Selective predation by blue crabs on the gastropod,Bittium varium: Confirmation from opercula found in the sediments

Small blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 43–70 mm carapace width) can influence the size-distribution of the gastropod,Bittium varium, strongly reducing the contribution of snails >3 mm shell length in field enclosures. We test the hypothesis that these size-dependent effects are due to size-selective predation rather than size-dependent emigration from the field enclosures. In laboratory feeding trials, blue crabs showed negative selectivity for snails <2.5 mm and positive selectivity for snails >3.3 mm. When feeding, blue crabs crushBittium shells, but the opercula are deposited undamaged in the sediment. Sediment from a field enclosure experiment contained 6.5× moreBittium opercula from enclosures with blue crabs than from enclosures without blue crabs. We reconstructed the size distribution ofBittium killed by blue crabs from the opercula recovered from sediment. This distribution qualitatively matched those “missing” from the size frequency distribution of surviving snails. Estimates of selectivity from laboratory feeding trials predicted the pattern of size-selection fromBittium killed in the enclosures. We also estimated Strauss's linear index of selectivity and Chesson's α based on the size distribution of snails available during the field enclosure experiment. These indices predicted both the pattern of selectivity and the size distribution ofBittium killed in enclosures with blue crabs. We conclude that size-selective predation by blue crabs can explain the observed shifts inBittium size distributions.     

A laboratory investigation into the settlement of a foundation on geogrid-reinforced sand due to cyclic load

Summary Laboratory model test results for permanent settlement of a shallow square foundation supported by geogrid-reinforced sand and subjected to cyclic loading are presented. During the application of the cyclic load, the foundation was subjected to a sustained static load. Tests were conducted with only one type of geogrid and at one relative density of compaction of sand. Based on the model test results, the nature of variation of the permanent settlement of the foundation with the intensity of the static loading and the amplitude of the cyclic load intensity are presented in a non-dimensional form.     

Plant and insect fossils at Norwood in south-central Minnesota: A record of late-glacial succession

The Norwood site in Sibley Co., Minnesota, contains 1.6 m of silt resting on till and overlain by peat. The base of the peat has been radiocarbon dated at 12,400 ± 60 and the top at 11,200 ± 250 yr B.P. The pollen, plant macrofossils, and insect remains in the basal silt consist of boreal species inhabiting open environments, but not tundra. No modern analogue exists for the insect assemblage, which includes elements of boreal forest, tundra-forest, and western affinities. The transition from an unstable open environment to a stable coniferous forest is reflected by both plant and insect fossils and is interpreted as a successional rather than a climatic event. During this time of significant biologic change, the climate is inferred to have been relatively uniform, with temperatures similar to those presently existing in the boreal forest south of the tundra-forest transition zone. The geologic and ecologic succession at Norwood is generally similar to that presently associated with ice stagnation of the Klutlan Glacier in the Yukon Territory. Localized successional sequences similar to those at Norwood are conceived to have occurred repeatedly during the melting of the Laurentide ice, and thus the proposed model has potentially broad application to the interpretation of late-glacial sequences.     

Rheomorphism of welded tuffs

Peralkaline welded tuffs from the islands of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, and Pantelleria, Italy, show abundant evidence for post-depositional flow. It is demonstrated that rheomorphism, or secondary mass flowage, can occur in welded tuffs of ignimbrite and air-fall origin. The presence of a linear fabric is taken as the diagnostic criterion for the recognition of the process. Deposition on a slope is an essential condition for the development of rheomorphism after compaction and welding. Internal structures produced during rheomorphic flow can be studied by the methods of structural geology and show similar dispositions to comparable features in sedimentary slump sheets. It is shown that secondary flowage can occur in welded tuffs emplaced on gentle slopes, provided that the apparent viscosity of the magma is sufficiently low. Compositional factors favor the development of rheomorphism in densely welded tuffs of peralkaline type.     

The rio caliente ignimbrite: Analysis of a compound intraplinian ignimbrite from a major late quaternary Mexican eruption

The Rio Caliente ignimbrite is a multi-flow unit orcompound ignimbrite formed during a major late Quaternary explosive rhyolitic eruption of La Primavera volcano, Mexico. The eruption sequence of the ignimbrite is complex and it occurs between lower and upper plinian air-fall deposits. It is, therefore, anintraplinian ignimbrite. Air-fall layers, pyroclastic surge, mudflow and fluviatile reworked pumice deposits also occur interbedded between ignimbrite flow units. A chaotic near-vent facies of the ignimbrite includes co-ignimbrite lag breccias segregated from proximal pumice flows. The facies locates a central vent but one which could not have been associated with a well defined edifice. Many of the lithics in the exposed lag breccias and near-vent facies of the ignimbrite appear to be fragments of welded Rio Caliente ignimbrite, and indicate considerable vent widening, or migration, during the eruption. Nearer vent the ignimbrite is thickest and composed of the largest number of flow units. Here it is welded and is a simple cooling unit. Evidence suggests that it was only the larger thicker pumice flows that escaped to the outer parts of the sheet. Detailed analysis of four flow units indicates that the pumice flows were generally poorly expanded, less mobile flows which would be produced by collapse of low eruption columns. The analogy of a compound ignimbrite with a compound lava flow is, therefore, good — a compound lava flow forms instead of a simple one when the volumetric discharge rate (or intensity) is low, and in explosive eruptions this predicts lower eruption column heights. A corollary is that the ignimbrite has a high aspect ratio. The complex eruption sequence shows the reinstatement of plinian activity several times during the eruption after column collapse occurred. This, together with erosional breaks and evidence that solidified fragments of already welded ignimbrite were re-ejected, all suggest the eruption lasted a relatively significant time period. Nearly 90 km³ of tephra were erupted. The associated plinian pumice fall is one of the largest known having a volume of 50 km³ and the ignimbrite, plus a co-ignimbrite ash-fall, have a volume of nearly 40 km³. Published welding models applied to the reejected welded blocks indicate an eruption duration of 15-20d, and a maximum average magma-discharge rate of 1.4 × 10⁴ m³/s for the ignimbrite. This is low intensity when compared with available data from other ignimbrite-forming eruptions, and concurs with all the geological evidence presented. The total eruption duration was perhaps 15-31d, which is consistent with other estimates of the duration of large magnitude explosive silicic eruptions.     

Cores of soft lake sediments

Short cores of soft sediment, used in studying the pollution history of lakes, can be obtained with a plastic tube fitted with a piston and piston wire. If the sediments of deep water are annually laminated (and thus difficult to sample without disturbance) or contain excess gas (which can disrupt the stratigraphy during its escape), a short 'core' can be acquired by producing a frozen crust on a tube filled with dry ice and butanol.
A continuous core of soft lake sediment at least 7 m long can be obtained in a single drive beneath deep water with a hand-driven piston corer. Such a core assures the complete continuity necessary for counting annual laminations or for making close-interval analyses without fear of gaps, and it provides the uniform orientation required for measurements of paleomagnetic directions.     

Gonadal and nongonadal zinc concentrations in mussels

Seasonal measurement of zinc levels in mussels (Mytilus edulis) from the Tyne estuary showed a small spring peak and an annual low in September. Zinc concentration was found to be significantly lower in gonadal tissue than in nongonadal tissue. Although gonadal dry weight was strongly negatively correlated with gonadal zinc concentration there was no significant relationship between gonadal dry weight and whole body zinc levels, indicating that gonadal state has little effect on zinc variability in these animals. However, a strong negative correlation was found between log gonadal zinc concentration and log nongonadal dry weight. Construction of a gonadal index (gonadal/nongonadal dry weight) shows that the seasonal peak zinc concentration in early May occurs before major spawning has taken place. It is concluded that the seasonal dynamics of zinc in this species can be explained in terms of growth of somatic rather than germinal tissue.