The evolution of the terrestrial-terminating Irish Sea glacier during the last glaciation

Here we reconstruct the last advance to maximum limits and retreat of the Irish Sea Glacier (ISG), the only land-terminating ice lobe of the western British Irish Ice Sheet. A series of reverse bedrock slopes rendered proglacial lakes endemic, forming time-transgressive moraine- and bedrock-dammed basins that evolved with ice marginal retreat. Combining, for the first time on glacial sediments, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) bleaching profiles for cobbles with single grain and small aliquot OSL measurements on sands, has produced a coherent chronology from these heterogeneously bleached samples. This chronology constrains what is globally an early build-up of ice during late Marine Isotope Stage 3 and Greenland Stadial (GS) 5, with ice margins reaching south Lancashire by 30 ± 1.2 ka, followed by a 120-km advance at 28.3 ± 1.4 ka reaching its 26.5 ± 1.1 ka maximum extent during GS-3. Early retreat during GS-3 reflects piracy of ice sources shared with the Irish-Sea Ice Stream (ISIS), starving the ISG. With ISG retreat, an opportunistic readvance of Welsh ice during GS-2 rode over the ISG moraines occupying the space vacated, with ice margins oscillating within a substantial glacial over-deepening. Our geomorphological chronosequence shows a glacial system forced by climate but mediated by piracy of ice sources shared with the ISIS, changing flow regimes and fronting environments.     

Improved ocean-geoid resolution from retracked ERS-1 satellite altimeter waveforms

The ocean geoid can be inferred from the topography of the mean sea surface. Satellite altimeters transmit radar pulses and determine the return traveltime to measure sea-surface height. The ERS-1 altimeter stacks 51 consecutive radar reflections on board the satellite to a single waveform. Tracking the time shift of the waveform gives an estimate of the distance to the sea surface. We retrack the ERS-1 radar traveltimes using a model that is focused on the leading edge of the waveforms. While earlier methods regarded adjacent waveforms as independent statistical events, we invert a whole sequence of waveforms simultaneously for a spline geoid solution. Smoothness is controlled by spectral constraints on the spline coefficients. Our geoid solutions have an average spectral density equal to the expected power spectrum of the true geoid. The coherence of repeat track solutions indicates a spatial resolution of 31  km, as compared to 41  km resolution for the ERS-1 Ocean Product. While the resolution of the latter deteriorates to 47  km for wave heights above 2  m, our geoid solution maintains its resolution of 31  km for rough sea. Retracking altimeter waveform data and constraining the solution by a spectral model leads to a realistic geoid solution with significantly improved along-track resolution.     

Mass-independent fractionation of oxygen isotopes in the mesostasis of a chondrule from the Semarkona LL3.0 ordinary chondrite

A large chondrule from Semarkona, the most primitive ordinary chondrite known, has been discovered to contain a record of mass transport during its formation. In most respects, it is a normal Type I, group A1, low-FeO chondrule that was produced by reduction and mass-loss during the unidentified flash-heating event that produced the chondrules, the most abundant structural component in primitive meteorites. We have previously measured elemental abundances and abundance profiles in this chondrule. We here report oxygen isotope ratio abundances and ratio abundance profiles. We have found that the mesostasis is zoned in oxygen isotope ratio, with the center of the chondrule containing isotopically heavier oxygen than the outer regions, the outer regions being volatile rich from the diffusion of volatiles into the chondrule during cooling. The δ¹⁷O values range from −2.0‰ to 9.9‰, while δ¹⁸O range from −1.9‰ to 9.6‰. More importantly, a plot of δ¹⁷O against δ¹⁸O has a slope of 1.1 ± 0.2 (1σ) and 0.88 ± 0.10 (1σ) when measured by two independent methods. Co-variation of δ¹⁷O with δ¹⁸O that does not follow mass-dependent fractionation has often been seen in primitive solar system materials and is usually ascribed to the mixing of different oxygen reservoirs. We argue that petrographic and compositional data indicate that this chondrule was completely melted at the time of its formation so that relic grains could not have survived. Furthermore, there is petrographic and compositional evidence that there was no aqueous alteration of this chondrule subsequent to its formation. Although it is possible to formulate a series of exchanges between the chondrule and external ¹⁶O-rich and ¹⁶O-poor reservoirs that may explain the detailed oxygen isotope systematics of this chondrule, such a sequence of events looks very contrived. We therefore hypothesize that reduction, devolatilization, and crystallization of the chondrule melt may have produced ¹⁶O-rich olivines and ¹⁶O-poor mesostasis plotting on a slope-one line as part of the chondrule-forming process in an analogous fashion to known chemical mass-independent isotopic fractionation mechanisms. During cooling, volatiles and oxygen near the terrestrial line in oxygen isotope composition produced the outer zone of volatile rich and ¹⁶O-rich mesostasis. The chondrule therefore not only retains a record of considerable mass transport accompanying formation, but also may indicate that the isotopes of oxygen underwent mass-independent fractionation during the process.     

Stable isotope studies of fluid inclusions in speleothems and their paleoclimatic significance

Fluid inclusions found trapped in speleothems (cave deposited travertine) are interpreted as samples of seepage water from which enclosing calcium carbonate was deposited. The inclusions are assumed to have preserved their D/H ratios since the time of deposition. Initial ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios can be inferred from δD because rain- and snow-derived seepage waters fall on the meteoric water line (δD = 8δ¹⁸O + 10). Estimates of temperature of deposition of the carbonate can be calculated from inclusion D/H ratios and δ¹⁸O of enclosing calcite in Pleistocene speleothems. For most speleothems investigated (0–200,000 yr old) δ¹⁸O of calcite appears to have decreased with increasing temperature of deposition indicating that the dominant cause of climate-dependent change in δ¹⁸O of calcite was the change in K_cw, the isotope fractionation equilibrium constant, with temperature; δ¹⁸O of meteoric precipitation generally increased with increasing temperature, but not sufficiently to compensate for the decrease in K_cw.     

The Zn abundance and isotopic composition of diatom frustules,a proxy for Zn availability in ocean surface seawater

We have developed cleaning methods for extracting diatomopal from bulk marine sediment samples, for measurement of both zinc (Zn) abundance and isotope composition. This cleaning technique was then applied to a set of Holocene core-top samples from the Southern Ocean. The measured δ⁶⁶Zn (reported relative to the JMC_Lyon standard) and Zn/Si ratios from the Southern Ocean diatom_opal samples range from 0.7 to 1.5‰, and from 14 to 0.9 μmol/mol, respectively. The Zn abundance and isotope composition data show a clear correlation with opal burial rates and other oceanographic parameters. In common with previous work, we interpret the systematic changes in the Zn/Si ratio to be linked to the variability in the concentrations of bioavailable Zn in the ambient surface seawater where the diatom opal is formed. This variability is likely to be primarily controlled by the degree to which Zn is taken up into phytoplankton biomass. The observed systematic pattern in the δ⁶⁶Zn compositions of the diatom_opal core-top samples is, similarly, likely to reflect changes in the δ⁶⁶Zn composition of the ambient Zn in the surface waters above the core-top sites, which is progressively driven towards isotopically heavier values by preferential incorporation of the lighter isotopes into phytoplankton organic material. Thus, the systematic relationship between Zn isotopes and abundance observed in the core-top diatom_opal samples suggests a potential tool for investigating the biogeochemical cycling of Zn in the past surface ocean for down-core diatom_opal material. In this respect, it may be possible to test hypotheses that attribute variations in atmospheric CO₂ on glacial–interglacial timescales to the degree to which trace metals limited primary productivity in HNLC zones.     

Structural chemistry of synthetic cordierite: Evidence for solid solutions and disordered compositional domains in Bi-flux-grown Mg-cordierites

The structure, crystal chemistry, and microstructure of disordered and ordered Mg-cordierites synthesized in a bismuth oxide flux system have been studied by a combination of x-ray and neutron powder diffraction and quantitative x-ray microanalysis using analytical electron microscopy. Microchemical data obtained on Bi-flux cordierites using energy-dispersive x-ray analysis is interpreted through comparison with data collected on stoichiometric Mg₂Al₄Si₅O₁₈ glass and α- and β-cordierite samples synthesized by subsolidus crystallization of the glass. Bi-flux cordierites crystallize in both the hexagonal and orthorhombic polymorphs and contain 5 to 10 at% occupancy of bismuth on the C1 and C2 channel sites. The microstructure of Bi-flux α-cordierite is characterized by the existence of local domains of disordered cordierite solid solutions with variable composition and significant vacancy concentrations on the octahedral site. The β-cordierites have a more homogeneous microstructure but are still Al-deficient, Si-rich solid solutions.     

It’s Time To Learn About Learning: Where Should the Environmental and Natural Resource Governance Field Go Next?

This Commentary reflects on the state of the scholarship on learning for environmental and natural resource policy and governance. How have we been learning about learning? We highlight theoretical and empirical advancements related to learning, as well as areas of divergence between learning theories and frameworks, and underdeveloped knowledge around processes and outcomes. To address these limitations and improve progress in both theory and practice, we offer recommendations for learning scholarship by focusing on how to collectively engage in ‘learning about learning’.     

Terrestrial age measurements using natural thermoluminescence of a drained zone under the fusion crust of Antarctic ordinary chondrites

Abstract— Miono et al. (1990) and Miono and Nakanishi (1994) have proposed that the build‐up of natural thermoluminescence (TL) in a drained layer directly below the meteorite fusion crust can be used to determine terrestrial ages of meteorites in the 40 to 200 ka range. We have measured the natural TL of the drained layer of 15 meteorites. The data indicate that this technique could be used to determine terrestrial ages of meteorites with ages <200 ka, after which TL equilibrium is reached. Comparison of TL build‐up with terrestrial ages for a suite of Antarctic meteorites suggests that the meteorites have been exposed to temperatures of 0 to 5 °C. The close correspondence between natural TL levels and surface exposure TL growth curves suggest that Allan Hills meteorites with ages <200 ka have spent a significant portion of their terrestrial history exposed on the ice surface, rather than being buried in the ice sheet. The technique is, however, sensitive to thermal history; and, for Antarctic meteorites with terrestrial ages <200 ka, natural TL of the drained zone largely reflects exposure on the ice surface.     

Exurbia from the bottom-up: Confronting empirical challenges to characterizing a complex system

We describe empirical results from a multi-disciplinary project that support modeling complex processes of land-use and land-cover change in exurban parts of Southeastern Michigan. Based on two different conceptual models, one describing the evolution of urban form as a consequence of residential preferences and the other describing land-cover changes in an exurban township as a consequence of residential preferences, local policies, and a diversity of development types, we describe a variety of empirical data collected to support the mechanisms that we encoded in computational agent-based models. We used multiple methods, including social surveys, remote sensing, and statistical analysis of spatial data, to collect data that could be used to validate the structure of our models, calibrate their specific parameters, and evaluate their output. The data were used to investigate this system in the context of several themes from complexity science, including have (a) macro-level patterns; (b) autonomous decision making entities (i.e., agents); (c) heterogeneity among those entities; (d) social and spatial interactions that operate across multiple scales and (e) nonlinear feedback mechanisms. The results point to the importance of collecting data on agents and their interactions when producing agent-based models, the general validity of our conceptual models, and some changes that we needed to make to these models following data analysis. The calibrated models have been and are being used to evaluate landscape dynamics and the effects of various policy interventions on urban land-cover patterns.