Communicating geomorphology through International English

International English has come to dominate science publication. For both first and second language speakers, the constraints of language for communication in geomorphology are reviewed, including uncertainties with terminology, subtleties of qualification and explanation in the written presentation of arguments, and formalities in the rhetorical structuring of published papers. Distinctive qualities of style and presentation need to be recognized because, in geomorphology as generally, full qualitative meanings may pass lingua franca or second language speakers by, whilst formulaic discourse may disguise shortcomings. The alternative of language simplification for international usage may not be wholly desirable if valued functions are lost. Language is also increasingly being coupled with visual devices, pictorial and diagrammatic images and data tables, which are internationally intelligible. These can leave viewers with greater hermeneutic (text interpretation) freedom, and therefore a variety of outcomes in understanding. Mathematical treatments, with their precision and predictive utility, have great universal value and they leave readers with rather less interpretive freedom. Debate is due, both by first and by second English language geomorphologists, as to how well developing presentation styles in international English suit scientific purposes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Planform cyclicity in an unstable reach: complex fluvial response to environmental change

Long- and short-term channel changes are documented and analysed for a historically unstable reach of the River Severn at Llandinam, mid-Wales. Long-term changes (the last 150 years), reconstructed from 10 archival sources, are characterized by channel planform switching between meandering (1836–1840 and 1948–1963) and braided (1884–1903 and 1975–present) phases. Short-term changes, monitored by detailed planform surveys over a 2·5 year period, showed smaller-scale channel adjustments involving channel switching, bar accretion and channel expansion. Phases of braiding at Llandinam have been triggered by extrinsic controls, primarily flooding, but intrinsic controls (floodplain sediments, planform evolution and channel gradient) have been influential in priming the reach prior to destabilization. Flow regulation on the River Severn since 1968 has partly frozen the planform of the contemporary braid zone. Management of channel planform adjustments, where environmental change is phased in over time, must be informed by a knowledge of the potential for triggered planform switches. In addition, the effects of environmental change on fluvial systems are often historically contingent upon the state of the channel at the time of impact. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

River behaviour and Holocene alluviation: The River Severn at Welshpool,mid-Wales,U.K.

A combination of archaeological evidence, ¹⁴C dates, terrace mapping, heavy metal analysis, grain size analysis and historical maps is used in a detailed analysis of the alluvial history of the River Severn floodplain around Welshpool in mid-Wales, U.K. ‘Welshpool Gravels’ underlie a higher terrace surface up to 6–7 m above the present channel. They form a sequence of gravels at least 30 m in thickness. The upper surface is characterized by a series of braided palaeochannel patterns. These sediments were probably deposited at the end of the last glaciation as outwash, and are contemporaneous with other high, gravelly terrace deposits found in the Severn and other mid-Wales basins. Overlying the Welshpool Gravels on the contemporary floodplain are a variable thickness of finer sediments, the ‘Leighton Silts’. Morphological mapping and dating of two cut-offs to 2850 ± 60 a BP and 1190 ± 70 a BP indicates that a channel pattern similar to the present planform had formed by the mid to late Holocene. From this period, floodplain development has been dominated by a single-thread meandering channel with fine vertical sedimentation and limited lateral gravel accretion. Abandonment of extended lengths of channel formed by an avulsion mechanism is apparent. A combination of historical map data, ¹⁴C dates and the analysis for heavy metals in fine sediments, which were washed into the river system during mining, indicates that there has been at least 4 m of sedimentation since the early 17th century, but only in a central belt of varying width. Metal-rich waste, identified in the fine sediments of this zone of ‘Trehelig Silts’, indicates those areas which were most heavily sedimented during the peak of metalliferous mining in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the near-channel margins appear to be superficially similar to the older floodplain, the spatial and vertical pattern of historic sedimentation is complex, and is not reflected in marked elevation differences. The division of sedimentation periods into these three broad time-spans (Late Quaternary Terraces, Late Holocene alluviation and avulsion, and the historical metal-mining period) shows that an apparently simple planar floodplain is in reality underlain by complex sedimentation units. Floodplain construction has involved the development of inset units, in cut-offs and adjacent to migrating channels, as well as the expected contrasts between in-channel and overbank environments. This has implications both for alluvial sedimentation modelling and for the identification of high-pollution zones on the floodplain. These cannot be predicted on the basis of simple ‘in-channel’ and ‘overbank’ environments given the historically complex evolution.     

Terraced fills of Pleistocene and Holocene age in the Rheidol Valley,Wales

The legacy of repeated Pleistocene glaciations has endowed many Welsh river valleys with locally thick successions of glacial and alluvial sediments. Investigations of a well-preserved flight of terraced sediments with good exposures at Capel Bangor, on the Afon Rheidol, mid-Wales, has allowed its Quaternary valley fill stratigraphy to be examined in detail. Study has revealed five terraced fills consisting of seven distinct sedimentary units. These range from Late Devensian ice-contact and ice-marginal deposits, to Holocene high-sinuosity stream sediments with episodes of man-induced accelerated deposition of fine-grained alluvium, and to aggradation and subsequent incision associated with historic metal mining. Examination of general sedimentary properties (e.g., granulometry, sedimentary structures, terrace surface morphology) show both differences in the pattern and controls of deposition and also progressive changes over Late Devensian and Holocene times. The sediments of the Rheidol Valley record the response and subsequent recovery of a drainage basin to glaciation, and the increasing influence of man on sediment yields, channel processes, and sediment quality.     

Study and suppression of anomalous fast events in inorganic scintillators for dark matter searches

The status of dark matter searches with inorganic scintillator detectors at Boulby mine is reviewed and the results of tests with a CsI(Tl) crystal are presented. The objectives of the latter experiment were to study anomalous fast events previously observed and to identify ways to remove this background. Clear indications were found that these events were due to surface contamination of crystals by alphas, probably from radon decay. A new array of unencapsulated NaI(Tl) crystals immersed either in liquid paraffin or pure nitrogen atmosphere is under construction at Boulby. Such an approach allows complete control of the surface of the crystals and the ability to remove any surface contamination. First data from the unencapsulated NaI(Tl) do not show the presence of anomalous fast events.     

Recent advances in modeling stellar interiors

Advances in stellar interior modeling are being driven by new data from large-scale surveys and high-precision photometric and spectroscopic observations. Here we focus on single stars in normal evolutionary phases; we will not discuss the many advances in modeling star formation, interacting binaries, supernovae, or neutron stars. We review briefly: (1) updates to input physics of stellar models; (2) progress in two and three-dimensional evolution and hydrodynamic models; (3) insights from oscillation data used to infer stellar interior structure and validate model predictions (asteroseismology). We close by highlighting a few outstanding problems, e.g., the driving mechanisms for hybrid γ Dor/δ Sct star pulsations, the cause of giant eruptions seen in luminous blue variables such as η Car and P Cyg, and the solar abundance problem.     

Communicating geomorphology: global challenges for the twenty‐first century

The British Society for Geomorphology (BSG), established as the British Geomorphological Research Group (BGRG) in 1960, is considering how best to represent geomorphology and geomorphologists in the light of recent changes in the nature of communication. These changes provide the BSG and other academic societies with challenges and opportunities. Seven drivers of communication change are outlined: the changing position of geomorphology in higher education, the nature of academic interaction, the means of communication available, a transformation in the nature of geomorphological research, changes in funding support, the government role in resource allocation, and developments in quantifying international research impact. Challenges arising from changing communications are identified as occurring beyond the ‘academy’, in the nature of publication within the ‘academy’, and associated with meetings of the ‘academy’. Although national societies now have to contemplate significantly different purposes to provide for their members than in the twentieth century, there are opportunities available that cannot be fulfilled by international organizations alone. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

River incision and terrace formation in the Late Cenozoic of Europe

Late Cenozoic environmental changes which affected European rivers are reviewed, focusing especially on those of mid-Pleistocene times (c.1.2–0.8 Ma or around MIS 22) and thereafter. These involved dominating but fluctuating cold-climate (periglacial) conditions, shorter but major episodes of glaciation, and brief interglacials. There were also related sea-level and tectonic responses. The known history of European rivers in this period is individually varied, but is predominantly marked by multiple stages of episodic incision the form of which changed in style at around the ‘mid-Pleistocene transition’. It is suggested that the nature of climatic oscillations, the dating of incision episodes and the processes that achieve this incision are as yet insufficiently understood.Fluvial process studies suggest that the onset of incision may broadly relate to changes in slope, discharge, sediment load and calibre, and bedrock erodibility, and these may all have been transformed as the direct or indirect result of mid-Pleistocene climatic changes. Common properties of basal sediments on strath terraces suggest that it was during the extended but variable cold-stage episodes that both valley deepening and lateral widening occurred, and that climatic change was the principal driver of episodic deep valley incision.     

Floodplain catastrophes in the UK Holocene: messages for managing climate change

Floodplains may be transformed when environmental changes or human activity causes alluvial systems to cross channel pattern thresholds. Thresholds between pattern states based on occurrence fields are only available for some pattern distinctions, and these may not encompass the alluvial contexts and range of dynamic factors involved. Pattern changes now known from the UK Holocene are reviewed as a basis for appreciating the potential for future transformations in a changing environment. These involved episodic boulder and gravel spreads in upland environments, and braiding meandering, anastomosing → meandering and active inactive transformations in more lowland contexts. Concern for possible impacts of climatic change need to be grounded in an appreciation of the nature and scale of these past changes. Some potential future changes may be relatively predictable in location (braiding meandering); others are more difficult given both present knowledge and the varying, modified and inheritance‐rich ‘contexts of vulnerability’ that floodplains now represent. Implications for management are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.