ALBERT

Description: On timescales beyond the life of a research project, a core task in the curation of digital research data is the migration of data and metadata to new storage media, new hardware, and software systems. These migrations are necessitated by ageing software systems, ageing hardware systems, and the rise of new technologies in data management. Using the example of the German Continental Deep Drilling Program (KTB) we outline steps taken to keep the acquired data accessible to researchers and trace the history of data management in KTB from a project platform in the early 1990ies through three migrations up to the current data management platform. The migration steps taken not only preserved the data, but also made data from KTB accessible via internet and citable through Digital Object Identifier (DOI). We also describe measures taken to manage hardware and software obsolescence and minimise the amount of maintenance necessary to keep data accessible beyond the active project phase. At present, data from KTB are stored in an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) compliant repository based on the eSciDoc repository framework. Information packages consist of self-contained packages of binary data files and discovery metadata in Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) format. The binary data files were created from a relational database used for data management in the previous version of the system, and from websites generated from a content management system. Metadata are provided in DataCite, GCMD-DIF, and ISO19139/INSPIRE schema definitions. Access to the KTB data is provided through download pages which are produced by XML transformation from the stored metadata.

Description: The coherent behavior of four parameters characterizing the global field of low-frequency (periods from 2 to 500 min) seismic noise is studied. These parameters include generalized Hurst exponent, multifractal singularity spectrum support width, the normalized entropy of variance, and kurtosis. The analysis is based on the data from 229 broadband stations of GSN, GEOSCOPE, and GEOFON networks for a 17-year period from the beginning of 1997 to the end of 2013. The entire set of stations is subdivided into eight groups, which, taken together, provide full coverage of the Earth. The daily median values of the studied noise parameters are calculated in each group. This procedure yields four 8-dimensional time series with a time step of 1 day with a length of 6209 samples in each scalar component. For each of the four 8-dimensional time series, a multiple correlation measure is estimated, which is based on computing robust canonical correlations for the Haar wavelet coefficients at the first detail level within a moving time window of the length 365 days. These correlation measures for each noise property demonstrate essential increasing starting from 2007 to 2008 which was continued till the end of 2013. Taking into account a well-known phenomenon of noise correlation increasing before catastrophes, this increasing of seismic noise synchronization is interpreted as indicators of the strongest (magnitudes not less than 8.5) earthquakes activation which is observed starting from the Sumatra mega-earthquake of 26 Dec 2004. This synchronization continues growing up to the end of the studied period (2013), which can be interpreted as a probable precursor of the further increase in the intensity of the strongest earthquakes all over the world.

Description: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the use of wavelet transform (WT) as the common processing tool for earthquake’s rapid magnitude determination and epicentral estimation. The goal is to use the same set of wavelet coefficients that characterize the seismogram (and especially its P-wave portion) to use one technique (WT) for double use (magnitude and location estimation). Wavelet magnitude estimation (WME) is used to derive a scaling relation between earthquake’s magnitude and wavelet coefficients for South Aegean using data from 469 events with magnitudes from 3.8 to 6.9. The performance of the proposed relation was evaluated using data from 40 additional events with magnitude from 3.8 to 6.2. In addition, the epicentral estimation is achieved by a new proposed method (wavelet epicentral estimation—WEpE) which is based on the combination of wavelet azimuth estimation and two stations’ sub array method. Following the performance investigation of WEpE method, we present results and simulations with real data from characteristic events that occurred in South Aegean. Both methods can be run in parallel, providing in this way a suitable core of a regional earthquake early warning system in South Aegean.

Description: The relationship between gas hydrates, microorganisms and the surrounding sediment is extremely complex. Microorganisms can either act as producer or consumer of organic compounds. By converting organic matter microorganisms produce methane and therefore provide the prerequisite for gas hydrate formation. In natural environment clay minerals immobilize the substrates feeding the methane producing microorganisms. As a result of microbial activity gas hydrates are surrounded by a great variety of organic compounds which are not incorporated into the hydrate structure but influence the formation process. Through anaerobic metabolic activity special bacteria produce biosurfactants which were found to enhance the hydrate formation process significantly and act as nucleation centres. Another source of organic compounds is sediment organic matter (SOM) originating from plant material or animal remains which may also enhance hydrate growth. On the other hand methane is an energy source for special microbial methanotroph communities growing either aerobically or anaerobically. In sediments containing oxygen this methane will be oxidized into carbon dioxide. In the lower parts of the sediment methane originating from gas hydrates is oxidized anaerobically into bicarbonate by methanogenic archaea and sulphur reducing bacteria. In presence of dissolved calcium bicarbonate precipitates as calcium carbonate und forms carbonate crusts within the upper sediment layers of the sea floor.

Description: This E-book collates expert articles published on the Shale Gas Information Platform SHIP website (http://www.shale-gas-information-platform.org). The Shale Gas Information Platform is a network of international experts who share their expertise on different aspects of shale gas. With News, Basic Information and Expert Articles, SHIP features the scientific perspective within the current debate, adding factual argument to the pros and cons discussed publicly. The network is brought together by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Most articles presented in this book are available in German and/or Polish on the SHIP website.

Description: In recent times increasing numbers of high-rate GNSS stations have been installed around the world and set-up to provide data in real-time. These networks provide a great opportunity to quickly capture surface displacements, which makes them important as potential constituents of earthquake/tsunami monitoring and warning systems. The appropriate GPS real-time data analysis with sufficient accuracy for this purpose is a main focus of the current GNSS research. The objective of this thesis is to develop high-precision GNSS algorithms for better seismological applications. The core research and the contributions of this thesis are summarized as following: With the availability of real-time high-rate GNSS observations and precise satellite orbit and clock products, the interest in the real-time Precise Point Positioning (PPP) technique has greatly increased to construct displacement waveforms and to invert for source parameters of earthquakes in real time. Furthermore, PPP ambiguity resolution approaches, developed in the recent years, overcome the accuracy limitation of the standard PPP float solution and achieve comparable accuracy with relative positioning. In this thesis, we introduce the real-time PPP service system and the key techniques for real-time PPP ambiguity resolution. We assess the performance of the ambiguity-fixed PPP in real-time scenarios and confirm that positioning accuracy in terms of root mean square (RMS) of 1.0~1.5 cm can be achieved in horizontal components. For the 2011 Tohoku-Oki (Japan) and the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah (Mexico) earthquakes, the displacement waveforms, estimated from ambiguity-fixed PPP and those provided by the accelerometer instrumentation are consistent in the dynamic component within few centimeters. The PPP fixed solution not only can improve the accuracy of coseismic displacements, but also provides a reliable recovery of earthquake magnitude and of the fault slip distribution in real time. We propose an augmented point positioning method for GPS based hazard monitoring, which can achieve fast or even instantaneous precise positioning without relying on data of a specific reference station. The proposed method overcomes the limitations of the currently mostly used GPS processing approaches of relative positioning and global precise point positioning. The advantages of the proposed approach are demonstrated by using GPS data, which was recorded during the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake in Japan. We propose a new approach to quickly capture coseismic displacements with a single GNSS receiver in real-time. The new approach can overcome the convergence problem of precise point positioning (PPP), and also avoids the integration process of the variometric approach. Using the results of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, it is demonstrated that the proposed method can provide accurate displacement waveforms and permanent coseismic offsets at an accuracy of few centimeters, and can also reliably recover the moment magnitude and fault slip distribution. We investigate three current existing single-receiver approaches for real-time GNSS seismology, comparing their observation models for equivalence and assessing the impact of main error components. We propose some refinements to the variometric approach and especially consider compensating the geometry error component by using the accurate initial coordinates before the earthquake to eliminate the drift trend in the integrated coseismic displacements. We propose an approach for tightly integrating GPS and strong motion data on raw observation level to increase the quality of the derived displacements. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated using 5 Hz high-rate GPS and 200 Hz strong motion data collected during the El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake (Mw 7.2, 4 April, 2010) in Baja California, Mexico. The new approach not only takes advantages of both GPS and strong motion sensors, but also improves the reliability of the displacement by enhancing GPS integer-cycle phase ambiguity resolution, which is very critical for deriving displacements with highest quality. We also explore the use of collocated GPS and seismic sensors for earthquake monitoring and early warning. The GPS and seismic data collected during the 2011 Tohoku-Oki (Japan) and the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah (Mexico) earthquakes are analyzed by using a tightly-coupled integration. The performance of the integrated results are validated by both time and frequency domain analysis. We detect the P-wave arrival and observe small-scale features of the movement from the integrated results and locate the epicenter. Meanwhile, permanent offsets are extracted from the integrated displacements highly accurately and used for reliable fault slip inversion and magnitude estimation.

Description: The Pannonian Basin of Central Europe is one of the key examples of Miocene continental extension that is easily accessible to surface seismological investigation. It comprises two major crustal blocks: AlCaPa and Tisza which abut along a poorly understood structure referred to as the Mid-Hungarian Zone (MHZ), the whole being surrounded by the arc of the Carpathian Mountains, the Alps and the Dinarides. Using data from the CBP (Carpathian Basins Project) temporary broadband seismic array of 46 stations deployed across the western Pannonian Basin in 2006–2007, we calculated receiver functions that constrain the variation of crustal thickness across the basin and derive a map of Moho depth across a NW–SE oriented swath about 450 km long and 75 km wide. The measured Moho depths show no significant change in crustal thickness between AlCaPa and Tisza terrains, but the Moho is not or very weakly imaged along a ca. 40 km wide strip centred on the MHZ. Moho depths within the Pannonian Basin are typically in the range 25–30 km, and increase toward the periphery of the basin. Our measurements are generally consistent with earlier VP models from controlled-source seismic surveys and recent VS models determined by tomographic analysis of ambient noise signals. The lack of a sharp Moho image beneath the MHZ suggests that the crust–mantle boundary in that zone may consist of a gradual increase in velocity with depth. The relatively constant crustal thickness across the two domains of the Pannonian Basin suggests that thinning to the same final state is controlled thermally. This structural characteristic seems to be governed by a large-scale balance of gravitational potential energy that is insensitive to the separate prior histories of the two regions.

Description: The Dead Sea is a prime location to study the structure and development of pull‐apart basins. We analyzed tomographic models of Vp, Vs, and Vp/Vs using self‐organizing map clustering techniques. The method allows us to identify major lithologies by their petrophysical signatures. Remapping the clusters into the subsurface reveals the distribution of basin sediments, prebasin sedimentary rocks, and crystalline basement. The Dead Sea basin shows an asymmetric structure with thickness variation from 5 km in the west to 13 km in the east. Most importantly, we identified a distinct, well‐defined body under the eastern part of the basin down to 18 km depth. Considering its geometry and petrophysical signature, this unit is interpreted as a buried counterpart of the shallow prebasin sediments encountered outside of the basin and not as crystalline basement. The seismicity distribution supports our results, where events are concentrated along boundaries of the basin and the deep prebasin sedimentary body. Our results suggest that the Dead Sea basin is about 4 km deeper than assumed from previous studies.

Description: Monte Carlo solutions to the radiative transfer equations are used to model translational and rotational motion seismogram envelopes in random elastic media with deterministic background structure assuming multiple anisotropic scattering. Observation and modelling of the three additional components of rotational motions can provide independent information about wave propagation in the Earth’s structure. Rotational motions around the vertical axis observed in the P-wave coda are of particular interest as they can only be excited by horizontally polarized shear waves and therefore indicate the conversion from P to SH energy by multiple scattering at 3-D heterogeneities. To investigate crustal scattering and attenuation parameters in south-east Germany beneath the Gr¨afenberg array multicomponent seismogram envelopes of rotational and translational motions are synthesized and compared to seismic data from regional swarm-earthquakes and of deep teleseismic events. In the regional case a nonlinear genetic inversion is used to estimate scattering and attenuation parameters at high frequencies (4–8 Hz). Our preferred model of crustal heterogeneity consists of a medium with random velocity and density fluctuations described by an exponential autocorrelation function with a correlation length of a few hundred metres and fluctuations in the range of 3 per cent. The quality factor for elastic S-waves attenuation QS i is around 700. In a second, step simulations of teleseismic P-wave arrivals using this estimated set of scattering and attenuation parameters are compared to observed seismogram envelopes from deep events. Simulations of teleseismic events with the parameters found from the regional inversion show good agreement with the measured seismogram envelopes. This includes ringlaser observations of vertical rotations in the teleseismic P-wave coda that naturally result from the proposed model of wave scattering. The model also predicts, that the elastic energy recorded in the teleseismic P coda is not equipartitioned, unlike the coda of regional events, but contains an excess of shear energy. The results confirm that scattering generating the teleseismic P-wave coda mainly occurs in the crustal part of the lithosphere beneath the receiver. Our observations do not require scattering of high frequency waves in the mantle, but weak scattering in the lithospheric mantle cannot be ruled out.

Description: In recent years a widely disseminated microbial deep biosphere was discovered in the subsurface of the Earth. This finding opens the view to a fascinating new world under our feet and forms a new topic in modern microbiology and geoscience research. With its recognition the curiosity arises how these deeply buried microorganisms are able to survive in the deep subsurface. Important questions concerning theses survivalists are: what are the carbon and energy resources of these microbial ecosystems, what are the biotic and abiotic processes of substrate provision and what is the role of the deep biosphere in the organic matter transformation in the geological subsurface carbon cycle? The topic concerning the feedstock for deep microbial life forms the core of the deep biosphere research in Section Organic Geochemistry at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.

Description: Уже сегодня Центральная Азия сталкива- ется с водным стрессом из-за конкуриру- ющего использования воды и преоблада- ния низкой эффективности водополь- зования. В будущем, климатические, ги- дрологические и социально-экономиче- ские изменения могут обострить ситуа- цию. Исследования, проведённые в рамках проекта CAWa показали, что на основе сценариев климатических моде- лей, изменение климата приведёт к даль- нейшему увеличению средней годовой температуры воздуха, а также температу- ры в зимний и летний периоды, и суще- ственному дальнейшему сокращению площадей покрытых ледниками, напри- мер в Тянь-Шане в бассейне р. Нарын на 20–60 % до 2050 года по сравнению с ны- нешним состоянием оледенения. Режим речного стока, как ожидается, изменится с ледниково-нивального на плювио-ни- вальный режим с увеличением стока в весеннее время и уменьшением стока в летние месяцы по наиболее пессими- стичному сценарию климатических изме- нений. К 2050 году повышение темпера- туры вызовет увеличение потребности воды для сельскохозяйственных культур на 5 –15 % для большинства традицион- ных культур в Ферганской долине. Подробный анализ сценариев для Фер- ганской долины показал, что экономика может справиться с будущими условия- ми, если (1) эффективность водопользо- вания в орошаемом земледелии увели- чится путём применения новых технологий орошения и улучшения ирри- гационной инфраструктуры, (2) исполь- зование земли отрегулируется в пользу новых товарных культур, таких как ово- щи, фрукты и виноград. Это беспрои- грышные меры по адаптации, которые экономики стран Центральной Азии должны предпринять, чтобы приспосо- биться к социально-экономическим из- менениям, даже при условии отсутствия изменений климата.

Description: This data collection contains airborne hyperspectral data as well as accompanying in-situ data ac-quired in autumn 2011 in the Neusling test area near Landau a.d. Isar in Southern Germany. The dataset is composed of a) three airborne hyperspectral image strips acquired during an overflight on September 10th, 2011 with the APEX instrument. The airborne data consists of 288 spectral bands, ranging from VIS to SWIR (413 - 2449 nm). A mosaic of the three image strips covering the Neusling test area is also provided; b) spectral reference and control measurements acquired with a portable ASD FieldSpec 3 JR spectroradiometer in 2150 spectral bands (350 - 2500nm) taken paral-lel to the overflight; c) a spatially comprehensive land use/land cover map generated from in-situ observations during the days next to the overflight; d) Flight-parallel in-situ point-measurements consisting of: i) non-destructively measured leaf area index of sugar beet, maize, grassland and legumes (105 measurements incl. standard deviations), ii) SPAD chlorophyll measurements (106 measurements incl. standard deviations), iii) 106 measurements of canopy height (incl. standard deviations). The dataset was collected with an agricultural focus.

Description: Lowermost mantle velocity in the area 15°S–70°N latitude/60°W–5° W longitude is estimated using two groups of observations, complementary to each other. There are 894 Pdif observations at stations in the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean areas from 15 major earthquakes in Central and South America. Another 218 Pdif observations are associated with four earthquakes in Greece/Turkey and one event in Africa, recorded by American stations. A Pdif slowness tomographic approach of the structures immediately above the core-to-mantle boundary (CMB) is used, incorporating corrections for ellipticity, station elevation and velocity perturbations along the ray path. A low-velocity zone above CMB with a large geographical extent, approximately in the area (35–65°N) × (40–20°W), appears to have the velocity perturbations exceeding the value actually assumed by some global models. Most likely, it is extended beneath western Africa. A high-velocity area is observed west of the low-velocity zone. The results suggest that both Cape Verde and Azorean islands are located near transition areas from low-to-high velocity values in the lowermost mantle.

Description: Since 2010, Kawah Ijen volcano has been equipped with seismometers, and its extremely acid volcanic lake has been monitored using temperature and leveling sensors, providing unprecedented time resolution of multiparametric data for an acidic volcanic lake. The nature of stress and mass changes of the volcano is studied by combining seismic analyses and volcanic lake measurements that were made during the strongest unrest ever recorded by the seismic network at Kawah Ijen. The distal VT earthquake swarm that occurred in May 2011 was the precursor of volcanic unrest in October 2011 that caused an increase in shallow earthquakes. The proximal VT earthquakes opened pathways for fluids to ascend by increasing the permeability of the rock matrix. The following months were characterized by two periods of strong heat and mass discharge into the lake and by the initiation of monochromatic tremor (MT) activity when steam/gases interacted with shallow portions of the aquifer. Significant seismic velocity variations, concurrent with water level rises in which water contained a large amount of steam/gas, were associated with the crises, that caused an although the unrest did not affect the shallow hydrothermal system at a large scale. Whereas shallow VT earthquakes likely reflect a magmatic intrusion, MT and relative seismic velocity changes are clearly associated with shallow hydrothermal processes. These results will facilitate the forecast of future crises.

Description: We perform regional moment tensor inversion for 84 earthquakes that occurred in the Iberian-Maghreb region during the second and third leg of IberArray deployment (2009–2013). During this period around 300 seismic broadband stations were operating in the area, reducing the interstation spacing to ~ 50 km over extended areas. We use the established processing sequence of the IAG moment tensor catalogue, increasing to 309 solutions with this update. New moment tensor solutions present magnitudes ranging from Mw 3.2 to 6.3 and source depths from 2 to 620 km. Most solutions correspond to Northern Algeria, where a compressive deformation pattern is consolidated. The Betic-Rif sector shows a progression of faulting styles from mainly shear faulting in the east via predominantly extension in the central sector to reverse and strike-slip faulting in the west. At the SW Iberia margin, the predominance of strike-slip and reverse faulting agrees with the expected transpressive character of the Eurasian-Nubia plate boundary. New strike-slip and oblique reverse solutions in the Trans-Alboran Shear Zone reflect its left-lateral regime. The most significant improvement corresponds to the Atlas Mountains and the surroundings of the Gibraltar Arc with scarce previous solutions. Reverse and strike-slip faulting solutions in the Atlas System display the accommodation of plate convergence by shortening in the belt. At the Gibraltar Arc, several new solutions were obtained at lower crustal and subcrustal depths. These mechanisms show substantial heterogeneity, covering the full range of faulting styles with highly variable orientations of principal stress axes, including opposite strike slip faulting solutions at short distance. The observations are not straightforward to explain by a simple geodynamic scenario and suggest the interplay of different processes, among them plate convergence in old oceanic lithospheric with large brittle thickness at the SW Iberia margin, as well as delamination of thickened continental lithosphere beneath the Betic-Rif arc.

Description: В контексте Интегрированного Управления Водны-ми Ресурсами (ИУВР), обоснованное принятие ре-шений требует точных, своевременных, простран-ственно обширных, последовательных и понятныхнаборов данных о климате, водных и земельныхресурсах. Технологии наблюдения за поверхностьюЗемли предоставляют подобные наборы данных, атакже методы и инструменты для создания инфор-мационных продуктов высокого качества с цельюподдержки процесса планирования и принятиярешений. На основе примеров из проекта CAWaданная Аналитическая записка рекомендует ис-пользование технологий наблюдения за Землей и ихинтеграция в системы оперативного мониторинга иподдержки принятия решений в Центральной Азии.

Description: We analyzed receiver functions to estimate the crustal thickness and velocity structure beneath two stations of Geofon (GE) network in the Sunda-Banda arc transition zone. The stations are located in two different tectonic regimes: Sumbawa Island (station PLAI) and Timor Island (station SOEI) representing the oceanic and continental characters, respectively. We analyzed teleseismic events of 80 earthquakes to calculate the receiver functions using the time-domain iterative deconvolution technique. We employed 2D grid search (H-κ) algorithm based on the Moho interaction phases to estimate crustal thickness and Vp/Vs ratio. We also derived the S-wave velocity variation with depth beneath both stations by inverting the receiver functions. We obtained that beneath station PLAI the crustal thickness is about 27.8 km with Vp/Vs ratio 2.01. As station SOEI is covered by very thick low-velocity sediment causing unstable solution for the inversion, we modified the initial velocity model by adding the sediment thickness estimated using high frequency content of receiver functions in H-κ stacking process. We obtained the crustal thickness is about 37 km with VP/Vs ratio 2.2 beneath station SOEI. We suggest that the high Vp/Vs in station PLAI may indicate the presence of fluid ascending from the subducted plate to the volcanic arc, whereas the high Vp/Vs in station SOEI could be due to the presence of sediment and rich mafic composition in the upper crust and possibly related to the serpentinization process in the lower crust. We also suggest that the difference in velocity models and crustal thicknesses between stations PLAI and SOEI are consistent with their contrasting tectonic environments.

Description: In this paper we present and discuss the performance of the procedure for earthquake location and characterization implemented in the Italian Candidate Tsunami Service Provider at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in Rome. Following the ICG/NEAMTWS guidelines, the first tsunami warning messages are based only on seismic information, i.e., epicenter location, hypocenter depth, and magnitude, which are automatically computed by the software Early-est. Early-est is a package for rapid location and seismic/tsunamigenic characterization of earthquakes. The Early-est software package operates using offline-event or continuous-real-time seismic waveform data to perform trace processing and picking, and, at a regular report interval, phase association, event detection, hypocenter location, and event characterization. Early-est also provides mb, Mwp, and Mwpd magnitude estimations. mb magnitudes are preferred for events with Mwp ≲ 5.8, while Mwpd estimations are valid for events with Mwp ≳ 7.2. In this paper we present the earthquake parameters computed by Early-est between the beginning of March 2012 and the end of December 2014 on a global scale for events with magnitude M ≥ 5.5, and we also present the detection timeline. We compare the earthquake parameters automatically computed by Early-est with the same parameters listed in reference catalogs. Such reference catalogs are manually revised/verified by scientists. The goal of this work is to test the accuracy and reliability of the fully automatic locations provided by Early-est. In our analysis, the epicenter location, hypocenter depth and magnitude parameters do not differ significantly from the values in the reference catalogs. Both mb and Mwp magnitudes show differences to the reference catalogs. We thus derived correction functions in order to minimize the differences and correct biases between our values and the ones from the reference catalogs. Correction of the Mwp distance dependency is particularly relevant, since this magnitude refers to the larger and probably tsunamigenic earthquakes. Mwp values at stations with epicentral distance Δ ≲ 30° are significantly overestimated with respect to the CMT-global solutions, whereas Mwp values at stations with epicentral distance Δ ≳ 90° are slightly underestimated. After applying such distance correction the Mwp provided by Early-est differs from CMT-global catalog values of about δ Mwp ≈ 0.0 ∓ 0.2. Early-est continuously acquires time-series data and updates the earthquake source parameters. Our analysis shows that the epicenter coordinates and the magnitude values converge within less than 10 min (5 min in the Mediterranean region) toward the stable values. Our analysis shows that we can compute Mwp magnitudes that do not display short epicentral distance dependency overestimation, and we can provide robust and reliable earthquake source parameters to compile tsunami warning messages within less than 15 min after the event origin time.

Description: The amplitude spectra of global geophysical phenomena were investigated to motivate research of physical connections between them. The suggested causality was derived from comparison of the spectra, and from cross correlation functions. The following global parameters were discussed: for the earth rotation by the variations of the length of day, for the gemagnetic variation by the global field intensity, changes of the dipole axis and the westward drift, and for climate change by the atmospheric excitation function derived from air pressure variations, and temperature variations. The model of atmospheric excitation, which can be proved most exactly for the annual variation of length of day, is responsible for the 11 and 22 years periods, too. It failed for longer periods e. g., partially for the 30 years periods and completely for the 60 to 80 years periods, which were also discovered in the mean temperature and geomagnetic field variations. Therefore, it was suggested that longer periods in climate change and in the variations of the earth's rotation are caused independently by the same process in the earth core, provided that a physical influence of the geomagnetic field on climate will be accepted in future. The investigation was completed by comparison with the spectra of some local temperature variations in Europe.

Description: Upwelling hot mantle plumes are thought to disintegrate continental lithosphere and are considered to be drivers of active continental breakup. The formation of the Walvis Ridge during the opening of the South Atlantic is related to a putative plume-induced breakup. We investigated the crustal structure of the Walvis Ridge (southeast Atlantic Ocean) at its intersection with the continental margin and searched for anomalies related to the possible plume head. The overall structure we identify suggests that no broad plume head existed during opening of the South Atlantic and anomalous mantle melting occurred only locally. We therefore question the importance of a plume head as a driver of continental breakup and further speculate that the hotspot was present before the rifting, leaving a track of kimberlites in the African craton.

Description: Stable continental cratons are the oldest geologic features on the planet. They have survived 3.8 to 2.5 billion years of Earth’s evolution1, 2. The key to the preservation of cratons lies in their strong and thick lithospheric roots, which are neutrally or positively buoyant with respect to surrounding mantle3, 4. Most of these Archaean-aged cratonic roots are thought to have remained stable since their formation and to be too viscous to be affected by mantle convection2, 3, 5. Here we use a combination of gravity, topography, crustal structure and seismic tomography data to show that the deepest part of the craton root beneath the North American Superior Province has shifted about 850 km to the west–southwest relative to the centre of the craton. We use numerical model simulations to show that this shift could have been caused by basal drag induced by mantle flow, implying that mantle flow can alter craton structure. Our observations contradict the conventional view of cratons as static, non-evolving geologic features. We conclude that there could be significant interaction between deep continental roots and the convecting mantle.

Description: In 2012 re3data.org – the Registry of Research Data Repositories went online with 23 entries. Three years later the registry provides researchers, funding organizations, libraries and publishers with over 1,200 listed research data repositories from all over the world making it the largest and most comprehensive online catalog of research data repositories on the web. re3data.org provides detailed information about research data repositories, and its distinctive icons help researchers easily identify relevant repositories for accessing and depositing data sets. Funders like the European Commission and research institutions like the University of Bielefeld recommend the use of re3data.org in their guidelines and policies. Project partners in re3data.org are the Library and Information Services department (LIS) of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the Computer and Media Service at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Purdue University Libraries and the KIT Library at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). re3data.org will be included in DataCite’s suite of services by the end of 2015. The poster describes the current status and the future plans of re3data.org - Registry of Research Data Repositories.

Description: The implementation of Integrated Water and Land Resources Management (IWLRM) in Central Asia is facing substantial challenges today. The most basic challenge among them, to which many other challenges can be traced back, is the building and development of capacities at the individual and organizational levels. This Policy Brief reviews the capacity building approaches taken by the German Water Initiative for Central Asia (“Berlin Process”), in particular: (1) short-term vocational trainings for water professionals offered by the CAWa research project, (2) regional master programme “Integrated Water Management” implemented at the German-Kazakh University in Almaty, (3) training module on river basin planning developed within the GIZ program “Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia”. These approaches address mainly the individual level of capacity building, but with the establishment of river basin commissions, the GIZ programme targeted also the institutional level. Key factors of success were the regional and trans-sectoral approach taken by all three programmes, the linking of science and practice, and the tailoring of the training contents to the practical needs of the participants.

Description: Als erstes Arbeitsergebnis legt die Ad-hoc-AG Open-Access-Gold dieses Positionspapier vor. Es richtet sich an wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen, die sich aktiv mit Aspekten des Open-Access-Publizierens befassen und bündelt und bewertet die Anforderungen an Verträge nach dem Publikationskostenmodell. Darüber hinaus greift es die Verknüpfung von Subskription und Open Access auf und gibt den adressierten Institutionen Anregungen zur Gestaltung ihrer Open-Access-Strategien. Das Ziel ist es, im Bereich des wissenschaftlichen Publizierens Transparenz und Nachhaltigkeit im Sinne der Wissenschaft herzustellen und die Perpetuierung früherer Fehlentwicklungen zu vermeiden.

Description: Die Konstruktion sowie Eichung und Prüfung der kurzperiodischen elektrodynamischen Vertikal- und Horizontalseismographen VSJ-II und HSJ-II wird ausfuhrlich beschrieben. Sie basiert auf bereits friiher dargelegten eingehenden theoretischen Untersuchungen. Die Eigenperiode der Instrumente kann im Intervall von 0,5 bis 2 s eingestellt werden. Sie besitzen eine reduzierte Pendellänge von 8 cm und ein Tragheitsmoment von 2·10^5 g cm2. Methoden zur optimalen Ankopplung geeigneter Galvanometer zur Erreichung hoher Vergrößerungen mit Hilfe der aquivalenten Parameter und die Ausschaltung der Rückwirkung des Galvanometers durch frequenzabhangige Kopplung werden zusammenfassend dargestellt.

Description: The design, calibration and testing of the short-period electromagnetic vertical and horizontal seismographs VSJ-II and HSJ-II are described in detail. They are based on extensive theoretical studies already previously reported. The period of the instruments is adjustable at an interval from 0.5 to 2 seconds. The instruments have а reduced pendulum length of 8 cm and а moment of inertia of 2*10^5 g cm2. Methods for optimum coupling of suitable galvanometers to obtain high magnification bу means of the equivalent parameters are summarised as well as elimination of galvanometer reaction bу frequency-dependent coupling.

Description: The October 23 2011 Van Earthquake is studied from an earthquake engineering point of view. Strong ground motion processing was performed to investigate features of the earthquake source, forward directivity effects during the rupture process as well as local site effects. Strong motion characteristics were investigated in terms of peak ground motion and spectral acceleration values. Directiviy effects were discussed in detail via elastic response spectra and wide band spectograms to see the high frequency energy distributions. Source parameters and slip distribution results of the earthquake which had been proposed by different researchers were summarized. Influence of the source parameters on structural response were shown by comparing elastic response spectra of Muradiye synthetic records which were performed by broadband strong motion simulations of the earthquake. It has been emphasized that characteristics of the earthquake rupture dynamics and their effects on structural design might be investigated from a multidisciplinary point of view. Seismotectonic calculations (e.g., slip pattern, rupture velocity) may be extended relating different engineering parameters (e.g., interstorey drifts, spectral accelerations) across different disciplines while using code based seismic design approaches. Current state of the art building codes still far from fully reflecting earthquake source related parameters into design rules. Some of those deficiencies and recent efforts to overcome these problems were also mentioned. Next generation ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) may be incorporated with certain site categories for site effects. Likewise in the 2011 Van Earthquake, Reverse/Oblique earthquakes indicate that GMPEs need to be feasible to a wider range of magnitudes and distances in engineering practice. Due to the reverse faulting with large slip and dip angles, vertical displacements along with directivity and fault normal effects might significantly affect the engineering structures. Main reason of excessive damage in the town of Erciş can be attributed to these factors. Such effects should be considered in advance through the establishment of vertical design spectra and effects might be incorporated in the available GMPEs.

Description: In our meeting Dynamic Earth – from Alfred Wegener to today and beyond we will review how Wegener‘s findings evolved into to modern Earth system science including its impact on climate and the Earth surface, and how this system affects our daily life: where humans live, what risks we are exposed to, where we find our resources. In the meeting we will hold sessions that cover the entire geoscience spectrum (from mineral physics over solid earth geodynamics to the climate sciences) and that explore the consequences of Wegeners findings on how humans use our planet today (from energy and mineral resources over georisks to utilisation of the subsurface and materials for modern society). We have invited keynote speakers that are eminent international scientists in these fields. In events open to the general public we will get an account of Wegeners final trip to Greenland on the history of science of his hypothesis.

Description: The KISS network was installed in the frame of the "Klyuchevskoy Investigation - Seismic Structure of an extraordinary volcanic system" project and recorded data between summer 2015 and summer 2016 in one of the world's largest clusters of subduction volcanoes - the Klyuchevskoy volcanic group (KVG). It is located in eastern Russia at the northern end of the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone close to its intersection with the Aleutian arc and the north-western termination of Hawaii-Emperor seamount chain. Additional to the 4700m high Mount Klyuchevskoy the KVG contains 12 other volcanoes that have together erupted about 1 cubic meter rock per second averaged over the past 10,000 years. Among those Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny and Tolbachik were the most active ones during the last decades with eruptions styles ranging from explosive to Hawaiian-type. The KISS experiment is designed to investigate the volcanic and seismic processes and its structural setting in the KVG. The network covers a circular region of about 80km diameter with some linear extensions. It includes data from 77 temporary seismic stations with broadband and short period sensors that were installed on concrete plates in about 60cm deep holes. Due to the local conditions the stations were battery powered and could not be serviced during the experiment. GPS reception of the digitizers was not continuous at all stations due to thick snow cover and vegetation. Waveform data are available from the GEOFON data centre, under network code X9, and are embargoed until end of 2019.

Description: The 2014 LoNNe (Loss of the Night Network) intercomparison campaign is the second of four campaigns planned during EU COST Action ES1204. The goal of these campaigns is to understand systematic uncertainty inherent in observations of skyglow (light pollution). An innovation of this year’s campaign was to take measurements with many of the nstruments at two sites: an urban location and a location far from artificial lights. This report summarizes the eeting, and also provides three recommendations for obtaining and analyzing handheld SQM observations. The UCM group of Astronomical Instrumentation and Extragalactic Astronomy (GUAIX) hosted the meeting at the Physics building of Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). A meeting room at Departamento de Astrofísica y CC. de la Atmósfera and the astronomical observatory (Observatorio UCM) were prepared in advance. In particular, a tailor made station to set the SQM and other photometer devices was installed on the roof of the Physics building. The Laboratorio de Investigación Científica Avanzada (LICA) was used to test and characterize a number of devices and filters.

Description: Программа GIZ «Трансграничное управление водными ресурсами в Централь- ной Азии» поддерживает сотрудничество между Кыргызстаном и Таджикиста- ном по совместному управлению бассейном реки Исфары путем развития по- тенциала в области устойчивого бассейнового планирования и управления. Кроме этого, реабилитация малых инфраструктурных объектов и автоматиза- ция систем учета воды направлены на обеспечение безопасного и равномерно- го распределения водных ресурсов в бассейне. Улучшенное управление вод- ными ресурсами и модернизация инфраструктуры реки Исфары способствуют повышению осведомленности и уровня водообеспеченности более 200 000 водопотребителей в обеих странах. В комплексе с проводимыми мероприятия- ми по трансграничному сотрудничеству, предложенные меры направлены на противодействие потенциальным конфликтам по причине ограниченных оро- шаемых земель между жителями соседних государств в приграничных райо- нах, что также является следствием «водного вопроса». Программа GIZ «Трансграничное управление водными ресурсами в Централь- ной Азии» реализуется по заказу Министерства иностранных дел Германии и софинансируется Европейским Союзом.

Description: These short, informal newsletters, issued every month on approximately the first day of the month, are intended to keep IUGG Member National Committees informed about the activities of the IUGG Associations and actions of the IUGG Secretariat. Special issues are sometimes distributed mid-month as deemed appropriate. The content usually includes a synopsis of scientific meetings during the following three months in order to illustrate the disciplinary and geographical diversity of IUGG interests. E-Journals may be forwarded to those who will benefit from the information.

Description: The anthropogenic climate change is producing a reduction of the precipitation and a change in its regime in regions such as the Mediterranean Basin, which will be intensified during the next decades. Warmer temperatures are amplifying the effects of droughts by enhancing soil evaporation and increasing the atmospheric evaporative demand. In recent years, there has been an increase in reports of forest declines related to drought. They involved widespread crown defoliation and mortality and were usually related to a single extreme drought episode. However, other large-scale changes in forest structure and composition have been linked to the progressive reduction of water availability. Co-occurring woody species may show contrasting drought sensitivity, so increasing drought may produce shifts in species composition and deep modifications of ecosystems’ structure and function. Therefore, understanding species-specific water-use strategies may help elucidate which physiological and/or morphological traits play a key role in determining the effects of droughts on forests. In this sense, drought experiments are a useful tool, but they are usually of short duration while woody species are long-lived organisms. Changes in plant communities occurred on the short-term may not be representative of the future performance of individuals and communities. For this reason, long-term experiments can provide better insights on the dynamics of forests. In this thesis, I examined the effect of long-term (13 years) experimental and natural droughts on holm oak (Quercus ilex) forests. I studied how drought affects the movement of water from belowground to the atmosphere at the individual level in co-occurring species with different drought sensitivity. At the stand-level, I evaluated whether the effect of experimental drought on growth and mortality rates changes over time and after extreme drought events. I also performed a quantitative synthesis on the use of groundwater by plants as estimated with stable water isotopes. The results of this thesis confirm that co-occurring species present contrasting water-use strategies; the tree Quercus ilex may be out-competed by the tall shrub Phillyrea latifolia in the driest sites since the latter transpires larger amounts of water during dry periods. Indeed, the growth and mortality rates of P. latifolia were not affected by experimental drought while Q. ilex showed higher mortality rates and both Q. ilex and A. unedo showed lower growth rates. However, I report that the effect of the experimental drought is reduced over time. Relatively higher mortality of stems in the drought plots reduce competition between stems and offsets the effect of treatment. The experiment also produced changes in the plant water sources that contribute to dampen the effect of the drought treatment. I also reviewed the sequence of drought responses of holm oak forests at different time and organizational scales. Q. ilex is a species with mechanisms and traits that allow it to survive and recover from droughts, but extremely long droughts produce on it extensive crown damage. It can still resprout vigorously after such episodes and can acclimate to persistent drier conditions, but it is unclear whether more recurrent extreme droughts can affect its resilience. Finally, I report the widespread occurrence of groundwater uptake by plants. Groundwater is critical regardless of the landscape position, climate and plant anatomy, although plants in riparian ecosystems and dry climates use relatively more groundwater. Summing up, tree individuals and forests have mechanisms and processes related to water use that help them acclimate to drier conditions over time. Nonetheless, it has to be elucidated to which extent this acclimation can offset the negative effects of increasing drought.

Description: Seismic velocity models are found, along with uncertainty estimates, for 11 sites in the Middle East by jointly modelling Ps and Sp receiver functions and surface (Rayleigh) wave group velocity dispersion. The approach performs a search for models that satisfy goodness-of-fit criteria guided by a variant of simulated annealing and uses statistical tools to assess these products of searches. These tools, a parameter correlation matrix and marginal posterior probability density (PPD) function, allow us to evaluate quantitatively the constraints that each data type imposes on model parameters and to identify portions of each model that are well-constrained relative to other portions. This joint modelling technique, which we call ‘multi-objective optimization for seismology’, does not require a good starting solution, although such a model can be incorporated easily, if available, and can reduce the computation time significantly. Applying the process described above to broadband seismic data reveals that crustal thickness varies from 15 km beneath Djibouti (station ATD) to 45 km beneath Saudi Arabia (station RAYN). A pronounced low velocity zone for both Vp and Vs is present at a depth of ∼12 km beneath station KIV located in northern part of greater Caucasus, which may be due to the presence of a relatively young volcano. Similarly, we also noticed a 6-km-thick low velocity zone for Vp beginning at 20 km depth beneath seismic station AGIN, on the Anatolian plateau, while positive velocity gradients prevail elsewhere in eastern Turkey. Beneath station CSS, located in Cyprus, an anomalously slow layer is found in the uppermost mantle, which may indicate the presence of altered lithospheric material. Crustal P- and S-wave velocities beneath station D2, located in the northeastern portion of central Zagros, range between 5.2–6.2 and 3.2–3.8 km s−1, respectively. In Oman, we find a Moho depth of 34.0 ± 1.0 km and 25.0 ± 1.0 to 30.0 ± 1.0 km beneath stations S02 and S04, respectively.

Description: Nearly half of Greenland’s mass loss occurs through iceberg calving, but the physical mechanisms operating during calving are poorly known and in situ observations are sparse. We show that calving at Greenland’s Helheim Glacier causes a minutes-long reversal of the glacier’s horizontal flow and a downward deflection of its terminus. The reverse motion results from the horizontal force caused by iceberg capsize and acceleration away from the glacier front. The downward motion results from a hydrodynamic pressure drop behind the capsizing berg, which also causes an upward force on the solid Earth. These forces are the source of glacial earthquakes, globally detectable seismic events whose proper interpretation will allow remote sensing of calving processes occurring at increasing numbers of outlet glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica.

Description: We have determined the three-dimensional P-wave velocity structure of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Iberia–Africa collision zone using local earthquake tomography. We have inverted arrival times of first-arriving P phases listed in the bulletins of the Instituto Geográfico Nacional and phases picked by us on permanent stations of other regional networks and on temporary broadband stations deployed in the frame of the TOPO-IBERIA project. In total we have used 38,624 P-wave arrival times from 2362 local events recorded at 120 seismic stations. The most remarkable result is the imaging of a large high velocity body following approximately the western Alboran coastline, with a horizontal dimension of at least 200 km and extending in depth from the surface down to 24 km. This body, not imaged previously with this extent using seismic tomography, coincides with surface exposures of subcontinental mantle (peridotites) in Iberia and Africa and with a belt of positive gravity anomalies. We have also found a marked contrast in the seismic velocities of the middle and lower crust of the Alboran basin, coinciding with the location of the Trans-Alboran Shear Zone. We attribute this contrast to widespread magmatic intrusions in the eastern part of the basin, resulting in higher P-wave velocities than in the west. This contrast would also explain the different orientation of the Trans-Alboran Shear zone with respect to the surface features and faults in the Alboran basin. We also image thick crust beneath the Betics and Rif, accompanied by downgoing lithosphere of the Iberian foreland and Gulf of Cadiz beneath the Betic–Rif–Alboran system.

Description: The lower mantle is dominated by two large structures with anomalously low shear wave velocities, known as Large Low‐Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs). Several studies have documented evidence for strong seismic anisotropy at the base of the mantle near the edges of the African LLSVP. Recent work has identified a smaller structure with similar low‐shear wave velocities beneath Eurasia, dubbed the Perm Anomaly. Here we probe lowermost mantle anisotropy near the Perm Anomaly using the differential splitting of SKS and SKKS phases measured at stations in Europe. We find evidence for lowermost mantle anisotropy in the vicinity of the Perm Anomaly, with geographic trends hinting at lateral variations in anisotropy across the boundaries of the Perm Anomaly as well as across a previously unsampled portion of the African LLSVP border. Our observations suggest that deformation is concentrated at the boundaries of both the Perm Anomaly and the African LLSVP.

Description: Es wird die Eignung von Dreikomponentenregistrierungen kurz-, mittel- und langperiodischer Seismographen für eine Ortung teleseismischer Ereignisse untersucht. Aus dem umfangreichen statistischen Material lassen sich Korrekturen und Prognoseintervalle für Laufzeit-, Herdentfernungs-und -azimutbestimmungen aus Registrierungen der Station Moxa ableiten. Berücksichtigt man diese Ergebnisse, dann beträgt der mittlere quadratische Ortungsfehler für seismische Ereignisse mit Magnituden 5 〈 MB 〈 8 im Entfernungsbereich 10° 〈 D 〈 170° nur ca. 270 km. Aus den z. T. erheblichen signifikanten Abweichungen der beobachteten Laufzeiten, Herdentfernungen und –azimute gegen die theoretisch erwarteten Werte ergeben sich Schlußfolgerungen z. B. auf abweichende Wellengeschwindigkeiten im Reflexionsgebiet von PP bzw. auf mögliche Strukturanomalien im Krustenbereich der Station Moxa.

Description: Zusammenstellung der im Text nicht erläuterten Symbole und Abkürzungen 1. Einleitung 2. Grundlagen 2.1. Seismographen und Registrierungen 2.1.1. Standardseismographen vom Typ A, B und C 2.1.2. Frequenz- und Phasencharakteristik elektrodynamischer Seismographen mit galvanometrischer Registrierung 2.1.2.1. Berechnung der Frequenz- und Phasencharakteristik für den Fall stationärer harmonischer Schwingungen 2.1.2.2. Berücksichtigung des Einschwingvorgangs im Hinblick auf Einsatzzeit-, Perioden- ·und Azimutbestimmung 2.2. Laufzeitkurven und die Interpretation von Seismogrammen 2.3. Gewinnung und Genauigkeit der Bezugsdaten 2.3.1. Herdortungen der Rechenzentren und die Bestimmung von Laufzeitresiduenfür die Station Moxa 2.3.2. Graphische Hilfsmittel zur Bestimmung von Epizentralentfernungund Azimut des ebensbezüglich der Station Moxa 2.4. Bisher bekannt gewordene Ergebnisse zur 1-stations-Methode 2.5. Auswahl geeigneter statistischer Methoden 2.5.1. Allgemeines 2.5.2. Häufigkeitsverteilungen 2.5.2.1. Normalverteilung nach GAUSS 2.5.2.2. t-Verteilung nach STUDENT 2.5.2.3. Binomialverteilung 2.5.3. Statistische Tests, Mutungs- und Prognoseintervalle 2.5.3.1. Verteilungsabhängige Verfahren 2.5.3.1.1. Test und Mutungsintervall für den Mittelwert 2.5.3.1.2. Vergleich der Varianzen zweier unabhängiger Stichproben 2.5.3.1.3. Vergleich der Häufigkeiten zweier unabhängiger Stichproben 2.5.3.2. Verteilungsunabhängige Verfahren 2.5.3.2.1. Test und Mutungsintervall für .den Median 2.5.3.2.2. Vergleich der Varianzen zweier unabhängiger Stichproben 2.5.3.2.3. Vergleich zweier unabhängiger Stichproben 2.5.3.3. Einige Bemerkungen zur Aussagekraft statistischer Tests 3. Ortung seismischer Ereignisse nach der 1-Stations-Methode 3.1. Bestimmung der Herdentfernung und Herdtiefe aus den Zeitdifferenzen seismischer Raumwelleneinsätze 3.1.1. Voruntersuchungen zur Entfernungs- und Herdtiefenbestimmung 3.1.2. D-Bestimmung im Entfernungsintervall 14° 〈 D 〈 110° (P-Wellen-Bereich) 3.1.2.1. δDPP-P im Entfernungsinterva11 25° 〈 D ≤ 110° 3.1.2.2. Laufzeitresiduen für PP-Reflexionen unter Kontinenten und Ozeanen (20° 〈 D 〈 170°) 3.1.2.3. δDPP-p im Entfernungsintervall 14° 〈 D 〈 109° 3.1.2.4. δtSS-P sowie Phasenhäufigkeiten für PP und SS im Entfernungsintervall 10° 〈 D 〈 170° 3.1.2.5. δDS-P im Entfernungsintervall 14° 〈 D 〈 105° 3.1.3. D-Bestimmung im Entfernungsintervall 100° 〈 D 〈 165° nach der "fitting the chart"-Methode 3.2. Bestimmung des Azimuts des Bebenherdes aus seismischen Registrierungen longitudinaler Scheinwellen vom Raumwellentyp 3.2.1. Voruntersuchungen zur Azimutbestimmung 3.2.1.1. Phasenverschiebungen zwischen den Registrieramplituden der Horizontalkomponenten und ihr Einfluß auf die Genauigkeit der Azimutbestimmung 3.2.1.2. Eignung von Doppelamplituden und multiplen P-Einsätzen zur Azimutbestimmung 3.2.1.3. Einfluß der Ablesegenauigkeit und des SNR auf die Größe der Azimutfehler 3.2.1.4. Abschätzung der Größe der möglichen Fehler von Azimutbestimmungen in Abhängigkeit von der Magnitude des seismischen Ereignisses 3.2.1.5. Durch Fehler im Vergrößerungsfaktor V0 bedingte systematische Azimutabweichungen 3.2.2. Azimutfehler δAz in Abhängigkeit vom Herdgebiet, Herdazimut und Seismographentyp 3.2.2.1. Azimutbestimmungen aus P-Wellen 3.2.2.2. Azimutbestimmungen aus LSW nach P 3.2.3. Zu möglichen Ursachen der systematischen Fehler von Azimutbestimmungen aus P-Wellen-Registrierungen vom Typ A 3.3. Praktische Ergebnisse und Möglichkeiten der Ortung seismischer Ereignisse aus Dreikomponentenregistrierungen 3.3.1. Auswertung der bisherigen Ergebnisse 3.3.2. Möglichkeiten zur Automatisierung von Ortungen nach der 1-Stations-Methode 4. Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse Literatur

Description: Using a colocated ring laser and an STS‐2 seismograph, we estimate the ratio of Rayleigh‐to‐Love waves in the secondary microseism at Wettzell, Germany, for frequencies between 0.13 and 0.30 Hz. Rayleigh wave surface acceleration was derived from the vertical component of STS‐2, and Love wave surface acceleration was derived from the ring laser. Surface wave amplitudes are comparable; near the spectral peak about 0.22 Hz, Rayleigh wave amplitudes are about 20% higher than Love wave amplitudes, but outside this range, Love wave amplitudes become higher. In terms of the kinetic energy, Rayleigh wave energy is about 20–35% smaller on average than Love wave energy. The observed secondary microseism at Wettzell thus consists of comparable Rayleigh and Love waves but contributions from Love waves are larger. This is surprising as the only known excitation mechanism for the secondary microseism, described by Longuet‐Higgins (1950), is equivalent to a vertical force and should mostly excite Rayleigh waves.

Description: We applied a new method to compute tsunami Green's functions for slip inversion of the 1 April 2014 Iquique earthquake using both near-field and far-field tsunami waveforms. Inclusion of the effects of the elastic loading of seafloor, compressibility of seawater, and the geopotential variation in the computed Green's functions reproduced the tsunami travel-time delay relative to long-wave simulation, and allowed us to use far-field records in tsunami waveform inversion. Multiple time window inversion was applied to tsunami waveforms iteratively until the result resembles the stable moment-rate function from teleseismic inversion. We also used GPS data for a joint inversion of tsunami waveforms and co-seismic crustal deformation. The major slip region with a size of 100 km × 40 km is located down-dip the epicenter at depth ~28 km, regardless of assumed rupture velocities. The total seismic moment estimated from the slip distribution is 1.24 × 1021 Nm (Mw 8.0).

Description: Salty and thermal springs exist along the lakeshore of the Sea of Galilee, which covers most of the Tiberias Basin (TB) in the northern Jordan- Dead Sea Transform, Israel/Jordan. As it is the only freshwater reservoir of the entire area, it is important to study the salinisation processes that pollute the lake. Simulations of thermohaline flow along a 35 km NW-SE profile show that meteoric and relic brines are flushed by the regional flow from the surrounding heights and thermally induced groundwater flow within the faults (Magri et al., 2015). Several model runs with trial and error were necessary to calibrate the hydraulic conductivity of both faults and major aquifers in order to fit temperature logs and spring salinity. It turned out that the hydraulic conductivity of the faults ranges between 30 and 140 m/yr whereas the hydraulic conductivity of the Upper Cenomanian aquifer is as high as 200 m/yr. However, large-scale transport processes are also dependent on other physical parameters such as thermal conductivity, porosity and fluid thermal expansion coefficient, which are hardly known. Here, inverse problems (IP) are solved along the NW-SE profile to better constrain the physical parameters (a) hydraulic conductivity, (b) thermal conductivity and (c) thermal expansion coefficient. The PEST code (Doherty, 2010) is applied via the graphical interface FePEST in FEFLOW (Diersch, 2014). The results show that both thermal and hydraulic conductivity are consistent with the values determined with the trial and error calibrations. Besides being an automatic approach that speeds up the calibration process, the IP allows to cover a wide range of parameter values, providing additional solutions not found with the trial and error method. Our study shows that geothermal systems like TB are more comprehensively understood when inverse models are applied to constrain coupled fluid flow processes over large spatial scales.

Description: Thefirst-order characteristics of collisional mountain belts and the potential feedback withsurface processes are predicted by critical taper theory. While the feedback between erosion and mountainbelt structure has been fairly extensively studied, less attention has been given to the potential role ofsynorogenic deposition. For thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belts, recent studies indicate a strong control ofsyntectonic deposition on structure, as sedimentation tends to stabilize the thin-skinned wedge. However,the factors controlling basement deformation below fold-and-thrust belts, as evident, for example, in theZagros Mountains or in the Swiss Alps, remain largely unknown. Previous work has suggested that suchvariations in orogenic structure may be explained by the thermotectonic“age”of the deforming lithosphereand hence its rheology. Here we demonstrate that sediment loading of the foreland basin area provides anadditional control and may explain the variable basement involvement in orogenic belts. When examining therole of sedimentation, we identify two end-members: (1) sediment-starved orogenic systems with thick-skinnedbasementdeformationinanaxialorogeniccoreandthin-skinned deformation in the bordering forelandsand (2) sediment-loaded orogens with thick packages of synorogenic deposits, derived from the axialbasement zone, deposited on the surrounding foreland fold-and-thrust belts, and characterized bybasement deformation below the foreland. Using high-resolution thermomechanical models, we demonstratea strong feedback between deposition and crustal-scale thick-skinned deformation. Our results show that theloading effects of syntectonic sediments lead to long crustal-scale thrust sheets beneath the orogenic forelandand explain the contrasting characteristics of sediment-starved and sediment-loaded orogens, showing forthefirst time how both thin- and thick-skinned crustal deformations are linked to sediment deposition in theseorogenic systems. We show that the observed model behavior is consistent with observations from a number ofnatural orogenic systems