By about 2030-2040, the Sun will experience a new grand solar minimum. This is evident from multiple studies of quite different characteristics: the phasing of sunspot cycles, the cyclic observations of North Atlantic...By about 2030-2040, the Sun will experience a new grand solar minimum. This is evident from multiple studies of quite different characteristics: the phasing of sunspot cycles, the cyclic observations of North Atlantic behaviour over the past millennium, the cyclic pattern of cosmogenic radionuclides in natural terrestrial archives, the motions of the Sun with respect to the centre of mass, the planetary spin-orbit coupling, the planetary conjunction history and the general planetary-solar-terrestrial interaction. During the previous grand solar minima—i.e. the Sporer Minimum (ca 1440-1460), the Maunder Minimum (ca 1687-1703) and the Dalton Minimum (ca 1809-1821)—the climatic conditions deteriorated into Little Ice Age periods.展开更多
We analyse the location, stability and continuity of the two tide-gauge stations in Fiji. Both stations are awkwardly placed on heavy harbour constructions resting on soft sediments susceptible to serious compaction p...We analyse the location, stability and continuity of the two tide-gauge stations in Fiji. Both stations are awkwardly placed on heavy harbour constructions resting on soft sediments susceptible to serious compaction problems. The nearby GPS stations resting on a bedrock hill offer no solution to the stability problems. The Suva tide-gauge has been moved three times, and must accordingly be analysed in segments. Even the last location covering years 1989 to 2917 provides a mixed picture of 16 years of stability, 10 years of rapid rise, and 4 years of rapid fall in relative sea level. This suggests the interaction of subsidence and cyclic changes in sea level. Any application of mean trends would produce meaningless values rather misguiding than assisting in the handling of estimation of on-going absolute sea level changes. We find this vital for the discussions of local sea level changes to be held at the UN conference on “Our Oceans, Our Future” in June in New York and at the main COP23 conference in November in Bonn.展开更多
Coastal erosion may have many different causes. Wherever we came across erosion problems on the Yasawa Islands in Fiji, they had causes other than sea level rise. We present two case studies. At one site, the beach er...Coastal erosion may have many different causes. Wherever we came across erosion problems on the Yasawa Islands in Fiji, they had causes other than sea level rise. We present two case studies. At one site, the beach erosion was caused by the construction of a stonewall diverting the currents in a gyre that hit the shore causing local beach erosion. At another site, extensive erosion caused removal and lateral re-deposition of huge quantities of sand. From the Google Earth images we can infer a date between 2005 and 2009 for this change in shore conditions. We suggest that the shallow-water sand was destabilized by the commercial harvesting of thousands of sea cucumbers (Holothuria scabra). These animals, by their sheer numbers and ecological behavior, were exerting a stabilizing influence on the shallow-water sandy deposits off the beach at Yageta Village. In both cases, the erosion was caused by human action. The coasts all along the Yasawa Islands are characterized by coastal stability. The presence of extensive rock-cut platforms and notches, as well as the occurrence of corals grown into “mini-atolls” are indicative of a stable sea level throughout the islands.展开更多
The load of the continental ice caps of the Ice Ages deformed the bedrock, and when the ice melted in postglacial time, land rose. This process is known as glacial isostasy. The deformations are compensated either reg...The load of the continental ice caps of the Ice Ages deformed the bedrock, and when the ice melted in postglacial time, land rose. This process is known as glacial isostasy. The deformations are compensated either regionally or globally. Fennoscandian data indicate a regional compensation. Global sea level data support a regional, not global, compensation. Subtracting GIA corrections from satellite altimetry records brings—for the first time—different sea level indications into harmony of a present mean global sea level rise of 0.0 to 1.0 mm/yr.展开更多
The Scandinavian Bronze Age started quite rapidly at around 1750 BC, and is marked by three simultaneous events: 1) importation of bronze from the east Mediterranean region, 2) export of amber from southeast Sweden to...The Scandinavian Bronze Age started quite rapidly at around 1750 BC, and is marked by three simultaneous events: 1) importation of bronze from the east Mediterranean region, 2) export of amber from southeast Sweden to the east Mediterranean region, and 3) the carving of pictures of big ships on bedrock and boulders in southern Scandinavia. We take this as evidence of travel and trading by people coming from the east Mediterranean region on big ships via Gibraltar and the North Sea to Scandinavia. At the same time, the Sun cult flourished in southern Sweden and Denmark, as evidenced by monuments perfectly oriented with respect to the Sun’s daily and annual motions over the sky (e.g. Ales Stones), rock carvings of solar symbols and in solar alignment, and a number of ritual objects related to the Sun Cult (e.g. The Golden Sky Dome). In this paper, we summarize and update available data, especially the data from Southern Sweden.展开更多
Observational facts from the Maldives, Goa and Bangladesh in the Indian Ocean and from Fiji and New Caledonia in the Pacific record a high sea level in the 17th century, a low sea level in the 18th century, a high sea...Observational facts from the Maldives, Goa and Bangladesh in the Indian Ocean and from Fiji and New Caledonia in the Pacific record a high sea level in the 17th century, a low sea level in the 18th century, a high sea level in the early 19th century and a stable sea level in the last 50 - 70 years. This cannot be understood in terms of glacial eustasy (or in terms of steric effects or tectonics), only in terms of rotational eustasy. The present paper gives a summary of the observational facts behind the formulation of the novel concept of rotational eustasy. It reveals a common trend of sea level changes, which is opposed to the sea level changes in the northern hemisphere, and the global climatic changes in general. Rotational eustasy offers a logical explanation.展开更多
There are many different processes generating soft-sediment deformation. This paper is confined to deformations generated by paleoseismic events in Sweden. The Paleoseismic Catalogue of Sweden includes 66 events. The ...There are many different processes generating soft-sediment deformation. This paper is confined to deformations generated by paleoseismic events in Sweden. The Paleoseismic Catalogue of Sweden includes 66 events. The structural characteristics and driving forces of liquefaction are discussed in details. “Crypto-deformations” refer to a special type of fluidization not affecting the sedimentary bedding itself, but the internal orientation of the ChRM and AMS carrying particles. Extensive turbidites are formed at some events. They constitute useful “marker-varves”. Out of the 66 paleoseismic events, 31 are dated by varves as to a single year (in one case even to the season of a year). Tsunamites are recorded from 19 of the paleoseismic events;some with wave-heights up to 15 - 20 m.展开更多
The Samoa Islands were struck by the September 2009 earthquake of Mw 8.1. We study the effect on the land level by means of GPS monitoring and on ocean level by tide-gauge records. This allows us to present a new pict...The Samoa Islands were struck by the September 2009 earthquake of Mw 8.1. We study the effect on the land level by means of GPS monitoring and on ocean level by tide-gauge records. This allows us to present a new picture of the interaction of crustal movements, gravitational adjustment and sea level changes. The land level exhibits a co-seismic uplift followed by a post-seismic crustal subsidence. The ocean level records a fall, significantly larger than the uplift and delayed by several months, followed by a significant rise, by far exceeding the crustal subsidence and delayed by several months. This indicates a significant contribution from changes in gravity (geoidal eustasy), besides relative sea level changes due to crustal movements. High amplitude, and high frequency changes in tidal range provide evidence of changes in gravity and geoidal eustasy.展开更多
The Swedish catalogue of paleoseismic events includes 64 separate events. The seismic activity was especially high, in magnitude and frequency, in the Late Glacial with peak rates of glacial isostatic uplift. At about...The Swedish catalogue of paleoseismic events includes 64 separate events. The seismic activity was especially high, in magnitude and frequency, in the Late Glacial with peak rates of glacial isostatic uplift. At about 12,400 C14-years BP (14,600 cal?yrs BP), there was a very strong event on the Swedish west coast. The magnitude was estimated at M > 8. It was linked to intensive liquefaction and a major tsunami event. In this paper we describe sedimentological structures of liquefaction, ground shaking and tsunami wave actions from the Hunnestad gravel pits, to the east of the city of Varberg on the Swedish West Coast. The liquefaction structures documented offer impressive and educational insight into the process of liquefaction at high-magnitude earthquakes.展开更多
At about 780-750 BC, a major earthquake struck southeast Sweden. At Brantetrask, the bedrock of quartzite was heavily fractured into big, flat blocks. Local people turned the site into a quarry for flat blocks to be p...At about 780-750 BC, a major earthquake struck southeast Sweden. At Brantetrask, the bedrock of quartzite was heavily fractured into big, flat blocks. Local people turned the site into a quarry for flat blocks to be placed around the Late Bronze Age graves at Brantevik, the big flat blocks of the sarcophagus, and two 5 tons monoliths transported 30 km to the SSW and erected as the bow and stern stones in the huge ship monument of Ales Stones. Rock carvings from the Bronze Age at Jarrestad became traversed by numerous fractures. Similar rock carving fracturing was observed at six other sites within a radius of 5 km from Brantetrask. In the shore cliff at Ales Stones a seismite was recorded and dated at 780-750 BC. At Glimme hallar, 4 km WSW of Brantevik, the bedrock shows signs of young tectonization. At Lillehem, 40 km to the NNW of Brantetrask, seismically disturbed beds were recorded and dated at the Late Holocene. The seismic event is concluded to have occurred around 780-750 cal.yrs BC and to have had a magnitude in the order of 6.3 to 6.8 and an intensity of about IX on the IES scale.展开更多
Nuclear power was designed to produce electric power. Each part of the chain from uranium mining to handling of the waste is linked to serious contamination risks, however. Uranium mining is generally linked to local ...Nuclear power was designed to produce electric power. Each part of the chain from uranium mining to handling of the waste is linked to serious contamination risks, however. Uranium mining is generally linked to local to regional contamination. The fuel production also produces depleted uranium at a ratio of 1:7. The reactors are operating under danger of accidents. Numerous minor accidents and endless temporary shut-downs are occasionally mixed with disastrous accidents. The Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) accidents are notorious. The radioactive contamination from those accidents is still incomprehensible and will keep serious destructions of the environment for centuries to come. The handling of the high-level nuclear waste remains unsolved. Methods proposed in Sweden, Finland and France seem likely to lead to disastrous radioactive contaminations in the future. The only way out of this dilemma seems to be a disposal where the waste, though effectively sealed-off in the bedrock, remains accessible and controllable. At present, the “cost & benefit” balance seems strongly tilted over to the “far too costly side”, however.展开更多
We report a novel finding that Stonehenge in England and Ales Stones in Sweden were built with the same basic geometry and using the megalithic yard as standard of measure. This opens quite new perspectives into cultu...We report a novel finding that Stonehenge in England and Ales Stones in Sweden were built with the same basic geometry and using the megalithic yard as standard of measure. This opens quite new perspectives into cultural influence, travel and trading in the Bronze Age.展开更多
文摘By about 2030-2040, the Sun will experience a new grand solar minimum. This is evident from multiple studies of quite different characteristics: the phasing of sunspot cycles, the cyclic observations of North Atlantic behaviour over the past millennium, the cyclic pattern of cosmogenic radionuclides in natural terrestrial archives, the motions of the Sun with respect to the centre of mass, the planetary spin-orbit coupling, the planetary conjunction history and the general planetary-solar-terrestrial interaction. During the previous grand solar minima—i.e. the Sporer Minimum (ca 1440-1460), the Maunder Minimum (ca 1687-1703) and the Dalton Minimum (ca 1809-1821)—the climatic conditions deteriorated into Little Ice Age periods.
基金supported by a kind grant from the CO_(2) Coalition
文摘We analyse the location, stability and continuity of the two tide-gauge stations in Fiji. Both stations are awkwardly placed on heavy harbour constructions resting on soft sediments susceptible to serious compaction problems. The nearby GPS stations resting on a bedrock hill offer no solution to the stability problems. The Suva tide-gauge has been moved three times, and must accordingly be analysed in segments. Even the last location covering years 1989 to 2917 provides a mixed picture of 16 years of stability, 10 years of rapid rise, and 4 years of rapid fall in relative sea level. This suggests the interaction of subsidence and cyclic changes in sea level. Any application of mean trends would produce meaningless values rather misguiding than assisting in the handling of estimation of on-going absolute sea level changes. We find this vital for the discussions of local sea level changes to be held at the UN conference on “Our Oceans, Our Future” in June in New York and at the main COP23 conference in November in Bonn.
基金supported by a kind grant from the CO_(2) Coalition.
文摘Coastal erosion may have many different causes. Wherever we came across erosion problems on the Yasawa Islands in Fiji, they had causes other than sea level rise. We present two case studies. At one site, the beach erosion was caused by the construction of a stonewall diverting the currents in a gyre that hit the shore causing local beach erosion. At another site, extensive erosion caused removal and lateral re-deposition of huge quantities of sand. From the Google Earth images we can infer a date between 2005 and 2009 for this change in shore conditions. We suggest that the shallow-water sand was destabilized by the commercial harvesting of thousands of sea cucumbers (Holothuria scabra). These animals, by their sheer numbers and ecological behavior, were exerting a stabilizing influence on the shallow-water sandy deposits off the beach at Yageta Village. In both cases, the erosion was caused by human action. The coasts all along the Yasawa Islands are characterized by coastal stability. The presence of extensive rock-cut platforms and notches, as well as the occurrence of corals grown into “mini-atolls” are indicative of a stable sea level throughout the islands.
文摘The load of the continental ice caps of the Ice Ages deformed the bedrock, and when the ice melted in postglacial time, land rose. This process is known as glacial isostasy. The deformations are compensated either regionally or globally. Fennoscandian data indicate a regional compensation. Global sea level data support a regional, not global, compensation. Subtracting GIA corrections from satellite altimetry records brings—for the first time—different sea level indications into harmony of a present mean global sea level rise of 0.0 to 1.0 mm/yr.
文摘The Scandinavian Bronze Age started quite rapidly at around 1750 BC, and is marked by three simultaneous events: 1) importation of bronze from the east Mediterranean region, 2) export of amber from southeast Sweden to the east Mediterranean region, and 3) the carving of pictures of big ships on bedrock and boulders in southern Scandinavia. We take this as evidence of travel and trading by people coming from the east Mediterranean region on big ships via Gibraltar and the North Sea to Scandinavia. At the same time, the Sun cult flourished in southern Sweden and Denmark, as evidenced by monuments perfectly oriented with respect to the Sun’s daily and annual motions over the sky (e.g. Ales Stones), rock carvings of solar symbols and in solar alignment, and a number of ritual objects related to the Sun Cult (e.g. The Golden Sky Dome). In this paper, we summarize and update available data, especially the data from Southern Sweden.
文摘Observational facts from the Maldives, Goa and Bangladesh in the Indian Ocean and from Fiji and New Caledonia in the Pacific record a high sea level in the 17th century, a low sea level in the 18th century, a high sea level in the early 19th century and a stable sea level in the last 50 - 70 years. This cannot be understood in terms of glacial eustasy (or in terms of steric effects or tectonics), only in terms of rotational eustasy. The present paper gives a summary of the observational facts behind the formulation of the novel concept of rotational eustasy. It reveals a common trend of sea level changes, which is opposed to the sea level changes in the northern hemisphere, and the global climatic changes in general. Rotational eustasy offers a logical explanation.
文摘There are many different processes generating soft-sediment deformation. This paper is confined to deformations generated by paleoseismic events in Sweden. The Paleoseismic Catalogue of Sweden includes 66 events. The structural characteristics and driving forces of liquefaction are discussed in details. “Crypto-deformations” refer to a special type of fluidization not affecting the sedimentary bedding itself, but the internal orientation of the ChRM and AMS carrying particles. Extensive turbidites are formed at some events. They constitute useful “marker-varves”. Out of the 66 paleoseismic events, 31 are dated by varves as to a single year (in one case even to the season of a year). Tsunamites are recorded from 19 of the paleoseismic events;some with wave-heights up to 15 - 20 m.
文摘The Samoa Islands were struck by the September 2009 earthquake of Mw 8.1. We study the effect on the land level by means of GPS monitoring and on ocean level by tide-gauge records. This allows us to present a new picture of the interaction of crustal movements, gravitational adjustment and sea level changes. The land level exhibits a co-seismic uplift followed by a post-seismic crustal subsidence. The ocean level records a fall, significantly larger than the uplift and delayed by several months, followed by a significant rise, by far exceeding the crustal subsidence and delayed by several months. This indicates a significant contribution from changes in gravity (geoidal eustasy), besides relative sea level changes due to crustal movements. High amplitude, and high frequency changes in tidal range provide evidence of changes in gravity and geoidal eustasy.
文摘The Swedish catalogue of paleoseismic events includes 64 separate events. The seismic activity was especially high, in magnitude and frequency, in the Late Glacial with peak rates of glacial isostatic uplift. At about 12,400 C14-years BP (14,600 cal?yrs BP), there was a very strong event on the Swedish west coast. The magnitude was estimated at M > 8. It was linked to intensive liquefaction and a major tsunami event. In this paper we describe sedimentological structures of liquefaction, ground shaking and tsunami wave actions from the Hunnestad gravel pits, to the east of the city of Varberg on the Swedish West Coast. The liquefaction structures documented offer impressive and educational insight into the process of liquefaction at high-magnitude earthquakes.
文摘At about 780-750 BC, a major earthquake struck southeast Sweden. At Brantetrask, the bedrock of quartzite was heavily fractured into big, flat blocks. Local people turned the site into a quarry for flat blocks to be placed around the Late Bronze Age graves at Brantevik, the big flat blocks of the sarcophagus, and two 5 tons monoliths transported 30 km to the SSW and erected as the bow and stern stones in the huge ship monument of Ales Stones. Rock carvings from the Bronze Age at Jarrestad became traversed by numerous fractures. Similar rock carving fracturing was observed at six other sites within a radius of 5 km from Brantetrask. In the shore cliff at Ales Stones a seismite was recorded and dated at 780-750 BC. At Glimme hallar, 4 km WSW of Brantevik, the bedrock shows signs of young tectonization. At Lillehem, 40 km to the NNW of Brantetrask, seismically disturbed beds were recorded and dated at the Late Holocene. The seismic event is concluded to have occurred around 780-750 cal.yrs BC and to have had a magnitude in the order of 6.3 to 6.8 and an intensity of about IX on the IES scale.
文摘Nuclear power was designed to produce electric power. Each part of the chain from uranium mining to handling of the waste is linked to serious contamination risks, however. Uranium mining is generally linked to local to regional contamination. The fuel production also produces depleted uranium at a ratio of 1:7. The reactors are operating under danger of accidents. Numerous minor accidents and endless temporary shut-downs are occasionally mixed with disastrous accidents. The Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) accidents are notorious. The radioactive contamination from those accidents is still incomprehensible and will keep serious destructions of the environment for centuries to come. The handling of the high-level nuclear waste remains unsolved. Methods proposed in Sweden, Finland and France seem likely to lead to disastrous radioactive contaminations in the future. The only way out of this dilemma seems to be a disposal where the waste, though effectively sealed-off in the bedrock, remains accessible and controllable. At present, the “cost & benefit” balance seems strongly tilted over to the “far too costly side”, however.
文摘We report a novel finding that Stonehenge in England and Ales Stones in Sweden were built with the same basic geometry and using the megalithic yard as standard of measure. This opens quite new perspectives into cultural influence, travel and trading in the Bronze Age.
