Morphology and sedimentology of a high-arctic esker system: Vegbreen, Svalbard

Although eskers are frequently described glaciofluvial landforms, they are poorly understood. To assist with the interpretation of Pleistocene examples, modern analogue data are required. This paper documents the morphology, sedimentology and formation of a 650 m long esker system in front of the high-arctic glacier Vegbreen in Svalbard. The esker is located between the Neoglacial maximum and the present ice front and appears to have formed both as a supraglacial trough-fill and as a channel/conduit-fill along the suture formed by two confluent glacier lobes. A range of sedimentary facies is preserved within this ridge system providing evidence for braided rivers, ephemeral lakes, episodic flow regimes and sediment gravity flows. This case study provides an important analogue for glaciofluvial sedimentation between retreating ice lobes.     

The role of the microbial loop in Antarctic pelagic ecosystems

The Paradigm pelagic food web organization in Antarctic waters is undergoing fundamental revision evidence that large fractions of material and energy flow through the microbial food web. because of the unique Antarctic ecosystem conditions, the microbial food web performs some roles that are fundamentally different from those in oligotrophic temperate and tropical waters: 1) during winter, bacterial production, at the expense of slow-turnover DOM (dissolved organic matter) from the previous summer, could be a significant factor in the survival of over wintering animal populations; 2) microbial regeneration of ammonium in nitrate-replete Antarctic waters may spare the reductants necessary for nitrate assimilation and thus enhance primary productivity of deep-mixed light-limited phytoplankton; and 3) the small diatoms and phytoflagellates which dominate the Antarctic pelagic primary production are apparently directly digestible by the metazoan herbivores, whereas cyanobacteria which dominate the primary productivity in lower latitude oligotrophic waters are not digestible by the metazoan herbivores. These roles performed by the microbial loop may, in part, explain why Antarctic waters, in contrast to the lower latitude oligotrophic waters, have high levels of tertiary productivity despite low primary productivity.     

地表探槽断裂岩岩石磁学揭示汶川地震断裂带不同滑移机制

岩石磁学能揭示岩石的磁性矿物组合,通过断裂岩不同的磁性矿物组合可揭示地震过程中磁性矿物变化、地震摩擦温度及地震滑移机制等基础地震地质问题。2008年Mw 7.9级汶川地震使两条断裂带同时发生地表破裂,包括映秀-北川和灌县-安县断裂地表破裂带,破裂带上地震断裂岩为岩石磁学提供了大量的研究对象。本研究主要以汶川地震地表破裂带上两个探槽内断裂岩为对象,包括映秀-北川地表破裂带上的八角庙探槽和灌县-安县地表破裂带上的九龙探槽,结合目前已发表的地表及WFSD-1孔的研究成果,从岩石磁学角度探讨汶川地震断裂带经历的地震滑移机制:1综合映秀-北川地震断裂带上八角庙探槽和其它位置的断裂岩岩石磁学研究,结果显示该地震断裂带附近断层泥的高磁化率源于新生的亚铁磁性矿物,如磁铁矿和磁赤铁矿等,故映秀-北川地震断裂曾经历高温快速热增压地震滑移机制;2灌县-安县地震断裂带上九龙探槽内断层泥略低的平均磁化率源于其铁的硫化物含量比断层角砾及侏罗纪砂岩多,铁的硫化物可能源于地震过程或断裂岩抬升到地表后的地表作用,如果断层泥中铁的硫化物多含量源于地震过程,则灌县-安县地震断裂带曾经历低温慢速机械润滑地震滑移机制;3两条断裂经历的不同地震滑移机制可能受控于断裂深部结构,如断层产状,映秀-北川地震断裂带的陡倾角易产生高温快速地震滑移,而灌县-安县地震断裂带的缓倾角更易产生低温慢速地震滑移。     

The impact of ecosystem functional type changes on the La Plata Basin climate

In this paper, the effects of land cover changes on the climate of the La Plata Basin in southern South America are investigated using the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) Model configured on a 30/10km two-way interactive nested grid. To assess the regional climate changes resulting from land surface changes, the standard land cover types are replaced by time-varying Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs), which is a newly devised land-cover classification that characterizes the spatial and interannual variability of surface vegetation dynamics. These variations indicate that natural and anthropogenic activities have caused changes in the surface physical parameters of the basin, such as albedo and roughness length, that contributed to regional climate changes. EFTs are obtained from functional attributes of vegetation computed from properties of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to represent patches of the land surface with homogeneous energy and gas exchanges with the atmosphere. Four simulations are conducted, each experimental period ranging from September to November in two contrasting years, 1988 and 1998. The influence of an identical EFT change on the surface heat fluxes, 2-m temperature and humidity, 10-m winds, convective instabilities and large-scale moisture fluxes and precipitation are explored for 1988 (a dry year) and 1998 (a wet year). Results show that the surface and atmospheric climate has a larger response to the same EFT changes in a dry year for 2-m temperature and 10-m wind; the response is larger in a wet year for 2-m water vapor mixing ratio, convective available potential energy, vertically integrated moisture fluxes and surface precipitation. For EFTs with high productivity and a weak seasonal cycle, the nearsurface temperature during the spring of 1988 and 1998 increased by as much as 1℃ in the central and western portions of La Plata Basin. Additionally, for higher productivity EFTs, precipitation differences were generally positive in both dry and wet years, although the patterns are not uniform and exhibit certain patchiness with drier conditions.     

The pre-Landnám fauna of Iceland: a palaeontological contribution

The origins of the Icelandic biota are discussed with particular reference to recent work on Coleopteran (beetle) and Trichopteran (caddis fly) fossils from deposits which are earlier than the arrival of man (Landnám) in the country. The hypothesis of survival through Pleistocene glaciations in refugia is discounted in favour of immigration on ice floes during Late Glacial/Early Holocene deglaciation. Consideration of the nature of the insect fauna and the extent of Late Glacial ice sheets, with the evidence from ocean circulation patterns, suggests a source area in the fjords of south-west Norway. The model is applicable to the origins of the biota on all the North Atlantic islands, east of the Davis Strait.     

THE FREE-WILSON PARADIGM REDUX:SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FREE-WILSON COEFFICIENTS,INSIGNIFICANCE OF COEFFICIENT ‘UNCERTAINTIES’ AND STATISTICAL SINS

The Free-Wilson paradigm is an established and powerful tool for quantitatively relating activity withchemical structure.Current implementations of the paradigm,however,are flawed both conceptually andin execution.As part of an attempt to more fully realize the promise of the paradigm,it was necessaryto examine these limitations in detail.This report introduces a robust,theory-founded Free-Wilson implementation:stepwise principalcomponents regression analysis(SPCRA).SPCRA is computationally superior to previousimplementations but does not in itself correct their conceptual flaws.The development of SPCRA did,however,facilitate derivation of a simple and chemically significantinterpretation of the Free-Wilson structure-activity model.A number of statistical aspects of this modelcommonly misused in previous applications are discussed at length.These discussions provide criticalbackground for the development of an alternative implementation of the Free-Wilson paradigm.