Factors influencing surface runoff generation from two agricultural hillslopes in central Pennsylvania

The variable source area (VSA) concept provides the underlying paradigm for managing phosphorus losses in runoff in the north‐eastern USA. This study sought to elucidate factors controlling runoff along two hillslopes with contrasting soils, including characterizing runoff generation mechanisms and hydrological connectivity. Runoff monitoring plots (2 m × 1 m) were established in various landscape positions. Footslope positions were characterized by the presence of a fragipan that contributed to seasonally perched water tables. In upslope positions without a fragipan, runoff was generated primarily via the infiltration‐excess (IE) mechanism (96% of events) and was largely disconnected from downslope runoff. Roughly 80% of total runoff originated from the north footslope landscape position via saturation‐excess (SE) (46% of events; 62% of runoff) and IE (54% of events; 38% of runoff) mechanisms. Runoff from the north hillslope was substantially greater than the south hillslope despite their proximity, and apparently was a function of the extent of fragipan representation. Results demonstrate the influence of subsurface soil properties (e.g. fragipan) on surface runoff generation in variable source area hydrology settings, which could be useful for improving the accuracy of existing runoff prediction tools. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The once and future pulse of Indian monsoonal climate

We present a comprehensive assessment of the present and expected future pulse of the Indian monsoon climate based on observational and global climate model projections. The analysis supports the view that seasonal Indian monsoon rains in the latter half of the 21th century may not be materially different in abundance to that experienced today although their intensity and duration of wet and dry spells may change appreciably. Such an assessment comes with considerable uncertainty. With regard to temperature, however, we find that the Indian temperatures during the late 21st Century will very likely exceed the highest values experienced in the 130-year instrumental record of Indian data. This assessment comes with higher confidence than for rainfall because of the large spatial scale driving the thermal response of climate to greenhouse gas forcing. We also find that monsoon climate changes, especially temperature, could heighten human and crop mortality posing a socio-economic threat to the Indian subcontinent.     

Sm-Nd ages of two meta-anorthosite complexes around Holenarsipur: Constraints on the antiquity of Archean supracrustal rocks of the Dharwar craton

Whole-rock Sm-Nd isochron ages are reported for two stratiform meta-anorthosite complexes emplaced into the Archean supracrustal-gneiss association in the amphibolite facies terrain around Holenarsipur, in the Dharwar craton, South India. While these metaperidotite-pyroxenite-gabbro-anorthosite complexes are petrologically and geochemically similar, they differ in the intensity of tectonic fabric developed during the late Archean (c. 2.5 Ga) deformation. They also differ in their whole-rock Sm-Nd isochron ages and initial Nd isotopic compositions: 3.285 ± 0.17 Ga,^ɛNd0.82 ± 0.78 for the Honnavalli metaanorthosite complex from a supracrustal enclave in the low-strain zone, and 2.495 ± 0.033 Ga, ɛNd = -2.2 ± 0.3 for the Dodkadnur meta-anorthosites from the high-strain southern arm of the Holenarsipur Supracrustal Belt (HSB). We interpret these results as indicating that the magmatic protoliths of both meta-anorthosite complexes were derived from a marginally depleted mantle at c. 3.29 Ga but only the Dodkadnur rocks were isotopically reequilibrated on a cm-scale about 800 Ma later presumably due to the development of strong penetrative fabrics in them during Late Archean thermotectonic event around 2.5 Ga. Our results set a younger age limit at c. 3.29 Ga for the supracrustal rocks of the HSB in the Dharwar craton.     

Climate Change Impacts for the Conterminous USA: An Integrated Assessment

Global climate change will impact the hydrologic cycle by increasing the capacity of the atmosphere to hold moisture. Anticipated impacts are generally increased evaporation at low latitudes and increased precipitation at middle and high latitudes. General Circulation Models (GCMs) used to simulate climate disagree on whether the U.S. as a whole and its constituent regions will receive more or less precipitation as global warming occurs. The impacts on specific regions will depend on changes in weather patterns and are certain to be complex. Here we apply the suite of 12 potential climate change scenarios, previously described in Part 1, to the Hydrologic Unit Model of the United States (HUMUS) to simulate water supply in the conterminous United States in reference to a baseline scenario. We examine the sufficiency of this water supply to meet changing demands of irrigated agriculture. The changes in water supply driven by changes in climate will likely be most consequential in the semi-arid western parts of the country where water yield is currently scarce and the resource is intensively managed. Changes of greater than ±50% with respect to present day water yield are projected in parts of the Midwest and Southwest U.S. Interannual variability in the water supply is likely to increase where conditions become drier and to decrease under wetter conditions.     

Global fisheries losses at the exclusive economic zone level, 1950 to present

Up to one-third of commercial fishery stocks may be overfished at present. By analyzing catch trends and applying an empirical relationship derived from stock assessments, this article tracks the geographic spread of overfishing at the country level in terms of lost catch and lost revenue, from the start of industrialized fishing in 1950-2004. The results tell a cautionary tale of serial depletion to meet the ever-rising demand for fish. Examining country losses with respect to fishery management reveals that overcapacity and excess fishing effort are widespread, but also that recent trends towards sustainability can stabilize or reverse losses (e.g. for Norway, Iceland, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). Global trade effectively masks the successive depletion of stocks, so that without decisive action to reduce fishing effort, many more stocks will suffer and undernourishment impacts for the major exporting, food-deficit nations will only magnify.     

The nature of the basement in the Archaean Dharwar craton of southern India and the age of the Peninsular Gneiss

The Archaean Peninsular Gneiss of southern India is considered by a number of workers to be the basement upon which the Dharwar supracrustal rocks were deposited. However, the Peninsular Gneiss in its present state is a composite gneiss formed by synkinematic migmatization during successive episodes of folding (DhF₁, DhF_1a and DhF₂) that affected the Dharwar supracrustal rocks. An even earlier phase of migmatization and deformation (DhF_*) is evident from relict fabrics in small enclaves of gneissic tonalites and amphibolites within the Peninsular Gneiss. We consider these enclaves to represent the original basement for the Dharwar supracrustal rocks. Tonalitic pebbles in conglomerates of the Dharwar Supergroup confirm the inference that the supracrustal rocks were deposited on a gneissic basement. Whole rock Rb-Sr ages of gneisses showing only the DhF₁ structures fall in the range of 3100–3200 Ma. Where the later deformation (DhF₂) has been associated with considerable recrystallization, the Rb-Sr ages are between 2500 Ma and 2700 Ma. Significantly, a new Rb-Sr analysis of tonalitic gneiss pebbles in the Kaldurga conglomerate of the Dharwar sequence is consistent with an age of ～2500 Ma and not that of 3300 Ma reported earlier by Venkatasubramanian and Narayanaswamy (1974). Pb-Pb ages based on direct evaporation of detrital zircon grains from the metasedimentary rocks of the Dharwar sequence fall into two groups, 3300–3100 Ma, and 2800–3000 Ma. Stratigraphic, structural, textural and geochronologic data, therefore, indicate that the Peninsular Gneiss of the Dharwar craton evolved over a protracted period of time ranging from > 3300 Ma to 2500 Ma.     

The impact of urbanization on water vulnerability: A coupled human–environment system approach for Chennai,India

While there is consensus that urbanization is one of the major trends of the 21^st century in developing countries, there is debate as to whether urbanization will increase or decrease vulnerability to droughts. Here we examine the relationship between urbanization and water vulnerability for a fast-growing city, Chennai, India, using a coupled human–environment systems (CHES) modeling approach. Although the link between urbanization and water vulnerability is highly site-specific, our results show some generalizable factors exist. First, the urban transformation of the water system is decentralized as irrigation wells are converted to domestic wells by private individuals, and not by the municipal authority. Second, urban vulnerability to water shortages depends on a combination of several factors: the formal water infrastructure, the rate and spatial pattern of land use change, adaptation by households and the characteristics of the ground and surface water system. Third, vulnerability is dynamic, spatially variable and scale dependent. Even as household investments in private wells make individual households less vulnerable, over time and cumulatively, they make the entire region more vulnerable. Taken together, the results suggest that in order to reduce vulnerability to water shortages, there is a need for new forms of urban governance and planning institutions that are capable of managing both centralized actions by utilities and decentralized actions by millions of households.     

Intensity Oscillation in the Corona as Observed during the Total Solar Eclipse of 29 March 2006

We obtained the images of the eastern part of the solar corona in the Fe xiv 530.3 nm (green) and Fe x 637.4 nm (red) coronal emission lines during the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 at Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey. The images were obtained using a 35 cm Meade telescope equipped with a Peltier-cooled 2k × 2k CCD and 0.3 nm pass-band interference filters at the rates of 2.95 s (exposure times of 100 ms) and 2.0 s (exposure times of 300 ms) in the Fe xiv and Fe x emission lines, respectively. The analysis of the data indicates intensity variations at some locations with period of strongest power around 27 s for the green line and 20 s for the red line. These results confirm earlier findings of variations in the continuum intensity with periods in the range of 5 to 56 s by Singh et al. (Solar Phys. 170, 235, 1997). The wavelet analysis has been used to identify significant intensity oscillations at all pixels within our field of view. Significant oscillations with high probability estimates were detected for some locations only. These locations seem to follow the boundary of an active region and in the neighborhood, rather than within the loops themselves. These intensity oscillations may be caused by fast magneto-sonic waves in the solar corona and partly account for heating of the plasma in the corona.