ALBERT

Description: The Holocene, Ahead of Print. 〈br/〉

Description: The Holocene, Volume 29, Issue 2, Page 300-312, February 2019. 〈br/〉

Description: Central Chile is heavily exploited for mineral and water resources, with agriculture and large urban populations all creating intensive landscape use. Few records of past environmental and climate change are available that afford a broader context. To aid in this assessment, we present a 700-year reconstruction from Laguna del Maule (LdM) in the high Andes of central Chile based on sedimentological, geochemical, diatom and pollen analyses. The age model is based on 210 Pb/ 137 Cs and 14 C dating tied into known volcanic eruptions. Sedimentology consists of organic-rich sediments and diatom oozes with several interspersed volcanic-rich facies and two tephra deposits. Sediment geochemistry exhibits increased productivity (high Br/Ti, biosilica) and more dominant oxic conditions (high Fe/Mn) from AD 1300 to 1400 and from AD 1650 to 1850, likely during periods of relatively lower lake levels and better development of littoral environments. However, during this later period, high elevation vegetation was dominant, indicative of regional cooler/wetter conditions. In contrast, sediments deposited from AD 1850 to 1930 evidence decreased productivity and increased anoxic lake bottom conditions. The ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) in LdM is characterized by significant variations in lake dynamics and hydrology with cooler/wetter conditions (AD 1570–1700), major environmental changes in the 18th century and ending at ca. AD 1850. LdM record documents the impact of the LIA in the southern hemisphere and stresses the global nature of this climate period. Large changes in lake dynamics and diatoms assemblages during the 20th century could be related to anthropogenic impacts, but recent changes in climate patterns cannot be excluded.

Description: The February 2014 eruption of Kelud volcano (Indonesia) destroyed most of the instruments near it. We use remote seismic and infrasound sensors to reconstruct the eruptive sequence. The first explosions were relatively weak seismic and infrasound events. A major stratospheric ash injection occurred a few minutes later and produced long-lasting atmospheric and ground-coupled acoustic waves that were detected as far as 11,000 km by infrasound sensors, and up to 2,300 km away on seismometers. A seismic event followed ~12 minutes later and was recorded 7,000 km away by seismometers. We estimate a volcanic intensity [ Pyle , 2000] around 10.9, placing the 2014 Kelud eruption between the 1980 Mount St. Helens and 1991 Pinatubo eruptions intensities. We demonstrate how remote infrasound and seismic sensors are critical for the early detection of volcanic explosions, and how they can help to constrain and understand eruptive sequences

Description: Varied acoustic signals were recorded at Kīlauea Volcano in mid-2007, coincident with dramatic changes in the volcano's activity. Prior to this time period, Pu'u 'Ō'ō crater produced near-continuous infrasonic tremor and was the primary source of degassing and lava effusion at Kīlauea. Collapse and draining of Pu'u 'Ō'ō crater in mid-June produced impulsive infrasonic signals and fluctuations in infrasonic tremor. Fissure eruptions on 19 June and 21 July were clearly located spatially and temporally using infrasound arrays. The 19 June eruption from a fissure approximately mid-way between Kīlauea's summit and Pu'u 'Ō'ō produced infrasound for ∼30 minutes—the only observed geophysical signal associated with the fissure opening. The infrasound signal from the 21 July eruption just east of Pu'u 'Ō'ō shows a clear azimuthal progression over time, indicative of fissure propagation over 12.9 hours. The total fissure propagation rate is relatively slow at 164 m/hr, although the fissure system ruptured discontinuously. Individual fissure rupture times are estimated using the acoustic data combined with visual observations.

Description: Microbaroms are continuous infrasonic signals with a dominant frequency around 0.2 Hz produced by ocean surface waves. Monitoring stations around the globe routinely detect strong microbaroms in the lee of tropical cyclones. We utilize a parametric wind model and a spectral wave model to construct the tropical cyclone wave field and a theoretical acoustic source model to describe the intensity, spatial distribution, and dynamics of microbarom sources. This approach excludes ambient wave conditions and facilitates a parametric analysis to elucidate the source mechanism within the storm. A stationary tropical cyclone produces the strongest microbarom signals at the center, where the waves generated by the cyclonic winds converge. As the tropical cyclone moves forward, the converging wave field becomes less coherent and lags and expands behind the storm center. The models predict a direct relation between the storm forward speed and the location of maximum microbarom source intensity consistent with the infrasonic observations from Hurricane Felicia 2009 in the North Central Pacific.

Description: A multiproxy study of a 7 m long sedimentary sequence from Lake La Parra (39°50.948', 1°52', 1014 m a.s.l.) supported by 11 14 C AMS and 210 Pb/ 137 Cs dates provides a robust, high-resolution hydrological and environmental variability record for the last 1600 years of the Las Torcas sinkhole Complex in the Central Iberian Range. The succession of depositional environments in Lake La Parra sinkhole is controlled by both changes in the regional water table and by the balance between sedimentary input through ephemeral creeks and in-lake production of carbonates and organic matter. Although synergetic links with climate are likely, phases of increased sediment delivery to the lake at c . ad 500–700, c . ad 1000, ad 1450–1500, ad 1550–650 and since 1700 till recent times are driven primarily by human impact in the watershed. Prior to c . ad 300, the sinkhole was dry, then became a lake at the end of the Roman Period ( ad 350) when the doline was flooded, and it has not dried out during the last 1600 years. Moderate lake levels with deposition of coarser clastic facies dominated up to the 12th century ( ad 400–1200), and relatively higher levels with deposition of laminated facies during the 13th–15th centuries ( ad 1200–1600). The pattern of palaeohydrological evolution at a centennial scale is roughly coherent with most Iberian lacustrine records; however, the ‘La Parra’ sequence indicates that increased humidity during Iberian–Roman times was restricted to southern Spain and the humid phases of the ‘Little Ice Age’ (‘LIA’) starting and ending earlier in the central Iberian Range compared with the Pyrenean Domain and southern Spain. This new sequence highlights the heterogeneity through space and time of the main dry and wet climatic periods at shorter scales, emphasizing the impact of latitudinal climate gradients on the Iberian Peninsula climate variability.

Description: The explosive fragmentation of the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteorite generated a large airburst with an equivalent yield of 500 kT TNT. It is the most energetic event recorded by the infrasound component of the CTBT-IMS, globally detected by 20 out of 42 operational stations. This study performs a station-by-station estimation of the IMS detection capability to explain infrasound detections and non-detections from short to long distances, using the Chelyabinsk meteorite as global reference event. Investigated parameters influencing the detection capability are the directivity of the line source signal, the ducting of acoustic energy and the individual noise conditions at each station. Findings include a clear detection preference for stations perpendicular to the meteorite trajectory, even over large distances. Only a weak influence of stratospheric ducting is observed for this low-frequency case. Furthermore, a strong dependence on the diurnal variability of background noise levels at each station is observed, favoring nocturnal detections.

Description: The Marboré Cirque, which is located in the southern Central Pyrenees on the north face of the Monte Perdido Peak (42°40'0''N; 0.5°0''W; 3355 m), contains a wide variety of Holocene glacial and periglacial deposits, and those from the ‘Little Ice Age’ (‘LIA’) are particularly well developed. Based on geomorphological mapping, cosmogenic exposure dating and previous studies of lacustrine sediment cores, the different deposits were dated and a sequence of geomorphological and paleoenvironmental events was established as follows: (1) The Marboré Cirque was at least partially deglaciated before 12.7 kyr BP. (2) Some ice masses are likely to have persisted in the Early Holocene, although their moraines were destroyed by the advance of glaciers during the Mid Holocene and ‘LIA’. (3) A glacial expansion occurred during the Mid Holocene (5.1 ± 0.1 kyr), represented by a large push moraine that enclosed a unique ice mass at the foot of the Monte Perdido Massif. (4) A melting phase occurred at approximately 3.4 ± 0.2 and 2.5 ± 0.1 kyr (Bronze/Iron Ages) after one of the most important glacial advances of the Neoglacial period. (5) Another glacial expansion occurred during the Dark Age Cold Period (1.4–1.2 kyr), followed by a melting period during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. (6) The ‘LIA’ represented a clear stage of glacial expansion within the Marboré Cirque. Two different pulses of glaciation were detected, separated by a short retraction. The first pulse occurred most likely during the late 17th century or early 18th century (Maunder Minimum), whereas the second occurred between 1790 and ad 1830 (Dalton Minimum). A strong deglaciation process has affected the Marboré Cirque glaciers since the middle of the 19th century. (7) A large rock avalanche occurred during the Mid Holocene, leaving a chaotic deposit that was previously considered to be a Late Glacial moraine.

Description: The Holocene, Volume 28, Issue 11, Page 1685-1696, November 2018. 〈br/〉