Detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology of Permian strata in the Galilee Basin,Queensland, Australia

The late Carboniferous to Triassic tectonic history of eastern Australia includes important periods of regional-scale crustal extension and contraction. Evidence for these periods of tectonism is recorded by the extensive Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) to Triassic basin system of eastern Australia. In this study, we investigate the use of U–Pb dating of detrital zircons in reconstructing the tectonic development of one of these basins, the eastern Galilee Basin of Queensland. U–Pb detrital zircon ages were obtained from samples of stratigraphically well-constrained Cisuralian and Lopingian (early and late Permian, respectively) sandstone in the Galilee Basin. Detrital zircons in these sandstones are dominated by a population with ages in the range of 300–250 Ma, and ages from the youngest detrital zircons closely approximate depositional ages. We attribute these two fundamental findings to (1) appreciable derivation of detrital zircons in the Galilee Basin from the New England Orogen of easternmost Australia and (2) syndepositional magmatism. Furthermore, Cisuralian sandstone of the Galilee Basin contains significantly more >300 Ma detrital zircons than Lopingian sandstone. The transition in detrital zircon population, which is bracketed between 296 and 252 Ma based on previous high-precision U–Pb zircon ages from Permian ash beds in the Galilee Basin, corresponds with the Hunter–Bowen Orogeny and reflects a change in the Galilee Basin from an earlier extensional setting to a later foreland basin environment. During the Lopingian foreland basin phase, the individual depocentres of the Galilee and Bowen basins were linked to form a single and enormous foreland basin that covered >300 000 km² in central and eastern Queensland.     

Sources of uncertainty in projections of twenty-first century westerly wind changes over the Amundsen Sea,West Antarctica,in CMIP5 climate models

The influence of changes in winds over the Amundsen Sea has been shown to be a potentially key mechanism in explaining rapid loss of ice from major glaciers in West Antarctica, which is having a significant impact on global sea level. Here, Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate model data are used to assess twenty-first century projections in westerly winds over the Amundsen Sea (U _AS ). The importance of model uncertainty and internal climate variability in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenario projections are quantified and potential sources of model uncertainty are considered. For the decade 2090–2099 the CMIP5 models show an ensemble mean twenty-first century response in annual mean U _AS of 0.3 and 0.7 m s^?1 following the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios respectively. However, as a consequence of large internal climate variability over the Amundsen Sea, it takes until around 2030 (2065) for the RCP8.5 response to exceed one (two) standard deviation(s) of decadal internal variability. In all scenarios and seasons the model uncertainty is large. However the present-day climatological zonal wind bias over the whole South Pacific, which is important for tropical teleconnections, is strongly related to inter-model differences in projected change in U _AS (more skilful models show larger U _AS increases). This relationship is significant in winter (r = ?0.56) and spring (r = ?0.65), when the influence of the tropics on the Amundsen Sea region is known to be important. Horizontal grid spacing and present day sea ice extent are not significant sources of inter-model spread.     

Predicting the expansion of an urban boundary using spatial logistic regression and hybrid raster–vector routines with remote sensing and GIS

This paper presents an urban growth boundary model (UGBM) which utilizes spatial logistic regression (SLR), remote sensing, and GIS to simulate the differentially expanding geometry of a dynamic urban boundary over decadal time periods. SLR is used as the core algorithm in a UGBM quantifying how biophysical factors influence the rate at which all edges of an urban boundary expand over time. Spatial drivers selected from a raster-based environment are used as input predictor variables to the SLR UGBM, the output response variable being the distance between time-separated urban boundary intersections along arcs extending radially from a point centered at the urban core relative to the maximum distance. Percent area match (PAM) quantity and location goodness-of-fit metrics, fit of the predicted distance versus observed distance, and the sensitivity of the SLR UGBM to the contribution of each predictor variable are used to assess the agreement between predicted and observed urban boundaries. The model is built, tested, and validated using satellite images of the city of Las Vegas, United States of America, collected in 1990, 2000, and 2010. We compare urban boundary simulation of full and reduced SLR UGBMs to a null UGBM lacking in specificity of predictor variables. Results indicate that the SLR UGBM has a better goodness of fit compared to a null UGBM using PAM quantity and location goodness-of-fit metrics. Then, we use the SLR UGBM to predict urban boundary expansion between the years 2000 and 2010 and describe how this model can be used to plan ahead for future boundary expansions given what is known about current edge conditions.     

Riverine influence determines nearshore heterogeneity of nutrient (C,N, P) content and stoichiometry in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight,South Africa

Riverine influences on nearshore oceanic habitats often have detrimental consequences leading to algal blooms and hypoxia. In oligo- to mesotrophic systems, however, nutrient delivery via rivers may stimulate production and even be a vital source of nutrients, as may nutrient supplements from upwelling. We investigated the nutrient content (C, N, P) and stoichiometry of sediment, and several pelagic, benthopelagic and benthic species in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Bight, a narrow shelf area on the south-east coast of South Africa, bordering the Agulhas Current. Three suggested nutrient sources to the bight are the Thukela River in the central region of the bight, upwelling in the northern part and a semi-permanent eddy (Durban Eddy) in the southern part. Elemental content of the various groups studied showed significantly higher values for most groups at the site near the Thukela River. C:P and N:P were highest in the southern part of the bight, and lowest near the Thukela Mouth or at Richards Bay in the north, indicating the latter were the P-richer sites. Sediment organic matter showed lowest elemental content, as expected, and zooplankton stoichiometry was highest compared to all other biotic groups. Environmental heterogeneity played a greater role in organismal C, N and P content and stoichiometry compared to phylogeny, with the exception of the differences in C:P and N:P of zooplankton. From this bight-wide study, the higher elemental content and lower ratios at the Thukela Mouth site supported previous findings of the importance of coastal nutrient sources to the bight ecosystem. Reductions in river flow for water use in the catchment areas may therefore have negative consequences for the productivity of the entire ecosystem.     

Characterisation of the dietary relationships of two sympatric hake species,Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus,in the northern Benguela region using fatty acid profiles

The two sympatric species of Cape hake, Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus, have been the main targets of bottom-trawl fisheries off Namibia for several decades. The feeding ecology of these hakes has been studied mainly using stomach content analyses and thus there remain some gaps in our knowledge about food assimilated over the longer term. In this study, we used fatty acid (FA) profiles to characterise the dietary relationships of M. capensis and M. paradoxus. Muscle samples from hake (n=110) and their known prey (n=68) were collected during trawl surveys off Namibia during 2011. Significant differences between the neutral FA profiles of the hake populations were detected in December 2011 but not in January 2011, an indication of temporal variations in diet and resource partitioning. Comparisons of the neutral FAs in hake and the total FAs of potential prey showed no clear trophic connections, with the exception of flying squid Todarodes sagittatus, which had FA profiles very similar to those of M. paradoxus in December 2011. Our results highlight the complex and temporally shifting relationships that exist between hake and the large pool of prey available to them, and between the two hake species that overlap in their feeding habits and distribution within the highly productive Benguela Current region.     

Inferring a deep-crustal source terrane from a high-level granitic pluton: the Strathbogie Batholith,Australia

The Strathbogie Igneous Complex is comprised of the ignimbritic rocks of the Violet Town Volcanics and the granitic rocks of the Strathbogie batholith. It is Late Devonian in age and postorogenic-extensional in tectonic setting. The batholith was constructed from peraluminous, metasediment-derived magmas emplaced as several internally heterogeneous plutons. Chemical variation in the magmas was largely inherited from the protolith rather than having been produced by differentiation (crystal–liquid separation) or magma mixing. The Strathbogie magmas formed during a granulite-facies metamorphic event that caused partial melting of the rocks of the Proterozoic Selwyn Block, which forms the basement in this region. The chemistry of the Strathbogie batholith, the Violet Town Volcanics and various other felsic complexes of similar age, implies that the Selwyn Block here originally consisted of andesite, dacite, greywacke and pelite, probably deposited in a back-arc extensional setting. The sedimentary components of this protolith may have been deposited in a basin that was extending and deepening with time, so that the sediments contained progressively higher ratios of clay to volcanic materials. Much later, in the Late Devonian, extensional tectonics allowed the emplacement of mantle magmas into the deep and middle crust, causing the low-pressure granulite-facies metamorphic event that was responsible for the production of the crustal components in the granitic magmas of Central Victoria.     

The Late Pleistocene Afton Lodge Clay Formation,Ayrshire, Scotland: evidence for Early to Middle Devensian climatic changes and Late Devensian onshore ice flow and rafting from the Firth of Clyde

An investigation into the late Pleistocene sediments exposed at Afton Lodge has helped to clarify the glacial history of western central Scotland. The sequence includes several allochthonous bodies of ‘shelly clay’ (Afton Lodge Clay Formation) associated with Late Devensian (Weichselian) age diamict. The shelly clay contains abundant marine macro- and microfauna, as well as palynomorphs consistent with its deposition within a shallow marine to estuarine environment. Faunal changes within the main body of marine clay record at least one, millennial-scale cycle of Arctic-Boreal, to Boreal, and back to Arctic-Boreal climatic conditions. A radiocarbon date of over 41 ka ¹⁴C BP obtained from the foraminifera indicates that the marine clays are older than the surrounding till. Afton Lodge is thus one of a suite of ‘high-level’ shelly clay occurrences around the Scottish coasts that are now considered to be glacially transported. Together with closely associated ‘shelly tills’, the rafts were emplaced during an early phase of the last glaciation by ice flowing from the western Grampian Highlands of Scotland through the topographically-confined Firth of Clyde basin. The blocks of marine sediment were detached subglacially, unfrozen, and carried at least 10 km by ice that splayed out onshore against reversed slopes favouring raft emplacement and the creation of closely associated ribbed moraine. Transport of the rafts was facilitated by water-lubricated décollement surfaces and their accretion was accompanied by dewatering. The shelly tills were formed mainly by the attenuation and crushing of rafts of shelly clay during their transport within the subglacial deforming bed.     

Mixing and transport near the shallow-crested Rumble III seamount and the implications for plankton distribution

Vessel-based observations of water column structure and flow near a shallow-crested seamount are used to quantify the physical disturbance induced by that seamount. The implications of this disturbance on the ‘feeding hole’ hypothesis are then examined based on data from moored thermistors and acoustic current profilers, as well as vessel-based acoustic sounding-derived biomass estimates, currents, and conductivity-temperature-depth profiles from a 55 km square grid of stations around the crest. Mean currents in the region of 0.2 m s^?1 are comparable to observations from surface drifters whereas the semidiurnal tidal flow amplitude was one third of this. Thorpe Scale-based estimates of energy dissipation rate were in the range 10^?9 to 2.10^?8 W kg^?1 and vertical diffusivities K_z were in the range 10^?4 to 10^?3 m² s^?1. Turbulence levels were higher upstream of the seamount–likely due to the influence of nearby seamounts Rumble IV and V. There was no evidence of a Taylor Cap in the Rumble III velocity field. The sounder data provide some evidence of a feeding hole and analysis based on diffusivities suggests that this might persist downstream of the seamount for as much as 7 days.