The Ethics of Place and Environmental Change: Some Examples from the South Pacific

This paper concerns place and ‘placelessness’, and suggests links between those two and types of environmental ethic. An historical analysis of place based ethics and environmental degradation draws on examples from the Pacific basin. Finally, relationships between environmental ethics and traditional patterns of resource exploitation are proposed for several island societies.     

Recent status of bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, in the wintering grounds off West Greenland

Bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, belonging to the Davis Strait/Baffin Bay stock, have historically in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, including waters along the west coast of Greenland in and near the entrance of Disko Bay. Aerial surveys of the Disko Bay region during late winter (1981, 1982, 1990,1991, 1993 and 1994) showed that it was still visited regularly by a few tens of whales. Commercial whaling on bowheads in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait ended in about 1915, but occasional killing continued until as recently as the 1970s. The low numbers of bowheads observed off West Greenland in recent years are consistent with the results of surveys of the summering grounds in the eastern Canadian Arctic, indicating that any recovery has been exceedingly slow. The only conclusion supported by the data is that the current stock size is a small fraction of what it was prior to commercial whaling.     

Stratigraphy of a Neoglacial end moraine in Norway

There exposures in an outer end moraine ridge at Autre Okstindbredal, north Norway, are described and interpreted. The presence of perennially frozen ground is attributed to the present or very recent climate of the area and suggest the occurence of true sporadic permafrost. Several buried soil horizons including podzols are recognised within the moraine ridge sections. These are considered to be derived. It is thought that their occurance as imbricate stress is best explained by a basal freeze-in mechanism associated with marginal thrusting when the local glacier possessed a sub-polar thermal régime. This freeze-in phase is of late Neoglacial age but not necessarily associated with the widespread eighteenth century advance in Scandinavia. The soils in part date from the postglacial climatic optimum.     

The origin of massive diamicton facies by iceberg rafting and scouring, Scoresby Sund, East Greenland

Almost 90% of 39 m of core material recovered from Scoresby Sund and the adjacent East Greenland shelf is massive diamicton, interpreted to be formed predominantly by the release of iceberg rafted debris and reworking by iceberg scouring. There is also likely to be a contribution from suspension settling of fines derived from glaciofluvial sources. Model calculations suggest that the ¹⁴C derived Holocene sedimentation rate of 0.1-0.3 m 1000 yr⁻¹ in Scoresby Sund can be accounted for mainly by iceberg rafting of debris. A further 4% of core material is of gravel or coarse sand lenses, interpreted to reflect iceberg dumping of debris. Intensive iceberg scouring, which reworks sea floor sediments, is observed on acoustic records from over 30 000 km² of the Scoresby Sund fiord system and the adjacent East Greenland shelf (69-72°N and 75°N). The rate of iceberg production from Greenland Ice Sheet outlet glaciers, and iceberg drift tracks on the shelf, suggests that iceberg rafting and scouring may be important over a significant proportion of the 500 000 km² area above the shelf break. The relatively extensive modern occurrence of massive diamicton, formed by iceberg rafting and scouring, together with suspension settling of fines, suggests that it may also be a significant facies in the glacier-influenced geological record. The recognition in the geological record of the massive diamicton facies described above may also indicate the former presence of fast flowing ice sheet outlet glaciers.     

The pattern of Neoglacial glacier variations in the Okstindan region of northern Norway during the last three millennia

BOREAS Griffey, N. J. & Worsley, P. 1978 03 01: The pattern of Neoglacial glacier variations in the Okstindan region of northern Norway during the last three millennia (Okstindan Research Project Report 26). Boreas, Vol. 7, pp. 1–17. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483.
Historical, lichenometrical and stratigraphical evidence is combined to establish a provisional history of Neoglacial glacier variation in a mountainous environment approx. 66^oN. Attention is focussed on end moraine chronology. At five sites, derived organic materials have been located within end moraines and at two others in situ palaeosols occur buried beneath distal slopes. Organic rich samples from all the sites have been radiocarbon dated and the results permit the recognition of three major glacier expansion episodes, each of which contributes to the diachronous nature of the Okstindan outer Neoglacial limit. A widespread 'Little Ice Age' event with a maximum extent of probable eighteenth century age is confirmed. Limited areas of older moraine ridges peripheral to the 'Little Ice Age' maximal limit appear to date from about 3000-2500 ¹⁴C years B.P. and a younger period tentatively dated as about 1250-1000 ¹⁴C years B. P. which agrees with recent data from Engabreen in northwest Svartisen. No evidence for any extensive glacial activity after the inlandice wastage approx. 9000 ¹⁴C years B. P. and prior to 3000 ¹⁴C years B.P. was forthcoming.     

Carbon isotope variations and fractionation corrections in 14C dating

The formulas for correcting ¹⁴C measurements are explained. The expected ranges of the δ¹³C values for some types of samples are given. It is pointed out that the corrections are approximate because of the choice of correction formula, and that all samples arc normalized to wood samples instead of to carbon dioxide of the air. Some results from the Uppsala laboratory for plant materials and carbonates are given.     

Near-Ultrahigh Pressure Processing of Continental Crust: Miocene Crustal Xenoliths from the Pamir

Xenoliths of subducted crustal origin hosted by Miocene ultrapotassicigneous rocks in the southern Pamir provide important new informationregarding the geological processes accompanying tectonism duringthe Indo-Eurasian collision. Four types have been studied: sanidineeclogites (omphacite, garnet, sanidine, quartz, biotite, kyanite),felsic granulites (garnet, quartz, sanidine and kyanite), basalticeclogites (omphacite and garnet), and a glimmerite (biotite,clinopyroxene and sanidine). Apatite, rutile and carbonate arethe most abundant minor phases. Hydrous phases (biotite andphengite in felsic granulites and basaltic eclogites, amphibolesin mafic and sanidine eclogites) and plagioclase form minorinclusions in garnet or kyanite. Solid-phase thermobarometryreveals recrystallization at mainly ultrahigh temperatures of1000–1100°C and near-ultrahigh pressures of 2·5–2·8GPa. Textures, parageneses and mineral compositions suggestderivation of the xenoliths from subducted basaltic, tonaliticand pelitic crust that experienced high-pressure dehydrationmelting, K-rich metasomatism, and solid-state re-equilibration.The timing of these processes is constrained by zircon agesfrom the xenoliths and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of the host volcanic rocksto 57–11 Ma. These xenoliths reveal that deeply subductedcrust may undergo extensive dehydration-driven partial melting,density-driven differentiation and disaggregation, and sequestrationwithin the mantle. These processes may also contribute to thealkaline volcanism observed in continent-collision zones. KEY WORDS: xenolith; high-pressure; subduction; Pamir; Tibet     

Cotectic Proportions of Olivine and Spinel in Olivine-Tholeiitic Basalt and Evaluation of Pre-Eruptive Processes

The volume %, distribution, texture and composition of coexistingolivine, Cr-spinel and glass has been determined in quenchedlava samples from Hawaii, Iceland and mid-oceanic ridges. Thevolume ratio of olivine to spinel varies from 60 to 2800 andsamples with >0·02% spinel have a volume ratio ofolivine to spinel of approximately 100. A plot of wt % MgO vsppm Cr for natural and experimental basaltic glasses suggeststhat the general trend of the glasses can be explained by thecrystallization of a cotectic ratio of olivine to spinel ofabout 100. One group of samples has an olivine to spinel ratioof approximately 100, with skeletal olivine phenocrysts andsmall (<50 µm) spinel crystals that tend to be spatiallyassociated with the olivine phenocrysts. The large number ofspinel crystals included within olivine phenocrysts is thoughtto be due to skeletal olivine phenocrysts coming into physicalcontact with spinel by synneusis during the chaotic conditionsof ascent and extrusion. A second group of samples tend to havelarge olivine phenocrysts relatively free of included spinel,a few large (>100 µm) spinel crystals that show evidenceof two stages of growth, and a volume ratio of olivine to spinelof 100 to well over 1000. The olivine and spinel in this grouphave crystallized more slowly with little physical interaction,and show evidence that they have accumulated in a magma chamber. KEY WORDS: olivine; spinel; basalt glass; volume %; cotectic