Temporal Variability in the Concentration and Stable Carbon Isotope Composition of Dissolved Inorganic and Organic Carbon in Two Montana,USA Rivers

Here we report diel (24 h) and seasonal differences in the concentration and stable carbon isotope composition of dissolved inorganic (DIC) and organic carbon (DOC) in the Clark Fork (CFR) and Big Hole (BHR) Rivers of southwestern Montana, USA. In the CFR, DIC concentration decreased during the daytime and increased at night while DOC showed an inverse temporal relationship; increasing in the daytime most likely due to release of organic photosynthates and decreasing overnight due to heterotrophic consumption. The stable isotope composition of DIC (δ¹³C-DIC) became enriched during the day and depleted over night and the δ¹³C-DOC displayed the inverse temporal pattern. Additionally, the night time molar rate of decrease in the concentration of DOC was up to two orders of magnitude smaller than the rate of increase in the concentration of DIC indicating that oxidation of DOC was responsible for only a small part of the increase in inorganic carbon. In the BHR, in two successive years (late summer 2006 & 2007), the DIC displayed little diel concentration change, however, the δ¹³C-DIC did show a more typical diel pattern characteristic of the influences of photosynthesis and respiration indicating that the isotopic composition of DIC can change while the concentration stays relatively constant. During 2006, a sharp night time increase in DOC was measured; opposite to the result observed in the CFR and may be related to the night time increase in flow and pH also observed in that year. This night time increase in DOC, flow, and pH was not observed 1 year later at approximately the same time of year. An in-stream mesocosm chamber used during 2006 showed that the night time increase in pH and DOC did not occur in water that was isolated from upstream or hyporheic contributions. This result suggests that a “pulse” of high DOC and pH water was advected to the sampling site in the BHR in 2006 and a model is proposed to explain this temporal pattern.     

Holocene glacier fluctuations in Alaska

This review summarizes forefield and lacustrine records of glacier fluctuations in Alaska during the Holocene. Following retreat from latest Pleistocene advances, valley glaciers with land-based termini were in retracted positions during the early to middle Holocene. Neoglaciation began in some areas by 4.0 ka and major advances were underway by 3.0 ka, with perhaps two distinct early Neoglacial expansions centered respectively on 3.3–2.9 and 2.2–2.0 ka. Tree-ring cross-dates of glacially killed trees at two termini in southern Alaska show a major advance in the AD 550s–720s. The subsequent Little Ice Age (LIA) expansion was underway in the AD 1180s–1320s and culminated with two advance phases respectively in the 1540s–1710s and in the 1810s–1880s. The LIA advance was the largest Holocene expansion in southern Alaska, although older late Holocene moraines are preserved on many forefields in northern and interior Alaska.Tidewater glaciers around the rim of the Gulf of Alaska have made major advances throughout the Holocene. Expansions were often asynchronous with neighboring termini and spanned both warm and cool intervals, suggesting that non-climatic factors were important in forcing these advances. However, climatic warming appears to have initiated most rapid iceberg-calving retreats. Large glaciers terminating on the forelands around the Gulf of Alaska may have had tidewater termini early in the Holocene, but have progressively become isolated from the adjacent ocean by the accumulation and subaerial exposure of their own sediments.     

Plausible responses to the threat of rapid sea-level rise in the Thames Estuary

This paper considers the perceptions and responses of selected stakeholders to a very low probability but high consequence climatic ‘surprise’—a scenario of rapid collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, producing a global rise in sea-level of 5  m over 100 years. It uses a case study of the Thames Estuary, UK, including London. Through a process of dialogue involving one-to-one interviews and a 1-day policy exercise, we addressed influences on decision-making when information is uncertain and our ability to plan, prepare for and implement effective ways of coping with this extreme scenario. The interviews and policy exercise explored plausible responses to the scenario and identified weaknesses in flood management approaches to dealing with such an occurrence. The analysis shows that an extreme scenario could be highly challenging, even for an area with well-developed institutions. Participants favoured two options (a) reconfiguring London around the rising water, and (b) building a new downstream barrier which would allow London to continue as today. The lack of consensus suggests the potential for policy paralysis in response to what is a highly uncertain phenomena—this could lead to a forced, unplanned response as the rapid change overwhelmed the existing defence capability. Hence, low probability, high consequence climatic events may challenge our existing institutions. Adaptive management is presented as an approach which could address this challenge.     

Understanding Design with VGI using an Information Relevance Framework

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has the potential to offer benefits to end‐users over and above those of Professional Geographic Information (PGI). A multi‐methods approach, consisting of participatory observation, focus groups and diary studies, was used to study how VGI and PGI were actually used by a target user group. A theoretical framework of information relevance was used to understand the attributes of information that were most important in relation to the characteristics of the users' activity and their community. The key finding was that the discussion amongst GIS designers should not be whether to choose VGI or PGI as the information data set, but to consider which combination of VGI and PGI relating to different geographic features and task characteristics would best meet the users' needs. VGI is likely to be most relevant to the user when a geographic feature is dynamic rather than static in nature, and can also provide a level of detail that is unlikely to arise through PGI. These findings have implications for how different forms of information are most effective for different usage situations. Above all, a case is presented for the implementation of User Centred Design (UCD) principles when integrating VGI and PGI together in a single mashup‐based product.     

The granular and polymer composite nature of kerogen-rich shale

In the past decade, mechanical, physical, and chemical characterization of reservoir shale rocks, such as the Woodford shale, which is kerogen-rich shale (KRS), has moved toward micro- and nanoscale testing and analyses. Nanoindentation equipment is now widely used in many industrial and university laboratories to measure shale anisotropic Young’s moduli, kerogen stiffness, plastic yield parameters, and other isotropic and anisotropic poromechanical and viscoelastic properties. However, to date, failure analyses of KRS and the effects of organic components on the tensile strength have not been observed or measured at the micro- or nanoscales. In this study, preserved kerogen-rich Woodford shale samples manufactured in micro-beam and micro-pillar geometries were mechanically tested and brought to failure in tension and compression, respectively. These tests were conducted in situ using a nanoindenter inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The load versus displacement curves of prismatic micro-cantilever beams were analyzed in light of high-resolution images collected during tensile fracture initiation, propagation, and ultimately sample failure. The micro-pillar geometries were subjected to a uniaxial compressive load and were also brought to failure while capturing measurements of stress and strain. It was found that, within just a few hundred microns of the KRS micro-cantilever beams, both brittle and ductile failure modes were observed. In the ductile plastic domain, strain-softening and strain-hardening behaviors were identified and characterized. These were not due to confining stress variations, but due to the volume of the organic matter and the way it is interlaced with the shale minerals in and around the failure planes. The tensile strength characteristics and the large modulus of toughness of kerogen, which is a cross-linked polymer, definitely weigh heavily in our engineering field applications, such as hydraulic fracking, which is a Mode I tensile fracture opening and propagation phenomenon. This practice demands that, due to the complex composite nature of KRS, mechanical characterization be not only for unconfined compressive strength but also for unconfined tensile strength and moduli of ruptures. At the end of this study, the need for nanometer scale mechanical characterization of KRS will become apparent. These nano- and micro-scale shale failure tests reinforce our previous understanding of the heterogeneous composite nature of Woodford KRS and its complex behavior, as well as other source shale reservoir formations.     

A new framework for modeling the migration of meandering rivers

Many models of river meander migration rely upon a simple formalism, whereby the eroding bank is cut back at a rate that is dictated by the flow, and the depositing bank then migrates passively in response, so as to maintain a constant bankfull channel width. Here a new model is presented, in which separate relations are developed for the migration of the eroding bank and the depositing bank. It is assumed that the eroding bank consists of a layer of fine‐grained sediment that is cohesive and/or densely riddled with roots, underlain by a purely noncohesive layer of sand and/or gravel. Following erosion of the noncohesive layer, the cohesive layer fails in the form of slump blocks, which armor the noncohesive layer and thereby moderate the erosion rate. If the slump block material breaks down or is fluvially entrained, the protection it provides for the noncohesive layer diminishes and bank erosion is renewed. Renewed bank erosion, however, rejuvenates slump block armoring. At the depositing bank, it is assumed that all the sediment delivered to the edge of vegetation due to the transverse component of sediment transport is captured by encroaching vegetation, which is not removed by successive floods. Separate equations describing the migration of the eroding and depositing banks are tied to a standard morphodynamic formulation for the evolution of the flow and bed in the central region of the channel. In this model, the river evolves toward maintenance of roughly constant bankfull width as it migrates only to the extent that the eroding bank and depositing bank ‘talk’ to each other via the medium of the morphodynamics of the channel center region. The model allows for both (a) migration for which erosion widens the channel, forcing deposition at the opposite bank, and (b) migration for which deposition narrows the channel forcing erosion at the opposite bank. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal links between pluton emplacement,garnet granulite metamorphism,partial melting and extensional collapse in the lower crust of a Cretaceous magmatic arc,Fiordland, New Zealand

Garnet granulite facies mid‐to lower crust in Fiordland, New Zealand, provides evidence for pulsed intrusion and deformation occurring in the mid‐to lower crust of magmatic arcs. ²³⁸U‐²⁰⁶Pb zircon ages constrain emplacement of the ～595 km² Malaspina Pluton to 116–114 Ma. Nine Sm‐Nd garnet ages (multi‐point garnet‐rock isochrons) ranging from 115.6 ± 2.6 to 110.6 ± 2.0 Ma indicate that garnet granulite facies metamorphism was synchronous or near synchronous throughout the pluton. Hence, partial melting and garnet granulite facies metamorphism lasted <5 Ma and began within 5 Ma of pluton emplacement. Garnet granulite facies L‐S tectonites in the eastern part of the Malaspina Pluton record the onset of extensional strain and arc collapse. An Sm‐Nd garnet age and thermobarometric results for these rocks directly below the amphibolite facies Doubtful Sound shear zone provide the oldest known age for extension in Fiordland at ≥112.8 ± 2.2 Ma at ～920 °C and 14–15 kbar. Narrow high Ca rims in garnet from some of these suprasolidus rocks could reflect a ≤ 1.5 kbar pressure increase, but may be largely a result of temperature decrease based on the Ca content of garnet predicted from pseudosections. At peak metamorphic conditions >900 °C, garnet contained ～4000 ppm Ti; subsequently, rutile inclusions grew during declining temperature with limited pressure change. Garnet granulite metamorphism of the Malaspina Pluton is c. 10 Ma younger than similar metamorphism of the Pembroke Granulite in northern Fiordland; therefore, high‐P metamorphism and partial melting must have been diachronous for this >3000 km² area of mid‐to‐lower crust. Thus, two or more pulses of intrusion shortly followed by garnet granulite metamorphism and extensional strain occurred from north to south along the axis of the lower crustal root of the Cretaceous Gondwana arc.