The causes of bedload pulses in a gravel channel: the implications of bedload grain‐size distributions

Unsteady bedload transport was measured in two c. 5 m wide anabranches of a gravel‐bed braided stream draining the Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland, during the 1998 and 1999 melt seasons. Bedload was directly sampled using 152 mm square Helley–Smith type samplers deployed from a portable measuring bridge, and independent transport rate estimates for the coarser size fractions were obtained from the dispersion of magnetically tagged tracer pebbles. Bedload transport time series show pulsing behaviour under both marginal (1998) and partial (1999) transport regimes. There are generally weak correlations between transport rates and shear stresses determined from velocity data recorded at the measuring bridge. Characteristic parameters of the bedload grain‐size distributions (D₅₀, D₈₄) are weakly correlated with transport rates. Analysis of full bedload grain‐size distributions reveals greater structure, with a tendency for transport to become less size selective at higher transport rates. The bedload time series show autoregressive behaviour but are dif?cult to distinguish by this method. State–space plots, and associated measures of time‐series separation, reveal the structure of the time series more clearly. The measured pulses have distinctly different time‐series characteristics from those modelled using a one‐dimensional sediment routing model in which bed shear stress and grain size are varied randomly. These results suggest a mechanism of pulse generation based on irregular low‐amplitude bedforms, that may be generated in‐channel or may represent the advection of material supplied by bank erosion events. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Not all fisheries will be collapsed in 2048

In a recently published paper, Worm et al. [Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services. Science 2006;314:787–90.] project “the global collapse of all taxa currently fished” by 2048. Using their criteria and data, this paper shows that the number of not-collapsed fisheries actually increased over time to a plateau of about 5600 in 1985–2003. Furthermore, if trends are projected into the future, more than half of the world's fisheries would always be in a recovered state.     

The Impact Of Extreme Summer Melt on Net Accumulation of an Avalanche Fed Glacier,as Determined by Ground‐Penetrating Radar

Glacier mass balance is more sensitive to warming than cooling, but feedbacks related to the exposure of previously buried firn and ice in very warm years is not generally considered in sensitivity studies. A ground‐penetrating radar survey in the accumulation area of Rolleston Glacier, New Zealand shows that five years of previous net accumulation was removed by melt from parts of the glacier above the long‐term equilibrium line altitude during a single negative mass balance year. Rolleston Glacier receives a large amount of accumulation from snow avalanches, which may temporarily buffer it from climate warming by providing additional mass that has accumulated at higher elevations, effectively increasing the elevation range of the glacier. However, glaciers reliant on avalanche input may have high sensitivity to climatic variations because the extra mass is concentrated on a small part of the glacier, and small variations in avalanche input could have a large impact on overall glacier accumulation. Further research is needed to better estimate the amount and spatial distribution of accumulation by avalanche in order to quantify the climate sensitivity of small avalanche‐fed glaciers.     

A ring-width-based reconstruction of June–July minimum temperatures since AD 1245 from white spruce stands in the Mackenzie Delta region,northwestern Canada

We present a reconstruction of June–July minimum temperatures since AD 1245 for the Mackenzie Delta region based on a 29-site network of white spruce (Picea glauca) ring-width series. Most but not all trees experienced a divergent temperature–growth response, similar to the divergence that has affected other white spruce trees across Yukon and Alaska. However, divergence in the study region began as early as AD 1900 and we have documented our methods to avoid including divergent signals in the reconstruction. Calibration/verification testing based on local temperature data, and multi-century coherence with nearby and large-scale temperature proxy records, confirm that our reconstruction is robust. The reconstruction shows cool conditions in the late 13th, early 18th and early 19th centuries, corresponding with solar minima and increased volcanism. These cool periods are interrupted by warm periods consistent with early to mid-20th century warmth. The late 20th century is the warmest interval, and the last decade is estimated to be 1.4°C warmer than any decade before the mid-20th century. The reconstructed climate history corroborates other proxy-based inferences and supports the notion that high-latitude regions such as the Mackenzie Delta have experienced rapid warming in recent decades that is exceptional in the last eight centuries.     

Trouble in paradise: resilience and Vancouver’s second life in the “new economy”

Resilience is an increasingly important concept within urban studies, economic geography, and evolutionary economics for measuring the capacity of city-regions to respond to economic shocks. In this article, we provide a sympathetic critique of the resilience metaphor in urban studies, which we explicate through an analysis of the recent history of the Vancouver economy. On the surface, Vancouver seemingly showed resilience when it overcame the abrupt decline of its resource-based economy in the 1980s, and established an alternative flourishing “new economy” by the 1990s. But over the last five years, the key local “creative” industries such as video game development and film production have suffered, with a number of large firms leaving Vancouver, and industry employment declining sharply. Drawing on more than 40 interviews conducted over a five-year period with members of the local video game community, our paper documents the rise and more recent decline of Vancouver’s “new economy” sector. Our research raises questions about the value of the resilience metaphor in urban studies and highlights the difficulties facing city-regions reliant on highly mobile “new economy” industries.     

Formation and erosion of sediment cover in an experimental bedrock‐alluvial channel

Sediment grains in a bedrock‐alluvial river will be deposited within or adjacent to a sediment patch, or as isolated grains on the bedrock surface. Previous analysis of grain geometry has demonstrated that these arrangements produce significant differences in grain entrainment shear stress. However, this analysis neglected potential interactions between the sediment patches, local hydraulics and grain entrainment. We present a series of flume experiments that measure the influence of sediment patches on grain entrainment. The flume had a planar bed with roughness that was much smaller than the diameters of the mobile grains. In each experiment sediment was added either as individual grains or as a single sediment pulse. Flow was then increased until the sediment was entrained. Analysis of the experiments demonstrates that: (1) for individual grains, coarse grains are entrained at a higher discharge than fine grains; (2) once sediment patches are present, the different in entrainment discharge between coarse and fine grains is greatly reduced; (3) the sheltering effect of patches also increases the entrainment discharge of isolated grains; (4) entire sediment patches break‐up and are eroded quickly, rather than through progressive grain‐by‐grain erosion; (5) as discharge increases there is some tendency for patches to become more elongate and flow‐aligned, and more randomly distributed across the bed. One implication of this research is that the critical shear stress in bedrock‐alluvial channels will be a function of the extent of the sediment cover. Another is that the influence of sediment patches equalizes critical shear stresses between different grain sizes and grain locations, meaning that these factors may not need to be accounted for. Further research is needed to quantify interactions between sediment patches, grain entrainment and local hydraulics on rougher bedrock surfaces, and under different types of sediment supply. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tenerife – the big pyramid

There is nothing like a good controversy in geology, when vehemently held conflicting opinions set the adrenaline running. The debate over hot spots or mantle plumes is developing in this way; as such it is pertinent to look at the Canary Islands archipelago where hot spot ideas have been in place for some time.