North Atlantic climate impact on early late‐glacial climate oscillations in the south‐eastern Alps inferred from a multi‐proxy lake sediment record

High‐resolution multi‐proxy analyses of a sediment core section from Lake Jeserzersee (Saissersee) in the piedmont lobe of the Würmian Drau glacier (Carinthia, Austria) reveal pronounced climatic oscillations during the early late glacial (ca. 18.5–16.0k cal a BP). Diatom‐inferred epilimnetic summer water temperatures show a close correspondence with temperature reconstructions from the adjacent Lake Längsee record and, on a hemispheric scale, with fluctuations of ice‐rafted debris in the North Atlantic. This suggests that North Atlantic climate triggered summer climate variability in the Alps during the early late glacial. The expansion of pine (mainly dwarf pine) between ca. 18.5 and 18.1k cal a BP indicates warming during the so‐called ‘Längsee oscillation’. The subsequent stepwise climate deterioration between ca. 18.1 and 17.6k cal a BP culminated in a tripartite cold period between ca. 17.6 and 16.9k cal a BP with diatom‐inferred summer water temperatures 8.5–10 °C below modern values and a shift from wet to dry conditions. This period probably coincides with a major Alpine glacier advance termed the Gschnitz stadial. A warmer interval between ca. 16.9 and 16.4k cal a BP separates this cold phase from a second, shorter and less pronounced cold phase between ca. 16.4 and 16.0k cal a BP, which is thought to correlate with the Clavadel/Senders glacier advance in the Alps. The following temperature increase, coupled with wet (probably snow‐rich) conditions, caused the expansion of birch during the transition period to the late glacial interstadial. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial patterns of sub-tidal seagrasses and their tissue nutrients in the Torres Strait,northern Australia: Implications for management

The distribution and nutritional profiles of sub-tidal seagrasses from the Torres Strait were surveyed and mapped across an area of 31,000 km². Benthic sediment composition, water depth, seagrass species type and nutrients were sampled at 168 points selected in a stratified representative pattern. Eleven species of seagrass were present at 56 (33.3%) of the sample points. Halophila spinulosa, Halophila ovalis, Cymodocea serrulata and Syringodium isoetifolium were the most common species and these were nutrient profiled. Sub-tidal seagrass distribution (and associated seagrass nutrient concentrations) was generally confined to northern-central and south-western regions of the survey area (<longitude 142.60), where mean water depth was relatively shallow (approximately 13 m below MSL) and where sediments were comprised primarily muddy sand to gravelly sand. Seagrass nitrogen and starch content, the most important nutrients for marine herbivores, were significantly correlated with species and with the plant component (above or below ground). For all seagrass species, the above-ground component (shoots and leaves) possessed greater nitrogen concentrations than the below-ground component (roots and rhizomes), which possessed greater starch concentrations. S. isoetifolium had the highest total nitrogen concentrations (1.40±0.05% DW). However, it also had higher fibre concentrations (38.2±0.68% DW) relative to the other four species. H. ovalis possessed the highest starch concentrations (2.76±0.12% DW) and highest digestibility (83.24±0.66% DW) as well as the lowest fibre (27.2±0.66% DW). The high relative abundance (found at 55% of the sites that had seagrass) and nutrient quality characteristics of H. ovalis make it an important source of energy to marine herbivores that forage sub-tidally in the Torres Strait. There were two regions in Torres Strait (north-central and south-western) where sub-tidal seagrass meadows were prevalent and of relatively higher nutritional value. This spatial and nutritional information can be used by local agencies to manage and to protect the ecological, economic and cultural values of the sub-tidal seagrass ecosystems and associated fisheries of the Torres Strait.     

Unravelling the pre-Variscan evolution of the Habach terrane (Tauern Window, Austria) by U-Pb SHRIMP zircon data

The U-Pb SHRIMP age determinations of zircons from the Habach terrane (Tauern Window, Austria) reveal a complex evolution of this basement unit, which is exposed in the Penninic domain of the Alpine orogen. The oldest components are found in zircons of a metamorphosed granitoid clast, of a migmatitic leucosome, and of a meta-rhyolitic (Variscan) tuff which bear cores of Archean age. The U-Pb ages of discordant zircon cores of the same rocks range between 540 and 520 Ma. It is assumed that the latter zircons were originally also of Archean origin and suffered severe lead loss, whilst being incorporated into Early-Cambrian volcanic arc magmas. The provenance region of the Archean (2.64-2.06 Ga) zircons is assumed to be a terrane of Gondwana affinity: i.e., the West African craton (Hoggar Shield, Reguibat Shield). The Caledonian metamorphism left a pervasive structural imprint in amphibolite facies on rocks of the Habach terrane; it is postdated by discordant zircons of a migmatitic leucosome at <440 Ma (presumably ca. 420 Ma). Alpine and Variscan upper greenschist- to amphibolite-facies conditions caused partial lead loss in zircons of a muscovite gneiss ('white schist') only, where extensive fluid flow and brittle deformation due to its position near a nappe-sole thrust enhanced the grains' susceptibility to isotopic disturbance. The Habach terrane - an active continental margin with ensialic back-arc development - showed subduction-induced magmatic activity approx. between 550 and 507 Ma. Back-arc diorites and arc basalts were intruded by ultramafic sills and subsequently by small patches of mantle-dominated unaltered and (in the vicinity of a major tungsten deposit) altered granitoids. Fore-arc (shales) and back-arc (greywackes, cherts) basin sediments as well as arc and back-arc magmatites were not only nappe-stacked by the Caledonian compressional regime closing the presumably narrow oceanic back-arc basin and squeezing mafic to ultramafic cumulates out of high-level magma chambers (496-482 Ma). It also induced uplift and erosion of deeply rooted crystalline complexes and triggered the development of a successor basin filled with predominantly clastic greywacke-arkosic sediments. The study demonstrates that the basement rocks exposed in the Habach terrane might be the 'missing link' between similar units of the more westerly positioned External domain (i.e., Aar, Aiguilles Rouges, Mont Blanc) and the Austroalpine domain to the east (Oetztal, Silvretta).     

Phase-array decomposition of a seismic section

A seismic re fraction/wide-angle reflection profile is analysed for the presence of correlated events ('phases'). The correlation problem is formulated in terms of temporally, spatially and frequency-local complex covariances. For robustness, the method concentrates on phase rather than amplitude information. This allows a computationally efficient algorithm that can make allowance for signal correlation length and can model curved wavefronts. A statistical test based on residual phase misfit across the analysed subarray is used to assess the probability that a detected event represents a real correlated signal.
With our chosen analysis parameters and confidence level (over 99.9 per cent). 1222 events were detected in the data. Using simple techniques based on 1-D earth models, detected events are associated with a small number of particular wave types. In this way, we have succeeded in classifying almost 95 per cent of the detected events. Those that remain describe those components of the data that are inconsistent with our simple ray paths in the 1-D assumption and with our prescribed tolerance. These include reverberations, near-surface guided waves and reflected waves from strongly laterally inhomogeneous structures. According to our modelling, about 25 per cent of the detected events are consistent with simple P -wave reflected energy, and these are to a very large extent (over 85 per cent) distinct from all the other wave-type models we have used. A direct mapping of the detected events into the offset-depth domain reveals dear internal and external consistencies among the detections for the various wave types. Estimated earth structure is consistent with models from previous analyses based on much larger data sets.
We have thus succeeded in extracting correlated events from the data and decomposing these, approximately but meaningfully, into distinct classes (ray paths)     

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Inclined lidar observations of boundary layer aerosol particles above the Kongsfjord,Svalbard

An inclined lidar with vertical resolution of 0.4 m was used for detailed boundary layer studies and to link observations at Zeppelin Mountain (474 m) and Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. We report on the observation of aerosol layers directly above the Kongsfjord. On 29 April 2007, a layer of enhanced backscatter was observed in the lowest 25 m above the open water surface. The low depolarization ratio indicated spherical particles. In the afternoon, this layer disappeared. The ultrafine particle concentration at Zeppelin and Corbel station (close to the Kongsfjord) was low. On 1 May 2007, a drying process in the boundary layer was observed. In the morning, the atmosphere up to Zeppelin Mountain showed enhanced values of the backscatter coefficient. Around noon, the top of the highly reflecting boundary layer decreased from 350 to 250 m. The top of the boundary layer observed by lidar was confirmed by radiosonde data.     

COUNTERURBANIZATION IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY*

Since Berry argued in 1976 that counterurbanization had replaced urbanization in the U.S., a debate has ensued as to whether the phenomenon also exists in Western Europe. Proponents of a developmental theory of counterurbanization contend that the phenomenon should be evident in countries which have achieved a very high level of socioeconomic development, including the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Most of the German and English language literature on the topic suggests the contrary for the FRG. Here urbanization and counterurbanization are restricted to specific geographic meanings, i.e., spatial agglomeration and deglomeration. Results from four interrelated tests show a trend toward counterurbanization evident as early as the 1960s in the post-war regional demographic data of the FRG.