Community‐Derived Standards for LA‐ICP‐MS U‐(Th‐)Pb Geochronology – Uncertainty Propagation,Age Interpretation and Data Reporting

The LA‐ICP‐MS U‐(Th‐)Pb geochronology international community has defined new standards for the determination of U‐(Th‐)Pb ages. A new workflow defines the appropriate propagation of uncertainties for these data, identifying random and systematic components. Only data with uncertainties relating to random error should be used in weighted mean calculations of population ages; uncertainty components for systematic errors are propagated after this stage, preventing their erroneous reduction. Following this improved uncertainty propagation protocol, data can be compared at different uncertainty levels to better resolve age differences. New reference values for commonly used zircon, monazite and titanite reference materials are defined (based on ID‐TIMS) after removing corrections for common lead and the effects of excess ²³⁰Th. These values more accurately reflect the material sampled during the determination of calibration factors by LA‐ICP‐MS analysis. Recommendations are made to graphically represent data only with uncertainty ellipses at 2s and to submit or cite validation data with sample data when submitting data for publication. New data‐reporting standards are defined to help improve the peer‐review process. With these improvements, LA‐ICP‐MS U‐(Th‐)Pb data can be considered more robust, accurate, better documented and quantified, directly contributing to their improved scientific interpretation.     

Changes in Climate Extremes Over the Australian Region and New Zealand During the Twentieth Century

Analyses of high quality data show that there have been some interesting recent changes in the incidence of some climate extremes in the Australian region and New Zealand.     

Estimating Sea-Level Allowances for Atlantic Canada using the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC

Abstract

Sea-level allowances at 22 tide-gauge sites along the east coast of Canada are determined based on projections of regional sea-level rise for the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) from the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5) and on the statistics of historical tides and storm surges (storm tides). The allowances, which may be used for coastal infrastructure planning, increase with time during the twenty-first century through a combination of mean sea-level rise and the increased uncertainty of future projections with time. The allowances show significant spatial variation, mainly a consequence of strong regionally varying relative sea-level change as a result of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). A methodology is described for replacement of the GIA component of the AR5 projection with global positioning system (GPS) measurements of vertical crustal motion; this significantly decreases allowances in regions where the uncertainty of the GIA models is large. For RCP8.5 with GPS data incorporated and for the 1995–2100 period, the sea-level allowances range from about 0.5?m along the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to more than 1?m along the coast of Nova Scotia and southern Newfoundland.     

Tropical forcing of Australian extreme low minimum temperatures in September 2019

We explore the causes and predictability of extreme low minimum temperatures (T_min) that occurred across northern and eastern Australia in September 2019. Historically, reduced T_min is related to the occurrence of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and central Pacific El Niño. Positive IOD events tend to locate an anomalous anticyclone over the Great Australian Bight, therefore inducing cold advection across eastern Australia. Positive IOD and central Pacific El Niño also reduce cloud cover over northern and eastern Australia, thus enhancing radiative cooling at night-time. During September 2019, the IOD and central Pacific El Niño were strongly positive, and so the observed T_min anomalies are well reconstructed based on their historical relationships with the IOD and central Pacific El Niño. This implies that September 2019 T_min anomalies should have been predictable at least 1–2 months in advance. However, even at zero lead time the Bureau of Metereorolgy ACCESS-S1 seasonal prediction model failed to predict the anomalous anticyclone in the Bight and the cold anomalies in the east. Analysis of hindcasts for 1990–2012 indicates that the model's teleconnections from the IOD are systematically weaker than the observed, which likely stems from mean state biases in sea surface temperature and rainfall in the tropical Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Together with this weak IOD teleconnection, forecasts for earlier-than-observed onset of the negative Southern Annular Mode following the strong polar stratospheric warming that occurred in late August 2019 may have contributed to the T_min forecast bust over Australia for September 2019.

     

Shear and Richardson number in a mode-water eddy

Measurements of stratification and shear were carried out as part of the EDDIES tracer release experiment in mode-water eddy A4 during the summer of 2005. These measurements were accomplished using both shipboard instrumentation and a drifting mooring. A strong relationship between shear intensity and distance from the center of the eddy A4 was observed with the shipboard ADCP. Diapycnal diffusivity at the SF₆ tracer isopycnal prior to and during the release was estimated from the drifting mooring to be 2.9×10⁻⁶ m² s⁻¹. Diffusivity increased by an order of magnitude to 3.2×10⁻⁵ m² s⁻¹ during the period of the final tracer survey in early September, which was similar to the value estimated from the tracer analysis for the whole experiment (3.5×10⁻⁵ m² s⁻¹, [Ledwell, J.R., McGillicuddy Jr., D.J., Anderson, L.A., 2008. Nutrient flux into an intense deep chlorophyll layer in a mode-water eddy. Deep-Sea Research II, this issue [doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2008.02.005]].     

An Equation of State for Hypersaline Water in Great Salt Lake,Utah, USA

Great Salt Lake (GSL) is one of the largest and most saline lakes in the world. In order to accurately model limnological processes in GSL, hydrodynamic calculations require the precise estimation of water density (ρ) under a variety of environmental conditions. An equation of state was developed with water samples collected from GSL to estimate density as a function of salinity and water temperature. The ρ of water samples from the south arm of GSL was measured as a function of temperature ranging from 278 to 323 degrees Kelvin (^oK) and conductivity salinities ranging from 23 to 182 g L⁻¹ using an Anton Paar density meter. These results have been used to develop the following equation of state for GSL (σ = ± 0.32 kg m⁻³):

Blast vibration control in the presence of delay scatter and random fluctuations between blastholes

It is becoming increasingly important, from an environmental viewpoint, to minimize vibrations induced in urban dwellings by blasting. The present study illustrates how the delay interval between blastholes can be chosen to control and minimize the vibration energy within the structural response band of most houses. In particular, it is shown that the only possibility of reducing such energy is to employ a delay interval in the range 10–35 ms. However, the induced vibrations are also dependent upon the accuracy of the delay initiators as well as the level of random fluctuations between each blasthole signature. It is shown that only very accurate electronic delays give the possibility of utilizing fully the delay sequence in order to control structural vibrations. If the vibration emission from each blasthole is totally uncorrelated with that of any other blasthole then the resulting amplitude spectrum of the blast will be totally unpredictable. This situation occurs irrespective of the delay initiation sequence or its accuracy. Under these conditions it is impossible to predict the blast-induced energy lying within the structural response band.     

The Influence of Burden on Blast Vibration

There is a common belief within the blasting community that increasing the burden will increase the blast vibration. In order to test this belief in a direct sense, it would be desirable to fire single blastholes with various burdens and monitor the vibrations at many locations. A review of past literature indicates that such direct tests are rare and only scant data is available. Nevertheless, a detailed analysis of this and associated past work (on small-scale blocks and choke blasts) shows no convincing evidence of an influence of burden on blast vibration. On the other hand, by considering the role of reflected waves in a simple analytical model, reasoning is given to show that the vibration might well be insensitive to burden. In view of the scant data available, it was decided to conduct trials of a direct nature, in which 13 single blastholes were fired to a free face. The burdens chosen were 2.6 m, 5.2 m and 10.4 m, and the vibration was measured at typically 10 locations over the range 5 m to 50 m from each hole. The results clearly show that the vibration is independent of such burdens. Furthermore, a side-by-side comparison of a choke blast with a free-face blast showed that the vibration from the holes in the choke blast was not higher than the vibration from the holes in the free-face blast. The present work also shows that vibration, although insensitive to burden, is not insensitive to the condition (i.e., the degree of damage) of the surrounding rock mass. In this regard, blastholes in undamaged ground produce a significantly higher vibration than blastholes in damaged ground. This might well be the reason why pre splits and drop-cuts are observed to produce relatively high vibrations, i.e., it is not because such blasts typically involve large burdens, but rather that they are usually initiated in relatively undamaged ground.     

Petrographic and geochemical evidence for the formation of primary, bacterially induced lacustrine dolomite: La Roda 'white earth' (Pliocene, central Spain)

Upper Pliocene dolomites (‘white earth’) from La Roda, Spain, offer a good opportunity to evaluate the process of dolomite formation in lakes. The relatively young nature of the deposits could allow a link between dolomites precipitated in modern lake systems and those present in older lacustrine formations. The La Roda Mg‐carbonates (dolomite unit) occur as a 3·5‐ to 4‐m‐thick package of poorly indurated, white, massive dolomite beds with interbedded thin deposits of porous carbonate displaying root and desiccation traces as well as local lenticular gypsum moulds. The massive dolomite beds consist mainly of loosely packed 1‐ to 2‐μm‐sized aggregates of dolomite crystals exhibiting poorly developed faces, which usually results in a subrounded morphology of the crystals. Minute rhombs of dolomite are sparse within the aggregates. Both knobbly textures and clumps of spherical bodies covering the crystal surfaces indicate that bacteria were involved in the formation of the dolomites. In addition, aggregates of euhedral dolomite crystals are usually present in some more clayey (sepiolite) interbeds. The thin porous carbonate (mostly dolomite) beds exhibit both euhedral and subrounded, bacterially induced dolomite crystals. The carbonate is mainly Ca‐dolomite (51–54 mol% CaCO₃), showing a low degree of ordering (degree of ordering ranges from 0·27 to 0·48). Calcite is present as a subordinate mineral in some samples. Sr, Mn and Fe contents show very low correlation coefficients with Mg/Ca ratios, whereas SiO₂ and K contents are highly correlated. δ¹⁸O‐ and δ¹³C‐values in dolomites range from ?3·07‰ to 5·40‰ PDB (mean=0·06, σ=1·75) and from ?6·34‰ to ?0·39‰ PDB (mean=?3·55, σ=1·33) respectively. Samples containing significant amounts of both dolomite and calcite do not in general show significant enrichment or depletion in ¹⁸O and ¹³C between the two minerals. The correlation coefficient between δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C for dolomite is extremely low and negative (r=?0·05), whereas it is higher and positive (r=0·47) for calcite. The lacustrine dolomite deposit from La Roda is interpreted mainly as a result of primary precipitation of dolomite in a shallow, hydrologically closed perennial lake. The lake was supplied by highly saturated HCO₃^?/CO₃^2? groundwater that leached dolomitic Mesozoic formations. Precipitation of dolomite from alkaline lake waters took place under a semi‐arid to arid climate. However, according to our isotopic data, strong evaporative conditions were not required for the formation of the La Roda dolomite. A significant contribution by bacteria to the formation of the dolomites is assumed in view of both petrographic and geochemical evidence.