Traces produced by chironomid larvae in sediments of an ice-contact proglacial lake

Scdimentological studies of a small ice-contact proglacial lake at Briksdal. southwest Norway, have led to the discovery of two types of tubular traces developed on the surfaces of material collected in sediment traps. The traces are described and attributed, with certainty, to the burrowing activities of chironomid midge larvae.     

Coarse-grained sediment gravity flow facies in a large supraglacial lake

Near Williams Lake, in the central interior of British Columbia, the Fraser River exposes long sections of late Pleistocene glaciolacustrine sediments selectively preserved within a bedrock trough. The dominant facies types are thick, normally graded gravels and sands that occupy steeply dipping multistorey channels up to 300 m wide and several tens of metres deep. Channels appear to have been simultaneously cut and filled by high density turbidity currents in a glacial lake floored by stagnant ice. Fining upward sediment gravity flow sequences up to 50 m thick may be the product of quasi-continuous ‘surging’ turbidity flows triggered by catastrophic meltwater discharges into the trough or retrogressive failure of ice-cored sediments. Large-scale post-depositional deformation structures, such as synclinal folds, normal faults, sedimentary dyke swarms and dewatering structures, record gravitational foundering of sediment and pore-water expulsion caused by the melt of underlying glacier ice. Melting of buried ice masses along the floor of the trough appears to have controlled the flow paths of turbidity currents by producing sub-basins within the overlying sediment pile. An idealized model of ‘supraglacial’ lacustrine sedimentation is developed that may be applicable to other glaciated areas with similar bedrock topography.     

RUSSIAN DOLLS OR SCALE SKIPPERS? TWO GENERATIONS IN STRASBOURG*

ABSTRACT. Over the past quarter‐century academic geographers have interrogated the concept of “scale.” It had previously been conceived as an unproblematic and mechanical item in geographical representation, a device for moving “up” from the finely detailed to the general. Regular, commonsensical steps were supposed to move one from the corporeal scale to the global scale, each scale nested into the next higher. Such is the “Russian‐dolls” mode, whereby an individual considering his or her geographical identity—as in this study—would proceed hierarchically in scale from self, to city, to region, to nation, to continent. Ethnographic evidence from Strasbourg, France, however, reveals another mode: “scale skipping.” Here an individual, musing upon her or his identity, can plausibly make the leap from the individual to the supranational scale in one sentence. Instructive examples of both modes are furnished from two fifteen‐strong groups of Strasburgers, selected for their presumed attachment to the supranational‐scale ideal of “Europe.” The older group comprises professional Eurocrats; the younger group, college students returning to complete their studies in Strasbourg after attending universities elsewhere in the European Union through the Erasmus Program of study abroad.     

Effect of Carbon Dioxide on Dehydration Melting Reactions and Melt Compositions in the Lower Crust and the Origin of Alkaline Rocks

Dehydration melting experiments of alkali basalt associatedwith the Kenya Rift were performed at 0·7 and 1·0GPa, 850–1100°C, 3–5 wt % H₂O, and f_O2 nearnickel–nickel oxide. Carbon dioxide [X_CO2 = molar CO₂/(H₂O+ CO₂) = 0·2–0·9] was added to experimentsat 1025 and 1050°C. Dehydration melting in the system alkalibasalt–H₂O produces quartz- and corundum-normative trachyandesite(6–7·5 wt % total alkalis) at 1000 and 1025°Cby the incongruent melting of amphibole (pargasite–magnesiohastingsite).Dehydration melting in the system alkali basalt–H₂O–CO₂produces nepheline-normative tephriphonolite, trachyandesite,and trachyte (10·5–12 wt % total alkalis). In thelatter case, the solidus is raised relative to the hydrous system,less melt is produced, and the incongruent melting reactioninvolves kaersutite. The role of carbon dioxide in alkalinemagma genesis is well documented for mantle systems. This studyshows that carbon dioxide is also important to the petrogenesisof alkaline magmas at the lower pressures of crustal systems.Select suites of continental alkaline rocks, including thosecontaining phonolite, may be derived by low-pressure dehydrationmelting of an alkali basalt–carbon dioxide crustal system. KEY WORDS: alkali basalt; alkaline rocks; carbon dioxide; dehydration melting; phonolite     

Temporal Evolution of Boron Flux in the NE Japan and Izu Arcs Measured by Ion Microprobe from the Forearc Tephra Record

The enrichment of boron relative to similarly incompatible elements,such as Be, in arc volcanic rocks has been used as a proxy forthe involvement of slab flux in petrogenesis. New ion microprobeanalyses of single glass shards in tephra layers recovered bythe Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) in the Izu and NE Japan forearcbasins now allow the temporal variation in slab flux to be chartedsince 7 and 5 Ma, respectively. B/Be ratios are typically <70in NE Japan and <130 in Izu, with no single grain exceeding200. Although moderate to high for modern arcs, these valuesare much less than those recorded in the Marianas and Tongaat 3–4 Ma, shortly after the start of rifting of theirback-arc basins. This observation suggests that the peak B/Bevalues seen in Tonga and the Marianas are related to the tectonicsof slab roll-back and basin opening, rather than changes inthe dynamics of the Pacific Plate. There is no temporal trendto enrichment in the high field strength elements (HFSE) orrare earth elements (REE) in either Izu or NE Japan since 7Ma, although the two elemental groups do show clear positivecorrelation. A lack of correlation between REE, HFSE and B/Besuggests that slab flux is not the only control on melting inthese arcs.     

SPIDER—an interactive statistical tool for the analysis of spatially distributed data

Interactive statistical graphics are reviewed in the contexts of spatial data and geographical information systems (GIS). GIS provide the user with an active geographical view of the data—a map that can be used as an entry point to the data base. Prototype software—SPIDER—illustrates the possibilities of using statistical graphics as further views of the data, which can be made active and thus provide alternative means of querying the data. These views can be cross-referenced by 'linking'. It is argued that such a system can provide a very rich environment for pursuing exploratory statistical analysis of spatial data.     

ENDOLITHIC LICHENS,RAPID BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING AND SCHMIDT HAMMER R‐VALUES ON RECENTLY EXPOSED ROCK SURFACES: STORBREEN GLACIER FORELAND,JOTUNHEIMEN, NORWAY

The endolithic lichen Lecidea auriculata is known to enhance rock surface weathering on the Little Ice Age moraines of the glacier Storbreen in Jotunheimen, central southern Norway. This study demonstrates the reduction in Schmidt hammer Rvalues that followed the rapid colonization by this lichen of pyroxene‐granulite boulders on terrain deglaciated over the last 88 years. In the absence of this lichen, the characteristic mean R‐value of boulder surfaces is 61.0 ± 0.3; where this lichen is present, R‐values are lower by at least 20 units on surfaces exposed for 30–40 years. A similar reduction in rock hardness on rock surfaces without a lichen cover requires about 10 ka. The rapid initial weakening of the rock surfaces is indicative of rates of biological weathering by endolithic lichens that may be two orders of magnitude (200–300 times) faster than rates of physico‐chemical weathering alone. If not avoided, the effects of this type of lichen are likely to negate the effectiveness of the Schmidt hammer and other methods for exposure‐age dating, including cosmogenic‐nuclide dating, in severe alpine and polar periglacial environments. The results also suggest a new method for dating rock surfaces exposed for <50 years.     

MORAL GEOGRAPHY IN HIGH PLAINS HISTORY

ABSTRACT. When American society, through deliberate government action, intervenes to preserve the family farm as the locus of “good” human values and “authentic” environmental conditions, the result can be described as a moral geography. Nowhere is this clearer than in the protection of traditional farming on the High, or Great, Plains through federal funding and programs. Protection began during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s; federal support came to a close with the passage of the 1996 farm bill. These shifts deserve assessment of historic American interests in the protection of an agricultural institution and of a region at risk.