The Qijurittuq site (IbGk-3), Eastern Hudson Bay: An IPY Interdisciplinary Study

Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):227–243, 2010

An interdisciplinary study was conducted at Qijurittuq (IbGk-3), an archaeological site located on Drayton Island along the eastern shore of Hudson Bay, Nunavik. Local Inuit made important contributions to the research. High school students participated in the field school, and elders shared their traditional knowledge. The elders expressed an interest in the source of the wood used to construct Qijurittuq's semi-subterranean dwellings, and this inspired us to expand our research in that direction. This interdisciplinary study included a reconstruction of the geomorphological and environmental history of Drayton Island, wood provenance and dendrochronology studies, research on house architecture and settlement patterns, and a zooarchaeological analysis. This paper synthesizes the preliminary results of this interdisciplinary investigation within the context of climate change. We discuss the persistence of semi-subterranean dwellings in eastern Hudson Bay long after they had been abandoned elsewhere. At Qijurittuq, their abandonment corresponds with the end of Little Ice Age. However, at the same time, the development of more permanent contact with Euro-Canadians was having a strong impact upon Inuit culture.     

Incidence de la cinetique de decroissance de la temperature apres le choc thermique sur les modifications d'activite des esterases et les possibilites de survie de Scolelepis (malacoceros) fuliginosa (annelide polychete)

Scolelepis fuliginosa reared in the laboratory at 13°C were put through 10-min thermal shocks at 16°C and 18°C and were then submitted to either a slow or a rapid temperature reduction. After the thermal shock, a posterior fragment of each specimen was cut off at intervals, until six days. Samples were submitted to electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel, esterase activity being determined with α-naphthyl acetate.Enzymograms show that thermal shocks act on esterases in decreasing the activity of the main fractions. Immediate effects result in a very precocious enzymic response; more long-term effects depend on the maximum temperature, the animal's sex and the kinetics of the post-shock thermal reduction.Females are more sensitive than males. For a given Δt, esterase changes are greater and more long-lasting. After a 16°C Δt, a rapid decrease in temperature prevents the loss of activity of the middle and fast fractions in males and delays, by about 10 h, the alteration of female esterases. After 18°C ΔT, loss of activity of the middle and fast fractions occurs in less than 1 h, independently of the thermal kinetics, but survival is only possible—solely for males—with a rapid decrease in temperature which also delays females' deaths by between 24 and 48 h.In conclusion, a rapid decrease in temperature gives organisms a better resistance to thermal shock, as determined by esterase activity and controls the lethality of a high Δt.     

Relations entre déformation et métamorphisme alpin dans les schistes noirs helvétiques : l’apport de la fabrique magnétique

Résumé

La fabrique magnétique des schistes noirs du Jurassique helvétique au pourtour des massifs de l’Aar et du Gothard (Alpes suisses) reflète, en fonction du métamorphisme croissant, l’orientation préférentielle de minéraux magnétiques d’origines diverses : la magnétite primaire, les phyllosilicates et la pyrrhotite métamorphiques. La foliation magnétique est parallèle à la première schistosité pénétrative même si celle-ci est effacée par une seconde schistosité. La linéation magnétique indique retirement lié à la direction de transport des nappes. Dans la partie la plus métamorphique où apparaît la pyrrhotite au cours de la déformation, la fabrique magnétique permet de situer l’apparition de ce minéral dans la tectonique polyphasée. Les propriétés magnétiques anisotropes de la pyrrhotite s’avèrent plus complexes que le modèle usuel de marqueurs planaires et l’interprétation des linéations observées doit en tenir compte.     

Deposition and fate of reactive Fe,Mn, P,and C in suspended particulate matter in the Bay of Biscay

Hydrographic structure of the water column, dissolved nutrient concentrations and the distribution of suspended particulate matter were recorded from CDT measurements and Niskin bottles sampling on the continental slope of the Bay of Biscay and on the axis of Capbreton canyon. Ascorbate extraction was applied here for the first time on marine suspended particles to determine the content of reactive Fe- and Mn-oxides, and P associated with Fe-oxides. Hydrographic structure of the south-eastern part of the Bay of Biscay did not change during the last three decades. Particulate organic carbon (POC) contents dropped strongly with depth, showing that organic matter mineralization was efficient in the water column. Organic matter mineralized in the water column had a Redfield N:P ratio. POC percent of particles collected at depth were higher during a bloom period, suggesting that some new organic matter reached the bottom. Contents of Fe and Mn extracted with the ascorbate leaching solution showed that suspended particles originated from the Gironde estuary, one of the major sources of particles in the Bay of Biscay. Intermediate and deeper nepheloid layers occurred in the Capbreton canyon. Particles of nepheloid layers were enriched in Mn- and Fe-oxides because they originated from resuspension of surface sediment.     

Seasonal and depth-dependent variations in the size and lipid contents of stage 5 copepodites of Calanus finmarchicus in the waters of the Newfoundland Shelf and the Labrador Sea

We report on the variation in energy reserves of individual C5 copepodites of Calanus finmarchicus from the Newfoundland continental shelf and the Labrador Sea collected from surface and overwintering (or bottom) depths prior to, during and after the expected timing of the onset of diapause. Overall, the trend was for a decreasing average prosome length as the year progressed for all locations although the decline was smallest in the Labrador Sea and greatest in the deep waters of the continental shelf. The size of the oil sac was closely linked to the weight of the copepodite but the form of this relationship showed substantial variations with depth and season. We show a clear increase in the relative oil sac volume for C. finmarchicus between late spring and late summer, by which time some animals had descended to diapause depths. The progressive decrease in oil sac volume of animals sampled at depth in the Labrador Sea between September and December suggests a significant loss of energy reserves during diapause. From the distribution of volumes and body sizes in December we estimate that 23–53% of individuals would not be able to meet the energetic cost of moulting and early gonad development. Overall, some of our observations appear to invalidate earlier hypotheses concerning the governing role of lipids in the life history of C. finmarchicus. However, assessment of the factors that influence entry into dormancy should be based on the relative probabilities of alternative strategies for successful reproduction (e.g. entering dormancy vs. continuing into a second generation).     

Identifying parameters controlling soil delayed behaviour from laboratory and in situ pressuremeter testing

The aim of this paper is to present a methodology for identifying the soil parameters controlling the delayed behaviour from laboratory and in situ pressuremeter tests by using an elasto‐viscoplastic model (EVP‐MCC) based on Perzyna's overstress theory and on the elasto‐plastic Modified Cam Clay model. The influence of both the model parameters and the soil permeability was studied under the loading condition of pressuremeter tests by coupling the proposed model equations with Biot's consolidation theory. On the basis of the parametric study, a methodology for identifying model parameters and soil permeability by inverse analysis from three levels of constant strain rate pressuremeter tests was then proposed and applied on tests performed on natural Saint‐Herblain clay. The methodology was validated by comparing the optimized values of soil parameters and the values of the same parameters obtained from laboratory test results, and also by using the identified parameters to simulate other tests on the same samples. The analysis of the drainage condition and the strain rate effect during a pressuremeter test demonstrated the coupled influence of consolidation and viscous effects on the test results. The numerical results also showed that the inverse analysis procedure could successfully determine the parameters controlling the time‐dependent soil behaviour. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Alteration geochemistry of the Nopal I uranium deposit (Sierra Peña Blanca,Mexico), a natural analogue for a radioactive waste repository in volcanic tuffs

Natural analogues provide an approach to characterize and test the long‐term modelling of a repository performance. This article presents geochemical information about the alteration conditions of the Nopal I uranium deposit, Mexico, an analogue for the proposed Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository. Mineralization and hydrothermal alteration of volcanic tuffs are contemporaneous, according to petrographic observations. Trace element geochemistry (U, Th, REE) provides evidence for local mobilization of uranium under oxidizing conditions and further precipitation under reducing conditions. O‐ and H‐isotope geochemistry of kaolinite, smectite, opal and calcite suggests that argillic alteration proceeded at shallow depth with meteoric water at 25–75 °C, a low‐temperature context, unusual for volcanic‐hosted uranium deposits. This temperature range is compatible with some post‐closure evolution models of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.