Seasonal variation of the soil seed bank of grasses in central Argentina as related to grazing and shrub cover

The objectives of this research were to (a) study seasonal variation of the seed bank of grasses in two areas with different grazing history, (b) analyse the effect of the presence of shrubs on the seed bank and (c) study seed viability and dormancy in buried seeds of Piptochaetium napostaense and Stipa tenuis. The seed density of grasses was in general low and showed seasonal variation. Most of the grasses showed maximum seed density in December when seed dispersal occurs. Shrub cover did not show a marked influence in seed accumulation. The relatively high number of damaged seeds suggests that predation may be an important factor in seed bank dynamics in the Caldenal. Seeds of dominant perennial forage grasses showed dormancy that could explain, at least in part, persistence of these species in spite of periodical disturbance.     

The effects of post-seismic motions on the moment of inertia of a stratified viscoelastic earth with an asthenosphere

Summary. We give the analytical formulation for calculating the transient displacement of fields produced by earthquakes in a stratified, selfgravitating, incompressible, viscoelastic earth. We have evaluated the potential of viscous creep in the asthenosphere in exciting the Chandler wobble by a four-layer model consisting of an elastic lithosphere, a two-layer Maxwell viscoelastic mantle, and an inviscid core. The seismic source is modelled as an inhomogeneous boundary condition, which involves a jump condition of the displacement fields across the fault in the lithosphere. The response fields are derived from the solution of a two-point boundary value problem, using analytical propagator matrices in the Laplace-transformed domain. Transient flows produced by post-seismic rebound are found to be confined within the asthenosphere for local viscosity values less than 10²⁰P. The viscosity of the mantle below the low-viscosity channel is kept at 10²²P. For low-viscosity zones with widths greater than about 100 km and asthenospheric viscosities less than 10¹⁸P, we find that viscoelasticity can amplify the perturbations in the moment of inertia by a factor of 4–5 above the elastic contribution within the time span of the wobble period. We have carried out a comparative study on the changes of the inertia tensor from forcings due to surface loading and to faulting. In general the global responses from faulting are found to be much more sensitive to the viscosity structure of the asthenosphere than those produced from surface loading.     

Palaeomagnetic study of the (Lower Cambrian) Longmyndian sediments and tuffs, Welsh Borderlands

Summary. This study covers detailed thermal, chemical and alternating field demagnetization from 50 sites distributed through all units of the Longmyndian sedimentary succession (with the exception of the Stretton Shales), and eight sites in the tuff bands comprising the Batch Volcanics. The resultant effect of treatment is to remove a low blocking temperature steep component and isolate a coherent remanence direction D = 116°, I = 76° the total NRM is composite and not an adequate indicator of the palaeofield. Chemical demagnetization indicates that both hematite and magnetite grains contribute to this component and these two phases are magnetized in the same direction. A negative fold test shows that this remanence was acquired during or after the Longmyndian folding. Formation of the major magnetic constituent, authigenic magnetite, is linked to dewatering during rapid uplift following the folding which is dated by both the Rb–Sr and fission track methods at c . 525 Ma. The study defines a palaeopole of this age remote from the later APW path for Britain and links the Late Precambrian–Lower Cambrian path defmed from basement rocks of England and Wales with the Ordovician and younger results. Palaeomagnetic results from tuff bands within the sediments and Lower Silurian age intrusions cutting the outcrop are also reported.     

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: PAST THEMES, CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE TRENDS

Our knowledge regarding the physical geography of Southeast Asia is incomplete to a surprising extent. This paper reviews the past research, describes the ongoing work, and attempts to identify the future trends. Coverage of such a large area, even for the last 25 years, requires study of publications in several languages and coping with literature which is not easily available. Therefore certain topics. which are prominent in current research and likely to remain so in the future were chosen and reviewed in detail. Such topics include studies related to active plate margin features; the Pleistocene in Southeast Asia; erosion and sedimentation rates; rainforest; river systems; karst in Southeast Asia; coastal geomorphology; and the urban environment. Environmental studies are rapidly gaining importance chiefly because of (a) the destruction of the natural vegetation and the associated loss of biodiversity and (b) the growing problems due to accelerated erosion and sedimentation This trend is likely to continue with accelerated destruction of forests, development of coastal areas, and urbanization of the landscape The direction of research in physical geography of Southeast Asia has been determined by a combination of individual research interest, governmental priorities, and international expectations     

A paleomagnetic study of the Mull lava succession

Summary. A paleomagnetic study has been made of a succession of 139 non-overlapping basaltic lavas, representing 91 per cent of the longest remaining succession of flows associated with the Paleogene Mull volcano. All the lavas have experienced considerable hydrothermal alteration, probably at up to several million years after initial magnetization and frequently with alteration to the opaque minerals and the production of new potentially magnetic phases. The question of whether directional remagnetization has taken place while preserving within-unit directional consistency and discreteness of unit mean direction is discussed. Extensive directional remagnetization is excluded as an explanation for the data. If stable directions obtained by alternating field remanence cleaning coincide with original TRM directions then a mean pole position for all temporally independent lava directions from the British Tertiary igneous province is at 71.9° N, 167.2° E, with k:22 and α₉₅:3.0°. This pole is significantly different from the geographic pole. If the difference in palaeomagnetic and geographic poles is interpreted in terms of absolute plate motion, then 2010 km of northwards motion of the western part of the Eurasian Plate, at 3.7 cm/yr, has taken place over the last 55 Myr. This motion has implications for the geological history of the Arctic and for the complexity of mantle motions.     

Seismic reflection measurements behind the Hikurangi convergent margin, southern North Island, New Zealand.

Summary. The active Australian-Pacific plate boundary passes through New Zealand. In the north, the Pacific plate subducts beneath the Australian plate with an accretionary wedge forming the eastern continental (Hikurangi) margin of the North Island. The structure of the region behind the Hikurangi margin changes from the extensional back-arc basin under central North Island to a postulated crustal downwarp under the southern North Island. A 100 km long multichannel seismic reflection profile was recorded across the region of crustal downwarp. The data show discontinuous coherent reflectors dipping westwards at the east end of the profile, and east dipping reflectors at the west end, from depths of 9 to 15 s two way time. Simple hand migration of these events indicate that the east dipping reflectors, interpreted as the base of the Australian plate crust, abut against the west dipping reflectors which are interpreted as marking the top of the subducted Pacific plate. Detailed earthquake hypocentre locations in the area show a dipping zone of high seismicity, the top of which coincides closely with the west dipping events, thus supporting this interpretation.     

Crustal structure beneath exposed accreted terranes of Southern Alaska

Summary. The crustal structure beneath the exposed terranes of southern Alaska has been explored using coincident seismic refraction and reflection profiling. A wide-angle reflector at 8–9 km depth, at the base of an inferred low-velocity zone, underlies the Peninsular and Chugach terranes, appears to truncate their boundary, and may represent a horizontal decollement beneath the terranes. The crust beneath the Chugach terrane is characterized by a series of north-dipping paired layers having low and high velocities that may represent subducted slices of oceanic crust and mantle. This layered series may continue northward under the Peninsular terrane. Earthquake locations in the Wrangell Benioff zone indicate that at least the upper two low-high velocity layer pairs are tectonically inactive and that they appear to have been accreted to the base of the continental crust. The refraction data suggest that the Contact fault between two similar terranes, the Chugach and Prince William terranes, is a deeply penetrating feature that separates lower crust (deeper than 10 km) with paired dipping reflectors, from crust without such reflectors.