The termination of the last major phase of aeolian sand movement,coastal dunefields,Denmark

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sand samples from stabilized (or inactive) coastal dunes in Denmark provides information on the age of the termination phase of the last major aeolian activity period. A total of 26 sand samples were taken from four different coastal dunefields around the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat coasts of Denmark. The OSL dates indicate that the last major phase of aeolian activity terminated between ad 1860 and 1905. Most of the dunes examined in this study were active around 1820, during a period documented to have been very stormy. A dune management scheme started around 1792, and this no doubt was a major cause of dunefield stabilization, but an overall decline of storminess, particularly spring and summer storminess, around the end of the 19th century must also have contributed to the increasing inactivity of coastal dunes. The new OSL dates on aeolian sand movement agree well with historical data and data from topographic maps on dune movement. This agreement supports the observation from earlier work that OSL dating of recent aeolian sand movement is accurate over the last few decades to centuries. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of biliary PAH metabolites as a biomarker of pollution in fish from the Baltic Sea

During field campaigns of the BEEP project (Biological Effects of Environmental Pollution in Marine Coastal Ecosystems) in 2001-2002, metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in bile samples from three fish species, flounder (Platichthys flesus), perch (Perca fluviatilis) and eelpout (Zoarces viviparus), from four separate areas in the Baltic Sea. Two determination methods were applied: fixed wavelength fluorescence (FF) for pyrene-type metabolites and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC). There was a good correlation between the FF method and 1-OH pyrene determined by HPLC. Normalisation of the FF data for absorbance at 380 nm or bile protein concentrations greatly increased variance in one third and decreased it in two thirds of the cases and resulted in a loss of significant differences (protein normalisation) between the sampling stations, but normalisation of the HPLC data had little effect on the results. The biliary PAH metabolite content was usually higher in males than in females. In perch and eelpout the biliary PAH contents were at similar levels, whereas in flounder the levels were lower. The sampling areas arranged in decreasing order of biliary PAH contents were: Wismar Bay > Gulf of Gdansk > Lithuanian coast > Kvadofj?rden (reference area). It is concluded that FF with un-normalised data is a reliable and simple method for monitoring purposes and only one sex of a selected species should be used.     

Evaluation of Combined Direct-Push Methods Used for Aquifer Model Generation

Most established methods to characterize aquifer structure and hydraulic conductivities of hydrostratigraphical units are not capable of delivering sufficient information in the spatial resolution that is desired for sophisticated numerical contaminant transport modeling and adapted remediation design. With hydraulic investigation methods based on the direct-push (DP) technology such as DP slug tests, DP injection logging, and the hydraulic profiling tool, it is possible to rapidly delineate hydrogeological structures and estimate their hydraulic conductivity in shallow unconsolidated aquifers without the need for wells. A combined application of these tools was used for the investigation of a contaminated German refinery site and for the setup of hydraulic aquifer models. The quality of DP investigation and the models was evaluated by comparisons of tracer transport simulations using these models and measured breakthroughs of two natural gradient tracer tests. Model scenarios considering the information of all tools together showed good reproduction of the measured breakthroughs, indicating the suitability of the approach and a minor impact of potential technical limitations. Using the DP slug tests alone yielded significantly higher deviations for the determined hydraulic conductivities compared to considering two or three of the tools. Realistic aquifer models developed on basis of such combined DP investigation approaches can help optimize remediation concepts or identify flow regimes for aquifers with a complex structure.     

The lineage structure of quartz crystals

Etching and optical methods have been applied to study the lineage structure of quartz crystals from the Swiss Alps. It is shown that lineage boundaries form during growth in crystals of high dislocation density by a rearrangement of dislocations in low angle boundaries. The boundaries usually consist of parallel lines and are supposed to be nearly pure tilt boundaries.     

Facies characteristics, morphology and depositional models of clay-slide deposits in terraced fjord valleys, Norway

Many bedrock-confined fjord valleys along the Norwegian coast contain thick accumulations of fine-grained sediments that were deposited during and after the last deglaciation. The deposits gradually emerged above sea level due to glacioisostatic uplift, and fjord marine sedimentation was gradually followed by shallow marine and fluvial processes. During emergence terraces and river-cut slopes were formed in the valleys. Subsequent leaching of salt ions from the pore water in the marine deposits by groundwater has led to the development of quick clay. The deposits are subject to river erosion and destructive landslides involving quick clay. Most slides are of prehistoric age. Others are known from modern observations as well as from historic records.Landforms such as distinct slide scars or the hummocky terrain of slide deposits may be strongly modified by secondary processes. In addition, deposits from the most liquid part of quick clay slides may have planar surfaces. Clay-slide deposits on a fluvial or deltaic terrace, therefore, are not always easily recognized from morphology, and only exposures may reveal their internal structures and allow them to be distinguished from overbank flood sediments. Detailed sedimentological work shows that slide deposits in such setting consist of distinct facies containing reworked marine sediments. We propose three facies successions of clay-slide deposits that form a continuum. The dominant components of these succession types are: slightly deformed blocks of laminated clay and silt (A), highly deformed clay and silt with gravel clasts (B) and massive to stratified clay and silt with scattered clasts (C). We suggest that in many cases a basal muddy diamicton is a characteristic, and possibly diagnostic feature. Processes and depositional models are interpreted from the different succession types. The results may be relevant for identifying clay-slide deposits elsewhere and may be useful during general mapping of fjord marine deposits and characterization of slide-prone areas as well as during identification of prehistoric slides.     

A discrete particle representation of hillslope hydrology: hypothesis testing in reproducing a tracer experiment at Gårdsjön,Sweden

Despite the long history of the continuum equation approach in hydrology, it is not a necessary approach to the formulation of a physically based representation of hillslope hydrology. The Multiple Interacting Pathways (MIPs) model is a discrete realization that allows hillslope response and transport to be simultaneously explored in a way that reflects the potential occurrence of preferential flows and lengths of pathways. The MIPs model uses random particle tracking methods to represent the flow of water within the subsurface alongside velocity distributions that acknowledge preferential flows and transition probability matrices, which control flow pathways. An initial realization of this model is presented here in application to a tracer experiment carried out in Gårdsjön, Sweden. The model is used as an exploratory tool, testing several hypotheses in relation to this experiment. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Drag force on a circular cylinder in unseparated laminar high Reynolds number nonlinear random oscillatory flow

The stochastic properties of the drag force maxima on a circular cylinder subjected to nonlinear random waves are investigated. Unseparated laminar high Reynolds number flow is considered. A simplified approach based on second order Stokes waves is presented, including the sum-frequency effect only. It is demonstrated how a drag force formula valid for regular linear waves can be used to find the cumulative distribution function of individual drag force maxima for nonlinear irregular waves. Here the [Wang, 1968] drag force coefficient is used.     

Industrial minerals and rocks, aggregates and natural stones in the Nordic countries

The Nordic countries, including Greenland, have a long tradition in mining. The industrial minerals sector is expanding in most Nordic countries and extensive development has taken place during the last few years. The main commodities mined are carbonate rocks, quartz, feldspar, apatite, olivine and talc.
A number of diferent types of dimension stones are quarried in all countries. Rock aggregates are increasingly important, replacing sand and gravel aggregate as construction materials in some countries due to the need to protect ground water supplies.     

Paleomagnetic study of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks from the Mixteca terrane (Mexico)

Three sites from Cretaceous limestone and Jurassic sandstone in northern Oaxaca, Mexico, were studied paleomagnetically. Thermal demagnetization isolated site-mean remanence directions which differ significantly from the recent geomagnetic field. The paleopole for the Albian–Cenomanian Morelos formation is indistinguishable from the corresponding reference pole for stable North America, indicating tectonic stability of the Mixteca terrane since the Cretaceous. Rock magnetic properties and a positive reversal test for the Bajocian Tecomazuchil sandstone suggest that the remanence could be of primary origin, although no fold test could be applied. The Tecomazuchil paleopole is rotated 10°±5° clockwise and displaced 24°±5° towards the study area, with respect to the reference pole for stable North America. Similar values were found for the Toarcien–Aalenian Rosario Formation, with 35°±6° clockwise rotation and 33°±6° latitudinal translation. These data support a post-Bajocian southward translation of the Mixteca terrane by around 25°, which was completed in mid-Cretaceous time.