Learning with Local Help: Expanding the Dialogue on Climate Change and Water Management in the Okanagan Region, British Columbia, Canada

The research activity described in this report is a comprehensive regional assessment of the impacts of climate change on water resources and options for adaptation in the Okanagan Basin. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop integrated climate change and water resource scenarios to stimulate a multistakeholder discussion on the implications of climate change for water management in the region. The paper describes two main objectives: (a) providing a set of research products that will be of relevance to regional interests in the Okanagan, and (b) establishing a methodology for participatory integrated assessment of regional climate change impacts and adaptation that could be applied to climate-related concerns in Canada and other countries. This collaborative study has relied on field research, computer-based models, and dialogue exercises to generate an assessment of future implications, and to learn about regional views on the prospects for adaptation. Along the way, it has benefited from strong partnerships with governments, researchers, local water practitioners, and user groups. Building on the scenario-based study components, and a series of interviews and surveys undertaken for the water management and adaptation case study components, a set of stakeholder dialogue sessions were organized which focused on identifying preferred adaptation options and processes for their implementation. Rather than seeking consensus on the “best” option or process, regional interests were asked to consider a range of available options as part of an adaptation portfolio that could address both supply side and demand side aspects of water resources management in the Okanagan. The Canadian Crown reserves the right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright.     

Rare earth distributions in clay minerals and in the clay-sized fraction of the Lower Permian Havensville and Eskridge shales of Kansas and Oklahoma

The REE (rare earth element) content of a wide variety of clay mineral groups have been analyzed using radiochemical neutron activation and have been found to be quite variable in absolute REE content (range of ∑REE = 5.4–1732) and less variable in relative REE content (range of chondritenormalized La/Lu = 0.9–16.5). The variable REE content of the clay mineral groups is probably determined by the REE content of the source rock from which the clay mineral was derived and not from the separate minerals in the rock.The clay-sized fractions of the Havensville and Eskridge shales of Kansas and Oklahoma have similar relative REE distributions and identical negative Eu anomaly size as the composite of NAS (N. American shales), but an absolute REE content (range of ∑REE = 46–348) that may differ significantly from the composite of NAS. The clay-sized fraction of samples from any given outcrop did not vary much in absolute or relative REE content, but samples from northern Oklahoma, probably composed of continental to near-shore marine sediments, have higher absolute REE contents and higher La/Lu ratios than samples of marine deposits in Kansas (e.g. mean ∑REE in Oklahoma = 248; mean ∑REE in Kansas = 69–116). The differencess in the REE content between samples in Oklahoma and Kansas may be caused by chemical weathering processes in the source area, exchange reactions in the environment of deposition, or diagenesis and do not appear to be a result of the different clay minerals.Most samples have Eu anomalies relative to chondrites (range of Eu/Sm ratios of samples = 0.035–1.17; chondrites = 0.35). Some montmorillonites and kaolinites are anomalous in Eu relative to the NAS (range of Eu/Sm ratios of samples = 0.056–0.21; NAS = 0.22). These anomalies may be inherited from source rocks with Eu anomalies originally produced by igneous processes, or they may be produced by chemical weathering processes in the source area.     

Process regime change on a Silurian siliciclastic shelf: controlling influences on deposition of the Gray Sandstone Formation,Pembrokeshire, UK

Shallow marine deposits comprising the Silurian Gray Sandstone Formation (GSF) exhibit pronounced process regime changes through time. The formation was deposited on the southern shelf of the Lower Palaeozoic Welsh Basin (UK), and conformably overlies the Coralliferous Formation. The basal Lithofacies Assemblage A (of Sheinwoodian age) is dominated by a storm‐dominated process regime, comprising shoreface and offshore shelf facies associations. The overlying Lithofacies Assemblage B records a mixed process regime, with units being deposited under both storm‐ and tide‐influenced conditions. Tidal‐influence prevailed during deposition of the overlying Lithofacies Assemblage C, with proximal to distal facies variations across a significant tide‐influenced river delta being observed. A return to storm‐dominated shoreface conditions is seen in the succeeding Lithofacies Assemblage D. Lithofacies Assemblage E (Homerian age) records the return of a tide‐influenced river delta to the area, prior to the conformable transition into the overlying Old Red Sandstone (ORS) Red Cliff Formation (of Ludlow age). Northward thickening of the formation across southern Pembrokeshire into the Musselwick Fault indicates a tectonic control on sedimentation, the formation infilling accommodation space developed in an intra‐shelf half‐graben. Recurring changes in process regime from storm‐ to tide‐influenced sedimentation may be related to the onset and subsequent cessation of tidal resonance in sub‐basins across the shelf area which itself was probably controlled by episodic tectonism. It is proposed that the Coralliferous and Gray Sandstone formations comprise the newly erected Marloes Group. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.