Environmental attitudes and adventure tourism motivations

The natural environment plays an important role in adventure tourism. Specific environments are often necessary for certain types of adventure tourism and unique settings are seen to enhance the value of adventure tourism experiences. Given the importance of the environment in adventure tourism, the interplay between humans and the environment in this context should be given further attention. Although much research has examined the physical environmental impacts caused by specific activities considered adventure tourism, the impact of the environment on the behavior of adventure tourists has only briefly been touched upon. Environmental attitudes are said to be an indicator of environmentally conscious behavior. In the tourism context, however, conflicting results have been found as to whether or not environmental attitudes drive consumer behavior. Therefore, the manner in which environmental attitudes, using the New Environmental Paradigm scale, influence the motivations of participants in adventure tourism is investigated using the case of commercial adventure tourism in South Africa. The results show that the environmental attitudes of this group of tourists were relatively low and that the links between environmental attitudes and adventure tourism motivations are relatively weak. Therefore, the impact of general environmental attitudes on adventure tourist behavior is questionable.     

Batagayite,CaZn2(Zn,Cu)6(PO4)4(PO3OH)3·12H2O,a new phosphate mineral from Këster tin deposit (Yakutia,Russia): occurrence and crystal structure

Mineralogy and Petrology - Batagayite, CaZn2(Zn,Cu)6(PO4)4(PO3OH)3·12H2O, is a new secondary phosphate mineral from the Këster deposit, Arga-Ynnykh-Khai massif, NE Yakutia, Russia. It is...     

A multidisciplinary-based conceptual model of a fractured sedimentary bedrock aquitard: improved prediction of aquitard integrity

A hydrogeologic conceptual model that improves understanding of variability in aquitard integrity is presented for a fractured sedimentary bedrock unit in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system of midcontinent North America. The model is derived from multiple studies on the siliciclastic St. Lawrence Formation and adjacent strata across a range of scales and geologic conditions. These studies employed multidisciplinary techniques including borehole flowmeter logging, high-resolution depth-discrete multilevel well monitoring, fracture stratigraphy, fluorescent dye tracing, and three-dimensional (3D) distribution of anthropogenic tracers regionally. The paper documents a bulk aquitard that is highly anisotropic because of poor connectivity of vertical fractures across matrix with low permeability, but with ubiquitous bed parallel partings. The partings provide high bulk horizontal hydraulic conductivity, analogous to aquifers in the system, while multiple preferential termination horizons of vertical fractures serve as discrete low vertical hydraulic conductivity intervals inhibiting vertical flow. The aquitard has substantial variability in its ability to protect underlying groundwater from contamination. Across widespread areas where the aquitard is deeply buried by younger bedrock, preferential termination horizons provide for high aquitard integrity (i.e. protection). Protection is diminished close to incised valleys where stress release and weathering has enhanced secondary pore development, including better connection of fractures across these horizons. These conditions, along with higher hydraulic head gradients in the same areas and more complex 3D flow where the aquitard is variably incised, allow for more substantial transport to deeper aquifers. The conceptual model likely applies to other fractured sedimentary bedrock aquitards within and outside of this region.     

Effects of ageing on the hydraulics of water wells and the influence of non-Darcy flow

Hydrogeology Journal - Well ageing is mostly caused by mechanical and biogeochemical clogging processes, which affect the gravel pack, screen slots and casing. Clogging deposits increase head...     

Organic and inorganic correlations for Northwest Africa 852 by synchrotron‐based Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy

Relationships between organic molecules and inorganic minerals are investigated in a single 34 μm diameter grain of the CR2 chondrite Northwest Africa 852 (NWA) 852 with submicron spatial resolution using synchrotron‐based imaging micro‐FTIR spectroscopy. Correlations based on absorption strength for the various constituents are determined using statistical correlation analysis. The silicate band is found to be correlated with the hydration band, and the latter is highly correlated with stretching modes of aliphatic hydrocarbons. Spatial distribution maps show that water+organic combination, silicate, OH, and C‐H distributions overlap, suggesting a possible catalytic role of phyllosilicates in the formation of organics. In contrast, the carbonate band is anticorrelated with water+organic combination, however uncorrelated with any other spectral feature. The average ratio of asymmetric CH₂ and CH₃ band strengths (CH₂/CH₃ = 2.53) for NWA 852 is similar to the average ratio of interplanetary dust particles (~2.40) and Wild 2 cometary dust particles (2.50), but it significantly exceeds that of interstellar medium objects (~1.00) and several aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites (~1.40). This suggests organics of similar length/branching, and perhaps similar formation regions, for NWA 852, Wild 2 dust particles, and interplanetary dust particles. The heterogeneous spatial distribution of ratio values indicates the presence of a mixture of aliphatic organic material with different length/branching, and thus a wide range of parent body processes, which occurred before the considered grain was formed.     

A model of household preparedness for earthquakes: how individuals make meaning of earthquake information and how this influences preparedness

One way to reduce the risk from earthquakes is for individuals to undertake preparations for earthquakes at home. Common preparation measures include gathering together survival items, undertaking mitigation actions, developing a household emergency plan, gaining survival skills or participating in wider social preparedness actions. While current earthquake education programmes advocate that people undertake a variety of these activities, actual household preparedness remains at modest levels. Effective earthquake education is inhibited by an incomplete understanding of how the preparedness process works. Previous research has focused on understanding the influence individual cognitive processes have on the earthquake preparedness process but has been limited in identifying other influences posed by the wider social contextual environment. This project used a symbolic interactionism perspective to explore the earthquake preparedness process through a series of qualitative interviews with householders in three New Zealand urban locations. It investigated earthquake information that individuals are exposed to, how people make meaning of this information and how this relates to undertaking actual preparedness measures. During the study, the relative influence of cognitive, emotive and societal factors on the preparedness process was explored and the interactions between these identified. A model of the preparedness process based on the interviews was developed and is presented in this paper.     

The Ksar Ghilane 002 shergottite—The 100th registered Martian meteorite fragment

We report on the discovery of a new shergottite from Tunisia, Ksar Ghilane (KG) 002. This single stone, weighing 538 g, is a coarse‐grained basaltic shergottite, mainly composed of maskelynitized plagioclase (approximately 52 vol%) and pyroxene (approximately 37 vol%). It also contains Fe‐rich olivine (approximately 4.5 vol%), large Ca‐phosphates, including both merrillites and Cl‐apatites (approximately 3.4 vol%), minor amounts of silica or SiO₂‐normative K‐rich glass, pyrrhotite, Ti‐magnetite, ilmenite, and accessory baddeleyite. The largest crystals of pyroxene and plagioclase reach sizes of approximately 4 to 5 mm. Pyroxenes (Fs_26–96En_5–50Wo_2–41). They typically range from cores of about Fs₂₉En₄₁Wo₃₀ to rims of about Fs₆₈En₁₄Wo₁₇. Maskelynite is Ab_41–49An_39–58Or_1–7 in composition, but some can be as anorthitic as An₉₃. Olivine (Fa_91–96) occurs mainly within symplectitic intergrowths, in paragenesis with ilmenite, or at neighboring areas of symplectites. KG 002 is heavily shocked (S5) as indicated by mosaic extinction of pyroxenes, maskelynitized plagioclase, the occurrence of localized shock melt glass pockets, and low radiogenic He concentration. Oxygen isotopes confirm that it is a normal member of the SNC suite. KG 002 is slightly depleted in LREE and shows a positive Eu anomaly, providing evidence for complex magma genesis and mantle processes on Mars. Noble gases with a composition thought to be characteristic for Martian interior is a dominant component. Measurements of ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, and ⁵³Mn and comparison with Monte Carlo calculations of production rates indicate that KG 002 has been exposed to cosmic rays most likely as a single meteoroid body of 35–65 cm radius. KG 002 strongly resembles Los Angeles and NWA 2800 basaltic shergottites in element composition, petrography, and mineral chemistry, suggesting a possible launch‐pairing. The similar CRE ages of KG 002 and Los Angeles may suggest an ejection event at approximately 3.0 Ma.     

Assimilation of ice concentration in a coupled ice–ocean model,using the Ensemble Kalman filter

An implementation of the Ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) with a coupled ice–ocean model is presented. The model system consists of a dynamic–thermodynamic ice model using the elastic-viscous-plastic (EVP) rheology coupled with the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). The observed variable is ice concentration from passive microwave sensor data (SSM/I). The assimilation of ice concentration has the desired effect of reducing the difference between observations and model. Comparison of the assimilation experiment with a free-run experiment shows that there are large differences, especially in summer. In winter the differences are relatively small, partly because the atmospheric forcing used to run the model depends upon SSM/I data. The assimilation has the strongest impact close to the ice edge, where it ensures a correct location of the ice edge throughout the simulation. An inspection of the model ensemble statistics reveals that the error estimates of the model are too small in winter, partly a result of too low model ice-concentration variance in the central ice pack. It is found that the ensemble covariance between ice concentration and sea-surface temperature in the same grid cell is of the same sign (negative) throughout the year. The ensemble covariance between ice concentration and salinity is more dependent upon the physical mechanisms involved, with ice transport and freeze/melt giving different signs of the covariances. The ice-transport and ice-melt mechanisms also impact the ice-concentration variance and the covariance between ice concentration and ice thickness. The ensemble statistics show a high degree of complexity, which to some extent merits the use of computationally expensive assimilation methods, such as the Ensemble Kalman filter. The present study focuses on the assimilation of ice concentration, but it is understood that assimilation of other datasets, such as sea-surface temperature, would be beneficial.Responsible Editor: Jin-Song von Storch