Teaching the principles of GIS: lessons from the GISTutor project

Abstract

With the rapid growth in the use of geographical information systems (GIS) has come an acute shortage of skills. Although traditional techniques of education and training based on courses at various levels are being widely exploited, there is special potential in GIS for the use of demonstrators and tutors. Such computer aided learning (CAL) tools offer an effective way of putting across the graphical concepts which are vital to GIS as well as offering an attractive form of self-paced study. This paper discusses the contribution of CAL tools to GIS education and offers a short history of the techniques. A case study of the development of the Geographical Information Systems Tutor (GISTutor) is also used to illustrate the educational and technical issues behind the creation and use of such a tool.     

Garnet-field Melting and Late-stage Refertilization in 'Residual' Abyssal Peridotites from the Central Indian Ridge

The role of residual garnet during melting beneath mid-oceanridges has been the subject of many recent investigations. Toaddress this issue from the perspective of melting residues,we obtained major and trace element mineral chemistry of residualabyssal peridotites from the Central Indian Ridge. Many clinopyroxeneshave ratios of middle to heavy rare earth elements (MREE/HREE)that are too low to be explained by melting in the stabilityfield of spinel peridotite alone. Several percent of meltingmust have occurred at higher pressures in the garnet peridotitestability field. Application of new trace element partitioningmodels, which predict that HREE are compatible in high-pressureclinopyroxene, cannot fully explain the fractionation of theMREE from the HREE. Further, many samples show textural andchemical evidence for refertilization, such as relative enrichmentsof highly incompatible trace elements with respect to moderatelyincompatible trace elements. Therefore, highly incompatibleelements, which are decoupled from major and moderately incompatibletrace elements, are useful to assess late-stage processes, suchas melt entrapment, melt–rock reaction and veining. Moderatelyincompatible trace elements are less affected by such late-stageprocesses and thus useful to infer the melting history of abyssalperidotites. KEY WORDS: abyssal peridotites; mantle melting; garnet     

Dolomitization of the Devonian Swan Hills Formation, Rosevear Field, Alberta, Canada

The Swan Hills Formation (Middle-Upper Devonian) of the Western Canada Basin is host to several NW-SE-trending gas fields developed in massive replacement dolostone. One of these, the Rosevear Field, contains two major dolostone trends along opposing margins of a marine channel that penetrates into a platform-reef complex. Dolostones consist predominantly of branching and bulbous strdmatoporoid floatstones and rudstones with well-developed moldic and vuggy porosity. Replacement dolomite is coarsely crystalline (100-600 μm), inclusion-rich, composed of euhedral through anhedral crystals and has a blotchy to homogeneous red cathodoluminescence. Geochemically, replacement dolomite is characterized by (i) nearly stoichiometric composition (50.1-51.1 mol% CaCO₃), (ii) negative δ¹⁸O values (mean=-7.5‰, PDB) and (iii) variable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios ranging from values similar to Late Devonian-Early Mississippian seawater (～0.7082) to radiogenic compositions comparable to saddle dolomite cements (>0.7100). Dolomitization began after widespread precipitation of early, equant calcite spar and after the onset of pressure solution, implying that replacement dolomite formed in a burial environment. Oxygen isotope data suggest that dolomite formed at 35-75°C, temperatures reached during burial in Late Devonian through Jurassic time, at minimum depths of 450 m. The linear NW-SE orientation of most dolomite fields in the Swan Hills Formation is suggestive of fault control on fluid circulation. Two models are proposed for fault-controlled circulation of dolomitizing fluids at the Rosevear Field. In the first, compaction-driven, updip fluid migration occurred in response to basin tilting commencing in the Late Palaeozoic. Deep basinal fluids migrating updip were focused into channel-margin sediments along fault conduits. The second model calls upon fault-controlled convective circulation of (i) warm Devonian-Mississippian seawater or (ii) Middle Devonian residual evaporitic brines. The overlap in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O compositions, and similar cathodoluminescence properties between replacement and saddle dolomites provide evidence for neomorphism of some replacement dolomite. Quantitative modelling of Sr and O isotopes and Sr abundances suggests partial equilibration of some replacement dolomite with hot radiogenic brines derived during deep burial of the Swan Hills Formation in the Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene. Interaction of replacement dolomite with deep brines led to enrichment in ⁸⁷Sr while leaving δ¹⁸O similar to pre-neomorphism values.     

Atmospheric deposition to watersheds in complex terrain

Single collection stations for wet or bulk deposition are generally inadequate to describe atmospheric inputs to watersheds in complex terrain. Atmospheric deposition is delivered by wet, dry and cloud deposition processes, and these processes are controlled by a wide range of landscape features, including canopy type and structure, topographic exposure, elevation and slope orientation. As a result, there can be a very high degree of spatial variability within a watershed, and a single sampling point, especially at low elevation, is unlikely to be representative. Atmospheric inputs at the watershed scale can be calculated from the whole watershed mass balance if the outputs and within-watershed sources and sinks are known with sufficient accuracy. Alternatively, indices of atmospheric deposition such as Pb accumulation in the forest floor and SO²⁻₄ flux in throughfall can be used to characterize patterns of total deposition, and these indices can be used to model deposition to the entire watershed based on known landscape features such as elevation and canopy type. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inter- and supratidal sedimentology of a fjord-head estuary, south-western British Columbia

Detailed examination of inter- and supratidal delta and floodplain sediments exposed in eroding bank sections at 52 locations along the Squamish River estuary provides the basis for recognizing seven distinct facies within the 5500 m-long estuary. Estuary sedimentation is initially driven by the development of sand bar complexes along the seaward edge of the intertidal delta. Sedimentation continues within interdistributary bay environments as intertidal sandflats and then tidal marshes develop, Aggradation of the delta within interdistributary bay environments results in a gradual transition from delta to alluvial plain. Of the seven facies identified, only the intertidal sands and tidal marsh deposits provide evidence of their tidal origin. Examination of deposits throughout the riverine estuary reveals a number of gradual yet distinct changes of sediment size, structure, and sequence architecture. These trends record the changing nature of tidal and riverine control on sedimentation along the tidal gradient. Generally, with increasing distance up-estuary, sediment grain-size increases, the thickness of fine-grained overbank deposits decreases, and bedding changes from fine parallel bedding to higher energy bedforms. In addition, fining-upward successions become capped by coarser sands, facies contacts change from gradational to abrupt and occasionally erosional, and facies successions become increasingly complex and less predictable. Squamish River estuary has been divided into four zones based on sedimentological and stratigraphical evidence, each zone reflecting changes in the relative influence of tidal and riverine control on sedimentation. Each zone contains distinctly different facies sequences, although zone boundaries generally are gradational.     

New lessons for technology policy and climate change: investment for innovation

The direction of UK energy policy requires a renewed impetus if the goal of climate change stabilization is to be met. Cost is not the main issue: a transformation to a low-carbon energy system may be no more expensive than meeting future energy demands with fossil fuels. Institutional barriers are preventing the large-scale adoption of the necessary technologies. New institutions to promote low-carbon technologies have not yet led to investment on the necessary scale. Further changes to the operation of the UK electricity markets to create a ‘level playing field’ for small-scale and intermittent generation are necessary. UK policy can contribute to international agreements following on from the Kyoto Accord, which also need to address the institutional barriers to energy technology development and transfer.     

The Navajo Sandstone

The Navajo Sandstone is the remnant of an early Jurassic (Pliensbachian-Toarcian) aeolian (wind-blown) system that stretched over most of the western United States for several million years. Interpretation of these deposits suggests that the Navajo erg (sand sea) was one of the most extensive desert systems ever to have existed in the history of the Earth, and probably contained the largest sand dunes that have ever moved across the surface of the planet.     

THE EMERGING GEOGRAPHIES OF VIRTUAL WORLDS*

ABSTRACT. The technology of virtual reality is producing new virtual worlds. These worlds are being created and utilized for a number of different purposes. Four main themes and application areas of virtual reality are: the arts and literature, the military, the preservation of aspects of reality, and finance or business. The technology of virtual reality is examined in these themes, and the differences as well as linkages between them are explored. The growing importance of virtual worlds as a topic of geographical analysis is discussed.