Matrix-bound phosphine in sediments from Lake Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia

Matrix-bound phosphine (MBP) has been measured in sediment from two cores in Lake Illawarra on the south east coast of Australia. The sediments were also dated in the upper layers. MBP concentrations found range from 142 to 1813 ng kg⁻¹, dw (dry weight of sediment) with some values being amongst the highest ever measured. Values of MBP in deeper sediments were higher than for near surface samples, but the patterns with depth were not consistent. Strong correlations were noted between MBP and organic phosphorus (OP, r > 0.8) and with total phosphorus (TP, r > 0.7), but only moderate correlations were found with organic carbon (OC, r > 0.5). No correlations were found between MBP concentrations and the age of the sediments. It was confirmed that high MBP concentrations are indicative of a phosphorus rich environment. The results tend to support the premise that MBP is generated by microbial attack on OP under anaerobic conditions.     

Palaeomagnetism of Precambrian rocks from Southeast Norway and South Sweden

Precambrian amphibolite and hyperite rocks from the Bamble and Kongsberg areas in SE Norway, and amphibolite rocks from SW Sweden were investigated for evidence of remagnetization by the Sveconorwegian metamorphic episode. The similarity of the characteristic natural remanent magnetization directions, shown by the various rocks from the Bamble and Kongsberg areas, indeed supports the idea of remagnetization on a regional scale. Therefore the average pole position at 3°S, 153°W, determined from six sites in these areas, is considered to reflect the average virtual pole position for the post-Sveconorwegian period of uplift and cooling (1,120–975) · 10⁶ year ago. The pole positions determined from the characteristic natural remanent magnetization directions of amphibolite rocks in SW Sweden are indicative of being somewhat younger.In addition, two hyperite dikes were studied near Karlshamn in SE Sweden. Their characteristic natural remanent magnetization is consistent with that of the hyperite dikes in central south Sweden (Mulder, 1971).The Precambrian apparent polar wandering path for Europe is reconstructed on the basis of twenty-three pole positions from the Baltic Shield and three pole positions from Great Britain. This pole path requires an average angular rate of apparent polar wandering of 0.2–0.3° per 10⁶ year.     

Trends in extreme rainfall in the state of New South Wales,Australia

The trends in annual maximum rainfall (AMR) intensity data in New South Wales, Australia, were examined. Data from 60 stations were used covering three study periods, 1955–2010, 1965–2010 and 1978–2010. Mann-Kendall (MK) and Spearman’s rho (SR) tests were applied to assess trends at local stations. Pre-whitening (PW), trend-free pre-whitening (TFPW) and the variance correction (VC) tests were used to assess the effects of serial correlation on trend results. For regional trend analysis, the regional MK test was employed. The impacts of climatic variability modes on the observed trends in AMR intensity and seasonal maximum rainfall data were investigated. It was found that positive trends were more frequent than the negative ones. The PW, TFPW and VC tests resulted in a slight reduction in the count of stations exhibiting significant positive trends. The number of stations exhibiting significant trends decreased when the impact of climate variability modes was considered.     

Assessing impacts of deepwater sewage disposal: A case study from New South Wales, Australia

To overcome the problems of beach pollution Sydney Water constructed three deepwater sewage outfalls off North Head, Bondi and Malabar. The outfalls were commissioned over the period September 1990–July 1991. A 5-year multi-disciplinary environmental monitoring programme was set up to assess the impacts on the demersal fish and soft-bottom macro-invertebrate communities. Assessment of impact was based on an asymmetrical analysis of variance which provided an a priori orthogonal contrast between a single outfall and multiple control sites sampled before and after commissioning. Impacts were detected in both communities, included several commercially and recreationally important species of fish, and occurred with the greatest frequency in the soft-bottom community. The results are summarized, and several examples are presented and show that the direction and magnitude of the impacts varied among outfalls and taxa. The results are then discussed in terms of the needs of future monitoring and the implications for the assessment of human-induced impacts in other parts of the world.     

Microchemistry of small desert varnish samples,western New South Wales,Australia

The chemistry of varnish scrapings from within and adjacent to rock engravings on sandstone outcrops in semiarid Australia was analysed using an electron microprobe (WDS mode). Small-area analyses were used to reduce potential contamination from identifiable within-varnish detrital grains and from substrate material. Ratios of (Ca + K):Ti were compared for rock engravings on older and younger rock surfaces, and between different engraving styles. Although ratios from varnish on the older surface were lower than for the younger surface, differences were not statistically significant. Sorting of analyses for potentially anomalous amounts of minor elements had little effect on the ranking of individual ratio values. Rankings of within-engraving ratio values were generally in accord with relative age expectations but differences between samples were not significant, with the chemical variability of varnish being high even without the contribution of discernible detrital inclusions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Methyl mercury, total mercury, and selenium in snapper from two areas of the New South Wales coast, Australia

The muscle tissue of snapper (Chrysophrys auratus: Sparidae) from two areas of the New South Wales coast was analysed for methyl mercury, total mercury and selenium concentrations (134 samples from the Sydney area and 186 samples from the Nowra area, about 120 km to the south of Sydney).

The Sydney snapper ranged from 0.08 to 1.66 mg kg⁻¹ total mercury (mean 0.32 mg kg⁻¹), while the Nowra snapper ranged from 0.01 to 0.78 mg kg⁻¹ total Hg (mean 0.11 mg kg⁻¹). These latter results appear anomalously low relative to other studies in Australia and New Zealand.

Methyl mercury averaged 94.7% of the total mercury content of the Sydney snapper, and 91.3% for the Nowra snapper.

The concentrations of selenium in the muscle tissues of snapper from both areas were similar and did not increase with increasing mercury concentrations. The highest selenium concentration was 0.85 mg kg⁻¹.     

Optical dating and soil micromorphology at MacCauley's Beach,New South Wales,Australia

The ability to position landscapes in a context of time and space is a particular goal of Quaternary science research. The lack of context for dating samples published previously for MacCauley's Beach, an important site for the reconstruction of Australian sea levels, warranted a re‐evaluation of both the site stratigraphy and chronology. In this study, we combined optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sedimentary quartz grains and soil micromorphology of the same samples to improve our understanding of the depositional history and chronology of the sediments. This combination allowed the contextualization of samples not only in time and space, but also in terms of their depositional histories. The latter is important in OSL dating, where pre‐, syn‐ and post‐depositional processes can all influence the accuracy and precision of the final age estimates. The sediment profile at MacCauley's Beach is made up of three major units. The basal mottled mud layer has undergone extensive pedogenesis since deposition, and only a minimum age of 14.7 ± 2.7 ka could be calculated. The overlying grey mud, with OSL ages from the bottom and top of the unit of 10.0 ± 0.7 and 7.7 ± 0.5 ka, respectively, shows evidence of soil structure collapse. This unit correspond to the onset of the mid‐Holocene sea‐level high stand for this region. The overlying sand layer was first deposited at 7.5 ± 0.4 ka, with deposition continuing beyond 6.6 ± 0.4 ka. Not only does the chronology presented constrain the timing of deposition (and the extent of post‐depositional processes) at MacCauley's Beach, but the methodological approach used here can be applied to any site to aid in the interpretation of formation processes and assess their influence on OSL age determination. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The survival of desert varnish in subsurface positions,western New South Wales,Australia

Desert varnish occurs in arid western New South Wales. Microprobe analysis has shown that the chemical composition of this varnish lies within the ranges reported for varnish in United States. Field observations suggest that desert varnish near the soil surface may be destroyed by weathering, but that varnish at depths of more than 15 cm can survive burial and later be exhumed. Varnish has also survived coating by calcium carbonate; a corrected age of about 5000 years for the carbonate indicates long-term persistence of varnish under this form of ‘burial’. In some situations, presently-exposed varnish may have a complex history of burial and exhumation following initial subaerial formation.     

Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Fisherman's Cliff and Bone Gulch vertebrate fossil faunas from the Murray Basin, New South Wales, Australia

The Fisherman's Cliff and Bone Gulch Local Faunas are the second and third oldest mammalian fossil assemblages known in the Murray Basin of southeastern Australia. The determination of well constrained ages for these two faunas has been plagued by a lack of diagnostic microfossils or material suitable for isotopic age determinations. Based on previous paleomagnetic data [1,2] the ages of the Fisherman's Cliff and Bone Gulch local faunas were assigned to the Gauss and lower Matuyama Chrons, respectively. However, these dates were not tested by direct magnetostratigraphic studies at either locality. In order to make direct correlations, 22 paleomagnetic and five paleomagnetic sites, respectively, were collected from Fisherman's Cliff and Bone Gulch. Results indicate that the Fisherman's Cliff Local Fauna occurs within a zone of normal magnetic polarity whilst the Bone Gulch Local Fauna occurs within a zone of reversed polarity. By correlation to the Chowilla section, these zones are interpreted to represent the Gauss and lower Matuyama Chrons and ages of 2.47–2.92 and 1.88–2.47 Myr are indicated for the Fisherman's Cliff and Bone Gulch Local Faunas, respectively.     

Palaeomagnetism of Mesozoic igneous rocks from the Maranha˜o Basin,Brazil, and the time of opening of the South Atlantic

From Middle-Upper Jurassic volcanics at the western margin of the Maranha?o Basin (6.4°S, 47.4°W) 15 sites (121 samples) have a mean magnetization directionD = 3.9°,I = ?17.9° withα₉₅ = 9.3°,k = 17.9 after AF cleaning (all sites have normal polarity). This yields a pole (named SAJ₂) at 85.3°N, 82.5°E (A₉₅ = 6.9°) which is near to the other known Middle Jurassic South American pole. For 21 sites (190 samples) from Lower Cretaceous basalt intrusions from the eastern part of the Maranha?o Basin (6.5°S, 42°W) the mean direction isD = 174.7°,I = +6.0° withα₉₅ = 2.8°,k = 122 (all sites have reversed polarity) yielding a pole (SAK₉) at 83.6°N, 261°E (A₉₅ = 1.9°) in agreement with other Lower Cretaceous pole positions for South America. Comparing Mesozoic pole positions for South America and Africa in the pre-drift configuration after Bullard et al. [13] one finds a significant difference (with more than 95% probability) for the Lower Cretaceous and Middle Jurassic poles and also a probable difference for the mean Triassic poles indicating a small but probably stationary separation of the two continents from the predrift position in the Mesozoic until Lower Cretaceous time which may be due to an early rifting event.     

A comparison of channel erosion in small urban and rural catchments,Armidale, New South Wales

Five years after the cessation of housing construction in a small urban catchment in Armidale, New South Wales, the stability of the channel bed and banks was investigated with the use of erosion pins. After eighteen months of monitoring, the rate of channel bank erosion was found to be 3.6 times greater than that of a nearby rural channel and the rate of knickpoint retreat was 2.4 times greater. There was, however, no evidence to suggest that the urban channel was inherently unstable, but that the increased rate of erosion was the product of changed runoff conditions associated with urban development. Both channels are considered to be in a state of equilibrium.     

Variation in curve numbers derived from plot runoff data for New South Wales (Australia)

The curve number method is a simple one parameter (the curve number) rainfall runoff model. While its theoretical underpinning has been questioned it remains a powerful hydrological tool in the absence of detailed data and is therefore used extensively in hydrological models. This study aims to characterize the variation in maximum retention values (S), which underlie curve numbers, for a range of agricultural treatments across a large spatial area in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The data used for the analysis spans several decades of rainfall runoff observations. A range of different derivation methods result in variation in mean and variance of S. In particular, methods that emphasize the larger storms result in greater S and thus lower runoff. For larger spatial scales, emphasis on larger storms gives more reliable estimates of S. Systematic variation in S arises from variations in treatment, pre‐runoff soil moisture, rainfall depth, and variations in cover. On the basis of the analysis, a table of curve number values for different land uses found in NSW is presented. The resulting distributions of S and curve numbers provide guidance for rainfall runoff modelling studies in the agricultural important areas of NSW. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of domestic sewage effluent on marine communities at Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia

Studies of the impact of secondary treated domestic effluent have been conducted at Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia for the last 8 years. During that time, monitoring has shown that impacts are restricted to within approximately 300 m of the outfall for most variables (e.g. algal species richness, changes to the structure of invertebrate communities living in kelp holdfasts) but that the ephemeral green alga Ulva lactuca has significantly greater cover than at reference sites for a distance of 500 m from the point of discharge. Based on the results of this study, a new outfall proposed for the northern area of Coffs Harbour was predicted to have effects over a much smaller spatial scale. It is suggested, therefore, that the recent decision to abandon the plans for the new outfall reflects growing public concern over issues other than cost minimization and biological impact in the use of ocean disposal as an option for the management of human sewage waste.     

Future climate and runoff projections across New South Wales,Australia: results and practical applications

This paper describes the rainfall–runoff modelling for New South Wales (NSW) and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) under historical climate and the likely changes to runoff around the year 2030 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) SRES A1B global warming scenario. Results show that the mean annual historical rainfall and runoff, averaged over the entire region, are 516 and 55 mm, respectively. There is considerable uncertainty in the global climate modelling (GCM) of rainfall response in the region to global warming. The majority of GCMs show a decrease in the mean annual rainfall and the median estimate indicates that future mean annual runoff in the region in ～2030 relative to ～1990 will be lower by 0–20% in the southern parts, no change to a slight reduction in the eastern parts and higher by 0–20% in the northwest corner. Averaged across the entire region, the median estimate is a 5% decrease in the mean annual runoff and the extreme estimates range from a 14% decrease to a 10% increase in mean annual runoff. This is the first comprehensive study on the hydrological impacts of climate change done in NSW that covers the entire state. Outputs from this study are being used to underpin the hydrology for a number of major climate change impact studies that are presently underway across NSW. The results and output datasets from this study will be available through a web interface and they can be used by all state government agencies and industries in NSW to plan for and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeomagnetism and the Grenville orogeny: New Rb-Sr ages from dolerites in Canada and Greenland

Rb-Sr mineral data are presented for the Sudbury and Mackenzie dolerites of Canada and for dolerites and lamprophyres from southwest Greenland. Five mineral isochrons or errorchrons, based chiefly upon feldspar separates, agree with twelve biotites from dolerites in defining best-fit ages between 1260 and 1190 m.y. Much older K-Ar and Rb-Sr mineral ages from country rocks demonstrate that the dolerite results are not due to regional heating, and basaltic magmatism in both regions between 1260 and 1190 m.y. is indicated (λ(⁸⁷Rb) = 1.42 × 10⁻¹¹ yr⁻¹).

This activity can be correlated with extensive dolerite sills in Sweden and Finland, the subject of parallel studies, which yield six mineral isochrons or errorchrons, ten Rb-Sr biotite ages from dolerites, and determinations by other methods falling between 1290 and 1155 m.y., although the Rb-Sr biotite ages are all grouped in the 1250-1210 m.y. range.

Palaeomagnetic poles from the dolerites define tight clusters for each of Canada/Greenland and Fennoscandia. Superimposition of the two groups of poles leads to a non-unique reconstruction in which Fennoscandia may have adjoined Canada/Greenland at 1260-1190 m.y., but in an orientation quite different from that established for 1000-850 m.y. The necessary net rotation of Fennoscandia through 90° may have been achieved by splitting, separation and final reunion of the continents into a different relative disposition between 1190 and 1000 m.y. This favours the involvement of plate tectonic processes in the Grenville-Sveconorwegian orogeny. The 1260-1190 m.y. dolerites may represent the beginning of a continental separation which preceded the Grenville orogeny, although other causes for the magmatism cannot be ruled out.     

Hydrologic effects of a bushfire in a catchment in south-eastern New South Wales

An opportunity to study the effect of a bushfire on the hydrology of a forested catchment was presented when a bushfire burned through an area of approximately 280 square miles in the Snowy Mountains region of south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in March 1965. The effect of the fire upon the hydrologic characteristics of two catchments for which streamflow records were available before and after the fire was examined and it was shown that:

1.

(i) there were pronounced changes in the shape of the flood hydrographs of one catchment,     

Cathedral Cave,Wellington Caves,New South Wales,Australia. A multiphase,non‐fluvial cave

Cathedral Cave is an outstanding example of a class of multiphase caves with largely non‐fluvial origins. It contains large cavities such as cathedrals and cupolas, characteristic of excavation by convection currents in rising waters. Smaller‐scale features such as rising half‐tubes, pseudonotches, curved juts, projecting corners, blades and bridges indicate intersection and exhumation of older cavities during the formation of younger ones. It is possible to recognize at least ten significant phases of speleogenesis by morphostratigraphy, in addition to the four generations of cave‐filling palaeokarst deposits intersected by the cave. The cave we see today results from the progressive integration of a number of previously disconnected or poorly connected solution cavities. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.