Promoting Business Networks

Interest in the role cooperative networks can play in small business development is increasing. Evidence from a survey of three network promoting small business associations based in three different cities is examined and a number of different ways the agencies could deliver their services are suggested. Two networking initiatives by the New Zealand Trade Development Board are then considered. It is concluded that individual networking initiatives need to be developed and evaluated as part of a broad policy push to facilitate the development of an environment more conducive to business cooperation.     

Vented sediments and tsunami deposits in the Puget Lowland,Washington – differentiating sedimentary processes

The sandy deposits produced by tsunamis and liquefaction share many sedimentary features, and distinctions between the two are important in seismically active coastal zones. Both types of deposits are present in the wetlands bordering Puget Sound, where one or more earthquakes about 1100 years ago caused both tsunami flooding and sediment venting. This co‐occurrence allows an examination of the resulting deposits and a comparison with tsunami and liquefaction features of modern events. Vented sediments occur at four of five wetland field localities and tsunami deposits at two. In comparison with tsunami deposits, vented sediments in this study and from other studies tend to be thicker (although they can be thin). Vented sediments also have more variable thickness at both outcrop and map scale, are associated with injected dykes and contain clasts derived from underlying deposits. Further, vented sediments tend to contain a greater variety of sedimentary structures, and these structures vary laterally over metres. Tsunami deposits compared with vented sediments are commonly thinner, fine and thin landward more consistently, have more uniform thickness on outcrop and map scales, and have the potential of containing coarser clasts, up to boulders. For both tsunami deposits and vented sediments, the availability and grain size of source material condition the characteristics of the deposit. In the cases presented in this paper, both foraminifera and diatom assemblages within tsunami deposits and vented sediments consisted of brackish and marine species, and no distinction between processes could be made based on microfossils. In summary, this study indicates a need for more careful analysis and mapping of coastal sediments associated with earthquakes to avoid misidentification of processes and misevaluation of hazards.     

USE OF PRECIPITATION RECORDS IN THE CORRELATION OF STREAMFLOW RECORDS

Abstract

An empirical study using three pairs of stream basins in Eastern United States showed that the regression of monthly streamflow from one basin on that from a nearby basin generally was improved by use of a regression model which included, as an additional variable, the difference in precipitation on the two basins.     

Progressive Low-Grade Metamorphism of a Black Shale Formation, Central Swiss Alps, with Special Reference to Pyrophyllite and Margarite Bearing Assemblages

The unmetamorphosed equivalents of the regionally metamorphosedclays and marls that make up the Alpine Liassic black shaleformation consist of illite, irregular mixed-layer illite/montmorillonite,chlorite, kaolinite, quartz, calcite, and dolomite, with accessoryfeldspars and organic material. At higher grade, in the anchizonalslates, pyrophyllite is present and is thought to have formedat the expense of kaolinite; paragonite and a mixed-layer paragonite/muscovitepresumably formed from the mixed-layer illite/montmorillonite.Anchimetamorphic illite is poorer in Fe and Mg than at the diageneticstage, having lost these elements during the formation of chlorite.Detrital feldspar has disappeared. In epimetamorphic phyllites, chloritoid and margarite appearby the reactions pyrophyllite + chlorite = chloritoid + quartz+ H₂O and pyrophyllite + calcite ± paragonite = margarite+ quartz + H₂O + CO₂, respectively. At the epi-mesozone transition,paragonite and chloritoid seem to become incompatible in thepresence of carbonates and yield the following breakdown products:plagioclase, margarite, clinozoisite (and minor zoisite), andbiotite. The maximum distribution of margarite is at the epizone-mesozoneboundary; at higher metamorphic grade margarite is consumedby a continuous reaction producing plagioclase. Most of the observed assemblages in the anchi-and epizone canbe treated in the two subsystems MgO (or FeO)-Na₂O–CaO–Al₂O₃–(KAl₃O₅–SiO₂–H₂O–CO₂).Chemographic analyses show that the variance of assemblagesdecreases with increasing metamorphic grade. Physical conditions are estimated from calibrated mineral reactionsand other petrographic data. The composition of the fluid phasewas low in X_CO2 throughout the metamorphic profile, whereasX_CH4 was very high, particularly in the anchizone where a_H2Owas probably as low as 0.2. P-T conditions along the metamorphicprofile are 1–2 kb/200–300 °C in the anchizone(Glarus Alps), and 5 kb/500–550 °C at the epi-mesozonetransition (Lukmanier area). Calculated geothermal gradientsdecrease from 50 °C/km in the anchimetamorphic Glarus Alpsto 30 °C/km at the epi-mesozone transition of the Lukmanierarea.     

Edge‐roundness of boulders of Torridonian Sandstone (northwest Scotland): applications for relative dating and implications for warm and cold climate weathering rates

Kirkbride, M.P. & Bell, C.M. 2009: Edge‐roundness of boulders of Torridonian Sandstone (northwest Scotland): applications for relative dating and implications for warm and cold climate weathering rates. Boreas, 10.1111/j. 1502‐3885.2009.00131.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The relative ages of late Quaternary morainic and rock avalanche deposits on Late Precambrian Torridonian Sandstone are determined from the characteristic edge‐roundness of constituent boulders. Because weathering of sandstone is manifest as edge‐rounding by granular disintegration, a relative chronology can be derived by measuring the effective radii of curvature of a sample of boulder edges. Thirteen samples totalling 597 individual boulder edges fall into two statistically distinct groups. Moraines of inferred Younger Dryas age (12.9–11.5 kyr BP) are distinguished from moraines of the Wester Ross Re‐advance (≤14.0 kyr BP). One moraine previously assumed to be of Younger Dryas age is reassigned to the older group. The method allows spatial extrapolation of deposit ages from dated sites where lithological and sampling criteria are met. Calculated rates of edge‐rounding imply that granular disintegration was several times more rapid during cold stadial climates than during the Holocene. Used as a proxy for boulder ‘erosion rate’, this indicates that surface loss of grains in glacial climates exceeds that during interglacials by a factor of 2–5, with implications for the calculation of exposure ages from cosmogenic nuclides.     

Characteristic features of pockmarks on the North Sea Floor and Scotian Shelf

This paper presents the results of a comparative study of pockmarks and associated features appearing on both sides of the North Atlantic: on the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia and in the northern North Sea. Pockmarks are formed in seabed material consisting of soft silty clay. The seismic, sonar and lithologic characteristics of the sediments on the Scotian Shelf are remarkably similar to those found in the northern North Sea. Sediment clouds suspended in the water column immediately over the seabed have previously been observed on side-scan records associated with gas-charged sediments on corresponding shallow-seismic records. These and similar observations strongly suggest that most pockmarks are caused by gas efflux through the seafloor. However, the detailed mechanism of formation and the origin of the gas in the sediments is still unknown.     

A Fluid-Dynamical Study of Crystal Settling in Convecting Magmas

Thermal convection in magma chambers is believed to be almostalways highly time-dependent, or ‘turbulent’, andpredicted convective velocities are commonly orders of magnitudelarger than settling velocities for typical crystals calculatedfrom Stokes' Law. To understand crystal settling in magma chamberswe have therefore undertaken a theoretical and experimentalstudy of particle settling in a turbulently convecting fluid. The regime of interest is where the ratio, S, of the Stokes'Law settling velocity, v_s, to the root mean square verticalcomponent of convective velocity, W, at mid-depth in the fluidis less than unity. Although v_s < W, settling is still possiblebecause convective velocities are height-dependent and mustdecrease to zero at the boundaries of the fluid. Particles immediatelyadjacent to the bottom boundary settle out with their full Stokes'settling velocities. At the same time, convection is vigorousenough to ensure that the distribution of particles in the fluidis uniform. It follows that the number of particles in suspensiondecays with time according to an exponential law, and the decayconstant is simply the ratio of v_s to h, the depth of the fluid.Experiments confirm this relationship, at least for low particleconcentrations, provided S < 0.5 and there is no re-entrainmentof particles from the floor of the tank. We apply this relationship to crystals in magma chambers andso calculate residence times for typical crystals. We find thatfor basaltic magmas the predicted residence times are smallcompared with the many thousands of years that a chamber takesto solidify if cooling is dominated by conduction through thecountry rock. We therefore conclude that crystal settling maybe an efficient differentiation mechanism. Significant magmaticevolution may, however, take place on time-scales that are competitivewith these residence times. If the settling of crystals is the rate-limiting step duringthe crystallization of a magma chamber it is expected that asteady state will be achieved at which the rate of supply ofcrystals into the convecting magma by crystallization balancesthe rate at which crystals settle out. We show how this ideacan explain both the lack of hydraulic equivalence in cumulaterocks and the commonly observed discrepancy between the relativeproportions of phenocrysts of various phases in fractionatedbasaltic lavas and the calculated relative proportions of thesemineral phases in the fractionating assemblage. Finally, anattempt is made to calculate the steady-state crystal contentof convecting magma chambers. Comparison of the predicted crystalcontents with the observed phenocryst contents of typical basalticlavas suggests that magma chambers may often cool more rapidlythan would be expected for conduction through the country rockalone.