Tepee-shaped agglutinated microbialites: an example from a Famennian carbonate platform on the Lennard Shelf, northern Canning Basin, Western Australia

Distinctive, metre‐scale antiformal structures are well developed in a Famennian carbonate platform in the Chedda Cliffs area of the Lennard Shelf reef complexes. The structures are distinguished by chevron‐shaped crests and thickened cores and contain abundant non‐skeletal allochems (ooids/pisoids, peloids and intraclasts) of silt to pebble size and variably developed laminations and fenestrae. The internal morphology and pervasive occurrence of fenestral clotted and wavy laminated fabrics suggest that these structures are microbial mounds composed of agglutinated stromatolites and thrombolites. Microbial fabrics most probably originated through sediment trapping and binding by microbial mats with early lithification involving microbial calcification and cementation of trapped sediment. The facies and stratigraphic context of the mounds support a shallow subtidal, transitional backreef to reef‐flat setting; however, alone these mounds do not provide unequivocal environmental information. Other large antiformal structures in Famennian platforms on the Lennard Shelf, previously described as tepee structures, show morphological similarities to the Chedda Cliffs mounds, which suggests that these other structures may also be microbial mounds. The presence of microbial mounds in platform successions further highlights the importance of microbial communities in the Lennard Shelf reef complexes.     

Quantitative relationship between water-depth and sub-fossil ostracod assemblages in Lake Donggi Cona,Qinghai Province,China

A calibration data set of 51 surface sediment samples from Lake Donggi Cona on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau was investigated to study the relationship between sub-fossil ostracod assemblages and water depth. Samples were collected over a depth range from 0.6 to 80 m. A total of 16 ostracod species was identified from the lake with about half of the species restricted to the Tibetan Plateau and its adjacent mountain ranges and poorly known in terms of ecological preferences, and the other half displaying a mainly Holarctic distribution. Living macrophytes and macroalgae were recorded in Lake Donggi Cona down to a depth of about 30 m, and bivalve (Pisidium cf. zugmayeri) and gastropod (Gyraulus, Radix) shells were found down to depths of 43 and 48 m, respectively. The ostracod-water-depth relationship was assessed by multivariate statistical analysis and ostracod-based transfer functions for water depth were constructed. Weighted averaging partial least squares (WA-PLS) regression provided the best model with a coefficient of determination r ² of 0.91 between measured and ostracod-inferred water depth, a root mean square error of prediction of 8% and a maximum bias of 10.6% of the gradient length, as assessed by leave-one-out cross-validation. Our results show the potential of ostracods as palaeo-depth indicators in appropriate settings. However, transfer-function applications using fossil ostracod assemblages for palaeo-depth estimations require a thorough understanding of the palaeolimnological conditions of lakes and therefore detailed multi-proxy analysis to avoid misinterpretation of ostracod-based inferences.     

Extreme Cold Events from East Asia to North America in Winter 2020/21: Comparisons,Causes, and Future Implications

Three striking and impactful extreme cold weather events successively occurred across East Asia and North America during the mid-winter of 2020/21.These events open a new window to detect possible underlying physical processes.The analysis here indicates that the occurrences of the three events resulted from integrated effects of a concurrence of anomalous thermal conditions in three oceans and interactive Arctic-lower latitude atmospheric circulation processes,which were linked and influenced by one major sudden stratospheric warming(SSW).The North Atlantic warm blob initiated an increased poleward transient eddy heat flux,reducing the Barents-Kara seas sea ice over a warmed ocean and disrupting the stratospheric polar vortex(SPV)to induce the major SSW.The Rossby wave trains excited by the North Atlantic warm blob and the tropical Pacific La Nina interacted with the Arctic tropospheric circulation anomalies or the tropospheric polar vortex to provide dynamic settings,steering cold polar air outbreaks.The long memory of the retreated sea ice with the underlying warm ocean and the amplified tropospheric blocking highs from the midlatitudes to the Arctic intermittently fueled the increased transient eddy heat flux to sustain the SSW over a long time period.The displaced or split SPV centers associated with the SSW played crucial roles in substantially intensifying the tropospheric circulation anomalies and moving the jet stream to the far south to cause cold air outbreaks to a rarely observed extreme state.The results have significant implications for increasing prediction skill and improving policy decision making to enhance resilience in“One Health,One Future”.     

Estimation of spawning habitats of market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) from field surveys of eggs off Central and Southern California

Like many other loliginid squid, Doryteuthis (Loligo) opalescens deposits egg cases on the ocean floor. Depending upon temperature, egg cases may persist for 5–12 weeks before the paralarvae hatch. Because of this relatively long duration and squid’s pelagic life history, egg cases provide a practical life stage to survey. During 2001–2002, squid egg beds in Monterey Bay, Carmel Bay, and around the California Channel Islands were surveyed using a remotely operated vehicle with the goal of delineating the habitat of egg beds that are spawned during active commercial fishing. Egg cases were highly aggregated and densities reached 1338 capsules m⁻². Squid eggs were significantly shallower in Central California. Egg cases occurred between 20 and 93 m around the Channel Islands, and in Central California they were between 13 and 61 m. The temperatures in both regions were similar (10–12 °C), with some eggs in Southern California found up to 14.4 °C. Ninety-five percent of eggs were found on sand, suggesting that temperature and substrate are stronger behavioral cues than depth to stimulate spawning. Suitable spawning habitat was defined by three criteria: sandy benthic substrate, temperatures between 10 and 14.4 °C, and depths between 20 and 70 m when the first two criteria hold. Additionally, within this defined area, oxygen concentration is quantified. The greatest commercial landings of market squid occur in both Central and Southern California during a time of year when water temperatures of 10–12 °C are prevalent in the 20–70 m depth range.     

Analysis of historical landslide time series in the Emilia‐Romagna region,northern Italy

A catalogue of historical landslides, 1951–2002, for three provinces in the Emilia‐Romagna region of northern Italy is presented and its statistical properties studied. The catalogue consists of 2255 reported landslides and is based on historical archives and chronicles. We use two measures for the intensity of landsliding over time: (i) the number of reported landslides in a day (D_L) and (ii) the number of reported landslides in an event (S_event), where an event is one or more consecutive days with landsliding. From 1951–2002 in our study area there were 1057 days with 1 ≤ D_L ≤?45 landslides per day, and 596 events with 1 ≤ S_event ≤ 129 landslides per event. In the first set of analyses, we find that the probability density of landslide intensities in the time series are power‐law distributed over at least two‐orders of magnitude, with exponent of about ?2·0. Although our data is a proxy for landsliding built from newspaper reports, it is the first tentative evidence that the frequency‐size of triggered landslide events over time (not just the landslides in a given triggered event), like earthquakes, scale as a power‐law or other heavy‐tailed distributions. If confirmed, this could have important implications for risk assessment and erosion modelling in a given area. In our second set of analyses, we find that for short antecedent rainfall periods, the minimum amount of rainfall necessary to trigger landslides varies considerably with the intensity of the landsliding (D_L and S_event); whereas for long antecedent periods the magnitude is largely independent of the cumulative amount of rainfall, and the largest values of landslide intensity are always preceded by abundant rainfall. Further, the analysis of the rainfall trend suggests that the trigger of landslides in the study area is related to seasonal rainfall. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial patterns,rates and mechanisms of saltmarsh cycles (Westerschelde,The Netherlands)

Saltmarsh development was studied in a spatial context, in order to understand the mechanisms involved in saltmarsh cycles. A 30-y time-series of very high resolution false colour aerial photographs was studied for eight saltmarsh sites in the Westerschelde estuary (southwest Netherlands). Detailed maps of vegetation cover were produced for each year, based on a supervised classification, and changes in vegetation cover were analysed in a geographical information system.     

High resolution climate simulations over the Arctic

The regional atmospheric climate model HIRHAM has been applied to the Arctic. Simulations for the whole year 1990 and for an ensemble of winter months (January of 1985-1995) have been performed. The comparison of the simulations with observational data analyses shows that the general spatial patterns are in good agreement with the data, in both the vertical structure and the annual cycle. For an additional validation of the model results, a multivariate classification of large-scale circulation patterns has been applied to the January ensemble model simulations.