Computer program for presentation of grain-size data by the graphic method

A computer program is described for a Hewlett-Packard desk-top Calculator (Model 9820A)-Plotter (Model 9862A) which plots a histogram, frequency polygon and/or cumulative curve, as well as standard statistical parameters and percentages of gravel, sand, silt, and clay from raw weight data from a sediment grain-size analysis. The program utilizes the graphic method for calculating statistical parameters in contrast to other commonly used computer programs derived for the method of moments. This program is advantageous because (1) it is rapid, (2) it allows direct comparison with grain-size data in the literature which have been computed by the graphic method, (3) either a complete presentation of a distribution can be obtained on one sheet of paper or a series of cumulative curves or frequency polygons can be prepared on a single graph which is ready for publication photocopying, (4) automatic extrapolation of data points from a cumulative curve eliminates inconsistencies arising from manual extrapolation, and (5) the desk-top calculator is more convenient to use, eliminates punching of data cards, and can be operated by someone without a knowledge of computers and programming. Disadvantages of the program are: (1) some authors feel critical percentiles are more accurately read off cumulative curves plotted on a probability ordinate than on an arithmetic ordinate, (2) the cumulative curve is a series of straight-line segments, (3) the frequency polygon is not as accurate a representation of grain-size distribution as a frequency curve and (4) size class intervals for the histogram and frequency polygon are standardized at 0.5φ, even though gravel and mud fractions are analysed at whole φ intervals. For most studies, the advantages of the program outweigh the disadvantages.     

The Role of Tourism in the Economic Transformation of the Central West Queensland Economy

Central West Queensland's predominantly pastoral sector experienced considerable hardship in the decade to 1996 as the consequence of drought and low commodity prices. The social and economic consequences were both large and spatially diverse. Those often remoter shires, characterised by few people and services, experienced sharp decline on both dimensions. In contrast, some of the larger and more accessible towns managed to stabilise or even increase both population and services, assisted by the development of the tourism sector. This, in turn, reflects the region's unique geographical character, features of which include strong historical associations, harsh and seasonably variable climate, vast distances, and sparse populations. Unsurprisingly, the tourist industry has been developed by small-scale local entrepreneurs, focuses on distinct market segments--especially the elderly and adventurous, and is highly seasonal.     

Palaeo-ice streaming in the central sector of the British—Irish Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum: evidence from the northern Irish Sea Basin

Late Devensian glacial sediments and landforms of the Isle of Man record the advance and deglacial signature of the central sector of the British-Irish Ice Sheet. Evidence from the area, gathered from striae, erratic trains and drift limits, show ice was routed over and around the island in two flow phases post-36 kyr BP. In the south of the island, streamlined depositional bedforms with low elongation ratios suggest low ice-flow velocities resulting from one or more of (i) the up-ice location of the island within a regional onset zone, (ii) flow retardation of ice interacting with the margins of the island and (iii) localized drainage of the deforming bed. The deglacial landform assemblage of lateral marginal sandurs and drainage diversions, coupled with a lack of dead-ice features, suggests ice did not downwaste in situ but retreated intact along the coastal margins as Manx Upland ice thinned. In the north of the island, however, the Bride Moraine complex indicates a change in deglacial ice-sheet dynamics, with temporary re-advance and marginal oscillation causing proglacial tectonism and thrusting of the glacial sediment pile, possibly during the Killard Point Stadial event (18.8-16.4 cal. kyr BP). From a basin-wide perspective, the Irish Sea Basin sector of the British-Irish Ice Sheet had many of the characteristics of an ice stream, such as a zone of flow convergence up-ice, a grounding line in the southern Celtic Sea and recessional limits characterized by proglacially tectonized and thrust dead-ice landscapes indicative of a rapidly oscillating ice margin.     

THE PEATLAND/ICE AGE HYPOTHESIS REVISED, ADDING A POSSIBLE GLACIAL PULSE TRIGGER

Carbon sequestering in peatlands is believed to be a major climate‐regulating mechanism throughout the late Phanerozoic. Since plant life first evolved on land, peatlands have been significant carbon sinks, which could explain significant parts of the large variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide observed in various records. The result is peat in different degrees of metamorphosis, i.e. lignite, hard coal and graphite. During phases of extensive glaciations such as the 330–240 Ma Pangea Ice Age, atmospheric carbon dioxide was critically low. This pattern repeats itself during the Pleistocene when carbon dioxide oscillates with an amplitude of c. 200–300 ppmv. This paper suggests that the ice age cycles during the Pleistocene are generated by the interglacial growth of peatlands and the subsequent sequestering of carbon into this terrestrial pool. The final initiation of ice age pulses towards the end of inter‐glacials, on the other hand, is attributed to the cyclic influx of cosmic dust to the Earth surface, which in turn regulates cloud formation and the incoming shortwave radiation. These shorter cycles have a frequency of c. 1000‐1250 years and might be connected to sunspot or other low frequency solar variations. In a wider context the ice age cycling could be regarded as an interplay between terrestrial life on the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere and the marine subsurface life in the southeast. If the results presented here are correct, the present global warming might just be the early part of a new warm period such as the Bronze Age and the Roman and Medieval Warm periods. This could be caused by entry into another phase of decreasing influx rates of cosmic dust. The increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide might have contributed to this warming but, most important of all, it might temporarily have saved us from a new ice age pulse.     

Petrology and Geochemistry of Intraplate Basalts in the South Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand: Evidence for Two Coeval Magma Suites from Distinct Sources

The South Auckland Volcanic Field is a Pleistocene (1·59–0·51Ma) basaltic intraplate, monogenetic field situated south ofAuckland City, North Island, New Zealand. Two groups of basaltsare distinguished based on mineralogy and geochemical compositions,but no temporal or spatial patterns exist in the distributionof various lava types forming each group within the field: GroupA basalts are silica-undersaturated transitional to quartz-tholeiiticbasalts with relatively low total alkalis (3·0–4·6wt %), Nb (7–29 ppm), and (La/Yb)_N (3·4–7·6);Group B basalts are strongly silica-undersaturated basanitesto nepheline-hawaiites with high total alkalis (3·3–7·9wt %), Nb (32–102 ppm), and (La/Yb)_N (12–47). GroupA has slightly higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, similar _Nd, and lower ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pbvalues compared with Group B. Contrasting geochemical trendsand incompatible element ratios (e.g. K/Nb, Zr/Nb, Ce/Pb) areconsistent with separate evolution of Groups A and B from dissimilarparental magmas derived from distinct sub-continental lithosphericmantle sources. Differentiation within each group was controlledby olivine and clinopyroxene fractionation. Group B magmas weregenerated by <8% melting of an ocean island basalt (OIB)-likegarnet peridotite source with high ²³⁸U/²⁰⁴Pb mantle (HIMU)and enriched mantle (EMII) characteristics possibly inheritedfrom recycled oceanic crust. Group A magmas were generated by<12% melting of a spinel peridotite source also with HIMUand EMII signatures. This source type may have resulted fromsubduction-related metasomatism of the sub-continental lithospheremodified by a HIMU plume. These events were associated withMesozoic or earlier subduction- and plume-related magmatismwhen New Zealand was at the eastern margin of the Gondwana supercontinent. KEY WORDS: continental intraplate basalts; geochemistry; HIMU, EMII; Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes; South Auckland; sub-continental lithospheric sources     

高精度光释光测年揭示的晚第四纪毛乌素和浑善达克沙地沙丘的固定与活化过程

利用光释光测年技术对毛乌素沙地和浑善达克沙地7个地点的沉积剖面进行了年代测试,结合地层特征,获得了最近60kaBP以来两个沙地沙丘固定与活化时间的年代学控制60kaBP以来毛乌素沙地的固定期分别为距今37.71ka、8.54ka、8.32ka、7.93ka、7.77ka、7.57ka、7.39ka和2.39ka以后;活化的时间分别为距今57.08ka、52.50ka、13.65ka、13.13ka、7.20ka前后、2.39ka以前和0.29ka以来。在10.97kaBP、10.04kaBP、9.81kaBP和8.67kaBP前后沙地处于气候干湿交替时期。全新世期间,浑善达克沙地在距今8.74～8.72ka、7.79ka前后,沙丘活化;5.69kaBP、4.25kaBP、2.75kaBP、1.53kaBP和0.71kaBP前后,沙丘处于相对固定阶段,0.15kaBP以来,沙丘处于半固定状态。晚第四纪气候千年至百年尺度的变化可能是两个沙地沙丘活化与固定的主导因素。     

When downhole logging turns to geochemistry

The procedure of lowering geophysical instruments down boreholes on a wire has, over the past 60 years, been a useful aid in defining the physical nature of the rock formations through which the borehole passes. Current developments, however, herald the advent of the use of such techniques for the measurement of geochemical concentrations in a quantitative way. This opens the door to a whole new series of applications in a wide range of geological disciplines.