Quantifying sand delivery to deep water during changing sea-level: Numerical models from the Quaternary Brazos Icehouse continental margin

Sequence stratigraphy for clastic continental margins predicts the development of sand-rich turbidite deposits during specific times in relation to base-level cycles. It is now widely understood that deltas can extend to the shelf-edge forced by high sediment flux and/or base level, providing a direct connection to transfer sediment and sand to the slope and basin floor even during high base level periods. Herein, we build a stratigraphic forward model for the last 120 kyr of the fluvio-deltaic to deep-water Brazos system (USA) where sediment partitioning along an Icehouse continental margin can be evaluated. The reduced-complexity stratigraphic forward model employs geologically constrained input parameters and mass balance. The modelled architecture is consistent with the location of depositional units previously mapped in the shelf. Sand bypasses the shelf and upper slope between 35 to 15 kyr before present and only about 20%–30% of all the sediment and sand supplied to the system is transferred to deep water. Several scenarios based on the initial Brazos model investigate the relationships between base level and deep-water sand ratio (DWSR). DWSR is defined as the relative amount of sand transferred to the deep-water portions of the system subdivided by the total sand input to the model. Linear correlations between DWSR and base level change rates or base level are very poor. Short-term variability due to local processes (for example avulsions) is superimposed to the long-term trends and mask the base level signal. DWSR for an entire base-level cycle is mainly controlled by the proportion of time the delta stays docked at the shelf-edge. Stratigraphic forward models are useful to complement field observations and quantify how different processes control stratigraphy, which is important for making predictions in areas with limited information.     

A Road to Conflict: Stakeholder’s and Social Network Analysis of the Media Portrayals of a Social-Environmental Conflict in Bolivia

Society’s understanding of a conflict is mediated by information provided in mass media, for which researchers stress the importance of analyzing media portrays of stakeholders in a conflict. We analyze information from the Bolivian press regarding the construction of a road crossing the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS). Using stakeholder’s and social network analyses, we explore stakeholder’s positions and alliances as represented in the media and contrast it with previous scholarly work. We found that some actors cited as central in scholar analyses of the conflict are largely absent in the media (e.g., private investors, conservationist sector) and that the media tend to present stakeholders as having more homogeneous positions than the academic literature does while also neglecting some important alliances in their account. The media also suggests that Indigenous communities are forging stronger alliances with urban sectors and civil society, alliances not stressed by researchers.     

Baja California 边缘PC14 岩芯海水表层温度及生产力变化的百年尺度记录

加利福尼亚流是北太平洋环流的重要组成部分,它的变化对全球气候及碳循环有重要影响.对位于东北太平洋低纬区BajaCalifornia外海的PC14柱状样进行了有机地球化学分析,重建了过去14ka来这一地区百年尺度的海水表面温度及生产力变化,发现其存在明显的B/A(Bling-Aller)和YD(Younger Drays)事件,但B/A和YD事件温度变化幅度小于中纬度地区.与中纬度加利福尼亚流系早中全新世温度降低不同,PC14全新世温度无明显变化趋势.这些结果表明了东太平洋低纬地区对高纬地区的气候响应以及沿岸上升流和ENSO现象对加利福尼亚流系中纬和低纬地区的影响不同.从冰消期到全新世,PC14生产力呈现阶段上升趋势,指示了由E1 Nino气候向La Nifia气候的转化以及沿岸上升流加强的总体趋势.在全新世中后期(6.5-3.8ka)生产力的降低,则可能是受ENSO加强的影响.在B/A暖期,PC14生产力增加不多,但氧最小层强度增加,这表明生产力变化不是东太平洋边缘海的氧最小层强化的控制因素.     

Diel and seasonal variability in the fish community structure of a mud‐bottom estuarine habitat in the Gulf of Mexico

We hypothesized that temporal variation in fish species composition and community structure in a low complexity habitat in the Pueblo Viejo Lagoon, Mexico, is influenced by diel light/dark cycles and tidal stage, and by seasonal changes in salinity and temperature. We collected a total of 17,661 individuals during 2‐h interval sampling over six bi‐monthly 24‐h sampling cycles representing 53 species, of which 11 (～20%) were previously unknown in the system. Diel variation indicated that significantly higher numbers of individuals and species were caught at night, whereas diversity and evenness were higher during the day. Species richness was significantly higher in July and January, whereas diversity and evenness peaked around May; both were correlated with temperature. Diel variation in species composition was influenced primarily by the light/dark cycle. Cluster analyses of each diel cycle separated fish assemblages from midday samples from those of nocturnal samples, separated by an extended wide transition period as fish moved at dawn and during the late afternoon/dusk. Significant shifts (as determined by MANOVA) in assemblage structure occurred between months. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that temperature and day/night effects were the most important environmental variables structuring the fish community. This constrained ordination also defined species with specific habitat preferences as follows: (i) diurnal, warm temperature species (mainly planktivores) (Brevoortia gunteri, Cetengraulis edentulus, Diapterus auratus, and Membras martinica); (ii) nocturnal, warm temperature species (mainly predators) (Citharichthys spilopterus, Cathorops melanopus, and Bairdiella spp.); and (iii) low temperature, diurnal species (Brevoortia patronus and Mugil curema) or those with twilight and nocturnal distributions (Anchoa mitchilli, the most numerically abundant species). Our results indicate that diel and seasonal changes in fish community structure were mainly related to day/night cycles and temperature regimes.     

Microclimatology and forest plague(Dendroctonus adjunctus) in Central Mexico

It has been observed in at least eight places in Central Mexico that hilly zones with certain orientation and slopes have a higher-than-normal incidence of plague. In this paper, the potential insolation and the total microclimatology of an infested and a healthy zone have been studied, with the purpose of determining the condition of natural climatic stress in the vegetation that makes it susceptible to the attack and proliferation of plagues. The infested slope (NE-NW), in contrast to the healthy slope (SE-SW), has greater annual variability in the potential reception of insolation, besides a minor energy availability disposition — on a daily basis — in quantity and in number of hours, by conduction from the ground, which produces more heterogeneity in the gradient of temperature at different depths in the ground; and the wind effect tends to be more frequent, intense and prolonged. The area studied is in the National Park “La Malinche” Tlaxcala in Central Mexico.     

Convection of geothermal fluids in the timanfaya volcanic area (Lanzarote,Canary Islands)

Summary A mathematical model has been derived to study the superficial thermal anomalies to be found in Lanzarote (605°C at 13 m depth) in association with the convection of geothermal fluids. The model is valid for a wide range of conditions, in particular for those found beneath the Timanfaya volcano (active between 1730 and 1736). Geological and geophysical data suggest that the heat source is related to a cylindrical magma body with a radius of 200±100 m and a top temperature of 850±100°C at a depth of 4±1 km.Energy is transported through fractures by magmatic volatiles and/or by water vapour coming from a deeply located water table: in such a convection system, a fluid flow of 10 l/m² day, which corresponds to a thermal flux of 130 W/m², is sufficient to explain the temperature anomalies observed at the surface. The relationships between gas flow and the surface temperatures, as well as the thermal gradients in the conducting fracture are also discussed.     

Source models for the 1993 Hokkaido Nansei-Oki earthquake tsunami

A source model for the 1993 Hokkaido Nansei-Oki tsunami must satisfy certain conditions. Such conditions are presented in this paper, and two methods are used to determine the best source model for this event. A trial-and-error method selects DCRC-17a as the best among 24 different models. This model has three fault planes dipping westward. To reproduce well the tide gauge records at two locations, an inversion analysis is used to modify the dislocation of DCRC-17a.     

Calculation of Uncertainty in the Variogram

There are often limited data available in early stages of geostatistical modeling. This leads to considerable uncertainty in statistical parameters including the variogram. This article presents an approach to calculate the uncertainty in the variogram. A methodology to transfer this uncertainty through geostatistical simulation and decision making is also presented.The experimental variogram value for a separation lag vector h is a mean of squared differences. The variance of a mean can be calculated with a model of the correlation between the pairs of data used in the calculation. The data here are squared differences; therefore, we need a measure of a 4-point correlation. A theoretical multi-Gaussian approach is presented for this uncertainty assessment together with a number of examples. The theoretical results are validated by numerical simulation. The simulation approach permits generalization to non-Gaussian situations.Multiple plausible variograms may be fit knowing the uncertainty at each variogram point, . Multiple geostatistical realizations may then be constructed and subjected to process assessment to measure the impact of this uncertainty.     

Wind and Disk Diagnostics in PMS Stars. A Critical Analysis

The relationships among traditional wind and disk diagnostics - Hα and [OI]λ6300 lines and IR luminosity excesses, respectively - and star parameters are critically analysed. The total sample includes 109 PMS stars - 20 Weak-line T Tauri (WTTS), 45 Classical T Tauri (CTTS) and 44 HAeBe stars-. Our results suggest that Hα is neither a wind nor an accretion tracer. Hα and [OI] emissions seem to correlate very well with the photospheric luminosity and not with ΔL_IR/L_ph, a parameter related to the origin of the IR excesses. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Experimental and theoretical transition probabilities in singly ionized gold

Absolute transition probabilities have been measured for lines originating from the 5d⁹6d and 5d⁹7s electronic configurations in the spectrum of singly ionized gold (Au  ii ). The laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy has been applied to free gold atoms and ions produced by laser ablation. Absolute transition probabilities have been determined using the branching fraction and the Boltzmann plot methods. Theoretical branching fractions as well as radiative lifetime values have also been obtained by a relativistic Hartree–Fock method taking core polarization and configuration interaction effects into account. The new results are compared with previous results when available.