Seasonal trends in the uranium-series istopic signatures of lake waters and sediments: Hawes Water, north-west England

Potential seasonal variation in the U-series radioisotopic signatures of lake and input waters was investigated in Hawes Water, north-west England, and the sedimentary record was examined to establish whether any observed seasonality is preserved in the sediment U and Th radioisotopic activity ratios. U-series disequilibrium in the waters is indicative of both surface and shallow sub-surface origins for the dissolved U, and that this supply is influenced by changes in the prevailing hydrological regime. However, the lake is buffered from this seasonality in that the ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratio remains constant during the year, and the U content undergoes only a marginal decrease during summer. The change in the mechanism of lake sedimentation from allochthonous organic input during winter to autochthonous carbonate formation during summer has a more significant influence on the U-series radioisotopic characteristics of sedimentary record in that the proportion of organic and carbonate material both exhibit a strong control on the²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratio and U content. In addition, significant proportions of sediment U and Th are associated with ferromanganese oxyhydroxides. Given this seasonality, it is of some significance that the ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratios of the bottom sediments preserve a reasonable record of lake U-series disequilibrium and are, therefore, potential indicators of long-term changes in catchment hydrology.     

Reconstruction of paleoenvironments of the Great Salt Lake Basin during the late Cenozoic

This study summarizes the results of micropaleontological, sedimentological, and isotope geochemical analyses of cuttings from five deep wells drilled in the Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA). Spanning the last 5.0 million yrs, our environmental history of the Great Salt Lake distinguishes four intervals based on paleobiological and sedimentological characteristics, using a previously developed tephrochronology for age control. For most of its history, the Great Salt Lake Basin has been occupied by a mixture of marsh, shallow lacustrine and sand flat conditions. In contrast, open lake conditions, typical of the Bonneville cycles and the modern Great Salt Lake apparently have only dominated the basin for the past 0.6-0.8 Ma. The two main structural basins in the study area (the North and South Basins) experienced different lacustrine histories. Large but frequently saline lakes occupied the North Basin after about 0.6 Ma. In the South Basin, ephemeral, saline lacustrine conditions started at 2.1 Ma and developed to full lacustrine conditions at 0.3 Ma. Our paleoenvironmental interpretations are broadly consistent with the aquatic palynological records from the same wells, as well as with the prior core- and outcrop-based lines of evidence. However, the differences in lake history between the North and South Basin have not been previously recognized.     

A kite based atmospheric sounding system

A newly developed kite based atmospheric sounding system is described that can be deployed under a wide range of weather conditions. The Delta Kite system can be flown in wind speeds ranging from 4 to 25 ms^-1, while the exceptional lift capabilities of the kite allow several kilograms of payload to be attached to the kite and/or tether. In conjunction with its battery powered winch, the Delta Kite atmospheric sounding system is ideally suited to meteorological studies in remote locations where vehicle access may not be possible.     

Significance of rare hydrous alkaline melts in Hawaiian xenoliths

 Two types of melt pockets occur in Hawaiian mantle xenoliths: amphibole-bearing (AMP) and spinel-bearing (SMP). AMPs contain amphibole (kaersutite), olivine (Fo₉₂), clinopyroxene (with 7–11% Al₂O₃), vesicles and glass. SMPs contain olivine, clinopyroxene, spinel, glass, and vesicles. The glasses in SMPs (SiO₂=44–45%, 11–12% alkalis, La=90–110 ppm) and AMPs (SiO₂=49–54%, 6–8.5% alkalis, La=8–14 ppm) are distinct in color and composition. Both glasses are generally characterized by LREE-enriched (chondrite-normalized) patterns. Amphibole and clinopyroxene have gently convex upward-to-moderately LREE-enriched patterns. Mineral/glass trace element abundance ratio plots show a strong negative Ti anomaly and a gentle negative Zr anomaly for clinopyroxene/glass; whereas amphibole/glass patterns show a distinctive positive Ti spike. The amphibole/glass trace element ratios are similar to published megacryst/lava values. An earlier study showed that the Hawaiian spinel lherzolites (lithosphere) have largely been metasomatized during post-erosional Honolulu magmatic activity. REE abundances of SMP glasses (melts) overlap the REE abundances calculated for such metasomes. The occurrence of hydrous, alkaline, mafic melt pockets in Hawaiian upper mantle xenoliths implies that (1) such hydrous liquids are generated in the upper mantle, and (2) water plays a role in magmatic activity associated with the Hawaiian plume. Although we are uncertain about the source (plume, lithosphere, or asthenosphere) of this water, we speculate that such melts and other alkalic lavas erupted on Oahu and on the sea-floor over the Hawaiian arch were generated from a broad „wet“ rim of a radially layered Hawaiian plume, whose hot and „dry“ core supplied the shield-forming magmas. Received: 6 February 1995 / Accepted: 28 August 1995     

The Zone Definition Problem in Survey Research: An Empirical Example from New York State*

This paper examines problems of zonal definition in the context of a recent empirical project on the geography of inter-firm linkages in New York State. It is argued that the results of a spatially structured survey of private companies can change significantly depending on the manner in which the study regions of the analysis are defined. Variations in the composition of study regions are a result of either changes in spatial scale, or spatial zoning at any one scale. This point is illustrated with data from 472 New York State manufacturing firms aggregated into four different zonal systems. The results of the analysis suggest that misleading interpretations of spatial data can emerge, even when logical boundaries are selected from the outset.     

The Spatial Markets of Cities Organized in a Hierarchical System*

Mounting evidence indicates that large, world-class cities have expanded their spatial markets well beyond the regional urban systems in which they are located. This has led many observers to conclude that in the contemporary economy, interdependence, interaction, and connectivity are no longer fundamental characteristics of hierarchical urban systems. Virtually all research, however, deals exclusively with the changing role of large cities, while the spatial markets of medium- and smaller-sized cities comprising an urban system have been ignored. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate whether the spatial markets of medium- and smaller-sized cities in an urban hierarchical system continue to display a systematic relationship with city size, or whether they also reveal the absence of connection, or integration, with the regional system. The analysis uses survey data collected from 480 producer service firms located in an urban hierarchy comprising 15 midwestern cities of the United States. The results indicate that the spatial market of the largest city (Chicago) extends well beyond the Midwest urban hierarchy, while the spatial markets of smaller-sized cities are more integrated within the hierarchical system.     

Coherent eddies and temperature structure functions for three contrasting surfaces. Part I: Ramp model with finite microfront time

Air temperature time series within and above canopies reveal ramp patternsassociated with coherent eddies that are responsible for most of thevertical transport of sensible heat. Van Atta used a simple step-changeramp model to analyse the coherent part of air temperature structurefunctions. However, his ocean data, and our own measurements for aDouglas-fir forest, straw mulch, and bare soil, reveal that even withoutlinearization his model cannot account for the observed decrease of thecubic structure function for small time lag. We found that a ramp model inwhich the rapid change at the end of the ramp occurs in a finite microfronttime can describe this decrease very well, and predict at least relativemagnitudes of microfront times between different surfaces. Averagerecurrence time for ramps, determined by analysis of the cubic structurefunction with the new ramp model, agreed well with values determined usingthe Mexican Hat wavelet transform, except at lower levels within theforest. Ramp frequency above the forest and mulch scaled very well withwind speed at the canopy top divided by canopy height. Within the forest,ramp frequency did not vary systematically with height. This is inaccordance with the idea that large-scale canopy turbulence is mostlygenerated by instability of the mean canopy wind profile, similar to aplane mixing layer. The straw mulch and bare soil experiments uniquelyextend measurements of temperature structure functions and ramp frequencyto the smallest scales possible in the field.     

MASS BALANCE OF POLAR ICE FROM LONG WAVELENGTH FEATURES OF THE EARTH'S GRAVITATIONAL FIELD

We have used satellite solutions to the low degree zonal harmonics of the Earth's gravitational potential, and rates of surface accumulation to partially constrain, by means of repeated forward solution, the time rates of thickness change over the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets (dTA and dTG respectively). In addition to the observed zonal coefficients j2 through j5 we impose only one other constraint: That dTA and dTG are proportional to surface accumulation. The lagged response of the Earth to secular changes in ice thickness spanning recent time periods (up to 2000 years before present) and the late Pleistocene is accounted for by means of two viscoelastic rebound models. The sea level contributions from the ice sheets, calculated from dTA and dTG, lower mantle viscosity, and the start time of present-day thickness change are all variables subject to the constraints. For a given set of post glacial rebound inputs, a family of solutions that have similar characteristics and that agree well with observation are obtained from the large number of forward solutions. The off axis position of the Greenland ice sheet makes its contribution to the low degree zonal coefficients less sensitive to the spatial details of the mass balance than to the overall sea level contribution. dTG is therefore modeled as surface mass balance offset by a uniform and constant mass loss. Though dTA varies widely with choices of input parameters, the combined sea level contribution from both ice sheets is reasonably well constrained by the gravity coefficients, and is predicted to range from -0.9 to +1.6 mm yr-1. The sign of the slope of the low degree zonal coefficients versus sea level contribution for Greenland is positive, but for Antarctica, the sign of the slope is positive for even degree and negative for odd degree harmonics. By using this property of the zonal coefficients, it is possible to determine the individual sea level contributions for Greenland and Antarctica. They vary from -0.6 to +0.3 mm yr-1 for the Greenland Ice Sheet, and from -0.3 to +1.3 mm yr-1 for the Antarctic Ice Sheet.