Effects of the peat acid digestion protocol on geochemically and morphologically diverse tephra deposits

Tephra shards for electron probe microanalysis are most efficiently extracted from peat using acid digestion, which removes organic material that hinders density separation methods. However, strong acids are known to alter glass chemical compositions, and several studies have examined how acid digestion affects rhyolitic volcanic glass. The focus on rhyolitic tephra in these studies leaves considerable uncertainty, as the dissolution rates of natural glasses (including tephra) are determined by the chemical composition and surface area/volume ratio, both of which vary in tephra deposits. Here, we use duplicate samples of basaltic, trachydacitic and rhyolitic tephra to examine physical and geochemical alteration following acid digestion. Scanning electron microscope imagery reveals no discernible degradation of glass surfaces, and electron probe microanalysis results from duplicate samples are statistically indistinguishable. These findings suggest the acid digestion protocol for organic peats does not significantly alter glass geochemistry regardless of shard morphologies or geochemical compositions.     

Landscape transform and spatial metrics for mapping spatiotemporal land cover dynamics using Earth Observation data-sets

Analysis of Earth observation (EO) data, often combined with geographical information systems (GIS), allows monitoring of land cover dynamics over different ecosystems, including protected or conservation sites. The aim of this study is to use contemporary technologies such as EO and GIS in synergy with fragmentation analysis, to quantify the changes in the landscape of the Rajaji National Park (RNP) during the period of 19 years (1990–2009). Several statistics such as principal component analysis (PCA) and spatial metrics are used to understand the results. PCA analysis has produced two principal components (PC) and explained 84.1% of the total variance, first component (PC1) accounted for the 57.8% of the total variance while the second component (PC2) has accounted for the 26.3% of the total variance calculated from the core area metrics, distance metrics and shape metrics. Our results suggested that notable changes happened in the RNP landscape, evidencing the requirement of taking appropriate measures to conserve this natural ecosystem.     

Local traditions as a means for commercial production of historical beers: The case of Vossaøl,Norway

The aim of the article is to analyse challenges facing the commercial production of historical beers, which are ‘extinct’ beers. The concept of ‘fictive terroir’ is introduced to emphasize these challenges. The author addresses the following questions: What kind of knowledge is needed to produce historical beers? How can this knowledge be acquired? How can it be used commercially in craft breweries? The studied case is Vossaøl, a craft beer imitation of a beer produced in the early 19th century. The data were obtained from written sources and interviews with local home brewers and brewers at Voss Brewery in Norway. The study revealed the need to reconstruct the terroir in the early 19th century. Additionally, Voss Brewery had to acquire knowledge about how to process and combine the ingredients, which included the traditional yeast (kveik). Involving traditional home brewers was crucial to determine how ingredients could be combined to produce Vossaøl. The author concludes that a synthetic knowledge base was a useful point of departure in this respect. Participation in the traditional culture of brewing proved an important means when working with this knowledge base. The results are interesting in the broader context of the reconstruction of beverages and food.     

Extending the known distribution of the Younger Dryas Vedde Ash into northwestern Russia

The known distribution of wind‐blown Vedde Ash (ca. 10.3 ka BP) has been extended to the Karelian Isthmus in northwestern Russia. This has been possible as the result of a density separation technique that separates the rhyolitic Vedde Ash shards from the minerogenic host sediment. The Vedde Ash occurs in the middle of a pollen zone with high percentages of, for example, Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae, suggesting that the Younger Dryas (or GS‐I in the GRIP ice‐core event stratigraphy) was cold and dry throughout its duration. This is in agreement with sites in south Sweden where the Vedde Ash also occurs in the middle of a pollen zone dominated by Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae and Cyperaceae. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Periglacial trimlines,former nunataks and the altitude of the last ice sheet in Wester Ross,northwest Scotland

High-level weathering limits separating ice-scoured topography from frost-weathered detritus were identified on 28 mountains in Wester Ross at altitudes of 700–960 m, and a further 22 peaks support evidence of ice scouring to summit level. Weathering limits are defined most clearly on sandstone and gneiss, which have resisted frost shattering during the Late Devensian Lateglacial, but can also be distinguished on schists and quartzite. Schmidt hammer measurements and analyses of clay mineral assemblages indicate significantly more advanced rock and soil weathering above the weathering limits. The persistence of gibbsite above weathering limits indicates that they represent the upper limit of Late Devensian glacial erosion. The regular decline of weathering-limit altitudes along former flowlines eliminates the possibility that the weathering limits represent former thermal boundaries between protective cold-based and erosive warm-based ice. The weathering limits are therefore interpreted as periglacial trimlines that define the maximum surface altitude of the last ice sheet. Calculated basal shear stresses of 50–95 kPa are consistent with this interpretation. Reconstruction of ice-sheet configuration indicates that the former ice-shed lay above 900 m along the present watershed, and that the ice surface descended northwestwards, with broad depressions along major troughs and localised domes around independent centres of ice dispersal. Extrapolation of the ice surface gradient and altitude suggests that the ice sheet did not overrun the Outer Hebrides, but was confluent with the independent Outer Hebrides ice-cap in the North Minch basin. Erratics located up to 140 m above the reconstructed ice surface are inferred to have been emplaced by a pre-Late Devensian ice sheet (or ice sheets) of unknown age. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Subaquatic slope instabilities: The aftermath of river correction and artificial dumps in Lake Biel (Switzerland)

River engineering projects are developing rapidly across the globe, drastically modifying water courses and sediment transfer. Investigation of the impact of engineering works focuses usually on short-term impacts, thus a longer-term perspective is still missing on the effects that such projects have. The ‘Jura Water Corrections’ – the largest river engineering project ever undertaken in Switzerland – radically modified the hydrological system of Lake Biel in the 19th and 20th Century. The deviation of the Aare River into Lake Biel more than 140 years ago, in 1878, thus represents an ideal case study to investigate the long-term sedimentological impacts of such large-scale river rerouting. Sediment cores, along with new high-resolution bathymetric and seismic reflection datasets were acquired in Lake Biel to document the consequences of the Jura Water Corrections on the sedimentation history of Lake Biel. Numerous subaquatic mass transport structures were detected on all of the slopes of the lake. Notably, a relatively large mass transport complex (0·86 km²) was observed on the eastern shore, along the path of the Aare River intrusion. The large amount of sediment delivered by the Aare River since its deviation into the lake likely caused sediment overloading resulting in subaquatic mass transport. Alternatively, the dumping since 1963 in a subaquatic landfill of material excavated during the second phase of river engineering, when the channels flowing into and out of Lake Biel were widened and deepened, might have triggered the largest mass transport, dated to 1964 or 1965. Additional potential triggers include two nearby small earthquakes in 1964 and 1965 (M_W 3·9 and 3·2, respectively). The data for this study indicate that relatively large mass transports have become recurrent in Lake Biel following the deviation of the Aare River, thus modifying hazard frequency for the neighbouring communities and infrastructure.     

BAKTRAK: backtracking drifting objects using an iterative algorithm with a forward trajectory model

The task of determining the origin of a drifting object after it has been located is highly complex due to the uncertainties in drift properties and environmental forcing (wind, waves, and surface currents). Usually, the origin is inferred by running a trajectory model (stochastic or deterministic) in reverse. However, this approach has some severe drawbacks, most notably the fact that many drifting objects go through nonlinear state changes underway (e.g., evaporating oil or a capsizing lifeboat). This makes it difficult to naively construct a reverse-time trajectory model which realistically predicts the earliest possible time the object may have started drifting. We propose instead a different approach where the original (forward) trajectory model is kept unaltered while an iterative seeding and selection process allows us to retain only those particles that end up within a certain time–space radius of the observation. An iterative refinement process named BAKTRAK is employed where those trajectories that do not make it to the goal are rejected, and new trajectories are spawned from successful trajectories. This allows the model to be run in the forward direction to determine the point of origin of a drifting object. The method is demonstrated using the leeway stochastic trajectory model for drifting objects due to its relative simplicity and the practical importance of being able to identify the origin of drifting objects. However, the methodology is general and even more applicable to oil drift trajectories, drifting ships, and hazardous material that exhibit nonlinear state changes such as evaporation, chemical weathering, capsizing, or swamping. The backtracking method is tested against the drift trajectory of a life raft and is shown to predict closely the initial release position of the raft and its subsequent trajectory.