Wind sedimentation in the Jafurah sand sea, Saudi Arabia

The Jafurah sand sea of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia extends along the Arabian Gulf coastline from Kuwait in the north to the Rub Al Khali in the south, a distance of about 800 km. Sand drifts southward to south-eastward from regions of high wind energy in the north to low wind energy in the south. The aeolian landscape is zoned, with areas of deflation, transport and deposition from north to south. Drift rates in the zone of transport, near Abqaiq, range from 2 m³ m-w^-1 yr^-1 on sabkhas, to 29 m³ m-w^-1 yr^-1 on the crests of dunes. Average drift rates of approximately 18 m³ m-w^-1 yr^-1 observed during the study can cause about 1 m of accumulation per 5500 yr in a 100 km zone of deposition downwind, not including the bulk transport represented by the forward advance of dunes. Dune advance ranged from 23 m (2.9 m high dune) to 3 m (23 m high dune) during April-October 1980. The study area consists of dune, interdune, sand sheet and siliciclastic sabkha terrains, each of which is characterized by differing drift rates, and differing rates of erosion or deposition. Sedimentation occurs by lateral movement of dunes and interdunes, and vertical accretion by sand sheets and sabkhas.     

Interpretation of grain-size distributions from measured sediment data, Platte River, Nebraska

Breaks in the slope of log-probability plots of cumulative grain-size distributions of bed material are compared with frequency distributions of bedload and suspended sediment over a range of discharges at two stations on the Platte River in south-central Nebraska. The break between suspension and intermittent suspension as determined from the bed-material curve coincides with the upper limit of the grain-size overlap between bedload particles and suspended-sediment particles, whereas the break between intermittent suspension and traction corresponds to the grain size at the lower limit of overlap of bedload particles and suspended-sediment particles. Although grain-size distributions of bedload change little with discharge, the size of the coarsest grains in suspension increases with increasing discharge. Thus, the length of overlap of bedload and suspended-sediment distributions increases with increasing discharge. The limits of grain-size overlap of bedload and suspended-sediment distribution curves associated with near-flood discharges most closely approximate the breaks in the bed material grain-size distribution.     

An early Holocene caribou antler from northern Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

During the last glaciation of northern Ellesmere Island many areas remained ice-free. A caribou antler from deglacial-marine sediments in Clements Markham Inlet dates 8,415 ± 135 B.P. (S-2501). If locally derived it places caribou at the northern limit of their contemporary range at the onset of deglaciation in this area. Immediately to the south, on the Hazen Plateau, ice remained at its limit until c . 8,000 B.P. Therefore, this antler may indicate the presence of caribou during full glacial time.     

U-series Isotope Data on Lau Basin Glasses: the Role of Subduction-related Fluids during Melt Generation in Back-arc Basins

New thermal ionization mass spectrometry U-series disequilibriumdata are presented for 24 basaltic to dacitic glasses from activespreading centres in the back-arc Lau Basin (SW Pacific), togetherwith additional inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometrytrace element analyses and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope data.Valu Fa Ridge samples, adjacent to the arc front, have highU/Th and (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) <1, implying a recent (<<350ka) addition of a U-rich slab-derived fluid. The Valu Fa datacan be combined with existing ²³⁰Th–²³⁸U data for theCentral Tonga arc to infer a fluid addition event at     

Theoretical and measured aeolian sand transport on a barrier island, Louisiana, USA

Over the past 100 years, the Isles Dernieres, a low lying barrier island chain along the coast of central Louisiana, Usa , has undergone more than 1 km of northward beach face retreat with the loss of 70% of its surface area. The erosion results from a long term relative sea level rise coupled with day to day wind and wave action that ultimately favours erosion over deposition. At a site in the central Isles Dernieres, 8 days of wind and beach profile measurements during the passage of one winter cold front documented aeolian erosion and deposition patterns under both onshore and offshore winds. For offshore winds, the theoretical erosion rate, based on wind shear velocity, closely matched the measured erosion rate; for onshore winds, the theoretical rate matched the measured rate only after being corrected by a factor that accounted for beach face morphology. In late February 1989, a strong cold front moved into coastal Louisiana. That cold front stalled over the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in 4 days of strong northerly winds at a study site on the Isles Dernieres. During those 4 days, the wind moved sand from the backshore to the upper beach face. When the cold front finally moved out of the area, the wind shifted to the south and decreased in strength. The onshore wind then restored some of the upper beach face sand to the backshore while increased wave activity moved the rest into the nearshore. The theoretical estimate of 1·28 m³ m^?1 for the rate of sand transport by the northerly wind compares well with the measured backshore erosion rate of 1·26 m³ m^?1, which was determined by comparing beach profiles from the start and end of the period of northerly winds. The theoretical estimate of 0·04 m³ m^?1 for the rate of sand transport by the southerly wind, however, is notably less than the measured rate of 0·45 m³ m^?1. The large discrepancy between the two rates can be explained by a difference in the shear velocity of the wind between the beach face, where the erosion occurred, and the backshore, where the wind stress was measured. Using an empirical relationship for the wind shear drag coefficient as a function of coastal environment, the theoretical estimate for the rate of sand transport by the southerly wind becomes 0·44 m³ m^?1     

Dominant particle support mechanisms in debris flows at Mt Thomas, New Zealand, and implications for flow mobility

Within zones of little or no deformation by internal shearing in debris flows at Mt Thomas, about two-thirds of the weight of large particles is supported by buoyancy and about one-third by static grain to-grain contact. In boundary shear zones of low velocity flows and in high velocity, turbulent debris flow, grain-to grain contact is replaced by turbulence and dispersive pressure. Cohesive strength of the clay + silt + water interstitial fluid provides less than 2 % of the force keeping particles larger than 1 cm gravel in suspension. Excess pore pressure is generated in the interstitial fluid by the weight of coarse particles suspended in the slurry. According to Coulomb strength theory, pore pressures measured in these debris-flow slurries reduce the shear strength of the material to less than 10 % of what it is in the unsaturated state. The excess pore pressures are slow to dissipate because of the small connections between pore spaces that result from the extremely poor sorting of the debris and the presence of silt and clay in the pore fluid. Maintenance of sufficient pore space to trap fluid and facilitate flow on low-gradient slopes may be accomplished by dilatancy and subsequent partial liquefaction of the debris during shear.     

The Tugtutoq Younger Giant Dyke Complex, South Greenland: Fractional Crystallization of Transitional Olivine Basalt Magma

The Younger Giant Dyke Complex consists of a set of massivecoalescing dykes of Proterozoic age (c. 1170 Ma), resultingfrom intrusion of a suite of transitional olivine basaltic/hawaiiticmagmas in a continental rift setting. The suite, compositionallyrelated by low pressure (< 10 kb) olivine-plagioclase fractionation,is believed to have had a deeper level evolution dominated bypyroxene and possibly garnet fractionation. Slow cooling insitu of the interior parts of the dyke complex produced cumuliticsuites. Those exposed range from gabbroic to syenitic; residualbodies of riebeckite granite and, very subordinate, feldspathoidalsyenite were also generated. The basic magmas had notably lowfO₂ values, leading to delayed magnetite and clinopyroxene precipitation,relatively iron-rich differentiates and some residual liquidsof pantelleritic composition. The basic magmas had high F/Clvalues and are inferred to have had low H₂O contents. They werealso characterized by relatively high K/Rb and low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Srvalues; these characteristics imply a mantle source with highF/Cl but depleted in Rb relative to K and Sr. Basaltic magmasresponsible for (a) the preceding Older Giant Dyke Complex and(b) a suite of anorthositic xenoliths within the Younger GiantDyke Complex, are inferred to have been derived from separateprimary magma batches independent of those that yielded theYounger Giant Dyke Complex. The giant dykes are the highest-levelrepresentatives of a larger basic complex responsible for theextensive linear gravity ‘high’ in the Tugtutôq-Narssaqarea.