Step heating of Ar/Ar standard mineral mixtures: Investigation of a fine-grained bulk sediment provenance tool

Quantitative techniques that link sediments to their sources are needed to understand a range of tectonic, climate, and anthropogenic driven Earth surface processes. Many provenance techniques exist for sand-sized material but fewer are available for fine-grained sediment archives. In this respect, bulk ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages from silt-sized sediment show potential, but many questions remain about the significance of a bulk sediment ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age. We interrogate bulk sediment ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages by step heating mixtures of well-constrained ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar mineral standards crushed to silt-sized. Silt-sized end member components Alder Creek Sanidine, Taylor Creek Sanidine and Heidelberg Biotite all yield plateau ages within uncertainty of their coarse-grained counterparts. High-resolution step heating (as many as 43 steps) of the mineral mixtures shows that biotite degasses first at lower temperatures compared to the two sanidines that degas generally in concert. Concordant age steps develop at both low and high temperatures and the transition from the isotope signal being dominated by one mineral phase to another is clearly observed. We show that age spectra for the mineral standard mixtures can be modeled and predicted for all mixtures by assuming a (simplistic) Gaussian distributed release of Ar, and by using the degassing maxima, variance, K concentration, and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of each monitor mineral. Thus, bulk sediment ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages can be robust indicators of the average cooling/crystallization age of all contributing K-bearing minerals to a depositional center. Furthermore, we discuss the potential to deconvolve individual mineral age populations by model inversion. The application of this bulk sediment provenance technique should not be considered a replacement for single grain analyses. It should be applied to environments that do not provide sand-sized sediment archives (e.g., distal terrigenous sedimentary archives) when information about source changes through time are more important than precise sediment source identification.     

Particle loss and volume change on dissolution: experimental results and analysis of particle size and amount effects

Soil particles may be lost through dissolution, degradation or erosion. Regardless of the process of loss, there follows a change in soil structure both in terms of phase composition and grading. In this paper, the influence of size and amount of particle loss on phase composition at two stresses is investigated. The tests are performed on sand–salt mixtures, loaded in a modified permeation oedometer and subsequently dissolved. Changes in overall volume and void ratio are presented. Two significant observations about the volumetric consequences of particle loss can be made. First, overall volume changes are directly related to the amount of dissolved particles and to a lesser extent, the size of particle lost. Second, particle loss leads to an increase in void ratio; the magnitude of the increase is related to the amount of dissolved particles but appears not to be sensitive to either the size of particle lost or the pre-dissolution void ratio. Based on the observed response and a dissolution-induced void change parameter, the influence of different mechanisms of volume change is discussed. Tests were performed at two different vertical stresses with no discernible influence on void ratio change.     

The influence of habitat structure on juvenile fish in a New Zealand estuary

Estuarine and sheltered coastal habitats that contain physical structure are potentially important nurseries for juvenile fish. Many of these structured habitats, however, are potentially vulnerable to stressors such as elevated turbidity. Quantifying the benefits that structured habitats provide to juvenile fish may therefore be an important step in the management process. We investigated the value of structured habitat for juvenile fishes in northeastern New Zealand, using artificial seagrass units (ASUs) with varying blade density. ASUs were predominantly settled by juvenile snapper (Pagrus auratus) and spotty (Notolabrus celidotus). The density of both snapper and spotty was greatest on ASUs with the highest blade density. For snapper, a gradient in abundance was present (with higher abundance closer to the harbour mouth), suggesting either a gradient in the supply of recruits or a potential recruitment shadow effect. The size distribution of juvenile snapper (12–70 mm fork length) was very similar on both sampling trips, despite the 2‐month interim period, suggesting an ontogenetic habitat shift dependent on size. The condition of juvenile snapper from ASUs with the highest blade density was also greater than the other ASU treatments. Overall, these results provide new empirical evidence that habitats with physical structure within shallow estuarine systems are important to early stage juvenile fishes such as snapper, and indicate that the location‐specific context of that habitat is also likely important.     

Control sample design using a geodemographic discriminator: An application of Super Profiles

 The development and application of an innovative sampling framework for use in a British study of the early detection of gastric cancer are described. The Super Profiles geodemographic discriminator is used in the identification of geographically distinct control and contrast areas from which samples of cancer registry case records may be drawn for comparison with the records of patients participating in the gastric cancer intervention project. Preliminary results of the application of the framework are presented and confirm its effectiveness in satisfactorily reflecting known patterns of variation in cancer occurrence by age, gender and social class. The method works well for cancers with a known and clear social gradient, such as lung and breast cancer, moderately well for gastric cancer and somewhat less well for oesophageal cancer, where the social class gradient is less clear. Received: 1 January 2000 / Accepted: 18 September 2000     

Incipient tunnel channels

Glaciated terrains in east-central Alberta and south-central Michigan contain channels that have hummocks and transverse ridges separating depressions along their floors. This association imparts a linked pothole appearance. Similar channels are often interpreted as tunnel channels or subaerial channels, partly filled with sediment from a subsequent glacial advance, a stagnating ice roof, or slumped sediment from the channel margins. However, the truncation of sedimentary packages in the channel walls and intrachannel hummocks indicates that they are erosional landforms, cut into glacial sediments (till), bedrock, or gravel. Eskers overlie and are found within a few channels, indicating that these channels formed before the final stagnation that produced the eskers. These two characteristics, combined with the observation that many channels have convex-up long profiles, indicate that the channels were eroded by pressurized, subglacial water. Because the formative mechanisms for this type of channel are not clear, and modern environments that could produce this type of landform are inaccessible, we draw on several morphologic analogues to propose mechanisms for channel erosion. We conclude that the erosion of these linked pothole channels (incipient tunnel channels) was the product of the complex interaction between complex turbulent flow structures and various scales of roughness elements.     

Nanoscale effects of strontium on calcite growth: An in situ AFM study in the absence of vital effects

This experimental study presents in situ measurements of step migration rates for layer growth of calcite at various levels of superaturation and fluid Sr concentrations. Our results show that Sr has complex behavior as an impurity. At low concentrations, Sr promotes faster growth. This effect may be associated with slight shifts in calcite solubility when Sr is incorporated or may be due to as yet uncharacterized kinetic effects. At higher concentrations, Sr stops step advancement by pinning kink-sites or step edges. The threshold concentration of Sr needed to halt growth is positively correlated with supersaturation.Addition of Sr to the calcite growth system leads to significant changes in hillock morphology. Hillocks become elongate perpendicular to the projection of the c-glide plane, in contrast to the changes previously reported for Mg. Step edges also become scalloped, and the boundary between the obtuse-stepped flanks disappears and is replaced by a new step direction with edges parallel to [010].Incorporation of Sr was measured at two supersaturation levels and identical fluid [Sr]. The results indicate a strong positive correlation between fluid supersaturation and crystal Sr content. Further, Sr is strongly fractionated between obtuse- and acute-stepped flanks by a factor of approximately two. The sensitivity of Sr uptake to supersaturation may explain apparently contradictory results in the literature regarding whether Sr uptake in the calcite produced by one-celled marine organisms is controlled by temperature. In addition, Sr contents of natural calcite samples may be good indicators of the levels of supersaturation at which the crystals grew.Results of this investigation demonstrate the importance of understanding impurity-specific interactions with calcite growth surfaces at the microscopic scale. Despite similar chemical behavior in some systems, Mg and Sr clearly have very different effects on calcite growth. If Sr and other impurities are to be used as robust indicators of growth conditions in natural calcite samples, well grounded understanding of the mechanisms of recording trace element signatures in calcite is an essential step toward correctly deciphering paleoenvironmental signals from fossil calcite compositions.     

Testing bedload transport formulae using morphologic transport estimates and field data: lower Fraser River,British Columbia

Morphologic transport estimates available for a 65‐km stretch of Fraser River over the period 1952–1999 provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the performance of bedload transport formulae for a large river over decadal time scales. Formulae tested in this paper include the original and rational versions of the Bagnold formula, the Meyer‐Peter and Muller formula and a stream power correlation. The generalized approach adopted herein does not account for spatial variability in flow, bed structure and channel morphology. However, river managers and engineers, as well as those studying rivers within the context of long‐term landscape change, may find this approach satisfactory as it has minimal data requirements and provides a level of process specification that may be commensurable with longer time scales. Hydraulic geometry equations for width and depth are defined using morphologic maps based on aerial photography and bathymetric survey data. Comparison of transport predictions with bedload transport measurements completed at Mission indicates that the original Bagnold formula most closely approximates the main trends in the field data. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to evaluate the impact of inaccuracies in input variables width, depth, slope and grain size on transport predictions. The formulae differ in their sensitivity to input variables and between reaches. Average annual bedload transport predictions for the four formulae show that they vary between each other as well as from the morphologic transport estimates. The original Bagnold and Meyer‐Peter and Muller formulae provide the best transport predictions, although the former underestimates while the latter overestimates transport rates. Based on our findings, an error margin of up to an order of magnitude can be expected when adopting generalized approaches for the prediction of bedload transport. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non-uniqueness and interpretation of the seawater Sr/Sr curve

Variations in the seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr curve through time can be caused by fluctuations in the strontium flux or variations in the isotopic ratio from at least six different sources and sinks. Thus, 12 or more parameters control each single measurement although widely accepted assumptions allow this to be reduced to typically six unknowns. Interpreting the causes of time-variation in the seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr curve is therefore hampered by inherent non-uniqueness. However, this problem is under-constrained rather than unconstrained. As a result, whilst there are an infinite number of possible interpretations, these all come from a few families of very similar solutions. Using this insight, it is possible to find solutions having the smallest possible variations in source flux or source ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio. Thus, lower-bounds can be placed upon the source variations responsible for the observed fluctuations in the seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr curve. When applied to the evolution of the Early Jurassic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr seawater curve, this approach demonstrates that a short-lived Toarcian event is genuine since it is present in all models, regardless of the values chosen for the unknown source fluxes and unknown source isotope ratios. However, the variations in strontium flux or isotopic ratio necessary to explain the Toarcian event may be significantly smaller than would be predicted assuming modern values for the unknown parameters.     

Estimating the sustainable lobster (Panulirus ornatus) catch in Torres Strait,Australia, using an age-structured stock assessment model

The ornate rock lobster (Panulirus ornatus) is distributed across Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea and supports the most important commercial fishery to Islanders in the region. The long-term sustainability of the fishery is of importance not only to local island communities but also to the bilateral relationship between the two countries. In this paper, we developed an age-structured fishery model to assess the current stock status and estimate the long-term sustainable catch. The model was fitted to catch statistics and survey-based population estimates through a weighted maximum likelihood approach. Natural mortality was estimated at 0.732 yr⁻¹, and fishing mortality ranged from 0.19 to 0.65 yr⁻¹ from 1989 to 2005. The maximum sustainable yield was estimated at about 640 tonnes whole weight with a corresponding fishing mortality of 0.5 yr⁻¹. A stock–recruitment model was established based on outputs of the stock assessment model. To obtain the maximum sustainable yield, spawning stock should be maintained at 120×10⁴ lobsters. The lobster spawning stock has been fished down below this level twice since 1989, in 1999 and 2002, and was higher than this level in 2004 and 2005. These results suggest that the Torres Strait lobster stock is not over-fished and that the current harvest strategy is likely to maintain the stock at or above the level that would support the maximum sustainable yield if the current cap on fishing effort remains in place.