Are all maps mental maps?

The article focuses on the way in which map content reflects the cartographer's World view and system of values. Different World views are illustrated historically. Examples of topographical, land-use and vegetation maps from different parts of the World indicate the prevalence of Eurocentric perceptions in cartography. Different geological maps of Norden show how the visual image depends on the classification system adopted. All maps are mental maps in that their content is culturally determined and ethnocentric in origin.     

Paleomagnetic constraints on Zn–Pb ore genesis of the Pillara Mine, Lennard Shelf, Western Australia

The Pillara Zn–Pb deposit is the largest of several known Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits in the Lennard Shelf of the Canning Basin. Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic measurements are reported for 294 specimens from 23 sites in mineralization and its carbonate host rocks from the deposit as well as on 15 artificial specimens of zinc and lead concentrate and of tailings. Pyrrhotite carries the characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) in nearly all specimens. The ChRM postdates most faulting as shown by breccia tests and most minor regional tilting as shown by the degraded fit on tilt correction. The mean ChRM direction for all sites is D=20.6°, I=–27.5° (N=23, ₉₅=5.3°, k=34.1), yielding an age of 358±5 Ma (2) that is similar to the comparable age of 354±8 Ma (2) for the Kapok MVT deposit. Host rock diagenesis with attendant secondary remagnetization yields an age of 361±5 Ma (1) and the MVT mineralization with a primary chemical remanent magnetization gives an age of 356±3 Ma (1), co-eval with a published Rb–Sr sphalerite age of 357±3 Ma. Interpretation of this temporal data suggests that the MVT deposits of the southeastern Lennard Shelf originated during extension, probably in response to rift-related topography-driven fluid flow.Editorial handling: C. Brauhart     

Limnic Responses to Increased Effective Humidity during the 8200 cal. yr BP Cooling Event in Southern Sweden

Highly resolved sediment stratigraphic and stable isotope records from a lake in south-central Sweden give evidence of relatively humid summers during the wide-spread cold event at c. 8200 cal. BP. A transient lake-level rise led to increased catchment erosion followed by enhanced phytoplankton production and disturbance of the Chara-dominated algal community. An associated increase in the deposition of organic material resulted in hypolimnetic oxygen deficit and methane formation as inferred from elevated sulphur content of the sediments and strong depletion in ¹³C of bulk organic material. In combination with dry and cold winter conditions as revealed by other proxy records, these data suggest the development of a strongly seasonal climate in northwestern Europe in response to altered atmospheric circulation at this stage. Enhanced zonal circulation with frequent cyclonic activity and increased effective humidity probably characterized the summer climate of southern and central Scandinavia, consistent with conditions inferred for continental Europe. In contrast, the winter climate was dominated by blocking high-pressure circulation, giving rise to cold and dry conditions.     

On D-C electrical conductivity in a partially ionized solar magnetoplasma

A numerical application to the extreme cases of high and low degree of ionization of the binary collision theory of Burgers (1960) and the multiple collision theory of Shkarofsky (1960) shows very good agreement in the values of the magnetic tensor components for solar electrical conductivity. It is pointed out that the inclusion of ion motions in Burgers theory favors its use in the future evaluation of the solar thermal conductivity tensor.The research reported in this paper was sponsored by the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, AFSC, under Contract F19628-70-C-0192-P00001, but the report does not necessarily reflect endorsement by the sponsor.     

Challenges in global ballast water management

Ballast water management is a complex issue raising the challenge of merging international regulations, ship's specific configurations along with ecological conservation. This complexity is illustrated in this paper by considering ballast water volume, discharge frequency, ship safety and operational issues aligned with regional characteristics to address ecological risk for selected routes. A re-estimation of ballast water volumes gives a global annual level of 3500 Mton. Global ballast water volume discharged into open sea originating from ballast water exchange operations is estimated to approximately 2800 Mton. Risk based decision support systems coupled to databases for different ports and invasive species characteristics and distributions can allow for differentiated treatment levels while maintaining low risk levels. On certain routes, the risk is estimated to be unacceptable and some kind of ballast water treatment or management should be applied.     

The Late Miocene climate response to a modern Sahara desert

The climate cooling and vegetation changes in the Miocene/Pliocene are generally well documented by various proxy data. Some important ecosystem changes occurred at that time. Palaeobotanical evidence suggests that the Sahara desert first appeared in the Pliocene, whereas in the Miocene North Africa was green. In the present study, we investigate the Late Miocene climate response to the appearance of the Sahara desert from a climate modelling sensitivity experiment. We compare a model experiment, which includes a full set of Late Miocene boundary conditions, with another one using the same boundary conditions except that the North African vegetation refers to the present-day situation. Our sensitivity study demonstrates that the introduction of the Sahara desert leads to a cooling and an aridification in Africa. In addition, we observe teleconnection patterns related to the North African desertification at around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. From our sensitivity experiment, we observe that the Sahara contributes to a cooling in Central Asia and in North America. As compared to hypsodonty data for Central Asia, an increased aridity is underestimated in the Sahara experiment. Finally, we observe that the introduction of the Sahara leads to a cooling in the northern high latitudes. Hence, our sensitivity experiment indicates that the appearance of the Sahara desert is one piece to better understand Late Cenozoic climate cooling being most pronounced in the high latitudes.     

Subarctic catchment water storage and carbon cycling – Leading the way for future studies using integrated datasets at Pallas,Finland

Subarctic ecohydrological processes are changing rapidly, but detailed and integrated ecohydrological investigations are not as widespread as necessary. We introduce an integrated research catchment site (Pallas) for atmosphere, ecosystems, and ecohydrology studies in subarctic conditions in Finland that can be used for a new set of comparative catchment investigations. The Pallas site provides unique observational data and high-intensity field measurement datasets over long periods. The infrastructure for atmosphere- to landscape-scale research in ecosystem processes in a subarctic landscape has recently been complemented with detailed ecohydrological measurements. We identify three dominant processes in subarctic ecohydrology: (a) strong seasonality drives ecohydrological regimes, (b) limited dynamic storage causes rapid stream response to water inputs (snowmelt and intensive storms), and (c) hydrological state of the system regulates catchment-scale dissolved carbon dynamics and greenhouse (GHG) fluxes. Surface water and groundwater interactions play an important role in regulating catchment-scale carbon balances and ecosystem respiration within subarctic peatlands, particularly their spatial variability in the landscape. Based on our observations from Pallas, we highlight key research gaps in subarctic ecohydrology and propose several ways forward. We also demonstrate that the Pallas catchment meets the need for sustaining and pushing the boundaries of critical long-term integrated ecohydrological research in high-latitude environments.     

A multi‐storage groundwater concept for the SWAT model to emphasize nonlinear groundwater dynamics in lowland catchments

Hydrological models are useful tools to analyze present and future conditions of water quantity and quality. The integrated modelling of water and nutrients needs an adequate representation of the different discharge components. In common with many lowlands, groundwater contribution to the discharge in the North German lowlands is a key factor for a reasonable representation of the water balance, especially in low flow periods. Several studies revealed that the widely used Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model performs poorly for low flow periods. This paper deals with the extension of the groundwater module of the SWAT model to enhance low flow representation. The current two‐storage concept of SWAT was further developed to a three‐storage concept. This was realized due to modification of the groundwater module by splitting the active groundwater storage into a fast and a slow contributing aquifer. The results of this study show that the groundwater module with three storages leads to a good prediction of the overall discharge especially for the recession limbs and the low flow periods. The improved performance is reflected in the signature measures for the mid‐segment (percent bias ?2.4% vs ?15.9%) and the low segment (percent bias 14.8% vs 46.8%) of the flow duration curve. The three‐storage groundwater module is more process oriented than the original version due to the introduction of a fast and a slow groundwater flow component. The three‐storage version includes a modular approach, because groundwater storages can be activated or deactivated independently for subbasin and hydrological response unit level. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparing the Validity and Reliability of Place Attachment Across Cultures

Researchers often measure human–place bonds via place attachment scales across a variety of settings. However, scale use does not always include an evaluation of the scales’ psychometric properties, especially in multisite studies. Failure to consider a place attachment scale’s measurement properties makes both validity and reliability assumptions and may lead to improper data interpretation. Hence, this investigation assessed a place attachment scale across three sites via data collected on site in natural resource protected areas in Colorado, Minnesota, and Germany. A series of confirmatory factor analyses assessed the hypothesized two-dimensional (i.e., place identity and place dependence) model, Cronbach’s alphas calculated a measure of internal consistency, and a multigroup procedure cross-validated the scale. Some items did not load on the hypothesized dimension and the pattern of factor loadings was not equivalent across settings, suggesting assessment of place attachment scales may be necessary when used in new contexts.