ALBERT

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 274: Cryomorphological Topographies in the Study of Ice Caves Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080274 Authors: Manuel Gómez-Lende Manuel Sánchez-Fernández The current interest in ice caves requires that their varied manifestations be known as accurately as possible in view of their responses to a global change and also to their great potential as paleoenvironmental witnesses. This phenomenon has been known about for a long time but is still scarcely studied from the point of view of its cryological values and the evolution and distribution of many of their morphologies. For this, the development of cryomorphological topographies from traditional techniques to geodetic surveys with different tools, including terrestrial laser scanning, is one of the most current ways to characterize and quantify this type of cryospheric phenomena. It represents a new kind of periglacial cartography whose use is feasible in spite of the difficulties these environments present.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 272: Towards National Archaeological Mapping. Assessing Source Data and Methodology—A Case Study from Scotland Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080272 Authors: Łukasz Banaszek Dave C. Cowley Mike Middleton While the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) in Scotland contains valuable information on more than 170,000 archaeological monuments, it is clear that this dataset is conditioned by the disposition of past survey and changing parameters of data collection strategies over many decades. This highlights the importance of creating systematic datasets, in which the standards to which they were created are explicit, and against which the reliability of our knowledge of the material remains of the past can be assessed. This paper describes issues of data structure and reliability, then discussing the methodologies under development for expediting the progress of national-scale mapping with specific reference to the Isle of Arran. Preliminary outcomes of a recent archaeological mapping project of the island, which has been used to develop protocols for rapid large area mapping, are outlined. The primary sources for the survey were airborne laser scanning derivatives and orthophotographs, supplemented by field observation, and the project has more than doubled the number of known monuments of Arran. The survey procedures are described, followed by a discussion of the utility of ‘general purpose’ remote sensed datasets, focusing on the assessment of strengths and weaknesses for rapid mapping of large areas.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 273: The Caribbean’s Geotourism Potential and Challenges: A Focus on Two Islands in the Region Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080273 Authors: Colmore S. Christian Geotourism is a relatively new concept in the tourism industry, a concept which apparently has not yet been formally embraced by Caribbean destinations. This paper, based primarily on a literature review supplemented by the first-hand knowledge of the author, who served for over a decade in the natural resource management and tourism sectors in the region, identifies some of the geotourism assets and assesses the geotourism potential of two selected Caribbean islands, namely the Commonwealth of Dominica and St. Lucia. Indications are that the islands of the region have outstanding geological formations, dormant and active volcanic zones and associated geomorphological features, and breath-taking terrestrial and marine landscapes, including deep river gorges and tall mountains, and beautiful beaches, which together constitute important geotourism assets. Currently, these resources are marketed and promoted as part of the region’s nature tourism attractions. The feasibility of incorporating geotourism as a component of this overall nature tourism thrust is explored in this paper. As a follow-up to this study a survey of tourism officials, natural resource professionals, and selected scientists of the region is proposed for the purpose of identifying the reasons and constraints preventing the Caribbean region from formally embracing geotourism, developing and promoting the geotourism resources of the region as a unique component of the overall tourism product.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 315: Biomineral Reactivity: The Kinetics of the Replacement Reaction of Biological Aragonite to Apatite Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080315 Authors: Martina Greiner Lurdes Férnandez-Díaz Erika Griesshaber Moritz N. Zenkert Xiaofei Yin Andreas Ziegler Sabino Veintemillas-Verdaguer Wolfgang W. Schmahl We present results of bioaragonite to apatite conversion in bivalve, coral and cuttlebone skeletons, biological hard materials distinguished by specific microstructures, skeletal densities, original porosities and biopolymer contents. The most profound conversion occurs in the cuttlebone of the cephalopod Sepia officinalis, the least effect is observed for the nacreous shell portion of the bivalve Hyriopsis cumingii. The shell of the bivalve Arctica islandica consists of cross-lamellar aragonite, is dense at its innermost and porous at the seaward pointing shell layers. Increased porosity facilitates infiltration of the reaction fluid and renders large surface areas for the dissolution of aragonite and conversion to apatite. Skeletal microstructures of the coral Porites sp. and prismatic H. cumingii allow considerable conversion to apatite. Even though the surface area in Porites sp. is significantly larger in comparison to that of prismatic H. cumingii, the coral skeleton consists of clusters of dense, acicular aragonite. Conversion in the latter is sluggish at first as most apatite precipitates only onto its surface area. However, the process is accelerated when, in addition, fluids enter the hard tissue at centers of calcification. The prismatic shell portion of H. cumingii is readily transformed to apatite as we find here an increased porosity between prisms as well as within the membranes encasing the prisms. In conclusion, we observe distinct differences in bioaragonite to apatite conversion rates and kinetics depending on the feasibility of the reaction fluid to access aragonite crystallites. The latter is dependent on the content of biopolymers within the hard tissue, their feasibility to be decomposed, the extent of newly formed mineral surface area and the specific biogenic ultra- and microstructures.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 318: Mapping Surface Quartz Content in Sand Dunes Covered by Biological Soil Crusts Using Airborne Hyperspectral Images in the Longwave Infrared Region Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080318 Authors: Shahar Weksler Offer Rozenstein Eyal Ben-Dor Biological soil crusts (BSCs), composed of cyanobacteria, algae, mosses, lichens, and fungi, are important ecosystem engineers that stabilize the quartz-rich dunes in the Nitzana study area near the Israel–Egypt border. The longwave infrared (LWIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum is very useful for quartz identification since quartz reflectance in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared (VIS-NIR-SWIR, 0.4–2.5 µm) spectral regions lacks identifying features, whereas in the LWIR region, the quartz emissivity spectrum presents a strong doublet feature. This emissivity feature can be used as a diagnostic tool for BSCs development in desert environments, because BSCs attenuate the quartz feature as a function of their successional development. A pair of day and night airborne hyperspectral images were acquired using the Specim AisaOWL LWIR sensor (7.7–12 µm) and processed using an innovative algorithm to reduce the atmospheric interference in this spectral domain. The resulting day and night apparent emissivity products were used to produce a surface quartz content map of the study area. The significant reduction in atmospheric interference resulted in a high correlation (R2 = 0.88) between quartz content in field samples determined by X-ray powder diffraction analysis and emissivity estimations from the airborne images. This, in turn, served as the ground truth to our quartz content map of the surface, and by proxy to the BSC.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 313: Reverse Flotation Separation of Fluorite from Calcite: A Novel Reagent Scheme Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080313 Authors: Jianjun Wang Zihan Zhou Yuesheng Gao Wei Sun Yuehua Hu Zhiyong Gao Fluorite (CaF2), as an important strategic mineral source, is usually separated from calcite by the common froth flotation method, but this separation is still not selective enough. The development of a selective collector and/or depressant is the key to achieving high selective separation. 1-Hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP or H4L) is widely used as an environmentally friendly water treatment reagent due to its low cost and excellent anti-scaling performance in an aqueous solution. In this study, a novel reagent scheme was developed using HEDP as a fluorite depressant and sodium oleate (NaOL) as a calcite collector for the first time. When 3 × 10−5 mol/L of HEDP and 6 × 10−5 mol/L of NaOL were used at pH 6, the optimal selective separation for single minerals and mixed binary minerals was obtained. Zeta potential measurements indicated that HEDP possessed a stronger adsorption on fluorite than calcite, while NaOL did the opposite. This novel reagent scheme is of low cost, uses a small dosage, and is friendly to the environment, which makes it a promising reagent scheme for fluorite flotation in industrial application.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 293: The Impact of Mount Washington on the Height of the Boundary Layer and the Vertical Structure of Temperature and Moisture Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080293 Authors: Eric Kelsey Adriana Bailey Georgia Murray Discrimination of the type of air mass along mountain slopes can be a challenge and is not commonly performed, but is critical for identifying factors responsible for influencing montane weather, climate, and air quality. A field campaign to measure air mass type and transitions on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA was performed on 19 August 2016. Meteorological observations were taken at the summit and at several sites along the east and west slopes. Ozone concentrations were measured at the summit and on the valley floor. Additionally, water vapor stable isotopes were measured from a truck that drove up and down the Mount Washington Auto Road concurrent with radiosonde launches that profiled the free atmosphere. This multivariate perspective revealed thermal, moisture, and air mass height differences among the free atmosphere, leeward, and windward mountain slopes. Both thermally and mechanically forced upslope flows helped shape these differences by altering the height of the boundary layer with respect to the mountain surface. Recommendations for measurement strategies hoping to develop accurate observational climatologies of air mass exposure in complex terrain are discussed and will be important for evaluating elevation-dependent warming and improving forecasting for weather and air quality.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 292: A Mechanism of the Interdecadal Changes of the Global Low-Frequency Oscillation Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080292 Authors: Ruowen Yang Quanliang Chen Yuyun Liu Lin Wang Based on the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis dataset from 1948 to 2009, this study reveals that global low-frequency oscillation features two major temporal bands. One is a quasi-60-day period known as the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO), and the other is a quasi-15-day period known as the quasi-biweekly oscillation (QBWO). After the mid-1970s, both the ISO and QBWO become intensified and more active, and these changes are equivalently barotropic. The primitive barotropic equations are adopted to study the involved mechanism. It reveals that the e-folding time of the least stable modes of both the ISO and QWBO becomes shorter if the model is solved under the atmospheric basic state after the mid-1970s than if solved under the basic state before the mid-1970s. This result suggests that the atmospheric basic flow after the mid-1970s facilitates a more rapid growth of the ISO and QBWO, and thereby an intensification of the low-frequency oscillations at the two bands.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 291: A Statistical Parameter Correction Technique for WRF Medium-Range Prediction of Near-Surface Temperature and Wind Speed Using Generalized Linear Model Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080291 Authors: Jinmyeong Jeong Seung-Jae Lee A statistical post-processing method was developed to increase the accuracy of numerical weather prediction (NWP) and simulation by matching the daily distribution of predicted temperatures and wind speeds using the generalized linear model (GLM) and parameter correction, considering an increase in model bias when the range of the prediction time lengthens. The Land Atmosphere Modeling Package Weather Research and Forecasting model, which provides 12-day agrometeorological predictions for East Asia, was employed from May 2017 to April 2018. Training periods occurred one month prior to and after the test period (12 days). A probabilistic consideration accounts for the relatively short training period. Based on the total and monthly root mean square error values for each test site, the results show an improvement in the NWP accuracy after bias correction. The spatial distributions in July and January were compared in detail. It was also shown that the physical consistency between temperature and wind speed was retained in the correction procedure, and that the GLM exhibited better performance than the quantile matching method based on monthly Pearson correlation comparison. The characteristics of coastal and mountainous sites are different from inland automatic weather stations, indicating that supplements to cover these distinctive topographic locations are necessary.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 323: (10.4) Face of Ordered and Disordered Dolomite, MgCa(CO3)2: A Computational Study to Reveal the Growth Mechanism Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080323 Authors: Marco Bruno Erica Bittarello In this study, the stability of the (10.4) face of dolomite was systematically investigated. The surface energies at 0 K of the different (10.4) surfaces resulting from the cut of both ordered and disordered bulk structures were determined and compared, to establish how different atomic configurations (surface terminations) can affect the stability of the investigated face. To study the thermodynamic behavior of a surface, a 2D periodic slab model and the ab initio CRYSTAL code were adopted. The surface energies of the (10.4) faces of calcite and magnesite were also calculated in order to compare them with those of the different terminations of the (10.4) face of dolomite. Our calculations showed that the bulk of the dolomite crystal must have an ordered structure to reach the minimum of the energy, whereas the (10.4) surface is more stable when its structure is disordered. A growth model of the (10.4) face has been proposed: the peculiarity of this model consists in the existence of some disordered layers forming at the interface crystal/solution, which arrange in an ordered structure once covered by others disordered layers resulting by the spiral steps propagation.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 322: Particle Size Distribution Effects on the Strength Characteristic of Cemented Paste Backfill Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080322 Authors: Jiangyu Wu Meimei Feng Zhanqing Chen Xianbiao Mao Guansheng Han Yiming Wang It is of great significance, for economic, environmental and security reasons, to investigate the strength characteristic of underground cemented paste backfill (CPB). Consequently, an ultrasonic test, uniaxial and triaxial compression experiment, and acoustic emission (AE) monitoring were carried out on CPB, for which the particles satisfied Talbot gradation. The homogeneity of CPB specimens was evaluated by ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV). The stress–strain behavior and AE characteristic of CPB specimens under different Talbot indices and confining pressures were investigated. The effects of the particle size distribution and the confining pressure on the peak strength of CPB were analyzed. The strength parameter model of CPB under the coupled influence of the particle size distribution and the confining pressure was constructed based on the Mohr–Coulomb strength criterion. The results show that the peak strength of CPB is positively linear with confining pressure, however, the relationship between its strength parameters and the Talbot index can be characterized by a quadratic polynomial function. This suggests that there is an optimal gradation of particles reflected in the maximum strength of CPB.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 319: Fault Zone Evolution and Development of a Structural and Hydrological Barrier: The Quartz Breccia in the Kiggavik Area (Nunavut, Canada) and Its Control on Uranium Mineralization Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080319 Authors: Alexis Grare Olivier Lacombe Julien Mercadier Antonio Benedicto Marie Guilcher Anna Trave Patrick Ledru John Robbins In the Kiggavik area (Nunavut, Canada), major fault zones along, or close to, where uranium deposits are found are often associated with occurrence of thick quartz breccia (QB) bodies. These bodies formed in an early stage (~1750 Ma) of the long-lasting tectonic history of the Archean basement, and of the Proterozoic Thelon basin. The main characteristics of the QB are addressed in this study; through field work, macro and microscopic observations, cathodoluminescence microscopy, trace elements, and oxygen isotopic signatures of the quartz forming the QB. Faults formed earlier during syn- to post-orogenic rifting (1850–1750 Ma) were subsequently reactivated, and underwent cycles of cataclasis, pervasive silicification, hydraulic brecciation, and quartz recrystallization. This was synchronous with the circulation of meteoric fluids mixing with Si-rich magmatic-derived fluids at depth, and were coeval with the emplacement of the Kivalliq igneous suite at 1750 Ma. These processes led to the emplacement of up to 30 m thick QB, which behaved as a mechanically strong, transverse hydraulic barrier that localized later fracturing, and compartmentalized/channelized vertical flow of uranium-bearing fluids after the deposition of the Thelon Basin (post 1750 Ma). The development and locations of QB control the location of uranium mineralization in the Kiggavik area.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 300: A Comparative Study of Three Non-Geostatistical Methods for Optimising Digital Elevation Model Interpolation ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080300 Authors: Serajis Salekin Jack H. Burgess Justin Morgenroth Euan G. Mason Dean F. Meason It is common to generate digital elevation models (DEMs) from aerial laser scanning (ALS) data. However, cost and lack of knowledge may preclude its use. In contrast, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are seldom used to collect and generate DEMs. These receivers have the potential to be considered as data sources for DEM interpolation, as they can be inexpensive, easy to use, and mobile. The data interpolation method and spatial resolution from this method needs to be optimised to create accurate DEMs. Moreover, the density of GNSS data is likely to affect DEM accuracy. This study investigates three different deterministic approaches, in combination with spatial resolution and data thinning, to determine their combined effects on DEM accuracy. Digital elevation models were interpolated, with resolutions ranging from 0.5 m to 10 m using natural neighbour (NaN), topo to raster (ANUDEM), and inverse distance weighted (IDW) methods. The GNSS data were thinned by 25% (0.389 points m−2), 50% (0.259 points m−2), and 75% (0.129 points m−2) and resulting DEMs were contrast against a DEM interpolated from unthinned data (0.519 points m−2). Digital elevation model accuracy was measured by root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). It was found that the highest resolution, 0.5 m, produced the lowest errors in resulting DEMs (RMSE = 0.428 m, MAE = 0.274 m). The ANUDEM method yielded the greatest DEM accuracy from a quantitative perspective (RMSE = 0.305 m and MAE = 0.197 m); however, NaN produced a more visually appealing surface. In all the assessments, IDW showed the lowest accuracy. Thinning the input data by 25% and even 50% had relatively little impact on DEM quality; however, accuracy decreased markedly at 75% thinning (0.129 points m−2). This study showed that, in a time where ALS is commonly used to generate DEMs, GNSS-surveyed data can be used to create accurate DEMs. This study confirmed the need for optimization to choose the appropriate interpolation method and spatial resolution in order to produce a reliable DEM.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 294: The Influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation Index on Emergency Ambulance Calls for Elevated Arterial Blood Pressure Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080294 Authors: Jone Vencloviene Agne Braziene Jurate Zaltauskaite Paulius Dobozinskas The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the most prominent pattern of atmospheric variability over the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, especially during the cold season. It is found that “weather types” are associated with human health. It is possible that variations in NAO indices (NAOI) had additional impact on human health. We investigated the association between daily emergency ambulance calls (EACs) for exacerbation of essential hypertension and the NAOI by using Poisson regression, adjusting for season, weather variables and exposure to CO, particulate matter and ozone. An increased risk of EACs was associated with NAOI < −0.5 (Rate Ratio (RR) = 1.07, p = 0.013) and NAOI > 0.5 (RR = 1.06, p = 0.004) with a lag of 2 days as compared to −0.5 ≤ NAOI ≤ 0.5. The impact of NAOI > 0.5 was stronger during November-March (RR = 1.10, lag = 0, p = 0.026). No significant associations were found between the NAOI and EACs during 8:00–13:59. An elevated risk was associated during 14:00–21:59 with NAOI < −0.5 (RR = 1.09, p = 0.003) and NAOI > 0.5 (RR = 1.09, p = 0.019) and during 22:00–7:59 with NAOI < −0.5 (RR = 1.12, lag = 1, p = 0.001). The non-linear associations were found between the NAO and EACs. The different impact of the NAO was found during the periods November–March and April–October. The impact of the NAOI was not identical for different times of the day.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 279: Detection of Stones in Marine Habitats Combining Simultaneous Hydroacoustic Surveys Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080279 Authors: Svenja Papenmeier H. Christian Hass Exposed stones in sandy sublittoral environments are hotspots for marine biodiversity, especially for benthic communities. The detection of single stones is principally possible using sidescan-sonar (SSS) backscatter data. The data resolution has to be high to visualize the acoustic shadows of the stones. Otherwise, stony substrates will not be differentiable from other high backscatter substrates (e.g., gravel). Acquiring adequate sonar data and identifying stones in backscatter images is time consuming because it usually requires visual-manual procedures. To develop a more efficient identification and demarcation procedure of stone fields, sidescan sonar and parametric echo sound data were recorded within the marine protected area of “Sylt Outer Reef” (German Bight, North Sea). The investigated area (~5.900 km2) is characterized by dispersed heterogeneous moraine and marine deposits. Data from parametric sediment echo sounder indicate hyperbolas at the sediment surface in stony areas, which can easily be exported. By combining simultaneous recorded low backscatter data and parametric single beam data, stony grounds were demarcated faster, less complex and reproducible from gravelly substrates indicating similar high backscatter in the SSS data.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 326: Hydrotalcite and Hydrocalumite in Mortar Binders from the Medieval Castle of Portilla (Álava, North Spain): Accurate Mineralogical Control to Achieve More Reliable Chronological Ages Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080326 Authors: Graciela Ponce-Antón Luis Angel Ortega Maria Cruz Zuluaga Ainhoa Alonso-Olazabal Jose Luis Solaun Mortars from different stratigraphic units at Portilla Castle (Alava, North Spain) have been analyzed for mineralogical characterization before radiocarbon dating. The mortar binder at Portilla Castle is composed not only of neoformation calcite but also of double-layered hydroxide (LDH) minerals such as hydrotalcite and hydrocalumite. The mineralogy of several fractions of the binder has been analyzed to determine the granulometric distribution of minerals in the binder. The continuous monitoring of mineralogy during the extraction of different grain size fractions has been performed by using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analyses (TGA). Hydrotalcite and hydrocalumite-bearing mortar binders give older ages than expected since they introduce dead carbon into the system.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 299: The Effect of Nonlocal Vehicle Restriction Policy on Air Quality in Shanghai Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080299 Authors: Junjie Li Xiao-Bing Li Bai Li Zhong-Ren Peng In recent years, road space rationing policies have been increasingly applied as a traffic management solution to tackle congestion and traffic emission problems in big cities. Existing studies on the effect of traffic policy on air quality have mainly focused on the odd–even day traffic restriction policy or one-day-per-week restriction policy. There are few studies paying attention to the effect of nonlocal license plate restrictions on air quality in Shanghai. Restrictions toward nonlocal vehicles usually prohibit vehicles with nonlocal license plates from entering certain urban areas or using certain subsets of the road network (e.g., the elevated expressway) during specific time periods on workdays. To investigate the impact of such a policy on the residents’ exposure to pollutants, CO concentration and Air Quality Index (AQI) were compared during January and February in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Regression discontinuity (RD) was used to test the validity of nonlocal vehicle restriction on mitigating environmental pollution. Several conclusions can be made: (1) CO concentration was higher on ground-level roads on the restriction days than those in the nonrestriction days; (2) the extension of the restriction period exposed the commuters to high pollution for a longer time on the ground, which will do harm to them; and (3) the nonlocal vehicle restriction policy did play a role in improving the air quality in Shanghai when extending the evening rush period. Additionally, some suggestions are mentioned in order to improve air quality and passenger health and safety.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 297: Sources Profiles of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Measured in a Typical Industrial Process in Wuhan, Central China Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080297 Authors: Longjiao Shen Ping Xiang Shengwen Liang Wentai Chen Ming Wang Sihua Lu Zuwu Wang Industrial emission is an important source of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. We collected 53 VOC samples from petrochemical, surface coating, electronic manufacturing, and gasoline evaporation using stainless canisters to develop localized source profiles. Concentrations of 86 VOC species, including hydrocarbons, halocarbons, and oxygenated VOCs, were quantified by a gas chromatography–flame ionization detection/mass spectrometry system. Alkanes were the major constituents observed in the source profile from the petrochemical industry. Aromatics (79.5~81.4%) were the largest group in auto-painting factories, while oxygenated VOCs (82.0%) and heavy alkanes (68.7%) were dominant in gravure printing and offset printing factories, respectively. Acetone was the largest contributor and the most frequently monitored species in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, while VOC species emitted from integrated chip (IC) were characterized by high contents of isopropanol (56.4–98.3%) and acetone (30.8%). Chemical compositions from vapor of gasoline 92#, 93#, and 98# were almost identical. Alkanes were the dominant VOC group, with i-pentane being the most abundant species (31.4–37.7%), followed by n-butane and n-pentane. However, high loadings of heavier alkanes were observed in the profile of diesel evaporation.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 298: Chemical Composition and Sources of Marine Aerosol over the Western North Pacific Ocean in Winter Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080298 Authors: Hong-Wei Xiao Hua-Yun Xiao Chun-Yan Shen Zhong-Yi Zhang Ai-Min Long Atmospheric deposition of long-range transported continental substances from natural and anthropogenic sources affects biogeochemical processes in marine systems. Emissions of sea spray contribute aerosol particles to the marine atmosphere. Despite the importance of continental dispersion and atmospheric processes involving aerosol particles within remote marine atmosphere, knowledge of the sources of various water-soluble ions is limited because of insufficient observations. Concentrations of Total suspended particulates (TSPs) and major inorganic ions (Cl−, Na+, SO42−, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, NO3−, NH4+), as well as organic nitrogen (ON-N) values, were measured in marine aerosol collected over the western north Pacific (WNP) during a cruise from 3 December 2014 to 13 March 2015. Aerosol samples were analyzed to determine their chemical characteristics and a source apportionment for this region and the continental influence on the open ocean when air masses are from continent in winter. TSP mass concentrations ranged from 14.1 to 136.0 μg/m3 with an average of 44.8 ± 28.1 μg/m3. Concentrations of TSPs and major ions were higher near the coast (close to Qingdao and Xiamen) and lower over the open ocean. The total mass of inorganic ions and organic nitrogen accounted for 51.1% of the total TSP. Cl− had highest concentrations among the major inorganic ions, followed by SO42−, NO3−, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, and NH4+, respectively. However, Cl− showed a deficit relative to Na+ in most samples, likely related to heterogeneous reactions within the marine atmosphere. Most SO42−, Mg2+, Ca2+, and K+ were from sea salt, while other major ions were from continental sources. The non-sea-salt (nss) fractions of Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ were derived from continental crust, while nss-SO42− and NO3− were derived from anthropogenic sources. ON had several sources, including reactions of NOx with volatile organic compounds (anthropogenic sources) or NH3 with gaseous hydrocarbons, as well as crustal and marine biogenic sources.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 287: A New Occurrence of Terrestrial Native Iron in the Earth’s Surface: The Ilia Thermogenic Travertine Case, Northwestern Euboea, Greece Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080287 Authors: Christos Kanellopoulos Eugenia Valsami-Jones Panagiotis Voudouris Christina Stouraiti Robert Moritz Constantinos Mavrogonatos Panagiotis Mitropoulos Native iron has been identified in an active thermogenic travertine deposit, located at Ilia area (Euboea Island, Greece). The deposit is forming around a hot spring, which is part of a large active metallogenetic hydrothermal system depositing ore-bearing travertines. The native iron occurs in two shapes: nodules with diameter 0.4 and 0.45 cm, and angular grains with length up to tens of μm. The travertine laminae around the spherical/ovoid nodules grow smoothly, and the angular grains are trapped inside the pores of the travertine. Their mineral-chemistry is ultra-pure, containing, other than Fe, only Mn (0.34–0.38 wt.%) and Ni (≤0.05 wt.%). After evaluating all the possible environments where native iron has been reported up until today and taking under consideration all the available data concerning the study area, we propose two possible scenarios: (i) Ilia’s native iron has a magmatic/hydrothermal origin i.e., it is a deep product near the magmatic chamber or a peripheral cooling igneous body that was transferred during the early stages of the geothermal field evolution, from high temperature, reduced gas-rich fluids and deposited along with other metals in permeable structural zones, at shallow levels. Later on, it was remobilized and mechanically transferred and precipitated at the Ilia’s thermogenic travertine by the active lower temperatures geothermal fluids; (ii) the native iron at Ilia is remobilized from deep seated ophiolitic rocks, originated initially from reduced fluids during serpentinization processes; however, its mechanical transport seems less probable. The native iron mineral-chemistry, morphology and the presence of the other mineral phases in the same thermogenic travertine support both hypotheses.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 312: Leaching of Primary Copper Sulfide Ore in Chloride-Ferrous Media Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080312 Authors: Karina E. Salinas Osvaldo Herreros Cynthia M. Torres Copper extraction from primary copper sulfide ore from a typical porphyry copper deposit from Antofagasta, Chile, was investigated after leaching with a chloride-ferrous media at two temperatures. The study focused on whether this chemical leaching system could be applied at an industrial scale. Leaching tests were conducted in columns loaded with approximately 50 kg of agglomerated ore; the ore was first cured for 14 days and then leached for 90 days. The highest copper extraction, 50.23%, was achieved at 32.9 °C with the addition of 0.6 kg of H2SO4 per ton of ore, 0.525 kg of NaCl per ton of ore, and 0.5 kg of FeSO4 per ton of ore. In respect to copper extraction, the most effective variables were temperature and the addition of NaCl.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 311: Processing BIM and GIS Models in Practice: Experiences and Recommendations from a GeoBIM Project in The Netherlands ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080311 Authors: Ken Arroyo Ohori Abdoulaye Diakité Thomas Krijnen Hugo Ledoux Jantien Stoter It is widely acknowledged that the integration of BIM and GIS data is a crucial step forward for future 3D city modelling, but most of the research conducted so far has covered only the high-level and semantic aspects of GIS-BIM integration. This paper presents the results of the GeoBIM project, which tackled three integration problems focussing instead on aspects involving geometry processing: (i) the automated processing of complex architectural IFC models; (ii) the integration of existing GIS subsoil data in BIM; and (iii) the georeferencing of BIM models for their use in GIS software. All the problems have been studied using real world models and existing datasets made and used by practitioners in The Netherlands. For each problem, this paper exposes in detail the issues faced, proposed solutions, and recommendations for a more successful integration.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 332: Kurchatovite and Clinokurchatovite, Ideally CaMgB2O5: An Example of Modular Polymorphism Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080332 Authors: Yulia A. Pankova Sergey V. Krivovichev Igor V. Pekov Edward S. Grew Vasiliy O. Yapaskurt Kurchatovite and clinokurchatovite, both of ideal composition CaMgB2O5, from the type localities (Solongo, Buryatia, Russia, and Sayak-IV, Kazakhstan, respectively) have been studied using electron microprobe and single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. The empirical formulae of the samples are Ca1.01Mg0.87Mn0.11Fe2+0.02B1.99O5 and Ca0.94Mg0.91Fe2+0.10Mn0.04B2.01O5 for kurchatovite and clinokurchatovite, respectively. The crystal structures of the two minerals are similar and based upon two-dimensional blocks arranged parallel to the c axis in kurchatovite and parallel to the a axis in clinokurchatovite. The blocks are built up from diborate B2O5 groups, and Ca2+ and Mg2+ cations in seven- and six-fold coordination, respectively. Detailed analysis of geometrical parameters of the adjacent blocks reveals that symmetrically different diborate groups have different degrees of conformation in terms of the δ angles between the planes of two BO3 triangles sharing a common O atom, featuring two discrete sets of the δ values of ca. 55° (B’ blocks) and 34° (B” blocks). The stacking of the blocks in clinokurchatovite can be presented as …(+B’)(+B”)(+B’)(+B”)… or [(+B’)(+B”)], whereas in kurchatovite it is more complex and corresponds to the sequence …(+B’)(+B”)(+B’)(−B’)(−B”)(−B’)(+B’)(+B”)(+B’)(−B’)(−B”)(−B’)… or [(+B’)(+B”)(+B’)(−B’)(−B”)(−B’)]. The B’:B” ratios for clinokurchatovite and kurchatovite are 1:1 and 2:1, respectively. According to this description, the two minerals cannot be considered as polytypes and their mutual relationship corresponds to the term modular polymorphs. From the viewpoint of information-based measures of structural complexity, clinokurchatovite (IG = 4.170 bits/atom and IG,total = 300.235 bits/cell) is structurally simpler than kurchatovite (IG = 4.755 bits/atom and IG,total = 1027.056 bits/cell). The high structural complexity of kurchatovite can be inferred from the modular character of its structure. The analysis of structural combinatorics in terms of the modular approach allows to construct the whole family of theoretically possible “kurchatovite”-type structures that bear the same structural features common for kurchatovite and clinokurchatovite. However, the crystal structures of the latter minerals are the simplest and are the only ones that have been observed in nature. The absence of other possible structures is remarkable and can be explained by either the maximum-entropy of the least-action fundamental principles.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 331: Textural Characteristics of Noncrystalline Silica in Sinters and Quartz Veins: Implications for the Formation of Bonanza Veins in Low-Sulfidation Epithermal Deposits Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080331 Authors: Tadsuda Taksavasu Thomas Monecke T. James Reynolds Silica sinters forming at the Wairakei geothermal power plant in New Zealand are composed of noncrystalline opal-A that deposited rapidly from cooling geothermal liquids flashed to atmosphere. The sinter is laminated with alternating layers of variably compacted silicified filamentous microbes encased by chains of fused silica microspheres. Microscopic inspection of bonanza quartz vein samples from the Buckskin National low-sulfidation epithermal precious metal deposit in Nevada showed that colloform bands in these veins exhibit relic microsphere textures similar to those observed in the silica sinters from the Wairakei power plant. The textural similarity suggests that the colloform bands were originally composed of noncrystalline opal-A that subsequently recrystallized to quartz. The colloform bands contain dendrites of electrum and naumannite that must have grown in a yielding matrix of silica microspheres deposited at the same time as the ore minerals, implying that the noncrystalline silica exhibited a gel-like behavior. Quartz bands having other textural characteristics in the crustiform veins lack ore minerals. This suggests that ore deposition and the formation of the colloform bands originally composed of compacted microspheres of noncrystalline silica are genetically linked and that ore deposition within the bonanza veins was only episodic. Supersaturation of silica and precious metals leading to the formation of the colloform bands may have occurred in response to transient flashing of the hydrothermal liquids. Flashing of geothermal liquids may thus represent a key mechanism in the formation of bonanza precious metal grades in low-sulfidation epithermal deposits.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 288: Development of a New Simulation Tool Coupling a 2D Finite Volume Overland Flow Model and a Drainage Network Model Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080288 Authors: Javier Fernández-Pato Pilar García-Navarro Numerical simulation of mixed flows combining free surface and pressurized flows is a practical tool to prevent possible flood situations in urban environments. When dealing with intense storm events, the limited capacity of the drainage network conduits can cause undesirable flooding situations. Computational simulation of the involved processes can lead to better management of the drainage network of urban areas. In particular, it is interesting to simultaneuously calculate the possible pressurization of the pipe network and the surface water dynamics in case of overflow. In this work, the coupling of two models is presented. The surface flow model is based on two-dimensional shallow water equations with which it is possible to solve the overland water dynamics as well as the transformation of rainfall into runoff through different submodels of infiltration. The underground drainage system assumes mostly free surface flow that can be pressurized in specific situations. The pipe network is modeled by means of one-dimensional sections coupled with the surface model in specific regions of the domain, such as drains or sewers. The numerical techniques considered for the resolution of both mathematical models are based on finite volume schemes with a first-order upwind discretization. The coupling of the models is verified using laboratory experimental data. Furthermore, the potential usefulness of the approach is demonstrated using real flooding data in a urban environment.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 289: Multi-Wavelength High-Resolution Spectroscopy for Exoplanet Detection: Motivation, Instrumentation and First Results Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080289 Authors: Serena Benatti Exoplanet research has shown an incessant growth since the first claim of a hot giant planet around a solar-like star in the mid-1990s. Today, the new facilities are working to spot the first habitable rocky planets around low-mass stars as a forerunner for the detection of the long-awaited Sun-Earth analog system. All the achievements in this field would not have been possible without the constant development of the technology and of new methods to detect more and more challenging planets. After the consolidation of a top-level instrumentation for high-resolution spectroscopy in the visible wavelength range, a huge effort is now dedicated to reaching the same precision and accuracy in the near-infrared. Actually, observations in this range present several advantages in the search for exoplanets around M dwarfs, known to be the most favorable targets to detect possible habitable planets. They are also characterized by intense stellar activity, which hampers planet detection, but its impact on the radial velocity modulation is mitigated in the infrared. Simultaneous observations in the visible and near-infrared ranges appear to be an even more powerful technique since they provide combined and complementary information, also useful for many other exoplanetary science cases.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 306: Correction: Bärfuss et al. New Setup of the UAS ALADINA for Measuring Boundary Layer Properties, Atmospheric Particles and Solar Radiation. Atmosphere, 2018, 9, 28 Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080306 Authors: Konrad Bärfuss Falk Pätzold Barbara Altstädter Endres Kathe Stefan Nowak Lutz Bretschneider Ulf Bestmann Astrid Lampert The authors would like to correct the published article [1] concerning acknowlegdements as follows[...]

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 337: The Compressive Strength and Microstructure of Alkali-Activated Binary Cements Developed by Combining Ceramic Sanitaryware with Fly Ash or Blast Furnace Slag Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080337 Authors: Juan Cosa Lourdes Soriano María Victoria Borrachero Lucía Reig Jordi Payá José María Monzó The properties of a binder developed by the alkali-activation of a single waste material can improve when it is blended with different industrial by-products. This research aimed to investigate the influence of blast furnace slag (BFS) and fly ash (FA) (0–50 wt %) on the microstructure and compressive strength of alkali-activated ceramic sanitaryware (CSW). 4 wt % Ca(OH)2 was added to the CSW/FA blended samples and, given the high calcium content of BFS, the influence of BFS was analyzed with and without adding Ca(OH)2. Mortars were used to assess the compressive strength of the blended cements, and their microstructure was investigated in pastes by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. All the samples were cured at 20 °C for 28 and 90 days and at 65 °C for 7 days. The results show that the partial replacement of CSW with BFS or FA allowed CSW to be activated at 20 °C. The CSW/BFS systems exhibited better mechanical properties than the CSW/FA blended mortars, so that maximum strength values of 54.3 MPa and 29.4 MPa were obtained in the samples prepared with 50 wt % BFS and FA, respectively, cured at 20 °C for 90 days.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 213: A Mathematics Inspired Notation of Scales in the Climate System Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8060213 Authors: Jörn Behrens Conducting integrated climate research with involvement of such diverse disciplines as mathematics, meteorology, oceanography, economics, geology, biology, social, and communication sciences poses great challenges to the underlying nomenclature and methodology. In this article, we give a definition of the notion of scales, which is a central term in the geosciences, but not so familiar to social sciences or economics. We start with defining agents, involved in a specific subject of study, determined by their attributes or states. We move on to understand processes and phenomena as maps and subsets of image sets. With this and the introduction of metrics, we can measure sizes of phenomena and processes and finally define scales. Several examples illustrate our definition. An attempt is made to motivate a notion of scale interaction. This concept has proved useful in an interdisciplinary teaching project.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 229: Influences of the North Pacific Victoria Mode on the South China Sea Summer Monsoon Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9060229 Authors: Ruiqiang Ding Jianping Li Yu-heng Tseng Lijuan Li Cheng Sun Fei Xie Using the reanalysis data and the numerical experiments of a coupled general circulation model (CGCM), we illustrated that perturbations in the second dominant mode (EOF2) of springtime North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability, referred to as the Victoria mode (VM), are closely linked to variations in the intensity of the South China Sea summer monsoon (SCSSM). The underlying physical mechanism through which the VM affects the SCSSM is similar to the seasonal footprinting mechanism (SFM). Thermodynamic ocean–atmosphere coupling helps the springtime SST anomalies in the subtropics associated with the VM to persist into summer and to develop gradually toward the equator, leading to a weakened zonal SST gradient across the western North Pacific (WNP) to central equatorial Pacific, which in turn induces an anomalous cyclonic flow over the WNP and westerly anomalies in the western equatorial Pacific that tend to strengthen the WNP summer monsoon (WNPSM) as well as the SCSSM. The VM influence on both the WNPSM and SCSSM is intimately tied to its influence on ENSO through westerly anomalies in the western equatorial Pacific.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 250: Effect of Ammonium Chloride on the Efficiency with Which Copper Sulfate Activates Marmatite: Change in Solution Composition and Regulation of Surface Composition Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8060250 Authors: Shengdong Zhang Dongxia Feng Xiong Tong Bo Yang Xian Xie Zinc sulfide minerals are the primary choice for zinc extraction and marmatite is one of the two most common zinc sulphide minerals (sphalerite and marmatite), therefore it is of great significance to study and optimize the flotation of marmatite. To improve the activation of copper sulfate on marmatite, a method involving the addition of ammonium chloride is devised. The method has been proven to be an effective way of improving the activation efficiency of copper sulfate towards marmatite under alkaline conditions. The strengthening mechanism was studied using micro-flotation, adsorption test, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and by analyzing changes in solution composition. Flotation test results show that the activation effect of the copper sulfate towards marmatite is enhanced with the addition of ammonium chloride. According to the results of the adsorption measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, when the marmatite surface is activated using copper sulfate with added ammonia chloride, it adsorbs more copper sulfide and less copper hydroxide and zinc hydroxide. These changes in surface composition are believed to occur via the following process: NH3(aq) promotes the dissolution of zinc hydroxide and then facilitates the conversion of surface copper hydroxide to copper sulfide. In addition, the occurrence of Cu(NH3)n2+ can promote the adsorption of copper ions (Cu2+ can be stored as Cu(NH3)n2+ via complexation, and then, when the concentration of copper ions decreases, Cu2+ can be released through the decompositionof Cu(NH3)n2+. Hence, the copper ion concentration can be maintained and this can facilitate the adsorption of Cu2+ on marmatite). Based on a comprehensive analysis of all our results, we propose that adding ammonium chloride to the copper sulfate changes the solution components (i.e., the presence of NH3(aq) and Cu(NH3)n2+) and then regulates the surface composition of marmatite. The change in surface composition improves the hydrophobicity of mineral surface and this leads to an improvement in activation of marmatite.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 203: Response of Soils and Soil Ecosystems to the Pennsylvanian–Permian Climate Transition in the Upper Fluvial Plain of the Dunkard Basin, Southeastern Ohio, USA Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8060203 Authors: Daniel Hembree Jennifer Carnes Direct exposure of paleosols to the atmosphere during formation make them ideal for reconstructing paleoclimate. Paleosol and ichnofossil properties are dependently linked making it important to study them in tandem, to avoid errors in interpretation. Small scale studies (<1 km) yield high resolution data that can be used to assess allogenic processes through comparison of spatial and temporal trends. This study used field and laboratory analyses to gather data from Late Pennsylvanian to Early Permian Upper Monongahela and Lower Dunkard group paleosols on Ohio Route 33 in Meigs County, OH, USA. The physical and geochemical properties of the paleosols from the field sites indicate that channel migration was the primary control on paleosol formation in the study area, however, a clear climate signal was observed. The change in paleosol type and calculated mean annual precipitation (MAP) values indicate that the climate became more strongly seasonal and drier over the course of the Pennsylvanian–Permian transition with a temporary excursion to a more ever-wet climate with higher MAP, marked by the occurrence of the Waynesburg Coal at the Pennsylvanian–Permian boundary.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 218: A Spatiotemporal Multi-View-Based Learning Method for Short-Term Traffic Forecasting ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7060218 Authors: Shifen Cheng Feng Lu Peng Peng Sheng Wu Short-term traffic forecasting plays an important part in intelligent transportation systems. Spatiotemporal k-nearest neighbor models (ST-KNNs) have been widely adopted for short-term traffic forecasting in which spatiotemporal matrices are constructed to describe traffic conditions. The performance of the models is closely related to the spatial dependencies, the temporal dependencies, and the interaction of spatiotemporal dependencies. However, these models use distance functions and correlation coefficients to identify spatial neighbors and measure the temporal interaction by only considering the temporal closeness of traffic, which result in existing ST-KNNs that cannot fully reflect the essential features of road traffic. This study proposes an improved spatiotemporal k-nearest neighbor model for short-term traffic forecasting by utilizing a multi-view learning algorithm named MVL-STKNN that fully considers the spatiotemporal dependencies of traffic data. First, the spatial neighbors for each road segment are automatically determined using cross-correlation under different temporal dependencies. Three spatiotemporal views are built on the constructed spatiotemporal closeness, periodic, and trend matrices to represent spatially heterogeneous traffic states. Second, a spatiotemporal weighting matrix is introduced into the ST-KNN model to recognize similar traffic patterns in the three spatiotemporal views. Finally, the results of traffic pattern recognition under these three spatiotemporal views are aggregated by using a neural network algorithm to describe the interaction of spatiotemporal dependencies. Extensive experiments were conducted using real vehicular-speed datasets collected on city roads and expressways. In comparison with baseline methods, the results show that the MVL-STKNN model greatly improves short-term traffic forecasting by lowering the mean absolute percentage error between 28.24% and 46.86% for the city road dataset and, between 53.80% and 90.29%, for the expressway dataset. The results suggest that multi-view learning merits further attention for traffic-related data mining under such a dynamic and data-intensive environment, which owes to its comprehensive consideration of spatial correlation and heterogeneity as well as temporal fluctuation and regularity in road traffic.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 217: Deep Belief Networks Based Toponym Recognition for Chinese Text ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7060217 Authors: Shu Wang Xueying Zhang Peng Ye Mi Du In Geographical Information Systems, geo-coding is used for the task of mapping from implicitly geo-referenced data to explicitly geo-referenced coordinates. At present, an enormous amount of implicitly geo-referenced information is hidden in unstructured text, e.g., Wikipedia, social data and news. Toponym recognition is the foundation of mining this useful geo-referenced information by identifying words as toponyms in text. In this paper, we propose an adapted toponym recognition approach based on deep belief network (DBN) by exploring two key issues: word representation and model interpretation. A Skip-Gram model is used in the word representation process to represent words with contextual information that are ignored by current word representation models. We then determine the core hyper-parameters of the DBN model by illustrating the relationship between the performance and the hyper-parameters, e.g., vector dimensionality, DBN structures and probability thresholds. The experiments evaluate the performance of the Skip-Gram model implemented by the Word2Vec open-source tool, determine stable hyper-parameters and compare our approach with a conditional random field (CRF) based approach. The experimental results show that the DBN model outperforms the CRF model with smaller corpus. When the corpus size is large enough, their statistical metrics become approaching. However, their recognition results express differences and complementarity on different kinds of toponyms. More importantly, combining their results can directly improve the performance of toponym recognition relative to their individual performances. It seems that the scale of the corpus has an obvious effect on the performance of toponym recognition. Generally, there is no adequate tagged corpus on specific toponym recognition tasks, especially in the era of Big Data. In conclusion, we believe that the DBN-based approach is a promising and powerful method to extract geo-referenced information from text in the future.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 233: Snow Level Characteristics and Impacts of a Spring Typhoon-Originating Atmospheric River in the Sierra Nevada, USA Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9060233 Authors: Benjamin J. Hatchett On 5–7 April 2018, a landfalling atmospheric river resulted in widespread heavy precipitation in the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada. Observed snow levels during this event were among the highest snow levels recorded since observations began in 2002 and exceeded 2.75 km for 31 h in the northern Sierra Nevada and 3.75 km for 12 h in the southern Sierra Nevada. The anomalously high snow levels and over 80 mm of precipitation caused flooding, debris flows, and wet snow avalanches in the upper elevations of the Sierra Nevada. The origin of this atmospheric river was super typhoon Jelawat, whose moisture remnants were entrained and maintained by an extratropical cyclone in the northeast Pacific. This event was notable due to its April occurrence, as six other typhoon remnants that caused heavy precipitation with high snow levels (mean = 2.92 km) in the northern Sierra Nevada all occurred during October.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 220: Clay Mineral Suites in Submarine Mud Volcanoes in the Kumano Forearc Basin, Nankai Trough: Constraints on the Origin of Mud Volcano Sediments Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8060220 Authors: Akira Ijiri Koichi Iijima Urumu Tsunogai Juichiro Ashi Fumio Inagaki Clay mineralogy is an important characteristic of mud volcano sediments. This study determined the clay mineral compositions of sediment from two submarine mud volcanoes in the Kumano forearc basin, Nankai Trough, by X-ray diffraction analysis. Similar compositions dominated by smectite in the two mud volcanoes indicate that the mud volcanoes in the basin are rooted in the same source sequence. These clay mineral compositions differed from those in Pleistocene basin sediment, suggesting that the mud volcano sediment originated beneath the Pleistocene sediment. The illite content in the illite–smectite mixed layer averaged 32% in the mud volcano sediment, which implies that the sediment experienced temperatures above 60 °C that promoted the smectite-to-illite transformation. However, porewater extracted from the mud volcano sediment had Cl‒ concentrations roughly half that of seawater and proportional enrichment in 18O and depletion in D, indicating that dehydration reactions of clay minerals had previously occurred in a deeply buried sedimentary layer. The smectite and illite contents (<60%) in the clay-size fraction rule out in situ smectite dewatering as the cause of the dilution of Cl‒ in porewater. Thus, fluids derived from clay dewatering must have originated from deeper than the source of the mud volcano sediment.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 222: A Citizen Science Approach for Collecting Toponyms ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7060222 Authors: Aji Putra Perdana Frank O. Ostermann The emerging trends and technologies of surveying and mapping potentially enable local experts to contribute and share their local geographical knowledge of place names (toponyms). We can see the increasing numbers of toponyms in digital platforms, such as OpenStreetMap, Facebook Place Editor, Swarm Foursquare, and Google Local Guide. On the other hand, government agencies keep working to produce concise and complete gazetteers. Crowdsourced geographic information and citizen science approaches offer a new paradigm of toponym collection. This paper addresses issues in the advancing toponym practice. First, we systematically examined the current state of toponym collection and handling practice by multiple stakeholders, and we identified a recurring set of problems. Secondly, we developed a citizen science approach, based on a crowdsourcing level of participation, to collect toponyms. Thirdly, we examined the implementation in the context of an Indonesian case study. The results show that public participation in toponym collection is an approach with the potential to solve problems in toponym handling, such as limited human resources, accessibility, and completeness of toponym information. The lessons learnt include the knowledge that the success of this approach depends on the willingness of the government to advance their workflow, the degree of collaboration between stakeholders, and the presence of a communicative approach in introducing and sharing toponym guidelines with the community.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 222: Potential Indicator Value of Subfossil Gastropods in Assessing the Ecological Health of the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River Floodplain System (China) Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8060222 Authors: Giri Kattel Yongjiu Cai Xiangdong Yang Ke Zhang Xu Hao Rong Wang Xuhui Dong The lakes across China’s middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River system have a long history of sustaining human pressures. These aquatic resources have been exploited for fisheries and irrigation over millennia at a magnitude of scales, with the result that many lakes have lost their ecological integrity. The consequences of these changes in the ecosystem health of lakes are not fully understood; therefore, a long-term investigation is urgently needed. Gastropods (aquatic snails) are powerful bio-indicators that link primary producers, herbivores, and detritivores associated with macrophytes and grazers of periphyton and higher-level consumers. They are sensitive to abrupt environmental change such as eutrophication, dehydration, flooding, and proliferation of toxicity in floodplain lake systems. The use of the remains of gastropod shells (subfossils) preserved in the sedimentary archives of the floodplain lakes of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River system holds high significance, as their potential in environmental change has not been studied in detail in the past. Here, we aim to test the hypothesis that modern and sub-fossil gastropods in the sediments of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River floodplains systems have significant value as bioindicators, as they have the ability to reveal health-gradients of lake-ecosystem change in the region.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 237: Macro- and Microphysical Characteristics of Precipitating and Non-Precipitating Stratocumulus Clouds over Eastern China Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9070237 Authors: Sicong Li Yunying Li Guorong Sun Zhixian Lu Stratocumulus (Sc) is the most common cloud type in China. Sc clouds may or may not be accompanied by various types of precipitation that are representative of different macro- and microphysical characteristics. The finely resolved CloudSat data products are used in this study to quantitatively investigate the macro- and microphysical characteristics of precipitating and non-precipitating Sc (PS and NPS, respectively) clouds over Eastern China (EC). Based on statistical information extracted from the CloudSat data, Sc clouds are highly likely to occur alone, in association with liquid precipitation, or in association with drizzle over 25% of EC. The cloud bases of NPS clouds are higher than those of PS clouds, although the latter display higher cloud top heights and thicker cloud thicknesses. The spatial distributions of microphysical characteristics differ between PS and NPS clouds. The magnitudes of microphysical characteristics in NPS clouds are relatively small, whereas the magnitudes of microphysical characteristics in PS clouds are relatively large and peak in response to certain circulation patterns and over certain terrain. In NPS clouds, condensation is the primary mechanism for hydrometeor particle growth, and the liquid water content and effective radius increase with height. Once the particles are too large to be supported by the updrafts, cloud droplets form raindrops. In PS clouds, raindrops increase continuously in size via collision-coalescence processes as they fall, leading to an increase in the liquid water content and effective radius from cloud top to cloud base. The CFRHDs (contoured frequency by relative height diagrams) of radar reflectivity in different cloud thickness indicate the cloud evolution and the precipitation formation process. In thinner clouds, downward particle growth by coalescence and upward particle growth by condensation occur in the upper and lower layers of clouds, respectively. With the increases in cloud thickness, the collision-coalescence process becomes apparent in all cloud layers, and the upward condensation process is less pronounced near the cloud base. Particles can grow for a long period of time and increase to larger sizes in thicker clouds, resulting in increased precipitation frequency. In clouds thicker than 1.92 km, the continuous transition from cloud to drizzle to rain by the collision-coalescence process takes place mostly in the upper layers.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 232: A RSSI/PDR-Based Probabilistic Position Selection Algorithm with NLOS Identification for Indoor Localisation ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7060232 Authors: Ke Han Huashuai Xing Zhongliang Deng Yichen Du In recent years, location-based services have been receiving increasing attention because of their great development prospects. Researchers from all over the world have proposed many solutions for indoor positioning over the past several years. However, owing to the dynamic and complex nature of indoor environments, accurately and efficiently localising targets in indoor environments remains a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a novel indoor positioning algorithm based on the received signal strength indication and pedestrian dead reckoning. In order to enhance the accuracy and reliability of our proposed probabilistic position selection algorithm in mixed line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments, a low-complexity identification approach is proposed to identify the change in the channel situation between NLOS and LOS. Numerical experiment results indicate that our proposed algorithm has a higher accuracy and is less impacted by NLOS errors than other conventional methods in mixed LOS and NLOS indoor environments.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 229: Automated Orthorectification of VHR Satellite Images by SIFT-Based RPC Refinement ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7060229 Authors: Hakan Kartal Ugur Alganci Elif Sertel Raw remotely sensed images contain geometric distortions and cannot be used directly for map-based applications, accurate locational information extraction or geospatial data integration. A geometric correction process must be conducted to minimize the errors related to distortions and achieve the desired location accuracy before further analysis. A considerable number of images might be needed when working over large areas or in temporal domains in which manual geometric correction requires more labor and time. To overcome these problems, new algorithms have been developed to make the geometric correction process autonomous. The Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm is an image matching algorithm used in remote sensing applications that has received attention in recent years. In this study, the effects of the incidence angle, surface topography and land cover (LC) characteristics on SIFT-based automated orthorectification were investigated at three different study sites with different topographic conditions and LC characteristics using Pleiades very high resolution (VHR) images acquired at different incidence angles. The results showed that the location accuracy of the orthorectified images increased with lower incidence angle images. More importantly, the topographic characteristics had no observable impacts on the location accuracy of SIFT-based automated orthorectification, and the results showed that Ground Control Points (GCPs) are mainly concentrated in the “Forest” and “Semi Natural Area” LC classes. A multi-thread code was designed to reduce the automated processing time, and the results showed that the process performed 7 to 16 times faster using an automated approach. Analyses performed on various spectral modes of multispectral data showed that the arithmetic data derived from pan-sharpened multispectral images can be used in automated SIFT-based RPC orthorectification.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 226: Geophysical Input to Improve the Conceptual Model of the Hydrogeological Framework of a Coastal Karstic Aquifer: Uley South Basin, South Australia Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8070226 Authors: Nara Somaratne Glyn Ashman Michelle Irvine Simon Mann A lack of closely spaced datasets on layer elevations, aquifer parameters, identification of areas with high recharge potential, dominant conduit porosity zones, and well defined boundary conditions hampers the ability of groundwater models to produce a reliable water balance. Typically, geological structure, aquifer properties, and groundwater heads are obtained from point measurements which are sparse. The drillhole information in aquifers is usually available at locations far apart, distances ranging from hundreds to thousands of meters. Furthermore, pump tests are usually conducted at limited locations and generalized to the aquifer. This limited knowledge leads to errors in the conceptual understanding of the aquifer. In this study, Airborne Electromagnetic Survey (AEM) was used to define base elevations of the aquifers where drillhole information was lacking. Surface Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (sNMR), borehole NMR, Transient Electromagnetic (TEM), and downhole geophysical surveys have given new insight to the conceptualization of hydrogeological framework. These methods are relatively low in cost compared to traditional well drilling and provide information on layer elevations, aquifer parameters, point and diffuse recharge zones, and conduit porosity zones in the profile, which improves our definition of the boundary conditions. From a practical point of view, combining drillhole information with a variety of geophysical techniques provides sound datasets to develop a comprehensive conceptual model. This in turn can be used to build a robust groundwater model.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 244: Shaking Maps Based on Cumulative Absolute Velocity and Arias Intensity: The Cases of the Two Strongest Earthquakes of the 2016–2017 Central Italy Seismic Sequence ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7070244 Authors: Antonio Costanzo By referring to the two strongest earthquakes of the 2016–2017 Central Italy seismic sequence, this paper presents a procedure to make shaking maps through empirical relationships between macroseismic intensity and ground-motion parameters. Hundreds of waveforms were processed to obtain instrumental ground-motion features which could be correlated with the potential damage intensities. To take into account peak value, frequency, duration, and energy content, which all contribute to damage, cumulative absolute velocity and Arias intensity were used to quantify the features of the ground motion. Once these parameters had been calculated at the recording sites, they were interpolated through geostatistical techniques on the whole struck area. Finally, empirical relationships were used for mapping intensities, i.e., potential effects on the built environment. The results referred to both earthquake scenarios that were analyzed and were also used for assessing the influence of the spatial coverage of the instrumental network. In fact, after the first events, the Italian seismic network was subjected to the addition and thickening of sensors in the epicentral area, especially. The results obtained by models only dependent on ground-motion parameters or even on the epicentral distance were compared with the official ShakeMaps and the observed intensities for assessing their reliability. Finally, some suggestions are proposed to improve the procedure that could be used for rapidly assessing ground shaking and mapping damage potential producing useful information for non-expert audience.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 242: Seamless Upscaling of the Field-Measured Grassland Aboveground Biomass Based on Gaussian Process Regression and Gap-Filled Landsat 8 OLI Reflectance ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7070242 Authors: Gaofei Yin Ainong Li Chaoyang Wu Jiyan Wang Qiaoyun Xie Zhengjian Zhang Xi Nan Huaan Jin Jinhu Bian Guangbin Lei The spatially explicit aboveground biomass (AGB) generated through upscaling field measurements is critical for carbon cycle simulation and optimized management of grasslands. However, the spatial gaps that exist in the optical remote sensing data, underutilization of the multispectral data cube and unavailability of uncertainty information hinder the generation of seamless and accurate AGB maps. This study proposes a novel framework to address the above challenges. The proposed framework filled the spatial gaps in the remote sensing data via the consistent adjustment of the climatology to actual observations (CACAO) method. Gaussian process regression (GPR) was used to fully exploit the multispectral data cube and generated the pixelwise uncertainty concurrent with the AGB estimation. A case study in a 100 km × 100 km area located in the Zoige Plateau, China was used to evaluate this framework. The results show that the CACAO method can fill almost all of the gaps, accounting for 93.1% of the study area, with satisfactory accuracy. The generated AGB map from the GPR was characterized by a relatively high accuracy (R2 = 0.64, RMSE = 48.13 g/m2) compared to vegetation index-derived ones, and was accompanied by a corresponding uncertainty map that provides a new source of information on the credibility of each pixel. This study demonstrates the potential of the joint use of gap-filling and machine-learning methods to generate spatially explicit AGB.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 263: Effect of TiO2 on the Sintering Behavior of Chromium-Bearing Vanadium–Titanium Magnetite Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8070263 Authors: Weidong Tang Songtao Yang Gongjin Cheng Zixian Gao He Yang Xiangxin Xue The sintering pot test was used to investigate the effect of TiO2 on the sintering behavior of chromium-bearing vanadium–titanium magnetite (CVTM) sinter. The main characterization methods of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy-energy disperse spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and metallographic microscopy were employed. In this study, yield, tumbler index (TI), vertical sintering speed, productivity, reduction degradation index (RDI), and reduction index (RI) were tested and calculated. The yield first increases from 82.87% to 84.37% and then decreases to 83.65%, vertical sintering speed first increases from 17.00 mm·min−1 to 23.45 mm·min−1 and then decreases to 20.61 mm·min−1, and productivity first increases from 2.33 t·m−2·h−1 to 3.14 t·m−2·h−1 and then decreases to 2.69 t·m−2·h−1 with increasing TiO2 content. The TI increases from 45.81% to 52.09%, and RDI increases from 74.99% to 96.74%, while RI decreases from 67.92% to 47.15% with increasing TiO2 content.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 233: Site Effect Assessment of the Gros-Morne Hill Area in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Part B: Mapping and Modelling Results Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8070233 Authors: Sophia Ulysse Dominique Boisson Claude Prépetit Hans-Balder Havenith This paper presents the general results in terms of maps, as well as geological and numerical models of a site effect study, that aimed at a better understanding of the ground motion amplification on the Gros-Morne hill, in the southeastern part of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which might have influenced the 2010 event damage pattern in that area. These maps and models are based on multiple geophysical–seismological survey outputs that are presented, in detail, in Part A of this publication. Those outputs include electrical resistivity tomography sections, P-wave velocity profiles, S-wave logs, estimates of the fundamental resonance frequency for many locations, as well as earthquake recordings at three sites and associated site amplification assessment for the top of the hill. Related results are discussed in Part A with respect to outputs and interpretations that had been published earlier by other research teams for the same site. Our results only partly confirm the strong seismic amplification effects highlighted by some of the previous studies for this hill site, which had been attributed to the influence of local topographic and soil characteristics on seismic ground motion. Here, we focus on the imaging of different site effect components over the entire survey area; we present maps of shear wave velocity variations, of changing fundamental resonance frequencies, and of related estimates of soft soil/rock thickness, of peak spectral amplitudes, and of ambient ground motion polarization. Results have also been compiled within a 3D surface–subsurface model of the hill, which helps visualize the geological characteristics of the area, which are relevant for site effect analyses. From the 3D geomodel, we extracted one 2D geological section along the short-axis of the hill, crossing it near the location of Hotel Montana on top of the hill, which had been destroyed during the earthquake, and has now been rebuilt. This cross-section was used for dynamic numerical modelling of seismic ground motion, and for related site amplification calculation. The numerical results are compared with the site amplification characteristics that had been estimated from the ambient vibration measurements and the earthquake recordings.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 241: Comment on “Spatial and Temporal Trends in the Location of the Lifetime Maximum Intensity of Tropical Cyclones” by Tennille and Ellis Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9070241 Authors: James Kossin The latitude where tropical cyclones (TCs) reach their peak intensity has migrated poleward in some regions [...]

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 270: Multi-Stage Deformation of the Khangalas Ore Cluster (Verkhoyansk-Kolyma Folded Region, Northeast Russia): Ore-Controlling Reverse Thrust Faults and Post-Mineral Strike-Slip Faults Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8070270 Authors: Valery Y. Fridovsky Maxim V. Kudrin Lena I. Polufuntikova This study reports the results of the analysis of multi-stage deformation structures of the Khangalas gold ore cluster, northeast Russia. Four Late Mesozoic-Early Eocene deformation stages were identified. The first deformation event (D1) was characterized by the development of NW-striking tight to isoclinal folds of the first generation (F1) and interstratal detachment thrusts. Major folds, extensive thrusts, boudinage, cleavage, auriferous mineralized fault zones and quartz-vein gold mineralization were formed in the reverse and thrust fault stress field during the progressive deformation stage (D1), with NE-SW-oriented σ1. Post-ore deformation is widely manifested in the region. Structures D2 and D3 are coaxial. Sinistral strike-slip motions (D2 and D3) occurred along NW-trending faults under prevailing W-E compression. They were accompanied by the formation of NS- and NE-striking F2–3 folds with steep hinges and by bending of the earlier formed structures, among them ore-controlling ones. The last deformation event (D4) was represented by normal-dextral strike-slip faulting, refolding of rocks, pre-existing structures and ore bodies and by the development of folds with steep hinges. Key structural elements of varying age are described, the chronology of deformation events and mineralization reconstructed and their relation to geodynamic events in northeast Asia established.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 251: Optical Satellite Image Geo-Positioning with Weak Convergence Geometry ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7070251 Authors: Yang Wu Yongsheng Zhang Donghong Wang Delin Mo High-resolution optical satellites are widely used in environmental monitoring. With the aim to observe the largest possible coverage, the overlapping areas and intersection angles of respective optical satellite images are usually small. However, the conventional bundle adjustment method leads to erroneous results or even failure under conditions of weak geometric convergence. By transforming the traditional stereo adjustment to a planar adjustment and combining it with linear programming (LP) theory, a new method that can solve the bias compensation parameters of all satellite images is proposed in this paper. With the support of freely available open source digital elevation models (DEMs) and sparse ground control points (GCPs), the method can not only ensure the consistent inner precision of all images, but also the absolute geolocation accuracy of the ground points. Tests of the two data sets covering different landscapes validated the effectiveness and feasibility of the method. The results showed that the geo-positioning performance of the method was better in regions of smaller topographic relief or for satellite images with a larger imaging altitude angle. The best accuracy of image geolocation with weak convergence geometry was as high as to 3.693 m in the horizontal direction and 6.510 m in the vertical direction, which is a level of accuracy equal to that of images with good intersection conditions.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 299: Drift-Aware Monocular Localization Based on a Pre-Constructed Dense 3D Map in Indoor Environments ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080299 Authors: Guanyuan Feng Lin Ma Xuezhi Tan Danyang Qin Recently, monocular localization has attracted increased attention due to its application to indoor navigation and augmented reality. In this paper, a drift-aware monocular localization system that performs global and local localization is presented based on a pre-constructed dense three-dimensional (3D) map. In global localization, a pixel-distance weighted least squares algorithm is investigated for calculating the absolute scale for the epipolar constraint. To reduce the accumulative errors that are caused by the relative position estimation, a map interaction-based drift detection method is introduced in local localization, and the drift distance is computed by the proposed line model-based maximum likelihood estimation sample consensus (MLESAC) algorithm. The line model contains a fitted line segment and some visual feature points, which are used to seek inliers of the estimated feature points for drift detection. Taking advantage of the drift detection method, the monocular localization system switches between the global and local localization modes, which effectively keeps the position errors within an expected range. The performance of the proposed monocular localization system is evaluated on typical indoor scenes, and experimental results show that compared with the existing localization methods, the accuracy improvement rates of the absolute position estimation and the relative position estimation are at least 30.09% and 65.59%, respectively.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 297: The Negative Effects of Alcohol Establishment Size and Proximity on the Frequency of Violent and Disorder Crime across Block Groups of Victoria, British Columbia ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080297 Authors: Jessica L. Fitterer Trisalyn A. Nelson Timothy Stockwell Multiple studies have associated the density of alcohol establishments with crime. What is not well understood is the influence of establishment patron capacity on the magnitude of crime in an area, or how the spacing of liquor primary establishments impacts crime levels. Using a Poisson spatial lag model, we estimated how patron capacity of on-premises licenses and the total number of off-premises licenses were associated with the frequency of violent and disorder crime occurring on Friday and Saturday nights in Victoria, British Columbia. To identify how the distance between bars and pubs was associated with the frequency of crime within 200 m of each establishment, we applied bivariate curve fitting and change detection techniques. Our model explained 76% percent of the variance in crime frequencies. Bars and pubs within block groups, and in neighboring block groups, had a significant positive association (p < 0.05) with the frequency of crime compared to other on-premises licenses (e.g., restaurants, theatres, clubs, hotels), and off-premises liquor stores. For every additional 1111 bar or pub patron seats the crime frequency per block group is expected to double over a 17 month period (factor of 1.0009 per patron seat). Crime frequency significantly dropped (p < 0.05) around (200 m) bars and pubs that are spaced greater than 300 m apart. Our results provide the first evidenced-based information for evaluating the size and spacing of on-premises licenses in Canada.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 298: Grid-Based Crime Prediction Using Geographical Features ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080298 Authors: Ying-Lung Lin Meng-Feng Yen Liang-Chih Yu Machine learning is useful for grid-based crime prediction. Many previous studies have examined factors including time, space, and type of crime, but the geographic characteristics of the grid are rarely discussed, leaving prediction models unable to predict crime displacement. This study incorporates the concept of a criminal environment in grid-based crime prediction modeling, and establishes a range of spatial-temporal features based on 84 types of geographic information by applying the Google Places API to theft data for Taoyuan City, Taiwan. The best model was found to be Deep Neural Networks, which outperforms the popular Random Decision Forest, Support Vector Machine, and K-Near Neighbor algorithms. After tuning, compared to our design’s baseline 11-month moving average, the F1 score improves about 7% on 100-by-100 grids. Experiments demonstrate the importance of the geographic feature design for improving performance and explanatory ability. In addition, testing for crime displacement also shows that our model design outperforms the baseline.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 329: The Impact of Secondary Phyllosilicate Minerals on the Engineering Properties of Various Igneous Aggregates from Greece Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080329 Authors: Petros Petrounias Panagiota P. Giannakopoulou Aikaterini Rogkala Paraskevi Lampropoulou Eleni Koutsopoulou Dimitrios Papoulis Basilios Tsikouras Konstantin Hatzipanagiotou This paper investigates the effect of alteration on the physicomechanical properties of igneous rocks used as aggregates, from various areas from Greece. The studied lithologies include serpentinized dunites, serpentinized harzburgites, serpentinized lherzolites, metamorphic gabbros, diabases, dacites and andesites. Quantitative petrographic analysis shows that the tested samples display various percentages of secondary phyllosilicate minerals. Mineral quantification of the studied rock samples was performed by using the Rietveld method on X-ray diffraction patterns. The samples were also tested to assign moisture content (w (%)), total porosity (nt (%)), uniaxial compressive strength (UCS (MPa)) and Los Angeles abrasion test (LA (%)). The influence of secondary phyllosilicate minerals on the physicomechanical behavior of the tested samples was determined using regression analysis and their derived equations. Regression analysis shows a positive relationship between the percentage of the phyllosilicate minerals of the rocks and the moisture content as well as with the total porosity values. In mafic and ultramafic rock samples, the relationships between the secondary phyllosilicate minerals and their physicomechanical properties have shown that the total amount of the secondary phyllosilicate minerals results negatively on their physicomechanical properties. On the other hand, the low percentage of phyllosilicate minerals in volcanic rocks can’t be able to define their engineering properties.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 306: Satellite-Derived Bathymetry for Improving Canadian Hydrographic Service Charts ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080306 Authors: René Chénier Marc-André Faucher Ryan Ahola Approximately 1000 Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) charts cover Canada’s oceans and navigable waters. Many charts use information collected with techniques that predate the more advanced technologies available to Hydrographic Offices (HOs) today. Furthermore, gaps in survey data, particularly in the Canadian Arctic where only 6% of waters are surveyed to modern standards, are also problematic. Through a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Government Related Initiatives Program (GRIP) project, CHS is exploring remote sensing techniques to assist with the improvement of Canadian navigational charts. Projects exploring optical/Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) shoreline extraction and change detection, as well as optical Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB), are currently underway. This paper focuses on SDB extracted from high-resolution optical imagery, highlighting current results as well as the challenges and opportunities CHS will encounter when implementing SDB within its operational chart production process. SDB is of particular interest to CHS due to its ability to supplement depths derived from traditional hydrographic surveys. This is of great importance in shallow and/or remote Canadian waters where achieving wide-area depth coverage through traditional surveys is costly, time-consuming and a safety risk to survey operators. With an accuracy of around 1 m, SDB could be used by CHS to fill gaps in survey data and to provide valuable information in dynamic areas.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 305: Prioritizing Abandoned Mine Lands Rehabilitation: Combining Landscape Connectivity and Pattern Indices with Scenario Analysis Using Land-Use Modeling ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080305 Authors: Liping Zhang Shiwen Zhang Yajie Huang An Xing Zhiqing Zhuo Zhongxiang Sun Zhen Li Meng Cao Yuanfang Huang Connectivity modeling approaches for abandoned mine lands (AML) patches are limited in post-mining landscape restoration, especially where great land use changes might be expected due to large-scale land reclamation. This study presents a novel approach combining AML patch sizes with a proximity index to characterize patch-scaled connectivity for determining the spatial positions of patches with huge sizes and high connectivity. Then this study propose a scenario-based method coupled with landscape-scale metrics for quantifying landscape-scaled connectivity, which aims at exploring the optimal reclamation scheme with the highest connectivity. Using the Mentougou District in Beijing, China, as a case study, this paper confirmed which patches should be reclaimed first to meet the predetermined reclamation numbers; then this paper tested three different reclamation scenarios (i.e., cultivated land-oriented, forest-oriented, and construction land-oriented scenarios) to describe the impact of the different development strategies on landscape connectivity. The research found that the forest-oriented scenario increased connectivity quantitatively, showing an increase in the integral index of connectivity (IIC) and other landscape-scale metrics. Therefore, this paper suggests that future land-use policies should emphasize converting AML into more forest to blend in with the surrounding land-use categories. The findings presented here can contribute to better understanding the quantitative analysis of the connectivity of AML patches at both the patch scale and the landscape scale, thus providing scientific support for AML management in mine-site rehabilitation.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 327: Assessment of the Mineral Resource Potential of Atlantic Ferromanganese Crusts Based on Their Growth History, Microstructure, and Texture Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080327 Authors: Isobel A. Yeo Kate Dobson Pierre Josso Richard B. Pearce Sarah A. Howarth Paul A. J. Lusty Tim P. Le Bas Bramley J. Murton The decarbonisation of our energy supply is reliant on new technologies that are raw material intensive and will require a significant increase in the production of metals to sustain them. Ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts are seafloor precipitates, enriched in metals such as cobalt and tellurium, both of which have a predicted future demand above current production rates. In this study, we investigate the texture and composition of FeMn crusts on Tropic Seamount, a typical Atlantic guyot off the coast of western Africa, as a basis for assessing the future mineral resource potential of Atlantic Seamounts. The majority of the summit is flat and covered by FeMn crusts with average thicknesses of 3–4 cm. The crusts are characterized by two dominant textures consisting of either massive pillared growth or more chaotic, cuspate sections of FeMn oxides, with an increased proportion of detrital and organic material. The Fe, Mn, and Co contents in the FeMn oxide layers are not affected by texture. However, detrital material and bioclasts can form about 50% of cuspate areas, and the dilution effect of this entrained material considerably reduces the Fe, Mn, and Co concentrations if the bulk samples are analyzed. Whilst Tropic Seamount meets many of the prerequisites for a crust mining area, the thickness of the crusts and their average metal composition means extraction is unlikely to be viable in the near future. The ability to exploit more difficult terrains or multiple, closely spaced edifices would make economic feasibility more likely.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 328: Mesozoic High- and Low-SiO2 Adakites and A-Type Granites in the Lower Yangtze River Belt, Eastern China: Implications for Petrogenesis and Metallogeny Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080328 Authors: Lei Liu Geng Chu Yanguang Li Xiaoyong Yang Madhava Warrier Santosh Qing Hu The Lower Yangtze River Belt (LYRB) is one of the important magmatic and metallogenic belts in China and hosts abundant Mesozoic calc-alkaline magmatic rocks and economic mineral deposits. Anqing orefield in the southwestern of the LYRB received less attention during the last two decades. Here, we present an integrated study of whole-rock major and trace elements, zircon U-Pb dating and Lu-Hf isotopes on late Mesozoic adakites and A-type granites from the Anqing orefield. The adakites emplaced during 138–136 Ma and can be further subdivided into two types: high-SiO2 adakites (HSA) with SiO2 >60 wt % from the Zongpu intrusion, and low-SiO2 adakites (LSA) <60 wt % from the Yueshan intrusion. The rocks display mid- to high-K calc-alkaline features and have consistent arc-like trace element characteristics with enrichment in LREE and LILE, and depletion in HREE and HFSE. The distinct zircon εHf(t) values for the LSA (from −27 to −20) and HSA (from −15 to −5) preclude a magma mixing model, yet suggest a subduction-related setting with partial melting of the subducted slab and overlying metasomatic mantle wedge. The A-type granites dated at 124 Ma from the Dalongshan intrusion characterized by LILE and LREE enrichment and slightly negative Eu anomalies, with lower MgO, CaO but higher K2O and Na2O contents. Their zircon εHf(t) values and geochemical features suggest that the parent magma was produced by the partial melting of Neoproterozoic crustal components, followed by variable degrees of fractional crystallization under a back-arc extensional setting, together with minor juvenile crust input. The adakites and A-type granites investigated in this study record a tectonic transition from compressive to extensional setting during 138–124 Ma. The transitional magmatic pulses are associated with distinct metallogenic signature with the adakites hosting copper deposits and the A-type granites linked to uranium mineralization.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 293: Shp2graph: Tools to Convert a Spatial Network into an Igraph Graph in R ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080293 Authors: Binbin Lu Huabo Sun Paul Harris Miaozhong Xu Martin Charlton In this study, we introduce the R package shp2graph, which provides tools to convert a spatial network into an ‘igraph’ graph of the igraphR package. This conversion greatly empowers a spatial network study, as the vast array of graph analytical tools provided in igraph are then readily available to the network analysis, together with the inherent advantages of being within the R statistical computing environment and its vast array of statistical functions. Through three urban road network case studies, the calculation of road network distances with shp2graph and with igraph is demonstrated through four key stages: (i) confirming the connectivity of a spatial network; (ii) integrating points/locations with a network; (iii) converting a network into a graph; and (iv) calculating network distances (and travel times). Throughout, the required R commands are given to provide a useful tutorial on the use of shp2graph.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 292: Optimized Location-Allocation of Earthquake Relief Centers Using PSO and ACO, Complemented by GIS, Clustering, and TOPSIS ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080292 Authors: Bahram Saeidian Mohammad Saadi Mesgari Biswajeet Pradhan Mostafa Ghodousi After an earthquake, it is required to establish temporary relief centers in order to help the victims. Selection of proper sites for these centers has a significant effect on the processes of urban disaster management. In this paper, the location and allocation of relief centers in district 1 of Tehran are carried out using Geospatial Information System (GIS), the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) decision model, a simple clustering method and the two meta-heuristic algorithms of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). First, using TOPSIS, the proposed clustering method and GIS analysis tools, sites satisfying initial conditions with adequate distribution in the area are chosen. Then, the selection of proper centers and the allocation of parcels to them are modelled as a location/allocation problem, which is solved using the meta-heuristic optimization algorithms. Also, in this research, PSO and ACO are compared using different criteria. The implementation results show the general adequacy of TOPSIS, the clustering method, and the optimization algorithms. This is an appropriate approach to solve such complex site selection and allocation problems. In view of the assessment results, the PSO finds better answers, converges faster, and shows higher consistency than the ACO.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 302: Surface and Tropospheric Water Vapor Variability and Decadal Trends at Two Supersites of CO-PDD (Cézeaux and Puy de Dôme) in Central France Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080302 Authors: Dani Hadad Jean-Luc Baray Nadège Montoux Joël Van Baelen Patrick Fréville Jean-Marc Pichon Pierre Bosser Michel Ramonet Camille Yver Kwok Nelson Bègue Valentin Duflot We present an analysis of decadal in situ and remote sensing observations of water vapor over the Cézeaux and puy de Dôme, located in central France (45° N, 3° E), in order to document the variability, cycles and trends of surface and tropospheric water vapor at different time scales and the geophysical processes responsible for the water vapor distributions. We use meteorological stations, GPS (Global Positioning System), and lidar datasets, supplemented with three remote sources of water vapor (COSMIC-radio-occultation, ERA-interim-ECMWF numerical model, and AIRS-satellite). The annual cycle of water vapor is clearly established for the two sites of different altitudes and for all types of measurement. Cezeaux and puy de Dôme present almost no diurnal cycle, suggesting that the variability of surface water vapor at this site is more influenced by a sporadic meteorological system than by regular diurnal variations. The lidar dataset shows a greater monthly variability of the vertical distribution than the COSMIC and AIRS satellite products. The Cézeaux site presents a positive trend for the GPS water vapor total column (0.42 ± 0.45 g·kg−1/decade during 2006–2017) and a significant negative trend for the surface water vapor mixing ratio (−0.16 ± 0.09 mm/decade during 2002–2017). The multi-linear regression analysis shows that continental forcings (East Atlantic Pattern and East Atlantic-West Russia Pattern) have a greater influence than oceanic forcing (North Atlantic Oscillation) on the water vapor variations.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 308: Identifying Modes of Driving Railway Trains from GPS Trajectory Data: An Ensemble Classifier-Based Approach ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080308 Authors: Han Zheng Zanyang Cui Xingchen Zhang Recognizing Modes of Driving Railway Trains (MDRT) can help to solve railway freight transportation problems in driver behavior research, auto-driving system design and capacity utilization optimization. Previous studies have focused on analyses and applications of MDRT, but there is currently no approach to automatically and effectively identify MDRT in the context of big data. In this study, we propose an integrated approach including data preprocessing, feature extraction, classifiers modeling, training and parameter tuning, and model evaluation to infer MDRT using GPS data. The highlights of this study are as follows: First, we propose methods for extracting Driving Segmented Standard Deviation Features (DSSDF) combined with classical features for the purpose of improving identification performances. Second, we find the most suitable classifier for identifying MDRT based on a comparison of performances of K-Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector Machines, AdaBoost, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting Decision Tree, and XGBoost. From the real-data experiment, we conclude that: (i) The ensemble classifier XGBoost produces the best performance with an accuracy of 92.70%; (ii) The group of DSSDF plays an important role in identifying MDRT with an accuracy improvement of 11.2% (using XGBoost). The proposed approach has been applied in capacity utilization optimization and new driver training for the Baoshen Railway.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 334: Water Structure, Dynamics and Ion Adsorption at the Aqueous {010} Brushite Surface Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080334 Authors: Natalya A. Garcia Paolo Raiteri Elias Vlieg Julian D. Gale Understanding the growth processes of calcium phosphate minerals in aqueous environments has implications for both health and geology. Brushite, in particular, is a component of certain kidney stones and is used as a bone implant coating. Understanding the water–brushite interface at the molecular scale will help inform the control of its growth. Liquid-ordering and the rates of water exchange at the brushite–solution interface have been examined through the use of molecular dynamics simulation and the results compared to surface X-ray diffraction data. This comparison highlights discrepancies between the two sets of results, regardless of whether force field or first principles methods are used in the simulations, or the extent of water coverage. In order to probe other possible reasons for this difference, the free energies for the adsorption of several ions on brushite were computed. Given the exothermic nature found in some cases, it is possible that the discrepancy in the surface electron density may be caused by adsorption of excess ions.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 318: A Methodology for Planar Representation of Frescoed Oval Domes: Formulation and Testing on Pisa Cathedral ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080318 Authors: Andrea Piemonte Gabriella Caroti Isabel Martínez-Espejo Zaragoza Filippo Fantini Luca Cipriani This paper presents an original methodology for planar development of a frescoed dome with an oval plan. Input data include a rigorous geometric survey, performed with a laser scanner, and a photogrammetry campaign, which associates a high-quality photographic texture to the 3D model. Therefore, the main topics include the development of geometry and, contextually, of the associated textures. In order to overcome the inability to directly develop the surface, an orthographic azimuthal projection is used. Starting from a prerequisite study of building methodology, the dome is divided into sectors and bands, each linked with the maximum acceptable deformations and the actual geometric discontinuities detectable by the analysis of Gaussian curvature. Upon definition of the development model, a custom automation script has been devised for geometry projection. This effectively generates a (u,v) map, associated to the model, which is used for model texturing and provides the planar development of the fresco.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 338: Synthesis of 4A Zeolite from Kaolinite-Type Pyrite Flotation Tailings (KPFT) Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080338 Authors: Yating Cui Yu Zheng Weiqing Wang As a solid waste, kaolinite-type pyrite flotation tailings (KPFT) are a type of low-quality kaolin that contain impurities, such as iron and titanium. In this study, KPFT were calcined at 800 °C for two hours. The calcined production (CKPFT), which is mainly metakaolin, was used as the silicon and aluminum source to synthesize 4A zeolite (Na12[(AlO2)12(SiO2)12]·27H2O) via hydrothermal synthesis. The optimal hydrothermal synthesis conditions were determined from X-ray diffraction phase analysis, relative crystallinity (RC), and cation ion exchange capacity (CEC). The optimal hydrothermal synthesis conditions were determined to be a ratio of 5 g CKPFT, 6.5 g NaOH, 65 mL H2O, crystallization temperature 110 °C, and crystallization time of three hours. Under the optimal hydrothermal synthesis conditions, the RC and CEC of the synthesized 4A zeolite were 40.77% and 210.32 mg CaCO3·g−1, respectively. Further characterizations including pore size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were performed. The results revealed that impurities in KPFT do not affect the synthesis of 4A zeolite. The surface morphology of the synthesized 4A zeolite was composed of chamfered-edged cubes with a particle size of one to three μm that was thermally stable up to approximately 890 °C.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 308: Changes of Soil C Stock under Establishment and Abandonment of Arable Lands in Permafrost Area—Central Yakutia Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080308 Authors: Alexey R. Desyatkin Shinya Iwasaki Roman V. Desyatkin Ryusuke Hatano Central Yakutia is in one of the most northern agricultural centers of the world. In this territory a notable area of arable land was made by removing the boreal Taiga with the primary purpose of crop cultivation. Such a method of cultivation significantly changes soil total carbon (STC, soil organic carbon + soil carbonate carbon) balance, because of the destroyed upper humus horizon. Soil organic carbon (SOC) of cultivated arable lands is almost a half of that in forest. In abandoned arable lands with grass vegetation, the recovery of SOC has increased to 30% in comparison with cultivated arable lands. On arable lands recovering with new growth of trees, the SOC is related to the abandonment period. Soil carbonates carbon (SCC) content was significantly lower than SOC and showed significant difference among abandoned and other types of arable lands. Objectives of this study are to identify how STC stocks change in response to conversion of the forests to agricultural land and to analyze the arable land system’s recovery process after abandonment. Furthermore, after transformation of forest to arable land, a significant decrease of STC was observed, primarily due to mechanical loss after plant residue removal. It was also identified that the restoration and self-recovery of STC in abandoned arable lands of Central Yakutia continuously and slightly increase. Grass vegetation regenerates STC for 20 years. While the difference of average STC of forests and cultivated arable lands reached 41%, a new growth of forest on some abandoned arable land follows the tendency of STC decrease due to a low productivity level and suppressing effect on grass vegetation.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 298: Survivability of Soil and Permafrost Microbial Communities after Irradiation with Accelerated Electrons under Simulated Martian and Open Space Conditions Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080298 Authors: Vladimir Cheptsov Elena Vorobyova Andrey Belov Anatoly Pavlov Denis Tsurkov Vladimir Lomasov Sergey Bulat One of the prior current astrobiological tasks is revealing the limits of microbial resistance to extraterrestrial conditions. Much attention is paid to ionizing radiation, since it can prevent the preservation and spread of life outside the Earth. The aim of this research was to study the impact of accelerated electrons (~1 MeV) as component of space radiation on microbial communities in their natural habitat—the arid soil and ancient permafrost, and also on the pure bacterial cultures that were isolated from these ecotopes. The irradiation was carried out at low pressure (~0.01 Torr) and low temperature (−130 °C) to simulate the conditions of Mars or outer space. High doses of 10 kGy and 100 kGy were used to assess the effect of dose accumulation in inactive and hypometabolic cells, depending on environmental conditions under long-term irradiation estimated on a geological time scale. It was shown that irradiation with accelerated electrons in the applied doses did not sterilize native samples from Earth extreme habitats. The data obtained suggests that viable Earth-like microorganisms can be preserved in the anabiotic state for at least 1.3 and 20 million years in the regolith of modern Mars in the shallow subsurface layer and at a 5 m depth, respectively. In addition, the results of the study indicate the possibility of maintaining terrestrial like life in the ice of Europa at a 10 cm depth for at least ~170 years or for at least 400 thousand years in open space within meteorites. It is established that bacteria in natural habitat has a much higher resistance to in situ irradiation with accelerated electrons when compared to their stability in pure isolated cultures. Thanks to the protective properties of the heterophase environment and the interaction between microbial populations even radiosensitive microorganisms as members of the native microbial communities are able to withstand very high doses of ionizing radiation.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 320: Exploring Railway Network Dynamics in China from 2008 to 2017 ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080320 Authors: Yaping Huang Shiwei Lu Xiping Yang Zhiyuan Zhao China’s high speed rail (HSR) network has been rapidly constructed and developed during the past 10 years. However, few studies have reported the spatiotemporal changes of railway network structures and how those structures have been affected by the operation of high speed rail systems in different periods. This paper analyzes the evolving network characteristics of China’s railway network during each of the four main stages of HSR development over a 10-year period. These four stages include Stage 1, when no HSR was in place prior to August 2008; Stage 2, when several HSR lines were put into operation between August 2008, and July 2011; Stage 3, when the network skeleton of most main HSR lines was put into place. This covered the period until January 2013. Finally, Stage 4 covers the deep intensification of several new HSR lines and the rapid development of intercity-HSR railway lines between January 2013, and July 2017. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the timetable-based statistical properties of China’s railway network, as well as the spatiotemporal patterns of the more than 2700 stations that have been affected by the opening of HSR lines and the corresponding policy changes. Generally, we find that the distribution of both degrees and strengths are characterized by scale-free patterns. In addition, the decreasing average path length and increasing network clustering coefficient indicate that the small world characteristic is more significant in the evolution of China’s railway network. Correlations between different network indices are explored, in order to further investigate the dynamics of China’s railway system. Overall, our study offers a new approach for assessing the growth and evolution of a real railway network based on train timetables. Our study can also be referenced by policymakers looking to adjust HSR operations and plan future HSR routes.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 344: Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Mud Volcanic Ejecta: A New Look at Old Issues (A Case Study from the Bulganak Field, Northern Black Sea) Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080344 Authors: Ella Sokol Svetlana Kokh Olga Kozmenko Sofya Novikova Pavel Khvorov Elena Nigmatulina Elena Belogub Maxim Kirillov We characterise the mineralogy and geochemistry of Oligo-Miocene Maykopian shales that are currently extruded by onshore mud volcanoes of the Kerch-Taman Province (the Northern Black Sea) from the depths of ~2.5–3 km. The ejected muds are remarkable by highly diverse authigenic mineralogy that comprises glauconite, apatite, siderite, mixed Fe–Mg–Mn–(Ca) and Mn–Ca–Fe-carbonates, pyrite, marcasite, sphalerite, cinnabar, chalcopyrite, nukundamite, akantite, native Cu, Au and Au–Ag alloys. Precise geochemical techniques and high-resolution methods are applied to study the composition of bulk rocks, sulphide and carbonate fractions, as well as individual mineral species, including trace element and isotopic compositions of carbonates (C, O) and pyrite (S). Mineralogy of clastic and heavy fractions is used as a provenance tracer. Oxygen-deficient to weakly sulphuric deposition conditions are inferred for the parent sediments proceeding from trace element partitioning between carbonate, sulphide, and metallic phases. The main conclusion of the study is that onshore mud volcanoes of the region only transport buried sedimentary material and authigenic minerals they store to the ground surface.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 343: The Evolution, Current Status, and Future Prospects of Using Biotechnologies in the Mineral Extraction and Metal Recovery Sectors Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080343 Authors: D. Barrie Johnson The current global demand in terms of both the amounts and range of metals for industrial and domestic use greatly exceeds that at any previous time in human history. Recycling is inadequate to meet these needs and therefore mining primary metal ores will continue to be a major industry in the foreseeable future. The question of how metal mining can develop in a manner which is less demanding of energy and less damaging of the environment in a world whose population is increasingly aware of, and concerned about, the environment, requires urgent redress. Increased application of biotechnologies in the mining sector could go some way in solving this conundrum, yet, biomining (harnessing microorganisms to enhance the recovery of base and precious metals) has remained a niche application since it was first knowingly used in the 1960s. This manuscript reviews the development and current status of biomining applications and highlights their limitations as well as their strengths. New areas of biotechnology that could be applied in the mining sector, and their potential impact in terms of both their potential environmental and economic benefits, are also discussed.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 309: Seasonal Changes of Extremes in Isolated and Mesoscale Precipitation for the Southeastern United States Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080309 Authors: Thomas Rickenbach The association between instantaneous extreme precipitation and mesoscale organization over the southeastern United States is not well known. This study addresses whether isolated precipitation features have a distinct distribution and spatial pattern of extreme rain compared to mesoscale precipitation features, and how these distributions and spatial patterns change from spring to summer. Using a four-year surface radar precipitation data set, hourly images of instantaneous extreme rain rates were separated into isolated and mesoscale precipitation features from March through August for the four-year period of 2009–2012. Results show that that compared to isolated convection, mesoscale precipitation organization is more commonly associated with higher extremes in instantaneous rainfall in the southeastern U.S. Extreme rain values tied to mesoscale organization shift eastward and toward the coasts from spring to summer, while extreme rain from isolated convection is mainly a summer phenomenon concentrated in Florida and along the coastal plain. The implication is that dynamical processes favoring mesoscale organization such as high shear associated with baroclinic circulations are more associated with higher values of extreme rain, while thermodynamic forcing and local circulations favoring isolated convection are associated with lower values of extreme rain.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 310: The FuGas 2.3 Framework for Atmosphere–Ocean Coupling: Comparing Algorithms for the Estimation of Solubilities and Gas Fluxes Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080310 Authors: Vasco M. N. C. S. Vieira Pavel Jurus Emanuela Clementi Marcos Mateus Accurate estimates of the atmosphere–ocean fluxes of greenhouse gases and dimethyl sulphide (DMS) have great importance in climate change models. A significant part of these fluxes occur at the coastal ocean which, although much smaller than the open ocean, have more heterogeneous conditions. Hence, Earth System Modelling (ESM) requires representing the oceans at finer resolutions which, in turn, requires better descriptions of the chemical, physical and biological processes. The standard formulations for the solubilities and gas transfer velocities across air–water surfaces are 36 and 24 years old, and new alternatives have emerged. We have developed a framework combining the related geophysical processes and choosing from alternative formulations with different degrees of complexity. The framework was tested with fine resolution data from the European coastal ocean. Although the benchmark and alternative solubility formulations generally agreed well, their minor divergences yielded differences of up to 5.8% for CH4 dissolved at the ocean surface. The transfer velocities differ strongly (often more than 100%), a consequence of the benchmark empirical wind-based formulation disregarding significant factors that were included in the alternatives. We conclude that ESM requires more comprehensive simulations of atmosphere–ocean interactions, and that further calibration and validation is needed for the formulations to be able to reproduce it. We propose this framework as a basis to update with formulations for processes specific to the air–water boundary, such as the presence of surfactants, rain, the hydration reaction or biological activity.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 346: Metal Sequestration through Coupled Dissolution–Precipitation at the Brucite–Water Interface Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080346 Authors: Jörn Hövelmann Christine V. Putnis Liane G. Benning The increasing release of potentially toxic metals from industrial processes can lead to highly elevated concentrations of these metals in soil, and ground- and surface-waters. Today, metal pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems and thus, the development of effective remediation strategies is of paramount importance. In this context, it is critical to understand how dissolved metals interact with mineral surfaces in soil–water environments. Here, we assessed the processes that govern the interactions between six common metals (Zn, Cd, Co, Ni, Cu, and Pb) with natural brucite (Mg(OH)2) surfaces. Using atomic force microscopy and a flow-through cell, we followed the coupled process of brucite dissolution and subsequent nucleation and growth of various metal bearing precipitates at a nanometer scale. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy allowed for the identification of the precipitates as metal hydroxide phases. Our observations and thermodynamic calculations indicate that this coupled dissolution–precipitation process is governed by a fluid boundary layer at the brucite–water interface. Importantly, this layer differs in composition and pH from the bulk solution. These results contribute to an improved mechanistic understanding of sorption reactions at mineral surfaces that control the mobility and fate of toxic metals in the environment.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 313: Trends, Variability, and Seasonality of Maximum Annual Daily Precipitation in the Upper Vistula Basin, Poland Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080313 Authors: Dariusz Młyński Marta Cebulska Andrzej Wałęga The aim of this study was to detect trends in maximum annual daily precipitation in the Upper Vistula Basin. We analyzed data from 51 weather stations between 1971 and 2014. Then we used the Mann–Kendall test to detect monotonical trends of the precipitation for three significance levels: 1, 5, and 10%. Our analysis of weather conditions helped us describe the mechanism behind the formation of maximum annual daily precipitation. To analyze precipitation seasonality, we also used Colwell indices. Our study identified a significant trend of the highest daily precipitation for the assumed significance levels (0.01, 0.05, 0.1) for 22% of the investigated weather stations at different elevations. The significant trends found were positive and an increase in precipitation is expected. From 1971 to 2014, the maximum daily total precipitation most often occurred in the summer half-year, i.e., from May until September. These months included a total of 88% of days with the highest daily precipitation. The predictability index for the highest total precipitation within the area was high and exceeded 5%. It was markedly affected by the coefficient of constancy (C) and to a lesser degree by the seasonality index (M). Our analysis demonstrated a convergence of the Colwell indices and frequency of cyclonic situation and, therefore, confirmed their usability in the analysis of precipitation seasonality.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 317: The Three-Dimensional Locating of VHF Broadband Lightning Interferometers Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9080317 Authors: Hengyi Liu Shi Qiu Wansheng Dong VHF (Very High Frequency) lightning interferometers can locate and observe lightning discharges with a high time resolution. Especially the appearance of continuous interferometers makes the 2-D location of interferometers further improve in time resolution and completeness. However, there is uncertainty in the conclusion obtained by simply analyzing the 2-D locating information. Without the support of other 3-D total lightning locating networks, the 2-station interferometer becomes an option to obtain 3-D information. This paper introduces a 3-D lightning location method of a 2-station broadband interferometer, which uses the theodolite wind measurement method for reference, and gives the simulation results of the location accuracy. Finally, using the multi-baseline continuous 2-D locating method and the 3-D locating method, the locating results of one intra-cloud flash and the statistical results of the initiation heights of 61 cloud-to-ground flashes and 80 intra-cloud flashes are given. The results show that the two-station interferometer has high observation accuracy on both sides of the connection between the two sites. The locating accuracy will deteriorate as the distance between the radiation source and the two stations increases or the height decreases. The actual locating results are similar to those of the existing VHF TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival) lightning locating network.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 305: Adapting Cultural Heritage to Climate Change Risks: Perspectives of Cultural Heritage Experts in Europe Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8080305 Authors: Elena Sesana Alexandre S. Gagnon Chiara Bertolin John Hughes Changes in rainfall patterns, humidity, and temperature, as well as greater exposure to severe weather events, has led to the need for adapting cultural heritage to climate change. However, there is limited research accomplished to date on the process of adaptation of cultural heritage to climate change. This paper examines the perceptions of experts involved in the management and preservation of cultural heritage on adaptation to climate change risks. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts from the UK, Italy, and Norway as well as a participatory workshop with stakeholders. The results indicate that the majority of interviewees believe that adaptation of cultural heritage to climate change is possible. Opportunities for, barriers to, and requirements for adapting cultural heritage to climate change, as perceived by the interviewees, provided a better understanding of what needs to be provided and prioritized for adaptation to take place and in its strategic planning. Knowledge of management methodologies incorporating climate change impacts by the interviewees together with best practice examples in adapting cultural heritage to climate change are also reported. Finally, the interviewees identified the determinant factors for the implementation of climate change adaptation. This paper highlights the need for more research on this topic and the identification and dissemination of practical solutions and tools for the incorporation of climate change adaptation in the preservation and management of cultural heritage.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 356: Geology and Mineralogy of Rare Earth Elements Deposits and Occurrences in Finland Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080356 Authors: Thair Al-Ani Ferenc Molnár Panu Lintinen Seppo Leinonen Rare earth elements (REE) have critical importance in the manufacturing of many electronic products in the high-tech and green-tech industries. Currently, mining and processing of REE is strongly concentrated in China. A substantial growth in global exploration for REE deposits has taken place in the recent years and has resulted in considerable advances in defining new resources. This study provides an overview of the mineralogical and petrological peculiarities of the most important REE prospects and metallogeny of REE in Finland. There is a particularly good potential for future discoveries of carbonatite hosted REE deposits in the Paleozoic Sokli carbonatite complex, as well as in the Paleoproterozoic Korsnäs and Kortejärvi Laivajoki areas. This review also provides information about the highest known REE concentration in the alkaline intrusions of Finland in the Tana Belt and other alkaline rock hosted occurrences (e.g., Otanmäki and Katajakangas). Significant REE enrichments in hydrothermal alteration zones are also known in the Kuusamo Belt (Uuniniemi and Honkilehto), and occurrences of REE-rich mineralisation are also present in granite pegmatite bodies and greisens in central and southern Finland (Kovela monazite granite and the Rapakivi Granite batholith at Vyborg, respectively). REE minerals in all of the localities listed above were identified and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron microprobes (EMPs). In localities of northern and central Finland, both primary rock forming and epigenetic-hydrothermal REE minerals were found, namely phosphates (monazite-Ce, xenotime-Y), fluorcarbonates (bastnäsite-Ce, synchysite), and hydrated carbonates (ancylite-Ce), hydrated aluminium silicates (allanite-Ce, Fe-allanite, cerite, chevkinite), oxides (fergusonite, euxenite) and U-Pb rich minerals. The chondrite normalized REE concentrations, the La/Nd ratios and the REE vs. major element contents in several types of REE bearing minerals from prospects in Finland can be used to identify and define variable REE fractionation processes (carbonatites), as well as to discriminate deposits of different origins.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 357: Aqueous Fe(II)-Induced Phase Transformation of Ferrihydrite Coupled Adsorption/Immobilization of Rare Earth Elements Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080357 Authors: Yingheng Fei Jian Hua Chengshuai Liu Fangbai Li Zhenke Zhu Tangfu Xiao Manjia Chen Ting Gao Zhiqi Wei Likai Hao The phase transformation of iron minerals induced by aqueous Fe(II) (Fe(II)aq) is a critical geochemical reaction which greatly affects the geochemical behavior of soil elements. How the geochemical behavior of rare earth elements (REEs) is affected by the Fe(II)aq-induced phase transformation of iron minerals, however, is still unknown. The present study investigated the adsorption and immobilization of REEs during the Fe(II)aq-induced phase transformation of ferrihydrite. The results show that the heavy REEs of Ho(III) were more efficiently adsorbed and stabilized compared with the light REEs of La(III) by ferrihydrite and its transformation products, which was due to the higher adsorptive affinity and smaller atomic radius of Ho(III). Both La(III) and Ho(III) inhibited the Fe atom exchange between Fe(II)aq and ferrihydrite, and sequentially, the Fe(II)aq-induced phase transformation rates of ferrihydrite, because of the competitive adsorption with Fe(II)aq on the surface of iron (hydr)oxides. Owing to the larger amounts of adsorbed and stabilized Ho(III), the inhibition of the Fe(II)aq-induced phase transformation of ferrihydrite affected by Ho(III) was higher than that by La(III). Our findings suggest an important role for the Fe(II)aq-induced phase transformation of iron (hydr)oxides in assessing the mobility and transfer behavior of REEs, as well as for their occurrence in earth surface environments.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 331: Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Updating Farmland Cadastral Data in Areas Subject to Landslides ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080331 Authors: Edyta Puniach Agnieszka Bieda Paweł Ćwiąkała Anita Kwartnik-Pruc Piotr Parzych The purpose of this study was to verify the applicability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to update cadastral records in areas affected by landslides. Its authors intended to compare the accuracy of coordinates determined using different UAV data processing methods for points which form the framework of a cadastral database, and to find out whether products obtained as a result of such UAV data processing are sufficient to define the extent of changes in the cadastral objects. To achieve this, an experiment was designed to take place at the site of a landslide. The entire photogrammetry mission was planned to cover an area of more than 70 ha. Given the steep grade of the site, the UAV was flown over each line at a different, individually preset altitude, such as to ensure consistent mean shooting distance (height above ground level), and thus, appropriate ground sample distance (GSD; pixel size). The results were analyzed in four variants, differing from each other in terms of the number of control points used and the method of their measurement. This allowed identification of the factors that affect surveying accuracy and the indication of the cadastral data updatable based on an UAV photogrammetric survey.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 355: On the Chemical Composition and Possible Origin of Na–Cr-Rich Clinopyroxene in Silicocarbonatites from Samalpatti, Tamil Nadu, South India Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8080355 Authors: Ondřej Krátký Vladislav Rapprich Martin Racek Jitka Míková Tomáš Magna Mineralogical and chemical data are presented for a suite of Na–Cr-rich clinopyroxenes associated with chromite, winchite (sodium-calcium amphibole), titanite and calcite in Mg-Cr-rich silicocarbonatites from the Samalpatti carbonatite complex, Tamil Nadu, South India. The Mg-Cr-rich silicocarbonatites occur as 10–30 cm large enclaves in pyroxenites. The chemical composition of the pyroxenes differs among individual enclaves, with variable proportions of diopside, kosmochlor and jadeite-aegirine end-members. These compositions fill a previously unoccupied space in the kosmochlor-diopside-jadeite+aegirine ternary plot, indicating a distinct origin of kosmochlor-rich pyroxene compared with previous findings from diverse settings. The Na–Cr-rich clinopyroxene has low ΣREE = 9.2 ppm, with slight enrichment in LREE (LaN = 7), coupled with low HREE (YbN = 0.6), and flat HREE, paralleled by a significant fractionation of Nb/Ta (2408) and Th/U (26.5). Sodic metasomatism (fenitization) associated with either carbonatite emplacement at shallow levels or during carbonatite ascent through the upper mantle most likely was the major process operating in the area. We suggest two scenarios of the formation of Na–Cr-rich pyroxene: (1) from mantle-derived chromian mineral phases (spinel and/or garnet) through fenitization, with subsequent corrosion by growing winchite due to volatile influx; (2) via metasomatic reaction of Cr-rich garnet in mantle peridotite due to reaction with Na-rich carbonatite melt. Collectively, the appearance of kosmochlor may play an important role in deconvolving metasomatic processes, and fenitization in particular. If combined with petrologic experiments, it could improve our understanding of the origin and subsequent history of chemical signatures of carbonate-rich materials in the mantle.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 332: Using the Spatial Knowledge of Map Users to Personalize City Maps: A Case Study with Tourists in Madrid, Spain ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7080332 Authors: María-Teresa Manrique-Sancho Silvania Avelar Teresa Iturrioz-Aguirre Miguel-Ángel Manso-Callejo The aim of personalized maps is to help individual users to read maps and focus on the most task-relevant information. Several approaches have been suggested to develop personalized maps for cities, but few consider the spatial knowledge of its users. We propose the design of “cognitively-aware” personalized maps, which take into account the previous experience of users in the city and how the urban space is configured in their minds. Our aim is to facilitate users’ mental links between maps and city places, stimulating users to recall features of the urban space and to assimilate new spatial knowledge. To achieve this goal, we propose the personalization of maps through a map design process based on user modeling and on inferring personalization guidelines from hand-drawn sketches of urban spaces. We applied this process in an experiment with tourists in Madrid, Spain. We categorized the participants into three types of tourists—“Guided”, “Explorer”, and “Conditioned”—according to individual and contextual factors that can influence their spatial knowledge of the city. We also extracted design guidelines from tourists’ sketches and developed map prototypes. The empirical results seem to be promising for developing personalized city maps that could be produced on-the-fly in the future.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 312: Lake Nyos, a Multirisk and Vulnerability Appraisal Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090312 Authors: Mesmin Tchindjang Situated at the northern flank of the Oku Massif, Lake Nyos crater epitomizes landscape features originating from volcanic explosions during the Quaternary. The Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL), to which it belongs, constitutes the most active volcanic region in Cameroon. In 1986, an outgas explosion occurred from beneath the lake and killed 1746 people in several neighbouring villages. The event influenced a radial area of 25 to 40 km wide, particularly in eastern and western direction. This was mainly due to: (1) the rugged nature of the landscape (fault fields), which enabled the heavier gas to follow valleys framed by faults corridors without affecting elevated areas; and (2) the seasonal dominating western wind direction, which channeled the gas along tectonic corridors and valleys. This paper assesses the geological risk and vulnerability in the Lake Nyos before and after several proposal to mitigate future outgas events. Remotely sensed data, together with GIS tools (topographic maps, aerial photographs), helped to determine and assess lineaments and associated risks. A critical grid combining severity and frequency analysis was used to assess the vulnerability of the local population. There is evidence that along the main fault directions (SW–NE), anthropogenic activities are most intensive and they may play an aggravating role for disasters. This requires the local population’s consciousness-raising. The results also show that population around Lake Nyos still remains vulnerable to volcanic hazards and floods. However, the area has been safe since the last degassing and jet grouting through multiple procedures and actions proposed in the National Contingency Plan, and equally by the relief organization plan (DROP or ORSEC plan) for the Menchum Division. Another issue is that the local population is concerned with the idea of returning to the affected areas in order to stay close to their ancestors or the deceased. Therefore, even after jet grouting and degassing, the problem of risk minimization for local residents remains.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 333: Generating a High-Precision True Digital Orthophoto Map Based on UAV Images ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7090333 Authors: Yu Liu Xinqi Zheng Gang Ai Yi Zhang Yuqiang Zuo Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) low-altitude remote sensing technology has recently been adopted in China. However, mapping accuracy and production processes of true digital orthophoto maps (TDOMs) generated by UAV images require further improvement. In this study, ground control points were distributed and images were collected using a multi-rotor UAV and professional camera, at a flight height of 160 m above the ground and a designed ground sample distance (GSD) of 0.016 m. A structure from motion (SfM), revised digital surface model (DSM) and multi-view image texture compensation workflow were outlined to generate a high-precision TDOM. We then used randomly distributed checkpoints on the TDOM to verify its precision. The horizontal accuracy of the generated TDOM was 0.0365 m, the vertical accuracy was 0.0323 m, and the GSD was 0.0166 m. Tilt and shadowed areas of the TDOM were eliminated so that buildings maintained vertical viewing angles. This workflow produced a TDOM accuracy within 0.05 m, and provided an effective method for identifying rural homesteads, as well as land planning and design.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 364: The Arsenic Fault-Pathfinder: A Complementary Tool to Improve Structural Models in Mining Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8090364 Authors: Daniel Carrizo Carlos Barros German Velasquez In a mining operation, the structural model is considered as a first-order data required for planning. During the start-up and in-depth expansion of an operation, whether the case is open-pit or underground, the structural model must be systematically updated because most common failure mechanisms of a rock mass are generally controlled by geological discontinuities. This update represents one of the main responsibilities for structural geologists and mine engineers. For that purpose, our study presents a geochemically-developed tool based on the tridimensional (3-D) distribution of arsenic concentrations, which have been quantified with a very high-density of blast-holes sampling points throughout an open pit operation. Our results show that the arsenic spatial distribution clearly denotes alignments that match with faults that were previously recognized by classical direct mapping techniques. Consequently, the 3-D arsenic distribution can be used to endorse the existence and even more the real persistence of structures as well as the cross-cutting relationships between faults. In conclusion, by linking the arsenic fault-pathfinder tool to direct on field fault mapping, it is possible to improve structural models at mine scale, focusing on geotechnical design and management, with a direct impact in the generation of safety mining activities.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 333: Natural Gas Fugitive Leak Detection Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Localization and Quantification of Emission Rate Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9090333 Authors: Levi M. Golston Nicholas F. Aubut Michael B. Frish Shuting Yang Robert W. Talbot Christopher Gretencord James McSpiritt Mark A. Zondlo We describe a set of methods for locating and quantifying natural gas leaks using a small unmanned aerial system equipped with a path-integrated methane sensor. The algorithms are developed as part of a system to enable the continuous monitoring of methane, supported by a series of over 200 methane release trials covering 51 release location and flow rate combinations. The system was found throughout the trials to reliably distinguish between cases with and without a methane release down to 2 standard cubic feet per hour (0.011 g/s). Among several methods evaluated for horizontal localization, the location corresponding to the maximum path-integrated methane reading performed best with a mean absolute error of 1.2 m if the results from several flights are spatially averaged. Additionally, a method of rotating the data around the estimated leak location according to the wind is developed, with the leak magnitude calculated from the average crosswind integrated flux in the region near the source location. The system is initially applied at the well pad scale (100–1000 m2 area). Validation of these methods is presented including tests with unknown leak locations. Sources of error, including GPS uncertainty, meteorological variables, data averaging, and flight pattern coverage, are discussed. The techniques described here are important for surveys of small facilities where the scales for dispersion-based approaches are not readily applicable.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 342: Accuracy Assessment of Point Clouds from LiDAR and Dense Image Matching Acquired Using the UAV Platform for DTM Creation ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7090342 Authors: Adam Salach Krzysztof Bakuła Magdalena Pilarska Wojciech Ostrowski Konrad Górski Zdzisław Kurczyński In this paper, the results of an experiment about the vertical accuracy of generated digital terrain models were assessed. The created models were based on two techniques: LiDAR and photogrammetry. The data were acquired using an ultralight laser scanner, which was dedicated to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms that provide very dense point clouds (180 points per square meter), and an RGB digital camera that collects data at very high resolution (a ground sampling distance of 2 cm). The vertical error of the digital terrain models (DTMs) was evaluated based on the surveying data measured in the field and compared to airborne laser scanning collected with a manned plane. The data were acquired in summer during a corridor flight mission over levees and their surroundings, where various types of land cover were observed. The experiment results showed unequivocally, that the terrain models obtained using LiDAR technology were more accurate. An attempt to assess the accuracy and possibilities of penetration of the point cloud from the image-based approach, whilst referring to various types of land cover, was conducted based on Real Time Kinematic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS-RTK) measurements and was compared to archival airborne laser scanning data. The vertical accuracy of DTM was evaluated for uncovered and vegetation areas separately, providing information about the influence of the vegetation height on the results of the bare ground extraction and DTM generation. In uncovered and low vegetation areas (0–20 cm), the vertical accuracies of digital terrain models generated from different data sources were quite similar: for the UAV Laser Scanning (ULS) data, the RMSE was 0.11 m, and for the image-based data collected using the UAV platform, it was 0.14 m, whereas for medium vegetation (higher than 60 cm), the RMSE from these two data sources were 0.11 m and 0.36 m, respectively. A decrease in the accuracy of 0.10 m, for every 20 cm of vegetation height, was observed for photogrammetric data; and such a dependency was not noticed in the case of models created from the ULS data.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 329: Numerical Simulation of a Heavy Precipitation Event in the Vicinity of Madrid-Barajas International Airport: Sensitivity to Initial Conditions, Domain Resolution, and Microphysics Parameterizations Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9090329 Authors: Pedro Bolgiani Sergio Fernández-González Francisco Valero Andrés Merino Eduardo García-Ortega José Luis Sánchez María Luisa Martín Deep convection is a threat to many human activities, with a great impact on aviation safety. On 7 July 2017, a widespread torrential precipitation event (associated with a cut-off low at mid-levels) was registered in the vicinity of Madrid, causing serious flight disruptions. During this type of episode, accurate short-term forecasts are key to minimizing risks to aviation. The aim of this research is to improve early warning systems by obtaining the best WRF model setup. In this paper, the aforementioned event was simulated. Various model configurations were produced using four different physics parameterizations, 3-km and 1-km domain resolutions, and 0.25° and 1° initial condition resolutions. Simulations were validated using data from 17 rain gauge stations. Two validation indices are proposed, accounting for the temporal behaviour of the model. Results show significant differences between microphysics parameterizations. Validation of domain resolution shows that improvement from 3 to 1 km is negligible. Interestingly, the 0.25° resolution for initial conditions produced poor results compared with 1°. This may be linked to a timing error, because precipitation was simulated further east than observed. The use of ensembles generated by combining different WRF model configurations produced reliable precipitation estimates.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 330: Evaluation of the Polarimetric-Radar Quantitative Precipitation Estimates of an Extremely Heavy Rainfall Event and Nine Common Rainfall Events in Guangzhou Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9090330 Authors: Yang Zhang Liping Liu Hao Wen Chong Wu Yonghua Zhang The development and application of operational polarimetric radar (PR) in China is still in its infancy. In this study, an operational PR quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) algorithm is suggested based on data for PR hydrometeor classification and local drop size distribution (DSD). Even though this algorithm performs well for conventional rainfall events, in which hourly rainfall accumulations are less than 50 mm, the capability of a PR to estimate extremely heavy rainfall remains unclear. The proposed algorithm is used for nine different types of rainfall events that occurred in Guangzhou, China, in 2016 and for an extremely heavy rainfall event that occurred in Guangzhou on 6 May 2017. It performs well for all data of these nine rainfall events and for light-to-moderate rain (hourly accumulation <50 mm) in this extremely heavy rainfall event. However, it severely underestimated heavy rain (>50 mm) and the extremely heavy rain at stations where total rainfall exceeded 300 mm within 5 h in this extremely heavy rainfall event. To analyze the reasons for underestimation, a rain microphysics retrieval algorithm is presented to retrieve Dm and Nw from the PR measurements. The DSD characteristics and the factors affecting QPE are analyzed based on Dm and Nw. The results indicate that compared with statistical DSD data in Yangjiang (estimators are derived from these data), the average raindrop diameter during this rainfall event occurred on 6 May 2017 was much smaller and the number concentration was higher. The algorithm underestimated the precipitation with small and midsize particles, but overestimated the precipitation with midsize and large particles. Underestimations occurred when Dm and Nw are both very large, and the severe underestimations for heavy rain are mainly due to these particles. It is verified that some of these particles are associated with melting hail. Owing to the big differences in DSD characteristics, R(KDP, ZDR) underestimates most heavy rain. Therefore, R(AH), which is least sensitive to DSD variations, replaces R(KDP, ZDR) to estimate precipitation. This improved algorithm performs well even for extremely heavy rain. These results are important for evaluating S-band Doppler radar polarization updates in China.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 313: Micromorphological and Chemical Features of Soils as Evidence of Bronze Age Ancient Anthropogenic Impact (Late Bronze Age Muradymovo Settlement, Ural Region, Russia) Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090313 Authors: Alexandra Golyeva Olga Khokhlova Marina Lebedeva Nickolay Shcherbakov Iia Shuteleva In some cases, the human impact on ancient landscapes has been so profound that local soils still remain significantly affected even after hundreds and thousands of years after ending impact. We studied the Late Bronze Age Muradymovo settlement located in the Urals, Russia, aiming to estimate the consequences of the ancient people’s activity on the environment. Despite the present humid climate, the modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site contain more than 27% of gypsum at a depth of just 10 cm from the surface, and a microrelief of the study site is typical of a gypsum desert. The nearby background Chernozems are gypsum-free to a depth of 2 m. According to the archaeological data, the ancient people belonged to the ‘Srubno-Alakul’ archaeological culture (1750–1350 years B.C. cal (calibrated years before Christ)) and had a tradition of building their houses from gypsum rocks. At the present time, this area is still unsuitable for human settlement. The properties of modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site are directly affected by the Late Bronze Age human activities. It has been identified on soil morphology, micromorphology, and chemical properties of soils developed inside the cultural layer of the settlement.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 348: Nesting Patterns of Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta): Development of a Multiple Regression Model Tested in North Carolina, USA ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7090348 Authors: Joanne N. Halls Alyssa L. Randall Numerous environmental conditions may influence when a female Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) selects a nesting site. Limited research has used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical analysis to study sea turtle spatial patterns and temporal trends. Therefore, the goals of this research were to identify areas that were most prevalent for nesting and to test social and environmental variables to create a nesting suitability predictive model. Data were analyzed at all barrier island beaches in North Carolina, USA (515 km) and several variables were statistically significant: distance to hardened structures, beach nourishment, house density, distance to inlets, and beach elevation, slope, and width. Interestingly, variables that were not significant were population density, proximity to the Gulf Stream, and beach aspect. Several statistical techniques were tested and Negative Binomial Distribution produced good regional results while Geographically Weighted Regression models successfully predicted the number of nests with an average of 75% of the variance explained. Therefore, the combination of traditional and spatial statistics provided insightful predictive modeling results that may be incorporated into management strategies and may have important implications for the designation of critical Loggerhead nesting habitats.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 317: Time Series Regression for Forecasting Flood Events in Schenectady, New York Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090317 Authors: Thomas A. Plitnick Antonios E. Marsellos Katerina G. Tsakiri Floods typically occur due to ice jams in the winter or extended periods of precipitation in the spring and summer seasons. An increase in the rate of water discharge in the river coincides with a flood event. This research combines the time series decomposition and the time series regression model for the flood prediction in Mohawk River at Schenectady, New York. The time series decomposition has been applied to separate the different frequencies in hydrogeological and climatic data. The time series data have been decomposed into the long-term, seasonal-term, and short-term components using the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko filter. For the application of the time series regression model, we determine the lags of the hydrogeological and climatic variables that provide the maximum performance for the model. The lags applied in the predictor variables of the model have been used for the physical interpretation of the model to strengthen the relationship between the water discharge and the climatic and hydrogeological variables. The overall model accuracy has been increased up to 73%. The results show that using the lags of the variables in the time regression model, and the forecasting accuracy has been increased compared to the raw data by two times.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 318: Objective Regolith-Landform Mapping in a Regolith Dominated Terrain to Inform Mineral Exploration Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090318 Authors: Alicia S. Caruso Kenneth D. Clarke Caroline J. Tiddy Steven Delean Megan M. Lewis An objective method for generating statistically sound objective regolith-landform maps using widely accessible digital topographic and geophysical data without requiring specific regional knowledge is demonstrated and has application as a first pass tool for mineral exploration in regolith dominated terrains. This method differs from traditional regolith-landform mapping methods in that it is not subject to interpretation and bias of the mapper. This study was undertaken in a location where mineral exploration has occurred for over 20 years and traditional regolith mapping had recently been completed using a standardized subjective methodology. An unsupervised classification was performed using a Digital Elevation Model, Topographic Position Index, and airborne gamma-ray radiometrics as data inputs resulting in 30 classes that were clustered to eight groups representing regolith types. The association between objective and traditional mapping classes was tested using the ‘Mapcurves’ algorithm to determine the ‘Goodness-of-Fit’, resulting in a mean score of 26.4% between methods. This Goodness-of-Fit indicates that this objective map may be used for initial mineral exploration in regolith dominated terrains.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 367: Cr Release from Cr-Substituted Goethite during Aqueous Fe(II)-Induced Recrystallization Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8090367 Authors: Jian Hua Manjia Chen Chengshuai Liu Fangbai Li Jian Long Ting Gao Fei Wu Jing Lei Minghua Gu The interaction between aqueous Fe(II) (Fe(II)aq) and iron minerals is an important reaction of the iron cycle, and it plays a critical role in impacting the environmental behavior of heavy metals in soils. Metal substitution into iron (hydr)oxides has been reported to reduce Fe atom exchange rates between Fe(II)aq and metal-substituted iron (hydr)oxides and inhibit the recrystallization of iron (hydr)oxides. However, the environmental behaviors of the substituted metal during these processes remain unclear. In this study, Fe(II)aq-induced recrystallization of Cr-substituted goethite (Cr-goethite) was investigated, along with the sequential release behavior of substituted Cr(III). Results from a stable Fe isotopic tracer and Mössbauer characterization studies show that Fe atom exchange occurred between Fe(II)aq and structural Fe(III) (Fe(III)oxide) in Cr-goethites, during which the Cr-goethites were recrystallized. The Cr substitution inhibited the rates of Fe atom exchange and Cr-goethite recrystallization. During the recrystallization of Cr-goethites induced by Fe(II)aq, Cr(III) was released from Cr-goethite. In addition, Cr-goethites with a higher level of Cr-substituted content released more Cr(III). The highest Fe atom exchange rate and the highest amount of released Cr(III) were observed at a pH of 7.5. Under reaction conditions involving a lower pH of 5.5 or a higher pH of 8.5, there were substantially lower rates of Fe atom exchange and Cr(III) release. This trend of Cr(III) release was similar with changes in Fe atom exchange, suggesting that Cr(III) release is driven by Fe atom exchange. The release and reincorporation of Cr(III) occurred simultaneously during the Fe(II)aq-induced recrystallization of Cr-goethites, especially during the late stage of the observed reactions. Our findings emphasize an important role for Fe(II)aq-induced recrystallization of iron minerals in changing soil metal characteristics, which is critical for the evaluation of soil metal activities, especially those in Fe-rich soils.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 321: Groundwater Characterization by Means of Conservative (δ18O and δ2H) and Non-Conservative (87Sr/86Sr) Isotopic Values: The Classical Karst Region Aquifer Case (Italy–Slovenia) Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090321 Authors: Chiara Calligaris Kim Mezga Francesca Federica Slejko Janko Urbanc Luca Zini The study of the different hydrogeological compartments is a prerequisite for understanding and monitoring different fluxes, thereby evaluating the environmental changes in an ecosystem where anthropogenic disturbances are present in order to preserve the most vulnerable groundwaters from contamination and degradation. In many karst domains in the Mediterranean, areas groundwaters and surface waters are a single system, as a result of the features that facilitate the ingression of waters from surface to subsurface. This is also the case for the Classical Karst hydrostructure, which is a carbonate plateau that rises above the northern Adriatic Sea, shared between Italy and Slovenia. The main suppliers to the aquifer are the effective precipitations and the waters from three different rivers: Reka/Timavo, Soča/Isonzo and Vipava/Vipacco. Past and ongoing hydrogeological studies on the area have focused on the connections within the Classical Karst Region aquifer system through the analysis of water caves and springs hydrographs and chemographs. In this paper, the authors present new combined data from major ions, oxygen, hydrogen and strontium stable and radiogenic isotopes which have allowed a more complementary knowledge of the groundwater circulation, provenance and water-rock interactions. All the actions occurred in the framework of the European project HYDROKARST.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 357: Space–Time Analysis of Vehicle Theft Patterns in Shanghai, China ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7090357 Authors: Yuanyuan Mao Shenzhi Dai Jiajun Ding Wei Zhu Can Wang Xinyue Ye To identify and compare the space–time patterns of vehicle thefts and the effects of associated environmental factors, this paper conducts a case study of the Pudong New Area (PNA), a major urban district in Shanghai, China’s largest city. Geographic information system (GIS)-based analysis indicated that there was a stable pattern of vehicle theft over time. Hotspots of vehicle theft across different time periods were identified. These data provide clues for how law enforcement can prioritize the deployment of limited patrol and investigative resources. Vehicle thefts, especially those of non-motor vehicles, tend to be concentrated in the central-western portion of the PNA, which experienced a dramatic rate of urbanization and has a high concentration of people and vehicles. Important factors contributing to vehicle thefts include a highly mobile and transitory population, a large population density, and high traffic volume.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 354: On the Risk Assessment of Terrorist Attacks Coupled with Multi-Source Factors ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7090354 Authors: Xun Zhang Min Jin Jingying Fu Mengmeng Hao Chongchong Yu Xiaolan Xie Terrorism has wreaked havoc on today’s society and people. The discovery of the regularity of terrorist attacks is of great significance to the global counterterrorism strategy. In this study, we improve the traditional location recommendation algorithm coupled with multi-source factors and spatial characteristics. We used the data of terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia from 1970 to 2016, and comprehensively considered 17 influencing factors, including socioeconomic and natural resource factors. The improved recommendation algorithm is used to build a spatial risk assessment model of terrorist attacks, and the effectiveness is tested. The model trained in this study is tested with precision, recall, and F-Measure. The results show that, when the threshold is 0.4, the precision is as high as 88%, and the F-Measure is the highest. We assess the spatial risk of the terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia through experiments. It can be seen that the southernmost part of the Indochina peninsula and the Philippines are high-risk areas and that the medium-risk and high-risk areas are mainly distributed in the coastal areas. Therefore, future anti-terrorism measures should pay more attention to these areas.

Description: IJGI, Vol. 7, Pages 353: Novel Method for Virtual Restoration of Cultural Relics with Complex Geometric Structure Based on Multiscale Spatial Geometry ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information doi: 10.3390/ijgi7090353 Authors: Miaole Hou Su Yang Yungang Hu Yuhua Wu Lili Jiang Sizhong Zhao Putong Wei Because of the age of relics and the lack of historical data, the geometric forms of missing parts can only be judged by the subjective experience of repair personnel, which leads to varying restoration effects when the geometric structure of the complex relic is reconstructed. Therefore, virtual repair effects cannot fully reflect the historical appearance of cultural relics. In order to solve this problem, this paper presents a virtual restoration method based on the multiscale spatial geometric features of cultural relics in the case of complex construction where the geometric shape of the damaged area is unknown, using the Dazu Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva statue in China as an example. In this study, the global geometric features of the three-dimensional (3D) model are analyzed in space to determine the geometric shape of the damaged parts of cultural relics. The local geometric features are represented by skeleton lines based on regression analysis, and a geometric size prediction model of the defective parts is established, which is used to calculate the geometric dimensions of the missing parts. Finally, 3D surface reconstruction technology is used to quantitate virtual restoration of the defective parts. This method not only provides a new idea for the virtual restoration of artifacts with complex geometric structure, but also may play a vital role in the protection of cultural relics.

Description: Minerals, Vol. 8, Pages 372: Geometallurgical Flowsheet as a Tool for Designing and Communicating Geometallurgical Programs Minerals doi: 10.3390/min8090372 Authors: Aleksandra Maria Lang Steinar Løve Ellefmo Kurt Aasly This paper introduces the concept of using a geometallurgical flowsheet as a tool to design, visualize and communicate a geometallurgical program. The development of the concept is carried out using a case study of an industrial mineral mining operation. A modified Integration Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF0) technique is proposed as a methodology to develop the geometallurgical flowsheet. The geometallurgical program is defined as a summary of the operations necessary to develop and validate the geometallurgical model. The geometallurgical model is defined as the function that links georeferenced in-situ geological characteristics and a georeferenced measure of performance in a processing plant. The geometallurgical flowsheet in this study is developed both as a general concept as well as a case-specific illustration based on the example of the Verdalskalk AS industrial mineral operation.

Description: Atmosphere, Vol. 9, Pages 339: Dynamic Ensemble Analysis of Frontal Placement Impacts in the Presence of Elevated Thunderstorms during PRECIP Events Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos9090339 Authors: Joshua Kastman Patrick Market Neil Fox The Program for Research on Elevated Convection with Intense Precipitation (PRECIP) field campaign sampled 10 cases of elevated convection during 2014 and 2015. These intense observing periods (IOP) mostly featured well-defined stationary or warm frontal zones, over whose inversion elevated convection would form. However, not all frontal zones translated as expected, with some poleward motions being arrested and even returning equatorward. Prior analyses of the observed data highlighted the downdrafts in these events, especially diagnostics for their behavior: the downdraft convective available potential energy (DCAPE) and the downdraft convective inhibition (DCIN). With the current study, the DCAPE and DCIN are examined for four cases: two where frontal motion proceeded poleward, as expected, and two where the frontal motions were slowed significantly or stalled altogether. Using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, a multi-model ensemble was created for each of the four cases, and the best performing members were selected for additional deterministic examination. Analyses of frontal motions and surface cold pools are explored in the context of DCAPE and DCIN. These analyses further establish the DCAPE and DCIN, not only as a means to classify elevated convection, but also to aid in explaining frontal motions in the presence of elevated convection.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 325: A Quantitative Comparison of Exoplanet Catalogs Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090325 Authors: Dolev Bashi Ravit Helled Shay Zucker In this study, we investigated the differences between four commonly-used exoplanet catalogs (exoplanet.eu; exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu; openexoplanetcatalogue.com; exoplanets.org) using a Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) test. We found a relatively good agreement in terms of the planetary parameters (mass, radius, period) and stellar properties (mass, temperature, metallicity), although a more careful analysis of the overlap and unique parts of each catalog revealed some differences. We quantified the statistical impact of these differences and their potential cause. We concluded that although statistical studies are unlikely to be significantly affected by the choice of catalog, it would be desirable to have one consistent catalog accepted by the general exoplanet community as a base for exoplanet statistics and comparison with theoretical predictions.

Description: Geosciences, Vol. 8, Pages 322: Review of Potential Risk Factors of Cultural Heritage Sites and Initial Modelling for Adaptation to Climate Change Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences8090322 Authors: Paul Carroll Eeva Aarrevaara There are a range of local weather- and climate-related factors that contribute to the degradation of cultural heritage buildings, structures, and sites over time. Some of these factors are influenced by changes in climate and some of these changes manifest themselves through a speeding up of the rate of degradation. It is the intention of this paper to review this situation with special reference to the Nordic Countries, where typical trends resulting from climate change are shorter winters and increased precipitation all year round. An attempt is made to initially draw up a classification of materials and structures relevant to cultural heritage that are affected, with a proposed numeric scale for the urgency to act. The intention is to provide information on where best to concentrate cultural heritage site preservation resources in the future.