Environmental reconstructions of a late devensian terrace sequence. Some preliminary findings

Facies analysis of Severn Main terrace sediments at Eardington, Shropshire is instructive in determining aspects of the sedimentary environment at a ‘proximal’ location in the terrace. Evaluation of the structural and directional properties of the gravels indicates that the terrace is a composite feature comprising two units. The lower unit is notable for the widespread occurrence of large sandy facies, a near absence of massive gravel facies, and the presence of large, locally derived, lithoclasts in excess of 1 m in diameter. Facies associations observed indicate the existence of in-channel bars and large channels with bedforms at the dune-plane bed transition. The directional properties of the unit indicate flows parallel to the main valley axis and although the unit is unlike previously reported examples it is interpreted as being the product of a proximal low sinuosity environment. The upper unit is composed mainly of multistorey, coarse, massive gravel units with limited interbedded sand facies. Fabric analysis indicates progradation of the unit from the west. The facies sequence is similar to those encompassed by facies models proposed for proximal alluvial fan deposits and therefore, on structural and directional grounds, the upper unit is interpreted as an alluvial fan deposit which prograded into the main Severn valley from the adjacent Mor Brook tributary. The implications of the composite nature of the terrace at this point are considered both in terms of terrace correlation and palaeohyrological estimation.     

Environmental public health applications using remotely sensed data

We describe a remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS)-based study that has three objectives: (1) characterize fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), insolation and land surface temperature (LST) using NASA satellite observations, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ground-level monitor data and North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) data products on a national scale; (2) link these data with public health data from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) national cohort study to determine whether these environmental risk factors are related to cognitive decline, stroke and other health outcomes and (3) disseminate the environmental datasets and public health linkage analyses to end users for decision-making through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) system. This study directly addresses a public health focus of the NASA Applied Sciences Program, utilization of Earth Sciences products, by addressing issues of environmental health to enhance public health decision-making.     

The geology of Oldoinyo Lengai

The active volcano, Oldoinyo Lengai in the Eastern Rift in northern Tanganyika consists mainly of yellow ijolitic pyroclasts with interbedded relatively thin phonolite and nephelinite lavas, overlain by nephelinitic pyroclasts and younger ashes with marked unconformity. Ejected blocks in the pyroclasts are of rocks of the urtite-jacupirangite series with or without wollastonite, wollastonitite, fenite, carbonite, biotite pyroxenite and various lavas. Observations were made of minor activity during September–October 1960 when it was noted that soda-rich carbonate lava was extruded on the crater-floor in addition to minor emissions of ash. From examination of the rock sequence it appears that the volcano is waning and there has been a change from earlier dominantly gas eruptions to the more recent minor emissions of lava.     

The use of soft X-ray spectromicroscopy to investigate the distribution and composition of organic matter in a diatom frustule and a biomimetic analog

Diatoms play a significant role in the global carbon cycle through their role in biogenic silica production and the transport of organic matter to the seafloor. Recent work has shown that silicified diatom frustules contain a significant amount of organic matter, and that the proportion of diatom-bound organic matter increases with depth in the water column and sediments. Here, we investigate the association between organic matter and the mineral phase. We used a combination of scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) and carbon X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy to characterize the distribution and composition of organic matter in frustules of the diatom Cylindrotheca closterium and a biomimetic silica gel. To our knowledge, this study represents the first successful attempt to simultaneously image and obtain chemical information about the organic matter within a diatom frustule using X-ray spectromicroscopy near the carbon edge. Organic carbon, most likely protein, was distributed throughout the frustules and was not removed by harsh chemical treatment. The physical structure of the frustules appeared to be related to the chemical composition of this organic matter, with aromatic or unsaturated carbon being concentrated in the most intricately patterned regions of the frustule. A similar physical and chemical structure was observed in a biomimetic silica gel precipitated spontaneously with polylysine. These results are consistent with the theory that organic constituents of diatom frustules direct silica precipitation and become incorporated within the silica matrix as it forms. The relationship between organic matter composition and silica morphology, the failure of harsh chemical treatments to remove this organic matter, and the spontaneous nature of the co-precipitation of silica and organic matter indicate some chemical interaction between the siliceous and organic components of diatom frustules. Frustule-bound organic matter should therefore be protected from decomposition in the water column or diagenetic alteration in sediments unless the frustule dissolves.     

Extensional neotectonics around the bend of the Western/Central Alps: an overview

The Western Alps’ active tectonics is characterized by ongoing widespread extension in the highest parts of the belt and transpressive/compressive tectonics along its borders. We examine these contrasting tectonic regimes using a multidisciplinary approach including seismotectonics, numerical modeling, GPS, morphotectonics, fieldwork, and brittle deformation analysis. Extension appears to be the dominant process in the present-day tectonic activity in the Western Alps, affecting its internal areas all along the arc. Shortening, in contrast, is limited to small areas located along at the outer borders of the chain. Strike-slip is observed throughout the Alpine realm and in the foreland. The stress-orientation pattern is radial for σ3 in the inner, extensional zones, and for σ1 in the outer, transcurrent/tranpressional ones. Extensional areas can be correlated with the parts of the belt with the thickest crust. Quantification of seismic strain in tectonically homogeneous areas shows that only 10–20% of the geodesy-documented deformation can be explained by the Alpine seismicity. We propose that, Alpine active tectonics are ruled by isostasy/buoyancy forces rather than the ongoing shortening along the Alpine Europe/Adria collision zone. This interpretation is corroborated by numerical modeling. The Neogene extensional structures in the Alps formed under increasingly brittle conditions. A synthesis of paleostress tensors for the internal parts of the West-Alpine Arc documents major orogen-parallel extension with a continuous change in σ3 directions from ENE–WSW in the Simplon area, to N–S in the Vanoise area and to NNW–SSE in the Briançon area. Minor orogen-perpendicular extension increases from N to S. This second signal correlates with the present-day geodynamics as revealed by focal-plane mechanisms analysis. The orogen-parallel extension could be related to the opening of the Ligurian Sea during the Early-Middle Miocene and to compression/rotation of the Adriatic indenter inducing lateral extrusion.     

Hydrological thresholds of soil surface properties identified using conditional inference tree analysis

There has been limited success in determining critical thresholds of ground cover or soil characteristics that relate to significant changes in runoff or sediment production at the microscale (<1 m²), particularly in semi‐arid systems where management of ground cover is critical. Despite this lack of quantified thresholds, there is an increasing research focus on the two‐phase mosaic of vegetation patches and inter‐patches in semi‐arid systems. In order to quantify ground cover and soil related thresholds for runoff and sediment production, we used a data mining technique known as conditional inference tree analysis to determine statistically significant values of a range of measured variables that predicted average runoff, peak runoff, sediment concentration and sediment production at the microscale. On Chromic Luvisols across a range of vegetation states in semi‐arid south‐eastern Australia, large changes in runoff and sediment production were related to a hierarchy of different variables and thresholds, but the percentage of bare soil played a primary role in predicting runoff and sediment production in most instances. The identified thresholds match well with previous thresholds found in semi‐arid and temperate regions (including the approximate values of 30%, 50% and 70% total ground cover). The analysis presented here identified the critical role of soil surface roughness, particularly where total ground cover is sparse. The analysis also provided evidence that a two‐phase mosaic of patches and inter‐patches identified via rapid visual assessment could be further delineated into distinct groups of hydrological response, or a multi‐phase rather than a two‐phase system. The approach used here may aid in assessing scale‐dependent responses and address data non‐linearity in studies of semi‐arid hydrology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘You can get away with loads because there’s no one here’: Discourses of regulation and non-regulation in English rural spaces

Using qualitative data from a research project investigating contemporary rural identities in England this paper examines the apparently contradictory discursive claims that are made on rural spaces. It looks in particular at the ways in which these are narrated - through the notions of rural space as a site of safety, orderliness and community on the one hand and as a site of freedom, anti-order and non-regulation on the other. While the former is a familiar, entrenched and critiqued representation of rurality, the latter narrative has a more marginal and ambivalent place in the dominant rural imaginary. Drawing on Foucault’s concepts of panopticism and heterotopia the paper demonstrates the ways in which the rural is a highly labile concept and emphasises its continual ‘unfinishedness’. However, alongside this, the paper suggests that the tensions and contradictions of the orderly and anti-orderly discourses are underpinned by a particular coherency that is driven by senses of community, belonging and self-regulation. While these do not resolve the contradictions of the discursive claims the potency of such drivers are sufficient to produce a particular inclusive spatiality which is able to accommodate and incorporate the different discursive positions and the practices that are associated with each.     

The MARID (mica-amphibole-rutile-ilmenite-diopside) suite of xenoliths in kimberlite

Within the ‘glimmerite’ nodules occurring within kimberlite pipes we recognize the MARID suite consisting of varying proportions of mica, amphibole, rutile, ilmenite and diopside. Banding of some specimens is interpreted as cumulate layering. All specimens were deformed either before incorporation into the host kimberlite or during intrusion. Compared with minerals in peridotite xenoliths, the MARID ones are lower in Al₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃, but richer in total iron. The MARID micas, amphiboles, diopsides, ilmenites and probably rutiles contain substantial Fe₂O₃ indicative of oxidizing conditions. The amphibole is potassic richterite. Micas of the megacryst suite in kimberlite have less total iron and Fe₂O₃ than micas of the MARID suite. We suggest that the rocks of the MARID suite crystallized under oxidizing conditions from a magma, chemically similar to kimberlite, within the higher parts of the upper mantle: the presence of amphibole restricts the depth to less than ~ 100 km. A xenolith containing olivine and orthopyroxene as well as minerals similar to but not the same compositionally as MARID-types is interpreted as a metasomite, possibly representing wall-rock of a magma body from which MARID-suite rocks crystallized.