Diversity of murtoos and murtoo-related subglacial landforms in the Finnish area of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet

Murtoos are recently discovered triangular-shaped subglacial landforms that form under warm-based ice and in association with significant subglacial meltwater flow. They appear in distinct fields and commonly occur in the area that was covered by the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet during glacial periods. Murtoos potentially represent a transition form from non-channelized to channelized subglacial drainage networks. In the present study, we analyse and classify murtoos and murtoo-related landforms in the Finnish area of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet based on their characteristics and appearance in LiDAR-based digital elevations models. Combined with morphometric analyses, the observations suggest that five types of murtoos and murtoo-related landforms are common and widespread in Finland: (i) triangle-type murtoos (TTMs), (ii) chevron-type murtoos (CTMs), (iii) lobate-type murtoos (LTMs), (iv) murtoo-related ridges and escarpments (MREs), and (v) other murtoo-related polymorphous landforms (PMRs) that look like small mounds and ridges. The morphometric characteristics of the different types are described here in detail, and it is shown that they are spatially and geomorphologically related. In addition, we provide examples of murtoos other than the TTMs to demonstrate that different murtoo types and murtoo-related landforms are composed of similar sediments and architectural characteristics. The diversity of murtoo landforms and the transition between distinct murtoo types indicate rapid and complicated variations in the configuration of subglacial hydrology at different spatial and temporal scales. This study emphasizes the essential role of subglacial meltwater in the shaping of glacial landscapes and the redistribution of large volumes of sediments during the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet.     

Competitive effects of fish in structurally simple habitats: perch,invertebrates, and goldeneye in small boreal lakes

We determined the associations between Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis, invertebrates, and common goldeneye Bucephala clangula in boreal lakes. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that perch play a controlling role in small, oligotrophic, acidic, and poorly vegetated boreal lakes, affecting both invertebrate numbers and community structure. In addition, we predicted that perch impact lake usage by goldeneye. In the observational part of our study, we first explored the association between perch, invertebrates and goldeneye (pairs and broods per shore km) in 18 boreal, poorly vegetated lakes. Perch densities were associated negatively with invertebrate abundance and lake usage by goldeneye broods. In the experimental part in three fish-free lakes, we found that upon successful perch introductions, the number and biomass of invertebrates, the proportion of large dytiscids, and lake usage by goldeneye broods significantly decreased. We conclude that perch apparently plays a key role as a predator of invertebrates in boreal lakes with few aquatic macrophytes. It is evident that perch can strongly affect their prey populations and communities, and this predation may have an indirect effect on species, e.g. goldeneye, that consume the same prey.     

Gardening at the edge: Documenting the limits of tropical Polynesian kumara horticulture in southern New Zealand

An Erratum has been published for this article in Geoarchaeology 19(6) 2004, 613. Kumara (Ipomoea batatus), a major food source for Maori, was brought to New Zealand from tropical Eastern Polynesia ∼700 years ago. Maori successfully adapted their cultivation techniques to grow kumara in New Zealand's cooler, seasonal climate, although most kumara cultivation was limited to the warmer North Island, with cultivation becoming more marginal southward. Banks Peninsula area is considered to be the southernmost limit for kumara gardening. The Okuora Farm archeological site on the southern side of Banks Peninsula has five pits that appear to be of the raised‐rim type used for over winter storage of kumara tubers. We conducted a preliminary investigation into the nature of the pits and surrounding 1 km² area using nondestructive techniques in accordance with Maori designation of food storage sites as tapu. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) investigation of two of the pits revealed subsurface disturbances consistent with postholes and drains, typical of raised rim kumara storage pits. Soil modification typical of kumara gardening was identified on a 1 ha area on a warm north‐northwest facing hillside. Several large borrow pits were identified as the likely source of the gravel added to the modified soil, possibly to retain heat and moisture. A plant phytolith study of soil samples identified several that appear to be from kumara. The combination of results strongly suggests this site was one of the southernmost Maori kumara gardening sites yet identified in New Zealand. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Theoretical interpretation of photometric properties of the Martian surface and atmosphere

Earth-based UBV photometry, high-quality photographs from the Lowell Observatory collection, and Mariner 9 data have been combined with a new radiative transfer theory to derive physical parameters for the Martian surface and atmosphere, both before and during the 1971 dust storm. We find that the dust particles of the storm had a single-scattering albedo of 0.84 ± 0.02 and an asymmetry factor of 0.35 ± 0.10 in green (V) light. The geometric albedo of Mars was 0.15 and the phase integral 1.83, which yield 0.27 for the Bond albedo. The mean optical thickness of the “clear” atmosphere averaged over the whole planet was 0.15 ± 0.05 and was not detectably dependent on wavelength. Geometric albedos for the surface are 0.25 (light areas) and 0.17 (dark areas) in V, 0.095 in B (both areas), and 0.060 in U (both areas). The soil particles are moderately backward scattering with an asymmetry factor of ?0.20, indicating them to be rather opaque. The mean surface roughness, on a scale larger than that of individual dust particles and therefore large compared with the wavelength, is 0.57. This represents the depth/radius ratio of an average hole and it is only one-half as large as values typical for the Moon and asteroids.     

Lakshmi Planum,Venus: Characteristics and models of origin

Lakshmi Planum is distinctive and unique on the surface of Venus as an expansive (~2 × 10⁶km²), relatively smooth, flat plateau containing two large shield volcanoes and abundant volcanic plains in the midst of a region of extreme relief. It rises 3–5 km above the datum and is surrounded on all sides by bands of mountains interpreted to be of compressional tectonic origin. The major units mapped on Lakshmi are volcanic edifices, smooth, ridged and grooved plains units, and structural units referred to as ridged terrain. Three styles of volcanism are observed to dominate the surface of Lakshmi. Distributed effusive volcanism is associated with extensive plains deposits and many of the small shields, domes and cones mapped within the plateau. Centralized effusive volcanism is primarily associated with the paterae, Colette and Sacajawea, and their circumferential low-shield-forming deposits. The precise origin and evolution of these unusually large and complex structures is not understood, although a catastrophic, explosive origin is unlikely. Pyroclastic volcanism may be represented by a unit referred to as the diffuse halo. The origin and evolution of Lakshmi Planum is closely related to its compressional tectonic environment; volcanism on Lakshmi has occurred synchronously with tectonism in the surrounding orogenic belts. A model for the origin and evolution of Lakshmi Planum consisting of a continuous sequence of convergence and horizontal shortening of crustal segments against a preexisting block of tessera seems best able to account for the elevation, plateau shape and irregular polygonal outline of Lakshmi, as well as the presence of ridged terrain and its resemblance to tessera. Volcanism on Lakshmi is proposed to be the result of basal melting of a thickened crustal root. According to this model, the origin and evolution of Lakshmi Planum has consisted of the following sequence of events: (1) formation of a large, elevated block of tessera surrounded by low-lying plains; (2) convergence and underthrusting of crustal segments to produce peripheral mountain ranges, thickening, and uplift of the plateau; and (3) basal melting of the thickened crust and underthrust material and surface volcanism that occurred synchronously with continued edge deformation.'Geology and Tectonics of Venus', special issue edited by Alexander T. Basilevsky (USSR Acad. of Sci., Moscow), James W. Head (Brown University, Providence). Gordon H. Pettengill (MIT. Cambridge, Massachusetts) and R. S. Saunders (J.P.L., Pasadena).     

Kinetic control of oxidation state at thermodynamically buffered potentials in subsurface waters

Dissolved oxygen (DO) and organic carbon (C_org) are among the highest- and lowest-potential reactants, respectively, of redox couples in natural waters. When DO and C_org are present in subsurface settings, other couples are drawn toward potentials imposed by them, generating a bimodal clustering of calculated redox potentials. Which cluster a couple is drawn toward is determined by whether the couple’s oxidant or reductant is more concentrated. Generally, reactants >10^-6M are near equilibrium with their dominant complementary reactant and in a cluster, whereas reactants <10^-6M are relatively slow to react and diverge from the clusters. These observations suggest that reactions of higher-potential oxidants with lower-potential reductants commonly proceed simultaneously, regardless of the presence of other potential reactants, with the rates of reaction being determined more by concentration than relative potentials. As DO or C_org decreases, the potential gap separating couples diminishes. In waters having quantifiable concentrations of higher potential oxidants O₂ and NO₃^-, [H₂] was not diagnostic of their presence. In the water we analyzed having no quantifiable O₂ or NO₃^-, redox potential calculated with [H₂] was similar to potentials calculated for SO₄^2- reduction and methanogenesis. Composite reactions, NO₃^-→N₂ and O₂→H₂O, are best characterized in multiple steps due to slow reaction of low-concentration intermediates. The [CO] data we report, among the first for groundwater, are high compared to water equilibrated with the atmosphere.     

Superstructures in calcian ankerites

Electron diffraction patterns from low-temperature calcian ankerites reveal weak c- and d-type superstructure reflections. The reflections arise in small local domains within the host crystal. A model for the c-domain superstructure is proposed, having space group P2/ c and the composition CaFe(CO₃)₂. The formation of such domains is possibly favoured in dolomites with excess Ca, implying that the solid solubility of Fe may be more restricted in calcian dolomites than in dolomites with stoichiometric Ca contents.     

Volcanic facies architecture of an intra-arc strike-slip basin, Santa Rita Mountains, Southern Arizona

The three-dimensional arrangement of volcanic deposits in strike-slip basins is not only the product of volcanic processes, but also of tectonic processes. We use a strike-slip basin within the Jurassic arc of southern Arizona (Santa Rita Glance Conglomerate) to construct a facies model for a strike-slip basin dominated by volcanism. This model is applicable to releasing-bend strike-slip basins, bounded on one side by a curved and dipping strike-slip fault, and on the other by curved normal faults. Numerous, very deep unconformities are formed during localized uplift in the basin as it passes through smaller restraining bends along the strike-slip fault. In our facies model, the basin fill thins and volcanism decreases markedly away from the master strike-slip fault (“deep” end), where subsidence is greatest, toward the basin-bounding normal faults (“shallow” end). Talus cone-alluvial fan deposits are largely restricted to the master fault-proximal (deep) end of the basin. Volcanic centers are sited along the master fault and along splays of it within the master fault-proximal (deep) end of the basin. To a lesser degree, volcanic centers also form along the curved faults that form structural highs between sub-basins and those that bound the distal ends of the basin. Abundant volcanism along the master fault and its splays kept the deep (master fault-proximal) end of the basin overfilled, so that it could not provide accommodation for reworked tuffs and extrabasinally-sourced ignimbrites that dominate the shallow (underfilled) end of the basin. This pattern of basin fill contrasts markedly with that of nonvolcanic strike-slip basins on transform margins, where clastic sedimentation commonly cannot keep pace with subsidence in the master fault-proximal end. Volcanic and subvolcanic rocks in the strike-slip basin largely record polygenetic (explosive and effusive) small-volume eruptions from many vents in the complexly faulted basin, referred to here as multi-vent complexes. Multi-vent complexes like these reflect proximity to a continuously active fault zone, where numerous strands of the fault frequently plumb small batches of magma to the surface. Releasing-bend extension promotes small, multivent styles of volcanism in preference to caldera collapse, which is more likely to form at releasing step-overs along a strike-slip fault. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.