Spatio-temporal fragmentation of leisure activities in information era: Empirical evidence from Nanjing,China

Activity fragmentation provides a new approach for understanding the transformation of urban space and function in the information era. Numerous theoretical and empirical studies have been conducted on activity fragmentation, but few studies have focused on the fragmentation of leisure activities. This study was intended to extend the extant literature by: 1) analysing the spatio-temporal fragmentation of physical and virtual leisure activities by using a dataset collected in Nanjing, China, and 2) evaluating the reasons of leisure activity fragmentation, as well as the potential spatial effect of activity fragmentation. The results indicated that virtual leisure activities are more fragmented than physical leisure activities, but the fragmentation of physical and virtual leisure activities varies on weekday and weekend, as well as in various locations and urban districts. In addition, the results suggested that sociodemographic factors and information and communication technology (ICT) variables distinctly affect the fragmentation of leisure activities. Meanwhile, the fragmentation of virtual leisure activities may enhance the transformation of traditional urban space by reallocating leisure activity times and locations.     

Climatic oscillations in central Italy during the Last Glacial–Holocene transition: the record from Lake Accesa

This paper presents an event stratigraphy based on data documenting the history of vegetation cover, lake‐level changes and fire frequency, as well as volcanic eruptions, over the Last Glacial–early Holocene transition from a terrestrial sediment sequence recovered at Lake Accesa in Tuscany (north‐central Italy). On the basis of an age–depth model inferred from 13 radiocarbon dates and six tephra horizons, the Oldest Dryas–Bølling warming event was dated to ca. 14 560 cal. yr BP and the Younger Dryas event to ca. 12 700–11 650 cal. yr BP. Four sub‐millennial scale cooling phases were recognised from pollen data at ca. 14 300–14 200, 13 900–13 700, 13 400–13 100 and 11 350–11 150 cal. yr BP. The last three may be Mediterranean equivalents to the Older Dryas (GI‐1d), Intra‐Allerød (GI‐1b) and Preboreal Oscillation (PBO) cooling events defined from the GRIP ice‐core and indicate strong climatic linkages between the North Atlantic and Mediterranean areas during the last Termination. The first may correspond to Intra‐Bølling cold oscillations registered by various palaeoclimatic records in the North Atlantic region. The lake‐level record shows that the sub‐millennial scale climatic oscillations which punctuated the last deglaciation were associated in central Italy with different successive patterns of hydrological changes from the Bølling warming to the 8.2 ka cold reversal. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sur les inocérames de Tercis (Landes,France) : le meilleur outil corrélatif entre Europe et Amérique du Nord autour de la limite Campanien–Maastrichtien

Four hundred inoceramids have been collected in the geological site at Tercis, where the Campanian–Maastrichtian boundary has been recently defined. At Tercis, a distinct drop of the adult size of inoceramids is observed between levels 111 and 117 and two turnovers of faunal composition were documented between levels 94 and 96 and between levels 111 and 117; the latter interval encompasses the stage boundary. The recognised inoceramid assemblages are very close to those known from North America, allowing better correlation than before between the two domains in the interval 77–70 Ma. The presence of these faunas perfectly located in the section leads to consider the Tercis section as the best known reference for this fossil group, the surprisingly good correlative potential of which has still to be considered in many areas.     

Experimental reduction of aqueous sulphate by hydrogen under hydrothermal conditions: Implication for the nuclear waste storage

Sulphate reduction by hydrogen, likely to occur in deep geological nuclear waste storage sites, was studied experimentally in a two-phase system (water + gas) at 250-300 °C and under 4-16 bars H₂ partial pressure in hydrothermal-vessels. The calculated activation energy is 131 kJ/mol and the half-life of aqueous sulphate in the presence of hydrogen and elemental sulphur ranges from 210,000 to 2.7 × 10⁹ years at respective temperatures of 90 °C, the thermal peak in the site and 25 °C, the ambient temperature far from the site. The features and rate of the sulphate reduction by H₂ are close to those established for TSR in oil fields. The experiments also show that the rate of sulphate reduction is not significantly affected in the H₂ pressure range of 4-16 bars and in the pH range of 2-5, whereas a strong increase is measured at pH below 2. We suggest that the condition for the reaction to occur is the speciation of sulphate dominated by non symmetric species ( at low pH), and we propose a three steps reaction, one for each intermediate-valence sulphur species, the first one requiring H₂S as electron donor rather than H₂. We distinguish two possible reaction pathways for the first step, depending on pH: reduction of sulphate into sulphur dioxide below pH 2 or into thiosulphate or sulphite + elemental sulphur in the pH range 2-5.     

Does sediment resuspension by storms affect the fate of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in the benthic food chain? Interactions between changes in POM characteristics, adsorption and absorption by the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis

Environmental parameters and gross sedimentation rates (GSR) were monitored at a fixed site located in the Bay of Banyuls-sur-Mer (NW Mediterranean), between March 1997 and April 1998, together with the main biochemical characteristics of both sedimenting and sedimented particulate organic matter (POM). Three storms which occurred during this time period resulted in natural sediment resuspension. This is indicated by the corresponding increase in GSR and a decrease in the enzymatically hydrolysable amino acids/totally hydrolysable amino acids ratio (EHAA/THAA), within the sedimenting POM. Only the strongest storm resulted in (1) a transitory increase in fine-grained particles, (2) concomitant increases in organic carbon, carbohydrates, lipids and THAA, and (3) a decrease in the EHAA/THAA ratio in surficial sediments. For most of the assayed parameters, the values recorded after the December 1997 storm corresponded to extremes for the whole period under study. This emphasises the role of storms in controlling the characteristics of sedimented and sedimenting POM.Ten sediment types, with contrasting biochemical characteristics, were selected for experiments; these were based on the results of the monitoring survey and were used during adsorption and absorption experiments involving ¹⁴C tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB). Adsorption rates differed significantly between the sediment types, but did not correlate with any of the assayed biochemical parameters. Absorption efficiency by the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis also differed between the sediment types; it correlated positively with all the assayed biochemical parameters, except lipids. Comparison between the magnitudes of the increase in GSR, together with the decrease in absorption efficiency during resuspension events, suggests that resuspension tends to enhance the transfer of organic pollutants in the benthic food chain.     

Sediment Yield During Late Glacial and Holocene periods in the Lac Chambon Watershed,Massif Central,France

A sediment budget for the Late Glacial and Holocene periods was calculated for the Lac Chambon watershed which is located in a formerly glaciated temperate crystalline mountain area. It appears that over 15 500 years: (1) 69 per cent of eroded particles have been displaced by gravity processes and then stored within the watershed, compared to 31 per cent that have been displaced by running water and evacuated outward; (2) the mean mechanical erosion due to gravity processes on the slopes amounted to 16·1 ±6 m and only developed on a quarter of the watershed surface, whereas the mean mechanical erosion due to running water amounted 1·24 ± 0·37 m and involved the whole watershed surface. The mean sediment yields due to gravity processes on slopes were 2300 ± 1360, 1770 ± 960 and 380 ± 100 m³ km⁻³ a⁻¹, respectively, for basalts, and basic and acidic trachyandesites. Values of sediment yield due to running water were 49±15, 120±36 and 79±24 m³ km⁻² a⁻¹, respectively, during the Bôlling–Allerôd, the Younger Dryas and the Pre-Boreal–Boreal periods. They were 56±17 and 166±50 m³ km⁻² a⁻¹ during the Sub-Atlantic period before and after 1360 a BP , respectively. These values reflect variations in the natural environment and the impact of human-induced deforestation. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unraveling the roles of asymmetric uplift,normal faulting and groundwater flow to drainage rearrangement in an emerging karstic landscape

Landscape adjustment to tectonic, lithologic and climatic forcing leads to drainage reorganization and migration of divides. The respective contribution of these forcings, especially on carbonate landscapes is not well defined. Here, we have addressed this issue by combining field observations, satellite image interpretation and digital elevation model (DEM) quantitative analysis to assess drainage response to spatially heterogeneous rainfall, asymmetric uplift, and normal faulting on an emerging carbonated platform (Sumba Island, Indonesia). We map geomorphic markers of fluvial dynamics and drainage rearrangement and compute a χ parameter that incorporates the contributions of unevenly distributed precipitation and asymmetric uplift to estimate erosional disequilibrium across drainage divides. We find that asymmetric emergence of Sumba Island created an initial parallel drainage, asymmetric across a divide that propagates landwards. Soon after establishing itself on the emerging slopes this drainage was disturbed by normal faulting, which has become the main force driving drainage rearrangement. Vertical offsets across normal fault scarps first triggered aggradation within valleys over the hanging walls, and then disconnected upstream reaches from downstream reaches, leading to the formation of wind gaps atop the fault scarps and upstream perched sedimentary basins. The defeat of rivers by growing fault scarps was catalysed by the possibility for surface water to be rerouted near the fault scarps into underground water networks inside the underlying carbonates. At the end of the process, the opposite drainage across the main water divide captured the struggling drainage. Capture mechanisms include initial groundwater capture of the perched alluvial aquifers, followed by ground sapping at the head of the opposite drainage and surface stream diversion by avulsion. Finally, normal faulting is the main driving force of drainage rearrangement allowing avulsion and karstic rerouting whereas asymmetric uplift and climate forcings have shown a low efficiency. The role of karstification is more ambiguous, catalysing or inhibiting drainage rearrangement. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.