Surface deformation, gravity and the geoid from a three-dimensional convection model at low Rayleigh numbers

The two-dimensional surface deformation, gravity field and geoid are calculated from the temperature fields of a number of numerical models of constant viscosity three-dimensional convective flows, heated from within and from below, using the appropriate Green's functions. The admittance is positive, with positive gravity anomalies above hot rising regions, except for large aspect ratio circulations with undeformable lower boundaries. The surface deformation and the geoid are insensitive to the short wavelength features of the temperature variation. The gravity field is less smooth, though still does not clearly indicate the narrowness of the upwelling and downwelling regions at large Rayleigh numbers. When the lower boundary of the convecting region is deformable, the gravity field is dominated by lateral temperature variations within the upper thermal boundary layer, even when their contribution to the overall circulation is small. The variation of surface deformation with Rayleigh number agrees well with that expected from simple boundary layer arguments when the circulation is driven by heating from below, but less well when the heating is internal. These results suggest that the convective upwelling beneath regions showing positive geoid and residual depth anomalies is more localized than the horizontal extent of these features would suggest.     

Diatom,pollen, and geochemical evidence for the palaeosalinity of Medicine Lake,S. Dakota,during the late-Wisconsin and early Holocene

Medicine Lake is a highly saline meromictic lake in eastern South Dakota. A lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic study of the late-glacial and early post-glacial sediments shows that it was a relatively deep dilute freshwater lake during the period of the Picea pollen zone. When spruce forest changed to a Betula and then to a Quercus/Ulmus woodland in the early post-glacial period, the lake water became more concentrated but remained fresh. However, during the subsequent rapid transition to prairie in the early Holocene, when Gramineae, Ambrosia, and Artemisia dominated dry-land vegetation, the freshwater diatom flora was progressively replaced by a saline assemblage characterized by Cyclotella quillensis, Chaetoceros, and eventually Cyclotella caspia. The lake became permanently saline at about 9000 yr BP. A comparison of the fossil diatom assemblages with surface-sediment samples from a range of lakes in the Dakotas indicates that the change involved an increase in conductivity from about 500 S cm^–1 in the late-glacial period to > 10 000 S cm^–1 in the early Holocene. This rapid change is also marked by an abrupt increase in sulphate concentration in the sediment, the first appearance of bands of gypsum crystals, and the beginning of a well-laminated core sequence that continues through the remaining sediment record. Conditions of high salinity have prevailed to the present day.Contribution 299, Limnological Research Center.     

The Léon Domain (French Massif Armoricain): a westward extension of the Mid-German Crystalline Rise? Structural and geochronological insights

The Léon Domain in the NW part of the French Massif Armoricain is a stack of synmetamorphic nappes displaced from south to north in ductile conditions. From bottom to top, an orthogneissic basement is overthrusted successively by (1) a Lower Nappe of gneiss including mafic eclogites, (2) an Intermediate Nappe of biotite–garnet–staurolite micaschists with mafic blocks, and (3) an upper nappe made up of Neoproterozoic phyllites covered by unmetamorphosed Paleozoic sedimentary series. This microstructural study documents a polyphase evolution with firstly a top-to-the-N shearing, secondly followed by upright folding of the stack of nappes coeval with migmatization, and lastly, a dextral wrenching along the North Armorican Shear Zone associated with emplacement of synkinematic plutons. New U–Th/Pb chemical dating of monazites from biotite–garnet–staurolite micaschists, migmatites, and granitoids argue for 340–335 Ma, 335–327 Ma, and about 320 Ma ages for synthrusting metamorphism, anatexis, and wrenching, respectively. A metagabbro from Le Conquet yields a zircon LA-ICP-MS age of 478 ± 4 Ma, which corresponds to magma emplacement time. The Léon Domain is interpreted as a microcontinent separated from Armorica by the Le Conquet-Penzé suture to the south and east, and from Laurussia by the Rheic suture to the north. A possible correlation with the Mid-German Crystalline Rise of Central Europe is discussed.     

Constraints on the cooling history of the H‐chondrite parent body from phosphate and chondrule Pb‐isotopic dates from Estacado

Abstract— To constrain the metamorphic history of the H‐chondrite parent body, we dated phosphates and chondrules from four H6 chondritic meteorites using U‐Pb systematics. Reconnaissance analyses revealed that only Estacado had a sufficiently high ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratio suitable for our purposes. The Pb‐Pb isochron date for Estacado phosphates is measured to be 4492 ± 15 Ma. The internal residue‐second leachate isochron for Estacado chondrules yielded the chondrule date of 4546 ± 18 Ma. An alternative age estimate for Estacado chondrules of 4527.6 ± 6.3 Ma is obtained from an isochron including two chondrules, two magnetically separated fractions, and four bulk chondrite analyses. This isochron date might represent the age of termination of Pb diffusion from the chondrules to the matrix. From these dates and previously established closure temperatures for Pb diffusion in phosphates and chondrules, we estimate an average cooling rate for Estacado between 5.5 ± 3.2 Myr/°C and 8.3 ± 5.0 Myr/°C. Using previously published results for Ste. Marguerite (H4) and Richardton (H5), our data reveal that the cooling rates of H chondrites decrease markedly with increasing metamorphic grade, in agreement with the predictions of the “onion‐shell” asteroid model. Several issues, however, need to be addressed before confirming this model for the H‐chondrite parent body: the discrepancies between peak metamorphic temperatures established by various mineral thermometers need to be resolved, diffusion and other mechanisms of element migration in polycrystalline solids must be better understood, and dating techniques should be further improved.     

Can Free (and Open Source) Software and Data be Used to Underpin a Self‐Paced Tutorial on Spatial Databases?

University College London's Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (CEGE) offers a number of Masters programmes in topics related to Geomatics, including Surveying, Hydrographic Surveying, Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Science. Data management, and in particular the technology and applications of Spatial Databases, forms a key part of the curriculum on these courses. Interest in Spatial Databases is, however, more widespread – especially with the increasing understanding of the relevance of geospatial techniques to fields as diverse as anthropology and architecture. This article describes the development and evaluation of a self‐paced hands‐on course on Databases and Spatial Databases for CEGE students, presented to students to complement and enhance in‐class teaching. The article focuses on both pedagogical elements of self‐paced learning and the suitability of Free and Open Source Software and Open Data (PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Quantum GIS, Open Street Map) for the Spatial Databases curriculum. The resulting material was evaluated by a cohort of 25 students in 2010, and their feedback (very positive) and the overall results provide an interesting insight into suitable methods to employ when teaching technical subjects to a cohort having differing background skill levels.     

The Role of Contextual Info‐Marks in Navigating a Virtual Rural Environment

Navigation is a task performed in both large and small scale environments. Landmarks within an environment are of great benefit to these navigational tasks, but in large rural environments such landmarks may be sparse. It has been shown that landmarks need not be purely visual and that a change in context for a feature can make it become a landmark against its surroundings (such as being provided with significant meaning). Such meaning could be added through personal experience or by informing the observer via some form of communication. To investigate the effects of providing such contextual information on navigational performance, experiments were conducted in a large rural virtual environment where the delivery method of the information was varied between onscreen and PDA display. Users were instructed to perform a route tracing navigation task. In some instances users were presented with textual information about specific locations within the environment which appeared when they were in the vicinity of the location. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed, with results indicating that although the actual performance in the task was not significantly improved, users felt that their performance was better and the task easier when they were presented with the contextual information.     

Stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) signatures of sedimented organic matter as indicators of historic lake trophic state

We explored the use of carbon and nitrogen isotopes (¹³C and ¹⁵N) in sedimented organic matter (OM) as proxy indicators of trophic state change in Florida lakes. Stable isotope data from four ²¹⁰Pb-dated sediment cores were compared stratigraphically with established proxies for historical trophic state (diatom-inferred limnetic total phosphorus, sediment C/N ratio) and indicators of cultural disturbance (sediment total P and ²²⁶Ra activity). Diatom-based limnetic total P inferences indicate a transition from oligo-mesotrophy to meso-eutrophy in Clear Lake, and from eutrophy to hypereutrophy in Lakes Parker, Hollingsworth and Griffin. In cores from all four lakes, the carbon isotopic signature of accumulated OM generally tracks trophic state inferences and cultural impact assessments based on other variables. Oldest sediments in the records yield lower diatom-inferred total limnetic P concentrations and display relatively low ¹³C values. In the Clear, Hollingsworth and Parker records, diatom-inferred nutrient concentrations increase after ca. AD 1900, and are associated stratigraphically with higher ¹³C values in sediment OM. In the Lake Griffin core, both proxies display slight increases before ~1900, but highest values occur over the last ~100 years. As Lakes Clear, Hollingsworth and Parker became increasingly nutrient-enriched over the past century, the ¹⁵N of sedimented organic matter decreased. This reflects, in part, the increasing relative contribution of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria to sedimented organic matter as primary productivity increased in these waterbodies. The Lake Griffin core displays a narrow range of both ¹³C and ¹⁵N values. Despite the complexity of carbon and nitrogen cycles in lakes, stratigraphic agreement between diatom-inferred changes in limnetic total P and the stable isotope signatures of sedimented OM suggests that ¹³C and ¹⁵N reflect shifts in historic lake trophic state.     

Sediment records of phosphorus-driven shifts to phytoplanktondominance in shallow Florida lakes

Primary producer community structure (PPCS) in shallow lakes isinfluenced by phosphorus (P) load and water column P concentration.Theoretically PPCS may shift between phytoplankton and macrophyte states withintermediate P loading, but phytoplankton dominate when P loading exceeds acritical threshold. We analyzed sediment cores from five shallow, eutrophiclakes (size range: 0.6 to 125 km²) that arephytoplankton dominated to determine whether the development of the currentstate was associated stratigraphically with an increase in sediment total P(TP) and a shift in PPCS. We used sponge biogenic silica(BSi_Sponges) concentrations and total carbon to total nitrogenratios (TC:TN) as proxies for macrophyte abundance and sediment organic mattersource, respectively. Three stratigraphic groups of sediments were identifiedwith k-means cluster analysis. These samples were grouped by increasing TPconcentrations and decreasing age and identified as macrophyte, transitionaland phytoplankton sediments. Results show that as P loading increased in thelate 19th and early 20th centuries, the lakes producedsediments with an increasing contribution from phytoplankton. Four of our lakesmay represent a subset of shallow lakes because of their large size (30 to 125km²) and relatively rapid historic P enrichment. Inthese Florida lakes, PPCS shifted to phytoplankton dominance with nopaleolimnological record of lake-wide alternating stable states or of lake-widephytoplankton dominance before anthropogenic P enrichment.     

The atmospheric circulation and dust activity in different orbital epochs on Mars

A general circulation model is used to evaluate changes to the circulation and dust transport in the martian atmosphere for a range of past orbital conditions. A dust transport scheme, including parameterized dust lifting, is incorporated within the model to enable passive or radiatively active dust transport. The focus is on changes which relate to surface features, as these may potentially be verified by observations. Obliquity variations have the largest impact, as they affect the latitudinal distribution of solar heating. At low obliquities permanent CO₂ ice caps form at both poles, lowering mean surface pressures. At higher obliquities, solar insolation peaks at higher summer latitudes near solstice, producing a stronger, broader meridional circulation and a larger seasonal CO₂ ice cap in winter. Near-surface winds associated with the main meridional circulation intensify and extend polewards, with changes in cap edge position also affecting the flow. Hence the model predicts significant changes in surface wind directions as well as magnitudes. Dust lifting by wind stress increases with obliquity as the meridional circulation and associated near-surface winds strengthen. If active dust transport is used, then lifting rates increase further in response to the larger atmospheric dust opacities (hence circulation) produced. Dust lifting by dust devils increases more gradually with obliquity, having a weaker link to the meridional circulation. The primary effect of varying eccentricity is to change the impact of varying the areocentric longitude of perihelion, l, which determines when the solar forcing is strongest. The atmospheric circulation is stronger when l aligns with solstice rather than equinox, and there is also a bias from the martian topography, resulting in the strongest circulations when perihelion is at northern winter solstice. Net dust accumulation depends on both lifting and deposition. Dust which has been well mixed within the atmosphere is deposited preferentially over high topography. For wind stress lifting, the combination produces peak net removal within western boundary currents and southern midlatitude bands, and net accumulation concentrated in Arabia and Tharsis. In active dust transport experiments, dust is also scoured from northern midlatitudes during winter, further confining peak accumulation to equatorial regions. As obliquity increases, polar accumulation rates increase for wind stress lifting and are largest for high eccentricities when perihelion occurs during northern winter. For dust devil lifting, polar accumulation rates increase (though less rapidly) with obliquity above o=25°, but increase with decreasing obliquity below this, thus polar dust accumulation at low obliquities may be increasingly due to dust lifted by dust devils. For all cases discussed, the pole receiving most dust shifts from north to south as obliquity is increased.