A mineral magnetic and scaled-chrysophyte paleolimnological study of two northeastern Pennsylvania lakes: records of fly ash deposition, land-use change, and paleorainfall variation

A combined mineral magnetic and scaled chrysophyte study of lake sediments from Lake Lacawac and Lake Giles in northeastern Pennsylvania was conducted to determine the effects of land-use and sediment source changes on the variation of pH, conductivity, and alkalinity inferred from biotic changes. Ten 30–40 cm long gravity cores were collected from Lake Lacawac and three from Lake Giles. Isothermal remanent magnetizations (IRMs) were given to the lake sediments in a 1.3 T magnetic field to measure magnetic mineral concentration variations. IRM acquisition experiments were conducted to identify magnetic mineralogy. The bedrock, soils and a peat bog on the shores of Lake Lacawac were also sampled for magnetic analysis to determine possible lake sediment sources. The top 10 cm of sediment collected from Lakes Lacawac and Giles was two to four times more magnetic than deeper sediment. ²¹⁰Pb dating suggests that this intensity increase commenced circa 1900. SEM images of magnetic extracts from the highly magnetic sediments indicates the presence of magnetic fly ash microspheres from fossil fuel burning electric power generation plants. The similarity in magnetic coercivity in the top 8 cm lake sediments and in the peat bog supports an atmospheric source for some of the magnetic minerals in the youngest lake sediments. The highly magnetic sediments also contain an antiferromagnetic mineral in two cores closest to Lake Lacawacs southeastern shore. This magnetic mineral is only present deep in the soil profile and would suggest erosion and significant land-use changes in the Lacawac watershed as another cause for the high magnetic intensities (concentrations) in the top 10 cm of the lake sediments. The most significant changes in the scaled chrysophyte flora occurred immediately above the 10 cm level and were used to infer a doubling of the specific conductivity between circa 1910 and 1929. These variations also support land-use changes in the Lacawac catchment at this time. A similar shift in the scaled chrysophte flora was not observed in the top of Lake Giles, however, distinct changes were found in the deeper sections of the core coupled with a smaller peak in magnetic concentration. Fourier analysis of the ²¹⁰Pb-dated lake sediment magnetics indicates the presence of a 50 year period, low amplitude variation in the Lake Lacawac, Lake Giles, and Lake Waynewood (Lott et al., 1994) magnetic concentration records. After removal of the land-use/fly ash magnetic concentration peak by Gaussian filtering, the 50 year variation correlates strongly from lake to lake even though the lakes are in different watersheds separated by up to 30 km. When this magnetic variation is compared with Gaussian-filtered rainfall variations observed in New York City and Philadelphia over the past 120–250 years there is a strong correlation suggesting that magnetic concentration variations can record regional rainfall variations with an approximately 50 year period. This result indicates that magnetics could be used to document regional variations in climatic change.     

The glacilacustrine sedimentary environment of Bowser Lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada

Bowser Lake, a fiord lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, contains a thick Holocene fill consisting mainly of silt and clay varves. These sediments were carried into the lake by proglacial Bowser River which drains a high-energy, heavily glacierized basin. Sedimentation in the lake is controlled by seasonal snow and ice melt, by autumn rainstorms, and by rare, but very large jökulhlaups from glacier-dammed lakes in the upper Bowser River basin which complicate environmental inferences from the sedimentary record. Sediment is dispersed through the deep western part of the lake by energetic turbidity currents. The turbidity currents apparently do not overtop a sill that separates the western basin from much shallower areas to the east. Large amounts of silt and clay are deposited from suspension in the eastern part of the lake, but sediment accumulation rates there are much lower than to the west. Several strong acoustic reflectors punctuate the varved fill in the western basin; these may be thick or relatively coarse beds deposited during jökulhlaups or exceptionally large storms. The contemporary sediment yield to Bowser Lake, estimated from sediments in the lake, is about 360 t km^-2a^-1. This is a relatively high value, but it is less than yields insome other, similar montane basins with extensive snow and ice cover.The most likely explanation for the difference is that large amounts of sediment have been, and continue to be, stored on the Bowser delta andin small proglacial lakes.     

A record of accelerated erosion in the recent sediments of Blelham Tarn in the English Lake district

Two frozen cores from Blelham Tarn were subsampled and measured using mineral magnetic, loss-on-ignition (LOI), radiometric, granulometric and diatom analyses. A detailed chronology was established using varves, radioisotopes and diatoms. This has enabled an accurately dated reconstruction of sedimentation over the past forty years. Despite a large increase in lake productivity, evidence suggests that the observed exponential increase in sedimentation rates can be attributed to erosion within the catchment. The predominant sediment source has been identified as surface soil. A comparison between the trend of accelerated sedimentation and the record of increased sheep stocking density for the area within which the most of the catchment lies, as well as observations of contemporary surface processes within the catchment, both suggest that much of the recent erosion is a direct response to increased pressure from sheep grazing.     

LANDSCAPE PERMANENCE AND NUCLEAR WARNINGS

ABSTRACT. From the perspective of a human lifetime, the hazards of some nuclear wastes are permanent, so the warnings we place at contaminated nuclear sites must be permanent too. I address questions of how best to provide one hundred centuries of public warning at the first facility for permanent disposal, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Scenarios of intrusion developed to guide the design of warning markers predicted that most of the changes in the area will be social and cultural. Because blatant and permanent markers will increase, not reduce, the probability of inadvertent intrusion, the most appropriate warning is a “landscape of illusion.” Such a landscape needs not permanent surface markers but underground warning devices beneath a soft surface marker. No warning can guarantee deterrence for 10,000 years, however.     

Comparison of flood hazard assessments on desert piedmonts and playas: A case study in Ivanpah Valley, Nevada

Accurate and realistic characterizations of flood hazards on desert piedmonts and playas are increasingly important given the rapid urbanization of arid regions. Flood behavior in arid fluvial systems differs greatly from that of the perennial rivers upon which most conventional flood hazard assessment methods are based. Additionally, hazard assessments may vary widely between studies or even contradict other maps. This study's chief objective was to compare and evaluate landscape interpretation and hazard assessment between types of maps depicting assessments of flood risk in Ivanpah Valley, NV, as a case study. As a secondary goal, we explain likely causes of discrepancy between data sets to ameliorate confusion for map users. Four maps, including three different flood hazard assessments of Ivanpah Valley, NV, were compared: (i) a regulatory map prepared by FEMA, (ii) a soil survey map prepared by NRCS, (iii) a surficial geologic map, and (iv) a flood hazard map derived from the surficial geologic map, both of which were prepared by NBMG. GIS comparisons revealed that only 3.4% (33.9 km²) of Ivanpah Valley was found to lie within a FEMA floodplain, while the geologic flood hazard map indicated that ~ 44% of Ivanpah Valley runs some risk of flooding (Fig. 2D). Due to differences in mapping methodology and scale, NRCS data could not be quantitatively compared, and other comparisons were complicated by differences in flood hazard class criteria and terminology between maps. Owing to its scale and scope of attribute data, the surficial geologic map provides the most useful information on flood hazards for land-use planning. This research has implications for future soil geomorphic mapping and flood risk mitigation on desert piedmonts and playas. The Ivanpah Valley study area also includes the location of a planned new international airport, thus this study has immediate implications for urban development and land-use planning near Las Vegas, NV.     

Acacia salicina, Pinus halepensis and Eucalyptus occidentalis improve soil surface conditions in arid southern Tunisia

Despite low growth rates, plants in arid areas have a strong ability to modify soil surface properties affecting ecosystem processes and community dynamics. But our knowledge on species effects on soil properties in these areas comes largely from observational studies, increasing the risk of confounding factors and precluding estimations of rates of change. We evaluated changes in soil surface properties underneath Acacia salicina, Pinus halepensis and Eucalyptus occidentalis in a 10-year-old common garden experiment established on a degraded Stipa tenacissima steppe in southern Tunisia. The three species tested improved soil properties compared to those of open areas. Acacia salicina ranked first as soil modifier as the soil underneath this species showed higher total organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, soil CO₂ efflux and infiltration rate, and lower soil hydrophobicity than soil in open areas. The richness of vascular plants was higher under A. salicina than under the other types of cover. This species showed higher ability to improve microsite conditions and foster succession. Short rotations of A. salicina could thus be employed for the restoration of degraded S. tenacissima steppes provided that other aspects of its ecology are controlled. Pinus halepensis represents a good alternative when native species are a priority, albeit facilitative ability is lower.     

Late Tertiary paleoclimatic interpretation from lacustrine rhythmites in the Gray Fossil Site,northeastern Tennessee,USA

The Gray Fossil Site (GFS) includes a small (<2 ha) paleosinkhole lake fill with an exceptionally well-preserved record of sedimentation and fossils from the latest Miocene to earliest Pliocene. The uppermost lacustrine stratigraphy is characterized by rhythmites that regularly alternate between coarse-grained and organic-rich (A) laminae and fine-grained, silty clay (B) laminae. Both the A and B components are almost exclusively comprised of exogenic sediment (including organic matter). Periodicities of 24 and 4.4 are recorded within a continuous 96 interpreted year sequence of rhythmite sediment. In a small lake with a poorly oxygenated bottom, the presence of laterally continuous laminated sediment that includes well-known periodicities in rhythmite thickness is interpreted as representing annually generated varves that correspond to seasonal variations in sedimentation. The distinctly larger fraction of medium sand-size quartz grains present within the A laminae, as well as the abrupt transitions between A and B components suggest that the rhythmites represent deposition during alternating high-energy and lower-energy seasons, which is consistent with a monsoonal precipitation pattern. The seasonal climate may relate to changes in the ocean circulation pattern prior to 4.6 Ma that resulted in an increased temperature and atmospheric pressure gradient between the east coast of North America and the Atlantic Ocean, but this climate phase seems to be only a temporary condition, as underlying and overlying sediment are both consistent with drier conditions. The periodicity at 24 interpreted years is consistent with the well-known Hale solar cycle. The 4.4 interpreted-year periodicity occurs within the ENSO frequency band, and if this documentation of ENSO-like interannual climate change is correct, then it suggests that ENSO operated at times during the warm Earth conditions characterizing the late Tertiary.     

Will the Russians return from the near abroad?

The author "examines a range of issues surrounding the involuntary migration of Russian populations from the non-Russian republics of the former USSR. Among the questions addressed are possible magnitudes of in-migration into Russia (with special attention paid to conditions in one of the major source regions, Central Asia), attitudes in Russia regarding appropriate policy with respect to treatment of co-nationals in the near abroad and whether their return to Russia would have a positive or negative impact, and conditions in areas of Russia that presently are absorbing the greatest numbers of migrants. The assertion that Russian policy should seek aggressively to prevent the out-migration of Russian populations [from] the near abroad is assessed critically."     

Late Holocene dune activity in the Eastern Platte River Valley, Nebraska

Large-scale dune activity in the Nebraska Sand Hills and elsewhere on the western Great Plains has been linked to prehistoric “megadroughts” that triggered the activation of regional dune fields. The effect of megadroughts on the smaller dune fields east of the Nebraska Sand Hills has never been assessed, however. This study focuses on the Duncan dune field near the confluence of the Loup and Platte rivers in eastern Nebraska. Seventeen optically stimulated luminescence age estimates were obtained and reveal two periods of dune activation that occurred between 4.4 to 3.4 ka and 0.8 to 0.5 ka. Significantly, both periods chronologically overlap large-scale dune activity identified in the Nebraska Sand Hills. Geochemical evidence indicates that the Duncan dunes received sand not only from the terrace underlying them, but also from the Loup River. These data link dune activity in the Duncan area, at least indirectly, to increased sediment supply from streams that drain the Sand Hills during megadroughts, implying the activation of the dunes occurred as an indirect response to regional megadroughts. Calculations of dune migration rates, however, argue in favor of local, drought-driven hydrologic changes as a causative factor in dune activation, in other words, a direct effect of megadroughts. Whether the impact was direct or indirect, it is highly likely that the repeated reactivation of the Duncan dunes resulted in some way from regional, large-magnitude droughts. Other paleoclimate proxies from the Great Plains tend to support this conclusion. We conclude that the megadroughts that have been identified in the Sand Hills and other Great Plains dune fields were indeed regional events with far-reaching effects.