BACKGROUND: On 11 November 1994, 26 preadolescent girls, 2 adult supervisors and 7 dogs were sleeping in a tent in rural South Africa when the tent was struck by lightning. Four of the girls and 4 of the dogs were killed. The 2 adults were unharmed, but all but 3 of the children suffered significant injuries. An article in 2002 detailed the event and examined the medical and psychological changes in the surviving girls. OBJECTIVE: To understand the medical and psychological changes secondary to lightning strike years after injury. METHODS: An online questionnaire was prepared that included a checklist of physical and psychological symptoms. Participants were asked to report on both initial and current symptoms. Eleven of the 22 survivors were contacted, and 10 completed the survey. RESULTS: Participants reported that initial physical symptoms generally resolved over time, with ~10 - 20% continuing to experience physical symptoms. Vision problems persisted in 50% of respondents. Psychological symptoms, overall, had a later onset and were more likely to be chronic or currently experienced. Depression and anxiety, specifically, were higher among the survivors than the reported incidence in South Africa. CONCLUSIONS: Initial and current/chronic physical and psychological symptoms following lightning strike are reported, adding to the body of literature on the long-term after-effects of lightning strike on survivors. A brief discussion on post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology and post-lightning shock syndrome is provided.

SYNOPSIS Mineral exploration programmes around the world use data from remote sensing, geophysics, and direct sampling. On a regional scale, the combination of airborne geophysics and ground-based geochemical sampling can aid geological mapping and mineral exploration. Since airborne geophysical and traditional soil-sampling data are generated at different spatial resolutions, they are not immediately comparable due to their different sampling density. Several geostatistical techniques, including indicator cokriging and collocated cokriging, can be used to integrate different types of data into a geostatistical model. However, with increasing numbers of variables the inference of the cross-covariance model required for cokriging can be demanding in terms of effort and computational time. In this paper a Gaussian-based Bayesian updating approach is applied to integrate airborne radiometric data and ground-sampled geochemical soil data to maximize information generated from the soil survey, enabling more accurate geological interpretation for the exploration and development of natural resources. The Bayesian updating technique decomposes the collocated estimate into two models: prior and likelihood models. The prior model is built from primary information and the likelihood model is built from secondary information. The prior model is then updated with the likelihood model to build the final model. The approach allows multiple secondary variables to be simultaneously integrated into the mapping of the primary variable. The Bayesian updating approach is demonstrated using a case study from Northern Ireland. The geostatistical technique was used to improve the resolution of soil geochemistry, at a density of one sample per 2 km², by integrating more closely measured airborne geophysical data from the GSNI Tellus Survey, measured over a footprint of 65 x 200 m. The directly measured geochemistry data were considered as primary data and the airborne radiometric data were used as secondary data. The approach produced more detailed updated maps and in particular enhanced information on the mapped distributions of zinc, copper, and lead. The enhanced delineation of an elongated northwest/southeast trending zone in the updated maps strengthened the potential for discovering stratabound base metal deposits..

Numa superfície de cimeira regional, constituída de topos aplainados descontínuos e localizada no município de Piracicaba (SP), dentro da Depressão Periférica Paulista, um Latossolo Vermelho-Amarelo distrófico típico textura média álico transaciona abruptamente para um Nitossolo Vermelho eutroférrico latossólico, com presença de dois níveis de linhas de pedras. Por meio de estudos estratigráficos, mineralógicos e cartográficos, procurou-se entender esta transição, assim como a distribuição dos solos nessa superfície, correlacionando-os com os diferentes materiais de origem e com o modelo morfoclimático de evolução da paisagem no Brasil Sudeste. Constatou-se que o Latossolo Vermelho-Amarelo distrófico típico textura média álico é derivado de um depósito Cenozóico arenoso (Q), que, por sua vez, está assentado, em discordância erosiva regional, sobre um depósito pelítico da formação Irati (Pi). Esta seqüência é interrompida, em direção ao rio Piracicaba a oeste, por um sill de diabásio recoberto por um material vermelho e argiloso que dá origem ao Nitossolo Vermelho eutroférrico latossólico. Dois eventos deposicionais pós-permianos foram identificados pela presença de duas linhas de pedras e de descontinuidades estratigráficas. O primeiro evento corresponde à deposição do sedimento arenoso na forma de alvéolos escalonados em soleiras regionais, a maioria destas, formadas por diques e sills de diabásio, durante uma longa fase mais seca. Um segundo evento depositou o material argiloso vermelho, provavelmente após uma incisão, durante uma fase úmida, do pediplano formado anteriormente, seguido por outro processo de pedimentação durante um período seco posterior.

On a regional summit surface in the county of Piracicaba (SP) within the Peripheric Depression of São Paulo, formed of discontinued flattened tops, there is an abrupt transition between a Typic Hapludox and a Kandiudalfic Eutrudox, together with two stoneline layers. Using stratigraphical, mineralogical, and cartographic studies, this transition and the soil distribution of this surface were studied, correlating them with the different parent materials and the morphoclimatic model of landscape evolution in Southeastern Brazil. The Typic Hapludox was formed on a sandy Cenozoic deposit (Q) that overlies a pellitic deposit of the Iratí formation (Pi), representing a regional erosive discordance. Westwards to the Piracicaba River, this sequence is interrupted by a diabase sill overlain by a red clayey material which gave origin to the Kandiudalfic Eutrudox. Two post-Permian depositional events were identified by the two stonelines and stratigraphical discontinuities. The first event generated the deposition of a sandy sediment in the form of levelled alveoluses on regional barriers, most of these formed by dikes and diabase sills, probably during a drier phase. The second depositional event, leading to the deposition of the red clay was probably the dissection of the previously formed pediplane during a humid climate, followed by another pedimentation process during a later, drier period.

O trabalho abordou a formação de solos com horizonte B textural e teve por objetivo identificar os processos pedogenéticos envolvidos na formação de lamelas, do gradiente textural abrupto, assim como suas implicações sobre os atributos físicos, químicos e mineralógicos do solo. O estudo foi desenvolvido numa toposseqüência de solos derivados de arenito: o perfil (P1), ocorrendo na parte alta do relevo (topo); perfil (P2), na faixa intermediária (terço médio da encosta), e perfil (P3), no terço inferior da encosta. As análises realizadas foram: granulométrica, química, mineralógica e micromorfológica. Os perfis apresentaram seqüência de horizontes do tipo A-E-Bt, tendo sido classificados como Alissolos Crômicos. Os solos foram classificados como quimicamente ácidos, com mineralogia da fração argila mostrando predomínio de caulinita. Os materiais analisados evidenciaram uniformidade quanto à granulometria, diâmetro médio, arredondamento e relação zircão/turmalina das areias, assim como no aspecto morfológico, apontando para formação autóctone do solo. Os processos pedogenéticos responsáveis pela formação do gradiente textural foram a degradação das argilas em condições de oxirredução e a lessivagem. O primeiro processo foi constatado em microdomínios no contato E/Bt, onde se notaram cores de gleização, indicando encharcamento temporário. Neste caso, a formação do horizonte álbico deveu-se principalmente à destruição do topo do horizonte Bt. As lamelas nada mais seriam do que heranças do horizonte Bt no horizonte álbico. A presença de cerosidade, associada aos cutãs de iluviação no exame micromorfológico, revelou a participação do processo de lessivagem contribuindo para a diferenciação textural.

The formation of soils with argillic horizons was investigated to identify the pedological processes involved in the formation of lamellae and the abrupt textural gradient as well as their implication on the soil physical, chemical and mineralogical attributes. This study was carried out on a sandstone-derived soil toposequence, with profile (P1) occupying the higher part of the landscape (summit), profile (P2) on the backslope, and profile (P3) on the footslope. Soil chemical, mineralogical, micromorphological and particle size distribution analyses were performed. The profiles presented an A-E-Bt horizon sequence, being classified as Hapludults. The soils were acid, with clay mineralogy dominated by kaolinite. The analyzed materials evidenced uniformity in relation to particle size distribution, average diameter, roundness and sand fraction zircon/turmaline relation, as well as uniform morphological aspects, showing the autochthonous origin of these soils. The pedogenetic processes responsible for the abrupt textural gradient are clay degradation under oxi-reduction conditions and lessivage. The first process is evidenced by micro-domains at the E/Bt contact, where gleization colors can be seen, indicating temporary water saturation conditions. In this case, the formation of the albic horizon is due to the destruction of the top of the Bt horizon. The lamellae would be an inheritance of the Bt horizon in the albic horizon. The presence of illuvial clayskins, associated to argillans observed in the micromorphological studies, suggested a contribuion of the lessivage process to textural gradient formation.

Estudou-se uma seqüência de solos (Latossolo Vermelho-Escuro álico textura muito argilosa → Podzólico Vermelho-Escuro distrófico textura argilosa/muito argilosa → Podzólico Vermelho-Amarelo eutrófico abrupto textura média/argilosa), situados na borda de um platô, que representa a superfície mais antiga e dominante da paisagem regional e de boa parte do médio/baixo Vale do rio Piracicaba, em Piracicaba (SP). Foram amostrados e descritos morfologicamente sete perfis de solos em trincheiras nos diferentes segmentos da vertente (topo, ombro, meia encosta e sopé). A configuração lateral dos horizontes foi observada por meio de tradagens. Análises mineralógicas, químicas e granulométricas foram feitas em amostras selecionadas dos horizontes. Nas amostras indeformadas dos horizontes e das transições entre estes, foram feitas a descrição e a análise micromorfológica para apoiar a interpretação da pedogênese. Os Latossolos muito argilosos do topo plano foram interpretados como formados a partir de um sedimento argiloso neocenozóico que recobriu o platô, e os Podzólicos como resultantes de transformação pedológica lateral dos Latossolos com contribuição de siltitos da formação Tatuí (Ptt). A gênese dos microagregados dos Latossolos do topo é complexa, mas dois processos ficaram mais evidentes: o da microestruturação geoquímica e o da zoogenética. A transição lateral Bw-Bt foi atribuída ao adensamento em subsuperfície do manto latossólico, em conseqüência do rebaixamento e convexização da superfície topográfica original durante o Quaternário e da influência crescente para jusante da ação mecânica do fluxo lateral de água. Posteriormente, mecanismos de argiluviação e de degradação de argilas por hidromorfismo temporário no topo do Bt completam a transformação do Bw em Bt e deste em E, respectivamente.

A soil sequence (Oxisol → Ultisol → Alfisol) was studied on the border of a plateau, which is the oldest regional surface near the Piracicaba river valley (southeastern Brazil). Seven pits were identified, sampled and morphologically described under the different segments of the sequence (end of summit, shoulder, backslope and footslope). A bi-dimensional sketch of the soil horizons was drawn. Undeformed soil samples were taken for micromorphological studies, and mineralogical, chemical and granulometric analyses were performed. The very clayey Oxisols of the flat summit are developed on a neo-cenozoic cover and the Ultisols resulted from a lateral pedologic Latosol transformation gradually receiving at the end of the backslope a contribution from fresh siltites (Tatuí formation, Permian). The genesis of the top Oxisol microaggregates is complex, but two processes became evident: the geochemical microstructure ant the zoogenetics. The Bw → Bt transition was attributed to the subsurface densification of the microaggregates due to the levelling and convexity of the original surface and to the lateral water flow's growing influence downstream. Further mechanisms of argilluviation and clay destruction of the Bt horizon top by temporary hydromorphism will complete the transformation of Bw into Bt and of the latter into E, respectively.