The man/land theme in geography: a Sydney University perspective

Geography as practised at Sydney University over the years has been multi‐faceted. One branch of the discipline is the man/land (or people/environment) theme which was nurtured by the founding fathers of the department, Griffith Taylor and Macdonald Holmes. Numerous staff members have taught and researched aspects of this theme. This paper reviews some of the contributions from the time of Griffith Taylor to the present.     

Comparative study of radiation-induced damage in magnesium aluminate spinel by means of IL,CL and RBS/C techniques

A comparative study of damage accumulation in magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl₂O₄) has been conducted using ionoluminescence (IL), cathodoluminescence (CL) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry/channeling (RBS/C) techniques. MgAl₂O₄ single crystal and polycrystalline samples were irradiated with 320 keV Ar⁺ ions at fluencies ranging from 1 × 10¹² to 2 × 10¹⁶ cm^?2 in order to create various levels of radiation damage. RBS/C measurements provided quantitative data about damage concentration in the samples. These values were then compared to the luminescence measurements. The results obtained by IL and RBS/C methods demonstrate a two-step character of damage buildup process. The CL data analysis points to the three-step damage accumulation mechanism involving the first defect transformation at fluencies of about 10¹³ cm^?2 and second at about 10¹⁵ cm^?2. The rate of changes resulting from the formation of nonluminescent recombination centers is clearly nonlinear and cannot be described in terms of continuous accumulation of point defects. Both, IL and CL techniques, appear as new, complementary tools bringing new possibilities in the damage accumulation studies in single- and polycrystalline materials.     

Deep-sea macrourid fishes scavenge on plant material: Evidence from in situ observations

Deep-sea benthic communities primarily rely on an allochthonous food source. This may be in the form of phytodetritus or as food falls e.g. sinking carcasses of nekton or debris of marine macrophyte algae. Deep-sea macrourids are the most abundant demersal fish in the deep ocean. Macrourids are generally considered to be the apex predators/scavengers in deep-sea communities. Baited camera experiments and stable isotope analyses have demonstrated that animal carrion derived from the surface waters is an important component in the diets of macrourids; some macrourid stomachs also contained vegetable/plant material e.g. onion peels, oranges, algae. The latter observations led us to the question: is plant material an attractive food source for deep-sea scavenging fish? We simulated a plant food fall using in situ benthic lander systems equipped with a baited time-lapse camera. Abyssal macrourids and cusk-eels were attracted to the bait, both feeding vigorously on the bait, and the majority of the bait was consumed in <30 h. These observations indicate (1) plant material can produce an odour plume similar to that of animal carrion and attracts deep-sea fish, and (2) deep-sea fish readily eat plant material. This represents to our knowledge the first in situ documentation of deep-sea fish ingesting plant material and highlights the variability in the scavenging nature of deep-sea fishes. This may have implications for food webs in areas where macrophyte/seagrass detritus is abundant at the seafloor e.g. canyon systems and continental shelves close to seagrass meadows (Bahamas and Mediterranean).     

The hydromagnesite playas of Atlin, British Columbia, Canada: A biogeochemical model for CO2 sequestration

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions may be offset by sequestering carbon dioxide (CO₂) through the carbonation of magnesium silicate minerals to form magnesium carbonate minerals. The hydromagnesite [Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂·4H₂O] playas of Atlin, British Columbia, Canada provide a natural model to examine mineral carbonation on a watershed scale. At near surface conditions, CO₂ is biogeochemically sequestered by microorganisms that are involved in weathering of bedrock and precipitation of carbonate minerals. The purpose of this study was to characterize the weathering regime in a groundwater recharge zone and the depositional environments in the playas in the context of a biogeochemical model for CO₂ sequestration with emphasis on microbial processes that accelerate mineral carbonation.Regions with ultramafic bedrock, such as Atlin, represent the best potential sources of feedstocks for mineral carbonation. Elemental compositions of a soil profile show significant depletion of MgO and enrichment of SiO₂ in comparison to underlying ultramafic parent material. Polished serpentinite cubes were placed in the organic horizon of a coniferous forest soil in a groundwater recharge zone for three years. Upon retrieval, the cube surfaces, as seen using scanning electron microscopy, had been colonized by bacteria that were associated with surface pitting. Degradation of organic matter in the soil produced chelating agents and acids that contributed to the chemical weathering of the serpentinite and would be expected to have a similar effect on the magnesium-rich bedrock at Atlin. Stable carbon isotopes of groundwater from a well, situated near a wetland in the southeastern playa, indicate that  12% of the dissolved inorganic carbon has a modern origin from soil CO₂.The mineralogy and isotope geochemistry of the hydromagnesite playas suggest that there are three distinct depositional environments: (1) the wetland, characterized by biologically-aided precipitation of carbonate minerals from waters concentrated by evaporation, (2) isolated wetland sections that lead to the formation of consolidated aragonite sediments, and (3) the emerged grassland environment where evaporation produces mounds of hydromagnesite. Examination of sediments within the southeastern playa–wetland suggests that cyanobacteria, sulphate reducing bacteria, and diatoms aid in producing favourable geochemical conditions for precipitation of carbonate minerals.The Atlin site, as a biogeochemical model, has implications for creating carbon sinks that utilize passive microbial, geochemical and physical processes that aid in mineral carbonation of magnesium silicates. These processes could be exploited for the purposes of CO₂ sequestration by creating conditions similar to those of the Atlin site in environments, artificial or natural, where the precipitation of magnesium carbonates would be suitable. Given the vast quantities of Mg-rich bedrock that exist throughout the world, this study has significant implications for reducing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and combating global climate change.     

Evidence for a change in wind regime during the Last Glacial Maximum from the Sydney region

This paper presents the results of a small number of dates from sand samples collected at building sites in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. OSL ages of well-sorted, quartz sand ranges from 31 to 24?ka from within well-developed podzol soil profiles within a metre of the surface. The source of this sand appears to be from the east off the inner continental shelf during a period just prior to the maximum of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, Marine Isotope Stage 2) when sea-level was approximately 70–90 m below present level. During a later phase of the LGM, there is evidence from other coastal sites in central NSW and Gippsland, Victoria, that the dominant wind was from the west consistent with evidence from arid and semiarid Australia. Dune orientations in northern NSW into Queensland and other evidence at this time appear to reflect winds from the southeast quadrant. This study highlights the existence of a potential pivot area in dominant wind direction during the LGM between sustained westerly flow in southern area including Victoria and northeast Tasmania and southeast flow of northern NSW into Queensland. In central NSW, the circulation switched from easterly in Stage 2 to westerly as the glacial stage intensified in the LGM sometime after ca 25?ka.     

Sub-Cm Subsidence Measurements With The Wide-Angle Airborne Laser Ranging System

The Wide-Angle Airborne Laser Ranging System (WA-ALRS) is aninstrument developed at IGN with the aim of measuring landsubsidence with sub-cm accuracy. The instrument provides rangemeasurements that are used to estimate the co-ordinates of aground-based network of cube-corner retroreflectors (CCRs).Millimeter accuracy on relative radial co-ordinates has beendemonstrated in a ground-based experiment and centimeter accuracyhas been obtained in a recent airborne experiment. The mainlimitation in the latter experiment came from the low link budgetat longer distances. In this paper we analyze the performanceexpected with two different detector modules (avalanchephotodiodes with amplifiers). Laboratory measurements are used tocharacterize detector parameters and estimate ranging accuracy.Numerical simulations predict a 2–3 mm accuracy in the verticalco-ordinate with these detectors combined to a 2-km aircraftaltitude, a 20 laser beam divergence, a 250-m CCR separation and 10³ measurements per CCR.     

A wind-tunnel study of turbulent flow close to regularly arrayed rough surfaces

Recent observations of flux-gradient anomalies in atmospheric flow close to forests, and similar rough surfaces, prompted a wind-tunnel investigation in which cross-wire anemometry was used to study the vertical development and horizontal variability of adiabatic flow over five regularly arrayed rough surfaces, encompassing a 32-fold range of roughness concentration . The roughness elements were cylinders, 6 mm in both height and diameter.Below a layer in which the velocity profile is semi-logarithmic, two surface influences upon the mean velocity field can be distinguished: wake diffusion and horizontal inhomogeneity. The wake diffusion effect causes non-dimensional vertical velocity gradients to be smaller than in the semi-logarithmic region; at least for elements with aspect ratios l/h 1, it is governed by the transverse dimension l of the roughness elements, and is observed when z > h + 1.5l (where z is height above the underlying surface, and h is the height of the roughness elements). A simple diffusivity model successfully describes the horizontally averaged velocity profiles in the region of wake influence, despite conceptual disadvantages. The horizontal inhomogeneity of the flow is negligible when z > h + D (D being the inter-element spacing), and does not entirely mask the wake diffusion effect except over very sparsely roughened surfaces ( 0.02). A criterion for negligibility of both effects, and hence for applicability of conventional turbulent diffusivity theory for momentum, is z > h + 1.5D. These results are compared with atmospheric data, and indicate that wake diffusion may well cause some underestimation of the zero-plane displacement d over typical vegetated surfaces.     

Wide-angle airborne laser range data analysis for relative height determination of ground-based benchmarks

 A wide-angle airborne laser ranging system has been developed for the determination of relative heights of ground-based benchmarks in regional-scale networks (typically 100 laser reflectors spread over 100 km²). A first prototype demonstrated a 1–2 mm accuracy in radial distance measurement in a ground-based experiment in 1995. The first aircraft experiment was conducted in 1998, over a small area (1 km²) equipped with a network of 64 benchmarks. The instrument was modified before that experiment, in order to minimize echo superimposition due to the high density of benchmarks. New data processing algorithms have been developed, for the deconvolution of strongly overlapped echoes and a high a priori uncertainty in the aircraft flight path, and for the estimation of benchmark coordinates. A special methodology has been developed for the parameterization of these algorithms and of outlier detection tests. From a total of 2×10⁴ pseudo-range measurements, that have been acquired from two flights composed of 30 legs each, only 3×10³ remain after outlier detection. A positioning accuracy of 1.5 cm in the vertical coordinate (2.1 cm in the difference between the two flights) has been achieved. It is shown that the errors are normally distributed, with a nearly zero mean, and are consistent with the a posteriori uncertainty. It is also shown that the accuracy is limited mainly by the sensitivity of the photodetector used for this experiment (due to reduced response time). Another limiting factor is the effect of aircraft attitude changes during the measurements, which produces additional uncertainties in absolute distance measurements. It is planned to test new photodetectors with high internal gains. These should provide, in future experiments with smaller benchmark density, an improvement in signal-to-noise ratio of a factor of 5–10, leading to sub-centimeter vertical positioning accuracy. Received: 19 June 2001 / Accepted: 3 January 2002     

Strategies to improve the explanatory power of a dynamic slope stability model by enhancing land cover parameterisation and model complexity

Despite the importance of land cover on landscape hydrology and slope stability, the representation of land cover dynamics in physically based models and their associated ecohydrological effects on slope stability is rather scarce. In this study, we assess the impact of different levels of complexity in land cover parameterisation on the explanatory power of a dynamic and process-based spatial slope stability model. Firstly, we present available and collected data sets and account for the stepwise parameterisation of the model. Secondly, we present approaches to simulate land cover: 1) a grassland landscape without forest coverage; 2) spatially static forest conditions, in which we assume limited knowledge about forest composition; 3) more detailed information of forested areas based on the computation of leaf area development and the implementation of vegetation-related processes; 4) similar to the third approach but with the additional consideration of the spatial expansion and vertical growth of vegetation. Lastly, the model is calibrated based on meteorological data sets and groundwater measurements. The model results are quantitatively validated for two landslide-triggering events that occurred in Western Austria. Predictive performances are estimated using the Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC). Our findings indicate that the performance of the slope stability model was strongly determined by model complexity and land cover parameterisation. The implementation of leaf area development and land cover dynamics further yield an acceptable predictive performance (AUC ~0.71-0.75) and a better conservativeness of the predicted unstable areas (FoC ~0.71). The consideration of dynamic land cover expansion provided better performances than the solely consideration of leaf area development. The results of this study highlight that an increase of effort in the land cover parameterisation of a dynamic slope stability model can increase the explanatory power of the model. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.