K-Ar Radiometric Age Determinations of White Micas from the Piemont Zone,French-Italian Western Alps

The olivine-clinopyroxene (Fe-Mg partition) geothermometer of Powell and Powell (1974) was derived on the basis of clinopyroxene mixing parameters which imply a large miscibility gap in CaFeSi₂O₆-CaMgSi₂O₆-CaAl₂SiO₆ clinopyroxenes at 950° C. Application of the Powell and Powell thermometer in an empirical way (ignoring likely errors in mixing parameters) is limited by the fact that almost all natural clinopyroxene-olivine pairs are constrained by the form of the equation to have 1-bar temperatures within the narrow (915–1,060° C) limits of their calibration points.Temperatures obtained from the Powell and Powell thermometer have been compared with those obtained from clinopyroxene-orthopyroxene (miscibility gap) thermometers; agreement with the latter is poor. There are discrepancies between calculated and observed (experimental) temperatures for iron-rich clinopyroxene-olivine pairs. It is concluded that application of the thermometer in its present form is unlikely to produce reliable results.     

Geochemistry of cumulates from the Bjerkreim–Sokndal layered intrusion (S. Norway) Part II. REE and the trapped liquid fraction

Rare earth elements in bulk cumulates and in separated minerals (plagioclase, apatite, Ca-poor and Ca-rich pyroxenes, ilmenite and magnetite) from the Bjerkreim–Sokndal layered intrusion (Rogaland Anorthosite Province, SW Norway) are investigated to better define the proportion of trapped liquid and its influence on bulk cumulate composition. In leuconoritic rocks (made up of plagioclase, Ca-poor pyroxene, ilmenite, ±magnetite, ±olivine), where apatite is an intercumulus phase, even a small fraction of trapped liquid significantly affects the REE pattern of the bulk cumulate, together with cumulus minerals proportion and composition. Contrastingly, in gabbronoritic cumulates characterized by the presence of cumulus Ca-rich pyroxene and apatite, cumulus apatite buffers the REE content. La/Sm and Eu/Eu* vs. P₂O₅ variations in leuconorites display mixing trends between a pure adcumulate and the composition of the trapped liquid, assumed to be similar to the parental magma. Assessment of the trapped liquid fraction in leuconorites ranges from 2 to 25% and is systematically higher in the north-eastern part of the intrusion. The likely reason for this wide range of TLF is different cooling rates in different parts of the intrusion depending on the distance to the gneissic margins. The REE patterns of liquids in equilibrium with primitive cumulates are calculated with mass balance equations. Major elements modelling (Duchesne, J.C., Charlier, B., 2005. Geochemistry of cumulates from the Bjerkreim–Sokndal layered intrusion (S. Norway): Part I. Constraints from major elements on the mechanism of cumulate formation and on the jotunite liquid line of descent. Lithos. 83, 299–254) permits calculation of the REE content of melt in equilibrium with gabbronorites. Partition coefficients for REE between cumulus minerals and a jotunitic liquid are then calculated. Calculated liquids from the most primitive cumulates are similar to a primitive jotunite representing the parental magma of the intrusion, taking into account the trapped liquid fraction calculated from the P₂O₅ content. Consistent results demonstrate the reliability of liquid compositions calculated from bulk cumulates and confirm the hypothesis that the trapped liquid has crystallized as a closed-system without subsequent mobility of REE in a migrating interstitial liquid.     

Phytoplankton reference communities for Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries

Phytoplankton reference communities for Chesapeake Bay were quantified from least-impaired water quality conditions using commonly measured parameters and indicators derived from measured parameters. A binning approach was developed to classify water quality. Least-impaired conditions had relatively high water column transparency and low concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and orthophosphate. Reference communities in all seasons and salinity zones are characterized by consistently low values of chlorophylla and pheophytin coupled with relative stable proportions of the phytoplankton taxonomic groups and low biomasses of key bloom-forming species. Chlorophyll cell content was lower and less variable and average cell size and seasonal picophytoplankton biomass tended to be greater in the mesohaline and polyhaline reference communities as compared to the impaired communities. Biomass concentrations of the nano-micro phytoplankton size fractions (2–200 μm) in 12 of the 16 season-specific and salinity-specific reference communities were the same or higher than those in impaired habitat conditions, suggesting that nutrient reductions will not decrease the quantity of edible phytoplankton food available to large consumers. High (bloom) and low (bust) biomass events within the impaired phytoplankton communities showed strikingly different chlorophyll cell content and turnover rates. Freshwater flow had little effect on phytoplankton responses to water quality condition in most of the estuary. Improved water column transparency, or clarity, through the reduction of suspended sediments will be particularly important in attaining the reference communities. Significant nitrogen load reductions are also required.     

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED STATES*

ABSTRACT. Levels of alcohol consumption are a major public health issue. This study aims to gain a better understanding of how geographical patterns of religious affiliation in the United States relate to geographical patterns of alcohol consumption. We explored state‐level correlations between alcohol consumption and religious adherence. Although we found no statistically significant correlation between overall religious adherence rates and current or binge drinking rates, states with higher adherence rates were significantly more likely to have high proportions of binge drinking among current drinkers. Yet, regionally, we found a strong inverse correlation in the Southeast and a strong positive correlation in the Midwest and Northeast between adherence rates and current and binge drinking rates. These geographical differences were largely explained after stratifying by major religious denominational groupings. States with high Catholic adherence rates tended to have higher drinking rates, whereas states with high Evangelical Protestant adherence rates tended to have lower drinking rates. These findings suggest that the relationship between religion and alcohol may be denomination‐specific and challenge the lay perception that religious adherence per se is associated with less alcohol consumption and less excessive drinking among those who drink.     

Marginal mafic intrusions as indicators of downslope draining of dense residual melts in anorthositic diapirs?

Geochemical and isotopic investigation of three small mafic intrusions (Løyning: 1250 × 150 m, Hogstad: 2000 × 200 m, Koldal: 1250 × 500 m) in the marginal zones of the Egersund-Ogna (Løyning, Koldal) and Åna-Sira massif-type anorthosites (Hogstad) (Rogaland Anorthositic Province, south Norway: 930 Ma) provides new insights into the late evolution of anorthositic diapirs. These layered mafic intrusions are essentially of norite, gabbronorite as well as leuconorite and display conspicuous evidence of subsolidus recrystallization. In Løyning and Hogstad, the modal layering is parallel to the subvertical foliation in the enclosing anorthosite. The northern part of the Koldal intrusion cuts across the foliation of the anorthosite, whereas in its southern part the subvertical layering is parallel to the anorthosite's foliation. The regularity of the layered structures suggests that the layering was initially acquired horizontally and later tilted during the final movements of the diapirs.

The least differentiated compositions of plagioclase and orthopyroxene in the three intrusions (An₅₉–En₆₈ in Løyning, An₄₉–En₆₄ in Hogstad and An₄₄–En₆₁ in Koldal) and the REE contents in apatite (Hogstad) indicate that their parent magmas were progressively more differentiated in the sequence Løyning–Hogstad–Koldal. Isotopic data (Løyning: ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr: 0.70376–0.70457, ε_Ndt: + 6.8 to + 2.7; Hogstad: ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr: 0.70537–0.70588, ε_Ndt: + 2.1 to − 0.5; Koldal: ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr: 0.70659–0.70911, ε_Ndt: + 3.5 to − 1.6) also indicate that in this sequence, parent magmas were characterized by a progressively more enriched Sr and Nd isotopic signature. In Løyning, the parent magma was slightly more magnesian and anorthitic than a primitive jotunite; in Hogstad, it is a primitive jotunite; and, in Koldal, an evolved jotunite. Given that plagioclase and orthopyroxene of the three intrusions display more differentiated compositions than the orthopyroxene and plagioclase megacryts of the enclosing anorthosites, it is suggested that the parent magmas of the small intrusions are residual melts after anorthosite formation which were entrained in the anorthositic diapir during its rise from lower crustal chambers.

Calculated densities of primitive jotunites (2.73–2.74 at FMQ, 0.15% H₂O, 200 ppm CO₂, 435 ppm F, 1150 °C, 3 kb) and evolved jotunites (2.75–2.76 at FMQ, 0.30% H₂O, 400 ppm CO₂, 870 ppm F, 1135 °C, 3 kb) demonstrate that they are much denser than the plagioclase of the surrounding anorthositic crystal mush (2.61–2.65). Efficient migration and draining of dense residual melts through the anorthositic crystal mush could have taken place along sloping floors (zones of lesser permeability in the mush), which occur along the margins of the rising anorthositic diapirs. This process takes into account the restricted occurrence of the mafic intrusions in the margins of the massif anorthosites. In a later stage, when the anorthosite was nearly consolidated, the residual melts were more differentiated (evolved jotunites) and could have been extracted into extensional fractures in the cooling and contracting anorthositic body in a similar way as aplitic dikes are emplaced in granitic plutons. As in the Rogaland Anorthositic Province, these dikes are much more abundant than the small mafic intrusions, collection and transport along dikes was probably more efficient than draining through the crystal mush.     

Paleolimnological evidence for increased landslide activity due to forest clearing and land-use since 3600 cal BP in the western Swiss Alps

Schwarzsee is located in the western Swiss Alps, in a region that has been affected by numerous landslides during the Holocene, as evidenced by geological surveys. Lacustrine sediments were cored to a depth of 13 m. The vegetation history of the lake's catchment was reconstructed and investigated to identify possible impacts on slope stability. The pollen analyses record development of forest cover during the middle and late Holocene, and provide strong evidence for regional anthropogenic influence such as forest clearing and agricultural activity. Vegetation change is characterized by continuous landscape denudation that begins at ca. 4300 cal. yrs BP, with five distinct pulses of increased deforestation, at 3650, 2700, 1500, 900, and 450 cal. yrs BP. Each pulse can be attributed to increased human impact, recorded by the appearance or increase of specific anthropogenic indicator plant taxa. These periods of intensified deforestation also appear to be correlated with increased landslide activity in the lake's catchment and increased turbidite frequency in the sediment record. Therefore, this study gives new evidence for a strong influence of vegetation changes on slope stability during the middle and late Holocene in the western Swiss Alps, and may be used as a case study for anthropogenically induced landslide activity.     

Water Materialities and Citizen Engagement: Testing the Implications of Water Access and Quality for Community Engagement in Ghana and South Africa

We analyze the relationship between perceptions of domestic water access, and quality, in relation community engagement. While others have suggested linkages between material conditions of water access and engagement (e.g., that poor water access might spur engagement), to date there have been no studies those test these relationships using statistical methods. Based on a quantitative analysis of survey data from underserved sites in Accra, Ghana, and Cape Town, South Africa, our results show that water access and quality are both predictive of community engagement. The analysis also makes a strong case that there are different dimensions when considering the material conditions of water—in this case, water access and quality each condition engagement in opposite directions. Furthermore, consistent with other studies, our study also shows different demographics (notably gender) mediate these relationships in important ways.     

FracKfinder: A MATLAB Toolbox for Computing Three-Dimensional Hydraulic Conductivity Tensors for Fractured Porous Media

Fractures in porous media have been documented extensively. However, they are often omitted from groundwater flow and mass transport models due to a lack of data on fracture hydraulic properties and the computational burden of simulating fractures explicitly in large model domains. We present a MATLAB toolbox, FracKfinder, that automates HydroGeoSphere (HGS), a variably saturated, control volume finite-element model, to simulate an ensemble of discrete fracture network (DFN) flow experiments on a single cubic model mesh containing a stochastically generated fracture network. Because DFN simulations in HGS can simulate flow in both a porous media and a fracture domain, this toolbox computes tensors for both the matrix and fractures of a porous medium. Each model in the ensemble represents a different orientation of the hydraulic gradient, thus minimizing the likelihood that a single hydraulic gradient orientation will dominate the tensor computation. Linear regression on matrices containing the computed three-dimensional hydraulic conductivity (K) values from each rotation of the hydraulic gradient is used to compute the K tensors. This approach shows that the hydraulic behavior of fracture networks can be simulated where fracture hydraulic data are limited. Simulation of a bromide tracer experiment using K tensors computed with FracKfinder in HGS demonstrates good agreement with a previous large-column, laboratory study. The toolbox provides a potential pathway to upscale groundwater flow and mass transport processes in fractured media to larger scales.     

Aggregate performance in managing marine ecosystems of 53 maritime countries

Fourteen indicators of marine living resource management performance by country, reflecting both their intention to sustainably use the resource within their Exclusive Economic Zones and the effectiveness of their policies, were developed and the performances of 53 maritime countries were assessed. Four rankings of the countries, which jointly account for over 95 percent of the world's marine fisheries landings, are presented here as aggregated scores of the fourteen indicators, using different schemes for weighting the indicators, each reflective of the management preferences identified by the Global Environment Outlook 4 (GEO4) future development scenarios: Market First; Policy First; Security First; and Sustainability First. The resulting rankings differed substantially between the weighting schemes for the top performing countries but less so for the countries performing poorly.     

Impacts of seawater desalination on the giant Australian cuttlefish Sepia apama in the upper Spencer Gulf, South Australia

With seawater desalination expanding rapidly, it is important that ecological studies are undertaken to determine the effects of brine discharge on the marine species in the area. The abundance of giant Australian cuttlefish (Sepia apama, Gray 1849) eggs and environmental data were recorded at nine sites near Point Lowly, Spencer Gulf, South Australia, an area where the largest desalination plant in the Southern hemisphere is proposed. In addition, the effects of different concentrations of desalination brine on the growth, survival and condition of cuttlefish embryos were investigated. The primary egg-laying sites for the cuttlefish were in the vicinity of Stony Point (sites 4 and 3) and the area with the least egg abundance was on the eastern and western areas around Point Lowly (sites 9 and 7) where no eggs were found. The survival of embryos decreased with an increase in salinity, with no embryos surviving to full term in salinities greater than 50‰. Mean weight and mantle length also decreased with increasing salinity. Besides elevated salinity, the brine also had increased concentrations of Ba, Ca, K, Sr and Mg relative to water near Point Lowly. Brine discharge from seawater desalination poses a potential threat to the unique spawning aggregation of the giant Australian cuttlefish, in the upper Spencer Gulf, South Australia.