The influence of salt withdrawal subsidence on palaeosol maturity and cyclic fluvial deposition in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation: Castle Valley, Utah

Integrated fluvial sequence stratigraphic and palaeosol analysis can be used to better reconstruct depositional systems, but these approaches have not been combined to examine halokinetic minibasins. This study characterizes the temporal and spatial patterns of lithofacies and palaeosols in a sequence stratigraphic framework to reconstruct a model of minibasin evolution and identify halokinetic influences on fluvial deposition. This research documents fluvial cycles and stratigraphic hierarchy, palaeosol maturity and apparent sediment accumulation rates in the Chinle Formation within the Big Bend minibasin. This study also uses palaeosols to help identify fluvial aggradational cycle (FAC) sets. The Chinle is divided into two hectometre‐scale (10² m) fluvial sequences, six decametre‐scale (10¹ m) FAC sets, and variable numbers of metre‐scale FACs depending on proximity to the minibasin. Ten pedotypes representing 225 palaeosol profiles are recognized. The pedotypes include palaeosols similar to modern Entisols, Inceptisols, Aridisols, Vertisols and Alfisols. A maturity index (1–5) is assigned to each pedotype to assess its variability in palaeosol development. Estimated palaeosol development time is used to approximate apparent sediment accumulation rates. Increased subsidence resulted in a greater number and thicker FACs, thicker FAC sets and fluvial sequence sections, and lithofacies associations reflecting more rapid sedimentation along the minibasin axis. Palaeocurrent indicators converge towards the minibasin axis and indicate that it formed and drifted through time. Relative palaeosol maturity is inversely related to stratal thickness, and decreases towards the minibasin where episodic burial by fluvial sediment was more frequent. Metre‐scale FACs are most abundant towards the minibasin axis, and locally have Entisols and Inceptisols developed upon their upper boundaries reflecting increased sediment accumulation rates. Areas outside the minibasin are characterized by fewer FACs that are associated with more mature palaeosols. Palaeosol‐derived apparent sediment accumulation rates are as much as two orders of magnitude greater within the minibasin than in marginal areas. The combined stratigraphic, palaeocurrent and palaeosol evidence is used to develop a model for the evolution of the Big Bend minibasin that illustrates the halokinetic affect on fluvial and landscape processes.     

Petrological and Geochemical Evidence for Granitoid Formation: The Waldoboro Pluton Complex, Maine

The Acadian-age Waldoboro Pluton Complex (WPC), mid-coastalMaine, consists of seven granitoid units surrounded by migmatitic,peraluminous gneisses and schists (predominantly Bucksport orSebascodegan Formation). The complex (area >340 km²) cross-cutsthe westward-vergent St. George thrust fault, which may markthe boundary between the Avalon and Gander composite terranes.Field and petrologic data indicate in situ formation of theperaluminous, syntectonic granitoids: contacts with Bucksportparagneisses are transitional and concordant; abundant country-rockenclaves show evidence for melting; restitic garnet, biotite,and plagioclase in the granitoids are identical in compositionto garnet, biotite, and plagioclase in the country rock. Chemicalvariations among the main granitoid phases (gneissic granite,granite, and leucogranite) reflect varying degrees of melt-restiteunmixing. Major and trace elements define mixing trends betweenrefractory Bucksport lithologies and leucogranites which approximatemelt compositions. Petrographic and whole-rock chemical dataare consistent with restitic plagioclase, garnet, biotite, tourmaline,zircon, apatite, sphene, and an accessory phase such as monazite.Quantitative major-oxide mass-balance models indicate that gneissicgranite represents a mixture of 55% melt–45% restite whereasgranite represents a mixture of 76% melt–24% restite.Melt-restite proportions calculated from trace element dataagree with those calculated from major oxide data for the gneissicgranite, but are different (85% melt–15% restite) fromthose calculated from major oxide data for the granite. Thisis attributed to inhomogeneous distribution of minor phasesand the effects of metasomatism. High K₂O, Rb, Ba, Cs, Li, B,K/Rb, K/Ba, Rb/Sr, and Th/U along the eastern mylonitic marginand elsewhere within the WPC reflect post-solidification metasomaticprocesses. Intrusion of mafic magmas during uplift after crustal thickeningappears to have caused high-temperature metamorphism and anatexisof Bucksport country rocks at relatively low pressure (0.4 GPa).Dehydration melting of muscovite to produce magmas saturatedor nearly saturated with H₂O explains the formation of migmatitesin the vicinity of the WPC. Formation of granites by 50–60%fluid-absent melting of Bucksport source rocks containing 20%biotite requires that fusion occurred at T860C and consumedall of the biotite in the source rock. Phase equilibrium dataand estimated temperatures of formation provide evidence thatthe granitoids formed at T<860C, whereas petrographic dataindicate that not all biotite in the source rock was consumedduring anatexis. Therefore, the WPC granitoids could have formedby fluid-absent melting if the source rocks contained >20%biotite (the maximum amount observed). However, it is also possiblethat influx of aqueous fluid before or during anatexis allowedproduction of relatively large volumes of melt at T<860C.Available data do not allow these possibilities to be rigorouslytested. The WPC granitoids have many characteristics of S-type granitesand preserve a chemical and mineralogical record of their sourcerocks, indicating that granites can image their sources evenin tectonically complex regions.     

A region-based,graph-theoretic data model for the inference of second-order thematic information from remotely-sensed images

A graph-theoretic data model, XRAG (eXtended Relational Attributed Graph), is described. The model and its associated data structure can be used to represent the structural properties (morphological and symbolic) of, and relations (spatial, topological, non-topological, quantitative and symbolic) between, discrete regions identified in a digital remotely-sensed image. The objective in developing this model is to allow second-order thematic information about the scene to be inferred from an analysis of these properties and relations. The paper briefly outlines the application of this model and an associated set of analytical techniques to infer land use from an initial land cover map derived from a digital remotely-sensed image.     

WAS 1992–2000 THE BEST OF TIMES FOR AMERICAN URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS?*

ABSTRACT. A survey of about 400 New Jersey residents was conducted in 2001 in order to determine whether people believed that their home neighborhood benefited during the unprecedented economic boom of the 1990s. In this analysis of public perceptions and trust, most respondents did not perceive that their neighborhood had improved. The strongest correlates of no neighborhood benefits were distrust of government officials and neighbors, low personal efficacy, and lack of civic engagement, as well as fair or poor neighborhood quality. These disillusioning results underscore the difficulty of maintaining healthy neighborhoods in low‐trust environments.     

Ice-flow patterns and dispersal of erratics at the southwestern margin of the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet: signature of palaeo-ice streams

An extensive set of proxy-data was acquired from eastern and central Denmark in order to study the dynamic behaviour of the southwestern margin of the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet. We examine the last three glacier advances of the Late Weichselian: the Main advance from central Sweden, representing the maximum ice extent at this time ( c. 21–20 ka BP), and the two succeeding Baltic advances ( c. 18–15 ka BP). Directional properties from tills and glaciotectonic overprints are used to reveal large-scale flowline patterns. Together with the geomorphological outline of ice margins, flowlines were successively more fan-shaped, indicating that the dependence of the subglacial topography increases as ice advances become younger. It is suggested that while the ice thickness decreases, more lobate configurations of ice margins are created as a result. Clast-compositional data derived from the fine-gravel fraction in tills are used to reconstruct dispersal patterns of erratic material. The dispersal patterns during the three advances show a gradually diminishing influence of local Pre-Quaternary bedrocks and older glacial deposits, and progressively longer transport distances of far-travelled erratics. We speculate that the principal factor governing this development is a successively decreasing interaction between the ice and its bed, which influences the concentration of erratics, debris comminution processes and the basal ice velocity. We envisage the Main advance from central Sweden as a slow-flowing inter-stream ice body with high bed interaction compared to the succeeding Baltic advances, which we regard to have been rapid flowing ice streams with limited bed interaction.     

LAND–USE CHANGES AND CONSERVATION OF THE HAWAI‘I ‘AMAKIHI

Hawai‘ian honeycreepers have undergone widespread extinction and population declines due to human disturbances, including habitat fragmentation, introduced predatory mammals, alien competitors, and introduced avian diseases. The Hawai‘i ‘amakihi (Hemignathus virens) is one of seven extant Hawai‘ian honeycreepers that, like all other native honey‐creepers, vanished from the low‐elevation native forests on the island of Hawai‘i due to these disturbances. But recent observations indicate that ‘amakihi have begun to recolonize low‐elevation forests in eastern Hawai‘i. In this article we discuss the current abundance of Hawai‘ian ‘amakihi in a suburban habitat on the island of Hawai‘i. We also examine the ‘amakihi's relative preference for native or exotic vegetation. Recolonization in low‐elevation habitats underscores the importance of the remaining native forests. However, concurrent with this recolonization, eastern Hawai‘i is undergoing a residential building boom that has resulted in increased deforestation and forest fragmentation. Thus the future of honeycreepers is uncertain, given the widespread environmental changes taking place in eastern Hawai‘i.     

Sedimentary model for intertidal mudflat channels, with examples from the Solway Firth, Scotland

Intertidal mudflat channels (gullies) in the Solway Firth, Scotland possess width/depth ratios similar to meandering rivers. Most channels deeper than 1 m show cut-bank slides, but narrow, deep channels also have rotational slides on the point-bar slopes. The channels display two types of point-bar. The first, associated with gently curved meanders, is sigmoidal in profile. The second, associated with tight meander bends, possesses a pronounced lower platform. The onset of flow separation in meander bends, a phenomenon which enhances cut-bank erosion and point-bar deposition, is a direct function of meander-bend tightness and Froude number. The effects of flow separation are greatest on tight meander bends at times of high velocity during late spring ebb and also during rainfall run-off at low tide. These events appear to be responsible for the growth of the point-bar platforms. A model, predicting the type of point-bar development to be expected in different channel meanders, is used to reconstruct the sedimentary history of active and fossil point-bars.     

THE NON‐PENNSYLVANIA TOWN: DIFFUSION OF URBAN PLAN FORMS IN THE AMERICAN WEST*

ABSTRACT. Wilbur Zelinsky's classic 1977 account of the Pennsylvania town as a cultural place type–the urban component of the nationally influential Pennsylvanian culture region–acknowledged that it was not exported intact across the successive western frontiers of the United States. But, aside from Edward Price's specialized study of courthouse squares, we know little that is systematic about how town‐planning ideas diffused across the continent. This investigation offers evidence from the Willamette Valley in Oregon of the eventual variety and geographical distribution of town‐platting conventions that developed in this Pacific Coast “destination’ setting and the possible provenance in the Ohio Valley of certain early Oregonian town‐plan features. The evidence raises questions about the resilience of town‐planning conventions in light of the distance carried, cultural time lags, and changing ideas about best practice and local suitability.