Some observations on the chemical weathering of the Dartmoor granite

The majority of geomorphological papers about Dartmoor have been essentially speculative, particularly when discussing weathering processes and the evolution of the Dartmoor landscape. In contrast, this article presents a synthesis of several experimental investigations aimed at studying the chemical weathering of Dartmoor granite through the systematic analysis of soil and water samples. This involved the computation of a geochemical budget to determine the amount of erosion in the catchment, as well as more detailed mineralogical investigations within a soil profile. The annual output of solutes due to weathering was 116 kg ha^?1 a^?1 of which the majority was silica (93 kg ha^?1 a^?1). From an examination of the soil mineralogy, it was calculated that these solutes were derived from the dissolution of approximately 200 kg ha^?1 a^?1 plagioclase, 90 kg ha^?1 a^?1 biotite, and 40 kg ha^?1 a^?1 orthoclase. As well as the weathering of granite, there was also the production of kaolinite (150 kg ha^?1 a^?1) and gibbsite (0.02 kg ha^?1 a^?1). Analysis of the soil water chemistry confirmed that kaolinite was the stable mineral phase in the regolith, although in areas where interflow was the dominant mode of water movement, the solute composition was in equilibrium with both kaolinite and gibbsite. Examination of the clay mineralogy confirmed these results. The microtexture of quartz grains was examined by the scanning electron microscope as another means of investigating the hydrochemical environment in the soil. Silica was found precipitated on all the grains examined but the maximum amount occurred in the Bs horizon. This evidence showed that, firstly, the dissolution of aluminosilicate minerals is greater than that calculated by the chemical budget and, secondly, that models of granite weathering must take localized weathering in the soil profile into account. The final part of the paper highlights the limitations of calculating denudation rates for an entire catchment and stresses the need to consider weathering as a highly localized phenomenon, particularly where there are high volumes of interflow at hill crest sites. Observations on granite decomposition in the future should be quantitative in approach and be related to the local site conditions.     

Chironomid-based water depth reconstructions: an independent evaluation of site-specific and local inference models

Water depth is an important environmental variable that explains a significant portion of the variation in the chironomid fauna of shallow lakes. We developed site-specific and local chironomid water-depth inference models using 26 and 104 surface-sediment samples, respectively, from seven kettlehole lakes in the Plymouth Aquifer, southeast Massachusetts, USA. Our site-specific model spans a depth gradient of 5.6?m, has an $ {\text{r}}_{\text{jack}}^{2} $ of 0.90, root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.5?m and maximum bias of 0.7?m. Our local model has a depth gradient of 11.7?m, an $ {\text{r}}_{\text{jack}}^{2} $ of 0.71, RMSEP of 1.6?m and maximum bias of 2.9?m. Principal coordinates of neighbourhood matrices (PCNM) analysis showed that there is no influence of spatial autocorrelation on the site-specific model, but PCNM variables explained a significant amount of variance (4.8%) in the local model. This variance, however, is unique from the variance explained by water depth. We applied the inference models to a Holocene chironomid record from Crooked Pond, a site for which multiple, independent palaeohydrological reconstructions are available. The chironomid-based reconstructions are remarkably similar and show stable water depths of ~5?m, interrupted by a 2-m decrease between 4,200 and 3,200?cal a BP. Sedimentological evidence of water level fluctuations at Crooked Pond, obtained using the so-called Digerfeldt approach, also shows a drop in water depths around that time. The period of reconstructed lower water levels coincides with the abrupt decline in moisture-dependent hemlock in this region, providing further evidence for this major palaeohydrological event. The site-specific model has the best performance statistics, but the high percent abundance of fossil taxa from the long core that are absent or rare in the training set makes the site-specific reconstruction unreliable for the period before 4,400?cal a BP. The fossil taxa are well represented in the local model, making it the preferred inference model. The strong similarity between the chironomid-based reconstructions and the independent palaeohydrological records highlights the potential for using chironomid-based inference models to determine past lake depths at sites where temperature was not an influencing factor.     

Coexistence or contradiction? GM crops versus alternative agricultures in Europe

Agricultural biotechnology (agbiotech) has intersected with a wider debate about ‘sustainable agriculture’, especially in Europe. Agbiotech was initially promoted as an alternative which would avoid or remedy past problems of intensive agriculture, but such claims were soon challenged. Agbiotech has extended the dominant agri-industrial paradigm, while critics have counterposed alternatives corresponding to an agrarian-based rural development paradigm. Amid controversy over environmental and health risks in the late 1990s, an extra issue emerged − the prospect that genetically modified (GM) material would become inadvertently mixed with non-GM crops. In response the European Commission developed a policy framework for ‘coexistence’ between GM, conventional and organic crops. This policy has aimed to ensure that farmers can freely choose among different production systems, which would develop side by side, yet specific proposals for coexistence rules favour some choices over others. Such rules have been contested according to different policy agendas, each promoting their model of future agriculture. Moreover, a Europe-wide network of regional authorities has promoted ‘GM-free zones’ as a territorial brand for green, localised, high-quality agri-food production, whose diverse qualities depend upon symbolic, immaterial characteristics. This alternative has been counterposed to the agri-industrial production of global commodities - symbolised by the European Union, especially its product authorisation procedure for the internal market. ‘Coexistence’ policy was intended to mediate policy conflicts over GM crops, yet it has become another arena for contending agricultural systems, which may not so readily co-exist in practice. Wherever an agrarian-based rural development paradigm gains local support, its alternative agricultures are in contradiction rather than coexistence with GM crops.     

Contrasting responses of dimictic and polymictic lakes to environmental change: a spatial and temporal study

Although comparative analyses between dimictic and polymictic lakes have noted the key role of mixing regime in governing water quality, limnologists have historically focused on dimictic lakes, leaving polymictic lakes relatively understudied. In this study, we investigated whether the effects of agricultural development on water quality differed between dimictic and polymictic lakes in a naturally nutrient-rich region of Alberta, Canada. Through a spatial limnological analysis of 36 sites, we found that the relationship between surface water total phosphorus concentration and the percent of agriculture (% Agr) in the catchments differed between dimictic and polymictic lakes, where the proportion of variance explained was much more pronounced in the dimictic (79% explained) than in the polymictic systems (7% explained). Paleolimnological analyses of subfossil chironomids in surface sediment samples (0–1 cm) from 18 of the 36 study lakes, and in sediment core profiles from the dimictic and polymictic basins of a eutrophic lake, showed that water quality differed between mixis groups. We found that the surface sediment chironomid assemblages differed significantly between polymictic and dimictic lakes. Detailed analyses of the sediment cores demonstrated that the two basin types differed in their responses to land-use change through time, as only the dimictic basin showed a parallel increase in anoxia with increasing agricultural development. We suggest that in naturally-fertile landscapes, external nutrient loading exerts a more notable effect on dimictic lakes, whereas internal nutrient loading is more important in polymictic systems.     

Wisconsinan Late-glacial environmental chage in New Brunswick: A regional synthesis

A synthesis is presented of the history of deglaciation, vegetation cover and climate in New Brunswick, Canada, during that part of the Wisconsinan Late-glacial period (12-9 ka BP) for which detailed records exist. Curves of inferred temperature variations in the region during this period are presented based upon qualitative interpretations of plant records and quantitative estimates based upon fossil chironomid assemblages.     

A northwest North American training set: distribution of freshwater midges in relation to air temperature and lake depth

Freshwater midges, consisting of Chironomidae, Chaoboridae and Ceratopogonidae, were assessed as a biological proxy for palaeoclimate in eastern Beringia. The northwest North American training set consists of midge assemblages and data for 17 environmental variables collected from 145 lakes in Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and the Canadian Arctic Islands. Canonical correspondence analyses (CCA) revealed that mean July air temperature, lake depth, arctic tundra vegetation, alpine tundra vegetation, pH, dissolved organic carbon, lichen woodland vegetation and surface area contributed significantly to explaining midge distribution. Weighted averaging partial least squares (WA-PLS) was used to develop midge inference models for mean July air temperature (r _boot² = 0.818, RMSEP = 1.46°C), and transformed depth (ln (x+1); r _boot² = 0.38, and RMSEP = 0.58).     

Fractal dimension of faults network in the upper silesian coal basin (Poland): Preliminary studies

Fractal analysis of faults network, tremor foci spatial distribution as well as the Gutenberg-Richter relationship could further explain whether the biggest seismic events are connected with recent tectonic activity. Fractality of fault systems geometry, as a first step of the analysis, was tested fro a part of the USCB embodying the main structural units. The cluster analysis and the box counting methods were employed.The calculated fractal dimension of fault network was 1.98 for the whole area yet for considered structural units it was close to 1.6. The results point to similarity of studied fault pattern to river network. Faults within selected tectonic units make separate sets which have a distinct geometry and origin. The value of 1.6 is an upper limit to the fracture geometry of rocks that can be explained on the basis of Griffith energy balance concept.     

A late Quaternary paleotemperature record from Hanging Lake, northern Yukon Territory, eastern Beringia

The late Quaternary paleoclimate of eastern Beringia has primarily been studied by drawing qualitative inferences from vegetation shifts. To quantitatively reconstruct summer temperatures, we analyzed lake sediments for fossil chironomids, and additionally we analyzed the sediments for fossil pollen and organic carbon content. A comparison with the δ¹⁸O record from Greenland indicates that the general climatic development of the region throughout the last glaciation–Holocene transition differed from that of the North Atlantic region. Between  17 and 15 ka, mean July air temperature was on average 5°C colder than modern, albeit a period of near-modern temperature at  16.5 ka. Total pollen accumulation rates ranged between  180 and 1200 grains cm^− 2 yr^− 1. At  15 ka, approximately coeval with the Bølling interstadial, temperatures again reached modern values. At  14 ka, nearly 1000 yr after warming began, Betula pollen percentages increased substantially and mark the transition to shrub-dominated pollen contributors. Chironomid-based inferences suggest no evidence of the Younger Dryas stade and only subtle evidence of an early Holocene thermal maximum, as temperatures from  15 ka to the late Holocene were relatively stable. The most recognizable climatic oscillation of the Holocene occurred from  4.5 to 2 ka.     

Surface complexation modelling of Cd(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) adsorption onto kaolinite

Proton binding constants for the edge and basal surface sites of kaolinite were determined by batch titration experiments at 25 °C in the presence of 0.1 M, 0.01 M and 0.001 M solutions of NaNO₃ and in the pH range 3-9. By optimizing the results of the titration experiments, the ratio of the edge sites to the basal surface sites was found to be 6:1. The adsorption of Cd(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Pb(II) onto kaolinite suspensions was investigated using batch adsorption experiments and results suggested that in the lower pH range the metallic cations were bound through non-specific ion exchange reactions on the permanently charged basal surface sites (X⁻). Adsorption on these sites was greatly affected by ionic strength. With increasing pH, the variable charged edge sites (SOH) became the major adsorption sites and inner-sphere specifically adsorbed monodentate complexes were believed to be formed. The effect of ionic strength on the extent of adsorption of the metals on the variable charged edge sites was much less than those on the permanently charged sites. Two binding constants, log K_(X2Me) and log K_(SOMe), were calculated by optimizing these constants in the computer program FITEQL. A model combining non-specific ion exchange reactions and inner-sphere specific surface complexations was developed to predict the adsorption of heavy metals onto kaolinite in the studied pH range. Linear free energy relationships were found between the edge site binding constants and the first hydrolysis constants of the metals.     

The Global Stratotype Section and Point （GSSP） for the base of the Holocene Series/Epoch （Quaternary System/Period） in the NGRIP ice core

The Greenland ice core from NorthGRIP （NGRIP） contains a proxy climate record across the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary of unprecedented clarity and resolution. Analysis of an array of physical and chemical parameters within the ice enables the base of the Holocene, as reflected in the first signs of climatic warming at the end of the Younger Dryas/Greenland Stadial 1 cold phase, to be located with a high degree of precision.