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Digital image processing analysis was carried out on As in topsoils of the Campania Region (Italy) to recognise any unknown spatial patterns. The highest As concentration is related to topsoils developed on the NW-SE-trending carbonate massifs overlain by pyroclastic rocks where the highest spatial variability and gradient magnitude of As concentration and the highest fault density were also observed. High As concentrations were also found in topsoils over volcanic rocks which played a control on its distribution pattern. The low As values are associated with topsoils along large fluvial valleys where the activity of rivers disturbed the As pattern by transporting larger grain-sized stream sediments with low As concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radon and thoron isotopes are responsible for approximately half of the average annual effective dose to humans. Although the half-life of thoron is short, it can potentially enter indoor air from adobe walls. Adobe was a traditional construction material in the Great Hungarian Plain. Its major raw materials are the alluvial sediments of the area. Here, seasonal radon and thoron activity concentrations were measured in 53 adobe dwellings in 7 settlements by pairs of etched track detectors. The results show that the annual average radon and thoron activity concentrations are elevated in these dwellings and that the proportions with values higher than 300 Bq m−3are 14–17 and 29–32% for radon and thoron, respectively. The calculated radon inhalation dose is significantly higher than the world average value, exceeding 10 mSv y−1in 7% of the dwellings of this study. Thoron also can be a significant contributor to the inhalation dose with about 30% in the total inhalation dose. The changes of weather conditions seem to be more relevant in the variation of measurement results than the differences in the local sedimentary geology. Still, the highest values were detected on clay. Through the year, radon follows the average temperature changes and is affected by the ventilation, whereas thoron rather seems to follow the amount of precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a smoothing method that eliminates valleys of various Strahler-order drainage lines from a digital elevation model (DEM), thus enabling the recovery of local and regional trends in a terrain. A novel method for automated extraction of high-density channel network is developed to identify ridgelines defined as the watershed boundaries of channel segments. A DEM using TIN interpolation is calculated based on elevations of digitally extracted ridgelines. This removes first-order watersheds from the DEM. Higher levels of DEM smoothing can be achieved by the application of the method to ridgelines of higher-order channels. The advantage of the proposed smoothing method over traditional smoothing methods of moving kernel, trend and spectral methods is that it does not require pre-definition of smoothing parameters, such as kernel or trend parameters, and thus it follows topography in an adaptive way. Another advantage is that smoothing is controlled by the physical-hydrological properties of the terrain, as opposed to mathematical filters. Level of smoothing depends on ridgeline geometry and density, and the applied user-defined channel order. The method requires digital extraction of a high-density channel and ridgeline network. The advantage of the smoothing method over traditional methods is demonstrated through a case study of the Kali Basin test site in Hungary. The smoothing method is used in this study for aspect generalisation for morphotectonic investigations in a small watershed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]