Hydrologic and climatic implications of a multidisciplinary study of late Holocene sediment from Kenosee Lake, southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada

Sediment lithology and mineralogy, as well as ostracode, plant macrofossil and stable isotope stratigraphies of lake sediment cores, are used to reconstruct late Holocene hydrologic changes at Kenosee Lake, a relatively large, hyposaline lake in southeastern Saskatchewan. Chronological control is provided by AMS radiocarbon ages of upland and shoreline plant macrofossils. All indicators outline an early, low-water, saline phase of lake history (4100–3000 BP), when the basin was occupied by a series of small, interconnected, sulfate-rich brine pools, as opposed to the single, topographically-closed lake that exists today. A rapid rise in lake-level (3000–2300 BP) led to the establishment of carbonate-rich, hyposaline lake conditions like those today. Lithostratigraphic data and ostracode assemblages indicate peak salinities were attained early in this period of lake infilling, suggesting that the lake-level rise was initially driven by an influx of saline groundwater. Lake-level and water chemistry have remained relatively stable over the last 2000 years, compared to earlier events. Because of a lack of datable organic material in sediments deposited during the last 2000 years, the chronology of recent events is not well resolved. Plant macrofossil, lithostratigraphic and ostracode evidence suggests that lake draw-down, accompanied by slightly higher than present salinites, occurred sometime prior to 600 BP, followed by peak lake-level and freshwater conditions. This most recent high lake stand, indicative of a high water table on the surrounding upland, may also have led to the establishment of an extensive cover of Betula in the watershed, possibly in response to paludification. Ostracode assemblages indicate that peak freshwater conditions occurred within the last 100 years. Since historically documented lake-level fluctuations correlate with decadal scale climatic fluctuations in the meteorological record, and late-Holocene hydrologic dynamics correspond to well documented climatic excursions of the Neoglacial and Little Ice Age, Kenosee Lake dynamics offer insight into the susceptibility of the region's water resources to climate change.     

The forward problem of electromagnetic induction: accurate finite-difference approximations for two-dimensional discrete boundaries with arbitrary geometry

We describe finite-difference approximations to the equations of 2-D electromagnetic induction that permit discrete boundaries to have arbitrary geometrical relationships to the nodes. This allows finite-difference modelling with the flexibility normally ascribed to finite-element modelling. Accuracy is demonstrated by comparison with finite-element computations. We also show that related approximations lead to substantially improved accuracy in regions of steep, but not discontinuous, conductivity gradient.     

Fingerprinting the Origin of Fluvial Suspended Sediment in Larger River Basins: Combining Assessment of Spatial Provenance and Source Type

Investigation of the potential for using sediment fingerprinting to integrate both spatial provenance and source type information for larger drainage basins appears to be desirable. This contribution presents the results of adopting a composite fingerprinting procedure incorporating statistically verified multicomponent signatures and a multivariate mixing model to provide a preliminary integration of spatial provenance and source type information for the upper and middle reaches of the drainage basins of the Rivers Exe (601 km²) and Severn (4325 km²), UK. A nested approach is employed, whereby spatial provenance is addressed in terms of the distinct sub-basin zones constituting each study area as an entirety, and source type is then characterised within each of these distinct spatial zones in terms of surface (woodland, pasture, cultivated) and subsurface (channel bank) materials. The results demonstrate that the fingerprinting approach possesses considerable potential for integrating spatial provenance and source type information, and hence for improving the resolution of existing sediment source information for larger drainage basins.     

A calderas field at the Marifil Formation, new volcanogenic interpretation, Norpatagonian Massif, Argentina

Major volcanogenic structures within the Marifil Formation allowed to determine the location of a claderas field that spreads along 400 kilometers. This field has at least three large calderas with diameters near to 100 kilometers, recognizable by regional distribution of associated dikes and rhyolite lava flows present at the caldera border that separates a monotonous ignimbritic plateau from a depressed (150 meters) inner volcanic collapsed caldera. The Marifil ignimbritic plateau cover more than 50,000 square kilometers with thicknesses that reach 800 meters. Associated with these plateau ignimbrites there is an important fluorite mineralization.     

Automated AF-demagnetization on the 2G-Enterprises through-bore,cryogenic magnetometer

Since the early sixties, alternating field demagnetization (AFD) has been a standard laboratory technique for demagnetizing rocks to expose the multicomponent structure of their natural remanent magnetization (NRM). In the majority of AFD implementations, however, the procedure remains as labour-intensive as ever. The implementation that we have developed at the Australian Geological Survey Organisation, automates the procedure for AFD based on the static method, and results in significant productivity and efficiency gains without compromising data quality. A properly formulated procedure for static AFD may be the only method of retrieving higher-coercivity components of natural remanence in samples prone to developing gyroremanence at higher alternating fields (AFs). Our AFD environment comprises: a 2G-Enterprises through-bore, cryogenic magnetometer; 2G AF-coils and control equipment; and personal computer software, developed by us, to control all procedural aspects for a complete AFD of a sample including, importantly, a counteracting procedure to neutralize the effects of gyroremanence build-up at higher AFs. With our system, AFD of 8 samples/day, each of 20+ steps, requires only 20 min of user attention compared with a full day for conventional systems.     

Trough structures in the Western syenite of Kûngnât, S Greenland: mineralogy and mechanism of formation

In the Western layered syenite stock of the Kûngnât complex, close to the intrusion wall, there are two groups of regularly spaced, horizontally aligned, stacks of infilled troughs. These features resemble, to some extent, the trough layering within the UZa trough zone of the gabbroic Skaergaard¹ intrusion. Such features have never before been described in syenitic rocks. The lower group comprises six stacks of infilled troughs; the upper group comprises seven. The two groups are vertically separated by about 10 m of sparsely layered syenite. The infilled troughs in the upper group are stacked vertically; those in the lower group gradually shift laterally and appear to converge over an antiformal structure. It is not possible to measure the plunge of the troughs due to outcrop geometry. Troughs are up to about 80 cm deep. The material filling the troughs is more melanocratic than the syenite that surrounds them. Individual troughs exhibit normal grading. The syenite within the troughs contains large amphibole and biotite oikocrysts. Faintly layered syenite occurs laterally between stacks. Minerals in the host syenite are more ferroan than those in the troughs, this is thought to represent re-equilibration with residual melt. Feldspar textures, irregular pyroxene and apatite zoning, and the presence of irregular shaped amphibole patches within pyroxene grains all imply alteration by a pervasive deuteric fluid in both troughs and host syenite. We suggest the following hypothesis for the formation of the troughs. A mafic crystal sheath which grows on the walls of the magma chamber becomes detached and flows downwards. The descending slurry forms a series of regularly spaced streams which erode trough shaped channels into the crystal pile at the base of the chamber. Uneroded crystal material separates the channels. Crystals are deposited from these streams. Successive streams flow over each other to generate stacks of troughs.     

Metropolitan growth and labor markets in Mexico

The objective of this paper is to examine the main changes in the metropolitan labor markets associated with economic restructuring in Mexico during the late 1980s and beginning of the 1990s. The analysis refers particularly to the four largest metropoles of the country, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Puebla, looking for common characteristics in their emergent employment structures now strongly differentiated in terms of rewards, stability in employment relations and conditions of access to jobs. The analysis reveals that largest metropolitan areas have been the most profoundly affected by the economic restructuring resulting from globalization, through a rapid de-industrialization and the expansion of the tertiary sector. Metropolitan labor markets in Mexico, at the time that show signs of social polarization in the formal sector, put in evidence a general process of precarization – less labor stability, replacement of permanent by part-time jobs, and increasing subcontracting –, segmentation of the labor force, and an increasing informal conditions of economic activities with small businesses and unskilled, temporarly and poorly paid jobs. The labor force segmentation and its more precarious and casual conditions are mostly explained by the impact of recent neoliberal policies, and recurrent economic crisis during the 1980s and 1990s which highly contributes to social inequality.     

EISCAT/CRRES observations: nightside ionospheric ion outflow and oxygen-rich substorm injections

We present combined observations made near midnight by the EISCAT radar, all-sky cameras and the combined released and radiation efects satellite (CRRES) shortly before and during a substorm. In particular, we study a discrete, equatorward-drifting auroral arc, seen several degrees poleward of the onset region. The arc passes through the field-aligned beam of the EISCAT radar and is seen to be associated with a considerable upflow of ionospheric plasma. During the substorm, the CRRES satellite observed two major injections, 17 min apart, the second of which was dominated by O⁺ ions. We show that the observed are was in a suitable location in both latitude and MLT to have fed O⁺ ions into the second injection and that the upward flux of ions associated with it was sufficient to explain the observed injection. We interpret these data as showing that arcs in the nightside plasma-sheet boundary layer could be the source of O⁺ ions energised by a dipolarisation of the mid- and near-Earth tail, as opposed to ions ejected from the dayside ionosphere in the cleft ion fountain.     

Estimated N2O and CO2 Emissions as Influenced by Agricultural Practices in Canada

The Denitrification-Decompostion (DNDC) model was used to estimate the impact of change in management practices on N₂O emissions in seven major soil regions in Canada, for the period 1970 to 2029. Conversion of cultivated land to permanent grassland would result in the greatest reduction in N₂O emissions, particularly in eastern Canada wherethe model estimated about 60% less N₂O emissions for thisconversion. About 33% less N₂O emissions were predicted for a changefrom conventional tillage to no-tillage in western Canada, however, a slight increase in N₂O emissions was predicted for eastern Canada. GreaterN₂O emissions in eastern Canada associated with the adoption of no-tillage were attributed to higher soil moisture causing denitrification, whereas the lower emissions in western Canada were attributed to less decomposition of soil organic matter in no-till versus conventional tilled soil. Elimination of summer fallow in a crop rotation resulted in a 9% decrease in N₂O emissions, with substantial emissions occurringduring the wetter fallow years when N had accumulated. Increasing N-fertilizer application rates by 50% increased average emissions by 32%,while a 50% decrease of N-fertilizer application decreased emissions by16%. In general, a small increase in N₂O emissions was predicted when N-fertilizer was applied in the fall rather than in the spring. Previous research on CO₂ emissions with the CENTURY model (Smith et al.,2001) allowed the quantification of the combined change in N₂O andCO₂ emissions in CO₂ equivalents for a wide range of managementpractices in the seven major soil regions in Canada. The management practices that have the greatest potential to reduce the combined N₂O andCO₂ emissions are conversion from conventional tillage to permanent grassland, reduced tillage, and reduction of summer fallow. The estimated net greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction when changing from cultivated land to permanent grassland ranged from 0.97 (Brown Chernozem) to 4.24 MgCO₂ equiv. ha^–1 y^–1 (BlackChernozem) for the seven soil regions examined. When changing from conventional tillage to no-tillage the net GHG emission reduction ranged from 0.33 (Brown Chernozem) to 0.80 Mg CO₂ equiv. ha^–1 y^–1 (Dark GrayLuvisol). Elimination of fallow in the crop rotation lead to an estimated net GHG emission reduction of 0.43 (Brown Chernozem) to 0.80 Mg CO₂ equiv.ha^–1 y^–1 (Dark Brown Chernozem). The addition of 50% more or 50% less N-fertilizer both resulted in slight increases in combined CO₂ and N₂O emissions. There was a tradeoff in GHG flux with greaterN₂O emissions and a comparable increase in carbon storage when 50% more N-fertilizer was added. The results from this work indicate that conversion of cultivated land to grassland, the conversion from conventional tillage to no-tillage, and the reduction of summerallow in crop rotations could substantially increase C sequestration and decrease net GHG emissions. Based on these results a simple scaling-up scenario to derive the possible impacts on Canada's Kyoto commitment has been calculated.