Alginite, a raw material for environmental control

Alginite, a material derived in part from ancient yellow-green algae, is an excellent natural fertilizer.     

Mollusc assemblages in palaeoecological reconstructions: an investigation of their predictive power using transfer function models

Horsák, M. 2010: Mollusc assemblages in palaeoecological reconstructions: an investigation of their predictive power using transfer function models. Boreas, Vol. 40, pp. 459–467. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00195.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Fossil mollusc assemblages are commonly used to reconstruct past environments, as their shells are abundant in various types of calcium‐rich deposits. However, it is impossible to exactly evaluate estimates derived from fossil data using directly measured factors. To assess the accuracy of environmental variables derived from mollusc species composition, two modern data sets (training and test), each consisting of 73 samples of treeless fen communities, were constructed along with known local and climatic variables. The main predictors of species composition were isolated using canonical correspondence analysis and forward selection with the Monte Carlo permutation test. The accuracy of prediction for those factors that were significant in the forward selection was studied via four commonly used transfer function models. Three independent gradients of species composition driven by calcium content, moisture and temperature were detected. The best predictions were found for variables that correlated with the main changes in species composition. The strongest correlation between the predicted and measured values of the test data set was observed for water conductivity (r=0.86), a good proxy of calcium content. The locally weighted–weighted averaging transfer function model performed best out of all the models for the majority of variables tested. Mollusc assemblages were found to be useful for estimating local environmental variables based on a given species composition. Along with the specific advantages of mollusc fossil material, there is much potential for the use of their fossil assemblages to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental variables using transfer function models calibrated from recent compositional data and directly measured factors.     

Interplay between tectonics and compaction in a rift‐margin,lacustrine delta system: Miocene of the Eger Graben,Czech Republic

The Early Miocene Bílina Palaeodelta consists of fluvio‐deltaic and lacustrine clastics deposited along the south‐eastern margin of the extensional Most Basin, part of the Eger Graben in north Bohemia (Czech Republic). The Bílina succession shows evidence of repeated advances of an axial deltaic system across a thick accumulation of organic material and clay in the hangingwall of an active fault. Exposures up to ca 4·5 km long in the Bílina open‐cast mine help bridge the gap between seismic scale and typical outcrop scale of observation and thus allow the relationships between small‐scale and basin‐scale stratal geometries to be evaluated. The Bílina Palaeodelta deposits include sand‐dominated, fluvial channel fills and heterolithic sheets interpreted as delta plain strata, sand‐dominated mouth‐bar wedges and heterolithic sheets of prodeltaic deposits, passing distally into lacustrine clays. The depositional environment is interpreted as a fluvial‐dominated, mixed‐load, lacustrine delta with a high degree of grain‐size segregation at the feeder‐channel mouths. On the largest temporal and spatial scales, variable tectonic subsidence controlled the overall advance and retreat of the delta system. The medium‐term transgressive‐regressive history was probably driven by episodes of increased subsidence rate. However, at this temporal scale, the architecture of the deltaic sequences (deltaic lobes and correlative lacustrine deposits) was strongly affected by: (i) compaction of underlying peat and clay which drove lateral offset stacking of medium‐term sequences; and (ii) growth of a fault‐propagation fold close to the active Bílina Fault. At the smallest scale, the geometries of individual mouth bars and groups of mouth bars (short‐term sequences) reflect the interaction among sediment loading, compaction and growth faulting that produced high‐frequency relative lake‐level fluctuations and created local accommodation at the delta front.     

Depositional record of an avulsive fluvial system controlled by peat compaction (Neogene, Most Basin, Czech Republic)

This paper illustrates the response of a fluvial depositional system to the interplay between peat compaction and clastic sediment supply, at a range of spatial and temporal scales, as documented by extensive exposures in an open-cast mine in the Most Basin, part of the Oligo-Miocene Ohře Rift (Eger Graben) basin system in the Czech Republic. The Most Basin is characterized by the occurrence of a number of phenomena resulting from syn- and post-depositional interactions between clastic sedimentary systems and the underlying accumulation of organic material that was the precursor of the main lignite seam of up to 45 m thickness. The studied strata are interpreted as deposits of an avulsive, mixed-load fluvial system. The large-scale depositional architecture documents an existence of at least five stratal packages up to 1500 m wide and up to several tens of metres thick, representing a record of long-term evolution of a clastic floodplain bordered by accumulating peat. Within each of the packages, several small-scale channel-belts were documented. Individual packages are separated by carbonaceous mudstones indicating a period of reduced clastic input and interpreted as due to avulsion of the fluvial channels out of the floodplain limit. Two main, mutually linked, processes controlled the evolution of the studied fluvial system: (i) syndepositional compaction of the underlying peat and (ii) avulsions of the channels away from the original floodplain, resulting in formation of a new floodplain. The processes which caused the channels of the Hrabák fluvial system to reach the avulsion threshold were: (i) decrease of rate of creation of accommodation leading to increased sinuosity and thus to a decreased channel slope, and (ii) cross-floodplain tilting of the channel belt caused by differential compaction of underlying organic-rich substratum.