Deposition and provenance of the Early Pleistocene Siliceous Member in Westbury Cave,Somerset, England

The Early Pleistocene is an important interval in the Quaternary period as a time not only of climatic and environmental change, but also of key events in human evolution. However, knowledge of this period in northwest Europe is hampered by the limited extent of deposits of this age. Westbury Cave in the Mendip Hills of Somerset preserves an understudied example of fossil-bearing Early Pleistocene sediments, with rare potential to inform our understanding of British Early Pleistocene stratigraphy and landscape evolution outside the East Anglian Crag Basin. This study identifies the processes responsible for deposition of the Early Pleistocene Siliceous Member in Westbury Cave, thereby aiding taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental interpretations of associated fossil assemblages. New excavations revealed over ten metres of Siliceous Member stratigraphy, dominated by fine-grained silts/clays with interbedded sands and gravels, interpreted as being deposited within a subterranean lake or flooded conduit with fluvial input. All sediments sampled were reversely magnetised and are assigned to the Matuyama Reversed Chron. Lithological analysis of gravel clasts revealed variable components of durable non-local and non-durable local clasts. Gravels containing the latter are interpreted as distal talus slope deposits, and those lacking non-durable lithologies as stream or flood deposits. However, it remains unclear from available data whether apparently non-local clasts were sourced from long distance or stem from a more local, now denuded catchment. Siliceous Member bio- and magnetostratigraphy suggest that deposition occurred late in the Early Pleistocene, a period apparently otherwise unrepresented in the UK.     

The elephant in the room: The hidden costs of leasing individual transferable fishing quotas

Despite the increasingly positive reviews of individual transferable quotas (ITQs), few studies have considered how quota leasing activities can reduce the economic benefits to society and to fishermen operating under the ITQ fisheries system. This analysis reveals negative economic impacts of ITQs previously overlooked by examining the extent of quota leasing and the relationship between the catch value, the cost of fishing, and the quota lease price in the BC halibut fishery, long considered a poster child for ITQs. Findings challenge assumptions of economic theory used to promote the benefits of ITQs.     

Methane sources,sinks and fluxes in a temperate tidal Lagoon: The Arcachon lagoon (SW France)

The Arcachon lagoon is a 156 km² temperate mesotidal lagoon dominated by tidal flats (66% of the surface area). The methane (CH₄) sources, sinks and fluxes were estimated from water and pore water concentrations, from chamber flux measurements at the sediment–air (low tide), sediment–water and water–air (high tide) interfaces, and from potential oxidation and production rate measurements in sediments. CH₄ concentrations in waters were maximal (500–1000 nmol l⁻¹) in river waters and in tidal creeks at low tide, and minimal in the lagoon at high tide (<50 nmol l⁻¹). The major CH₄ sources are continental waters and the tidal pumping of sediment pore waters at low tide. Methanogenesis occurred in the tidal flat sediments, in which pore water concentrations were relatively high (2.5–8.0 μmol l⁻¹). Nevertheless, the sediment was a minor CH₄ source for the water column and the atmosphere because of a high degree of anaerobic and aerobic CH₄ oxidation in sediments. Atmospheric CH₄ fluxes at high and low tide were low compared to freshwater wetlands. Temperate tidal lagoons appear to be very minor contributor of CH₄ to global atmosphere and to open ocean.     

Ignoring market failure in quota leasing?

This short communication is, in part, a response to the Bruce Turris' rejoinder (Marine Policy…2010) to Pinkerton et al., The elephant in the room: The hidden costs of leasing individual transferable fishing quotas (Marine Policy, July 2009). In responding to this article on the unacknowledged problems of unregulated and even unrecorded leasing of individual transferable fishing quotas (ITQs), Turris illustrated the point of the original article well by minimizing the status of leasing as a major influence leading to problems with the fishery: an elephant in the room. Turris focused instead on relatively small and less relevant details, misrepresented the argument, and largely ignored or skirted our discussion of the absent structural conditions important for open competition and efficient outcomes. This response addresses several of his concerns, elaborates on some of the initial points in the original article and contributes some new ones.     

Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems: technical tools for social innovation

ABSTRACT

The establishment of the National Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in 1995, under the directorship of Professor Graeme Hugo, was a turning point in the use of GIS in Australia. The field of GIS, previously dominated by environmental applications, now broadened its focus to include populations, services and the interactions between people and the environment. Social applications of GIS offered a unique opportunity to make service planning, reporting, funding allocations and research both smarter and fairer. Geography and geographic relationships as implemented in GIS became the integrating platform for social spatial information, invigorating social research, planning and policy. A key strength of this approach, recognised by Professor Hugo, was the ability to ‘put people back into the planning process’. Further to being an integrating platform, GIS also offered the ability to generate new information and knowledge, which could facilitate evidence-based decision making. This paper focuses in particular on providing a written record of the development of the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) suite of spatial accessibility indices. The lasting legacy and continued relevance of this work in social applications of GIS is also reviewed in this paper, with reference to key examples of how social research and planning in Australia have been made both smarter and fairer through the contributions of Professor Hugo and his team.     

Further Characterisation of the 91500 Zircon Crystal

This paper reports the results from a second characterisation of the 91500 zircon, including data from electron probe microanalysis, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and laser fluorination analyses. The focus of this initiative was to establish the suitability of this large single zircon crystal for calibrating in situ analyses of the rare earth elements and oxygen isotopes, as well as to provide working values for key geochemical systems. In addition to extensive testing of the chemical and structural homogeneity of this sample, the occurrence of banding in 91500 in both backscattered electron and cathodoluminescence images is described in detail. Blind intercomparison data reported by both LA-ICP-MS and SIMS laboratories indicate that only small systematic differences exist between the data sets provided by these two techniques. Furthermore, the use of NIST SRM 610 glass as the calibrant for SIMS analyses was found to introduce little or no systematic error into the results for zircon. Based on both laser fluorination and SIMS data, zircon 91500 seems to be very well suited for calibrating in situ oxygen isotopic analyses.     

Influence of Shallow Geology on Volatile Organic Chemical Attenuation from Groundwater to Deep Soil Gas

Vapor intrusion pathway evaluations commonly begin with a comparison of volatile organic chemical (VOC) concentrations in groundwater to generic, or Tier 1, screening levels. These screening levels are typically quite low reflecting both a desired level of conservatism in a generic risk screening process as well as limitations in understanding of physical and chemical processes that impact vapor migration in the subsurface. To study the latter issue, we have collected detailed soil gas and groundwater vertical concentration profiles and evaluated soil characteristics at seven different sites overlying chlorinated solvent contaminant plumes. The goal of the study was to evaluate soil characteristics and their impacts on VOC attenuation from groundwater to deep soil gas (i.e., soil gas in the unsaturated zone within 2 feet of the water table). The study results suggest that generic screening levels can be adjusted by a factor of 100× at sites with fine‐grained soils above the water table, as identified by visual observations or soil air permeability measurements. For these fine‐grained soil sites, the upward‐adjusted screening levels maintain a level of conservatism while potentially eliminating the need for vapor intrusion investigations at sites that may not meet generic screening criteria.     

Sheathed prokaryotic filaments,major components of Mid-Cretaceous French amber microcoenoses

Prokaryotes were the first organisms to colonize Earth, but little evidence of their existence has been found in the fossil record. Recent studies of amber, a fossil resin from gymnosperms or angiosperms, have revealed a number of rarely fossilized microorganisms. Several amber-bearing localities of Mid-Cretaceous age in southwestern France (Charentes and Aude regions) led to the discovery of a rich and diverse biota of resin-preserved microorganisms. These amber microcoenoses are dominated by sheathed prokaryotic filaments similar to those of the cyanobacterium Palaeocolteronema cenomanensis Breton and Tostain (2005) and to those of the bacterium Leptotrichites resinatus Schmidt 2005. These sheathed filaments appear as peripheral cortexes around some pieces of amber from the Charentes outcrops and as peripheral dark areas on amber from the Aude locality. Macroscopic and microscopic features, as well as measurements of phycocyanin concentrations from the filaments, made it possible to identify two different taxa. The sheathed filaments from Charentes correspond to P. cenomanensis. They were growing in freshwater ponds when amber trapped them. Those of the Aude outcrop represent L. resinatus. The latter were probably trapped in less humid environments than were P. cenomanensis filaments.     

An evaluation of Arctic cloud and radiation processes during the SHEBA year: simulation results from eight Arctic regional climate models

Eight atmospheric regional climate models (RCMs) were run for the period September 1997 to October 1998 over the western Arctic Ocean. This period was coincident with the observational campaign of the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) project. The RCMs shared common domains, centred on the SHEBA observation camp, along with a common model horizontal resolution, but differed in their vertical structure and physical parameterizations. All RCMs used the same lateral and surface boundary conditions. Surface downwelling solar and terrestrial radiation, surface albedo, vertically integrated water vapour, liquid water path and cloud cover from each model are evaluated against the SHEBA observation data. Downwelling surface radiation, vertically integrated water vapour and liquid water path are reasonably well simulated at monthly and daily timescales in the model ensemble mean, but with considerable differences among individual models. Simulated surface albedos are relatively accurate in the winter season, but become increasingly inaccurate and variable in the melt season, thereby compromising the net surface radiation budget. Simulated cloud cover is more or less uncorrelated with observed values at the daily timescale. Even for monthly averages, many models do not reproduce the annual cycle correctly. The inter-model spread of simulated cloud-cover is very large, with no model appearing systematically superior. Analysis of the co-variability of terms controlling the surface radiation budget reveal some of the key processes requiring improved treatment in Arctic RCMs. Improvements in the parameterization of cloud amounts and surface albedo are most urgently needed to improve the overall performance of RCMs in the Arctic.     

Semi-Implicit Scheme for the DWD Lokal-Modell

Summary  The fourth generation of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models is currently under development at the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) consisting of a global grid point model (GME) and limited-area Lokal-Modell (LM). The nonhydrostatic fully compressible LM has been designed to meet high-resol ution regional fore-cast requirements at meso-β and meso-γ scales. The initial LM implementation is based on the NCAR/Penn State MM5 with the addition of a novel generalized terrain-following coordinate and rotated lat-lon grid. A fully 3D semi-implicit time-stepping scheme has been implemented by retaining the full buoyancy term instead of the approximate form found in MM5. In contrast with earlier schemes, mass-lumping is not applied to simplify the elliptic operator on an Arakawa-C/Lorenz grid. The resulting variable-coefficient elliptic problem is solved using a minimal residual Krylov iterative method with line relaxation preconditione rs. The new semi-implicit scheme is compared with a variant of the Klemp–Wilhelmson split-explicit scheme (horizontal explicit, vertical implicit) on the basis of computational efficiency and accuracy at resolutions ranging from 7 km to 400 m. Both idealized 3D mountain wave flows and naturally occuring flows are analyzed. Below the tropopause, the 3D semi-implicit scheme can be more efficient for low Mach number M ≪ 1 flows when the number of small time steps Δt _s of the split-explicit approach increases with the sound-speed Courant number. Revised October 7, 1999