Catastrophic middle Pleistocene jökulhlaups in the upper Susquehanna River: Distinctive landforms from breakout floods in the central Appalachians

Widespread till and moraines record excursions of middle-Pleistocene ice that flowed up-slope into several watersheds of the Valley and Ridge Province along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. A unique landform assemblage was created by ice-damming and jökulhlaups emanating from high gradient mountain watersheds. This combination of topography formed by multiple eastward-plunging anticlinal ridges, and the upvalley advance of glaciers resulted in an ideal geomorphic condition for the formation of temporary ice-dammed lakes. Extensive low gradient (1°–2° slope) gravel surfaces dominate the mountain front geomorphology in this region and defy simple explanation. The geomorphic circumstances that occurred in tributaries to the West Branch Susquehanna River during middle Pleistocene glaciation are extremely rare and may be unique in the world. Failure of ice dams released sediment-rich water from lakes, entraining cobbles and boulders, and depositing them in elongated debris fans extending up to 9 km downstream from their mountain-front breakout points. Poorly developed imbrication is rare, but occasionally present in matrix-supported sediments resembling debris flow deposits. Clast weathering and soils are consistent with a middle Pleistocene age for the most recent flows, circa the 880-ka paleomagnetic date for glacial lake sediments north of the region on the West Branch Susquehanna River. Post-glacial stream incision has focused along the margins of fan surfaces, resulting in topographic inversion, leaving bouldery jökulhlaup surfaces up to 15 m above Holocene channels. Because of their coarse nature and high water tables, jökulhlaup surfaces are generally forested in contrast to agricultural land use in the valleys and, thus, are readily apparent from orbital imagery.     

A mixed spectral finite-difference model for pollutant concentrations over a hill

Given incident logarithmic profiles of wind and pollutant concentration above a rough, absorbing surface, the three-dimensional distribution of pollutant concentration over a hill of gentle slope is determined from a linearized model. The model is applied in neutrally stratified flow, without chemistry, and is integrated using spectral methods in the horizontal and a finite-difference scheme in the vertical. This approach allows for flexibility in choosing a closure scheme and a variety of surface boundary conditions. This was not possible in the analytic approach of Padro (1987) who added pollutant concentration and flux to the MS3DJH/1 model of Walmsley et al. (1980). The present model requires as input the turbulent kinetic energy, E, dissipation, , and the perturbation vertical velocity, w, from the three-dimensional boundary-layer flow model of Beljaars et al. (1987), hereinafter referred to as MSFD, The latter model also supplies wind velocity perturbations at the upper boundary, as input to upper boundary conditions on the pollutant flux perturbations.The present study describes applications of the model to idealized terrain features: isolated two- and three-dimensional hills and ridges and an infinite series of ridges. (Application to real terrain, however, presents no difficulties.) Comparisons were made with different (though uniform) surface roughnesses. Tests were performed to examine the effect of upstream terrain features in the periodic domain and to illustrate the importance of the vertical resolution of the output for interpreting results from the sinusoidal terrain case.     

Laboratory and field investigations of rockburst phenomena using concurrent geotomographic imaging and acoustic emission/microseismic techniques

The progress made on three phases of a research project, started in 1986 to investigate mining induced seismicity/rockburst phenomena using concurrent geotomographic imaging and microseismic monitoring techniques, is described. Phase I is the geotomographic software development and laboratory calibration trials. Phase II is the enhancement of traditional microseismic monitoring instrumentation with a waveform acquisition system, so that source mechanism studies can be carried out on mining induced seismic events. Phase III is the field trials of the hybrid technique which will be used to monitor changing rock mass physical properties, in response to mining. Preliminary results from all three phases are given, together with an outline of current and future research planned.Presented at the Fred Leighton Memorial Workshop on Mining Induced Seismicity, Montreal 1987.     

Options to overcome the barriers to pricing European agricultural emissions

Although agriculture could contribute substantially to European emission reductions, its mitigation potential lies untapped and dormant. Market-based instruments could be pivotal in incentivizing cost-effective abatement. However, sector specificities in transaction costs, leakage risks and distributional impacts impede its implementation. The significance of such barriers critically hinges on the dimensions of policy design. This article synthesizes the work on emissions pricing in agriculture together with the literature on the design of market-based instruments. To structure the discussion, an options space is suggested to map policy options, focusing on three key dimensions of policy design. More specifically, it examines the role of policy coverage, instruments and transfers to farmers in overcoming the barriers. First, the results show that a significant proportion of agricultural emissions and mitigation potential could be covered by a policy targeting large farms and few emission sources, thereby reducing transaction costs. Second, whether an instrument is voluntary or mandatory influences distributional outcomes and leakage. Voluntary instruments can mitigate distributional concerns and leakage risks but can lead to subsidy lock-in and carbon price distortion. Third, the impact on transfers resulting from the interaction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with emissions pricing will play a key role in shaping political feasibility and has so far been underappreciated.

POLICY RELEVANCE

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement, European climate policy is at a crossroads. Achieving cost-effectively the 2030 and 2050 European targets requires all sectors to reduce their emissions. Yet, the cornerstone of European climate policy, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), covers only about half of European emissions. Major sectors have been so far largely exempted from carbon pricing, in particular transport and agriculture. While transport has been increasingly under the spotlight as a possible candidate for an EU ETS sectoral expansion, policy discussions on pricing agricultural emissions have been virtually absent. This article attempts to fill this gap by investigating options for market-based instruments to reduce agricultural emissions while taking barriers to implementation into account.     

Criteria for the instability of upper-stage plane beds

Calculations of the critical dimensionless bed stresses that obtain when upper-stage plane beds should revert to ripple and dune bed forms are presented. Strong support is given to the Bagnold ‘universal’ plane-bed instability criterion and to a modified criterion suggested by Allen over a wide range of solids grain size. A reinterpretation of the mechanism of plane bed instability is based upon the extent to which significant grain concentrations in plane bed flows increase apparent fluid viscosity and decrease turbulence production over potential bed defects, thereby preventing ripple or dune propagation and growth.     

Geoarchaeological and Bioarchaeological Studies at Mira,an Early Upper Paleolithic Site in the Lower Dnepr Valley,Ukraine

New geoarchaeological and bioarcheological research was undertaken at the open‐air site of Mira, which is buried in deposits of the Second Terrace of the Dnepr River, roughly 15 km downstream from the city of Zaporozhye in Ukraine. Previous excavation of the site revealed two occupation layers dating to ∼32,000 cal BP. The lower layer (II/2) yielded bladelets similar to those of the early Gravettian, while the upper layer (I) contained traces of an artificial shelter and hundreds of bones and teeth of horse (Equus latipes). Mira represents the only firmly dated early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) site in the Dnepr Basin, and occupies a unique topographic setting for the EUP near the center of the broad floodplain of the Dnepr River. The site was visited during a period of floodplain stability, characterized by overbank deposition and weak soil formation under cool climate conditions. Mira was used as a long‐term camp, but also was the locus of large‐mammal carcass processing associated with a nearby kill of a group of horses (Layer I).     

A shipborne magnetic survey in Hudson Bay

A marine magnetic total-field survey of Hudson Bay was conducted from 1975 to 1978. Approximately 62 000 line-km of data, or 35 000 five-minute averages, were acquired. The data were corrected for secular variation by means of a polynomial in latitude, longitude, and time, first fitted to annual mean differences from nine observatories and then integrated over time. The data were corrected for diurnal and transient variations by means of a linear interpolation, over geomagnetic latitude, of running hourly mean values from two neighbouring magnetic stations (numbering seven in all). Crossover differences are analysed in terms of a mixture of normal distributions resulting from the intermittent transient variations, and indicate the effectiveness of the corrections. The variance of the data is reduced, as a result of the corrections, by 87% during quiet periods and by 53% during disturbed periods, the weighted variance being reduced by 66%. Navigational accuracy is estimated, from a novel method utilizing crossover differences and field gradients, to be approximately 300 m. Anomalies are presented in profile form, and discussed briefly.Contribution from the Earth Physics Branch No. 973.     

Geophysical exploration for interlayer slip breccia gold deposits: example from Pengjiakuang gold deposit, Shandong Province, China

Interlayer slipping breccia‐type gold deposit – a new type of gold deposit, defined recently in the northern margin of the Jiaolai Basin, Shandong Province, China – occurs in interlayer slip faults distributed along the basin margin. It has the features of large orebody thickness (ranging from 14 m to 46 m, with an average thickness of 30 m), shallow embedding (0–50 m thickness of cover), low tenor of gold ore (ranging from 3 g/t to 5 g/t), easy mining and ore dressing. This type of gold deposit has promising metallogenic forecasting and potential for economic exploitation. A ground gamma‐ray survey in the Pengjiakuang gold‐ore district indicates that the potassium/thorium ratio is closely related to the mineralization intensity, i.e. the larger the potassium/thorium ratio, the higher the mineralization. The gold mineralized alteration zone was defined by a potassium/thorium ratio of 0.35. A seismic survey confirms the location of the top and bottom boundaries and images various features within the Pengjiakuang gold mineralization belt. The gold‐bearing shovel slipped belt dips to the south at an angle of 50–55° at the surface and 15–20° at depth. The seismic profile is interpreted in terms of a structural band on the seismic section characterized by a three‐layered model. The upper layer is represented by weakly discontinuous reflections that represent the overlying conglomerates. A zone of stronger reflections representing the interlayer slip fault (gold‐bearing mineralized zone) is imaged within the middle of the section, while the strongest reflections are in the lower part of the section and represent metamorphic rocks at depth. At the same time, the seismic reflection survey confirms the existence of a granite body at depth, indicating that ore‐forming fluids may be related to the granite. A CSAMT survey showed that the gold‐bearing mineralized zone is a conductive layer and contains a low‐resistivity anomaly ranging from 2 Ωm to 200 Ωm.     

Mineralogy and major-element geochemistry of the lower Permian Greta Seam,Sydney Basin,Australia

The mineralogy of the high-volatile bituminous coals and associated strata from the Greta seam, Sydney Basin, Australia, has been evaluated in this study. Although the seam is not immediately overlain by marine strata, percolation of marine water into the original peat bed is indicated by the petrological, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics, which resemble those of coals with marine roof strata. The upper and lower sections of the seam have contrasting mineralogy. Pyrite typically comprises 40 to 56 wt% of the mineral assemblage in the marine-influenced upper part of the seam section. The lower part contains much less pyrite (typically <5 wt%, organic-free basis), and also relatively abundant dawsonite (up to 14 wt%, organic-free basis). The minerals within most coal plies are largely of authigenic origin. These include pyrite, siderite, clay minerals (mainly kaolinite and Na-rich mixed-layer illite/smectite), and quartz, most of which have a relatively early, syngenetic origin. Minor Ti-bearing minerals, anatase or rutile, and phosphate minerals, fluorapatite and goyazite, were probably also formed during early diagenesis. Other minerals have features that indicate late-stage precipitation. These include abundant cleat- and fracture-filling dawsonite, which may be the result of reactions between earlier-precipitated kaolinite and Na₂CO₃- or NaHCO₃-bearing fluids. Minor albite may also be epigenetic, possibly precipitated from the same Ca–Al bearing fluids that formed the dawsonite. The most abundant detrital minerals in the Greta coals are quartz, poorly ordered kaolinite, illite and mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S). These occur mainly in the floor, roof and other epiclastic horizons of the seam, reflecting periods of greater clastic influx into those parts of the original peat-forming environment. Detrital minerals are rare in the coals away from the epiclastic horizons, probably owing to almost complete sediment bypassing in the depositional system. Alternatively, any detrital minerals that were originally present may have been leached from the peat bed by diagenetic or post-diagenetic processes.