The Geography of Certified Trade‐Induced Manufacturing Job Loss in New England*

The article analyzes patterns in the distribution of manufacturing job losses that have been certified as trade‐induced by the U.S. Department of Labor. Spatial patterns in the likelihood of job loss are examined in the United States for the period from 1994 to 2002, with particular emphasis on county‐level patterns in New England. The findings demonstrate that the pattern of losses was correlated with measures of economic vitality and competitiveness including per capita income, educational attainment, occupational structure, and inventiveness. These results suggest that trade‐induced deindustrialization is borne most heavily by places ill‐equipped to compete in a more open, integrated international economy.     

Reconstructing hydrological variability from testate amoebae analysis in Carpathian peatlands

Peatlands offer the potential for high resolution records of water balance over Holocene timescales, yet this potential is under-exploited in many areas of the world. Within Europe, peatlands are mostly confined to areas north of 55° N, but several areas of southern and eastern Europe contain small peatlands which may be suitable for palaeoclimatic reconstruction. In this paper we test the potential of peatlands in the Carpathian region for deriving quantified estimates of water table changes using testate amoebae analysis. A training set for palaeohydrological reconstruction from testate amoebae assemblages was obtained by collecting surface samples from 13 peatlands, including 9 from Hungary and 4 from Transylvania (Romania). Using a simple measure of mean annual water tables estimated from staining of PVC tape, we found that some peatlands were heavily influenced by runoff and groundwater, and were therefore not suitable as modern analogues of ombrotrophic climatically sensitive sites. The relationship between the testate amoebae assemblages in the modern samples and the environmental variables was explored using CCA. The CCA biplot showed that the most important variables are depth to water table and moisture content, confirming that hydrology is a key control on taxon distribution. pH was a secondary gradient. A transfer function for % moisture and depth to water table was established and applied to fossil assemblages from a sequence from Fenyves-tető, Transylvania, Romania. The reconstructed water table shows a number of variations which have parallels with other palaeoclimatic records from Europe and the North Atlantic prominent phases of higher water tables are associated with the periods 8000–8300 cal BP, 3000–2500 cal BP and after 600 cal BP. We suggest that these were periods of particular intensification of westerly airflow which affected eastern Europe as well as western and central Europe.     

Post-depositional 137Cs Mobility in the Sediments of Three Shallow Coastal Lagoons, SW England

We present ¹³⁷Cs profiles for three low lying coastal lagoons in Southwest England that show a decline in activity with sediment depth. ¹³⁷Cs inventories are lower than expected by comparison with local reference inventories despite the fact that sampling was undertaken in the deep-water zone of each lake where sediment and ¹³⁷Cs focusing would be expected. At all three locations, lake sediment ⁷Be and unsupported ²¹⁰Pb (²¹⁰Pb_un) inventories are not significantly lower than the local reference inventory. ¹³⁷Cs inventories in the study cores range from 38 to 95% of local reference inventories. The standing water level and mud: water interface at two sites are below maximum tide level and, at all three sites, salinity increases significantly in the water columns between low and high tide and in the pore waters of the underlying sediments. We suggest that the difference in hydrostatic pressure between sea level and standing water levels in the lagoons forces salt water up through the sediment column and that monovalent cations (especially Na⁺ and K⁺) replace ¹³⁷Cs on exchange sites leading to the upward migration and loss of ¹³⁷Cs. Rising sea levels may therefore contribute to remobilisation and release of ¹³⁷Cs to the aquatic environment from the sediments of coastal lagoons.     

Sediment-Based Study of the Effects of Decreasing Mine Water Pollutionon a Heavily Modified, Nutrient Enriched Lake

Ni and Cu mining and ore processing in Hitura, Western Finland, have resulted in emissions of metal-rich wastewaters into the nearby Kalajoki River since 1970. The wastewaters are discharged into the river 3 km upstream from the eutrophic Lake Pidisjärvi, which is a widening of the river by the town of Nivala. The water level of the lake was elevated by 1.5 m and the extensive macrophyte stands were cut in 1979, profoundly changing the environmental conditions. The effects of the decreasing metal emissions and nutrient concentrations since 1979 on the now open 3.9 km² lake were studied with paleolimnological techniques. A 2-m sediment core was taken from the lake in February 2004 and analysed for sediment chemistry and diatom assemblages. At the coring site, 13 cm of sediment had been deposited since 1979, on top of a bed of undecomposed macrophyte remains. When the sediment chemistry was compared with records of decreasing metal loading since 1979, no correlation was found because post-depositional mobility and changes in sediment characteristics affect the sediment metal profiles. Thus, the reduced emissions from the mine and the lower lake water phosphorus levels have not caused a corresponding decrease in sediment metal and P concentrations. However, both of these environmental variables accounted for a statistically significant percentage of variation in the sedimentary diatom assemblages in a redundancy analysis constrained to a single variable. This relationship persisted for Ni loading even in a partial analysis, while the importance of nutrients was confirmed by the good correlation between diatom-inferred and measured P concentrations. The results suggest that reductions in metal and nutrient loading have had an effect on the algal assemblages even though the sediment concentrations of Ni, Cu or P have not decreased.     

Lake Sediment Core Records of Sulphur Accumulation and Sulphur Isotopic Composition in Central Ontario, Canada Lakes

Stable isotopic compositions and concentrations of total sedimentary sulphur (S) were determined in cores from 6 lakes in the acid-sensitive Muskoka-Haliburton region of south-central Ontario. The isotopic composition of S in deep sediment (> ~ 20 cm) was approximately constant in all lakes, and indicated a pre-industrial δ ³⁴S value between +4.0 and +5.3‰, which is similar to current bulk deposition. Similarly, total S concentrations in deep sediment were relatively low (1.9–5 mg S g⁻¹ dwt) and approximately constant with depth within cores. All lakes exhibited up-core increases in total S and decreases in δ ³⁴S at a depth corresponding to the beginning of industrialization in the Great Lakes region ( ~ 1900), resulting in a generally reciprocal depth pattern between total S concentration and δ ³⁴S ratios. While initial shifts in total S and δ ³⁴S were likely due to enhanced SO₄ reduction of newly available anthropogenic SO₄, both the magnitude and pattern of up-core S enrichment and shifts in δ ³⁴S varied greatly among lakes, and did not match changes in S deposition post 1900. Differences between lakes in total S and δ ³⁴S were not related to any single hydrologic (e.g., residence time) or physical (e.g., catchment-area-to-lake area ratio) lake characteristic. This work indicates that sediment cores do not provide consistent records of changes in post-industrial S deposition in this region, likely due to redox-related mobility of S in upper sediment.     

A rationale for beach selection by the public on the coast of Wales, UK

Questionnaires were completed by 2306 beach users at 19 Welsh beaches with respect to beach selection parameters. The modal group of respondents was female aged 30–39. Beach choice was primarily determined by clean litter-free sand and seawater, followed by safety. Refreshment facilities and beach awards were deemed minor considerations by the public when choosing a beach to visit. Approximately 58 per cent of respondents were aware of beach award and rating schemes. Of coastal visitors interviewed for this paper, 67 per cent rated a beach as 'important' or 'very important' to their holiday, with just 2 per cent replying that they were unimportant.     

Crustal structure across the Grand Banks–Newfoundland Basin Continental Margin – II. Results from a seismic reflection profile

New multichannel seismic reflection data were collected over a 565 km transect covering the non-volcanic rifted margin of the central eastern Grand Banks and the Newfoundland Basin in the northwestern Atlantic. Three major crustal zones are interpreted from west to east over the seaward 350 km of the profile: (1) continental crust; (2) transitional basement and (3) oceanic crust. Continental crust thins over a wide zone (∼160 km) by forming a large rift basin (Carson Basin) and seaward fault block, together with a series of smaller fault blocks eastwards beneath the Salar and Newfoundland basins. Analysis of selected previous reflection profiles (Lithoprobe 85-4, 85-2 and Conrad NB-1) indicates that prominent landward-dipping reflections observed under the continental slope are a regional phenomenon. They define the landward edge of a deep serpentinized mantle layer, which underlies both extended continental crust and transitional basement. The 80-km-wide transitional basement is defined landwards by a basement high that may consist of serpentinized peridotite and seawards by a pair of basement highs of unknown crustal origin. Flat and unreflective transitional basement most likely is exhumed, serpentinized mantle, although our results do not exclude the possibility of anomalously thinned oceanic crust. A Moho reflection below interpreted oceanic crust is first observed landwards of magnetic anomaly M4, 230 km from the shelf break. Extrapolation of ages from chron M0 to the edge of interpreted oceanic crust suggests that the onset of seafloor spreading was ∼138 Ma (Valanginian) in the south (southern Newfoundland Basin) to ∼125 Ma (Barremian–Aptian boundary) in the north (Flemish Cap), comparable to those proposed for the conjugate margins.