Local variations of solifluction activity and environment in the Abisko Mountains,Northern Sweden

Seven sites within the mountain region of Abisko, northern Sweden, were selected for measurement of solifluction movement rates and correlation with the local environmental factors. Grids with sizes from 20 m × 30 m to 50 m × 100 m included both solifluction landforms and adjacent ground. Positions of movement markers and the terrain were recorded and the grid areas were digitally reconstructed. This allowed topography, vegetation and soil texture (fraction of fine material) surfaces to be interpolated and used together with data on soil moisture in statistical analyses. Significant correlations differ from site to site indicating that environmental factors have varying importance and inter‐relations depending on the local setting. Geomorphic work was also assessed within the grids. The results indicate measurable geomorphic work where no landforms are present. These areas may make larger contributions to sediment displacement than where solifluction landforms exist. Solifluction is an important denudational agent in the region and has its greatest impact on landscape development in the western part of the region. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TL dating of partially bleached sediments by the regeneration method

Thermoluminescence dating of sediments in the Warsaw laboratory is based on blue-to-green emission. The ‘partial bleach + regeneration’ method is proposed for dating sediments which have not been completely bleached at the time of burial. Correct TL ages are reported for sediments covering organic deposits of the Eemian Interglacial and also for glacial sediments of Würm and Riss age. We obtained good results for dating till using the partial bleach + regeneration method. The TL zeroing in till is explained by the ‘rubbing’ or compression of grains beneath the glacier and by the freeze-thaw activity occurring during glacial transport and deglaciation.     

Changes in the biota and sediments of glacial Lake Koźmin, Poland, during the late Saalian (Illinoian)

Upper Saalian (Illinoian) glaciolacustrine deposits in central Poland, preserved in a tectonic graben, were exposed in an opencast lignite mine and investigated using sedimentological and micro-paleontological methods. The extraglacial lake sediments provide the first records of late Saalian cladoceran communities in central Europe, recovered from glaciolacustrine deposits. Sedimentation was dominated by a supply of clastics that fluctuated with the seasons, forming rhythmites. In addition to seasonal cyclicity, sedimentary and environmental conditions changed every several years to decades, with periods of increased inflow to the lake delivering sandy material, and periods of almost stagnant water dominated by suspension settling. The sediments contain Cladocera assemblages that indicate the lake was initially deep, oligotrophic, and filled with moderately cold water. Changes in Cladocera community composition and abundance were perhaps responses to climate seasonality. Zones without Cladocera were associated with seasons of higher inflow and sediment supply, and directly or indirectly, with tectonic activity in the graben. Earthquakes, documented by the presence of seismites, caused not only deformation of unconsolidated lake-bottom sediments, but possibly also changes in habitat characteristics. Combined sedimentological and biological data were used to infer the lake’s history and show that deposits of glaciolacustrine lakes can be used as indicators of past ecological and climate changes.     

The influence of late Quaternary sedimentation on vegetation in an Amazonian lowland megafan

The largest areas of white‐sand vegetation in northern Amazonia are confined to Late Pleistocene–Holocene megafan depositional systems, which suggest a relationship between the two. The aim of this work is to determine: (i) the relative role of sedimentary history and recent ecological processes to explaining the mosaic of white‐sand forest patches, grasslands and shrublands in a wetland area of northern Amazonia; and (ii) the long‐term successional trajectory that led to the establishment of the white‐sand forest patches. Facies analysis was used to reconstruct the megafan paleoenvironment; δ¹³C, total organic carbon and carbon/nitrogen from sedimentary organic matter to reconstruct the past vegetation; and floristic inventories to characterize the modern vegetation. The results revealed that the Viruá megafan consists of various sandy sub‐environments, including aeolian sand dunes and sheets developed mostly in the Holocene after the megafan turned inactive as a depositional site. Dune margins and tops are colonized by white‐sand trees mixed with a few generalist rain‐forest species, whereas adjacent lower‐lying areas, which are affected by seasonal flooding, are covered by graminoid plants and/or shrubs. The latter initiated their development over the megafan surface in different times of the Holocene due to hydrological gradients imposed by the topography of the various megafan depositional environments, while the white‐sand forest became dominant only on sand dunes over the last few centuries. We suggest that the late Quaternary sedimentary history was crucial in creating morphologies that now determine topographic gradients responsible for different vegetation physiognomies over the Amazonian lowlands. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of earthquake exposure on preparedness in the short and long term: a difference-in-differences estimation

Natural Hazards - Emergency support is often delayed after a disaster. Despite the importance of being prepared to deal with the immediate aftermath of disasters, not everyone prepares effectively....     

A Late Cretaceous theropod caudal vertebra from the Sultanate of Oman

A caudal vertebra collected from conglomerates of the Al-Khod Formation (Late Cretaceous) in the Al-Khod area, Sultanate of Oman, is assigned to a medium-sized theropod dinosaur. The Al-Khod discovery represents one of the very few dinosaur records from the Middle East.     

Analysis of three years of boundary layer observations over the Gulf of Mexico and its shores

Boundary layer observations were made over the Gulf of Mexico over a 3-year period in order to develop and test methods for estimating surface fluxes and boundary layer wind fields. In addition to routinely available buoy and CMAN surface data, six 915 MHz radar wind profilers (RWPs) and RASS profilers were mounted on oil platforms and on the shore. Estimates of surface momentum, sensible heat, and latent heat fluxes have been made from the surface observations using the COARE software. Simulations by the National Weather Service's Eta meteorological model are compared with the observations of surface fluxes and wind profiles. The boundary layer is found to be unstable over 90% of the time, and latent heat fluxes are about five to ten times larger than sensible heat fluxes, as usually found over tropical oceans. Eta model simulations of surface fluxes are within about ±50% of COARE estimates of the fluxes based on surface observations. Most of the time, COARE-derived fluxes at 11 sites are within a factor of two of each other at any given hour. In multi-day case studies, COARE calculations are found to agree with Eta model simulations of these fluxes and parameters within a factor of two most of the time. Eta model simulations of wind speeds in the boundary layer tend to exceed the RWP observations by 1–2 m s⁻¹ near shore and by 2–6 m s⁻¹ at distances of 100–200 km offshore.     

Along-wind dispersion of puffs released in a built-up urban area

The SF₆ gas tracer observations for puffs released near the ground during the Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) urban dispersion experiment in Oklahoma City have been analysed. The JU2003 observations, at distances of about 100–1,100 m from the source, show that, at small times, when the puff is still within the built-up downtown domain, the standard deviation of the concentration time series, σ_t, is influenced by the initial puff spread due to buildings near the source and by hold-up in the wakes of large buildings at the sampler locations. This effect is parameterised by assuming an initial σ_to of about 42 s, leading to a comprehensive similarity formula: σ_t = 42 + 0.1t. The second term, 0.1t, is consistent with an earlier similarity relation, σ_t = 0.1t, derived from puff observations in many experiments over rural terrain. The along-wind dispersion coefficient, σ_x, is assumed to equal σ_t u, in which u is the puff speed calculated as the distance from the source to the sampler, x, divided by the time after the release that the maximum concentration is observed at the sampler. σ_x can be expressed as σ_x = σ_xo + 0.14x, with the initial σ_xo of 45 m. This initial σ_xo agrees with the suggestion of an initial plume spread of about 40 m, made by McElroy and Pooler from analysis of the 1960s’ St. Louis urban dispersion experiment. The puff speeds, u, are initially only about 20% of the observed wind speed, averaged over about 80 street-level and rooftop anemometers in the city, but approach the mean observed wind speed as the puffs grow vertically. The scatter in the σ_t data is about ± a factor of two or three at any given travel time. The maximum σ_t is about 250 s, and the maximum duration of the puff over the sampler, Dt, sometimes called the retention time, is about 1,100 s or 18 min for these puffs and distances.     

Comparison of Monte Carlo simulation methods for the calculation of the nucleation barrier of argon

We compare two molecular Monte Carlo simulation methods, the discrete summation method and the growth/decay method, which calculate the vapor-liquid nucleation free energy barrier by simulating isolated clusters of fixed size without the surrounding vapor. The methods are applied to calculations of nucleation barriers of Lennard–Jones argon at 60 K and 80 K. Both of these methods are computationally efficient, as only isolated clusters without the surrounding vapor are simulated, and the methods can be applied with any given cluster definition. They give equivalent results to other methods where the vapor phase is also included. The discrete summation method is based on the calculation of the difference in free energies between two systems containing an n-cluster and an (n − 1)-cluster plus one non-interacting (free) molecule. We show that the configurational space is not equivalent in the two systems. Hence, there has to be an additional term in the free energy calculation that accounts for several kT in magnitude. In contrast to previous studies we also show that it is not correct to prevent the overlap of the non-interacting molecule and another molecule by a zero or an arbitrarily small repulsive potential, but with a small excluded space around the free molecule.