Palynology of organic beds below Devensian glacigenic sediments at Pen-y-bryn,Gwynedd, North Wales

Pollen diagrams from organic facies overlain by glacigenic sediments at Pen-y-bryn, North Wales (53°7′N, 4°16′W), suggest that it is the first locality in the British Isles to provide evidence for several Devensian interstadials prior to Devensian stadial glaciation(s). The evidence is not, however, unequivocal. At least two main episodes of organic sedimentation are indicated, separated by an interval of uncertain duration. One eposide records a Pinus-Picea-Betula forest. A second, possibly later, event, with tree pollen less than 10% of total land pollen (TLP), suggests a cool, largely unforested environment. A third episode, with tree pollen up to 25% of TLP, may be related to the latter or be of intermediate age, whereas a fourth and later episode of organic accumulation may be of reworked material. Radiocarbon dating of organic deposits and of a wood macrofossil enclosed in basal till is inconclusive, as is preliminary uranium-series dating. The principal biogenic episodes may correlate with Oxygen Isotope Substages 5c and 5a, but as the pollen records reflect facies floras, the correlation remains tentative; it is also possible that other temperate periods are recorded. Further resolution of the chronostratigraphy is required to help clarify the problematic correlation of interstadial and stadial events in northwest Europe and to correlate more accurately the biogenic and glacigenic facies at Pen-y-bryn with their Pleistocene equivalents elsewhere.     

Planetary dynamos: effects of electrically conducting flows overlying turbulent regions of magnetic field generation

A fully three-dimensional, nonlinear, time-dependent, multi-layered spherical kinematic dynamo model is used to study the effect on the observable external magnetic field of flow in an electrically conducting layer above a spherical turbulent dynamo region in which the α effect generates the magnetic field. It is shown that the amplitude and structure of an observable planetary magnetic field are largely determined by the magnitude and structure of the flow in the overlying layer. It is also shown that a strong-field planetary dynamo can be readily produced by the effect of an electrically conducting flow layer at the top of a convective core. The overlying layer and the underlying convective region constitute a magnetically strongly coupled system. Such overlying layers might exist at the top of the Earth's core due to chemical or thermal causes, in the cores of other terrestrial planets for similar reasons, and in Saturn due to the differentiation of helium from hydrogen. An electrically conducting and differentially rotating layer could exist above the metallic hydrogen region in Jupiter and affect the jovian magnetic field similar to the overlying layers in other planets. Lateral temperature gradients resulting in thermal winds drive the flow in the overlying layers. All planetary magnetic fields could be maintained by similar turbulent convective dynamos in the field-generation regions of planets with the differences among observable magnetic fields due to different circulations in the overlying electrically conducting layers.     

Impacts of Invasive <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phragmites australis</Emphasis> on Diamondback Terrapin Nesting in Chesapeake Bay

The range expansion of exotic plant species, including the invasive reed Phragmites australis, causes widespread structural and functional changes to coastal ecosystems along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America. Native estuarine species, such as the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin), are at risk of adverse effects from rapid habitat changes due to exotic invasions. Diamondback terrapins currently face population threats including by-catch mortality in crab pots, predation, and habitat loss, and populations may continue to suffer if deleterious plant invasions into preferred nesting habitats are left unchecked. We examined the extent to which Phragmites affects nesting of a breeding population of diamondback terrapins at Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern shore of Virginia, where Phragmites has recently expanded into known areas of terrapin nesting. With data collected from the 2015 nesting season, we quantified the extent to which Phragmites shading could impact nest incubation temperature and determined how Phragmites density impacts the risk of rhizome invasion into nests. We conclude that Phragmites cover greater than 50% would decrease incubation temperatures of terrapin nests sufficiently to produce predominantly male hatchlings. Phragmites cover had no observed effect on root growth into simulated nests, but cover by other dune plant species explained observed trends in root growth. These results suggest that terrapins may be negatively impacted by Phragmites expansion into open nesting sites. Breeding site fidelity exhibited by terrapins and other estuarine species could limit the ability of their populations to adjust to rapid coastal expansion of invasive plant species.     

Construction,management and maintenance of embankments used for road and rail infrastructure: implications of weather induced pore water pressures

Understanding the age and construction quality of embankments used for road and rail infrastructure is critical in the effective management and maintenance of our transport networks, worth £billions to the UK economy. This paper presents for the first time results from full-scale, carefully controlled experiments on a unique model embankment conducted over the 4-year period between 2008 and 2011. It combines point location and spatially distributed measurements of pore water pressures and water content with outputs from hydrological modelling to draw conclusions of significance to both ongoing research in this field and to the asset management practices of infrastructure owners. For researchers, the paper highlights the crucial importance of transient permeability and soil water retention behaviour of fill materials in controlling the magnitude and distribution of pore water pressure in response to climate and weather events. For practitioners, the work demonstrates that there are significant differences in pore water pressure behaviour across the embankment, which is influenced by construction-related issues such as compaction level, aspect and presence of a granular capping material. Permeability was also observed to vary across the embankment both spatially and with depth, being dependent on degree of saturation and macroscale effects, particularly within a ‘near surface zone’. It is proposed that this ‘near surface zone’ has a critical effect on embankment stability and should be the focus of both ongoing scientific research and inspection and monitoring as encompassed by asset management regimes.     

Estimation of spatially distributed soil information: dealing with data shortages in the Western Bug Basin,Ukraine

Integrated watershed models require spatially differentiated soil information. However, in many regions of the world the limited availability of soil data hinders an appropriate simulation of hydro-ecological processes. Such circumstances lead to unsupported statements, poor statistics, misrepresentations, and, ultimately, to bad resource management. The Western Bug catchment in west Ukraine is an example of such a region. In the former Soviet Union, soil classification primarily focused on soils of agricultural importance, whereas, forested, urban, industrial, and shallow soil territories were left underrepresented in the classification and soil maps. Spatially differentiated soil texture data are required to predict soil hydraulic properties using pedotransfer functions (PTFs), along with soil maps. Furthermore, the Ukrainian soil texture scheme does not match the particle size classes commonly used with PTFs. To overcome these shortcomings, a fuzzy logic methodology was applied, based on terrain and vegetation/land use analysis and soil sampling, to close the information gaps. For the application of PTFs, a procedure was tested to estimate missing values of soil texture distribution. Applied methods were evaluated using recent soil surveys, measured soil texture, and water retention properties, while having in consideration the limitations brought by scarce soil data for integrated watershed modelling purposes.     

Extreme sensitivity of crosshole electrical resistivity tomography measurements to geometric errors

The effects of geometric errors on crosshole resistivity data are investigated using analytical methods. Geometric errors are systematic and can occur due to uncertainties in the individual electrode positions, the vertical spacing between electrodes in the same borehole, or the vertical offset between electrodes in opposite boreholes. An estimate of the sensitivity to geometric error is calculated for each of two generic types of four-electrode crosshole configuration: current flow and potential difference crosshole (XH) and in-hole (IH). It is found that XH configurations are not particularly sensitive to geometric error unless the boreholes are closely spaced on the scale of the vertical separation of the current and potential electrodes. However, extremely sensitive IH configurations are shown to exist for any borehole separation. Therefore, it is recommended that XH configurations be used in preference to IH schemes. The effects of geometric error are demonstrated using real XH data from a closely spaced line of boreholes designed to monitor bioremediation of chlorinated solvents at an industrial site. A small fraction of the data had physically unrealistic apparent resistivities, which were either negative or unexpectedly large. However by filtering out configurations with high sensitivities to geometric error, all of the suspect data were removed. This filtering also significantly improved the convergence between the predicted and the measured resistivities when the data were inverted. In addition to systematic geometric errors, the measured data also exhibit a high level of random noise. Despite this, the resulting inverted images correspond reasonably closely with the known geology and nearby cone penetrometer resistivity profiles.     

Turbulence Reynolds number and the turbulent kinetic energy balance in the atmospheric surface layer

The relation between the turbulence Reynolds numberR and a Reynolds numberz* based on the friction velocity and height from the ground is established using direct measurements of the r.m.s. longitudinal velocity and turbulent energy dissipation in the atmospheric surface layer. Measurements of the relative magnitude of components of the turbulent kinetic energy budget in the stability range 0 >z/L 0.4 indicate that local balance between production and dissipation is maintained. Approximate expressions, in terms of readily measured micrometeorological quantities, are proposed for the Taylor microscale and the Kolmogorov length scale .     

X-ray digital imaging petrography of lunar mare soils: modal analyses of minerals and glasses

It is essential that accurate modal (i.e., volume) percentages of the various mineral and glass phases in lunar soils be used for addressing and resolving the effects of space weathering upon reflectance spectra, as well as for their calibration such data are also required for evaluating the resource potential of lunar minerals for use at a lunar base. However, these data are largely lacking. Particle-counting information for lunar soils, originally obtained to study formational processes, does not provide these necessary data, including the percentages of minerals locked in multi-phase lithic fragments and fused-soil particles, such as agglutinates. We have developed a technique for modal analyses, sensu stricto, of lunar soils, using digital imaging of X-ray maps obtained with an energy-dispersive spectrometer mounted on an electron microprobe. A suite of nine soils (90 to 150 micrometers size fraction) from the Apollo 11, 12, 15, and 17 mare sites was used for this study. This is the first collection of such modal data on soils from all Apollo mare sites. The abundances of free-mineral fragments in the mare soils are greater for immature and submature soils than for mature soils, largely because of the formation of agglutinitic glass as maturity progresses. In considerations of resource utilization at a lunar base, the best lunar soils to use for mineral beneficiation (i.e., most free-mineral fragments) have maturities near the immature/submature boundary (Is/FeO approximately or = 30), not the mature soils with their complications due to extensive agglutination. The particle data obtained from the nine mare soils confirm the generalizations for lunar soils predicted by L.A. Taylor and D.S. McKay (1992, Lunar Planet Sci. Conf. 23rd, pp. 1411-1412 [Abstract]).     

Xenobiotic metabolizing enzyme activity in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) during spawning migration

Activities of the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (MO) system and GSH-transferase (GST) were monitored about every 2 weeks in sockeye salmon during their sexual migration and ultimate death. Liver cytosol and microsomes were prepared from the tissue of 50 individuals, five males and five females at each collection. The activities observed were not significantly different between the sexes. Substantial changes occurred in cytochrome P450, cytochrome b₅ and the monitored activities during the migration. The most dramatic changes occurred at the spawning grounds and were evident even before spawning occurred. The cytochrome P450 and cytochrome b₅ contents increased while the MO and GST activities decreased. Pre-spawning MO and GST activities were similar to those reported for other species undergoing sexual maturation. Migrating salmon offer an interesting model for studying the regulation of sex-dependent and terminal forms of cytochromes P450, MO and phase II activities.