The formation of flocculated clay laminae in the sediments of a meromictic lake

Sediments of Lake Fidler, a meromictic lake in south-west Tasmania, contain distinctive laminae. In order to determine their composition and formation, these laminae were studied using a combination of X- ray analysis, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and vibrational spectrometry. Results indicated that the laminae were composed of clay originating from the adjacent Gordon River estuary. The clay was also found as part of the general sediment matrix of the core. The evidence indicates that the laminae are formed during incursions of brackish water from the adjacent Gordon River estuary into Lake Fidler which cause the flocculation of clay minerals in the water column. These clay minerals then sink rapidly to the sediments to form laminae. Although the formation of these laminae pre-dates meromixis, their mode of formation corroborates the theory that meromixis is maintained ectogenically by periodic inflows of brackish water replenishing monimolimnetic salts.     

Determination of wave–shoreline dynamics on a macrotidal gravel beach using Canonical Correlation Analysis

This paper describes the application of Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) to derive forcing–response relations between the wave climate and shoreline position on a macrotidal gravel barrier located in the southwest of the U.K., and to develop a tool to determine shoreline positions from wave records. The data sequences comprise wave climate recorded by a nearshore directional wave buoy and video-derived shorelines over a time span of one year and a half. The hydrodynamic conditions are used to determine the probability density function of wave heights and alongshore energy fluxes. These are then related to shoreline change through a CCA analysis. The CCA analysis identifies patterns of behaviour of the wave conditions and the shoreline position, and the relation between both patterns is found to provide useful information about the beach response to wave action. The analysis shows that the movement of sediment is greater at the southern end of the study area and that there is an immediate shoreline response to the wave action. In the case of coastal management it is more often the case that wave forecasts are available on a routine basis. The ability of the CCA to provide useful estimates of shorelines from wave conditions was tested by using measured waves to calculate the corresponding shoreline position from additional data at the end of the sequences. Shoreline positions determined with the CCA agreed well with the measured ones. Thus, the CCA is found to be a useful tool to determine unknown shoreline positions and support effective coastal management if good quality hydrodynamic and morphological data are available to input into the initial set-up of the technique.     

Measurements of sheet flow transport in acceleration-skewed oscillatory flow and comparison with practical formulations

Near-bed oscillatory flows with acceleration skewness are characteristic of steep and breaking waves in shallow water. In order to isolate the effects of acceleration skewness on sheet flow sand transport, new experiments are carried out in the Aberdeen Oscillatory Flow Tunnel. The experiments have produced a dataset of net transport rates for full-scale oscillatory flows with varying degrees of acceleration skewness and three sand sizes. The new data confirm previous research that net transport in acceleration-skewed flow is non-zero, is always in the direction of the largest acceleration and increases with increasing acceleration skewness. Large transport rates for the fine sand conditions suggest that phase lag effects play an important role in augmenting positive net transport. A comparison of the new experimental data with a number of practical sand transport formulations that incorporate acceleration skewness shows that none of the formulations performs well in predicting the measured net transport rates for both the fine and the coarser sands. The new experimental data can be used to further develop practical sand transport formulations to better account for acceleration skewness.     

Diagnostic investigation of impulsive pressures induced by plunging breakers impinging on gravel beaches

This paper presents an integrated investigation of physical processes generating impulsive pressures under the action of plunging breakers impinging on gravel beaches. This work is an extension of a recent investigation which suggested that wave impacts from plunging breakers acting on gravel beaches may be a key mechanism to enhance sediment mobilisation. In particular, comparisons of full scale laboratory measurements against model results from a well-validated phase/depth-resolving numerical model based on the Reynolds–Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations are presented. This represents the first attempt at comparison with such a tool against observed hydrodynamics on steep (slope~1/8) gravel beaches at prototype scale. In order to understand how impulsive pressures are generated under plunging waves, the numerical model is used to carry out a detailed investigation to examine the role of each of the acceleration terms in the momentum balance. Consistent with prior studies, numerical results show that under plunging breakers the local acceleration (∂u/∂t) alone cannot be used as a proxy for pressure gradients. However, the contribution of the third term (w∂u/∂z) of total acceleration is recognized for the first time and indicates that this term has an important role in both the induced pressure gradient and sediment mobilisation as induced by this particular type of breaking. Furthermore, results suggest that a parameterisation of the pressure gradient in terms of ∂u/∂t+u∂u/∂x, may not suffice when dealing with plunging breakers and hence there is a lack of a suitable parameterisation of this process in the present literature. Thus, for different types of breaking it may be necessary to consider a different characterisation of the pressure gradient toward the parameterisation of sediment transport inside the surf zone.     

Evidence of subduction and crust–mantle mixing from a single diamond

Cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging of polished sections of a diamond from the Guaniamo region of Venezuela suggests a history of the diamond involving two periods of growth separated by a period of resorption and possibly brittle deformation. In situ electron probe analysis of multiple eclogitic garnet inclusions reveals a correlation between garnet composition and location in the stone. An early-formed garnet in the diamond core has higher Ca/(Ca+Mg) and lower Mg/(Mg+Fe) values than later garnets associated with the second period of diamond growth. This variation conforms to an extensive trend of variation in the suite of eclogitic garnets extracted from Venezuelan diamonds. The diamond is zoned in carbon isotope composition (in situ secondary ion mass spectrometry, SIMS, data). The core compositions (δ¹³C PDB), corresponding to the first stage of growth, average −17.7‰. The second period of growth is apparently in two sub-sets of CL zones with mean values of −13.0‰ and −7.9‰. Nitrogen contents of diamond are low (30–300 atomic ppm) and do not correlate with carbon isotope composition. Oxygen isotope ratios of the garnet inclusions are elevated substantially above those expected for “common mantle”; δ¹⁸O VSMOW of early garnet is approximately +10.5‰ and two late garnets average +8.8‰. The evolutionary trend of magnesium enrichment in garnet is unlikely to represent igneous fractionation. The stable isotope data are consistent with diamond formation in subducted meta-basic rocks that had interacted with sea water at low temperatures at or near the sea floor and contained a substantial biogenic carbon component. During or following subduction, diamonds continued to form in an evolving system that was progressively modified by interaction with mantle material.     

Porosity and permeability in sediment mixtures

Porosity in sediments that contain a mix of coarser- and finer-grained components varies as a function of the porosity and volume fraction of each component. We considered sediment mixtures representing poorly sorted sands and gravely sands. We expanded an existing fractional-packing model for porosity to represent mixtures in which finer grains approach the size of the pores that would exist among the coarser grains alone. The model well represents the porosity measured in laboratory experiments in which grain sizes and volume fractions were systematically changed within sediment mixtures. Permeability values were determined for these sediment mixtures using a model based on grain-size statistics and the expanded fractional-packing porosity model. The permeability model well represents permeability measured in laboratory experiments using air- and water-based permeametry on the model sediment mixtures.     

Structure of the footwall of a listric fault system revealed by 3D seismic data from the Niger Delta

We use three‐dimensional (3D) seismic reflection data to analyse the architecture of the footwall of a listric fault, in a gravitationally driven extensional system, in the north‐western Niger Delta. In contrast to conventional listric normal fault models with a single master listric fault plane the level of detachment switches from a deeper to shallower level. The footwall evolves through the generation of new master detachment faults and detachments, which transfers hanging wall rocks into the footwall. New detachments form by branching off pre‐existing detachment levels, cutting‐up through stratigraphy to the next mechanical weakness, separating discrete sections of extended strata. As a consequence a deeper, older array of seaward‐dipping, tilted extensional fault blocks is now located in the footwall beneath the master listric detachment fault. The structural complexity located below the master detachment fault highlights extensional episodes on separate detachment faults that are not captured in conventional listric models. We speculate that changes in the level of the detachment are caused by mechanical weaknesses controlled by lithology, pore pressure and episodes of sediment loading related to deltaic progradation.     

Developing carbon budgets for UK agriculture, land-use, land-use change and forestry out to 2022

This paper derives a notional future carbon budget for UK agriculture, land use, land use change and forestry sectors (ALULUCF). The budget is based on a bottom-up marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) derived for a range of mitigation measures for specified adoption scenarios for the years 2012, 2017 and 2022. The results indicate that in 2022 around 6.36 MtCO₂e could be abated at negative or zero cost. Furthermore, in the same year, over 17% of agricultural GHG emissions (7.85 MtCO₂e) could be abated at a cost of less than the 2022 Shadow Price of Carbon (£34 (tCO₂e)^???1). The development of robust MACCs faces a range of methodological hurdles that complicate cost-effectiveness appraisal in ALULUCF relative to other sectors. Nevertheless, the current analysis provides an initial route map of efficient measures for mitigation in UK agriculture.     

Assessing water quality in Marine Protected Areas from Southern California, USA

Despite the regulatory mandate to maintain “natural water quality”, there are ?271 storm drain discharges that potentially threaten the 14 designated marine water quality protected areas in Southern California called Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS). After sampling 35 site-events, the geomean concentrations of total suspended solids, nutrients, total and dissolved trace metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the ocean following storm events were similar between reference drainages and ASBS discharge sites. Concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons were nondetectable and no post-storm sample exhibited significant toxicity to the endemic purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) near ASBS discharge sites. A reference-based threshold was developed and, despite the similarities in average concentrations, there were some individual ASBS discharge sites that were greater than reference background. Cumulatively across all ASBS, the constituents that were most frequently greater than the reference-based threshold were nutrients and general constituents, followed by dissolved and total trace metals.     

Numerical simulation of overflow at vertical weirs using a hybrid level set/VOF method

This paper presents the applications of a newly developed free surface flow model to the practical, while challenging overflow problems for weirs. Since the model takes advantage of the strengths of both the level set and volume of fluid methods and solves the Navier-Stokes equations on an unstructured mesh, it is capable of resolving the time evolution of very complex vortical motions, air entrainment and pressure variations due to violent deformations following overflow of the weir crest. In the present study, two different types of vertical weir, namely broad-crested and sharp-crested, are considered for validation purposes. The calculated overflow parameters such as pressure head distributions, velocity distributions, and water surface profiles are compared against experimental data as well as numerical results available in literature. A very good quantitative agreement has been obtained. The numerical model, thus, offers a good alternative to traditional experimental methods in the study of weir problems.