Tropical cyclone contribution to extreme rainfall over southwest Pacific Island nations

Southwest Pacific nations are among some of the worst impacted and most vulnerable globally in terms of tropical cyclone (TC)-induced flooding and accompanying risks. This study objectively quantifies the fractional contribution of TCs to extreme rainfall (hereafter, TC contributions) in the context of climate variability and change. We show that TC contributions to extreme rainfall are substantially enhanced during active phases of the Madden–Julian Oscillation and by El Niño conditions (particularly over the eastern southwest Pacific region); this enhancement is primarily attributed to increased TC activity during these event periods. There are also indications of increasing intensities of TC-induced extreme rainfall events over the past few decades. A key part of this work involves development of sophisticated Bayesian regression models for individual island nations in order to better understand the synergistic relationships between TC-induced extreme rainfall and combinations of various climatic drivers that modulate the relationship. Such models are found to be very useful for not only assessing probabilities of TC- and non-TC induced extreme rainfall events but also evaluating probabilities of extreme rainfall for cases with different underlying climatic conditions. For example, TC-induced extreme rainfall probability over Samoa can vary from ~ 95 to ~ 75% during a La Niña period, if it coincides with an active or inactive phase of the MJO, and can be reduced to ~ 30% during a combination of El Niño period and inactive phase of the MJO. Several other such cases have been assessed for different island nations, providing information that have potentially important implications for planning and preparing for TC risks in vulnerable Pacific Island nations.

     

Mapping the food environment: The reliability of volunteered geographical information and institutional data sources in France

The obesity epidemic and inequalities in access to food are prompting increasing numbers of food environment studies, which rely on secondary data sources for mapping. This article assesses the reliability of the two main food outlet data sources in France: the volunteered geographical information (VGI) collaborative map OpenStreetMap (OSM) and the national business register Sirene. Their information on food outlets was assessed through ground-truthing in the city-region of Montpellier. Sensitivity, positive predictive value, and concordance were computed for each database. We analyzed the socio-spatial variability of these measures according to households' income level. The sensitivity of Sirene is good and that of OSM moderate, while the opposite holds for positive predictive value, and the concordance of both OSM and Sirene is fair. Sirene provides more reliable data on deprived neighborhoods and OSM on wealthy neighborhoods. Caution is recommended regarding the classifications on which they are based, the time required to update the institutional database, and socially influenced contributions to VGI.     

Early Devensian sediments and palaeovenvironmental evidence from the excavations at the Royal Oak Portal Paddington,West London,UK

This paper discusses the results of the investigation of Pleistocene sediments at the Royal Oak Portal (ROP) site on the new Crossrail scheme near Paddington Station, London. The site was sampled and recorded in May 2011 by archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology commissioned by Crossrail Ltd. The investigation revealed a sedimentary sequence associated with cool climate waterlain deposition towards the edge of the River Westbourne floodplain. During excavation an assemblage of around 100 identifiable large mammal bones was recovered, dating to the Late Pleistocene. The major concentration of bones, from bison and reindeer, was located and excavated from a shallow sequence of sediments. Analysis of the bones indicates that they represent a natural death assemblage, scavenged and subsequently disarticulated, transported by water, exposed and further dispersed and broken by trampling. The site is of regional and national importance because the assemblage derives from a well-constrained geological context, with associated dating evidence suggesting accumulation during the later parts of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 and continuing within MIS 4. The site is also of significance because it is one of a growing number of recently discovered sites away from the main fluvial archive for the British Middle and Upper Pleistocene. These sites have the potential to add significantly to our understanding of parts of the Pleistocene record that remain difficult to document through the investigation of the more active systems associated with major rivers such as the Thames, Severn or Trent.     

Biological marker compounds as indicators of the depositions! history of the Maoming oil shale

The Eocene Maoming oil shale from Guangdong Province occurs as a laterally uniform stratigraphic section, typically 20–25 m thick, from which the aliphatic hydrocarbon constituents of six representative samples were investigated using GC and C-GC-MS. The sediments evaluated included the basal lignite, a vitrinite lens from the overlying claystone, and four intervals from the massive oil shale bed. As expected, the lignite and vitrinite differ markedly from the oil shales. The lignite is dominated by bacterial hopanoids and components of higher plant origin, including C₂₉ steroids and triterpenoids such as oleanenes. Visually, the oil shale samples show corroded and degraded phytoclasts, spores, wispy particles of fluorescent organic material attributable to dinoflagellates and, especially in the uppermost sample, colonial algal bodies. The distributions of biological markers in the oil shales show many features in common, notably a dominance of dinoflagellate-derived 4-methylsteroids, and a significant proportion of higher-plant derived n-alkanes with marked odd-over-even carbon number predominance. Overall, they exhibit several features that resemble characteristics of the Messel shale. The hydrocarbons of the lowest shale horizon suggest that there may have been a gradual transition between deposition of the original peat and the subsequent oil shales. The aliphatic hydrocarbons of the uppermost shale are dominated by a number of C₃₁ and C₃₃ botryococcane homologues and other unusual branched alkanes possibly derived from green algae. All of the samples are immature. Overall, molecular and microscopic examination of the stratigraphic succession of the Maoming oil shale suggests a shallow, lacustrine environment within which peats were deposited. This lake subsequently deepened to support abundant algal populations, especially dinoflagellates, culminating in a dominance of botryococcoid algae.     

Formation of intracratonic basins by lithospheric shortening and phase changes: a case study from the ultra‐deep East Barents Sea basin

The origin of large subsidence in intracratonic basins is still under debate. We propose a new and self‐consistent model for the formation of those basins, where lithospheric shortening/buckling triggers metamorphism and densification of crustal mafic heterogeneities. We use a forward thermo‐mechanical finite element technique to evaluate this mechanism for the typical example of the East Barents Sea basin (EBB) where a very large and compensated subsidence, accommodating an up to 20‐km‐thick sediment succession, is observed. The lower crust in the dynamic model is modelled with petrologic‐consistent densities for a wet mafic gabbroic composition that depend on pressure and temperature taking into account dehydration at high PT conditions. The model successfully explains the main characteristics of the EBB, notably the large anomalous and fast subsidence during the Late Permian–Early Triassic, its present‐day geometry and the absence of a significant gravity anomaly.     

Évolution de l'onde semi-diurne M2 de la marée à Brest de 1846 à 2005

The work of searching, recovering and quality control of ancient sea-level measurements at Brest is presented. This work enables us to complete a study carried out by Cartwright in 1972, which showed a decrease in the tidal M2 semi-diurnal amplitude of 1% per century. After including these ancient data, as well as the last four decades of observations in the analysis, our results show an increase of the amplitude of M2 after 1960 and a decrease before 1880, suggesting a long-period oscillation rather than a steady secular trend. To cite this article: N. Pouvreau et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

Boron isotopic composition of subduction-zone metamorphic rocks

Many arc lavas contain material derived from subducted oceanic crust and sediments, but it remains unresolved whether this distinctive geochemical signature is transferred from the subducting slab by aqueous fluids, silicate melts, or both. Boron isotopic measurements have the potential to distinguish between slab transfer mechanisms because ¹¹B fractionates preferentially into aqueous fluids whereas little fractionation may occur during partial melting. Previous studies have shown that δ¹¹B values of island arc lavas (−6 to +7) overlap the range of δ¹¹B values for altered oceanic crust (−5 to +25) and pelagic sediments and turbidites (−7 to +11). Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analyses of minerals in subduction-zone metamorphic rocks yield δ¹¹B=−11 to −3 suggesting that slab dehydration reactions significantly lower the δ¹¹B values of subducted oceanic crust and sediments. In order to explain the higher δ¹¹B values reported for arc lavas as compared to subduction-zone metamorphic rocks, the B-bearing component derived from the metamorphosed slab must be enriched in ¹¹B relative to the slab, favoring an aqueous fluid as the slab transfer mechanism.     

A comparison of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) mRNA inducibility in four species of Atlantic coast anadromous fishes

Quantification of levels of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) gene expression in sentinel species of fishes has been proposed as a management tool to evaluate contamination of aquatic systems. Based on preliminary studies, we hypothesized that differences in CYP1A mRNA inducibility among individuals, populations, or species might lead to spurious conclusions when using this approach in environmental monitoring programs. To address this possibility, we quantitated and compared CYP1A mRNA induction levels in four species of common Atlantic Coast estuarine fish: smooth flounder, hogchoker, striped bass, and Atlantic tomcod, which were treated with model chemicals (beta naphthoflavone (β-NF), or benzo[a]pyrene at 10 ppm) known to induce CYP1A mRNA, or were exposed to contaminated environments. Species-specific CYP1A DNA probes were generated from PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification of genomic DNA using conserved oligonucleotide primers, and, along with cloned rainbow trout and Atlantic tomcod CYP1A cDNA probes were used to quantify CYP1A mRNA levels in northern blot analyses. Successful PCR amplification of CYP1A hybridizable DNA fragments was observed for all four species. Results from northern blot analyses showed large differences in CYP1A mRNA induction among species; only Atlantic tomcod exhibited significant induction of CYP1A mRNA for both chemically treated (97-fold) and environmentally exposed fish (34-fold). Significant, although lower, levels of induction were observed in β-NF treated (14-fold) smooth flounder, but not in environmentally exposed smooth flounder. Only low levels (not significant) of CYP1A gene induction were detected in hogchokers and striped bass. We conclude that CYP1A mRNA inducibility differed significantly among fish taxa perhaps due to differences in regulation of gene expression, suggesting that careful selection of sentinel species should be exercised prior to the use of CYP1A mRNA induction in environmental monitoring programs. However, the significance of differences in CYP1A mRNA inducibility in relation to higher level biological endpoints has yet to be determined.