New rebbachisaurid (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) material from the Wessex Formation (Barremian, Early Cretaceous), Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

Rebbachisauridae is a poorly understood clade of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaurs, currently known only from the Cretaceous of Africa, Europe and South America. European representatives are particularly rare and fragmentary. Here, we report an anterior caudal vertebra from the Barremian (Early Cretaceous) Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England. This specimen possesses several features known only in rebbachisaurids and shares two synapomorphies with the Afro-European taxa Demandasaurus darwini and Nigersaurus taqueti, both pertaining to the morphology of the neural spine. These features are the development of triangular lateral processes and the presence of an elliptical fossa on the lateral surface, bounded by the lateral lamina and postspinal rugosity. The Isle of Wight specimen also shares several features solely with Demandasaurus, indicating a close relationship with the Spanish taxon. These include the presence of a hyposphenal ridge, as well as an anteriorly excavated caudal rib that is restricted almost entirely to the neural arch. However, it differs from Demandasaurus in a number of ways, including the lack of excavation on the posterior surface of the caudal rib, the orientation of the neural spine, and the composition and morphology of the lateral lamina. In addition, the Isle of Wight vertebra possesses one potential autapomorphy: bifurcation of the elliptical fossa on the neural spine. However, because of the fragmentary nature of the material, a new name is not erected. Along with Demandasaurus and Histriasaurus boscarollii, this caudal vertebra indicates the presence of at least three European rebbachisaurid taxa and provides new anatomical information on this enigmatic clade of sauropod dinosaurs.     

Experiment on imaging and visualising for assessing late-tertiary microstructural evidences of depositional changes in Gajalia fold,south Tripura

The present work concentrates on microstructure imaging for visualising the changes of depositional environment during Tertiary period. For that purpose Tipam layers of Gajalia fold area in southern Tripura was selected which was deposited during late Tertiary period under marine-coastal environment. Thin sections of eleven selected samples of the study area were prepared in the laboratory for microstructure analysis. For visualising the crystalline particles or quartz brightness and contrast of the image was increased up to maximum level. Surface conditions of the samples were analysed within RGB combination. The grain size and shapes of the eleven samples tested prove that the depositional environment remained very dynamic through Tertiary period in the study area. The microstructure and surface conditions also strongly support this view.     

A new hypothesis for the origin of the supposed giant snail Dinocochlea from the Wealden of Sussex, England

When first described in 1922, Dinocochlea ingens, an Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) fossil from the Wadhurst Clay Formation (Wealden) of Hastings in Sussex, England, was regarded as the steinkern of a huge gastropod over 2 m in length and claimed to be the largest gastropod ever to have lived. Most subsequent researchers have doubted the identity of D. ingens as a gastropod, usually believing it to be a pseudofossil, but no convincing explanation has been proposed for its origin. Restudy of the type material leads to the new hypothesis that Dinocochlea originated as a horizontal, corkscrew-shaped burrow resembling Helicodromites that acted as a nucleus for concretion growth. Sectioned specimens of Dinocochlea are filled with concentrically banded sediment interpreted to be growth rings of a concretion. Modification of a computer simulation designed to illustrate gastropod shell growth shows how the development of a concretion around a corkscrew-shaped burrow could lead to the morphology seen in Dinocochlea. The most likely tracemaker for Dinocochlea was a capitellid polychaete (‘threadworm’) with a body just a few mm in diameter.     

Understanding the fate of iron in a modern temperate estuary: Leirárvogur,Iceland

Fluvial dissolved Fe concentrations decrease upon mixing with seawater, resulting in the formation of Fe-floccules. However, a clear understanding of the fate of these floccules has yet to be established. Assessing how tidal processes affect the formation of Fe-colloids in the Leirárvogur estuary, SW Iceland, is an important step in understanding the formation and potential deposition of estuarine Fe-rich minerals within this estuarine system. The Leirárvogur estuary drains predominately Fe-rich basalt, increasing the likelihood of detecting changes in Fe-phases. Fluvial waters and local lake waters that drain into the estuary were compared and the effects of seasonal changes were considered, in an attempt to understand how varying end-members and external factors play a role in Fe-rich mineral formation. Aqueous and colloidal Fe concentrations were found to be greater towards the head of the Leirárvogur estuary, suggesting that potential Fe-rich minerals and complexes are forming at sites of fluvial input. Increasing suspended colloidal Fe towards the estuary mouth suggests that Fe-colloids are readily transported seaward.     

A geomorphological mapping approach for the assessment of seabed geohazards and risk

Exploration and development of offshore hydrocarbon resources has advanced into remote deepwater regions over the last decade and poses significant technical challenges for the design and installation of wells and facilities at extreme water depths. Seafloor and shallow subsurface processes and conditions in these areas are complex and generally poorly understood, and the geohazards to development are larger scale and fundamentally different to those encountered onshore; consequently the geohazard risk to deepwater development projects is potentially significant and requires careful evaluation and mitigation during the front-end planning and engineering design stages of projects. There are no established industry standards or methods for the assessment of geohazards and engineering-quality geophysical data at the scale of development. The paper describes an integrated and systematic map-based approach for the assessment and mitigation of seabed geohazards and risk to proposed deepwater development. The approach employs a multi-disciplinary team working with engineering-quality field calibrated data to accurately map and assess seafloor ground conditions and ensure that development proposals are not exposed to intolerable geohazard risk. The approach taken is very similar to the practice of establishing geological models for land-based engineering projects, in which the complete geological history of the site is used to characterise and predict the performance of the ground. Such an approach is routine for major projects on land but so far does not seem to be common practice in the offshore industry. The paper illustrates the seafloor geomophological mapping approach developed. The products are being used to optimise development layouts to avoid geohazards where possible and to support site-specific engineering design of facilities based on a detailed understanding of the potential geohazard loadings and associated risk.     

Granitic magmatism,basement ages,and provenance indicators in the Malay Peninsula: Insights from detrital zircon U–Pb and Hf-isotope data

The Malay Peninsula lies on two continental blocks, Sibumasu and East Malaya, which are intruded by granitoids in two provinces: the Main Range and Eastern. Previous models propose that Permian–Triassic granitoids are subduction-related and syn-to post-collisional. We present 752 U–Pb analyses that were carried out on zircons from river sands in the Malay Peninsula; of these, 243 grains were selected for Hf-isotope analyses. Our data suggest a more complex Sibumasu–East Malaya collision history. ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf_i ratios reveal that Permian–Triassic zircons were sourced from three magmatic suites: (a) Permian crustally-derived granitoids, (b) Early-Middle Triassic granitoids with mixed mantle–crust sources, and (c) Late Triassic crustally-derived granitoids. This suggests three Permian–Triassic episodes of magmatism in the Malay Peninsula, two of which occurred in the Eastern Province. Although the exact timing of the Sibumasu–East Malaya collision remains unresolved, current data suggest that it occurred before the Late Triassic, probably in Late Permian–Early Triassic. Our data also indicate that Sibumasu and East Malaya basements are chronologically heterogeneous, but predominantly of Proterozoic age. Some basement may be Neoarchaean but there is no evidence for basement older than 2.8 Ga. Finally, we show that Hf-isotope signatures of Triassic zircons can be used as provenance indicators.     

Groundwater salinity in Greve, Denmark: determining the source from historical data

Elevated salinity in groundwater (over 250?mg/l chloride) in a fractured chalk aquifer in the municipality of Greve, Denmark, has been attributed to seawater intrusion from the Baltic Sea, resulting in the closure of a number of wells nearest to the coastline. However, a recent study in eastern Denmark shows that the salinity could also be from ancient connate pore waters. Historical chemistry data from bulk-water samples collected from wells have been used to determine the source. The sample data were studied with respect to their historical changes and temporal trends in chloride, carbonate, sulfate, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Wells in the southern third of the municipality are relatively low in sodium and carbonate and high in chloride and calcium/magnesium, indicating waters undergoing saline intrusion. Wells in the northern two-thirds of the municipality are high in carbonate and sodium, but low in chloride and calcium/magnesium, indicating a freshening of the aquifer. This is confirmed by the temporal trends in chloride, where chloride levels in the northern wells remain constant, whereas in the south, chloride increases as abstraction continues. Therefore close monitoring for seawater intrusion should be conducted in the southern third of the municipality.     

Translation of field tracer-test results into bounding predictions of matrix diffusion in the shallow subsurface at Idaho National Laboratory, USA

Matrix-diffusion parameters deduced from an infiltration tracer test at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), USA, are combined with other site information in an analysis involving two dimensionless lumped parameters to assess the effects of matrix diffusion on contaminant transport at the INL over longer distance and time scales than were evaluated in the test. Matrix diffusion was interrogated in the test by comparing, in three different observation wells, the breakthrough curves of two simultaneously injected nonsorbing solutes that have different diffusion coefficients. The matrix-diffusion parameters deduced from the different breakthrough curves were in good agreement, suggesting that the parameters may be broadly applicable at the INL. With this in mind, the uncertainties in the individual parameters that make up the two lumped parameters were estimated, and the resulting ranges of parameter values were used to assess matrix diffusion over larger scales. Assessments of the effects of flow transients, spatial heterogeneity in transport parameters, and sorption on solute transport in the shallow subsurface flow system were also conducted. The methods presented here should be generally applicable to other settings for making bounding assessments of the effects of matrix diffusion while honoring the information obtained from tracer tests and other supporting data.     

A neurocomputing approach to the forecasting of monthly maximum temperature over Kolkata, India using total ozone concentration as predictor

The association between the monthly total ozone concentration and monthly maximum temperature over Kolkata (22.56° N, 88.30° E), India, has been explored in this paper. For this, the predictability of monthly maximum temperature based on the total ozone as predictor is investigated using Artificial Neural Network. The presence of persistence and similar cyclic patterns are revealed through autocorrelation and cross-correlation coefficients. Common cycles of length 12 and 6 have been identified through periodogram. Hence, a predictive model has been generated by Artificial Neural Network in the form of Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) using scaled conjugate gradient learning with sigmoid non-linearity. After training and testing the network, an MLP with total ozone of month n as predictor and maximum temperature of month (n + 1) as the target output is found as the best model. Performance of the model has been judged statistically. Finally, the MLP model has been compared with linear and non-linear regressions and the efficiency of MLP has been established over the regression models.     

A 50-year record of NO<Subscript>x</Subscript> and SO<Subscript>2</Subscript> sources in precipitation in the Northern Rocky Mountains,USA

Ice-core samples from Upper Fremont Glacier (UFG), Wyoming, were used as proxy records for the chemical composition of atmospheric deposition. Results of analysis of the ice-core samples for stable isotopes of nitrogen (δ¹⁵N, ) and sulfur (δ³⁴S, ), as well as and deposition rates from the late-1940s thru the early-1990s, were used to enhance and extend existing National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) data in western Wyoming. The most enriched δ³⁴S value in the UFG ice-core samples coincided with snow deposited during the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, Washington. The remaining δ³⁴S values were similar to the isotopic composition of coal from southern Wyoming. The δ¹⁵N values in ice-core samples representing a similar period of snow deposition were negative, ranging from -5.9 to -3.2 ‰ and all fall within the δ¹⁵N values expected from vehicle emissions. Ice-core nitrate and sulfate deposition data reflect the sharply increasing U.S. emissions data from 1950 to the mid-1970s.