Working borders and shifting identities in the Russian Far North

State-imposed borders inform socio-spatial identities, often encouraging divergent identities for those living of different sides of the border. However, these identities may be discursively appropriated by the groups affected by the borders, in order to manage their relations with the state. We describe how one group of aboriginal people in the Russian Far North forged a common identity based on evasion of state institutions in the 1930–1950s. This group, once articulated with state institutions and divided by the enforcement of a provincial/republican border, developed two socio-spatial identities––and employed these identities as counterhegemonic tactics to state pressures over their lifeways. As types of pressures change, the affordances that the borders provide also change, as evident in the shifting discourses of difference and similitude.     

Extending the limits of the Borrobol Tephra to Scandinavia and detection of new early Holocene tephras

Analyses of two infilled lakes in Blekinge, southeast Sweden, indicate the presence of at least three tephra horizons of Termination 1 and early Holocene age. Geochemical analyses confirm the presence of the Borrobol Tephra, the Askja Tephra (10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P.), and one previously unreported tephra of Icelandic origin. Extending the limits of the Borrobol Tephra to Scandinavia illustrates that this ash is far more widespread than previously realized and is therefore, an important marker horizon for determining the rate and timing of the initial warming at the start of Greenland Interstade 1 (GI-1) within Europe. The relatively unknown Askja Tephra and the newly discovered Hässeldalen Tephra are stratigraphically placed at the Younger Dryas/Preboreal transition. This paper demonstrates the suitability and success associated with the extraction techniques for tracing microtephra horizons in areas distal to volcanic sources.     

Probable causes of late twentieth century tropospheric temperature trends

We assess the most probable causes of late twentieth century (1960–1994) tropospheric temperature changes. Optimal detection techniques are used to compare observed spatio-temporal patterns of near-surface and tropospheric temperature change with results from experiments performed with two different versions of the Hadley Centre climate model. We detect anthropogenic forcings, particularly well-mixed greenhouse-gases, with a less certain sulfate aerosol cooling influence. More limited evidence exists for a detectable volcanic influence. Our principal results do not depend upon the choice of model. Both models, but particularly HadCM3, appear to overestimate the simulated climate response to greenhouse gases (especially at the surface) and volcanoes. This result may arise, at least in part, due to errors in the forcings (especially sulfate) and technical details of our approach, which differs from previous studies. We use corrected and uncorrected versions of the radiosonde record to assess sensitivity of our detection results to observational uncertainties. We find that previous corrections applied to the radiosonde temperature record are likely to have been sub-optimal in only taking into account temporal consistency. However, the choice of corrected or uncorrected version has no systematic effect upon our main conclusions. We show that both models are potentially internally consistent explanations of observed tropospheric temperatures.     

Surface Characteristics Observed over the Central Tropical Indian Ocean During Indoex IFP99

The present study is based on the observations carried out over the IndianOcean from the Indian research vessel ORV Sagar Kanya during the intensive field phase of the Indian Ocean Experiment in January–March 1999. The study area spanned from 15°N to 20°S in the central Indian Ocean. Near surface variations and surface fluxes along the cruise track are presented. A comparison of near surface characteristics over the Indian Ocean and tropical west Pacific has been made. It is observed that the average difference between the sea surface temperature and air temperature at 10 m height was 0.7 °C over the study area, nearly half of that observed over the tropical west Pacific. A comparison between observed and NCEP reanalysissurface data has been made. We find good agreement between ship measured andNCEP reanalysis surface pressure, specific humidity and wind fields.On the other hand, surface air temperature in the reanalysis tends to be lowcompared to observations. The components of the net surface heat flux comparebetter in the north Indian Ocean than in the southern Indian Ocean.     

Lacustrine shore platforms at Lake Waikaremoana,North Island,New Zealand

This paper examines the morphology and processes governing the development of shore platforms at Lake Waikaremoana, North Island, New Zealand. Shore platforms at Lake Waikaremoana are recent features, and were formed when a new sequence of shoreline development was initiated, due to lowering of the lake by 5 m in 1946 for hydroelectric power development. Three predominant platform morphologies were identified around the lake. These include gently sloping platforms (c.1·5 to 3·9°), ramp platforms (c.6·8 to 9·2°), and concave ramp platforms (c.7·9 to 12°). Platform widths ranged from 11 to 31 m, with the gently sloping platforms characterized by the widest morphologies. Erosion rates were estimated using perched sandstone boulders and were found to range from 3·4 to 12·5 mm a^?1, with a mean erosion rate of 5·9 mm a^?1. Higher rates of erosion were identified at lower platform elevations, due to a greater frequency of wetting and drying cycles coincident with storm waves, while lower erosion rates were identified at higher elevations. Field evidence suggests that shore platforms at Lake Waikaremoana were likely initiated and continue to develop as a result of subaerial wetting and drying cycles. Waves, coincident with fluctuating lake levels, play an important role by removing the weathered material from the platforms, and appear to control the width of the platforms. A conceptual model of platform development is presented, and analogies are drawn between this model, and the formation of shore platforms in oceanic environments. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oceanic eddies in synthetic aperture radar images

Continuous observations since 1991 by using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board the Almaz1, ERS-1/2, JERS-1, and RADARSAT satellites support the well-known fact that oceanic eddies are distributed worldwide in the ocean. The paper is devoted to an evaluation of the potential of SAR for detection of eddies and vortical motions in the ocean. The classification of typical vortical features in the ocean detected in remote sensing images (visible, infrared, and SAR) is presented as well as available information on their spatial and temporal scales. Examples of the Almaz-1 and ERS-1/2 SAR images showing different eddy types, such as rings, spiral eddies of the open ocean, eddies behind islands and in bays, spin-off eddies and mushroom-like structures (vortex dipoles) are given and discussed. It is shown that a common feature for most of the eddies detected in the SAR images is a broad spectrum of spatial scales, spiral shape and shear nature. It is concluded that the spaceborne SARs give valuable information on ocean eddies, especially in combination with visible and infrared satellite data.     

Deep-water stratigraphic cyclicity and carbonate mud mound development in the Middle Cambrian Marjum Formation, House Range, Utah, USA

Abstract In mid‐Middle Cambrian time, shallow‐water sedimentation along the Cordilleran passive margin was abruptly interrupted by the development of the deep‐water House Range embayment across Nevada and Utah. The Marjum Formation (330 m) in the central House Range represents deposition in the deepest part of the embayment and is composed of five deep‐water facies: limestone–argillaceous limestone rhythmites; shale; thin carbonate mud mounds; bioturbated limestone; and cross‐bedded limestone. These facies are cyclically arranged into 1·5 to 30 m thick parasequences that include rhythmite–mound, rhythmite–shale, rhythmite–bioturbated limestone and rhythmite–cross‐bedded limestone parasequences. Using biostratigraphically constrained sediment accumulation rates, the parasequences range in duration from ≈14 to 270 kyr. The mud mounds are thin (<2 m), closely spaced, laterally linked, symmetrical domes composed of massive, fenestral, peloidal to clotted microspar with sparse unoriented, poorly sorted skeletal material, calcitized bacterial(?) filaments/tubes and abundant fenestrae and stroma‐ tactoid structures. These petrographic and sedimentological features suggest that the microspar, peloids/clots and syndepositional micritic cement were precipitated in situ from the activity of benthic microbial communities. Concentrated growth of the microbial communities occurred during periods of decreased input of fine detrital carbonate transported offshore from the adjacent shallow‐water carbonate platform. In the neighbouring Wah Wah Range and throughout the southern Great Basin, coeval mid‐Middle Cambrian shallow‐water carbonates are composed of abundant metre‐scale, upward‐shallowing parasequences that record high‐frequency (10⁴?10⁵ years) eustatic sea‐level changes. Given this regional stratigraphic relationship, the Marjum Formation parasequences probably formed in response to high‐frequency sea‐level fluctuations that controlled the amount of detrital carbonate input into the deeper water embayment. During high‐frequency sea‐level rise and early highstand, detrital carbonate input into the embayment decreased as a result of carbonate factory retrogradation, resulting in the deposition of shale (base of rhythmite–shale parasequences) or thin nodular rhythmites, followed by in situ precipitated mud mounds (lower portion of rhythmite–mound parasequences). During the ensuing high‐frequency sea‐level fall/lowstand, detrital carbonate influx into the embayment increased on account of carbonate factory pro‐ gradation towards the embayment, resulting in deposition of rhythmites (upper part of rhythmite–mound parasequences), reworking of rhythmites by a lowered storm wave base (cross‐bedded limestone deposition) or bioturbation of rhythmites by a weakened/lowered O₂‐minimum zone (bioturbated lime‐ stone deposition). This interpreted sea‐level control on offshore carbonate sedimentation patterns is unique to Palaeozoic and earliest Mesozoic deep‐water sediments. After the evolution of calcareous plankton in the Jurassic, the presence or absence of deeper water carbonates was influenced by a variety of chemical and physical oceanographic factors, rather than just physical transport of carbonate muds.     

Nutrient processes and chlorophyll in the estuaries and plume of the Gulf of Papua

This paper investigates the waters of the Gulf of Papua during three cruises of the TROPICS (Tropical River Ocean Processes In Coastal Settings) programme. Plume characteristics were investigated during Leg 1 (May 1997), and estuarine properties during Leg 5a (September 1997) and Leg 7 (January 1999). During Leg 1 the plume was apparent as a well mixed layer up to 30 m deep extending offshore to a distance of 150 km off the Fly River. Lowest salinities were found off the Taruma Delta. Highest chlorophyll concentrations were found at the inner plume close to the river mouth. Dissolved phosphate and nitrate are removed in this zone, whereas silicate behaves conservatively. Primary productivity within the plume appears to rely upon recycled nutrients, with organic fractions representing the majority of the nutrient pool. In the estuaries nutrients were found to behave differently during the monsoon than during the low flow of the extremely dry conditions associated with the 1997 El Niño event. Normally the Fly is characterised by remineralisation of organic nitrogen in the upper estuary, but during drought conditions DON production and NH₄⁺ uptake suggest that bacterial activity is more prevalent. Ocean Colour and Temperature Scanner imagery shows a number of features of the plume, but generally overestimates chlorophyll concentrations due to the effects of high suspended sediment concentrations and, to a lesser extent, coloured dissolved organic matter.     

A multi-disciplinary study of the 2002–03 Etna eruption: insights into a complex plumbing system

The 2002–03 Mt Etna flank eruption began on 26 October 2002 and finished on 28 January 2003, after three months of continuous explosive activity and discontinuous lava flow output. The eruption involved the opening of eruptive fissures on the NE and S flanks of the volcano, with lava flow output and fire fountaining until 5 November. After this date, the eruption continued exclusively on the S flank, with continuous explosive activity and lava flows active between 13 November and 28 January 2003. Multi-disciplinary data collected during the eruption (petrology, analyses of ash components, gas geochemistry, field surveys, thermal mapping and structural surveys) allowed us to analyse the dynamics of the eruption. The eruption was triggered either by (i) accumulation and eventual ascent of magma from depth or (ii) depressurisation of the edifice due to spreading of the eastern flank of the volcano. The extraordinary explosivity makes the 2002–03 eruption a unique event in the last 300 years, comparable only with La Montagnola 1763 and the 2001 Lower Vents eruptions. A notable feature of the eruption was also the simultaneous effusion of lavas with different composition and emplacement features. Magma erupted from the NE fissure represented the partially degassed magma fraction normally residing within the central conduits and the shallow plumbing system. The magma that erupted from the S fissure was the relatively undegassed, volatile-rich, buoyant fraction which drained the deep feeding system, bypassing the central conduits. This is typical of most Etnean eccentric eruptions. We believe that there is a high probability that Mount Etna has entered a new eruptive phase, with magma being supplied to a deep reservoir independent from the central conduit, that could periodically produce sufficient overpressure to propagate a dyke to the surface and generate further flank eruptions.Editorial responsibility: J. Donnelly-Nolan