A sequence stratigraphic model for an intensely bioturbated shallow-marine sandstone: the Bridport Sand Formation, Wessex Basin, UK

The Bridport Sand Formation is an intensely bioturbated sandstone that represents part of a mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate shallow‐marine depositional system. At outcrop and in subsurface cores, conventional facies analysis was combined with ichnofabric analysis to identify facies successions bounded by a hierarchy of key stratigraphic surfaces. The geometry of these surfaces and the lateral relationships between the facies successions that they bound have been constrained locally using 3D seismic data. Facies analysis suggests that the Bridport Sand Formation represents progradation of a low‐energy, siliciclastic shoreface dominated by storm‐event beds reworked by bioturbation. The shoreface sandstones form the upper part of a thick (up to 200 m), steep (2–3°), mud‐dominated slope that extends into the underlying Down Cliff Clay. Clinoform surfaces representing the shoreface‐slope system are grouped into progradational sets. Each set contains clinoform surfaces arranged in a downstepping, offlapping manner that indicates forced‐regressive progradation, which was punctuated by flooding surfaces that are expressed in core and well‐log data. In proximal locations, progradational shoreface sandstones (corresponding to a clinoform set) are truncated by conglomerate lags containing clasts of bored, reworked shoreface sandstones, which are interpreted as marking sequence boundaries. In medial locations, progradational clinoform sets are overlain across an erosion surface by thin (<5 m) bioclastic limestones that record siliciclastic‐sediment starvation during transgression. Near the basin margins, these limestones are locally thick (>10 m) and overlie conglomerate lags at sequence boundaries. Sequence boundaries are thus interpreted as being amalgamated with overlying transgressive surfaces, to form composite erosion surfaces. In distal locations, oolitic ironstones that formed under conditions of extended physical reworking overlie composite sequence boundaries and transgressive surfaces. Over most of the Wessex Basin, clinoform sets (corresponding to high‐frequency sequences) are laterally offset, thus defining a low‐frequency sequence architecture characterized by high net siliciclastic sediment input and low net accommodation. Aggradational stacking of high‐frequency sequences occurs in fault‐bounded depocentres which had higher rates of localized tectonic subsidence.     

Controls on low-pressure anatexis

Low-pressure anatexis, whereby rocks melt in place after passing through the andalusite stability field, develops under more restricted conditions than does low-pressure metamorphism. Our thermal modelling and review of published work indicate that the following mechanisms, operating alone, may induce anatexis in typical pelitic rocks without inducing wholesale melting in the lower crust: (i) magmatic advection by pervasive flow; (ii) crustal-scale detachment faulting; and (iii) the presence of a high heat-producing layer. Of these, only magmatic advection by pervasive flow and crustal-scale detachment faulting have been shown quantitatively to provide sufficient heat to cause widespread melting. Combinations of the above mechanisms with pluton-scale magmatic advection, shear heating, removal of the lithospheric mantle, or with each other provide additional means of developing suitable high temperatures at shallow crustal levels to generate low-pressure anatexis.     

Modeling of the classification behavior of the diaphragms used in multi-chamber cement mills

A new approach has been developed for describing the classification that arises at the diaphragm in multi-chamber ball mills. Fourteen industrial scale cement mills have been sampled in this study and after mass balancing, model fits of the equipment were done. Successive mill product predictions for the sampled conditions were achieved, and requirements to build up an optimization capable model are discussed.     

Asymmetric vegetation responses to mid-Holocene aridity at the prairie-forest ecotone in south-central Minnesota

The mid-Holocene (ca. 8000-4000 cal yr BP) was a time of marked aridity throughout much of Minnesota, and the changes due to mid-Holocene aridity are seen as an analog for future responses to global warming. In this study, we compare the transition into (ca. 9000-7000 yr ago) and out of (ca. 5000-2500 yr ago) the mid-Holocene (MH) period at Kimble Pond and Sharkey Lake, located along the prairie forest ecotone in south-central Minnesota, using high resolution (∼ 5-36 yr) sampling of pollen, charcoal, sediment magnetic and loss-on-ignition properties. Changes in vegetation were asymmetrical with increasing aridity being marked by a pronounced shift from woodland/forest-dominated landscape to a more open mix of grassland and woodland/savanna. In contrast, at the end of the MH, grassland remained an important component of the landscape despite increasing effective moisture, and high charcoal influxes (median 2.7-4.0 vs. 0.6-1.7 mm² cm^− 2 yr^− 1 at start of MH) suggest the role of fire in limiting woodland expansion. Asymmetric vegetation responses, variation among and within proxies, and the near-absence of fire today suggest caution in using changes associated with mid-Holocene aridity at the prairie forest boundary as an analog for future responses to global warming.     

The Little Ice Age glacier maximum in Iceland and the North Atlantic Oscillation: evidence from Lambatungnajökull, southeast Iceland

This article examines the link between late Holocene fluctuations of Lambatungnajökull, an outlet glacier of the Vatnajökull ice cap in Iceland, and variations in climate. Geomorphological evidence is used to reconstruct the pattern of glacier fluctuations, while lichenometry and tephrostratigraphy are used to date glacial landforms deposited over the past ˜400 years. Moraines dated using two different lichenometric techniques indicate that the most extensive period of glacier expansion occurred shortly before c . AD 1795, probably during the 1780s. Recession over the last 200 years was punctuated by re-advances in the 1810s, 1850s, 1870s, 1890s and c . 1920, 1930 and 1965. Lambatungnajökull receded more rapidly in the 1930s and 1940s than at any other time during the last 200 years. The rate and style of glacier retreat since 1930 compare well with other similar-sized, non-surging, glaciers in southeast Iceland, suggesting that the terminus fluctuations are climatically driven. Furthermore, the pattern of glacier fluctuations over the 20th century broadly reflects the temperature oscillations recorded at nearby meteorological stations. Much of the climatic variation experienced in southern Iceland, and the glacier fluctuations that result, can be explained by secular changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) Advances of Lambatungnajökull generally occur during prolonged periods of negative NAO index. The main implication of this work relates to the exact timing of the Little Ice Age in the Northeast Atlantic. Mounting evidence now suggests that the period between AD 1750 and 1800, rather than the late 19th century, represented the culmination of the Little Ice Age in Iceland.     

Study of geothermal water intrusion due to groundwater exploitation in the Puebla Valley aquifer system, Mexico

Significant intrusion of geothermal water into fresh groundwater takes place in the Puebla Valley aquifer system, Mexico. The decline in the potentiometric surface due to the overexploitation of the groundwater induces this intrusion. This hydrological system comprises three aquifers located in Plio-Quaternary volcanic sediments and Mesozoic calcareous rocks. The hydraulic balance of the aquifer shows that the annual output exceeds the natural inputs by 12 million m³. Between 1973 and 2002, a drop in the potentiometric surface, with an 80 m cone of depression, was identified in a 5-km-wide area located southwest of the city of Puebla. Chemical analyses performed on water samples since 1990 have shown an increase in total dissolved solids (TDS) of more than 500 mg/L, coinciding with the region showing a cone of depression in the potentiometric surface. A three-dimensional flow and transport model, based on the hydrogeological and geophysical studies, was computed by using the MODFLOW and MT3D software. This model reproduces the evolution of the aquifer system during the last 30 years and predicts for 2010 an additional drawdown in the potentiometric surface of 15 m, and an increase in the geothermal water intrusion.     

Microvariability of line profiles in the spectrum of the star ι Her

We present the results of a search for and analysis of line-profile variations in the spectrum of the star ι Her. The observations were acquired with the 1.8 m telescope of the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (Republic of Korea) in May–June 2004. We obtained 69 spectra of the star with signal-to-noise ratios ≈300 and a time resolution of 5–7 min. Profile variability was revealed for six lines of HI, HeI, and SiIII, in the central parts of the lines. The variability amplitude is ≈(1–2)% in units of the intensity of the adjacent continuum. Evidence was found for cyclic variations of the lines, with periods from ≈7^h to ≈2.9^d. We conclude that ι Her belongs to the group of slowly pulsating stars.