The inhibiting effect of organic carbon on contact metamorphic recrystallization of limestones

In Upper Teesdale, Northern England, some limestones have been metamorphosed to a saccharoidal marble near to the contacts with the Whin Sill. This marble is virtually restricted to Upper Teesdale although the Whin Sill is found, intruded into the Carboniferous sequence, over most of Northern England.Petrographical and geochemical studies have shown that the marmorisation of the limestones is mainly dependent upon their non-carbonate carbon content and also the distance from the Whin Sill contact. Analyses show that only small amounts of carbon (0.5–1.0%) are required to inhibit recrystallization in the limestones.     

The effect of forestry drainage operations on upland sediment yields: A case study

Forestry is generally considered to be a land use giving low sediment yields. However, in Britain most forestry is on land that requires extensive drainage, and it was found that the drainage of a small upland catchment resulted in sediment yields over the following five years equivalent to nearly half a century's load at pre-drainage rates. Subsequent sediment yields did not decline to pre-drainage levels, but remained about four times higher, as a result of erosion of the drains.     

Lead-rubber hysteretic bearings suitable for protecting structures during earthquakes

Lead-rubber hysteretic bearings provide in a single unit the combined features of vertical load support, horizontal flexibility and energy absorbing capacity required for the base isolation of structures from earthquake attack. The lead-rubber hysteretic bearing is a laminated elastomeric bearing of the type used in bridge structures, with a lead plug down its centre. Since the invention of the lead-rubber bearing, a total of eleven bearings up to a diameter of 650mm, with lead plugs ranging from 50 to 170mm in diameter, have been tested under various conditions, including vertical loads to 3·15 MN, strokes to ρ 110 mm, rates from 1 mm/h to 100 mm/s, and temperatures of ?35°C to + 45°C. In all of these tests, the lead-rubber bearings behaved satisfactorily and the hysteresis loops could be described reasonably well by assuming that the lead behaved as an elastic-plastic solid with a yield stress in shear of 10·55 MPa. The bearings showed little rate dependence at ～100 mm/s, though at creep rates of ～1 mm/h the force due to the lead dropped to 30 per cent of that at typical earthquake frequencies. The effect of many small displacements has been tested with 11000 cycles at ±3 mm. A total of 92 lead-rubber bearings have been used in New Zealand to base isolate one building and three bridges. They have yet to be used overseas. This paper describes the tests on the lead-rubber bearings, the results and a design procedure for selecting the size of the lead plug.     

Weathering of sandstone by the combined action of frost and salt

Preliminary results from a continuing series of laboratory experiments designed to examine the combined effects of salt and frost weathering indicate that some salts greatly enhance the breakdown of rocks by frost. Samples of Ardingly Sandstone from southeast England were soaked in saturated solutions of sodium chloride or sodium sulphate and subjected to alternating cycles of freezing and thawing. Rapid disintegration of the sandstone occurred within twenty cycles, in each of the salt solutions. In contrast, samples subjected to freezing and thawing in deionized water suffered very little damage unless they were saturated under vacuum. When samples were subjected to twenty cycles of wetting and drying at temperatures above 0°C, those soaked in deionised water or sodium chloride suffered no appreciable damage but those soaked in sodium sulphate rapidly disintegrated. Tentative explanations of these results are offered. The enhancement of frost weathering by salt appears to have been overlooked by many writers yet it is likely to be an important geomorphological process in those areas of mid and high latitudes where rocks are saturated with sodium salts.     

Triggering transformative change: a development path approach to climate change response in communities

While climate change action plans are becoming more common, it is still unclear whether communities have the capacity, tools, and targets in place to trigger the transformative levels of change required to build fundamentally low-carbon, resilient, healthy communities. Evidence increasingly supports the finding that this transformation is not triggered by climate policy alone, but rather is shaped by a broad array of decisions and practices that are rooted in underlying patterns of development. Even so, these findings have rarely penetrated the domain of practice, which often remains squarely focused on a relatively narrow set of climate-specific policies. This article builds a conceptual framework for understanding the dynamics of community-level development path transformations that may both dramatically reduce GHG emissions and significantly enhance community resilience. This framework illuminates eight critical enablers of innovation on climate change, each of which is illustrated by compelling examples of community-level experimentation on climate change across the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is concluded that community-based climate (or sustainability) policy might be more likely to trigger development path shifts if it employs a longer time horizon, recognition of adaptability and feedbacks, integrated decision making, and systems thinking.     

Tracer mass recovery in fractured aquifers estimated from multiple well tests

Forced-gradient tracer tests in fractured aquifers often report low mass recoveries. In fractured aquifers, fractures intersected by one borehole may not be intersected by another. As a result (1) injected tracer can follow pathways away from the withdrawal well causing low mass recovery and (2) recovered water can follow pathways not connected to the injection well causing significant tracer dilution. These two effects occur along with other forms of apparent mass loss. If the strength of the connection between wells and the amount of dilution can be predicted ahead of time, tracer tests can be designed to optimize mass recovery and dilution. A technique is developed to use hydraulic tests in fractured aquifers to calculate the conductance (strength of connection) between well pairs and to predict mass recovery and amount of dilution during forced gradient tracer tests. Flow is considered to take place through conduits, which connect the wells to each other and to distant sources or sinks. Mass recovery is related to the proportion of flow leaving the injection well and arriving at the withdrawal well, and dilution is related to the proportion of the flow from the withdrawal well that is derived from the injection well. The technique can be used to choose well pairs for tracer tests, what injection and withdrawal rates to use, and which direction to establish the hydraulic gradient to maximize mass recovery and/or minimize dilution. The method is applied to several tracer tests in fractured aquifers in the Clare Valley, South Australia.     

Can industrial pollution cause intersexuality in the amphipod, Echinogammarus marinus?

Following recent studies, in which intersex and/or reproductive abnormalities have been observed in a number of crustaceans in association with pollution, the prevalence of intersexuality in the amphipod, Echinogammarus marinus was monitored at sites receiving industrial discharges for one year in 2002/2003. Based upon reports of intersexuality occurring in amphipods due to feminising microsporidian parasites, the occurrence, and role of microsporidian parasites in causing intersex was investigated through histological examination. Results demonstrate a significantly higher prevalence of intersex organisms was found at sites receiving industrial discharges throughout the year when compared to a reference site, with the phenotype of intersex (intersex male and intersex female) varying in its dominance between impacted sites. Intersex specimens were significantly more likely to be infected with microsporidian parasites at sites receiving discharges than reference sites, however relatively few specimens (normal or intersex) were infected at reference sites suggesting parasitism is not the only cause of intersex. The direct/indirect role of pollution in the observed intersexuality is discussed.