GPS PERFORMANCE IN YUKON'S ARCTIC COAST

This study analyses GPS performance in Yukon's Arctic coast to inform future research that uses this technology in the region. To test this, Telonics GPS collars were placed on stakes during the summers of 2009 and 2010 throughout the region for varying lengths of time. The fix records produced by these collars were then collected and cleaned, leaving 30 samples. Using these records combined with a digital elevation model, eight variables were extracted and analysed in an attempt to find relationships, such that a fix rate could be predicted throughout the landscape. The results indicated that very few strong relationships existed. Densiometer values proved to be the only relationship between an environmental variable and fix rate. Available sky and aspect data produced results that were contrary to those expected. Overall, Telonics Generation 3 collars had extremely high fix rates, high accuracy, and low positional dilution of precision. Moreover, there was little variation in these results. This means that future GPS studies in the region would likely require minimal correction for fix rate bias. However, if corrections were to be made, more data would have to be gathered to ensure the results were statistically sound. The analysis suffered from the limitations of small sample size and low sample variance, among several others. Therefore, future studies should increase the number and diversity of sites tested.     

Chronology and organic chemistry of the Black Creek Swamp Megafauna site (Late Pleistocene), Kangaroo Island, Australia

The timing of the extinction of the Australian Megafauna and whether it was simultaneous and widespread has been a much researched topic in Quaternary geoscience. The Black Creek Swamp Megafauna site on Kangaroo Island was thought to be a refugium for Megafauna; however, recent and multidiscipline age determinations have established that the fossils are considerably older than the well-quoted extinction age of 45 kyr. Further radiocarbon age determinations, δ¹³C isotope analysis and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy of the fossil containing organic matter demonstrates that it is highly soluble and accumulated as recently as 31–18 cal. kyr BP. These radiocarbon ages are much younger than the 100–50 kyr age bracket ascertained for the fossil material itself, implying separate episodes of death, deposition and burial. The soluble nature of the organic matter and increasing radiocarbon ages with depth suggests lateral accumulation, probably transported by subsurface waters from elevated areas proximal to the low-lying swamp. Such depositional conditions and ¹⁴C age range implies that the site may have experienced an unusually wet Last Glacial Maximum, due maybe to its proximity to the continental shelf and thus to maritime conditions. C3 vegetation dominates the Black Creek Swamp and its organic matter (δ¹³C; −30‰ and −23‰); however, variations in δ¹³C may indicate climatic shifts. ¹³C-enrichment and an abundance of salt-tolerant gastropods within the site's final phase of sediment accumulation (<6 cal. kyr BP) suggest that conditions during this most recent period were not as wet as those of the Last Glacial Maximum.     

AN UNUSUAL SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURE INDICATIVE OF SHALLOW WATER CONDITIONS IN THE GRÈS ARMORICAIN OF FINISTÈRE (FRANCE)

The communication describes dome-like masses of sand apparently developed by gully erosion on the upper surfaces of Ordovician sandstones. The similarity of these structures to the minor topography of tidal marshes is noted, and it is suggested that similar processes may be responsible.     

Assessment of dispersive pressure as a beach placer mechanism

The concept of sediment sorting extending from the Bagnold constitutive relationship for sediment under shear is examined in the context of beach placer formation. The traditional interpretation of shear sorting is found to be inconsistent with data from new granular flow experiments. A binary mixture satisfying the shear equivalence relationship displayed pronounced segregation during shear. This observation is contrary to shear sorting as applied in the literature where no such segregation for this pairing of mineral species is expected. Further experiments minimizing the potential of grain percolation of smaller grains or kinetic sieving also demonstrated sorting patterns inconsistent with the existing shear sorting interpretation. Consequently, the shear sorting process, as currently formulated, may not be an appropriate means to describe beach placer formation. Kinetic sieving appears to be a more likely mechanism in this context, enhanced by the shearing and dilation of the granular‐fluid flow.     

Early Holocene loessic colluviation in northwest England: new evidence for the 8.2 ka event in the terrestrial record?

Vincent, P. J., Lord, T. C., Telfer, M. W. & Wilson, P. 2010: Early Holocene loessic colluviation in northwest England: new evidence for the 8.2 ka event in the terrestrial record? Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00172.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Twelve new samples of loessic silts from widely spaced locations on the karst uplands of northwest England have yielded Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dates that fall within or overlap with (within uncertainties) the early to mid‐Holocene period (11.7–6.0 ka), and support three already‐published Holocene ages from similar sediment from this region. Nine of the 15 dates are coincident with the hypothesized climatic deterioration at 8.5–8.0 ka in the North Atlantic region and eight are coincident with the 8.2 ka event. These dates demonstrate that the silts are not primary air‐fall loesses of deglacial/Lateglacial age (c. 18.0–11.7 ka) but have been reworked and now consist of loess‐derived colluvial deposits; we consider the ages to be reliable as there is no compelling evidence to indicate that the samples are partially bleached. There is no substantive archaeological or palynological evidence for Late Mesolithic hunter‐gatherers having had a major impact on the landscape, and it is considered highly unlikely that these people triggered colluviation. We estimate that during the 8.2 ka event there was a reduction in mean annual air temperature at these upland locations of ～2.6–4.6 °C, and proxy evidence from other sites indicates a shift to wetter conditions. It is inferred that there was greater snow accumulation in winter, that the snowpack survived for longer periods, and that there was an increase in the magnitude and frequency of frost‐related processes and meltwater flooding. Together, these changes in climate and their associated (sub)surface processes were responsible for the reworking of the loess. The OSL dates indicate climatically induced landscape dynamism in Great Britain during the latter half of the ninth millennium.     

A history of vegetation and fire, 6,600 B.P. to present, County Sligo, western Ireland

Dodson, John R. & Bradshaw, Richard H. W. 1987 06 01: A history of vegetation and fire, 6,600 B.P. to present, County Sligo, western Ireland. Boreas , Vol. 16, pp. 113–123. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483.
Two lake sites on metamorphic rocks with small catchments and one mor humus deposit have been analysed to assess the relative influences of fire, man and climate upon the regional and local vegetation of the Lough Gill region of County Sligo. The vegetation of the area was dominated by mixed woodland from 6,600 B.P. to 600 B.P. The first evidence of human impact on the forests was around 5,400 B.P. in the form of clearance for pasture. The intensity of human impact varied between sites, and there were periods of forest recovery as well as decline. From 600 B.P. widespread forest destruction took place, and pasture with heathland became predominant. Pinus sylvestris had a major presence until about 5,400 B.P. It declined from this time and had a patchy distribution by 2,000 B.P. The decline of Pinus was linked with the expansion of treeless peatland in what are presumed to be wet periods, and Pinus recovery in drier periods. Fire may have encouraged the spread of heathland at the expense of Pinus . Arbutus unedo pollen was found at Slish Lake as early as 1,900 B.P., suggesting that it is native to this area. Isolated trees survive today at woodland edges. Charcoal particles occurred in all the profiles. Fire was particularly associated with heathland communities, and may have been used as a management tool to improve grazing conditions. Some of the phases of woodland decline correlate strongly with charcoal input suggesting forest destruction by fire.     

The use of magnetic measurements to investigate the mineralogy of Icelandic lake sediments and to study catchment processes

Magnetic measurements made on sediment and catchment samples from two contrasting Icelandic lakes show how susceptibility and saturation isothermal remanent magnetisation alter as magnetic minerals pass from rock to soil to stream and into the lakes. There is no detectable growth of secondary magnetic minerals in Icelandic soil profiles and susceptibility peaks in the 62.5–1000 μm size range of mineral particles in the lake sediments. Changes in sediment source can be detected using combinations of magnetic measurements.     

Subsidy Removal and Farm-Level Stewardship in Northland

Illustrating one facet of farm-level environmental management in post-1984 New Zealand, this paper assesses changes in stewardship among Northland pastoralists. On-farm activities which protect or enhance the environment continue to be undertaken without state support. However, the withdrawal of environmental grants, in tandem with the wider agricultural policy changes, has reduced the propensity and ability of farmers to undertake stewardship, especially during cyclical downturns.     

“THIS TERRITORY WAS NOT EMPTY”: PACIFIC POSSIBILITIES

ABSTRACT. Narratives concerning Pacific Ocean territories are often historically derived from European and American mainland visions of great, empty oceans dotted with deserted and uninhabited islands. However, research by indigenous and outlander scholars, along with struggles for political and cultural autonomy in the Pacific, has brought attention to vital island communities and 6has raised questions about a Pacific‐island way of understanding the world. This understanding is traced through scholarly and artistic engagements with history, island‐community studies, and navigational philosophies and is framed by a growing theoretical literature on epistemologies of place from the disciplines of geography and oceanography.