The influence of ornithogenic products on the nutrient status of soils surrounding nests on nunataks in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

The nutrient status of soils surrounding ten snow petrel Pagodroma nivea nests was investigated by sampling along four transects (One up-slope and three down-slope) from each nest. The highest levels for total N and P.% C. nitrite and ammonia (but not nitrate) were associated with the nest itself. Elevated levels of all nutrients still occurred at I m from the nest but dropped to levels similar to those of non-bird influenced soils at 2 m or 5 m from the nest. Highest bacterial and algal numbers were also associated with the nest. An experiment to examine the breakdown of guano showed nitrification levels to be insignificant and nutrient release levels very slow.     

Génération stochastique d'averses et de leurs index d'érosivité pour la simulation de la dynamique érosive en Tunisie centrale

Résumé

Le modèle proposé est un générateur stochastique d'averses couplé à un modèle empirique de calcul de leurs érosivités, calé à une série pluviographique de 15 ans d'observations. Notre objectif est de développer une démarche probabiliste, qui permettrait d'étudier les conséquences érosives des pluies dans le temps, en cumulant l'érosivité consécutive des pluies simulées durant plusieurs années, supposée proportionnelle à la dégradation des sols, ou au transport solide en suspension sur la même période. Cette génération peut en effet se faire sur plusieurs années calendaires, et nous permettrait de ce fait d'éviter d'être limité par la taille des échantillons. L'ensemble pouvant être utilisé en mode opérationnel, pour reconstituer de très longus séries d'épisodes pluvieux dans l'objectif d'étudier le cumul de leur érosivité dans le temps. Cette démarche ne contredit pas les approches expérimentales, qui ont une réalité concrète de terrain, bien au contraire elle les conforte et permet d'avancer davantage dans la réflexion posée par la problématique de l'érosion hydrique.     

L'Amazone à Óbidos (Brésil): étude statistique des débits et bilan hydrologique

Résumé

Effectuées dans le cadre du Projet Hidrologia e geoquímica na Bacia Amazönica (HiBAm), les nouvelles mesures de débit à Obidos ont amélioré la connaissance des caractéristiques hydrologiques de l'Amazone à cette station qui contrâle les plus forts débits du monde. Une nouvelle méthode de correction détermine les débits journaliers avec une précision de ±3.0%. La reconstitution des périodes manquantes, avec les observations faites à Manaus, permet de disposer d'une chronologie de près d'un siècle. Avec cet échantillon commençant en 1902, le module interannuel de l'Amazone à Obidos est de 163 000 m³ s^?1, avec un coefficient d'irrégularité extrêmement faible (K3 = 1.28). L'étiage décennal (78 000 m³ s^?1) est de même grandeur que la crue centenaire du Congo à Brazzaville. La crue décennale est estimée à 260 000 m³ s^?1. Le Bilan hydrologique indique un déficit d'écoulement de 1193 mm, qui peut être assimilé à l'évapotranspiration réelle. En conclusion, l'Amazone est bien le fleuve le plus puissant et le plus régulier de la planète.     

REFLEXIONS SUR LA CONSERVATION DES RESSOURCES D'EAU DANS LES REGIONS ARIDES

Summary

A 0- to 6-inch sample of residual mineral soil was taken from 258 locations in northern California's mountain lands. Standard textural, organic matter, and erodibility analyses were made on these soil samples. These variables were then related to climatic parameters, parent material, and cover types by regression analysis. Variation in erodibility was found to be significantly correlated with parent material, cover type and climate. The acid igneous and schist rock types were more erodible than the more basic and ultramafic types. Soils developed under fir were found to be less erodible than those developed under pine, brush, or grass.     

Structure and evolution of a Messinian mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic platform: the role of evaporites (Sorbas Basin,South‐east Spain)

The Sorbas Member is a late Messinian complex sedimentary system that formed immediately following deposition of the Messinian evaporites in the Sorbas Basin (South‐east Spain). This work describes the sequence architecture and facies organization of a continuous kilometre long, alluvial fan to open platform transect near the village of Cariatiz in the north‐east of the basin. The post‐evaporitic Cariatiz platform was a mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic system composed of four intermediate‐frequency, fifth‐order depositional sequences (Depositional Sequences 1 to 4) arranged in an overall prograding trend. The intense fracturing and brecciation of these deposits is attributed to the deformation and dissolution of an evaporite body measuring several tens of metres in thickness. The four sequences display significant spatial–temporal variability in both architecture and facies distribution, with two main phases: (i) Depositional Sequences 1 and 2 are ooid and oobioclastic dominated, and show normal marine faunas; and (ii) Depositional Sequences 3 and 4 show a higher siliciclastic contribution and are microbialite dominated. These important changes are interpreted as modifications of the primary controlling factors. Following an initial 70 m drowning, possibly linked to increased oceanic input, Depositional Sequences 1 to 3 were controlled mainly by eustatic variations and inherited topography; their progradation destabilized the evaporite body near the end of the Depositional Sequence 2 period. During the second phase, Depositional Sequences 3 and 4 recorded a progressive restriction of the Sorbas Basin related to a 30 to 40 m fall in water level that was driven mainly by regional factors. These regional factors were dissolution and gravity‐induced deformation of the evaporites and correlative evaporative fluid circulation associated with the contrasted arid/humid regional climate that, respectively, controlled sequence geometry and fluctuating water salinity which caused a microbialite bloom.     

Turbidite system architecture and sedimentary processes along topographically complex slopes: the Makran convergent margin

This study investigates the morphology and Late Quaternary sediment distribution of the Makran turbidite system (Makran subduction zone, north‐west Indian Ocean) from a nearly complete subsurface mapping of the Oman basin, two‐dimensional seismic and a large set of coring data in order to characterize turbidite system architecture across an active (fold and thrust belt) margin. The Makran turbidite system is composed of a dense network of canyons, which cut into high relief accreted ridges and intra‐slope piggyback basins, forming at some locations connected and variably tortuous paths down complex slopes. Turbidite activity and trench filling rates are high even during the Holocene sea‐level highstand conditions. In particular, basin‐wide, sheet‐like thick mud turbidites, probably related to major mass wasting events of low recurrence time, drape the flat and unchannellized Oman abyssal plain. Longitudinal depth profiles show that the Makran canyons are highly disrupted by numerous thrust‐related large‐scale knickpoints (with gradients up to 20° and walls up to 500 m high). At the deformation front, the strong break of slope can lead to the formation of canyon‐mouth ‘plunge pools’ of variable shapes and sizes. The plunge pools observed in the western Makran are considerably larger than those previously described in sub‐surface successions; the first insights into their internal architecture and sedimentary processes are presented here. Large plunge pools in the western Makran are associated with large scoured areas at the slope break and enhanced sediment deposition downstream: high‐amplitude reflectors are observed inside the plunge pools, while their flanks are composed of thin‐bedded, fine‐grained turbidites deposited by the uppermost part of the turbidity flows. Thus, these architectural elements are associated with strong sediment segregation leading to specific trench‐fill mechanisms, as only the finer‐grained component of the flows is transferred to the abyssal plain. However, the Makran accretionary prism is characterized by strong along‐strike variability in tectonics and fluvial input distribution that might directly influence the turbidite system architecture (i.e. canyon entrenchment, plunge pool formation or channel development at canyon mouths), the sedimentary dynamics and the resulting sediment distribution. Channel formation in the abyssal plain and trench‐fill characteristics depend on the theoretical ‘equilibrium’ conditions of the feeder system, which is related closely to the balance between erosion rates and tectonic regime. Thus, the Makran turbidite system constitutes an excellent modern analogue for deep‐water sedimentary systems with structurally complex depocentres, in convergent margin settings.     

Planktonic foraminiferal and oxygen isotopic stratigraphy and paleoclimatology of Norwegian Sea deep-sea cores

BOREAS Kellogg, T. B., Duplessy, J. C. & Shackleton, N. J. 1978 03 01: Planktonic foraminiferal and oxygen isotopic stratigraphy and paleoclimatology of Norwegian Sea deep-sea cores. Boreas. Vol. 7, pp. 61–73. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483.
Three Norwegian Sea deep-sea cores, which penetrate to sediments at least 200,000 years old, were analyzed for oxygen isotope content, total calcium carbonate, and planktonic foraminifera. The oxygen isotopic stratigraphy was used to refine the time control for paleoclimatic and paleo-oceanographic events previously described for the region. Two pulses of relatively warm subpolar water entered the region between 124,000 B.P. and 115,000 B.P. (the last interglacial), and since about 13,000 B.P. The remaining portion of the last 150,000 years was characterized by extensive ice cover. The magnitude of the change in isotopic composition between peak glacial and peak interglacial conditions is larger than can be explained by the changing isotopic content of the oceans alone suggesting that large temperature and salinity effects are recorded in isotope curves from Norwegian Sea isotope curves. The magnitude of the isotopic change from substage 5e to 5d (greater than 1%) is attributed to a combination of changing oceanic isotopic composition combined with a large temperature effect due to a sudden sea-surface temperature decrease of about 6^oC. The persistence of heavy isotope values throughout substages 5d through 5a may be related to the sea-ice cover which prevented dilution of the isotopically heavy waters by isotopically light run-off. Sedimentation rates calculated for each of the isotope stages show large changes from one stage to another with some tendency for odd numbered stages to have higher rates.     

La stratigraphie du Pleistocène supérieur et de l'Holocène dans le Golfe de Gascogne: Essai de synthèse des critères actuellement utilisables

Using analysis of marines cores from the Bay of Biscay as a basis, a system of different episodes of the Upper Pleistocene and the Holocene in the area of the Bay is presented. These episodes are characterized by several sedimentological and micropaleontological observations and particularly by the analysis of the coiling ratio of a few species of planktonic foraminifera. From the cores it is thus possible to determine the Holocene, the Würmian with its four glacial and three interglacial stages, and, at the base of the last glacial stage, the Riss-Würm interglacial or its upper level.     

Late Proterozoic periglacial aeolian deposits on the West African Platform, Taoudeni Basin, western Mali

The Late Proterozoic Bakoye 3 Formation is a predominantly aeolian unit deposited in the glacially influenced cratonic Taoudeni Basin of western Africa. The Bakoye 3 can be divided into five distal units, two proximal units, and a local upper massive sandstone. The basal Unit 1 shows a complex interfingering of aeolian and subaqueous structures, and is interpreted as the precursor of the overlying erg sequences. Unit 2 consists of compound, trough cosets of aeolian cross-strata dominated by grain-flow strata. The unit is interpreted to represent draas with superimposed, small, crescentic dunes. A super bounding surface marks the termination and planation of the erg. Unit 3 is distinguished from the underlying Unit 2 by its larger, overall simple sets of trough cross-strata, interpreted to represent simple, large, crescentic dunes. Unit 4 occurs only locally in laterally discontinuous, large troughs. In one case the trough is filled by small sets of tabular cross-strata dominated by grain-flow deposits. At another section, wedges of coarse-grained wind-ripple strata fill the trough. Unit 4 may represent remnants of ergs or, more likely, local deposition in depressions. The depressions, in the latter scenario, formed with the development of a second super surface that truncates Unit 3. Unit 5 consists of very large sets of wind-ripple cross-strata with less common sets of grain-flow deposits. These deposits are believed to represent enormous dunes with large plinths and subordinate slip face development. A third super surface separates Unit 5 from overlying marine deposits. Together, Units 1–5 represent the core of the ergs in a distal position relative to adjacent upland source areas. Proximally, aeolian deposits are simple, smaller, trough sets interpreted as moderate sized crescentic dunes. Coarse-grained braided stream deposits are prominent. Locally, the top of the Bakoye 3 is marked by channelized mass-flow deposits containing aeolian blocks, and is believed to have resulted from iceberg grounding. An overall environment for the Bakoye 3 is one of uplands marked by ice sheets, with outwash plains extending distally to aeolian ergs. Super surfaces, all marked by polygonal fractures and coarsegrained sediment, represent periods of erg termination that may be linked to glacial-fluvial-aeolian cycles.     

A glove box for the fine-scale subsampling of sediment box cores

The construction and operation of a glove box which allows the fine-scale vertical subsampling of sediment box cores under a low oxygen atmosphere is described.