Land use,soil erosion,and sediment yield at Pinto Lake,California: comparison of a simplified USLE model with the lake sediment record

Quantitative interpretation of past land use using palaeolimnological records of sediment yield requires an appropriate soil erosion model. This paper describes the application of a simplified USLE model, comparing the predicted sediment yield with the lake sediment record at Pinto Lake (Central Coast, California). Our principal finding is that simplified USLE prediction, without correction for sediment transport capacity, accurately predicts fine sediment yield. Because the fine component of the soil is delivered far more efficiently than the coarse component, this and related soil erosion models can more readily be applied to the interpretation of palaeolimnological records than to estimation of total sediment yield, for which reliable estimation of hillslope and fluvial sediment storage are more important. The focus on fine sediment also means that the model output is optimal for assessing past ecological impacts of soil erosion on stream water turbidity and particulate transport of pollutants and nutrients.     

Party politics,civil society and local democracy – Reflections from Johannesburg

Party politics are generally absent from urban governance or urban politics theories or debates, or present only anecdotally or as a ‘black box’, whilst they are more and more described, especially in Cities of the South, as central to urban societies, access to resources and social dynamics. This paper attempts, through the case of the role of the ANC in civil society in Johannesburg, to uncover the place and the role of political parties in urban governance. It first argues that the party local branch is often crucial as a platform of mobilization, expression and debates around local needs, being more structured and able to access channels of decision than other civil society organizations or local government participatory structures. However, its strong embededness in urban local societies also means a form of social control restricting the ability of civil society to revolt and challenge urban policies more radically.     

Rock‐Magnetic and Archaeointensity Investigation of Pottery and a Burned Floor at the Tzintzuntzan Archaeological Site,Western Mexico

We report a detailed rock‐magnetic and archaeointensity analysis of four pottery fragments and a burned floor recovered from the Tzintzuntzan archaeological site in western Mexico. Results from rock‐magnetic experiments (x‐T curves and first‐order reversal curves [FORC] diagrams) indicate the suitability of most of these materials as faithful geomagnetic field recorders. Potsherds were archaeomagnetically dated by comparing their mean intensity values against the paleosecular variation curve CALS3k, suggesting A.D. 600–941 as the most probable age range. This is younger than ¹⁴C‐dated charcoal from the same burned floor (A.D. 1294–1426). More precise age estimates will require the use of the full geomagnetic vector (declination, inclination, and intensity). Multiple reheatings of the ceramic pieces, evidenced as secondary components in Zijderveld plots, could reflect multiple heating of these objects, perhaps from use as incense burners. Our study demonstrates the potential of archaeomagnetic analysis to both date burned ceramics recovered in situ and provide insight into their use‐history.     

Whole-basin,mass-balance approach for identifying critical phosphorus-loading thresholds in shallow lakes

Lake Lochloosa, Florida (USA) recently underwent a shift from macrophyte to phytoplankton dominance, offering us the opportunity to use a whole-basin, mass-balance approach to investigate the influence of phosphorus loading on ecosystem change in a shallow, sub-tropical lake. We analyzed total phosphorus (TP) sedimentation in the basin to improve our understanding of the forcing factor responsible for the recent shift to phytoplankton dominance. We measured ²¹⁰Pb activity, organic matter (OM), organic carbon (OC) and TP in short sediment cores from 20 locations to develop a comprehensive, whole-basin estimate of recent mass sedimentation rates (MSR) for bulk sediment, OM, OC and TP. The whole-basin sedimentation models provided insights into historic lake processes that were not evident from the limited, historic water quality data. We used Akaike’s Information Criteria to differentiate statistically between constant MSR and exponentially increasing MSR. An eightfold, exponential increase in TP accumulation over the past century provided evidence for the critical role of increased P loading as a forcing factor in the recent shift to phytoplankton dominance. Model results show increased TP retention and decreased TP residence time were in-lake responses to increased TP loading and the shift from macrophyte to phytoplankton dominance in Lake Lochloosa. Comparison of TP loading with TP retention and historic, diatom-inferred limnetic TP concentrations identified the TP loading threshold that was exceeded to trigger the shift to phytoplankton dominance.     

Late Pleistocene snowline fluctuations at Nevado Coropuna (15°S), southern Peruvian Andes

Deposits preserved on peaks in the southern Peruvian Andes are evidence for past glacial fluctuations and, therefore, serve as a record of both the timing and magnitude of past climate change. Moraines corresponding to the last major expansion of ice on Nevado Coropuna date to 20‐25 ka, during the last glacial maximum. We reconstructed the snowline at Coropuna for this period using a combined geomorphic‐numeric approach to provide a first‐order estimate of the magnitude of late‐Pleistocene climate change. Our reconstructions show that snowline was approximately 550‐770 m lower during the last glacial maximum than during the late Holocene maximum, which ended in the 19^th century, and ～750 m lower than today. While these values are similar to data from nearby Nevado Solimana, reconstructions from the neighbouring peak of Nevado Firura reveal a smaller snowline depression, suggesting the glacial response to climate forcing in the tropics is strongly influenced by non‐climatic factors. These data constitute some of the first directly dated palaeo‐snowline data from the arid tropics and suggest that the magnitude of the last glaciation in at least parts of the tropical Andes was similar to late‐Pleistocene events at higher latitudes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.