The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff — A large volume multiphase eruption from Campi Flegrei,Southern Italy

the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) (12 ka BP) is considered to be the product of a single eruption. Two different members (A and B) have been identified and can be correlated around the whole of Campi Flegrei. Member A is made up of at least 6 fall units including both ash and lapilli horizons. The basal stratified ash unit (A1) is interpreted to be a phreatoplinian fall deposit, since it shows a widespread dispersal (>1000 km²) and a constant thickness over considerable topography. The absence of many lapilli fall units in proximal and medial areas testifies to the erosive power of the intervening pyroclastic surges. The overlying member B was formed by many pyroclastic flows, radially distributed around Campi Flegrei, that varied widely in their eruptive and emplacement mechanisms. In some of the most proximal exposures coarse scoria and lithic-rich deposits, sometimes welded, have been identified at the base of member B. Isopach and isopleth maps of fall-units, combined with the distribution of the coarse proximal facies, indicate that the eruptive vent was located in the NE area of Campi Flegrei. It is considered that the NYT eruption produced collapse of a caldera approximately 10 km diameter within Campi Flegrei. The caldera rim, located by geological and borehole evidence, is now largely buried by the products of more recent eruptions. Initiation of caldera collapse may have been contemporaneous with the start of the second phase (member B). It is suggested that there was a single vent throughout the eruption rather than the development of multiple or ring vents. Chemical data indicate that different levels of a zoned trachyte-phonolite magma chamber were tapped during the eruption. The minimum volume of the NYT is calculated to be about 50 km³ (DRE), of which 35 km³ (70%) occurs within the caldera.     

Basalt-rhyolite volcanism by MORB-continental crust interaction: Nd,Sr-isotopic and geochemical evidence from southern San Joaquin Basin,California

The early miocene Tecuya volcanic center in the southern San Joaquin basin of California consists of flows and tuffs of basalt and rhyolite that erupted, closely spaced in time, in both submarine and subaerial conditions. The rhyolites are overlain by the basalts and constitute approximately 45% of a total of at least 180 km³ of the Tecuya volcanic rocks. The basalts have _Nd(t) values of +2 to +6 and (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i values between 0.7035 and 0.7052. These rocks show LREE enrichment [(La/Yb)_N =2.4–5.5; La=28–150 times chondrite] and higher Th/U, Th/Ta, Rb/Ta, Ba/Ta, Cs/Rb but lower K/Rb ratios than MORB. Combined major- and trace-element, and Sr–Nd isotopic data suggest the involvement of subcontinental lithosphere, depleted upper mantle source (MORB), and local continental crust in the basalt petrogenesis. _Nd(t) values in rhyolites vary from +1.5 to +3.7 while (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i ratios range from 0.7051 to 0.7064. The rhyolites display LREE enrichment [(La/Yb)_N=10; La=100 times chondrite] along with a distinct negative Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu^*=0.75) and depletion of Ti and P. Mixing relations in (⁸⁷/⁸⁶Sr)_i – _Nd(t) space among basalts, rhyolites, and local continental crust indicate that the Tecuya rhyolites were produced by assimilation of variable amounts of continental crust by MORB-related magmas and subcontinental lithosphere-derived melts. This conclusion is supported by the synchroneity of Tecuya volcanism at 22 Ma with interaction of a segment of the East Pacific Rise along the southern California margin. The Tecuya volcanic rocks thus provide an example for the generation of rhyolitic melts owing to crustal assimilation by basaltic melts during mid-oceanic ridge-induced magmatism along a continental margin.     

Optimal benthic macrofaunal sampling protocol for detecting differences among four habitats in Willapa Bay,Washington, USA

As part of an effort to estimate estuarine habitat values with respect to ecological indicators of benthic macrofaunal community condition, an optimal (effective and least costly) sampling protocol (sample unit size [area x depth], sieve mesh size, and sample number [n]) was determined. The goal was to use four ecological indicators (number of species, abundance, biomass, and fish and crab prey abundance) to detect differences among four intertidal habitats in Willapa Bay, Washington, United States. The four habitats were eelgrass (Zostera marina), Atlantic cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), mud shrimp (Upogebia pugettensis), and ghost shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis). Four sample unit areas (0.005, 0.010, 0.015, and 0.020 m²), two sample unit depths (0–5 and 0–10 cm), and two sieve mesh sizes (1.0 and 0.5 mm) were evaluated. The optimal sampling protocol was defined as the least costly protocol capable of reliably (statistical power, 1?β≥0.80) detecting significant (α=0.05) differences among ≥4 of the 6 pairwise habitat contrasts by ANOVA on all four ecological indicators. The relative cost of each sampling protocol was estimated as a direct function of the sample unit size and number and the cost-in-processing-time ratios of 1 (5 cm deep):1.7 (10 cm deep) and 1 (≥1.0 mm macrofauna size fraction); 2.5 (≥0.5 mm macrofauna size fraction), which were taken from previous studies. The optimal sampling protocol was 15–20, 0.01-m²×5-cm deep, 0.5-mm mesh samples per habitat.     

Theory of electric currents in ionospheric E-layers

The magnetic disturbance associated with East-West current in the ionosphere is calculated in terms of the production and loss of ionisation. This is physically equivalent to a conventional equation of the type j = [σ]E, but may be preferred in many experimental circumstances. The relationship between the deformation of an ionospheric layer and the electric current, or magnetic disturbance in it, is explored in detail. Applications to mid-latitude sporadic-E, the equatorial electrojet, night-E, deformation of mid-latitude E-layer by quiet and disturbed currents and deformation of the E-layer by auroral electrojets are considered. Under a wide range of conditions, vertical backscatter devices can be used to find the altitude profile of the East-West component of ionospheric electric current by measuring the deformations of the vertical profiles of electron density.     

50,000 years of vegetation and climate history on the Colorado Plateau, Utah and Arizona, USA

Sixty packrat middens were collected in Canyonlands and Grand Canyon National Parks, and these series include sites north of areas that produced previous detailed series from the Colorado Plateau. The exceptionally long time series obtained from each of three sites (> 48,000 ¹⁴C yr BP to present) include some of the oldest middens yet discovered. Most middens contain a typical late-Wisconsinan glaciation mixture of mesic and xeric taxa, evidence that plant species responded to climate change by range adjustments of elevational distribution based on individual criteria. Differences in elevational range from today for trees and shrubs ranged from no apparent change to as much as 1200 m difference. The oldest middens from Canyonlands NP, however, differ in containing strictly xeric assemblages, including middens incorporating needles of Arizona single-leaf pinyon, far north of its current distribution. Similar-aged middens from the eastern end of Grand Canyon NP contain plants more typical of glacial climates, but also contain fossils of one-seed juniper near its current northern limit in Arizona. Holocene middens reveal the development of modern vegetation assemblages on the Colorado Plateau, recording departures of mesic taxa from low elevation sites, and the arrival of modern dominant components much later.     

Hillslope sediment production after wildfire and post-fire forest management in northern California

High severity wildfires impact hillslope processes, including infiltration, runoff, erosion, and sediment delivery to streams. Wildfire effects on these processes can impair vegetation recovery, producing impacts on headwater and downstream water supplies. To promote forest regeneration and maintain forest and aquatic ecosystem functions, land managers often undertake active post-fire land management (e.g., salvage logging, sub-soiling, re-vegetation). The primary objective of our study was to quantify and compare sediment yields eroded from (a) burned, (b) burned and salvage logged, and (c) burned, salvage logged, and sub-soiled plots following the 2015 Valley Fire in the northern California Coast Range. We distributed 25 sediment fences (~75 m² contributing area) across four hillslopes burned at high severity and representative of the three management types. We collected eroded sediment from the fences after precipitation events for 5 years. We also quantified precipitation, canopy cover, ground cover, and soil properties to characterize the processes driving erosion across the three management types. Interestingly, during the second year after the fire, sediment yields were greater in the burned-only plots compared with both the salvage logged and sub-soiled plots. By the third year, there were no differences in sediment yields among the three management types. Sediment yields decreased over the 5 years of the study, which may have occurred due to site recovery or exhaustion of mobile sediment. As expected, sediment yields were positively related to precipitation depth, bulk density, and exposed bare soil, and negatively related to the presence of wood cover on the soil surface. Unexpectedly, we observed greater sediment yields on the burned-only plots with greater canopy closure, which we attributed to increased throughfall drop size and kinetic energy related to the residual canopy. While these results will aid post-fire management decisions in areas with Mediterranean climates prone to low intensity, long duration rainstorms, additional research is needed on the comparative effects of post-fire land management approaches to improve our understanding of the mechanisms driving post-fire erosion and sediment delivery.     

Surface water–groundwater exchange dynamics in a tidal freshwater zone

In coastal rivers, tides can propagate for tens to hundreds of kilometres inland beyond the saltwater line. Yet the influence of tides on river–aquifer connectivity and solute transport in tidal freshwater zones (TFZs) is largely unknown. We estimate that along the TFZ of White Clay Creek (Delaware, USA), 11% of river water exchanges through tidal bank storage zones. Additional hyporheic processes such as flow through bedforms likely contribute even more exchange. The turnover length associated with tidal bank storage is 150 km, on the order of turnover lengths for all hyporheic exchange processes in non‐tidal rivers of similar size. Based on measurements at a transect of piezometers located 17 km from the coast, tides exchange 0.36 m³ of water across the banks and 0.86 m³ across the bed per unit river length. Exchange fluxes range from ?1.66 to 2.26 m day^?1 across the bank and ?0.84 to 1.88 m day^?1 across the bed. During rising tide, river water infiltrates into the riparian aquifer, and the downstream transport rate in the channel is low. During falling tide, stored groundwater is released to the river, and the downstream transport rate in the channel increases. Tidal bank storage zones may remove nutrients or other contaminants from river water and attenuate nutrient loads to coasts. Alternating expansion and contraction of aerobic zones in the riparian aquifer likely influence contaminant removal along flow paths. A clear need exists to understand contaminant removal and other ecosystem services in TFZs and adopt best management practices to promote these ecosystem services. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.