Reviews of recent Australian publications

AUSTRALIA: A GEOGRAPHY. Volume 1: The Natural Environment edited by D. N. Jeans. 18 × 25 cm, viii and 347 pages. Sydney University Press: Sydney 1986 (ISBN 0 424 00114 4) $A55.00 (hard); (ISBN 0 424 00124 1) $A32.50 (soft).

Western Australia. Departments of Education and Lands and Survey (1979) Western Australia: an atlas of human endeavour, 1829–1979, Government Printer, Perth.

ATLAS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA edited by T. Griffin and M. McCaskill. 28 × 40 cm, xiv and 134 pages. South Australian Government Printing Division and Wakefield Press on behalf of the South Australian Jubilee 150 Board: Adelaide 1986 (ISBN 0 7243 46880) $A55.00 (hard).

URBAN AUSTRALIA: Planning Issues and Policies edited by S. Hamnett and R. Bunker. 16 × 24 cm, 192 pages. Nelson Wadsworth: Melbourne 1987 (ISBN 0 17 007166 9) $A29.95 (hard).

AUSTRALIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CAPITAL (Working Paper No. 31) by M. T. Daly. 21 × 30 cm, viii and 39 pages. Transnational Corporations Research Project, University of Sydney 1985 (ISBN 0 908470 66 5) $A5.00 (soft).

TRANSNATIONAL CAPITAL AND URBANIZATION IN JAPAN (Research Monograph No. 25) by M. Douglass. 21 × 30 cm, viii and 42 pages. Transnational Corporations Research Project, University of Sydney 1987 (ISBN 0 908470 74 6) $A10.00 (soft).

MELBOURNE WESTERN REGION: Industrial Sites Atlas by Melbourne Western Region Joint Working Group. 45 × 32 cm, 40 pages. Melbourne Western Region Joint Working Group: Melbourne 1984 $A20.00 (soft).

MINE INFRASTRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA by C. O'Faircheallaigh. 18 × 25 cm, vi and 87 pages. North Australia Research Unit, Australian National University: Darwin 1987 (ISBN 0 7315 0043 1) $A10.00 (soft).

AUSTRALIA'S CHANGING POPULATION: Trends and Implications by G. Hugo. 16 × 24 cm, x and 354 pages. Oxford University Press: Melbourne 1986 (ISBN 0 19 554680 6) $A40.00 (hard).

WOMEN OVER SIXTY: A Study of the Housing, Economic and Social Circumstances of Older Women (Publication No. 130) by L. Coleman and S. Watson. 17 × 24 cm, v and 89 pages. Australian Institute of Urban Studies: Canberra 1987 (ISBN 0 86419 112 X).

THE MANNING VALLEY: Landscape and Settlement 1824–1900 by W. K. Birrell. 21 × 29 cm, xvi and 280 pages. Jacaranda: Milton, Qld, 1987 (ISBN 0 7016 2170 2) $A29.95 (hard).

ISSUES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF AUSTRALIA'S WATER RESOURCES by J. J. Pigram. 15 × 23 cm, xvi and 331 pages. Longman Cheshire: Melbourne 1986 (ISBN 0 582 71139 8) $A24.95 (soft).

PROSPECTS FOR HARDWOOD FORESTS (Monograph No. 19) edited by J. Dargavel and G. Sheldon. 16 × 23 cm, xv and 334 pages. Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University, Canberra 1987 (ISBN 0 86740 226 1) $A19.95 plus $A5.00 post and packing (soft).

FOREST SOILS AND NUTRIENT CYCLES by P. M. Attiwill and G. W. Leeper. 15 × 22 cm, x and 202 pages. Melbourne University Press: Melbourne 1987 (ISBN 0 522 84315 8) $A29.90 (hard).

AUSTRALIAN SOILS: The Human Impact edited by J. S. Russell and R. F. Isbell. 26 × 18 cm, xi and 522 pages. University of Queensland Press: St Lucia 1986 (ISBN 0 7022 1968 1) $A50.00 (hard).

THE AUSTRALIAN SUMMER MONSOON, TELECONNECTIONS, AND FLOODING IN THE LAKE EYRE BASIN (South Australian Geographical Papers No. 2) by R. J. Allen. 18 × 25 cm, 47 pages. Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (South Australian Branch): Adelaide 1985 (ISBN 0 909112 09 6).     

Heat Flux in the Coastal Zone

Various difficulties with application of Monin–Obukhov similarity theory are surveyed including the influence of growing waves, advection and internal boundary-layer development. These complications are normally important with offshore flow. The transfer coefficient for heat is computed from eddy correlation data taken at a mast two kilometres off the Danish coast in RASEX. For these coastal zone data, the thermal roughness length shows no well-defined relation to the momentum roughness length or roughness Reynolds number, in contrast to previous theories. The variation of the momentum roughness length is dominated by wave state. In contrast, the thermal roughness length shows significant dependence on wave state only for small values of wave age where the mixing is apparently enhanced by wave breaking. The development of thin internal boundary layers with offshore flow substantially reduces the heat transfer and thermal roughness length but has no obvious influence on momentum roughness length. A new formulation of the thermal roughness length based on the internal boundary-layer depth is calibrated to the RASEX data. For the very stable case, the turbulence is mainly detached from the surface and existing formulations do not apply.As an alternative to adjusting the thermal roughness length, the transfer coefficient is related directly to the stability and the internal boundary-layer depth. This avoids specification of roughness lengths resulting from the usual integration of the non-dimensional temperature function. The resulting stability function is simpler than previous ones and satisfies free convection similarity theory without introduction of the gustiness factor. The internal boundary layer also influences the moisture transfer coefficient.     

Dispersal patterns of the eggs and larvae of spring-spawning fish in the Irish Sea, UK

Many marine species produce pelagic propagules which, because of their life-history characteristics and the local hydrodynamics, can disperse considerable distances from the point of release. Distances travelled are affected by factors such as: release time and location, egg and larval stage duration, local environmental conditions and active swimming and settlement behaviours. Understanding such dispersal patterns is important for the design of effective ecosystem-conservation strategies. We used a regional scale, coupled physical-biological model for the Irish Sea to simulate the possible dispersal of eggs and larvae of five species of fish with contrasting early life histories (cod Gadus morhua, plaice Pleuronectes platessa, witch Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, sprat Sprattus sprattus and pogge Agonus cataphractus). The hydrodynamic model was forced with meteorological data for 1995, a year when extensive plankton surveys were conducted in the Irish Sea. A particle tracking method featuring particle release (spawning) and species-dependent particle development and behaviour was then run based on flow and temperature fields from the hydrodynamical model. Modelled larval distributions and settlement areas corresponded favourably with observations from field sampling. The settlement destinations (or onset of shoaling for sprat) were affected both by their initial spawning location and by the species-specific development rates and behaviours coded into the model. Eggs and larvae typically remained within 160 km of their spawning origin, although a minority travelled up to 300 km. Even in a relatively enclosed sea such as the Irish Sea, fish eggs and larvae can be dispersed over 100s of km. This provides a major challenge for the design of effective spatial management strategies if it is necessary to protect a species across its life-history stages. Further progress in the design of effective conservation measures for species or communities will need an integrated approach taking account of key aspects of early life history and behaviour.     

Population structure of the thornback ray (Raja clavata L.) in British waters

Prior to the 1950s, thornback ray (Raja clavata L.) was common and widely distributed in the seas of Northwest Europe. Since then, it has decreased in abundance and geographic range due to over-fishing. The sustainability of ray populations is of concern to fisheries management because their slow growth rate, late maturity and low fecundity make them susceptible to exploitation as victims of by-catch. We investigated the population genetic structure of thornback rays from 14 locations in the southern North Sea, English Channel and Irish Sea. Adults comprised < 4% of the total sampling despite heavy sampling effort over 47 hauls; thus our results apply mainly to sexually immature individuals. Using five microsatellite loci, weak but significant population differentiation was detected with a global F_ST = 0.013 (P < 0.001). Pairwise F_st was significant for 75 out of 171 comparisons. Although earlier tagging studies suggest restricted foraging distances from home areas, the absence of genetic differentiation between some distant populations suggests that a substantial fraction of individuals migrate over wide areas. Autumn/winter locations appear to have a lower level of differentiation than spring/summer, which could be due to seasonal migration. Management and conservation of thornback ray populations will be challenging as population structure appears to be dynamic in space and time.     

Systematics of zircon crystallisation in the Cretaceous Separation Point Suite, New Zealand, using U/Pb isotopes, REE and Ti geothermometry

Plutonic zircons from the Cretaceous Separation Point Suite (SPS) were analysed by LA-ICPMS for U–Pb isotope ratios and trace element concentrations. Pooled ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages range from 112 to 124 Ma. Cathodoluminescence imaging reveals minor inheritence and textural evidence of repeated dissolution and re-precipitation of zircon. Core and rim spot analyses, however, document zircon growth during extended periods of time (>2 myr). Protracted crystallisation histories for simple plutonic systems are inconsistent with generalised thermal constraints, which predict cooling below the solidus within <1 myr. Consequently, we conclude that the SPS granitoids sampled in this study were not emplaced rapidly but incrementally over extended time periods. Zircon Th/U and Zr/Hf ratios are positively correlated with crystallisation temperatures, consistent with crystallisation from evolving melts. However, highly variable trace element concentrations, along with temperature reversals are indicative of complex crystallisation histories involving continuous fractional crystallisation repeatedly punctuated by hotter, more mafic magma recharge. Normalised abundances of the redox-sensitive elements Eu and Ce in zircon vary systematically with degrees of whole rock differentiation, pointing to evolutionary trends in magmatic oxidation states coupled with feldspar crystallisation.     

Impact of agricultural activity and geologic controls on groundwater quality of the alluvial aquifer of the Guadalquivir River (province of Jaén,Spain): a case study

The alluvial aquifer of the Alto Guadalquivir River is one of the most important shallow aquifers in Jaén, Spain. It is located in the central-eastern part of the province, and its groundwater resources are used mainly for crop irrigation in an agriculture-dominated area. Hydrochemical and water-quality data obtained through a 2-year sampling (2004–2006) and analysis program indicate that nitrate pollution is a serious problem affecting groundwater due to the use of nitrogen (N)-fertilizers in agriculture. During the study, 231 water samples were collected from wells and springs to determine water chemistry and the extent of nitrate pollution. The concentration of nitrate in groundwater ranged from 1.25 to 320.88 mg/l. Considerable seasonal fluctuations in groundwater quality were observed as a consequence of agricultural practices and other factors such as annual rainfall distribution and the Guadalquivir River flow regime. The chemical composition of the water is not only influenced by agricultural practices, but also by interaction with the alluvial sediments. The dissolution of evaporites accounts for part of the Na⁺, K⁺, Cl⁻, SO₄ ²⁻, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺, but other processes, such as calcite precipitation and dedolomitization, also contribute to groundwater chemistry.     

The effects of agriculture on the volcanic aquifers of the canary islands

Agriculture is a basic economic activity in the Canary Islands, a Spanish region in the Atlantic Ocean, facing the Sahara. The main crops are bananas, tomatoes, and other special ones suitable for exportation. Fertilizers are applied in high quantities on the scarce land available. The relatively good vertical permeability of the soils favors the deep infiltration of irrigation return flows. Water is obtained by an extraordinary net of shaft wells and water galleries, supplemented when possible by surface reservoirs in the deep gullies. Water is distributed by an extensive network of pipes and canals, allowing the transportation of water to virtually any point from any water source. Water quality is widely variable, from almost rain water to brackish, with a high frequency of sodium bicarbonate types. Return flows, especially when water is applied with good irrigation techniques and the original quality is poor, are saline and contain chemicals leached from the fertilizers. On Tenerife Island, most of the return flows go to coastal aquifers, while most of the water comes from high-altitude water galleries. Agricultural pollution is not generally appraised, but it exists. It can be masked by the frequent, high natural nitrate content in groundwater. On Gran Canaria Island, since water comes mainly from deep shaft wells near the irrigated areas, the nitrate pollution is much more clear. On La Palma Island, besides the nitrate pollution, a potassium pollution of agricultural origin has been mentioned. Other situations on the remaining islands are also discussed. It can be concluded that agriculture is a big concern for the water quality in many areas and impairs its suitability for other uses. Because of the great depth of the water table, the nitrate pollution may not become obvious for many years, especially for the deep-water galleries. Presented at the 16th Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, “Impact of Agricultural Activity on Ground Water Quality and Quantity,” September 1982, Prague, Czechoslovakia.     

Extinct mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) in Southeastern Utah

The extinct Harrington's mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni Stock) is predominantly known from dry cave localities in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, in addition to two sites in the Great Basin, Nevada, and from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. A dry shelter in Natural Bridges National Monument, on the central Colorado Plateau, southeastern Utah, preserves numerous remains of the extinct mountain goat in addition to pack rat middens. Remains from a 100-cm stratigraphic profile indicate that O. harringtoni lived on the plateau >39,800 yr B.P., the oldest directly dated find of extinct mountain goat. Plant macrofossils indicate that Engelmann's spruce (Picea engelmannii), limber pine (Pinus flexilis), rose (Rosa cf. woodsii), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) grew during the late Pleistocene where a riparian and a pinyon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) community now predominates; Douglas fir are found only in mesic, protected, north-facing areas. Limber pine, Douglas fir, bark, and grasses were the major dietary components in the dung. A springtime diet of birch (Betula) is determined from pollen clumps in dung pellets.