International and National Aspects of a Legislative Framework to Manage Soil Carbon Sequestration

This article discusses the international and national environmental law framework for the management of soil carbon sequestration. Aspects of the legislative framework important to this process include its ability to recognise carbon sinks, expand existing sinks, and the procedures available to return and store carbon in soil reservoirs. International law provides global standards and guidelines and national legislative systems provide the substantive and procedural legal mechanisms to manage soil carbon. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol are the primary international legislative instruments but other international instruments and strategies have a significant synergistic role. Various approaches are presented for framing new legislation or to reform existing legislative frameworks to improve the procedures to manage soil carbon.     

Geochemical Correlation Between Metasediments of the Mfongosi Group of the Natal Sector of the Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Province, South Africa and the Ahlmannryggen Group of the Grunehogna Province, Antarctica

The whole-rock geochemistry of metamorphosed greywackes, arenites and arkoses within the Mesoproterozoic Namaqua-Natal-Maudheim Province is interpreted with the aim of establishing geochemical correlations and defining common sediment source terrains. Metasediments of the Mfongosi Group of the Natal Sector of the Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Province were sampled from their type area in the Mfongosi Valley. Metagreywackes from the northern limits of the Mfongosi Valley, directly adjacent to the Kaapvaal Craton, show ocean island arc signatures while metagreywackes from the southern limits of the Mfongosi Valley, near the contact with the Madidima Thrust of the Natal nappe zone, show mainly active continental margin signatures. Interleaved, geochemically distinct low-Ca+Na, high-K metamorphosed arkoses to lithic arkoses indicate a minor passive margin sediment component. Geochemical classification of low-grade Ahlmannryggen Group greywackes, arenites and arkoses of the Grunehogna Province, Antarctica, indicates both active and passive continental margin sediment sources. An oceanic island arc signature is not evident in Ahlmannryggen Group data. The active continental margin signature in both Natal Sector and Grunehogna Province metasediments potentially provides for a common link between these terranes. Discriminant Function Analysis, using three pre-defined provenance sub-sets within the Mfongosi Group and two pre-defined provenance sub-sets within the Ahlmannryggen Group, indicate that metasediments with active continental margin signatures from both groups are geochemically identical, implying that the active continental margin of the Grunehogna Province shed immature sediments westwards (African azimuths) into the developing, narrow or restricted Mesoproterozoic ‘Mfongosi Basin.’ This was accompanied by minor sediment influx from a stable continental platform, potentially the Kaapvaal Craton. Oblique and diachronous collision, initiated in the southwestern portions of the combined Natal Sector/Grunehogna Province system produced a laterally variable Mfongosi Group, which formed in the ‘Mfongosi Basin’. Coarse-grained sediments dominated in its eastern portions while basalts with thin sapropelite units dominated in its western portions.     

Marine and limnic radiocarbon reservoir corrections for studies of late- and postglacial environments in Georgia Basin and Puget Lowland, British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA

Models of late-glacial environmental change in coastal areas are commonly based on radiocarbon ages on marine shell and basal lake sediments, both of which may be compromised by reservoir effects. The magnitude of the oceanic reservoir age in the inland waters of the Georgia Basin and Puget Lowland of northwestern North America is inferred from radiocarbon ages on shell-wood pairs in Saanich Inlet and previously published estimates. The weighted mean oceanic reservoir correction in the early and mid Holocene is −720±90 yr, slightly smaller than, but not significantly different from, the modern value. The correction in late-glacial time is −950±50 yr. Valley-head sites yield higher reservoir values (−1200±130 yr) immediately after deglaciation. The magnitude of the gyttja reservoir effect is inferred from pairs of bulk gyttja and plant macrofossil ages from four lakes in the region. Incorporation of old carbon into basal gyttja yields ages from bulk samples that are initially about 600 yr too old. The reservoir age declines to less than 100 yr after the first millennium of lake development. When these corrections are accounted for, dates of deglaciation and late-glacial sea-level change in the study area are pushed forward in time by more than 500 yr.     

Comments on “Evidence for global runoff increase related to climate warming” by Labat et al.

We have examined the evidence presented by Labat et al. and found that (1) their claims for a 4% increase in global runoff arising from a 1 °C increase in air temperature and (2) that their article provides the “first experimental data-based evidence demonstrating the link between the global warming and the intensification of the global hydrological cycle” are not supported by the data presented. Our conclusions are based on the facts that (1) their discharge records exhibit non-climatic influences and trends, (2) their work cannot refute previous studies finding no relation between air temperature and runoff, (3) their conclusions cannot explain relations before 1925, and (4) the statistical significance of their results hinges on a single data point that exerts undue influence on the slope of the regression line. We argue that Labat et al. have not provided sufficient evidence to support their claim for having detected increases in global runoff resulting from climate warming.     

Frequency dependence of elastic wave speeds at high temperature: a direct experimental demonstration

At sufficiently high temperatures and/or long periods, the elastic behaviour of crystalline material gives way progressively to viscoelastic behaviour associated with the stress-induced migration of crystal defects. This transition is marked by the onset of appreciable strain energy dissipation accompanied by frequency dependence (dispersion) of the shear modulus and elastic wave speeds. Ultrasonic interferometry and torsional forced-oscillation techniques can be used to probe the low-amplitude stress-strain behaviour of fine-grained polycrystalline material in two very different frequency ranges, respectively 10-100 MHz and 1 mHz-1 Hz. Here we demonstrate and apply these two complementary methods in a study of the high-temperature mechanical behaviour of a fine-grained synthetic olivine polycrystal. At the high frequencies of ultrasonic interferometry, the shear wave speed varies linearly with temperature between room temperature and the highest experimentally accessible temperature (1300 °C) in close accord with expectations based on similarly high-frequency studies of the elastic behaviour of single-crystal olivine. However, at teleseismic frequencies (<1 Hz) and temperatures >900 °C, the shear wave speed becomes much more strongly temperature-sensitive reflecting markedly viscoelastic behaviour. Newly emerging laboratory-derived constraints on this viscoelastic enhancement of the temperature sensitivity of seismic wave speeds and its grain-size dependence will provide a more robust interpretation of seismological models for the variation of wave speeds and attenuation within the Earth's interior.     

燕山地区褶皱冲断带和盆地中的晚侏罗世土城子组/后城组形成分析(英文)

土城子组/后城组为广泛分布在中国北方的燕山褶皱冲断带和盆地中晚侏罗世的典型碎屑岩沉积。本文主要是针对目前在燕山地区的通行的有关土城子组/后城组、及其之下的髫髻山组/蓝旗组,和上覆的张家口组/东岭台组火山岩的相关对比方法提出质疑。其他同行近期发表相关的氩-氩法和铀-铅法同位素测年数据指出髫髻山组/蓝旗组年龄为175~147Ma、土城子组/后城组年龄为156~139Ma、张家口组/东岭台组年龄为147~127Ma,显而易见,上述地层组的年龄是相互重叠的。这些测年数据说明以往的地层对比是有问题的,燕山造山带在中、晚侏罗世所发育的火山岩和沉积岩地层是穿时的。因此,传统上用(165±5)Ma和(135±5)Ma之间的区域不整合来作为划分髫髻山组和后城组的层序界限是值得商榷的。尽管一些髫髻山组的火山岩和土城子组/后城组的沉积岩是与向南或向北的冲断作用相伴生的,但在髫髻山组和土城子组/后城组沉积之间的30~35Ma的时间间隔内却是相对的构造平静期。这一结论是基于以往的髫髻山组和土城子组之间为假整合或平行不整合的观点所得出的。新近基于对承德盆地土城子组地层形成研究分析认为承德冲断层的实际位移距离应小于Davis等2001年所提出的位移距离,笔者接受这一观点。但笔者并不同意在承德地区土城子组的沉积主要是受控于承德北部的向南冲断作用。现今承德向形盆地主要是由于向北冲断的承德县冲断层下盘变形的结果,主要是(1)它向北发生倒转;(2)盆地南部的粗碎屑沉积的物源主要是来源于承德县的异地体。土城子组/后城组的沉积没有必要完全受控于构造作用。土城子组/后城组的沉积是紧随着在燕山部分地区发生的,持续了20~25Ma的髫髻山组/蓝旗组火山及岩浆活动。在中、晚侏罗世期间,燕山地区的岩浆活动必定导致地形的起伏,这就为快速剥蚀及粗碎屑的沉积提供了有利条件。最后需要指出的是,从前所提及的有关燕山带的土城子组/后城组和阴山带的大青山组的地层对比的依据并不存在。     

‘Committing to Place’ at the Local Scale: the potential of youth education programs for promoting community participation in regional natural resource management

Emerging approaches to environmental governance require a greater level of community participation than did previous approaches in which these responsibilities largely rested with government agencies. There is consequently a need for increased engagement with NRM among a broad community sector. This paper examines initiatives by two prominent government agencies, the Murray–Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) and the National Museum of Australia (NMA), to engage school children from regional communities using education programs that focus on place and environmental health. We focus on the MDBC's International Riverhealth Conference held in Mildura in 2003 and the associated Murray–Darling Basin TalkBack Classroom sponsored by the NMA and the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO). We explore how key themes of local scale, place-based identities, youth voice and critical engagement are developed in these programs and consider how they relate to the environmental agency of children. We then reflect on the potential for the kinds of environmental agency promoted through these programs to help build the capacity of local communities to progress larger goals of environmental restoration and sustainability in the Murray–Darling Basin. The evaluation research reported here forms part of the Committing to Place research project, an Australian Research Council Linkage grant involving the University of Tasmania, the National Museum of Australia and the Murray–Darling Basin Commission.     

February floods in the lower North Island, 2004: Catastrophe – causes and consequences

Abstract: The February 2004 Manawatu floods in New Zealand were the result of a naturally occurring, although unusual, storm. Up to 300 mm of rain fell on the already saturated ground of the lower North Island over two days, generating substantial and rapid runoff from catchment slopes. Rivers rose quickly, inundating unprotected farmland and properties and in places breaching stopbanks. There was widespread slope failure in the hill country of the lower North Island, affecting an area of ca. 7500 km². Slopes under scrub, plantation forest and native bush were not as badly affected as those under pasture, where slopes typically failed by shallow translational landsliding. Flooding caused catastrophic channel change in a number of small to medium sized channel systems in the upland fringes. Whilst the occurrence of landsliding and channel changes during an extreme event such as this is natural, the intensity of both landsliding and channel erosion was exacerbated by human activity within the catchments.