Characteristics and origins of lee-side stratification sequences in late pleistocene drumlins,northern Ireland

Spindle- and parabolic-shaped drumlins examined at fifty-five localities in northern Ireland possess stratification sequences on their lee-side flanks. These forms lack the distinctive steep stoss- and tapering lee-ends of classical drumlins and tend to occur in linear zones transverse to late Pleistocene ice-flow. In most cases (90 per cent) the stratified deposits infill embayments excavated in the lee-side of barkhanoid forms and, in the remainder (10 per cent), they are superimposed on the lee-side of whaleback forms. The stratification sequences developed as a result of sedimentation in interconnected subglacial water-filled cavities and are unlike remanie proglacial sediments moulded by ice into drumlin form. Stratigraphic evidence indicates that the lee-side sequences developed during drumlin streamlining, which supports the view that subglacial hydraulic processes played an important role in drumlin formation.     

Hydrogen speciation in synthetic quartz

The dominant hydrogen impurity in synthetic quartz is molecular H₂O. H-OH groups also occur, but there is no direct evidence for the hydrolysis of Si-O-Si bonds to yield Si-OH HO-Si groups. Molecular H₂O concentrations in the synthetic quartz crystals studied range from less than 10 to 3,300 ppm (H/Si), and decrease smoothly by up to an order of magnitude with distance away from the seed. OH^? concentrations range from 96 to 715 ppm, and rise smoothly with distance away from the seed by up to a factor of three. The observed OH^? is probably all associated with cationic impurities, as in natural quartz. Molecular H₂O is the dominant initial hydrogen impurity in weak quartz. The hydrolytic weakening of quartz may be caused by the transformation H₂O + Si-O-Si → 2SiOH, but this may be a transitory change with the SiOH groups recombining to form H₂O, and the average SiOH concentration remaining very low. Synthetic quartz is strengthened when the H₂O is accumulated into fluid inclusions and cannot react with the quartz framework.     

Mixed valence of iron in minerals with cation clusters

The valence and distribution of iron in vivianite, lazulite, babingtonite, rockbridgeite, acmite, aegirine-augite, hedenbergite, and ilvaite were studied with optical and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Optically activated intervalence charge transfer between Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in neighboring sites through common edges or faces is observed in all these minerals irrespective of the polymerization of the iron-oxygen polyhedra ranging from finite clusters to infinite structural units. However, a distinct decrease occurs in the energy of the corresponding optical absorption band with increasing number of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions involved in the charge transfer process. Thermally activated electron delocalization between Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ occurs only if Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ occupy crystallographically equivalent or geometrically very similar neighboring sites which share common edges to form extended structural units such as the ribbon in ilvaite. If the Fe-O polyhedra form finite clusters of two, three, or four polyhedra (e.g., in vivianite, lazulite, and babingtonite, respectively) no thermally-activated mixed-valence states of iron are observed. In aegirine, extended regions of the M1 chain are statistically occupied by Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ giving rise to thermally-activated electron delocalization in addition to the intervalence band in the optical absorption spectrum. The intensity of the optical intervalence absorption has been measured in a number of systems: ? values range from 60 to 210.     

Numerical simulation and analysis of the mean coastal circulation off California

A two-dimensional numerical model is applied to a coastal ocean wherein alongshore elevation and density gradients, normally calculated by a three-dimensional model, are instead supplied by climatologically averaged data for the California Current System between 25 and 40°N. Surface wind stress is also obtained from climatological data. Both surface and bottom boundary layers are resolved in the model calculations; a second moment turbulence closure submodel supplies vertical diffusivities. Near steady state solutions are possible when surface buoyancy flux is imposed at the surface.Model results are as follows: Southward wind stress produces a broad equatorward current with an embedded coastal jet in accordance with previous studies. Positive wind stress curl reduces the jet current and produces a poleward undercurrent which then surfaces as the curl is increased. The jet currents are reduced and poleward flow increases as bottom steepness increases; to a lesser extent, inclusion of the beta effect has a similar effect. The existence of near bottom, poleward or equatorward flow is explained rather simply in terms of the bottom stress resulting from the alongshore balance of surface wind stress and vertically integrated pressure gradient, the latter involving the alongshore surface elevation and density gradient. A further finding is that the upwelling circulation associated with wind stress is confined to the top 200 to 300 m of the ocean along the California coast.     

Stable-channel design in alluvial rivers

A theory of stable-channel design is deduced from the condition that, for any given steady flow, total sediment concentration maintains a balanced average in space and time within a stable channel. This condition for stability applies during changes in channel position but does not constrain them. A stability index is defined in terms of concentration of bedmaterial load: a function of steady, uniform or quasi-uniform water discharge, channel bedslope, water surface width and a typical diameter of cohesionless, granular bedmaterial. The index is constant only within a stable channel, and its mean magnitude may be determined from observations at cross-sections of more or less straight, wide reaches. Two distinct design methods, threshold and mobile-bed, are deduced from the theory. Design formula are presented for both methods as functions of the channel stability index, and are applicable to cross-sections or reaches, independent of planform, of both sand-silt and gravel-bed rivers. A relation describing variation along a channel in the ratio of bedload to suspended-sediment discharge, for a specified steady flow, is also inferred from the stability condition.     

Effect of a kelp forest on coastal currents

Ocean currents supply a kelp ecosystem with nutrients, planktonic food, and larvae. We have found that these currents in a kelp forest (Macrocystis pyrifera) are slower than currents outside. At the Pt. Loma, San Diego, California, site that we studied, current velocities were about a third of those outside. A comparison of frequency spectra shows that semi-diurnal frequencies are preferentially passed by the kelp. This effect of a kelp forest on the currents that nurture it is similar to that of a terrestrial forest on local winds.     

A world model of soil carbon dioxide

Mean growing season soil PCO₂ data were obtained for 19 regions of the world in nine countries. Bivariate and multiple linear regression analysis with soil log(PCO₂) as the dependent variable and TEMP, PRECIP, log(AET), and log(PET) as the four climatic independent variables demonstrated that AET was the best independent predictor of soil PCO₂. An improved soil PCO₂-AET model was developed by assuming (1) that as AET approaches zero, soil PCO₂ approaches the atmospheric value and (2) that there is an upper limit to soil PCO₂ at very high AET. This model has the form log(PCO₂) = ?3·47 + 2·09 (1 ?e^{?0·0172 AET}) where AET is in mm. It explains 67 per cent of the initial variation in the soil PCO₂ data, predicts a soil log(PCO₂) of ? 3·47 at AET = 0, and an upper limit of 3·5 per cent (log(PCO₂) = ? 1·45) for mean growing season soil PCO₂ at AET values of 2000 mm and above. The results of this study suggest that soil PCO₂ levels in tropical areas are, on average, higher than those in temperate, alpine, and arctic regions.     

Milankovitch theory of ice ages: Hypothesis of ice-sheet linkage between regional insolation and global climate

J. D. Hays, J. Imbrie, and N. J. Shackleton (1976, Science194, 1121–1132) showed that the astronomical theory explained many features of late Quaternary ice-age climates, but they did not specify the physical mechanisms involved. Here it is proposed that interlocked variations of ice-sheet heat sinks in both polar hemispheres amplified and transmitted Milankovitch summer half-year insolation changes (a version of the astronomical theory) between 45° and 75°N into the globally synchronous climate changes recorded in geologic records. It is suggested that late Quaternary ice sheets had terrestrial components (grounded above sea level, melting margins, fluctuations controlled by climate) and marine components (grounded below sea level, drained largely by ice streams, limited melting margins, fluctuations controlled primarily by sea level and secondarily by climate, interior surface elevations coupled to downdraw through ice streams). Northern Hemisphere ice sheets were largely marine (with minor melting margins) in the Arctic and terrestrial (with major melting margins) in the midlatitudes. West Antarctic and peripheral East Antarctic ice was marine-based and lacked melting margins. Because of their geographic array, these terrestrial and marine components formed an ice-sheet system whose variations were coupled on a global scale. Milankovitch summer isolation changes near midlatitude Northern Hemisphere melting margins controlled most variations of this system, because advance or retreat of melting margins initiated concurrent eustatic sea-level change. Such sea-level change afforded the critical interlocking mechanism between terrestrial and marine components because it forced simultaneous expansion or contraction of marine margins in both polar hemispheres. This initiated an amplifying feedback loop among all marine components and influenced interior downdraw through ice streams. Arctic summer insolation change was less important because northern melting margins were relatively minor. Its greatest influence was on surface ablation of ice streams that controlled interior downdraw. This affected eustatic sea level and activated global linkage of marine sectors. By analogy with present-day Antarctica, late Quaternary ice sheets were enormous planetary heat sinks due to their reflective and radiative surface characteristics. It is suggested that the effectiveness of these ice-sheet heat sinks varied with their areal extent and interior surface elevation. Thus, it is postulated that concurrent growth or decay of these interlocked ice-sheet heat sinks in both polar hemispheres served as the global amplifier of regional Milankovitch summer insolation.