Sedimentary architecture and genesis of Holocene shallow-water mud-mounds, northern Belize

Abstract Cangrejo and Bulkhead Shoals are areally extensive, Holocene biodetrital mud‐mounds in northern Belize. They encompass areas of 20 km² and 35 km² in distal and proximal positions, respectively, on a wide and shallow‐water, microtidal carbonate shelf where storms are the major process affecting sediment dynamics. Sediments at each mound are primarily biodetrital and comprise part of a eustatically forced, dominantly subtidal cycle with a recognizable deepening‐upward transgressive systems tract, condensed section and shallowing‐upward highstand systems tract. Antecedent topographic relief on Pleistocene limestone bedrock also provided marine accommodation space for deposition of sediments that are a maximum of 7·6 m thick at Cangrejo and 4·5 m thick at Bulkhead. Despite differences in energy levels and location, facies and internal sedimentological architectures of the mud‐mounds are similar. On top of Pleistocene limestone or buried soil developed on it are mangrove peat and overlying to laterally correlative shelly gravels. Deposition of these basal transgressive, premound facies tracked the rapid rate of sea‐level rise from about 6400–6500 years BP to 4500 years BP, and the thin basal sedimentation unit of the overlying mound‐core appears to be a condensed section. Following this, the thick and complex facies mosaic comprising mound‐cores represents highstand systems tract sediments deposited in the last ≈ 4500 years during slow and decelerating sea‐level rise. Within these sections, there is an early phase of progradationally offlapping catch‐up deposition and a later (and current) phase of aggradational keep‐up deposition. The mound‐cores comprise stacked storm‐deposited autogenic sedimentation units, the upper bounding surfaces of which are mostly eroded former sediment–water interfaces below which depositional textures have largely been overprinted by biogenic processes associated with Thalassia‐colonized surfaces. Vertical stacking of these units imparts a quasi‐cyclic architecture to the section that superficially mimics metre‐scale parasequences in ancient rocks. The locations of the mud‐mounds and the tidal channels transecting them have apparently been stable over the last 50 years. Characteristics that might distinguish these mud‐mounds and those mudbanks deposited in more restricted settings such as Florida Bay are their broad areal extent, high proportion of sand‐size sediment fractions and relatively abundant biotic particles derived from adjoining open shelf areas.     

Production patterns in Massachusetts Bay with outfall relocation

On September 6, 2000, the sewage outfall at the mouth of Boston Harbor was relocated 15 km offshore to alleviate pollution in Boston Harbor. The expected responses for nutrients and water column productivity parameters were for values to decrease at Boston Harbor, to increase at the outfall location, and to remain unchanged at the boundary of the near field region within 5 km of the outfall. Average values ofr water column measurements from 1992 to 2004 indicated these general responses with some exceptions. At the Harbor, nutrients decreased and chlorophyll increased but¹⁴C primary productivity remained statistically unchanged. At the new outfall location and at the boundary of the near field, nutrients increased and chlorophyll increased but primary productivity remained unchanged. Physical factors affecting primary production, such as pring water temperature, stratification, and wind, had more affects on productivity patters than nutrients from outfall relocation in the near field. A decrease in summer zooplankton after outfall relocation appeared to be due to a region-wide rather than outfall effluents.     

Lacustrine evidence for moisture changes in the Nebraska Sand Hills during Marine Isotope Stage 3

In the central Great Plains of North America, loess stratigraphy suggests that climate during the late Pleistocene was cold and dry. However, this record is discontinuous, and there are few other records of late-Pleistocene conditions. Cobb Basin, located on the northern edge of the Nebraska Sand Hills, contains lacustrine sediments deposited during Marine Isotope Stage 3, beginning approximately 45,000 cal yr BP and continuing for at least 10,000 yr. The lake was formed by a dune dam blockage on the ancient Niobrara River, and its deposits contain a diatom record that indicates changes through time in lake depth driven by changes in effective moisture. During the earliest stages of lake formation, the climate was arid enough to mobilize dunes and emplace dune sand into a blocking position within the Niobrara streambed. Diatom assemblages suggest that lake-level was shallow at formation, increased substantially during a wet interval, and then became shallow again, as arid conditions resumed. By about 27,000 cal yr BP the lake was filled, and a shallow ephemeral river occupied the basin.     

Gendered access to customary land in East Timor

Land tenure rights reflect the deeper structures of society, particularly gender distinctions in relation to land. Considering the structural differences between patrilineal and matrilineal customary tenure systems in East Timor are understudied, this paper explores men and women’s experiences in accessing land under such arrangements. The comparative analysis of two patrilineal with one matrilineal land tenure systems in Ainaro and Manufahi districts suggests a significant degree of flexibility within both systems with respect to the norms of gendered inheritance. Therefore, the binary constructs of ‘patrilineal’ and ‘matrilineal’ societies are limiting. Both men and women in these communities may acquire land rights under different circumstances, mainly through negotiations with their parents or hamlet chief. Daughters in the patrilineal communities could inherit family land upon their parents’ death and sons in the matrilineal community could gain land by cultivating and maintaining unclaimed customary land. Empirical evidence show that inheritance principally determines usufruct rights to land, but marriage exchange practices complicates a deeper understanding of traditional East Timorese land rights.

A sample preparation guide for clay-rich carbonaceous chondrites

The matrix of the C2-ungrouped Tarda meteorite contains abundant smectite minerals that swell and crumble when exposed to polar liquids, causing the sample to rapidly slake. This phenomenon presents a serious challenge when polishing the meteorite, as common polishing liquids used on carbonaceous chondrites, such as water, ethanol, ethylene glycol, and isopropyl alcohol, are polar and will cause the sample to swell, making it unsuitable for some analyses. Hexane and mineral oil are nonpolar liquids that were found to not induce swelling on highly expansive montmorillonite-clay analog material and were effectively integrated into a polishing procedure for Tarda. Here, we detail a procedure for mounting, cutting, and polishing the Tarda meteorite to prepare a surface that is suitable for a variety of sensitive techniques, such as electron microprobe analysis. This work offers a practical methodology for the preparation of other clay-rich samples, which may include the recently returned Ryugu and Bennu materials.     

Entanglement of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in marine debris: Identifying causes and finding solutions

Entanglement in marine debris is a contributing factor in Steller sea lion (SSL; Eumetopias jubatus) injury and mortality. We quantified SSL entanglement by debris type, sex and age class, entanglement incidence, and estimated population level effects. Surveys of SSL haul-outs were conducted from 2000-2007 in Southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia. We recorded 386 individuals of all age classes as being either entangled in marine debris or having ingested fishing gear. Packing bands were the most common neck entangling material (54%), followed by rubber bands (30%), net (7%), rope (7%), and monofilament line (2%). Ingested fishing gear included salmon fishery flashers (lures: 80%), longline gear (12%), hook and line (4%), spinners/spoons (2%), and bait hooks (2%). Entanglement incidence was 0.26% (SD = 0.0064, n = 69 sites). “Lose the Loop!” Simple procedures such as cutting entangling loops of synthetic material and eliminating the use of packing bands can prevent entanglements.     

Cation field strength effects on high pressure aluminosilicate glass structure: Multinuclear NMR and La XAFS results

We examined aluminosilicate glasses containing a variety of network modifying to intermediate cations (Li, La, Sc, and Fe), quenched from melts at 1 atm to 8 GPa, to further investigate the role of cation field strength in Al coordination changes and densification. ²⁷Al Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) reveals that the mean Al coordination increases with increasing pressure in the Li-containing glasses, which can be explained by a linear dependence of fractional change in Al coordination number on cation field strengths in similar K-, Na-, and Ca-containing aluminosilicate glasses (K < Na < Li < Ca). Measured recovered densities follow a similar linear trend. In contrast, the La-containing glasses have significantly lower mean Al coordination numbers at given pressures than the cation field strength of La and glass density would predict. La L₃ X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy results indicate a significant increase with pressure in average La-O bond distances, suggesting that La and Al may be “competing” for higher coordinated sites and hence that both play a significant role in the densification of these glasses, especially in the lower pressure range. However, in Na aluminosilicate glasses with small amounts of Sc, ⁴⁵Sc NMR reveals only modest Sc coordination changes, which do not seem to significantly affect the mean Al coordination values. For a Li aluminosilicate glass, ¹⁷O MAS and multiple quantum magic angle spinning (3QMAS) NMR data are consistent with generation of more highly coordinated Al at the expense of non-bridging oxygen (NBO), whereas La aluminosilicate glasses have roughly constant O environments, even up to 8 GPa. Finally, we demonstrate that useful ²³Na and ²⁷Al MAS NMR spectra can be collected for Ca-Na aluminosilicate glasses containing up to 5 wt.% Fe oxide. We discuss the types of structural changes that may accompany density increases with pressure and how these structural changes are affected by the presence of different cations.     

Research Note: Overpressure prediction from C‐wave seismic data

Recently, mode converted shear waves (C‐waves) have been shown to enable overpressure prediction in media where primary wave acquisition is inhibited by gas and fluid effects – C‐wave moveout is analysed and a long standing relationship between differential stress and primary‐wave (P‐wave) velocity is modified and employed. Though pore‐pressure prediction based on C‐waves is supported by empirical evidence from laboratory and field experiments, a theoretical justification has yet to be developed. In this research note, we provide a supporting algebra for the original relationship between pore pressure and C‐wave velocity.     

Knowledge gaps in tropical Southeast Asian seagrass systems

Seagrasses are habitats with significant ecological and economic functions but we have limited knowledge of seagrasses in Southeast Asia, the hypothesized centre-of-origin for tropical seagrasses. There have been only 62 ISI-cited publications on the seagrasses of Southeast Asia in the last three decades and most work has been in few sites such as Northwest Luzon in the Philippines and South Sulawesi in Indonesia. Our understanding of the processes driving spatial and temporal distributions of seagrass species here has focussed primarily on backreef and estuarine seagrass meadows, with little work on forereef systems. We used Pulau Tinggi, an island off the southeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia, as an example of a subtidal forereef system. It is characterized by a community of small and fast growing species such as Halophila ovalis (mean shoot density 1454.6 ± 145.1 m⁻²) and Halodule uninervis (mean shoot density 861.7 ± 372.0 m⁻²) growing in relatively low light conditions (mean PAR 162.1 ± 35.0 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ at 10 m depth to 405.8 ± 99.0 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ at 3 m water depth) on sediment with low carbonate (mean 9.24 ± 1.74 percentage dry weight), organic matter (mean 2.56 ± 0.35 percentage dry weight) and silt-clay content (mean 2.28 ± 2.43 percentage dry weight). The literature reveals that there is a range of drivers operating in Southeast Asian seagrass systems and we suggest that this is because there are various types of seagrass habitats in this region, i.e. backreef, forereef and estuary, each of which has site characteristics and ecological drivers unique to it. Based on our case study of Pulau Tinggi, we suggest that seagrasses in forereef systems are more widespread in Southeast Asia than is reflected in the literature and that they are likely to be driven by recurring disturbance events such as monsoons, sediment burial and herbivory.