Seismicity along the Western Eurasia- Africa plate boundary

extends from the Azores Islands to the Strait of Gibraltar. The interaction between Iberia and Africa results in a complex region located in the western part of the Eurasian-African plate boundary. This region corresponds to the transition from an oceanic boundary, to a continental boundary where Iberia and Africa collide. The change in the seismicity along the Azores-Gibraltar-Algeria Plate boundary zone confirms that the present plate movement is transtensional in the Azores, dextral along the Gloria transform and convergent between the SW Atlantic margin and the Ibero-Maghrebian zone. The convergence rate decreases west (Azores plateau) to east (Ibero-Maghrebian zone). The plate boundary is very well delimited in the oceanic part, from the Azores Islands along the Azores-Gibraltar fault to approximately 12ºW (west of the Strait of Gibraltar). From 12ºW to 3.5ºE, including the Iberia-African region and extending to the western part of Algeria, the boundary is more diffuse and forms a wider area of deformation (Buforn et al., 2004; Borges et al., 2007; Bezzeghoud et al., 2008). This is also reflected by the occurrence of historical and instrumental large earthquakes, in particular by the recent earthquakes occurred in the Azores Islands, off coast of South- Western Portugal and in Ibero-Maghrebian zone. In this study we discuss the segmentation and complexity of this plate boundary using seismicity and focal mechanisms of large earthquakes occurred in this region. Some strong earthquakes occurred in the studied area will be addressed

Azormod dynamic general equilibrium model for Azores

The main objective of this paper is to present a multi-sectoral, multi-regional dynamic modelling platform of the Azores economy integrated within the European and global context. The platform will have the highest capabilities of analysis and forecasting in Azores for problems related to structural sectoral and regional issues, agriculture, labour markets, public finance, trade, EU funds, regional development, environment, and energy. The modelling platform is intended to act as an analytical and quantitative support for policy-making.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

New or interesting records of bryophytes from the Azores

Lepidozia stuhlmannii, L. pearsonii, Atrichum tenellum, Bryum lanatum, Campylopus subulatus, Ceratodon stenocarpus, Polytrichum commune var. humile and Thuidium delicatulum are reported as new to the Azores. The record of Sphagnum pylaisii from Terceira is referred to a monoclade expression of S. denticulatum. The presence of the North American Leucobryum albidum on the Azores is confirmed and the distinguishing characters between this species and Leucobryum juniperoideum are discussed. The recently described Thamnobryum rudolphianum is reported another time from Terceira. Campylopus brevipilus and Racomitrium aquaticum are reported as new to Pico

Quality of the Azores destination in the perspective of tourists

Tourism is a growing industry in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. However, little is known about how tourists evaluate this destination, something which certainly constitutes a shortcoming if one takes into consideration that this is a very competitive industry, with new destinations appearing every year and others increasing their market share. This paper focuses on the quality of the Azores destination in the perspective of tourists and, to an extent, has the goal of contributing to reduce this shortcoming. According to our findings, 74% of the tourists interviewed consider the global quality of the Azores destination to be very good or excellent, with the landscape, the climate/weather, the hospitality, the cleanliness and the security being the most highly-rated partial indicators. Additionally, a regression analysis indicates that the evaluation of the global quality of this destination varies according to the individual characteristics of tourists.N/

Stellar evolution and modelling stars

In this chapter I give an overall description of the structure and evolution of stars of different masses, and review the main ingredients included in state-of-the-art calculations aiming at reproducing observational features. I give particular emphasis to processes where large uncertainties still exist as they have strong impact on stellar properties derived from large compilations of tracks and isochrones, and are therefore of fundamental importance in many fields of astrophysics.Comment: Lecture presented at the IVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences on "Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds" (arXiv:1709.00645), which took place in Horta, Azores Islands, Portugal in July 201

Distribution and genetic variability of Staphylinidae across a gradient of anthropogenically influenced insular landscapes

This paper describes the distribution and genetic variability of rove beetles (Coleoptera Staphylinidae) in anthropogenically influenced insular landscapes. The study was conducted in the Azores archipelago, characterized by high anthropogenic influence and landscape fragmentation. Collections were made in five islands, from eight habitats, along a gradient of anthropogenic influence. The species of Staphylinidae from the Azores collected for this study were widely distributed and showed low habitat fidelity. Rove beetle richness was associated with anthropogenic influence and habitat type, increasing from less to more anthropogenic impacted habitats. However, genetic diversity of profiled species (i.e. with three or more specimens per species/habitat) does not seem affected by anthropogenic influence in the different habitat types, isolation or landscape fragmentation. COI haplotypes were, as a rule, not exclusive to a given island or habitat. High level of genetic divergence and nucleotide saturation was found in closely related morphological designated species, demonstrating possible disparities between currently defined taxonomic units based on morphology and molecular phylogenies of Staphylinidae. This study found evidence of cryptic speciation in the Atheta fungi (Gravenhorst) species complex which had thus far remained undetected. Similar trends were found for Oligota parva Kraatz, Oxytelus sculptus Gravenhorst, Oligota pumilio Kiesenwetter. Previous studies with lower taxonomical resolution may have underestimated the biotic diversity reported in the Azores in comparison to other Macaronesian archipelagos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of the Azores high on sea level pressure and wind, and on precipitation, in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean

ENGLISH: Intensification of the Azores high pressure cell in mid-year, with concomitant air flow from the Caribbean into the Pacific, is shown to be responsible for a secondary minimum of precipitation observed along the tropical Pacific coast of the Americas, and to have a measurable effect on wind and precipitation several hundred kilometers offshore. SPANISH: La intensificación de la célula de alta presión de las Azores a mediados del año, y la corriente de aire concomitante que entra al Pacífico procedente del Caribe, se demuestra que es la causante de un mínimo secundario de precipitación observado a lo largo de la costa tropical de las Américas en el Pacífico y que tiene un efecto mensurable sobre el viento y la precipitación varios cientos de kilómetros mar afuera. (PDF contains 23 pages.

Tourism development potential in an insular territory : the case of Ribeira Grande in the Azores

The Autonomous Region of the Azores is one of the most sustainable destinations in the world. Being an archipelago comprised of nine small islands, quality and sustainability are critical features in the tourism sector, inducing the need for thorough and technical strategic development processes. Ribeira Grande is an important municipality in the Azores, which envisioned tourism as a strategic sector to develop when the partial liberalization of the air passenger transport sector occurred in 2015. However, this destination had little tourism maturity and competitiveness and required some structural planning work. The development of a strategic plan for tourism for the municipality of Ribeira Grande, including the selection of tourism products, is explained in detail in this article, which highlights the main challenges and results of the process.N/

Future challenges in cephalopod research

We thank Anto´nio M. de Frias Martins, past President of the Unitas Malacologica and Peter Marko, President of the American Malacological Society for organizing the 2013 World Congress of Malacology, and the Cephalopod International Advisory Committee for endorsing a symposium held in honour of Malcolm R. Clarke. In particular, we would like to thank the many professional staff from the University of the Azores for their hospitality, organization, troubleshooting and warm welcome to the Azores. We also thank Malcolm Clarke’s widow, Dorothy, his daughter Zoe¨, Jose´ N. Gomes-Pereira and numerous colleagues and friends of Malcolm’s from around the world for joining us at Ponta Delgada. We are grateful to Lyndsey Claro (Princeton University Press) for granting copyright permissions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mantle dynamics and volcanism emplacement in the Azores

The Azores plateau is a triangular shaped topographic feature encompassing the boundary zone where three major tectonic plates (EU, NU and NA) meet. The eastern side of the plateau is delimited by two major tectonic discontinuities: the Mid Atlantic Ridge, and the Terceira Rift, a recently formed ultra-slow-spreading ridge. The origin of the plateau is still under debate. One hypothesis argues that the plateau would have been formed by successive NE jumps of the oblique spreading axis, where the present TR is the latest stage. Other hypotheses invoke the northward jump of the Azores triple junction, during which the Azores region would have been transferred from the Eurasian plate to the Nubian plate. For some authors, the presence of the Azores plume, a low seismic velocity zone in the mantle beneath, is required to explain the observations: the anomalously shallow seafloor depth as well as the geochemistry of the basaltic lavas erupted within the plateau. Here we use a highly resolved tomography model to quantify the influence of this plume and the surrounding mantle.We model the convection pattern, the induced dynamic topography and stresses, and compare them with the surface observations. The dynamic topography shows two maxima: one northwest of St. Miguel, the other encompassing the Terceira, Graciosa, S. Jorge, Faial and Pico islands. Both swells are approximately located on the Terceira Ridge. The convection pattern displays two distinct upwelling towards these two groups of Islands. This may explain the difference in the geochemical signatures, in particular the unique isotopic ratios observed in some lavas from S. Miguel. The stresses induced by the underlying mantle convection are compared with the surface observations (topographic features, seismic and GPS velocities). The modeled and observed tresses fairly correlate west of our study area but their directions depart east