Fossil Rotifers and the Early Colonization of an Antarctic Lake

Early Holocene sediments from a continental Antarctic lake (Ace Lake, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica) contained abundant fossil rotifers of the genus Notholca. The fossil is similar to specimens of Notholca sp. present in modern-day Ace Lake and other fresh and brackish lakes of the Vestfold Hills. Cyanobacteria and protists (chrysophyte cysts, dinoflagellate cysts, and rhizopod tests) were also recovered from the core samples. These sediments were deposited early in the freshwater phase of Ace Lake, soon after deglaciation of the area. The occurrence of this trophically diverse assemblage of organisms at an early stage in the evolution of the lake suggests either that they were part of an endemic Antarctic flora and fauna which pre-dated the last glacial maximum and survived in glacial refugia or that efficient intercontinental dispersal had occurred.     

On Krugman's model of economic geography

This essay evaluates the evolution of Paul Krugman's ideas about economic geography between 1989 and 1996, focusing on the scope and intention of his work. While Krugman's geographical writings have acknowledged diverse research traditions, he has increasingly focused his efforts on formal spatial models that embody the methods of mainstream economic modeling. This emphasis reflects Krugman's view that formal modeling holds the most promise for understanding spatial aspects of urbanization. Krugman's interventions into economic geography have in turn allowed him to develop and articulate his own view of the future of social science: that is, the explanation of self-organizing behaviour should be the focal point of research, and formal modelling is the key means of advancing this agenda.     

Flux decomposition into coherent structures

This study examines the intermittency of the momentum flux near the surface and the relation of such intermittency to coherent structures. Toward this goal, variances and covariances are decomposed into coherent structures and less coherent activity. The sampled structures are identified using the Haar transform and then decomposed into eigenvectors of the lagged covariance matrix.The methodology is applied to the momentum flux for a relatively stationary 50-h period of strong winds measured from a 45 m tower in the Lammefjord Experiment. Events of sinking motion with strong horizontal momentum account for the majority of the flux. Such sweeping motions arrive as gust microfronts. The large momentum flux is associated with strong coherent fluctuations of the longitudinal wind component and high correlation with relatively modest fluctuations of vertical motion. In the heated case (HAPEX), a phase lag between the vertical and horizontal velocity fluctuations leads to less efficient momentum transport by the main coherent structures.The event nature of the flux is used to formulate an expression for the flux error due to sampling problems. Estimation of the momentum flux requires a significantly longer record than for the heat flux. Modulation of the flux by mesoscale variations also affects the sampling strategy.     

Floodplain development based on selective preservation of sediments, Squamish River, British Columbia

In the conventional model of floodplain sediment accumulation, mechanisms of floodplain growth are differentiated into lateral and vertical accretion processes, in which within-channel deposits are capped by overbank deposits. In the high-energy, gravel-based Squamish River, sediments laid down on bar surfaces are composed of trough and planar crossbedded coarse sands. These sequences contrast incongruously with adjacent floodplain deposits which are composed in large part of vertically accreted fine sands atop coarse alluvial gravels. Using element analysis it is inferred that bar platform sediments are stripped away by chute channels, which are subsequently infilled with lower-energy deposits. From this, a model of floodplain growth based on selective preservation of bar platform sands and prefrential preservation of vertically accreted deposits is proposed. This mechanism of sediment replacement occurs independent of channel planform type.     

High chromium contents in Tertiary coal deposits of northwestern Washington — A key to their depositional history

Chromium contents obtained from 20 coal and 5 associated rock samples collected from the basal part of the Eocene Chuckanut Formation, in Skagit and Whatcom counties, northwest Washington, range between 30 and 300 ppm (mean 120 ppm whole-coal basis). The lenticular coals, ranging in rank from subbituminous to anthracite, and with an ash content of 12–46%, crop out along the western flank of the Cascade Range. Results of X-ray diffraction analysis of low-temperature ash show that the mineral matter in the coal samples consists predominantly of quartz and clay (kaolinite, illite and chlorite group). However, accessory minerals, isolated from the coal samples and analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and optical methods, contain angular fragments and euhedral crystals of the spinel group (chromite, magnetite and trevorite ), kaolinite-serpentine group (antigorite and chrysotile), chlorite group, amphibole group and pyroxene group minerals (augite, diopside and enstatite), all of which are commonly enriched in chromium.Although associated primarily with the inorganic fraction of the coal, concentrations of chromium in the samples show no statistically significant correlation with ash content. Localized concentrations of chromium in the coal are the result of natural contamination from the alteration of detrital chromium-bearing mineral grains introduced into the peat-forming mires from nearby Jurassic ophiolite bodies. The coals formed in the early Eocene, in rapidly subsiding small basins that developed during the uplift and erosion of the pre-Tertiary ophiolite terrain. Scattered bodies of source rock, random distribution of chromium-bearing minerals within the coal and sample heterogeneity account for the variation in Cr contents of the samples.     

Noble gas and carbon abundances of the Haverö, Dingo Pup Donga,and North Haig ureilites

Total carbon determinations on the Haverö, Dingo Pup Donga, and North Haig ureilites yield values of 2.07, 3.17, and 5.58 wt.%, respectively. Haverö and Dingo Pup Donga contain relatively large amounts of trapped Ar, Kr and Xe, which like the carbon content varies with grain size for Haverö. These two meteorites also contain dominant cosmic rayproduced He and Ne, and show ³He exposure ages of ~23 m.y. and ~7 m.y., respectively. North Haig contains much smaller amounts of trapped gases and spallogenic gases, which may result from loss due to terrestrial weathering. The isotopic composition of Xe in five grain size analyses of Haverö and a whole rock analysis of Dingo Pup Donga shows the presence of a major solar-like Xe component. The presence of this solar component adds an additional complication to the concept of forming ureilites from carbonaceous chondrites.     

Grain boundary processes and development of metamorphic plagioclase

Plagioclase from a progressively metamorphosed granodiorite changes as the metamorphic grade increases. Lower grade plagioclase are chemically inhomogeneous, with zoned rims containing distinct compositional levels of An_0?3, An₁₇, and An₂₅. As grade increases the plagioclase becomes more chemically homogeneous with An_0?3 rims dominating. Microcline inclusions are controlled by internal defects at lower grades and grain boundaries at higher grades. Myrmekite rims are developed at the highest grade. Rims are dependent on surface energy factors and occur at triple points, high angle lattice misfits and other high energy surfaces. At low grades, rims form at plagioclase-plagioclase contacts and at higher grades, at plagioclase-microcline contacts. These changes are due to impurity segregation and grain boundary migration, and an increase of the letter process at higher grades.