Episodic intraplate deformation of stable continental margins: evidence from Late Neogene and Quaternary marine terraces,Cape Liptrap,Southeastern Australia

The Waratah Fault is a northeast trending, high angle, reverse fault in the Late Paleozoic Lachlan Fold Belt at Cape Liptrap on the Southeastern Australian Coast. It is susceptible to reactivation in the modern intraplate stress field in Southeast Australia and exhibits Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene reactivation. Radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) dating of marine terraces on Cape Liptrap are used to constrain rates of displacement across the reactivated Waratah Fault. Six marine terraces, numbered Qt₆–Tt₁ (youngest to oldest), are well developed at Cape Liptrap with altitudes ranging from ～1.5 m to ～170 m amsl, respectively. On the lowest terrace, Qt₆, barnacles in wave-cut notches ～1.5 m amsl, yielded a radiocarbon age of 6090–5880 Cal BP, and reflect the local mid-Holocene sea level highstand. Qt₅ yielded four OSL ages from scattered locations around the cape ranging from ～80 ka to ～130 ka. It formed during the Last Interglacial sea level highstand (MIS 5e) at ～125 ka. Inner edge elevations (approximate paleo high tide line) for Qt₅ occur at distinctly different elevations on opposite sides of the Waratah Fault. Offsets of the inner edges across the fault range from 1.3 m to 5.1 m with displacement rates ranging from 0.01 mm/a to 0.04 mm/a. The most extensive terrace, Tt₄, yielded four Early Pleistocene cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) ages: two apparent burial ages of 0.858 Ma ± 0.16 Ma and 1.25 Ma ± 0.265 Ma, and two apparent exposure ages of 1.071 Ma ± 0.071 Ma (¹⁰Be) and 0.798 Ma ± 0.066 Ma (²⁶Al). Allowing for muonic production effects from insufficient burial depths, the depth corrected CRN burial ages are 1.8 Ma ± 0.56 Ma and 2.52 Ma ± 0.88 Ma, or Late Pliocene. A Late Pliocene age is our preferred age. Offsets of Tt₄ across the Waratah Fault range from a minimum of ～20 m for terrace surface treads to a maximum of ～70 m for terrace bedrock straths. Calculated displacement rates for Tt₄ range from 0.01 mm/a to 0.04 mm/a (using a Late Pliocene age, ～2 Ma), identical to the rates calculated for the Last Interglacial terrace, Qt₅. This indicates that deformation at Cape Liptrap has been ongoing at similar time-averaged rates at least since the Late Pliocene. The upper terraces in the sequence, Tt₃ (～110 m amsl), Tt₂ (～140 m) and Tt₁ (～180 m) are undated, but most likely correlate to sea level highstands in the Neogene. Terraces Tt1–Tt4 show an increasing northward tilt with age.The Waratah Fault forms a prominent structural boundary in the Lachlan Fold Belt discernible from airborne magnetic and bouger gravity anomalies. Seismicity and deformation are episodic. Episodic movement on the Waratah Fault may be coincident with sea level highstands since the Late Pliocene, possibly from increased loading and elevated pore pressure within the fault zone. This suggests that intervals between major seismic events could be on the order of 100 ka.     

Possible ancient giant basin and related water enrichment in the Arabia Terra province, Mars

A circular albedo feature in the Arabia Terra province was first hypothesized as an ancient impact basin using Viking-era information. To test this unpublished hypothesis, we have analyzed the Viking era-information together with layers of new data derived from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Odyssey (MO) missions. Our analysis indicates that Arabia Terra is an ancient geologic province of Mars with many distinct characteristics, including predominantly Noachian materials, a unique part of the highland-lowland boundary, a prominent paleotectonic history, the largest region of fretted terrain on the planet, outflow channels with no obvious origins, extensive exposures of eroded layered sedimentary deposits, and notable structural, albedo, thermal inertia, gravity, magnetic, and elemental signatures. The province also is marked by special impact crater morphologies, which suggest a persistent volatile-rich substrate. No one characteristic provides definitive answers to the dominant event(s) that shaped this unique province. Collectively the characteristics reported here support the following hypothesized sequence of events in Arabia Terra: (1) an enormous basin, possibly of impact origin, formed early in martian history when the magnetic dynamo was active and the lithosphere was relatively thin, (2) sediments and other materials were deposited in the basin during high erosion rates while maintaining isostatic equilibrium, (3) sediments became water enriched during the Noachian Period, and (4) basin materials were uplifted in response to the growth of the Tharsis Bulge, resulting in differential erosion exposing ancient stratigraphic sequences. Parts of the ancient basin remain water-enriched to the present day.     

Tracking UVCS/SOHO Responsivity with Observations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">ζ</Emphasis> Tau

We have tracked the spectral responsivity of the ultraviolet channels of the UVCS (Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer) instrument on SOHO by repeated observations of a stable hot star. We demonstrate first that the ultraviolet spectral irradiance of the Be star ζ Tau (HD 37202) for the 100- to 125-nm wavelength range has been sufficiently constant for our purposes when measured periodically over the course of the SOHO mission. We then use ζ Tau as a radiometric transfer standard to determine an average decrease beginning in November of 1998 of 13.0% per year in the responsivity of the UVCS O vi channel for wavelengths near H i Ly α and for a particular UVCS unvignetted aperture used for science observations. The calibration tracking method involves separating two ζ Tau spectral regions that are overlapped on part of the detector. The change in the responsivity of UVCS/SOHO began in late 1998 as determined by comparison of simultaneous observations of the corona carried out with UVCS/SOHO and the freshly-calibrated UVCS instrument on the Spartan 201 satellite in early November of 1998. B. Valcu now at BrainLAB, Inc, 3 Westbrook Corporate Ctr., Tower 3, Suite 400, Westchester, IL 60154, USA, e-mail: bogdan.valcu@brainlab.com or Bogdan_valcu@hotmail.com     

Key problems in cool-star astrophysics

Selected key problems in cool-star astrophysics are reviewed, with emphasis on the importance of new ultraviolet missions to tackle the unresolved issues.UV spectral signatures are an essential probe of critical physical processes related to the production and transport of magnetic energy in astrophysical plasmas ranging, for example, from stellar coronae, to the magnetospheres of magnetars, and the accretion disks of protostars and Active Galactic Nuclei. From an historical point of view, our comprehension of such processes has been closely tied to our understanding of solar/stellar magnetic activity, which has its origins in a poorly understood convection-powered internal magnetic dynamo. The evolution of the Sun's dynamo, and associated magnetic activity, affected the development of planetary atmospheres in the early solar system, and the conditions in which life arose on the primitive Earth. The gradual fading of magnetic activity as the Sun grows old likewise will have profound consequences for the future heliospheric environment. Beyond the Sun, the magnetic activity of stars can influence their close-in companions, and vice versa.Cool star outer atmospheres thus represent an important laboratory in which magnetic activity phenomena can be studied under a wide variety of conditions, allowing us to gain insight into the fundamental processes involved. The UV range is especially useful for such studies because it contains powerful diagnostics extending from warm (∼ 10⁴ K) chromospheres out to hot (1–10 MK) coronae, and very high-resolution spectroscopy in the UV has been demonstrated by the GHRS and STIS instruments on HST but has not yet been demonstrated in the higher energy EUV and X-ray bands. A recent example is the use of the hydrogen Lyα resonance line—at 110 000 resolution with HST STIS—study, for the first time, coronal winds from cool stars through their interaction with the interstellar gas. These winds cannot be detected from the ground, for lack of suitable diagnostics; or in the X-rays, because the outflowing gas is too thin.A 2m class UV space telescope with high resolution spectroscopy and monitoring capabilities would enable important new discoveries in cool-star astronomy among the stars of the solar neighborhood out to about 150 pc. A larger aperture facility (4–6 m) would reach beyond the 150 pc horizon to fainter objects including young brown dwarfs and pre-main sequence stars in star-forming regions like Orion, and magnetic active stars in distant clusters beyond the Pleiades and α Persei. This would be essential, as well, to characterize the outer atmospheres of stars with planets, that will be discovered by future space missions like COROT, Kepler, and Darwin.Deceased October 23, 2005     

Marine geophysical evidence for former expansion and flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet across the north‐east Greenland continental shelf

High‐resolution swath bathymetry and TOPAS sub‐bottom profiler acoustic data from the inner and middle continental shelf of north‐east Greenland record the presence of streamlined mega‐scale glacial lineations and other subglacial landforms that are formed in the surface of a continuous soft sediment layer. The best‐developed lineations are found in Westwind Trough, a bathymetric trough connecting Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Gletscher and Zachariae Isstrøm to the continental shelf edge. The geomorphological and stratigraphical data indicate that the Greenland Ice Sheet covered the inner‐middle shelf in north‐east Greenland during the most recent ice advance of the Late Weichselian glaciation. Earlier sedimentological and chronological studies indicated that the last major delivery of glacigenic sediment to the shelf and Fram Strait was prior to the Holocene during Marine Isotope Stage 2, supporting our assertion that the subglacial landforms and ice sheet expansion in north‐east Greenland occurred during the Late Weichselian. Glacimarine sediment gravity flow deposits found on the north‐east Greenland continental slope imply that the ice sheet extended beyond the middle continental shelf, and supplied subglacial sediment direct to the shelf edge with subsequent remobilisation downslope. These marine geophysical data indicate that the flow of the Late Weichselian Greenland Ice Sheet through Westwind Trough was in the form of a fast‐flowing palaeo‐ice stream, and that it provides the first direct geomorphological evidence for the former presence of ice streams on the Greenland continental shelf. The presence of streamlined subglacially derived landforms and till layers on the shallow AWI Bank and Northwind Shoal indicates that ice sheet flow was not only channelled through the cross‐shelf bathymetric troughs but also occurred across the shallow intra‐trough regions of north‐east Greenland. Collectively these data record for the first time that ice streams were an important glacio‐dynamic feature that drained interior basins of the Late Weichselian Greenland Ice Sheet across the adjacent continental margin, and that the ice sheet was far more extensive in north‐east Greenland during the Last Glacial Maximum than the previous terrestrial–glacial reconstructions showed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Latest Pleistocene glacial chronology of the Uinta Mountains: support for moisture-driven asynchrony of the last deglaciation

Recent estimates of the timing of the last glaciation in the southern and western Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah suggest that the start of ice retreat and the climate-driven regression of pluvial Lake Bonneville both occurred at approximately 16 cal. ka. To further explore the possible climatic relationship of Uinta Mountain glaciers and the lake, and to add to the glacial chronology of the Rocky Mountains, we assembled a range-wide chronology of latest Pleistocene terminal moraines based on seventy-four cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface-exposure ages from seven glacial valleys. New cosmogenic-exposure ages from moraines in three northern and eastern valleys of the Uinta Mountains indicate that glaciers in these parts of the range began retreating at 22–20 ka, whereas previously reported cosmogenic-exposure ages from four southern and western valleys indicate that ice retreat began there between 18 and 16.5 ka. This spatial asynchrony in the start of the last deglaciation was accompanied by a 400-m east-to-west decline in glacier equilibrium-line altitudes across the Uinta Mountains. When considered together, these two lines of evidence support the hypothesis that Lake Bonneville influenced the mass balance of glaciers in southern and western valleys of the range, but had a lesser impact on glaciers located farther east. Regional-scale variability in the timing of latest Pleistocene deglaciation in the Rocky Mountains may also reflect changing precipitation patterns, thereby highlighting the importance of precipitation controls on the mass balance of Pleistocene mountain glaciers.     

In Situ Chemical Oxidation of RDX-Contaminated Groundwater with Permanganate at the Nebraska Ordnance Plant

Groundwater beneath the former Nebraska Ordnance Plant (NOP) is contaminated with the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). The current pump and treat facility is preventing offsite migration but does not offer a short-term solution. Our objective was to quantify the effectiveness of permanganate to degrade RDX in situ. This was accomplished by performing laboratory treatability experiments, aquifer characterization, and a pilot-scale in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) demonstration. Treatability experiments confirmed that permanganate could mineralize RDX in the presence of NOP aquifer solids. The pilot-scale ISCO demonstration was performed using an extraction-injection well configuration to create a curtain of permanganate between two injection wells. RDX destruction was then quantified as the RDX-permanganate plume migrated downgradient through a monitoring well field. Electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) was used to identify the subsurface distribution of permanganate after injection. Results showed that RDX concentrations temporally decreased in wells closest to the injection wells by 70% to 80%. Observed degradation rates (0.12 and 0.087/d) were lower than those observed under laboratory batch conditions at 11.5 °C (0.20/d) and resulted from lower than projected permanganate concentrations. Both ERI and spatial electrical conductivity measurements verified that permanganate distribution was not uniform throughout the 6.1-m (20 feet) well screens and that groundwater sampling captured both treated and nontreated groundwater during pumping. Although heterogeneous flow paths precluded a uniform permanganate distribution, pilot-scale results provided proof-of-concept that permanganate can degrade RDX in situ and support permanganate as a possible remedial treatment for RDX-contaminated groundwater.     

A polygon-based modeling approach to assess exposure of resources and assets to wildfire

Spatially explicit burn probability modeling is increasingly applied to assess wildfire risk and inform mitigation strategy development. Burn probabilities are typically expressed on a per-pixel basis, calculated as the number of times a pixel burns divided by the number of simulation iterations. Spatial intersection of highly valued resources and assets (HVRAs) with pixel-based burn probability estimates enables quantification of HVRA exposure to wildfire in terms of expected area burned. However, statistical expectations can mask variability in HVRA area burned across all simulated fires. We present an alternative, polygon-based formulation for deriving estimates of HVRA area burned. This effort enhances investigations into spatial patterns of fire occurrence and behavior by overlaying simulated fire perimeters with mapped HVRA polygons to estimate conditional distributions of HVRA area burned. This information can be especially useful for assessing risks where cumulative effects and the spatial pattern and extent of area burned influence HVRA response to fire. We illustrate our modeling approach and demonstrate application across real-world landscapes for two case studies: first, a comparative analysis of exposure and area burned across ten municipal watersheds on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Montana, USA, and second, fireshed delineation and exposure analysis of a geographically isolated and limited area of critical wildlife habitat on the Pike and San Isabel National Forests in Colorado, USA. We highlight how this information can be used to inform prioritization and mitigation decisions and can be used complementarily with more traditional pixel-based burn probability and fire intensity metrics in an expanded exposure analysis framework.