A Holocene pollen and diatom record from Vanderlin Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, lowland tropical Australia

Sedimentary, palynological and diatom data from a dunefield lake deposit in the interior of Vanderlin Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria are presented. Prior to the formation of present perennial lake conditions, the intensified Australian monsoon associated with the early Holocene marine transgression allowed Cyperaceae sedges to colonise the alluvial margins of an expansive salt flat surrounded by an open Eucalyptus woodland. As sea level stabilised between 7500 and 4500 cal yr B.P. coastal dunes ceased to develop allowing dense Melaleuca forest to establish in a Restionaceae swamp. Dune-sand input into the swamp was diminished further as the increasingly dense vegetation prevented fluvial and aeolian transported sand arriving from coastal sources. This same process impounded the drainage basin allowing a perennial lake to form between 5500 and 4000 cal yr B.P. Myriophyllum and other aquatic taxa colonised the lake periphery under the most extensive woodland recorded for the Holocene. The palynological data support an effective precipitation model proposed for northern Australia that suggests more variable conditions in the late Holocene. A more precise measure of effective precipitation change is provided by diatom-based inferences that indicate few changes in lake hydrology. Such interpretations are explained in terms of palynological sensitivity to adjustments in local fire regimes where regional precipitation change may only be recorded indirectly through fire promoting mechanisms, including intensified ENSO periodicity and human impact.     

The Mesozoic ostracod genus Arculicythere Grékoff: further evidence for the southern Gondwana seaway

This paper demonstrates that Arculicythere Grékoff is a widespread taxon in the uppermost Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of Gondwana. It occurs in Madagascar, India, Israel, South Africa, the Falklands Plateau, Argentina and Australia. The earliest record is from the Upper Tithonian of Madagascar but the most profuse occurrences are in the Albian, when the genus was very widespread around Gondwana. Its distribution seems to be associated with a major southern Gondwana seaway, and the genus provides additional proof of the existence of this corridor. Unlike another endemic gondwanine genus, Majungaella Grékoff, which ranged from earlier in the Jurassic but extended into the Neogene in the Antarctic, or Rostrocytheridea Dingle that survived into the Campanian of the Antarctic, Arculicythere seems to have become extinct in the Albian.     

'This is like my comfort zone': Senses of place and belonging within Oruāmo/Beachhaven, New Zealand

Abstract:  This paper examines the culturally specific experiences of belonging within Oruāmo/Beachhaven, a suburb in North Shore City. In-depth interviews with 32 caregivers of young children expose the fact that the ethnic groups represented – Māori, Samoan and Pākehā– vary in their uses and understandings of, as well as feelings for, residential neighbourhood. Examination of the themes of natural environment, social relations, continuity of residence, facilities, organisations and place transformation reveal that, while representatives of all groups had views on these matters, there was a variable degree of engagement with and priority afforded to these concerns.     

The role of fluids in the metamorphism of komatiites,Agnew nickel deposit,western Australia

The Agnew nickel sulfide deposit is spatially associated with a lenticular body of ultramafic rocks which shows a concentric zonation in metamorphic mineralogy. Olivine + tremolite + chlorite + cummingtonite ±enstatite assemblages occur at the margin of the ultramafic lens, giving way to olivine + anthophyllite, olivine + talc and olivine + antigorite assemblages successively inwards. These rocks are interpreted as having crystallized from komatiitic lavas, and exhibit a spectrum of compositions from those of original flow tops to pure olivine adcumulates. The relative modal abundances of metamorphic olivine, tremolite and chlorite reflect original proportions of cumulus olivine and komatiite liquid in the protolith. Peak metamorphic conditions are estimated at 550° C, based on garnet-biotite thermometry, at a maximum pressure of 3 kb. This temperature falls within the narrow range over which metamorphic olivine may co-exist with enstatite, anthophyllite, talc or antigorite depending upon the fugacity of water in the metamorphic fluid. The observed mineralogical zonation is therefore attributed to infiltration by CO₂-rich fluids, generated by decarbonation of talc-carbonate rocks formed during pre-metamorphic marginal alteration of the ultramafic lens. Metamorphic fluids were essentially binary mixtures of water and CO₂, with minor H₂S having a maximum partial pressure less than 1 percent of total pressure. Enstatite-bearing assemblages formed in the presence of CO₂-rich fluids at fluid: rock volume ratios close to one, while anthophyllite, talc and antigorite bearing assemblages formed in the presence of progressively more water-rich fluids at progressively lower fluid-rock ratios.     

Repetitive mixing events and holocene pyroclastic activity at Pico de Orizaba and Popocatepetl (Mexico)

The Holocene volcanic activity which built up the present terminal cones of Pico de Orizaba and Popocatepetl in eastern Mexico, was characterized by repeated pyroclastic Saint-Vincent type eruptions. Radiocarbon data show that these paroxysmal events occurred at more or less regular intervals, and were followed by moderate activity producing ash and pumice falls and andesitic lava flows from the summit craters.Typical ash and scoria pyroclastic flows exhibit a heterogeneous composition given by the interaction of a dacitic component with a more basic andesitic one. Scoria bombs are characterized by banded to emulsified textures, mineralogical desequilibrium assemblages and linear chemical variations on element-element plots as exemplified by the Loma Grande flow at Pico.Periodic replenishments of the magmatic reservoir could be the major phenomenon that started mixing and consequently triggered the pyroclastic eruptions.     

Hydrodynamic dispersion during absorption of water by soil: 2. Immobile water model

The assumptions and analysis of Part 1 are extended to the three model soil-water profiles having different immobile-water contents up to 0.08 m³ m^?3. Concentration profiles in the mobile zone obtained with a constant dispersion coefficient are compared with those calculated with the same dispersion coefficient and no immobile water. The average concentration profiles were calculated from the concentration of the solution in both the mobile and immobile phases. Increasing the immobile-water content decreased and shifted the average concentration profiles further into the soil. The values of the dispersion coefficient calculated with the immobile-water fraction ignored, were found to be water content dependent and many times greater than that of the input dispersion coefficient.     

Polar ice sheets: Developments since Wegener

Wegener's expeditions pioneered many measurements that are now essential for computer modelling of ice sheets. Advances in knowledge of accumulation, thickness, temperature, crystal fabric and surface mapping of ice sheets and of impurities, gas content and isotopic ratios of ice cores from these ice sheets are outlined before computer modelling work is discussed. The value of such studies in providing large scale tests of geophysical concepts is emphasized. The paper concludes by suggesting that the drag of continental ice sheets on the top of continental blocks might be of comparable magnitude and tend to balance forces on the base of these blocks by motion of the asthenosphere. Apart from providing a possible reason for the aseismic nature of the Antarctic and Greenland land masses, the hypothesis provides a suitable link for this volume between Wegener's interest in continental ice sheets and continental drift.

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Zusammenfassung Wegeners Expeditionen haben viele Messungen angeregt, die zu Ergebnissen geführt haben, die nunmehr reif sind für Computer-Modelle von Eisdecken. Es werden die Fortschritte in der Kenntnis von Akkumulationsraten, Mächtigkeit, Temperatur, Kristallstruktur, Oberflächenkartierung von Eisdecken und Verunreinigungen umrissen. Danach wird die Arbeit mit dem Computer-Modell diskutiert. Der Wert solcher Untersuchungen für großmaßstäbliche Tests geophysikalischer Konzepte wird betont. Die Ergebnisse lassen erwarten, daß die Schubkräfte der kontinentalen Eisdecken auf dem Top der kontinentalen Blöcke in derselben Größenordnung liegen könnten wie die aus der Bewegung der Asthenosphäre an der Basis dieser Blöcke. Letztere könnten damit kompensiert werden.Unabhängig davon, daß die aufgestellte Hypothese mögliche Argumente für die aseismische Natur der Antarktischen und Grönland-Massen aufzeigt, verbindet sie im Rahmen dieses Bandes Wegeners Interesse an kontinentalen Eisdecken mit der Kontinentaldrift.

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Résumé Les expéditions de Wegener ont suscité de nombreuses mesures qui ont fourni des données aujourd'hui mûres pour établir des modèles de couvertures glaciaires par la voie de calculatrices. Mais avant de discuter ce procédé, mention est faite des progrès accomplis dans la connaissance de l'accumulation, de l'épaisseur, de la température, de la structure cristalline et de la cartographie des couvertures glaciaires ainsi que de leurs impuretés, leur teneur en gas et les rapports d'isotopes dans les carottes qui y ont été prélevées, études dont il convient de souligner la valeur par les données à grande échelles qu'elles ont fourni à l'appui de concepts géophysiques. Le mémoire conclut sur la suggestion que les forces d'entrainement des couvertures glaciaires continentales sur la surface des blocs continentaux doit être d'un ordre comparable aux forces agissant à la base de ces blocs dans leur mouvement sur l'asthénosphère et qu'ils tendent à égaler. Outre qu'elle donne une raison possible de la nature asismique du continent antactique et du Groenland, cette hypothèse, dans ce volume, forme un trait d'union dans les intérêts que Wegener a portés aux couvertures glaciaires continentales et à la dérive des continents.

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Increasing Flash Floods in a Drying Climate over Southwest China

In a globally warming world,subtropical regions are generally expected to become drier while the tropics and mid–high latitudes become wetter.In line with this,Southwest China,close to 25?N,is expected to become increasingly prone to drought if annual mean precipitation decreases.However,despite this trend,changes in the temporal distribution of moisture supply might actually result in increased extreme rainfall in the region,whose climate is characterized by distinct dry and wet seasons.Using hourly and daily gauge observations,rainfall intensity changes since 1971 are examined for a network of 142 locations in the region.From the analysis,dry season changes are negligible but wet season changes exhibit a significantly strong downward trend [-2.4%(10 yr)~(-1)],particularly during the past 15 years [-17.7%(10 yr)~(-1)].However,the intensity of events during the wettest of 5% hours appears to steadily increase during the whole period [1.4%(10 yr)~(-1)],tying in with government statistical reports of recent droughts and flooding.If the opposing trends are a consequence of a warming climate,it is reasonable to expect the contradictory trend to continue with an enhanced risk of flash flooding in coming decades in the region concerned.     

Spatial discordance in fish,coral, and sponge assemblages across a Caribbean atoll reef gradient

Certain biodiversity patterns on coral reefs are generally consistent but we still lack fundamental insight into how assemblages vary across spatially heterogeneous reef systems. We compared fish, coral, and sponge assemblages across a symmetrical physiographical gradient (windward forereef, lagoon patch reef, leeward forereef) of the Glover's Reef atoll, Belize. Species richness of fishes and corals was highest in the deep habitat (15 m) on the windward forereef. Sponges were diverse and abundant on both deep windward and leeward forereefs but not on the exposed shallow (5 m) windward forereef. Fish and benthic assemblages were relatively distinct in each reef zone, with the lagoon patch reef communities consisting of a combination of leeward and windward species. Nevertheless, there were no clear patterns in community similarity matrices of fish and benthic assemblages, suggesting that overall coral and sponge assemblages had weak or no direct association with patterns in fish assemblages. A closer examination of fish trophic groups indicated that planktivores and predators were predictably associated with depth, whereas herbivores were associated with shallow protected reefs. None was specifically associated with spatial location along the atoll gradient. These patterns of diversity distribution are important for identifying spatial conservation priorities. A Marine Protected Area (MPA) at Glover's Reef encompasses substantial windward forereef and patch reef habitats. A much lesser extent of protection is afforded the leeward forereef that supports faunal assemblages that are unique and productive, if not as diverse as the windward forereef. Isolated coral atolls can serve as ideal systems to study spatial heterogeneity and biodiversity patterns, but more experimental studies are needed to reveal the mechanistic processes underlying these patterns.