Transport and sediment accumulation of210Pb and137Cs in two Southeast Alaskan fjords

Sediment profiles of²¹⁰Pb and¹³⁷Cs in cores collected at increasing distances from the heads of Smeaton Bay and Boca de Quadra fjords indicate that watersheds influence the inventories of radioisotopes present and that the steep topographies of the fjords enhance sediment redistribution. Episodic deposition of terrestrially derived sediment was responsible for roughly 50% of the¹³⁷Cs and 45% of the²¹⁰Pb inventories in shallower (less than 180 m) locations in Wilson and Bakewell arms of Smeaton Bay.²¹⁰Pb sedimentation rates at shallower sites when corrected for episodic deposition were less than sedimentation rates obtained in the deep basins of the fjords where sediment focusing and increased primary productivity in the overlying water column occur. Higher fluxes of dissolved Mn from surficial sediments and subsequent reoxidation in the overlying water may have enhanced scavenging of²¹⁰Pb in basin locations, resulting in higher inventories. Episodic events have occurred frequently in Smeaton Bay and Boca de Quadra suggesting that steady-state conditions with respect to sedimenting particles can be achieved only when averaged over long time periods approaching the time over which¹³⁷Cs and²¹⁰Pb are useful.     

Barnacle-dominated limestone with giant cross-beds in a non-tropical, tide-swept, Pliocene forearc seaway, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Pliocene, non-tropical, widespread and locally thick (up to 100 m) limestones occur in Hawke's Bay, eastern North Island, where they are intimately associated with very thick ( > 5 km), terrigenous-dominated, Neogene sequences that formed in a tectonically active convergent margin setting. The non-tropical character of the limestones is shown unequivocally by (1) the complete dominance of skeletal calcarenites and calcirudites, (2) the occurrence of oyster banks as the only in situ organic structures, (3) the dominance of barnacles, epifaunal molluscs, bryozoans, echinoderms, foraminifers, brachiopods and calcareous red algae as skeletal components, and (4) the preponderance of calcite over aragonite in the mineralogy of the skeletal grains and cements. The abundance of barnacle fragments in the limestones, and the related exclusive occurrence of only one major organic association, a barnacle-(epifaunal) bivalve-bryozoan assemblage, is striking and unusual given the extent of the limestones. Pecten and oyster valves acted as substrates for barnacle attachment, and their growth was promoted by strong tidal paleocurrents that swept the depositional setting: a long (450 km), narrow (30–50 km) forearc basin seaway, which formed between an actively deforming subduction complex to the east and an uplifting structural ridge to the west. Synsedimentary deformation promoted limestone formation on the margins of the seaway by creating current-swept, clastic-free submarine ridges that acted as the sites of carbonate production. Tidal flows dispersed the carbonate constituents and organised them into a wide spectrum of tide-influenced, cross-bedded and horizontal structures. Most spectacular are occurrences of giant tabular cross-beds, with sets 10–40 m thick and foreset dips of 7–36°, some interpreted as the deposits of major sand bars on carbonate deltas marginal to the mouths of saddles traversing the rising antiforms, and others analogous to modern linear sand ridges. The small- to large-scale planar and trough cross-beds, and the horizontal and lenticular beds that are invariably associated with the giant cross-beds and dominate most sections, represent mainly the deposits of sand waves and sand sheets at inner- to mid-shelf depths in the seaway.     

Energetics of radiation damage in natural zircon (ZrSiO4)

Transposed temperature drop calorimetry at 1000 °C was performed on natural zircons (ZrSiO₄) from Sri Lanka that were partially to completely metamict due to α-decay event damage (0.06 to 11.7×10¹⁵ α-decay events/mg). The enthalpy of annealing at room temperature (ΔH_anneal) varies sigmoidally as a function of radiation dose. ΔH_anneal reaches a saturation plateau at radiation doses greater than 5×10¹⁵ α-decay events/mg. The annealing of several samples to a crystalline structure with broadened diffraction peaks does not significantly affect the enthalpy of annealing. The large magnitude of the enthalpy of annealing plateau, ?59±3 kJ/mol, suggests that the damage to the structure is pervasive on the scale of Angstroms, consistent with the loss of mid-range order characteristic of a glass. The energetics are consistent with, but do not require, chemical heterogeneity caused by micro-domains of amorphous SiO₂-rich and ZrO₂-rich regions in the metamict state.     

The privatisation of secondary schooling and the desegregation of central Johannesburg

African education controlled by the state's Department of Education and Training has collapsed. Insufficient spending, low standards and persistent student boycotts have made township schools undesirable places of learning. African students with any financial means now seek secondary education at multi-racial private schools in affluent white suburbs or at street-academies in the centre of Johannesburg. The establishment of schooling services for African pupils in the traditionally white central business district contributes to the wider process of desegregation of South Africa's major urban area, Johannesburg.     

Telecommunications and the Large City-Small City Divide: Evidence from Indiana Cities*

Urban systems are increasingly dominated by large cities that house a disproportionate share of telecommunications infrastructure. This paper investigates whether telecommunications is defining a technological divide between large and smaller cities. The paper provides a conceptual basis for large-city dominance and presents the results of surveys that investigate the use of telecommunications in medium and small Indiana cities. The survey data indicate that telecommunications is used by the set of Indiana cities, but is less prevalent among the set of smallest cities. Chi-square tests, however, suggest that city size does not adequately explain these variations in use.     

Water chemistry and sedimentological observations in littlefield lake,michigan: Implications for lacustrine marl deposition

A combination of both water chemistry and sedimentological information was used to investigate the carbonate-producing mechanism in Littlefield Lake, a small lake located in Isabella County, central Michigan. Data on temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) saturation, alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium were obtained on a monthly basis over a 13-month period, with each parameter determined at 1m intervals over a depth range of 20m. The loss of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂) from warm surface waters during direct degassing, and to a lesser extent during photosynthetic uptake by lacustrine macrophytes and phytoplankton during the summer, results in massive precipitation of the low-magnesium calcite which predominates in all Littlefield Lake sedimentary facies However, despite the fact that carbonate precipitation in this rather typical temperate-region marl lake is directly related to, and may be driven by, seasonal variation in these physiochemical parameters, most calcite forms as encrustations around cyanophytic and chlorophytic macrophytes. Such relationships demonstrate that carbonate precipitation in marl lakes may result from complex interactions between both biochemical and physiochemical processes. As such, marl formation in this, and probably many other calcareous lake systems, can not be simply ascribed to one or the other of these two general mechanisms.     

OCCURRENCE OF VOLATILE ORGANIC CHEMICALS IN NEBRASKA GROUND WATER

Abstract. This report summarizes results of monitoring programs for volatile synthetic organic chemicals (VOCs) in Nebraska's private and public water-supply wells conducted by two State agencies. Of 97 community water-supply systems sampled as of June 1984, 16.5 percent (16 systems) showed quantifiable levels of at least one VOC. Detectable amounts of one or more VOCs were measured in samples from 15.9 percent (10) of 63 private wells sampled in 1982. These percentages are consistent with results of other State and national surveys.