal mismatches and ecosystem consequences.

Description: The copepod Calanus finmarchicus plays a crucial role in the north Atlantic food web, channelling energy from phytoplankton primary production to higher trophic levels including commercially important fish stocks like herring and cod. The copepod species is spreading northward into the Arctic due to ocean warming. The activity phase of C. finmarchicus in spring/summer is characterized by diel vertical migration, meaning that the animals migrate to surface waters around sunset to feed, and back to deeper layers around sunrise to hide from visual predators. This rhythmic vertical migration behaviour is characteristic for zooplankton communities all around the world. At the end of the activity phase in autumn, C. finmarchicus enters an overwintering mode and inactively dwell in deep waters until next spring when it starts a new generation cycle. Although both rhythms (diel and seasonal) have been studied for more than a century, the exact factors controlling them are still unclear. Molecular techniques have precisely described genetic clockworks in numerous species and there is clear evidence that clock genes are not only involved in the regulation of diel 24h rhythms, but also in the entrainment of the seasonal cycle. We present first records of clock gene expression in Calanus finmarchicus from a high Arctic fjord in Svalbard at 79°N and compare gene activity between specimen in the early and late phase of overwintering. Copepods were sampled from overwintering depth (〉220 m) in September 2014 when surface photoperiod was about 10 hours and during polar night in January 2015 when no light was present. Samples were analysed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) using custom designed Taqman® low-density array cards. The results show clear 24h oscillations in most genes for September, whereas gene expression is almost completely arrhythmic during the polar night in January. It furthermore appears that in September most of the investigated clock genes show distinct expressions patterns, which often match pattern previously observed in other (model) species. For example, expression of period (1 & 2) is highest around sunset (per1) or early night (per2) whereas activity of clock sharply increases around sunrise and peaks in the afternoon. Expression of cryptochrome 1 is highest around midnight while expression of cryptochrome 2 shows patterns similar to those of the period genes. The results strongly point towards the existence of a light-entrained genetic clock in Calanus finmarchicus that becomes arrhythmic during the constant darkness of the polar night. Our work presents an example on how the vast mechanistic knowledge about endogenous timekeeping gained from model organisms can be transferred to field studies on non-model species of high ecological relevance.

Description: Changing environmental conditions cause poleward distribution shifts in many marine organisms including the northern Atlantic key zooplankton species Calanus finmarchicus. The copepod has diel cycles of vertical migration and feeding, a seasonal life cycle with diapause in winter and a functioning circadian clock. Endogenous clock mechanisms control various aspects of rhythmic life and are heavily influenced by environmental light conditions. Here we explore how the extreme seasonal change in photoperiod (day length) in a high Arctic fjord affects circadian clock functioning as well as diel and seasonal cycles in C. finmarchicus. Expression of clock genes was measured in the active life phase at the end of midnight sun, in early diapause when photoperiod was ~12 h, and in late diapause during the polar night. While the clock maintained diel rhythmicity under extremely long photoperiods, it became arrhythmic during diapause. This was probably not due to a lack of light but was related to the physiological state of diapause. Seasonal expression analyses of 35 genes show distinct patterns for each investigated life phase. C. finmarchicus is able to maintain diel clock rhythmicity at photoperiods close to 24 h, and it is discussed how this may be related to the nature of the marine environment. The work also evaluates the potential negative consequences of rigid clock-based seasonal timing in a polar environment exposed to climate change and with high interannual variability.

Description: Biological clocks are a ubiquitous ancient and adaptive mechanism enabling organisms to anticipate environmental cycles and to regulate behavioral and physiological processes accordingly [1]. Although terrestrial circadian clocks are well understood, knowledge of clocks in marine organisms is still very limited [2–5]. This is particularly true for abundant species displaying large-scale rhythms like diel vertical migration (DVM) that contribute significantly to shaping their respective ecosystems [6]. Here we describe exogenous cycles and endogenous rhythms associated with DVM of the ecologically important and highly abundant planktic copepod Calanus finmarchicus. In the laboratory, C. finmarchicus shows circadian rhythms of DVM, metabolism, and most core circadian clock genes (clock, period1, period2, timeless, cryptochrome2, and clockwork orange). Most of these genes also cycle in animals assessed in the wild, though expression is less rhythmic at depth (50–140 m) relative to shallow-caught animals (0–50 m). Further, peak expressions of clock genes generally occurred at either sunset or sunrise, coinciding with peak migration times. Including one of the first field investigations of clock genes in a marine species [5, 7], this study couples clock gene measurements with laboratory and field data on DVM. While the mechanistic connection remains elusive, our results imply a high degree of causality between clock gene expression and one of the planet’s largest daily migrations of biomass. We thus suggest that circadian clocks increase zooplankton fitness by optimizing the temporal trade-off between feeding and predator avoidance, especially when environmental drivers are weak or absent [8].

Description: Ocean warming and acidification are two important environmental drivers affecting marine organisms. Organisms living at high latitudes might be especially threatened in near future, as current environmental changes are larger and occur faster. Therefore, we investigated the effect of hypercapnia on thermal tolerance and physiological performance of sub-Arctic Mytilus edulis from the White Sea. Mussels were exposed (2 weeks) to 390 µatm (control) and 1,120 µatm CO2 (year 2100) before respiration rate (MO2), anaerobic metabolite (succinate) level, haemolymph acid-base status, and intracellular pH (pHi) were determined during acute warming (10-28°C, 3°C over night). In normocapnic mussels, warming induced MO2 to rise exponentially until it levelled off beyond a breakpoint temperature of 20.5°C. Concurrently, haemolymph PCO2 rose significantly 〉19°C followed by a decrease in PO2 indicating the pejus temperature (TP, onset of thermal limitation). Succinate started to accumulate at 28°C under normocapnia defining the critical temperature (TC). pHi was maintained during warming until it dropped at 28°C, in line with the concomitant transition to anaerobiosis. At acclimation temperature, CO2 had only a minor impact. During warming, MO2 was stimulated by CO2 resulting in an elevated breakpoint of 25.8°C. Nevertheless, alterations in haemolymph gases (〉16°C) and the concomitant changes of pHi and succinate level (25°C) occurred at lower temperature under hypercapnia versus normocapnia indicating a downward shift of both thermal limits TP and TC by CO2. Compared to temperate conspecifics, sub-Arctic mussels showed an enhanced thermal sensitivity, exacerbated further by hypercapnia, indicating their potential vulnerability to environmental changes projected for 2100.

Description: Biological clocks are universal to all living organisms on Earth. Their ubiquity is testament to their importance to life: from cells to organs and from the simplest cyanobacteria to plants and primates, they are central to orchestrating life on this planet. Biological clocks are usually set by the day–night cycle, so what happens in polar regions during the Polar Night or Polar Day when there are periods of 24! hours of darkness or light? How would a biological clock function without a timekeeper!cycle? This chapter details evidence that biological clocks are central to structuring daily and seasonal activities in organisms at high latitudes. Importantly, despite a strongly reduced or absent day–night cycle, biological clocks in the Polar Night still appear to be regulated by background illumination. Here we explore evidence for highly cyclic activity, from behaviour patterns to clock gene expression, in copepods, krill and bivalves. The ultimate goal will be to understand the role of endogenous clocks in driving important daily and seasonal life cycle functions and to determine scope for plasticity in a rapidly changing environment.

Description: This paper positions possibilities for human geographies of the sea. The growing volume of work under this banner has been largely qualitative in its approach, reflecting, in turn, the questions posed by oceanic scholars. These questions necessitate corresponding methods. Whilst this is not necessarily a problem, and the current corpus of work has offered many significant contributions, in making sense of the human dimensions of maritime worlds, other questions—and methods—may generate knowledge that is useful within this remit of work. This paper considers the place of quantitative approaches in posing lines of enquiry about shipping, one of the prominent areas of concern under the banner of ‘human geographies of the seas’. There is longstanding work in transport geographies concerned with shipping, logistics, freight movement and global connections, which embraces quantitative methods which could be bridged to ask fresh questions about oceanic spatial phenomena past and present. This paper reviews the state of the art of human geographies of the sea and transport geographies and navigates how the former field may be stimulated by some of the interests of the latter and a broader range of questions about society-sea-space relations. The paper focuses on Automatic Identification Systems (or AIS) as a potentially useful tool for connecting debates, and deepening spatial understandings of the seas and shipping beyond current scholarship. To advance the argument the example of shipping layups is used to illustrate or rather, position, the point.

Description: The copepod Calanus finmarchicus plays a crucial role in the north Atlantic food web. Its seasonal life cycle involves reproduction and development in surface waters before overwintering in diapause at depth. Although diapause has been studied for more than a century, the factors responsible for the initiation and termination of it are still unclear. Endogenous clocks have been identified as potent tools for photoperiod measurement and seasonal rhythmicity in many terrestrial species, but knowledge of these remains scarce in the marine realm. Focusing on the dominant CV copepodid stage, we sampled a population of C. finmarchicus from a Scottish sea loch to characterize population dynamics, several physiological parameters, and diel and seasonal expression rhythms of 35 genes representing different metabolic pathways, including the circadian clock machinery. This generated a detailed overview of the seasonal cycle of C. finmarchicus including the most extensive field dataset on circadian clock gene expression in a marine species to date. Gene expression patterns revealed distinct gene clusters upregulated at different phases of the copepod’s seasonal cycle. While diel clock cycling was restricted to the active spring/summer phase, many clock genes exhibited the highest expression during diapause. Our results provide new insights into diapause on physiological and genetic levels. We suggest that photoperiod, in interaction with internal and external factors (lipid content, temperature, food availability) and the endogenous clock mechanism, plays an important role in the timing of diapause in C. finmarchicus.

Description: 〈jats:p〉Central Arctic properties and processes are important to the regional and global coupled climate system. The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Distributed Network (DN) of autonomous ice-tethered systems aimed to bridge gaps in our understanding of temporal and spatial scales, in particular with respect to the resolution of Earth system models. By characterizing variability around local measurements made at a Central Observatory, the DN covers both the coupled system interactions involving the ocean-ice-atmosphere interfaces as well as three-dimensional processes in the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere. The more than 200 autonomous instruments (“buoys”) were of varying complexity and set up at different sites mostly within 50 km of the Central Observatory. During an exemplary midwinter month, the DN observations captured the spatial variability of atmospheric processes on sub-monthly time scales, but less so for monthly means. They show significant variability in snow depth and ice thickness, and provide a temporally and spatially resolved characterization of ice motion and deformation, showing coherency at the DN scale but less at smaller spatial scales. Ocean data show the background gradient across the DN as well as spatially dependent time variability due to local mixed layer sub-mesoscale and mesoscale processes, influenced by a variable ice cover. The second case (May–June 2020) illustrates the utility of the DN during the absence of manually obtained data by providing continuity of physical and biological observations during this key transitional period. We show examples of synergies between the extensive MOSAiC remote sensing observations and numerical modeling, such as estimating the skill of ice drift forecasts and evaluating coupled system modeling. The MOSAiC DN has been proven to enable analysis of local to mesoscale processes in the coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean system and has the potential to improve model parameterizations of important, unresolved processes in the future.〈/jats:p〉

Description: The copepod Calanus finmarchicus has an ecological key position in the northern Atlantic pelagic food web and its life is characterized by diel and seasonal rhythmicity. Neither diel nor seasonal rhythmicity of C. finmarchicus are understood with regard to their mechanistic regulation. Endogenous clock systems are central in controlling rhythms in various terrestrial species, but have hardly been investigated in marine organisms. This thesis shows that C. finmarchicus possesses an endogenous circadian clock, that regulated 24h rhythms of gene expression, metabolic activity and vertical migration behavior. The thesis further suggests that clock-based day length measurement and an endogenous annual clock is involved in the regulation of seasonal rhythmicity. The findings on C. finmarchicus’ timing systems are further related to the extreme light conditions in polar environments, discussing potential effects of climate chance on the copepods rhythmicity and biology.

Description: The Zagros Fold and Thrust Belt (ZFTB) is an outstanding orogen running from eastern Turkey to the Makran area. It is formed as a consequence of the convergence between the Arabian and the Eurasian plates that occurred in the Neogene. This still active and long-lasting process generated a topographic configuration dominated by a series of parallel folding structures which, at places, isolate internal basins. The topographic configuration has, in turn, profoundly influenced the river network evolution, which follows a trellis pattern with the main valleys developed in the synclines and rivers that occasionally cut into anticlines. The peculiar climate, characterised by arid and semi-arid conditions, makes most of the rivers ephemeral, alimented only by short rainfall events. For this reason, the sediments are transported over short distances and deposited in huge alluvial fans. Although the Zagros is one of the most studied belts in the world, its tectonic evolution is far from being fully understood. Debated, for example, are the beginning of collision, the primary deformation mechanism, the evolution of the drainage system, the formation process of the alluvial fans, and the interrelations between landscape, tectonics, and climate. This paper, focusing on the geodynamic, geological, stratigraphic, and topographic configuration of the Zagros belt, is intended to be a compendium of the most up-to-date knowledge on the Zagros and aims to provide the cognitive basis for future research that can find answers to outstanding questions.

Description: We propose a Bayesian approach for semantic segmentation of crops and weeds. Farmers often manage weeds by applying herbicides to the entire field, which has negative environmental and financial impacts. Site-specific weed management (SSWM) considers the variability in the field and localizes the treatment. The prerequisite for automated SSWM is accurate detection of weeds. Moreover, to integrate a method into a real-world setting, the model should be able to make informed decisions to avoid potential mistakes and consequent losses. Existing methods are deterministic and they cannot go beyond assigning a class label to the unseen input based on the data they were trained with. The main idea of our approach is to quantify prediction uncertainty, while making class predictions. Our method achieves competitive performance in an established dataset for weed segmentation. Moreover, through accurate uncertainty quantification, our method is able to detect cases and areas which it is the most uncertain about. This information is beneficial, if not necessary, while making decisions with real-world implications to avoid unwanted consequences. In this work, we show that an end-to-end trainable Bayesian segmentation network can be successfully deployed for the weed segmentation task. In the future it could be integrated into real weeding systems to contribute to better informed decisions and more reliable automated systems.